Easy french bread
You may be wondering why i have this page under the BBQ section of my website. Well, have you ever had a pulled pork or brisket sandwich without the bread? I have. Though pulled pork by itself is not to shabby, it sometimes is better served as a sandwich. The below recipe is for a very simple and yet extremely satisfying artisan french bread. No kneading or bread mixer is needed. Just a 5 quart bowl with a lid, a baking stone, a broiler pan and a wooden spoon. For starters i will let you know that in order for this bread to work out you need to have the right flour with the right gluten/protein content or it sucks up the all the water and dries out the dough. The flour i have and will always use is gold medal all purpose unbleached white flour since it has a low protien content of around 10%. I also use just plane old SAF brand instant yeast. The beauty of this dough is that it will keep in the fridge for up to two weeks. It has enough water to keep it wet and sticky for up to 14 days. So lets get started.
- 3 cups lukewarm water (98 - 100*F)
- 1.5 TBLSP yeast
- 1.5 TBLSP kosher salt
- 6.5 cups unsiffted unbleached all purpose flour
Mix the salt, yeast and water together in a 5 quart bowl. Then using a one cup capacity measuring cup. Scoop and level 6.5 cups of flour. Do not use a 2 cup capacity measuring cup since this will lend uneven results with measuring. Mix the flour into the water mixture and stir using a wooden or plastic spoon. If needs be add 1/2 a TBLSP of water if dough is not wet and sticky. Dough should stick to your hands and be very moist. Place the lid on the bowl and let rise for about 2 hours.
There are two ways to bake this:
First:Once it has risen for 2 hours, sprinkle a little flour on the surface and pull off a 1.5 pound ball of dough. Roughly the size of a large grapefruit. With the dough in your hands, shape into a ball by pulling the edges down and under the dough. Rotating a quarter of a turn each time you fold the edge under. Sprinkle alot of cornmeal or flour onto a cookie sheet or pizza peel and place the round loaf of bread onto the cornmeal. Alow to rise for about 45 minutes to an hour. If you want you can slash the top of the bread in a criss-cross pattern. Place the baking stone(or flat cookie sheet) on the center shelf and a broiler pan on the shelf below the baking stone. Preheat the oven to 415 for a softer crust or 450 for a very hard crust. Once preheated, slide the bread onto the stone and pour 1 - 2 cups hot water into the broiler pan. This will create steam which will give the bread a nice crunchy crust. Cook 30 - 45 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack.
Second:After the dough has risen for two hours. Cut off about 1 - 1.5 pounds of dough. Shape into a loaf and put it into a greesed non stick 9×4x3 bread pan. The dough should fill the pan at least halfway or a lil more. Let rest for 1.5 hours. Preheat oven to 450. Once preheated pour a cup or two into the broiler pan and place bread on center shelf. Bake for 35 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool once done.
Well there you go. It sounds complecated but it aint. The beauty is that you can refridgerate your dough if you have not used all of it. I will post another recipe for all wheat bread a little later. Also some pics are on the way.
