Mar 23 2015
About two years ago I discovered no knead bread by Jim Leahy
that you baked covered in a Dutch oven. It turned out nice crusty loaves but
you had to mix it the day before and let set overnight. Besides that a 5 quart
Dutch oven is heavy to mess with. I baked about a half dozen loaves this way
then discovered Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. There is a link to their site
under my favorite sites. The recipe for a standard loaf can be found on the
back of a 5 lb. Gold Medal all-purpose flour bag.
I like it a lot better, one batch mixed up will make 4
loaves and it lasts two weeks in the fridge. It only needs a two hour rise and
then it says you can bake a loaf then but the dough is easier to handle after
overnight in the fridge. When I am ready to bake a loaf I can do it in less
than two hours. Just form your ball and
let rise for 20 to 40 minutes then bake at 450 deg. for about 35 minutes. I
bake mine on a Lodge cast iron griddle I preheat in the oven. I lay some
parchment paper on my metal bread peel and lay the ball on it to rise. Then I
just slide it and the parchment onto the griddle and remove the parchment paper
after 20 minutes.
Winter is my time to bake bread but with my back operation I
never got any baked. The last loaf I baked last winter was a peasant loaf; it
has a ½ cup each of whole wheat and rye flour added to white flour. I had the
flour left I kept in the fridge so I wanted to do a batch before it got warm
and I got busy with outdoor cooking.
I mixed the dough up Sunday afternoon and wanted to bake a
loaf today to go with our supper tonight. I didn’t have the dough mixed good
enough; had some dry spots in it and had trouble getting a nice ball cloaked
right. It was not the prettiest loaf I have done but turned out good, nice
texture and a crisp crust. Tasted great with our supper.
The flour and yeast
Dough mixed up
A 2 hour rise and in the fridge overnight
Ready to bake
Cooling
Sliced for supper
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