Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day? Oh Yes!

A few months ago, my friend Beth turned me on to the book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. I was so excited by the concept after watching this video on Youtube that I ordered the book right away.



After I made our first batch, using the recipe from the video, my family was hooked. They love the fresh, hot bread and I love the simplicity. Jeff and Zoe's method and recipe produced a delightful loaf that was crusty outside and soft inside, our favorite. After my book arrived I began experimenting more. So far the European Peasant Bread in the book is my favorite. There are so many other variations in the book, but I can't seem to get past the European Peasant because we love it so much. In our last batch, I doubled the rye and wheat flours and cut back on the white flour with good result.

I confess that I use an empty ice cream bucket to make and store the dough in the fridge. It also doesn't get washed between batches because it develops a little sour dough effect from the bits of dry dough that get stirred in. That's another interesting thing about this recipe. After the dough sits in the fridge for a few days, the flavor does change just a bit, making it a little like sourdough. We like that. A plate sprinkled with cornmeal works just fine if you don't have a wooden peel. Just use a spatula to transfer to your preheated stone. The bread dough also makes really wonderful pizza with a nice, chewy consistency. Cinnamon rolls would probably turn out nicely too.

If you've never baked bread before, or you think you don't have enough time, or you're tired of bread that needs lots of kneading and time to rise, this book is for you.