Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day

I randomly came across this book a couple of weeks ago and thought, "Pfft, yeah, right." I have been making my own bread for years, and it always takes at least an hour and a half, if not two." However, the more I read the reviews and saw the delicious pictures, I was hooked. I bought both of the authors' bread books from Amazon last week, and I have more than doubled my butter intake in the last 24 hours. BUT! I'm in love. As in, I have devoured three loaves in the last 24 hours type of in love.

(Please, if you're interested in their method and recipes, be respectful of their time and energies and buy their book.)

Here's what I love so far:

* It truly is only five minutes of "work" on the day I want bread. (Take the tub out of the fridge, hack a chunk off, cloak it, and put it on the pizza peel to rest/rise) The rest/rise time is 40 minutes and the baking takes 30 minutes, just FYI. Heck, it's only five minutes of mixing on the day you make the dough.
* The hard, crispy outside and the soft, gluten-y inside is pure perfection.
* No kneading the loaves, so I don't even have to get my beloved Bosch all messy. One big plastic tub (with a lid) and a wooden spoon. Five minutes of mixing.Voila!
* You don't have to wash the tub between batches. In fact, they suggest just the opposite. Even better!

This is my second try. Look at the brown and crispy edges! Mmm . . . 

Here's what I haven't loved so far:
* The initial expense of buying a lidded tub, pizza peel, and cooling rack (because I didn't already have these items), but that was a minor purchase of < $30. If you don't have a pizza stone, that would be another larger expense.
* The (what I'm assuming is an) incorrect indentation of ingredients on the Master Recipe. Pardon the soap box. I'm a printer's daughter with an English degree. See below.

Why the indentation for the flour?  (Come on! It's the Master Recipe!) 

Clearly you can see that the love far outweighs the not-love. SO! Go buy their book and make some goodness for your family today. And tomorrow. And the next day. Like I am doing. Because it's that good. Trust me. GO.

Toni Harris' Easiest Ever White Bread Recipe

Forgive me for not having a picture of this recipe. I'll get to it. I've had so many people ask me for this recipe, I have to just post it here for convenience.

My friend Toni works with me at The Quilting Cottage, and she is just too fun to be around. I love working with her. She's funny and witty and so wise. She shared this recipe with me and it has saved my hide so many nights when I need to make some bread or roll for dinner and just don't have the time for my Homemade Whole Wheat recipe.

Just a helpful note: If you're using a Kitchenaid Mixer, half the recipe so you don't burn your motor! :)

White Bread (or rolls, or pizza crust, or breadsticks, or . . . )

10 1/2 cups all purpose flour (I use unbleached)
3 T. yeast
1/2 cup sugar
1 T. salt (I use kosher or Real Salt)
4 cups HOT water
1/4 cup oil (I use canola)
1 egg

Mix all four dry ingredients in your mixer. Add wet ingredients. Cover, and mix for five minutes. Shape into loaves, let rise, then bake. Voila! (To rise and bake, I use the same method as my wheat recipe. I preheat the oven to 180 degrees, then turn it off. Put loaves in, set timer for about 20 minutes. When loaves have doubled in size, begin preheating oven to 350 degrees, and set timer for 20 minutes. Bake until loaves are 180 degrees.)

Homemade Honey Whole Wheat Bread

About three years ago, my friend Jenny Hardy taught me how to make bread. For reals. You know, the kind you feel good about feeding your kids? No preservative-filled, store-bought white trash. Plus, it's soft, smooth, and sweet. Nothing like what most people think of when they imagine whole wheat bread. I make a batch of bread at least once a week for my family. I can count on one hand the loaves of store-bought bread my family has eaten in the last three years. It's that good.

A little teaser:

Can you smell that goodness? Aaaaaaah.

Now to introduce you to the cast of characters:

Bosch mixer (a must - worth every penny); dough enhancer; vital wheat gluten (gluten flour);
freshly ground wheat (hard white wheat in my case); yeast; honey; canola oil; two eggs; salt;
small loaf pans (Norpro shown).
And yes, that's my creepy son peeking out behind the canola oil.
I didn't know he was there until I had the picture downloaded and on the computer. Sorry. 

To begin, put 4 cups of wheat flour in your mixer. Add 2 T. yeast and 2 T. dough enhancer. Add 1/3 c. gluten flour and mix a bit. (If you do use white flour for at least 1/3 of the flour in this recipe, you can leave out the gluten flour.)

Add 4 1/2 cups of warm water. Let yeast activate for a few minutes until it looks something like this foamy stuff:

Now add your two eggs, 2/3 cup of canola oil, and 2/3 cup of honey. (tip: use the same measuring cup for the honey and oil, but use it for the oil first. It'll allow the honey to slide right out with no sticky mess to clean up.)

Mix this together, and while it is mixing, add your 1 1/2 T. salt. (I think kosher salt makes a completely different flavor to the bread. Almost a sweet bread.)

Now add the rest of your flour (about 6-8 cups) slowly until the dough begins to clear the sides of the bowl. Keep it mixing/kneading on speed 1 or 2 for 10 minutes.

See how it's just beginning to clear the sides of the bowl? That's perfect.  Don't add more flour.
I promise it'll look better in a few minutes.

This is how it'll look about 4 minutes in.

This is how it'll look at the end of the 10 minutes.
Oh, the aroma!

While your mixer is doing all the hard work, preheat your oven to 175. This will help your bread rise quicker. I also use this time to put the ingredients away and psychologically tie the smell that is wafting to some quality mom time with my kids. I'm so evil.

Prep your loaf pans with cooking spray and set them out.
Put about 1/4 cup of canola oil right on your counter top. Spread it around and leave your hands oil-y. This will help you get the dough out of the mixer more easily.

Dump the dough onto your counter and divide it into the number of loaves you'll make (5 smaller loaves in my case).

 Shape into loaves and put them into your prepared pans. (Isn't that just pretty?)

Place all five loaves into your preheated oven, and then turn it off. Yes, off. Set your timer for 25 minutes. This will let your loaves rise in a warm oven.

Wait until they double in size (about 25 minutes).

Keep your bread in the oven. Set your oven to 350, and set your timer again, this time for 20 minutes. (My oven beeps to say it's heated to 350 about ten minutes into my new timer setting.)

Have a food thermometer ready at the end of your 20 minute baking time. Stick it into your largest loaf and wait until it reads 180-185 degrees. Watch closely. Pull loaves out when it reads 180 degrees.

 Wait about 10-15 minutes, then turn out onto a clean towel. Grab a good bread knife, and watch it disappear! Enjoy!

Want a printable recipe? Email me at kristiaskew@gmail.com