Sunday, September 05, 2010

Artisan Bread

I recently bought a book about making "artisan bread" in 5 minutes and finally got around to trying it today. The theory is that you make a big batch of sticky dough (no kneading, just mix it up), throw it in the fridge and then when you want to make some bread you just cut off a hunk, shape it, let it rise for about 40 minutes then throw it into the oven. My efforts today were definitely not perfect, but I can see that with a bit more experimenting it could be a very easy way to get fresh, delicious bread onto the table with very little effort. My major problems at the moment are mastering the slashing of the tops of the bread and flicking them off the pizza peel and onto the pizza stone in the oven - both very difficult tasks when the dough is so soft!

6 comments:

  1. Interesting... no kneading, I like the sound of that! Will the dough keep in the fridge for a few days?

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  2. Hi Anchan,
    The beauty of this dough is that it will keep for up to about 2 weeks so the theory is that you make up a big batch and the longer it stays in the fridge the more flavour it develops. You only need to mix once so preparation time is really short. I didn't have enough flour to make more than one lunch time's worth, but I will definately be doing it in bigger batches next time.

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  3. Add some hoisshigaki. Mmmm mmm mm!

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  4. Good morning, this bread looks delicious. Maybe I should give this artisan bread a try. Because I love fresh bread and I like the "little effort" part best, because during a busy school week, I could definitely use short cuts and simple easy yet delicious recipes. In fact I have my crock pot on at the moment, well since last night actually. For tonight's meal. ; )

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  5. wow. that doesn't look too bad at all to me! I did sourdough bread a couple of years ago but the constant feeding the starter became a real pressure- I love the idea of a make once and leave loaf!

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  6. email me the recipe please! I'll try baking it in the bbq oven.

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