Monday, January 17, 2011

Made-by-me Monday

Yum... and Super Simple!

loaf 1

I did a search for simple crusty bread - this is what popped up...
When I checked back from my bookmark, I couldn't get to it again, so I thought I would just post it:


Adapted from “Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day,” by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François (Thomas Dunne Books, 2007)

Time: About 45 minutes plus about 3 hours’ resting and rising

1 1/2 tablespoons yeast

1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt

6 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour, more for dusting dough

Cornmeal.

1. In a large bowl or plastic container, mix yeast and salt into 3 cups lukewarm water (about 100 degrees). Stir in flour, mixing until there are no dry patches. Dough will be quite loose. Cover, but not with an airtight lid. Let dough rise at room temperature 2 hours (or up to 5 hours).

2. Bake at this point or refrigerate, covered, for as long as two weeks. When ready to bake, sprinkle a little flour on dough and cut off a grapefruit-size piece with serrated knife. Turn dough in hands to lightly stretch surface, creating a rounded top and a lumpy bottom. Put dough on pizza peel sprinkled with cornmeal; let rest 40 minutes. Repeat with remaining dough or refrigerate it.

3. Place broiler pan on bottom of oven. Place baking stone on middle rack and turn oven to 450 degrees; heat stone at that temperature for 20 minutes.

4. Dust dough with flour, slash top with serrated or very sharp knife three times. Slide onto stone. Pour one cup hot water into broiler pan and shut oven quickly to trap steam. Bake until well browned, about 30 minutes. Cool completely.

Yield: 4 loaves.

Variation: If not using stone, stretch rounded dough into oval and place in a greased, nonstick loaf pan. Let rest 40 minutes if fresh, an extra hour if refrigerated. Heat oven to 450 degrees for 5 minutes. Place pan on middle rack.
*****
loaf 2

I made one loaf last night with freshly made dough, then saved the rest of the dough in the fridge to make some more later in the week (visions of crusty rolls or a baguette)... well, there wasn't any more of the first loaf by 9am this morning, so I went ahead and made two loaves with the rest of the dough. I baked both at the same time and although I forgot to slash the tops, I think they're still great. The kids LOVED it at lunch. I know I will use this recipe often.

I would really like to try this with freshly milled grains. I've heard it's harder to get it to rise properly... that will be my next experiment!

3 comments:

melissa said...

gorgeous!

(i got that book recently from a friend, i need to crack it open and start baking!!)

Emily Cole said...

Thanks, Melissa! I can't contact you, I think you're set on "No reply" - thanks for checking in on my blog!

Leslie said...

this bread looks amazing!