Once You Know How, Making Bread In Five Minutes Is Easy!

Making bread used to be time consuming but with Artisan 5 minute bread you just need...well, 5 minutes. The book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day is a master stroke of genuineness. The authors, Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois, really have made it easy for the working baker to have fresh bread all week long.

Jeff and Zoe do say you can keep the bread dough in the frig for up to two weeks if, and that’s a big if, you can keep it that long. If don’t have a brood to feed, just the three of us and I have a hard time keeping the bread for a week let alone two weeks.

It makes wonderful bread, rolls, cinnamon bread, mmmmmm....very good. Try some cheese and garlic added to the bread dough just before you bake it. The very best!

Anyway, about the book...it has all the recipes you could possible want but you can add any ingredients you want. I make bread the old fashion way, you know, by kneading, and I use various ingredients. Such as our rosemary, basil, and butter bread, or the cheese and garlic bread, and of course, you must try the pepperoni bread.

That’s the next five minute bread I’m going to make with the 5 minute bread recipe. You take the bread dough and as you’re shaping it for baking roll it in pepperoni and parmesan cheese and continue to shape by pulling the bread dough towards the bottom of the loaf. It mixes into the dough so there’s pepperoni and parmesan cheese throughout the bread. Very, very good! As soon as I get some pepperoni, this is my next bread.

I did find that I can use any ingredient in the basic recipe of the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. Some of the nut mixtures and raisins aren’t as mixed as with kneaded bread but the taste just as good.

I love the consistency of the bread dough even though it is a little sticky but if you use enough flour there isn’t too much of a problem. And I solved my moisture problem in the oven. The book says to add a pan with a cup of water in it but I found if I use a tile, that’s right, a tile and sprits’ it with water after putting the bread loaf in the oven it provides enough moisture for the bread while cooking.

The tile I am referring to is a left over from when I remodeled the kitchen and put in tile. So if you don’t have a pizza stone, a tile works great. I think the best is the kind of tile that doesn’t have a top coating on it but is like a natural finish. It works for me although I do have a pizza stone. The tile is also good for baking pita bread. Just use the pita bread recipe out of the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day book and spray the title and then put the pita dough on the tile and bake for 5 minutes. There a good...more next time.