Bread, As Instant As It Gets.

One of the things I really love doing but haven’t really had the luxury to since I started work is bread making. The thing about making bread is that while it’s completely magical and immersely satisfying to make something so wholemeal, good and completely takes on a new life on its own with the most basic of ingredients, it is also rather time consuming, easily taking up the better part of the day with all the kneading and proofing.

I have to admit that I’ve known for a while now (how could I not, with everyone raving about it from the moment it hit the stores) that there exist this book that claims that with its recipes, all you need is five minutes, that is excluding the proofing and baking time, each day and viola, fresh bread on your table. I’ll also admit that having always made bread the old fashioned way (ie with my two bare hands and a lot of flour), I was very skeptical to say the least.

But when I came across Artisan Bread in Five’s website , I just had to order the book right after I picked my jaw off the floor- you wouldn’t believe how gorgeous the photos on that site are- and start baking bread asap.

Mixing the dough without kneading it and putting it all in the fridge to rest with utter blind faith that it will work out was no easy feat. I swear the dough was practically crying for me to pick it up and knead it to smooth springiness. Instead, I practised tough love, chucked it in the fridge and waited for it to work its magic.

As it turns out, I was duly rewarded for quelling the instinct to knead. With barely no effort at all and a couple hours in the fridge, the dough baked up beautifully with such good flavour and texture. I honestly couldn’t believe how good the bread was when I first tasted it. I mean really, I barely even had to lift a finger and viola, freshly baked bread- all in barely no time at all to boot!

I think it pretty much goes without saying that I am completely sold on the book and that my family has been enjoying homemade bread on a much more regular basis now. Oh and that, of course, I’m already standing in line (virtually, of course) to get the soon to be released Healthy Bread Baking in Five.

Light Whole Wheat Bread [adapted from Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois' Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day]

Ingredients
3 cups lukewarm water
1 1/2 tbsp yeast
1 tbsp coarse sea salt
1 cup whole wheat flour
5 1/2 cups unbleached plain flour

1. Mix the yeast and water together in a large bowl. Mix in the flours and salt without kneading until all the dry ingredients have been incorporated.
2. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow to rest at room temperature until the dough rises and collapses, approximately 2 hours.
3. Transfer the dough into a lidded ( but not airtight) container and use over the next 14 days.
4. To bake Pull off however much of the dough you need depending on the size of the pan you use. Flour the work surface and shape the dough into a ball. Place the dough in a lightly greased loaf pan and let it rise at room temperature for about an hour.
5. Preheat the oven to 225C with an empty baking pan on the bottom shelf. Pour about 2 cups of hot water into the baking pan just before you put the bread in. Bake the loaf for about 45 minutes (you might need more or less time depending again on the size of your loaf pan) or till golden brown and firm. Remove the loaf from the pan and let cool completely before slicing. Makes 2 medium sized loaves