Saturday White Bread
Ingredients
- 1000 g All-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
- 720 g Water 90°-95°
- 21 g salt
- 4 g active dry yeast
Instructions
Autolyse
- Combine 1,000 g flour with the 720 grams water. Combine flour and water in a 12-quart container and mix by hand until dough forms. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let the dough rest for 30 minutes.
Mix
- Sprinkle the 21 g of salt and 4 grams of yeast evenly over the top of the dough. Mix by hand, wetting your hand as necessary so the dough doesn't stick. Stretch and fold the dough four times until the salt and yeast are fully enclosed.
- Use the pincer method to integrate the ingredients. Make 5 or 6 pincer cuts across the dough. Then fold the dough a few times. Repeat cutting and folding until all of the ingredients are fully integrated and the dough has some tension. Let the dough rest for a few minutes and then fold for another 30 seconds or until the dough tightens up. The whole process should take about 5 minutes. The target dough temperature of the end of the mix is 77°F to 78°F. Cover the tub and let the dough rise.
Fold
- The dough needs 2 folds. Apply the folds during the first 1-½ hours after mixing. Apply the first fold about 10 minutes after mixing and the second fold during the next hour. When the dough spreads out in the tub, it's ready for the second fold.
- When the dough is triple its original volume, about 5 hours after mixing, it's ready to be divided.
Divide
- Flour a working surface. Tip the tub and gently work the dough out of the tub without pulling or tearing the dough
- Gently shape the dough. Dust the area in the middle with a bit of flour. Cut with a dough knife.
Shape
- Dust 2 proofing baskets with flour. Fold the dough, and shape each into a tight ball, seam side down. Pull the bread using the pinky method to build tension in the dough. Go around the ball 2 or 3 times.
Proof
- Place each basket in a non-perforated plastic bag. Leave out at room temperature. Use the finger-dent test to determine when they are perfectly proofed and ready to bake.
- Plan on baking the loaves about 1-¼ hours after they are shaped.
Bake
- Meanwhile, set a Dutch oven on the oven's bottom rack and preheat oven to 475°F (Do not use convection ) for 45 minutes. Do not lower temperature.
- Gently place the loaf in the hot dutch oven, seam side up. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove lid, and bake for about 20 minutes more.
- Transfer loaf to a wire rack. Allow to cool for at least 1 hour before slicing.