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Ever since I got a piece of slate and placed it in my oven, I’ve been making lots of wonderful, edible things. Such as bread, such as. Bread bakes so much better for me when I cook it on a slab of stone.

This recipe is adapted from The America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook. I highly suggest you use a piece of slate or baking stone or unglazed quarry tile to bake the bread, not a metal pan. Also, unless you can figure out an alternative, get some parchment paper. One last thing: I am not very particular about measuring, so I’ve written the measurements as a guideline, but I tend to stray.

Rustic White Bread, makes 1 giant loaf

Ingredients:

• 2 + 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
• 1 + 3/4 cups warm water
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 4 + 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons salt

Instructions:

1. dissolve the yeast in the water, then stir in the honey
2. dump the salt and flour into the yeasty honey water
3. mix it until it all just comes together, then let it rest 15 minutes
4. knead the dough by hand until smooth and round, about 10 minutes
5. place in oiled bowl; cover and let rise 1 + 1/2 hours
6. …
7. invert the bowl onto a floured surface and press the dough with your fingertips so it looks like one of those flat, circle-shaped focaccia breads
8. gather the dough back into a ball by pulling the edges towards the center
9. take your gathered blob, flip it over so the smooth part is face up and cup your hands around and kind of drag/spin in a circular motion on the counter so the top gets nice and taut
10. place the dough ball on a piece of parchment paper
11. cover and let rise 1 hour
12. …
13. place your stone in the oven and turn to 500°F. let the oven heat for 30-60 minutes
14. slide the dough and parchment paper onto something flat in order to transfer it to the stone in the oven
15. spray the dough with water and place in the oven
16. spray the dough every minute for the first three minutes in the oven
17. after about 15 minutes, the loaf will become spotty brown; it’s time to turn the temperature down to 400°F
18. bake about 25 minutes, until it looks like one of those $4.75 loaves from the supermarket
19. let it cool on a wire rack about 2 hours before you rip into it

Look at that loaf, all giant and fancy with little neon-looking arms coming out the sides. Almost as great as my new piece of slate.

My favorite new thing: cooking videos on youtube. Manjula is my favorite, so far. Her videos are great, 7-10 minute how-tos for various Indian foods. One reason I like it so much is that she does the tutorials in her kitchen with a regular electric stove and frying pans and whatnot. I mean, I don’t have a clay oven or giant iron outdoor griddle. I’m not a commercial Indian kitchen. Neither is she. Plus, I think her son does the camera work. So great. Here’s her naan video:

Also, check out this guy making dosa on the street in Mumbai: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xt2aiUqVr3w