dear julia

"dear julia" is not to be confused with "dear ruby," elder nelson's newest great granddaughter. are we prepared to try dear julia's fransh bread? ("fransh" is what you say for "french" if you are attempting a spurious french accent.)

i found this recipe, not in dear julia's cookbook, but online at this site: breadchick.blogspot.com the particular post is "The Sour Dough: Ze Daring Bakers Conquer French Bread ala Julia." (this is in case you want to go back and get ALL of the instructions.) the ingredients for this bread are flour, water, salt and yeast. period. when i printed out all of the instructions, it came to 25 pages. i will leave out what i think is superfluous (about 24 pages).

don't disdain this lovely bread because of the simplicity of the ingredients. the flavor is marvelous, with a tiny bit of "sour" flavor. this is because of the length of the risings. a really long rising allows the yeast to produce a tiny amount of alcohol that makes this subtle sour flavor. i will put up my own version of this recipe, which contains sour dough starter and is more sour that this version, tomorrow.

dear julia's french bread

1 pkt (2 1/4 t.) yeast
2 1/4 t salt
1 3/4 c warm water
3 1/2 c unbleached flour

(i use a kitchen aid to mix and knead my bread, but do whatever you like about that.) put water and salt in the bowl add 1 c flour with the yeast stirred in. stir. add the rest of the flour and stir or work with your hands to make a soft, sticky dough. turn out onto a kneading surface and let the dough rest for 2-3 minutes. start kneading, adding a little flour here and there to keep the dough from sticking to your fingers. knead until the dough is elastic, about 10 minutes. let dough rest for 3-4 minutes.

put in greased bowl and let rise to triple its original size, about 3-5 hours.

dump risen dough out onto your kneading surface. if the dough seems damp and sweaty, sprinkle it with a T of flour. flatten the dough firmly into a circle, deflating any gas bubbles by pinching them.

return the dough to the bowl. let rise again until not quite triple in bulk. turn the dough out again onto your kneading surface. if damp, then flour.

with this dough, you can make 3 long loaves, 5-6 thin long loaves, 10-12 rolls, 2 medium round loaves, or one large round loaf. cut the dough for the type of loaves you want to make. let dough rest for 5 minutes.

form loaves (most of the rest of the instructions are about how to form a loaf "properly," but i'm sure you will be pleased with whatever you do to make loaves, rounds or rolls out of this dough).

place finished loaves on greased baking sheets that have been sprinkled with cornmeal. let rise one last time about 1 1/2 or 2 1/2 hours. about 1/2 hour before your loaves will be finished rising, preheat oven to 425. also put your teakettle on to boil.

wet the outside of the loaves with water, either with a spray bottle or with a pastry brush dipped in water. put a pan (such as a metal cake pan) on the bottom rack of your oven, and fill with boiling water (you wondered what the teakettle was for, didn't you?). put in your bread and let bake for 3 minutes. then pull the bread out and wet the crust again. put it back in for three more minutes, then pull the bread out and wet the crust again. bake for three more minutes and wet the dough one last time. then remove the pan of water, put the bread back in, and set your timer for about 16 minutes. after 16 minutes, your all-day project of making french bread is finally finished! your crust should be thick, chewy and crunchy. the inside should be soft, coarse, and slightly sour tasting.

bon appetit! as dear julia would say.