Instructions: Will add my own comments with "dca)"

STEP I: CULTURE PREPARATION

1. Remove the culture from the refigerator

2. Add 1/2 cup of white flour and 1/2 cup warm water to the culture jar and mix briefly. The total mixture will be about 2 1/4 cups. It need not be lump free.

3. Proof at 85 deg. F. for 6 to 12 hours until actively fermenting (as shown by bubbles on the surface).

dca) The Russian Culture requires about 2 or 3 hours to reach this stage if the correct temperature is maintained. Time depends mostly on how many spores remain in culture at time of use.

STEP II: THE FIRST PROOF

1) Mix all of the active culture with 3 cups of white flour and 2 cups of warm water in a 4 quart mixing bowl. It need not be lump free.

2) Proof at 85 deg. F. for 12 hours.

dca) The Russian culture requires only 6 hours at this stage.

3) RETURN 1 cup of culture to the culture jar.

Add 1/3 cup of white flour and 1/3 cup of warm water and proof at 85 deg. F. for one hour. Then refrigerate immediately.

STEP III: THE SECOND PROOF

REMEMBER TO REFRIGERATE one cup of culture from the first proof before proceeding.

INGREDIENTS

4 cups culture from the first proof
dca) (if I have more I use it all.)

2 tablespoons butter
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons sugar
6 cups white flour

1) Melt the butter over moderate heat (or heat in the microwave), add the milk to the butter, warm briefly, add the salt and sugar, and stir until dis- solved. Add this mixture to the culture and mix well.

2) Add the flour a cup at a time until dough is too stiff to mix by hand. Then turn onto a floured board and knead in remaining flour until the dough is smooth and satiny.

dca) I knead about 15 min by hand.

3) Divide dough in half and form two balls.

4) Pat each ball into a one inch thick oval and form loaves by rolling from the long side, pinching the seam together as you roll the dough to form the loaf.

dca) I often put a flattened ball of dough in the Dutch oven.

5. Place in greased loaf pans and proof at 85 deg. F. for 1 1/2 to 3 hours. When the dough rises 1 to 2 inches above lip of pan, it is ready to bake.

dca) It helps if the dough can rise in a very humid place. When I am baking in the regular oven, I put the dough in a camping cooler with a bucket of hot water. This keeps the dough warm and humid. Problem: I have to stack the pans. If the dough rises above the lip, it hits the next pan and ruins the texture.

This is why I want to build a new proofing box.

dca) If you use so much dough that it rises above the lip of the Dutch oven, then you have trouble. Takes experience to know how much dough to use.

This recipe can make 3 loaves for
a 10" dutch oven, or one 10" and one 12". If it isnt quite warm enough, I place one or two coals on the lid of the dutch oven to let the bread rise.

6) Preheat the oven to 375 deg. F. Ten minutes after putting the bread in, reduce heat to 350 deg. F. and bake an additional 45 minutes.

dca) I find this to be too long. Watch out!

dca) Elsewhere in the book Ed. Wood recomends putting a tray of water in the oven for the first 10 minutes. This is supposed to improve the crust and give it a French bread texture. You see if it works.

dca) For the Dutch oven I put 4 coals on the bottom of a 10" oven and 9 on the top. I cook it for about 35 minutes. I use 5 coals on the bottom and 11 on the top for the 12" oven.

If it is very cold outside, it may take more time, and you probabably need more coals. I baked bread in -20 deg. F. weather in January once.

7. When the bread is removed from the oven, brush crusts lightly with melted butter. Turn out of pans and cool on a wire rack.

dca) When using the dutch oven, I just turn the oven over and the bread falls out onto the wire rack. My kids call it circle bread.

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