So, I’m never making no-knead bread again. Too many steps, too messy, and too much time. I’m now hooked on ‘Artisan Bread in Five Minutes’. The real recipe is here, but I cut it by two-thirds so I can make it in the plastic coffee cans that keep getting donated to the CDC. This is awesome! You mix together (for the coffee can) 2 cups of warmish water (not hot), a packet of yeast, 1 tablespoon of kosher salt (2 1/4 teaspoons of regular salt), and four cups of flour. Mix until the flour is wet, cover loosely with something (not a cat) and set it somewhere warm for 2 – 5 hours to rise. Then you put the lid on, toss it in your fridge and cut off hunks when you want to bake a loaf.
You quickly mold it into a ball, let it rest on a cornmeal-covered board for 40 minutes and bake it in a hot oven on a pizza stone (I use a stoneware cake pan). If you throw a cup of water in a metal pan in the oven it makes a rockin’ crust!
I’ve had two batches going in the fridge. The one on the left is all white flour, the one on the right has some wheat flour. The dough improves with age, and the wheat bread was better the second time I baked some.
I love crusty bread with butter!!!! Warm from the oven, my life is complete. If you want to see a You Tube demonstration, click here. I love you, bread.
I can attest to the yumminess of this bread. I’ll be taking some of this dough with me when I go back to Baltimore. I’ll carry it in my pockets to keep it warm.
The bread also has magical healing properties. I started eating it a week to ten days ago and my cold is nearly gone.
Oh, and visit Laurenburg. I put a link at the top of the menu on the right (with everything else in the “stuff” menu).
Where’s the picture of a slice with butter? This looks too deelicious … I must try it at once! To the store …
It doesn’t last long enough for a picture. I become a slavering fool around fresh bread – no time for cameras!
Hey all, thanks for trying our recipes! I’m Jeff Hertzberg, one of the co-authors of “Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.” Have you tried the same dough for pizza and focaccia? Jeff http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com
He’s not kidding! First celebrity to visit our site! Woo-hoo!!!!
Do you think he’d send me a signed copy of the book?
To answer the question – I’ve not tried it for pizza, but I did wrap up some chicken pot pie filling in it, bake it, then cover it with gravy. That turned out well, but I would not recommend putting the filling on the dough while it was hot. That was a mistake.
Hey Jeff — Welcome! And yes, your bread recipe is outstanding!!! Thank you Jeff & Lauren for sharing!
Lauren: Of course I’ll sign your book! Zoe too, if you join us at Magers and Quinn in Minneapolis on Saturday for our book signing. 4:00 PM, if you’re in Minneapolis.
Jeff Hertzberg http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com