Simple Overnight Artisan Bread

I’ve been working on my bread baking game for years now. After many failed attempts, I was given a bread machine and have LOVED it! There are still occasions when I just really want a crusty artisan bread. All of my attempts have fallen flat (literally) until I found this recipe!

We usually limit our gluten intake, but I’ve found recently that homemade bread doesn’t upset our stomachs as much as store bought bread. I followed her recipe exactly to begin with, but for the second batch, made a few adjustments that fit our preferences a little better.

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Ingredients

3 1/4 cups sprouted wheat flour (I couldn’t find this on Amazon for a decent price, I usually purchase ours in store from EarthFare)

1/2 tsp dry active yeast

1 tsp Himalayan Pink salt

1 1/2 cup warm water

Optional: Herbs or spices to flavor your bread! We did a thyme and rosemary bread to go with beef stew recently that was delicious!

Avocado Oil Spray (to spritz the top of your dough before baking and get a beautiful golden crust).

Equipment

• Dutch oven (6qt would work really well for this bread. We have a 7.5 qt and the bread spreads out a little too much for my preference)
• Wooden spoon/scraper
• Glass mixing bowl
• Beeswax wrapping

Directions

Dough Preparation

1. Mix together your dry ingredients.
2. Slowly incorporate your warm water into the dry ingredients. You may find you don’t need all the water.
3. Form the dough into ball and cover with your beeswax wrap.
4. Allow dough to rise for 12-18 hrs.

To Bake

1. Preheat your oven to 450 F (232 C). Place your dutch oven in your oven to preheat it as well.
2. Transfer your dough (it should have doubled in size overnight) to a floured surface and gently fold the sides over creating a ball again.
3. Lightly dust the surface of your bread with flour and let sit while the oven preheats.
4. Use a sharp knife to make an x on the top of your dough, then spritz the top with your avocado oil.
5. Once the oven is preheated, remove Dutch oven, spray the inside lightly with avocado oil. Very carefully transfer your dough inside.
6. Cook bread for 30 minutes with the lid on.
7. Remove lid and cook for an additional 8-12 minutes until crust has reached desired color.

Tips

• If you’re bread isn’t rising, there’s a good possibility your yeast is dead. This was the case with many of my failed bread attempts. Check the expiration dates or if it’s been open for a long time you would probably be best at tossing it and grabbing a new container.
• Your bread might not rise properly if your water is too hot or too cold. Warm water helps to activate the yeast.
• Don’t knead this bread! Mix only enough to incorporate all the ingredients. If you work the dough too much it will turn out very dense and flat (although still delicious!) For artisan bread, you want it light and fluffy.
• Allow the dough to set for the full 12 to 18 hours. This means planning ahead for tomorrow’s meals. I’ve yet to have success with faster rising artisan bread.
• You can place your bread on parchment paper to transfer to your Dutch oven, but I didn’t find it necessary. A quick spritz into your dutch oven with the Avocado oil and it slid right out for us once it was done baking.

*I would PREFER to bake sourdough but don’t have any experience! If you have a great sourdough recipe and tutorial please share it with me!