Artisan Bread Baking

If you haven’t heard of this book yet, you have no idea what you’re missing.

Artisan Bread In 5 Minutes a Day

Book Cover, courtesy of Amazon.com

If you already bake bread, this will revolutionize the process for you. If you’re new to bread, it’s a super easy method that anyone can do! I am a notoriously bad baker, but I had several friends recommend this book to me and finally bit the bullet! There is a wealth of information in the book, so I totally recommend buying it-but they do offer their master recipe for free online. It is absolutely delicious, and you won’t believe that it didn’t come from a local bakery.

There is a bit of a technique to it, so I’ll explain that with some pictures. After you make the dough (from the Master Recipe) and let it rise, you can store it in the refridgerator. Then, whenever you want to make bread, take about a grapefruit sized piece of dough and rotate it around in your hands until it has a smooth surface. Then take the edges and stretch them around to the bottom, turning the dough until you’ve done the whole circle. The bottom should look like this.

It’s called a “gluten cloak.” The bunched ends will fuse during baking. Turn the ball over, shaping the ball a bit until it’s round and smooth. Lay it on a pizza peel covered with corn meal and let it rise for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes is up, slash the dough and preheat your oven to 450. In the oven should be a pizza stone (baking stone) and a shallow pan for holding water.

Let the dough rise for another 20 minutes (40 minutes total). It may not actually rise too much, but that’s ok-it will rise in the oven. When the 20 minutes it up, slide the dough ball onto the baking stone (facilitated by the corn meal on the pizza peel) and pour 1 cup of hot water into the shallow pan and close the door quickly to trap the steam. Bake for 30 minutes, remove the loaf, then let cool completely before eating. Store in open air with the cut side down on a plate or cutting board.

Serve it along side this delicious tomato basil soup recipe (I lightened it of course).

Enjoy!

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