Easy Artisan Bread
The laziest, simplist, no-knead version of delicious artisan bread.
Equipment
- 1 pizza stone
- 1 broiler pan or a rusty old pan you can put 1 cup of water in
- 1 Pizza Peel
- *1 5 quart dutch oven if you do not have any of the above items
Ingredients
For the Dough
- 1 ½ cups warm water * about 105 ℉
- 2 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast
- 2 ¼ teaspoons salt *if you use seasalt, be sure it is fine (small grains)
- 3 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
For Baking
- extra flour, cornmeal, or whole-grain flour for dusting the peel
- 1 cup water
Instructions
Make the Dough
- In a very large bowl, pour the water, yeast and salt into a bowl and stir. Then add the flour all at once and stir until there are no dry clumps of flour. DO NOT KNEAD, but if you are having trouble stirring get your hands very wet and press the dough together to get rid of any remaining dry spots. The dough does not need to be smooth or well mixed, as long as there are no dry spots you are good!
Leave it to Rise
- Cover the bowl with saran wrap, tin foil, or a well-fitting lid that is not airtight. Leave to rise for at least 2 hours, or until the dough has risen so much that it is flat in the bowl. You can leave it for up to 5 hours unrefrigerated.
Shape & Second Rise
- Sprinkle flour, whole wheat flour, or cornmeal liberally on a pizza peel. I would reccommend using whole wheat flour or cornmeal, as they are more course and make your dough less likely to stick to the peel.
- Dust the top of the dough with some flour and then use floured hands to separate the dough from the sides and bottom of the bowl. Feel free to add more flour as needed to make the dough more manageable. DO NOT PUNCH IT DOWN. Once you have freed the dough from the bowl, use your hands to pull the dough from the top of the ball around to the bottom four to eight times, rotating a quarter turn each time, until a smooth and cohesive ball is formed. The process should be quick, so flour your hands as needed. When done, place the ball seam side (messy side) down on the pizza peel.
- Let the dough rest for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, put your pizza stone on the middle rack of your oven, your broiler (or old) pan on a rack below the pizza stone and preheat your oven to 425 ℉. Wait another 20 minutes or until the oven is preheated, whichever happens later. During this time, prepare 1 cup of water and leave it near the oven.
Bake
- Use a serrated knife to cut an x into the top of the dough about ¼ inch deep. Then, using one quick motion, jerk the dough off the peel and onto the pizza stone. Quickly, pour the water into your broiler (or old) pan and close the oven. Bake for about 30 minutes until a deep golden.
- Once the bread is finished, place it on a cooling rack. Once you can safely eat it, enjoy!
Notes
- If you want to leave the dough to rest longer than 5 hours, you should refrigerate it. It can stay good in the fridge for up to a week, and will take on a more sourdough flavor over time. Be sure to take it out an hour before you want to use it so that the yeast can wake up and come back to room temperature. Then, continue with the shaping and baking steps.
- To be sure that it is cooked through, you can insert a thermometer, which should read at least 190 ℉. If it is less, cook the bread 5-10 minutes longer.
- If you do not have a pizza peel, you can always bake this in a Dutch oven! This size loaf fits in a 5-quart Dutch oven. You do not need to add steam, as the lid on the Dutch oven keeps the moisture in, so forget the broiler pan and extra cup of water. You also do not need the extra flour. Simply place the shaped dough on a piece of parchment paper for the second rise. Put the Dutch oven in the oven during preheating, and once the oven is ready, pull out the Dutch oven, lift the dough into it by grabbing the corners of the parchment paper, put the lid on, and bake as normal.
