Sunday, April 27, 2008

Rose Levy Berenbaum's Hearth Bread



I made bread.

Good bread.

Edible. Not a doorstop.

Made Groom smile.

Made me smile. Made the house smell like a bakery.

And it was easy. There wasn’t a lot of kneading. There wasn’t a warm water thing with the yeast.

And I’ll do this again.

After 30 years and God knows how many doorstops I’ve made, the curse is broken.

Thank God for Rose Levy Berenbaum.



Rose Levy Berenbaum’s Hearth Bread from the back of the Gold Medal Harvest King Bread Flour Bag

3-1/3 cups Harvest King bread flour
¼ cup whole wheat flour
1-½ tsp fine sea salt
1-¼ tsp bread machine yeast
1-1/3 cups water
1 tsp honey
Extra virgin olive oil

Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup, level off with knife. In medium bowl, stir together flours, salt and yeast. Stir in water and honey.

Place dough on silpat and knead til smooth an springy but still slightly sticky. Add a little flour or water as necessary. Lightly brush oil inside of large bowl. Place dough inside bowl and turn to oil all sides. Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let rise in warm place about an hour or until dough has doubled in size. Dough is ready if indentation remains when touched.

Line a cookie sheet with cooking parchment paper or lightly sprinkle with cornmeal. Gently push fist into dough to deflate. Flatten dough and shape into round ball. Place on cookie sheet. Cover with oiled plastic wrap and let rise in warm place for 45 minutes or until dough has doubled in size again.

Place baking stone on lowest rack in oven. Heat oven to 475. Carefully cut an x shaped slash on top of the dough. Spray with cool water. Place cookie sheet in oven on baking stone. Place 1 cup water in shallow pan on another oven rack.

Bake 10 minutes reduce oven temperature to 425. Bake an additional 20 minutes or until bread is golden brown and skewer in center comes out clean.

Cool completely on baking rack. Like this is going to ever happen in this house!

Ideas for things to stir in:
¼ cup of Kalamata olives,
Roasted garlic cloves, cut up sundried tomatoes, sliced chives, shelled sunflower seeds, 1 tsp fresh or ½ tsp dried herbs.

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9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yay! Congrats. Can't wait to see you continue the trend :)

Anonymous said...

Mary:

That's a very lovely loaf, and tasty too, I'm sure.

I've got to start making bread again. Doorstops aren't that bad, I've made many of them and they are edible--just a little hard on the dentitia.

I like to make a rosemary, black olive and sundried tomato loaf with half whole wheat and half white (all King Arthur's).

democommie

michael, claudia and sierra said...

wow - congrats
and i made pasta

what will we think of next?

i'll make pizza gough and maybe maybe pita bread. maybe...

RecipeGirl said...

Your post made me smile. I'm a little bread-baking challenged so I'm glad to hear of a success to try!

MrsDocChuck said...

I used to be a professional pastry chef in the good old days when I lived in my hometown of Brooklyn, NY.

Now that I have been dumped in Clearwater, Florida, by my fourth ex-husband, I don't have much time to bake.

Plus, my new boyfriend "Big Bear" doesn't need too much bread (he weighs 437 pounds already).

But your post has definitely inspired me. Thank you so much for sharing.

Madeline said...

Congratulations! It looks gorgeous, nice work.

Mary Coleman said...

Kristen: Thanks so much. The trend will continue!

Demohoney: Sounds fab...send me some when you get that kitchen going.

Claudia: Don't overdo..we have years to experiment.

Lori: You can do it. You do everything else beautifully. I have complete faith in you.

Mrsdocchuck: You're more than welcome!

Madeline: Thanks for stopping by to check out the blog. Much appreciated!

Joy of Cooking said...

mary- yeah!!! making your own bread is the best. And so is Rose. I'm glad you used her recipe. Next up for you and claudia: BRIOCHE!! I'll post about it one day...

and, have fun at the beach! I am slightly jealous!

Mary Coleman said...

Joy:
I most definitely will do brioche. I love that stuff!!!