2HCB: Simple Crusty Bread

For my turn to choose a recipe for Two Hot Chicks Baking, I decided to challenge Christine and myself a little bit and do some bread baking. Because I've done some bread baking before, I decided to take pity on Christine and choose a simple no knead bread. I chose Simple Crusty Bread from the book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day as published by the New York Times.

The dough was quite easy to make. I had it mixed and resting in just a few minutes. I was able to use my baking stone again which I was very happy about. I don't get to use it enough. It makes the crust of pizza so crispy and good. And it works perfectly on bread loaves too. The crust was perfectly crisp and delicious.

The inside of the loaf the first two times I baked them were another matter. Most of the inside baked up fine but the center seemed to be still a tiny bit doughy. For my third attempt, I baked it longer and covered the top so it wouldn't over brown. This loaf was better but still seemed a bit under baked.

Even though I couldn't get the inside quite right, it was quite a tasty bread. Especially toasted and topped with melted butter! I took my failed first two loaves and made a delicious bread pudding. Instead of making small round loaves next time I bake the bread (and I will since it tastier and cheaper than store bought!), I'd like to use a loaf pan to get a bigger rectangular loaf so I could use it as sandwich bread.

Simple Crusty Bread

Adapted from “Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day,” by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François (Thomas Dunne Books, 2007)

Time: About 45 minutes plus about 3 hours’ resting and rising

1 1/2 tablespoons yeast

1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt

6 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour, more for dusting dough

Cornmeal.

1. In a large bowl or plastic container, mix yeast and salt into 3 cups lukewarm water (about 100 degrees). Stir in flour, mixing until there are no dry patches. Dough will be quite loose. Cover, but not with an airtight lid. Let dough rise at room temperature 2 hours (or up to 5 hours).

2. Bake at this point or refrigerate, covered, for as long as two weeks. When ready to bake, sprinkle a little flour on dough and cut off a grapefruit-size piece with serrated knife. Turn dough in hands to lightly stretch surface, creating a rounded top and a lumpy bottom. Put dough on pizza peel sprinkled with cornmeal; let rest 40 minutes. Repeat with remaining dough or refrigerate it.

3. Place broiler pan on bottom of oven. Place baking stone on middle rack and turn oven to 450 degrees; heat stone at that temperature for 20 minutes.

4. Dust dough with flour, slash top with serrated or very sharp knife three times. Slide onto stone. Pour one cup hot water into broiler pan and shut oven quickly to trap steam. Bake until well browned, about 30 minutes. Cool completely.

Yield: 4 loaves.

Variation: If not using stone, stretch rounded dough into oval and place in a greased, nonstick loaf pan. Let rest 40 minutes if fresh, an extra hour if refrigerated. Heat oven to 450 degrees for 5 minutes. Place pan on middle rack.

Source: New York Times