Artisan Bread

(Adapted from “Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day,” by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François (Thomas Dunne Books, 2007)

1 1/2 tablespoons yeast

1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt

6 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour, more for dusting dough

cornmeal or parchment paper

1. In a large bowl or plastic container, mix yeast and salt into 3 cups lukewarm water (about 100 degrees). Stir in flour, mixing until there are no dry patches. Dough will be quite loose. Cover, but not with an airtight lid. Let dough rise at room temperature 2 hours (or up to 5 hours).

2. Refrigerate, covered, overnight or for as long as two weeks. When ready to bake, sprinkle a little flour on dough and cut off a grapefruit-size piece with serrated knife. Turn dough in hands to lightly stretch surface, creating a rounded top and a lumpy bottom. Put dough on pizza peel sprinkled with cornmeal or parchment paper ; let rest 40 minutes. Repeat with remaining dough or refrigerate it.

3. Meanwhile, place broiler pan on bottom of oven. Place baking stone on middle rack and turn oven to 450 degrees; heat stone at that temperature for 20 minutes.

4. Dust dough with flour, slash top with serrated or very sharp knife three times. Slide onto stone. Pour one cup hot water into broiler pan and shut oven quickly to trap steam. Bake until well browned, about 30 minutes. Cool completely.

Yield: 4 loaves.

This bread is perfect for dipping in oil and vinegar. It's also great with honey butter!

You can use less yeast if you want. (As little as 2 tsp.) Experiment to see what you like. More yeast makes a denser chewier bread, less yeast makes it lighter and fluffier.  I generally use about 3/4 of a tablespoon.

This recipe seems intimidating at first but I could make this bread in my sleep now, we eat it all the time and it's so easy. Let me know if you have any questions.