Rustic Country Loaf

lauralie41's Note:

After reading the posts in the Eastern European Forum and having my mouth water all day I went to the library. Being Polish I looked for any polish cookbooks I could find. There were not many on the shelf but found The New Polish Cuisine by Chef Michael J. Baruch. Now I can add even more recipes to my Polish cookbook here on zaar!! Thank you so much for creating the Eastern European Forum!!!

• Total Time: 3 hrs 5 mins
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 2 hrs 35 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 1 plump l ...

• 3 cups bread flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 2 ½ teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1 ¼ teaspoons sea salt
• 1 pinch sugar
• 1 1⁄3; cups water , warm about 120-130 degrees

Directions:

1. Line one heavy sheet pan with parchment and dust with cornmeal.
2. Combine all the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and stir with wooden spoon to combine. Make a well in the center and slowly add warm water. With a heavy wooden spoon, stir mixture until it forms a sticky dough that clings to spoon.
3. Using clean, floured hands remove dough from spoon and bowl and place on lightly floured work surface. With both hands knead dough until it is slightly smooth. If dough still remains sticky add a little flour and mix inches Form the dough into a ball and put it back in mixing bowl. Cover with a kitchen towel, let rise in warm place for about one hour or until dough doubles in size.
4. When dough has doubled in size, punch it down and return dough to bowl for an additional half hour to rise.
5. After the half hour remove the dough and punch it down again. Knead slightly and form back into a ball tucking ends underneath. Place dough on parchment lined sheet pan, cover with kitchen towel, let rise again for 30 to 40 minutes until almost doubled in size.
6. While dough is rising, preheat over to 425 degrees.
7. When dough has risen, lightly dust with flour and place dough on middle rack in hot oven. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until bread is a deep golden brown. Remove loaf and place on rack to cool.

Reviews

[LifeIsGood]

FABULOUS! We loved this bread (and probably ate way too much of it with dinner tonight)! The only slight change to the recipe was that I needed to add a bit more water to the dough to get it to the right consistency to knead (maybe about 1/4 C). This produces a crusty exterior and a dense, hearty interior. We absolutely loved this rustic loaf of bread. Worth the effort and wait!

[FLUFFSTER]

This is a great recipe! I received a bread machine about a year ago, and haven't done much bread baking since. This was fairly easy for me.I'm not a whiz bread baker. Mine didn't come out quite so pretty as all of the pics I see, but it still tastes fantastic, and I made it with my vey own hands! Thanks for a great recipe! I will definately make this again!

[Kittencalskitchen]

I followed this to a tee only I used 3 teaspoon of yeast, this is a slightly different bread/method than I am used to making but it turned out great and makes a lovely bread to serve with soup or stew, I will make again, thanks for sharing Lori, this was made for KK's Chef's Pick game