Ingredients

Source

*	modified recipe from Daniel Leader, Bread Alone: Bold Fresh * ISBN 978-0688092610

Directions

Combine the water and yeast in a medium bowl. Let stand 1 minute, then stir with a wooden spoon until yeast is dissolved. Add flours and stir until the consistency of a thick batter. Continue stirring for about 100 strokes or until the strands of gluten come off the spoon when you press the back of the spoon against the bowl. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Cover with a clean damp towel or plastic wrap, and put in a moderately warm (23°-27°C.) draft-free place until it is bubbly and increased in volume.

MIX AND KNEAD THE FINAL DOUGH (25 minutes): Bring the bowl with the poolish to your work space. The poolish should be soupy, bubbly, and puffy and it should have a wheaty aroma. Scrape the poolish into a 6quart bowl. Add the water and yeast. Break up the poolish well with a wooden spoon and stir until it loosens and the mixture foams slightly. Add the whole wheat flour, lemon, honey, and poppy seeds; stir until well combined. Add the salt and enough of the bran flour to make a thick mass that is difficult to stir. Turn out onto a wellfloured surface. Knead, adding more of the remaining flour as needed for 10 minutes. Continue kneading until dough is soft and smooth, 15 to 17 minutes total. (Or make in a heavy-duty mixer.) The dough is ready when a small amount, pulled from the mass, springs back quickly.

FERMENT THE DOUGH (2 to 3 hours) Shape the dough into a ball and let it rest on a lightly floured surface while you scrape, clean, and lightly oil the large bowl. Place the dough in the bowl and turn the dough to coat the top with oil. Take the dough’s temperature: the ideal is 26°C. Cover with a clean damp towel or Mastic wrap and put in a moderately warm (23°-27°C) draft-free ace until doubled in volume. The dough has risen enough when a finger poked 1 cm into the dough leaves an indentation.

DIVIDE AND SHAPE THE DOUGH INTO LOAVES (10 minutes): Deflate the dough by pushing down in the center and pulling up on the sides. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and knead briefly. Cut into 2 equal pieces. Flatten each with the heel of your hand using firm direct strokes. Shape each piece into a log, sealing firmly and pinching closed.

PROOF THE LOAVES (1 1/2 to 2 hours) Place the loaves seam side down in lightly buttered 23 x 13 x 7,5 cm baking pans. Cover with a clean damp towel or plastic wrap and put in a moderately warm (23°-27°C) draft-free place until dough rises just to the rim of the pan.

BAKE THE LOAVES (40 minutes: Forty-five minutes to 1 hour before baking, preheat the oven and homemade hearth or baking stone on the center rack of the oven to 230°C/450°F. The oven rack must be in the center of the oven. If it is in the lower third of the oven, the bottoms of the breads may burn, and if it is in the upper third, the top crusts may burn. Using a sharp serrated knife or single-edged razor, score the loaves by making quick shallow cuts V. to 1 cm deep on the top of the loaf. Place the pans on the hearth and bake 15 to 20 minutes. Reduce heat to 205°C/400°F. and bake until loaves are a rich caramel color and the crusts are firm, another 15 to 20 minutes.

To test the loaves for doneness, remove the loaves from the pans and hold them upside down. Strike the bottoms firmly with your finger. If the sound is hollow, the breads are done. If it doesn’t sound hollow, return breads to the pans and bake 5 minutes longer. Cool completely on a wire rack.

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