One of my New Year's Resolutions was to become an experienced bread baker.
So I've been making lots of loaves, mostly successful.
Thanks to Pablo for much advice. (He worked in the lab at Grain Millers for years experimenting with bread recipes.)
One of my early frustrations with homemade bread was that it didn't consistently turn out good. This recipe is pretty foolproof. It is fairly flexible and so far has been delicious.
One of the things I love about bread is that it goes against the "want it now, get it now" mentality so much the norm in our culture. We often decide an hour before dinner what we want and then run to the store for ingredients.
For these yummy loaves you'll need to start a good 24 hours before you inhale the final product.
Best Bread Recipe
Starter:
2 cups cooked oats
2 cups water
1/4 cup olive oil
1 Tbs salt
1Tbs yeast
1 cup whole wheat flour
Blend the oats and water then stir in the rest of the ingredients. Cover and let rest on the counter 12 - 24 hours. If life gets hectic, you can put it in the fridge for a few days until you are ready.
Il Pane:
1/4 cup maple syrup or honey
2 Tbs. molasses (I use blackstrap)
3 cups whole wheat flour
3 cups unbleached white flour (give or take depending upon how dry or wet your cooked oats were)
When you are ready, mix the starter with maple syrup or honey and molasses. Then stir in the whole wheat flour and the white flour. Knead for 10 minutes or until it is smooth and springy. (Mine are always sticky but I've found tacky is better than overfloured.)
Put in in a big oiled bowl, cover with a dishtowel and let rise about 1.5 hours or until it is doubled in size.
Punch down and shape into two loaves. Put the dough into two oiled loaf pans, cover and proof on the counter for about 45 minutes.
Preheat the oven while it is proofing to 350.
Bake for about 50 minutes.
Turn the loaves out of the pans about 10 minutes after taking them out of the oven. Make sure they cool on a rack before slicing.
This bread is sooooo good with butter and honey.
