Bread
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the flour
Keep flour for 4 to 5 weeks before using.
Make and rise the dough
In a large bowl, mix flour with warm water and yeast until tough.
Let the dough rise for about 1 hour and 20 minutes.
Before it falls, add more warm water and salt, and work it well.
Cover the dough with a cloth and prepare the oven.
Shape and bake
Shape the dough into loaves of about 5 pounds each.
Bake in a preheated oven for 2 hours and 30 minutes.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Flour
- Forms the gluten network that gives the bread its structure and chew.
- Yeast
- Produces gas that makes the dough rise and gives the loaves an airy crumb.
The step that matters
Adding water and salt before the dough falls. Working the dough develops gluten, the stretchy network that traps the gas from the yeast. Adding water and salt before the dough collapses and working it well builds that structure, so the loaves hold their shape and rise well in the oven.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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