Spring Overnight Bread

Build your immune system for the coming allergy season (and the current cold/flu season still lingering) with local honey and bee pollen - all in a delicious, easy to make bread. My classic Overnight Bread recipe is always being updated with new flavors. This Spring recipe is just the latest result of my never ending tinkering. I have found that a full 18 hour rise time gives the best result but you can bake the bread after 12 hours. Use rice flour to dust the counter when shaping the dough. It will add extra crunch and chew to the crust. Enjoy!

4 cups Castle Valley Mill hard wheat (available at DelVal, Doylestown Food Market and Stockton Farm Market)

1 tablespoon active dry yeast

2 teaspoons salt

1/4 cup local honey, I used vanilla honey from Zach & Zoe (Stockton Farmers Market)

2 tablespoons local bee pollen, I used Stackin's Apiaries (The Market at DelVal)

1/2 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup dried cherry, blueberry mix

2 cups warm water

olive oil for pot

Put all ingredients in a large glass or ceramic bowl and mix by hand with a large spoon. Mix for a minute or two until all ingredients are completely incorporated. Cover bowl with plastic wrap but leave a 3 inch breathe gap on the edge. Leave dough to rise overnight in a warm, draft free place for a full 18 hours. In the winter I wrap the bowl with a kitchen towel to help keep it warm.

At the 17 1/2 hour mark, put a 5 quart cast iron Dutch Oven (see below for loaf pan directions) with its lid in the oven and preheat both to 450 degrees. The oven will reach temperature before the pot. Allow for 30 minutes for the pot to be at the right temperature. In the meantime, dust counter with flour (wheat or rice). Stir dough with a spoon and turn out onto floured counter. Shape dough into a ball while stretching each piece that you grab. Pull and shape gently. Do not press too much so as not to deflate or compress the dough. Allow shaped dough to rest on the floured counter until the pot and oven have preheated.

Remove pot from oven and remove lid. Add a little olive oil to the pot and swirl to coat the entire bottom. Add your shaped dough (you may need to take a few seconds to reshape it by folding it onto itself) to the pot and cover. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove lid and continue to bake for 5 to 10 more minutes until bread is nicely browned and crusty. Remove from oven and remove bread from pot to cool on a wrack for at least 20 minutes before slicing. Tap the bottom of the bread to test for doneness. It should sound hollow.

If you don't have a 5 quart cast iron Dutch Oven, you can bake this bread in a traditional loaf pan. It's a large dough so use a pan larger that the regular 8x4 size. I have a 9x5 and a 12x3 and both work very well. Preheat the oven without the pan to 400 for regular ovens or 375 for convection. Stir the dough in the bowl to deflate and our directly into the pan, no shaping required. All dough to rest in pan while the oven preheats. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove bread from pan and test for doneness the same way. Cool on a wrack for 20 minutes before slicing also.