Artisan bread in 5 minutes? Really?

YES! Really! I am so excited about this recipe. I was surfing around on THL a couple nights ago and saw a few references about a recipe for 5 Minute Artisan Bread. So that lead me to looking around on the net to see what I could find. Well, it wasn't hard to find. I was so happy to find the recipe and see exactly how easy it is!

I am in love with this recipe! No kneading, just a few ingredients and a quick cook time and BOOM! you have some awesome tasting bread! I have to admit that I ended up making to loaves. The first one I made for dinner. Maggie and I sat and smelled it for about 20 minutes and we couldn't help ourselves. We ate it. The whole thing! To our defense it was a SMALL loaf! LOL The second loaf turned out as good as the first.

Here is a pic of the dough. It had set for 2 hours



I misunderstood the directions that I read and put a ton of cornmeal under and around the loaf. Luckily I removed it prior to baking! What a stinky mess that would have been!


And the masterpiece! Loaf #1


Here is a shot of the inside. A little loaf of heaven!


If you are interested in the recipe, here it is!

5 Minute Artisan Bread

Adapted from “Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day,” by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François (Thomas Dunne Books, 2007)

1 1/2 tablespoons yeast

1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt

6 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour, more for dusting dough

Cornmeal.

1. In a large bowl or plastic container, mix yeast and salt into 3 cups lukewarm water (about 100 degrees). Stir in flour, mixing until there are no dry patches. Dough will be quite loose. Cover, but not with an airtight lid. Let dough rise at room temperature 2 hours (or up to 5 hours).

2. Bake at this point or refrigerate, covered, for as long as two weeks. When ready to bake, sprinkle a little flour on dough and cut off a grapefruit-size piece with serrated knife. Turn dough in hands to lightly stretch surface, creating a rounded top and a lumpy bottom. Put dough on pizza peel sprinkled with cornmeal; let rest 40 minutes. Repeat with remaining dough or refrigerate it.

3. Place broiler pan on bottom of oven. Place baking stone on middle rack and turn oven to 450 degrees; heat stone at that temperature for 20 minutes.

4. Dust dough with flour, slash top with serrated or very sharp knife three times. Slide onto stone. Pour one cup hot water into broiler pan and shut oven quickly to trap steam. Bake until well browned, about 30 minutes. Cool completely.

Yield: 4 loaves.

I have a few baking stones, but since we moved I can't find them. I just used a regular baking sheet, upside down. It was very easy to get off with a spatula. So if you don't have a baking stone, or a pizza peel, etc., this bread is still very easy to make and handle without it.

If you try this recipe, let me know! I want to know how others like it. We absolutely love it. I like it so much I think I am going to order their book!