Basic Bread Recipe

Annotated Baker's Edition ©2006

1. Get up when you feel like it; brush your teeth, wash your face, massage your feet, do what you need to do; drink coffee; do chores (mow the lawn, milk the cows, take out the trash/recycling, sweep the floor, that kind of thing) to clear the mind. Wash your hands.

2. In a large ceramic bowl mix the following: 1 tablespoon dry yeast, 4 cups warm (not hot) water, 1/4 cup oil, 3/4 cup honey; stir gently with wooden spoon and let sit for 5-10 minutes, letting yeast-water solution mingle with honey-oil mixture. [Don't mess with those little foil envelopes of yeast that are mostly packaging; buying yeast in bulk is a better deal, and a little bag (or one-pound cake) will last several months.]

3. Add 4 cups whole wheat flour to wet ingredients, and stir vigorously with wooden spoon 200-300 strokes, alternating right/left hands and clockwise/counterclockwise. Mixture should be a thick slurry with minimal lumps, but not yet 'dough'. [Stone-ground western red wheat seems to work best for bread, but even that varies from year to year or even shipment to shipment; the texture of midwestern wheat doesn't get the best results for bread, dontchaknow.]

4. Cover bowl with clean towel or napkin, and let sit in warm place for about 2 hours. [Any warm place will do; I like an iron pan that's just been used, or other heat-retaining surface, because the heat dissipates slowly, allowing the yeast to grow at a steady rate. If you put it in a very warm place, let it sit less than 2 hours; in cooler place, more than 2 hours.]

5. Do more chores (split wood, pull weeds, whatever). Wash your hands. The sponge-like slurry should have risen somewhat. Add 1 tablespoon salt and any fruit, nuts, or spices desired (cinnamon or dill, walnuts or pecans, raisins or cranberries, or some combination); fold in with the same wooden spoon as used earlier; add 2 cups flour, stirring in with wooden spoon, adding flour until dough achieves a springy, more solid state. [Respect the bowl, the spoon, the measuring cup; they're part of this, too, ya know.]

6. Remove dough from bowl and add about 2 cups flour - a little at a time - while kneading on countertop or breadboard. [Kneading should incorporate push-pull action, the push pressing down into dough and the pull folding it back on itself; continue until dough is firm but not dry, still spongy but not sticky to the touch.]

7. Place dough in bowl and cover with the same towel or napkin; let sit in warm place for about 2 hours. [Higher temperature, less time; lower temperature, more time.]

8. Eat lunch. Read the paper. Run some errands, but don't be gone all day, you've got dough rising. Wash your hands. Remove dough from bowl and knead a couple of times to form dense ball; divide into 3 equal-size pieces (if baking pans are equal sizes) and knead each piece into loaf shapes (round for baking sheet, elongated for rectangular pan) and place in/on oiled pans; cover with towel and let sit in warm place for 30 minutes (more or less).

9. Preheat oven to 275 degrees; bake for 50 minutes - 55 minutes if using dried fruit, 60 minutes if using nondried fruit. Check finished loaves for slight browning on top and bottom surface; gently thump bottom for hollow, drumlike sound; cool on rack for 10 minutes before slicing.

10. Mmmm...