Let me start by crediting the book
Bread Alone-Bold Loaves from Your Own Hands (Daniel Leader & Judith Balhnik) for giving me the original recipe and procedure for this bread. I have modified it enough, though, that I feel as though the recipe is mine and I am not breaching any copyright issues, but I do want to give credit where credit its due and this is the book that I used to learn this craft, and I highly recommend it for you.
What you'll need:
This recipe yields 2 loaves of bread
5-6 Cups of Whole Wheat Flour
Water (3/4 cup for poolish; 2 1/2 cups for dough)- preferably spring water (at room temperature)
Dry yeast (1/2 tsp for the poolish; 1/2 tsp for the dough)
1 TBS salt
Equipment:
Large bowl
Spoon (preferably wooden)
2 Bread pans (I use 4.5 x 8.5 in cast iron, but a regular bread pan will do)
Baking pan (half filled with water)
Lint-free towel
Olive oil
Wire drying racks
Step 1- Poolish
Put into the large bowl 3/4 Cup water at room temperature, sprinkle 1/2 tsp of yeast and stir until yeast is dissolved. Stir in 3/4 cup whole wheat flour and stir, combining all the ingredients, for about a minute or 100 strokes. Scrape what you can down into the mixture so the sides are coated with it. Take the towel and wet it with hot water, wring it out and cover the bowl with it. Let it sit 2-9 hours.
Step 2- Dough (This is the most involved part)
Uncover the poolish, the longer it sat the better it will be. It should be bubbly (really good poolish will have the smell of beer). Add 2 1/2 cups water at room temperature and break up the poolish with the spoon. Add 1/2 tsp yeast and 1 TBS salt and stir. Add 1 cup flour and continue to stir with the spoon. Add another cup of flour and continue to stir. Keep slowly adding the flour, 1 cup at a time, until it starts to get hard to stir with the spoon.
On a clean surface, pour out about 1/2 cup flour and dump the sticky dough onto it. Pour about another 1/2 cup on the top. Take a cup of flour and put it to the side. Fill the bowl with water and let it soak (this will help you clean it for the rising). At this point, the dough will be weak, wet, and very sticky. Using your hands, start to knead the dough- it will be difficult at first to get a handle on the sticky, wet dough, but keep working it.
As you continue to work it, work in the flour that you had put underneath and on top of it, it will eventually begin to form something more workable. You basically need to flatten the dough, fold it over on itself and flatten it back out. If it starts to stick excessively to your hands or the surface, slowly sprinkle some of the reserve flour on top. Keep doing this for 10-15 minutes or more if necessary. As the dough ball forms you'll notice how much harder it is to flatten it out as it will start to spring back. When it consistently springs back, you can poke it with your finger and it springs back, you can pinch it and it goes quickly back to its original position, and you can form a large dough ball that holds its shape when holding it up in your hand- it's ready.
Step 3- Rising (aka yeast sex ;-) -- it takes yeast 30 minutes for yeast to reproduce)
Clean out the bowl and dry it. Put some extra virgin olive oil at the bottom of the bowl. Place the dough ball upside down into the oil, then right side up and rub the oil on the ball. Re-wet the towel with hot water, wring it out, and cover the bowl and set aside. Let it sit for 2.5-3 hours (the longer the better)
Step 4- Deflation and Rest
Uncover the dough, press down in the middle and pull away from the sides. Reform into a ball and place back into the bowl, covering it again. Let it sit for at least 30 minutes. When I have time, I like to let it sit for 45 minutes to an hour.
Step 5- Form the Loafs- Second rise
Dump the dough ball onto the work surface and knead it slightly. Divide the ball into two equal parts and form each part into its own ball. Lightly grease the bread pans. For each ball, do the following: Flatten the ball into a pizza shape. Fold in the sides like a burrito, then roll it up like a carpet. Squeeze and pinch the ends and the flap to make the seams stick together and form into a loaf that will fit into the pan. Put the loaf into the pan. Set both pans aside, together and place the wet towel over them. Let sit for 1.5-2 hours (the longer the better). About an hour into this rise, preheat the oven to 450 degrees, placing the pan with water in it on a lower rack in the oven.
Step 6-Bake the Bread
Before you place the loaves into the oven, check the water in the pan, put a little more if needed, then close the oven. Uncover the loaves. Take a sharp knife and score the top of the bread by making three quick, diagonal slashes across the top of each loaf (about 1/2 in deep). The quicker the better, don't be timid about this, just do it and do it quickly.
Open the oven. Place both loaves into the oven and close the oven. Set a timer for 20 minutes.
After 20 minutes, reduce the temperature of the oven to 400 degrees and set the timer for 15 minutes (don't open the oven to check the loaves, and don't worry about the steam that might be venting-- just make sure it's not smoke).
After 15 minutes, take the pans out and thump the top of the bread with your finger- if it sounds hollow and is golden brown, then it's done. If not, then put them back in for another 5 minutes, but no more. When done, dump the loaves out and put them on the wire racks.
Step 7- Eating/Storing the Bread
Do not cut the bread until it has cooled- about 20 minutes. After it completely cools, you may store one of the loaves in the freezer by putting it in a plastic bag (when you thaw the bread, do not take it out of the bag until it is completely thawed- it will keep it fresh and moist)
There is no need to place the bread in any container. I just put the bread on a wooden cutting board and cover it with a lint-free towel. Only slice what you need at the moment, then upend the loaf allowing it to stand on the end that was cut- the crust will keep the inside moist.
The bread will last no more than 3 days without going stale. If it does start to get stale, you can then place it in a plastic bag, but it won't last long after that.
I make this recipe once a week to feed three people and it works great, often leaving a few slices for the birds by the end of the week.
This looks like a lot, but after you get the hang of it, you'll want this more than just about any other store-bought bread. It gets easier with practice. I hope you try it! Enjoy!
