How to Make an Artisan Bread (Includes how to make rolls and buns)

Artisan breads have an open crumb, a fantastic chewy crust, and a country sour taste. If you were doing them from scratch, you would need a sourdough starter. It’s much simpler using one of the country or sourdough bread mixes. Then it’s easy to amaze your family and friends with this simple bread.

We recommend these bread mixes for your artisan loaves:

• San Francisco Style Sourdough — This is the classic sour bread of San Francisco fame. It’s the sourest of the breads with a thick, chewy crust.
• Alaska Sourdough — it is not as sour as San Francisco's, but distinctly sour.
• Italian Country — This is much milder. It’s a country bread, not a sourdough. It has a more crackly crust.
• French Country Bread — the mildest of the four. This is a very light bread with a chewy, hearth bread crust. This is a country version of the traditional French.

Each of these will make a chewy, crusty European-type bread with an open crumb.

Directions

• Mix the bread according to package instructions using the dough setting. The cycle is 1 1/2 hours in most machines. Let the dough rise in the machine for another 30 minutes.
• Line an 11x17-baking sheet with parchment paper. Put a heavy dusting of flour on the parchment paper.
• Lightly dust your countertop with flour. Dump the dough onto the countertop and pat and pull it into a flat, rough log, about 5 inches wide and about 18 inches long.
• Cut the log horizontally into two pieces to make two loaves. Place each loaf on the prepared sheet pan to rise. Place the pan in a proofing bag or cover it with plastic.
• Let the bread rise for one to 1 1/2 hours at room temperature until it triples in size. (If your kitchen is cool, consider setting the bagged dough in front of the window to pick up a little solar heat.)
• Twenty minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 425°F. If you have a baking stone, place it in the oven to heat.
• When you're ready to bake, generously dust the loaves with flour with a flour shaker and sprinkle or mist some water on the bread. Place the baking sheet with the loaves in the oven. (If you are using a baking stone, slide the loaves onto the stone.) Bake them for 20 to 25 minutes or until the crust turns a deep golden brown.
• Turn the oven off, prop the door open about five inches, and let the bread cool for at least 15 minutes.

Baker's Note: You can use your stand-type mixer if you don't have a bread machine. Use your dough hook and knead the bread for ten minutes at medium-high speed. The dough will be sticky. Cover and let it rise for at least an hour. Then put the dough on the counter and proceed from there.

How to Make Dinner and Sandwich Rolls

Making dinner and sandwich rolls is just like making free-standing loaves, except that they are smaller.

For dinner rolls, we cut the dough into 12 equal pieces. (We use a scale to get them the same size.) When we are making soft rolls, we use a greased 9 x 13-inch pan and place them in three rows, four to a row. In this case, if you want crusty rolls, place them on a baking sheet with space around each.

For sandwich rolls, cut the dough into eight equal pieces.  

If you want soft rolls, bake them at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. 

To test doneness, use a probe-type thermometer and an oven mitt.  Stick the probe into the center of the bread. The interior of the bread should reach 190 degrees. If you want harder rolls, bake them to 210 degrees.