Master DoughEarlier this week, I happened upon this post over at the PPK. Ok, “happened upon” isn’t quite true. I jumped on it. But really, it was about making bread and the idea of doing it in 5 minutes because you have dough stored in your fridge. Being the bread lover I am, I had to get the book.
So far, I’ve made 4 breads from the book, all starting with the master recipe. The photo above is right before I put it in the fridge. From here, you can grab a hunk and bake with it for up to two weeks.
I got a better container to store it in. I couldn’t sacrifice my soup pot even for bread. The soup pot gets used 3-4 times a week. As much as I love bread, I couldn’t let that pot be out of rotation.
The first loaf on a new pizza peel
Here’s the very first loaf, a boule. I should have cut the top better, but that didn’t affect the taste. Fantastic crust, great flavor and a really nice soft crumb.
Fresh from the oven
Warm and wonderful fresh baked bread!
Then I tried ciabatta. No photo on that one, but let me tell you, it’s the best ciabatta I ever made. I have a hard time getting nice air bubbles in ciabatta and this had them!
Now it was time to try adding stuff to the bread. My first attempt was the olive fougasse, but I didn’t have quite enough olives so I subbed in some sundried tomatoes. This is the my favorite loaf so far and I neglected to get a photo of it. But it had this wonderful salty, buttery thing going on and we ate it really fast. It goes great with wine!
Oversized loaf of Olive Fougasse
The inside shot
Disclaimer: the book isn’t entirely vegan. Some of the recipes use ‘enriched dough’ which contains eggs or dairy. I haven’t tried to veganize any of the other recipes yet, but I think it will probably be do-able. If you get the book and try one, please let me know!
And….this was going to be my Halloween post but I never got around to posting them because I was so busy making bread. They are tester cookies for Isa and Terry’s cookie book. The orange sugar is my own crazy idea.
City Girl Snickerdoodles
16 Comments
Awesome Bread! Soup and bread are staples in our home. I am on the waiting list from the library for this book. There are like 200 people on the list. Someday I will get it.
I waited SOOOO long to get this from the library. I have it now and I adore everything I’ve made from it…unfortunately I have to give it back soon. But it’s most definitely going on my “to buy” list.
I just put a hold on this at my library! Hopefully my turn will be soon!!
I love baking bread, but it takes a lot of time. So making one master batch and pulling from it each day sounds wonderful to me!!
I’m am forever intrigued by bread making..one of these days!
These pics are amazing! Yum bread! Snickerdoodles – so want those.
Tami, your bread looks beautiful! That book sounds like a very good investment.
They both look mouth watering and the other two sound good as well. I fancy making my own Ciabatta.
I’m Jeff Hertzberg, one of the co-authors of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. I’m so glad our recipes are working well for you. Come visit us anytime at http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com, where you can post questions into any “Comments” field, or click on “Bread Questions” on the left side of the homepage and choose among the options.
Jeff Hertzberg
http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com
http://twitter.com/ArtisanBreadIn5
Chicago tribune video: http://us.macmillan.com/BookCustomPage.aspx?isbn=9780312362911&m_type=2&m_contentid=119255#video
I bet your house smelled divine too while it was baking! Do you use a breadmaker? I don’t have one and am wondering if I need one. Great post!
Oh my gosh, the author! I’m beside myself! How cool is that?
I’m not kidding, this book is just incredible. And it’s so easy!
Amanda, I have a bread machine and I do use it sometimes. Mostly for sandwich style bread. I don’t think I’ll have to anymore now that I have this book.
Really, this book is the best of all worlds. Wonderful bread, with little effort, but you still get to play with the dough a little.
Thanks, everyone!
All your bread looks so fantastic! I really want that book. I purchased “Bread Baker’s Apprentice” this summer and am loving it, but this also sounds so amazing!
Shellyfish, I have that book, too. I love it, but honestly, it intimidates me a little. I read on PPK that that author is currently testing a ‘shove it in the fridge until you’re ready to bake’ book like this one. I can’t wait!
Thanks so much for the review. I love the idea of having a huge chunk of bread dough in the fridge and using it bit by bit. very cool. looks like you’ve had a lot of success w/ it.
I finally got the book from the library and the first loaf is in the oven!
How easy is this method!!!
Seriously… it’s genius!
Thanks for this post! I got the book from the library and the ciabatta is awesome. So is the rye bread. What kind of container are you using? I am using the inside of my crockpot right now- and putting in the garage since it is now cold enough. Seems to be working well. The only problem I am having is there are only two of us in the house and the bread gets hard if not eaten quickly.
Lea, I’m using a big tupperware style container from Kmart. But I’d love to get one of those big dough containers from King Arthur Flour. That would be ideal.
I know what you mean about it drying it. It must be because there is no oil added to it. I’ve just been making smaller loaves but making them more often.