Who said bread and beer diet was bad?

So I have been on a bread kick lately. Well breads and desserts for the last month. The experiments I have with desserts are not about testing the laws of basic desserts and their properties but their limits. How loose can you make a custard? How cold can you get it before it freezes? Does ice cream have to be ice cold? Can't I let it rest a room temp for a second to see if the flavors chisel their way out of the near frozen crystalline structures?



But that data isn't complete yet so I wanted to turn my attention to breads.



Ok, breads. Well what about them? Everybody secretly is a bread whore. I mean most people wish they could be hiding behind the couch, pressed against the cushions, belly disended, mouth agape with fresh bread bits and eyes rolled back enjoying the flavors. Yes, you know it is. But why?



So I am going to take it a little primal. Bread is a living food. A food that needs beautiful yeast to transmute some rudimentary basic ingredients into something sexy and delicious. Let's face it, that's the stuff of real magic. Yeast turning flour, water and salt into bread is sexy.



Sure, some dumbass left dough out for a little while because his house was on fire and upon returning he discovered the absolute unreal beauty of yeast. Most likely the idiot gave praise to god but I won't look down on him for his obvious blasphemy. The true beauty of baking bread and all culinary techniques is there is no religious ingredient, its all the sublime bliss of a human using their hands to exact an edible alchemy. Maybe you can't make gold out of lead, but this is pretty damn close.



So, bread. Everybody will contend they have the best recipe. Yet the arguement isn't so much that but what ways they use it. Most bread is flour, yeast, salt and water. Others have different ways of manifesting those ingredients. Granted there are all these variations of bread with untold flavors, components and tastes not to mention the proceedures and skills necessary for the perfect execution of the recipe but it all started a four component formula. So why not start with the basics?

Starters are something quite spectacular as far as taking a twist on something so simple. A bread starter is some yeast, flour, water and a bit of something sweet to get the yeast into the mood. Give that a mix and some time. Adding more flour, salt and water later to this expanded goo after a few hours past makes for a spectacular taste.

Don't believe me? Well try the experiement on your own. (This is a baker's formula. All percentages are in referrence to the amount of flour. Ergo: 1% salt means the salt needed is one percent the weight of the flour)

The Basic Formula
100% flour (I use some basic Blue Ribbon Bread Flour [cheap, easy, Consistent])
66% Water
2% yeast
2% salt

Procedure
1] Whisk flour, yeast and salt.
2] Add water, scrap well and combine throughly.
3] Cover and let rest for 15 minutes.
4] Knead until out layer of dough begins to tear about 10 full kneads. Shape into a ball. Let rise for about 45 mins COVERED.
5] Knead softly. Pretend its a cherished shirt or some precious garment that you want to keep for years. Cover, let rise for 45 mins.
6] Shape into loaves. Cover and rest for 25 mins. Oven needs to be at 425.
7] Score loaves.
8] Bake. Before closing oven spritz water with a spray bottle (Must be clean). Close and bake for 10 mins. Reduce temp to 400 and bake for another 20. Cool at room temp let sit for 5 minutes at least.

Eat...

Cheers... The other recipe will be added shortly...