Making bread as taught by David de Gruyl

My friend David always has amazingly delicious homemade bread at his house. Leaven bread is something I've never had success at. There's something about the blooming of the yeast and rising that I can't get right. David assured me that I was capable. And he makes it looks so easy! I learned some good tips and tricks from him that I will now pass on to you lovely folks.

We started with 3 oz of oats (dry measure) that we covered with boiling water. David's advice is to soak grains like oats and rye before mixing them in so that they blend smoothly. I saw whole oats go into the dough and was surprised how smooth and fluffy our bread turned out. The soaking is the key. We added roughly 1 1/2 oz of honey to our oats and let them come down to room temperature.

Our target was 27 ounces of grain. We combined 4 oz of whole wheat flour and 20 oz bread flour. David measures everything by weight on a kitchen scale, so I don't have American spoon and cup measurements for you. I think this has more to do with him being a chemical engineer than anything else, but it yields gorgeous bread, so I'll go with it. You can use any combination of grains you'd like that total 27 oz. This is one of those things you can test out and see what you like best. David makes a gorgeous marble rye. I'm not quite to that stage yet, but maybe someday you'll see it here.

Another trick is instant yeast. It eliminates that pesky blooming step. It can also be labeled as "rapid rise" yeast or yeast for bread machines. David told me "You are the machine." Awesome. We added 2 teaspoons of yeast to our flours, as well as 2 teaspoons of salt, and mixed the dry ingredients in the Kitchenaid with the dough hook. Add the soaked oats and honey and mix until combined. Then slowly add about 1 1/2 cups cold water (2 if you didn't soak your grains) watching for the right texture. You want it to be doughy, not too stiff, but not too sticky. Knead on the hook for about 5 minutes. This part is really funny because the dough tries to climb out of the bowl.  But don't worry, it won't escape.  Just let it knead. David stretches and folds the dough back in on itself 3 times before letting the dough rise in the refrigerator. He usually let's it refrigerate overnight. You can leave it up to 3 days or freeze it at this step. Another insider trick is flour vs. oil when you let your dough rise. Flour yields a hard crust and oil yields a soft crust.

Remove the dough from the fridge. Divide into thirds and shape into loaves. David uses a baker's couches to form and support the dough. You can find them inexpensively on Amazon or at kitchen supply stores. It's yeasty, floury surface gives you the classic crusty baguette you're looking for. Let the dough rise in the couche in the oven with a pan of boiling water for 1 1/2 hours.

Remove the dough from the oven and preheat to 450 degrees. For best baguette results you should use a baking stone, which should preheat in the oven. You get what you pay for with baking stones. You can find them inexpensively, but you can also get really fancy ones. Roll your dough from the couche onto a peel and from the peel to the hot stone. You could do all of this without the fancy tools like people have done for ages. The tools just make it easier and, for people like me, more fun.

Bake your bread for 18-22 minutes, until it reaches an internal temperature of 205F. Check it at the 16 minute mark to see where you are. Rye doughs take longer to cook and should be cooked to temperature rather than time. If you have a standard oven, like most of us, you'll need to spritz the oven walls with water a few times while baking to create steam. Adjust the humidity of your oven to affect the chewiness of your crust. If your oven has a particularly good seal, with little to no circulation, you can skip this step, as the bread creates enough steam of its own that is sealed in.

And what better to go with fresh bread than fresh butter? The two together were to die for. I also needed buttermilk for a cake recipe you'll see soon. I used the fresh buttermilk that was the byproduct of the butter making. It was all just so gorgeous, I've included some extra photos for you. Enjoy!