Bread, Part One

One of these days, I'm going to get Evie to smile without looking like a deranged squirrel.  Until then, she's all too happy to pose for pictures while we're making a mess in the kitchen.  And since Jon's coming to the end of almost two months of FMLA leave and vacation, money is tight.  Tighter than Nicky Minaj's jeans tight.  So we're back to making our own bread.

I know it sounds like a crunchy, earth-mama task, and in a way it is.  What's more basic and comforting than bread, fresh and warm and crusty?  Not a lot.  It also makes me feel very sentimental, like listening to Jon sing "Diary" (by the band Bread, coincidentally) to Evie at bedtime.

Not long after we first got married, Jon found a book about making your own bread without having to knead, rise, and repeat.  He bought a pizza stone for the oven, and the next few months were carb-a-licious.  Since then, we've refrained from baking bread much, and instead use the recipe mainly for pizza dough.  The advantage here is that you make one batch of dough, and it's enough for 3-4 loaves of bread or pizzas.  Simply mix the dough, let it rise 2 hours on the counter, and throw it in the fridge.  No, really!

While the dough has no preservatives, it will keep in the fridge for up to 2 weeks, and by then it takes
on a sourdough flavor.  I promise, even those of you out there with no baking prowess whatsoever will be able to do this.  And it will taste good.  And it will make you want to make a big batch of soup or stew just so you have something to dip all that crusty goodness in. 

Especially in winter, having the oven on and the house smelling good smooths out the rough edges of sleep deprivation and toddler mayhem.  Any day I put on pants is a good day.  A day where I have time to drink coffee is better.  And the best is when I somehow manage to scrape together enough energy to get a pot of something good on the stove and a loaf of bread in the oven.

Since the baby's been congested and it's doubtful she'll stay asleep long, I'll save the baking phase for another post.  But rest assured, there will be photos and instructions, as well as a link to the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day website.  For now, here's enough to hopefully get you started with your own dough.  You don't need a baking stone right off the bat, and can use a loaf pan if you want.

Artisan Bread Dough 

by Zoe Francois and Jeff Hertzberg

http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/

Ingredients

6 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose white flour
3 cups lukewarm water (not hot, or you'll kill the yeast)
1 1/2 TB kosher salt
1 1/2 TB yeast (any kind, I use active dry)
                                                       
Directions

1) In a 5-6 quart bowl or lidded dough bucket, dump the water in with the yeast and salt.

2) Dump in all the flour at once, and stir with a long-handled wooden spoon or dough whisk.

3) Once it comes together, it will be wet and rough.  Put a lid on the container, NOT airtight, and let it sit at room temperature for 2 hours.

4) When the two hours is up, either store it in the fridge, or go ahead and bake.

Just to clarify, I know there's a bag of wheat flour in the above picture.  Lately we've been experimenting with different ratios of white to wheat flour when baking bread.  Straight wheat tastes good, but it's more dense than Donald Trump.

And on that note, I'm off to finish this glass of wine before the baby wakes up snorting like a Pug from all the snot clogging her sinuses.  Am I looking forward to sucking the boogers out while she screams bloody murder?  Nah.  Not really.