Onion loaf and Pot Roast with gravy, mushrooms, and vegetables

 I got an email from King Arthur this morning with a lot of ideas for using sourdough starter. I copied the ingredients I needed to make a loaf of onion- bay bread and went to the store to get some white whole wheat bread.  While I was there, I looked at the meat counter for something to go with the bread for dinner tonight. I saw a chuck roast that was a good size for the two of us so that decided what the rest of dinner would be. On a whim, I also got a pineapple upside down cake and some whipped cream for dessert.  I also made a small tossed salad.

Onion and Bay Loaf   1 large loaf, 20 slices Norm's notes. I skipped the first rise and went straight to the second rise when making this bread.

This recipe is adapted from Dan Lepard's Handmade Bread, and incorporates the comforting flavors of a well-made béchamel sauce. A great sandwich bread, wonderful as the building block of a first-class panini.

IngredientSection

onions

2 cups onions, medium diced

1 1/4 cups whole milk

3 bay leaves

Dough

strained milk from above

3/4 cup ripe sourdough starter

1 cup King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour or Premium Whole Wheat Flour

2 1/4 to 2 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour

drained onions from above

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon instant yeast

volume or weight

Directions

To prepare the onions: Place the onions, milk, and bay leaves in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat, strain, and cool to room temperature. Discard the bay leaves, and reserve the milk and onions.

To make the dough: Put the cooled milk in a mixing bowl with the starter. Add the whole wheat flour and 1 cup of the bread flour. Stir in the onions, salt, yeast, and another 1 1/4 cups of bread flour. Cover and let sit for 10 minutes. If the dough is still sticky, stir in the remaining 1/4 cup of bread flour.

Knead the dough on an oiled surface for 10 seconds, return to the bowl, and cover. Let the dough rest for 10 minutes. Repeat the brief kneading for 10 seconds more, return to the bowl, cover, and let rise for 1 hour.

Line a deep 8" bowl with a flour-rubbed dish towel, or generously flour a banneton. Deflate and fold the dough over on itself, then shape it into a ball. Place it, seam-side up, in the prepared bowl or banneton. Cover and let rise until doubled (1 1/2 hours).

Preheat the oven to 425°F; if you have a baking stone, place it on a shelf in the bottom third of the oven.

Invert the loaf onto a piece of parchment on the back of a baking sheet or peel. Spray the top with water, slash the dough, then slide it into the oven.

Bake the bread for 20 minutes, then reduce the oven's temperature to 375°F and bake for another 30 minutes, until the center of the bread reads 205°F when measured with a digital thermometer; the top is a deep golden brown, and the bottom of the loaf sounds hollow when you tap it. Remove the bread from the oven and cool on a rack before slicing.

The chuck roast was put in the slow cooker with potatoes, onion, celery, mushrooms, brown gravy mix, some onion salt and some dry powdered Ranch dressing and some water and slow cooked on high for about 4 hours, then on "keep warm" setting for another 4 hours until Charlie got home.

We also had a tossed salad for dinner.