By: The Food Hunter
There’s something comforting about having a bread recipe you can trust, one that delivers structure and taste without the burden of perfection. For me, that bread is Ken Forkish’s Saturday White Bread, a recipe that I has become my go-to and a favorite in my kitchen.
It isn’t the sort of bread that demands an overnight ferment or obscure flours. It’s straightforward and forgiving,with formula that produces a loaf of bakery-level character: a golden, crackling crust and a crumb that’s tender and deeply satisfying. It’s the kind of bread you tear into minutes after it comes out of the oven, swiping warm hunks through extra virgin olive oil.
What I love most about this recipe is how surprisingly easy it is to master. You don’t need a mixer. You don’t need a starter. And you certainly don’t need to be an expert. The dough is mixed by hand, allowed to ferment slowly, and baked in a Dutch oven.
It’s the kind of recipe that invites repetition, not because it’s challenging, but because it’s endlessly rewarding. It asks little and gives much — a crusty, crackling loaf that never fails to impress and always brings a quiet sense of accomplishment.
The original recipe makes two loaves, but I’ve included a halved version below for a more manageable single loaf.
Single Loaf - Saturday White Bread Recipe
(adapted from Ken Forkish)
500 g all-purpose flour
360 g warm water (90°F to 95°F)
10.5 g fine sea salt
2 g instant dried yeast
Combine the flour with the water in a large round bowl. Mix
by hand just until incorporated. Cover and let rest for 20 to 30
minutes.
Sprinkle the salt and the yeast evenly over the top of the dough. Mix by hand, wetting your
working hand before mixing so the dough doesn’t stick to you. Reach underneath the dough and grab about one-quarter of it. Gently stretch this section of dough and fold it over the top to the other side of the
dough. Repeat 3 more times with the remaining dough, until the salt
and yeast are fully enclosed.
Use
the pincer method to fully integrate the ingredients. Make five or six
pincer cuts across the entire mass of dough. Then fold the dough over
itself a few times. Repeat, alternately cutting and folding until all of
the ingredients are fully integrated and the dough has some tension in
it. Let the dough rest for a few minutes, then fold for another 30
seconds or until the dough tightens up. The whole process should take
about 5 minutes. The target dough temperature at the end of the mix is
77°F to 78°F. If the final mix temperature is cooler,
don’t worry, it will just take longer to fully rise. Cover the tub and let the dough rise.
This dough needs two folds. It’s easiest to apply the folds during the
first 1½ hours after mixing the dough. Apply the first fold about 10
minutes after mixing and the second fold during the next hour. If
need be, it’s okay to fold later; just be sure to leave it alone for
the last hour of rising.
To
fold the dough, dip your hand in the container of warm water to
wet it so the dough doesn’t stick to you. With your moistened hand,
reach underneath the dough and pull about one-quarter of it out and up
to stretch it until you feel resistance, then fold it over the top to
the other side of the dough. Repeat four or five times, working around
the dough until the dough has tightened into a ball. Grab the entire
ball and invert it so the seam side, where all of the folds have come
together, faces down. This helps the folds hold their position. The top
should be smooth.
When
the dough relaxes a bit and flattens repeat the process for the second
fold. When the dough is triple its original volume, about 5 hours after
mixing, it’s ready to be shaped.
With
floured hands, pick up the dough and ease it back down onto the work
surface in a somewhat even shape. Dust the area in the middle, where
you’ll cut the dough, with a bit of flour. Dust a proofing basket with flour. Shape dough into a
medium-tight ball. Place seam side down in a proofing basket or bowl.
Lightly flour the tops of the loaf. Set a side and cover
with a kitchen towel. Plan
on baking the loaf about 1¼ hours after shaped.
At least 45 minutes prior to baking, put a rack in the middle of the
oven and a Dutch oven on the rack with the lid on. Preheat the
oven to 475°F (245°C).
For the next step, invert
the proofed loaf onto crossed parchment sheets, (for easy transfer), keeping in mind
that the top of the loaf will be the side that was facing down while it
was rising—the seam side. Use oven mitts to remove the preheated Dutch
oven from the oven. Remove the lid. Carefully place the loaf in the hot
Dutch oven seam side up. Use mitts to replace the lid, then put the
Dutch oven in the oven. Maintain the temperature at 475°F (245°C).
Bake
for 30 minutes, then carefully remove the lid and bake for about 20
more minutes, until at least medium dark brown all around the loaf.
Check after 15 minutes of baking uncovered in case your oven runs hot.
Remove
the Dutch oven and carefully tilt it to turn the loaf out. Let cool on a
rack or set the loaf on its side so air can circulate around it. Let
the loaf rest for at least 20 minutes.
