Oh.

My.

Gosh.

I wasn't sure that I believed it, but it's true. In the quest to bake artisan-quality bread, I stumbled across this book: Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking.

I bought it from Amazon, wondering how any book could get SUCH rave reviews and incredulous that it is actually possible. Well it is. And let me tell you, I've now read quite a few books on bread baking and most of them do require a good deal of time, effort, equipment and materials to be on par with what the authors call for. This book, on the other hand, couldn't make it easier. AND, perhaps the thing that I love most is that they have eliminated every possible step that is not needed--including kneading. (Pardon the pun.) It's CRAZY. You can even mix it in one bowl. The authors may not like me for telling you the secret, but here it is: they have developed a very simple dough recipe that has a very wet consistency and therefore can be stored for up to 14 days in the fridge. So all you do is mix together water, yeast, salt and flour(s)--just barely mixing, no need to knead, let it rise and then store in the fridge. Then you just take a blob out every day, letting it rest for 20 minutes before baking. And bake. And let me tell you-- we baked our first loaf today and devoured the entire thing while still hot. And it actually even looked like the cover of the book. SO SIMPLE! And there's enough dough in the fridge for 5 more loaves.  (I made one batch of boule dough and one of European Peasant dough). Several other super cool things: 1.) Supposedly, the bread only gets better and better as the dough ages in the fridge, creating it's own 'sourdough.'  2.) The book is chalked full of simple variations on the basic recipe (rolls, sweets, etc.) and includes recipes for using bread as a main ingredient, as well as uses for stale bread. 3.) It's a quick read and they completely demystify many of the things that prohibit the common man from attempting artisan bread (that you need fancy, expensive ingredients, etc.) At $4-$6 a loaf for artisan quality, think of how much money you'll save!

I HIGHLY encourage you to purchase the book yourself. In the quest to eat healthier and avoid all those breads with so many preservatives, etc.--this book makes it SUPER easy to bake fresh bread as often as you'd like. Not to mention the fact that making the dough really and truly does only take 5 minutes and you don't have that annoying flour-mess all over your kitchen and multiple rising times, which, for me, has been the primary deterrents from baking bread more often. 

Oh--and a few tips: I have only just discovered the virtue and pleasure of shopping for kitchen stuff at restaurant supply stores. HOLY COW--where have I been all these years? Buh-bye William Sonoma and no--not even Target can beat these prices, not to mention the fact that restaurants expect higher quality than regular consumers. Flour & bread dough storage containers that retail for $16 each (plus lids!) at KingArthur.com sell for $3.50 at my local restaurant supply. 

- I still used my cast iron skillet method, rather than a baking stone + water as recommended and the magical crackle was still there. Will definitely do a showdown test at some point.

- Instead of a pizza peel, I used my wooden cutting board to save a few bucks. On second thought- given my propensity for serious burns and mishaps, may be that would be money well spent. 

In any case, the 5 minute artisan bread baking is a truly groundbreaking discovery for domestic life.