Leisurely Daily Bread: A Refrigerator Dough

 

Yes, Leisurely Daily Bread:  A Refrigerator Dough.  Spot on accurate:  it's a mix, stash, and bake, all of which are incredibly quick.  Mind-bogglingly quick.  And how can you beat a hands-off, fresh baked bread daily?

Where I need to qualify is there's initial downtime at the top.  But, still.  Whatev's.

By downtime I mean, this is a refrigerator dough.  And by that I mean you throw it together and it needs a proof and a chill but after that, bam, fresh baked bread any time anywhere.  And, even further by what I mean, is that this dough can chillax in the fridge for up to two weeks.

Yes, that's right, you can have ready-to-bake bread dough on hand all the time, any time.    .....Right?!?

During our escape from home overseas last April, we treated ourselves to a swanky dinner at The Spanish Butcher in Glasgow, as highly recommended (rightfully so) by Mr. John Grant of Glenfarclas. 

You should go.  They've opened in Edinburgh too.  Go.  Now.  Yes.  Bye.

At the top of the meal, they bring you wee rounds of bread, as if a whole bread round got cartoon-style zapped smaller.  Personal bread rounds, heh.

Mike and I instantly looked at each other.

I knew what he was thinking because I was thinking it too.  "We should do this at home," he said.  I wholeheartedly agreed. 

Enter the quest.

I've tried a few no-knead bread recipes aka five minute, miracle, best, overnight, easiest bread, blah blah, you get the gist.  All no-knead bread.

Disappointing.  All.  No flavor, dense, dull, weird dough, and they don't bake up quite right.  Never match the photos either, heh.

Maybe I'm doing something wrong with those no-knead breads but given I followed directions to a tee, I don't see what I am missing.  It has to be the recipes, IMO.  Sorry, no-knead bread recipe writers.

Now.  Why then did I go for something like a no-knead refrigerator dough instead of making bread dough to bake that day?  The answer, my friends, is in the question.  I'd be making dough constantly and who has time for that?  Scant few.

My The Spanish Butcher-adjacent quest time resulted in this.  This is it.  Foresake the interwebs' zillions (they're pretty well the same recipe, fyi), this is The One.

It's not an exact match to the restaurant mind you, but it's hot damn close enough and arrgg so delish.

Extra bonus:  I've tested the baking of this recipe a slew of ways so if you don't have certain tools like a Dutch oven* or niche bread cloche* (hot tip:  Aldi will occasionally have both those [ask me how I know] so watch their weekly ads) or whatever, have no fear.  You will have success with this regardless.

Leisurely Daily Bread:  A Refrigerator Dough, friends, it is a winner in every direction.

Why is this different than other no-knead breads?  A dash of sugar and a spot of oil, and both make a world of difference in the finished baked bread.

Why? 

The small amount of sugar feeds the yeast, gets it fired up for work.  The oil tenderizes and interferes with the gluten creation process.  This results in a more tender bread.  It's a bit science-y; this site explains it more thoroughly if you're interested.

Ultimately, all we care about are better results.  Far better.  Like, cannot stop stuffing my face, good thing I only bake two baby rounds at a time better.

Is this only for little individual rounds?, you are wondering.  Nope.  You can bake this up as loaves, larger rounds, whatever though I have not done anything other than small rounds so I can't advise currently.  Maybe someday I'll update.

Ok, leisurely daily bread, refrigerator dough, you're up:

Leisurely grab a six quart food storage container with a lid* (mine is a Cambro*).  If you don't want one or don't have one, use a bowl of similar size that will fit in your fridge.  Or, halve the recipe for a smaller container or, use the whole recipe, split the dough into two containers. 

Or, if you have a Restaurant Depot or restaurant supply store near you, pick one up for a few bucks.  I heartily recommend getting one; it's not a single use tool.  Partial reason being an upcoming jaw-dropper pizza recipe.

Either way, this dough is going to whooo rise up so you need the space.

Anywhoo, grab your container and dump everything in.  Yep, all in. 

With a wood spoon* or a commercial spatula* or whatever you're comfortable with, give everything a stir. 

It'll get stiff and shaggy.  Stick your hand in there and sort of fold everything up onto itself making sure all the flour and water are not sitting alone on the bottom.  Now it'll be sticky.

And that's all we do.  Let that sit on the counter for two hours, lightly balance the lid or whichever cover you're using, and pop it in the fridge.  Walk away.

Top:  after mixing.  Bottom:  after two day's rise in fridge.  It did hit over the 4 qt. line then dropped which is perfectly a-okay.

If you're real desperate, you can bake after the initial two hours but the longer it sits, the better it gets.

Two days in the fridge, view of the top.

Come bake time, tear off however many blobs of dough you want and bake.

Top:  freshly pulled, a slight twist or two to shape, still cold.  Bottom:  1 hour after.  These are 110 g balls.

Here's where I also highly recommend getting a kitchen scale* if I have yet to convince you.  Weigh each blob for not only consistency but for portion sizing.  I don't mean the latter in a funky way; it's so you know what size bread you're getting, baking evenness, and about how many out of a full batch.

Meaning, I've done 150 g of dough for almost The Spanish Butcher sized rounds, 125 g, 110 g, down to 100 g for more meal vs. bread focus.  Sounds quirky but hey, that's me.

Right, so you can bake these in the aforementioned kitchen gear or just on a sheet pan on some parchment* or even a pizza pan with small holes,* the latter of which gives you wildly crispy bottoms.  Of the bread.

For example, on the left top and bottom 110 g, bread cloche.  On the right 125 g, uncovered on a sheet pan.

Ultimately, you can play around with dough ball size, time, and oven temperature but note hotter ovens result in crispier crusts.  It's truly a flexible dough to play around with.

Around here, I plan meals around this bread such as dinner from The Burnt Butter Table.  Her recipes stand fully on their own but hey, sometimes it's bread -- dinner is the side for me.  And Mike now.  Baking Jedi Master, ha Ha.

Bust out the good butter for these.

No matter how you slice it (hahaaa pun), this Leisurely Daily Bread:  A Refrigerator Dough is now your new staple and I'm honored to make your life better today.

*The dutch ovens, bread cloches, 6 quart food containers with lids, wood spoons, commercial spatulas, kitchen scales, parchment paper, and pizza pans are Amazon affiliate links.  Happy baking, thanks!  Please see the "info" tab for more, well,  info.