Whole Grain Artisan Bread

My addiction to pinterest is evergrowing. Last week I found a recipe for a Panera bread broccoli and cheese soup. And along with that recipe was a recipe for an artisan bread in 5 minutes. Now, the brocooli soup was delicious! But, the artisan bread recipe has led me on a quest to learn more.

 

What is this artisan bread you might ask? Well, it is a no-knead bread recipe which requires little to no attention, minimal prep work, and a small amount of resting time prior to baking. I've started reading several books on the subject, and my favorite so far is Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzber and Zoe Francois. A link to their website is here www.artisanbreadinfive.com.

 

So, I picked up the book from the library yesterday and am absolutely enthralled by it. Of course I had to try a recipe right away, although right away actually means we didn't get to eat it until lunchtime today. It was definitely worth the wait though.

 

The ingredients were simple, whole grain, and healthy which makes me one happy Mama. It doesn't get much simpler than white whole wheat flour, yeast, kosher salt, vital wheat gluten and water. All of which I had on hand. I'm not going to list the recipe here because it wouldn't be fair to the authors who worked so hard on this book. Here is a link to a similar, but not whole grain, bread listed on their website http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/2009/10/26/our-new-book-healthy-bread-in-five-minutes-a-day-is-released-tomorrow-get-yourself-some-vital-wheat-gluten-and-make-our-whole-grain-master-recipe. 

 

So, let's take a look at this fabulous bread!

 

First the ingredients...

 

 

 

I use King Arthur Flour in almost everything I bake. It's a great quality and easy to come by at a great price. For this recipe, I used the White Whole Wheat Flour. It's not as heavy or dense as regular Whole Wheat Flour, so DH likes it way better. Next some SAF Instant yeast and Bob's Red Mill Vital Wheat Gluten Flour. According to the book this will help the bread dough keep up better during storage in the fridge. And lastly Morton's Coarse Sea Salt. The water is not pictured.

 

Next, I mixed all the dry ingredients together in my wonderful Kitchen-Aid mixer with paddle attachment and then added the water and mixed about 10-15 seconds. There was still a little flour that had not been moistened, so I had to mix for a few seconds by hand with a wooden spoon. All told I spent about 10 minutes in prep. Now, just to wait.

 

That's what's so great about this bread! There is no kneading, no cleaning and oiling the bowl, it's soooo simple!!!

 

Here's is the dough after letting it rest 3 hours covered with plastic wrap. It rose about double in size and is a bit bubbly and quite wet compared to traditional bread dough.

 

 

 

Next step in this all too easy process is to let the dough magic work while it sits in the fridge. The dough is usable up to 14 days after going into the fridge. It will develop more of  a sourdough flavor the longer it rests.

 

This morning, I woke up and took the dough out from the fridge. It had flattened down a little, but this is normal. I cut half the dough out, dusted it with flour and shaped it into a boule.





 

 

 

Now we wait again. So far only about 15 minutes of actual work has gone into making this dough. Much, much easier than traditional bread dough. The dough gets covered with plastic wrap and rests for about 90 minutes.

 

Next into the oven. Theoretically, the dough should have just slid off my cookie sheet and onto the waiting griddle. Unfortunately, this theory didn't work. I'm thinking quite a bit more flour may be needed next time, or I need to invest in a real pizza peel.

 

Here's the set up in the oven.Not noted in the picture is a cast iron skillet that went below the griddle for creating steam.

 



 

After the oven preheated and the dough rose, into the oven it went, albeit a bit topsy turvy. The top of my bread boule ended up on the griddle while the bottom of the boule was facing up. Needless to say, this did not affect the final product in anyway, well except for maybe in looks.

 

 

The top of my bread is a bit wavy and curvy from it's flip onto the hot griddle, but it still tastes delicious and smells heavenly I might add. The crumb is delicate while the crust is nice and crisp. We had this for lunch, and it was a hit with the whole family.

 

If you love fresh bread, I definitely recommend checking into Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. All told, I only spent 15-20 minutes at the most and ended up with a delicious loaf of bread to accompany any meal or by itself with a touch of butter or jam. By far a healthy alternative to the store bought stuff, and better yet it's fresh out of my own oven when I want it!

 

Be watching for some rolls to come from this, as I still have some dough in the fridge to make use of. May God bless you today and thanks for stopping by!~



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First Post!!

Sooo.... this is my first post ever. And as I contemplate what to write about, quite a few things come to mind. As of late, I've been studying through 1 Corinthians - eye opening stuff there, trying to become better at meal planning, couponing, opening an etsy shop, learning to throw pottery, making Christmas gifts, and of course the ever growing addiction to Pinterest.

All those combined make for quite a busy day, and they don't even encompass all the daily doings of a busy wife and mom. Out of all these though, the thing closest to my heart at this moment is my study through 1 Corinthians 5. I've always had a hard time understanding Paul's writings, so this time I enlisted the help of a trusty commentary, and my eyes have been opened to many new truths about our God.

God, the creator of ALL, is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Yet for some reason the church today seems to miss this when they skim through the Old Testament to focus on the New Testament. God taught His people not to tolerate sin in their midst, but for some reason in our society today we take pride in the fact we not only tolerate sin, but embrace those committing it. Mind you, this is pertaining to men and women who profess to believe in Christ and follow God, not unbelievers.

Paul teaches the Corinthian church was in this same folly as we are today. They took pride in being able to tolerate outright transgressions and iniquity by members of their church. Our problem is we want to show only love and compassion without accountability. We don't want to hurt anyones feelings. But, the truth is God requires obedience from all who confess to know Him. And if the church, well not only the church, but each individual Christian refuses to hold fellow believers accountable, it will open the door for the same sin your brother is committing to come into your own life and others around you.

So, I encourage you to stop following the nicey-nice idealogies of society and follow the truths of the Lord instead. If you see a Christian brother or sister engaging in revilry, sexual immorality, drunkenness, or any of the other things Paul mentions, confront them about it and encourage them to repentance. Otherwise, Paul says we are to disassociate from them. We aren't to fellowship with them, we aren't to even eat a meal with them. We are to pray for them and their repentance while God deals with their sin.

This is heavy stuff, and if you have a friend or family member in this situation, it hurts. How do we approach someone we love and care about and tell them to turn from their ways or we will have to put them away from ourselves? simpy, we ask for God's strength to do so and His words to fill our mouths to change their hearts. And we do so out of love, so their souls may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus because seeing them forever in eternity is more important than seeing them all of their days on this earth.

May the Lord bless you today! I hope you've enjoyed my post as much as I enjoyed writing it. Until next time, farewell!