Daily bread

When I go to the library (and that happens often) my favorite thing to do is peruse the new book shelf. Last week I picked up a copy of "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes". There's even a new website for questions and answers that I discovered just a moment ago when I searched for a link for the book. (Watch out for the donuts, yum!) I generally get so many books at the library that I carry them back and forth in a cloth grocery bag so I'd sort of forgotten the bread book tucked away in my little bag until another blogger mentioned how much she liked it. (I wish I could remember who that was, thanks whoever you are!) A lightbulb went on and I mixed up an enormous batch of dough. The recipes generally have much more water than usual and are meant to be made in large batches which then sit in your fridge for up to two weeks. You weight out enough for a loaf, plop it in a pan or on a rising board, wait a bit and then bake it off. What could be easier? There's no kneading ever and that's great for my wrist. This is the buttermilk bread recipe. I tried that one first as I had half a carton in the fridge waiting to get finished. It came out of the oven with an extremely crisp crust and a soft tender inside. We had ham sandwiches on it for dinner and Jason asked to have his "egg thing" on it for breakfast. I think we have a winner. I'll definitely be looking for this one at the bookstore this weekend.

Comments

[Michelle]

It may have been me who mentioned that book. I got it a couple months ago (maybe 6 weeks, something like that) and have been lazy and making this bread almost exclusively ever since. I just mixed up a batch using whole wheat for half the flour - will let you know how that goes!

To Angie - it's a bit different concept than the NYT recipe, and I have had MUCH better luck/results with it. I highly recommend.

[Angie]

Thanks for the heads up. Your bread looks yummy and sounds very easy. Is this the take-off/expansion from the no-knead recipe from the New York Times?

[Rosa]

Thanks for the recommendation. I've been wanting to bake my own bread for a long time. A couple of weeks ago, I ordered The Bread Bible with over 300 recipes for breads. I am feverishly waiting for it to arrive at my door. I may do the same with this one.