Bread Baking Simplified

If you've never made your own bread, or if, like me, you've been making breads for years, there's a whole new, simple, fast, fool-proof way to make fabulous breads at home.

I learned about this fairly recently, in an excerpt from ARTISAN BREAD IN FIVE MINUTES A DAY by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François, which was posted by Mother Earth News.

Half a batch of dough stored in the fridge.

I made the dough, trying their basic "boule" (which means ball in French) and made a small loaf. Then I made some English muffins. Then I made another small loaf, followed with some "naan" skillet bread. Everything I tried came out perfect. I was sold! I started sharing my discovery with friends, and baking bread in five minutes seems to be spreading like a chain letter. This is so easy!

The basic idea is that you make a large batch of a very simple dough, using just flour, yeast, water, and salt. No kneading; you just mix these ingredients in a container until blended (it's wet and sticky dough). You let it sit for two hours. You can use it right away to bake bread or put it in the fridge and use it little by little over the next 2 weeks. And when you go to use it, you basically just shape your bread, let it sit at room temperature, bake, and eat. And it's delicious!!

My boule, scored and ready to bake.

It's not only the simplicity and speed of making great bread that I like about this method, it's also the ability to just make a little bread at a time. A standard small loaf made in my bread machine is too much for two people, so I usually end up freezing the extra. Tastes ok when thawed, but certainly not as good as freshly baked. With the 5 Minute Bread dough, I can use little amounts at a time, to make two english muffins, or one skillet bread, or two hamburger rolls… in hardly any time at all.

I've now used the dough for pizza crust, calzones, and dinner rolls - every one a success. I've experimented with various flours too, using King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour for one batch, my own freshly ground whole wheat for another, etc. [Whole wheat has less gluten, and won't rise as much - but very healthy and tasty]. I own a baking stone, which they recommend, but mine is on permanent loan to my friends who make homemade pizza. But I read of an alternative, which is to use a cast iron skillet instead. I have a round one with a very low lip, and this works perfectly for a small "boule" loaf, set on a piece of floured parchment paper.

Skillet naan bread.

After finishing my 4th batch of this dough, I just purchased the authors' second book HEALTHY BREAD IN FIVE MINUTES A DAY, which focuses more on whole grains. Now I'm trying many of their other recipes - whole grain hamburger buns today. Still the same basic concept, but yummy variations. There are recipes for gluten-free breads too. Artisan breads I've tried in the past take a long time and a lot of fussing over how to knead, how long to rise… too much bother for me.

I also review the authors' website for FAQs, I have subscribed to their blog, and I've "liked" their Facebook page- all link from their website and they have many videos too [see one posted here]. So I can keep up with variations beyond their books, like adding sourdough starter to the dough, or reducing the salt, or making their beet bread into a valentine heart!

Slice whole wheat loaf.

Try this yourself. Unless you use only refined white flour or slather on loads of butter, you probably need not worry about eating too much. One of my friends said she might as well just stick the dough on her hips! But eating whole grains is healthy, so go for it.

Gardening Update

This spring weather has been pretty beneficial for gardening - except for 4 inches of rain all at once last Sunday (poor Nashville). I harvested the last of my spinach this week... a cool weather crop, as I wrote previously. It starts to "bolt" - send up flower heads - when it senses several triggers: overcrowding, heat, daylight for 16 hours, less moisture. We've loved eating it raw and cooked, and I had enough to freeze too. I am continuously picking romaine, black-seeded simpson and mesclun lettuce these days too, as well as the scallions from my large planting of onions. I've rooted some sweet potato vines from last years' harvest, both in a jar of water and in loose soil in the cold frame; only two of the five varieties I planted from 2009 have grown: Beauregard (the supermarket favorite) and Hernandez. I'll pull the little slips off the main plant and put them in their permanent garden location early next week. Also, there are flowers on my heirloom "lemon" cucumber plants, as well as on the zucchini.  Late next week, when evening temps should start to stay above 55 degrees, I'll set out the butternut squash, eggplant, and cantaloupe plants I started indoors from seed, as well as various bush beans, sown directly in the garden. I pushed the season on my four varieties of peppers (sweet, pimento, poblano, and jalapeno) and they are growing well now that the weather is warm.

Also now harvesting an oriental veggie called "pak choi" which is like a mini bok choy. I struggle with growing any cabbage family crops organically, since they attract an insect which eats holes in the leaves. Garlic spray and diatomaceous earth slow down the damage, but don't eliminate it. If anyone has a suggestion, please let me know. Still, I prefer a few holes in the leaves to toxic pesticide use. Perhaps the pak choi will be a better fall crop, when there are fewer bugs.

I took the "kozy coats" off the tomato plants, since our temperatures are into the 80s under full sun this week. I had one plant in the ground without a kozy coat. It is very healthy and growing well, but it is only 1/2 the height of those with the kozy coat, so I guess this is a worthwhile tool. I've kept the coats on the eggplant and jalapeno which I've already planted, since they love heat.

My garlic, planted last fall as individual bulbs, are so large that the stalks look like dwarf cornstalks! A few started to send up a flower head, so I pinched them off at the bottom of the stem. I broke the stems into 3" pieces and scattered them around the young cucumber and zucchini plants to ward off pests.

I picked about a pint of strawberries for the last two days, from my everbearing and June-bearing plants. Not only do they taste wonderful, but they even smell great... unlike the tasteless ones from the supermarket.

Last note on harvesting: Few people notice the Red Bud tree once its magnificent show of blossoms is over, shown at its height in the photo above. Those beautiful flowers of  early spring here have now turned into 3" long green edible pods! I've tried eating them - not as tasty as pea pods, but certainly a good source of emergency food. Picked young, like they are now, they cook up very tender and crunchy in a stir fry. And they are enormously plentiful, if you can reach the branches! You can see the heart shape of the leaves in the photo of the pods, to help you identify it properly.

Enjoy the bounty of springtime.

"Buy Buy Some American Pie"

Sad that this is so-o-o-o true.... Click on the title above to watch this YouTube video.