Saturday White Bread

Directions

• 1)

  AUTOLYSE: Combine the flour and water in a 12-quart round tub. Mix by hand just until incorporated. Cover and let rest for 20-30 minutes.

• 2)

  MIX: Sprinkle the salt and yeast evenly over the top of the dough. Mix with a wet hand. Reach underneath the dough and grab about one-quarter of it. Gently stretch and fold it over the top to the other side. Repeat three more times with the remaining dough until the salt and yeast are fully enclosed.

• 3)

  Use the pincer method to fully integrate the ingredients. Using your thumb and forefinger, make five or six pincer cuts across the entire mass of dough. Then fold the dough over itself a few times. Repeat, alternately cutting and folding until all of the ingredients are fully integrated and the dough has some tension in it. Let the dough rest for a few minutes, then fold for another 30 seconds or until the dough tightens up.

• 4)

  The target dough temperature at the end of the mix is 77-78°F. Cover the tub and let the dough rise.

• 5)

  FOLD: This dough needs two folds. For each one, fold the dough over itself 4-5 times, working around the dough until it has tightened into a ball, then grab the ball and invert it so the seam side is down. Complete the first one about 10 minutes after mixing and the second one during the next hour (when the dough spreads out in the tub, it’s ready for the second fold). After the last inversion, cover the dough and let it continue to rise.

• 6)

  When the dough is 3 times its original volume, about 5 hours after mixing, it’s ready to be divided.

• 7)

  DIVIDE: Moderately flour a work surface and your hands and sprinkle a bit of flour around the edges of the tub. Tip the tub slightly and gently work your free hand beneath the dough to loosen it from the bottom of the tub. Ease the dough out onto the work surface in a somewhat even shape. Flour the dough in the middle and cut it into 2 equal-size loaves.

• 8)

  SHAPE: Dust 2 proofing baskets with flour. Shape each loaf by folding the dough over itself into a ball, inverting it onto an unfloured portion of counter and then gently sliding the ball along the counter from all sides to create a taut skin. Place each loaf seam side down in its proofing basket.

• 9)

  PROOF: Lightly flour the tops of the loaves and cover with a towel or plastic bag. Plan on baking the loaves about 1 1/4 hours after they are shaped, assuming a room temperature of about 70°F. Check after 1 hour. They are perfectly proofed and ready to bake when you poke a floured finger about 1/2 inch into the dough and it springs back slowly and incompletely.

• 10)

  PREHEAT: At least 45 minutes prior to baking, put your dutch ovens on the middle oven rack with their lids on. Preheat the oven to 475°F.

• 11)

  If you only have one dutch oven, put the second loaf into the fridge about 20 minutes before baking the first loaf and bake the loaves sequentially, giving the dutch oven a 5-minute reheat after removing the first loaf.

• 12)

  BAKE: Invert the proofed loaf onto a lightly floured countertop. Remove the dutch oven from the oven. Gently place the loaf in the hot dutch oven seam side up. Cover with lid and place back in oven.

• 13)

  Bake for 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake for 15-30 minutes more, until at least medium dark brown all around the loaf.

• 14)

  Remove from oven and carefully tilt the dutch over to turn the loaf out. Let it cool on a rack or set it on its side so air can circulate around it for at least 20 minutes before slicing.

• 15)

  ALTERNATE – You can place a loaf in the fridge immediately after shaping and bake it the next morning.