The result is quite successful. The bread tastes great under the cherry blossoms. Here is my secret for its quality:
- 3 1/3 cups of flour, 1 1/2+ cup of warm water, 2 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of instant active yeast.
- Mix all of them together, roughly kneading into a shaggy ball.
- Rest the ball for 10-15 minutes.
- Kneading the ball for another 10-15 minutes until it becomes smooth.
- Pre-heat the oven to 'warm' level. Put the mass into a big mix bowl covered with a wet sheet of paper-tower. Put the bowl in the oven for rising.
- Leave it in the oven for 8 hours.
- On a well-floured surface, roll the flour mass and cut it into four balls. Each of balls can be stuffed with minced garlic.
- Pre-heat the oven for 420 F.
- Put the balls into the oven for 40 minutes.
The reason why resting the mass for 10-15 minutes is to let the fabric of flour reorganize themselves. This is what I learned from the book. It speeds up the whole process, then reduces the number of kneading, then reduces the exposed surface to oxygen, and therefore, increases the flavor of the bread. Raising in the oven is my idea. Oven is a perfect place for raising since it is a closed environment with controllable temperature setting. The ideal temperature is 70-80F and that is why I preheat the oven with 'warm' setting. Holes in bread is a key to a successful bread. The more holes the bread has; the softer the bread is. The number of holes depends on the degree of raising. That is why I chose to use instant yeast and 8-hour duration for raising. Moisture also directly contributes to the softness of bread. More water during the mixing stage makes softer bread. Bake the bread in high temperature first, and the hardened surface of the bread encapsulates water inside.
