How to Make a Homemade Artisan Country Loaf Bread Recipe
Published January 4, 2018. This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
Bread should be light and fluffy on the inside with a beautiful hard crust on the outside. Learn How to Make a Homemade Artisan Country Loaf Bread Recipe!
Thanks again guys for stopping into BillyParisi.com to check out all of my recipes and videos, and on tap for today is this How to Make a Homemade Artisan Country Loaf Bread Recipe. It is to this day the best loaf of bread I have ever made. As I get more comfortable with baking homemade bread, each recipe just seems to get better and better. While the measurements are incredibly important, I’ll talk more on this later, technique and time are just as important if not more important. Regardless, I’ve been LOVING baking homemade bread just like this artisan country loaf recipe and I can’t see myself slowing down any time soon. Once you get your first really good loaf of homemade bread then it just pushes you to keep exploring and trying new things. Can you tell I’m excited about baking homemade bread yet lol?
I made homemade bread a little bit throughout my food years since culinary school and to be honest I was a hack. In fact, I feel like I was a food hack with a lot of things but now I’ve got some more patience and am generally more interested in the creativity and creation of food than I’ve ever been before. I had a solid culinary education but to be honest my “on-the-job training” wasn’t all that awesome so most of my creativity had to come from myself. It’s not that I didn’t work with amazing chefs, I did, it’s just that they were much better chefs from a management and classical standpoint and didn’t put as much emphasis on pushing the envelope in the creativity department. I only tell you this because we never even made homemade bread when I was working at all those restaurants back in the day, we got it brought in. It’s simple things like making homemade bread, that can make all the difference in the world.
I’ve been doing some reading lately and I have to say that the best book for homemade bread making techniques is Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast. It’s incredibly informative about how to go about each step in the bread making process and honestly, it’s foolproof. It’s pretty much exactly what you would learn in a baking class in culinary school, except for when to add the yeast into the flour, salt, and water. Regardless it’s a fantastic book for making bread if you are interested in getting into this fun cooking hobby.
There are so many countries out there that have people who still make bread every single day. To me, baking homemade bread is a dying art form and while it does take time, there is nothing more satisfying than making it especially from something so simple. Bread, when done right, is loaded with all of the minerals and vitamins you need to sustain life. While I cheated a bit with this artisan country loaf bread recipe, the most traditional way would have been using a starter instead of yeast. However, most people who are just everyday cooks aren’t going to take the time and money it takes to feed a starter once a day so yeast is much more practical.
How to Make Homemade Artisan Bread
To make this homemade bread recipe you are looking at about 5 hours. I think I said 3 hours and 45 minutes in the video but that’s really more dedicated to the resting and proofing time and not the actual folding and forming time. If you do this recipe you need to start in the morning so maybe the weekend is best. You are also going to get your hands dirty, so don’t even worry about breaking out the gigantic wooden spoon or spatula. It’s important to use your hands so you can feel the dough come together. You can’t do that with a spatula or spoon, you need to be touching it at all times so make sure there are no lumps.
Lastly, I want to talk about measuring for bread. It is super important so if you are serious about this then I recommend investing in a metric scale. Measuring in grams is as precise as it gets and you just can’t get that with ounces or measuring spoons or cups, so pick up a metric scale. Homemade bread baking is a science and if you aren’t right on then you aren’t going to get the final product you need. Guys, I hope you enjoyed the video as well as inspiring you to get out there and bake some fresh homemade bread, there’s nothing like it!
Video
How to Make a Homemade Artisan Country Loaf Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- 560 grams of 00 bread flour
- 190 grams of whole wheat flour
- 600 grams of water at 98° to 100°
- 17 grams of Kosher salt
- 3 grams of active yeast
Instructions
- In a large bowl combine with your hands the flours and water until completely mixed together. Let rest for 10 minutes.
- Next, sprinkle the salt and yeast overtop and mix it into the dough by pinching, stretching and folding the dough over for 4 to 5 minutes.
- Cover and rest the dough in a warm dark place for 15 to 20 minutes before folding the dough over for 2 minutes.
- Cover and rest for 45 to 60 minutes and then fold the dough over for 2 minutes. The dough may need a few more folds if the gluten is not strengthening.
- Cover and rest for 2 hours or until it has tripled in size.
- Dust a clean surface with flour and place the dough onto it. Sprinkle the top with flour and fold the dough over in thirds 3 to 4 times and then begin to mold the dough into a ball by cupping around the dough into the bottom.
- Place the dough into a floured Benetton and cover and rest for 60 minutes.
- In the meantime, place a small Dutch oven pot into the oven on 475° for at least 30 minutes.
- Flip the dough right into the hot Dutch oven pot, cover it and return it to the oven and bake for 30 minutes
- Let cool for 20 to 30 minutes before slicing and serving.
Nutrition
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We are loving this bread – it is the best.
I have one question please – the Le Creuset pot I use is almost too shallow because the bread comes out with the top pressed flat. All my other Le Creuset pots are too big for a loaf. Could I use some parchment paper and tin foil as a lid instead of the one that belongs with the bottom. Thanks, Judy.
You could certainly try!
I love your recipes and we have made several. Chicken Tinga Tacos, hummus, drunken noodles, bulgolgi, loco loco, zuppa tuscanna….. all wonderful.
I was wondering if you could recommend a Benetton. I had never heard of them before.
Thanks so much
can this recipe be made on a stone with a pan of water under the stone to steam?
Yes you can.
Billy. Exceptional recipes and instructions. I’ve made this and several of your other breads and all came together better than any bakery. Huge fan. Thank you!!
Hurray, I now can ask you a question
Do you have a cook book available to buy.
We love your recipes and would like to give each of my kids your book (if you have one)
Thank you
No, I don’t, but maybe one day!
Hello! Thank you for this great recipe! I’ve baked it several times now, but my problem is that the dough doesn’t rise enough before it goes into the oven. It definitely doesn’t tripple in size during the 2h, I would say it doesn’t even double. I followed the instructions precisely (or so I thought). Any advice would be much appreciated. Thank you!
Try putting it into an oven that is completely turned off with the door cracked and the oven light on to help warm up your environment a little bit.
Thank you!
Hello! Love this bread! I have made it many times always with wonderful results. I wanted to ask…if I would like to add something, such as herbs or roasted garlic, at what point in the process would you suggest doing so? Also, if I wanted to add some rye flour and caraway seeds, should I just substitute the rye flour for the whole wheat?
You would mix all those spices and herbs in on your last fold. Sub the flours but you may need to up the hydration a bit.
What a lovely bread to make- thank you! I love opening my cast iron at the end to see the results!!
First time i ever made bread, couldnt find active dry yeast and used instant dry yeast instead put a little bit less than 3 grams the bread came out delicious. Thank you for sharing the recipe
Thank you for the delicious bread recipe I always make my bread from your recipe very easy and the bread comes out delicious
Very easy and delicious bread
Thank you!
This is a lovely recipe, thank you chef for sharing it. The crust was perfect, lovely and soft inside, plus it worked beautifully with our Irish bread flour!! Can I just ask if I’m making for an overnight second rise, how long would you leave in the fridge after you shape it please? And would you wait to get to room temp before popping into the oven the next morning?
Cheers from rainy Ireland 😀
The best!
Thanks for the recipe!
How many quarts is the small dutch oven you used?
Thanks!
6
Could I use a 7.3 quart Enameled Dutch Oven?
I’d hate to have buy another Dutch Oven just for bread, ( but I will ) LOL
yes!
Can I refrigerate After the second kneading? And what would be the process after taking it out of the fridge?
refrigerate after you put it in the banneton.
Still having a hard time finding bread flour around here… Any chance I could use all purpose with any success?
You can, drop the hydration percentage by about 5%-6^
What if I don’t have a benneton?
a bowl with a kitchen towel will do
Hi, what brand/style food scale do you have?
The bread is deliciousLy fantastic! Texture and taste are there. I cannot get the crunchy outer crust. Would a quick spray of water into the pot help with that?
Im following the recipe to the letter (except subed wheat flour With more bread flour), weighing all ingredients and using a Dutch oven.
Take the lid off and cook for another 10-15 minutes. This is meant to be a blonde style bread.
Sorry, hit send before I was finished! Thanks for this recipe, it is delicious and a big thumbs up from my husband! Win! Win!
This bread is stupendous! I have been making a sourdough starter (5 attempts but I finally got it!) Can I use my starter in place of the commercial yeast? What would be the conversion?
you can, the starter should be 10-12% of the total flour and water weight.
I do not have wheat flour and none is available in the stores. Can I sub with more bread flour?
yup