Five - Minute Artisan Bread

My first attempt at making homemade bread was a delicious success. I always thought bread making was a "hard" process, but in reading some other recipes as well as making this quick artisan bread, I realized that sometimes it's just a matter of planning your day ahead to allow for rising times, etc. And this recipe was easy! Great for a beginner like me!

I originally found the recipe on a blog I visit occasionally Cultivating Home and through reader's comments was directed to a pre-written recipe at The Splendid Table. This recipe is quick and easy. It really only took about 15 minutes to mix the dough at first, then several hours while it rose. After refrigeration, this truly was a five minute preparation into the dough ball, then waiting while it rested before baking. The second loaf I baked the following day was even easier. You can prepare several loaves at once or keep the remaining dough in the fridge for up to 12 days. *I changed one thing in the recipe - I used 50/50 white wheat flour.*

I made two mistakes, one rather embarrassing - but I'll never do it again! First, I didn't mix my dough in a big enough plastic lidded bowl for it to rise, but did manage to cram it in and quickly click the lid shut for refrigeration. Second, you are instructed to place an amount of water in the oven during baking time and silly me, even though the thought crossed my mind that I was doing something wrong, used a Pyrex glass pan for my water. When it was time to add the water to the pre-heated pan for baking, the first few drops of water shattered my glass pan. Thankfully, the bread was salvaged and I proceeded to use a metal pan to hold water after that. I just need to vacuum out the teeny shards of glass laying on the bottom of my oven yet :) !

My family loves this bread and couldn't stop raving at how yummy it was. And who doesn't love warm, fresh from the oven bread??? Now I think I'll be on the search for other bread recipes, too! It feels great to feed my family well!