5 Minute Artisanal Bread - Yes, Really
In this article (and quick instructional video) you’ll learn how to make your own 5 minute artisanal bread using whole wheat, stone ground organic flour. Say hello to crunchy, delicious homemade bread and goodbye to squishy grocery store bread!
Servings 1 week of bread
Ingredients
- 3 cups 24 ounces or 680 grams warm water - about 100°F (this is for the bread dough)
- 3 cups ice water this goes into the oven to create a "steam oven"
- 1 tablespoon granulated yeast
- 1 tablespoon kosher or sea salt
- 3 tablespoons organic coconut sugar substitute 3 tablespoons brown sugar if you don't have coconut sugar
- 6 1/2 cups 2 pounds or 910 grams stone ground WHITE wheat flour
- 1/2 cup flour same kind to dust your loaf in the bowl and to dust your board/pan/working surface before you put the loaf in the oven
Instructions
- Put yeast, salt, and sugar together in a large mixing bowl. Add in 3 cups of warm water (100 degrees is perfect - warm but not hot). Mix ingredients together with a fork.
- Add 6 1/2 cups flour all at once. Mix with a spoon until no clumps of flour remain. The dough should be very sticky and moist.
- Cover the bowl of dough with a tea towel or linen cloth - a thin fabric that allows the bread to breathe. Let sit for 2 hours in a warm spot. Or, if you're not going to be baking that day, you can put the covered bowl in your fridge for 24 hours.
- Preheat oven to 450°F bake (not convect), in order to make sure the oven is fully heated before the bread goes in. Put your bread baking pan on the middle rack - we like to use a 3 quart cast iron "deep skillet" with handle or a cast iron dutch oven to make a boule (round loaf). On the bottom rack, put in another cast iron skillet (this is where your ice water will go to produce the steam).
- Dust the surface of the risen dough with flour, and pull the dough away from the sides of the pan, dusting the surface with flour as you go. You do NOT want to knead the bread at any point, as this will take air out of the dough. You're simply trying to get it out of the bowl in one piece.
- Now, pour/transfer the dough onto the surface of a lipless baking sheet or pizza peel that has flour on the surface so the dough does not stick. A cookie sheet turned upside down will work as an alternative. It needs to be lipless because you want to be able to slide the dough off into the cooking pan.
- Once the dough has been transferred to the sheet/tray, let it rest for 5-10 minutes.
- Open the oven, and place the dough into your baking pan. Next, pour your ice water mixture into the "steam oven" pan on the lower level of the oven. Close the oven as quickly as possible, then bake for 25-35 minutes (depending on your oven - each one bakes a little differently). Since the dough is so moist, it's hard to overcook this bread so err on the 35 minute side your first time making the bread.
- Once the bread is done, remove it from the oven, being CAREFUL when you open the oven door since steam will come blasting out. Dry the bread on a cooling rack for 30 minutes, then slice and enjoy your homemade, wholegrain, artisanal goodness!