Artisan Bread is Another Name for Ugly Bread

Just kidding. I *love* ugly bread, it has less calories. As such, I have been a little obsessed with this "new" way of making no-knead bread, made famous (presumably) by Mark Bitmann's coverage of the Sullivan Street Bakery in New York and then further capitalized upon by this book. Both Bitmann and the authors of the artisan bread book have videos on YouTube that are easy to find.

However, I prefer this video, because it's much more entertaining, albeit longer. First of all, the guy's oven is a relic from a camper van. Then his hilarious dog keeps wandering through and distracting the camera person. Also, while the dough is fermenting and rising, he and his gal go to a cocktail party, and he gets a haircut. It's like reality television with absolutely no drama, except for the part with the knife. But that's at the end and nobody gets hurt.



I made Lenore a loaf of this bread, and she found it palatable, which is saying a lot considering the only things she's eating these days is: plain oatmeal, plain rice, plain noodles, and water. I wasn't completely satisfied with the shape or my clumsy first attempt, so I made a second loaf, this time using a little rye flour. The result was delectable! However, since my house gets really cold at night, the overnight fermenting/rising step didn't work out so well. I think my dough just sat there shivering in its bowl wondering WTH this was all about. So the next night, I devised a cozy little solution; namely, I took the dough to bed with me. Well, not literally, but I used a heating pad and some pillows and kept the dough in my bedroom, where I have my Mitsubishi Mr. Slim Heatilator activated, keeping sleeping quarters warmer while the rest of the house slips down into coma temperatures. Seriously. I leave butter out on the counter, and in the morning, it's NOT SOFT. Not even a little. Anyway...

Here's the setup.



Here's how it looked the next morning. Pooh's not as interested as the other two, as he prefers his bread cooked, lightly toasted, and coated in hunny.



The next step was to let it rest, then rise for 2 hours. I employed the heating pad again, which worked like a charm. I baked it in a covered Pyrex casserole dish, in case anyone is wondering.

Resting...


Rising...


Risen...


Done!


Also, I made a cherry pie with more cherry bounce cherries (no rhubarb this time), and it was pretty good. It got better after each piece, actually. :)
My co workers liked it a lot.



(It's a little scorched because I tried to bake it at the same time as the bread, so the oven was actually 100 degrees hotter than it should have been.)

I made a couple more loaves the next day. These were a slightly different method, more out of the book (so without the overnight fermentation). The taste and texture were definitely different and, I think, not as good. But they look pretty!