Hi everyone! I know I’ve mentioned before that I live on the east coast of central Florida, and I really do enjoy the heat! However, this has been a particularly hot June, and we’ve had very little rain to give us a break from the unrelenting heat.
I’ve been watering my garden like crazy, and I’m sure it is much appreciated. The beans have taken off like crazy, the peas are coming in nicely next to the beans, and I’ve got tiny baby bell peppers just popping up on the right side of the main garden. The new crop of kale and radishes are looking good, and I’ve got to find more recipes for the hot peppers. I think I’ll try a salsa and queso next week, so more about that to come.
The temperature is really taking its toll on our air conditioner. The air conditioner has been really struggling to keep up with the demand of our usual 76 degree setting, so to give it a break, we set it up to 79 degrees for a week. It has been pretty darn toasty in the house, although it is livable with the ceiling fans going. But I did want to find a silver lining in regards to all this heat, and the only thing I could think of to do is to whip of a batch of bread, since the house is the perfect temperature to let it rise.
I have made bread before, and it has always entailed a lot of kneading and waiting and punching down and waiting, and a lot of baking time, so I looked around for something a little less labor intensive. I found quite a few recipes for artisan bread that didn’t need any kneading, so I picked and chose from ingredients and instructions and came up with this:
Ingredients
3 cups bread flour
1 tbsp white sugar
1 packet active dried yeast (equals about 2 tsp)
1 ½ tsp salt
1 ½ cup warm water
1 tbsp olive oil
Olive oil spray
Instructions
Put the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, yeast and salt) into a large bowl. Add the water and tbsp olive oil and mix until it is combined. The dough will be quite wet and sticky.
Lightly spray the top of the dough with olive oil spray. Cover the dough with plastic wrap, but don’t seal it completely. The carbon dioxide created by the yeast will need to escape. Then cover the bowl with a clean towel to give it a nice dark environment.
Place the bowl in a draft-free place and let it rise until double in size (2-3 hours).
Place a large dutch oven with the lid on into the oven and preheat at 450 degrees while you work with the dough.
Lightly flour a cutting board and plastic spatula with about 1 tbsp of flour and scrape the dough out of the bowl onto the floured surface with the spatula. Sprinkle the top of the dough with a little flour. Slide the spatula under a side of the dough and flip it over onto the middle of the dough. Rotate around flipping the sides of the dough into the middle for about 6-7 folds. The dough will now be in a roughly round shape.
Cut a piece of parchment paper large enough to move the dough into the dutch oven. Put the paper next to the cutting board and carefully roll the dough onto the parchment paper. If it loses the round shape, simply reshape in on the paper.
Remove the dutch oven from the oven. Be very careful, as it will be extremely hot. Holding each end of the parchment paper, pick up the dough and transfer it into the dutch oven, parchment paper and all. Put the lid back on and return to the oven (still at 450 degrees).
Back for 30 minutes, then remove the lid and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes, until the loaf is browned. Let it cool on a wire rack for 20-30 minutes before slicing it.
The crust is beautifully crunchy and the inside is soft and fluffy, and it is absolutely heaven to eat warm with butter or cheese! It makes the heat totally worth it.
Note: Let it cool completely before placing it in a bag or covering it to store. If you cover it while it’s still warm, the crust will lose its crunch.
