Lazy Bread!

I first uploaded this post a few months ago (now is mid October) and now I finally feel I have the time to really delve in:

As we all know bread is awesome, but sometimes the amount of time and mess involved can prevent one from baking it, so we settle for less and just buy bread at the store. Now there are no excuses, I introduce you to, Lazy Bread. It is my adaptation of a method of making bread found on the internet as "How to make Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a Day" which is based on a book of that same title.

So basically, I use the same-ish amounts as the recipe, my method is a bit more varied and laid back- quite possibly resulting from the fact that my crazy children often interrupt me while I am trying to do anything!

So here goes- remember the magic ratio: 6-3-3-13.
(that's cups water-Tbp yeast-Tbp salt-cups flour)

Start with 6 cups of warm water, add 3 Tablespoons yeast, dissolve it in then add 6-8 cups of the flour*, stirring it in while you add it at about 1 cup at a time.

Let it get all crazy and bubbly for about 40 minutes** (more or less) then add the salt (I actually think that 2.5 T is better), then stir in the rest of the flour, one cup at a time. No kneading required.

Let it rise (I have done it as little as 2-3 hours when it begins to fall to as much as overnight when I had a long day and forgot about it). Then put it in a container in the fridge until you are ready to bake.

Whenever you want a bread product, preheat the oven to anywhere from 350 - 425 (less for a softer crust, more for a harder cust, for 425 and a really hard crust)

Pull a lump of dough out of your bucket, cover it with flour and pull the frumpyness together on one side and pinch the seams together. Either let it rise in an oiled breadpan if you want a traditional shape (and bake at 350) or let it rise on a cornmeal'd pizza peel or cutting board. After it had risen 2o minutes, dust the top with more flour, cut it with a knife to assist in the expansion during baking, and throw 'er in the oven. The official way is at 425 to slide the loaf onto a preheated pizza stone (glass or stonewear casserole dishes work great too) and toss about a cup of water in there when you throw the loaf in- gives it a nice hard crust.

Bake until the delicious smell is suddenly overwhelming, about 45 minutes to 1 hour depending on the heat and size of loaves.
Yeilds roughly three nice big free form loaves.

The beauty thing about this dough, is that it is always on hand for any bready purpose. I have used it for hot-dog buns, dinner rolls, bread pie, rolled it out and added a little more flour to stiffen (its a really moist dough) to make sticky-buns on the fly, really any time I need some bread based something or other, I know I can have it fresh ready in less than two hours.

My oven takes forever to preheat, so I usually end up throwing the loaf in when it gets to 350 figuring its good enough. I lack a pizza stone, so I let it rise on a coarse cornmeal'd cutting board, then carefully lift it up and literally throw it on a 9x13 pyrex (which is in the oven) when its done rising. I also have found that I usually prefer a softer loaf, so I often omit the water.

This recipe can also be adapted by folding nuts, seeds, herbs, cheese, dried fruit, etc. in when you form your loaf, or by using an egg wash for a different crust.

So versatile and always on hand. A one gallon bucket of lazy dough has become a staple of my refrigerator now for good reason. I haven't even had the desire to buy commercial bread in as long as I can remember.

* A note of flour blends: I like doing 4 cups each of barley flour, rye or whole wheat, and unbleached white with one cup of something else, like cornmeal or buckwheat thrown in. It seems like with a dough this moist that might hang out in your fridge for a week or more, you need at least three cups of unbleached white to make it hold together if you are using a lot of other grains that don't have much gluten. Making 100% whole wheat (or 50/50 ww and barley) works fine too.

** Why let it sit: From reading The Tassajara Bread Book, I have learned that salt inhibits yeast activity. So that is why I added this step to the basic method I first learned about. I think it really helps when you use a lot of whole grains and non-wheat flours. It really helps everything get all stretchy and happnin before you throw in the salt.