I don't know about you, but I absolutely love hot bread fresh from the oven, especially if it's homemade. But who has time for that?
Not this girl.
I decided one day when I had nothing better to do (yeah, like I have those kind of days!) to surf the Web and find a way to make healthy homemade bread without a machine, a mixer, hours and hours of kneading and rising, and without a billion ingredients.
Guess what? I found it! Although the recipe was for white bread using white flour (which unless I am making it just for my husband who lives for white bread I will not touch bleached white flour), I decided to brave it and use whole wheat flour. This recipe comes from a book titled Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. The five minute part is the "hands-on" time spent; it does take several hours from start to finish. Afterall, it is not "instant" artisan bread!
So I tried it and oh my gosh--it was so good. Crispy and crusty on the outside, dense (a bit heavy but not overly so) on the inside, and spread with some almond butter it was simply Devine.
When I made the second loaf, I added in some raw sunflower seeds and brushed the top of the loaf with oil and sprinkled some seeds on it prior to baking.
Beyond Devine.
If you like (or love) healthy, nutty, crunchy, warm and comforting bread, you have to give this a try. It is so easy you will not believe it.
And if the seeds and whole wheat don't trip your trigger---go ahead and use white flour. I won't tell anyone!
Homemade Wheat Artisan Bread
(Makes Four One-Pound Loaves)
In a 5-quart bowl or a resealable, lidded, plastic food container, add yeast and salt to lukewarm water. Don't worry about getting it all to dissolve.
Add in all the flour at once. Mix with a wooden spoon (you can use very wet hands to help if needed) or a heavy-duty stand mixer fitted with the dough hook. Don't knead the dough; just mix until it is uniformly moist without dry patches.
Cover with a lid that fits well, but is not airtight. Allow to rise at room temperature until it begins to collapse, about 2 hours. (You can let it go up to 5 hours.) The dough is ready to use at this point, but will be easier to shape if it is refrigerated at least 3 hours first.
On baking day:
Prepare a pizza peel by sprinkling it liberally with cornmeal (or line it with parchment).
Sprinkle the surface of your refrigerated dough with flour.
Pull up and cut off a 1 pound (grapefruit-size) piece of dough, 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 four sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go. (Most of the dusting flour will fall off.) The bottom of the loaf may appear to be a collection of bunched ends, but it will flatten and adhere during resting and baking. Handle the dough as little as possible.
Place the shaped ball on the cornmeal-covered pizza peel. Allow the loaf to rest on the peel for about 40 minutes, uncovered. Depending on the age of the dough, you may not see much rise (more will occur during baking).
20 minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 450 degrees, with a baking stone placed on the middle rack. Place an empty broiler tray for holding water on any other shelf that won't interfere with the rising bread.
Brush the loaf lightly with oil, or even spray with non-stick cooking spray and press the sunflower seeds onto the surface.
With a quick forward jerking motion of the wrist, slide the loaf off the pizza peel and onto the preheated baking stone. Quickly but carefully pour about 1 cup of hot water from the tap into the broiler tray and close the oven door to trap the steam.
Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the crust is nicely browned and firm to the touch. Allow to cool completely (unless you're like me and have to have instant gratification), preferably on a wire rack.
Store the remaining dough in the refrigerator in your lidded (not airtight) container. Cut off and shape more loaves as you need them anytime over the next 14 days. The flavor and texture will improve after even one day's storage.
Note: If you don't have a baking stone, you can bake the loaf on a cookie sheet, but I found the crust did not come out as crusty/crispy this way. You can also try using unglazed garden tiles or buy a ceramic floor tile at the homecenter and use the backside (the unfinished side) to bake on. If you don't have a pizza peel, the back side of a cookie sheet is a good substitute.
I'm thinking this bread would be delicious with lots of other add-ins as well. I'm thinking all kinds of nuts, maybe cranberries or dried cherries, sesame seeds, whatever you like.
Give it a try the next time you're craving homemade bread but not wanting to spend hours preparing it!
Not this girl.
I decided one day when I had nothing better to do (yeah, like I have those kind of days!) to surf the Web and find a way to make healthy homemade bread without a machine, a mixer, hours and hours of kneading and rising, and without a billion ingredients.
Guess what? I found it! Although the recipe was for white bread using white flour (which unless I am making it just for my husband who lives for white bread I will not touch bleached white flour), I decided to brave it and use whole wheat flour. This recipe comes from a book titled Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. The five minute part is the "hands-on" time spent; it does take several hours from start to finish. Afterall, it is not "instant" artisan bread!
So I tried it and oh my gosh--it was so good. Crispy and crusty on the outside, dense (a bit heavy but not overly so) on the inside, and spread with some almond butter it was simply Devine.
When I made the second loaf, I added in some raw sunflower seeds and brushed the top of the loaf with oil and sprinkled some seeds on it prior to baking.
Beyond Devine.
If you like (or love) healthy, nutty, crunchy, warm and comforting bread, you have to give this a try. It is so easy you will not believe it.
And if the seeds and whole wheat don't trip your trigger---go ahead and use white flour. I won't tell anyone!
Homemade Wheat Artisan Bread
(Makes Four One-Pound Loaves)
- 3 cups warm water
- 1 1/2 TBL sea salt
- 1 1/2 TBL yeast
- 6 1/2 Cups whole wheat Flour (or a blend of white and wheat for softer bread)
- 1/2 cup Sunflower Seeds (optional)
- 1 TBL sunflower Seeds (optional)
- Olive or canola oil
Preparing the dough:
On baking day:
Note: If you don't have a baking stone, you can bake the loaf on a cookie sheet, but I found the crust did not come out as crusty/crispy this way. You can also try using unglazed garden tiles or buy a ceramic floor tile at the homecenter and use the backside (the unfinished side) to bake on. If you don't have a pizza peel, the back side of a cookie sheet is a good substitute.
I'm thinking this bread would be delicious with lots of other add-ins as well. I'm thinking all kinds of nuts, maybe cranberries or dried cherries, sesame seeds, whatever you like.
Give it a try the next time you're craving homemade bread but not wanting to spend hours preparing it!
