There are various versions of this floating around right now (and I have my name on the waiting list for the book at the library) but this one came through one a yahoo group I'm on & it seemed easiest and worth a try. I made a half recipe, baked one yesterday and the other today, and each day the girls & I polished off the whole loaf warm from the oven, YUM! When I asked hte girls if I was supposed to make more they gave a resounding YES!!!
3 c lukewarm water
1 1/2 Tbsp yeast
1 1/2 Tbsp salt
6 1/2 c flour (I used whole wheat, it was pretty dense bread, good flavor though, and worked fine since we were eating it all fresh, but for sandwiches or to keep longer, might do better w/ at least a blend, or adding gluten flour or something . . . )
Cornmeal (to sprinkle on baking stone)
Stir all but cornmeal together in a large bowl. Cover w/ plastic wrap (I used a towel instead) and let rise at room temperature for 2-5 hrs.
At this point you can bake some/all of it or put it in the fridge to use later (most recipes say to put it in a plastic bowl w/ a lid, this one didn't specify, I'm not a fan of plastic for food storage, so I put it in a glass bowl & set a plate over top as a lid).
When you want to bake some, take one grapefruit size bundle of dough and form into a ball, using extra flour if needed. Place on a baking stone sprinkled with cornmeal. Allow to rise about 45 min (mine didn't rise much, but our house is pretty cool right now, and I would guess using at least some white flour would mean it would rise more? Or maybe I should've let it sit longer?). Form an X slash on the top of the loaf. Bake for 20 min at 450 degrees.
This recipe makes 4 (1 lb) loaves (so rather than trying to figure out how big a grapefruit is, I'd just divide the dough in 4ths LOL)
