Weighing The Ingredients: Whole Grain Baguette Buns With Extra Sourdough Kick

Whole Grain Baguette Buns | Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

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In this post, I’ll go through the method for using a kitchen scale to measure in flour and other ingredients, which some readers, especially outside the U.S., have said they prefer. In this recipe for whole grain baguette buns, I used these weight equivalents for scoop-and-swept cup measures:

1 cup white all-purpose flour:  5 ounces / 140 grams (or 141.7, to be more precise)

1 cup whole wheat flour:  4.5 ounces / 130 grams (127.6)

1 cup water:  8 ounces / 225 grams (226.8)

Most home scales aren’t accurate enough to weigh small quantities of yeast and salt for single recipes.

These whole grain baguette buns are from The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, being cut from a baguette-shaped cylinder, which gives the buns crusty little edges that will impress your guests. They’re incredibly easy to make from any of the lean stored doughs that you already have in your fridge, mixed up from our book. Read More

Gluten-Free Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Video

GF boule from gluten-free artisan bread in five

(photo by Stephen Scott Gross)

(video by Sarah Kieffer)

Many of the folks who are baking from Gluten-Free Bread in Five Minutes a Day have asked:

  1. What’s the dough supposed to look like?
  2. How do you handle such unstructured dough?
  3. What’s it look like when baked?

Click on the “play” button in the video image above to play the video… it’s the Master Recipe from the book (the egg-white version, though you can make a version without egg). About stand mixers: We’ve had best results with our gluten-free recipes when we’ve used a stand mixer. Hand-mixing works too, but you really have to go a long time to make it nice and smooth. We have lots of experience with the 5-quart KitchenAid stand mixer. You can use the 6-quart or larger capacity, but we’ve found that those large models have a harder time mixing gluten-free dough.

You’ll notice that we used Red Star Quick-Rise yeast, which is gluten-free (so is Red Star’s Active Dry Yeast product). Gluten-free bakers can’t use the Red Star Platinum product, which has dough conditioners derived indirectly from a wheat protein–so it has a trace of gluten.

More on gluten-free bread-baking in Gluten-Free Bread in Five Minutes a Dayor on our Gluten-Free FAQs page.

Cinnamon Brioche Wreath and a book giveaway

Cinnamon Brioche Wreath | Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day

I’ve written before about being enamored with braided breads, and after making twisted loaves I thought it was time to add a cinnamon brioche wreath into the mix. Seeing braided wreaths of bread all over Pinterest makes me immediately think of the Holidays, that holly jolly time of year when everyone turns a blind eye at eating too many delicious sweets. I have a special breakfast for Thanksgiving and my family always makes these cinnamon rolls for New Years Day, but Christmas Eve needed something special. This wreath is the perfect treat. It looks harder than it is: just a few simple twists sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon make for a beautiful presentation. Click continue viewing below for more. But also: anyone posting a comment to this post will automatically be entered into a drawing–we’re giving away a copy of our any one of our U.S. books to five lucky winners (either The New Artisan Bread in 5, Healthy Bread in 5, Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in 5, or Gluten-Free Artisan Bread in 5). Contest closes and winners will be selected on December 19. Usual rules apply, (will only ship to a U.S. address, only one entry allowed, and must respond within 24 hours if you’re a winner). Contest is closed; winners have been chosen and notified in e-mail as of 12/19/14.

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Caramel Apple Brioche Cake–for Thanksgiving Breakfast

Caramel Apple Brioche Cake for Thanksgiving Breakfast | Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day

There are so many good things about Thanksgiving dinner. There’s the table piled with comfort food, the house full of family and friends, the first evening of holiday music playing, and a day to consider all the good things the year has brought.

But there’s something to be said about Thanksgiving breakfast. It’s always overlooked, and often skipped while one focuses on cleaning house, peeling potatoes, and setting the table. But what better way to start a day of feasting, really. This cake is one big roll, stuffed with apples and topped with caramel sauce and toasted pecans. It’s perfect to have on hand for overnight guests and bribing kids to pitch in Thursday morning. It also just may remind one to pause with gratitude; this treat is still bread underneath. Breaking it with a loved one first thing in the morning is a sweet sort of communion, a unique way to stop and give thanks.

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Master Recipe from Gluten-Free ABin5

Gluten-Free Artisan Bread Master Recipe | Gluten Free Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

The idea for a gluten-free version of The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day started here on the website. People were writing in to say they loved the method, but couldn’t eat wheat. It set off a quest to develop recipes that fit this fast and easy method but used flours that were gluten-free. Gluten-free breads have appeared in all of the books since then, but they were just small chapters among a bunch of wheat filled recipes. It seemed unfair to the folks who couldn’t eat wheat to buy a book filled with recipes that didn’t suit their needs, so… a book just for them. Last week Gluten-Free Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day came out–here is its Master Recipe.

There’s been great feedback from the original gluten-free recipes, but what you see here is even further simplified. That meant developing two flour mixes that all our recipes are based on, so you just have to mix the flour once for many loaves. You just mix up a big batch of our Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour Mix and/or our Whole-Grain Gluten-Free Flour mix and you’ll be able to quickly mix and bake all 90 gluten-free artisan bread recipes in our book. (Commercial flour mixes haven’t worked well for breads made from stored dough).

I also wanted to provide recipes that are mostly vegan (no eggs) and dairy free. Because eggs are a leavening ingredient, we do like the Master Recipe made with eggs for a lighter loaf. In fact, we find that the dough made with egg whites is the lightest of all the options. You can also use an egg substitute if you choose not to use eggs. And as always with the method, you save time by mixing a large batch and storing it in the refrigerator, pulling off dough to use as you need it.

Master Recipe from Gluten-Free Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

The following recipe is the Master Recipe from GFABin5 made with egg whites, but you can make the same recipe with whole eggs, egg substitutes or without any eggs at all. Read More

Tips on great results with gluten-free dough: We’re on KTSP-TV Minneapolis (ABC)

Gluten-Free Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day was released today, and we went on Twin Cities Live with Elizabeth Ries and Joe Schmit to spread the news. One of the things I liked about this TV segment was that you get to see what gluten-free dough looks like when it’s nicely emulsified in the stand mixer (you can use a spoon or dough whisk, but you have to keep going to get it really smooth). One other thing to clarify from the TV segment: This book was tested with Red Star Active Dry Yeast and Red Star Instant Yeast, both of which are completely gluten-free. Gluten-free folks shouldn’t use the Red Star Platinum product because it has some dough conditioners derived from wheat.

Lesaffre Yeast Corp. (Red Star) provided samples of yeast for recipe testing, and sponsors BreadIn5’s website and other promotional activities.

Dutch Crunch Bread

Dutch Crunch Bread | Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

How is it that I’d never tried Dutch Crunch bread, never even heard of it? It’s a loaf that seems to be ubiquitous in the San Francisco area, and it would seem that they have been keeping it all for themselves. Now that I’ve had it I can’t blame them. Dutch Crunch gets its name from a similar bread found in the Netherlands, which is called Tiger Bread (tijgerbrood or tijgerbol). It’s easy to see how it got that name. The tiger spots are created by covering the dough with a slurry of rice flour, sugar, yeast and toasted sesame oil. The fragrance of the sesame is fantastic and the slightly sweet crispy bits on the loaf are hard to resist picking off and snacking on before you ever cut into the bread.  Read More

Doughnuts

Quick & Easy Homemade Doughnuts | Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

I was thrilled when doughnuts took over as the “hot dessert trend” from the fanciful cupcake. I do like cupcakes, but they don’t excite me like a freshly made doughnut. These days you can find gourmet doughnut shops popping up all over the USA. They offer the classic flavors along with some very exotic, even esoteric combinations. I’ve seen everything from bacon to rose petals on a doughnut. I’ve tried every combination I can find and for me it all comes down to the dough. I like soft, airy yeast dough and it should be slightly sweet, but not overly so. The gourmet shops use great ingredients and treat their dough with TLC, so they often cost a small fortune. Truth is, homemade doughnuts are super easy and quick to make, especially with our five minute dough. You can make them as fancy or simple as you like and they only cost about 20 cents each, add a few cents for the bacon and rose petals! 😉 Read More

Five Rules for Making Great Grilled Pizza Outdoors on the 4th of July, With Red Star Platinum Yeast: NEW VIDEO!

artisan bread in five pizza on the grill

Getting a perfect result with homemade pizza on the gas grill in the summertime is easy–you just need to mix up some lean dough from any of our books–we’ve been testing with Red Star Platinum Yeast–with fantastic results (today’s dough was the light whole wheat, but you can use any of our lean doughs)…

Platinum Yeast | Breadin5

… and follow a few simple rules from Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day

artisan bread in five pizza on the grill

1.  Clean the grill’s grates
2.  Get your dough thin, to 1/8 of an inch thick
3.  Bake the first side of the crust “blind” (without toppings) for about three minutes, then flip and top. Prep all your toppings in advance.
4.  Cut the cheese into small cubes, or grate it so it melts fast, before the bottom crust burns. That way, after flipping and topping, the pizza will be finished in five to ten minutes, depending on burner heat and position under the pizza.
5.  Don’t overload with toppings

grilled pizza from artisan bread in five

Here’s a video on how to do it: (includes demo of pizza dough-throwing technique):

Rhubarb Upside-Down Brioche Cake

Rhubarb Upside-Down Cake | Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

One of the best indicators that spring is finally here to stay is when my rhubarb plant finally pops above the ground. It is incredibly faithful; no matter how cold the winter was, it never fails to grow again each May. Right now it is out-of-control, as the towering green leaves threaten to take over my entire garden. I’ve been looking for new ways to cook and bake with it, and was intrigued by rhubarb upside-down cake I spotted on Pinterest. However, I had a bucket of brioche in my fridge, so instead of mixing up cake batter I simply rolled out my dough and placed it over hot rhubarb and sugar. It was a success: a sweet-tart treat perfect for breakfast, or afternoon snacking.

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