Master Recipe with Fresh Flour (Baker’s Field Fresh Flour Giveaway)

If you are under the impression that flour has no taste, it may just because you haven’t tried fresh flour. I know it is an odd concept that flour would be “fresh,” since we’re used to buying bags that have an exceptionally long expiration date. But, when you make a loaf of bread with flour that was just milled it is so much sweeter and more flavorful. Milling grains at home has been on the rise for a few years and many of our readers already do, so they know of what I speak, but for the rest of us (me included), this is a new discovery. I love bread, obviously, and love it made with all kinds of flour, but this is a real treat and one I am so excited to share with you.

I went to an event at Baker’s Field Flour and Bread here in Minneapolis and was completely blown away by what I heard and ate. I met the farmers (Penner and Peterson Farms) who grew this wheat, right here in Minnesota and they could not be more passionate about their crops and the bread that results from their work in the fields.

Baker’s Field Flour & Bread is returning stone-milling to the Mill City (Minneapolis was built on the grain industry), because our region grows an incredible variety of grains, so it just makes sense to mill those grains into flour in our hometown.

As a world class baker, Steve, the owner of the mill, knows the importance of good flour. And the local farmers know the importance of good wheat. By connecting the bakers’ demand for quality flours with the farmers’ desire to grow breeds of grains with unique flavors, Baker’s Field Flour & Bread is producing delicious flour. By stone-milling those local whole grains into FRESH flour, they are an integral part of the bread revival happening across America.

I was so excited that I asked Steve to partner with us on a giveaway, so that I can introduce more people to this incredible flavor. He will send 4pounds of flour to FIVE lucky winners. Due to the fact that this flour will be milled and shipped fresh, the giveaway is only open to people in the USA. Details of how to enter at the end of this post…*

First the recipe:

New Artisan Bread in Five Master recipe with Fresh Baker’s Field Flour and Bread BREAD Flour.

Typically our Master recipe from The New Artisan Bread in Five is made with All-purpose flour, but because this Fresh flour contains more bran and germ than the flours we are used to using, we need the extra gluten strength of a bread flour to get the same results. Otherwise we made no changes. Below is an abbreviated version of our recipe, for more details click here.

3 cups lukewarm water

1 tablespoon yeast

1 tablespoon kosher salt

2 pounds (907 grams) Baker’s Field Flour and Bread FRESH “FOREFRONT” BREAD FLOUR (To purchase their flour click here)

Mix the water, yeast, salt and flour together in a 6-Quart Food-Storage Container with Lid using a Danish Dough Whisk, spoon or stand mixer with the paddle attachment.

Let the dough rise (with the lid open just a hair, to allow gas to escape) for about 2 hours. You’ve just made about 4 pounds of dough (enough for four 1-pound loaves), so you can make a loaf right away, but will be easier to handle after it has been refrigerated for a few hours or overnight. (It can be stored for up to 14 days and you can bake as you wish during that time.)

Take out a 1-pound piece of dough (about 1/4 of the dough)

Let it rest, loosely covered with plastic on a piece of parchment paper that is dusted with flour, for about 2 hours.

Use a Serrated Bread Knife or baker’s Bread Lame to slash the dough.

Preheat a Dutch Oven to 450-500°F. (If your bread doesn’t seem to be getting a nice color, use the higher temperature.)

Carefully put the bread into the preheated Dutch Oven, using the parchment paper as a sling to lower it in.

Bake covered for 20 minutes.

Uncover the pot and continue baking for about 15 more minutes.

Until it is a deep brown caramel color and nicely set.

Carefully remove from the pot, using a spatula. The parchment become brittle when baking, so you can’t lift it out by that alone.

Allow to cool completely before slicing or it may seem gummy.

Enjoy with butter!

*To enter to win a bag of Baker’s Field Flour and Bread FRESH BREAD FLOUR please follow BOTH @Breadin5 and @bakersfieldflourandbread on Instagram, then tag two friends on @breadin5 and we’ll select FIVE winners there.

All of our regular contest rules apply.

 

41 thoughts to “Master Recipe with Fresh Flour (Baker’s Field Fresh Flour Giveaway)”

  1. That looks absolutely delicious! Thanks for the reminder. I need to make your bread again. It’s been a while since I’ve done so. I don’t do much with Instagram either, so I’ll have sit this one out. If I won, I’d never realize it, since I don’t ever check my account!

  2. Yeah, like Samina and Susan above me there, I don’t do instagram so I’m out but I’d like to try that flour.

  3. I’m another person who doesn’t do Instagram, Twitter or Facebook, so no entering the contest for me, either. One question: I notice you bake the bread in a Dutch oven. Would it be possible to bake it on a stone with steam?

      1. Hi! I love the master recipe but would be interested in experimenting with freshly milled flours, might order some online. It sounds like we’d want to use bread flour instead? If the protein is around 12%, how does that change the master recipe?

        Also, it says here to use the Dutch oven method. Noticed this on an episode of Zoe Bakes too, where she used the Dutch oven method for the boule instead of the baking stone/tray of steam. Are both methods comparable? Is there a reason you’d want to specifically use the Dutch oven method vs the baking stone? Thank you guys! You’re the best.

      2. Lots of good questions…
        First off, type the words “fresh ground” into the search bar above, for a post about how fresh ground flour can present challenges. Then, on my FAQs page, there’s an entry about using different flours including bread flour at 12%… You need a little more water there. The bread will have a little more structure, but I’m not sure it’s worth it. Both the Dutch oven and the baking stone, steam tray approaches are effective, and I use both. In some ovens that don’t seal well, the Dutch oven is definitely better. You can use any closed oven proof vessel. Type “Dutch oven” into the search bar, also type “cloche.”

  4. I grind my own wheat a lot- can you give insight into what makes flour “bread” flour? Will any whole wheat work similarly?

    1. “Bread” flour is made from a harder wheat kernel, and is higher in protein, therefore, it absorbs and requires more water in bread recipes. If a recipe calls for regular flour, and you swap in bread flour, you need to increase the water. Or the converse.

    1. Hi all, I think I see the confusion about this post and contest. Leaving a comment here doesn’t enter you into the contest, and our link to “All of our regular contest rules apply…” is confusing, because it talks about leaving a comment here to complete your entry. So I’ve added to that:

      “All of our regular contest rules apply, except comments here on this post don’t enter you into the giveaway contest.”

      We’ve found that Instagram has become a major way that bakers share each other’s results, so we have a major presence there–join us!

      1. Speaking for myself, I never thought commenting here would enter me in the contest, but I wanted to voice my support for blog-based contests rather than social media, and to do that, I must comment on the blog!

  5. Contest details aside, I felt compelled to comment on this beautiful bread. It is stunning!! And I am a big fan of baking bread in my dutch oven. I’ll definitely be giving this recipe a try. Thank you for your constant inspiration!!

  6. I would love to enter your contest, but like many others I don’t Instagram or Twitter.
    How about a one-time contest through email? I guess some of us are just “old fashioned”, but so is bread!
    I wish your recipes were easier to print, too.

    1. Hey, our publisher would kill us if we made the free electronic versions of our recipes as easy to use as the printed versions in our books! Click on the book images above, which go to the books’ Amazon locations. We do lots of traditional giveaways and will do so again (though it’s never by e-mail–people enter here on the website)–but this one is through Instagram.

  7. uhm, the link you provide doesn’t seem to show the type of bread flour you reference? I would like to purchase the flour.
    Thanks!

    1. Hi Deb,

      Such a great question, I clarified it in the post. The flour I used is called Forefront Bread Flour.

      Enjoy, Zoë

      1. In addition to their Forefront bread flour, I’ve also used their bread flour from Ingram wheat with great results.

  8. I bought the Emile Henry One Pot shown in this blog post. When I preheat the pot to use it for bread baking, do I preheat it with the lid on or off? BTW the pot came with instructions to fill it with milk and boil before first use. I am still trying to remove the burnt on milk from the bottom of my red pot.

    1. Hi Margie,

      I used a good scrubber to get the milk off.

      Heat the whole thing, with lid when you go to bake the bread.

      Enjoy! Zoë

  9. I have the original book from 2007. I’ve baked a number of times and am always disappointed that the dough s(in the resting phase) doesn’t rise very much. I’ve tried “proofing” before baking (oven at 100 degrees) and it seemed not to make much difference. Any suggestions?

    1. Hi Russ,

      It is perfectly normal for the dough not to have a big rise while resting, but it should have a nice oven spring. Does it rise once it is in the oven?

      Thanks, Zoë

      1. HI Zoe,

        Yes, the bread does have a nice oven spring, but, the bread is still very dense.. I’d like a “lighter” loaf. My friend uses a different brand of yeast. My wife thinks that might be the problem. What do you think>

      2. Thanks, Zoe

        I use red star yeast and either gold medal or pillsbury all purpose unbleached flour.

      3. Hi Russ,

        Both of those should work wonderfully. Check out the post on dense bread and see if that helps.

        Cheers, Zoë

  10. Hi, I purchased this brand’s (Baker’s Field) whole grain whole wheat flour instead of the bread flour on accident! Can it still work if I pop in some vital wheat gluten? If so, how much?

    1. Hi Courtney,

      You’ll want to use this flour in our whole wheat recipes, since it is going to absorb water so differently than all-purpose flour. If you use it in our whole wheat recipes, you can replace in equal amounts.

      Thanks, Zoë

  11. I miss my own flour (hard white). I’ve tried to make the artisan bread, but it always fails. Can you give me the amount of flour and how much water I should use? Thank you for any information.

    1. The problem is that home-milled flour doesn’t have a standard moisture content, so this will be a trial-and-error project for you. The consistency needs to end up like what you get with my recipes when you use standard supermarket flours.

  12. I use the Master Recipe all the time with great success. But now I’m milling my own flour and the loaves aren’t rising as well. What do I do? Your article say add gluten but I don’t see a measurement. Help! I want to continue to use this method AND fresh milled flour!

    1. It’s probably because you are moisture level is off, compared to commercial flower, or it’s more coarsely ground. Ground. Way final wheat gluten may help, about a quarter cup for every 4 lb of dough, which is a full recipe. You’ll need to increase the water by about a quarter cup or more

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