Quick and Yummy Bread Pictorial

I've been playing with an Artisan Bread recipe I got from -C's blog a few months ago.  I usually "cook by ear" and don't measure, but this was working well and tasting really good, so I did some measuring and I think I have something I can pass on.  I took pictures of the process this time too. So here is a bread recipe that takes less than ten minutes to mix up and about an hour to complete from start to eat.

First, warm up two cups of water so you can keep your finger in it comfortably. Not too hot!

Remove from heat and add one tablespoon of sugar,

Then add one tablespoon of regular yeast and stir and kind of mash it around with a spoon or spatula until the yeast is dissolved,

Then add rosemary leaves to the water, (about a loose tablespoon isn't overpowering). The bread is great without spices, and I'm going to play with using different herbs.

 While the yeast, water and rosemary are sitting, put 3 cups of flour in a deep bowl,

Add about a level tablespoon of coarse sea salt or kosher salt to the flour, (do not skip the salt! Bread without salt tastes like baked paste)...

And grease a 9-10" cast iron skillet (or a baking stone, shallow dish or standard bread pan). I use olive oil.  I've found the cast iron gives a nice crust on the bottom of the bread and the sides are good to keep the dough from flattening out too much.

Check the yeast mixture, it should be foaming up really good by now.  You should have a nice quarter inch of yeasty foam on top of the water.

At this point you want to turn the oven on just for a few minutes just to get it warm... just WARM, like a hot summer day warm, not cooking warm. DON'T LEAVE IT ON.

Now you'll add your foaming yeast water to the flour

And mix it up.  I just use a large spoon or my hands.  You will need to add more water a little at a time, enough to make a stiff batter.  If you go overboard on the water, you can add more flour. Unlike traditional bread kneading recipes, you don't need to make it totally lump free or smooth so don't get obsessive with the mixing.

You can see the consistency of the batter... it is slightly lumpy, sticky and will hold its shape pretty well and SLOWLY flatten out if left sitting.

Now pour the batter into the pan...

...and shape it a little bit into a mound in the center of the pan.

Put it in the warm oven and close the door and let it rise...

You'll let this rise for about 15 minutes or so until it gets about this high, just over the top of the rim of the pan (this applies no matter what kind of pan you use, once it gets just above the rim its ready... (it happens fast so don't get involved in answering email or you'll be cleaning the bottom of the oven of sticky dough)!  Take it out of the oven and sprinkle a little flour on top.

Set the oven at 350 and put the pan back in right away  (DO NOT PRE-HEAT THE OVEN).

The beauty of this recipe is that the bread continues to rise while the oven heats up and reaches cooking temperature.  This is about 15 minutes into the baking time.

And this is about 30 minutes... you can see the bread has reached its peak of rising and is now browning.

And in about 45 minutes this is what you take out of the oven...

Remove it from the pan with a flat spatula and set it either on a cooling rack or a towel. Don't put hot bread on a plate or anything solid or wrap it in foil, the condensation under it will make the bottom crust soggy.You can slice it pretty much after ten or fifteen minutes.

Cut and enjoy!  (This one is going to Presanctified potluck tonight.)