The Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book Part 3

More about water, salt, and sweeteners.

Whole Wheat Breads In areas of the Eastern Hemisphere where wheat will grow, bread has provided the satisfying staff of life for many centuries. Then as now the characteristics of the grain vary with climate and locale, and in response to the qualities of their local wheat people have developed innumerable different kinds of bread, from chapathi to challah, bagels to baguettes.

Europeans coming to America brought their love for bread with them. The new land had vast expanses of good soil perfect for growing wheat, and grow it they did. To deal with all that wheat, the roller mill was invented, and its pure white flour revolutionized breadmaking. In time there were generations of bakers who a.s.sumed that their flour would be the same from bag to bag, year to year. From then until now in the United States "flour" meant white flour and bread was white bread-puffy, uniform, undistinguished.

But things are changing. With the new consciousness of the importance of nutrition, with the demand for better cooking and eating, and with the increasing pressures of sheer economics (both personal and global), people are coming to require more from their bread. We celebrate this development; it is the reason for this book.

In the pages that follow you will find recipes for all sorts of whole-grain breads. In this particular section are some good plain breads for everyday eating. These recipes are designed to make delicious, flavorful breads using various strengths of whole wheat flour, even flours that, while they are otherwise good, may have a gluten content too low to produce a fancier bread. In this section you will find ways to make tender, light, moist, and delicious loaves that speak eloquently of the goodness of the wheat itself.

Basic Whole Wheat Bread - 2 teaspoons active dry yeast ( oz or 7 g) - cup warm water (120 ml), about 110F - 6 cups whole wheat bread flour (900 g) - 2 teaspoons salt (14 g) - 2 cups lukewarm water (535 ml) - 2 tablespoons honey or other sweetener (30 ml) - 2 tablespoons oil (30 ml) or b.u.t.ter (28 g) (optional) Dissolve the yeast in the cup warm water.

Mix the flour and salt in a large bowl, stirring to make the flour fluffy; make a well in the mixture.

Dissolve the honey in the 2 cups water and add the oil if you choose to use it. Pour the liquids and the yeast mixture into the well in the flour. Stirring from the center, first combine the ingredients to make a smooth batter; then fold in the remaining flour from the sides of the bowl, mixing them together into a soft dough. Since coa.r.s.er flours take a while to absorb water, when using them allow a few minutes for the complete absorption of the water before you evaluate the dough. Add water or flour if more are required.

If you want really great bread-best flavor, best rise, best keeping quality-knead the dough for about 20 minutes, or 600 strokes, without adding more flour. The dough should remain soft, and should become elastic and smooth. Rest whenever you want to, but aim for 600 strokes. This is the most amazing and outrageous requirement, but after many hundreds of loaves, we are convinced that thorough kneading makes the critical difference.

If you have opted to use b.u.t.ter in this bread, work it in after the gluten has really begun to develop-about halfway through kneading. The b.u.t.ter should not melt, but should be worked into the dough while still firm. The French way is to smear the b.u.t.ter on the tabletop and knead in bits of it at a time, and if you are working by hand, this is easy and effective. Cutting the b.u.t.ter into chips with a sharp knife, or grating it and working it into the dough is effective, too, whether you are kneading by hand or by machine.

As you continue to work the dough, toward the end of the kneading, it will become l.u.s.trous, utterly supple and elastic. It should actually be white, if you look closely, with brown bran flecks clearly visible against the pale gluten.

Form the dough into a smooth round ball and put it into a big clean bowl to rise. (Do not oil the bowl.) Protect the dough from drying out by putting a platter or a plastic sheet over the top of the bowl, and keep it in a warm, draft-free place to rise. At about 80F this will take 1 to 2 hours, at 70F, about 2 .

Wet your finger and poke about inch into the dough. If the hole does not fill in, the dough is ready. For best results, do not wait until it sighs deeply when it is poked. Gently press out all the acc.u.mulated gas, make the dough into a smooth round again, and put it back in the bowl, cover, and let rise again as before. The second rise will take about half as long as the first, at the same temperature. Use the same finger-poke test to decide when it has finished its second rising.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured tabletop or board and, keeping the smooth top surface (gluten film) carefully unbroken, deflate the dough by pressing it with wet or floury hands (or a rolling pin) from one side to the other, expelling the acc.u.mulated gas. Cut it in half and form each part gently into a round ball, still preserving the smooth gluten film on the outside. Let the rounded b.a.l.l.s rest, covered, until they soften, usually 10 minutes or more.

Shape into loaves, place in two greased 8 4 loaf pans, and let rise once more. Loaves should take 30 to 45 minutes for their final proof. Preheat the oven to 425F. When ready for the oven, if all has gone well, the loaves will arch over the tops of the pans, touching the sides all the way up. The dough feels spongy but not soggy, and a gentle indentation from your wetted finger fills in slowly. Place in the hot oven. After 10 minutes, turn the temperature down to 325F. Bake for about 45 minutes to an hour, or until the bread tests done: the loaves should leave the pans easily and be an even golden brown with no pinkish areas, and if you thump their bottoms with your fingertips, they should sound hollow. 4 loaf pans, and let rise once more. Loaves should take 30 to 45 minutes for their final proof. Preheat the oven to 425F. When ready for the oven, if all has gone well, the loaves will arch over the tops of the pans, touching the sides all the way up. The dough feels spongy but not soggy, and a gentle indentation from your wetted finger fills in slowly. Place in the hot oven. After 10 minutes, turn the temperature down to 325F. Bake for about 45 minutes to an hour, or until the bread tests done: the loaves should leave the pans easily and be an even golden brown with no pinkish areas, and if you thump their bottoms with your fingertips, they should sound hollow.

NOTE: You can, if you like, use half of the dough from this recipe to make rolls; 12 to 15 small round rolls fit nicely in a 9 13 baking pan, or nine medium ones in an 8 13 baking pan, or nine medium ones in an 8 8 pan. 8 pan.

Rolls should have a very full proof: their final rising period should be at least as long as the bread made from the same dough or even as much as half again as long. If you make both a loaf and rolls, shape the rolls before the loaf, or just let them rise an extra half hour or so longer than the bread. Bake them for about half the loaf's baking time-depending on the oven temperature and their size-about 20 to 35 minutes. They are done when they are a pretty golden brown top and bottom. When pulled apart, the place where they touched each other will spring back to light pressure. Brush baked rolls with b.u.t.ter, if you like, and cover them with a thick terry towel to keep them soft and warm until you are ready to serve them.

Variations & Fancies RAISIN BREAD.

To make a quickie version of raisin bread from the basic dough, wait until you are ready to shape the loaf. If your pan is 8 4, press the dough out into a rectangle about 16 4, press the dough out into a rectangle about 16 7. In other words, the short side of the rectangle is slightly shorter than the long side of your pan. Cover the whole surface up to about 2 inches from one of the short ends with cup raisins. Add to cup chopped walnuts, if you like, or cup toasted sunflower seeds. Press them all very well into the dough with moistened hands or, better yet, with a rolling pin. Dust with cinnamon if you want-it's a fine touch-but resist the temptation to add sugar or b.u.t.ter at this point, or the bread won't bake nicely. 7. In other words, the short side of the rectangle is slightly shorter than the long side of your pan. Cover the whole surface up to about 2 inches from one of the short ends with cup raisins. Add to cup chopped walnuts, if you like, or cup toasted sunflower seeds. Press them all very well into the dough with moistened hands or, better yet, with a rolling pin. Dust with cinnamon if you want-it's a fine touch-but resist the temptation to add sugar or b.u.t.ter at this point, or the bread won't bake nicely.

Roll up the loaf jelly-roll fas.h.i.+on, beginning with the short end that was not left bare. Be fanatically careful to press the loaf closely as you roll it so that no air is captured in the part where the raisins are, or it will separate there, make a big hole, and wreak havoc with your toaster. Pinch the ends and seam well. Roll the loaf under your hands until it is the length of the greased loaf pan and ease it in, seam down. Use your hands to press it down well from the center outwards to be certain you have not trapped any air. Dust with cinnamon, proof, and bake.

This makes a pedestrian but quite acceptable raisin loaf. For a really elegant raisin bread and a fuller discussion, see Fruits, Nuts, and Seeds.

STEAMED HEARTH LOAVES.

For a beautiful loaf of plain bread, bake it round with steam, and it will bloom into a golden sphere. Here's the easy way to do it. Instead of shaping each piece of dough into an oblong, knead gently into a ball and place seam side down in a greased 2 quart round gla.s.s or clay ca.s.serole with a domed lid. Cover and allow to rise. Preheat the oven to 450F. When the bread has risen nicely and the dough returns slowly from a gentle indentation of your finger, pour 2 tablespoons warm water over the loaf. Slash 3 slightly curved lines inch deep across the loaf. Cover and bake in your preheated oven at 450 for 20 minutes, then lower the heat to 350F for the duration of the baking, another 20 to 30 minutes. For more details about steaming bread, see this page this page; about slas.h.i.+ng the crust this page this page.

SESAME BREAD OR ROLLS.

One of the easiest and most delightful ways to fancy up the basic bread is to sprinkle toasted sesame seeds on the board when you first flatten the dough for shaping. Some of the seeds will find their way into the loaf, and there will be an abundant sprinkling of them on the crust. Rolls made this way are just great.

A less messy method is to sprinkle the pans before you put in the loaf; this works beautifully and is super-simple. To get the seeds to cling to the top of the loaf is a challenge because if your dough is just right, it won't be at all sticky. Moisten it with water or milk or lightly beaten egg, then sprinkle the seeds over the glaze and pat them gently with a moistened hand.

For a more emphatic sesame flavor, use sesame oil in the dough as part or all of the oil measure. Or you can add tahini (sesame b.u.t.ter)-use up to cup per loaf-with the liquid ingredients.

Crust Embellishments Simple breads without added sweetener or milk have pale chewy crusts when they are baked in a modern oven in the normal way. Baked hotter with steam, the same bread develops a thin crispy crust that s.h.i.+nes and browns beautifully. For instructions on how to achieve this effect in your home oven, see this page this page.

On the other hand, if what you're after is a nice crust without a lot of heat and fuss, there are other ways to go than steaming. Try some of these: FOR A s.h.i.+NY CRUST.

Whichever of these ploys you choose, if you are going to go to the trouble to glaze a crust, be careful to cover the whole exposed surface of the loaf or it can look pretty terrible. The best tool is a really soft, fat brush or a feather brush, but a folded, fringed cloth table napkin works pretty well, too. The stiff-bristle "pastry" brushes can dent and deflate poofy unbaked dough if you aren't inhumanly deft.

EGG WASH.

The cla.s.sic bakers' bun-wash, good on breads or buns is a mixture of one egg lightly beaten with the water it takes to fill half the sh.e.l.l. For more color, add a teaspoon of honey or brown sugar. You can use milk instead of water for a slightly tenderer, slightly rosier crust. Apply before, near the end, or just after baking. Less s.h.i.+ny, but very good for color and flavor, is to brush the loaf with b.u.t.ter after it comes out of the oven. This will tenderize the crust, too. You can use oil instead of b.u.t.ter, but it doesn't have the same flavor. If you brush with milk before and with b.u.t.ter after baking you get a glowing warm color and b.u.t.ter's special flavor.

CORNSTARCH GLAZE.

This glaze is normally used on rye breads, but it works on any kind of loaf.

Stir teaspoon of cornstarch into cup cold water. Boil for 5 minutes, or until it clears completely. Since this is tricky in these quant.i.ties unless you have a really tiny pan, you can make more and keep it in the refrigerator for a week or longer. Brush the glaze on the loaves at the end of baking, and then return them to the oven for a minute; or brush them halfway through the bake and then again at the end, as described.

GARNISHES.

You can fancy up any loaf by sprinkling one of these on the board and rolling the shaped loaf in it: sesame, poppy or other seeds rolled oats or other rolled cereal grain very finely chopped nuts slivered, sauteed onions Another topping, crunchy and pretty: Soak rolled oats in milk and press them onto the top of the loaf after you put it into the pan.

Whatever way you treat the crust, it isn't a bad idea to keep in mind what expectations you are establis.h.i.+ng. If the loaf looks as if it is going to taste one way and in fact tastes another, the folks will be disappointed even if the bread is actually one of their favorites. For example, if you baked a good hearty rye in an angel-food cake pan and garnished it with slivered almonds, even your biggest rye fans would be all geared up to eat Black Forest Torte when they looked at the masterpiece, and even they they couldn't help being a little disapointed-to say nothing of the folks who abhor rye. The garnish should suit the loaf. couldn't help being a little disapointed-to say nothing of the folks who abhor rye. The garnish should suit the loaf.

Slas.h.i.+ng Just before you put the proofed bread in the oven, you can slash the top crust to produce a three-dimensional crunchiness. Loaves that will be steamed are usually slashed because it helps them rise during baking; also, when these loaves contain no milk or sugar, the inside of the slash is pale, while the outside crust browns much more, and this is very pretty. Breads with sweetener and milk, when slashed, brown evenly, all the same color-not so spectacular. But slas.h.i.+ng can be functional as well as cosmetic: for example, we almost always slash the loaves we bake in our convection oven, milky or not, to keep them from developing big holes just under their thin crusts, a side effect of the unusually dry heat in that oven.

To make the best slashes, use a very sharp knife. Gourmet books often suggest using a razor blade, but that gives me the w.i.l.l.i.e.s, and anyway, except in the case of rolls, where you need to maneuver in a small place, no razor blade can compare with a sharp knife (the same kind that is the best for slicing baked bread, by the way-long, thin, narrow, wavy-edged). Please, if you do use a razor blade, plan in advance where you are going to put it, or tie a string to it to make sure it doesn't turn up in someone's food. (Incidentally, slas.h.i.+ng bread dulls razor blades mighty quickly.)

The next thing you need for the best possible slash is daring. Pretend you are Zorro and do it boldly, zip zip. (Next time will be better, I promise.) The bouncier your dough is, the deeper the slash should be-about one inch for the wildly lively ones, inch for normal, good dough. If the dough is flaccid or overproofed, don't try to slash it because the slashes will not open up and the result will be worse than if you'd left well enough alone.

Finally, when making the actual cut, unless you are going straight down the middle of a panned loaf (which is great for breads with a lot of bounce-when you are really sure the loaf will spring in the oven-but a disaster if the loaf is over-proofed), don't hold the knife so that it cuts straight down into the dough. Hold it rather at an angle, so that the loaf will open not like a book, but in a sort of Z.

If you are planning to slash a loaf that is glazed, glaze first and slash after, just before putting the proofed loaf into the oven. Rolls can be snipped with scissors to make porcupines.

Mola.s.ses Bread - teaspoon active dry yeast (not compressed yeast) (.7 g) - cup warm water (120 ml) - cup light mola.s.ses-not raw honey here (60 ml) - 2 cups cold water (600 ml) - 6 cups coa.r.s.e, stone-ground flour (900 g) or a little more - 1 tablespoon salt (16.5 g) - 2 tablespoons cold b.u.t.ter (28 g) Hearty Mola.s.ses Bread develops its rich flavor and nutritional value by taking its time. The long, slow fermentation softens the bran particles and gives the dough enzymes a chance to release a wealth of trace minerals. The keeping quality of this bread is outstanding, and the deep, bright flavor of the mola.s.ses enhances the flavor of the wheat, making an especially tasty loaf.

FOR A 12-HOUR RISE:.

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water; dissolve the mola.s.ses in the 2 cups cold water. Mix the flour and salt in a bowl, and combine all of them to make a dough. The dough should be a little stiffer than usual. Knead about 20 minutes, adding the b.u.t.ter toward the end of the kneading period.

Place the dough, covered, in a cool, draft-free place for up to 10 hours at about 68F.

In the morning, deflate the dough, which should have risen a lot-as high as it can without collapsing. Place it in a warm spot now-about 90F. Keep it there, covered, another hour or two until you are sure the dough has thoroughly warmed through.

Deflate the dough, then divide and knead it into rounds; let it rest until softened. Shape into loaves and place in greased pans, letting it rise again at 90 to 100F. The final proof should take about an hour. Since the bread usually comes up in the oven, don't be dispirited if it has not risen fully beforehand-put it in the preheated oven anyway.

Bake at 350F for at least an hour. Give this long-rising bread plenty of time to bake, particularly if the loaves aren't very high.

TO MAKE THIS BREAD IN 24 HOURS:.

Keep the dough as long as 20 hours in a cool place 55 to 60F, deflating it at 8-hour intervals (more often when convenient). After that, proceed as above for proofing and baking.

Whole Wheat Sourdough - STARTER INGREDIENTS - cups of Manuel's sourdough starter (175 ml), or your own - 1 cup whole wheat flour (225 g) - cup water, room temperature (175 ml) - DOUGH INGREDIENTS - 2 teaspoons active dry yeast ( oz or 7 g) - cup warm water (120 ml) - 2 cups whole wheat flour (300 g) - 2 teaspoons salt (14 g) the starter mixture - to 1 cup water (120235 ml) cornmeal for dusting (optional) Sourdough bread, a specialty of Northern California, Eastern Europe, and several points in between, is flavored with a starter-a small amount of dough that's allowed to ferment until it's sour. Since they vary a lot, sourdough starters with especially good flavor are valued highly, and often pa.s.sed from friend to friend like great treasures. It is in this spirit that we pa.s.s Manuel's starter on to you.

THE STARTER Mix together and keep at about 65F for 12 to 18 hours. Manuel's starter, kept at room temperature for 12 hours, makes a moderately sour bread that is very light. Mix together and keep at about 65F for 12 to 18 hours. Manuel's starter, kept at room temperature for 12 hours, makes a moderately sour bread that is very light.

THE DOUGH Dissolve the yeast in warm water. Stir the flour and salt together; add the starter mixture and the water and mix them all together to make a soft dough. Knead until supple and elastic. Dissolve the yeast in warm water. Stir the flour and salt together; add the starter mixture and the water and mix them all together to make a soft dough. Knead until supple and elastic.

Form the dough into a ball and place it smooth side up in the bowl. Cover and keep in a warm, draft-free place. After about an hour and a half, gently poke the center of the dough about inch deep with your wet finger. If the hole doesn't fill in at all or if the dough sighs, press flat, form into a smooth round, and let the dough rise once more as before. The second rising will take about half as much time as the first.

Press the dough flat and divide in two. Round it and let it rest until relaxed, then deflate and shape into loaves. Divide into two or three pieces and round them. Let them rest and then shape into loaves: the dough will make two 8x4 pan loaves, but it is nicer baked hearth-style on cookie sheets that have been dusted with cornmeal (see this page this page.) Make two or three round hearth loaves, or shape into rolls. Let rise in a very warm, draft-free place until the dough slowly returns a gently made fingerprint.

Place in preheated 450F oven. Follow one of the suggested steaming techniques. When the crusts show s.h.i.+ne and color, turn the heat to 325F. Continue baking for about 40 minutes for the large loaves, less for the smaller ones, about half an hour for good-sized rolls.

Scottish Sponge Bread When the demand for bread exceeds what the usual baking will provide, but kneading up more than a couple of loaves at a time is a bit beyond your endurance, this recipe comes to the rescue. It takes advantage of some shortcuts of old-time Scottish bakers who made large quant.i.ties of famous bread without the aid of machines.*

One of the tricks they used was to prepare a portion of the dough-the sponge-the night before. This method gives the yeast a head start, so that by the time you're ready to mix the rest of the dough, the yeast will have built its own vigor and also produced the substances that make for good flavor and keeping quality in the final product. An added bonus is that the prior fermentation develops the gluten somewhat so that later on when kneading time comes, there is less work to do. Scottish Sponge is a real old-fas.h.i.+oned baker's sponge-or, in this case, a half sponge, since it contains about half of the dough.

In addition to turning out a relatively easy five loaves, this sponge makes it possible to use lower-gluten flours to good advantage. One practical example: a friend bought a bag of pastry flour by mistake, and with this recipe used it to produce marvelously tasty, light bread.

The sponge offers flexibility, too, because on the second day, if you want, you can divide it into parts, adding different kinds of flour to each part, and so make a variety of breads from the same starter.

For the first 12 to 16 hours the sponge ferments with no additional attention required; then it is made into the larger dough, which rises twice, for an hour each time. The dough is then divided and shaped, allowed to rise once more, and baked.

We find it helpful to measure out the dough's ingredients and set them aside at the same time we are measuring the sponge ingredients. This makes the dough mixing much simpler, especially if you are on automatic pilot early in the morning.

PREPARING THE SPONGE.

- SPONGE INGREDIENTS - 1 to 2 teaspoons active dry yeast ( oz or 3.57 g) - cup warm water (60 ml) - 6 cups high-gluten bread flour (900 g) - 1 tablespoon salt (16.5 g) - 2 cups cold water (600 ml) - cup malt syrup or other sweetener (60 ml) When the sponge is to stand for 16 to 18 hours, use the smaller amount of yeast and very cold water (refrigerated or iced, if necessary, to make sure it is 40F). Use the larger quant.i.ty of yeast and cold tap water (about 50F) when you ferment the sponge for 10 to 12 hours.

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Combine the flour and salt. Make a well in the center. Add the cold water, the yeast, and the malt syrup to the well, mixing them all into a medium-stiff dough.

Knead the sponge by hand for 10 minutes only. A sponge needs enough developing to trap the gas, but since it will get more kneading in the full dough, you don't want to develop it fully now.

Place your sponge in a container large enough to hold about three times its bulk. Cover it closely to protect the top from drying out, and place in a cool, reasonably draft-free place. A sponge is ready when it has risen fully and begun to fall back or recede in the bowl. (In fact it looks very spongy.) However, there is a range of several hours during which you can go on to the next step and still get good results.

MIXING THE DOUGH.

- DOUGH INGREDIENTS - 3 cups warm water (825 ml) - 4 teaspoons salt (25 g) - cup honey (80 ml) - cup oil (optional) (80 ml) - 6 cups whole wheat bread flour (900 g) - 3 cups whole wheat pastry flour (450 g) or other low-gluten flour For one large batch of dough, you will need a giant bowl, about 12 quarts. Put the warm water, salt, honey and oil in the bowl. Break the sponge into little pieces in the liquid, and stir in the flour. Now press the dough hard, first with one fist, then the other to make sure the ingredients are well blended. Feel the dough to evaluate its water content, and if it is too stiff, add water, cup at a time, working it in until the dough reaches the proper consistency. This takes considerable effort, no doubt about it.

Knead the whole dough for 400 strokes or about 20 athletic minutes, until the surface is smooth and s.h.i.+ny. Rest whenever you need to, but if it's easier, divide the dough into more manageable pieces and knead them separately.

Let the dough rise in the bowl for an hour in a warm place, 80 to 85F. Deflate it, and let it rise again for another 45 minutes to one hour.

If you have not already done so, divide the dough into five pieces, round them, and let them rest, covered, for about 10 minutes, until relaxed; then shape into loaves. Put them in greased 8 4 pans. If you like, you can make traditional Scottish batch bread: four long loaves (instead of five) baked together in a 108 4 pans. If you like, you can make traditional Scottish batch bread: four long loaves (instead of five) baked together in a 108 16 pan. They will rise to support each other, making the characteristic tall skinny domed loaves. (b.u.t.ter the sides to make separating them easier.) 16 pan. They will rise to support each other, making the characteristic tall skinny domed loaves. (b.u.t.ter the sides to make separating them easier.)

Let the loaves rise in a warm place-85 to 90F.

If your oven does not hold five loaves at once, put two of them in the refrigerator now in a puffed-up plastic bag. These loaves will rise slowly, and should be ready to bake as soon as the first loaves come out of the oven. Two can bake together in an 8 8 pan-a little of each method. 8 pan-a little of each method.

Preheat the oven to 375F. Breads made from long-rising doughs are moister than those from short-rising ones, so they need to bake at a higher temperature or for a longer time. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes for the pan loaves. You may need as much as an hour and a half at 350F for the batch bread.

VARIATIONS.

To prepare different kinds of breads from the one large dough, or to knead each part separately, divide the sponge into five equal parts, and do the same with the dough ingredients. Proceed with each fifth, or with two-fifths or three-fifths, as with the whole dough, kneading until it is fully developed. There are many possibilities, since the pastry flour can be replaced by any low-gluten flour.

Two Great Cla.s.sics An artist-poet, sculptor, or cook-may often reach the greatest heights of creativity by not just working within the limitations of the chosen medium but by using the limits themselves as a prod to find new reserves of imagination. In the kitchen, to take the nearest example, turning vegetarian has made great cooks out of middling ones, partly because the challenge casts a new light on everything. The same thing happens sometimes when you have to learn to cook for an allergic family member, or someone who needs to omit fat or sugar: what seems like an obstacle can turn out to be a stepping-stone to something much better, happier, more important, even, than you had suspected.

Medieval village bakers in Europe could not, like modern bakers, load their everyday loaves with milk and b.u.t.ter, sugar and chemical "improvers." They did not have electronically controlled ovens, kneading machines, or even active dry yeast. Their flour was locally grown, and not very high in gluten even in the best years. And so over centuries, limited as they were, these bakers developed a method that makes the simplest wheat-flour dough into truly superb bread. Later, when white flour and commercial yeast came on the scene, the method was adapted to produce what we know today as French bread. It draws much artistry from its ancestry, and makes good use of some modern advantages, too.

In the following pages are two presentations of this cla.s.sic tradition. The first is our whole wheat version of modern French bread, using active dry yeast along with the traditional timing pattern to make a flavorful, familiar-looking light loaf with the requisite crispy-chewy crust. The second is, to us, the pride of this book: Flemish Desem Bread, the kind of food only a centuries-old tradition can produce. This is, we feel sure, the ancestor of modern French breads, both sweet and sour. The loaves can be as light as yeasted ones, but the leavening comes not from baker's yeast but from a starter born of the wheat itself, and the bread's flavor and keeping quality are unexcelled.

Both breads are delicious and satisfying in spite of the fact that they are made without fat, sugar, or dairy products. They draw their excellence from the marriage of the baker's skill and the natural goodness of the grain.

FRENCH BREAD Perhaps no other nation's people are as serious about bread as the French, and French bread is a triumph of art over circ.u.mstance. Even today in France, the law says that daily bread must contain only French flour, plus yeast, water, salt-no additives or adulterants, no imports. French flour is not very high in gluten, but it has excellent flavor. American bakers make their "French" bread from high-gluten American flour, producing quite a different, but also outstanding, bread. Perhaps no other nation's people are as serious about bread as the French, and French bread is a triumph of art over circ.u.mstance. Even today in France, the law says that daily bread must contain only French flour, plus yeast, water, salt-no additives or adulterants, no imports. French flour is not very high in gluten, but it has excellent flavor. American bakers make their "French" bread from high-gluten American flour, producing quite a different, but also outstanding, bread.

In France daily bread is baked in small shops rather than in the home; it is seldom made in large factories. Bakers in different parts of the country have developed breads with distinct individuality. For example, in some areas, wheat and rye were traditionally sown, grown, and harvested together: in a good year there was plenty of wheat, in a bad year, plenty of rye, always in combination-so the bread is hearty and moist with the flavor and heft of rye.

The recipe we present here translates traditional French techniques into whole grain and home style. The bread is awfully good. The flavor and texture are close to real French French bread (or so we imagine!)-very light, with a velvety crumb and a crispy-crunchy-chewy crust. The bright flavor comes from the wheat itself: the combination of bread flour and a little pastry flour makes a reduced-gluten flour with extra sweetness. The best French bread we ever made came from a gift of winter wheat organically grown in Carissa Plains, California. We used it without pastry flour because its gluten content was a already a little low. The flavor was remarkable-just perfect for French bread.

If, on the other hand, you want your loaf to resemble American French bread-chewy and airy, with the clear ivory flavor of gluten-don't blend flours, but use only bread flour, finely ground. Be sure to knead the dough thoroughly.