Classic Sourdough Bread--Day Four, The pièce de résistance!

Are you ready? Today we're baking our bread. Yippee!

DAY FOUR

Allow 2 3/4 hours for warming (1 hr), baking (42 min) and cooling (1 hr) before you dig into your wonderful loaves.

1)  Bring your loaves to room temp 1 hour prior to baking. Preheat oven and steam pan to 475*. A steam pan is a 9 X 13" pan or a cast iron skillet that can take high heat in the oven. It is placed on the oven rack below the rack that you'll set your loaf sheet on. I have a 9 X 13" pan delegated to this purpose, as the mineral deposits on the pan left from the water boiling out make it rather unappetizing to think about baking in.

2) Uncover and score the loaves. I use a serrated knife, slashing 3 rows about 1/2 an inch deep. Don't worry if the dough deflates a bit; it will bounce back while it bakes.

3) Spritz oven and loaves with mist, pour 1 c. water in steam pan. In 2 min., repeat spritzing and lower temp to 450*. Bake 30 min, turning pan halfway through. If you find your bread browns too much, try this tip from our friend Barb and cover the loaves with tin foil the last 10 minutes of baking. Turn off oven, let rest inside 10 min. Cool on racks 1 hour (waiting is the hardest part of the whole four days!).

Now you are ready to slice your bread into nice thick slices and serve plain or with butter. We enjoyed ours tonight with a fresh chef salad, but a steaming bowl of thick soup would be great on a cold evening. Yummmmm....