Little hands-on time bread

Bread making, Baking and Cakes tips and recipes.
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fluffy_gumbo
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Little hands-on time bread

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Post: # 21592Unread post fluffy_gumbo
Fri Jun 05, 2020 9:55 am

There is still a lot of inactive time in this but you don't have to be there while it proofs!

There is a very popular book called Flour Water Salt Yeast by Ken Forkish who is not a traditionally trained bread maker so his techniques are more home-friendly. All his recipes utilizes a long proof time (little hands-on time) and I make either his same-day or overnight bread all the time with very good success rate. I highly recommend borrowing a copy from your local library. You do need a Dutch oven pot with some type of lid though for baking (I have not tried other oven-safe pots but it probably would work too).
Here are the recipes. I often can't measure the amount of yeast called for in his recipe as they are very small. The longer the proof time, the less yeast you'll need as they have more time to grow, so I usually do a teaspoon or less.

SAME_DAY BREAD (adapted) - 500g of flour makes 1 loaf, all the baker's percentages are based on WEIGHT.
Hands-on time: 15 minutes(?), Minimum total proof time: 9 hours, Bake time: 45 minutes, Total: ~10 hours.
If you mix this up before you go to work at 8am, come back and shape at 4pm, proof and bake by~ 5pm and you will have bread by ~6pm.
** NOTE: although there are specific times in the directions below, I've found this bread to be very robust and flexible. I've shorten and lengthen the proofing times here and there and for the most part still get a very good loaf. The only time you can't change is the bake time. So if you need it to go into the oven 15 minutes early to make that 6pm dinner, go for it!

100% flour (all-purpose, bread, or a mixture all works - your chance to experiment!)
72% water, luke warm
20% salt
0.5% yeast


1. MIX everything together till it's a sticky mass.
If you're at home, you can fold it once or twice, each fold ~half an hour apart. To fold: pick up a handful edge of the dough and pull up and flop it into the center, repeat until you went all around the dough. This takes about minute and it helps build strength for the dough. It sounds and IS super UNcomplicated, here's the video of the man doing it himself - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQHuWDEo3SA. I also have done it without any folds - turns out fine.

2. BULK FERMENT: Cover the bowl and let proof at room temp for about 8-12 hours, the longer the better.

3. SHAPING: Put the dough onto a floured surface and fold the sides of the dough into the middle to form more a ball shape. If you didn't do any folding in step 1, fold it a few extra times here. Flip the dough over so the seam side is down and start shaping the dough in a ball by cupping your hands slightly below the dough and pulls it towards you, building tension on the top surface of the ball. Turn the ball 90 degrees and repeat until you get a nice smooth ball that more or less holds its shape. Here's the man showing the technique https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPdedk9gJLQ

4. 2ND PROOF: I put my shaped dough into a covered, parchment paper-lined bowl for the last proof which is 1 hour and 15 minutes. At the one hour mark, heat up your oven to 475F with the Dutch oven and lid inside it.

5. BAKE: Once it comes to temp, remove the Dutch oven and pick up the parchment paper with the dough and just plop it into the Dutch oven, score (slash) the top of the bread and cover it with a lid and bake covered for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and continue to bake another 15 minutes until crust is towards the darker side of golden brown (crunchier crust). Wait for it to cool a bit then prepare to eat the whole loaf in one sitting. Enjoy!


OVERNIGHT BREAD - usually mix this up the night before at ~7pm
100% flour
78% water, lukewarm
20% salt
0.2% yeast
- literally a pinch or two

Method is exactly the same but you would leave this to rise overnight, so the proof time is more like 12-18 hours at room temp. Second proof is still 1.25 hours and bake time is still 30 minutes covered + 15 minutes uncovered. I usually bake by 11am or so and have bread for lunch but you can shape and bake earlier and have it for breakfast or brunch!

If you mix this on a weekday and have to work the whole day the next day, throw the dough in the fridge to slow the yeast activity and do the shaping and second proof when you get back.
You can also shape the dough before refrigerating it and that can just go straight to the heated Dutch oven for baking.
Learn, adapt, grow! - Zone 9B
Blog: https://thebigeasygarden.wordpress.com/

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pepperhead212
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Re: Little hands-on time bread

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Post: # 21607Unread post pepperhead212
Fri Jun 05, 2020 12:03 pm

[mention]fluffy_gumbo[/mention] I have that bread book (along with many others!) - great book, and I've made a number of those recipes.

Here's a trick for measuring out a very small amount of yeast, like 1/64 of a tsp. Dissolve 1/8 tsp in a cup of water, and measure out 2 tb, and use that! I got that trick from a recipe in another book.
Woodbury, NJ zone 7a/7b

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