A bread recipe was recently recommended to me and now I'd like to recommend it to all my bread-baking friends! This is five-minute artisan bread, and the idea is that one makes the dough every so often, but bakes the fresh bread any time one wants it.
I made it yesterday and it is utterly easy and delicious. First of all, one mixes the dough but there is no kneading involved. There is only one rise. Then one can bake right away and/or save the remaining dough in the refrigerator, to use within the next two weeks (as if it would ever last that long in this bread-loving household). When one wants some fresh-baked bread, one pulls off a pound of dough and bakes it, voila! The only "extra" step is pouring some hot water in a broiling pan in the bottom of the oven so the steam will make the crust extra crunchy.
I tried the whole wheat recipe, using half whole wheat and half white flour, and it is outright fabulous. And, now, I am off to bake a fresh loaf so my friend and I can have freshly baked bread for our sandwiches when she comes over for lunch!
We love Five-Minute Bread! I try to always keep my dough bucket full. Have you looked at the cookbook? So many great recipes from the basic dough. Happy baking!
ReplyDeleteKatherine did you bake the bread in regular bread pans?? I keep putting off trying this because Kori mentioned that you need a pizza stone and a dutch oven or something like that and I have NEITHER. So what did you bake it in??? You should take pics :) for my benefit.
ReplyDeleteWe do own a pizza stone, so I used that. On a lower rack I had the broiler pan filled with water. On an upper rack I had the pizza stone. I did not use a bread pan but left the bread as a freeform round.
ReplyDeleteNow, my second attempt from this first batch didn't turn out as well. I think I baked too much at once. The whole wheat batch says it makes three loaves. The first one-pound loaf was fantastic. Then I made the remainder into a two-pound round. The recipe says to bake it 40-50 minutes and I went to about 60 minutes. But when I cut into it, it just wasn't quite cooked enough. Darn, a whole loaf wasted! So maybe at two pounds it needed to be cooked significantly longer.
Jamie, I used to make the artisan bread without a pizza stone. I just used a cookie sheet. Just sprinkle it with the cornmeal and proceed as usual! I think the most important part is the hot water to steam it. It makes the crust ridiculously delicious. ;-) There are some YouTube videos out there that have some ideas too.
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