0: Dissolve yeast in 1/4 cup water (105- to 110^)
1: To the 4 cups of water (120- to 130^) in a LARGE mixing bowl, add salt, sugar, and 4 cups of flour
2: Add yeast mixture and mix well
3: Add enough flour to make a workable dough
4: 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
5: <g> I kneaded the dough for about 15 minutes--took that long to get the flour to absorb
6: 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
7: Cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm place to rise until double
8: The recipe didn't give a time--mine took about 1 hour, maybe less, I nearly forgot about it
9: <g> Punch down, knead lightly and form into a round loaf
10: Place in a 4-1/2 quart Dutch oven
11: The recipe says to cover with plastic wrap but I knew that if I did that, the loaf might deflate
12: I lightly sprayed a piece of waxed paper with Pam and covered it with that--came off nicely without deflating the loaf
13: Let rise again until double
14: Mine took about 25 minutes and it was trying to climb out of the Dutch oven
15: Preheat the oven to 425^ about 15 minutes before the dough is ready
16: Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes
17: Reduce oven to 350^ and bake for an additional 50-60 minutes
18: My loaf was getting too brown so I covered it with foil when I reduced the oven temperature
19: I also decided to reduce the heat to 325^ and only baked it for about 45 minutes-- it was done
20: NOTE: Next time, if there is one, I plan on cutting the recipe in half--it's REALLY BIG
21: 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
22: Half the recipe, cooked in the same size Dutch oven would make a nice size and shaped loaf
23: Making the entire recipe, it would make a GREAT bowl for any dip and the bread could be used for dipping
24: 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
25: 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
26: Taken from: "The Sacramento Cookery Cookbook" Converted by MMCONV vers
27: 1
28: 40 From Gemini's MASSIVE MealMaster collection at www
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30: com/~gemini