Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day (ABi5): Basic Boule

[fitfool]

I love fresh bread. Many years ago, my boyfriend at the time gave me a bread machine for Christmas. I was still in college at the time and after dinner, my roommates and I would throw ingredients into the bread machine and turn it on. Then a few hours later, we'd have fresh hot bread for our study break. It was magic! I tended to make this

Comments

[fitfool]

Cool. Have you found any other variations you like?

[fishwithfeet]

I am moving soon, but I am saving this for when I'm done moving! My husband will LOVE the idea of homemade bread!

[fitfool]

Thanks! Good luck with your move :)

[xo_kizzy_xo]

I've been making this bread ever since I discovered it :) Mine tends to be a bit on the spread-out-too-much side, so I've started adding extra flour (maybe a quarter to half cup more) before sticking it in the fridge.

The other thing I do is shape it into a rough oval like a football rather than a boule. You get more slices that way ;)

[fitfool]

Good idea with the oval shape. I don't care about having more slices but I do like the idea of having slices that are closer to the same size. Does it spread too much even after the dough's been chilled? Oh...one of the other changes I had done was substituting one cup of whole wheat flour for all-purpose flour (which I later learned was their Light Whole Wheat Bread recipe). I wonder if using some whole wheat flour soaked up a little more of the liquid so that mine stopped spreading out too thin?

[xo_kizzy_xo]

It still spreads out, but for some reason it doesn't spread out as much after baking as the boule does.

The other thing -- which I'm going to do the next time I make a batch -- is to use less water. The flour/water/yeast is so dependent on the atmosphere around it, as it is in regular bread baking. Like today here it's very cloudy and somewhat rainy, so there's more moisture in the air. This would be the day to cut back the water and use a little more flour because the dough will capture moisture from the air. Conversely, on a dry day you'd want to use the amount of water specified and maybe a little more.

Whole grains are going to soak up more liquid. I made their bread using the Red Mill 10-grain soup a few months ago, and it indeed didn't spread out anywhere near as much as the white/wheat loaf. Then again, it also made a smaller loaf.

[fitfool]

Thanks for the tips on adjusting the water levels of the dough. I'm still learning how to get a feel for what the dough should feel like.

[kindmemory]

Thaaa-aaa-aank you, memming this. :)

[fitfool]

Thanks! I like it when people want to try these recipes too

[jennypoo98]

Okay, I'm hooked.

What kind of bin do you use?

[fitfool]

I started with just using a big mixing bowl that I then covered with some plastic wrap. Then I bought a plastic box from Walmart though when I had gone to the store, they let you buy just one of them instead of that set of 6 boxes. If you want to get official, you could get a Camwear Plastic Proofing Tub or this 6-quart food storage container.

I like the idea of the official ones with the measurement markings right on there but a plain plastic container was much cheaper and did what I needed. I intentionally picked one where the lid didn't form an air-tight seal since apparently there's a chance that the dough could push up so much that it could try to pop the lid off and then explode. I haven't had that problem but the book makes it sound like a possibility so they say to leave the lid on loose.