Artisan Bread

We absolutely love Artisan bread, but I don't like the price. We were getting it at Costco but they quit getting it in. We like the round loaves. Steve tried getting the long loaves, but they weren't as good. Well, I got fed up with the whole matter and decided I needed to learn to make it so I found a recipe on the Internet. I have made a couple of batches this week and it is sooooo good.

The above picture is of a loaf that turned out almost perfect. I took the bread to a social gathering and everyone loved it and wanted the recipe. Here is the recipe if you are interested.

Artisan Bread

3 cups lukewarm water

1-1/2 Tablespoons granulated yeast

1-1/2 Tablespoons kosher salt

6-1/2 cups unsifted, unbleached, all-purpose white flour, measured with the scoop-and-sweep method (scoop into a measuring cup and scrape off the top with a straight edge)

Put yeast in the lukewarm water. Add flour and salt all at once. Mix in food processor or by hand until mixture is uniform. Don't knead. Put dougn in a container in which you can place a lid on top, but not airtight. I use a plastic cake taker and set the lid on top. Either let the dough rise for 2 hours at room temperature or put it in the refrigerator over-night. I prefer the latter method since the dough is easier to work with when cold.

When you are ready to shape the loaf, sprinkle the dough with some flour and cut the dough in half with a serrated knife. Handle the dough as little as possible (30-60 seconds). Shape by gently stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go.

Now this is the part that is a little difficult to explain. You need to raise the dough on something that you can slide it off of when you are ready to bake it. I put it on cornmeal on a plastic sheet I use to cut up vegetables on. If you did the room temperature raising, the final resting period will take about 45 minutes. If you raised it in the refrigerator, it will take about two hours to rest before baking.

Twenty minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Put a baking stone on the middle rack. Place an empty broiler tray for holding water on another shelf that won't interfere with the rising bread.

Dust the loaf with flour and slash a tic-tac-toe design with a serrated knife.

After the 20 minute heating period, slide the loaf off the surface you rested it on, onto the stone. Pour 1 cup of hot water into the broiler tray and quickly shut the oven. Bake for 30 minutes or until the crust is nicely browned and firm to the touch.

You can store the remaining dough in the refrigerator in the (not airtight) container for up to 14 days and bake as needed.