New book! The Best of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: Favorite Recipes from BreadIn5

Hey friends:

My new book, “The Best of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: Favorite Recipes from BreadIn5,” is now available. I was excited and grateful to be asked to do a “greatest-hits” compilation. Through the lockdowns and trials of the past 18 months, the conversation continued here on the website, hearing what you were looking for and clarifying which recipes really mattered. The new book reflects those conversations, and it’s perfect for anyone who wants a curated collection of the all-time favorite recipes from my seven previous books on super-fast stored dough—for yourself or for the ABin5 newbies on your holiday shopping list. You’ll find:

  • The best of the European and American artisan traditions
  • Whole grain loaves
  • Pizza and flatbread
  • Brioche, challah, and other sweet or enriched breads
  • Gluten-free recipes (a few)
  • Natural sourdough bread

But enough from me—the multitalented Andrew Zimmern graciously agreed to write the foreword to the book:

From the Foreword by Andrew Zimmern:

“… the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes se­ries is [proves] that the world’s easiest yeasted loaf, the most versatile bread dough recipe (even pizza!), can be taken in so many directions and have so many ap­plications that it has created a series of hits, launched a gazillion home bakers on their own bread journey, and spawned, finally, a Best of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day… This series redefined bread baking for America, long before the Covid-19 sourdough craze. This se­ries of books launched on a simple premise: bread baking can be easy, simple, and anyone can do it. Then it took off—and took on healthy breads, hydration ratios, flatbreads, gluten-free breads, holiday breads, pizza, and more. That’s what happens in our culture: Success breeds more success and, in this case, more books…”

—Andrew Zimmern

Thanks Andrew!

Note: BreadIn5.com is reader supported–when you buy through links on the site, BreadIn5 LLC earns commissions.

Challah for a Friday night

Photo by Stephen Scott Gross

It’s Friday night at the end of April, and I’m still baking (this is, after all, Minnesota). I know challah as a traditional Jewish bread but it’s a close relative of a whole family of enriched, sweetened breads. The most famous is brioche (see link below), which is twice as enriched–with butter. Challah’s lighter, and it works well with butter, or any vegetable oil (including coconut oil; melt it first). There are many versions of this versatile favorite here on the website, and of course, in the books. Here are some of my favorites–the first link includes the dough recipe for a basic white-flour challah. All these recipe-links will open in a new tab:

A round braided challah you can bake in a crock pot

crock pot challah

Shaping the braid or the turban

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The flatbread challah: the fastest ever

Braiding the fancy six-strand challah

How to: Six Strand Braided Challah | Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

Apples and Honey Challah

Apple and Honey Challah Recipe | Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

Whole Grain Challah With Cranberries and Orange Zest

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And challah can be made from our brioche dough formula, here shaped into Mallorca buns…

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Happy Friday!

Note: BreadIn5.com is reader supported–when you buy through links on the site, BreadIn5 LLC earns commissions.

Incredible crust: bread-baking in a cloche

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Many readers have asked about baking bread inside a closed cast-iron pan, based on a much older method, where bread is baked inside a closed clay pot (or “cloche,” meaning bell, in French).  Both methods depend on trapped steam from the dough to create a perfect crust, but the clay pot has the added benefit of being porous, so moisture is trapped, but also conducted away from the surface as the bread bakes.  I tested the Sassafras brand “La Cloche” product, and I’m very impressed with the crust I’m getting –take a look at the picture above; this crust is thin and shatters when broken (the burned bits are perfect in artisan loaves; that’s how you know you’ve baked long enough).  Keep in mind that these crust results are hard to re-create with loaves very high in whole wheat (because of oils in the wheat’s germ).  The bread above is about 15% whole grains– it’s a light version of the Peasant Loaf in the book, and of course the basic recipe works great in this situation.  Whole grain breads perform beautifully in “La Cloche,” but the crust tends to be softer and thicker. One other thing to note–any clay product is somewhat fragile, and after some years of owning the Sassafras product, the base did crack (still quite usable with a stone underneath).

For crust aficionados, I think the “La Cloche” results are a little better than what I get inside closed cast-iron. 

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Broa (Portuguese corn bread) with Caldeirada de Peixe (Portuguese fish stew)

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I may have made a resolution about not complaining about the weather this year, but too bad!  Greetings from Minnesota, where I’m freezing at my desk, so today’s a soup and bread day.  In the book, we included a Portuguese Corn Bread (Broa) and an accompanying Portuguese Fish Stew (Caldeirada de Peixe) to go with it–it’s a perfect combination.

The Broa dough is simply the Master Recipe, substituting 1 1/2 cups of cornmeal (yellow or white, stone-ground or regular) for 1 1/2 cups of unbleached all-purpose flour.  Bake as usual as a round loaf.  In the picture above I used a lightly greased and stove-top pre-heated black cast-iron skillet (my skillet doesn’t come with a cover or I’d have tried that, see this about baking in covered cast-iron).  Amazon carries the Lodge brand (click here to view).   Here’s the Caldierada de Peixe recipe: (more…)

Mini-Wreath Loaves with Bread Flour

People often ask us why I only used all-purpose flour (where we called for white flour) in The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.  Why not “bread” flour, which is higher in protein and is often considered traditional in bread?  Well, not in all traditions. French baguettes, for example, are typically made with lower-protein flour for a more tender, and less chewy crumb.  And we knew most of our potential book users already had all-purpose flour in the house.  But sometimes, a stiffer dough is desirable, like when something really needs to hold its shape, like these wreath-shaped, well… bagels.  You can always swap bread flour into our recipes that call for all-purpose, just by adding a little extra water (details below).  

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Video: secrets of baguettes on the gas grill for summer!

OK, first the disclaimer, I did not bake the breads above, this is from an old post I did after a trip to France, where these loaves were bought and eaten.  I also need to admit that it looks like I bit the perfect tip off the baguette on the right (I did, on my walk back from the boulangerie–bakery).  Truth moment, even though you can bake baguettes in your gas grill (and I’ll prove it in a video below), they won’t look quite like these. No matter, they’re still delicious. Read on–click “more” below…

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Health questions?

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There are endless controversies surrounding food consumption and its effect on health, and over the years I’ve received many questions related to health claims made in the media and in popular books. The answers are complex and the science is often inconclusive. Given that, I don’t make any specific health-promotion claims about the breads in my books. In writing the first edition of Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day (2009), I knew it’d generate lots of questions. Below, you’ll find part of the introduction to that book, which addresses the state of the science related to nutrition and bread ingredients. In Healthy Bread, you’ll find lots of whole wheat and other whole grains, and had a whole chapter on sourdough baking (only in the second edition). But bread is a carbohydrate food, and the best advice that scientists give us is this: don’t binge on it. Eat bread and other energy-rich foods in moderation or you’ll gradually gain weight and put yourself at risk for diabetes and other chronic conditions. Two specific topics on which we get a lot of questions here on the website:

Sourdough? Are there health benefits, compared with breads made with commercial yeast? Short answer: the science is far from clear on this, and mainstream researchers aren’t promoting sourdough as having any particular health effects, despite it’s natural bacteria and yeast, and supposed effects on acid balance or glycemic index–the evidence just isn’t there. Like all breads, sourdough loaves are a carbohydrate food, and should be eaten in moderation. The main reason to eat sourdough is its wonderful flavor, and that’s the thinking that drove most of the choices in our books.

Gluten-free? Gluten-Free Bread in Five Minutes a Day is primarily for people with celiac disease, a well-documented medical condition that may affect as much as 1% of the population. People with celiac cannot eat bread made from wheat or anything with gluten. For other folks who feel better when they don’t eat wheat or gluten, the science is newer, and less clear. One can’t make claims about health benefits of gluten-free bread, other than that it’s the only option for celiacs. There’s no credible evidence suggesting that everyone needs a gluten-free diet.

Read on for some basics on bread ingredients, from the introduction to Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day (copyright 2009, 2016, Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois):

1. Whole grain flour is better for you than white flour: Because whole grains include the germ and the bran, in addition to the starch-rich but fiber- and vitamin-poor endosperm whole grain flours bring a boatload of healthy substances into your diet, including phytochemicals (beneficial plant chemicals), vitamins, and fiber. Those are pretty much absent from white flour. Iron, niacin, folic acid, riboflavin, and thiamine are added back in enriched commercial white flour, but no other nutrients—so whole wheat delivers more complete nutrition than enriched white flour. But there’s more—because bran and germ in whole grains dilute the effect of pure starch in the endosperm, the absorption and conversion of starches into simple sugars is slowed, so blood glucose (the simplest sugar) rises more slowly after consumption of whole grains than it does after eating refined white flour products. Complex, high-bran carbohydrates are said to have a lower “glycemic index,” a measure of how fast your blood sugar rises after eating a particular food. The evidence for better handling of blood sugar, better digestive function, and heart health convinced the American Diabetes Association (ADA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to make two recommendations in their current guidelines:

  • Consume a high-fiber diet, with at least 14 grams of dietary fiber per 1,000 calories consumed in an ideal-calorie diet each day. For a 2,000-calorie diet (appropriate for most women), that means about 28 grams of fiber a day. For a 2,500-calorie diet (appropriate for most men), that means 35 grams a day). 100% whole wheat bread contains a little less than 2 grams of fiber per slice if you cut a thin 1-ounce slice, and 3 to 4 grams if you cut a 2-ounce slice. White bread contains a quarter of that.
  • Make sure that at least half of your grain intake is whole grain.

2. Monounsaturated and polyunsaturated oils are better for you than saturated and trans fats (like butter and hydrogenated oil): Switching to these oils or other heart-healthy fat sources can benefit those with high blood cholesterol.

3. Low-salt breads will benefit people with hypertension, heart failure, and kidney failure: This applies to all our breads—they all can be made with less or even zero salt, though the flavor will of course be different.

4. Nuts and seeds contain heart-healthy oils: Though they’re concentrated calorie sources, nuts and seeds are rich in vitamins, minerals, and heart-healthy fats (monounsaturated and omega-3 polyunsaturated fats).

5. Fruits and vegetables are the best sources for protective phytochemicals and vitamins: In Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day, there’s a whole chapter of breads enriched by fruits or vegetables, which are fiber-rich and loaded with vitamins and antioxidants.

And one final word of advice about diet and health: Please don’t obsess about food. This is supposed to be fun. If you can put some healthy ingredients into your bread and you like the flavor, do it. Most of all, enjoy your food.

Note: BreadIn5.com is reader supported. When you buy through links on the site, BreadIn5 LLC earns commissions.

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Brötchen! GF book is released in Germany: “Glutenfreies Funf-Minuten-Brot”

Gluten-Free Bread in Five Minutes a day was first published in the US (in English, of course), and now in Germany (in German of course), where it was published this Spring by Unimedica. “Glutenfreies Funf-Minuten-Brot” is available all over Germany, on AmazonDE, and even in the US.

Here are some Brötchen (German for “little bread”), based on an egg-white enriched dough which creates an incredible crust and crumb. This is BreadIn5’s first post with instructions for baking with wheat OR gluten-free flour! The egg-white especially lightens up the gluten-free version. Note: these pictures are of the wheat-based brotchen.

Brötchen (makes about 10 or 11)

2 pounds Master Wheat Recipe Egg-White Enriched (see below) or Gluten-Free Master Recipe Egg-White Enriched using the Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour Mix

Preheat the oven to 450F, with an empty metal broiler tray on any shelf that won’t interfere with the rising brötchen.

Cut off 3-ounce (peach-size) pieces of Egg White-Enriched Dough (see below) and quickly shape into balls, then pinch to form an oval shape. Allow to rest, 2 inches apart, on a baking sheet prepared with oil, butter, parchment paper, or a silicone mat for 20 minutes.

Brush the tops with egg white and cut a single lengthwise slash into the top of each roll, using a serrated knife.

Place the baking sheet in the oven, pour 1 cup of hot water into the broiler tray, and quickly close the oven door. Bake the rolls for about 25 minutes, or until richly browned. Serve slightly warm.

Egg-White Enriched Wheat Dough: Put 3 egg whites into the bottom of a measuring cup, then add water to bring the total volume to 3 cups of liquid in the Master Recipe (or on page 53 in New Artisan). All other ingredients and measurements are the same. Refrigerate for up to 5 days before freezing in 1-pound portions. This dough is great for brotchen, but you can use it for other rolls or bread as well. The egg-white variation for the gluten-free dough is at the
Gluten-Free Master Recipe.

Need help with your Gluten-Free Dough? Here’s a video to show you what it should look like!

You can also bake the Brötchen as a boule, if you want!

Pumpkin Sticky Nut Rolls with Red Star Yeast

Pumpkin Sticky Nut Rolls | Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

Christmas is just around the corner, and this year my sister-in-law volunteered to have the meal at her house, so this means I have some free time leading up the day, in which previous years I have not. (I am on pie duty, which I will take any day over making the meal) Since there will be family in from out of town and friends in and out of my house, I like to make sure there is something to eat each day for breakfast that everyone will enjoy. These Pumpkin Sticky Nut Rolls fit the bill perfectly, and the fact that I can assemble them the night before and let them rise in the fridge overnight is a huge bonus.

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Holiday Star Bread

This fanciful holiday bread made it into our newest book, Holiday and Celebration Bread in Five Minutes a Day, and it is one of the prettiest, easiest and most sensational breads to make for a family gathering or work party.

This Holiday Star Bread has been making the rounds all over social media, so I decided to try it with some of our no-knead Challah dough. I’m happy to report that it works quite well, and it is not that difficult to make. Most of the recipes online have the same directions for shaping the star, so I borrowed from those when practicing, but substituted pumpkin pie spice for the cinnamon just to change things up a bit. We also have a variation with jam, but Nutella or many other fillings would be fun, so if you are interested in playing around with recipe, there is room for your own interpretation. If you do end up making this bread and post on social media, tag #breadin5 so we can see your creations! You can also find us on Instagram at @breadin5.

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