Flour Water Salt Yeast

Give the loaf a quarter turn and repeat this tightening step. Proceed in this way until you’ve gone all the way around the dough ball two or three times. The loaf doesn’t need to be super tight, but you don’t want it to be loose, either. I am looking for enough tension so that the loaf holds its shape and its gases. If the shaped loaves are too sof

As noted, whole wheat flour absorbs more water than white flour. Therefore, if you increase the ratio of white flour in a recipe, you’ll need less water to achieve the same dough consistency. Conversely, if you increase the ration of whole wheat flour, you’ll need to add more water to achieve the same consistency.

If you want an even chewier crust, leave the loaves in the oven with the door partly open for a few minutes after turning off the oven.

Hybrid leavening breads have a lighter texture, more volume, and a thinner crust, whereas pure levain breads are pleasingly rustic, being a little less domed and slightly smaller and denser and having bigger holes and more chew to the crust (in a good way).

Here’s an example: Say you want to make one of the Saturday Breads, but an eight-hour bulk fermentation works better with your schedule than the five hours in the recipe. In this case, I’d recommend reducing the amount of yeast by about a third and keeping the temperatures the same.

book. It’s easier to put shaped loaves of bread in the refrigerator, so in this book, doughs are chilled only at the proofing stage. Not only do you get improved flavor and better keeping quality from the acidity that develops, but this overnight proof schedule also gives you the chance to bake bread first thing in the morning. It’s a great way to

See how you like the way the bread tastes. If it’s too tart or sour, you can adjust next time by using slightly cooler water when feeding the levain in the morning or by mixing the final dough a little earlier in the afternoon, when the levain isn’t as ripe. Likewise, if your kitchen is humid and a lot warmer than mine, say 80°F (27°C), then you ma

you want an easy and tasty high-fiber bread that you can make in one day, this is the recipe for you. If you want to work with this schedule and adjust to use your own blend of flours, take a look at the essay “Making a Bread (or Pizza) Dough You Can Call Your Own.” The process and timeline for this bread is the same as the Saturday White Bread, bu

In fact, this is a key principle that guides me in developing all of my bread recipes: Less yeast and more time yields a better bread.