Ingredients:
- 4 cups unbleached flour (Bread flour, all-purpose or a combination of 3 cups white and 1 of whole-wheat)
- ½ tsp. yeast
- 2 tsp. salt
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- 2 cups (approx. warm water)
Directions:
- Put dry ingredients in large bowl and stir together.
- Add warm water, syrup combination and stir to make a very sticky dough.
- Cover with plastic wrap and a towel and put it in aside for 14-24 hours.
- Uncover and stir the mixture down.
- Replace cover and leave it for another couple of hours.
- After mixture has rested for 1 hour, heat oven to 425 degrees.
- Place pot in oven to heat for about an hour. (I use cast iron, but any good, heavy oven-proof pot with a lid will do.)
- Carefully remove pot from oven . You may brush it with just a bit of oil (peanut or grapeseed oil)
- Scrape the bread mixture into the pot and put the lid on.
- Bake for 30 minutes covered. Remove lid and bake for another 15 to 20 minutes.
- Allow to cool before slicing.
- This mixture can be baked in a regular oiled bread pan. The loaf pan doesn’t need to be pre-heated.Notes:
This recipe is very flexible. If I want a very tall loaf, I sometimes use 1 extra cup of flour and a little more water. The consistency should be gooey, but not runny.
If you want a more interesting texture, add 1 cup of seven-grain cereal or rolled oats instead of the whole wheat.
I happen to like bread a little on the sweet side, so adjust the amount of sweetener to suit your own taste.