Artisan Bread II

Click picture to enlarge for close-up of bread.

Just wanted to share some more about the Artisan Bread. Good to my word, I've been baking homemade bread EVERY SINGLE DAY! Not because I'm Supermom, or Suzie Homemaker, or Mrs. Cleaver... I'm far from that.

I'm able to make this bread because IT IS SO EASY!

This afternoon, I pulled apart just enough batter to bake a small loaf for my daughter and myself. Less than 5 min prep time, pop in oven, fresh bread for lunch!

After cooled, slice in half...
Create your favorite sandwich and share ---- This sandwich consisted of tuna, chopped onions, tomatoes, grated cheese, sea salt, pepper, and Mayo. Pictured above: cheddar jalapeno potato chips.

I want to stop here and say nothing compares to a FRESH gourmet sandwich!

For dinner, I tried an experiment that my mother had suggested --- rolling batter into small bread sticks. I sprinkled with minced garlic, grated cheese, and popped into the toaster oven. PRESTO, and PERFECT!

All I can say is WOW.
Due to a lot of interest/questions about this recipe, I'm going to share a few tidbits my mother and I discovered along the way.

1.) You can bake this on a cookie sheet like I do (you don't need a baking stone.)
2.) You can use bleach/unbleached flour
3.) You can substitute iodine salt for Kosher/sea salt (but I use sea salt in most foods anyway.)
4.) You CAN substitute half a cup of wheat flour, with white, or mix around. Experiment!
5.) If you fall in love with this recipe, be prepared to have extra bowls of batter fermenting in your fridge... Like me!

Here's the recipe again:

Artisan Bread

6 1/2 cups unbleached flour
3 cups tap water
1 1/2 tbs yeast
1 1/2 tbs kosher salt

Using LARGE bowl -- Pour salt and yeast into tap water, and stir in flour with wooden spoon. That's it! No knead to knead! (sorry, for the pun.)

Sit on counter for 2 hours, then transfer batter to fridge. The batter is good for up to 14 days. (the longer the batter is left in fridge/ferment, the better!) 1 batch is enough to make 4 full loaves of bread.

My largest bowl doesn't come with a lid, so I just cover with a large plate and place on bottom of my fridge. If you have a lid, don't use air tight.

When ready to bake -- pull apart the amount of batter you need and form into shape. If you need to, please view video on my first posting to see demonstration. Dust with flour if needed when batter is too sticky to handle. Also, don't knead this bread! The secret is to not handle the batter too much. You want the gas/air pockets to remain untouched.

Since I'm baking on a cookie sheet, I sprinkle a little cornmeal first. I allow the bread to sit and rise for 40 min, while oven is preheating at 450. Make a small indention across loaf before popping into oven.

Bake bread for 40 min, or until golden brown. Cool on wire rack.


Happy homemaking!