OVERNIGHT WHITE BREAD
"Flour Water Salt Yeast"
Ken Forkish
ISBN 978-1-60774-273-9
This is a great-tasting, crusty white bread with nice big holes. It
makes me want to slice a couple of pieces, top them with fresh slices
of in-season, ripe tomatoes, cover with good olive oil, and live, for
the moment, in happy contentment. For those who have made bread using
Jim Lahey's no-knead method, you'll find the timing of this recipe
familiar. This is, however, a distinctly different recipe; it calls
for water that's about 30F (17C) warmer and uses one-third the amount
of yeast. This recipe also includes an autolyse period and calls for
giving the dough a couple of folds after the mix. The result is two
breads with different tastes and textures, and this is a great way to
demonstrate that two seemingly similar recipes produce two different breads.
This dough rises overnight, and the extended bulk fermentation gives
it more time to develop complexity in its flavors. The baked loaves
should have a nice open interior and a crisp crust - assuming you
bake the loaves well beyond the blond stage. This bread has many uses
and won't last long.
THIS RECIPE MAKES 2 LOAVES, EACH ABOUT 1 1/2 POUNDS, AND IS SUITABLE
FOR FOCACCIA OR IRON-SKILLET PIZZA.
BULK FERMENTATION: 12 to 14 hours
PROOF TIME: About 1 1/4 hours
SAMPLE SCHEDULE: Mix at 7 p.m., shape into loaves at 8 a.m. the next
morning, and bake at 9:15 a.m. The bread will come out of the oven a
little after 10 a.m.
Ingredient QUANTITY BAKER'S PERCENTAGE
White flour 1,000 g 7 3/4 cups 100%
Water (90-95F, 32-35C) 780 g 3 1/3 cups 78%
Fine sea salt 22 g 1 tbsp + 1 tsp 2.2%
Instant dried yeast 0.8g Scant 1/4 tsp 0.08%
1. Autolyse: Combine the 1,000 grams of flour with the 780 grams of
90F to 95F (32C to 35C) water in a 12-quart round tub or similar
container. Mix by hand just until incorporated. Cover and let rest
for 20 to 30 minutes.
2. Mix: Sprinkle the 22 grams of salt and the 0.8 gram (a scant 1/4
teaspoon) of yeast evenly over the top of the dough. Mix by hand,
wetting your working hand before mixing so the dough doesn't stick to
you. (It's fine to rewet your hand three or four times while you
mix.) Reach underneath the dough and grab about one-quarter of it.
Gently stretch this section of dough and fold it over the top to the
other side of the dough. Repeat three more times with the remaining
dough, until the salt and yeast are fully enclosed.
Use the pincer method to fully integrate the ingredients. Using your
thumb and forefinger, make five or six pincer cuts across the entire
mass of dough, squeezing all the way through the dough each time.
Then fold the dough over itself a few times. Repeat, alternately
cutting and folding until all of the ingredients are fully integrated
and the dough has some tension in it. Let the dough rest for a few
minutes, then fold for another 30 seconds or until the dough tightens
up. The target dough temperature at the end of the mix is 77F to 78F
(25C to 26C). Cover the tub and let the dough rise.
3. Fold: This dough needs two or three folds. Three would be best for
maximum gas retention and volume in the finished loaf, but if you
only have time to do two folds it will be fine. It's easiest to apply
the folds during the first 1 1/2 hours after mixing the dough. After
doing the last fold, cover the dough and let it continue to rise
overnight at room temperature.
To fold the dough, moisten your dominant hand in warm water to
prevent the dough from sticking to it. Reach underneath the dough in
the tub and pull about one-quarter of it out and up to stretch it
until you feel resistance, then fold it over the top to the other
side of the dough. Repeat four or five times, working around the
dough until the dough has tightened into a ball. Grab the entire ball
and invert it so the seam side, where all of the folds have come
together, faces down. This helps the folds hold their position. The
top should be smooth. When the dough relaxes a bit and flattens in
the bottom of the tub, repeat the process for the second fold. After
each fold, the dough develops more structure and will take longer to
completely relax. Folding can be done anytime before the last hour of
bulk fermentation.
When the dough is 2 1/2 to 3 times its original volume, 12 to 14
hours after mixing, it's ready to be divided.
4. Divide: Moderately flour a work surface about 2 feet wide. Flour
your hands and sprinkle a bit of flour around the edges of the tub.
Tip the tub slightly and gently work your floured free hand beneath
the dough to loosen it from the bottom of the tub. Gently ease the
dough out onto the work surface without pulling or tearing it.
With floured hands, pick up the dough and ease it back down onto the
work surface in a somewhat even shape. Dust the area in the middle,
where you'll cut the dough, with a bit of flour. Cut the dough into 2
equal-size pieces with a dough knife or plastic dough scraper.
5. Shape: Dust 2 proofing baskets with flour. Shape each piece of
dough into a medium-tight ball following the instructions on pages
71-73. Place each seam side down in its proofing basket.
6. Proof: Lightly flour the tops of the loaves. Set them side by side
and cover with a kitchen towel, or place each basket in a
nonperforated plastic bag.
Plan on baking the loaves about 1 1/4 hours after they are shaped,
assuming a room temperature of about 70F (21C). If your kitchen is
warmer, they will be optimally proofed in about 1 hour. Use the
finger-dent test (see page 74) to determine when they are perfectly
proofed and ready to bake, being sure to check the loaves after 1
hour. With this bread, 15 minutes can make a difference between being
perfectly proofed and collapsing a bit.
7. Preheat: At least 45 minutes prior to baking, put a rack in the
middle of the oven and put 2 Dutch ovens on the rack with their lids
on. Preheat the oven to 475F (245C).
If you only have 1 Dutch oven, put the second loaf into the
refrigerator about 20 minutes before baking the first loaf and bake
the loaves sequentially, giving the Dutch oven a 5-minute reheat
after removing the first loaf.
8. Bake: For the next step, please be careful not to let your hands,
fingers, or forearms touch the extremely hot Dutch oven.
Invert the proofed loaf onto a lightly floured countertop, keeping in
mind that the top of the loaf will be the side that was facing down
while it was rising - the seam side. Use oven mitts to remove the
preheated Dutch oven from the oven. Remove the lid. Carefully place
the loaf in the hot Dutch oven seam side up. Use mitts to replace the
lid, then put the Dutch oven in the oven. Maintain the temperature at
475F (245C).
Bake for 30 minutes, then carefully remove the lid and bake for 20 to
30 minutes, until at least medium dark brown all around the loaf.
Check after 15 minutes of baking uncovered in case your oven runs hot.
Remove the Dutch oven and carefully tilt it to turn the loaf out. Let
cool on a rack or set
the loaf on its side so air can circulate around it. Let the loaf
rest for at least 20 minutes before slicing.
VARIATION: WEEKNIGHT WHITE BREAD
It's possible to adjust the timing of the Overnight White Bread
recipe so it will work for somebody with a day job during the
workweek. Follow the recipe for Overnight White Bread through step 3.
Then, in the morning before going to work, take 5 to 10 minutes to
divide and shape loaves from the dough you mixed the evening before.
Put the proofing baskets in plastic bags and let the loaves proof
slowly in the refrigerator while you are at work.
When you get home from work, remove the loaves from the refrigerator
and let them sit out on the counter to finish proofing while you
preheat the Dutch ovens. If you get home at 6 p.m., you will have
fresh baked bread by 7:30 p.m. Note that in this variation, the bulk
fermentation time is 12 to 14 hours, and the proof time is about 10
hours (depending on when you get home from work).