1. The
Value
of
Time

2. 320 minutes to make a loaf of bread

4. Ingredients
1 1/2 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 1/2 tablespoon salt
3 cups luke-warm water, (about 100 degrees)
6 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
Directions
Mix yeast, salt and water in a large, lidded vessel, like a one gallon size pantry storage container. Add the
flour all at once and mix with a wooden spoon or your hand until flour is incorporated and completely wet.
It will be a sticky, clumpy mess, but the most important thing is that it is evenly moist.
Cover loosely with the lid (do not clamp down the lid or it could explode), and let sit at room temperature
for 2 hours. It will rise significantly during this time. You can bake the bread immediately now, but the
sticky dough is much easier to handle if it has been refrigerated first.
Refrigerate the dough for at least 2 hours. When ready to bake, remove dough from the fridge and sprinkle
the top with flour. Using your hand, grab out a portion of dough that is approximately the size of a large
grapefruit. You will have 3 loaves of dough for each batch this way. Dusting with more flour as necessary so
it won't stick to your hands, carefully roll the dough into a ball by stretching the top and tucking the dough
into itself on the bottom. The bottom will look like a lot of clumpy ends, but it will smooth out as it sits.
This process gets much easier with practice. Don't worry if your dough isn't perfectly round, a rustic look is
perfectly acceptable, even preferable.
Set the dough on a heavily floured sheet of parchment paper, cover with a clean dish towel and let it rest
for 40 minutes. Return the rest of the dough to the fridge, loosely covered, for another day.
20 minutes before you are ready to bake preheat the oven, preferably with a pizza stone in the middle
rack (but this is not absolutely necessary), to 450 degrees.
Uncover the bread dough, sprinkle liberally with flour and score the top with a sharp knife in a tic-tac-toe
or cross pattern. Carefully slide the dough (still on the parchment) onto the pizza stone using a wooden
pizza peel. Alternately, place the dough (still on the parchment) onto a large baking sheet and place in the
oven. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the crust is a deep, golden brown and bread is hollow sounding when
thumped on the bottom. Remove from oven, and serve warm or at room temperature.

5. 30 minutes to make a loaf of bread

6. 4 minutes to cut a loaf of bread

7. 2 minutes to eat a slice of bread

8. 320 minutes
30 minutes
4 minutes
40 minutes (2 minutes x 20 slices)
___________
394 minutes (6.5 hours)
Over a quarter of a day for one loaf of bread!