In The Oven

very long process
holy moly.

making the starter takes at least 8 hours. I left mine for 19 hours, cause I had some shopping to do and started it the night before..

starter(this will be added to the rest of the bread ingredients the next day once it has basically fermented)
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon rapid-rise yeast
1/2 cup water, room temperature

just mix until incorporated,it will be kinda flaky.
just cover and leave for at least 8 hours, or overnight

the rest of the dough
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon rapid-rise yeast
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup water, room temperature
1/3 cup soy milk, room temperature (you can use cows milk)

add the starter to this.

mixy mix with the the paddle attachment. for about 1 minute on slow speed.
then turn it up to medium speed until it starts slopping around the bowl.
like this:
wicked noises.

then turn off your mixer and put on the dough hook. mix on high for about 10 minutes.
until super smooth
like this:

then cover for about an hour, until it doubles.
after it doubles take your spatula and fold the dough down. scooping from the outside bottom, pulling into the middle, until you go all the way around the bowl.

cover again and raise for another 30 minutes

dump it out on a very floured surface.

cut in half and shape into two long rectangles.

large enough to fit on your jelly roll pan that is flipped over(working on the bottom), or pizza stone.

pat down with flour
raise for another 30 minutes.

spray them with water twice in the first five minutes of baking.
they take about 17-20 minutes to bake. at 450F

delicious

I recommend getting off the excess flour from the pan, or it burns and your smoke/heat alarm goes off[twice]

* 2 cups warm tap water, about 110 degrees
* 2 1/2 teaspoons (1 envelope) active dry yeast
* 5 1/4 to 5 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
* 4 teaspoons salt
* 1/3 cup flour for dusting the loaves
* Cornmeal for the pans
* 2 small cookie sheets or a large (at least 11×17-inch) jelly roll pan

To make the dough, in a 3-quart mixing bowl place water and sprinkle yeast on surface, allowing it to stand for two minutes before whisking. To mix dough in a heavy-duty mixer, place smaller amount of flour and salt in bowl of mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add water and yeast and mix on low speed to form a smooth, elastic and slightly sticky dough, about 5 minutes. Incorporate the remaining flour a tablespoon at time if the dough is too soft.

Place dough in an oiled bowl and turn dough over so top is oiled. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and allow dough to rise at room temperature until doubled.

To shape loaves, scrape risen dough onto a lightly floured surface and press it to deflate it. Divide dough in half and shape one piece at a time. Press dough into a square, then roll it up tightly. Rotate cylinder of dough 90 degrees and roll up again from short end. Arrange dough seam side down, cover with plastic or a towel and let it rest of 5 minutes. Repeat with remaining piece of dough.

Dust pan with cornmeal. Roll each piece of dough under palms of your hands to elongate it. Work from middle of loaf outward, pointing the ends slightly. Place loaves seam side down on cookie sheets and dust each loaf heavily with flour, using about 1/3 cup in all. Cover with plastic or a towel and allow to rise until doubled.

About 30 minutes before you intend to bake the loaves, preheat oven to 500 degrees F and set racks at the middle and lowest levels. Set a pan on the lowest rack to absorb some of the excess bottom heat and keep the bottom of the loaves from burning.

Holding a razor blade or the point of a very sharp knife at a 30-degree angle to the top of each loaf, make 3 to 4 diagonal slashes in each loaf. Immediately place loaves in oven and lower temperature 450 degrees F. After loaves have baked for 20 minutes and are completely risen, lower temperature to 350 degrees F and continue baking about 20 to 30 minutes longer.

blah blahblahblah I didn’t make those directions, I didn’t really even follow them.
I did however follow the temperature flux.

probably could have left the loaves in the oven for a bit longer, but I’m very impatient and need to learn to be more patient with breads.

yay!