November 19, 2017 - 9:17am
Weeknight artisan bread
I've been making some of the breads from Peter Reinhart's Artisan Breads Every Day. The bread is great with minimal effort, but it's been difficult to fit in a weeknight schedule since the bread needs two hours to rise after coming out of the refrigerator.
Are there any recipes that are a little more work upfront, with a shorter first rise, shaping, then a long slow second rise in a pan in the refrigerator? This way I could prepare the loaves on the weekend and they'd be ready to go with minimal effort and time on a weeknight.
Any links or recipes would be helpful!
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Artisan Breads in 5 Minutes a Day? They have a method that looks like what you are looking for. They use yeast for the most part as leavener (is that a word?) but on their website, they explain how to adapt their recipes to sourdough.
I make many of the breads in that book too. Which ones in particular do you like (I'm asking because it depends whether you're making a yeasted, enriched bread like the Struan, or a lean sourdough)?
You might just try a couple of your favourites, using the schedule that works better for you. For example, sometimes I make the Struan dough a couple of days before I bake, and keep it in the fridge. Then the evening before I bake, I take it out of the fridge and let it warm up a bit (about an hour) then shape it, put it in tins, cover them with greased plastic wrap and put them back in the fridge. Depending on the warmth of the weather I'll either let it rise a little bit before putting it in the fridge or put it straight in there. The next morning I take it out of the fridge and bake it. Sometimes I have to let it rise a little bit more, but not usually. You could also try just making the dough and letting it ferment until doubled (or whatever), then shaping and proofing in the fridge. See how it turns out!