Artisan Bread

About a year ago wheat and I made up.

It's a relationship with rules and boundaries, but the bottom line is that if I make it in my own oven and some moderation exists, we do OK.

Enter the easiest, best, homemade artisan bread recipe EVER if you are like me and...

1. Do not have any time ever. 
2. Have a career, have a kid, have hobbies (oh, never mind - this is just an extension of #1)
3. Are cheap.
4. Refuse to add any additional appliances to the kitchen
5. Are bored/easily distractible/ADHD and have a hard time focusing even with timers. "Critical steps" and meeting exact time deadlines are not my friend. A forgiving recipe is...I've already lost my train of thought. 

I've made 8-10 loaves and 3 or 4 master "batches" so far in the last couple weeks. I don't think I've baked a loaf twice the same way and none have gone to waste. I've baked them for friends and mommy meet-ups and brought them to work. I've made cinnamon varieties for breakfast and savory herb mini-loaves for an old-fashion lunches. Wanna give it a try? 

Plain Boule with dried herbs on top.

Here's the basic recipe - further down I'll go through some of my favorite variations. 

The recipe

- adapted from the 5 min artisan bread method (click here)

- There is a ton of variations on this method and the one I linked above is darn close to what I do - what's funny is that it's not the recipe I initially followed, but once I made a bunch of modifications to suit me, it was very close to this source one. 

What you need

• 3 cups water lukewarm 
• 1 tablespoon yeast 
• 1 tablespoon salt 
• 6 1/2 cups (2 pounds) flour

What you do...

Mix everything together. Put in a container (covered, but not with a tight fitting lid) and let rise on your counter....or not. As you will see in the commentary further down, everything about this recipe, including ingredients and method can be a compromise :). 

At some point put in your fridge.

New batch of dough right after initial rise on counter, ready to be stored in fridge. 

At any time between now and 14 days from now, cut off a chunk of dough and shape. 

Let rise on the counter for 40min-2 hours or in the fridge overnight. Don't worry if it doesn't puff up like you are used to with other yeast bread methods. It will in the oven (I swear). You came this far, so you have a little trust right????

2 formed hamburger buns resting on the counter. Rest of dough ready to go back to the fridge.

Slice the top of the bread with a sharp knife in slashes prior to baking. It releases the bread to rise better in the oven (I swear). Slash it like you mean it, don't be a weanie. (This is actually a really critical step. If you don't slash it, the loaf will end up a hard little crusty bowling ball.)

Bake in a 450-500 degree oven either uncovered with a cup or 2 or boiling water in a shallow dish at the bottom of the oven to increase oven humidity 20-30 min, OR cook covered in a cast iron pot/container for the first 15-20 min, then uncovered for 10-15 min. 

It's hard to screw this up. Trust me. 

• 3 cups lukewarm water? The original recipe I used didn't state this, and I used cold water from the tap. Turned out just fine. If you use warm water, it should be lukewarm "body temp". Not scalding bath water. If it feels hot, not warm - it's probably too hot. Using lukewarm water will make the initial rising process faster - or so the internet says. 
• 1 tablespoon yeast....or whatever you have in your fridge. Original quantity was 1 1/2 tablespoons. I mis-read that on my first attempt and put in 1 1/2 teaspoons. Was totally fine. Did some reading and it takes longer for the dough to rise and to be able to use the first batch with less yeast, but it still does exactly what it needs to do, even at scant yeast amounts of 1/2 teaspoon. Some people like the flavor of dough that initially had less yeast in it (fast versus slow rise). I'm not sure I care, but since I don't want to waste my ingredients and I always refrigerate overnight, I've settled on 1 tablespoon. 
• 1 tablespoon salt - I've seen recipes go up to 1 1/2 tablespoon, and the first time I made it, I used 1 1/2 teaspoons. I felt like it needed more salt so bumped it up to 1 tablespoon. This is based on individual taste, so feel free to increase or decrease as needed. 
• Flour. I use regular all-purpose flour. Except for when I run out. Then I'll replace what I need with bread flour. Or wheat flour. Yes, you can use sourghdough starter, wheat flour, or whatever other variation you desire. I know that bread flour and wheat flour require a little more water (or less flour) to the above ratios. If you are going to do anything other than make up the difference with a little when you are short, you should probably do some research (start by exploring the website I linked above). For this recipe plain 'ole all-purpose is recommended over bread flour because it makes a better texture in the finished product. (May 29 2017 update - made a batch with almost 100% bread flour because I was short on time and needed to make some bread for a potluck. Result? I didn't notice much difference between the loaves with bread flour and those with all-purpose. Moral of the story - use what you have)
• No time for the initial rise? First time I made it, it was 11pm at night and I read it on the internet and just HAD to try it. I mixed and put it in the fridge without any counter rising time. It was fine. 
• Prebaking rise? It's better if I either put in fridge overnight, and then let sit on the counter for an hour to un-chill after forming, before baking. Or, let sit 1-2 hours on the counter before baking. HOWEVER, I've also gotten impatient and cooked directly out of the fridge, or let only sit on the counter for 20 min while the oven preheated and it was FINE. The air holes are less open, but perfectly edible. Trust me. Whatever time you have, make it work for you. This is not a fussy recipe. 
• Cooking methods....Sheet versus pot versus foil loaf pan? All produce acceptable (delicious!) bread. After baking a lot of loaves, I think I slightly prefer the cast iron pot method, and I prefer keeping the lid on for 2/3 of the cooking time, instead of the first 1/2. I have more cast iron pots than sheets and so it's more convenient, and I like not having to deal with the water. (although for my oven, when I've tried the other methods and used hot water in the bottom of the oven I'm not sure it made a difference?). I'm still experimenting with time covered versus uncovered in the "pot method". Leaving the cover on longer and then uncovering just long enough to brown produces a thin crackly crust. Uncovered longer produces a thicker, more chewy crust. 

On to the fun stuff! Flavors!

Dried herbs

Simply topping a plain loaf with dried herbs such as rosemary, or a spice blend.


Nut and dried fruit
Made a Walnut and raisin boule as my first loaf and managed to eat the entire thing as dessert while watching TV on the couch. I'm out of nutmeats (serious sad face) but this simple combination is cliche for a reason - it's SO GOOD.


Cinnamon etc.
I love cinnamon! I've made a swirl loaf (spread out the dough like a thick pizza, prep with filling, roll into loaf shape) and cinnamon rolls (similar to above but cut into rolls) and gotten rave reviews from both. I initially did the predictable cinnamon+brown sugar+butter with a bit of cloves and salt thrown in.

It was good....but not divine.

I only thought it was divine because I hadn't tried....

- Cinnamon, lemon zest, chopped dates.

*drool*.

Now THAT is something binge worthy. The chopped dates cook down so tender that it's like magical craters of moist sweet deliciousness mixing with the bread and spices. Chopped dates might be my favorite dried fruit to put in bread.

I personally don't like my breads very sweet, so for a more traditional cinnamon roll that is sticky sweet, add frosting or glaze.

- Cinnamon, honey, chopped almonds

Just a hint of sweetness, nutty crunch from the almonds.

Chocolate chips
Fold them in, form a boule or flat sheet loaf. Always a huge hit. I'm not a huge chocolate lover so I'm sort of meh (give me cinnamon+dates anytime!) but for some people this is what they love.




Whole Garlic cloves
This is the one that surprised me the most. I threw in all my left over whole garlic cloves into a simple boule and after baking it was something really wonderful. The garlic flavor infused the entire loaf without being heavy, and the garlic cloves were soft and mild. Dried herbs (such as rosemary) on top compliment the flavor well.





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I'd love to hear your favorite flavor variations if you try this recipe!

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October 2017 update

When it's warm in the summer and I don't want the heat of the oven in the house, I like making bread on the BBQ.

It's definitely a different product than the oven bread, but I find it ideal for sandwich bread, english muffins, and rolls. If you want to try this method, here's my tips.

- Small rounds of dough patted flat.
- While they are resting fire up the BBQ with the lid down on high. It should be HOT.
- Once the BBQ is HOT, throw the dough on, turn it down to medium and close the lid. This part takes some experimentation because you want the heat low enough that it doesn't burn the bottom of the rolls before the rolls are cooked through.
- To finish the rolls, I flip them over and turn the BBQ off - but keep the lid closed. The heat inside the BBQ is enough to finish off the rolls.
- I've been experimenting with no flipping the rolls so they look more like dinner rolls instead of english muffins. I think the trick is to turn the heat down initially even lower, so that the rolls can stay on the grill even longer without burning while the overall heat inside the BBQ cooks the rolls like an oven.

The finished bread has a grilled taste that is just absolutely wonderful. It's a softer bread without the crusty chewy crust, but is still sturdy enough for sandwiches or burgers.