Customer Reviews

Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking

5 star:		(759)
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3 star:		(24)
2 star:		(25)
1 star:		(26)

 

 

I'm a foodie; the kind of person who will drive miles to a bakery, who will visit Italy when the ricotta is sweetest. I'm also a skeptic. So, when I bought this book, I didn't expect much. But, was I ever wrong. What I love is that the authors turn everything you know about bread baking upside down, and the result is the best bread you'll ever make at home. Easily. Simply. Whenever you want. You must, however, read the introduction to the method to succeed as well as you might -- this is not a book to begin baking from the minute you buy it. But the few minutes you invest in all the suggestions pay off mightily -- how to tell when this particular kind of bread is really ready (I used to swear by an instant read thermometer -- forget that); how to dock it; how to store it, etc. The instructions are utterly clear. I've already baked ten loaves, each magnificent, and I've only had the book for a week. All kinds of breads are represented -- French loaves, ciabbata, pita, peasant -- I could go on and on. Enough for a lifetime of pleasure. Hertzberg and Francois are geniuses.

This is a terrific book ... I've tried the basic approach and it is great. To make it more useful (for some) I'd like to add a few notes.

The book has an unfortunate, (for me) bias towards light, fluffy breads and breads that rely on "ingredients". So...

Sourdough breads: I've been refrigerating my dough for years to increase the sourdough flavor. This books opens the door to a very simple approach to sourdough.

As the book notes, the sourdough taste increases with time in the refrigerator. So simply keep two sets of dough running ... a "dormant" set and an active set. Start by making a batch of dough. Stick it in the refrigerator and don't touch it for at least a week. After a week or so, make a second batch of dough. (I would mix in a hunk of the previously mixed, week old dough to enhance the sourdough development.) Now put this second batch away and start using the first batch ... which will have started to taste like a sourdough. When this first batch is used up, make up a brand new "dormant" batch and put it aside while you start using the batch that's been sitting in the refrigerator for the past week or so.

In this way you can keep a sourdough going forever, without any additional work. (Since you only a new batch when an old batch runs out.)

Rye and whole wheat: The technique is IDEAL for rye ... which is a gummy, no-knead but extremely delicate dough. I would certainly use much more rye than any of these recipes call for and would use the sourdough technique I mentioned above to develop flavor.

It its also ideal for whole wheat. The big problem with whole wheat is not the crust, (I'll mention a technique to bring out a crust), but that whole wheat contains bran, which, when kneaded, cuts the strands of gluten/protein. That's why 100% whole wheat is so dense. But, since you do not knead this dough, the bran does not cut the protein strands and the dough is free to rise almost as much as a white flour.

Personally, I use 50% rye and 50% whole wheat and, using the books oven technique get a great rise.

Another technique that develops a very thick crust, no matter the flour, is to bake the bread in a preheated, covered oven pot or casserole pot at 450 degrees.

By the way ... to get actual pumpernickel, forget the powders, (coffee and chocolate ... yeesh!) and just use pumpernickel flour in place of rye flour. (Pumpernickel flour is nothing more than whole grain rye flour.)

I have many bread baking books and was skeptical that this one would be any better or different. I expected either a catch in the "5 minutes", poor quality bread, or both. I made my first batch last week and was very impressed with both the ease and taste. You can really make the dough in just a few minutes and keep it in your fridge for use over the next 2 weeks. It was wonderful to be able to pull a chunk of the dough out of the container and have delicious bread (the last was more like a big roll) in just over an hour. I could make a loaf when I got home from work and serve it for dinner. There are many recipes included, but it also gave me a much more relaxed attitude toward the bread and I found myself making up my own additions by the time I was forming my second batch. I showed the book to a friend and rather than copy a few of the recipes, she decided to order the book herself because she said that everything looked good and it looked like stuff she would really make. Not many cookbooks earn that comment.

The book frequently calls for a pizza peel and baking stone. A set of the peel (or a suitable cutting board), stone (or an unglazed ceramic tile from Home Depot) and this book would make a great gift. In fact, I thought that I could cross several people off of my shopping list by buying the set or just the books for all. Unfortunately, it is already out of stock. Looks like I am not the only one who is impressed by it. I can't even give my book away and wait for a new copy because I spilled olive oil on it while making the sun dried tomato and Parmesan bread. By the way, it was delicious!

This is a great book for all cooking experience levels. The recipes are easy and the results impressive.

After baking bread from this book for over a month I have a few suggestions for folks that vastly improve (in my opinion) the bread from this book. Even without these changes the bread is still better than store-bought, but it's *not* artisanal quality.

1) WEIGH YOUR INGREDIENTS! This is a cardinal rule of baking and one not to be flaunted. Buy a good scale -- it's as important as your baking stone.

2) Cut the salt and yeast called for by half: I use 10gm salt and 8gm yeast.

3) Preheat your oven for at least an hour at 500 degrees. A 20 minute preheat does NOTHING for your stone and bottom crust. Drop the temp to 450 when the bread goes in the oven.

4) I use Light Whole Wheat Bread on page 74 as my base recipe. The 140 grams of whole wheat flour kicks the flavor level up substantially.

5) Skip the cornmeal and go with parchment paper. SO much easier and no smoke in the kitchen.

6) Get a good instant-read thermometer. The bread is done when it reads 200 degrees. Another pricey tool but you'll soon find it indispensable.


Follow my recommendations and you'll get great bread with excellent top and bottom crust every time.

The concept around which Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day revolves is that with the right method, you can make quick, easy bread that mimics the fancy, crusty loaves you find in restaurants and bakeries. There's no kneading involved. The fanciest piece of equipment you might need is a baking stone for optimal results, but even that you can do without. There's no proofing of yeast, no multiple long rise times on baking day. You use very few dishes, so there isn't much to clean.

The secret? A wet dough that ages over time in the refrigerator. One batch makes a handful of loaves, and will last happily for more than a week, so you can just lop some off and make bread whenever you want during that time. All you'll need is a little time for the bread to rest and bake, and you have lovely homemade bread whenever you want it. If that isn't enough, as the dough ages it takes on a sourdough characteristic, giving it additional flavor.

We found the recipes quick and easy. The dough was crusty as advertised. It had a lovely crumb. It had tons of flavor. And most importantly, it really did take only a few minutes of work.

My only disappointment is that the method isn't quite as easy and simple when it comes to making whole grain breads. You definitely have to adjust things a bit, and it'll take a little time to get the hang of making sure the dough is wet enough. Also, whole grains don't lend themselves to those perfect crackling crusts, so you'll have to live without that.

This is a delightful baking method that sets tradition on its ear and produces wonderful bread with little effort. Using Hertzberg and Francois's method, you'll be able to make fresh, homemade bread even around a busy working schedule.

As a resident of the less urban areas of the United States, I have often been faced with the grim reality that good bread is hard to find. Even in enormous supermarket bread aisles, one look at arm-long ingredient lists filled with unpronounceable chemicals is enough to prove the unfortunate difficulty of obtaining a healthy, cheap instance of this traditional food staple. The obvious solution, then is to make bread at home, with good ingredients purchased cheaply from the very store that does not offer the finished product. The problem with this approach, however, is that real bread is not just considered to be food: it is an art form.

Thus the familiar term "artisan bread," a phrase meant to capture the aesthetic finery of good bread, the skilled labor necessary to create it, and the sale price required to compensate for it. Buying bread then, is more like going to a gallery than to a market. And so even we who do not have ready access to real "artisan bread," who wish to produce the stuff on our own, are at the mercy of our only easy resource: books on how to make this "artisan bread." The problem is that these books are all written by bakers, artists of bread. I have purchased a few of these myself (The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread, Bread: A Baker's Book of Techniques and Recipes, Artisan Baking), but the intense involvement which these methods require is more than I am interested in. I have no desire to bake world-class breads, or even really good ones; I just want something to eat(!) and enjoy and give to lots of other people who also don't get to experience real bread of any quality most of the time.

The first small loaves I baked using the master formula came out of the oven crackling; when they cooled and I invited my family to try them (the same people who have witnessed some very un-enviable bread attempts in the past), I was overjoyed to see that they kept coming back for more! It is without a doubt the best bread I have ever baked (although I haven't baked much), and it certainly meets and surpasses all my requirements for a quick, easy method of making decent "good bread" at home.

If all you want to do is eat inexpensive, decent bread, and do so easily and quickly (from dough to delicious in an hour and a half), then this is the book you should buy. If you have a desire to learn the intricate art of bread, then get the other books--you'll probably be making better bread after a time. But this is not a book for artists, or even hobbyists--it's a book for the rest of us, who just want to eat...bread.

There are quite a few errors in the text of the book. The corrections can be found at the authors' website under the Errors tab. http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/

This idea really works. I am a bread snob. I only buy sourdough and artisan breads (usually w/rosemary) Last week I heard an interview about this technique on KCRW on the radio. Though I am a clutz in the kitchen, and I had never made bread before, I decided to try it. I threw the water flour and yeast together, then left the bread in a small refrigerator for an agonizing week. It was amazing when I finally removed it and did the 5 minute bread routine. I even got the recipe wrong for everything - especially salt and yeast (I also forgot to add them to the water firstand just threw the yeast and salt in when mixing the flour and water- it still worked!). It still produced wonderful 5 minute bread that is so easy to be creative with. I started out mixing in some new saigon cinnamon (extra flavorful) and some walnuts to the raw dough. Unbelievable! The next day I whipped up a regular loaf with the water pan underneath for crunchy crust- great, but could have used the rest or the recipes salt. I've made rosemary peasant bread, rolls and twists and today cranberry and walnut and it's all so easy and fast. I'm buying the book now to learn some of the fine points. This is a god-send and is saving me gobs of money that I would have spend on some of my favorite bakery bread. Every day the loaves get get better as I get used to working with the dough. I start my second batch next week and can't wait to work with dough that was made closer to the real recipe.

I can't believe how healthy, easy, fool proof, and delicious this is!

I have used the basic dough recipe for a month and have baked 8 loaves of free form bread and 1 loaf pan bread. It is so easy and fast to prepare the dough that I mix a new batch while the bread from the last batch is baking. No mixers or complicated ceremonies needed. The dough is good in the frige for 2 weeks and I usually let it set for 4 days before I make the first loaf. Also the book suggests a 2 hour rise before refrigerating but I generally let it rise for 4 hours. I have now doubled the recipe and have modified the mix according to the book's instructions for a whole wheat variation. The key to the fabulous crust is steam. Last night I grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese with a micrograter over the top of the wet formed dough and added a liberal sprinkle of black sesame seeds. It looked and tasted fantastic. We have several good bakeries in the area but this bread tops them all. Cost is about $.75 a loaf compared to $4.50 at the artisan bakery. Found King Arthur flour and the best yeast price at Trader Joe. No finer gift to bring to a friend than a loaf of freshly baked bread or you could easily take the dough there and bake it 1/2 hour before dinner for a spectacular presentation.
(update- I have gone back to steam only in the beginning of the baking time and have used a floured banneton for better shape as suggested on their website. I now let the dough rise slowly (4 hours in a very cool room)before refrigerating and bake at 500 for 10 minutes and 425 for 30 or so minutes by inspection with very good results. I have also gone back to my old bread books and like Breads from La Brea Bakery the best in conjunction with ABin5. I am having fun and have addicted some of my friends. I have emailed several times to Zoe and always get quick replies.
Enjoy!)p.s. just had a 50lb bag of ap flour delivered.

Not only are these bread recipes simple to make, they are extremely versatile. I LOVE the sweet and savory recipes offered that are either made using the basic bread recipes, or paired as perfect accompaniments. The authors' descriptions of each recipe and why they included them in the collection make you feel like you are in the kitchen with them preparing the bread with love. The pictures are beautiful as well, and help in creating the perfect loaf at home!