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The Bella Vista Baker: Artisan Bread Making, Part 1

February 2, 2011 2 Comments
Posted by Lyndi
I have decided to dub my dad as “The Bella Vista Baker.”  He is my baking hero. 
On a recent Thursday afternoon I stopped by his house to learn how he prepares the yeast dough for artisan bread. What a treat!  Less than twenty-four hours later I was back and ready to watch the loaves bake as they filled the house with that hard-to-beat incense of freshly baked bread.  It does not get much better than that, right?
Just sit back and enjoy this two-part photo documentary of my father’s recipe for baking artisan bread.  All the comments are his, all the photo editing is his, and I made sure I captured all his little helpful hints in the photo captions.
Please note, the basic recipe inspired by and adapted from No Need to Knead by Suzanne Dunaway.
Artisan French Baguette 
Part 1:  Preparing the Dough
Dad’s words of wisdom:  “The great thing about this recipe is that you don’t have to be precise!  The options are endless!”

MIX DRY INGREDIENTS
Dad’s words of wisdom: “Here’s the secret to this bread:  Keep the mixing gentle!  No violence whatsoever.  No kneading, no punching down… gentle.”
1.  Measure 5 cups of bread flour. 
“because of the high gluten content”
2.      1 tablespoon Vital Wheat Gluten. 
“the secret to making any bread – it’s the chewing gum that holds the gas in”
3. 1 ½ teaspoon salt. 
“when I use chicken broth as a liquid, I use less salt”
4.      ½ cup raisins. 
“generally all I need, of course add as much or as little as you wish”
5. 1 tablespoon of spice, such as Mediterranean Mix by McCormick. 
“it can be any kind of spice you want:  anise seed, Italian seasoning, or even open a mint tea bag!  It will dissipate.  Or, don’t put any spice in”
6. Mix all dry ingredients together. 
“remember, keep the mixing gentle”

PREP LIQUID INGREDIENTS
Dad’s words of wisdom:  “Now the fun part… the liquid ingredients need to be 85 degrees to 95 degrees to start off.  I even start off at 100 degrees in order to make sure your yeast is about 95 degrees, human temperature, to be most efficient.”
7. Heat a pot of water and have it ready.  
“my electric kettle heats water lickity-split”
8.  In a glass measuring cup, add 1 cup of sour cream. 
“notice I am not being careful about measuring.  It’s not exact.  The other day I put in a bottle of beer instead of sour cream! 
Or, it can be chicken broth.  Your call.”
9. Insert your thermometer in the bowl and start adding cold and hot water (from the tea kettle) until you reach the 3 cup line.  You want the thermometer to measure about 95 degrees. 
“it becomes a game of hot and cold until you reach the right temperature”
“just right”
10. Pour 1 ½ cups into large mixing bowl.

11. Add 2 tablespoons of Active Dry Yeast. Rest for a couple of minutes. 
“whisk all together until yeast gets incorporated”

MIXING TOGETHER DRY & LIQUID INGREDIENTS
12. Add 2 cups of dry ingredients into the liquid bowl.

13. Wisk together.
 

14. Add 1½ cups dry ingredients into liquid ingredients.

15.  Mix with wooden spoon. If it is dry, add more liquid.  You can tell if it’s too dry if there are dry ingredients on the bottom of the bowl.  

“it smells so good at this point”
16. Dad’s words of wisdom:  “Continue adding dry ingredients to the liquid and keep mixing with wooden spoon. The trick is to keep it moist, but not too much moisture or the thing may collapse.  This type of bread has to be wet and I’ve found that 3 cups of liquid to the dry ingredients does the job, perfectly.  If there isn’t enough liquid, when you form the loaves they just won’t rise fully.”

17.  It is now moist, wet, shiny and oozing off the spoon.  

“typical bread dough recipes do not normally do that… but this is what we want!”
18. Cover bowl.

19.  Put in Refrigerator for 12-18 hours. That is why this recipe is called artisan.  The slower the yeast rises, the better the flavor! 

“I normally make the dough around 10pm, take it out at 5am the next morning and let it sit on countertop (2 hours) until it is ready to go at 7am”
And this is where we, too, will rest for 12-18 hours.  What do you think so far?
Come back tomorrow when we will learn about Part 2 of Artisan Bread…The Finished Product.

You might also like...

A delightful breakfast is waiting for you at Café Amici in Bella Vista. Granola is easy to make! Here’s how! Artisan French Baguette Part 2: The Finished Product

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Recipe Rating




  1. stacey says

    February 7, 2011 at 2:58 pm

    Hey, this is a great post! I hope there will be more like this on your blog. I'm off to read the next part.

    I'm not sure if I will make it with the raisins or not…can I use chocolate chips instead 🙂

    StaC

    Reply
  2. nwafoodie says

    February 7, 2011 at 5:44 pm

    Of course!!! Chocolate chips would be great… maybe not with chicken soup as the liquid, of course. 🙂

    Reply

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Are you using your pressure cooker to its fullest Are you using your pressure cooker to its fullest potential? I've barely scratched the surface but I gotta' tell you... I use it all week long for soups! Recently I decided that I wanted to use it to make a dessert and started browsing around on Pinterest. I decided to make creme brulee in my Instant Pot! After playing around with it, I posted (link in bio) a recipe for creme brulee with a touch of lemon.🍋
I don't really have a sweet tooth yet I always hav I don't really have a sweet tooth yet I always have a "little something" in the pantry to satisfy the little bit of sweet tooth that I have! After a zillion years of blogging, I can count on one hand the number of desserts that I've blogged about. So, when I do create a recipe and actually post it, I'm like, "Look at me, I'm a baker now!" hahaha Actually, it's not all about baking. For example, I just posted a recipe for Instant Pot creme brulee with a touch of lemon. Link in bio, of course! The ingredients are super simple and the pressure cooker makes it super fast and easy. Best of all? It is #lowcarb and #keto!
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The stars of this healthy salad are the hearty veggies: sweet potatoes and radishes. You’re going to roast them first. That’s right, roast!
A healthy salad is wholesome. Substantial. Strong A healthy salad is wholesome. Substantial. Strong enough to sail on its own, yet perfectly willing to tag along with the main course. In fact, I think you’ll love serving this salad whenever you may have someone at the dinner table that is drawn to more-veggies and less-meat.⁠
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It’s pretty isn’t it?
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Do I do this with every meal moment? I don't, yet I'm trying. And, when I do... it IS really special. Not special like, oooo look at this perfectly grilled filet with candles and fresh flowers. Instead, it's more like, hey - look at this moment we're enjoying  together or alone. It's about savoring, keeping it simple, and really focusing on the moment.⁠
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I recently traveled and someone commented that they could never have me over because they would be embarrassed to cook for me because they don’t cook fancy. That made me sad and I was quick to say how much I focus on the simple things, the simple foods. The ones that aren't fancy! Honestly, mostly my food may look complicated but that's just styling. If you look at my pictures on my IG profile - or recipes on my blog - they're simple. Simple ingredients. Pecans. Beans. Fish. Martinis. :)⁠
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