Make Artisan Bread In Your Sleep
by Oct 31st, 2010 // Dinner, Recipes
Make Artisan Bread In Your Sleep
Seriously. We made the easiest dough ever last night then woke up in the morning, punched it down and baked it up in a pot. I think my husband is officially sick of hearing me say “I cannot believe we made this bread!” I think my kid is on his 5th slice. Or is it his 7th? Hard to keep track since we are all devouring it. Simple. Beautiful. Perfect. Addictive.
When she heard I was from New York, my new friend, Beth, asked if I had tried this Sullivan Street Bakery Recipe. “No, but I love Sullivan Street Bakery!” I responded. Beth was downright gleeful in explaining the simplicity of the recipe. Later, she leaned across the table and confessed that it was a household obsession.
I have always found bread to be intimidating, but Beth was pretty convincing. Plus, when I looked at the recipe I couldn’t believe that you basically just throw everything in one bowl, mix it up and transfer it to another greased bowl and go to bed.
In the morning you punch the dough down, form a round loaf and wrap it in a towel for a second rise.
Once it has risen you transfer it to a preheated pot and cook it in the oven with the top on.
We modified the orginal recipe to make the bread a bit more healthy. Adding some whole wheat flour seemed like the right thing to do. The result was simply gorgeous. Tastes pretty awesome with butter. Hmmm… does that cancel out the fact that we made it healthy? Now for the recipe…
Artisan Bread Recipe
Adapted from the Sullivan Street Bakery Perfect Loaf.
Hands on Prep Time: 10 mins Cooking Time: 45 mins
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups wheat flour (we used white wheat flour)
1 1/2 cups water
ΒΌ teaspoon dry active yeast
3/4 teaspoon salt
olive oil (for coating)
extra flour for dusting
Whisk together all of the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add water and incorporate by hand for 30 seconds to a minute. Coat the inside of a second bowl with olive oil and transfer the dough in the oiled bowl. Loosely cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place it in your oven overnight. (Make sure everyone knows not to turn on the oven.) The bread needs 12 hours to rise. In the morning, remove the dough from the bowl and punch it down. Fold once or twice then shape the dough into ball. Generously coat a cotton tea towel (do not use terrycloth) with flour, place the dough seam side down on the towel and dust with flour. Cover the dough with a cotton towel and let rise 1-2 more hours at room temperature, until more than doubled in size. Preheat oven to 450 to 500 degrees. (Depending on how hot your oven runs.) Place an empty 6 to 8 quart pot with lid (Pyrex glass, Le Creuset cast iron, or ceramic) in the oven 30 minutes prior to baking to preheat. Once the dough is ready use mitts to remove the pot from the oven and place the dough in the pot seam side up. Cover with the lid and bake 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, remove the lid and bake for an additional 15-20 minutes uncovered, until the loaf is nicely browned.
I've been waiting for a bread recipe. My mouth is watering.
What a great bread recipe. I can see this being a nightly ritual, love the idea of getting the kids involved, they can be the official bread mixers. Thanks!
Awesome! I must try it!
bread is surprisingly easy, even though it can seem intimidating. definitely trying this one this week!
Try a book called ARTISINAL BREAD IN FIVE MINUTES A DAY. It has you mix things in a bowl , refridge, and then it makes up to 4 small loaves( or few larger) over 14 days. You have tons of varieties and recipes. Yours looks fab but I think you will love the variety in the book.
seriously – will you just move in with me? i want all these delicious eats!
i made french bread today and it was super easy and sooo good! this looks great too! i love making bread:)
We made it! It was such a hit. Too bad I had to leave the house by 8am–so I ended up having to get up at 5 to punch down the dough. But otherwise, it's brilliant!
ugh. getting up at 5 is hardly worth it but i'm so glad you enjoyed the end result. we can't wait to make other variations.
can I ask, how large of a bowl did you use to bake this in? It looks huge! Could you use a regular pan or does it have to be a bowl?
Hi Ashley, we let it rise in a bowl but baked it in a pot with a lid. A 6 or 8 quart pot works best for baking it but the pot needs to be either Pyrex glass, Le Creuset, cast iron, oven safe clay or ceramic. (For our we used a clay pot – with clay pots they need to be soaked in water before baking.)
nevermind! I suppose I should have thoroughly read the recipe first
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My brother in law brought home this recipe (they put it in the ny times a few years ago) and we have called him the "bread guy" ever since. Then we learned how easy it is! We make it for any occassion – as long as we remember to do it the night before
I agree — I use the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day recipe, and I love it. Believe it or not, it's easier than this recipe you posted. Plus there are like 100 different recipes in the book…and they are all super-easy. I checked it out from the library before buying it just to make sure that I liked making it and that it came out.
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