Thursday, November 4, 2010

Fresh Bread

My friend recommend I check out the book "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day" by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois. Seeing as I am on a quest for a bread recipe I can actually conquer I figured it was worth the $13.49 Amazon is currently selling it for.

http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com



The basic idea is that you mix up enough dough for a couple days, let it rise, stick it in the fridge (stick it in the fridge, stick it in the fridge - sorry, G Love and Special Sauce tangent), and when you are ready for a fresh loaf of bread you pull out some dough and bake. Pretty simple!


I was a little skeptical. Where was the proofing of the yeast, the kneading the long rising times? Gone. The only downside I have found to this system is that because the bread continually comes out perfect, even without the steam bath and baking stone they recommend, we now have two 6 qt. tubs in our fridge that take up a lot of real estate. I think that is a fair trade considering we are eating bread that contains no strange chemicals or tons of unnecessary sugars.

So far I have made the basic boule recipe and the peasant loaf. So yummy.

If you are in search of gluten-free recipes, it looks like their new book, "Health Breads in Five Minutes a Day."  has a chapter devoted to gluten-free. Their web site also has some great tips that you should check out if you are interested in serving up great homemade bread. 

2 comments:

rhodespedal said... Reply to comment

I'm so glad to find someone in Colorado who posted about this! Have you had to change the recipe at all due to elevation? I live in Denver and have been scared to crack open this book but I'm so tempted!

Sarah said... Reply to comment

I am using bread flour so I cut back the flour down by 1/4 cup, other than than I haven't made any changes. I am also skipping the water bath and it comes out great with a crispy crust that browns up nicely. I have made the recipe with rye and wheat flour too and that works too.

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