Loaf Win!

I turned out a much better loaf of artisan bread today than I did over the weekend.  It will take some refining, but I think I have the basics down.  Not bad, huh?

Here's the recipe I used, for a no-knead artisan bread, from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes:

Makes 4 loaves.

3 cups lukewarm water
1 1/2 TBS granulated yeast
1 1/2 TBS Kosher salt
6 1/2 cups unsifted all-purpose flour

Mix water, yeast & salt in a large mixing bowl or re-sealable plastic container.  Mix in the flour until uniform.

Cover container (not airtight, so with a towel or a lid with a hole) and let the dough rise at room temp for about 2 hours until it collapses.  You can use some of the dough to make bread at this point.  Refrigerate any unused dough; it will keep in a sealed container for up to 2 weeks.

To bake, allow the portion of dough to rise 40 minutes.  Heat the oven to 450, with a baking stone or something made of cast iron in it to preheat.  Dust the dough with flour & make slashes in the top.  On a rack below the stone/cast iron put a dish of water, this will make the right amount of steamto bake a perfect loaf.  Put the dough on the stone or cast iron and bake 30 minutes until the crust is brown & firm to the touch.

Cool loaf completely on a wire rack before slicing.