How To Make Great Artisan Bread

Making great artisan style bread can be a daunting task for those of us that do not make it very often. It requires great technique and skill which usually just comes with practice through trial and error. However, when bread is made well it is truly one of my favorite things to eat and can be magnificent. I grew up on a self sustaining farm where we made artisan bread 4-5 times per week, even in our wood burning oven.

I do have many different recipes which I could go over in detail, but instead I have picked two of my favorite and easiest recipes to make which will have your friends and family raving and wanting more. The only extra kitchen tool you might need here is an enamel or cast iron pot to cook one of these loaves in.

MY Basic French Style Loaf

Ingredients:

• 1.5 packages of Fleischmann’s Active Dry Yeast (3.3 Teaspoons)
• 1 TB of Sugar
• 1 TB of Salt
• 2 cups of warm water, 115 degrees
• 5-6 cups of Arrowhead Mills Organic White Flour  (or Bob’s Red Mills Unbleached All Purpose White Flour)
• Cornmeal

Instructions:

Place the sugar, yeast and water into a large bowl and allow it to proof.  After proofing, add the salt and flour, 2 cups at a time, until you can pull it out of the bowl and knead vigorously for 10 minutes or until it is elastic and no longer sticking.

Butter the bowl and put it in a draft free place like the inside of a stove or microwave with a towel or plastic covering it. Let it rise until doubled in bulk for approximately 1.5-2 hours.

Cut the dough in half and form into two long style French loaves that are the length of your baking pan. Slash a few diagonal lines on top of each loaf. Brush with egg white and place the bread on a cornmeal sprinkled pan.

Place another pan of water in the oven on the bottom rack and place these loaves in a cold oven and set at 375-400 degrees for 30-40 minutes until it has the crust you want. The French style loaves should be hollow sounding when you rap on them.

Let them cool a little bit and enjoy as mini sandwich bread or hot with salted honey and butter, MMMMM!

Artisan Sicilian Loaf

Ingredients:

• 3 cups of Flour
• ¼ TSP Yeast
• 1.25 TSP Salt
• 1.5 cups of very hot water

Instructions:

Place flour, yeast and salt into a bowl.

Pour the very hot water in and mix it up with a wooden spoon until all flour is incorporated. We call this “shaggy dough:.

(Side note: I like olives in this loaf and sometimes I use King Arthur Whole Wheat or a mix of half and half as it is very versatile)

This is the most forgiving dough you can make.

Wrap it in plastic wrap and place in a draft free place for about 3-4 hours. You can even go for 5-6 hours if you prefer.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees with your enamel or cast iron pot with a lid.

Take out your Artisan Loaf dough and place it on a floured board or counter and just use your dough scraper to wrap it into a ball. Fold it over until it no longer sticks.

Place the dough ball onto parchment paper inside the pot in your oven for 30 minutes.

Remove the lid after 30 minutes and let it cook another 10-20 minutes until you have the crust you want!

Eat Drink Explore Pro Tip: Calibrate your oven with a different thermometer as most of them are about 25 degrees off!