Customer Reviews

Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am a confident cook, I love cooking for friends and family. However my baking skills were much to be desired. Desserts were easier for me to handle but baking bread I wouldn't attempt without a bread machine.
Well this book arrived on a Wed. Thurs I was reading through it. Friday I made the master recipe (1st recipe in book), the boule. Saturday shaped my first dough ball into baguettes. They turned out great! I made two baguettes to fit my baking stone and both were eaten quickly. Sunday I pulled out some dough and made a basic round loaf per their instructions. That was finished as well. Monday will use the last of the dough to split it in two. One will be used for cinnamon buns and the other for rolls. Then I will mix another batch.
Nothing like fresh baked bread smell to fill your home. To be honest it turned out better than bread machine bread! My hubby would make bread in the machine and it didn't interest me. That bread machine is going to collect dust ..thanks to this book.
Instructions were easy enough. If you want to get this book, make sure you have some of the essential cooking equipment.

1. Baking stone (pizza stone), it is what will really make or break your bread. Without this stone you wont get a really great crust.
2. Pizza peel (paddle). We have a wooden one. After shaping your dough it rests on this paddle and then you can slide it from the paddle onto the stone.
3. Broiler pan.
4. If using the baking stone and cornmeal as the product you scatter onto the pizza peel, there will be smoke. An exhaust fan would come in handy. If you wish for less smoke they recommend baking the bread on a cookie sheet.

We had all of the above in our stocked kitchen, before purchasing the book so we were able to start right away. Even though we had no idea of the equipment needed.

**Make sure and use organic flour. You wont regret it. They advise it in the book as well.

I am a fan of sourdough bread. In my earlier attempts to learn about baking bread, I really wanted
sourdough flavour. But who has time to plan that far ahead to make sourdough starter? This book gives you recipes to allow for you to have sourdough anytime! The concept is that the longer that recipe sits in your fridge, it will get better (that sourdough flavour) with each day.
Fresh bread anytime..no planning ahead. As long as you have a recipe sitting around in the fridge..you are good to go. You have 14 days to use the recipes. Trust me it wont last that long...at least it didnt in our house.
Other recipes follow the same method. Mix, no kneading, sit out for 2hrs, then refrigerate.
There are other dough recipes and you can make olive bread, foccacia,pizza, pitas, pretzels and bagels, just to name a few. Rye, pumperknickel and whole wheat are covered as well.
I cannot believe how great my bread came out. I now have the confidence to try the ones I just listed. They are all favourites in this house. All these artisian breads and whats even better, I know what went into it.
This concept beats buying frozen dough from your grocer and you finishing it at home.
The recipes of finished dough can be frozen as well, but we didnt get a chance to freeze any. :)

This book will never leave this bread lovers cookbook library. I even plan on purchasing it for family and friends. I rarely do that in terms of cookbooks.
I highly recommend this book and thanks to the authors for making this baking-challenged woman a hero in her home. I am confident enough to tackle the other breads as well.
There is a website as well to go with the book,people get their questions answered by the authors.
Now its time to break bread. :P

I've entered bread baking world year ago. I've searched internet to find the best book for money. And I found it (however, it is not this book). Then I had help from relative who had been home baker for 20 years. Her help was also invaluable. Then I come upon this book and decided to try it.

First, I have to mention that I'm Peter Reinhart's follower. I like his breads, their taste, crumbs and crust. They remind me of childhood and how home baked fresh bread with ripen tomato and feta cheese, can be the lifelong memory. On other side, to make such bread following Peter's recipe takes minimum two days and plenty of space. That is why I purchased and tried ...five minutes... And I was disappointed by result. I've tried few different type of breads and they all tasted the same. They are too salty and crust is very tick and hard. And five 'minutes a day...' well, that is very stretched five minutes. In order to make exceptional bread you'll definitely need more than five minutes.

Don't get me wrong, breads from 'five minutes' were better than my Zojirushi bread machine can make. However, when I long for excellent bread, I'm back using Peter's book (Crust and Crumb). When I'm in hurry, I'm using Zojirushi bread maker when and that really requires five minutes.

While this book is great for those who maybe have never made bread in their lives, or those who are very short on time but would still like hot oven fresh bread, those of us who enjoying making bread the old way may not find this quite enough.

The recipes are very clear, and the bread itself is decent, but you get what you put into it. The crust is very hard and quite thick and just not exactly what I am looking for in bread that I would chose to make on a regular basis. However, I do use the recipe when making bread with my 4 year old as it allows him to play around and we don't have to worry too much.

In the end, this is 'fast food' bread. Better than store bought, but not quite as good as if you'd taken your time and made a traditional loaf. I do recommend the book to new bread bakers though, just for the sake of learning to handle dough and shape it!

All this aside, my son LOVES the bread we make with this recipe, whether I make it alone or he helps, so clearly it is still pretty good and perhaps I am just too much of a traditionalist! ;)

I've been trying to bake bread at home with pretty poor results until now. I have tried recipes from several books and websites, but I couldn't quite get the technique right. The instructions in this book make baking bread as easy as baking muffins. There is no kneading or punching-down, just mix the ingredients, let it sit for a few hours, then refrigerate until you are ready to bake. When it's time for a fresh loaf of bread, pull out a hunk of dough, shape it (takes less than a minute), let it sit for a short period of time and then bake.

I made the first recipe in the book, the boule, and it was wonderful: excellent flavour, good texture and a perfect crust. One batch of dough makes four 1-pound loaves ... it was so yummy we baked and ate them all!

This is a great book that I highly recommend for anyone who makes bread or pizza dough etc. I have not bought bread at the store since Christmas. Its true. 5 minutes a day. Thanks Jeff and Zoe

A friend lent me his copy of this book after I tasted some of this bread at his home. As a long-time traditional bread baker, I was amazed that this was bread created without kneading and proofing.

I've been working with the recipes for the past three weeks, and I can say that this method and these recipes work like a charm. The bread is delicious: moist inside (even the day after it's baked), the crust is thick and crusty. It is remarkable.

While you can make very good-tasting bread with basic equipment, using a pizza stone and pizza peel as the authors recommend does help. The dough is good baked right away, but it is incredibly delicious after it's aged a few days.

I have to give the book back to my friend, so I've just ordered my own copy, because I can't imagine being without this.

I first learned of this book through a bread making class and we used a number of the recipes. Since buying it, I can honestly say, simple - delicious and fantastic resource to make home baked bread.

This is a great book, describing how to make easy delicious bread, with no kneading! It has turned me into a regular bread maker (and naan maker, and pizza dough maker etc.), having never been one before! Love the Master recipe. It is so easy my friend couldn't believe it! I have given this book to at least four people, and told many more about it, because the bread is so good, and the process so easy. The bread gets more flavourful as time goes on (that is, when made from the dough that has been in the fridge for at least a few days), and is healthier and more digestible I believe because of the process which probably is a mild sourdough type process. (Someone said to me "the bread tastes buttery! How much butter did you put in it?" None! there is no fat at all added to the master recipe!) I highly recommend this book!

this book is wonderful, I have only made a few of the basic recipes but make them ALL THE TIME. My family LOVES the bread, it also makes great gifts. I took some bread into work and have true followers that have also bought the book, I have bought 9 books so far, for friends and family and co-workers. So easy to make once you have all the items. YUM

LOVE this book. A neighbour lent me her copy and I barely got through the first chapter before I ran for my computer to order my very own copy. I now have a container with bread dough in my fridge waiting patiently for me to pull a chunk off, shape it quickly, left to rise (on bamboo pizza peel) for a short time, into the hot oven and just like that, I have amazing crusty chewy bread that is irresistible. You too can make fresh baked bread that will make you swoon. And the best part is that you can make as big or as small a loaf as you want.
The photography in the book is beautiful and will make your mouth water. An enjoyable read too.