But before I post my photo-tutorial on how to make delicious rustic bread, I have to say ...... IT'S DRIZZLING TODAY! WOO HOO!!!! Man, I was getting a little worried moving up here to Seattle and having it beautifully sunny for the past couple weeks (haha ... spoken like somebody who grew up in the scorching southwest!). I love the rain, and it's been drizzling all day, making the streets, cars, and trees all glossy and wet. It's so pretty.
No views of Bainbridge Island or the Olympic Mountains today! But maybe this will mean more beautiful white snow on the mountains when it's clear again ...
One last thing before the bread recipe ... time for another garden update!
See the new tomatoes forming?
Tomatoes on the red bush tomato plant are plumping up nicely
Another red bush tomato growing
Tomato flowers popping up all over on both plants ... these are the guys that I have to vibrate with my electric toothbrush to help them self-fertilize by knocking the pollen loose
Hopefully these guys will set fruit also!
Salad greens are enjoying their new space to spread out and are putting out many more leaves. Maybe soon we can do a caprese salad with oregano, salad greens, and tomatoes from the garden, along with some fresh cheese from the market... mmm
Garlic chives ("gau choy" or "gow choi" in cantonese) on left and regular chives on the right starting to thicken. I think I can start cutting them to use and they're big enough to where they'll just keep growing.
OKAY! So here is what you guys have been waiting for ... how to make the most beautiful, rustic, artisan bread in a cast iron pot. Before we start, I just wanted to mention that the keys to really good bread are a very high moisture content (either in the dough, or in the actual oven), very high temperatures, and a long fermentation time for the yeast to convert the flour into sugars and align the yeast in the proper direction. Kneading aligns the yeast in the dough, but using this long fermentation method, you let time do it for you. Making bread this way is so simple but it does take a total of 2 days, so plan on making the dough part the night before you plan on eating bread.
Day One:
In a mixing bowl, put 3 cups of flour and about 1 and 5/8 cup of water (I don't measure super accurately .. just more than 1.5 cups and less than 2 cups of water works). Next, add a pinch of salt, and 1/8th teaspoon of yeast (again, you don't have to measure accurately .. just note in the picture how little yeast you need!)
Mix the water, flour, salt, and yeast really well. This is the only "mixing" you'll do for this bread and the most "difficult" part of the breadmaking (haha). Pretty easy huh? The dough should be very wet - much more wet than what you normal think of when making dough. High water content will yield a crispy crust.
Cover with plastic wrap or something, and leave overnight on the counter ... minimum of 12 hours, but I usually make it the night before and bake in the evening so I leave it for 20 hours or so. Now go to bed!
Day Two:
Take out your cast iron pot. I have a 3.5 quart Le Creuset pot. Yes these pots are more expensive than stainless steel pots by quite a bit (you don't have to buy Le Creuset brand), but this is my favorite cookware ... I also have a 12 inch Le Creuset cast iron skillet. Cast iron heats up quickly, but more importantly, they remain hot for a long time - this means less energy required when cooking. Cooking that would require a "medium high" heat in a normal pan translates into turning the stove to "low-medium" with cast iron. Furthermore, cast iron sears meat or roasts vegetables beautifully. Plus, non-stick pots and pans (like Teflon), when heated, give off toxic gases. Not good at all! With cast iron, you don't have to worry about toxic gases.
After covering the little black knob on the lid with some aluminum foil (so it doesn't heat up too much), put both the pot and lid into the oven (separated) and preheat the oven to 500 degrees, or as hot as your oven gets if it does not reach 500.
After leaving your dough to sit overnight (12-20 hours or so), when you tilt the bowl, you should notice that the dough has gotten "stringy" and that there are bubbles in it. This is great since it means that the yeast has been working overnight to convert flour into sugars.
Flour VERY WELL your working surface as well as your hands. Since the dough is very wet compared to "normal" dough, it will be much stickier. Dust the top of the dough with a little flour as well. Then, as you can see in the picture, fold the left and right sides into the center, and then the top and bottom into the center as well. That's all!
Once your oven has preheated to 500 degrees with the pot and lid inside, carefully take both out of the oven with pot holders, and plop the dough into the pot with the folded sides facing up towards you. I know "normal" bread recipes say to put the seam side down, but putting seams up will look beautiful - I promise! If the dough sticks to your working surface and you have trouble putting it into the pot, don't worry - just get what you can into the pot. You can't mess this up - trust me, I've tried.
Put the lid on the pot and throw it all in the 500 degree oven for about 40 minutes. Baking the very wet dough in the pot with the lid on will create a very moist, steamy environment which will form the crispy crust that is impossible to achieve without a fancy bakery steam-injection oven.
After the 40 minutes with the lid on, open the oven and remove the lid from the pot (it should have created a basic crust by now as you can see above). Continue baking with the lid off in the pot for another 20-30 minutes ... I just bake until it achieves the desired "brown-ness" that I want ... depending on my mood it can be a croissant-like light brown, or an almost-burnt dark brown for that "rustic" look.
Remove the bread from the oven when the color is to your desire, and let it rest for at least 30 mins or so. You will hear the bread crust "crackling" as it contracts during cooling. Your house will also smell heavenly :-p
Cut open to check the interior "crumb" (the inside texture). Looks great to me! Time to use some of those homemade jams and butter!
Hope you guys enjoyed the tutorial! Don't throw old bread away ... make french toast, crumble it with herbs to make breadcrumbs for your next fried zucchini snack, or just break apart into pieces, pour olive oil, herbs, and salt on top, and bake to make some croutons!
