Tutorial Tuesdy: Bread in 5 Minutes a Day

Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking by Jeff Hertzberg MD (Author), Zoe Francois (Author)

I have been making this bread since it was featured in an article in Mother Earth News, that was six months ago and I am still obsessed.

Now the book has more recipes than I think I will ever dream to make but their are a few that we make all the time. The classic artisan bread and the bagels are our, all the time breads. I believe Sailor asks me to make bagels at least twice a week, don't worry I don't. Though I will admit to sitting with my wine and polishing of the rest of the loaf of the artisan bread while the hubby does dishes at least twice a week.

***Now before we continue I must warn you that once you begin to make this bread you could be come so consumed that the need to buy a second refrigerator may seem mandatory to store all your homemade dough.


The Master recipe:

3 Cups warm water
1 1/2 tbs granulated yeast (1 1/2 packets)
1 1/2 tbs coarse kosher salt or sea salt
6 1/2 cups unsifted, unbleached, all purpose white flour
cornmeal

You will also need:

Large plastic storage container with a lid. (It will need to be about 5 quarts for the full recipe)
1/2 inch thick baking stone
Pizza peel or edgeless cookie sheet
Broiler tray

Making the Dough:

Mix the warm water, kosher salt and yeast together, don't worry if it doesn't all dissolve. Mix in the flour with a wooden spoon, a high-capacity food processor with dough attachment, or a heavy-duty stand mixer with dough hook, until uniformly moist. DO NOT KNEAD. Cover loosely and set out at room temperature for two hours after that refrigerate for at least 3 hours in a covered but not airtight container. The dough may be kept in the fridge for up to two weeks.



*This recipe may be halved our doubled depending on your need.



On Baking day:

Sprinkle a pizza peel or cookie sheet with corn meal, sprinkle the dough with flour and cut of a 1 pound piece(grapefruit sized), flour the dough lightly to prevent from sticking to your hands, gently stretch the surface of the dough around to the bottom on four sides, rotating the ball a quarter turn as you go, until the bottom is a collection of four bunched ends.




*This dough ball is slightly smaller than I would normally make but it was just me and the kids for dinner.

Place the ball on the pizza peel or cookie sheet. Let it rest for 40 minutes. 20 minutes before baking preheat the oven to 450* with pizza stone on middle rack and a broiler tray underneath.

Just before placing in the oven dust the top of the loaf liberally with flour and using a serrated knife slash a 1/4 deep tic tack toe pattern into the top.

With a forward jerking motion of the wrist, slide the loaf off the pizza peel and onto the baking stone. Quickly pour about a cup of hot water into the broiler tray and quickly shut the oven door to keep in the steam. Bake for about 30 minutes or until the crust is browned.



Remove and allow to cool.

Refrigerate the rest of the dough in a lidded but not airtight container.

Bread your friends will never believe you made and in just a few minutes, how can you beat that.

This same dough also makes great pizza, just bump up the oven temp to 475 or 500 and skip the broiler tray. Roll it out thin with some sauce and fresh mozzarella for great authentic Italian pizza.