She told me that as a selfchallenge she had decided to make bread for her family’s consumption for a whole year.

It was time consuming, but satisfying on many levels: Acquiring the skill, saving money, using ingredients without preservatives, health enhancing. Then came the more subtle returns. The process became a memory link of being with her mother and grandm other. There was a segment of
“time management” too. She
was home with a young baby,
therefore could use her time in
many ways.
Bread needs to be left alone,
then returned to, but it’s no big
deal if you’re a little late or a little
early. You can work on the
computer, go to the garden, take
a bath, read a book, and then
come punch it down for another
rising. It can spend the night in
the refrigerator waiting for you
to acknowledge it again. Learning
to knead doesn’t take long,
and it’s fun besides. The most
wonderful thing is the smell
from the oven and the satisfaction
of creating something that
has been a basic food for man
since time began.
In that context, of course, I’m
talking about yeast breads. I
think that most of us turn to the
quicker version of baking
soda/powder breads and
muffins. But don’t deprive yourself
of the pleasure of the former.

My new source is “The Tassajara
Bread Book” which the
Washington Post has referred to
as “the bible for bread baking”.
When talking about yeast
breads, it gives the most
detailed directions from assembling
to kneading and shaping
that I have ever read. Quick
breads are covered as well as
tarts and butters. It is a small,
gentle volume that contains
almost all we need to know as
we create bread in the kitchen.
The focaccia recipe in Tassajara
is a little different than the
following from James Beard.
Their changes follow My favorite
bread recipe:
“Pizza Caccia Nanza” from
“Beard on Bread” 1977 Alfred a
Knopf
(which is really a focaccia)
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons rosemary
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black
pepper to taste.
Preheat the oven to 400.

Combine the flour, salt, yeast and water in a mixing bowl. Blend well then turn the dough onto a lightly floured board. Knead well, for about 15 min. and shape the dough into a ball. Place it in a lightly greased mixing bowl. Cover with a towel and let rise in a warm place until double its size about 1 to 1/2 hours.

Turn the dough on to the board and knead once more. Put it back into the bowl and let it rise again (sometimes I skip the 2nd rising) Then punch down the dough and turn it onto a lightly floured board. Roll it out to 1/2 inch thickness. Rub the surface of a baking sheet with oil. Transfer the round of dough to a baking sheet. Make indentations over the surface of the dough with your finger and insert a thin sliver of garlic and a bit of rosemary into each indentation. Pour the olive oil over the pizza and rub gently with the hands. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and bake 15 min. or until golden brown. Remove the garlic before serving....
Focaccia (or pizza dough)
From Tassajara
2 cups warm water, under 125
degrees
2 tablespoon active dry yeast
three packets)
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary,
minced
1/4 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup unbleached white flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
3 cups unbleached white flour
Olive oil for glazing
Coarse sea salt

Start with the water, making sure it is not too hot, it should feel just slightly warm on our hand. Stir in the yeast, then the rosemary, olive oil and salt. Stir in the one cup of white flour and the one and a half cups of whole wheat flour. Beat about one hundred strokes.

Fold in two cups of white flour, one half cup at a time. Turn the dough out on a floured board and knead for several minutes using up to one more cup of flour to keep the dough from sticking. Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic.

Let the dough rise for about an hour until it doubles in size. Punch down and let rise another 40 minutes.

To shape into loaves, first divide the dough in half. Shape each half into a ball. (They can be baked in this shape.) I like to flatten out the ball into a rectangle, then roll it into a log shape. Flatten out the log and make diagonal cuts crosswise, leaving the sides attached. Pull each end lengthwise, so that the loaf forms a “ladder” shape-the cuts are stretched into openings.

Place on oiled sheet pan, and brush the top with olive oil. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt

Let rise about 20 minutes and then bake in a 375 degree oven about 25-30 minutes until browned, top and bottom.

Enjoy. pgg