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I really liked this artisan bread. I was pleasantly surprised at how nice this bread came out as I had many concerns using cold water. All of the breads I have made called for water that was 120 degrees F. Be patient as this bread as it takes 12-18 hours to rise. I am certainly going to try different flavors as Thanksgiving approches. After it was done cooking it looked as if I bought it at "The Hearth Bakery". It had lovely large pockets and small pockets of air in the dough and the texture was airy, nice and at the same time dense. Instead of pecorino cheese I used 8 oz. of romano cheese cut in 1/2 inch chunks. The bread I made had a very strong cheesy taste, almost too strong. If I do it again, I would only use about 4 oz of cheese and I would cut the cheese in 1/8 inch cubes which would cut down on the cheesy flavor. I can;t wait to try this bread plain, or with herbs like a hint of caraway seeds, or I might try adding some crushed rosemary and/or garlic. I've researched other artisan recipes and I might try adding 4 oz of beer to replace some of the water. I used a whole packet of yeast instead of 3/4 teaspoon as the recipe calls for. This bread is cooked in a pot in the oven. The recipe did not call for greasing (PAMing) the inside of the pot. I didn't and the bread kind of stuck to the bottom. The next time I'll try greasing the pot. My oven was 425 degrees b/c I thought 475 was a little hot.
All in all I loved this recipe!!
Test #2 Today I made this recipe again, but this time I left out the cheese and black pepper and added in crushed dried rosemary. My tea towel was a terri cloth kind that I heavily dusted. I also added some "Crisco" to the hot pot. The bread did not stick at all. Then when I went to invert the bread into the hot pot I noticed that I had put too much flour on the towel, so I brushed the top of the bread with olive oil. The next time I iwll not use a terri cloth towel but one that is smoother.
The bread came out perfect, had a very nice rustic, artisan look to it and tasted the best, especially with a hint of loive oil. The crust was perfect and the bubbles of air pockets was fabulous.
This had to have been the best rustic artisan bread I have ever made!!!!
Try #3 This time I made a Herbed bread, I used rosemary. Another thing I did differently was that on the 2nd rise, I lined a smaller casserole dish with parchment paper as I let it rise. Then after my dutch oven was hot all I had to do was to lift the risen dough out by the parchment paper and into the hot dutch oven. This made the transfer easier without busting up some of the larger bubbles in the dough.
Try #4 I used "plain" dough this time for pizza dough. I liked it, almost like a french bread pizza. I rolled out the dough the same size as the aluminum pizza pan and let it rise for about an hour. Turn out nice.
Makes one 10 inch round loaf
Ingredients
3 cups of Bread flour
2 1/2 cups cubed (1/2 inch) pecorino cheese
1 teaspoon of salt
3/4 teaspoon of yeast
1/2 teaspoon of crushed black pepper
1 1/3 cups cold (55-65 degrees F) water
In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, cheese, salt, yeast and pepper.
Add the water, mix until wet, and sticky (about 20 seconds).
Cover the bowl and let sit at room temperature until doubled in size (12-18 hours).
When the first rise is complete, dust a work surface with flour.
Using a rubber spatula, scrape the dough out of the bowl and onto the work surface.
Lift the edges of the dough in toward the center.
Nudge and tuck in the edges of the dough to make it round.
Place a tea towel on the work surface and generously dust with flour.
Gently place the dough on the tea towel, seam side down.
If the dough is tacky dust the top lightly with flour or cornmeal.
Fold the ends of the tea towel loosely over the dough to cover it and place in a warm draft-free spot to rise for 1-2 hours.
The dough is ready when it is almost doubled.
If you gently poke it with your finger, it should hold the impression.
If it springs back, let it rise for another 15 minutes.
Half an hour before the end of the second rise, heat the oven to 475 degrees F. Place a covered 4 1/2 - 5 1/2 queart pot in the center of the oven.
Using pot holders, carefully removed the heated pot from the oven and uncover it.
Unfold the tea towel and quickly but gently invert the dough into the pot, seam side up.
Cover the pot and bake for 30 minutes.
Remove the lid and continue baking until the bread is a deep chestmut color, but not burnt for 15- 30 minutes more.
Use a heatproof spatula or pot holders to lift the bread out of the pot and place it on a rack to cool thoroughly.
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