The Great Bread Experiment

Have you ever read the Minimalist? The name sounds like a modernist comic book hero, I know, but the Minimalist is actually a food column in the New York Times that focuses on recipes that require minimal time and ingredients. I loved this summer's article on 100 ten-minute meals--based on simple, healthy ingredients like white beans, olive oil, garlic, fresh tomatoes, chorizo and pimenton, all of which I generally have on hand, the T-man and I ate delicious, quick meals all season long. (T-man, by the way, is the name I have assigned my mon fiance to protect his identity. I hate the ubiquitous DH.)

Tonight, I decided to try a new minimalist recipe: artisan bread. According to the article, using a fraction of the yeast, allowing for a 20-hour rise, and cooking the bread in a dutch oven creates a toothsome crust and moist interior that mimics bakery bread. Hmm. My dough did not look promising as it plopped into the hot Creuset 30 minutes ago (it also looked depressingly triangular), but that could be blamed on the fact that I left it to rise on the top of the stove as I preheated the oven. Who knew the stove top would get so hot? And now the bread smells, well, hot. Kind of metallic from the searingly hot Creuset and kind of burnt crust-ish. But I dare not open the pot until the timer goes off, because I still believe in the magic of this recipe. Despite the rising gaff, I will produce an artisan-quality loaf. The Minimalist said so!

Recipes are wonderful precisely because they hold out the carrot of culinary mastery to all and sundry. One always gets the giddy sense when beginning a recipe that this meal is going to be the best ever. I usually picture myself demurely offering the goods to my friends and family, modestly brushing off the praise while building a reputation for domestic excellence. And, unlike higher education, which dangles the carrot of future happiness and then goes scampering off into the woods with your clothes, leaving you naked, humiliated and working in retail, recipes will eventually make good on their promises. You might have to bake the bread a few times to get it right, but you will, and your friends and family will love you for it and you'll feel like the bee's knees.

And, oh!, I just pulled the bread out of the oven. It's a glorious golden hue and looks just like a crusty ciabatta. On the off chance that it's delicious, I'm providing a link to the recipe. Goodnight, and good eatin'.

Recipe: No-Knead Bread