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| Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking | 
 enlarge | Authors: Jeff Hertzberg, Zoe Francois
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
Category: Book
List Price: $27.95
Buy New: $16.06
You Save: $11.89 (43%)
New (36) Used (10) from $16.06
Avg. Customer Rating:  164 reviews
Sales Rank: 696
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 7.5 x 1.2
ISBN: 0312362919
Dewey Decimal Number: 641.815
EAN: 9780312362911
ASIN: 0312362919
Publication Date: November 13, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
There’s nothing like the smell of freshly baked bread to fill a kitchen with warmth, eager appetites, and endless praise for the baker who took on such a time-consuming task. Now, you can fill your kitchen with the irresistible aromas of a French bakery every day with just five minutes of active preparation time, and Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day will show you how.
Coauthors Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois prove that bread baking can be easier than a trip to the bakery. Their method is quick and simple, bringing forth scrumptious perfection in each loaf. Delectable creations will emerge straight from your own oven as warm, indulgent masterpieces that you can finally make for yourself. In exchange for a mere five minutes of your time, your breads will rival those of the finest bakers in the world.
With nearly 100 recipes to put this ingenious technique to use, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day will open the eyes of any potential baker who has sworn off homemade bread as simply too much work. Crusty baguettes, mouth-watering pizzas, hearty sandwich loaves, and even buttery pastries can easily become part of your own personal menu, and this innovative book will teach you everything you need to know.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 159 more reviews...
 Authors Not Bakers December 3, 2007
319 out of 416 found this review helpful
Beautiful book and easy to read. I am experienced baker and have tested many of the recipes in my own kitchen. A couple of words of caution:
1. Wet doughs can be difficult to handle, especially ones supplemented with whole wheat or rye flour. Many users may have problems manipulating the wet dough into shapes beyond the boule. The authors' pain epi only approximates the authentic shape and style of the prototypical loaf.
2. Even the pictures in the book show that the products have poor dough strength. Use good flours. Carefuly follow the directions to get good "oven spring." The more you manipulate this dough - the tougher the crust and crumb will be.
3. Corn meal burns. The wet dough resting on a peel prepared with corn meal or flour may stick to a wooden peel. Need quite a bit to keep the dough from sticking. I saw this in a TV interview with one of the authors - he had to use handfuls of corn meal see YouTube). I got better results and less mess with parchment paper. If you still want the corn meal look on the bottom of your loaf - spread a sparing amount on the parchment paper.
4. The recipes use a fair amount of yeast and salt. As such - poorly imitate traditional sourdoughs, poolish, levains or pre-ferments.
5. Because of the high percentage of water - you can imitate the ciabatta or italian breads pretty well - but don't expect the texture of other european breads.
6. The book title is misleading - no breads described in the book can be made in less than 60 minutes - and most need the 12-18 hour pre-fermentation stage.
The book presented interesting concepts for "no kneed" breads that seem to be the fad now. For real bread - you need to use your hands.
 Best Bread I've Ever Made, As Good as Almost All I've Ever Eaten December 2, 2007
156 out of 160 found this review helpful
I'm a foodie; the kind of person who will drive miles to a bakery, who will visit Italy when the ricotta is sweetest. I'm also a skeptic. So, when I bought this book, I didn't expect much. But, was I ever wrong. What I love is that the authors turn everything you know about bread baking upside down, and the result is the best bread you'll ever make at home. Easily. Simply. Whenever you want. You must, however, read the introduction to the method to succeed as well as you might -- this is not a book to begin baking from the minute you buy it. But the few minutes you invest in all the suggestions pay off mightily -- how to tell when this particular kind of bread is really ready (I used to swear by an instant read thermometer -- forget that); how to dock it; how to store it, etc. The instructions are utterly clear. I've already baked ten loaves, each magnificent, and I've only had the book for a week. All kinds of breads are represented -- French loaves, ciabbata, pita, peasant -- I could go on and on. Enough for a lifetime of pleasure. Hertzberg and Francois are geniuses.
Excellent! November 28, 2007
106 out of 107 found this review helpful
I have many bread baking books and was skeptical that this one would be any better or different. I expected either a catch in the "5 minutes", poor quality bread, or both. I made my first batch last week and was very impressed with both the ease and taste. You can really make the dough in just a few minutes and keep it in your fridge for use over the next 2 weeks. It was wonderful to be able to pull a chunk of the dough out of the container and have delicious bread (the last was more like a big roll) in just over an hour. I could make a loaf when I got home from work and serve it for dinner. There are many recipes included, but it also gave me a much more relaxed attitude toward the bread and I found myself making up my own additions by the time I was forming my second batch. I showed the book to a friend and rather than copy a few of the recipes, she decided to order the book herself because she said that everything looked good and it looked like stuff she would really make. Not many cookbooks earn that comment.
The book frequently calls for a pizza peel and baking stone. A set of the peel (or a suitable cutting board), stone (or an unglazed ceramic tile from Home Depot) and this book would make a great gift. In fact, I thought that I could cross several people off of my shopping list by buying the set or just the books for all. Unfortunately, it is already out of stock. Looks like I am not the only one who is impressed by it. I can't even give my book away and wait for a new copy because I spilled olive oil on it while making the sun dried tomato and Parmesan bread. By the way, it was delicious!
This is a great book for all cooking experience levels. The recipes are easy and the results impressive.
Some notes for sourdough/dense loaf fans December 15, 2007
75 out of 75 found this review helpful
This is a terrific book ... I've tried the basic approach and it is great. To make it more useful (for some) I'd like to add a few notes.
The book has an unfortunate, (for me) bias towards light, fluffy breads and breads that rely on "ingredients". So...
Sourdough breads: I've been refrigerating my dough for years to increase the sourdough flavor. This books opens the door to a very simple approach to sourdough.
As the book notes, the sourdough taste increases with time in the refrigerator. So simply keep two sets of dough running ... a "dormant" set and an active set. Start by making a batch of dough. Stick it in the refrigerator and don't touch it for at least a week. After a week or so, make a second batch of dough. (I would mix in a hunk of the previously mixed, week old dough to enhance the sourdough development.) Now put this second batch away and start using the first batch ... which will have started to taste like a sourdough. When this first batch is used up, make up a brand new "dormant" batch and put it aside while you start using the batch that's been sitting in the refrigerator for the past week or so.
In this way you can keep a sourdough going forever, without any additional work. (Since you only a new batch when an old batch runs out.)
Rye and whole wheat: The technique is IDEAL for rye ... which is a gummy, no-knead but extremely delicate dough. I would certainly use much more rye than any of these recipes call for and would use the sourdough technique I mentioned above to develop flavor.
It its also ideal for whole wheat. The big problem with whole wheat is not the crust, (I'll mention a technique to bring out a crust), but that whole wheat contains bran, which, when kneaded, cuts the strands of gluten/protein. That's why 100% whole wheat is so dense. But, since you do not knead this dough, the bran does not cut the protein strands and the dough is free to rise almost as much as a white flour.
Personally, I use 50% rye and 50% whole wheat and, using the books oven technique get a great rise.
Another technique that develops a very thick crust, no matter the flour, is to bake the bread in a preheated, covered oven pot or casserole pot at 450 degrees.
By the way ... to get actual pumpernickel, forget the powders, (coffee and chocolate ... yeesh!) and just use pumpernickel flour in place of rye flour. (Pumpernickel flour is nothing more than whole grain rye flour.)
Frighteningly great bread recipes November 19, 2007
38 out of 39 found this review helpful
This is a great book! My daughter and I mixed up a batch of the basic dough and baked the next morning. My 10 year old son said "This is frighteningly good". Whatever that means. It was crusty and delicious. I can't wait to try the carmel roll recipe. I've always disliked kneading, so I am thrilled to have tasty bread without the kneading.
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