Artisan Bread
I know what you’re saying…”Really Kelly? Bread baking in JULY?!?” Yes! It’s delicious and you can do it late at night or early in the morning. I promise it’s worth a little extra effort. I will say I have baked a loaf in the grill and had great success, maybe I’ll share how to someday. A dear friend of mine introduced this recipe to me last year and ever since I’ve been obsessed! It’s similar to the pizza dough in that there is no kneading and you can keep it in your fridge for up to two weeks! Just pull off a small amount for fresh bread each night. You can also freeze the dough for use later as well.
Artisan Bread
Author/Source:
Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day
Ingredients:
- 3 cups warm water
- 1.5 tablespoons yeast
- 1.5 tablespoons kosher salt
- 6.5 cups all purpose, unbleached, unenriched flour
Directions:
In the large bowl, combine water, yeast, and salt. Stir together. No need to wait until yeast is bubbly. Add in flour all at once and stir together. All portions of the dough should be moistened so that no flour is left uncombined. Cover mixture with lid or plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for two hours, or until doubled in size. Place bowl of dough, still covered, in fridge overnight and up to 14 days.
How to make a loaf: Sprinkle pizza peel – or parchment paper, if you don’t own a peel – very generously with corn meal. You want to make sure your loaf doesn’t stick when you slide it off onto the pizza stone or cookie sheet. Remove bowl from refrigerator. Sprinkle a “cloak” of flour over the dough – you’re not trying to mix it in or make your dough less sticky. Cut off a grapefruit -sized piece of dough, and pull all four sides, one at a time, to the bottom to form a ball. Flour hands if dough is sticking to them. Don’t worry about making the bottom of the loaf look smooth.
Let loaf rest for 40 minutes (or more, if kitchen is drafty or cool). Most of the actual rising will take place in the oven. 20 minutes before baking, place pizza stone in oven on the second to bottom rack, and place broiler pan on the rack below that; preheat to 450. After 40 minutes have passed, sprinkle top of loaf with flour (to keep knife from sticking). Using a serrated knife, make two 1/4 inch cuts crosswise on the top of the loaf. Now, with a quick motion, flick the loaf onto the pizza stone, then pour a cup of hot water into the broiler pan. Shut oven as quickly as possible to retain steam. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until crust is browned and hardened. Remove from oven and place on cooling rack; don’t slice in until cooled because it will release essential moisture moisture.
Freezing Directions:
You can freeze dough after first rise in portions, wrap in parchment and store in freezer bag. You can also freeze the loaf after baking in a freezer bag.
Servings: 8-10
This Post will be linked at:
- Real Food Wednesdays at Kelly the Kitchen Kop
- No Whine Wednesdays at Food on the Table
- What’s on the Menu Wednesday at Dining with Debbie
- Recipes I Can’t Wait to Try at At Home with Haley
- What’s On Your Plate at Good Cheap Eats
- What’s Cooking Wednesday at Turning the Clock Back
- Cooking Thursday at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom
- Full Plate Thursday at Miz Helen’s Country Cottage
- Recipe Swap Thursday at Prairie Story
- It’s a Keeper Thursday at It’s a Keeper
*This post contains affiliate links
The first rise, meaning the 40 minute rise? Then you can freeze it?
The first rise is the rise in the bowl then yes you can portion it out and freeze it then.
Have you ever done this with whole wheat flour?
Not this particular recipe, but there is another book Healthy Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a day that has a WW recipe in it!
I love this book and have made many a recipe in it. I mostly use whole wheat flour in my bread recipes and they always turn out fantastic. I refuse to buy packaged bread anymore. Keeping the dough in the fridge is the best way to have a fresh loaf every morning. There is no better way to wake the family up in the morning than with the smell of fresh baked bread.
Can’t wait to try it! Does the dough have to go in fridge overnight before you bake it?
Thanks for sharing all of the great recipes!
You can put it in the fridge overnight it’s better for shaping, but you can bake right after the first rise.
Used the proportions indicated and the dough looked very wet-added 2 1/2 more cups of flour. Is the dough supposed to be very wet? It’s in the kitchen aid as I type! Thanks for your great website.
Yes it’s supposed to be wet!! I would not add more flour. Your loaves could be dry just as a warning.
Any suggestions if you don’t have a pizza stone or a broiler pan. Or a second rack, for that matter. (renting, it was missing when we moved in)
Lisa you can cook it on a cookie sheet, no need to preheat it. And instead of a broiler pan, get a spray bottle filled with cold water. Place your loaf in the oven and spray a few sprays on the side of the oven then shut the door and wait a few seconds. Then open again and spray again, repeat for the first minute or so then you can leave it. Basically you’re just recreating the steam process for the first few minutes of baking!
Thanks!
Any ideas if you can prepare in a bread machine? I am not sure yet ho to change bread recipes to go in the bread machine but I am trying to use mine as much as possible and this looks like it should work in order to mix and proof it
Hi Alison, I’m not sure if it will work in a bread machine to bake it because you are really striving for a harder “sourdough” type crust that I assume you can only achieve with the steam in the beginning of the oven. HOWEVER, that being said it’s worth a try to see what will happen. The book did not mention a bread machine at all, so it may be worth checking out from your library. Good luck!
[...] Artisan Bread [...]
[...] Dinner - Pepper Monterey Jack Pasta Salad with Artisan Bread [...]
I have made this a few times now and the family loves it. I am having a really hard time with it sticking to the parchement paper with cornmeal, any suggestions. It is very difficult to get it on the baking stone. Christe
I’m so happy to hear that it’s a hit in your house too! I would say add some flour mixed with the cornmeal and be generous. You’re basically trying to create a mobile surface for the loaf to slide off of onto the baking stone. Similar to if you were using a pizza peel. Hope that helps!
Thanks! I will try it today!
I made this a couple of weeks ago. I baked 1 loaf (which was fantastic!!) and then froze the other 3 dough balls. My question is how long do I need to let it set out before baking? Thanks!
I would just let it thaw in your refrigerator overnight. Then let it sit out for about 40 minutes total before baking, 20 minutes before preheat and 20 minutes during preheat.
I’ve tried this recipe twice in the last few weeks and both times I ended up with really dense bread. Do I need to give it longer for the second rising? Or any other thoughts on what I might be doing wrong? Thanks!!! The flavor is great, so I really want to figure out this recipe and make it work.
Stephanie I would try some new flour, and then let it rise a little longer than normal. Also the water steam at the very beginning of the bake helps!
I had this happen to me also but then I went out to a tile shop and purchased some unglazed quarry tile (it has to be this kind b/c the glazed quarry tile has lead in it) and washed them with just water, otherwise they will absorb the taste of soap and let them dry completely. I got 12-6x6x1/2″ squares for my oven and stacked them on top of each other–preheated the oven for half an hour and used a boiler pan for the water underneath and the next loaf of bread I baked came out significantly better! The bread was not dense or hard at all–had a nice shell but the “homemade pizza stone” really made a significant difference. Also, it was super cheap–$7.48. I tried Lowes and Home Depot but they didn’t carry them.
Thanks for the tip! I baked two loaves today. The first one came out really dense so I let the second one sit a little longer before baking. It came out really dense too. The flavor is great though. My 3 year old LOVED it, so I’m happy
I’m using fresh flour and yeast but I baked the bread on a cookie sheet. I’ll pick up some tiles or a baking stone this week and try that.
Just a little update I wanted to share: I have not been able to go to town and find a baking stone but I remembered last night that my Granny use to bake bread in a cast iron skillet. I tried that, a cast iron skillet preheated like you would the stone, and got great results! The texture of the bread is so much lighter. Yay! As far as the dense bread goes, I sliced it really thin, brushed with olive oil and made Melba toast. I gave it to my 3 year old and she was very impressed that “Mommy made chips!”.
Thanks for the advice!
[...] 8 slices Artisan Bread [...]
very good! I was leary of storing it in the fridge (would it rise over the top of the bowl? would the children uncover it?) but put it in an oiled ice cream bucket. I figured the lid would stay on! And it worked perfectly. A third of it makes a perfect loaf for supper for the four of us.