Oma’s Bread

There was nothing, and I mean nothing, like my Grandmother's (Oma) bread. We loved it. Had it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The best was taking it in the summer, grilling it and then putting schmaltz (rendered pig fat - yes, yes, I know, really healthy) and salt on it. Undeniably great.

Ingredients:
Starter (See below)
5 lbs. of flour
3 packages of yeast
3 tablespoons of salt
6 1/3 cup of warm water (water should not be above 110 degrees F)
1 tablespoon of honey

Soak the starter in 1 cup of warm water for about 30 minutes until it is totally soaked and no lumps are present.

Put yeast into the warm water and honey to proof.

Put the flour and salt in a bowl and make a well in the middle. Add the water/yeast mixture a little at a time, incorporating it with the flour. When the water is fully added, add the water/starter and mix well. Move to a clean surface and knead for about 10 minutes.

Put in a bowl in a warm location and let rise 1-2 hours until doubled. Punch down and form into a round loaf and place on a baking sheet to rise a second time. Heat oven to 450 degrees and when dough has risen, cut slits into the top of the loaf, sprinkle with water and put in oven to bake approximately 45 minutes.

For the starter, make your first loaf of bread just as above, but without the starter. After you punch the dough down, cut a piece off about a cup in volume. Put on a plate and let sit in a warm location. It will dry out and be fine to use the next time you make bread.