Artisan Bread in Almost 5 Minutes

It’s been a decade since I began to make and bake my own bread at home. I haven’t made anything too adventurous – crusty loaves of bread, pizza dough, pita bread, Koulouria. I’d like to make a good loaf for sandwich bread and that’s a project in the near future. In the meantime, I continue to enjoy making artisan-style bread, the kind of bread you find at the Italian/Greek/French bakery.

The inspiration and spark that ignited this passion for bread making is owed to Zoe and Jeff, co-authors of Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes. The success of the first book was immense and the overwhelming demand for healthier bread brought about the release of Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. First thing’s first: it takes more than five minutes to bake this sexy, gorgeous loaves of bread but don’t that to discourage you. Making bread is easy, the first loaves you will make (like I did) will be very good but they will also need improvement. It’s all in the feel of the dough.

Make your first (edible) loaf of bread and you’ll be hooked (like me). You’ll want to make your own homemade bread. I look forward to mixing the flour, allowing the dough to rise, punching it down, forming the various shapes of loaves and ultimately, baking the bread. The aroma that fills the home, the crackle of the crust as it comes out of the oven and the smear of unsalted butter or a dunk in extra-virgin olive oil can’t be beat (well, almost).

Regardless of what kind of oven one has, I believe the most important aspect is getting a feel for the dough. This takes some experience but it will come. Keep on making your own bread. Ultimately you want a dough that feels smooth, not tacky (sticky) to the touch and you’ll have a light, airy bread with a fabulous crust that has a bit of chew. Dough is sensitive to humidity and amounts may vary depending on the weather of the day, the season and even altitude!

Although not mandatory, it’s highly recommended to invest in a pizza peel, a pizza stone and fine a small tray around your kitchen to add hot water to. The pizza peel is necessary for forming your loaves and for easy transfer into your pre-heated oven. The pizza stone should already be in the oven warm up and I would say its purchase is mandatory. The pizza stone helps emulate the environment that exists in a traditional brick oven. The dough hits the hot stone and wonderous things begin to occur. Simultaneously, a tray of hot water is also placed in the oven (I like placing this tray high up in the oven on the broiler tray) and it’s purpose is to emulate the humidity that also exists in the traditional brick oven.

There are some other kitchen tools and utensils required but most of you already have them: a sharp knife (or razor blade) to to slash your dough just before the bread goes into the oven, and a cooling rack to place your just-baked bread on to when it comes out of the oven. The temptation to cut into the bread immediately is great but try and hold off…wait until the bread cools. Okay, I admit it…I’ve sliced into my just out of the oven bread (mea culpa).

Finally, not all ovens were created equally. Many bake unevenly, some are gas and others run on natural gas. The positioning of the rack in your oven will vary. With my electric oven, the rack was set to the middle position. Now that I have a natural gas oven, the best results are achieved with the rack set to the position just below the middle and once again, the broil pan with hot water placed on the highest rack position. My point? Test to see which position in YOUR oven gives you the best results. To play it safe, you can’t go wrong with the middle rack setting.

Be bold, buy either of the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes books. Zoe and Jeff’s wisdom plus the experience and confidence you will gain from baking your own bread will reward you with the best bread you’ve ever eaten, made the way you like it, you will become a bread snob and turn your nose up at inferior bread that’s offered at many restaurants and you’ll return to your comfy abode, knowing that you may enjoy the best bread in the world….homemade bread in your own kitchen!

Homemade Bread

(recipe based on Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes master recipe)

2 1/2 Tbsp. instant dry yeast

1 1/2 Tbsp. coarse sea salt

3 1/2 cups of warm/tepid water

6 1/2 cups of all-purpose unbleached flour

+ extra flour for work surface

coarse corn flour or semolina flour

Equipment needed

pizza stone

pizza peel

sharp knife

cooling rack

Pre-heated 500F oven

1. In a large bowl or pail, add your salt, yeast and warm water and stir. Allow for the yeast to activate. After a couple of minutes, add your flour and mix with a large wooden spoon (or use the paddle on your mixer). When the water has been absorbed by the flour, the dough might still be too dry. Add up to another 1/2 cup of tepid water. The dough should feel smooth and not too sticky. Cover but allow an opening so that the gases may escape as the dough rises. You may use the dough to make bread after a minimum of two hours. Ideally, make the dough before you go to bed and form and bake the bread the next morning.
2. When you’re ready to form your bread, sprinkle some flour on top of the dough and on your hands. Sprinkle some flour on your work surface as well. Grab a piece of dough and cut it off. Using your fingers, stretch the dough outwards and then fold under the center of the dough for 2-3 minutes. You should now have a smooth round ball of dough. You may keep this shape to make a “boule” style loaf or you may form into a longer loaf, tapered at the ends with your hands. Another shape you can make is a baguette. Roll the dough into a rectangular flat and then roll up into a cylindrical shape. Place your formed  dough on your work surface and sprinkle each loaf with all purpose flour.
3. You must allow the dough to rest and rise for at least 45 minutes (uncovered). Pre-heat your oven and sprinkle some coarse corn flour on your pizza stone’s surface. Place the stone on the middle rack of your oven. Now sprinkle some corn flour on your pizza peel’s surface and place as many loaves as will fit onto it.
4. Once your oven has reached 50oF, add some hot water into a broil pan and place it on the highest position in your oven. Now using a serrated knife, make slices into the tops of your bread (a cross, three parallel lines or one long slash and then slide the loaves off your pizza peel and onto the stone in the oven.
5. Bake your loaves for 10 minutes then lower the temperature to 450F and bake for another 20 minutes or umtil just the tops of the bread are golden-brown. Carefully remove your loaves from the oven and place on a cooling rack are they have cooled to room temperature. Your bread is ready to eat!

NOTES:

*If you can’t find a pizza stone in your area, square terra cotta tiles can be placed on your rack. Go to a gardening/landscaping store and ask to see the squares tiles and make sure they have haven’t been treated with any chemicals (merely baked). Fill the area of your oven rack with inverted tiles and you have a great alternative to a pizza stone!

*You can make bread without any of the abovementioned tools. Form the loaves, place on parchment-lined baking trays and place in the oven when the dough is ready.