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1
(STARTER 24-48 hours ahead of time) Dissolve 1/4 tsp yeast with the 1/2 cup of warm water.
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2
In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt.
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3
Add 3 more cups warm water, and stir until blended; dough will be almost runny, I'd say a bowl of mush.
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4
Cover bowl with plastic wrap.
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5
Let dough rest at least 24 hours, preferably about 48, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.
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6
(DAY OF DOUGH after starter has fermented) Scald milk and cool to lukewarm (use an ice bath in a big pot).
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7
Stir in honey while cooling milk (start this right after you place pan of milk in ice bath so honey will dissolve better in the warmth).
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8
Dissolve 2tsp yeast in 1/2 cup warm water.
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9
Measure flour and salt into a large bowl and stir together lightly.
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10
When milk is cooled down to same temperature as warm water mix the two liquids together.
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11
Make a well in the flour and pour liquids into it.
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12
Stir from center outward, until all the flour is mixed in, making a stiff dough.
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13
*Here's where things get interesting* Add the 48 hour preferment to the new dough and knead for about 15 minutes without adding more flour.
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14
(The dough is going to be very wet and sticky so keep a bowl of water handy for your hands, and I even used it to keep the dough from sticking too bad to the counter I was working on).
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15
After 15 minutes knead in the butter in bits, continuing to work the dough until it is silky.
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16
I put the dough glob into an ungreased bowl (the larger the better this makes 3 loaves) and covered with plastic wrap.
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17
Let the dough rise for 1.5 hours, but be careful, my bowl was a little too small and the runny dough started to expand over the sides.
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18
After 1.5 hours I gently punched it down and took a shortcut by skipping a second rise and went ahead and split the dough into three pieces and plopped them into my pans.
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19
(I found by accident it didn't make much of a difference if these were greased or not, 2 were, 1 was not).
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20
I proofed these for another hour but probably could have gone with 45 minutes because one loaf began to pour over the sides of the pan.
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21
I gently nudged the doughs back within the sides of their pans and put them into a preheated 325 degree oven for 1 hour.
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22
These turned out wonderful, high rise, flavor like I have never tasted, a well structured crumb (at least according to my likes), and a decent caramelized crust.
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23
I think that skipping the second rise made the open air pockets in the bread a little bigger than they would have been otherwise, but they were still rather uniform and didn't affect the breads ability to hold together, but I think next time it would be worth investing the extra time in a second rise before proofing in the pans.
