La Brea Starter and Rustic Bread

"This recipe is posted by request and is from the La Brea Bakery. 1 large or 2 small loaves"
 
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Ready In:
144hrs 25mins
Ingredients:
13
Yields:
1-2 loaves
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ingredients

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directions

  • For the Starter~.
  • Stir the flour and water together-mix well.
  • Tie the grapes in clean doubled cheesecloth.
  • Lightly crush grapes, swish through the flour/water mixture then submerge.
  • Cover tightly with a lid or plastic wrap.
  • Leave@ room temp.
  • Day 3-Lift out the bag of grapes and squeeze their juices back into the starter.
  • Stir up the starter to incorporate juices.
  • Day 4-Stir in 1 cup of flour and 1 cup of water into the container, blending well.
  • Let stand at room temp until it bubbles up, around 3-4 hours.
  • Cover and place in the fridge.
  • Day 5-repeat day 4.
  • Day 6-repeat day 5.
  • Now you are ready to use this starter.
  • It will keep for 4-5 months in your fridge.
  • Rustic Bread~.
  • Measure flour into the bowl of a large food processor and add the 2 cups starter.
  • Measure out the the rest of the ingredients and mix together the milk and water.
  • Turn on the processor and pour in the water/milk mixture in a thin stream.
  • Add the three T. olive oil in a thin stream.
  • Add the yeast and process for 25 seconds.
  • Add the salt and process 5 seconds more.
  • Your batter should be a bit like soft cooked oatmeal.
  • Let rest, in bowl for 5 minutes.
  • Process for 20 seconds.
  • Lightly oil a large glass bowl and scrape in the dough.
  • Cover with plastic wrap and let rest until doubled, around 2&1/2 hours.
  • Punch down and turn out onto a lightly floured board.
  • Let rest for 5 minutes.
  • Knead for 8-10 minutes or until smooth and elastic, adding a small amount of flour if needed.
  • Form into 1 or two round loaves.
  • You can place rounds onto a lightly flour dusted baking sheet-no baking stone needed OR Place a baking stone in the center of your oven and preheat to 500 degrees 30 minutes before baking.
  • Let rounds rise until doubled, around 1&1/2 hours.
  • Place baking sheet into center rack of oven OR GENTLY place raised dough rounds onto the hot stone and spritz oven with water.
  • Close and reduce heat to 400 degrees.
  • Bake for 25 minutes or until done, spritzing oven a few times.
  • Knock on the loaf and if it sounds hollow it's done.
  • (very scientific, I know!) Remove to cool on a wire rack.

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Reviews

  1. The flavour is non existent in this recipe. I find I get much better bread from my regular starter. Who knew flour, water and time would taste better for less effort. I will say this though; it looked and felt magnificent.
     
  2. check your facts this is not a la brea recipe. the original was on tv And in the cookbook. And the real recipe has very few ingredients not the mess you have falsely published here. I have made the true recipe And the result was a crumb and crust like an italian puglise. time consuming yes, but it does deliver the real deal. When I use this wild yeast method and organic heritage wheat it is easily digested, mildly tangy, just yummy and blessedly holely.
     
  3. I have the worn cookbook Nancy Silverton's Bread from the La Brea Bakery in front of me and this recipe isn't. She uses organic grapes & measures in pounds & ounces. She very seldom uses yeast, she uses natural levening. I've made these breads for years using the starter that began in 1996. Ask the library for a copy of this cookbook. Please.
     
  4. BTW, I did not make this in food processor, just did it in a bowl & hand kneading. I concur with the other comments on the flavor. It's lacking. This was the first white bread that I ever made that had good texture and consistency. So it gave me hope. But the flavor was disappointing. There just wasn't much there. No yummy yeasty sour taste or smell. However, I'm going to give it one more try just as a doublecheck. I did enjoy watching and learning the grape fermentation process.
     
  5. The bread's texture and appearance were very good, but we didn't care for the flavor. The dough seemed too thick, so I added a little more milk.
     
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