Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes A Day

This photo really is a blast from the past. I think it's one of the first photos I took, when my point-and-shoot finally bit the dust and I upgraded to my new camera. I hadn't quite gotten the hang of how to white balance my shots, and exposure.   I never blogged this post, and it's time that I do; please forgive that some of my shots aren't quite as colorful as I'd like.

Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day  has been blogged about over and over again.  If you haven't tried this easy way to bake your own bread, this might calm the fears of those of you who shy away from working with yeast.   See that Danish Dough Whisk?  I used it when I blogged about the Cinnamon Raisin English Muffins that I made.  It's become my new "go to" tool for mixing dough.

The idea is so simple and requires only flour, yeast, salt and water.  I only use King Arthur Flour Unbleached Flour, because it has a higher gluten content...and I don't particular want to use bleached flour, now that I'm more aware of how it's made. (If you'd like to know more about bleached flour, click here.) 

I bought a set of plastic food storage buckets at my local restaurant supply store.  I devote these to making my bread/pizza doughs and store them in the refrigerator.  To mix a batch of dough (that yielded 4 lovely loaves of bread, over the course of two weeks), you just dump the ingredients, with water, into the bucket and mix it together.  Just a few minutes...

Two hours later... the dough has risen and it goes into the refrigerator.   The longer the dough ferments, the more flavor that develops.

To bake a loaf, just cut off a piece of dough (I use my kitchen shears)....

Shape it, let it rise 45-60 minutes and get ready to bake your first loaf of Artisan Bread.

I admit that I did invest in a baking stone.  I bought the one that was most highly rated by Cook's Illustrated, which is sold on King Arthur Flour.com.  At $52.95, plus shipping, it's not a cheap toy kitchen tool, but I use my baking stone all the time.  In fact, I just leave it in my oven.  The baking stone is perfect for making homemade pizzas, because I a beautiful crust.  You don't have to buy one, though.  In fact, I'm going to give you the link for the author's website, where you can watch a video and see more detailed pictures on how to do this.

This is the first, of many, loaves that I've made.  Each time I make a loaf, it gets better. Oh!  There's even a whole wheat version in their Healthy Breads in 5 Minutes a Day.   Each cookbook has recipes that starts with the master recipe-- from cinnamon rolls to beautifully shaped breads.

I want to share the love.  Just leave a comment and tell me if you have a favorite bread you like to make...or, if you've never made bread, that you'd like to try this super easy bread making technique. Just tell me if which book you'd want, if your name is randomly picked-- the first AB in 5 cookbook (uses white flour) or the Healthy Bread (uses whole wheat flour).  They are both great books! Oh, the small print-- I'm sorry, but I can only ship within the United States.  I'll pick a winner, this weekend, and announce the winner with my next blog post. Giveaway has ended and a winner has been chosen.

By the way-- the winner of the Danish Dough Whisk is....Kim, of Stirring the Pot!  Congratulations!  Kim email me at foodwife@gmail.com with your mailing address and I'll get it right out to you!