Since I had a request for the bread recipe from the second Blizzard and Baking post, I figured I’d post it here!

This recipe is adapted from the Master Recipe in Artisan Bread in Five minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg, MD. To make 4 1-pound loaves (the same size as the one in the photo), you’ll need:

3 Cups lukewarm water

1 1/2 T yeast (2 packets)

1 1/2 T coarse salt

6 1/2 cups flour (you can use up to half whole wheat)

Cornmeal for the pizza peel

1. Add yeast and salt to the warm water in a 5-quart bowl. If you plan on saving it to bake later, use a resealable plastic food container if you have one big enough. (This is when you can add fun stuff like flax seed, sesame seeds, or other spices and grains you like. See * at the bottom!)

2. Mix in the flour. Add it all at once and mix with a wooden spoon. When it gets too hard, wet your hands and press the mixture together.

3. Best part of the recipe: No need to Knead! Leave it in the bowl and allow it to rise for about 2 hours (you can let it sit up to 5 hours though!)

From here, you can either store it in the fridge for up to 2 weeks or use the dough now.

When ready to use the dough:

4. Prepare a pizza peel with a thin layer of cornmeal. Sprinkle the dough with flour. Pull off 1/4 of the dough using a knife. Flour your hands (or wet them, which I prefer) and rotate it into a ball. This should take you only 30 – 60 seconds. Repeat for as many loaves as you wish to make.

5. Rest the dough on the pizza peel for about 40 minutes. 20 minutes into this, preheat the oven to 450. Put a pizza stone in the oven to preheat with the oven.

6. When the 40 minutes is up, dust the bread with flour and cut slits into it in any pattern you desire with a serrated bread knife.

7. Slide the dough off of the peel onto the stone. Optional step – you can put a dish of water in the bottom to use steam to cook the bread. I did this twice and my oven stopped working after both tries (I know – why did I do it again?)! I now cook it without the steam and have noticed no difference in taste or texture.

8. Bake for about 30 minutes. The bread will be browned and firm to the touch. Allow to cool for a few minutes (if you can resist it!) before slicing.

*I’ve also made this herb bread version: Add 1 t dried thyme and 1/2 t dried rosemary to the water mixture before adding the flour!

Enjoy!