Have 5 Minutes? You Have Time to Make Bread
Its time to make bread.
My little townhouse heats up quickly, so I rarelymaybe neverbake in summer (unless its pie). Come September, Im ready for the comforting smell of warm bread in late afternoon. And I can have that, even on work days, since I discovered Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, by Dr. Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois. Their no-knead, high-moisture dough is pre-mixed and pre-risen, and it keeps in the refrigerator. I make a two-week supply on Sunday, then feed my family fresh bread every night of the week. Tonight Ill shape some into a loaf, let it rise for about 20 minutes and bake. All I need is flour, yeast, salt and a baking stoneone of the keys to artisanal baking, according to the authors.
By pre-mixing high-moisture dough (without kneading) and then storing it, daily bread baking becomes easy; the only steps you do every day are shaping and baking, Hertzberg and Francois explain in Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day in Mother Earth News. As the dough ages, it takes on sourdough notes reminiscent of great starters. Because this dough is wetter than most, it can be stored in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. And kneading this kind of dough would add little to the overall product; it can actually limit the volume and rise that youll get.
Hertzberg and Franois are on a quest to make baking with whole grains straightforward and easy so everyone can experience the great European breads that Hertzberg took for granted as a kid in New York City. Back then, this simple comfort food brought to America by modest immigrants was as ubiquitous as the corner shops that turned out daily loaves. And, nobodys grandmother would ever have paid $6 for a loaf of bread, Hertzberg writes. Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day is Hertzberg and Francoiss attempt to help people re-create the great ethnic breads of years past, in their own homes, without investing serious time or effort.
My favorite bread to make is the basic model French boule, which also happens to be the easiest. The trick is keeping the dough wet enough to foster sourdough flavor but dry enough to hold a loaf shape. The recipe is below, and youll find more recipesas well as bread-baking tips that will amaze your friendsin the article Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.
If youre in the area, Hertzberg and Francois will share tips at the Mother Earth News Fair in Seven Springs, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, September 24, and Sunday, September 25.
This easy, delicious crusty-outside, moist-and-chewy-inside boule costs about 50 cents to make.
Photo by Mark Luinenburg
BASIC BOULE
Makes 4 1-pound loaves
1. Heat 3 cups water to just a little warmer than body temperature (about 100 degrees Fahrenheit).
2. Add 1-1/2 tablespoons granulated yeast (1-1/2 packets) and 1-1/2 tablespoon coarse kosher salt to the water in a 5-quart bowl or, preferably, in a resealable, lidded container (not airtight use container with gasket or lift a corner). Dont worry about getting it all to dissolve.
3. Mix in 6-1/2 cups unsifted, unbleached, all-purpose flour by g! ently sc ooping it up, then leveling the top of the measuring cup with a knife; dont pat down. Mix with a wooden spoon, a high-capacity food processor with dough attachment, or a heavy-duty stand mixer with dough hook, until uniformly moist. If hand-mixing becomes too difficult, use very wet hands to press it together. Dont knead! This step is done in a matter of minutes and yields a wet dough loose enough to conform to the container.
On Baking Day:
1. Sprinkle the surface of the dough with flour, then cut off a 1-pound (grapefruit-sized) piece with a serrated knife. Hold the dough in your hands and add a little more flour as needed so it wont stick to your hands. Gently stretch the surface of the dough around to the bottom on four sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go, until the bottom is a collection of four bunched ends. Most of the dusting flour will fall off. The bottom of the loaf will flatten out during resting and baking.
2. Place the ball on the pizza peel. Let it rest uncovered for about 40 minutes. Depending on the doughs age, you may see little rise during this period; more rising will occur during baking.
3. Twenty minutes before baking, preheat oven to 450 degrees with a baking stone on the middle rack. Place an empty broiler tray for holding water on another shelf.
4. Dust the top of the loaf liberally with flour, which will allow the slashing, serrated knife to pass without sticking. Slash a 14-inch-deep cross, scallop or tick-tack-toe pattern into the top. (This helps the bread exp! and duri ng baking.)
5. With a forward jerking motion of the wrist, slide the loaf off the pizza peel and onto the baking stone. Quickly but carefully pour about a cup of hot water into the broiler tray and close the oven door to trap the steam. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the crust is browned and firm to the touch. With wet dough, theres little risk of drying out the interior, despite the dark crust. When you remove the loaf from the oven, it will audibly crackle, or sing, when initially exposed to room temperature air. Allow to cool completely, preferably on a wire rack, for best flavor, texture and slicing. The perfect crust may initially soften, but will firm up again when cooled.
6. Refrigerate the remaining dough in your lidded (not airtight) container and use it over the next two weeks. Even one days storage improves the flavor and texture. The dough can also be frozen in 1-pound portions in an airtight container and defrosted overnight in the refrigerator before baking day.
Robyn Griggs Lawrence writes the daily Natural Home Living blog for Mother Earth News, the original guide to living wisely. The editor-in-chief of Natural Home magazine from 1999 until 2010, Robyns goal is to help everyone create a nurturing, healthy and environmentally friendly home. Her book, Simply Imperfect: Revisiting the Wabi-Sabi House, introduces Americans to the 15th-century Japanese philosophy of simplicity, serenity and authenticity.
