Recipe
June 12, 2007
Recipe Charles Van Over’s “Best Bread Ever”
bread flour: 500 g salt: 2 t instant yeast: 1 t water: 350 ml
- Put flour, salt, yeast in processor bowl with the metal blade installed; take the temperature of the flour, subtract this number from 130° and adjust water temperature to result in 130° total.*
- Turn on food processor. Drizzle in water slowly; when a ball, process 45 seconds.
- Dough should be 75 – 80° — process 5 seconds more to raise temperature, if needed.
- Ferment 1 1/2 – 2 hours in a gallon food bag at room temperature, then retard in fridge overnight, or up to 4 days.
- 2 – 3 hours before baking remove the dough from fridge and make loaf. Proof at room temperature 2 hours (or long enough to raise dough temperature to 60 – 62°). Don’t worry if dough doesn’t rise much.
- Preheat oven with baking stone to 475° for 30 minutes.
- Slash the loaf and then bake at 475° for 15 minutes, reduce to 425° to finish, with steam every 5 minutes 3 times. If baking more than one loaf, rotate loaves 180° after 15 minutes. Bread is ready when the interior is between 205° – 210°. Cool on wire rack.
* This is the official Van Over formula. I used to follow it scrupulously. But I use flour stored in the basement at about 60° and water that is at room temperature. This roughs out to 130° and I now haven’t measured flour, water, or dough temperature in years. But temperatures matter. The dough rises in temperature from the kneading which results in a dough temperature that sets up the yeast to handle the fermenting and retarding well. If the dough is too cool or warm at the beginning, you won’t get consistent results.
