SOUNDING MY BARBARIC GULP!: Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

August 13, 2013

Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

I recently came across a post by Zoe & Jeff, authors of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, featuring bread baked in a crock pot. "Genius," I thought. "No heating up the house to bake bread during the summer!"

Their basic white bread recipe makes four pounds of dough, enough for four loaves of bread. It's a simple technique: Simply mix the dough by hand and let it sit for 2 hours. At that time you can either bake a loaf or refrigerate the dough for a couple weeks, taking a pound out each time you want to bake some bread. It's stupid easy.

I halved their recipe, using the dough right away. I put one loaf straight into the crockpot & let the other rise for 90 minutes before going into the oven.

After the initial 2-hour rise

Sadly, the crockpot loaf was a total bust. It never baked firmly; the inside was still too dough & mushy even after an extended baking time. I tried to brown the loaf under the broiler, as suggested, but it was still not good. And, it was ugly.

The oven-baked version, however, was damn near perfect. After the initial 2 hour rise, I formed the dough into a round loaf by quickly tucking the dough under itself then let it sit on the counter for 90 minutes.

Getting ready for a second rise

My one mistake was trying to slash the top of the risen dough; it only deflated my loaf. Still, the bread--albeit a bit thin--came out crusty & airy. Success!

Look at those holes!

Artisan Bread

makes 2 one-pound loaves

1 1/2 cups lukewarm water

1/2 tablespoon granulated yeast (you can use any kind of yeast)

1/2 tablespoon Kosher salt

3 1/4 cups (1 pound) all-purpose flour

Add the water to a 3-quart bowl (I used a stockpot). Sprinkle in the yeast & salt.
Add all the flour & stir with a wooden spoon or Danish dough whisk until all of the flour is mixed in. It will be wet, sticky, and rough. Hubba.
Lightly cover the bowl with plastic wrap & let rise at room temperature for 2 hours.
Dust the surface of the dough with a little flour & pull out half (it's best to cut it with kitchen shears). It will be really stretchy & sticky, so be sure to flour your hands as well.
Form each half of the dough into a ball & let it sit on parchment paper for 60 minutes.
After 60 minutes, put a baking stone on the middle rack of your oven and heat the oven to 450 degrees. Continue to let the dough rise while the oven is heating.
When the oven is hot, put a metal baking pan (I used a round cake pan) 4-5 inches below your baking stone & fill it with 1 cup hot water.
Slide the parchment & dough onto the baking stone and bake for 30-35 minutes (or until a deep golden brown), removing the parchment after 15 minutes.
Remove the loaves from the oven & cool completely at room temperature.