Basque Sheepherder Bread

Dissolve yeast in 1/4 cup water (105- to 110^).

To the 4 cups of water (120- to 130^) in a LARGE mixing bowl, add
salt, sugar, and 4 cups of flour. Add yeast mixture and mix well. Add
enough flour to make a workable dough. Knead well–takes a loooong
time and I don’t think you can make it using, either a Kitchenaid or
ABM, you have to do it by hand, give yourself PLENTY of counter
space. g I kneaded the dough for about 15 minutes–took that long
to get the flour to absorb.

Place dough into a LARGE, greased bowl (I used my large Tupperware
cake-taker–this is a LOT of dough) and turn to coat top. Cover with
plastic wrap and place in a warm place to rise until double. The
recipe didn’t give a time–mine took about 1 hour, maybe less, I
nearly forgot about it. g

Punch down, knead lightly and form into a round loaf. Place in a 4-1/2
quart Dutch oven. The recipe says to cover with plastic wrap but I
knew that if I did that, the loaf might deflate. I lightly sprayed a
piece of waxed paper with Pam and covered it with that–came off
nicely without deflating the loaf. Let rise again until double. Mine
took about 25 minutes and it was trying to climb out of the Dutch
oven. Preheat the oven to 425^ about 15 minutes before the dough is
ready.

Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Reduce oven to 350^ and bake
for an additional 50-60 minutes. My loaf was getting too brown so I
covered it with foil when I reduced the oven temperature. I also
decided to reduce the heat to 325^ and only baked it for about 45
minutes– it was done. NOTE: Next time, if there is one, I plan on
cutting the recipe in half–it’s REALLY BIG. I expected it to be BIG,
but 9-1/2″ high and 10″ wide? That’s how big this loaf is–never seen
anything like it before. Half the recipe, cooked in the same size
Dutch oven would make a nice size and shaped loaf. Making the entire
recipe, it would make a GREAT bowl for any dip and the bread could be
used for dipping. Oh, have fun trying to find something to store it
in–I ended up using a medium-size (new) trash can liner and it
filled it up. It’s light and airy inside (like a French bread) and
the crust nice and chewy–I opted to brush the loaf with water once I
took it from the oven and it never got really soft–stayed chewy.