New York Times Dutch Oven Bread--My Way

**This recipe is adapted from the New York Times Dutch Oven Bread that swept the nation a few years ago.  The recipe's creator was actually Jim Lahey, owner of Sullivan Street Bakery**

A few years ago a friend passed along a recipe to me that totally changed how I viewed making bread.  It was the recipe for bread in the Dutch Oven that the New York Times published from Sullivan Street Bakery.

I used to look at making bread as a chore that required time and patience...with three young kids, both of those items are often in short supply.  This bread requires neither, but it also requires both.  The neither comes from the fact that you do not need to babysit this bread and need it and take care of it.  The both comes from the fact that it takes about 12 hours from start to finish.

I often serve this bread at dinner parties and people always make a huge fuss over the fact that I made fresh, crusty bread.  I like to share my secret with them so that their friends can make a fuss when they make it too :)

It is best served with my recipe for honey butter that I have included below.

In the original recipe they use instant yeast, but I am old-fashioned and really like to see my yeast growing before I add it to my flour mixture.



New York Times Dutch Oven Bread--My Way

Ingredients:
1/4 teaspoon of active dry yeast
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 teaspoon of kosher salt
Warm water
 Additional flour for shaping

Directions:
Dissolve the yeast in 1/4 cup of water that is 105-110 degrees for 5 minutes.

In a large bowl mix flour and salt.

When the yeast is ready add it to the flour mixture.

Add an additonal 1 1/2 cups of warm water to the flour and stir well.

It will be really messy looking...that is okay.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and put aside away from any cool drafts for 10-12 hours to let it rise.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

When the oven is ready, put your dutch oven with the lid on it in it to preheat the pot.  While the pot is preheating release the dough from the bowl onto a lightly floured cutting board (I flour my hands too because this dough is really sticky) and shape it into a round circle, tucking all seams.  The dough will be very wet and will not take shape well, this is normal.  Do not add more than a dusting of flour.  Cover the dough with saran wrap and set it aside.

When the pot is preheated remove it from the oven and take off the lid.  Drop the dough into the pot, replace the lid, and put it into the oven for 30 minutes.  When the 30 minutes is complete remove the lid of the dutch oven and put it back in the oven, uncovered, for 10 minutes.

Remove the pot from the oven and immediately remove the loaf of bread and place it on a cooling rack for 10 minutes.

Cut while warm, spread with honey butter, and try not to eat the whole loaf at once.

Honey Butter

Ingredients:
1 stick of salted butter, softened
1 Tablespoon of real honey

Directions:

Place the butter into a small bowl and mash with a fork until spread out.  Drizzle the honey over the butter and mix well until combined.  Put the butter into a crock covered with plastic wrap and chill until ready to serve.

Cakey Sugar Cookies

I love sugar cookies, but not all sugar cookies.

Lots of people enjoy the thin, crisp cut out cookies that are covered in royal icing and sprinkles...to me, they have always tasted a little harsh and factory like.

I like my sugar cookies a little cakey, super soft, and light on the frosting (that may be the only time I ever use the term "light on the frosting"...the whole reason that I like cupcakes is because they have a mound of frosting to a little bit of cake).

At Christmas I pump out dozens of these cookies each week.  They go to school, to friends, to family, and also right in my family's tummy.

Tips to make these cookies perfect...

1. Do not cut the refrigeration time short.
2. Do not roll the dough too thin.
3. Make the dough scraps into a flat disc and put them back into the refrigerator when they get a little soft and start to change color.  Leave them in there for 10-15 minutes.  Work with another section of dough until the time has passed :)
4. Do not worry about trying to decorate the cookies the same way that I did, find your own signature designs and have fun with them!  I found my style because I am really good at straight lines, but generally stink at art.
5. Use good quality food coloring (like Wilton) so it will not dramatically change the consistency of your frosting.

Cakey Sugar Cookies
(frosting recipe below)

Ingredients:
3 cups of all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 cup of unsalted butter, softened
1 cup of sugar
3 Tablespoons of milk
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 egg

Directions:
Mix the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl and put aside.

In bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment cream the butter and sugar for 2-3 minutes, or until fully combined.  Add the milk and vanilla and mix well.  Add the egg and continue mixing until just incorporated.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in thirds, beating each time until well incorporated.

Remove the dough from the bowl and wrap in plastic wrap.  Refrigerate for 2 to 24 hours.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Roill out one half of the dough at a time to 1/8-1/4 of an inch thick.  (The dough will be hard to roll at first because it is cold and stiff, bang it a few times with the rolling pin and then put some muscle into it).  Cut out shapes and place directly on cookies sheets.  Leave the rest of the dough in the refrigerator until you need it.

Cake each batch for 6-9 minutes or until they are puffed.  It may take a batch or two to learn to eyeball the perfect time to pull them because it is just before they brown.  If a batch or two has slightly golden edges they will still taste amazing so don't worry about it :)

Let cool for 2 minutes on the pan and then place on the cooling rack until completely cooled.

Makes about 3 dozen cookies with a standard size cookie cutter.


Sugar Cookie Frosting

Ingredients:
2 cups of powdered sugar
2-3 Tablespoons of milk
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
food coloring

Directions:
Mix the sugar, 2 Tablespoons of milk and vanilla by hand in a mixing bowl until it just comes together.  It should be hard to mix, but a consistency that will be able to go through a thin tip in a piping bag.  If it seems to thick you can cautiously add the 3rd Tablespoon of milk.

Divide the frosting into bowls and add food coloring.  Place frosting into food bags and decorate your cookies!  I like to lay mine out on wax paper to decorate them.

Looks like a gingerbread cookie snuck into this picture...I will have to share that recipe around Christmas.