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Artisan Bread

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artisan
2K views 17 replies 8 participants last post by  Trapper 
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#1 ·
Food Biga Ingredient Bun Sourdough
Food Table Tableware Dishware Drinkware
I love artisan bread. Getting a great crust is sometimes a bit of a challenge, but worth the effort.

This one began with a 24-hour sponge aka biga aka poolish. Then I made the dough and let it rise in a bowl lined with parchment paper. I preheated the oven and cast iron Dutchie.

When the dough was ready I scored it, sprinkled some semolina on top and then lifted it with the parchment paper into the hot Dutchie and put the lid on it.

After 25 minutes I lifted it out of the Dutchie and slid it onto the bare rack in the oven for another 20 minutes.

It went great with the homemade clam chowder.
 
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#5 ·
Mark, the toaster of choice here is the Panasonic Flash Express toaster oven. It is a quirky little infrared unit that has attained cult status among it's users. It has put a couple of other supposedly good toasters in the landfill for me. It will handle several slices of regular bread and easily accommodate artisan bread. And it does a helluva lot more than toast bread. Around $120 most everywhere.
 
#8 ·
Ive, we use an Oster TJC4 4 slice toaster. Toasts 4 regular slices or two artisan slices. Does bagels as well and has a nice "cancel" feature along with a lever to lift toast above the top of the toaster for easy retrieval.
A Black and Decker 6 slice toaster/convection oven sits beside the BBQ on the patio. It handles the garlic toast, roasts, 9' pizzas, etc. Very happy with it as well.
 
#6 ·
Trapper, have you given any thought to sharing your recipe? Some folks are intimidated about making bread and don't know how easy and delicious it is. Not to mention how cheap it is at about 1/4 the price of store bought and with much better ingredients. We bake about twice a week so there are usually several bigas fermenting in the kitchen during the week. I have been cold fermenting in the fridge and leaving finished dough in for 4 or 5 days then making it into breadsticks. Any beer lover would appreciate the smell of that dough after 5 days!
 
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#9 ·
I have no problem sharing recipes. The only hiccup is I have most of them in my head. I have a recipe book that I use mostly for making sure I have all the necessary ingredients, but the cooking and baking instructions are way outdated as the methods have evolved over time and I never bothered to update the steps.

I really enjoying tinkering with food, so I'm constantly ablibbing.

I'm the same when I'm tying flies. When I did fly tying demos people would say things like, "That's not how Al Troth tied an Elk Hair Caddis . . ."

I would reply, "That's true, but Al was never handed a gallon glass jar and told, 'Come back when this jar is filled to the top with #16 Elk Hair Caddis.' "

I'll try and block out some time to put this recipe here.
 
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#11 ·
I only own one regular (no feet, round lid) Dutch Oven. I just got it from a neighbor who didn't want it because it was rusted. It's a 10" Lodge DO.

I cleaned it up and reseasoned it, and made a loaf of bread in it. I've been thinking I could get a nice hard crust on an artisan loaf by trapping the moisture from the bread inside the Dutchie.

This is what I did.

I first made the sponge.

Ingredients
1/4 tsp yeast
200 ml 115º water
1 C Stone ground wheat flour
1 C Bread Flour

Stir yeast into water until creamy. Stir in both cups of flour until firm.
Cover and store in a cool place for ~ 24 hours.

Dough Ingredients
1 tsp yeast
2 tsp brown sugar
1 1/2 C 115º water
4 Tbs olive oil
4 C bread flour
3 tsp kosher salt
(optional) Coarse Semolina for dusting

Stir the sugar into the water, then the yeast. Let stand until creamy. (I used a Kitchen Aid mixer with a dough hook) blend together the yeast mixture, sponge, water, oil, salt, and flour. Continue kneading for 8 minutes. The dough should be firm and clear the sides of the bowl. If not, slowly work in additional flour.

Line a medium (10") sized bowl with parchment paper leaving about 4" hanging over two sides. Put dough into bowl on top of parchment paper and cover. When the dough rises to the approximate height of the DO, score the top with a sharp knife and sprinkle the top with semolina.

Put the DO with lid in your oven and pre-heat to 450º.

When heated, lift the dough out of the bowl with the parchment paper. Carefully lower the dough and parchment paper into the hot DO. Put lid on and bake for 25 min.

Remove the DO from the oven. Carefully lift the bread using the parchment paper and place the bread on the bare oven rack. Reduce heat to 400º for 20 minutes.

If you want browner bread just leave it in the DO longer. If you are unsure of your oven temps, or are unsure the bread is done at it's center, stick the done loaf with a thermometer or cake pin. It should come out free of uncooked dough when done.

Trapper
 
#13 ·
Well Trapper, I'm interested and since I have the same exact DO I'll follow your instructions step by step and see how it turns out. The procedure is almost identical to how I make my No-Knead bread and the results are just spectacular with a noisy crisp crust and a creamy crumb.

Thanks for making the effort and don't think of it as an hour wasted. The formula is out there now and will be useful to some even if they are not gracious enough to thank you for it.

Thanks again, Ive
 
#17 ·
I only own one regular (no feet, round lid) Dutch Oven. I just got it from a neighbor who didn't want it because it was rusted. It's a 10" Lodge DO.

I cleaned it up and reseasoned it, and made a loaf of bread in it. I've been thinking I could get a nice hard crust on an artisan loaf by trapping the moisture from the bread inside the Dutchie.

This is what I did.

Trapper
I know what I'm doing this Sunday.....
thank you Trapper. My sons & I love this kind of bread.
 
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