Very Basic Bread

Recipe courtesy Alton Brown, 2005

Show: Good EatsEpisode: Dr. Strangeloaf

Rated: 5 stars out of 5Rate itRead users' reviews (107)

RECIPE
COMMENTS & REVIEWS(107)

Cook Time:
1 hr 0 min
Level:
Intermediate
Yield:
1 loaf bread

Times:

Prep: 30 min
Inactive Prep: 12 hr 0 min
Cook: 1 hr 0 min
Total:: 13 hr 30 min

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Ingredients

1 pound bread flour, plus extra for shaping
1 teaspoon instant rapid rise yeast
2 teaspoons honey
10 ounces bottled or filtered water
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 quarts hot water
Vegetable oil, for greasing the rising container
2 tablespoons cornmeal
1/3 cup water
1 tablespoon cornstarch

Directions

Combine 5 ounces of the flour, 1/4 teaspoon of the yeast, all of the honey, and all of the bottled water in a straight-sided container; cover loosely and refrigerate for 8 to 12 hours.

Place the remaining 11 ounces of flour, remaining yeast, and all the salt into the bowl of a stand mixer, and add the pre-ferment from the refrigerator. Using the dough hook attachment, knead the mixture on low for 2 to 3 minutes just until it comes together. Cover the dough in the bowl with a kitchen towel and allow to rest for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, knead the dough on medium speed for 5 to 10 minutes or until you are able to gently pull the dough into a thin sheet that light will pass through. The dough will be sticky, but not so sticky that you can't handle it.

While the dough is kneading, pour half of the hot water into a shallow pan and place on the bottom rack of your oven.

Grease the inside of a large straight-sided container with the vegetable oil. Place the dough ball into the container and set on the rack above the pan of water. Allow to rise until doubled in size, approximately 1 to 2 hours.

Once the dough has doubled in size, turn it onto a counter top, lightly dust your hands with flour, and press the dough out with your knuckles; then fold 1 side in towards the middle of the mass and then the other, as if you were making a tri-fold wallet. Repeat the folding a second time. Cover the dough with a kitchen towel and allow to rest for another 10 minutes.

Flatten dough again with your knuckles and then fold the dough in onto itself, like you are shaping something that looks like a jellyfish. Turn the dough over and squeeze the bottom together so that the top surface of the dough is smooth. Place the dough back onto the counter and begin to roll gently between your hands. Do not grab the dough but allow it to move gently back and forth between your hands, moving in a circular motion. Move the dough ball to a pizza peel or the bottom of a sheet pan that has been sprinkled with the cornmeal. Cover with the kitchen towel and allow to bench proof for 1 hour, or until you poke the dough and it quickly fills back in where you poked it.

Place an unglazed terra cotta dish upside down into the oven and heat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Combine the 1/3 cup of water and the cornstarch in a small bowl. Uncover the dough and brush the surface with this mixture. Gently slash the top surface of the dough ball in several places, approximately 1/3 to 1/2-inch deep. Add more of the hot water to the shallow pan if it has evaporated. Slide the bread onto the terra cotta dish in the oven and bake for 50 to 60 minutes. Once the bread has reached an internal temperature of 205 to 210 degrees F, remove to a cooling rack and allow to sit for 30 minutes before slicing.

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Comments & Reviews

recipe Very Basic Bread
Alicia Panama City, FL 02-17-2010
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excellent bread
Rated: 5 stars out of 5

This is excellent bread; the only problem is that we don't want to stop eating it! My friends & family LOVE it when I make... this bread? Great texture and worth the bit extra to make the preferment! Love to play around with this basic recipe I have found I can make so many other kinds of bread just by changing a few little things. Thanks Alton Brown? Wish I could come work for you!!! Read more
recipe Very Basic Bread
Debra Dunnellon, FL 02-14-2010
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Too complicated
Rated: 2 stars out of 5

I love you Alton, but.... This bread took two days, from start to finish nothing worked out. I make French bread yesterday,... easy and it came out perfect. I will be deleting this one. Sorry. Debra Read more
recipe Very Basic Bread
Michael Clarksburg, NJ 01-24-2010
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There be strange things happened to my bread
Rated: 5 stars out of 5

This is an excellent bread, even when made incorrectly. First off, during the 1-2 hour rising period, my dough just didn't... rise. Then, when it rose in the the oven, the bottom rose as well, resulting in a roly-poly bread-ball. I can think of 1000 reasons why that happened though. I know that I didn't use the right type of yeast. AND that yeast may or may not have been old. Also, like someone else already stated, MEDIUM may not translate to the middle speed setting on your mixer. I have a 10-20-year-old KitchenAid stand mixer, and it has 10 speed settings, so naturally I set the knead speed to 5. After about five minutes, the motor started making angry hissing noises so I stopped and finished kneading by hand (hope It I stopped it in time to save it; the old girl's part of the family and frankly I don't think anyone would appreciate having to go out and spend $300 on a shiny new one). Also, I didn't use a terra-cotta pot/dish because I forgot to stop by Home Depot during the ingredients run. Instead, my stir-crazy brain (at the point of baking the time was about 4:30 in the morning, there is no such thing as good tv at that time, and fatigue and oreos don't mix) decided that an upside-down baking pan would work just as well (>_> No...it doesn't). But in badly-written conclusion, the finish product was tasty, crusty, and closer to bread than any bread I've made before.Read more
recipe Very Basic Bread
Susan Dearborn, MI 01-16-2010
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Delicious and simple!
Rated: 5 stars out of 5

One of my early childhood memories is that of coming home from school to the smell of my grandfather's fresh baked bread. ... It's been a long time and I didn't bake bread because I remember it was complicated. This recipe is NOT complicated. You don't even need a stand mixer to do it. The bread is delicious. My family loves wheat bread so I replaced half the regular bread flour with whole wheat flour and upped the honey to 4 tablespoons. Fantastic! For my small family, one loaf lasts one week. We haven't bought a loaf of bread at the store since I started making this bread. Oh the memories that come flooding back each week as the smell of the baking loaf fills the house! Thank you, Mr. Brown! I never thought I would ever be baking my own bread.Read more
recipe Very Basic Bread
margeret chapel hill, NC 10-23-2009
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Wonder bread!
Rated: 5 stars out of 5

If this is truly basic bread then what more could I need... okay maybe butter. This really hit me right in my spot...... Wonderful recipe, wonderful bread. Thank-you Mr. Brown. Read more
recipe Very Basic Bread
Adele LEICESTER, NC 10-10-2009
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Simple & simply scrumptious..!
Rated: 5 stars out of 5

The only problem with this bread is that we don't want to stop eating it! Of course, its so easy & inexpensive to make... As... to some of the comments: -Yes, the total prep time is long, but its not active working time! It's just waiting & let-it-do-its-stuff time. The long, cool ferment is what makes the flavor so rich. The actual work time is only about an hour or so...not long at all, unless you're impatient...totally understandable with this bread, but its sooo worth it! -Yes, the dough is a bit sticky, but you want that for the nice crust. If you add too much flour, it just won't have that wonderful, chewy, crispy crust. That's why he has the water in the oven...moist environment=great crusty bread! -And yes, I too would love to live in Alton's neighborhood...but then all I'd do is cook & eat...eat & cook! Nothing else would get done & I'd gain a hundred pounds in no time! Hmm...could be fun!Read more