World Bread Baking Day

It figures, World Bread Baking Day and my stand mixer is broken! The gears made an awful noise one day last week, and then it stopped turning. I did knead a loaf of “continental style” bread by hand for tonight’s dinner but it is nothing spectacular. One rise-quick and easy.

Last evening I made biscuits to go with black bean soup. I suppose corn bread would have made more sense. I thought they were mediocre but I don’t honestly have much baseline for comparison. I’ve spent most of my life in Illinois and Massachusetts-not exactly biscuit towns. Ay least they weren’t hard. My son seemed to enjoy them as the size was simple enough for a 22 month old to manage.

I’m sort of hoping the mixer cannot be repaired so I have an excuse to start looking for a used Hobart countertop model (can’t afford $2,000. for a new one). I always swore if it came to purchasing a commercial mixer I’d better set up business, but then I swore the same about building a brick oven outside which I’m now giving serious consideration to.

So here’s what I did to make my “continental bread” (a VERY) modified version of James Beard’s recipe in Beard on Bread.

3 ¾ teaspoon granulated yeast
2 cups lukewarm water
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon salt
5-6 cups bread flour

Proof the yeast in water and sugar. Mix in as much flour (and the salt) as the liquid will take and knead about ten minutes until smooth and elastic. Place in buttered bowl, cover, and let rise until doubled (1-2 hours). Preheat oven to 450. Gently degas and shape into one large loaf. Score. Transfer to a baking sheet that has been tossed with cornmeal. Use whatever technique you prefer for getting steam into your oven (I pre-heat a pan and toss the water in that). Place bread in and after twenty minutes, turn and continue baking another 10+ minutes or until it passes the hollow test or registers an internal temperature of about 100 degrees F.

Happy International Bread Baking Day!