Easy Artsian Bread

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

In case you were wondering what was parked next to that Crockpot Beef Barley Soup, this was it.  To be honest, I almost liked this more than the soup.  Almost.  This bread is the robin to the soup's batman.  That is all I have to say about that.
Start by combining flour
Salt
And yeast in a large bowl.
Stir to combine.
Add the water
And stir again.  Seriously, that is it!
Unless you remembered that you wanted to add rosemary, then you add that too and struggle to mix things because it would have been wayyy easier to mix in with the flour.
Moving on, cover with plastic wrap and let it sit on your counter for 12-18 hours.  I actually let mine set over night and it was just perfect.  The original recipe says it is important to not refrigerate this.  I don't really know the science behind baking (like at all) and so I can't tell you why.  Just don't do it.
The next day, preheat the Dutch oven in the oven for 30 minutes at 450 degrees.
Heavily flour a surface.  I used a dishtowel to prevent sticking as well.  This dough is stick-y.
The dough the next day.
Plop it out on the floured surface.
Cover while the Dutch oven preheats.  I just pulled the edges up of my dish towel.  It worked great and didn't end up sticking.  Lucky. Once the Dutch oven is preheated, toss this dough in the middle of the pot being very careful not to burn yourself since it will be approximately 450 degrees.  
Bake for 30 minutes with the cover on.  Remove the cover and put back in the oven for 15 more minutes.
It will come out like this.
Holy Mother of Carbs.  I want to sing from the rooftops about this bread.
But then I buttered it up
And added a bit of salt and additional rosemary. Not as much salt as I show in this picture, you wouldn't believe how hard it is to take a picture while "sprinkling" salt.  Give it a try--not easy I tell you!
Then ate half of the loaf.  Not kidding.  The End. 

Easy Artisan Bread
3 Cups all purpose flour
1 3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon yeast
1/2 teaspoon rosemary (optional) + additional for topping
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 tablespoon butter

In a large bowl mix together the flour, salt, yeast and rosemary (if you are using it).   Stir in the water until a "shaggy" mixture forms.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rest for at least 12 hours but up to overnight.  

When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 450 degrees.  Once the oven is preheated, place your Dutch oven in the oven, covered, for 30 minutes.  

Meanwhile, heavily flour (and if you have a pastry cloth use that too) your counter and place the dough on the floured surface.  Shape so that it is round and cover again until the Dutch oven is preheated for 30 minutes.  

Once preheated, add the dough to the Dutch oven and cover.  Be careful as this is tricky since the pot is so hot.  Return the Dutch oven to the oven for 30 minutes.  After 30 minutes, take the cover off the Dutch oven and let bake for another 15 minutes or so.  I baked mine for another 13 minutes and it was perfectly golden brown.  

Carefully remove the bread and place on a cooling rack.  If you wish, brush with butter while still hot and sprinkle a bit of extra rosemary on the top.  

Enjoy!! 

Recipe found: Here

28 comments :

  1. Yum! I love fresh bread and yours looks beautiful.

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  2. Oh goodness, this looks so beautiful!! I really need to try this. It looks perfect for Thanksgiving or something! Thanks for sharing!

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    1. Thanks Lady! You will need to try it--I think Baby H will likey : )

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  3. This bread looks seriously addicting! I love your zak spoon! I have several expressions in red! :)

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    1. Hey Jessica! It is SO addicting. Oh I love the Zak spoons. I need one of those mini ones.

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    1. Thanks Alex! You should, it is fantastic and so easy.

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  5. I'm so going to try this one, thanks for sharing!

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    1. JC! Thanks for stopping by. You should try this. It would be perfect for a panini as well!

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  6. So, I make the same thing - but I'll tell you something. I dump mine directly into the pot from the bowl. As pretty shaped? No. Saves me the headache? Absolutely.

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    1. Good to know! I will have to try that next time, flouring/transferring wasn't fun. It's Artisan so that really means "rustic" aka not perfect : )

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  7. Would this recipe work if I made it tonight and then bake it when I'm home from work tomorrow evening (20-22 hours later)?

    It looks super tasty and I'd love to try it with leftovers of potato soup I made tonight for dinner tomorrow. yum!

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    1. Hey Whitney! Sorry I didn't see this until now but yes, I think that would work just fine. I have some sitting on my counter, ready to go in the oven that I made at about 10 am yesterday. Let me know how it turns out! : )

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  8. Oh my gosh. This was so easy and tasty. If this lasts until tomorrow, it will make for a perfect steak and provolone panini tomorrow night!

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    1. I'm so glad you liked it! We made paninis out of it as well and LOVED it!

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  9. How do you bake this if you don't have a dutch oven???

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  10. Thanks for the great recipe. I've made this 4 time now. I reduced the salt to 1 teaspoon (1 3/4 was just too much for us). I don't have a Dutch Oven so the first time I used a high top roasting pan, worked well but, I have an oven stone, so the next time I put the bread on the stone with the lid from the roasting pan over it and a little tin of water inside. Worked great, just no peeking.

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  11. Finally commenting just to thank you for this recipe. I found it about half a year ago and have made SO MANY of these loaves since. Its really perfect. Making 2 for tomorrow! Thank you!

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  12. Just came across your post via pinterest and it looks delicious! I would love to try it, but how big is the dutch oven you use with your recipe?
    Thanks!

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    1. I ended up investing in a 5 quart size round KitchenAid,so it can play double duty for roast and it has room around to easily lift out. For my first artisan bread, it turned out to be so easy and was perfect with my minestrone soup today!

      Thanks for sharing!

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  13. Thanks for this great post! What color and brand is your dutch oven? I love the color :)

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  14. Trying this now! I never have good luck making breads. Not good with the yeast and kneading part for some reason, but I love how easy this sounds and hope it turns out great! Didn't have any rosemary, but will pick some up at the store and try it next time! Sounds so good!

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  15. You state to use all purpose flour, in the UK this is a cake and pastry flour, I use strong white bread flour for making bread so before I attempt the recipe could you please state which. Many thanks! Bread looks great by the way!

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  16. Just baked the bread with strong plain bread flour it's turned out really good! yours looks like it has more holes in though! and hints for getting more holes!

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  17. OMG! made this recipe 3 times recently and it's fantastic! so easy! my recent loaf is the best by far! I think it's due to not scrimping on the preheating time! I make it in my earthenware pot and use a Tagine lid as don't have a cast iron casserole and it just slid out, without greasing or lining with baking paper. I have put pics up on FB and on the Artisan Bread Bakers page. Leone Evrenos

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  18. Have now got a cast iron casserole with lid, bakes even better! I sprinkle the uncooked dough with fine semolina flour and on the worktop surface, gives a lovely crisp crust!

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  19. Love it...I just made this bread and it came out amazing. Thank you so much for sharing.

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