Thursday, January 21, 2010

Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day

Okay girls. Anyone want to try this out? I heard these people on Wisconsin Public Radio this morning. You spend time making the master dough... flour, yeast, salt, water. It is a very wet dough; you let it rise for 2 hrs, then you can refrigerate it for up to 2 weeks. You just pull off enough for a loaf whenever you want it; shape it and let it rise for 20 min. or so and bake. They have a lot of variations for artisan breads. I see they have Naan. I'm still thinking it's easier to just bake 4 loaves of bread and freeze the bread, but perhaps the "artisan" breads with different herbs is appealing. Here's a website with the basic information:
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Real-Food/Artisan-Bread-In-Five-Minutes-A-Day.aspx
If you try it out, post your comments. Dad really likes artisan breads, so he may give this a try. Here's the basic recipe. It's pretty much my bread recipe sans the honey and oil. I'd use 1/2 whole wheat flour and 1/2 bread flour:

The Master Recipe: Boule

(Artisan Free-Form Loaf)

Makes 4 1-pound loaves

3 cups lukewarm water
1 1⁄2 tbsp granulated yeast (1 1⁄2 packets)
1 1⁄2 tbsp coarse kosher or sea salt
6 1⁄2 cups unsifted, unbleached, all-purpose white flour

9 comments:

  1. I've been baking my way through an artisan bread book, and the problem I always run into is the steaming process in the oven (which is what gives the bread a 'crusty' crust). I just haven't been able to replicate what a commercial oven can do in my home oven.

    That said, this recipe sounds very easy and interesting. I like the idea of keeping the dough up to two weeks! I'll try it out next week and report back.

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  2. Can't wait to hear how it goes!! Having fresh bread constantly sounds divine. I can vouch for MotherEarthNews, I frequent their website for urban-farm related info. Also, they have a recipe for an artisan bread you make in a dutch oven. I'll have to find the recipe and post it.

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  3. Ok, I tried it today, and I was very impressed! I used all white flour. It had the most delicious crusty chewy crust and was unbelievably easy to make. This is definitely my new go-to recipe for artisan bread. I also tried the naan variation, but it was more like a scone than a flatbread (I have a good-though not as simple-recipe for naan I can post). I'm excited to see if the flavor improves as the dough sits in the fridge longer.

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  4. I gave it a try and agree with Rachel that it was easy to make. My crust was crusty just after coming out of the oven, but softened right up while it was cooling. We ate it warm though so that might have been the reason. This was a super yummy bread, can't wait to try another loaf tonight.

    Rachel, did yours raise much? I'd say my just about doubled in size so it didn't turn out huge, kind of like the size you'd get in a restaurant to munch on while waiting for your dinner.

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  5. Sounds delicious - I love having fresh bread but when I make several loaves we never eat it fast enough. I don't like it as much once it's been refrigerated or frozen (except with Grandma Bronson's bread- hers always tastes good!).

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  6. We're having a snow day today so I just made the dough and we'll see how it goes. Sent Ben out in the snow to get ingredients to make the white chicken chili...

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  7. I have made 2 loaves so far. Both loaves turned out great. The crust was definitely crusty. (Sliced my finger trying to cut through it...I think I need a better knife.) It was really tasty, although very dense. But I liked that. A small loaf was very filling and just right for dinner. I took pictures...they'll be up on my craft blog soon.

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  8. Sarah, I didn't think you were cleared to use knives.

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  9. Hmm, maybe my crusty problem is due to my strange oven. I'll try another loaf tomorrow.

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