Artisan Rustic Bread (3 hour method)
Flour + water + salt + yeast. Totally handmade artisan bread that anyone can make in about 3 hours. Easy and foolproof
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. Combine bread flour and whole wheat flour in a large bowl. Add warm water and mix with hands until there are no dry patches in dough. Set aside for 20 minutes to autolyse.
  2. Add salt and yeast to dough, and combine thoroughly by squeezing dough between fingers of one hand. Do this for about 4 minutes. Dough will be quite sticky and you will need a plastic scraper to remove from fingers. Set dough aside for 20 minutes.
  3. Wet one hand and begin stretching and folding the dough by pulling a handful of dough straight up into the air, then folding the dough unto itself. You must continue doing this until the dough will not stretch easily (about 4 minutes). Be sure to turn the bowl a quarter turn so that you stretch all sides of dough. Set aside for 20 minutes.
  4. Repeat stretching and folding in step 3 and set aside for another 20 minutes..
  5. Flour your work surface and top of dough. Remove dough from bowl and unto the work surface. Shape the dough by pulling the top of the dough and folding it unto a third of itself. Repeat with the bottom side of the dough. Then also stretch each side. Pinch the dough where all sides come together. Now using a cupping motion with both hands, smooth the top of the dough and tuck into the bottom. Keep doing this until you form a tight skin on the top of the dough. You can now place shaped dough into a floured bowl* or a baking receptacle, such as a covered porcelain dish (greased). Preheat your oven to 500F. Allow dough to rise for 45 minutes to an hour depending on room temperature. I use a proofing device set at 85F for 45 minutes.
  6. If using a floured bowl or banneton, remove dough unto a piece of parchment paper. Score top with a razor blade dusted in flour. Spray top with water. Put into preheated dutch oven and place into preheated oven. Reduce oven temperature to 475F and bake covered for 25 minutes. Uncover and bake for another 10 minutes or until you get desired color on crust. Allow to cool completely before slicing!
  7. If using a porcelain container, simply score the top of the loaf then spray with water. Cover, bake, and cool as in step 6. No need to preheat porcelain.
Recipe Notes

I use flour bag kitchen towels that I dust with flour and place into the bowl or banneton. Variations: subsitute whole rye, spelt, or any other flour of your choosing for the whole wheat flour in the recipe. I especially like using Hodgson Mills Whole Grain Rye! Larger Loaf for 2qt baking dish: 322 bread flour 108 whole wheat or rye 344 water 9 salt 4 yeast You can add 8g of KA Bread Improver by substituting for 8g of flour.