When Doug and Karyl were here last weekend, Doug brought along his cookbook, Artisan Bread in Minutes a Day.
I’m familiar with the no-knead process. (For the record, I’m also familiar with plans that involve cooking in other people’s kitchens, but I was pleased—and relieved—to discover Doug is a neater cook than I am.)
I found the promise of “five minutes a day” intriguing—the previous no-knead recipe I’ve used usually has me up at 3:30 am to put it in the oven, when the inconvenient and rather inflexible 20-hour clock ends.
These recipes, though, require the standard two-hour rising window, and then you can bake the bread immediately, or store the dough in the fridge for up to three days(!).
Doug made these two gorgeous loaves with rye, whole wheat and unbleached white flour.
The bread was smooth and soft, save for the perfectly crusty exterior. I think the pan of water in the bottom of the very hot oven does the trick.
Doug bought me my own copy of the book while he was here, and I put it to use this weekend, making a batch of peasant bread. I was surprised to find the five-minute promise made on the cover is really true. I made one small loaf of walnut sage bread, and liked it enough to make a larger loaf, too.
The only problem with this recipe?
The resulting three or four loaves of bread, which disappear in short order (along with a half stick of butter).
I think that last loaf—and the one yet to be baked—will have to be shared.
Smith Family Weblog 
Posted by Rebecca's Mom on September 27, 2010 at 8:21 am
Our neighbor, Steve, bakes wonderful things using recipes from this cookbook quite often. It is front and center in the midst of their huge kitchen library case.
Remember the year we got the bread machine from Gramma for Christmas? We should have owned stock in Roberts Dairy due to all of the butter we consumed.
Posted by Jessica on September 27, 2010 at 10:08 am
Rebecca, that bread looks delicious! Did they really take 5 minutes?
Posted by Rebecca on September 27, 2010 at 10:18 am
Yes! You just stir up five ingredients and let them sit for a couple of hours. Then, break of a piece and toss it in the oven.
Posted by Rebecca on September 27, 2010 at 10:19 am
Mom, will you ask what recipes he recommends?
Posted by Clare Martin on September 28, 2010 at 12:59 am
My son Charles Martin suggested that I take a look at your blog. It seems we are doing the same kind of stuff. The Pan of water in the bottom of the oven plus a spray bottle was use in the book CookWise by Shirley Corriher, © 1997. I have been using the Jim Lahey method of no Knead bread making where he used Dutch Oven type pans and a very wet dough. I have decided that the pan of water method is better. My blog is at http://www.thecrustydoughnut2.blogspot.com . I have just developed a Zucchini bread recipe based on yeast and bread flour. All the recipes that I found for zucchini bread were short breads. They are too sweet and more like a dessert.
Posted by Rebecca on September 28, 2010 at 9:18 pm
Thank you so much for dropping by, Clare! I look forward to checking out that zucchini bread recipe.
Posted by Laura on October 1, 2010 at 10:07 pm
A few of my friends in town use and love this book! I have received a few loaves from their stash, and I am in love, too. The only thing that has kept me from buying this book is that I do almost zero cooking at the moment. Even five minutes is five too many minutes at the moment : )
Posted by Honey whole wheat bread « Smith Family Weblog on October 11, 2010 at 9:16 am
[…] wheat flour. I’m experimenting with different white/rye/wheat flour ratios as I bake from my new no-knead cookbook. While this loaf had the highest whole wheat content yet, it was still unbelievably soft. I added a […]