It's Spring - Onions

In years past I’ve noticed the bunches of spring onions for sale at the market and passed them by. They look a lot like green onions or scallions, but are more expensive. This year I decided to try a bunch in some filled bread.

Surely these onions, looking like a cross between scallions, leeks, and regular white large onions, would be a taste of spring. They really are only available during the spring. Left in the ground I suspect that they become prosaic white onions.

To go with the spring onions, I used some fresh baby spinach, another harbinger of spring. The leaves are bright green and tender, needing only a quick chop and brief steaming to break down the cell walls, releasing the excess moisture and wilting them slightly. I dried the steamed spinach with paper towels because extra moisture wouldn’t be a great idea in baked buns.

The final part of the filling is shredded jack and cheddar cheese. You could also use some feta for a tangier combo.

The bread dough is one I put together using a King Arthur Flour recipe for Stuffing Buns for proportions. I changed so much of the recipe that it is barely based on theirs. I used my whole wheat sourdough starter and a little reconstituted active dry yeast, too. Some potato starch adds suppleness. Look at what a great crust it has!

Some Meyer lemon flavored olive oil goes well with the onions and spinach. A little dried rosemary gives additiona flavor. An egg and some milk add richness, more whole wheat flour and unbleached bread flour give the rolls their body.

This dough is a little sticky, but a pleasure to work with and easy to form into the filled buns. Once the dough had finished it’s first rise, I punched it down, turned it out onto a lightly floured board, kneaded it a few times to release any extra trapped gas, then used my bench scraper to cut it into eight pieces. If you want smaller buns, you could probably make ten or twelve buns.

The nice thing about having eight was that a tablespoon of the cheese mixture went into each one and that is exactly a cup. A little cheese leaked out of a few of the rolls, but that's OK. Each bit had a nice cheesiness to go with the spinach and onion flavors.

These are great little buns for lunch or brunch or even a picnic, although the cheese won’t be melty as it is when served warm from the oven. I'm going to send them over to Cinzia at Cindystar for Bread Baking Day #19...Spring Country Bread. She invited us to have a virtual picnic. These rolls should find a welcome place in a picnic basket.

Spring Onion Stuffed Rolls

1/3 cup warm water
¼ teaspoon active dry yeast
1 cup sourdough starter, whole wheat if you have it
2 tablespoons olive oil – I used Meyer lemon flavored, but good quality plain olive oil is fine
1 egg, slightly beaten
1/3 cup milk at room temperature
1 cup whole wheat flour
¼ cup potato starch
2 cups unbleached bread flour, divided
½ teaspoon dried rosemary, broken into very small pieces
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup finely shredded cheese – either one kind or a mixture
Spring Onion and Spinach Filling Mixture – at end of recipe.

In a small bowl, mix together the warm water and active dry yeast. Let stand 10 minutes to proof. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the sourdough starter, proofed yeast, olive oil, egg, and milk.

In another bowl or a measuring cup, combine the whole wheat flour, potato starch, and one cup of the unbleached bread flour.

With the dough hook in place on the mixer, slowly add about half of the flour mixture. Add the salt and mix. Continue to add the remainder of the flour mixture. Then begin adding the rest of the unbleached flour, letting the dough absorb the added flour a little at a time. Knead with the mixer for 4-5 minutes until the dough is supple and silky. You may still have some of the unbleached flour not used.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. If it seems too sticky, knead in a little more flour. Gather into a ball. Place in a lightly oiled bowl or rising container, turn dough ball over to oil all sides. Cover lightly with plastic wrap or a towel and let rise until double in bulk, about 1 ½ hours.

Punch dough down and turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead a few times to release any trapped gas. Divide dough into 8, 10, or 12 pieces, depending on how many buns you want and how big.

Take each piece of dough and spread it into a circle roughly 5 inches in diameter. Into the center place 1 tablespoon shredded cheese. Top with a generous teaspoon or a little more of the spring onion mixture.

Gather the edges together to make a ball, pinching to seal. Place sealed side down on a greased baking sheet or silicon mat which has been placed in a baking sheet. Repeat until all dough has been filled.

Place a towel over the pan and let rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 to 1 ½ hours.
Optional: Paint tops of rolls with an egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water) and sprinkle with sesame seeds right before putting in the oven.

Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for xx minutes, until rolls are browned. (Rolls can be brushed with melted butter once removed from oven if you prefer a soft top and have not done the egg wash.)

Let cool slightly on a cooling rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Spring Onion and Spinach Filling Mixture

1 cup thinly sliced spring onions, root end removed. Use a little of the stem part, but not as much of the greens as you might with scallions
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 ½ cups packed chopped fresh spinach, briefly steamed and then drained

In a heated sauté pan place the olive oil and let it heat a minute. Add the onions and stir to coat with the oil. Stir over high heat for another minute, then cover and reduce heat to lowest setting. Let onions and oil sweat gently for 15 minutes, then uncover and turn off the heat. Any remaining extra moisture will evaporate as the mixture cools. Once cooled, add the steamed and drained spinach and stir to combine.

Leftovers Make Cheese Croutons

You gotta love cheese to enjoy this bread. I've been a big fan of cheese most of my life. When I was pregnant the second time I had a lactose intolerance. Cheese was the dairy product I missed most. Even one slice of this will sooth a cheese craving.


The dough has lots of grated cheddar cheese, plus some grated Parmesan. Here and there are bits of salty feta, too.Here is a photo of the bread ready to roll into a loaf, spread with the herb, lemon zest and lots of feta.

When Sweetie bought a five pound bag of grated cheese at Costco I discovered just how much cheese that is! There are bags in the freezer, each with 2 cups of the cheese, plus a big gallon bag in the fridge. Seemed like a good time to make a bread with cheese.

This one is pretty simple, using sourdough starter, some bread flour and whole wheat flour, a little olive oil, some milk, a bit of sugar and salt, and both cheddar and Parmesan cheeses.

Once the dough was set to rise, I decided to jazz it up a bit by making a swirl in the loaf. The added flavors of the swirl include lemon zest, fresh marjoram, and feta cheese. It turned out that I didn't use enough marjoram to really make it a visual swirl (I used fresh marjoram from the garden, but it's early enough in the season that I only had a tablespoon, minced, once I was done),

but the baked bread is alive with the flavors of the herb, lemon and feta. Sort of like a quick trip to Greece, maybe. With three kinds of cheese, it's a true Cheese Bread.

On the off chance that there are leftovers, you can cut them up, toast the cubes, and have cheese croutons for salad or to top soup.

The dough is soft, but not sticky. I didn't glaze the top, but I did slash it diagonally. Eat this while it is still warm and you won't need to add a thing. I did find that ti took longer to bake than I had thought it would. Do bake it until it gives a hollow sound when the bottom is tapped when you turn it out to cool on the wire rack. If you don't get that sound, put it back in the pan and baked some more. You can tent it with foil while it finishes baking if the crust gets too brown.

Once it is cool it becomes a great sandwich bread, especially for cured meats like salami or ham. If you are a true cheese fanatic, try making a grilled cheese sandwich with this bread. Outstanding!

Cheese Cheese Cheese Bread with Herb and Lemon

1 cup sourdough starter
1 cup milk at room temperature
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup cheddar cheese, finely shredded

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup whole wheat flour
2-3 cups bread flour, divided

2 tablespoons freshly minced marjoram (oregano could be used instead)
1 teaspoon lemon zest - yellow part only

about 1 cup feta cheese

In stand mixer bowl, mix together the sourdough starter, milk, olive oil, sugar, salt, cheddar and Parmesan cheeses. Take the whole wheat flour and 1 cup of the bread flour and mix together in a medium bowl. Use the dough hook on the mixer and add the flour mixture to the sourdough mixture. Add additional bread flour and let machine knead the dough as you do until the dough is soft but not sticky.

Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for another minute or two. Shape into a ball and place ball in oiled bowl or whatever container you use to let bread dough rise in. Lightly oil the top of the ball, then cover with plastic wrap, place in a warm, draft free place and let rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours.

Punch dough down and turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Using your hands. spread the dough into a rectangle roughly 9" x 11". Distribute the herb and zest evenly over the surface, leaving about an inch at the ends free of herb and lemon zest. Distribute the feta evenly over the herb-lemon zest mixture, again leaving the ends free of cheese. Roll up jelly roll fashion along the long edge and seal the edges by pinching them. Turn under the ends and place, seam side down, in a bread pan. Cover and let rise in a warm, draft free place until the bread just reaches the top of the pan, about an hour.

Bake in a preheated 350 degree F. oven for about 45 minutes or until hollow sounding when bottom is tapped. Let cool on a wire rack before slicing.

Makes one loaf.

This is my entry this week in Susan of Wild Yeast's Yeastspotting (http://www.wildyeastblog.com/category/yeastspotting/ ) event, a wonderland of delightful recipes collected each week to bemuse and inspire those who love to bake with yeast.

Happy Cows and Other Delights

Lots of the bread recipes I make contain dairy products. Not too far from the local high school there is a park that has a dairy herd in residence next door. Since I tend to buy local, it's quite possible that some of their efforts go into my bread, too. Here is a photo of the herd at a distance, along with some wine grape vines (wine being another local product that is enjoyable) and hills off in the distance.

By the way, spring butter tends to be just a bit better than butter the rest of the year. Look at that grass and you'll see why. Of course it could be that they are just happy California cows.

The bread baker's dog likes his walks...most dogs do...and one of his favorite walks takes us past the cows and to the laguna, our local waterway. It is enchanting year round, but the spring is especially wonderful.




We were lucky enough to get fairly close to this great white heron among some reeds in a shallow area. There were also ducks nearby, but this big one is quite a sight up close.


Still not food, but these seedlings will soon be producing food and are keeping this blogger quite busy getting the garden prepared for them. No fresh bread for the dog, either, but that should change in the next day or so. Stay 'tuned'.

Easter Egg Nests

Happy Easter!

Spring seems especially welcome this year. This morning we took the Bread Baker's Dob for a walk and saw a mother duck and about a dozen little ducklings swimming around through the reeds. They were new enough that they had gold spots on their backs and they swam pretty close to the mamma duck, especially when they saw us watching them.

Eggs have been a symbol for new life and for spring for a very long time. A book that a dear friend gave me for my birthday a few months ago had a recipe that is perfect for Easter and spring. Bread nests made of sweet dough hold colored eggs that cook while the dough bakes. Most of the work has been done tonight (Saturday), but they will be held in the fridge overnight and baked in the morning for our Easter breakfast, so this will actually be posted on Sunday.

The yeasted dough is called 'dolled up' because I took the basic sweet dough and added cardamom, nutmeg, and candied ginger for flavor, brown sugar instead of white, also for flavor, but then changed the 1/2 and 1/2 to nonfat evaporated milk and the egg to egg substitute to reduce the fat just a bit. The dough is really lovely and easy to handle. Even with all the additions, when baked it is a mildly spiced and barely sweet dough, so add jam at the table if you like.

The eggs came out of the oven soft boiled and you should remove the dyed egg from the nest within the first 10 minutes after you serve them because otherwise the shell tends to stick to the dough a bit.

Sweetie would have liked the egg better hard boiled, but MuniMan enjoyed them soft boiled. He said it reminded him of his childhood, in a good way.

Dolled Up Sweet Dough
A variation on Basic Sweet Dough in Breaking Bread with Father Dominic

3-4 cups all-purpose flour, divided
1 cup whole wheat bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
¼ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1 cup whole wheat sourdough starter OR 1 package of RapidRise yeast mixed with ½ cup warm water
1 cup non fat evaporated milk
¼ cup (1/2 stick) butter
1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
½ teaspoon candied ginger, finely chopped
¼ cup egg substitute OR 1 egg, lightly beaten
½ teaspoon vanilla

Sift 1 cup of the all-purpose flour, the 1 cup of whole wheat bread flour, salt, cardamom, and nutmeg into a large mixing bowl. Stir until well blended. Set aside.

Placed evaporated milk, butter and brown sugar into a saucepan and heat until butter is nearly melted. Remove from heat. Add the finely chopped candied ginger and stir a few minutes to help mixture cool. Let cool to 110 degrees F.

Add milk mixture to flour mixture; beat well. Add egg and vanilla; stire until blended. Add 1 cup all-purpose flour, stir until thoroughly incorporated. Gradually add enough of the remaining flour to make a soft dough that is rather sticky.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead 3 minutes or until dough is smooth and silky. (Add additional flour if needed while kneading, but only enough to keep it from sticking a lot.) Cover with a slightly damp towel and let rest 10 minutes.

Egg Nests

1 recipe Dolled Up Sweet Dough
8 eggs in the shell, uncooked, dyed or plain
1 egg, mixed with 2 tablespoons water, for egg wash
sesame seeds or coconut, or finely chopped nuts
Divide dough into 18 equal portions. Set two portions aside. Cover half of the portions with plastic wrap, but leave on the counter. You can unwrap them when you've made the first 4 nests.

Take a portion. Roll it into a rope about 12 inches long. Repeat with another portion. Twist the ropes together.

I find that if you start in the middle, twist one side to the end, then twist the other side to the end, it works very well.

Form the twisted rope into an oval and trim off any excess and make a continuous twist rope oval.

Take one of the two portions that were set aside and divide it into 4. Take one of those pieces and form an oval…you can add any dough you trimmed off, too. Place the oval on a Silpat mat, parchment lined baking sheet, or greased baking sheet. Place one of the eggs in the middle.

Put the rope oval in the palm of your hand, turn it over and lightly pat it with a wet hand.


Set the rope oval over the egg and let the wet dough seal with the flat oval already on the pan.

Repeat with the rest of the dough. You should finish with eight nests.

NOTE: I used uncooked eggs and dyed them in a water bath that had been made from about 6 drops food coloring, 1 tablespoon cider vinegar, and boiling water. The eggs should be close to room temperature so they don’t get shocked and break when put in boiling water. The eggs dye very quickly and can be removed to a paper towel lined glass baking pan or pie pan to drain and dry. They are in the dye bath only about 5 – 10 seconds. I dyed them right before I rolled out the ropes and then refrigerated the pans of rolls overnight. They sat out for about 1/2 hour before I baked them.

If the house or kitchen were very warm, you could probably pre-heat the oven and bake them about 15 minutes after removing from the fridge.

Cover nests and let rise in a warm, draft-free place 30 – 45 minutes if baking right away, or until nearly doubled.
About 15 minutes before the end of rising time, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Brush the dough, but not the eggs, with egg wash; sprinkle dough with sesame seeds, coconut,

or finely chopped nuts. Bake 20 – 25 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from pan and let cool on racks about 5 minutes.

The eggs cook while the dough is baking. These nests look wonderful grouped together on a buffet .

They can also be served on individual plates.

Makes 8 egg nests.

These bread nests are an entry this week in Yeastspotting event usually at Susan's wonderful blog, Wild Yeast. For a yeast lover this even is a never ending inspiration and delight. This week it's being hosted by Zorra of 1x umruhren bitte blog instead, and you can find it here.

Going Seedy

Spring has sprung and my sunspace is full of seedlings for summer veggies. They are mostly in seed trays and have grown from seeds that I pre-sprouted in damp paper towels, then planted individually in the trays.





They again had a day in the sun and wind to harden them off for planting out in the garden, but the soil really isn't warm enough, so they may grow ever larger in the sunspace for a while.

All of those seedlings had me thinking of seeds when I was deciding what kind of sandwich bread to make this week. Although I've made some bread with seeds, I decided to see if I could pack a nice whole wheat and oatmeal loaf with lots of sunflower seeds and see how that worked.

It turned out great! The flavors are nice and earthy, there is a good chewiness and, when toasted, an nice crunch to each bite.

We took a picnic with friends on Wednesday and brought the boule. It went well with cheeses and salad. This recipe is based on the Oatmeal Bread I made not that long ago. I really like oatmeal...can you tell?...and Sweetie loves molasses, so I threw some of both in with the seediness. The bread baker's dog really enjoyed it toasted...I think he liked that crunchiness, too.

This is my entry for this week to the wonderland for yeast lovers, Susan's weekly round-up on Yeastspotting over at Wild Yeast. Check it out and be prepared to drool.

Sunflower Whole Wheat Oatmeal Bread
Makes two (2) loaves

1 cup cooked steel cut oats (not quick cooking)
1/3 cup lukewarm water
¼ teaspoon active dry yeast
pinch of sugar
1 cup whole wheat sourdough starter
1 tsp salt
¼ cup molasses
1 cup quick cooking rolled oats
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup bread flour
1 ½ - 2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sunflower seeds (plain, not roasted or salted)

Cook oats per instructions, remove from heat and allow to cool completely and absorb any excess water. You want a big "glob" of cooked oats.

Proof yeast in lukewarm water and pinch of sugar. Allow to sit for 5 - 10 minutes until foamy.

In bowl for stand mixer or large bowl, break up cooled oatmeal into medium chunks, and using the dough hook (if using stand mixer), stir in sourdough starter or proofed yeast, salt, and oatmeal until cooked oatmeal is completely broken up. Add the molasses and stir to combine with oatmeal-yeast mixture.

Whisk to combine the oats, the whole wheat flour, the bread flour and 1 cup of the all=purpose flour in a bowl or large measuring cup.

Add in about a cup of flour mixture and stir until wet dough formed. Add in another 1 ½ cups flour mixture until shaggy dough ball is formed. Add in remaining flour 1/2 cup a time until soft dough ball that cleans bowl if formed. Allow dough to rest for 10 minutes to absorb excess flour. If using stand mixer, hand knead for 5 or 10 quick turns.

Dough should be soft and very slightly tacky. If clumps of dough stick to hand, knead in additional AP flour one palmful at time.

On lightly floured surface, spread the dough into a rectangle roughly 10 inches by 10 inches. Sprinkle evenly with ¼ cup sunflower seeds. Roll up like a jelly roll, seal ends, then fold ends to middle. Push down to again spread the dough and sprinkle with another ¼ cup sunflower seeds. Again roll up and fold ends to middle. Knead 5 – 10 times, turning ¼ turn after each knead.

Again push dough into rectangle and sprinkle with ¼ cup sunflower seeds. Roll up, fold in ends and knead some more. If you see a section that seems low on seeds, sprinkle on some more…about a tablespoon…and keep kneading. In the end you should have kneaded in the remaining ¼ cup seeds and the dough should look pretty seedy.

Place dough in greased bowl, cover and let rise until double (about 2 - 2 1/2 hours). Punch down, form 2 loaves, place in 8 1/2 x 5 greased loaf pans, lightly grease top of loaves, loosely cover, and allow to rise until dough is about 1/4" above edge of loaf pans. (I made on half into a boule this time).

Slash top of loaves down center if desired.

Place loaves in preheated 375 degree F. oven and bake 30 - 35 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 190 degrees.

Allow to cool completely before slicing.

Apricots Are Sublime

I love apricots in baked goods...there is just something so delightful in finding bits of dark golden sweetness in a scone or muffin or sweet bread.

The aroma is also enticing and the sweet-tart taste is sublime.

In honor of Bread Baking Day # 18 - Quick Breads, hosted by Mansi at Fun and Food Blog, http://funnfud.blogspot.com/2009/03/announcing-bbd18-quick-breads.html , I made an Apricot Almond Sweet Bread. This is a type of quick bread, which is called quick because the leavening isn't my beloved yeasties, but instead is a chemical reaction between acids and bases. In this case I mixed two recipes from the Fannie Farmer Baking Book by Marion Cunningham; a Poppy Seed Bread and an Apricot Almond Bread.

From the first I took the proportions for using buttermilk, butter and eggs for the quick bread, including how much baking powder and baking soda to use. From the second I took the proportions for the apricots, almonds, and almond extract. I also followed the directions for mixing from the first one.

This recipe makes two loaves which are on the sweet side, perfect to go with your afternoon cup of tea or coffee (or ice cold milk!). Xam had a good time licking the bowl.

When the bread is still in the oven and you see the enthusiasm with which the bowl is being licked, it's hard to wait until that bread is both baked and cooled enough to cut!

Apricot Almond Quick Bread
based on two recipes in the Fannie Farmer Baking Book by Marion Cunningham
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda (the base)
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg (my addition)
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups buttermilk (the acid)
1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled (my substitution)
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup dried apricots, diced (about 8 pieces per dried apricot half)
1/2 cup chopped almonds

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour two 8 1/2 by 4 1/2 by 2 1/2 inch loaf pans. Set aside.

Mix together in a bowl the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the eggs, sugar, buttermilk, melted butter and almond extract. Add the dry ingredients and mix just to blend. Don't over mix. Stir in the apricot pieces and chopped almonds and stir just until incorporated.

Pour batter into the two loaf pans, distributing evenly.

Bake for about 45 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and let cool for about 5 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely.

This bread makes a nice gift so keep this in mind for birthdays, Easter, Christmas, etc.

Pain Francese with the Babes

No, that's not pain, it's bread. Simple white bread. Delicious artisan bread.


The Bread Baking Babes baked a very simple loaf this month, Pain Francese, from King Arthur flour folks.

You start with a chef. You might think that means someone wearing a tall white hat, but actually its the term for a small piece of dough from a previous baking session.

Since I didn't have a chef, I made one with some sourdough starter, so that added to the time necessary to make this bread. It has a number of stages, so it takes a couple of days. The good news is that the flavors become more complex with all that time.

Once you have your chef, you cut it into small pieces and dissolve it in some water. Then you make a dough by adding flour, let it rise, then chop it up again, dissolve it again in warm water, again make a dough by adding flour...simple doesn't mean fast by any means.

My loaf formed a wonderful crust, a fine crumb, and deep flavor considering that it is mostly yeast, flour and water. Have not tried it toasted yet, but I'll bet it makes nice toast. Top Gun tried it for lunch as part of a sandwich and gave it thumbs up.

Thanks to the Bread Baking Babes for choosing this recipe...I now have a chef in my fridge to use for some future baking session!

Check out the BBB's and the recipe at Sara' blog at I Like to Cook http://iliketocook.blogspot.com/search/label/Bread%20Baking%20Babes

or by clicking on the recipe link at the top left of this blog.

The Bread Baker's Dog himself is not one to give kisses very often, but after eating some of this bread he gave me a simple kiss. (Sorry, no photo...he was too quick).

Pain Francese

First stage- chef
¼ cup sourdough starter
¼ cup warm water
¾ cup bread flour, plus about another ¼ cup for kneading
Mix dough together, then knead about 5 minutes using bench scraper and adding flour as needed. Put in oiled bowl, cover with plastic, let rise until doubled, 5-6 hrs.

Second-Stage Levain
All of the levain (from above)
1/2 cup warm, chlorine-free water
1 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached Special Bread Flour

"Refresh" the levain by placing it in a medium-sized bowl, chopping it into small pieces, and adding the water and 1/2 cup of the flour, stirring till smooth. Add the remaining flour gradually to create a stiff dough. Knead the dough for several minutes, then return it to the bowl, cover it with a damp cloth, and let it rise for 3 to 5 hours, till it doubles in size. Punch down the risen levain, and reserve 1/4 cup as your next chef. (Let the piece ferment at room temperature for 3 hours, then wrap it in plastic and store it in the fridge. It'll develop a hard crust; that's OK.)

Dough
all of the second-stage levain (from above)
3/4 cup warm, chlorine-free water
2 teaspoons salt
2 cups King Arthur Unbleached Special Bread Flour

Chop the levain into small pieces,



and mix them with the water, stirring till they begin to dissolve.



Add the salt, then 1 1/2 cups of the flour. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured or lightly greased work surface, and knead until the dough is smooth and satiny, adding only enough additional flour to keep the dough from sticking unbearably. Return the dough to the bowl, cover it with a damp cloth, and let it rise in a warm place for 8 to 10 hours.

Shaping: Cut the dough into 2 pieces, and shape each piece into a round or oval. Transfer the loaves to a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet, or to a floured banneton; cover with a heavily floured cloth, and allow them to rise for 2 to 3 hours, or until they're almost doubled in bulk.

Don't slash or glaze the loaves. Bake the bread in a preheated 450°F oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until they're a deep, golden brown. Yield: 2 loaves.

This is what the bottom of the loaf looked like after it was baked. I baked it on a Silpat mat...wonder if that caused the interesting crust? The top crust was much more floury looking.