Starting Over

Second Loaf: Wednesday, December 1, 2010

I decided to go back to what The Fresh Loaf's lesson uses as their "starter" loaf of bread before continuing with whole wheat or anything else crazy.  The recipe is about as simple as it gets:

3 cups flour
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons instant yeast
1 1/8 cup water

I mixed all of the ingredients (I used the Kitchen Aid this time) for about a minute until a ball formed.  I let it rest for 20 minutes then came back and kneaded it by hand for 10 and set it to rise.  This one rose much better than yesterday’s loaf, which I determined had too much salt in it and that's what killed the yeast. 

I shaped it after 90 minutes and let it rest another hour or so.  I had to run an errand when it was time to put the loaf in so I had to set the timer to turn off the oven.  I set it for 35 minutes so residual heat would finish the baking until I got back.  

I was a little nervous setting the oven and leaving.  But as usual, I had nothing to worry about.  The crust was a nice gold color and the crumb was nice and chewy.  Hopefully some lasts until the morning for some breakfast! 

I still used kosher salt with this recipe...I should really go to the store.