Here at TC’s Plant Based Grocery, Carina always said that she is not interested in learning bread baking but Günter was always open to learn. A few weeks ago we were both shown how to do it from our friends Anja and Martin. Thank you so much.
If you would like to try this recipe and do not have Lievito Madre don’t worry. All readers of Pals Magazine can visit our shop, TC’s Plant Based Grocery in Polis, during the whole of July to get their own Lievito Madre for free so that they can bake their bread.
Ingredients:
- 550g flour of your choice (a mix of different flour types or only one type you can choose whatever you want)
- about 370g lukewarm water
- 50g Lievito Madre (not older than 4 days, otherwise you need to refresh it first)
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt (we use Himalayan salt, it’s not so intense, if you use another salt start with 1 tablespoon)
- bread spices whole or ground (caraway, fennel seeds, coriander,…)
Preparation:
Put the Lievito Madre into a bowl and mix it with the water until it dissolves in the water. Add the flours, salt and spices and knead into a dough. Put it in a bowl with a lid and leave it for 2-4 hours at room temperature.
After 2-4 hours, knead the dough again on a floured work surface and then work it round with a dough card (use the dough card to fold the edges in a circle from the outside inwards until the dough has a nice round loaf shape).
Then, with the end facing upwards, place it in a well-floured proofing basket, dust it with a little bit of flour and cover with a hood. (We take wholegrain rye flour for flouring the proofing basket as this looks really nice after baking) If you don’t have a proofing basket you can also use a bowl. We recommend putting some baking paper into the bowl to make sure that the dough can be easily taken out.
Leave it for at least 12 hours in the proofing basket (mostly we make the dough in the late afternoon and bake it on the next day in the morning). At warmer temperatures put the dough into the fridge after a few hours otherwise it may overcook and collapse. On the next day you can take the dough out of the fridge while preheating the oven so it can acclimate.
For baking, a small baking-proof bowl with stones is required to be able to generate a cloud of steam. Place the ovenproof bowl with the stones at the bottom of the oven and also keep the baking tray in the oven while preheating (middle rack).
Preheat the oven to maximum temperature. Then tip the bread out of the proofing basket onto a piece of baking paper. If it hasn’t risen fully, i.e. the proofing basket wasn’t full, cut a cross or heart into the bread. Spray with water or, if you don’t have a spray bottle, sprinkle with your fingers.
Place the baking paper with the bread on the grating, prepare a small shot glass with water and then open the oven, push the bread with the baking paper onto the preheated baking tray and then pour the water from the shot glass into the bowl with the stones and quickly close the door of the oven to keep the steam inside.
Bake the bread for 10-15 minutes at the highest temperature and then remove the tray with the stones and finish baking at 220°C or lower for about 30 minutes. (Every oven is different so the best will be to have a look at the bread more often when you bake the first time so that it doesn’t get too dark.)
To test if the bread is done, tap the bottom of the bread. If it sounds hollow, the bread is done and can be placed on a grid to cool.
