Authors: Zoe Francois,Jeff Hertzberg MD
Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day: 100 New Recipes Featuring Whole Grains, Fruits, Vegetables, and Gluten-Free Ingredients (10 page)
1. On baking day,
lightly grease an 8½ × 4½-inch nonstick loaf pan. Dust the surface of the refrigerated dough with flour and cut off a 2-pound (cantaloupe-size) piece. Dust with more flour and quickly shape it into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go.
2. Elongate the ball into an oval
and place it into the loaf pan; your goal is to fill the pan about three-quarters full. Cover loosely with plastic wrap. Allow the loaf to rest and rise for 1 hour and 45 minutes (60 minutes if you’re using fresh, unrefrigerated dough).
3. Thirty minutes before baking time, preheat the oven to 450°F,
with a baking stone placed on the middle rack. Place an empty metal broiler tray for holding water on any other rack that won’t interfere with the rising bread. The baking stone is not essential for loaf-pan breads; if you omit it, the preheat can be as short as 5 minutes.
4.
Just before baking, use a pastry brush to paint the top with water. Slash the loaf diagonally with ¼-inch-deep parallel cuts, using a serrated bread knife.
5.
Place the loaf on a rack near the center of the oven. Pour 1 cup of hot tap water into the broiler tray and quickly close the oven door (see
Chapter 3
for steam alternatives). Bake for about 40 to 45 minutes, or until brown and firm.
6.
Remove the loaf from the pan and allow it to cool completely on a rack before slicing or eating. If the loaf is difficult to remove despite going around the edge with a spatula, allow it to sit in the pan for 10 minutes. The heat of the loaf will “steam” the stuck parts from the pan. If the crust seems soft or overly damp where it was in contact with the pan, you can return it to the oven, out of the loaf pan, for about 5 minutes to crisp the crust.
7.
Allow the bread to cool on a rack before slicing and eating.
DON’T WASH THE CONTAINER, UNLESS IT’S EGGY:
If you mixed your dough in a storage container, you’ve avoided some cleanup. Cut off and shape more loaves as you need them. We often have several types of dough stored in the refrigerator at once. The dough can also be frozen in 1-pound portions in an airtight container and defrosted overnight in the refrigerator prior to baking day; this works particularly well for egg-enriched doughs, which have shorter refrigerator life.
Whole Grain Garlic Knots with Parsley and Olive Oil
Olive oil is our favorite oil. It’s rich in healthy monounsaturated fat and is an authentically Italian way to enrich bread. Combined with parsley, garlic, and Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, it’s the essence of the Mediterranean.
Makes 5 garlic knots
1 pound (grapefruit-size portion)
Master Recipe dough
¼ cup olive oil, extra virgin if possible
½ cup finely minced parsley
4 cloves garlic, finely minced
2 tablespoons grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
GARLIC:
Eat this and you won’t just ward off werewolves—garlic is full of calcium, potassium, and vitamin C.
Parsley
is a Mediterranean herb that’s high in vitamins A, C, and K, as well as folic acid. Anything this green must be high in antioxidants, too—it is!
1.
In a skillet, sauté the parsley and garlic in olive oil for about 4 minutes over medium heat, until the garlic is soft and the mixture is aromatic. Add more olive oil if mixture looks too dry, because you’ll need to be able to drizzle this over the knots.
2. On baking day,
dust the surface of the refrigerated dough with flour and divide the dough into 3-ounce pieces (about the size of small peaches). Dust each one with more flour and quickly shape into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating each ball a quarter-turn as you go.
3.
Elongate each ball into a rope a little less than ½ inch in diameter, and tie it into a knot. Allow the knots to rest for 30 minutes, loosely covered with plastic wrap, on an olive oil–greased cookie sheet, or a cookie sheet lined with a silicone mat or parchment paper.
4. Thirty minutes before baking time, preheat the oven to 450°F,
with a baking stone placed on the middle rack. Place an empty metal broiler tray for holding water on any other rack that won’t interfere with the rising knots.
5.
Drizzle the knots with the olive oil, garlic, and parsley mixture; you may have some left over for another batch. Sprinkle grated cheese over the knots.
6.
Place the cookie sheet on the stone, pour 1 cup of hot tap water into the broiler tray, and quickly close the oven door. Bake for about 20 minutes, until browned and firm.
7.
Serve slightly warm.
Turkish-Style Pita Bread with Black Sesame Seeds
Turkish and Greek pita bread differ from Israeli/Palestinian pita in two very important ways: First, it doesn’t puff, and second, it’s enriched, either by mixing butter or oil into the dough, or by brushing it on after the loaves are formed. We avoid puffing here by rolling it a little thicker, “docking” (perforating) the surface with a fork, and baking it at a lower temperature. We’ve topped the pita with the traditional black sesame seeds, which you can buy at most Asian groceries, or through mail order at Penzeys Spices. The seeds create a great flavor combination with the olive oil or butter. Somehow, it both crunches
and
melts in your mouth. You’ll see. Serve it with Turkish or Greek dips and appetizers, like
taramasalata
(fish roe spread), feta cheese, and olives.
If you want classically puffed Middle Eastern pita, try the
Seed-Encrusted Pita
. Turkish-style pita also works beautifully when baked on a gas grill outdoors (see
Whole Grain Pizza on the Gas Grill
).
Makes 1 pita
1 pound (grapefruit-size portion)
Master Recipe dough
2 teaspoons black sesame seeds for sprinkling
1 tablespoon olive oil or melted butter
1. Thirty minutes before baking time, preheat the oven to 450°F,
with a baking stone placed on the middle rack. Place an empty metal broiler tray on any other rack that won’t interfere with the bread.
2.
Just before baking, dust the surface of the refrigerated dough with flour and cut off a 1-pound (grapefruit-size) piece. Dust the piece with more flour and quickly shape it into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go. Place the ball on a flour-dusted pizza peel.
3.
Use your hands to stretch the dough into a round, then roll out to a uniform thickness of ¼ inch. Sprinkle with more flour as needed to prevent sticking.
4.
Brush the surface with oil or melted butter, dock (puncture) the dough all over with a fork, and sprinkle it with sesame seeds.
5.
Slide the loaf directly onto the hot stone. Pour 1 cup of hot tap water into the broiler tray, and quickly close the oven door. Bake for about 15 to 20 minutes, until golden brown. Use the fork to dock (puncture) again if large bubbles form or if puffing begins.
6.
Cut into wedges with kitchen shears or a serrated bread knife. Serve warm or at room temperature.
French Shapes Based on the Letter-Fold
We covered French bread shapes in our first book, but we simplified them so that no one would be intimidated. Some days, it just doesn’t matter if the shape is perfect, so for our first book, we had people roughly elongate the dough into pretty much whatever shape they wanted. You can continue to make baguettes and
ficelles
by just elongating an oval of dough, and rolling it between your palms to thin it out. The ends may be a bit knobby, but the taste will be scrumptious. Here’s a more polished, professional way of doing it so that yours will look just like the ones in the pictures. In addition to using it for the skinny baguettes and
ficelles
, you can use it to get professional tapered ends with your basic oval loaves, such as in the
Master Recipe
.
Baguettes and Ficelles with Beautiful Tapers
Baguettes are a universal symbol of artisan bread, and
ficelles
(fee-séll) are nothing more than really skinny baguettes. They’re not at all hard to make, and using the letter-fold technique makes a big difference in getting a professional look.
Makes 1 baguette or 2
(ficelles)
½ pound (orange-size portion)
Master Recipe dough
Egg white wash (1 egg white mixed with 1 teaspoon water)
