French Peasant Bread Recipes

Steps:

• Combine the bread flour, whole-wheat flour, yeast and salt in a large bowl. Add 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water (about 100 degrees F) and mix with your hands or a spoon until the dough comes together (it will be wet and sticky). Cover the dough tightly with plastic wrap. If you have extra time, refrigerate 12 to 24 hours; this is not necessary but will improve the flavor of the bread.
• Let the dough rise, covered, at room temperature for about 18 hours; this rise is necessary whether you refrigerate the dough first or not. The surface will be bubbly after rising.
• Generously dust a work surface with all-purpose flour. Turn the dough out onto the flour, then sprinkle flour on top. Fold the top and bottom of the dough into the center, then fold in the sides to make a free-form square. Use a dough scraper or a spatula to turn the dough over, then tuck the corners under to form a ball.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and generously dust with flour. Transfer the dough to the baking sheet, seam-side down, and sprinkle with more flour. Cover with a cotton kitchen towel (do not use terry cloth) and let rise at room temperature until doubled in size, 2 to 3 hours.
• Position a rack in the bottom of the oven and place a 2- or 4-quart cast-iron or enameled Dutch oven (without the lid) on the rack. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F for at least 30 minutes. When the dough has doubled, carefully transfer the hot pot to a heatproof surface. Uncover the dough, lift up the parchment and quickly invert the dough into the pot (shake the pot to center the dough, if necessary). Cover with the lid and bake 30 minutes, then uncover and bake until brown and crusty, 15 to 30 more minutes. Turn out onto a rack to cool.

Steps:

• Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select Light or Medium Crust cycle; press Start. For a crispier crust, use the French cycle or turn machine off after first rise and start the cycle over.

Steps:

• 1. Place yeast, water, sugar, and salt in warm bowl and stir until dissolved. Add flour and stir until blended, but do NOT knead.Cover and let rise one hour or until double in size.
• 2. Flour hands, remove dough from the bowl and place in 2 roughly equal rounds on an oiled cookie sheet sprinkled with corn meal (dough may be sticky and not hold its shape well--that's okay. It's not supposed to be pretty.) Let rise an additional 20-30 minutes.
• 3. Brush the tops and sides of the rounds with melted butter and bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees and cook an additional 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from oven and brush tops and sides of rounds again with melted butter. Serve warm. Enjoy!

Steps:

• In a large bowl, combine water, yeast, sugar and salt. Stir until dissolved. Stir in flour. Turn the dough out onto a floured plate. Clean the bowl and grease with butter. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with a damp towel. Let rise in warm place 45 minutes or until double in bulk. Grease a baking sheet and sprinkle it with cornmeal. Flour your hands and divide dough into 2 parts, shaping each into an oblong loaf but DO NOT KNEAD. Place both loaves on the prepared baking sheet. Let the loaves rise another 45 minutes until almost doubled in size. Preheat oven to 425. Brush the tops of loaves with melted butter and bake 10 minutes. Reduce temperature to 375 and bake 20 minutes more. While the loaves are still hot, brush with more butter and serve.

Steps:

• Dissolve yeast, sugar and salt in water.
• Add flour and stir with a wooden spoon until blended. Do not knead -- it will be lumpy.
• Cover and let rise until doubled, about 1 hours
• Oil a cookie sheet with olive oil.
• Oil hands and remove dough from bowl and divide into 2 rounds and place on cookie sheet.
• Sprinkle dough with cornmeal(optional).
• Let rise 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 425 degrees and brush dough with melted butter.
• Bake for 10 min then reduce heat to 375 degrees and bake an additional 15 minutes.
• When finished baking, brush again with melted butter.