Bruce’s Bread

This story and recipe is about as low a carbohydrate bread as can be made!
When I was in Pennsylvania in April, my son Bruce made a great bread that
had a light colored crunchy crust. He put the ingredients into his Zoji
S-15 and set it to the dough cycle. He removed the dough at the end of the
cycle, shaped it, slashed the top and sprinkled a little flour over it.
Then he set it to rise until it had doubled in volume and baked it in a 450
degree oven (with a pan of water on the bottom shelf) for 25 minutes. The
bread was light in color, had a good taste and an amazingly crunchy crust.
To add to the wonder of it, the bread has low salt, no sugar and no fat
(other than that which is part of the flour). Contrary to our popular
conception that yeast needs sugar to feed on, it is capable of converting
some of the carbohydrate in the flour to its needs. Bruce was kind enough
to give me his recipe and I have worked on it to be able to get the same
results in the Zoji without having to turn on an oven during the summer. I
will give you the recipe both ways so you can take your choice. He calls
the loaf Peasant Bread. I call it Bruce’s Bread, in his honor.

The last two ingredients are necessary to get a light, high rising loaf if
baking is completed in the Zoji. The addition of these two ingredients will
allow baking the bread on the quick cycle! Reduce the yeast to 1-1/2 tsp if
you want to use the regular or delayed cycle.

The dough is quite soft. If you chose to bake it in the oven, you may want
to add a little flour to make it easier to handle.

Oven baking is 450 degrees for 25 minutes. A pan of water on the bottom
shelf will insure a crispy crust.