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!~
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