Artisan Breads...for the first time

It is so hot here and why I decided to bake bread is beyond me because it did help cool off the kitchen that's for sure!

Today I actually baked off the second loaf from what I mixed up last week. I have been wanting to try to make my own bread for a long time. I have never made a yeast bread by hand. Last week I was looking on Foodgawker, which I love right now, and came across a few different bread recipes. The one I chose to try was off of Chef Dennis's blog. I decided to try this because it seemed to be a large batch and is a no knead dough. One thing you need to remember is read recipes through before you start cooking. I thought I did this but I missed a little which caused me to bake the first loaf the day after I made the dough. There are only 4 ingredients and you need to let it rise on the counter for two hours then in the refrigerator for another three (that is what I missed). The nice thing is they say you can keep the dough in the refrigerator for up to 14 days. The longer it is let to ferment the more sour it will be. So that is why I left half the dough sit until today, a week later.

First batch...

 The first loaf had really good flavor but didn't look very pretty. It had a nice crusty crust and was soft inside. The thing with fresh breads they can go bad much faster than store bought. We ate about half this loaf and I made french toast with the rest.

Basic Cinnamon French Toast

The second loaf was about the same as the first texture wise but I think it looked much better. I couldn't really tell if it was any more sour, it did smell more fermented. This was wonderful warm with butter. I am sure it would have been great with olive oil, salt and rosemary but I didn't think about that before hand.



Second Batch



Follow this link to the recipe... Artisan Bread and Pizza

I will make bread again, I will probably try a different recipe just to try something new.