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Pain Ordinaire, the Stuff of Life
February 16, 2006 | permalink

Gentle Readers, I have been one motivated mofo this week. I don't have any work, as is usual right after Fashion Week, and in the past I have had a lot of good intentions but no real motivation to get anything done. But so far this week I have cleaned the apartment, had chocolate and lunch with Turtalia, took a long walk in the snow, gone to see Underworld: Evolution with Smacktalk, bought macro and telephoto lenses for my digital camera, and started a new photography project. [see the previous project here] Today I baked bread.

Nothing fancy- no crazy nut-honey-oat breads- just regular old white bread. Which doesn't make it any less delicious. On the contrary, I think that the simplicity of it makes it tastier, and certainly more versatile, than its more exotic cousins.

Pain Ordinaire

• Two Packages of Active Dry Yeast
• One Tablespoon Sugar
• Two Tablespoons Honey
• Two Cups Warm Water
• One Tablespoon Salt
• Five to Six Cups Unbleached Flour

In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast, sugar, and honey in the hot water and let stand for ten minutes. It should be foamy. Whisk in two cups of flour and beat until smooth. Add the salt. Mix in the remaining flour with a wooden spoon one half cup at a time until the dough forms and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead until the dough becomes smooth and silky. Add flour a tablespoon or two at a time as you knead if necessary- the dough shouldn't be sticky.

Place in a covered, greased bowl and allow to rise until tripled in bulk, about an hour and a half or so.

Turn the dough out onto the work surface and divide into three portions. If it is sticky, knead in some more flour. Shape into loaves and place them about four inches apart on a greased cookie sheet (or in greased pans, or on a baking stone). Loosely cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise for about an hour. Preheat the oven to 400 during this time.

Slash the tops of the loaves and bake for thirty-five to forty minutes, or until hollow sounding when rapped. To crisp the crust, spray some water mist into the oven or toss a couple of ice cubes on the oven floor. Yields three loaves.

Posted in Recipes
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