Crusty French Bread

I'm a baker!  I baked the French Bread recipe a few nights ago and forgot to take pictures when it came out of the oven.  (I was hungry.) But I did remember to take a few of the half that was left.  The loaves so far have been the perfect size for two people to have about three-four slices of bread.  Good crunchy crust! You can bake a loaf that's thinner or thicker depending on your preference of crust to crumb (the inside of the loaf). The french bread rests for a shorter amount of time and bakes for slightly less time than the artisan freeform loaf.  It takes a bit less than an hour from fridge to belly. Yum.

Artisan Bread

I cooked bread last night!  It was tasty and delicious.  Nice crunchy crust, good creamy, dense interior.  It reminded me a lot of the bread I get at the Italian market. (and a little of the artisan bread from Kroger - the one with the whole garlic cloves -but better than that one.)

I used the instructions from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking

The loaf I baked was the rustic artisan freeform loaf. (The first recipe in the book.) It truly only took about 5 minutes of my time so far, including all of the clean up. You need to prepare time for the bread to rise and bake, naturally, but that is time where you can be doing something else. Plus, once the dough is mixed, it sits in the fridge and you just cut off a hunk for the night.  I made a half recipe the first time as I didn't have a container big enough for the whole one.  I wanted to test out the recipe and technique before I put any money into buying a big container for all of that dough.  Tonight, I'm trying the french bread.  I'm using the same batch of dough that I used last night, but a different baking technique.  Will report back with remarks!