FRESH & ALMOST FOOLPROOF ARTISAN BREAD
Are you ready to make your home smell like a bakery? Well, today you will!
When I think about fresh bread, the first thing that comes up on my mind is the first day when I visited Germany during the Christmas holidays which also happened to be my very first time in Europe. I landed in Stuttgart in the break of dawn and we directly drove to the local bakery to grab fresh Brötchen (German word for buns) for our breakfast. I remember getting a big waft of warmth and aroma of freshly baked bread and pastries when I entered the bakery. My eyes were shifting back and forth looking at the many different types, colours and shapes of breads and buns that were on the shelves. Oh boy, it really felt like how I imagined Europe to be!
Perhaps because of my background in Korea and North America, the idea of bread making seemed far away and out of my reach. For a long time I thought that it required much skill and experience that it made me think either I needed to get a bread machine or go to the bakery or the grocery store to get fresh bread. But today, I’m going to show you that there is no need to fear because it’s much easier than you think!
This recipe is a great starting bread recipe. Once you have mastered this recipe, you can go ahead and play around with different types of flours (rye, spelt etc) and start adding in various herbs, seeds, nuts etc. It’s funny, this bread is called ‘Artisan’ bread. The definition of artisan means a very skilled craft. But, this recipe doesn’t require any previous bread making skills, maybe perhaps some patience in the beginning. If you follow the recipe and get the dough consistency, it really is foolproof! But, the outcome looks and tastes artisan ;) It’s crusty on the outside but fluffy and moist in the inside. You can simply dip a slice of your bread with good quality olive oil and salt and this alone itself is pure pleasure. It also pairs so perfectly with your main entrees or you can serve this as an appetizer with dips, salads, roasted peppers etc. Oh, you will surely impress your friends and family!
The key is to use a dutch oven pot for the bread recipe because it creates that perfect crispy, crusty, and golden brown exterior yet moist and soft inside because of the steam that you create inside the pot. I used the le creuset 24cm for this recipe but you can use any dutch oven pot - for example, Staub or Lodge that can fit the dough. If you don’t have one, you can use a cast iron pot. Plus another pan (ideally cast iron) that you can place right beneath the cast iron pan with the dough with 10 ice cubes to create the steam in the oven.
If you don’t own a dutch oven pot, I personally highly recommend to add this to your Christmas or birthday gift wish list because it’s truly one of my cookware staples. I don’t want to be dramatic here, but it changed my life! Not only can I use it to bake fresh bread, I love to cook everything in it especially when cooking vegetables. Dutch ovens conduct heat and transfer it to the food inside from all directions and it retains heat for a long time. So, it really does take your cooking to the next level. If you invest in a good quality dutch oven pot, it will last you a lifetime!
I hope you will enjoy this fresh and almost foolproof artisan bread recipe!
-Ari Yori
FRESH & ALMOST FOOLPROOF ARTISAN BREAD RECIPE
prep time: 15 minutes
poof time: 1 hour 30 minutes - 3 hours
bake time: 40-45 minutes
portion: 4 servings (10-13 slices)
INGREDIENTS
1 cup (240ml) warm water
1 tsp (5g) sugar
2 tsp (9g) dry yeast (should be 1 package), if you are using fresh yeast double the amount
2 1/2 cups (365g) all-purpose flour spooned and levelled (550 flour) plus approx. 1 cup more for dusting
1 tsp salt
dutch oven pot with lid
DIRECTIONS
In a large bowl, combine warm water and sugar. Sprinkle the dry yeast into the warm water and let it sit for 5 minutes until the yeast activates and becomes frothy.
Add salt and slowly add flour to your yeast mix. Using your standing mixer or by hand, mix until the sides of the dough start pulling away. The dough will be quite wet and slack but this is perfect! Don’t over knead the dough!
Dust the dough with some flour all around. Cover the bowl with a plastic wrap and let it rise for at least 1 hour in a warm place. The longer you let it sit, the more air bubbles (holes) you will have in your bread. I usually let it sit for at least 2-3 hours.
Your dough should rise triple its original size. Transfer the dough to a well floured surface and gently flour the top of the dough. Make sure you dust well with flour so dough does not stick to the surface.
Fold the dough like folding an envelope to the center - the top, bottom, right and left sides and the corners. Flip the dough upside down (seam down) and turn the dough counter clockwise and pull towards you using your hands. Do this turning motion for about couple of minutes to shape the dough. After shaping, dust the dough well covering all sides.
If you don’t have a poofing basket, take a medium sized bowl and dust it well with flour. Gently take the dough and place it into the bowl with the seam side down where you folded in. Cover with a plastic wrap or kitchen towel and let it sit and rise for 30 minutes.
Place your dutch oven pot into the oven and turn on the oven to 237°C / 460°F.
After 30 minutes, gently flip the bowl so the dough comes out upside down (seam up) and carefully place the dough into the hot dutch oven. Be careful that you don’t accidentally burn your hands! Close the lid and put it back into the oven for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, remove the lid and bake for 10-15 additional minutes until the top of the bread is slightly dark golden brown.
Voila! Your bread is ready! Let it cool on a cooling rack for at least 15 minutes before slicing it. If you cut when it’s too hot, you will press down the bread and will loose its form. Also, you will dry out the bread faster. For storage wise, if you don’t have bread container, you can place the bread with the cut side down on your wooden cutting board uncovered for 1 day or store it in an air tight container for 2-3 day. Or, freeze it for several months! If you find that it’s a bit dry, if you lightly toast it to bring it back to life!
PRO TIPS
When activating yeast, make sure you have warm water. Not hot water because it will kill your yeast and not cold because you won’t activate it. The water should be warm to the touch - warmer than lukewarm water.
This dough should be quite wet - it should not pull away from the sides into a smooth elastic ball! This makes the inside of your bread moist and light! Flours from different brands behave differently even though they are the same type of flour. If you find that your dough is too dry or too wet - just add more flour or add water. But, if you add too much flour, your bread will be more dense and drier.
If you mess up steps from 5-8 (before you place the dough into the hot dutch oven pot), don’t fret! You can fold the dough and reshape it again. Or, if the dough gets sticky and you end up deflating the dough after the final rise, just re-flour the dough well and the bowl and let it rise again for additional 30 minutes. These things are all fixable!
