Taking the Easy Way Out: Simple Crusty White Bread

By Jeannette Ordas of Everybody likes Sandwiches

Making bread shouldn't be as complicated as it seems. It should be something that anyone can make, regardless of baking skill. That's why I like this recipe from the New York Times from Jeff Zertzberg and Zoe Francois. 

Maybe you've already made the artisan loaf known famously as No-Knead Bread, but this one is different. It's less time consuming - in 3 hours, from mixing to baking, you can have freshly baked bread. There's no waiting overnight and luckily there's no kneading either. I should mention that I like the No-Knead bread better - it's got a more artisanal quality. The crumb and flavour is a bit more pronounced and the crust is really wonderful. But this bread is no slouch either. I mean, look at it!


 

Maybe if your grandmother made bread every week, this might be similar. At least that's what my husband thought when he bit into his first slice of this bread: "It tastes just like the bread my grandma made!" And it is tasty bread. It smells amazing when it's in the oven. It looks lovely out of the oven with it's golden-hued crust. It's delicious eating this toasted up with butter and jam for breakfast. 

But maybe what I like best about this recipe is that it's an excellent recipe to test out your burgeoning bread-chops. While this loaf of bread might not be the best bread I've ever made, it is by far the easiest, and sometimes, easy is exactly what is needed.

Simple Crusty White Bread

1 1/2 tablespoons active-dry yeast

1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt

6 1/2 cups unbleached, all purpose flour + more for dusting

cornmeal

In a large bowl, mix yeast and salt into 3 cups of warm water (about 100F). Stir in flour and mix until there are no dry patches (see photo below for what this dough should look like). Use a sturdy spoon, my wooden spoon broke while mixing this dough! Oops!

Let dough rise at room temperature for 2 hours, covered with a tea towel (I used an abeego flat sheet) - or let rise up to 5 hours. I let mine rise for 3 hours and here's what it looked like:

Divide the dough in half, or in quarters if you like. I divided my dough in half, shaping one half into a oval bread shape, turning it in my hands to stretch the surface, creating a smooth top and a lumpy bottom. Put dough on a baking sheet covered cornmeal and parchment (or use a pizza peel sprinkled with cornmeal) and let it rest for 40 minutes. I cut the remaining half of dough into 2 and smoothed and stretched the balls and placed them each into 2 well-buttered loaf pans to rise for 40 minutes. If you don't want to use your dough right away, refrigerate it. 

While the dough is relaxing, heat oven to 450F and place a large roasting or broiler pan on the bottom shelf of your oven. If you're using a pizza stone, place it in the oven for 20 minutes to heat up. Place the other oven rack in the middle of the oven. Meanwhile, boil up a full kettle of water. 

Dust the dough with flour, slash the top with a serrated knife three times. When the water has boiled, carefully pour the water into the hot roasting/broiler pan and immediately pop the bread loaves into the middle oven rack, closing the door quickly to trap the steam. Bake until well browned, about 30 minutes. Cool completely and dig in.