Bread.

I have a lot of posts to catch up on, so there will be a bunch in quick succession this weekend.

I've mentioned before that most of the time I prefer home cooking to restaurant food, and this sentiment was strengthened last night when I remembered just how terrible bad take out can be. However, I've generally been content to buy some things premade from the grocery store. I look upon these as staples, and I keep them in my pantry with the flour and the sugar. They include things like pasta sauce and granola bars and until recently, bread.

I've never been much of a bread connoisseur. I tend to buy the artisan stuff from the bakery section, but it's not great bread and I know that and I don't care. It just needs to go with pasta and maybe support some garlic.

Then, last weekend, I really screwed up. I was baking a loaf of bread, and also trying to get ready for a fondue party we were having. I was in the middle of cleaning the house when I started the sponge, so I wasn't paying attention when I used wheat flour instead of bread flour. Then, I didn't pay attention to the timing very well and I ended up spending some of the party kneading bread and bench proofing and baking in an already quite cluttered kitchen, because I was also making 2 types of fondue.

I baked the bread in a pyrex pan. I didn't have anything else. I didn't have a pan of warm water in the oven during the baking, because normally I use my pyrex pan for that, and I needed it to hold the actual loaf of bread.

In the end, the pan wasn't big enough for the bread, and one side was square-ish. This was the least of my concerns when I took the bread out of the oven. I don't know what happened, but my normal baking time was far too long. The bread came out scorched. Almost blackened in some parts. And then it stuck to the pyrex and I ripped off half the bottom trying to get it out. The crust was so dried out that it was almost impossible to cut. It was a total disaster from a baking perspective. But it was still better than all the store-bought stuff.

Basic Wheat Bread (adapted from Alton Brown's Very Basic Bread)

Ingredients
5 oz wheat flour
11 oz bread flour, plus extra for shaping
1 tsp rapid rise yeast
2 tsp honey
10 oz bottled/filtered water
2 tsp kosher salt
hot water for rising
vegetable oil or cooking spray for greasing the rising container
a dusting of cornmeal, for bench proofing
1/3 c water
1 Tbsp cornstarch

For the sponge: Combine wheat flour, 1/4 tsp yeast, all bottled water, and the honey. Cover loosely and refrigerate for 8 to 12 hours. This develops the flavor of the bread.

Mix the sponge, bread flour, remaining yeast, and salt. If you have a stand mixer, knead with the dough hook on low for 2 or 3 minutes until dough comes together. If you're doing this by hand, do it by hand. Cover the dough with a kitchen towel and allow to rest for 20 minutes.

Knead the dough until it can be pulled into a sheet thin enough that light can pass through it. If you're kneading by hand, continue kneading for a few minutes after that. Until it feels good, I guess. The dough will be somewhat sticky.

Put hot water in a shallow pan in the oven. Grease a large container and place the dough inside. Allow to rise in the oven until doubled in size. This will happen after 1 or 2 hours.

Punch down the dough twice, cover with a kitchen towel, and allow to rest for 10 minutes.

Shape the dough into a ball and turn over. Squeeze the bottom of the dough ball so that the surface is smooth. Roll the dough between your hands to shape. Sprinkle a baking sheet with cornmeal and place the dough ball on top. Cover and bench proof for 1 hour.

Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Combine cornstarch and 1/3 c water and lightly brush the top of the dough ball. Slash the top of the dough in a few places, 1/3 to 1/2 inch deep. Add more water to the shallow pan in the oven if needed. It will stay in the oven during the cooking process. Cook for 50 to 60 minutes. Allow to sit 30 minutes before slicing.