For good bread, and no transa fats, make it yourself


 

At this point, pretty much everyone knows that transfats, at least in the form of hydrogenated oils, are as bad for our bodies as black factory smoke is for the environment. But what most of us have also discovered is that it’s pretty hard to clean those transfats out of the cupboard.

The incentive to get rid of them: Hydrogenated oils are a leading cause of coronaries and poor heart health.

The reason it’s hard to get rid of them: They’re in almost all of the prepared packaged foods, especially in baked goods such as pastries and bread.

Bread is a particular problem. Most of us eat it two or three times a week and it sure is easier to buy a loaf than to make one. But by making your own bread you skip the transfats in commercial loaves.

Last month, The New York Times printed a bread recipe from a new book called "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day." Its author simplifies the process by eliminating the kneading as well as the need to let the dough rise for several hours and then get punched down several times.

Here are some tips based on my first efforts to make the book’s Simple Crusty Bread:

• It’s always hard to tell when bread is fully baked. However, I have found that when the bread is slightly underbaked it has an unpleasant yeasty taste; when it’s baked all the way through, the yeast flavor bakes out.

• This bread and most yeast goods I have baked come out better if the dough is allowed to rise in a warm place. Try this: Put the dough in a warm oven (warm it up for 15 minutes, for example, at low heat while you are preparing the dough), and leave it there with the heat off and the door left partially open. The more the dough rises, the lighter the bread will be.

 


Simple Crusty Bread


Adapted from "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day"

1 1/2 tablespoons yeast

1 1/2 tablespoons coarse salt

6 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour plus some for "dusting" the dough

A heaping handful of cornmeal

 

Follow the instructions on your yeast packet for bringing the powder to life. This usually involves measuring dry yeast into warm water with some sugar in it and letting it sit for five minutes until it blooms. Be forewarned: you should have a couple yeast packets on hand just in case, because some yeast packets don’t ever bloom.

Gently put the yeast and salt into 3 cups of lukewarm water (subtract from those 3 cups the amount of water you used to make the yeast bloom, probably 1/4 cup). Stir in the flour gently, mixing it until there are no dry bits left. Cover loosely with plastic wrap or cheesecloth or a clean dishtowel and put in a warm spot (the interior of a warmish oven is ideal). Let the dough rise for two to five hours.

Next week, baking the bread.

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