A Recipe For a Miracle

“The best bread you can eat,” I always say, “is the bread you made yourself!”

Long-time readers of the Happy Monk blog could be tired of hearing me say that! But it’s been a while since I last said it, and it bears repeating! I stand by the statement as firmly as ever!

Let me explain:

• Bread is elemental.
• Bread is human.
• Bread is transformation.
• Bread is sublime.
• Bread is a miracle!

If you can make it yourself, you’ve performed a miracle! And it’s no small thing to eat your own miracle!

That’s not hyperbole … I ain’t BS-ing you!

Transformative!

Bread, in its purest form, is elemental. Four ingredients! Mix them up — flour, water, yeast and salt — bake it in the oven, and that gloppy, sticky mass is transformed into something sublime — the staff of life!

It smells heavenly and of the earth! It’s seductive! It rises in the heat of the oven. It colours, browns, turns itself into a shimmering loaf. It’s nourishing, delicious to eat, full of vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, protein. It’s so much greater than the sum of its parts! And it can only be explained as a miracle!

You’ve made it! This exquisite loaf of bread!

Cut into your loaf after it’s cooled a bit. Watch how the bread knife shatters the crust, how the first slice falls onto the cutting board. Watch the steam rise gently out of the pillowy crumb. Breathe in the aroma!

Bliss!

Watch how the butter melts as you spread it over the lacy network of bubbles and crust. Bite into it, and you are transported again! Bliss!

Do I have to say more?

I urge you, readers, to make your own bread! Make it with love and care. Don’t try to be super-accurate, have fun, put on some music, enjoy mixing the dough, enjoy baking it, enjoy eating your bread!

I’ve published two recipes for bread in this space.

• The Approachable Loaf; and
• The Jim Lahey No-Knead Loaf.

Here’s your assignment: It’s time for Ballymaloe

Now, I’m about to give you a third recipe: Ballymaloe Brown Yeast Bread. It’s not sourdough bread, but it can be made from start to finish in two hours. It tastes fantastic! I made it last week. It’s easy! And you have to try it!

The recipe is from a new bread book by Richard Hart, an accomplished baker who’s worked with bakers and chefs around the world. Richard Hart Bread has just come out, and it’s very good!

Yes, another bread book, more recipes, more stories, more beautiful pictures. But if you ask me, this one shines! It’s a classic! Bolstered by Hart’s down-to-earth approach and a way of describing his process that is passionate and fun.

A good example of this is that he chose to include Ballymaloe Brown Yeast Bread. There is nothing challenging about this recipe! It couldn’t be simpler. You don’t spend long hours kneading and folding. Waiting for it to proof: Two hours is all this recipe asks of you:

One hour for mixing the dough by hand, then putting it into the oven.

One hour for baking.

Six ingredients

Ballymaloe is cooking school in Shanagarry, County Cork, Ireland. A British nutritionist created the bread around World War II to help people eat well on their slim wartime rations.

There are six ingredients: It’s mostly whole wheat flour with a little all-purpose flour. Also, salt, yeast, warm water … and malt syrup!

Malt syrup is made from malted barley. It tastes deep and rich, a little like molasses. It’s a bit pricey, about $20 for a jar, but really worthwhile for its earthy taste. You could use honey in its place — or maple syrup — but the bread will taste sweeter. You can find Malt Syrup at Whole Foods, Lifestyles or online.

One caveat: this recipe uses metric weight for measuring the ingredients. You’ll have to find a metric kitchen weigh scale. Borrow one or buy one online. You can pick them up for very reasonable prices. They’re more accurate than imperial cups and tablespoons!

So here’s the recipe. If you start now, you’ll have two loaves of beautiful bread in two hours!

BALLYMALOE BROWN YEAST BREAD

Makes two 900 gram loaves

INGREDIENT	WEIGHT
Whole Wheat Flour	804 grams
All Purpose or Bread Flour	89 grams
Fine Sea Salt	27 grams
Malt Syrup	18 grams
Warm Water (approx. 104ºF)	849 grams
Instant Dry Yeast	13 grams
TOTAL	1,800 GRAMS

EQUIPMENT

Mixing bowl
2 loaf pans (5 x 9 inches)
Tea towel
Plastic dough scraper
Digital thermometer
Electronic digital metric weigh scale
Cooking rack.

PROCESS

MEASURE OUT YOUR INGREDIENTS: Have all your ingredients measured out in bowls and arranged around your mixing bowl.

MIX THE DOUGH: In a mixing bowl, mix all the dough ingredients together by hand. There is no need to dissolve the yeast in the water. Just mix it with flour and other ingredients. The dough will be loose and too wet to knead. Scrape the leftover dough from your hands with the plastic dough scraper.

PROOF THE DOUGH: Preheat the oven to 450ºF or 230ºC
Brush the sides and bottoms of the loaf pans with butter or coconut oil. Scoop the dough into the pans. Smooth the tops evenly. Put the pans in a warm place covered with tea towels to prevent skins from forming. Let rise until the dough reaches the pans’ tops, about 30 minutes.

BAKE THE LOAVES: Bake the loaves for 20 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 400ºF or 205ºC and bake for 40 more minutes, or until they are nicely browned and the digital thermometer shows an internal temperature of 203ºF / 95ºC. Remove the loaves from the oven, then turn them out on a rack to cool.

Let me know how your loaf turns out! Let me know how it feels to be a miracle maker!

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