Bread - Round 2

When I made bread a few weeks ago there was also another recipe/method I wanted to try and it took me until today to get a chance to try it. This round was based on The Master Recipe from Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a Day. The advantage of this recipe is that it makes enough dough for 4 - 1lb loafs, you can store the dough in the fridge for up to 14 days so you don't have to bake it all at once, it is much quicker (2 hour rise time vs 18 hours) and it says in the recipe that you can use a heavy duty stand mixer with a bread hook instead of mixing it by hand.

 

 

The Kitchen Aid was definitely up for the challange!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Basic bread ingredients are pretty much the same...water, flour, yeast and salt...

3 cups lukewarm water

2 packets of yeast

1 1/2 Tbsp coarse salt

6 1/2 cups unsifted, unbleached all purpose flour

 

 

 

 

 

First the water, salt and yeast go in the mixer.

 

 

 

Then the flour is added all at once.

 

 

 

Mix it until everything is moist without any dry patches. Only took my mixer about 90 seconds.



 

Then allow to rise for 2-5 hours lightly covered. After rising the dough can go into the fridge or be baked.

 

 

 

To bake at this point you sprinkle the dough with flour and using a serrated knife cut off a grapefuit sized piece. Then after flouring your hands you form the dough into a ball by stretching the dough down to bottom so that the top is smooth and the bottom is a gathring of the edges. The loaf then needs to rest for 40 minutes.

 

 

 







 

 

20 minutes into this rest time, the baking stone and a steam pan go into the oven and preheat for 20 minutes with the oven preheating to 450 degrees.

 

 

 

 After 20 minutes, even if the oven isn't up to 450 degrees, add hot water to the steam pan and place the bread on the stone. Bake for 30 minutes.

 

 

 

And you have bread!!!

 

 

 

 

After tryng both methods of the no-knead bread, I think I prefer the Artisian Bread in 5 Minutes a Day for the time factor. When I bake the rest of the dough (tomorrow?) I am going to try the baking method I used with the other recipe using the cast iron dutch oven and see how that compares. Over all I am very happy with how both methods turned out and an looking forward to trying more recipes out of the Artisian Bread in 5 Minutes a Day book.



 



 

 

 

 



 

 



Adventures in Bread - Part 2

 

From the time I got up today I was looking forward to fresh from the oven bread. So I was excited when it was time to get back to the dough.

 

 

 

After sitting for 18 hours the dough had risen significantly and had the bubbles the recipe told me to expect.

 

 

 

Then working on a floured surface, the dough is folded twice and covered for 15 min.

 

 

The next step was to form the dough into a ball and place it on a cornmeal dusted towel to rise for 2 hours.

 

 

1 1/2 hours into this rising time the oven and cast iron dutch oven get preheated to 500 degrees.

The dough has roughly doubled in size during this 2 hour rise time.

 

 

And into the preheated pot it goes!

 

 

Now for the wait for it to bake...

 

 

The recipe called for baking it for 30 min then removing the lid and baking an additional 15-30 minto brown the crust, but when I took off the lid the crust looked perfect and I really felt if it was in any longer it would have been over done.

 

 

The crust is perfect and crisp and the inside is moist and chewy. :)

 

 

Yum!!!

 

 

Overall this bread turned out great, the only disadvantage to it was all the waiting time. I am hoping to try the other recipe this week to see how they compare.  Maybe tomorrow :)

Adventures In Bread - Part 1

When I went to the library this week a book caught my eye and inspired me to try making some homemade, from scratch bread. The book I picked up is Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day by J. Hertzberg and Zoe Francois. After going through the book I got online and started doing more research and found another recipe, No-Knead Bread from Jim Lahey,  that is similar but does have some differences. After reading the reviews of both and since the ingredients are the same I decided to try both and decide which we prefer.

The ingredients for both recipes consist of unbleached all-purpose flour, salt, yeast and water, the Artisan Bread recipe makes a large batch of dough that is meant to be stored in the fridge and baked off over a span of days where as Mr. Lehey's recipe is for 1 loaf and does need a longer rising time. I decided to start with Mr.Lehey's recipe tonight and plan to have it with dinner tomorrow.

Starting the dough was very simple, first the dry ingredients are combined:

 

 

3 cups of flour

1 1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp instant yeast

 

 

Then the water is added and things get sticky!

 

1 1/2 cups water

 

 

And the dough goes into an oiled bowl.
 

 

 

 

Then it gets covered in plastic wrap and left to rise at room temperature for 12-18 hours.

 

 

Tomorrow it will go into my cast iron dutch oven and get baked, looking forward to trying it!

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

Wednesday Recipe

This week in keeping with the trying to work out and eat healthier theme I have decided to share a recipe that has become a breakfast staple for me. The great things about this recipe is that you make it ahead and can vary it in so many ways...

Basic Overnight Oats
1/2 cup Oats (not instant or quick cook, I prefer Country Choice Multi Grain Hot Cereal from Trader Joe's)
1 cup Vanilla Almond Milk

Combine the oats and almond milk in a covered bowl and place in the fridge overnight. Add desired mix-ins and enjoy!

The basic recipe has 220 calories, 3.5 grams of fat, 45 grams of carbs, 6 grams of fiber and 6 grams of protein.

Some of my favorite mix-ins are:
1/2 banana
blueberries
1 tbsp nut butter
fruited Greek yogurt
cinnamon
vanilla extract

Hope you enjoy!

How is it February already????

Where has this year gone already??? So much has happened in the last couple months, a new home and a new job...it is nice to have more of my own things back with me and Barron is a happy puppy.
Going to give the blogging thing a try with a theme for each day. I think Wednesday will be my day to share a recipe.

Italian Dry Herb Dipping Mix
1 Tbsp Crushed Red Pepper
1/2 Tbsp Lemon Pepper
1/2 Tbsp Black Pepper
1 Tbsp Oregano
1 Tbsp Rosemary
1 Tbsp Sweet Basil
1 Tbsp Parsley
1 Tbsp Granulated Garlic
1 Tbsp Coarse Sea Salt
1 tsp Thyme

Combine all ingredients and mix together. (I prefer it pulsed briefly in a food processor)
When serving place a small amount on a shallow dish and add olive oil, serve with crusty bread for dipping.