The Most Amazing Artisan Bread You Will Ever Make

Spoiler alert - the finished product

I'm all about superlatives. But seriously, this is the best bread recipe ever, and it only requires four ingredients. It takes all of five minutes of actual prep time, about three hours of rise time, and 30 minutes of bake time. It tastes like you spent a long time in the kitchen. Guys, this is a great way to impress your lady. Ladies, this is a great way to impress your guy. Kids, this is a great way to impress your parents. We originally found this recipe on www.italianfoodforever.com. I have made some modifications. Regardless, I would like to kiss that woman on the lips.

Let's get started.

Ingredients

 

What you need:

- 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water (warm from the tap is fine)

- 3 teaspoons yeast

- 3 teaspoons kosher or coarse salt

- 3 1/2 cups flour

- 3 sprigs of rosemary (optional; may also try fresh garlic, cheese, or other herbs)

Yield - 2 loaves

Dough waiting to rise

What you do:

1) Add salt and yeast to lukewarm water.

2) Add flour and mix until uniformly moist.

3) Knead in rosemary or other optional ingredients.

4) Cover with thin towel and let rise 2 hours.

At this point, you can refrigerate the dough for up to a week. Since it makes two loaves, you can prepare one for baking now, and refrigerate the rest for later in the week. This is great to prepare on Sunday for fresh bread during the week.

Tuck the dough into itself

5) Ball 1/2 of dough by tucking the edges underneath.

6) Sprinkle pan with cornmeal, or use parchment paper. I prefer the parchment paper, since it's less of a mess.

7) Allow balled dough on pan to rise for 40 minutes.

8) Cut shallow slits in the top of the dough.

Rosemary dough with shallow cuts

9) Bake at 450 degrees for 25-30 minutes with a shallow pan of water in the oven (don't skip this. It's the secret to the delicious crust). Dough should be golden on top, and should sound hollow when you knock on it.


10) Serve with your favorite soup, olive oil for dipping, chili, any meat dish, or... Seriously, I don't need to tell you what to serve this with. It's bread.
Serve it with anything that you normally serve bread with.

Enjoy!