The Artisan Way: Boule

(This loaf was way over-floured before slashing. Thats why it looks so white. Toddler got a 

little carried away!  He was so proud! I love how he loves to cook with me. <3)

So I decided that this year I'd make all our bread from scratch.  All of it.  Well, at least lunch breads and dinner breads.   I usually make *most* of the bread that we eat, so this isn't really a new concept for me.

I came across Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day at the library.  In short, you spend about 15 minutes prepping two weeks worth of dough that you keep in the refridgerator until you are ready to shape a loaf.  It takes all of 5 minutes (active time on your part) to go from refrigerator to table.  Refrigerator, huh?  And no kneading. Yep.  Definitely intriguing.  And the main dough recipe makes a bunch of different types of bread.  Even better!  Two weeks worth for all of 15 minutes initial work and 5 minutes per loaf, WAHOO was my thinking!                    

So off to Ace Mart I went to buy dough buckets and voila, dough in the fridge.  Easy peasy, you just dump all the ingredients in the mixer (you can do by hand as well), let the machine run for a bit, and let the dough have an initial rise before transferring to the fridge to be at your beckon call in a (40 minutes or less) moments notice.

 

Last night I made a boule. The family was definitely happy with the results!  Nice crusty crust and beautiful soft, slightly chewy crumb (that's means the interior in professional bread world.. which, why would they call the interior the crumb anyway?  Doesn't make any sense to me..).  We had just visited a local dairy farm and bought fresh butter, too.  Perfect accompaniment!

If only I had pizza peel and baking stone, *sigh*.  Someday.  Will definitely be on my birthday list! 

Oh and OH MY GOSH lookie what I found at Costco!

YES, that's ORGANIC flour!

I can't tell you how excited I was to make that discovery. Well, yes, I can, I was SUPER excited! I even sent the husband a cell phone pic of it right then and there, with a message of "Can you believe? Finally!!!!!!!" hehe.