Italian Whole Wheat Peasant Bread

This is recipe adapted from one of my favorite bread cookbooks by Beth Hensperger that is well worn with much love….and flour!

The smell of fresh bread baking in the oven evokes the most lovely sense of calm, peace and certainly that all is well.

I start with the disclaimer that I am by no means a baker. I leave that to my daughters who have much more patience and willingness for the need to measure absolutely everything in the world of cakes, pies and pastries. I do however, adore a yeasty loaf of bread coming to life in my oven on a Sunday afternoon.

When out of the oven, it’s best eaten warm with bake marinated goat cheese in an herby olive oil, a simple green salad and that perfect roast chicken you made earlier in the day.

Ingredients

Sponge

-1 package (1 tbl) active dry yeast

-1 tsp sugar

-2/3 cup warm water (105-115 degrees)

-1 cup cool water

-1 cup whole wheat flour

-1.5 cups unbleached all putpoe bread flour

Dough

-Sponge

-2.5 tsp salt

-1.5 cups unbleached all purpose flour

Method

• Prepare the sponge: sprinkle yeast and sugar over warm water in a large bowl or the bowl of a mixer and stir until dissolved. Let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes. Add cool water, whole wheat flour and unbleached flour. Beat until smooth with a whisk or the whisk attachment on your mixer. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 4 hours or overnight.

• Add salt and 1/2 cup unbleached flout to sponge and beat hard with a whisk for 10 minutes or 5 minutes with a paddle attachment in your mixer. Add remaining flour with one wooden spoonful at a time, as needed to make a soft dough.

• Turn dough out on a lightly floured board and knead vigorously until you have a soft, moist elastic dough that will still feel a little bit sticky-about 10 minutes. Add a little flour as necessary, using a dough scraper to keep from sticking to board. Careful not to add to much flour, otherwise the dough will be tough

• Cover the dough and let rest for 20 minutes then shape into your favorite bread shape (s) and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

• Meanwhile, preheat oven to 450 degrees. Before putting the dough in the oven, gently, without deflating, slash the top with a sharp knife and add about a quart of hot water in a pan to the oven. This will create a lovely steam bath for the bread which promotes a crunchy outside.

• Place dough in the oven and immediately reduce heat to 425 degees. Bake for 35-40 minutes or 20 minutes for rolls.

• Cool on a rack before cutting and serve it up with butter warm goat cheese.