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Make ahead bread dough, "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day"

Checked out this book on a recommendation. Been fooling around with the recipes for a few weeks now.

The basic premise involves making about four pounds of wet dough, and after the initial rise you store it in the fridge and use a pound at a time, forming your boule and letting it rise for about 20-40 minutes before popping in the oven using the stone and steam method.

The results are quite good, and it does make it possible to have fresh bread on hand when desired with very little effort on baking day. There have been other no-knead recipes around, and I take it that make ahead dough isn't exactly a brand spanking new concept, so I'd say some of the claims in the book about being a profoundly new approach are a little overblown.

I've done the NYT no-knead in the dutch oven before, and although the results were good my dutch oven is a tad on the large size to be slinging around when it's heated to 450 degrees.

Anybody else using this method?
 
A ton, although I learned it from Peter Reinhart's "Artisan Bread Everyday." It's basically the only method I use anymore. The bread tastes better, but mainly I do it because I bake for a farmers' market, and the technique gives a better work flow when you are one person baking a bunch. Well, that and because the bread tastes better :)
 
I have Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day and love it. Without much work I can have delicious fresh bread everyday. The recipes are nearly fool proof.

I keep going back to the soft white sandwich loaf and the brioche dough for cinnamon rolls.
 
I used the no-knead method a few times and it was okay, but I usually had misshapen loaves after missing the drop in the dutch oven. I have Reinhart's book on Artisan Bread Every Day and like it a lot.
 
What kind of pan to you use? Or, can it be baked on a pizza stone?

I'm very interested!

I made pizza dough every week so this would be easy for me to do, I just need some details. :001_tt2:
 
What kind of pan to you use? Or, can it be baked on a pizza stone?

I'm very interested!

I made pizza dough every week so this would be easy for me to do, I just need some details. :001_tt2:

You can bake on pretty much anything, so long as you find a way around the sticking. I use the doughmaker grand cookie sheet, as they are the biggest that I have found that still fit in my oven with adequate clearance around the edges http://www.pleasanthillgrain.com/doughmakers_bakeware_cookie_sheet_doughmaker_cookie_sheets.aspx . I think I have 15 or so of them right now... Despite the description, they don't seem to be non stick for breads with no fat in them (they may well be non stick for cookies) so I use either a silpat or parchment on top of the sheet. I remove these at the 12-15 minute mark when you turn down the temperature, because most artisan bread recipes call for temps that are beyond the specs of silpats or parchment, and while they won't ingnite, they will get gross.

If you have a baking stone already, by all means, use it (probably with some corn meal or lots of flour on your peel so the loaf doesn't stick). Many people swear by this, since, like for pizza, you are getting more thermal mass right under what you are baking. I don't do this because for what I do, I would need to buy 6 of them, and actually, I wouldn't be able to bake on two racks per oven any more due to the increased thickness (My breads on the bottom both clear the top rack by 1/2 inch or so). The pizza stone method is supposed to give better crust and more oven spring, though I have not had any trouble with just using cookie sheets so long as I steam the oven.

for either of these methods, if you want good crust, you need to steam the oven. I have lodge fajita pans in two of my ovens, and a lodge small skillet (maybe 6 inches) in the other, all cast iron. You need cast iron for this, nothing else holds enough heat. You will also ruin the pan for any other purpose. Some folks just get a big skillet from a garage scale, which can be cost effective. Preheat the skillet while the oven is pre heating. After you put your loaf/loaves in, add 1/2-1 cup hot water to the skillet to steam the oven. I use a little watering can. Be careful not to burn yourself. Also be careful when you open the oven, it lets out a ton of steam. Last, don't get water on your oven window or the electric heating element, you can damage your oven. Some recipes/books suggest you can get a similar effect by spritzing the oven with a spray bottle, but this simply isn't true. Adding water to the cast iron pan puts 4-8 oz of moisture into the air in the oven. With the bottle, otoh, by the time you have spritzed in that much, you will have let all the heat out. Seriously.

Lots of people do loaves in either a Dutch oven or a cloche. In this case, you need not steam, as the bread steams itself. The dutch oven probably makes more sense, as you either already have one, or really should :) and it is is a multi purpose item. Lots of folks use the basic Lodge dutch oven, though an enameled one would work too. Just make sure to remove any plastic handles, etc, since these are fine for braising at 350, but not for baking at 475. I think in either case, you need to grease the inside of the dutch oven before you add the dough, but I could be wrong.
 
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Bassopotamus is doing things large!

For my family of four, I make about two batches of dough a week, and each produces about four pounds. I'm using a standing mixer with a dough hook 'cause I'm lazy. After the initial rise in the mixing bowl, I transfer my dough to a big square tupperware container, with the lid on a little loose, and in the fridge it goes.

I use one or two pounds at a time, and for boules and such I'm using a Pizza stone and a broiler pan with water for steaming the oven. For enriched breads I just use a nonstick loaf pan or cookie sheet.

My peel is a wooden cutting board. I've found that coarse cornmeal can add an unpleasant sandy texture to the bottom of my bread, so I use a commercial cornbread mix for dusting my cutting board.

Last night I made cinnamon raisin buttermilk bread. It's gone now, so when I get up in the morning I'll pop a pound of the buttermilk dough in the oven to serve with my wife's preserves for breakfast.
 
Bassopotamus is doing things large!

For my family of four, I make about two batches of dough a week, and each produces about four pounds. I'm using a standing mixer with a dough hook 'cause I'm lazy. After the initial rise in the mixing bowl, I transfer my dough to a big square tupperware container, with the lid on a little loose, and in the fridge it goes.

I use one or two pounds at a time, and for boules and such I'm using a Pizza stone and a broiler pan with water for steaming the oven. For enriched breads I just use a nonstick loaf pan or cookie sheet.

My peel is a wooden cutting board. I've found that coarse cornmeal can add an unpleasant sandy texture to the bottom of my bread, so I use a commercial cornbread mix for dusting my cutting board.

Last night I made cinnamon raisin buttermilk bread. It's gone now, so when I get up in the morning I'll pop a pound of the buttermilk dough in the oven to serve with my wife's preserves for breakfast.

Hah! Large indeed. The farmer's market thing is going well, and it is a testament, IMHO to how well the method works (and how easily it scales). Great tip on the cornbread mix. Hadn't thought of that.
 
I have that book as well as his "Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day" and they're both great. I did my bread that way until I received a new sourdough starter this past winter. Now I do sourdough every weekend to have for the week. In a pinch, I fall back to the 5 minute ones and still use them as a way to get some pretty darn good pizza crust.

Bubba
 
I have that book as well as his "Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day" and they're both great. I did my bread that way until I received a new sourdough starter this past winter. Now I do sourdough every weekend to have for the week. In a pinch, I fall back to the 5 minute ones and still use them as a way to get some pretty darn good pizza crust.

Bubba

Same here. I used to make 5 minutes artisan bread until I got hold of sourdough starter. The quality is miles apart. I recommend the 5 minute method to those who don't want to spend a lot of time making breads. But if you want to go another level in bread making, sourdough will take you there.
 
Just got back from mixing up a batch of olive oil dough, and I added some herbs, garlic powder and minced garlic to it. I'm curious to see if this pans out.
 
Garlic powder AND minced garlic?? That ought to have a kick to it!

Surprisingly, no. It was pretty light, although it was only about a tablespoon of minced garlic and a teaspon and a half of garlic powder for four pounds of dough.

It was a hit at the table. We had to cut the oldest boy off.
 
It does sound good. I have a batch of the "improved" version of no-knead bread going and will bake on Thursday. I saw variations galore, but the 18hr room temp followed by 3-5 days in the fridge fermentation seems to make sense. I'm looking forward to testing it out, especially after a lifetime of kneading! It does seem to be an awfully small amount of dough, but the recipe is easily-expandable.
 
It does sound good. I have a batch of the "improved" version of no-knead bread going and will bake on Thursday. I saw variations galore, but the 18hr room temp followed by 3-5 days in the fridge fermentation seems to make sense. I'm looking forward to testing it out, especially after a lifetime of kneading! It does seem to be an awfully small amount of dough, but the recipe is easily-expandable.

18 hours at room temp seems like kind of a long time, but I guess if the amount of yeast were small enough, it could work. I'll be interested in a report on how this works out.
 
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