Got this recipe off the New York Times, and have been making it like crazy. It's really magical that you can stir up a bowl of flour, water and yeast; let it sit for a day; and end up with bread. And it's not bread like a regular loaf of bread. Not like what we made in Sunday School or Girl Scouts. This is fancy bakery, delicous bread in big, crusty, beautiful rounds. I am seriously amazed that I can do this.
In the past when I've tried to make bread, it's always come out terrible. Not rising enough, or the flavor is bad, or I can't figure out the science of the kneading. I remember when we had a bread machine, when I was in high school, there were all kinds of complex formulas you had to do if you were going to use an alternate flour. Making something crazy, like wheat bread, meant you had to balance out the wheat flour with white flour just right or it would end up hard and nasty. You know what else is nasty? The crust on bread-machine-bread, especially the little baked in hole where the stirring paddle was.
Something about the science of long-rise, no-knead makes it nearly impossible to mess up. I've done it with wheat flour. I've done it with white flour. I've never once used the recommended "bread flour". It is always delicious. I've let it rise anywhere from 12 hours to 28 hours and nothing bad has happened. I might even say that the 28 hour bread was one of the most delicious.
That is until the Carpenter figured out how to make sourdough starter. And now we are making sourdough bread! Oh, yes!! OH, YES!!!
Maybe the Carpenter will tell you all about the starter, and the weekly feedings.
It's OK with me if this is some kind of crazy fad; if girls with glasses all over Brooklyn are making loaves of bread like they're jelly shoes and friendship bracelettes. You know why? Because it is sooooo good. Truly the best bread I've ever tasted, every time. And I made it myself.
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