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.

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.