Bread baking made easy

By Audrey Kletscher Helbling

Skepticism best describes how I approached a book titled Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Minnesotans Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë Francois. Today I’m a believer.

That followed a bread-baking session at my house yesterday. Of the nearly 100 recipes in the book, I selected Soft American-Style White Bread, the bread I know best. My skepticism lay not in the ingredients—flour (albeit unbleached all-purpose and not my usual bleached), water, yeast, salt, sugar and unsalted butter (although I used salted). Rather, my doubt rested in the fact that the dough needed no kneading.

I was floored. How could you make bread without working the dough? But I was determined to follow the directions. And cross my fingers. I was already anticipating the taste of freshly-baked homemade bread as I reached into the cupboard for a large, sturdy mixing bowl.

In no time, I had dissolved the yeast and other ingredients in three cups of water and stirred in seven cups of unbleached all-purpose flour. After allowing the dough to rise in the bowl for about two hours, it was nearly ready to bake. Or, as the recipe also instructed, I could refrigerate the dough and use it within the next week.

I cut off a chunk of dough, quickly formed it into an oblong and dropped the piece into a loaf pan. Forty minutes later, I popped the pan into the oven, per the instructions. At this point I was again quite skeptical. The dough looked like a lump in the pan. My past experience with making homemade bread calls for the dough to have risen substantially, unlike this.

Soon the aroma of baking bread filled the house. About 45 minutes later, I pulled a risen loaf of golden bread from the oven.

I can attest to the fact that the bread turned out as well as any I’ve ever made. No kneading needed. As an added bonus, I now have enough dough in my refrigerator for two more loaves. And since my first loaf is nearly gone, I will likely bake bread again tomorrow.

Jeff and Zoë, you’ve made a believer out of me.

Comments

[Jeff Hertzberg]

Thanks Audrey! I'm Jeff Hertzberg, one of the co-authors. If you have any questions, come visit us at www.artisanbreadinfive.com and post into any of the "Comments" fields, or the "Bread Questions" field on the left side.

Jeff Hertzberg

[Audrey Kletscher Helbling]

Jeff,

No questions thus far about the bread baking. You provided detailed instructions, which even a first-time baker can follow. Not that I'm a novice. I recommend slathering a slice of fresh bread with butter and homemade rhubarb jam.