Part of the Renaissance Project principle, “Get Fit” is learning to eat right. I think we all know by now that most store-bought bread is pretty grim stuff, but baking our own can be a time-consuming affair. Here’s a recipe for a simple and healthy bread, easy to make, delicious to eat, and good for your health. I’ve called it Renaissance Bread. The recipe is one that I got from my daughter-in-law then played around with a bit.
Renaissance Bread
- 3 cups warm water
- 2 packages yeast
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- 3 ½ cups unbleached white bread flour
- 3 cups whole wheat flour
- cornmeal
Pour the water into a large bowl or plastic container and sprinkle in the yeast, salt, and add the vinegar. Use a wooden spoon to stir in the flours, and mix until there are no dry patches. You don’t need to knead it, but I use my hands to get the flour mixed in well. (I also transfer the dough to a clean bowl for proofing because a bit of dried junk coats the sides of the mixing bowl.) Cover it with plastic wrap and let it rise at a warm room temperature for at least 3 hours. Don’t sweat it if it goes longer.
The dough will make 3 loaves, about 6 inches in diameter. You can bake all three of them at once (I do because the bread remains fresh over the week and a half it takes us to eat it), or you can refrigerate part of it and bake it up to a week later.
To bake it: sprinkle some flour across the surface of the dough and use a knife to cut it into thirds; refrigerate any dough you’re not going to bake immediately.
Turn the dough in your hands to stretch its surface,using your fingers to tuck the dough under the bottom, letting your palms draw the dough on the top firm and smooth as you rotate it in your hands.
Sprinkle a pizza peel or wooden cutting board lightly with cornmeal, put the loaf on it, sprinkle the top with flour, cover it lightly with a dish towel, and let it rest for 40 minutes (if you’re using refrigerated dough, increase this rest time to 2 hours or until it has risen fully).
Half an hour before the dough is ready, heat the oven to 450˚F, and put a heavy, covered pot inside to heat. I use a 2 ½ qt. ceramic (Corning-type) casserole dish.
When the dough has rested, use a serrated or very sharp knife to slash an X across its top about a quarter-inch deep. Remove the hot dish from the oven (remembering at all times that it is mucho hot), place the dough, with the X-cut facing up, into the casserole and put it in the oven.
Bake for 25 minutes, covered, then remove the cover and bake another 15 minutes. If the top is not a rich brown, give it another 5 minutes until the loaf is golden. Cool on a rack before slicing.
This bread is great for toasting and for sandwiches (though the slices get pretty small as you use the loaf up). Ligthly toasted and used as a dip for olive oil and balsamic, it’s incredible! I like it because it is easy to make, it’s healthy and I control the ingredients that go into it. And it really does taste good.
Finally, you can cut the whole wheat flour and add a quarter cup of healthy stuff like flaxseed or wheat germ. The bread gets denser, of course. I’m a fan of the recipe above because it yields a nice firm bread, that’s not a hockey puck.
Give it a shot. I think you’ll like it.
I’ve made these “no-knead” types of breads before and they are easy and delicious. I’ve used a cast iron dutch oven with good success. The covered pot keeps the moisture in with the dough, which simulates the steam-injection of professional ovens, which gives it a more tender crust. Sometimes I’ll put a sheet of tin-foil between the pot and lid to make it a little more airtight (or steam-tight).
To make it even healthier, you can try to modify it to make it a Cornell “triple-rich” bread, a process developed by Dr. Clive McCay of Cornell University to make a more nutritionally balanced loaf. According to Bernard Clayton’s New Complete Book of Breads, it adds protein, calcium, and riboflavin which “keeps you young longer” (as far as I know, not verified by research).
To modify it, for each cup of flour, add 1 tablespoon of soy flour, 1 tablespoon of nonfat dry milk, and 1 teaspoon of wheat germ. I’m not sure how it will affect the rise and texture of the final loaf.
In my limited experience making Cornell bread, the uncooked dough tastes and smells a little funny, though the baked loaf tastes pretty good.
I’ll try the foil between the lid and the pot next time.
For the Cornell “triple-rich” is the flour reduced by the amount of the added soy, milk and wheat germ? Not a big deal, but with the recipe, as presented, I don’t get all the flour incorporated, so I’m guessing it makes sense to reduce the flour (whole wheat?) by three table spoons to get as much of the dry ingredient mix into the dough as possible.
Thanks for the ideas.
I actually just made a half-recipe of the bread yesterday with the Cornell modification. I cut both the whole wheat and white flour (I used bread flour) to 1 1/2 cups each. I forgot to add the vinegar. I added 3 tablespoons of soy flour, 3 tablespoons of dry milk powder and 3 teaspoons of wheat germ.
I actually mixed the dry ingredients together with a whisk and added the water a little bit at a time until it was all incorporated. I had to add an extra 2 ounces of water to the 12 ounces I used initially. It made a fairly sticky dough, which was made more manageable after the initial rising by coating it with a little more flour. I also sprinkled a little kosher salt on top for crunch and “zing”.
I baked it in my ~12 inch diameter cast iron dutch oven per the directions.
It tasted pretty good. Most of the rising occured during the initial rise and bench proofing and not too much in the oven. I wonder if cutting the temp to 400 degrees may help it rise in the oven a little more before the yeast dies off.
In the end, I think it came out as one of the best tasting whole-wheat breads I’ve baked. My attempts at whole wheat bread usually come out like the dense hard hockey pucks that you’ve described, though not this time. The additional soy flour and milk powder did not give it any any off flavors, and I think the crunchy wheat germ probably adds a little nutty flavor, too. I’d be interested to compare it to bread made with the original recipe.
I think when I do it again, I’ll probably use a lower ratio of whole-wheat bread, maybe try some rye flour. Also I’ll probably let it rise overnight which lets that rich bread flavor develop a little more.
Thanks for the recipe, I’ll definitely bake it again in the future.