Josey Baker Bread

5. Let the loaf rise. Spray or brush the top of the loaf with oil (so the foil doesn’t stick to it), and then cover the loaf with aluminum foil. Tent the foil so that there’s room for the dough to rise about 2 in/5 cm. Now for the hard part: Leave it alone for about 4 hours. Put it somewhere out of the way so it won’t be disturbed, like on top of your

THE HECK? Indeed, this is a little different from what most people think of as kneading—it’s more like stretching and folding. Instead of putting the dough on your countertop and using your strong muscles to rub the dough over and over for many minutes, all the while adding flour to keep it from sticking, and just getting all worked up and sweaty,

This flour/water/yeast mixture goes by many names, but we will call it a pre-ferment. The point is to use a little bit of yeast and let it really work for you. By letting the yeast sit in the flour and water for 8 to 12 hours, you’re letting the magical process of fermentation run its course.

The starter is usually ready to be made into a pre-ferment 12 to 24 hours after its last feeding, depending mostly on temperature and how sour you want your bread to be.

9. Shape your loaf. Now for the final shaping. Sprinkle a small handful of flour on top of the dough, and use your spatula or bench knife to flip it on its head, so that the seam is facing up. With palms facing upward, use both hands to grab the dough on the side nearest you. Gently lift the dough off the table, letting gravity stretch it downward. Pu

6. Let the magic happen. Leave the dough alone for another 2 to 3 hours, until it has increased in volume by about half. (Yes, this is less than before, and yes, it will all still work.) Depending on too many things to list here (but look below if you’re curious), this process should take anywhere from 2 to 6 hours longer. Or you can also stick the do

Possible Bread-Baking Schedules (PBBS) WHAT YOU’RE DOING PBBS #1: “AFTER DINNER” PBBS #2: “EARLY BIRD” PBBS #3: “LUNCH BREAK” mix pre-ferment (step 2) after dinner, say 8 P.M. before you go to work/school, say 8:30 A.M. during your lunch break, maybe 12:30 P.M. mix dough (step 4) before breakfast, say 8:30 A.M. after dinner, say 8 P.M. about 10 or

WHAT TYPE OF LOAF PAN SHOULD I USE? This recipe makes about 2 pounds/900 grams of dough, which will fill out a pan that is 81/2 by 41/2 by 2 in/21.5 by 11 by 5 cm. If you have strong feelings about the final shape of your loaf, you’ll need to get a pan that matches your vision, but all of the bread recipes in this book assume a loaf pan of dimensio

When the bread first comes out of the oven it is actually still baking, so you simply must give it time to cool down.