5 Minute Artisan Bread Recipes

NO-KNEAD 5-MINUTE ARTISAN BREAD

Steps:

• Warm the 3 cups water just a little so that it feels just slightly warmer than body temperature. That should put it at about 100°F (40°C).
• In the large bowl of a standing mixer or a 6-quart container with a lid, mix the yeast, warm water, and salt. Don't worry about getting the yeast to dissolve.
• Add the flour to the yeast mixture all at once, then use a spoon or stand mixer to mix until the flour is completely incorporated and you have a blobby dough. (If you're hand-mixing the dough and it becomes too difficult to incorporate all the flour with the spoon, just use very wet hands to press the mixture together.) Don't knead the dough! It's not necessary. You just want the dough to be uniformly wet and loose enough to conform to the shape of its container. All you need to do is be certain that there are no dry patches of flour.
• Loosely cover the container and let the dough hang out at room temperature until it begins to rise and collapse or at least flatten a little on the top, about 2 hours. (Relax. It's bread dough, not a newborn. You don't need to monitor it constantly. And don't worry about the dough being precisely double or triple its original volume as you would with a traditional bread recipe. Just walk away, go about your business, and come back in 2 hours. Seriously.)
• After 2 hours, stash the container of dough in the fridge. That's it. (If your container isn't vented, you want to ensure the gases can escape by leaving the cover open a crack for the first couple days in the fridge; after that, you can seal it.)
• You can use the dough anytime after the initial 2-hour rise, although the refrigerated wet dough is less sticky and easier to work with than dough at room temperature, so it's best to refrigerate the dough overnight before handling it. Once refrigerated, the dough will seem to have shrunk back upon itself as though it will never rise again-that's normal. Whatever you do, do not punch down this dough. You're trying to retain as much gas in the dough as possible, and punching it down knocks gas out and results in denser loaves. Just be certain to use the dough at some point within 14 days.
• When you want to bake a loaf of artisan bread, dust a pizza peel or a baking sheet turned upside down with cornmeal or line it with parchment paper.
• Grab a hunk of the dough and use a serrated knife or scissors to cut off about a 1-pound piece of dough. Hold the dough in your hands and, if necessary, add just enough flour so the dough doesn't stick to your hands. (What you're trying to do is surround the surface of the dough with flour so that it can be handled. You're not trying to incorporate more flour into the dough, so for the love of all things good, resist the temptation to get rid of all the dough's inherent and lovely stickiness by working the flour into the dough.)
• Gently stretch the surface of the dough, tucking the ends underneath the ball and rotating it a quarter turn as you go. (See video above.) Most of the dusting flour will fall off, and that's okay, because as we just said, it's not intended to be incorporated into the dough. The bottom of the ball of dough may appear to be a collection of bunched ends, but it will flatten out and adhere during resting and baking. The rest of your round loaf should be smooth and cohesive, and the entire shaping process should take no more than 20 to 40 seconds-don't work the dough any longer or your loaves may be dense.
• Place the ball of dough on the prepared pizza peel or baking sheet, seam side down with all the collected bunched ends on the peel or board. Let it rest for about 40 minutes. It doesn't need to be covered. (You may not see much rise during this period, but don't fret. It will rise much more during baking.)
• Preheat the oven to 450°F (230°C) for at least 20 to 30 minutes. Preheat a baking stone (or an upside-down cast-iron skillet or baking sheet) on a middle rack for at least 20 to 30 minutes. Place an empty metal broiler tray on any rack that won't interfere with the rising bread. (Do not use a glass pan as it could shatter.)
• Dust the top of the raised loaf generously with flour and, using a serrated bread knife, slash a 1/2-inch-deep cross or a couple gashes or a tic-tac-toe pattern in the top. There's no need to dust the flour off the loaf.
• Place the far edge of the peel or the upside-down baking sheet in the oven on the baking stone or cast-iron skillet or upside-down baking sheet a few inches beyond where you want the bread to land. Give the peel or baking sheet a couple quick back-and-forth jiggles and then abruptly pull it out from under the loaf. The loaf should land on the baking stone with very little drama.
• Quickly but carefully pour about 1 cup hot water into the broiler tray and immediately shut the oven door to trap the steam. Bake the bread for a total of 20 to 35 minutes, until the crust is richly browned and firm to the touch. Because the dough is so wet, there's very little risk of it becoming dry despite how dark the crust may become. (If you're using a baking sheet rather than a baking stone, you may need a little extra time-up to 50 minutes total-for the bread to be done.)
• Remove the bread from the oven and let the loaf cool completely, preferably on a wire rack for the best flavor, texture, and slicing. (Crazily enough, a perfectly baked loaf will audibly crackle, or "sing," when initially exposed to room temperature.) The crust may initially soften but will firm when cooled.

NO-KNEAD FIVE MINUTE ARTISAN BREAD

Steps:

• In a food grade 3 1/2 quart dough bucket or a non air tight container mix the water, salt and yeast.
• Add the flour and with a dough whisk or wooden spoon mix the dough for a few minutes - just until the flour is incorporated. Dough will be very wet and sticky. Mix until all the flour is absorbed and a wet dough forms.
• Loosely cover the container with a lid and allow to rise on the counter for a couple of hours until the dough doubles in volume.
• Once the dough has risen you can cut off a ball of dough and bake your first loaf of artisan bread. Or you can place the lid on the dough container and refrigerate it over night or up to two weeks and allow the dough to ferment slightly and create a delicious tangy sourdough flavor.
• Baking day on a pizza stone or in a dutch oven- If using a pizza stone sprinkle some cornmeal or flour on the pizza stone and place in the oven on the middle rack. Place the shallow pan on the rack below the pizza stone. Preheat the stone, shallow pan and the oven to 450 F.
• Remove the container of dough from the refrigerator. Sprinkle the pizza stone or the back side of a cookie sheet with flour or cornmeal so the prepared bread loaf will slide off easily when you transfer it to the hot pizza stone in the oven.
• Sprinkle the top of the wet dough with flour, coat your hands with flour. Without kneading the dough cut off a 1 pound piece of dough (1/4 of the entire amount of dough is about 1 pounds).
• With your floured hands form a ball of dough by pulling the outside edges around to the bottom of the dough ball, stretching the dough as necessary. Place the dough on the floured pizza stone or backside of the floured/cornmealed cookie sheet. Allow the dough to rest for about 20 minutes.
• Brush the top of the dough with a pastry brush dipped in water. With a sharp knife slash across the top of the bread loaf.
• Slide the prepared bread dough onto the preheated pizza stone.
• Pour 1/2 cup of water into the shallow pan in the bottom of the oven and quickly close the oven door.
• Bake for 30 minutes or until the crust is golden and the loaf is firm to the touch.
• Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely on a cooling rack.

5 MINUTE ARTISAN BREAD

Steps:

• Preparing Dough for Storage:.
• Warm the water slightly. It should feel just a little warmer than body temperature. Warm water will rise the dough to the right point for storage in about 2 hours. With cold water it will need 3-4 hours.
• Add the yeast to the water in a 5 quart bowl or, preferably, in a resealable, lidded (not airtight) plastic food container or food-grade bucket. Don't worry about getting it all to dissolve.
• Mix in the flour and salt - kneading is unnecessary. Add all of the flour at once, measuring it in with dry-ingredient measuring cups, by gently scooping up the flour, then sweeping the top level with a knife or spatula. Don't press down into the flour as you scoop or you'll throw off the measurement. Mix with a wooden spoon, a high-capacity food processor (14 cups or larger) fitted with the dough attachment, or a heavy duty stand mixer fitted with the dough hook until the mixture is uniform. If you're hand mixing and it becomes too difficult to incorporate all the flour with the spoon, you can reach into your mixing vessel with very wet hands and press the mixture together. Don't knead, it isn't necessary. You're finished when everything is uniformly moist, without dry patches. It takes a few minutes, and will yield a dough that is wet and loose enough to conform to the shape of its container.
• Allow to rise. Cover with lid (not airtight or it could explode the lid off). Allow the mixture to rise at room temperature until it begins to collapse (or at least flattens on the top), approx 2 hours, depending on room temperature, and initial water temperature Longer rising times, up to 5 hours, won't harm the result.
• You can use a portion of the dough any time after this period. Fully refrigerated dough is less sticky and easier to work with than dough at room temperature.
• On Baking Day:.
• prepare your loaf tin, tray, or whatever you're baking it in/on. Sprinkle the surface of your refrigerated dough with four. Pull up and cut of a grapefruit-size piece of dough (c 1 lb), 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 4 sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go. Most of the dusting flour will fall off - that's fine, it isn't meant to be incorporated. The bottom of the loaf may appear to be a collection of bunched ends, but it will sort itself out during resting and baking.
• The correctly shaped final product will be smooth and cohesive. The entire process should take no more than 30 - 60 seconds.
• Rest the loaf and let it rise in the form, on the tray/pizza peel, for about 40 minutes Depending on the age of the dough, you may not see much rise during this period. That's fine, more rising will occur during baking.
• Twenty minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 450°F Place an empty broiler tray for holding water on any other shelf that won't interfere with the rising bread.
• Dust and Slash. Dust the top of the loaf liberally with flour, which will allow the slashing knife to pass without sticking. Slash a quarter inch deep cross, diagonal lines, or tic-tac-toe pattern on top using a serrated knife.
• After a 20 min preheat you're ready to bake, even though the oven thermometer won't be at full temperature yet. Put your loaf in the oven. Pour about 1 cup of hot water (from the tap) into the broiler tray and close the oven to trap the steam.
• Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the crust is nicely browned and firm to the touch.
• Store the rest of the dough in the fridge in your lidded (not airtight) container and use it over the next 14 days. The flavour and texture improves, becoming like sourdough. Even 24 hours of storage improves the flavour.
• This is the standard bread. There are loads of variations - both savory and sweet - in the book.

5-MINUTE ARTISAN PIZZA DOUGH

Steps:

• Combine warm water (about 100F), olive oil, yeast and salt in a 5-quart bowl; preferably, in a lidded (not airtight) plastic container or food-grade bucket.
• Measure the flour using a "swoop and sweep" method. Reach into the flour bin with your measuring cup, scooping up a full measure all at once, and sweeping it level with a knife.
• Mix until all of the flour is incorproated (kneading is not necessary) using a wooden spoon or a food processor with a dough attachment.
• Cover with a non-airtight lid.
• Allow to rise at room temperature for 2 hours.
• DO NOT PUNCH DOWN! You want to retain as much gas in the dough as possible. A reduction in gas will make your pizzas and flatbreads dense.
• Refrigerate and use over the next 14 days. Refigerate at least 3 hours before using.
• On Pizza Day.
• 30 minutes before you're ready to bake, place a pizza stone at the bottom third of the oven and preheat it at your oven's highest temperature.
• Prepare and organize your toppings.
• Dust a pizza peel (or a large cutting board/flat cookie sheet) with enough flour or cornmeal to easily tranfer the pizza over to the hot stone.
• Pull up and cut off a 1/2 pound (orange-size) piece of dough.
• Using a little flour (enough so it won't stick to your fingers), stretch and shape the dough into a ball.
• Sprinkle your work area with a little flour. Using your hands or a rolling pin, roll out and stretch the dough until it is approximately 1/8" thick and 12" wide.
• Place the finished dough onto the prepared pizza peel and add the toppings of your choice.
• Carefully slide the pizza onto the hot stone (if it isn't sliding, you will need to sprinkle more flour or cornmeal between the pizza and the pizza peel, until it moves.
• Check for doneness after 8-10 minutes - it may take a few minutes longer. Turn the pizza around if the one side is browning faster than the other.
• Allow to cool slightly on a wire rack.