Recipe suggestions for making only 1 loaf of bread?

Am at my office and have no access to my bread recipes, however, why stop at one when you are paying for the energy to heat the oven and it can handle two loaves (presuming your oven can).

Bread freezes beautifully if you allow it to completely cool, then do a deli wrap and get it in the freezer fast.

Hi LaVidsMD

For the past few weeks I've been working on the recipe you mentioned above along with Jane's interpretation of it. I wrote them out side by side while cutting all the measurements in half. This way I get a loaf that I can consume within a week and test a different methodology each time. So my advice is take that Susan's recipe you mentioned in your roiginal post and cut it in half (or into fourths) so you can get a single loaf consumable by a single person within a reasonable amount of time. :)

Rudy

Every week or so I make a loaf of Jeffrey Hamelman's "Vermont Sourdough".  Using the baker's percentages he provides, I've reduced the recipe to make a single loaf of about 680 grams.  I use a liquid starter at 125% hydration.  Here is my version of the recipe:

About 8 to 12 hours before mixing the dough:   Mix 80 grams bread flour, 100 grams water, and 50 grams of liquid starter.

Eight to twelve hours later, the starter mixture should have about tripled in volume.  Then mix:

340 grams bread flour

46 grams rye (or whole wheat) flour

210 grams water

153 grams of the starter mixture (Save the remaining starter for the next loaf)

Mix these above ingredients until all the flour is saturated and let set for 30 t0 40 minutes (autolyse).  Then add 8.5 grams (1- 1/2 teaspoon) salt and knead until the salt is totaly incorporated in the dough.

Fermentation times will vary with temperature and your sechedule.  In winter, when the house is cool, I mix the dough in the evening and let the dough ferment overnight at room temperature.  Then, form and bake the loaf first thing in the morning.  In summer the house is warmer, so I usualy have to retard the dough in the fridge.

I bake the loaf in a cast iron dutch oven, preheated to 450 degrees fahrenheit.  Covered for 30 minutes.  Then, uncovered for about 15 minutes.  Cool and eat.

I've been making one that I really like:

24-48 hours before you make your dough, mix: 

1 cup sourdough starter (I keep mine beyond 100% hydration -- 1 cup water to 1 cup flour)

1/2 cup water 

1/2 cup white flour

1/2 cup  rye flour 

To make the dough:

1 1/2 cups  white flour

2 tbsp gluten flour (optional)

1/3 cup water

1 tbsp salt

The dough will be wet, so I would do it in a stand mixer.  Add the rest of your ingredients to the sponge and mix thoroughly together, and when you have more or less a dough, cover it and let it rest for about 1/2 hour.  Then come back and kneed it with the dough hook for about 10 minutes.  It should separate from the walls, but continue to stick to the bottom of the bowl.  Place your dough in an oiled bowl, then twice -- after 1/2 hour, and after 1 hour -- fold the dough.  Let it rise for about four hours, then take it out, shape it and proof for about an hour.  Pre-heat the oven to 500F, make it nice and steamy by whatever method you prefer, then score the dough, turn the oven down to 425F, and cook the thing for 40-45 minutes.

The result is a bread that will produce a lot of oven spring -- that is crusty on the outside, and has a really great, moderately large hole structure on the inside.  I've made this several times now, and it is always a huge hit, even with people who don't like rye or sourdough. 

Excuse me, by the way, for not including weights.  It's sometimes a help and sometimes a hindrance, but I more or less cook by feel alone.