Ask a Question
Questions? Start with the Search Bar: I’ve been posting recipes and answering questions on this site since 2007, so if you have a question, there’s probably a post that addresses it somewhere on this website. So, the first thing to do is to use the Search Bar on the Home Page. In narrower laptop or desktop displays, it sometimes appears right underneath the orange BreadIn5 logo, and on phones it’s right above where it says “How to make bread in five minutes a day?” Just type in the bread style, ingredient, or technique that you’re interested in, and the search-engine will show you posts on the topic, with recipes and answers to many questions.
Another place to look: the FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) page (there’s also have a Gluten-Free FAQs page). If you don’t find your answer in the FAQs, you can post baking questions and comments, but please be brief, so I can get to all the questions.
If neither of those get you to the answer you need, click on any “Comments/Reply” field at the top of any post (it doesn’t have to be here on “Ask a Question”) and scroll down to the bottom; then enter your question or comment. Don’t look for the response in your personal email… Come back here to the site on the page where you posted, to look for the answer.
Questions are answered here on the website within 24 hours, often with a reference to a page number in our books where possible. Please remember that the blog is moderated, so your post may not appear until I’ve read and approved it; this can take 24 hours.
I am confused you say you use gold medal all purpose flour. But in your book when describing other flours, You have a bold line that says use unbleached flour.
If using gold medal brand, do you Recommend using unbleached flour or all purpose?
We prefer unbleached for avoiding the chemicals, and we like the richer color. But bleached bakes up fine in the recipes.
Hi there! LOVE your bread recipe on IG, however just have a couple questions regarding the recipe and measurements:
If I would like to make 1 loaf, are the measurements the same?
Also, if I have whole wheat flour as opposed to all purpose, could you help me with water to flour ratios for one loaf?
Thanks so much!! Your videos are amazing 🙂
Much more of that detail in our books–I’m afraid that our publisher will be very upset with us if we put all that content here on the website! But you can always half or quarter our full-batch recipes for a 2-lb loaf or a 1-lb loaf (most of our recipes are full-batched at 4 pounds).
I am having so much fun baking bread it has never failed me only tried the basic recipe I make all shapes and even braid it, as there is only 2 of us can we freeze part of the loaf if it is slice or what do you advise.
I made my first batch of wet dough a little over a week ago. I have made two loaves of bread but when I went to get more for my third loaf it looks like there is some black spots in it.
Is this mold?
Why didn’t my dough last the 14 days or even close to it?
I followed the recipe closely and stored it in a bread container that was not airtight.
I am working from The New Heathy Bread in Five Minutes a Day.
Please email me back.
If it really was patchy black spots it probably is mold (as opposed to dark liquid and dough-surface, which is OK). Possible that your flour is very old and was contaminated. More about this at https://artisanbreadinfive.com/2010/01/26/gray-color-on-my-dough-is-there-something-wrong/
Note that we’re unable to do individual e-mails due to the volume of questions.
I prepared a 1/2 batch of brioche dough two days ago from the New Artisan Bread in 5 Mins a Day cookbook (p. 300) and it did not rise. I suspect that the yeast I used was too old and therefore dead. Is there anyway for me to bring the dough back to life by adding in new yeast?
You could, but it’s a chore–add a water yeast slurry, with enough water to be able to mix it in. Then work in flour until it’s the right consistency. Allow to rise at room temp…
What is the difference between baking soda, baking powder and yeast? Thank you!
Baking soda or baking powder (or a combo) are used in cakes, cookies, and Irish Soda Bread–their basically chemicals. Yeast gives a completely different flavor and is typical in bread. This would be odd in cakes and cookies. Yeast, unlike baking soda/powder is a living thing–microorganisms that live, grow, and produce carbon dioxide until you bake it.
Hot cross buns page 275 of holiday and celebration bread in 5 minutes a day. My husband is strongly opposed to dried fruits of any kind. Can I omit them? If so, do I need to change the recipe at all?
No problem to omit that, no changes!
Trying to get a response to my question without success.
I have the kindle version of your books, Holiday and Celebration in Five and the Nee Healthy Bread in Five. I travel between two house and a Kindle copy is perfect for me.
However, the Hot Cross Bun recipe does not indicate the yield and whether or not it can be halved. I know many of the other recipes can be halved, but I didn’t want to just wing it. I should have, as I made it this morning and it’s way more than I need. Also, the stolen recipe does not have the fruit ingredient amount listed. Now I wonder what other errors or omissions I will find. I’d appreciate a response. Thank you.
Yes, the Hot Cross Bun dough recipe can be halved. The yield for each baking session comes from Step 5, where we call for 2 pounds of the dough, and ask you to form 9 equal pieces, That’s about 3 1/2 ounces for each bun. The full recipe makes 5 3/4 pounds, so that’d make about 25 buns. You can freeze the extra from this batch.
The fruit goes into the Stollen in Step 2, along with the flour etc… right into the water mixture. It’s there in my paper copy, are you saying Step 2 doesn’t include that in the Kindle version. “2. Mix in the flour, cardamom, and dried fruit…”
My wife has become fascinated with your bread baking methods. She has ordered various tools like your newer book, dutch oven, oven thermometer, etc. We got the oven thermometer yesterday and tried it out in the convection/microwave she was intending to use. We don’t have a standard oven. I had a belief that our convection/microwave was really not getting as hot as it should, and it turned out to be 100 degrees under. It is old and I don’t mind getting a new one. I found a Kitchenaid model that they say is good for baking at 425 F. It seems to me that that should be just enough for a convection oven to work with your recipes. Am I right? Thanks
Our enriched recipes bake at 350, and our lean recipes bake at 450. I can’t say for sure how these convection/microwave combinations work with our recipes, because we haven’t tested them. In theory, you can turn the oven down 25 degrees with convection, but some ovens make that adjustment automatically, so this KitchenAid may be too cool.
Hi today 4th of making starter but notice that liquid up and mixture down it’s normally ( separated )thanks
Please answer my question ?
that’s normal? Keep feeding it…
Hello, I live in Australia and I am having a lot of difficulty watching any videos posted on this site….. 🙁
Hmm, we’ll check with our webmaster…
I’ve been sharing mini bread loaves with my neighbors and today tried something new: I baked them in mini bread pans today instead of free-forming each loaf. (The 8 connected mini pans are each about 4”L x 2”W x 1.5” H and I’ll use 4 to 5 ounces per pan.) I rolled each dough ball in olive oil before placing it in a pan. With the olive oil on the outside, the loaves baked up with a soft crust and lovely crumb inside. A little dome on each loaf would have been cute, but they were more flat than domed, and the slashes were ugly. Can I let the mini loaves rise naturally into a smooth dome as they bake? Or do I HAVE to slash the top of the little loaves before baking to avoid cracking? Or perhaps there is a special technique for slashing loaves?
With loaf pans, you can skip the slashing, and they’ll crack unpredictably, but not unpleasantly, and they’ll dome better. This is how I do it.
Do you have a recipe for tortillas?
We do, in our Pizza and Flatbread book, on Amazon at https://amzn.to/eo10NJ.
Hi Zoe.
Just started watching you from confined Paris/France.
I have a question concerning then 6oz bucket for the basic bread recipe. I have a typical small Paris appartement with a miniature kitchen and let’s say the smallest fridge there is.
Is there any alternative to keeping that dough bucket in the fridge (it just won’t fit especially with the shopping in advance necessity right now). What happens if it stays out.
Question two. I played with a couple of flours. Mixed normal white flour with spelt flour. When mixing the dough initially, the texture looked fine. After letting it raise over night it’s too wet/sticky can’t really grab a hold of it. So can I add flour to that bucket and wait another 4-5 hours before I bake. Or do I just pull out a piece and work it into flour on my kitchen surface?
Thank you. Take care
Well, it starts to get overly sour too soon in the process. Try making a smaller batch and see if you can avoid over-souring that way.
As for spelt–it’s a difficult flour to work with, delicious, but difficult. You have to adjust the water-level so it won’t be so sticky. 5% less? 10% less water? And yes, you can work flour into the dough on your kitchen surface but give it a good rest after that.
I have ABin5, healthy bread in five, and artisan pizza in five, books. Having some problems getting yeast during this time, but someone gave me a large cake of fresh yeast. How much should I use in place of the 1 1/2 TBLS of instant yeast in master recipe? Thanks!
It’s a 50% increase by volume, but you can go with 1 TBLS of granulated yeast rather than 1.5… we experimented with that in our second editions and found it worked fine.
I am using your first cookbook – Light Whole Wheat bread recipe. Loaf stuck to the stone, and I had to scrape it off with a spatula. This has happened a couple of times but otherwise they come out great. Should I be washing the stone, and if so, how do you recommend?
Sounds like you’re not using enough cornmeal under the loaf, that’ll keep it from sticking. Or use parchment, which is absolutely failsafe. I don’t wash my stones, just scrape them off.
Sourdough Starter? I have been making my own bread for 3 years now since getting your book. Yeast is sold out in every store and online. I’m thinking I may need to do a sourdough starter. Can you tell us (if we succeed in doing the starter – your technique for that would be helpful too) how much of the sourdough starter should we use for this bread? How much sourdough starter equals 1 tsp of the dried yeast?
The full recipe’s in our updated version of Healthy Bread book, on Amazon at https://amzn.to/1NdVkgj. A short version is on this website, type “easy sourdough starter” into our Search Bar above.
My crumb is too dense and I have tried the suggestions in the FAQ page (other than the fridge rise). I am usin Saf-Instant gold because it was the only yeast I could find available. It is intended for sweet breads but have seen plenty of reviews on Amazon saying they use it for everything, Should I be using more of this yeast?
Thanks
Which of our recipes are you using, from which book and page number?
Sorry, the Master recipe on 53.
Our method yields a dough that’s denser than store-bought bread, it’s true. This becomes less so as the dough ages, so try aging it for a longer period. If you’re using bread flour–switch to A.P.
I am making your sourdough starter from your “New Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day” book on p. 386.
I’d like to make bread as soon as possible. Can I speed up the starter making process by feeding it twice a day on Days 4, and 5 as long as it produces the 3 cups of starter needed to make your bread recipe on p. 389?
People have reported positively on twice-a-day feedings, but even if it’s working well, make sure your starter is very active when you incorporate it, otherwise you won’t be happy with the rise. And that you have enough.
I have the book New abin5, but I’m not asking about any of the recipes in there. I want to make a pizza roll/roulade; rolling dough out flat, adding sauce and pepperoni and stuff, rolling it all up and baking it. Searching the book and the website, I can’t find anything like that, but I’m sure it can be done and I’d love some tips on (a) how much of a master recipe to use (half a bucket? whole bucket?), how big I should expect to be able to roll that out, and how hot/long to bake, whether to use steam, stone etc.
If there is some other kind of rolled recipe like that in the book (or on the website), please point me to it! thanks!
Before we get into specifics on this, check out my video on YouTube, that may be all you need: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gz8orjV4rGQ
One of your You Tube on shaping the master recipe shows folding the dough toward the center then turning it over and creating the cloak by stretching the dough over the top and tucking it under. The OTHER of your YouTube on shaping omits the folding the dough (while on the bench) and instead beginning immediately to stretch top and tuck under to create cloak Which is right?
They both work! Because those actions are actually slightly different ways of picturing the exact same thing.
I have 1/2 the Master Recipe – Boule. I can’t get any yeast to make more bread. Can I add another recipe of Boule minus the yeast? Will the yeast that’s the in the 1st batch be enough to raise the second batch? Can you just keep adding and adding without yeast?
I’ve tried that and I’m not crazy about the results. It works, sort of… you really need to use that earlier batch in a starter methodology. type easy sourdough starter into our search bar above and you’ll get a sense of how to do that. Not as easy as what you’re proposing
Can you use Romertopf Roaster (13.75“L x 9“W x 6.75“H) in Breville Smart Oven Air? I mean, it seems to fit but barely. Thanks.
I think it might be shaky. You’re going to have to experiment. We don’t have one of these kinds of ovens to test with
Hi! What causes a strong yeasty/alcohol taste in the baked bread? The bread is fully baked but the flavor is off.
You may prefer the lowest version of her recipes. Go to our FAQs page above and click on the entry about yeast
I do not have enough honey to make the Challah recipe from the New Artisan in Five book. Have you tried this recipe with sugar instead? if so, how much would you use?
About the same, or you could decrease it by about 5 or 10%
Thank you
I am using a Chambers 1918ish stove. Heats true to temp and I keep in a thermometer. The oven heats from the bottom. When I am baking bread it is beautiful texture and definitely done. The Crust never gets that beautiful brown. However, everything else I bake does.
Please help
Using steam?
What kind of yeast do you recommend?
We mostly tested with Red Star, and any of their granulated (dried) products work great in our method (generally doesn’t matter between Platinum, Instant, Better-for-bread, or Active-Dry.
Any tips for ‘cuban bread’?
It’s basically an enriched French baguette, and I think the enrichment is traditionally lard, though I haven’t tested this…
My husband and I recently made your gluten free bread using your book “Gluten-Free Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day.” We used fresh Red Star yeast and Bob’s Gluten Free flour along with another Gluten Free flour in a blue box. Can’t remember the brand. We measured carefully (didn’t weigh) the dry ingredients, mixed them together and then added the water. After letting it sit for two hours, it still seemed very thin. We refrigerated overnight. Took out next day to bake, formed the loaf and let it sit for an hour. Baked and came out like a frisbee. Did not rise at all before or during baking. Help!!!
Do you mean that you used Bob’s gluten-free flour mixture? Bottom line is that we found that the pre-mixed GF flours didn’t work and we had to come up with our own concoction.
The new artisan bread in 5 minutes—brioche dough
Hey! So I tried making cinnamon rolls the other day with the above recipes, but the dough did not get to a workable consistency even after refrigerating for more than 4 hours. Does it need to be chilled more, since the recipe itself does not mention a time?
Also, I have an inkling that I measured the flour incorrectly. Zoe in her video on brioche dough on Instagram, suggested that if you’re using cups, scoop and scrape. This is different from other recipes where they fluff and spoon the flour into the cup. So, how much does 7 and a 1/2 cups translate to in grams, by your method?
PS I made the dough after halving all the quantities in the recipe. I also live in India and it’s much hotter here than in the States. Could that have had to do with anything?
Thanks!
Well, four hours is plenty, that’s not the problem. Use scoop and sweep, as shown in the video I did, at https://artisanbreadinfive.com/2010/04/28/how-we-measure-our-flour-using-the-scoop-and-sweep-method
7.5 cups of AP, measured this way, is 1,065 grams, more details in the book, on Amazon at https://amzn.to/17Rw23Y. Yes, the heat could be a factor in “looseness” of the dough, but most likely, the flours in India are lower in protein (by a lot, compared with North American AP flour), and if I have to guess–that is your problem. You’re going to have to decrease the water a lot–5%? 10%? more? You’ll have to experiment, because we’ve never tested with flours from India.
Thank you for this book. It has been wonderful during this quarantine period when parents and kids can do things together that have such a great outcome.
One quick question. If using the dough immediately after the initial 2-hour rise, is there still the necessity to let formed dough rest again for 40 minutes? Or can the formed ‘grapefruit’ then be put directly in the oven?
Thank you again and stay healthy and well!
Let it go for another 40-90…
Hi,
I followed your recipe to the letter but my. Read turned out gummy (best way I can describe it)…any idea why?
Which of our books are you working from, and what recipe and page number?
Hello.
I’ve been making your bread for years and although it always is delicious and people are always raving about it, my loaves NEVER come out round. They start out round when I put them in the oven and I have tried cutting all the same style slits you have pictured, yet they always end up shaping into a high oval. Are yours in a crock when you bake them?
Thank you.
Which of our books are you working from, and what recipe and page number?
Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, the Master Recipe, Boule, page 26.
†hank you.
No, I only very occasionally use a crock, and I’m able to get a pretty round loaf out of that basic recipe. That picture on the cover of that edition is distorted (!) but it’s quite round, and if I remember correctly, it was one of mine!
It’s a matter of technique– pay even more attention to step 5 (the gluten cloak). It’s hard to see what we’re doing in that photo on page 29, so try our video on this at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIb8fC9BdWs&t=125s
Hello,
I’ve been making bread from your ‘Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day’ for years and years. With all of the talk about sourdough starters, can I make a starter with the dough that I have in my refrigerator? I made a batch of your Master Recipe dough three days ago and still have about half of the dough resting in my fridge. If so, how would I do it?
Thank you,
Anne
You can incorporate it into a batch of starter such as we go into when you type “easy sourdough starter” into our Search Bar above.
I would like to use King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour with 13% protein content in the basic recipe (I am using your first book). What changes should I make to the basic recipe?
You can’t just swap in WW for white flour without major adjustments in hydration… See https://amzn.to/1NdVkgj which focuses entirely on whole grains flours.
I’m using the master recipe for just a normal loaf (from the new artisan bread book). I’m letting bread rise on a brown piece of parchment paper (no flour or oil on parchment) on my wood pizza peel and then sliding bread and parchment paper onto the preheated stone. I’m using a baking stone (pamper chef pizza stone) and have pre-heated 450 for at least 30 minutes. I’m using an old oven broiler tray to add my hot water for steam. Flavor is awesome, top is deeply browned and crispy, inside is tender and not under cooked. the question is (finally). It’s not browning on the bottom. Is it my parchment paper or should I add some flour below to absorb moisture that builds up during the rise? thanks! loving the recipes.
Better bet: put it on a lower oven-shelf. High oven shelves brown the top crust nicely, low ones the bottom crust.
Thanks for your help, Jeff. I found I could order some yeast from Amazon. I hadn’t thought of it before. The sourdough looks interesting!
Hi, baking organic “Whole Grain Rye Bread” (book: Healthy Bread in 5 min a Day 2009, p. 113) for the second time as it’s awesome!! Soooo good! I wish I could post a photo. It was gorgeous baked in my grandmother’s old Griswold #8 Dutch Oven with the cover on for a while (wild guess on the timing for that). Question: I have been baking since childhood. Both Swedish grandmas always oiled/greased the bowl. I can’t find any reference to that in FAQ’s. I use a big crock for rising, then into the fridge for at least 5 days. I greased the bowl last time with organic olive oil; trying it without any oil today so I am hoping it won’t stick to the bowl. Is there a reason we should NOT oil the bowl? I googled and saw a couple of references to oil affecting the gluten?? Thank you!!
Lynnea
I’ve done it both ways, and I don’t think it makes a difference. If you like the oil flavor around the outside of the loaf, well some people can taste that. It softens the crust, too
Thanks, Jeff. I think you’re right – it didn’t stick to the crock any more than WITH oiling the bowl. After 5 days in the fridge, I baked the whole grain rye yesterday. The dough was very wet this time. I think I need to weigh ingredients next time. (Love this bread so there WILL be a next time!). I put the entire half recipe into my 7.5” ID brotform after dusting it generously with rice flour, which I read somewhere was recommended as it has no gluten to be sticky. Let it rise almost 3 hr, but argh, it stuck to the brotform just on top and I lost some poof that way. Into preheated 500F Griswold dutch oven with cover 30 min at 450F 200F probe said it was done. Tastes great but maybe less water next time…
Loving your book and the recipes! This is regarding your Challah recipe in the Artisan bread in five minutes a day on page 180. Can I substitute milk instead of the water? If so do I need to make any adjustments.
Sure… it might be a little heavier, and could take a longer baking time. 10% more? Keep an eye on it and check your oven temp with something like https://ow.ly/8CVPU
Hello, I love your book and am trying many recipes because of the quarantine. For the chocolate chip bread, my dough is not like dough at all. I followed the measurements and ingredients exactly but the dough is firm, not risen a bit, and no way could I create any kind of “cloak”. The dough just breaks into pieces. So, I put a chunk of it in a loaf pan to rise for 90 minutes (even though it won’t rise a bit) and then I will bake it. What do you think is going on?
It’s a very unusual dough, that’s for sure. How did it come out when you baked it?
i have started the “lazy day” sourdough, i added warm water to the old dough and blended it well. I let it sit for ah hour or so, and put the flour yeast and salt, in my food processor. it was REALLY wet so i added another scoop of flour, (my heavy weight food processor actually bogged down– a first)
now its rising really fast and smells wonderful
– should i have decreased the water, i now realize the old dough has water in it?
– is there a way to tell if its Too wet and what to do.?!
ive made your breads many times, but this is my first sourdough attempt.
thanks laura
At this stage, if it’s too wet, you can work in more flour until it looks like what you’re used to, or what it looks like in our videos. Let it rise again, because of course it’ll all collapse when you work in flour.
For the sour dough starter, your pictures do not look like 2 quart containers. Is 2 quarts an accurate container size? It is very large.
You’re right, those are 1 quart. You would need something bigger as it expands through the feeding cycle, which is why we call for 2. Didn’t make a nice picture though, mostly an empty container.
Thanks. I’m on day five and switching containers.
Hello!, Can I make half a recipe? My British fridge is not big enough for a 6 litre container 🙂 AND/OR (and possibly more useful?) does the dough need to rise UP? Can the tub be a big rectangle? (sorry is asked before!). And thank you for taking the time to reply to all these questions! Very, best wishes from Edinburgh, Jess
Answer to all these questions is yes! The dough rises, but so long as there’s room for it to approximately double, you’re fine. Half-recipe is great.
Can I use the method of tangzhong to the main recipe?
Can’t see why not, but we’ve never tested it–so you’ll be in for some experimentation.
I have an established whole wheat sourdough starter but about to run out of flour and can’t find any locally. Can I use spelt flour to continue the feeding process?
Absolutely! It’s a more challenging prospect to make a loaf from pure spelt, but it works. Especially if you’re willing to switch to flatbread.
What size and brand of glass jars do you use for flour?
It really doesn’t matter. But… if I have a five pound bag of flour, it goes into something like this what you find on our equipment page–the first plastic tub in there: https://artisanbreadinfive.com/equipment/
Smaller amounts go into glass jars… anything, it doesn’t matter, though I sometimes use Ball brand 1-quart canning jars for that, like these: https://amzn.to/2KckD9T . But you can use cheap/free jars that food comes in. Though 1-quart isn’t a lot of flour. That’s where I put rye, etc., which I don’t use much.
I just wanted to thank you for being so kind to post your recipes. I have to wait nearly a month for you GF book to arrive, yet I can begin trying recipes from your blog now. Thank you for your generosity. I have been giving your ABin5 original book along with a bread bucket for every graduation or wedding gift that I have needed for the past 10+ years. I had to quit baking bread several years back as I started having major digestive issues. Now that I see you have the GF methods I am going to give it a whirl again. Thank you so much for sharing your craft with us.
Welcome back, and happy baking (GF)!
can i back a sweet blueberry tea bread with this starter?
… you should be able to rise any yeast-bread recipe with it, but it’s going to take a lot of experimentation.
Is there somewhere that I could see exactly what the brioche dough should look like after it’s mixed before it begins it’s rest? I made the dough and it was sooooo liquidy and sticky. I weighed the ingredients. I’m not sure what happened.
Sure, here’s our video on that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gOjOrCMOT0
Hi I made your whole wheat master dough, without the added gluten. I let it rise overnight, cold kitchen and old yeast. The dough looks and smells great! However, it is super wet and sticky. I can stretch it out of the bin but it tears easily. Not like my reg master dough with AP flour. I did add more water to this since my AP flour has a higher protein content. I did read that if the dough isn’t stretchy and strong it may be too dry… but mine seems so wet. I cannot form it without my hands becoming super messy or adding a lot of flour. What did I do wrong? should i incorporate more wheat flour or AP flour to the master dough? Thank you! I have watched all of Zoe’s live feeds! They are great!
As in the book, you can’t leave out the VWG unless youmake the water adjustment from the tables in the chapter that has the master recipe…