Artisan Bread

Nothing smells better than homemade bread baking in the oven. About a month ago, I finally decided (after telling myself I really didn't need it) to purchase the book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. I wanted to know the "secret" for such wonderful bread in only five minutes a day. Well, it is quite simple.

Day One, you mix the ingredients, let it rise for 2 hours and then place it in the fridge. (No, JRS, this is not Friendship Bread!) The next day you are ready to make your bread. Take out the dough and pull off how much you need, say the size of a large grapefruit or cantaloupe size for one loaf. Give it a gluten cloak and shape (this is the part that only takes five minutes) and then let it rise 40 minutes. After that, you are ready to bake it, which takes about 30 minutes. Plain and simple. Simple is that, the only time really spent is shaping the dough and you basically leave it alone after that. No kneading required!

Well, I must say the the bread is delicious! It also looks pretty too! BTW, the book is full of all all sorts of recipes of different types of bread you can make with this method. Peasant loaves, Beignets, Flat bread, Calzones, Stromboli, Pita and Sticky Pecan Carmel Rolls to name a few.

Here is the recipe for the Boule (Artisan Free-Form Loaf) that I made:

3 cups lukewarm water
1 1/2 tablespoons granulated yeast (1 1/2 packets)
1 1/2 tablespoons of kosher salt (don't use table salt)
6 1/2 cups unsifted, unbleached, all-purpose flour, measured with the scoop and sweep method
Cornmeal (to put on the stone to prevent sticking)

Mix together the lukewarm water and yeast. Then add the salt and flour, mix so there is no dry flour. Let it rise for 2 hours, then place in fridge to use next day. You can use it immediately, but the dough is much sticker than if you waited.

On baking day, get the amount of dough you need, let it rise for 40 minutes, then bake for 30 minutes at 450. If you want to make it pretty--sprinkle flour on the bread after it has risen and on a serrated knife. Then make a pretty design buy cutting the dough a few times across in a pattern like tic tac toe or freehand.


Here are a few pictures of a few loaves that I made earlier today.





Rising loaves



Rising loaves



Scored the bread right before baking



All done!




Beautiful Artisan Bread!