It has been a while since I have made this deliciously-crusty-on-the-outside-but-moist-and-chewy-on-the-inside bread. I couldn’t quite fit all that in the title so I just called it Rosemary Artisan Bread. 🙂 I cannot bake any other bread besides this one. Well, this recipe is so darn easy that I have not really tried to bake any other kind of bread. Seriously. One tiny detail. No kneading necessary!
This recipe is so versatile (I like versatile recipes because I get bored eating the same thing all the time) that you can add any combination and it will always be a hit.
INGREDIENTS
3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups warm water
1/4 tsp yeast (I used fast-rising yeast)
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
2 tbsp fresh chopped rosemary (which I clipped from my little garden!)
1 cup cheese of your choice
1 tsp cracked black pepper
Cornmeal for dusting
DIRECTIONS
Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl.
Then add the cheese, cracked black pepper, and fresh rosemary.
Slowly add the warm water, a little bit at a time, and mix with a wooden spoon till you have used all the water. No need to over mix.
The dough will be sticky. Don’t be alarmed. It is supposed to be that way. No-knead remember?
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rest at room temperature overnight. I usually make the dough in the evening before I go to bed, and then cover it with plastic wrap and leave it on the counter or put it in the cold oven just to keep it out of the way.
In the morning, or at least 8 hours later, the dough will have risen. Remove the dough from the bowl and put in in a different bowl. I could not find a clean one this morning, so I put it on a dinner plate. Just make sure the container you put it in is large enough to handle the rising dough.
So, after you put dough in another bowl, fold it in once or twice. Lightly wrap it in plastic wrap and let it sit until it doubles in size. If you are impatient like me, and think it has risen enough after one hour, get the oven ready 🙂
Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Once it is ready, put your empty baking pot with lid inside the hot oven for about 15 minutes to be heated. Here is the type of pot you should use. As you are doing this, the dough will continue to rise. Once the pot is ready, take it out of the oven carefully. It is a HOT pot! Get it? Hot pot? Okay. Moving on.
Remove the lid from the pot, sprinkle the cornmeal in the bottom of the pot, place the dough in the pot, replace the lid, and stick it back in the oven for about 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, open the oven and carefully remove the lid. Let it bake some more, about 15-20 minutes, uncovered. The crust will become a lovely shade of brown, and will be crusty.
Once done, remove the pot carefully from the oven, and let the bread cool for a few minutes. It will slide right out of the baking dish without any trouble.
Delicious crusty bread! Pass me the butter!
