I loved this recipe. Seattle has great bakeries so I almost never bake my own bread, but if I lived in the middle of nowhere, this might be the recipe I'd use for everyday bread. It had a wonderful spongy texture, mild flavor, and chewy crust. I made the starter the night before, made the dough, and then—because I didn't have time to bake that night—I shaped the loaves and let them rest overnight in the refrigerator and baked them the next morning. The loaves got very slightly overproofed, but it was worth it for the convenience factor. I used whole wheat pastry flour, which is all I had at home, and the result was an almost-white bread that would be great for sandwiches (our bread got eaten too fast to try it with anything fancier than butter); it kept well overnight, too. The dough was very wet, but I just kind of kept kneading it in a mixing bowl, which was more of a flopping-the-dough-around action than kneading...but by the time I was ready to shape the loaves, the dough had tightened up nicely. I baked one round loaf and one in a loaf pan; I used a baking stone and covered the loaves with cast iron Le Crueset-type pans to trap the steam and give them a thick crackling crust. Wonderful!
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