Best And Easiest Home-baked Bread

INGREDIENTS

INSTRUCTIONS

For the starter, place warm water in a glass or stainless steel bowl
and whisk in yeast. Stir in flour and cover with plastic wrap. Set
aside to rise at room temperature until doubled and bubbly from 2 to  8
hours, depending on room temperature.  For the sponge, place warm water
in a glass or stainless steel bowl  and whisk in yeast. Whisk in
starter, stir in flour smoothly, and  cover with plastic wrap. Allow to
rise until about triple in volume,  about 4 to 8 hours (I like to do
this late at night and allow it to  rise all night). Stir sponge to
deflate and stir in smaller amount of  flour and salt. Knead dough by
hand to form a smooth, elastic and  slightly sticky dough, about 5
minutes, incorporating the remaining  flour a tablespoon at a time if
the dough is too soft.  To mix the dough in the food processor, place
sponge, smaller amount  of flour and salt in work bowl fitted with
metal blade. Pulse  repeatedly until dough forms a ball (if dough will
not form ball, add  remaining flour a tablespoon at a time, and pulse
until dough forms  ball. Let dough rest 5 minutes, then let machine run
continuously for  20 seconds.  To mix dough in heavy-duty mixer, place
sponge, smaller amount of  flour and salt in bowl of mixer fitted with
dough hook. Mix on low  speed to form a smooth, elastic and slightly
sticky dough, about 5  minutes, incorporating the remaining flour a
tablespoon at a time if  the dough is too soft.  Oil a bowl and turn
dough into it. Turn dough over so that top is  oiled and cover bowl
tightly with plastic wrap. Allow dough to rise  until double. Line a
round basket or 2-quart bowl with a napkin or  tea towel and flour the
cloth generously. Remove dough from bowl,  press it to deflate, and
shape it into a sphere by tucking bottom  under and in toward center
all the way around. Invert the dough into  the cloth-lined basket or
bowl so tucked-under edges are on top.  Cover with plastic wrap and
allow to rise until doubled, about an  hour.  When the loaf is almost
risen, preheat oven to 500 degrees and set a  rack at the middle level.
Place a heavy cookie sheet or jelly roll  pan or a baking stone on the
rack. Sprinkle the top of the loaf with  cornmeal and invert it onto a
piece of cardboard or a peel. Holding a  razor blade at a 30-degree
angle to the loaf, quickly slash a cross  in the top. Slide the loaf
off the peel onto the pan and lower oven  temperature to 450 degrees.
Bake the loaf for about 45 minutes, or  until it reaches an internal
temperature of 210 degrees. Cool the  loaf on a rack and do not cut it
until it is completely cooled.  Variations  PART WHOLE WHEAT BREAD:
Make the starter with whole wheat flour and  the sponge and dough with
white flour. Or, if you make the starter  with white flour, substitute
1/2 cup whole wheat flour and 1 1/2 cups  white flour in the sponge;
and 1/2 cup whole wheat flour and 1 to 1  1/4 cups white flour in the
dough.  NOTES : Recipe courtesy of Nick Malgieri  Recipe by: Cooking
Live Show #CL9040  Posted to MC-Recipe Digest by "Angele and Jon
Freeman"  <jfreeman@comteck.com> on Feb 7, 1998

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Nutrition (calculated from recipe ingredients)
----------------------------------------------
Calories: 8114
Calories From Fat: 248
Total Fat: 29.2g
Cholesterol: 186mg
Sodium: 5668.5mg
Potassium: 3391.7mg
Carbohydrates: 1665.9g
Fiber: 89.1g
Sugar: 5.8g
Protein: 255.8g