....culinarily speaking, anyways. Howzabout you...???
;-)
It's going to be a super - cold and sub - zero weekend here in Chicago, wind
chills in the minus 20 or so cataegory...great for making stick - to - the -
ribs fare.
I am all stocked up vittles - wise. On the menu to make is:
- Guinness beef stew (crockpot) w/buttermilk bisquits
- Chicken - sausage gumbo (crockpot) w/cheddar - jalapeno cornbread
- Bread - baking! I'm going to try my had at this "Artisan bread in five
minutes" recipe, has anyone tried it? (I am *not* going to fiddle with a
baking stone, no need for that, a baking sheet will do) :
http://krisgardens.blogspot.com/2008...nutes-day.html
Friday, January 4, 2008
Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day
"I found the bread recipe that I'm experimenting with published on a local
TV website. So, here is what they published. The book starts with this basic
dough recipe and also has tons of other doughs that follow the same basic
principles. The book is "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day" by Jeff
Hertzberg and Zoe Francois. Their website is
http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/
Master Recipe Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: the Discovery that
Revolutionizes Home Baking (Thomas Dunne Books / St. Martin's Press, Nov
2007)
The full recipe as it appears in the book provides more detail, but most
home bakers will be able to get a start on five-minute a day homemade bread
with this short version of the recipe.
Preparation time: 15 minutes to prepare enough dough for four loaves, to be
baked over four days. Each daily loaf will average 5 minutes of active
preparation time.Makes four 1-pound loaves
3 cups lukewarm water (about 100º F)
1 1/2 tablespoons granulated yeast
1 1/2 tablespoons kosher or other coarse salt
6 1/2 cups all-purpose white flour (no need to sift)
Cornmeal for the pizza peel.
In a 5-quart bowl, mix the yeast, water and salt. Add all the flour, then
use a wooden spoon to mix until all ingredients are uniformly moist. It is
not necessary to knead or continue mixing once the ingredients are uniformly
moist. This will produce a loose and very wet dough.
2.Cover with a lid (not airtight). Allow the mixture to rise at room
temperature until it begins to collapse, about 2 hours, but no more than 5
hours.
3. After rising, the dough can be baked immediately, or covered (non
completely airtight) and refrigerated up to 14 days. The dough will be
easier to work with after at least 3 hours refrigeration.
4. On baking day, prepare a pizza peel by sprinkling it liberally with
cornmeal to prevent the bread from sticking when you transfer it to the
oven. Uncover the dough and sprinkle the surface with flour. Pull up and cut
off a 1-pound (grapefruit-size) piece of dough (serrated knives are best).
Store the remaining dough in the bowl and refrigerate for baking at another
time.
5. Hold the mass of dough in your hands and add a little more flour as
needed so it won't stick. Create a smooth ball of dough by gently pulling
the sides down around to the bottom, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you
go. While shaping, most of the dusting flour will fall off. The bottom of
the loaf may appear to be a collection of bunched ends, but it will flatten
out during resting and baking. Shaping the loaf this way should take no more
than 1 minute.
6.Place the dough on the pizza peel. Allow the loaf to rest for about 40
minutes. It does not need to be covered. The bread may not rise much during
this time.
7. Twenty minutes before baking, place a pizza stone on the center rack of
the oven. If you don't have a baking stone, use another baking sheet. Remove
any upper racks. Place a broiler pan on a rack below the pizza stone or on
the floor of the oven. Preheat oven to 450 F.
8. When the dough has rested for 40 minutes, dust the top liberally with
flour, then use a serrated knife to slash a 1/4-inch-deep cross or
tic-tac-toe pattern into the top.
9.Slide the loaf off the peel and onto the baking stone. Quickly but
carefully pour 1 cup of hot water into the broiler tray and close the oven
door.
10.Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the crust is nicely browned and firm
to the touch. Allow the bread to cool completely, preferably on a wire
cooling rack.
(I do the original mix with a Kitchen Aid mixer)
What I like about this recipe over the No-Knead recipe is that you make
enough for 4-8 loaves at one time - let it rise about 2 hrs - stick it in
the refrigerator - and then make the bread by the loaf over the next 14
days. Each day that you make a loaf, you take less than a minute to shape
the loaf and let it rise for up to 40 minutes - and bake for about 30
minutes. My experience with the No Knead was that our house is too cool in
the winter, and it took over 30 hours to rise - and I had to do that for
each loaf.
I still have some kinks to work out before I'm completely sold on this - but
so far, I'm thinking it might be a winner.
If you're interested in the No Knead bread, Kitt has an excellent
step-by-step post at:
http://kittbo.blogspot.com/2006/12/n...p-by-step.html
From the "comments" section:
Hi Kris,
My name is Zoe Francois and I am one of the co-authors of Artisan Bread In
Five Minutes A Day. Thank you so much for trying the bread, your loaf looks
beautiful! I'm glad you've posted the recipe so others can try it.
There are two things that I do to prevent the dough from sticking to the
peel. I use a generous amount of corn meal under the loaf and just before I
slide it onto the stone I give the bread a slight nudge to make sure it
isn't stuck to the peel. If it is, I dust just a little more cornmeal under
the loaf.
I also use a metal bench scraper or spatula to clean the cornmeal off the
stone so that I don't get smoked out of house and home. I find this only
happens when I am baking pizza at 550 degrees so I was interested to read
that you are having it happen at 450 degrees.
If you venture into the book check out the errata page on my website
www.zoebakes.com first. As much as we tried to catch all the errors while
editing we missed some things.
Thanks again and I look forward to hearing more about your experience with
the bread.
Zoe
1/06/2008 11:23 PM "
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