Mini Loaf

This morning I was woken up, early early; by my cat. He was thinking about cat food, I was thinking about bread.

So I fed him and baked some bread for myself.... He was thinking mmm... cat foooood. I was thinking mmm... Bread with honey, jam, butter, maybe some olive oil and sea salt tonight, or hummus!
Anyways I think this quite possibly could be the best loaf of bread I have ever made! I also made a whole wheat version. Mmmm.






Mini Loaf Recipe
3 cups of flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon instant yeast
1.5 cup water, or a few drops more.

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl using a whisk, then add water and stir until combined. Cover tightly with plastic and let it sit for some where warm for around 15-20 hours.
After the first rise, scrape the dough out onto a heavily floured surface and flop it over onto itself once or twice, don't over-handle it. It doesn't need to look all perfect. Let it sit for about 15 minutes. Then, quickly form the dough into a ball (folding the corners into the middle works well) and set it seam-side down onto a well flowered surface and cover with a non-terrycloth towel. Let it just sit there for another 2 hours. Before the bread goes in the oven, preheat it to 450˚f with your baking pan in there. After the half hour is up, take out your pan, sprinkle the bottom with cornmeal, and dump the dough in, seam-side up. Cover and return to the oven. Bake 20 minutes covered, 20 minutes uncovered, give or take a few at the end depending on how brown you want your crust.



This mini-recipe will yield a small loaf of crusty white bread, suitable for dipping in homemade soups, drenching in half-melted butter, dipping in tastey olive oil w/ herbs ... or whatever else you like to do with your bread.
It's a nice, small amount.