What? Am I Not Artisan Enough For You?

BreadIn5

Once I mastered the white bread loaves, I moved on to the whole grain variety, ushering in the resurgence of homemade bread at our table.  KC commented again.  "Now that we have gotten good at this recipe, we really should try to make it more artisan.  You know, like with a chewy crust. And big bubbles inside.  What we do is definitely practical.  It's farm bread and I like it.  But I LOVE artisan breads."

"Yeah, and I like getting it right.  The thing about artisan is that it's hard to do with whole grains.  Whole grains weigh a bread down more and make it harder to get that airy lift you get with white flour.  If I'm gonna bring bread to the table a few nights a week, it really needs to be as healthy as I can make it, and that means whole grain.  I don't know how to do both whole grain and artsy."

"We'll, can we try to shape it like a baguette?" She asks.

"Does that make it artisan?"

"More than what we have been doing."

This whole conversation is funny, because while KC is our family's pastry chef, and master of all things cake and brownie, for all the 'we' she talks about in our bread making, Gordon and I remain the primary bread makers.  That fact gets me thinking. She needs to learn to make this bread.

That night I shape my bread as a long baguette rather than a round loaf.  She is pleased with the aesthetic results.  However, despite its artsier shape, the bread is still more hardy than it is airy, more farm bread than artisan, and we learn that shape does not determine lift. So, my goal this week is to get her making the bread and see what she can do with it.

For now, here is the whole grain recipe with a link to the video and the very famous website it came from. The video is like a quick six minute cooking class on baking whole grain bread.  Don't miss it.

5 Minute Whole Wheat Artisan Bread Recipe

5 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tablespoons granulated yeast (can decrease)

1 tablespoon Kosher salt (can adjust to taste or health concerns)

1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) vital wheat gluten (or vital wheat gluten flour)

4 cups lukewarm water (about 100 degrees F)

1 to 2 tablespoons of whole seed mixture for sprinkling on top crust:  sesame, flaxseed, caraway, raw sunflower, poppy, and or anise

First, measure the dry ingredients into a 5-quart bucket or bowl, and whisk them together (you can also use a fork, or if it’s lidded, just shake them well).  Mixing the dry ingredients first prevents the vital wheat gluten from forming clumps once liquids are added:

Now add the water and stir to form a very wet dough.  Don’t add additional flour to dry this out. 

Cover loosely and allow to rise for two hours at room temperature. NEVER PUNCH DOWN or intentionally deflate.  The dough is now ready. Flour hands and pull a grapefruit sized dough ball from the rest of the dough.  Form into a round loaf.  This recipe makes three of those.  Preheat oven to 450* for 30 minutes.  Bake for 30 minutes at 450*. Refrigerate and use remaining dough over the next 14 days, tearing off one-pound loaves as you want them.

Click here if you want more detailed instructions on baking and storing.

Let me know what you think and if you have any questions.