Artisan Bread In Five Minutes

This is one of our loaves.

"I love that we are making bread again.  Like all the time." Our 16 year-old, KC, says as she hands a slice to her sister.  "I love having bread in the morning or at lunch, but I especially love having warm bread with butter at the dinner table."

"I know.  I love this new recipe.  It takes five minutes to make the dough and I can store it for two weeks in the fridge.  It is the perfect solution for my adult onset a.d.d. and our crazy schedule. It think it's the easiest recipe I've ever made."

We are foodies who LOVE our carbs, Sicilians who can't resist a good al dente pasta and a crusty loaf of bread.  We have several friends who go gluten free, and have tried our hand at home made gluten free pastas and baked goods.  Some are more successful than others.  In the end, we agree most other dietary restrictions are much easier.  We eat mostly vegetarian meals throughout the week, have been known to be periodically conscientious about dairy, but don't mess with our pasta and bread - those are the staff of life for us.  But, I hate spending $3-$5 per loaf from the bakery.

Enter one of my best friends, Liz, a maven on most homemaking topics.  This time it's her Five Minute Artisan Bread Recipe.

We are on the phone:

Liz: Here's the recipe, it is so easy.  Are you ready?
Me: Yep.  I need easy.  I'm gonna make it while we are on the phone.  So, go ahead.  But, wait, is it whole grain?
Liz:  This one isn't, but I know you can find one that is.  Just try this first, and see what you think.
Me:  Okay.  I will trust the recipe.
Liz: So, here it is -
3 cups warm water
1 Tablespoon dry yeast
1 Tablespoon salt
6 1/2 cups flour
Me: That's it?  K. It's all dumped together.  Now what.
Liz:  Now you stir it.  It will be a nice wet dough.  Cover it and let it rest on the counter for 2 hours.  After that you can shape it into loaves, let them rise again for 40-90 minutes and bake in a preheated oven at 450*.  any dough you don't use can stay in the fridge up to two weeks.
Me:  Awesome!  I'm already done and it is covered and rising.

This is a video on the basic recipe.  Same rules apply for the whole grain.  It's only 2 minutes, you should watch it.  For more detail, click here.

Let me know what you think of this recipe and if you have any questions.  We are pros at this recipe.  Look for the whole grain version, next.