Mar 23 2015
About two years ago I discovered no knead bread by Jim Leahy that you baked covered in a Dutch oven. It turned out nice crusty loaves but you had to mix it the day before and let set overnight. Besides that a 5 quart Dutch oven is heavy to mess with. I baked about a half dozen loaves this way then discovered Bread in 5 Minutes a Day.
I like it a lot better, one batch mixed up will make 4 loaves and it lasts two weeks in the fridge. It only needs a two hour rise and then it says you can bake a loaf then but the dough is easier to handle after overnight in the fridge. When I am ready to bake a loaf I can do it in less than two hours. Just form your ball and let rise for 20 to 40 minutes then bake at 450 deg. for about 35 minutes. I bake mine on a Lodge cast iron griddle I preheat in the oven. I lay some parchment paper on my metal bread peel and lay the ball on it to rise. Then I just slide it and the parchment onto the griddle and remove the parchment paper after 20 minutes.
Winter is my time to bake bread but with my back operation I never got any baked. The last loaf I baked last winter was a peasant loaf; it has a ½ cup each of whole wheat and rye flour added to white flour. I had the flour left I kept in the fridge so I wanted to do a batch before it got warm and I got busy with outdoor cooking.
I mixed the dough up Sunday afternoon and wanted to bake a loaf today to go with our supper tonight. I didn’t have the dough mixed good enough; had some dry spots in it and had trouble getting a nice ball cloaked right. It was not the prettiest loaf I have done but turned out good, nice texture and a crisp crust.
It tasted good with our supper and with the over 2 inches of snow we got this afternoon it looks like I won’t be getting outside to cook for another week with cooler weather predicted.
My flour and yeast
Dough mixed up
After a two hour rise
A forty minute rise, cut and ready to bake
Cooling
Sliced for supper
The recipe for the standard loaf is on the back of a Gold Medal All Purpose flour bag.
Smokin Don
