Here's this week's batch
This method gives a very spongy and airy bread with a beautiful crust.
Keep in mind that a good bread doesn't rely on exact measurements and that it's all about the method with which you make the bread. For this bread I used 4 big bowls of white flour (I use a high gluten variety) and 2 bowls of durum flour with 2 tablespoons of dry instant yeast 1 tablespoon of olive oil and salt (taste the batter to decide how much you need) 1 tablespoon of sugar and enough warm water to form a soft sticky dough.
Directions:
Add some warm water to the yeast to activate it, add the sugar to this mixture and let it rise.
In the bowl of your stand up mixer armed with a hook attachment add flour, salt and olive oil mix and add the yeast mixture.
Add your water little by little until your flour becomes a soft sticky dough, let the machine knead it for 15 minutes on a high setting (I use 6 on my kitchenaid which is the setting before the last one) if you don't have a machine, knead until your bicep doubles in size lol
cover the bowl with a plastic wrap and let it rest until the dough has doubled in size. TIP ALERT!! to make this process really fast; I put the warmer of my oven on the lowest setting and put my bowl inside.
After the dough has doubled in size, punch it down to get the gas out while it's still on the bowl cover it and let it rise a second time...This is the secret to a very airy bread.
After your dough rises again and this time it shouldn't take long, transfer it to a floured surface and punch it down. shape it into 6 balls or more depending on what size you want. I use fine semolina to help with the stickiness.
Flatten your balls pretty thin , make a criss cross cut on top using a sharp knife. cover the bread with a clean cloth and a small blanket (baby blankets are perfect) let it rise. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 25-35 minutes. You will have to switch your baking sheets a couple of times while cooking as the rolls placed on the lowest rack will need to be switched out to the top rack once their bottom side is golden and then the baking sheet on the top rack will get a chance to cook on the bottom rack. once all the rolls are golden brown on the bottom, put your oven on the "broil" setting and switch the breads around until al are golden brown and beautiful! This is not as complicated as it sounds and your oven might do a better job at getting everything golden brown without needing to broil like mine does. Once the bread is ready cover it with a clean cloth as this will make the crust not too hard.
Tip: I cook one big batch of bread once a week that way I can have homemade bread every day and to keep bread as fresh as the day I bake it I do what my mother does: Once the bread has completely cooled down I wrap 2 breads at a time in a clean cloth, put them inside a plastic bag and put them in the freezer.
To use the frozen bread; get it out about 1 hour before use and let it thaw, brush it with a little water on top and bottom (I wet my hand a couple of times and rub it on the bread) bake it for 5 minutes and it will be as fresh as the day you made it. Voila!!
Happy baking
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