What a beautiful sight.

Something's aglow in the basement....

I am reposting this artisan bread recipe from Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois's website http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com, because it is oh so good!  

I hope you enjoy it is as much as we have.

Happy New Years!

Andy

Master Recipe from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day:

3 cups lukewarm water (you can use cold water, but it will take the dough longer to rise. Just don’t use hot water or you may kill the yeast)

1 tablespoon granulated yeast ( you can use any kind of yeast including: instant, rapid rise, bread machine, active dry or cake yeast*. I buy the 2-pound bulk package of Red Star Yeast to drive down the cost. You can also decrease the amount of yeast in the recipe by following the directions here. Or you can bake with a sour dough starter, see instructions here.)

*If you use cake yeast you will need 1.3 ounces.

1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons Morton Kosher Salt (adjust to suit your taste or eliminate it all together. Find more information here)

6 1/2 cups (2-pounds) all-purpose flour (we tested the recipes with Gold Medal flour. If you use a higher protein flour check here)

Mixing the dough:

In a 5 or 6 quart bowl or lidded Food Storage Container, dump in the water and add the yeast and salt. Because we are mixing in the flour so quickly it doesn’t matter that the salt and yeast are thrown in together.

(If you are using the fresh cake yeast break it up like I did above.)

Dump in the flour all at once and stir with a long handled wooden spoon or a Danish Dough Whisk, which is one of the tools that makes the job so much easier!

Stir it until all of the flour is incorporated into the dough, as you can see it will be a wet rough dough.

Put the lid on the container, but do not snap it shut. You want the gases from the yeast to escape. (I had my husband put a little hole in the top of the lids so that I could close the lids and still allow the gases to get out. As you can see it doesn’t take much of a hole to accomplish this.)

Allow the dough to sit at room temperature for about 2 hours to rise. When you first mix the dough it will not occupy much of the container.

But, after the initial 2 hour rise it will pretty much fill it. (If you have decreased the yeast you will have to let it go longer than 2 hours.)  DO NOT PUNCH DOWN THE DOUGH! Just let it settle by itself.

The dough will be flat on the top and some of the bubbles may even appear to be popping. (If you intend to refrigerate the dough after this stage it can be placed in the refrigerator even if the dough is not perfectly flat. The yeast will continue to work even in the refrigerator.)The dough can be used right after the initial 2 hour rise, but it ismuch easier to handle when it is chilled.  It is intended for refrigeration and use over the next two weeks, ready for you anytime.  The flavor will deepen over that time, developing sourdough characteristics.

The next day when you pull the dough out of the refrigerator you will notice that it has collapsed and this is totally normal for our dough. It will never rise up again in the container.

Dust the surface of the dough with a little flour, just enough to prevent it from sticking to your hands when you reach in to pull a piece out.

You should notice that the dough has a lot of stretch once it has rested. (If your dough breaks off instead of stretching like this your dough is probably too dry and you can just add a few tablespoons of water and let it sit again until the dough absorbs the additional water.)

Cut off a 1-pound piece of dough using kitchen shears* and form it into a ball. For instructions on how to form the ball watch one of ourvideos.  Place the ball on a sheet of parchment paper… (or rest it on a generous layer of corn meal on top of a pizza peel.)

*I actually use a pair of Sewing Shears because I like the long blade. I just dedicated a pair to the kitchen.

Let the dough rest for at least 40 minutes, (although letting it go 60 or even 90 minutes will give you a more open hole structurein the interior of the loaf. This may also improve the look of your loaf and prevent it from splitting on the bottom. ) You will notice that the loaf does not rise much during this rest, in fact it may just spread sideways, this is normal for our dough.

You can also try our “refrigerator rise trick,” shaping the loaves and then immediately refrigerating them overnight.  By morning, they’ll have risen and are ready for the oven after a brief room-temp rest while the oven preheats (click for instructions).

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees with a Baking Stone* on the center rack, with a metal broiler tray on the bottom (never use a glass vessel for this or it will shatter), which will be used to produce steam. (The tray needs to be at least 4 or 5 inches away from your stone to prevent it from cracking.)

*(or Cast Iron Pizza Pan- which will never crack and conducts heat really well. Be careful to dry it after rinsing with water or it will rust)

Cut the loaf with 1/4-inch slashes using a serrated knife. (If your slashes are too shallow you will end up with an oddly shaped loaf and also prevent it from splitting on the bottom.)

Slide the loaf into the oven onto the preheated stone (the one I’m using is the cast iron) and add a cup of hot water to the broiler tray. Bake the bread for 30-35 minutes or until a deep brown color. As the bread bakes you should notice a nice oven spring in the dough. This is where the dough rises. To insure that you get the best results it is crucial to have an Oven Thermometer to make sure your oven is accurate.

If you used parchment paper you will want to remove it after about 20-25 minutes to crisp up the bottom crust. Continue baking the loaf directly on the stone for the last 5-10 minutes.

Allow the loaf to cool on a rack until it is room temperature. If you cut into a loaf before it is cooled you will have a tough crust and a gummy interior. It is hard to wait, but you will be happy you did! Make sure you have a nice sharp Bread Knife that will not crush the bread as you cut. Or you can tear it apart as they do in most of Europe.

If you have any leftover bread just let it sit, uncovered on the cutting board or counter with the cut side down. If you cover a bread that has a crust it will get soggy.

Enjoy and have fun baking. Bread that is made with love and joy tastes better!

Studio shots!

As promised, here are some pictures of the studio setup.  I had so much fun setting it up that I almost forgot to start making pottery.  Life sped up a little bit right after I got it turned into a functional space - so I haven't had much time to steal away.  Soon though, soon.

Wedging table screwed into the wall for stability, I used hardibacker board from Home Depot as the top wedging surface, and it seems to work well.

I found out the hard way that a chair with wheels doesn't work for throwing.  I actually ripped the casters off this chair and screwed it onto a 2x8 frame for stability.

One of my big problems for the space is a lack of plumbing.  I was surprised to pick up this wash basin sink for $20 at Value Home Center.  I drilled a hole in the bottom of a 5 gal bucket and fitted a simple spigot sealed with silicone caulking, and walah!  I have running water - enough to wash up tools and other messy items.

Shimpo RK-2 Rebuild

I've been sitting on these pictures for awhile, so I figured I'd start this ere' blog to put them in a safe place.  Many thanks to Eric for the wheel (Yuengling for potter's wheel - bartering at it's finest), to Nick at Lake Erie Toolworks for all his know how and tools, and Dave for...well, whatever he did.

The condition of the wheel when I received it:

Angle grinder with wire brush attachment

Internal parts after sandblasting and re-painting

Shiny new bearings!  Upgraded to sealed bearings from shielded

Finished wheel with new cord and new exterior bolts

                                     

 

Homemade 2-piece wooden splashpan

I hope to add some more pictures of the tiny little home studio I carved out of the basement, and maybe eventually some of finished work.  Stay tuned!

~Andy