A Nice Yeast Bread Loaf. 1.26.22

I haven't been making sourdoughs for a while and the culture died. I decided to try a yeast pizza crust using the refrigerator method - flour, water, yeast, salt. Nothing else.  Mix, knead, put into bowl, let rise to double, cover and refrigerate. Can use any time in two weeks, and has better flavor and texture after several days to a week.  The chilling makes the dough more workable and holds in fermentation bubbles for a nice texture.  I made a batch, then thought I'd make a second batch for a loaf of bread, but refrigerate in loaf pan. Otherwise the same recipe.  After taking Rufus for a walk, it was already completely risen so I sprinkled on bagel seed topping and baked 375 for 45 min. This had a great texture and flavor. Even though the topping is just sprinkled on, the flavor is present in the bread slices.

This reminded me of why I always made my own bread. It doesn't keep as long as store bought but is so good, it is used up before molds have a chance to spoil it.