The Stars and the Cookie Jar

So I've been baking a lot lately! Tonight I'm making broa, Portuguese everyday bread. My step-grandmother is Portuguese Marrano, and used to make broa to go with soup. She also makes a fabulous massa, but has never taught me how, because she says I'm not ready. Not ready to scald off a gallon of whole milk? Not ready to scour out a rising pan three feet broad? Nah.

Here, for muffinbutt, pain a l'ancienne. I halved the formula in The Bread Baker's Apprentice to make a more manageable amount of bread.



3 cups unbleached bread flour (KA! KA!)
1 1/8 tsp salt
1 1/4 tsp yeast
1 1/4 - 2 cups more or less ICE COLD WATER
cornmeal for dusting baking sheet

Combine the flour, salt, yeast and most of the ice water in the bowl of a standing mixer. Mix for 2 minutes on low speed. The dough should stick to the bottom but not the sides of the bowl. Add flour or ice water as needed to make a smooth, not sticky, dough. Lightly oil a large bowl and transfer the dough to it (the dough should still be very cold).

Immediately place the bowl in the refrigerator and retard overnight.

The next day, check the dough to see if it has risen. Remove it from the refrigerator and let it rest at room temperature for 2-3 hours.

When the dough has doubled, sprinkle the counter with flour. Gently transfer the dough to the counter and handle it as little as possible while rolling it in flour. Cut it with a pastry scraper or cleaver pressed straight down through the dough, without sawing. Let the dough relax for 5 minutes.

If you want to set up the oven for a crisp crust, set an empty heavy-duty pan (like the bottom of the broiler pan) on the lowest rack of the oven. Preheat your oven to as high as it will go (500 or 600 degrees). Dust baking sheets with cornmeal.

While the oven is preheating, shape the dough for baguettes and score the top of the loaves with shallow diagonal cuts.

Slide the dough into the oven on the cornmeal-dusted sheets and then add 1 cup hot water to the steam pan, as fast as possible. You can also mist the sides of the oven using a plant mister, but this might crack the glass in your oven door. :) Once you shut the oven door, lower the oven heat to 475 degrees.

Bake the bread 10 minutes, rotate the pans 180 degrees, and continue baking 10 or 12 minutes more until the internal temperature of 205 degrees.

Transfer the hot breads to a cooling rack and wait at least an hour before slicing or serving.