La Brea Starter And Rustic Bread

Total Time: 144 hrs 25 mins Preparation Time: 144 hrs Cook Time: 25 mins

Ingredients

• 2 cups bread flour, plus
• 3 cups bread flour, for feeding
• 2 1/2 cups tepid tap water, plus
• 3 cups tepid tap water, for feeding
• 1/2 lb stemmed red grapes
• cheesecloth
• 7 cups bread flour
• 2 cups bread, starter
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 1 cup tepid tap water (or more)
• 3 tablespoons olive oil, plus some for the bowl
• 1 package dry active yeast or 1 1/2 tablespoons dry active yeast
• 1 tablespoon salt

Recipe

• 1 for the starter~.
• 2 stir the flour and water together-mix well.
• 3 tie the grapes in clean doubled cheesecloth.
• 4 lightly crush grapes, swish through the flour/water mixture then submerge.
• 5 cover tightly with a lid or plastic wrap.
• 6 leave@ room temp.
• 7 day 3-lift out the bag of grapes and squeeze their juices back into the starter.
• 8 stir up the starter to incorporate juices.
• 9 day 4-stir in 1 cup of flour and 1 cup of water into the container, blending well.
• 10 let stand at room temp until it up, around 3-4 hours.
• 11 cover and place in the fridge.
• 12 day 5-repeat day 4.
• 13 day 6-repeat day 5.
• 14 now you are ready to use this starter.
• 15 it will keep for 4-5 months in your fridge.
• 16 rustic bread~.
• 17 measure flour into the bowl of a large food processor and add the 2 cups starter.
• 18 measure out the the rest of the ingredients and mix together the milk and water.
• 19 turn on the processor and pour in the water/milk mixture in a thin stream.
• 20 add the three t. olive oil in a thin stream.
• 21 add the yeast and process for 25 seconds.
• 22 add the salt and process 5 seconds more.
• 23 your batter should be a bit like soft cooked oatmeal.
• 24 let rest, in bowl for 5 minutes.
• 25 process for 20 seconds.
• 26 lightly oil a large glass bowl and scrape in the dough.
• 27 cover with plastic wrap and let rest until doubled, around 2&1/2 hours.
• 28 punch down and turn out a lightly floured board.
• 29 let rest for 5 minutes.
• 30 knead for 8-10 minutes or until smooth and elastic, adding a small amount of flour if needed.
• 31 form into 1 or two round loaves.
• 32 you can place rounds a lightly flour dusted baking sheet-no baking stone needed or place a baking stone in the center of your oven and preheat to 500 degrees 30 minutes before baking.
• 33 let rounds rise until doubled, around 1&1/2 hours.
• 34 place baking sheet into center rack of oven or gently place raised dough rounds the hot stone and spritz oven with water.
• 35 close and reduce heat to 400 degrees.
• 36 bake for 25 minutes or until done, spritzing oven a few times.
• 37 knock on the loaf and if it sounds hollow it's done.
• 38 (very scientific, i know!) remove to cool on a wire rack.