Our daily bread

By popular demand, the recipe for our daily bread. Limitless variations. Just use flour instead of whole wheat flour for a white loaf. Substitute 100 g of rye flour for the same amount of (whole wheat) flour. Use (butter)milk instead of water (but not in the poolish), wrap it in sesame seeds etc.

Please do not abuse this recipe to go baguetting. And I will hunt you down with my snow shovel if you turn all San Francisco-whole foods-hipster-foodie and call this "artisan".

First you'll have to prepare a poolish, around 20-24 hours before kneading the dough. Mix 150 g whole wheat four with 150 g of flour, 300 g of tepid water and 1-2 g fresh yeast (divide by two if instant yeast). Don't knead, just mix. Cover and let it rest. After 20-24 hours the poolish should be nice and bubbly.

Add 300 g whole wheat and 100 g flour with 140 g tepid water and ca 15 g fresh yeast. I always add vitamine c powder (2 tablets), which enhances the crumb structure. Also add 35 g butter or 20 g olive oil, some grains and seeds and mix until it's a homogenous mass. Let it rest for 10 min, add 1,25 teaspoon of salt and start kneading (I let the kitchen machine knead for 10 minutes, but I guess it takes longer in a bread machine). Let it rise for an hour.

Divide the dough in two, and stretch and fold each side 3 times. Shape and put it in an oven with a bowl of steamy hot water. Take the dough (and the bowl) out after 20 minutes, preheat to 250 degrees with a deep metal oven plate on the bottom. Dust the dough with flour and cover it with a cloth.

When the oven is hot, pour a cup of boiling water into the oven plate (watch out for the glass in the oven door) and close the oven. Score the bread with a tomato knife (I use an old fashioned razor blade) at a very sharp angle (0,5-1 cm deep) and place it in the oven. Turn the temperature down to 175 after 30 min, let the steam escape and bake for 10-15 minutes. You'll have to be patient as the bread cools off for 45 minutes.