Artisan Bread and Vintage Stoves

The Denver-based Six-Button Cowgirl recommended the book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day (by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois), which is premised on the fact that pre-mixed, pre-risen, high-moisture dough keeps well in the refrigerator. Thus, there's no need to make fresh dough daily in order to have fresh bread daily. The system works. I mixed an initial batch and didn't need to proof the yeast, knead the dough, or fuss with the rest-rise-punchdown-rise process. Each day I cut off a portion of the refrigerated dough, allowed it to rest about 40 minutes, then baked it for about 35 minutes. It was easy and enjoyable to do while making dinner, even after a long day in the office.

I prefer traditional loaves over the sourdough-like texture and flavor of artisan bread. But any kind of homemade bread tastes better than store-bought. I guess the real challenge comes from the fact that I have a vintage O'Keefe & Merritt stove, which is beautiful but not always practical. For example, I can't fit a turkey in it. I also can't fit a pizza stone in it--and artisan bread should be baked on a pizza stone. I used a cookie sheet but the bread came out too thick and crusty. I'm going to bake traditional loaves in bread pans to see if a perfect crust is worth the three extra hours.