Artisan Bread (in Five Minutes)
Posted by foodess on Sun 29th of Mar, 2009 08:31:50 PM
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So this recipe has been floating around for a long time, gracing the blogs and the tables of many a foodie. Personally, I was a bit skeptical. I mean, what is the point of making bread if you aren’t going to knead it, fuss over it, watch it rise, punch it around… Making homemade bread is about technique, timing, and experience. Naturally, it comes with some bragging rights. But this bread changes everything. Anyone who can use a wooden spoon can make it. It’s simplicity makes it such that absolutely everyone has the ability to make gorgeous loaves of crusty outered, tender innard-ed bread.
To make the dough, you mix everything in a bowl. That’s it. The initial rise takes two or more hours. But this rise doesn’t need to be babysat, as you let it grow until it collapses in on itself. Then you take the resulting gloriously yeasty, puffy pile of dough, stick it in a tub, pop it in the fridge, and saw off a hunk whenever you have a hankering for fresh, warm bread. Nothing to it.
The longer the bread stays in your fridge (up to about two weeks), the more flavourful it becomes and the larger the air holes will be. Others have said that it improves greatly by keeping it in the fridge for just 24 hours, and that the longer it is in there, the better it will be. I personally thought it was scrumptious the very first day, and with my patience deficiency, there was no way in heck it was going to last more than a few days.
The “five minutes a day” thing really only refers to the active time once the dough is prepared (i.e. cutting off a chunk, flouring it, and slashing it). It takes a bit more than five to mix up the initial batch - maybe five-and-a-half, six minutes? Then on the day you bake it, it needs to rest for at least 40 minutes once it is shaped. Plus about a half-hour in the oven. But no time will be spent grunting and fretting as you might do when making bread the traditional way…. which you may never do again, once you try making it this way!
Artisan Bread
Adapted from ”Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day,” by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François
- 1 1/2 tablespoons yeast
- 1 1/2 tablespoons salt
- 3 cups water
- 6 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour, more for dusting dough (*you can replace about 1 to 1 1/2 cups of white flour with any whole grain flour with great results).
- Cornmeal
1. In a large bowl, mix yeast and salt into 3 cups warm water. Add flour, and stir to combine completely. Let dough rise in a warm place for at least two hours, until it rises and collapses (up to 5 hours - or even overnight won’t hurt it). The dough may be baked at this point, or refrigerated for later use.
2. Cover dough, but make sure it is not airtight - gases need to escape - and place in fridge. When you are ready to use it, throw a small fistful of flour on the surface and use a serrated knife to cut off a piece of the size you desire. (The authors recommend a 1 pound loaf - which means cutting off grapefruit-sized piece of dough). Turning the dough in your hands, stretch the surface of the dough and tuck in under. The surface will be smooth, and the bottom with be bunched.
3. Dust a pizza peel (or any flat surface - I use a rimless cookie sheet) with cornmeal. (This prevents sticking, and adds a nice, rustic crunch. You can use flour instead, but you’ll need to use a very generous dusting). Allow dough to rest in a warm place for 40 minutes - longer (up to an hour and a half) if you use some whole wheat flour in place of the white, or if you make a larger loaf.
4. Twenty minutes before baking, preheat oven to 450 degrees with baking stone (or overturned baking sheet) inside on the middle rack, plus a shallow pan on the top rack. Throw a small fistful of flour over the dough, slash it 2-4 times with a serrated knife (in a cross, a tic-tac-toe, or a fan), and slide it into the oven, onto the baking stone. Throw 1-2 cups of tap water into the shallow pan, and quickly shut the oven door to trap steam inside. Bake for 30 minutes, or until crust is well browned and bread sounds hollow when you knock on the bottom.
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I Love this book. But can I add that the salt has to be coarse salt, or you need to use much less. I know a couple of people who used 1 1/2 Tablespoons of table salt and it’s way too much! I guess if you like really salty bread it would be okay ;)
Your loaf is gorgeous! Thank you so much for trying the book!
Misty is exactly right about the salt. In fact we have many tips like that on our website, along with an error sheet, for all the little things that me missed in editing. http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com
Happy baking and enjoy all the bread you bake!
Zoë François
I’ve been seeing these posts around and I definitely want to try it. I’ve tried making a couple of breads the traditional way in the past and they were… okay. Nothing to write home about. A quick, foolproof method like this for people like us - busy, two jobs, kids, pets, etc. - is definitely the way to go! Gonna do this THIS WEEK! Thanks for sharing!
I still don’t get why it is called “five minutes a day”. Either way, the bread looks awesome!
I can’t tell you how much fun I’ve been having with this bread. I’ve been making the light wheat (with 1 c. of wheat flour subbing for 1 c. of ap) . Since last week, I’ve made: a raisin bread with a dusting of cinnamon/sugar outside flattened out, sprinkled with more c/s, then raisins, then haphazardly rolled up (jelly roll style) and baked. A garlic-herb bread with basil EVOO on top, and a sprinkling of garlic and more herbs on top. Last week we had dinner guests, and I looked like I’d spent hours on the dinner, making fresh pitas, simply by flattening golf ball sized pieces of dough.
And btw, I’m a old-school bread maker, so this method really blows me away.
Ok I am inspired. I am just so reluctant when it comes to bread baking, it is plain hilarious. God knows, the dough is not going to eat me up. But 5 minutes?? I could do that. Thnx for sharing :-)
Would you believe that I haven’t done this yet!? I’m with you… what’s the point of making bread if you can’t punch it around ;) ! I must admit though, your bread has inspired me…. I might just have to give this one a go!
I’m one of those impatient cooks too. This looks amazing, and I haven’t tried to make anything like it yet. I’m saving this for future use!
Misty - thanks for that. I used regular salt and didn’t notice, but it’s good to know!
Zoe - thanks for the comment! I have spent lots of time on your site, learning tricks for making whole wheat varieties. Very helpful Q & A!
Maggie - I will definitely be playing with add-ins in the near future! Great ideas!
Sneh - quite the opposite… you are going to eat IT up! muahahaha
Joy - well, baking goddess that you are, I would easily believe that you wouldn’t be looking for the shortcut. But I am surprised curiosity hasn’t gotten the better of you nonetheless!
MMMMMM…What a georgous looking & yummie bread that you have baked!!!
Great stuff!!
Hi, this looks wonderful but I am Gluten Free. Does this rise the 2nd time as well?
I would love to try this but I use Rice flour, diff starches, Sorghum and other items. Any ideas??? Thanks
Brittany - hopefully for use in the very near future!
Thanks, Sophie!
Cab - No, it doesn’t rise much the 2nd time… it will rise more significantly in the oven. As for the gluten-free… If you are new to baking g/f bread, I recommend getting acquainted with a really great, tried and tested recipe, so that you won’t be disappointed. Once you’ve found a good formula that gives you bread you like, then try experimenting with other recipes. You are not going to get artisan bread from rice flour and potato starch… But I’m sure you could apply the same idea and keep a large batch of g/f dough in the fridge to bake when you want it! Good luck!
Wow! This bread looks fantastic. I can’t believe it: bread without the fuss. I love it!! I can’t wait to try this recipe for myself.
What a great looking bread !
Looks good!
Ok, I finally did it! After procrastinating for a bit, I decided to “try” a 1/2 batch. I mixed up the dough yesterday and baked my first loaf last night. Well, it was delicious! With a little help from my 16-year-old daughter, we nearly finished off the whole loaf. I will be making more, soon, and often.
I have a friend who is gluten-free and really misses a good piece of bread. Sure would love if someone found a gluten-free version.
Great recipe, although I found that in this very dry, desert environment 3 cups of water would not even moisten all 6.5 cups of flour. It took 5 cups of water to make a good dough, and it worked great! Now it’s a daily habit.
I use this dough to make pizza rolls, particulary if I have any dough left after about two weeks (when the yeast is beginning to give out).
Roll out flat about a softball sized amount of dough. Scatter with toppings (I use pepperoni), and add cheese to taste. You want to distribute the toppings so that each roll has enough topping within it. Carefully roll lengthwise into “log”. Cut into slices about 1 1/2 inches thick each and bake at 450 for about 20-25 minutes on a greased cookie sheet. (These should be similiar in appearance to cinnomon buns.)
I don’t add sauce (we dip them in spaghetti sauce). These are portable and very quick and easy and my family LOVES them.
It looks yummy, I must get my wife to make this for us!
I’ve been making this bread for a few weeks now and it looks and tastes great but…
I get little to no rise. It seems to rise fine for the initial rise but once I take it out of the fridge and bake it I end up with this little dense loaf. I’m letting it rise about 1.5 hours before baking.
Help me troubleshoot?
I followed the recipe using table salt before reading the comments. Consequently the loaf is almost inedible unless I dip it in something. Oh well…
Stumbled this last night and made it this morning. Man it turned out great I used 5 cups bread flour 1and 1/2 cups chappatti flour (cos I had some to hand) and Kosher salt, worked a treat.
First small loaf didn’t last long though:)
I see regular flour is being used - can I use bread flour instead or will this change the texture/flavor? I can’t wait to try it!
ahh i love this recipe! my boyfriends mother found it in a magazine, and we swear by it. we ended up buying the book that the recipe is out of… definitely recommend it!! its bread for those of us without the time to slave over it.
Bread flour should be fine!
I have not yet tried making this bread but I do have a teacher friend that makes it all the time. It is so great!
She even taught her 2nd graders how to prepare it (every Friday) so that our 260+ students at school can have a piece for their morning snack every other day! Isn’t that just cool!! We just slab some peanut butter or cream cheese on it and the kids just LOVE it!
Now, my 1st graders are asking me when they will learn how to prepare this quick and easy, delicious bread!!
I tried to do this exactly as the instructions said and my dough just turned out very watery and goupy, despite letting it sit for nearly the five hours suggested…what might I be doing wrong?
After several successes with the posted basic boule, I purchased the book AB5D.
I find a get three loaves out of the batches, not four, but they’re great for the size of our family.
If I find the dough is getting a little dry on the counter, waiting for the baking day rise, I cover it with a damp, (not wet), clean tea towel to keep it moist.
Mary, I’ve got to try the pizza rolls. Great idea.
I’ve made the Sweet Provencal Flatbread with Anise Seeds as a boule and it was terrific. We’re in the middle of a Pineapple Express here in Vancouver, BC (non-stop rain) so yesterday was a great day to try the Deli Rye bread. My neighbours think I should open a bakery…the bread was that “friendable.”