Refrigerator Bread

This bread is yummy.  And easy.  It makes me wonder if all that fancy-pants stuff other bread recipes “require” is actually necessary.  Yeah, I’m sure there would be some minor differences in the texture and taste of the bread if I made it the comlicated way, but is that extra time and effort going to make a huge difference?  My guess is probably not.  I’ll test out my theory with other breads and find out.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups warm water (or milk)
• 1 1/2 tbsp dry active yeast
• 1 1/2 tbsp salt
• 6 1/2 cups all purpose flour (can do half all-purpose and half wheat + 1/4 cup honey)

Directions:

1. In a large bowl (5 – 6 quarts), combine water, yeast, and salt (and honey* if using wheat flour).
2. Add flour all at once and mix well.
3. Cover (not airtight) and let rise for 2 hours.
4. Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.
5. When ready to bake, scoop out dough, shape as desired and place on cornmeal or flour covered wax paper or peel.  Let rest 40 minutes.
6. Make a few 1/4-inch deep slashes in the loaf (or loaves) with a serrated knife.
7. Preheat pizza stone at 450 degrees F.  Once the oven is preheated, place a broiler pan with 1 cup of hot water on the bottom rack, this will keep the loaf/loaves from drying out.
8. Bake on preheated pizza stone at 450 degrees F for 30 – 35 minutes.  Smaller loaves will need less time (around 20  minutes) so keep an eye on it/them!
9. Cool completely before slices (it may still be cooking in the middle).

*The honey is used to take away the bite of the wheat flour.  If you don’t have honey on hand, you can use 1/4 cup sugar + 1 tbsp water.

This bread is really yummy.  It can be easily made into rolls by baking a bunch of small spheres of dough in a pan together.  I made the mistake of trying to bake smaller loaves on a pan in a toaster oven.  The inside didn’t bake all the way and the outside burned a bit.  Don’t do that.  If you have a pizza stone, definitely use it because it will help cook up the bottom of the loaf/loaves.  I used the sugar substitute for honey, but will be trying honey next time and expect a slighty more delicious outcome.  The cool thing about this bread is that you can let it sit and ferment in the fridge and just take scoops out of it when you’re ready.