Artisan Bread in a Bosch

15 Comments

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I love a good, crunchy loaf of artisan bread but I don’t like to use store bought flour because I grind my own. The health benefits of freshly ground flour can’t be beat, but it takes a while to get used to as it’s different to work with than the flour you can buy in stores.

I used to buy a lot of unbleached flour. My price point was .99 / 5 lb bag and when I quit seeing that price, I quit buying it. At the same time, I also found hard white wheat berries instead of hard red wheat berries. I’ve been grinding my own flour since 2005, but I had only used hard red wheat until just this year! While I adore the rich taste of the hard red wheat, we found it too wheaty to use exclusively in delicate baked goods so I mixed it with the store-bought unbleached flour.

I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the hard white wheat tastes light and nutty, though. I’ve been using it in 100% of my baked goods for months now and it’s delicious! So flavorful!! For the last few months, I’ve been experimenting with the hard white wheat and artisan bread. I think I’ve finally found a winning combination!

The problem I’ve been having is that the dough is too runny and the bread won’t hold shape. It tastes good, but the loaf had been turning out too flat. To fix it, I simply added more flour. I was worried because the authors of Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day say the dough needs to be really wet and sticky so I didn’t want to add too much flour. But at the same time, flat bread’s not what I’m after.

I double the basic recipe here. To clarify, I used the basic recipe from the Original Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day (not the Healthy Recipe Book). If you want to make this bread using unbleached flour, I recommend you follow the exact recipe. If you’re using freshly ground flour and double the recipe, I recommend adding 15 1/2 cups + of flour instead of the 13 the recipe calls for. Don’t be afraid to ruin the dough by adding too much.

Artisan Bread in a Bosch

Mix up your ingredients and continue adding flour until your mixer bowl sweeps clean. That means dough does not stick to the sides. For me, the right combination was about 15 1/2 cups, but that amount can vary slightly based on how much water you’ve added.

Artisan Bread in a Bosch
After you’re satisfied with the dough, follow the book’s recommendations for allowing it to rise in your chosen container.

Artisan Bread in a Bosch
When your dough is ready, shape the loaf and allow it rest. Before baking, slash the bread with a bread knife. Make sure you slash it very deeply or they slashes will bake out.

Artisan Bread in a Bosch

See? I didn’t slash mine deeply enough and it looks funny. But it still tastes good!

Artisan Bread in a Bosch
Slice, butter, and enjoy!

Do you grind your own flour? Have you tried Artisan Bread with freshly ground flour? What’s your favorite baked good?

About Michelle Marine

Michelle Marine is the author of How to Raise Chickens for Meat, a long-time green-living enthusiast, and rural Iowa mom of four. She empowers families to grow and eat seasonal, local foods; to reduce their ecological footprint; and to come together through impactful travel.

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15 Comments

  1. I will have to try this. I’ve heard good things about the method, but that is as far as I have gotten. How long can you keep the dough in your fridge? I like our everyday bread, but having a fresh loaf with dinner sounds appealing. Does it take on a sourdoughish flavor if you leave it in the fridge longer?

    1. Rachel, I keep the dough for 10 – 14 days. It does take on more of a sourdough flavor the older the dough is. I double the recipe because one single recipe yields only 5 – 1 lb loaves. That doesn’t get our family of 6 very much!! Let me know if you give it a shot! I’d love to hear what you think!

  2. This looks wonderful! You are the one who motivated me to make bread in Okinawa, I think I may have to start again! Would it work in a professional quality Kitchen Aid?

    1. Yes, it should! If you’re using regular flour though, follow the recipe from the book – don’t add the extra flour. It’s on my blog. 🙂 It’s super good, Lisa. You guys will LOVE it!!

  3. I have been making this recipe all summer with freshly ground Prairie Gold flour. At first I too, got really flat loaves. They still tasted good but we wanted a little more crumb with our crust. I accidently found the solution one day when I didn’t have time to allow it to rise the 90 minutes called for in the recipe. It probably had about 30-40 minutes to rise and I got a nice, thick loaf of bread that held its shape and had good oven spring.

    Sometimes I don’t use the extra gluten and I can’t tell the difference, so it may not be necessary.

    I don’t add extra flour because that causes the texture of the crumb to be less moist and less open, though it still makes good bread.

    Using the Bosch definitely make mixing easier, but it makes more dishes to wash than if you mix it up in the rising container.

    1. Interesting! I don’t think the extra flour dries out my bread. I figured that would probably be the case, but I have not found it to be so. It didn’t seem to matter to me on rising time. I still got flat loaves. I don’t use any extra gluten. Thanks for your comment!

  4. OK–Correction!

    I have been making the master recipe from “Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day” not the master recipe from “Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day”.

    1. Oh! I had that book too and didn’t like the recipes that much. I actually gave it to my mother. I probably need to get it back and play around with it a bit more.

  5. I just got the book too “Healthy Breads in 5 Minutes a Day”
    I have made bread in the past and loved it, but looking for easier recipes, hope this one does the trick.
    I just bought vital wheat gluten flour but I feel I dont’ want to have to depend on this in case of bad times. Do you use this also in your breads? Thanks, a new comer to your site and I like it very much.

    1. I use gluten in some of my other breads, but not the Artisan Bread. I may start experimenting with it…I’ll be sure to blog about it if I do. Thanks for visiting and for leaving a comment!! 🙂