French Boule

The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes is heaven sent! I wasn't really planning on buying it but Husband insisted I get one baking book when we visited Kinokuniya a day before Christmas. So I browsed the shelves and saw the book. I already knew this was a hit among home bread baking enthusiasts and I couldn't pass on the chance of having it since they only had 3 copies at that time. So I took one home that day.

Since I was a bit wee busy, I only had the chance of reading it and trying their master boule recipe after the holiday. It was my first try at making artisan bread so I followed the recipe and instructions to a T plus I used a regular baking sheet and parchment paper in lieu of baking stone and corn meal. And for steaming I just used a regular disposable aluminium tray. These are alternatives that the book recommends. The bread was a SUCESS! I don't think the pictures even give justice to how good the bread was. It was so surreal because it was like eating professionally baked bread.  The crust was crisp and the inside was so flavourful, not too dry and moist, baked just right. We, Toddler, Husband and I, loved it so much that even though we already had dinner that night we still ate half of it.

Sad thing though was that it was our oven's last hurrah. We've had the Tefal Activys 26L for 3 years and on that night, the glass door panel just fell off while I was baking the bread! So for the last 20 minutes of baking, I was holding the glass panel with oven mitts! Talk about tough luck, eh?! Unfortunately, when I called Tefal they said that they don't have any replacement for the moment. So.. I'll tell you all about the replacement oven next time :).

Anyhow, I love my book! The recipes are so simple to make and it definitely caters to people like me who loves artisan bread but really don't have the time. Don't get me wrong, I still would from time to time like to make bread the old fashion way, but that is when I have enough patience to endure the time consuming process of bread baking.

So, I would like to say a big Thank You to the authors of the book, you Rock! 

French Boule
recipe from Artisanbreadinfive

• 680g water
• 10-25g salt
• 10g yeast
• 910g flour

Instructions

1. Mix salt, yeast and water with a strong spatula like wood. 
2. Add in flour and mix until well incorporated. DO NOT KNEAD.
3. Store in a big container and let it rest for 2 hours at room temperature. After the 2 hour resting time, you can store your dough in the fridge for at least a week.

1. On baking day, dust the top of the dough in the container, pull out a grapefruit size of dough and cut with a pair of kitchen scissors. Put the rest of the dough in the container back into the fridge for later use.
2. Shape the dough into a ball (it only takes about 20-40 seconds to do so) and let the dusted flour fall off the dough. Then place on parchment paper and let it rest for at least 40 minutes.
3. Pre-heat oven for 20 minutes at 230 degree Celsius or 450 degree Fahrenheit.
4. Sprinkle flour on top of the dough and make cuts in the dough using a serrated knife.
5. Spritz water on top of the dough.
6. Place your dough on the pre-heated baking sheet and bake covered with aluminium foil for about 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, remove the foil and let it bake uncovered for the remaining time.
7. Bake bread for a total or 35 minutes or until the crust of the bread turns a caramel brown colour and the inside reads 205-210 degree Fahrenheit.
8. Remove from oven and place on cooling rack to cool.
9. Make sure to cool completely, around 2 hours or more, before slicing.