In 2019 I posted about the easy Artisan Bread recipe that you just mix up in a bucket, turn out and bake. (https://www.housewifebarbie.com/2019/11/from-my-instagram-today-artisan-bread.html). This is a smaller, similar version to that.
Typically we are low carb and sugar free so we don't eat much bread. When life threw us some curve-balls 6 weeks ago, I whipped up a loaf of this bread as a comfort food. A precedent was set and since then, it's become our daily bread since I haven't been to the grocery store in 6 weeks... and counting.
3 cups flour
1 t yeast
1 t salt
1 1/2 cups hot water (sometimes up to 2 depending on the day, the flour, the humidity, etc.)
(Sometimes I toss in a teaspoon or so of sugar, once in a while I add a tablespoon of egg powder to the dry ingredients, other times I've added a couple tablespoons of olive oil - it's a pretty easy and friendly recipe to mess with.)
Pour the dry into a food safe bucket or container with a lid. Mix the dry a little bit, then pour in about 1 1/2 cups hot water. Stir. If it's too dry, add more water. Too wet, add a couple more tablespoons flour. Just stir it together until it's a shaggy, somewhat gooey, wet dough. Now you loosely put the lid on top, let it set on the counter for a few hours until you want to use it that day or put the lid on and pop it into the refrigerator for a day or two until you want to use it. Don't knead it. The gluten forms from the time it sits.
Each day I grab this bucket out of the refrigerator, wet or oil my hands, pull out the dough and shape it into a round on a piece of parchment paper. Sometimes I dust it and the paper with extra flour if it's really really sticky, other times I just kind of mound the sticky dough into a round and let it be.
I turn on the oven to 375 degrees with a cast iron round skillet in the oven to get hot as well. I also have a smaller pan in the oven also getting hot. The dough sets while the oven preheats.
Lift the parchment and place the whole thing into the hot cast iron pan. To the smaller hot pan in the oven, pour in about 1 cup water and shut the oven quickly to trap the steam it creates.
Bake for about 35 minutes until golden brown. This is a hearty, delicious bread with a crisp, chewy crust and a soft inside. We use it for everything from simply pulling it apart and eating it as it is, spread with butter, peanut butter, toasted, sliced and made into garlic bread, etc.
Using the same bucket, without washing, I put another 3 cups flour, a teaspoon of salt and about 1/2 - 1 teaspoon of yeast back into the bucket, add a cup or two of hot water, stir, and put it back into the refrigerator for the next day.
I have a food safe bucket that I reuse - here is 3 cups flour, a bit of salt, yeast and 1 1/2 - 2 cups hot water. Stir and forget. The gluten forms not from kneading, but from the time it sets in the refrigerator. Usually made into bread the next day, but sometimes it's 2 or even 3 days before it's made.
This is usually made into a daily bread for breakfast, snacking and/or dinner but is also randomly made into pizza dough, pizza bread, buns, garlic bread, pull-apart breads, etc.
