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
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.
