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[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

On Feb 23, 2010, at 10:18 PM, Marie McHarry wrote:

> Gene, the amount of water is sure to vary with the moisture of the
> flour, so maybe that's why you need less?

Hm. Perhaps. I just took this latest batch out of the fridge and shaped a 
little loaf and a pizza skin. The top edge of the dough in the bowl was a bit 
dry. I may have to either use a bit more water or cover the bowl more 
completely. I like having the bowl only loosely covered because then the 
dough picks up wild stuff from the air and you get the sour smell and taste.

This is the mix I am using right now:
5.5 Cups fresh-ground wheat
2 Cups white flour
1/4 Cup gluten
1.5 Tablespoons yeast
1 Tablespoon salt
3.5 Cups water (I started with 4 Cups water)

The extra water makes a nice, moist dough and bread. It also makes it hard to 
handle the dough--hard to shape the loaves and skins and hard to slide off 
the peels onto the stones. So each baker will find the balance they prefer.

The primary reason I love this method is it takes so little time. I use a 
soup spoon to mix the water into the dry stuff, just making sure all the 
flour is moist. Then it just sits, loosely covered, room temp, until I get 
back to it, often most of the day. I put it in the fridge. It sits there 
until I want some, often for three or four days. When I want to bake I take 
it out of the fridge, rip off a chunk and shape it on heavily floured pizza 
peels. It sits there for an hour or several hours. Get the oven up to 450, 
slide it off the peels onto stones. Bake until it looks like you like it. By 
far the easiest method I have ever know.

The authors recommend a cup of hot water in a flat pan during baking. I did 
that a few times and it was good. But, to save propane, I now bake both bread 
and pizza skin at the same time, so no room for a pan.

I will continue to play with the amount of water. And there is lots of room 
for experimentation with other grains, seeds, oils, etc.

I have two of the popular big books on breads. It seems to me that the French 
artisanal bakers let the rise happen with much more time and cooler 
temperature than traditional American bakers, as this method above. They are 
mostly focussed on white flour and do whole wheat recipes only because some 
customers, and readers, want that. I eat first for nutrition and second for 
all other reasons. So whole grains are most important to me.

Gene