Artisan Bread in Five Minutes

By Christie

Mixing Day - 2 minutes mixing, 2 hours raising, overnight in the refrigerator.

Baking day - 2 minutes forming loaves, 40-90 minutes rising (preheat oven for 20 minutes), 1 minute slashing, 30-35 minutes baking, 30-60 minutes cooling

Ingredients

• 3 cups lukewarm water
• 1 1/2 tablespoons yeast
• 1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt (of 1 T. regular salt)
• 6 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour, more for dusting dough

Details

Adapted from startribune.com

Preparation

Step 1

*Step One* - Mixing, rising, cooling
° In a 5-quart (not 4-quart) ice cream tub:
° Measure in yeast and salt,
Pour in 3 cups lukewarm water
° Stir in flour; mix with a sturdy spoon until there are no dry patches. Dough will be quite wet.
° Cover, but not airtight. Let dough rise at room temperature 2 hours.
° Refrigerate, covered but not airtight, overnight. Dough will keep in fridge as long as two weeks.
*Step Two* - Shaping, warming
° Set out flour and parchment paper squares.
° Sprinkle a little flour on dough in plastic container and pull up a grapefruit-size piece.
° Cut off with a serrated knife or kitchen shears.
° Shape by turning dough in hands to lightly stretch surface, creating a rounded top and a lumpy bottom.
° Put dough on a piece of parchment paper on a Corelle dinner plate. Don't cover.
° Let rest 40 minutes to 90 minutes. (If you are in a hurry, you can heat up the dough in the microwave - power level 1 for 5 minutes.)
*Step Three* - Slashing, baking
° Place baking stone on middle rack and turn oven to 450F; heat stone at that temperature for 20-30 minutes.
° Dust room temperature dough with flour, slash top 1/4 inch deep with serrated knife 3-5 times.
° Slide dough on parchment paper onto stone.
° Invert a disposable lasagna pan over it. The pan should also fit on the baking stone, so that it really traps the steam from the bread.
° Bake 10-15 minutes.
° Remove the lasagna pan cover and pull the parchment paper out from beneath the loaf.
° Bake another 20-25 minutes until well browned.
° Cool Completely on a rack.
° Yield: 4 small loaves, 3 larger ones.
*Keys for successful loaf:*
Do not forget to slash the loaf. It really needs to be able to expand.
Do not forget to preheat the pizza stone for 20 minutes.
Use an oven thermometer to make sure your oven is really 450F.
*SUCCESS* You will be able to hear the crust crackling as it cools. The interior will have a custardy crumb. Bake longer if you want a harder crust.
*Variations:*
*Boule* - Add minced garlic, rosemary, grated cheese, whatever, to dough when shaping it. Be sure to hide the ingredients in the loaf so that they don't touch the pizza stone.
*Naan bread* - Take an orange-sized piece of dough and roll out like pie crust to a circle sized to fit your frying pan. Slide onto a flour - dusted dinner plate. Heat a tablespoon of oil in the frying pan until sizzling hot. Loosen the dough, dust off flour, and slide into the frying pan. Fry, covered, until browned on one side; flip and brown the other side. Spread with butter and serve with Indian food or for a snack.
*Ciabatta bread* - Remove ball of dough from the refrigerator without sprinkling with flour. Use wet hands instead. Form into ball and then flatten to about 3/4 inch thick. Put on parchment paper. Let sit only 20 minutes while the oven is preheating. Bake without dusting with flour or slashing, until medium brown. Crust will be tender.
*Pita Bread* - Roll a small amount of dough as flat as you can. Slide onto hot stone. Bake till lightly browned, flip. Bake till lightly browned.
*Baguette* - Shape into a long oblong shape; don't dust with flour before slashing. Instead brush with water and then slash diagonally.
*Pan de epi* (wheat stalk bread) - See photos at http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/