Mar 21
2009
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One side effect of getting a puppy is that I am up everyday at 6:30 (I'm the morning person, Rob takes the late night shift). Most of the time I am pretty lazy during this extra time but this week I discovered a new way to make use of it. I made bread.
I got Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day last week. I had read reviews of it here and here and finally decided to take the plunge and order it under the condition that I actually make something from it. The book arrived last Friday and I spent the weekend reading through it. There is a basic recipe (the only one I have made so far) and a bunch of variations as well as a few non-bread but goes really well with bread recipes.
The idea with the breads is that you make up a batch of wet dough and keep it in your fridge for a couple of weeks while you use it up. When you want to make a loaf you cut off a chunk of dough, shape it, let it rest and then cook it. The basic boule recipe rests for about 40 minutes and cooks for 30. That looked to me like it would fit perfectly into my early morning time.
I made up a bowl of dough on Thursday night and put it in the fridge. When I got up on Friday morning I pulled the bowl out of the fridge and cut off the specified chunk of dough. I shaped it in about two minutes and was very pleased to see that it looked a lot like the picture in the book. I left it alone for 40 minutes while I let Abby outside, check email, ate breakfast and did all the other things I usually get around to eventually. When it was time I slid it into the oven* and set the timer. Half an hour later I pulled out a lovely little crusty loaf and left it on a wire rack to cool. We ate it with soup when we came home for lunch.
The bread was good - crusty and chewy on the outside and smooth and fluffy on the inside. I think I have a little too much flour in my dough (and I used way too much on top) because my loaf was remarkably spherical compared to the pictures but I can change that next time. The one pound loaves that the recipe calls for are fine for a family like ours (two people) but I would probably make two loaves if we were having company. I think it would be nice to try it as buns too.
This morning I made the baguette variation (long and skinny with no flour on top) and we enjoyed it with coffee and cheese for lunch. It was just right - crusty, fluffy and small enough for us to finish in one sitting (so nothing is going stale).
*The book calls for a baking stone and pizza peel. I have neither of these items so I used a cookie sheet and a thin cutting board. It worked pretty well.
I got Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day last week. I had read reviews of it here and here and finally decided to take the plunge and order it under the condition that I actually make something from it. The book arrived last Friday and I spent the weekend reading through it. There is a basic recipe (the only one I have made so far) and a bunch of variations as well as a few non-bread but goes really well with bread recipes.
The idea with the breads is that you make up a batch of wet dough and keep it in your fridge for a couple of weeks while you use it up. When you want to make a loaf you cut off a chunk of dough, shape it, let it rest and then cook it. The basic boule recipe rests for about 40 minutes and cooks for 30. That looked to me like it would fit perfectly into my early morning time.
I made up a bowl of dough on Thursday night and put it in the fridge. When I got up on Friday morning I pulled the bowl out of the fridge and cut off the specified chunk of dough. I shaped it in about two minutes and was very pleased to see that it looked a lot like the picture in the book. I left it alone for 40 minutes while I let Abby outside, check email, ate breakfast and did all the other things I usually get around to eventually. When it was time I slid it into the oven* and set the timer. Half an hour later I pulled out a lovely little crusty loaf and left it on a wire rack to cool. We ate it with soup when we came home for lunch.
The bread was good - crusty and chewy on the outside and smooth and fluffy on the inside. I think I have a little too much flour in my dough (and I used way too much on top) because my loaf was remarkably spherical compared to the pictures but I can change that next time. The one pound loaves that the recipe calls for are fine for a family like ours (two people) but I would probably make two loaves if we were having company. I think it would be nice to try it as buns too.
This morning I made the baguette variation (long and skinny with no flour on top) and we enjoyed it with coffee and cheese for lunch. It was just right - crusty, fluffy and small enough for us to finish in one sitting (so nothing is going stale).
*The book calls for a baking stone and pizza peel. I have neither of these items so I used a cookie sheet and a thin cutting board. It worked pretty well.