Bake Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day
Author Jeff Hertzberg Makes Home Bread Baking Simple and Fast
In our non-stop world of the internet, cell phones, personal digital assistants, and 24/7 commerce, it's not surprising to see a lot of hype about things that are "revolutionary" or "fast and easy." This book is no exception except in one way: everything it claims seems to be true! Amateur, experienced -- and even professional -- bakers can benefit from this title.
The authors are an interesting pair. Jeff Hertzberg is a medical doctor and amateur baker who misses the great Jewish bakery breads of his New York upbringing. Zoe Francois is a Culinary Institute of America-trained professional pastry chef. Hertzberg invented the basic unorthodox techniques described in the book, and Francois made it into replicatable recipes.
It's a match that works very well. The book is clear, easy to follow, and full of just the kind of information a reader needs to answer their questions about a new approach to baking. The photos are helpful, though not as clear and easy to glean as the text.
Great Bread Baking Made Truly Easy
Their approach is to strip away all the unnecessary steps to making great bread, and to bring the process down to its essence. Bread bakers will hardly recognize the technique. Yet -- it works. Francois admits that they break just about all the rules in doing so. She was initially skeptical that it could work, but the proof was in the pudding... or in the baked bread, in this case. Be sure to keep an open mind in reading this book and following their techniques. Be aware that the "five minutes a day" in the title refers to five working minutes, which do not include resting, baking, etc.
Here is their technique in a nutshell. Using a recipe for multiple loaves, a very, very slack (wet) dough is formed in a bowl by simply adding the basic ingredients and mixing with a wooden spoon. It is left to rise for 2 hours and then refrigerated.
When baking day comes, a bit of flour is dusted on to keep things from sticking when a hunk of that wet dough is sliced off. It is gently formed into a freeform loaf or put into a loaf pan. It is allowed to rest for less than an hour. It's slashed, put into a very hot oven either with a baking stone with steam provided by a pan with a little water (for the freeform loaf) or the loaf pan goes in without a stone.
More loaves can be baked within 14 days of mixing. The storage of the dough in the refrigerator allows sourdough notes to develop, improving the taste of the finished product over time.
There is no proofing of the yeast, no punching down, no multiple risings. and NO kneading at ANY point. Absolutely none. Zero. Nada. Not even special bread flour -- just plain, old all-purpose is what works best for these recipes.
Rich Sweet Breads, Special Holiday Breads and Pizzas, too
Besides a variety of savory peasant breads like a boule, foccacia, baguettes, ciabatta, pita, bagels, there are recipes for enriched breads like challah, brioche, sticky buns, panatone and more. There are recipes also for specialty breads like a pizzas, limpa, babka, dried tomato stuffed bread, All of these use the no-knead, wet-dough, devil-may-care approach outlined above. The book also includes recipes that use bread as a main part of the recipe.
What Could Be Improved?
What is missing from this book isn't much in the way of unanswered questions. One that comes to mind is, what is the proper approach if you want to come out with more than one loaf in a single baking session? And it's not clear why -- other than sheer personal delicatessen devotion -- a "recipe" for a standard Reuben Sandwich is included.
Otherwise, readers will be incredulous, intrigued, and inspired by this well-done book. You can truly, with just a few minutes of attention, bake off a loaf of wonderful, fresh bread with this seemingly foolproof method.
Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking by Jeff Hertzberg Zoe Francois (2007)
(Compare with this other no-knead technique)
Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a day
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