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coraa* The living room is CLEAN. In that way where it's clean enough that I wouldn't be embarrassed to have people over.
* The bedroom is ON ITS WAY TO BEING CLEAN.
* The roomba is adorable.
* I made a loaf of sourdough rye bread for sandwiches, and another loaf of sourdough rye -- in an artisan boule type shape, for eating out of hand or toasting or dipping in olive oil -- is in the oven.
* Did I mention that the living room is CLEAN?
Here's my recipe for no-knead sourdough rye, a mostly-wholegrain bread that has wonderful flavor and a great crust. If you can stir, you can make this bread, I promise.
No-Knead Sourdough Rye Bread
This doubles readily to make more than one loaf, if you like.
There's about a day between starting the dough and getting the final loaf of bread, but there's really only maybe fifteen minutes of actual work, plus an hour of baking time. A lot of it's just sitting time, which can happen overnight, or while you're at work, or both.
Mix the sourdough starter with the water and a pinch of sugar in a big bowl. (The pinch of sugar is optional, but I find it helpful.) If your starter is kind of wussy, as mine sometimes is, and doesn't give you as much loft in your bread as you'd like, you can add a quarter teaspoon or so of commercial yeast. I won't tell on you. Mix it all together until the starter has broken up in the water a little.
Add the flour, stirring after adding each type. You can fiddle the proportions of flour as you like: the more whole-wheat, the better it will be for you, but also the denser it will be. Feel free to experiment. Once the flour is all added, stir in the salt and mix in well. The dough should be shaggy and damp (but not wet) at this point; if it seems dry, add another quarter-cup or so of water.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let sit for 12-24 hours. I like it best after 18 hours, but I like my sourdough really good and sour. Mileage may vary.
After 12-24 hours, it should be pretty well swelled-up and the surface should be thoroughly dotted with bubbles. (If it's not, I'm sorry, your yeast or starter is dead; you'll need to start again with new starter or new yeast, because baking it with dead yeast will just make you a whole-wheat brick.) Stir it to deflate it and let it rest 15 minutes. (This is the point at which I pull an equal quantity of dough out of the pot as I put in starter to begin with. I put that in my starter jar and stick it back in the fridge. If you make bread once or twice a week, you can do this to feed your starter, without needing to add anything else.)
At this point, you have two choices. You can make a sandwich-loaf-shaped loaf in a loaf pan, or you can use a covered oven-safe Dutch oven to make a crisp-crusted artisan-style loaf. (I actually doubled the recipe and made one of each.)
If you want a sandwich-loaf-shaped loaf, lightly grease your loaf pan and pour the dough in. Let it rise for an hour or two. Preheat the oven to 350F, slide in the loaf pan, and bake until done. (You can determine doneness the scientific way -- with a thermometer; the interior should read 200F -- or the oldskool way, by sliding the loaf out of the pan and thumping it soundly on the bottom. If it sounds hollow, it's done.)
If you want a crisp-crusted round artisinal loaf, turn the dough out onto a clean dishcloth, cover with the edges of the dishcloth, and let rise an hour or two. Preheat the oven to 450F, and preheat your oven-save Dutch oven in the oven at the same time. (If you have a finicky smoke alarm, this may make it go off. Try opening the windows and turning on the fan.) When the oven is preheated, pull the Dutch oven out (carefully, as it's almost unbelievably hot), drop the dough in, shake the pot to make the dough lie flat-ish, and cover with the lid. Bake for 30 minutes, then remove the lid and bake for 15-30 more, or until it's nicely browned and the interior reaches 200F.
In either case, turn out onto a cooling rack, and let cool at least a bit before slicing. Try it just with plain butter or olive oil first, to appreciate the flavors.
Mmmm....
* The bedroom is ON ITS WAY TO BEING CLEAN.
* The roomba is adorable.
* I made a loaf of sourdough rye bread for sandwiches, and another loaf of sourdough rye -- in an artisan boule type shape, for eating out of hand or toasting or dipping in olive oil -- is in the oven.
* Did I mention that the living room is CLEAN?
Here's my recipe for no-knead sourdough rye, a mostly-wholegrain bread that has wonderful flavor and a great crust. If you can stir, you can make this bread, I promise.
No-Knead Sourdough Rye Bread
This doubles readily to make more than one loaf, if you like.
There's about a day between starting the dough and getting the final loaf of bread, but there's really only maybe fifteen minutes of actual work, plus an hour of baking time. A lot of it's just sitting time, which can happen overnight, or while you're at work, or both.
- about half a cup to a cup of healthy sourdough starter
- 1 1/2 cups water
- pinch sugar
- 1 cup bread flour
- 1 cup dark rye flour
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/2 tbsp salt
Mix the sourdough starter with the water and a pinch of sugar in a big bowl. (The pinch of sugar is optional, but I find it helpful.) If your starter is kind of wussy, as mine sometimes is, and doesn't give you as much loft in your bread as you'd like, you can add a quarter teaspoon or so of commercial yeast. I won't tell on you. Mix it all together until the starter has broken up in the water a little.
Add the flour, stirring after adding each type. You can fiddle the proportions of flour as you like: the more whole-wheat, the better it will be for you, but also the denser it will be. Feel free to experiment. Once the flour is all added, stir in the salt and mix in well. The dough should be shaggy and damp (but not wet) at this point; if it seems dry, add another quarter-cup or so of water.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let sit for 12-24 hours. I like it best after 18 hours, but I like my sourdough really good and sour. Mileage may vary.
After 12-24 hours, it should be pretty well swelled-up and the surface should be thoroughly dotted with bubbles. (If it's not, I'm sorry, your yeast or starter is dead; you'll need to start again with new starter or new yeast, because baking it with dead yeast will just make you a whole-wheat brick.) Stir it to deflate it and let it rest 15 minutes. (This is the point at which I pull an equal quantity of dough out of the pot as I put in starter to begin with. I put that in my starter jar and stick it back in the fridge. If you make bread once or twice a week, you can do this to feed your starter, without needing to add anything else.)
At this point, you have two choices. You can make a sandwich-loaf-shaped loaf in a loaf pan, or you can use a covered oven-safe Dutch oven to make a crisp-crusted artisan-style loaf. (I actually doubled the recipe and made one of each.)
If you want a sandwich-loaf-shaped loaf, lightly grease your loaf pan and pour the dough in. Let it rise for an hour or two. Preheat the oven to 350F, slide in the loaf pan, and bake until done. (You can determine doneness the scientific way -- with a thermometer; the interior should read 200F -- or the oldskool way, by sliding the loaf out of the pan and thumping it soundly on the bottom. If it sounds hollow, it's done.)
If you want a crisp-crusted round artisinal loaf, turn the dough out onto a clean dishcloth, cover with the edges of the dishcloth, and let rise an hour or two. Preheat the oven to 450F, and preheat your oven-save Dutch oven in the oven at the same time. (If you have a finicky smoke alarm, this may make it go off. Try opening the windows and turning on the fan.) When the oven is preheated, pull the Dutch oven out (carefully, as it's almost unbelievably hot), drop the dough in, shake the pot to make the dough lie flat-ish, and cover with the lid. Bake for 30 minutes, then remove the lid and bake for 15-30 more, or until it's nicely browned and the interior reaches 200F.
In either case, turn out onto a cooling rack, and let cool at least a bit before slicing. Try it just with plain butter or olive oil first, to appreciate the flavors.
Mmmm....
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