I got a few requests for the recipe for this in the "What's for dinner?" thread, so I'm posting it here. This is not new; it's been circulating in the blogosphere/cooking sites for quite awhile, so I was surprised at how many of you hadn't heard of it.
This is a VERY easy recipe, very forgiving too that produces a nice bread. It's not the greatest bread you'll ever taste; but if you like artisian style, fresh baked crusty breads - the results to effort ratio is excellent. You can put this together in 6 minutes before you go to bed, and have an excellent treat for dinner the next day.
There is a
very nice video here that hits most of the basics, but a few steps have been edited, and I've found some helpful tips just through experience.
I would add the following advice to this video:
1. You see where he brings the dough together and then says "Done" after like 3 seconds? This bread is easy, but not THAT easy. You want to bring everything together. You don't have to knead it, you don't even have to get your hands dirty (I use a silicone spatula) but the next shot after that is a closeup of the dough - that's what it should look like, and you can tell there is some 'missing' footage between those shots.
2. The dough is forgiving. I think in the video he uses 2 cups of water for 3 cups of flower with a big dash of salt and a 1/4 tsp yeast. I use more yeast, but I just eyeball everything. This bread picks up some flavor from a slow ferment. The video I think says 12 hours? Too confusing for me - and with this, the longer it ferments, the better the flavor. I start putting this dough together after dinner the night before - then I clean up the kitchen mess... that's usually about 6 PM. I put it in the fridge overnight with plastic wrap before I go to bed around 11 ,then have my wife take it out around 3 PM the next day. That way it's back to room temp when I get home from work - so about 20 hours I guess?
3. In the video, after he dumps it on the counter, flattens and folds it - then it looks like it's right to the oven. Don't do that. Let it sit another 15 minutes before it goes into the oven. He flips his when it goes in the oven so the 'seam' is up. I prefer to take a knife and make slits in the top, 3 each way like # and keep that side up.
4. I use bread flower. AP works, but bread flour is better. Not sure where to get some? Anything in the grocery store that says bread flour, high protein, "better for bread" or for bread machines will do.
5. Oops! Forgot this one....He's got his oven at 500. I use 440, but same times - 30 covered, 15 uncovered. 500 was giving me some black bottomed bread.
So that's it. This is one I made with some leftover tomato paste added to the dough with some rosemary.
http://home.nc.rr.com/bad_mojo/bread_s.jpg (broken link)
Good luck with it.
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