Mother Earth News_December_2016_2017

32 MOTHER EARTH NEWS December 2016/January 2017

White Sandwich Bread

with a Starter

This basic recipe is for white bread,

but feel free to use half bread flour and

half white-whole-wheat flour or whole-

wheat flour. You can also use all white-

whole-wheat flour plus^1 ⁄ 4 cup vital

wheat gluten, and add it along with the

salt and yeast. Yield: 2 fat loaves or boules.

• 6 cups bread flour, divided, plus more
  in reserve


• 1 tbsp fine sea salt


• 2 tbsp instant yeast


• 16 ounces pre-fermented starter,
  about^1 ⁄ 3 of a batch (see recipe, left)


• 2 cups hot water


• 1 tbsp honey (optional)


• 1 tbsp oil (optional)
  Directions: Set up a mixer with a
  dough hook.
  Put 4 cups of the flour and the rest of
  the dry ingredients into the bowl — salt
  and yeast on opposite sides. (Otherwise
  the salt will delay the yeast.) Give it a stir.
  With your bench knife (see photo,
  Page 31) or your hands, cut the starter
  into about 10 pieces, dropping them into
  the dry ingredients. Add the hot water
  and honey, if using, and turn on the mix-
  er to #1 or the stir setting.
  Run the mixer until the flour is nearly
  taken up, and then turn up the speed to
  #4 or the knead setting. Run on #4 for
  at least 5 minutes — the hunks of starter
  will be well-incorporated into the dough.
  Add most of the remaining flour, hold-
  ing back a little. Again, run mixer on the
  stir setting until the flour is taken up and
  then turn to #4, or knead, for a good 5 to
  10 minutes, until the dough has come to-
  gether well. Drizzle a bit of the oil down
  the side of the bowl to help the dough
  clear the bowl, if needed.
  When it all comes together, transfer
  the dough into a rising bucket or bowl.
  Allow it to rise until nicely doubled and
  puffy. This could take from^1 ⁄ 2 hour to an
  hour or longer, depending on the room
  temperature.
  Turn the dough out onto a floured
  kneading board. Knead several turns,
  adding a little bit of reserved flour if
  needed, until the dough is smooth, satiny,
  and doesn’t stick. With your bench knife,

Overnight Starter for 3 Batches of Bread

European breads are frequently made with an overnight starter, called a poolish or biga.

This way of developing dough — which I learned from Peter Reinhart, of The Bread Baker’s

Apprentice — has helped me to quickly put together some delicious, full-flavored sandwich

breads. Watch a video on how to stretch and fold the starter at http://goo.gl/zH46BA.

Directions: You can use a mixer with a dough hook, or it’s easy enough to stir this up by

hand — just approximate the mixer directions. Whichever you choose, begin by putting the

flour into a good-sized bowl, tall rather than wide (your mixer bowl will work well). Put the

salt on one side of the bowl and the yeast on the other, and then stir together.

Make a little well, then pour the water into the mix. Run the mixer on the stir setting un-

til the flour is taken up. Turn the mixer off and let it rest for a minute or two, then turn the

mixer on #4 or the knead setting and run for 2 minutes.

Rest a minute, and then run it on #4 again for a couple

of minutes. Repeat. The dough will clear the bowl but

will still look shaggy.

Put out a large cutting board (mine is 16 by 20 inch-

es) — or a sheet pan will do. Pour the oil on the board,

smear it around with your hands, and leave your hands

greased. Then, dump the dough out. Pat the dough into

an oval, about 10 by 12 inches.

Now, pick up the back edge of the dough (it will be wet) and pull and stretch it away

from you, then fold it back onto the rest of the dough. Pick up the front edge, pull and

stretch it and fold it back onto the dough. Turn the dough over so the stretched and folded

surface is now on the bottom. Repeat the pull-and-stretch, and turn the dough over.

Walk away for a few minutes. Because the dough is oiled, you don’t need to cover it

now. Go back and repeat the pull-and-stretch on both sides, and again let it rest for a few

minutes. Repeat one more time. If you pull and stretch a small area, you’ll see the “win-

dow” — a bit of dough that will stretch so thin you’ll be able to read through it. This indi-

cates that the dough is nicely developed.

Put the dough into a greased bowl large enough to allow it to fully double. Cover the

bowl and put it in the refrigerator overnight to rest and develop flavor. The dough will

rise to nearly double, then deflate a bit. (It can rest for as long as two nights if you’re not

ready to bake.)

Now, you’ll be ready to make the sandwich bread or rye bread recipes that follow.

What to do with leftover starter: If you don’t want to make three whole batches of bread,

you can make really nice ciabatta-style hamburger buns. I just pat out the starter on a

lightly floured board and cut it with a bench knife into pieces just a little smaller than a

burger. The dough will spread a little as it rises. Square is fine! Is there a rule that says

burgers must be round?

Ingredients

• 6 cups bread flour


• 11 ⁄ 2 tsp fine sea salt


• 11 ⁄ 2 tsp instant yeast


• 21 ⁄ 2 cups tepid water


• 1 tbsp oil

mixer: istock/OlafSpeier

ISTOCK/OLAFSPEIER; PAGE 30: FOTOLIA/MASTER1305; PAGE 31, LEFT: FOTOLIA/IMFOTOGRAF, RIGHT: STOCKFOOD/PHOTOALTO ISTOCK/STEVE FROEBE; TOP: FOTOLIA/NATA_VKUSIDEY

p 30-35 Bread 3.indd 32 10/17/16 8:16 AM