Spend five minutes a day, and less than forty cents a loaf, making great bread from scratch. Even if you think you can't bake, even if you think you don't have time, TRY IT! I can't bake, and I work full time, but I will never buy bread again. The secret is to make a large batch of no-knead dough which will keep two weeks or more in the fridge. When you want a loaf, cut off a hunk of dough and pop it in the oven. Done. No kneading, no proofing of yeast, and less than five minutes a day.
All of the credit for this recipe and technique goes to Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois, authors of "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking" St. Martin's Press, 2007, ISBN-13:978-0-312-36291-1, ISBN-10:0-312-36291-9, and is used with their permission.
I, the author of this Instructable, am in no way affiliated with Hertzberg and Francois, or St. Martin's Press, and I have no financial interest at stake. I just like great, quick, cheap bread, and I want to spread the word. My fiance calls me "the bread messiah".
After working as a professional cook for seven years, I needed a change, and I have worked for the last ten years in the building trades. Jacqueline and I cook from scratch daily, but the baking duties usually fell upon her, as she is a talented baker and I am inept when dealing with dough. A little over a year and a half ago, Jacque started law school, and, alas, had no more time to bake. I heard about this book in December of '08, bought it just after New Year's, and we haven't bought a loaf of bread, or roll, or bun, or pizza crust since, and I am still working 40 hours a week, and Jacque even more.
Five minutes a day, on average, is really all it takes.
This Instructable will present the basic recipe, used to make boules, baguettes, and ciabatta, and many other variations. I will answer some questions about the basic recipe as they come up, but for the full answers, and the recipes for Caraway Rye, European Peasant Bread, Bagels, Bialys, Pumpernickel, 100% Whole Wheat, Brioche, Broa, Pretzels, Carmel Pecan Rolls, and dozens more, buy the book. It worth every penny, and Hertzberg and Francois deserve to be recompensed for their brilliant work.
All of the credit for this recipe and technique goes to Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois, authors of "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking" St. Martin's Press, 2007, ISBN-13:978-0-312-36291-1, ISBN-10:0-312-36291-9, and is used with their permission.
I, the author of this Instructable, am in no way affiliated with Hertzberg and Francois, or St. Martin's Press, and I have no financial interest at stake. I just like great, quick, cheap bread, and I want to spread the word. My fiance calls me "the bread messiah".
After working as a professional cook for seven years, I needed a change, and I have worked for the last ten years in the building trades. Jacqueline and I cook from scratch daily, but the baking duties usually fell upon her, as she is a talented baker and I am inept when dealing with dough. A little over a year and a half ago, Jacque started law school, and, alas, had no more time to bake. I heard about this book in December of '08, bought it just after New Year's, and we haven't bought a loaf of bread, or roll, or bun, or pizza crust since, and I am still working 40 hours a week, and Jacque even more.
Five minutes a day, on average, is really all it takes.
This Instructable will present the basic recipe, used to make boules, baguettes, and ciabatta, and many other variations. I will answer some questions about the basic recipe as they come up, but for the full answers, and the recipes for Caraway Rye, European Peasant Bread, Bagels, Bialys, Pumpernickel, 100% Whole Wheat, Brioche, Broa, Pretzels, Carmel Pecan Rolls, and dozens more, buy the book. It worth every penny, and Hertzberg and Francois deserve to be recompensed for their brilliant work.
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Signing UpStep 1: Equipment and Ingredients
This is for an eight-loaf batch. It can easily be halved. Just remember the ratio 6:3:3:13.
EQUIPMENT:
Pizza stone- I got mine, with accessories, at the local hardware/home store for $13
1 cup measuring cup (Don't use a 2 cupper. More on that later)
1 Tablespoon measure
Flat shallow pan- a broiler tray or large cake pan works great DO NOT USE A GLASS OR PYREX PAN
Serrated bread knife
A large bin, bucket, or tub with a NON-AIRTIGHT lid for the dough. (I use an 8qt. foodsafe insert)
Optional:
Pizza peel (the wooden paddle thing)
INGREDIENTS:
6C./1450g Lukewarm Water (I use tap)
3 Tablespoons/28g Active Dry Yeast, or four packets (I use Red Star)
3 Tablespoons/50g Kosher or flake salt (I use Morton's)
13C./1850g All-Purpose Unbleached Flour (I use whatever is on sale)
DON'T actually measure out the flour yet.
I actually only use about 2T. salt. Some people prefer less, and others more, but 3 T is a good starting point.
Only use All-purpose Unbleached flour, as other types of flour are not interchangeable due to the varying gluten contents. Feel free to experiment, but results are not guaranteed. Get the book to find many other recipes using different types of flour.
EQUIPMENT:
Pizza stone- I got mine, with accessories, at the local hardware/home store for $13
1 cup measuring cup (Don't use a 2 cupper. More on that later)
1 Tablespoon measure
Flat shallow pan- a broiler tray or large cake pan works great DO NOT USE A GLASS OR PYREX PAN
Serrated bread knife
A large bin, bucket, or tub with a NON-AIRTIGHT lid for the dough. (I use an 8qt. foodsafe insert)
Optional:
Pizza peel (the wooden paddle thing)
INGREDIENTS:
6C./1450g Lukewarm Water (I use tap)
3 Tablespoons/28g Active Dry Yeast, or four packets (I use Red Star)
3 Tablespoons/50g Kosher or flake salt (I use Morton's)
13C./1850g All-Purpose Unbleached Flour (I use whatever is on sale)
DON'T actually measure out the flour yet.
I actually only use about 2T. salt. Some people prefer less, and others more, but 3 T is a good starting point.
Only use All-purpose Unbleached flour, as other types of flour are not interchangeable due to the varying gluten contents. Feel free to experiment, but results are not guaranteed. Get the book to find many other recipes using different types of flour.
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I used the cake container (The large rectangular ones you can get from any bakery) from my birthday cake and it works great as the dough container. I make loaves of bread and pizza all the time with this dough (3 yesterday for the neighbors and friends). Thank you so much for this instructable, I never buy bread anymore!
My variations: I used an airbake-type cookie sheet, and I used unbleached flour (unbleached is what I had). I did use the roasting pan and water. Decent oven spring, amazing crust top and bottom, and great crumb.
Thanks so much for his Instructable! I LOVE making bread, but didn't often because of the work involved. Now? Bread every day!
Anyway, I made another loaf today using a $1.50 "pizza stone" (unglazed red tile) from Home Depot. I had to handle the loaf again to get it off the sheet it was rising on, but the spring was STILL better than last night. (Do I correctly credit an "older" dough and a stone instead of cookie sheet?)
Thanks for posting the instructable.
The first bread from this batch was a pizza crust. Taking what I learned about goopy dough for focaccia from The Paupered Chef, I spread olive oil on a cookie sheet, plopped down a floured 1.5 grapefruit-sized hunk of dough and rolled it roughly square. I then dented it all over using two fingers (like those holes in crackers, only big), and brushed it with more olive oil.
13 minutes in a preheated 450 degree oven later, beautiful crust. I covered it with sauce, mozzarella, parmesan and cooked chicken tossed in olive oil and spices and put in back in the oven at 450 for 6-7 minutes to melt the cheese and heat the sauce and chicken through.
Amazing texture--crispy, but not dry, smooth but not greasy mouth feel from the olive oil, bouncy inside.
I'm telling you doubters--the wet sloppy mess is for real.
My yeast is pretty old - gonna try again with new yeast to get a bit more oomph and see if I get some more flavour (right now its just 'bread') - little or no baking smell in the house.
Rebellemming
I have the same idea about breads: daily home-baked should be the way!
Question:
When you wrote: "GENTLY pull the outer surface of the dough around to the bottom of the ball, forming a gluten "cloak" around it."
What do you mean by "pull"?
I'm guessing it's like pulling it inside-out and making all the outer surface becomes the bottom part of the ball, and the sides&upper becomes a "fresh" dough layer (which was inside the ball before this step).
Is it correct?
What's the reasoning behind this step? bear with me, i'm totally ignorant but want to learn all there is about baking breads.. :)
Is it that the (initial) outer has less gluten than the insides?
Again, thanks a bunch!
I borrowed the book from the library, and handed it over to my wife. She read the opening chapters and said, "This is nothing like bread technique I'm used to. Buuut...." 1-1/2 batches later (the first, experimental batch amused me by climbing straight up out of the too-small container), the initial loaves were beautiful, my wife successfully made puffy pitas for the first time, and the book's on order. Thanks for sharing!