Artisan Bread

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I've mentioned in my last few menu posts that I've been using the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day cookbook and I love it.

Truly, if you have not ever made bread at home, and you'd like to, you should use this book. Even if you are an experienced bread-maker, you will find this book to be of great value. I have been making bread for more than 25 years and I never dreamed it could be this easy.

Five minutes a day. Do you know how many "five minutes" you waste in a day? Even really busy people can find five minutes. Of course, that does not include bake time, or rest time, just hands-on time. You do, of course, have to be home for rest time and bake time, but you can be busy doing other things, or just wasting time. ;-)

I am posting the recipe to the Master Recipe because the authors of the book were generous enough to post it at their website. You can use the Master Recipe to make several kinds of bread, including a baguette, a batard, or my boule, pictured above. They have lots of articles on their website, so check it out and see all the great methods they have to show you.

There is a short list of equipment that the authors recommend. I looked into a stone before I made my first loaf and found it to be too pricey for a test drive with this bread method. Maybe somewhere down the line I'll buy one, but I've had success multiple times with this recipe and a cookie sheet, so I'm in no hurry. I plan to try it with my cast iron griddle, as well.

I also found I didn't need a pizza peel. I used my handled wooden cutting board, sprinkled with corn meal, and it worked fine. I might have trouble getting a baguette off the board (or completely on the cutting board), but there's more than one way to skin a cat. I did, however, purchase lidded plastic tubs for storing the dough. I had no lidded plastic containers large enough to hold one recipe, and I bought two so that I can keep two recipes going at once.



If you are unsure of your own ability, or even think you have nothing to gain from reading the book, check it out at your local library before you take the plunge. I think you'll like it.

Master Recipe
3 1-pound loaves

Printer version

3 cups lukewarm water

1 1/2 T. granulated yeast

1 1/2 T. kosher or other coarse salt

6 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

Cornmeal for the pizza peel

On mixing day: Mix all ingredients, except cornmeal, with a spoon in a food-safe bucket. Let it rise at room temperature for 2 to 5 hours, then into the fridge for up to two weeks.

On baking day: Sprinkle dough with flour and cut off a piece of dough, about the size of a grapefruit. Adding only as much flour as you need to keep it from sticking to your hands, shape the dough into a ball (watch video at link below). Place on cornmeal-covered pizza peel (or use something else in your kitchen that you think might work, as I did).


Rest for 40 minutes (the bread -- not you). Twenty minutes before baking time heat oven to 450 degrees F. Place an empty broiler tray (or other old sided pan) on the rack below the rack you intend to use for your bread. If you are using a stone, place it in the oven. I placed my cookie sheet in the oven to get it hot.

Dust the loaf with flour and slash the top (mine is a scallop -- you can do anything you like) with a sharp knife. After the oven preheats, quickly slide the loaf off the peel onto the stone or pan. Carefully pour about 1 cup of water into the broiler pan and close oven. Bake for 30 minutes. Cool completely before slicing (I know it's hard, but do it anyway -- offer it up).


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You can watch the author form a boule on this video. You wouldn't want to use as much flour with the dough unless it was wet (as he describes), and ultimately he makes a pita with the dough, so if you want a ball, stop after he makes the ball.

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