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Submitted by Chef UK
"This is the basic 'Boule' bread mix from the book "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day" by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois. I've mainly posted this recipe so that I don't have to hook out the book every time. The dough is stored in the fridge for up to 2 weeks, taking out a bit each day as you need it, forming it and baking it. A forum I belong to love this bread, which is what inspired me to get the book. Most of them cook it in a Remoska, which is a gadget that I find invaluable. Remoska's are from Checkoslavakia, and I believe they've just come to the States. In the UK they're available from Strongly recommend getting the book, if you like this bread. They have lots of different kinds of bread which you make in this way (also sweet ones), plus ideas on how to ring the changes, recipes to use up the stale bread, etc. PS Someone said they were having difficulty getting hold of the book, so I tried to post an Amazon link for it here. But it just comes out as html gobbledey gook! If anyone knows how to do it, please let me know. Otherwise, try Amazon, guys :-) Very, very worth getting the book."
photo by Rob Hill 
- Ready In:
- 30mins
- Ingredients:
- 4
- Yields:
-
4 1lb loaves
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ingredients
- 3 cups lukewarm water
- 2 tablespoons granulated yeast or (7 1/4 g) packets granulated yeast
- 1 1⁄2 tablespoons kosher salt or 1 1/2 tablespoons other coarse salt
- 6 1⁄2 cups unsifted unbleached all-purpose flour (not strong)
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directions
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Preparing Dough for Storage:
- Warm the water slightly. It should feel just a little warmer than body temperature. Warm water will rise the dough to the right point for storage in about 2 hours. With cold water it will need 3-4 hours.
- Add the yeast to the water in a 5 quart bowl or, preferably, in a resealable, lidded (not airtight) plastic food container or food-grade bucket. Don't worry about getting it all to dissolve.
- Mix in the flour and salt - kneading is unnecessary. Add all of the flour at once, measuring it in with dry-ingredient measuring cups, by gently scooping up the flour, then sweeping the top level with a knife or spatula. Don't press down into the flour as you scoop or you'll throw off the measurement. Mix with a wooden spoon, a high-capacity food processor (14 cups or larger) fitted with the dough attachment, or a heavy duty stand mixer fitted with the dough hook until the mixture is uniform. If you're hand mixing and it becomes too difficult to incorporate all the flour with the spoon, you can reach into your mixing vessel with very wet hands and press the mixture together. Don't knead, it isn't necessary. You're finished when everything is uniformly moist, without dry patches. It takes a few minutes, and will yield a dough that is wet and loose enough to conform to the shape of its container.
- Allow to rise. Cover with lid (not airtight or it could explode the lid off). Allow the mixture to rise at room temperature until it begins to collapse (or at least flattens on the top), approx 2 hours, depending on room temperature, and initial water temperature Longer rising times, up to 5 hours, won't harm the result.
- You can use a portion of the dough any time after this period. Fully refrigerated dough is less sticky and easier to work with than dough at room temperature.
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On Baking Day:
- prepare your loaf tin, tray, or whatever you're baking it in/on. Sprinkle the surface of your refrigerated dough with four. Pull up and cut of a grapefruit-size piece of dough (c 1 lb), using a serrated knife.
- Hold the mass of dough in your hands and add a little more flour as needed so it won't stick to your hands. Gently stretch the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all 4 sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go. Most of the dusting flour will fall off - that's fine, it isn't meant to be incorporated. The bottom of the loaf may appear to be a collection of bunched ends, but it will sort itself out during resting and baking.
- The correctly shaped final product will be smooth and cohesive. The entire process should take no more than 30 - 60 seconds.
- Rest the loaf and let it rise in the form, on the tray/pizza peel, for about 40 minutes Depending on the age of the dough, you may not see much rise during this period. That's fine, more rising will occur during baking.
- Twenty minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 450°F Place an empty broiler tray for holding water on any other shelf that won't interfere with the rising bread.
- Dust and Slash. Dust the top of the loaf liberally with flour, which will allow the slashing knife to pass without sticking. Slash a quarter inch deep cross, diagonal lines, or tic-tac-toe pattern on top using a serrated knife.
- After a 20 min preheat you're ready to bake, even though the oven thermometer won't be at full temperature yet. Put your loaf in the oven. Pour about 1 cup of hot water (from the tap) into the broiler tray and close the oven to trap the steam.
- Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the crust is nicely browned and firm to the touch.
- Store the rest of the dough in the fridge in your lidded (not airtight) container and use it over the next 14 days. The flavour and texture improves, becoming like sourdough. Even 24 hours of storage improves the flavour.
- This is the standard bread. There are loads of variations - both savory and sweet - in the book.
Questions & Replies
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Hi, I made the bread and it came out really delicious! Great crust and soft on the inside. I would love it should be a little higher though. What can I do about that?
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I’ve baked off two loaves of this bread and neither browned. The first was baked with the steam/bread setting on my new Kitchenaid convection range. I’ve checked the oven with an additional thermometer and it seems to be accurate. Test 2 was with convection and a pan of water on the bottom rack. The bread was baked on a pizza stone in the top third of the oven, heated for 30 minutes. The dough does look bumpy rather than smooth like a kneaded dough - is this right?
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I love this recipe - the bread tastes and looks amazing. My only issue is that my loaves are quite small - do I maybe need to let it rise for longer than 40 minutes? Or is the issue that I only made half the recipe? This a loaf I baked with leftover dough, stored in the fridge. It’s 15cm long by 10cm.
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Can I use the leftover dough for savory or zucchini bread? If so do you have a recipe available?
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I have made this recipe numerous times but lately my dough is incredibly sticky key even after sitting for 24 to 48 hours, ideas? suggestions?
see 8 more questions
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Reviews
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I'm in love with this method and recipe. It takes a minimum of effort for great bread several times a week. I used weight instead of volume for better control (32.6 oz AP flour, 25.6 oz water, 0.49 oz active yeast, 0.88 oz kosher salt). I also used whole wheat flour for 25% of the total flour by weight).
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Extremely easy to make and very delicious...two very important things :) Haven't tried to make loaves with the dough yet, only dinner rolls and hamburger buns so far.
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I made this tonight and it was really good. I halved the recipe so I have two loaves. I cooked one right away and the other dough is in the refrigerator for tomorrow. I'm interested in seeing if it tastes different. I'm very happy with it.
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I'v never understood why this site converts cups to millilitres even for dry ingredients. That's still measuring by volume which no-one does, unless they're American. Fortunately, America is gradually appreciating the benefits of measuring by weight and modern chefs are increasingly working in grams and litres. So, for everyone who prefers it, here are the ingredients *properly* converted to metric:1kg AP flour700ml lukewarm water14g dried active yeast25g kosher saltRight. Now that's done, let me just say what an absolute revelation this method is! Breadmaking is now child's play. So I can have a lie-in while the grandchildren bake :-)Thanks for sharing; I've ordered the book.
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This bread for me turns out really amazing (almost) every time. There were a couple times for some reason the dough just didn’t cook and had that sort of raw dough taste. ...but after making this many times, you master it :) My family so absolutely LOVES this bread so much more than any bread you get from even the best bakeries. Their bread might even look ‘prettier’ at times but the FLAVOR ...oh ...my ...gawwwww. There is no comparison to the taste of bakery bread and homemade bread. It’s not even fair. The only bread I’ve bought that even comes close are those sm/med size ciabatta rolls. But even those aren’t as good. (Photo is a double batch. I add rosemary and olive oil. My wife’s favorite. I occasionally grind sea salt on top and baste with a little butter. Not always though. Experimented with one loaf in a glass pan. Meh. Better on cookie sheet.) 5-star doesn’t have to be a perfect recipe but overall this recipe provides you with what you need to make amazing bread. It’s up to you to execute. PS:: We freeze two or three loaves and use when others are gone. Freezer might dry it out just a tad but still SO good. I slice it before freezer. So you can pull out a few slices and pop in toaster. We also use for dipping in balsamic and olive oil with Italian spices.
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Tweaks
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I've tried half whole wheat and half white flour. I've also tried 3c white flour, 2 1/2 c whole wheat, and 1c rye flour. Adding the wheat or rye flour adds some depth of flavor. All are good variations, depending on what you're going for.
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
I love to cook, and I love to eat! As a result I prefer to cook and eat healthy, low cal food on the whole, but only if it tastes good :-) I'm British, lived in Germany for 12 years, but have now moved back to the UK.We try to grow and make as much of our food as we can.
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