When I first arrived in Korea, I may or may not have had a little break down over the lack of edible bread. I knew it was coming, as I’d read many threads about expats in Korea scouting for bread. They all said the same thing: the bread here sucks. And they were right. Once I got over my pouting stage and moved on to solving my bread problem, I felt like super woman. Those of you who read Mj and a Sea of Stories may recall the night Ibrought an oven home on the subway, all by myself. That very night I was busy baking.

Since coming to Korea, I’ve only purchased bread once—some “rye” bread from Costco that turned out to be not so rye-y—total disappointment. The rest of our bread consumption has been different variations of this VERY simple recipe. I was first introduced to the recipe by the mother of one of the children I nannied for last year. She got it from the book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. Of course, I modified it to add some extra goodness (taste and health).

This recipe makes about 4 loaves of bread. The idea is that you make the dough, store it inthe fridge, and then rip off a chunk when you want to bake it. The book claims it saves for up to 2 weeks but I say more like 10 days. Again, this is the easiest thing in the world and your friends will think you’re AMAZING.

The Basic Recipe:

• 6 ½ cups flour (I go for half whole wheat, half unbleached white flour. Sometimes I use all whole wheat or mix it up with some rye flour)
• 3 cups luke warm water
• 1 ½ Tbls yeast
• 1 ½ Tbls kosher salt (or whatever is available)
• Cornmeal—to keep the dough from sticking to the board and pizza stone/pan

 

Directions:

• Stir yeast and salt into water
•  Pour in flour and mix well with a wooden spoon—no need to kneed (pun intended)
•  Cover mixing container with a towel or a lid—not air tight and let rise for about 2hours.
•  Once dough has doubled in size, dust with flour and cut off a chuck (about grapefruitsize isusually good).
• Form into a ball and place it on a cornmeal covered surface (pizza peal is you haveone)
•  Let sit for about 40-60 minutes. During this time preheat the oven to 450 degrees. If youhave a pizza stone, it should be in the oven preheating as well. This will ensure that the  bread is getting heat from all directions.
•  When your ready to bake it, dust the loaf with flour and cut slashes into the bread using a serrated knife.
• Pop that sucker in the oven along with a small oven safe dish containing water (this will make the crust nice and crispy).
• Bake for 30-35 minutes
•  Remove from oven and let cool for 10-15 minutes before cutting.
•  Store the extra dough in the refrigerator for in a covered food safe container.
•  Make sure to share!

 

Variations

There are a million different variations so don’t limit yourself! Here are some of our favorites:

• chia seeds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds
• olives
• sun dried tomatoes
• rosemary and olive oil

When I’m ready to bake a loaf of bread, I simply cut off the size I want, flatten it a bit on a floured surface and add in the desired goodies. Then I fold the dough over itself and work it with my hands until the add-ins are spread somewhat evenly throughout the dough. Then start from step 6 and proceed as normal.