I Heart Bread

I'm going to tell you about something right now, and you're not going to believe me. You're going to think I'm exaggerating, or at the very least you're going to think I'm too optimistic.

But It's true. Because I'm really excited about this, I'm going to risk sounding like a commercial. See how much I love you?

I've been making and baking my own artisan bread every for the past three weeks in about five minutes a day. (Which if you know me, you know is amazing. I love to cook, but I haven't the patience or precision for true bread baking.) Here's the book that got me started, appropriately titled : Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. The basic principle is that (after throwing out everything you already know about bread-making) you mix yeast, water, salt, and flour into a basic wet dough. Let it rise once, then refrigerate the dough. The batch keeps in the refrigerator for up to two weeks and yields 4 1-lb. loaves. There is no proofing, no kneading, no punching down, etc. When you want bread, you pull off a hunk of dough and, following a few simple instructions that take about 30 seconds, you let let the dough rise for 40 minutes, and bake for 30. The crust is crackly perfection. Seriously, my husband thinks this is the best thing that ever happened to our kitchen. We are both going to be fat lards by Christmas, because this bread is AMAZING! It's so fast you can just whip up stuff for neighbors and friends and it really is nothing.

The book has TONS of loaves you can make from around the world, as well as sweet desserts and pizza doughs. I haven't ventured that far yet because I wanted to master the Basic recipe and the wheat recipe first. I'll keep you posted, but really, even with just this basic recipe, I have gotten my money's worth. I'm not much for raving about things, but friends, if you like the scent of fresh baked bread at all, you must go out and buy this. 

Here's their website if you need more convincing.