Of course no one will be surprised that Sharon's cooking has made an impression.
Thursday the Mwangaza ladies put their heads, hearts, and hands together and provided quite the treat for the staff, who later pulled numbers from Andrea's straw hat to find the order of choosing the loaf to take home. (Can you tell he was very happy to have drawn the #1 choice?!!)
Another loaf was divided between the evenings' watchmen. You may find the recipe below, and please note: the dough may be kept in the frig for up to 2 weeks, removing enough to bake a nice loaf as desired. We wazungu have certainly enjoyed the option of fresh bread vs the disintegrating before your eyes sliced bread options.
Of course, all this was happening around and between team meetings regarding 1. the seminar objectives and 2. the potential "intervention" position, job description and possible applicants, the tech wizard working to eliminate the recent virus issues in the computers, the fundi painting the bathroom, the Head of the 5th pilot school stopping by, etc.
Peace & Love,
Mike (Sharon wouldn't have let me brag about her if I had let her read this one first)
The master recipe:Boule (Artisan Free-Form Loaf)
3 cups lukewarm water
1 1/2tbsp granulated yeast (1 1/2 packages)
1 1/2tbsp coarse kosher or sea salt
6 1/2 cups unsifted, unbleached, all purpose white flour
Boule =ball in French
1. Heat water to just about 100 F
2. Add yeast and salt to water. Don't worry about it dissolving.
3. Mix in the flour by gently scooping up flour and leveling the top of the measuring cup w/a knife; don't pat down. Use wooden spoon. Don't knead, but can use very wet hands to mix and press together. This is done in minutes and yields a wet dough loose enough to conform to the container.
4. Cover loosely. Allow the mixture to rise at room temp until it begins to collapse, apporoximately 2 hours. Longer rising times, up to 5 hrs, will not harm the result. You can use a portion of the dough any time after this period. Refrigerated dough easier to manipulate. Recommend refrigerating at least 3 hours before shaping.
5. on baking day prepare a pizza peel by sprinking it liberally with cornmeal to prenvent loaf froms ticking. Sprinkle the surface of the dough with flour, then cut off a 1lb (grapefruit-sized) piece with a serrated knife. Hold the mass of dough in your hands and add a little more flour as needed so it won't stick to your hands. Gently stretch the surface of the dough around to the bottom of 4 sides rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go, until the bottom is a collection fo four bunched ends.
6. Place the ball on the pizza peel. let it rest uncovered for about 40 min.
7. before baking, preheat oven to 450F
8. dust the top of the loaf liberally with flour, which will allow the slashing, serrated knife to pass without sticking. Slash1/4 inch deep cross. This helps the bread expand during baking.
9. Put in oven and quickly but carefully pour about a cup of hot water into the broiler tray and close the oven door to trap the steam. Bake for 30 minutes or until the crust is browned and firm to the touch. With wet dough, there's little risk of drying out the interior, despite the dark crust. Cool completely on a wire rack.
10. Store rest of dough up to 2 weeks in fridge. (not air tight container)
Annemarie's personal experiences:
I made sandwiches with it. For the pizza you start at #5 but don't let it rest and roll it out. I think you could just press to flatten too. I put cut up canned tomatoes for sauce and then add veggies and meat and cheese on top. Cook for 10 + minutes. I baked for almost 20 I think. Could be a change for you. I think I also added oregano etc. It says press to 1/8 inch.
I don't have a pizza peel or a baking stone. I just cooked on a baking sheet that I had put cornmeal on. My bread did stick a little to bottom.
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