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Ridiculously easy bread that is super crusty on the outside and steamy soft on the inside. You won’t believe how fool-proof this recipe is!
I have been OBSESSED with making homemade bread recently. Which is a little weird (and HOT!) for summertime, I know… but is homemade bread ever really out of season??
I actually have two different recipes I want to share with you, but for today– this Overnight Artisan Bread is what I’ve been making most frequently. And it’s been worth turning on the hot oven in the middle of June, I promise!
Aside from the crusty outside and heavenly soft insides, there’s something else I really, really like about this bread.
It is SO EASY to make. And I mean,SOOOOOOOOOOO easy. You don’t need a mixer at all, in fact, you don’t even have to knead the dough! Just stir it with a spoon, and then cover it up to do it’s thing overnight.
Yep– overnight!
That’s the other thing I love about this recipe. With most yeast breads, you have to be realllllly careful of the rising time. You always have to make sure that it risesjust right— not too much or it will fall, and not too little or it won’t be soft and puffy. Which means, you usually have to be around to babysit the dough for an hour or two.
But not this bread! Mix up the dough (and let’s review here– no mixer and no kneading!), and then let it just sit on the counter overnight. It can rest at room temp for 12-18 hours!! That’s a whole lot of time that you DON’T need to babysit dough.
I seriously adore low maintenance recipes like this one.
Ok, so next up…. I didn’t get a picture of this part, but it’s not hard to describe:
After the 12-18 hours of rising, the dough will be puffed up in the bowl. Don’t worry, it shouldn’t look smooth and round like typical bread dough. It will be sticky and pocked, and it should be pretty much level and flat.
Use floured hands to grab the dough out of the bowl and gently form into a round disc. Loosely wrap the dough in plastic or a bread towel while the oven is preheating.
Once the oven and the pot have preheated, place the dough in the pot, cover, and start baking. Quick tip. If you ever burn a pot, here’s an article on how to clean burnt pots and pans.!
Baking the bread in a dutch oven (or any covered pot that is oven safe up to 450ºF) is what makes this bread taste so special! The steam from baking in a covered pot bakes the inside of the bread to soft perfection, and it’s also responsible for making an incredible crust on the outside.
Steam is like the secret weapon of bread-making. It does magical things. ????
Once the bread cools (if you can wait that long before digging in), slice it up and serve it with pretty much anything! It makes fabulous sandwiches, incredible french toast, and even makes for a classy dinner bread on the side.
Enjoy!
Yield: 12 slices
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Additional Time: 17 hours5 minutes
Total Time: 18 hours
Ridiculously easy bread that is super crusty on the outside and steamy soft on the inside. You won't believe how fool-proof this recipe is!
In a large bowl, mix together all of the ingredients by hand until a sticky dough forms. Cover with a cloth and let rest overnight (12-18 hours) at room temperature.
Using well floured hands, turn dough out on to a floured surface and shape into a disc.Wrap loosely in plastic wrap or a cloth (preferable), and set aside while preheating the oven.
Preheat the oven,to 450ºF. Place dutch oven or pot in the preheated oven for 30 minutes.
Remove pot and carefully place dough inside. Cover and bake for 30 minutes.
Remove lid and bake for an additional 15 minutes.
Let cool on a cutting board after baking time is over.
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When you put your dough in the fridge it slows the yeast activity down. It takes ten times longer for dough to rise in the fridge than it does at room temperature. This means you can put your dough in the fridge overnight or whilst you are at work and come back to it when you are ready.
And boy, is it good! It's an overnight method that I have found makes the bread even more digestible due to the longer fermentation and not only that, it's so beautiful I can't stop making and eating it.
Artisan bread is thought to be a healthier option than store-bought bread. While there haven't been clinical studies to clearly define the differences, artisan bread is made from wholesome fresh ingredients whereas store-bought bread contains processed ingredients and preservatives to stretch the shelf life.
The benefits of the overnight rise go beyond flexibility. Long, slow fermentation in a cold environment leads to better, more nuanced flavor development in your bread. So you can save time and add flavor, all in one go.
You can refrigerate overnight and then let it rise until doubled in size. Then bake right before serving. Or you can simply bake as directed and freeze in Ziploc freezer bags for your carb needs anytime, anywhere.
As far as room temperature, it's important to let it warm up a bit before you get it in the oven. Yeast likes to activate in warmer temperatures, so if you bake it straight out of the fridge you could end up with a dense, flat loaf. So, just give it a few minutes to take the chill off, and you should be good to go!
Can I leave my bread to rise overnight? Yes, you can let your bread rise overnight in the fridge. Keep in mind, though, you'll want the dough to come back up to room temperature before baking.
First fermentation: Mixing prefrements with rest of dough composition. This step may last up to 8 hours in artisan breads. Second fermentation: Takes place after the dough is first punched. Proofing: After dough make up and can last from 1 hr to 1 day.
Artisanal flour is inherently no different t regular flour since the ingredients are largely the same. The differences lie in the product's quality and the quality of the goods you can make from it. Artisanal flours often produce a better aroma and flavor and are better for making crusty bread with tender insides.
Many recipes for a yeasted baked good will straight-up call for bread flour, but if they call for all-purpose flour – perhaps in an effort to make the ingredient list “pantry-friendly,” as they say – you may substitute bread flour for all or some of the all-purpose, if you would like.
If the dough isn't punched down, the carbon dioxide will continue to be released, which can cause big, uneven air pockets in your bread. Additionally, if you don't knock back the dough, it can lead to a weaker gluten structure, meaning your bread may not maintain the desired shape.
As a guide, for a kitchen where the temperature is 20C and you added yeast at 1% of the flour weight (eg 5g dried yeast in 500g flour), you should still leave your dough to rise for around an hour and a half to two hours after kneading it.
Generally, "overnight" is intended to mean eight to 10 hours, and in most cases even 12 probably wouldn't hurt. But a carefully written recipe should let us set our own schedules. Just tell us how many hours, thank you; we're old enough to choose our own bedtimes.
“If the dough has risen too long, it's going to feel fragile and might even collapse as you poke it,” says Maggie. If this is the case, there's a chance you can save your dough by giving it a quick re-shape. Learn more about this fix in our blog on saving overproofed dough.
Very overproofed dough just gets sloppy to work with and won't hold its form as well, and makes denser bread. It's delicious and probably especially nutritious. Dough would have to be sitting around for a very long time to become “unsafe”…
If you leave your bread dough to rise for too long outside at room temperature, there is a risk of overproofing the dough. It might look alright in appearance, but when you bake the bread, it will not rise much in the oven. The end result will be a dense loaf of bread.
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