Bread in 5 Minutes

There is not much else that can compare to the smell of freshly baked bread to warm the home.

Time it takes to create the hand crafted loaf.

Time saved with this simple recipe.

A winter farm tour on a hazelnut farm with friends ended with a meal shared with the farm family of soup and bread. The meal was delicious and the bread, perfection. Gladly shared was the recipe.

Some additional hints: the pizza peel is not necessary, you can use the back of a baking sheet and the baking stone is lost, but the bread came out just fine on a baking sheet, just use a clean one not the one with cornmeal on it or the cornmeal will burn up. I didn't use the water in the oven either and it was still delicious. This was truly simple and took no time at all. The first loaf was eaten before the bread even had a chance to cool and was so tasty that I baked all the rest of the dough at once. Enjoy!

The Master Recipe: Boule (Artisan Free-Form Loaf)

Courtsey of  - Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg & Zoe Francois

http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/

Makes Four 1-Pound Loaves

3 cups Lukewarm water (about 100 degrees)

1 1/2 tablespoons granulated yeast

1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt or other coarse salt

6 1/2 cups unsifted, unbleached, all-purpose white flour (measure with scoop and sweep method)

Cornmeal or parchment for pizza peel

Preparing the dough:

• 
  
  In a 5 quart bow or a resealable, lidded plastic food container, add yeast and salt to lukewarm water. Dont worry about getting it all to disolve.
• 
  
  Add in all the flour at once, mix with a wooden spoon (you can use very wet hands to help if needed) or a heavy-duty stand mixer fitted with the dough hook. Don't knead the dough; just mix unitl it is uniformly moist without dry patches.
• 
  
  Cover with a lid that fits well, but is not air tight. Allow to rise at room temperature until it begins to collapse, about 2 hours. (you can let it go up to 5 hours) The dough is ready to use at this point, but will be easier to shape if it is refrigerated at least 3 hours first.

On baking day:

• Prepare a pizza peel by sprinkling it liberally with cornmeal (or line it with parchment)
• Sprinkle the surface of your refridgerated dough with flour
• Pull up and cut off a 1 pound grapefruit sized piece of dough, using a serrated knife
• Hold the mass of dough in your hands and add a little more flour as needed so it won't stick to your hands. Gently stretch the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go (Most of the dusting flour with fall off) The bottom of the loaf may appear to be a collection of bunched ends, but it will flatten and adhere during resting and baking. Handle the dough as little as possible.
• Place the shaped ball on the cornmeal-covered pizza peel. Allow the loaf to rest on the peel for about 40 minutes, uncovered. Depending on the age of the dough, you may not see much rise (more will occur during baking)
• 20 minutes before baking, pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees, with a baking stone place on the middle rack. Place an empty broiler tray for holding water on any other shelf that won't interfere with the rising bread.
• Dust the top of the loaf liberally with flour. Slash a 1/4 inch deep cross, scallop or tic-tac-toe patter into the top, using a serrated bread knife.
• With a quick forward jerking motion of the wrist, slide the loaf off the pizza peel and onto the preheated baking stone. Quickly but carefully pour about 1 cup of hot water form the tap into the broiler tray and close the oven door to trap the steam.
• Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the crust is nicely browned and firm to the touch. Allow to cool completely, preferably on a wire rack.
• Store the remaining dough in the refridgerator in your lidded (not air tight) container. Cut off and shape more loaves as you need them anytime over the next 14 days. The flavor and texture will improve after even one day's storage.