Artisian Bread Recipe

Five Minutes a Day for Fresh-Baked Bread

Ingredients and Equipment

            Great breads really only require four basic ingredients: flour, water, yeast and salt. The rest is detail. Here’s a short guide to the basic ingredients and equipment you’ll need to make artisan loaves.

            Unbleached, white, all-purpose flour: Has adequate protein (around 10 percent) to create a satisfying “chew,” but low enough to prevent heaviness. We prefer unbleached flours because bleaching removes some protein, not to mention adding unnecessary chemicals.

            Whole wheat flour: Contains the germ and bran, both of which are healthful and tasty. Together they add a slightly bitter, nutty flavor that many people enjoy.

            Bread flour: For chewier bread, substitute bread flour (about 12 percent protein) for all-purpose white flour by decreasing the amount slightly (by about a quarter cup for every 6 cups of all-purpose).

            Yeast: Use what’s readily available and buy in bulk rather than packets, which are much more expensive.

            Salt: Use noniodized coarse kosher or sea salt.

            Baking stone: Use a high-­quality, ­half-­inch-­thick stone. The porous stone absorbs moisture from your dough, allowing a thin, crackling, crisp crust to form — one of the keys to artisanal baking.

            Pizza peel: This long-handled board helps slide doughs onto a hot stone. A cookie sheet or cutting board will work, but will be more difficult to handle.

            Broiler tray: A pan to hold water for steam during baking.

The Master Recipe

            The artisan free-form loaf called the French boule is the basic model for all the no-knead recipes. The round shape (boule in French means “ball”) is the easiest to master. You’ll learn how wet the dough needs to be (wet, but not so wet that the finished loaf won’t retain its form) and how to shape a loaf without kneading. And you’ll discover a truly revolutionary approach to baking: Take some dough from the fridge, shape it, leave it to rest, then let it bake while you’re preparing the rest of the meal.

            Keep your dough wet — wetter doughs favor the development of sourdough character during storage. You should become familiar with the following recipe before going through any of the others.

Mixing and Storing the Dough

            1. Heat the water to just a little warmer than body temperature (about 100 degrees Fahrenheit).

            2. Add yeast and salt to the water in a 5-quart bowl or, preferably, in a resealable, lidded container (not airtight — use container with gasket or lift a corner). Don’t worry about getting it all to dissolve.

            3. Mix in the flour by gently scooping it up, then leveling the top of the measuring cup with a knife; don’t pat down. Mix with a wooden spoon, a high-capacity food processor with dough attachment, or a heavy-duty stand mixer with dough hook, until uniformly moist. If hand-mixing becomes too difficult, use very wet hands to press it together. Don’t knead! This step is done in a matter of minutes, and yields a wet dough loose enough to conform to the container.

            4. Cover loosely. Do not use screw-topped jars, which could explode from trapped gases. Allow the mixture to rise at room temperature until it begins to collapse (or at least flatten on top), approximately two hours, depending on temperature. Longer rising times, up to about five hours, will not harm the result. You can use a portion of the dough any time after this period. Refrigerated wet dough is less sticky and easier to work with than room-temperature dough. We recommend refrigerating the dough at least three hours before shaping a loaf. And relax! You don’t need to monitor doubling or tripling of volume as in traditional recipes.

On Baking Day

            5. Prepare a pizza peel by sprinkling it liberally with cornmeal to prevent the loaf from sticking to it when you slide it into the oven.

            Sprinkle the surface of the dough with flour, then cut off a 1-pound (grapefruit-sized) piece with 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 four “sides,” rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go, until the bottom is a collection of four bunched ends. Most of the dusting flour will fall off; it doesn’t need to be incorporated. The bottom of the loaf will flatten out during resting and baking.

            6. Place the ball on the pizza peel. Let it rest uncovered for about 40 minutes. Depending on the dough’s age, you may see little rise during this period; more rising will occur during baking.

            7. Twenty minutes before baking, preheat oven to 450 degrees with a baking stone on the middle rack. Place an empty broiler tray for holding water on another shelf.

            8. Dust the top of the loaf liberally with flour, which will allow the slashing, serrated knife to pass without sticking. Slash a 1⁄4-inch-deep cross, scallop or tick-tack-toe pattern into the top. (This helps the bread expand during baking.)

            9. With a forward jerking motion of the wrist, slide the loaf off the pizza peel and onto the baking stone. Quickly but carefully pour about a cup of hot water into the broiler tray and close the oven door to trap the steam. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the crust is browned and firm to the touch. With wet dough, there’s little risk of drying out the interior, despite the dark crust. When you remove the loaf from the oven, it will audibly crackle, or “sing,” when initially exposed to room temperature air. Allow to cool completely, preferably on a wire rack, for best flavor, texture and slicing. The perfect crust may initially soften, but will firm up again when cooled.

            10. Refrigerate the remaining dough in your lidded (not airtight) container and use it over the next two weeks: You’ll find that even one day’s storage improves the flavor and texture of your bread. This maturation continues over the two-week period. Cut off and shape loaves as you need them. The dough can also be frozen in 1-pound portions in an airtight container and defrosted overnight in the refrigerator prior to baking day.

The Master Recipe: Boule

(Artisan Free-Form Loaf)

Makes 4 1-pound loaves

3 cups lukewarm water
1 1⁄2 tbsp granulated yeast (1 1⁄2 packets)
1 1⁄2 tbsp coarse kosher or sea salt
6 1⁄2 cups unsifted, unbleached, all-purpose white flour
Cornmeal for pizza peel

Tips to Amaze Your Friends

The “6-3-3-13” rule. To store enough for eight loaves, remember 6-3-3-13. It’s 6 cups water, 3 tablespoons salt, 3 tablespoons yeast, and then add 13 cups of flour. It’ll amaze your friends when you do this in their homes without a ­recipe!

Lazy sourdough shortcut. When your dough container is empty, don’t wash it! Just scrape it down and incorporate it into the next batch. In addition to saving cleanup, the aged dough stuck to the sides will give your new batch a head start on sourdough flavor.

Variation: Herb Bread. Add a couple teaspoons of your favorite dried herbs (double if fresh) to the water mixture.

Neapolitan Pizza Dough

The secrets to this pizza are to keep the crust thin, don’t overload it, and to bake it quickly at a high temperature so it ­doesn’t cook down to a soup. It’s unlike anything most of us are used to eating — especially if you make fresh mozzarella!

1 pound ­pre-­mixed boule dough
Cornmeal for covering the pizza peel
Topping: your favorite seasonal ingredients

1. 20 minutes before baking, preheat the oven with a baking stone (scraped clean) at your oven’s maximum temperature — the hotter, the better. (Another option is to use the baking stone over a grill, which takes about two-thirds of the time.)
2. Prepare the toppings in advance. The key to a pizza that slides right off the peel is to work ­quickly.
3. Follow Step 5 of The Master Recipe (above).
4. Flatten the dough into a 1/8-inch-thick round with your hands and a rolling pin on a wooden board. Dust with flour to keep the dough from sticking. (A little sticking can help overcome the dough’s re­sis­tance to stretching, though, so don’t overuse flour.) You also can let the partially rolled dough relax for a few minutes to allow further rolling. Stretching by hand may help, followed by additional rolling. Place the rolled-­out dough onto a liberally ­cornmeal-­covered pizza peel.
5. Distribute your toppings over the surface, leaving some of its surface exposed so you can appreciate the individual ingredients — and the magnificent crust! — of the final product. No further resting is needed.
6. Turn on the exhaust fan (or use lower heat and bake a few minutes longer), because some of the cornmeal will smoke. Slide the pizza onto the stone (­back-­and-­forth shakes can help dislodge it). Check for doneness in 8 to 10 minutes. Turn the pizza around if one side is browning too fast. It may need up to 5 more minutes.
7. Allow to cool slightly on a rack before serving.

Makes 1 ­12- to 14-inch pizza to serve 2 to 4.

100 Percent Whole-Wheat Sandwich Bread

Whole wheat flour has a nutty, slightly bitter flavor, and it caramelizes easily, yielding a rich, brown loaf. Milk and honey are tenderizers, and their sweetness complements the bitter notes. Although we’ve showcased a loaf-pan method here, this dough also makes lovely free-form loaves on a baking stone.

1 1⁄2 tbsp granulated yeast (1 1⁄2 packets)
1 tbsp plus 1 tsp salt
1/2 cup honey
5 tbsp neutral-flavored oil, plus more for greasing the pan
1 1⁄2 cups lukewarm milk
1 1⁄2 cups lukewarm water
6 2⁄3 cups whole wheat flour

1. Mix the yeast, salt, honey, oil, milk and water in a 5-quart bowl or other container.
2. Mix in the flour using a spoon, high-capacity food processor with dough attachment, or a heavy-duty stand mixer with dough hook.
3. Cover loosely, and allow to rest at room temperature until the dough rises and collapses (or flattens on top); about 2 to 3 hours.
4. The dough can be used immediately after the initial rise, though it is easier to handle when cold. Refrigerate in a lidded (not airtight) container and use over the next several days.
5. On baking day, lightly grease a 9-by-4-by-3-inch loaf pan. Using wet hands, scoop out a 11⁄2 pound (cantaloupe-sized) hunk of dough. Keeping your hands wet (it’ll be sticky!), quickly shape it into a ball following the method in Step 5 of The Master Recipe (above).
6. Drop the loaf into the prepared pan. You’ll want enough dough to fill the pan slightly more than half-full.
7. Allow the dough to rest for 1 hour and 40 minutes. Flour the top of the loaf and slash, using the tip of a serrated bread knife.
8. 5 minutes before baking time, preheat the oven to 350 degrees, with an empty broiler tray on another shelf.
9. Place the loaf in the center of the oven. Pour 1 cup of hot water into the broiler tray and quickly close the door. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until deeply browned and firm.
10. Allow to cool completely before slicing in order to cut reasonable sandwich slices.

Makes 3 1 1⁄2 pound loaves.

Sticky Pecan Caramel Rolls

This crowd-pleaser was our first attempt to make dessert from stored bread dough. It was so successful that it reshaped our view of what this technique could accomplish. The flavors were enhanced by using stored dough, and the butter and sugar seeped into the folds, approximating enriched sweet doughs.

1 1⁄2 pounds pre-mixed boule dough

TOPPING                                                                   FILLING
6 tbsp unsalted butter, softened                                  4 tbsp salted butter, softened
1/2 tsp salt                                                                   1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar                                                   1 tsp ground cinnamon
30 pecan halves                                                          1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
                                                                                    Pinch of ground black pepper
                                                                                    1/2 cup toasted pecans, chopped

Cream together the butter, salt and brown sugar. Spread evenly in a 9-inch cake pan. Scatter the pecan halves over the mixture and set aside.

1. Dust the refrigerated dough with flour and cut off a cantaloupe-sized piece. Dust the piece with flour and shape it into a ball following the method in Step 5 of The Master Recipe (above).
2. With a rolling pin, roll out the dough to a 1/8-inch thick rectangle. Add only enough flour to prevent it from sticking.
3. Cream together the butter, sugar and spices for the filling. Spread evenly over the dough and sprinkle with chopped nuts. Roll the dough into a log. If it’s too soft to cut, chill for 20 minutes.
4. With a serrated knife, cut the log into 8 pieces and arrange over the pecans, with the “swirled” edge facing up. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and allow to rest and rise 1 hour (or 40 minutes if you’re using fresh, unrefrigerated dough).
5. 5 minutes before baking time, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
6. Bake about 40 minutes, or until golden brown and set in center. While still hot, run a knife around the pan to release the rolls, and invert immediately onto a serving dish.

Makes 6 to 8 large rolls.

Pumpkin Fudge

Pumpkin Fudge

3 cups sugar
3/4 cup melted butter
2/3 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
2 Tablespoons corn syrup
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 (12 oz) package white chocolate morsels
1 (7 oz) jar marshmellow creme
1 cup chopped pecans, toasted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Stir together the first six ingredients in a 3 1/2 quart
saucepan over medium high heat, cook and stir
constantly until the mixture comes to a boil.
Cook stirring constantly until candy thermometer
reads 234 degrees (soft ball stage) or for about
12 minutes. Remove pan from heat, stir in remaining
ingredients until well blended. Pour into a greased
aluminum foil-lined pan (9 inch square) and let it
stand 2 hours or until completely cool. Cut fudge into
squares...makes about three pounds.

Basic Cracker Dough

My kiddos Love this!!!!!

Basic Cracker Dough

1/2 cup of softened butter, not too soft, just room temp
1 1/2 cups of flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt


Thats the basic mix. Yeah, I know, simple huh? You can mix this up in a nice batch, roll it out onto wax paper, roll it up, and slice it out thinly to put in the oven to bake. You can even shape it into squares before cutting by using the wax paper to hold it while you shape it, or triangles...make sure you chill this for 30 minutes before slicing.

Once sliced, lay them out, bake 10 - 12 minutes, and sprinkle with salt right after coming out!

Adding more butter will give them a nice buttery taste...

Adding hot sauce, paprika, chili powder, and cheddar cheese will make a Mexican cracker...sprinkle with more paprika when theyre baked...

Adding garlic, parmesian cheese, oregano, parsley, and thyme will give it an Italian taste...

Add red pepper flakes and hot sauce for a spicey cracker for tomato soups..

Add ranch dressing or onion soup to it and youve got some very rich, but yummy crackers that go great with cream cheese dip...

You can add anything to this batter and it bakes up nice! Just make sure you dont make it too liquidy to keep them together as they bake!

Cranberry Salad

Spinach and Strawberry Salad

Spinach & Strawberry Salad

Spinach & Strawberry Salad

2 (200gr) packages of fresh baby spinach

2 boxes fresh strawberries, sliced

Sesame-Poppy Seed Dressing (see recipe below)

Toppings: chopped cooked bacon, chopped fresh broccoli, sliced red onion

            Combine spinach and strawberries in large bowl. Toss with ½ cup dressing just before serving. Serve with remaining dressing and desired toppings. Serves 8-10.

Sesame-Poppy Seed Dressing

1 cup sugar

½ cup cider vinegar

1 tablespoon minced onion

½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup olive oil

¼ cup sesame seeds, toasted

2 tablespoons poppy seeds

            Pulse first 5 ingredients in a blender 2 or 3 times or until smooth. With blender running, add oil in a slow, steady stream; process until smooth. Stir in seeds; chill 24 hours.

Caramel Apple Cupcakes

Caramel Apple Cupcakes

1 package (18 1/4 ounces) yellow or butter cake mix, plus ingredients to prepare mix

1 cup chopped dried apples

Caramel Frosting (recipe follows)

Chopped nuts

     Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line 24 standard muffin pan cups with paper baking cups.

     Prepare cake mix according to package directions.  Stir in apples.  Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling 2/3 full.  Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until toothpicks inserted into centers come out clean.  Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes.  Remove cupcakes to racks; cool completely. 

     Prepare Caramel Frosting.  Frost cupcakes; sprinkle with nuts.

     Caramel Frosting:  Melt 3 tablespoons butter in 2-quart saucepan.  Stir in 1 cup packed light brown sugar, 1/2 cup evaporated milk and 1/8 teaspoon salt.  Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat; cool to lukewarm.  Add 3 3/4 cups powdered sugar; beat until frosting is of spreading consistency.  Add 3/4 teaspoon vanilla; beat until smooth.  Makes about 5 cups.

Caramel and Toffee Recipes

Annis Fowles Butter Toffee

2 cubes of butter
1 cube sugar
3 Tbsp of water

Stir continually until like coffee. Cover with chocolate chips and nuts.

Becky Peterson’s Caramels

2 cups of sugar
2 cups of cream
¾ cup of evap. Milk
1 1/3 cup of corn syrup
2 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp of salt
4 tbsp. Butter

Mix sugar, corn syrup, salt and ½ of the cream in a pan.  Cook to a boil.  Mix the rest of the cream and evap. Milk together.  Dribble into boiling mixture slowly so that it doesn’t stop boiling.  Add butter and cook to medium ball stage.  Remove from heat; add vanilla and pour into a buttered dish.

Butternut Squash Soup

Butternut Squash Soup

1 Medium Butternut Squash, peeled, seeded, and cubed
1 medium vadalia onion, diced
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 inch piece of fresh ginger, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
Fresh Filtered Water

In a medium saucepan, add olive oil and onion and sauce until soft. Add ginger and garlic and mix. Add butternut squash and just enough water to the pot to cover squash. Cover and bring to a boil. Turn heat down and simmer for about 30 minutes, or until butternut squash is soft. Add mixture to blender or use an immersion blender to blend soup until smooth. Serve and eat!

Shepherd's Pie

This is a family favorite!!!!

Shepherd's Pie

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Instructions:

1. Brown ground beef with onion, pepper, and garlic. Drain grease.

2. In a large bowl, combine the meat, crushed red pepper, salt, pepper, and mixed vegetables.

3. Grease a (deep) 10-inch glass pie plate. (You could also use an 8-inch square glass dish.) Spread the meat and vegetable mixture in the dish. Top with a layer of the mashed potatoes, sealing to the edges. Sprinkle cheddar cheese on top.

4. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Just before baking, pour milk over cheese. Bake for 35-45 minutes, until pie is hot and cheese is lightly browned.

Fresh Peach Crisp

Fresh Peach Crisp

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1. Grease a 9x13-inch baking dish.

2. In a large bowl, mix 6 tablespoons flour, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and 6 tablespoons brown sugar. Add sliced peaches and toss to coat. Spread peaches in prepared pan.

3. In another bowl, combine crumb topping ingredients and stir/cut together with a fork until crumbly. Sprinkle over the peaches.

4. Bake peach crisp in a pre-heated 375 degree oven for about 35-45 minutes or until peaches test done with a fork. Enjoy hot or cold or with ice cream! :)

Crockpot Creamy Scallop Potatoes

Crockpot Morning Casserole

Instant Oatmeal

Crockpot Oatmeal

Big Batch Buttermilk Biscuits

Homeade Grapenuts

Home made Grapenuts

3 ½ c. whole wheat flour
¾ cup to 1 c. sucanut or honey
2 cups milk mixed with 2 T. vinegar
2/3 t. salt
1 t. baking soda

Beat in order until smooth.  Spread onto a cookie sheet sprayed with Pam.  Bake for 15 min. at 375.  When cool, grind in a food processor.  Then return back to sheet for about an hour in the oven, turning every 15 min, or so until crisp but not to burnt.  Note that it is a lot like baking granola after you have processed it and return it to the oven so keep an eye on it.

I make this double or triple batch to have enough. This alone will take 2 baking sheets so be prepared if you double or triple it!!!
Great to make on a cold day!!!!!

German Pancakes

Large Granola Recipe

This wonderful granola recipe if found at Crystal's
thefamilyhomstead.com. I LOVE HER, I can't say enough about this lady and the wealth of information she has to give!!!!!


Large Granola Recipe

12 cups uncooked oats
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
½ cup powdered milk
1 T. cinnamon
1 ½ t. salt
1 cup light olive oil
1 1/3 cup of honey
1 T. vanilla
2 cup raisins
2 cups of nuts of your choice, chopped

You will need a very large bowl for mixing. Combine the oats, coconut, flour, powdered milk, cinnamon and salt well in the large bowl and mix well.  In a saucepan heat the oil, honey and vanilla until just warm.  This helps the mixture pour easily.  Pour this over the oat mixture and stir well.
I start out by stirring it with a large spoon, but end up mixing it with my hands to insure that everything is evenly mixed.  Spread this in a thin layer on  2-3 large cookie sheets and bake in the oven at 300 for 45-50 min.  You will need to stir it about every 15 min.  I bake two trays at a time and switch the position of the trays each time I stir so that the granola browns evenly.  When the mixture is done you can pour it back into the large pan and let it cool.  When completely cool, stir in the raisins and nuts.  You can store the finished granola in an air tight container or even in a couple large Ziploc type bags.   This recipe will make approx. 20 cups of granola.

Home made Bleach

Graham Crackers

This recipe for graham crackers comes from www.thefamilyhomestead.com . Crystal  is like my HERO!!!! I have gotten many recipes from soup to laundry soap!!! She is great! You will see me giving credit to her for many of our common recipes.

Yummy Graham Crackers!

1/3 cup of olive oil

1/3 cup of honey

¼ cup of milk

2 T. molasses

1 t. vanilla

2 ½ to 3 cups of whole wheat pastry flour

1 t. baking powder

½ t. baking soda

¼ t. salt

1 t. cinnamon

In a large mixing bowl using a wire whisk, mix and combine oil, milk, honey, molasses, and vanilla.  In a smaller bowl, combine 2 ½ cups  of flour, baking powder, soda, salt, cinnamon. Add this to the liquid mixture.  At some point you will want to switch the wire whip to a large mixing spoon. Add the extra ½ cup of flour if your dough is sticky.  A little sticky is ok.  By the time you finish adding the extra flour you will be doing the mixing with your hands.

Preheat the oven to 300*.  While the oven is heating up, divide dough in half.  Spray a large cookie sheet with non-stick spray.  Now roll out one of the dough halves onto the cookie sheet.  A cookie sheet without sides is the easiest.

Using a pizza cutter, cut dough into squares and poke with fork. Bake for about 20 to 25 min. Let cool on sheet and separate and carefully remove them.