Sort of no-knead artisan boule loaf

This is the bread that got me obsessed about baking. It is a version of this Taste of Home “Crusty Homemade Bread” recipe: https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/crusty-homemade-bread/?fbclid=IwAR1FUwBAFbmDxrbkYQsOf2EGD9VMdnCexDh0rvIsik94wLsvppupFo-SuGU, but rather than using a broiler pan (which also works great) I use a dutch oven like the extremely popular no knead recipe.

Ingredients:

• 3 1/2 cups of all purpose flour

• 1 3/4 cup lukewarm water

• 1 1/2 teaspoon instant rise yeast

• 2 teaspoon kosher salt

Dough Assembly:

1. In a bowl that can hold at least twice the volume of your flour (as it will double in size when proving), add all of the dry ingredients: all purpose flour, yeast, kosher salt. Loosely combine dry ingredients.

2. Run tap water till it is lukewarm but not hot (110F is about right if you have a thermometer handy). Important not to use hot water, as it will kill the yeast and limit rise.

3. Using a rubber spatula, combine wet and dry ingredients. I like to add half of the water first, stir, then add the remainder of water. This is a high hydration dough, so you want the dough to feel sticky/tacky to the touch. If your dough feels too dry, add a tablespoon of water at a time. If your dough feels to wet or you added too much water and it has the consistency of pancake batter, add more flour in tablespoon increments.

4. Once everything is combined, cover with plastic and let it rise for 1-2 hours or until doubled in size.

5. Do a second rise, using the stretch and fold method, flipping the dough over onto the seam side for the second rise.

6. Once the second rise has doubled again, do another round of stretch and fold, flip it onto the seam side, cover again, then put in fridge to cold ferment overnight (about 10-12 hours is plenty).

7. After the cold ferment in the fridge, take the dough out and let it sit on the counter for about an hour to get closer to room temp. Then dump flour onto a well floured surface, and form into a dough round. There are many many ways to do this, some fancier than others so I’d just look up youtube vids on this if you need a demonstration.

Baking:

1. Put dutch oven in oven and preheat to 450F. Most ovens are off by at least 25 degrees, so getting a cheap $6 oven thermometer is a great way of getting more consistent bakes (you can either use your oven instructions to calibrate your temp, or just do what I do and just preheat at 475 when I want 450 haha).

2. Once oven has reached temp, place dough round on a piece of parchment paper, make your cuts on top of dough if desired, open the dutch oven and carefully (making sure you don’t burn your hands) place the dough inside. Cover and bake for 25 minutes, then uncover and bake for about 20 more minutes or until the top is golden brown.

3. Once done baking, dump baked loaf out and let cool on a cooling rack. Wait at least an hour for the bread to cool before cutting with a bread knife. I love mine toasted (double crunch!) and with a bit of unsalted butter and a light sprinkle of kosher salt.

Never fail pizza dough

This is my never fail pizza dough recipe. It is based on the Bobby Flay recipe here (https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/pizza-dough-recipe-1921714) in terms of ratio, with a couple tweaks, as I typically double the recipe. Also provide more directions in terms of proving the dough.

I typically make a larger batch, as this dough freezes and defrosts beautifully. Great for last minute bread sticks, rolls, ciabatta, etc as well as pizza crust. You can also use this dough for monkey bread pull apart rolls.

Ingredients:

• 7 cups bread flour

• 2 teaspoon sugar

• 4 teaspoon kosher salt

• 4 tablespoon olive oil

• 2.5-3 cups of lukewarm water

• 2 1/2 teaspoon instant rise yeast (I use red star or Fleischmann’s)

Dough Making:

1. In a bowl that holds at least twice the volume of your bread flour (as it will double in size when proving), add all of the dry ingredients: bread flour, sugar, kosher salt, and yeast. Lightly stir the ingredients together, just to distribute everything evenly in the flour.

2. Run water from the tap till it gets warm but not hot. If you want to be super precise, 110F is the proper temp, but I just run it till it’s barely warmer than lukewarm. Do not use hot water (water that is too hot for your hands to be in for more than a moment) as it will kill your yeast. Add the olive oil to the warm water (just makes it easier to combine everything). Top tip, if you have no rise after an hour of proving, it may be because you used too hot water and killed your yeast.

3. Using a rubber spatula, stir to combine the dry and wet ingredients together. Start with just a half of the water/oil, then add the remainder as you are mixing the dough. Once the dough is tacky to the touch and no flour remains on the bottom of the mixing bowl, it is properly hydrated. If you feel like the dough is too sticky, don’t worry! If it’s pancake mix in consistency, add a tablespoon of flour at a time until it reaches the right feel. Also remember that the dough loses moisture in the proving and cold fermentation, so starting with a wetter dough isn’t a bad thing.

4. Cover and put in a warm place to prove for 1-2 hours, or once it doubles in size. Then using a “stretch and fold” method, turning the bowl about 8 times with each fold, combine the dough further. No kneading needed! Once it is folded up, flip the dough over seam side down in the bowl and cover again.

5. Place in fridge for at least 10-12 hours (overnight is great) to cold ferment. This is where the flavor really starts to develop in the dough. I find the sweet spot is a two day cold ferment in terms of flavor, making sure to do another round of stretch/fold if I am fermenting for more than one day.

6. Once I have finished the cold ferment of the dough, I use a pair of scissors to cut slightly smaller than softball sized chunks (basically the size of your two hands clasped together), formed them into quick balls and wrap in plastic, storing in an airtight container in the fridge. When you want to use it, just take a ball out of the freezer and let it defrost on your counter.