White, Whole Rye, and Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread

This White, Whole Rye, and Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread is a wonderful combination of three kinds of flour. 

This bread begins with an active levain (sourdough) and requires a couple of days to complete. The interior is super soft and the crust is very chewy. It makes great deli-style sandwiches.

75% Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread

This 75% whole wheat bread is so flavorful, and it actually gets more tasty over a couple of days. It's wonderful when spread with lots of good salted butter, as toast, and spread with soft herbed cheese.

The crumb of this bread is a little more dense than most high hydration loaves. That is because of the high percentage of whole wheat.

White Bread with Poolish

This White Bread with Poolish is one of my favorite artisan loaves to make. I love the open crumb and crunchy crust, and the method for making this bread is pretty foolproof. 

The crust of this White Bread with Poolish crackles for a long time after the bread emerges from the oven. I feel compelled to listen to it until it quiets down.

Apple and Ham Pizza

This apple and ham pizza absolutely made my day.  The combination of the apple, ham, and Havarti cheese is the perfect combination of savory and sweet, and the apples hold up well during the hot bake.

We had this pizza for dinner with a salad, and I had the lone leftover piece for breakfast the next day. I immediately made it again. So good.

The crust for this pizza is really versatile and easy to work with. The dough is mixed a day in advance and magically rises overnight. The dough recipe yields five pizzas. You refrigerate the dough after shaping it into dough balls, and you can make pizza over two to three days. Woo hoo! I used the rest of the dough to work on my pizza skills, including baking pizza on the barbecue. It was awesome. (I'm pretty sure I drove my friends on Instagram crazy with all of the pizza posts).

The outer crust gets all airy and bubbly, and the pizza is crispy throughout.

Will I make this again? Oh yeah.

Apple and Ham Pizza

Overnight Pizza Dough

1000 grams (7 3/4 C) white flour

3 C water at 90 to 95 degrees F

20 g (1 T + 3/4 tsp) fine sea salt

.8 g (scant 1/4 tsp) instant yeast

1. Hydrate the yeast in a small amount of the measured and heated water in a small container. 
2. In a very large bowl or 12 quart dough rising bucket, combine the flour and the rest of the water. Mix by hand until all of the flour is wet, cover, and let rest for 30 minutes. 
3. Scatter the salt over the top of the dough, and add the yeast mixture. Wipe out the container with a piece of the dough to get all of the dissolved yeast. 
4. Mix the dough by hand by pinching it and folding it alternatively, until the salt and yeast is fully incorporated, about 3 to 5 minutes. 
5. Cover and let rest for 30 minutes. Stretch and fold the dough twice during the first hour (once after 30 minutes, and once after 60 minutes). 
6. After the last fold, spray the top of the dough with spray oil, cover the dough, and let it rise for about 12 hours at room temperature. 
7. When the dough is ready, gently ease it onto a floured work surface. Cut it into 5 equal pieces, about 340 grams each. 
8. Shape the pieces into balls and place them onto a floured baking sheet. Spray the tops with spray oil, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 6 hours and up to 3 days. 

Apple and Ham Pizza

1 T olive oil plus more for the baking sheet

1/2 thinly sliced red onion

1 T fresh thyme

Salt and pepper

1 pizza dough ball

8 ounces grated Havarti cheese

1 thinly sliced crisp apple, peel on (I used Honeycrisp, but Braeburn would be great too)

4 ounces thinly sliced ham

1. Place a pizza stone in the middle of your oven and preheat it to its highest temperature.
2. Rub 1 T olive oil onto a rimmed baking sheet.
3. Toss the red onion with the thyme, 1 T olive oil, and salt and pepper. 
4. Place the pizza dough onto a floured work surface and press it down to form a disk. Flip it over, and continue to press it to stretch the dough. Pick it up, and stretch it with your hands. 
5. Place it over your hands, and work it around with your knuckles to continue to stretch the dough. 
6. Place the dough onto the oiled baking sheet. Press it into the oil to stretch to to about a 10 inch round. Take the cheese, and press it into the dough. As you add the cheese, the dough should eventually stretch into a 12 inch round. 
7. Add the onion mixture, top with the apples and the ham. 
8. Place the baking sheet on top of the baking stone and bake for about 5 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 400 degrees F and continue baking for about 15 to 20 minutes more, until the crust is golden brown. 

The pizza dough recipe was adapted from Ken Forkish's book, Flour, Salt, Water, Yeast. The book is amazing. Trust me. You can also find the recipe here. 

Overnight Country Sourdough Bread

This overnight country sourdough bread is thusly named because the first rise takes 12 to 15 hours. The resulting bread is has a wonderful sourdough tang because of the long rise time.

White Flour Warm Spot Levain

The reason why this bread is called Warm Spot Levain is because the sourdough starter is fed three times in a fairly short period of time and then allowed to sit in an 85 degree environment between each feeding. The final levain is stiffer than most (70 percent hydration), and has a uniquely sweet/sour flavor.

You will need three days to make this bread (three days????) but it is worth it.

For my "warm spot," I placed the levain in the garage (it is summer right now). You could also place it in the microwave along with two coffee cups of freshly boiled water, under a heat lamp, or in a gas oven with the light on.

The resulting bread has a super crispy crunchy crust and an amazingly soft, moist interior.

Because making this bread required feeding a levain three times in a short period of time, I had quite a bit of starter left over. Since I hate tossing out that much levain, I used some of the excess to make this Sourdough Polenta Bread.

This bread freezes well. Once it cools, wrap it in foil and then plastic wrap, and freeze it immediately. To thaw, remove the plastic wrap and let it sit in the foil until it has thawed.

White Flour Warm-Spot Levain Bread

Adapted from Flour Water Salt Yeast: The Fundamentals of Artisan Bread and Pizza.

Ingredients

First Levain Feeding

50 grams sourdough starter that has been fed about 24 hours ago

250 g white flour

175 g 85 degree water

Second Levain Feeding

50 g of the first levain

250 g white flour

175 g 80 degree water

Third Levain Feeding

100 g of the second levain

500 g white flour

350 g 85 degree water

Final Dough

750 g white flour

605 g 80 degree F water

20 g fine sea salt

1 g instant yeast

425 g of the levain

Instructions

1. Around 9 am on the first day, mix the first levain with your hand or a spoon and cover with plastic wrap. Place it in a very warm place (85 degree F) to rest. 
2. Eight hours later, discard (or save for another use) all but 50 g of the levain, and feed it again. Mix with your hand or a spoon, and cover with plastic wrap. Place in a very warm place (85 degrees F) to rest overnight. 
3. The next morning, discard (or save for another use) all but 100 g of the levain and feed it again with the ingredients listed above under "Third Levain Feeding." Cover with plastic wrap and let it rest for 6 hours in a very warm place (85 degrees F). You should have about 2 quarts of levain. 
4. To make the final dough, mix the white flour and water in a 12 qt bucket or very large bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let it sit for 30 minutes. 
5. Sprinkle the salt and yeast over the top of the dough and add 425 g of the levain to the bucket/bowl. A scale is essential. 
6. Mix with your wet hand by alternatively folding and pinching the dough to fully mix in the salt and yeast, as well as incorporate the levain. 
7. Cover the container, and do four stretch and folds, every 30 minutes. When the dough is 2 1/2 times its original size, about 6 hours later, it's ready to divide and shape. 
8. Dust your work surface with flour.
9. Gently remove the dough onto you work surface, and divide it in half with a bench knife. 
10. Form the dough into two medium tight balls and place them, seam side down, into two floured proofing baskets. Cover with plastic wrap or place in a plastic bag, and refrigerate overnight, 12 to 14 hours. 
11. About 45 minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 475 degrees F with two empty covered Dutch ovens placed on the middle rack. 
12. When you are ready to bake, cut parchment into two 9 inch by 15+ inch pieces. 
13. Remove the Dutch ovens from the oven and remove the tops. One loaf at a time, place the parchment over the dough and place a plate over it. Flip the dough over, remove the basket, and lift and place the loaf in the Dutch oven by using the parchment as a sling (leave the paper under the dough). Cover the Dutch oven and place it in the hot oven. Repeat with the second loaf. 
14. Bake covered for 30 minutes, and then remove the Dutch ovens from the hot oven, uncover, and place the loaves on a baking sheet. Be careful not to burn yourself! Place the baking sheet into the oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes more, until the interior of the bread reaches 205 to 210 degrees F and the bread is a deep brown. My loaves were ready sooner, so check early. 
15. Cool completely on a wire rack. 

This bread has been Yeastspotted

Double-Fed Sweet Levain Bread - An Amazing Sourdough Bread

This Double-Fed Sweet Levain Bread is, to me, a revelation. I can't stop walking into the kitchen and slicing off a sliver, slathering it with butter, and taking another taste.

My theory is that if you eat it in tiny slices it doesn't count. It's practically zero calories, right?

When it was baking, the aroma was amazing. This is a sourdough that is both traditionally sour, and yet sweet because of the two feedings within a short period of time. The bread is moist and soft, and the crust is chewy and flavorful.

It still amazes me that bread that is unenriched (meaning no fat, no eggs, no sugar) lasts a lot longer than enriched bread. Sourdough bread, in particular, has an amazing way of staying fresh for several days. It's kind of magical.

I posted the photo above on the Artisan Bread Bakers Facebook page and someone casually commented, "it looks like a Forkish bread."

Um. Yeah!! Which means it looks awesome!

This person obviously does not know about my obsession with Flour, Water, Salt, and Yeast (I am not a stalker. Even though I used valuable vacation time from my job to visit his bakery and restaurant. That's two different days people.)

Sigh....

Double-Fed Sweet Levain Bread

Adapted from Flour, Water, Salt, and Yeast, by Ken Forkish

Note: This one requires an overnight rise in the refrigerator. Start the morning of the day before you plan to bake the loaves.

Tools I used to make this bread:

1. 12 quart Cambro bucket (a large bowl would work)
2. Kitchen scale
3. Two 9 inch bannetons 
4. Two Lodge combo cooker Dutch ovens
5. Plastic dough scraper
6. Metal bench scraper
7. Bowl of water
8. My hands 

Ingredients

First Sourdough Feeding

50 g active sourdough 

200 g unbleached all purpose flour

50 g whole wheat flour

200 g water at 95 degrees F

Second Sourdough Feeding

250 g sourdough from the first feeding

400 g unbleached all purpose flour

100 g whole wheat flour

400 g water, 85 to 90 degrees F

Final Bread Dough

660 g unbleached all purpose flour

40 g whole wheat flour

540 g water, about 95 degrees F

20 g salt

2 g instant yeast

540 g of the second sourdough 

Instructions

1. Mix the ingredients for the first sourdough feeding in a bowl large enough for the ingredients to double, and cover with plastic wrap. Let sit for 3 hours.
2. In a large bowl, mix the ingredients for the second sourdough until just incorporated. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit for for 4 or 5 hours. 
3. From the Final Bread Dough ingredients list, mix the flours and water until just incorporated. I use a 12 quart round Cambro tub. Cover and let rest (autolyse) for 30 minutes. 
4. Add the salt and yeast over the top of the dough, and then add 540 grams of the second sourdough. I place my tub on a scale and then add the sourdough until I have the correct amount. 
5. With a wet hand (I keep a bowl of water nearby), mix the dough by pinching it and folding it alternately to mix in the salt and yeast and integrate the sourdough. 
6. Let rise for five hours, with 4 stretch and folds every 30 minutes the first two hours. (Take the dough, stretch it, and fold it over itself, from all four "sides.") The dough should be about 2 1/2 times its original size. 
7. Gently remove the dough onto you work surface, and divide it in half with a bench knife. 
8. Form the dough into two medium tight balls and place them, seam side down, into two floured proofing baskets. Cover with plastic wrap or place in a plastic bag, and refrigerate overnight, 12 to 14 hours. 
9. About 45 minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 475 degrees F with two empty covered Dutch ovens placed on the middle rack. 
10. When you are ready to bake, cut parchment into two 9 inch by 15+ inch pieces. 
11. Remove the Dutch ovens from the oven and remove the tops. One loaf at a time, place the parchment over the dough and place a plate over it. Flip the dough over, remove the basket, and lift and place the loaf in the Dutch oven by using the parchment as a sling (leave the paper under the dough). Cover the Dutch oven and place it in the hot oven. Repeat with the second loaf. 
12. Bake covered for 30 minutes, and then remove the Dutch ovens from the hot oven, uncover, and place the loaves on a baking sheet. Be careful not to burn yourself! Place the baking sheet into the oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes more, until the interior of the bread reaches 205 to 210 degrees F and the bread is a deep brown. My loaves were ready sooner, so check early. 
13. Cool completely on a wire rack. 

This bread has been Yeastspotted

Skillet Pizza

This cast iron skillet pizza is so easy to make it's almost foolproof. Rather than juggle with a pizza peel and a hot baking stone, I placed this dough into a cold skillet, topped it, and then baked it near the bottom of a super hot oven. The baking time is about triple the time it would take to bake the pizza on a hot stone, and the crust is very firm.

The dough is ready in about 8 hours, with a 6 hour first proof and a 1 1/2 to 2 hour second proof after shaping. If you want to bake your pizzas the same day, mix the dough by 9 a.m. and you'll have pizza by 6 p.m. You can also keep the dough balls in the refrigerator for up to two days.

I divided the final dough into eight 200 gram pieces for a thinner crust pizza. You can also divide the dough into five 320 gram pieces for a thicker crust pizza.

This dough can also be used for Neapolitan style pizza or focaccia. For bread geeks, the hydration level of the dough is 70%.

Of course, you can use some of the leftover pepperoni, sauce, and cheese to make pizza muffins in no time at all. Pizza for breakfast! 

The pizza pictured here is topped with a smooth tomato sauce (page 230 in Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast), whole milk mozzarella cheese, salami, pepperoni, and Canadian bacon. The resulting pizza got two thumbs up from the pizza lovers who tried it. The crust is super crunchy and flavorful, and holds up well under the cheese and meat. If you like a char on your crust, just turn on the broiler for the last few minutes (keep a close eye on it so it doesn't burn).

I happened to have a 1 Kg bag of Caputo 00 flour that I picked up for just such an occasion (you never know, right?). If you don't have 00 flour (who doesn't?) any good quality unbleached all purpose flour will work with this recipe.

Skillet Pizza

Adapted from Ken Forkish's Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast

Dough Ingredients

700 g (3 C) 90 degree F water

2 g (1/2 tsp) instant yeast

1000 g (7 3/4 Cups) white flour (either 00 flour or unbleached all purpose flour)

20 g (1 T +3/4 tsp) fine sea salt

Instructions

1. Mix 3 T of the warm water and the yeast in a small container and set aside. 
2. In a 12 quart container, combine the flour and the rest of the water by hand until incorporated. Cover and let rest for 20 minutes. 
3. Sprinkle the salt over the dough and add the yeast mixture. 
4. Mix by hand, folding the dough over itself several times. Then pinch the dough with your fingers to make sure the salt is fully incorporated. Alternate between pinching and folding until the salt is incorporated and the dough is about 78 degrees F. 
5. Let the dough rest for about 60 minutes, covered. Fold the dough from all four sides and re-cover it. 
6. Form the dough into a ball, add some olive oil to the container, and roll the dough to fully coat it. 
7. After 6 hours, the dough should be doubled in size. Divide the dough into 8 equal parts. 
8. Shape each piece into a ball. 
9. Place each dough ball onto a floured baking sheet, spraying each ball with spray oil so that the balls do not stick to each other. Cover the dough with oiled plastic wrap and let rest for 30 to 60 minutes at room temperature. Next, place the baking sheet in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, and up to 2 days. 
10. Remove the number of dough pieces that you will be baking from the refrigerator. Preheat the oven to 525 degrees F with a rack placed on the lowest rung. 
11. Stretch one of the dough balls into a nine inch circle and place it into a 9 inch cast iron skillet. Depending on your oven size and the number of skillets you have, you can bake more than one pizza at a time. 
12. Top with your favorite sauce, cheeses, and meats, and vegetables. 
13. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the dough is fully baked and the cheese is melted. 
14. Remove from the oven, and using tongs, slide the pizza onto a cutting board, slice, and eat. 
15. Repeat with the rest of the dough, or save it in the refrigerator and bake more pizza the next day! 

White, Rye, and Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread

This White, Rye, and Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread is called Field Blend #1 in Ken Forkish's Flour Water Salt Yeast: The Fundamentals of Artisan Bread and Pizza. 

White Bread and Skillet Pizza with 80% Biga

Why is this bread called white bread with 80% biga? Because 80% of the dough is biga.

That clears it up, right? No? All righty then. I guess I'm going to get all bread geek on you.

Biga you ask? A biga is a a stiff dough preferment. What does that mean? Many Italian bread recipes call for a biga, which consists of flour and water, and a small amount of yeast. It is left out to ferment overnight and develop flavor.

The next day, the biga is mixed in with just a little bit more flour, water, salt, and yeast to make a 75% hydration dough. The resulting bread has a super thin crispy crust that crackles for several minutes after removing the bread from the oven. It has a wonderful flavor and stays fresh for several days.

You can make two loaves from this recipe, or make individual pizzas from half of the dough. If you choose to make pizzas, divide half of the dough into three pieces, form them into balls, cover them with oiled plastic wrap, and refrigerate them overnight or up to two days. I placed mine into plastic bags that had been sprayed with spray oil (see this photo on Instagram).

I decided to try the Skillet Pizza method from Ken Forkish's book, Flour Water Salt Yeast: The Fundamentals of Artisan Bread and Pizza.

This method calls for placing the stretched dough into a cold cast iron skillet, topping it, and placing it into a very hot oven for about 20 minutes. While it is my quest to master the method and flavor of Napolitano pizza, this was pretty darn fabulous, and so much easier than the pizza peel high wire act.

Of course I had leftover pizza for breakfast.

White Bread with 80% Biga

Ingredients

Biga

800 g unbleached all purpose flour

544 g 80 degree F water

1/16 tsp (.64 g) instant yeast

Final Dough

200 g unbleached all purpose flour

206 g 105 degree F water
22 g fine sea salt

2 g instant yeast

All of the biga

Instructions

1. Mix all of the biga ingredients in a large bowl or 6 quart tub by pinching and stirring the ingredients by hand. Cover the tub with plastic wrap and leave out overnight, about 12 to 14 hours. The dough should have about tripled in size. 
2. To make the final dough, mix the flour, water, salt, and yeast together in a large bowl or 12 quart tub by hand. Add the biga and mix by hand. Keep a bowl of water nearby to wet your hand to keep the dough from sticking. Alternate between folding and pinching the dough. The whole process should take just a few minutes. Cover and let sit for 30 minutes.
3. Stretch and fold the dough at 30 minutes, 60 minutes, and 90 minutes. Let the dough rise for another 60 to 90 minutes, until it has risen to about 2 1/2 times its original size. 
4. Generously flour 2 (or one if you are making pizza with half of the dough) proofing baskets. I used a mix of all purpose and brown rice flour. You can also use a mixing bowl lined with a lint free kitchen towel that has been sprayed with oil and heavily floured. 
5. With a wet dough scraper or wet hands, loosen the dough from the sides of the bucket and gently turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Cut the dough into two even pieces (to make pizza, reserve half of the dough for pizza, see below). 
6. Shape the dough into boules, creating a taut skin over the top. Place the shaped dough into each basket, seam side down. 
7. Spray the top of the dough with spray oil, and cover with plastic wrap. 
8. Preheat the oven to 475 degrees F with two (or one if you are making pizza with the rest of the dough) empty covered Dutch ovens placed on the middle rack. 
9. Allow the dough to rise about 45 to 60 minutes, until puffy. How to know if the loaves are ready? Here is Ken Forkish, the author, demonstrating the "finger dent test."
10. When you are ready to bake, cut parchment into two 9 inch by 15+ inch pieces. 
11. Remove the Dutch ovens from the oven and remove the tops. One loaf at a time, place the parchment over the dough and place a plate over it. Flip the dough over, remove the basket, and lift and place the loaf in the Dutch oven by using the parchment as a sling (leave the paper under the dough). Cover the Dutch oven and place it in the hot oven. Repeat with the second loaf. 
12. Bake covered for 30 minutes, and then remove the Dutch ovens from the hot oven, uncover, and place the loaves on a baking sheet. Be careful not to burn yourself! Place the baking sheet into the oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes more, until the interior of the bread reaches 205 to 210 degrees F and the bread is a deep brown. My loaves were ready sooner, so check early. 
13. Cool completely on a wire rack. 

Skillet Pizza

1. Divide half of the dough into three parts, form into balls, spray with spray oil, cover with plastic wrap or place into oiled plastic bags, and refrigerate overnight or up to two days.
2. To make the pizza, preheat your oven to 525 degrees F, or as high as it will go.
3. Generously flour a work surface with flour and place the dough ball onto the surface. Flip the dough over to cover the top with flour. 
4. With your fingertips, press the dough into a disk. Stretch the dough out into a 12 inch disk and place it into a 9 inch cold cast iron skillet (it will shrink back. 
5. Top with your favorite sauce, cheese, and toppings (I used about 1/3 C of fresh sauce, 3 ounces of mozzarella, and about 8 slices of pepperoni), and bake for about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven, slide it onto a cutting board with tongs, and slice. Enjoy!!

Recipe adapted from Flour Water Salt Yeast: The Fundamentals of Artisan Bread and Pizza.

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Harvest Bread with Poolish

Harvest Bread with Poolish. Poolish? It is a sponge or preferment of half flour and water, and a tiny bit of yeast that is mixed up and allowed to sit overnight. It adds extra flavor and chew to the dough. The bread seems to last longer too. That's a good thing for this weekend baker.

While the poolish for this bread calls for white flour, the final dough for this bread also includes whole wheat flour, wheat germ, and wheat bran.

If you make the poolish the night before, and then mix the dough the next morning, you will have fresh bread by about 1 pm the next day.

The whole wheat flavor is fairly mellow. The bread is delicious with butter, toasted, and with melty cheese and garlic.

This recipe produces two 1 1/2 pound loaves.

I baked these loves in my Lodge Combo Cooker, but any Dutch oven with a heat proof handle will do. The advantage to baking bread in a Dutch oven is that the bread creates its own steam, which then creates an incredible crust.

This bread is also proofed with the seam side (the place where you gather up the ends of the dough when shaping) down, so that it bakes with the seam side up. It is not slashed, but allowed to split open wherever it chooses. When you lift the lid off of the Dutch oven, you are always in for a surprise. How cool is that?

Harvest Bread with Poolish

Ingredients

Poolish

500 g unbleached all purpose flour

500 g water, at 80 degrees F

.4 g instant yeast

Final Dough

400 g unbleached all purpose flour

100 g whole wheat flour

280 g bottled water, at 105 degrees F

21 g fine sea salt (or non iodized salt)

3 g instant yeast

50 g wheat germ

20  g wheat bran

All of the poolish

Instructions

1. In a 6 quart bowl or tub, mix the poolish ingredients by hand the night before you plan to make the bread. Cover with plastic wrap and let it sit at room temperature for about 12 hours. 
2. In a 12 quart tub, mix the final ingredients by hand, both stretching and folding the dough, and pinching the dough to incorporate all of the ingredients. (Check out all of my posts labeled Forkish for more details about the methods). The dough will be very sticky. This is okay.
3. Cover the dough with plastic wrap or the lid of the bucket, and allow it to rise for 2 to 3 hours, stretching and folding the dough every 20 minutes for the first hour. 
4. When the dough is 2 1/2 times its original size, it is ready to be divided. 
5. Gently scrape the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide it in half with a dough scraper or bench knife. 
6. Pour the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide it in half with a bench knife or dough scraper. Shape each half into boules and place them seam side down into floured bannetons or flour lined bowl. Cover with oiled plastic wrap.
7. Place two Dutch ovens in the oven, and preheat it to 475 degrees F. 
8. Allow the dough to rise for about an hour. 
9. When you are ready to bake, cut parchment into two 9 inch by 15+ inch pieces. 
10. Remove the Dutch ovens from the oven and remove the tops. One loaf at a time, place the parchment over the dough and place a plate over it. Flip the dough over, remove the basket, and lift and place the loaf in the Dutch oven by using the parchment as a sling (leave the paper under the dough). Cover the Dutch oven and place it in the hot oven. Repeat with the second loaf. 
11. Bake covered for 30 minutes, and then uncover it and bake it for 15 to 20 minutes more, until the interior of the bread reaches 205 to 210 degrees F and the bread is golden brown. 
12. Lift the loaves out of the Dutch ovens with the parchment and let them cool fully on a wire rack (remove the parchment from the bottom of the loaves).

Excellent bread. Enjoy. 

Adapted from Flour Water Salt Yeast: The Fundamentals of Artisan Bread and Pizza. I'm pretty sure this is one of those cookbooks that I will bake my way through.

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Bran-Encrusted Levain Bread

This bran-encrusted levain bread brings together the whole grain, but reconstructed. This is a hybrid leavened dough, with a combination of sourdough starter (levain) and a small amount of yeast in the final dough.

Pain de Campagne

Pain de Campagne, country bread, is a French bread typically made with a combination of mostly white flour with added whole wheat or rye flour. The leavening can be from either a starter or commercial yeast. This bread formula uses both.

This bread is made completely by hand in an inexpensive 12 quart bucket (and I just bought myself a brand new shiny red stand mixer for Christmas!).  The reason for such a large bucket is to give you room to "stretch and fold" without removing the dough from the bucket. A very large mixing bowl would work well too, but I like using the markings on the bucket to gauge how much the dough has risen.

This is a photo of the dough after the first rise. It started out just above the bottom of the red line.

As much as I love my new mixer, this bread is miraculous. Just scroll up and look at the first photo.... The crust is crunchy and thick, and the interior is incredibly soft and moist. It stays fresh for days, and is soooo good sliced and buttered.

What's cool about this bread is that once you've shaped the loaves, they ferment in the refrigerator overnight and can be baked while still cold. I've never had much luck with that until now.

Note: The levain for this bread is 80 percent hydration with a mix of whole wheat and all purpose unbleached white flour. To create the levain/sourdough starter, I took 100 grams of my 100 percent hydration white flour starter and fed it two times with 400 grams of white flour, 100 grams of whole wheat flour, and 400 grams of water with the final feeding on the morning of the day before mixing day. With each new feeding, I started with 100 grams of starter.

Another note: To make sure that your shaped loaves are ready for an overnight rest in the refrigerator, begin the process for mixing this loaf around 8 a.m.

Pain de Campagne

Ingredients

Levain

100 g active sourdough starter

400 g unbleached all purpose flour

100 g whole wheat flour

400 g lukewarm (85 to 90 degree F) filtered water

Dough

740 g unbleached all purpose flour

60 g whole wheat flour

620 g lukewarm (90 to 95 degree F) filtered water

21 g salt, preferably fine sea salt

1/2 tsp instant yeast

360 g of the levain

Instructions

1. In a medium bowl, feed your starter with the levain ingredients listed above. Stir with a spoon and cover with plastic wrap. Let sit at room temperature for about 6 to 8 hours.
2. In a 12 quart tub or large bowl, whisk together the white and whole wheat flours.
3. Add the water and mix by hand until just mixed. Cover, and let rest for 30 minutes.
4. Dust the top of the mixture with the salt and yeast.
5. Add 360 grams of the levain to the dough. 
6. Placing a bowl of water nearby for dipping your hands, mix the dough by hand by alternatively pinching it and folding it, until all of the ingredients are fully mixed, about three minutes. 
7. Cover the container, and let the dough sit for 30 minutes. With wet hands, stretch and fold the dough from all four "sides" and flip it over, seam side down. Recover the container. Repeat 3 more times, at 30 minute increments. These stretch and folds help develop the dough's structure and gluten. 
8. Let the dough rise until about 2 1/2 to 3 times its original size. This should take about 5 hours from the first mixing (step 6). 
9. Scrape the dough out of the bucket/bowl onto a lightly floured surface and divide it in half with a wet or floured bench knife. 
10. Generously flour 2 proofing baskets. I used a mix of all purpose and brown rice flour. You can also use a mixing bowl lined with a lint free kitchen towel that has been sprayed with oil and heavily floured. 
11. Shape the dough into boules, creating a taut skin over the top. Place the shaped dough into each basket, seam side down. 
12. Spray the top of the dough with spray oil, and cover with plastic wrap or enclose in large plastic bags.
13. Refrigerate overnight for 12 to 14 hours. 
14. The next morning, remove the loaves from the refrigerator.
15. preheat the oven to 475 degrees F with two empty covered Dutch ovens placed on the middle rack. 
16. When you are ready to bake, cut parchment into two 9 inch by 15+ inch pieces. 
17. Remove the Dutch ovens from the oven and remove the tops. One loaf at a time, place the parchment over the dough and place a plate over it. Flip the dough over, remove the basket, and lift and place the loaf in the Dutch oven by using the parchment as a sling (leave the paper under the dough). Cover the Dutch oven and place it in the hot oven. Repeat with the second loaf. 
18. Bake for 30 minutes. Uncover the loaves and bake for about another 20 minutes, until the interior of the loaf reaches 205 to 210 degrees F. I usually move the loaves to a baking sheet after the first 30 minutes to prevent burning on the bottom of the loaves. 
19. Cool on a rack for at least 30 minutes before slicing. 

Recipe adapted from Ken Forkish's Flour Water Salt Yeast: The Fundamentals of Artisan Bread and Pizza. It's an amazing book with fabulous illustrations of the techniques to make this wonderful bread. This book makes artisan bread and pizza incredibly accessible, and his story is a wonderful read.

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Overnight White Bread

This Overnight White Bread gets its name because you mix the dough in the evening and then let it rise at room temperature while you are sleeping.

At first glance, this Overnight White Bread bears a resemblance to the typical no knead bread... except it is anything but. For example, baking this bread involves some "stretch and folds" that help this bread develop structure and a thick crunchy crust. It's a revelation. You can feel the dough develop that tension that helps the dough hold together and bake into such a tall and lovely loaf. I also think there is some magic involved.

75% Whole Wheat Bread | Another Saturday Bread

This 75% Whole Wheat Bread is the third loaf I have tried from Ken Forkish's Flour Water Salt Yeast: The Fundamentals of Artisan Bread and Pizza.

Nine Hour Crusty White Bread | The Saturday White Bread

After taking three days to make the pure levain bread and having so much success with it, I decided to try another recipe from the book. The result? This crusty 1 1/2 pound boule is amazing. The crust is super flakey with multiple layers of crispiness.

The crumb is super moist and airy, and on the first or second day, is best eaten buttered or plain to really appreciate it. So good.  After that, if you still have some left, it makes fabulous toast or grilled cheese.

This recipe makes 2 one and a half pound loaves. I haven't tried doing this, but I'm pretty sure you could cut the ingredients in half to make one loaf.

Pure Levain Country Bread

While cooking and baking are serious hobbies for me, bread baking has become kind of an obsession. When I bake a bread like this one with success, I get a little over the top giddy. In this case, I kept going back into the kitchen just to admire these loaves. I will not admit to sticking my face into the bread and enjoying its fresh baked aroma with each visit to the kitchen.

The formula for this bread comes from Flour Water Salt Yeast: The Fundamentals of Artisan Bread and Pizza.The actual name Ken Forkish gave this bread is Overnight Country Blonde. For some reason, not sure why, that makes me laugh.

I love this book. It sat in my house for several months until I finally decided I better justify having purchased it by trying one of the formulas (Tartine is still taunting me from my bookshelf... ).

When I finally picked up the book, I jumped ahead to chapter 10 to make one of the pure levain loaves. What I love about this book is that Ken provides a timeline for baking that makes it really easy for the home baker to figure out how he/she will bake one of these loaves. The book is also full of photographs demonstrating the mixing and shaping techniques that he uses. I am still enjoying reading his story about how he quit a job he hated and how he got started in the world of bread.

The levain for this bread is 80 percent hydration with a mix of whole wheat and all purpose unbleached white flour. To create the levain/sourdough starter, I took 100 grams of my 100 per cent hydration white flour starter and fed it three times with 400 grams of white flour, 100 grams of whole wheat flour, and 400 grams of water with the final feeding on the morning of the day before baking day. With each new feeding, I started with 100 grams of starter. The book has instructions for creating your own levain if you don't already have a starter.