My reading list for 2012 included the book, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day
With the help of my wonderful husband we recently baked our first loaf of real bread! Our home took on the wonderful smell of a bakery. The bread had a nice, crisp crust with a moist and tender crumb. We took it out of the oven, let it cool a bit and then enjoyed it with real, Amish butter. Perfectly delicious!
The recipe we used was called Light Whole Wheat Bread. Here is how we made it:
Ingredients:
- 3 cups lukewarm water
- 1 1/2 tablespoons granulated yeast (or 2 packets)
- 1 1/2 tablespoons Kosher salt
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 5 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- Some whole wheat flour for the pizza peel
Directions:
Making the Dough
- First you will need to make the dough. Mix the yeast and salt in the water in a large 5-quart bowl (we used the bowl from our stand mixer).
- Add in the flour, without kneading, and mix into a dough. You can use a spoon, food processor with a dough attachment or a heavy-duty stand mixer with a dough hook. (I love our KitchenAid stand mixer!)
- Cover the dough (we just used a dishtowel) and allow to rest at room temperature until the dough rises and collapses, about two hours.
- At this point you can either bake the dough or refrigerate it for later use. Refrigerate in a covered container for up to 14 days.
Baking the Bread
- Dust the surface of your dough with flour and cut off a grapefruit-size piece. Dust the surface of this piece with a little more flour and quickly shape into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom, turning as you go. Allow to rest and rise on a flour dusted pizza peel for about 40 minutes.
- Preheat your oven to 450º for 20 minutes with a baking stone placed on the middle rack. Place an empty broiler tray on another shelf where it won’t interfere, we placed ours on the shelf below.
- Sprinkle a little more flour on the surface of the dough and, using a serrated knife, cut slashes into the top.
- Using your pizza peel, slide the dough directly on the now hot baking stone. Pour one cup of water into the broiler tray and close the oven door. Bake for about 35 minutes or until the crust is a nice brown color and firm. Adjust your baking time for larger or smaller loaves.
- Allow to cool and enjoy!!
This recipe makes enough dough for four 1-pound loaves. The rest of your dough can be used for up to 2 weeks to bake additional loaves, Indian naan or even pizza! Just store it in the refrigerator, lightly covered, until you are ready to bake. You can easily double or halve the recipe according to your needs! I am really excited about this book, it has so many recipes to try!
Have you ever tried to bake bread? How did it turn out? Share your experience in the comments!
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Wow I can almost smell it backing. I bet it tasted so good. One day I am going to have to break down and try and make some bread as it is something new I could do with my son.
It was so easy! You should give it a try, and I’m sure your son would love it!
I’m with Britni, baking bread sounds like a perfect family activity.
I haven’t heard this name before, but while reading the post, it seems like yummy
I have to say this recipe to my mom to make this soon. BTW, I’m a food lover, I love to taste all kind of new stuff, specially BREAD OMLET. Thanks for sharing it
It was very yummy
I’ve never tried to make bread, but I’ve always wanted to try. I’ve been pushing for a bread machine from my husband, but I think I’ll try this way. Thanks for sharing!
The second time we made this recipe we used a loaf pan. It made great sandwich bread. We have a bread machine but haven’t used it yet
Two winters ago I made it my goal to teach myself how to bake homemade bread. I didn’t use a book but just did it by trial and error. I honestly have to say that I didn’t have many fails- baking bread is far easier than I had ever anticipated. I even tried my hand at some sourdough. Yum! I am glad that your bread turned out so well….
Wow, I don’t think I could’ve made it without a recipe first. But it was much easier than I thought it would be. Not sure what I was scared of
I’ve heard of this book from someone else too. Both of you loved it. Maybe I should give it a go! Thanks for sharing!
I have a couple friends who love it too!
I love making this bread. I don’t have a pizza peel; I just wing a blob dough onto a greased cookie sheet. I love that I can keep the dough in the fridge and just use it as needed.
We love it too! We’re hooked
I am certainly not a baker and have never tried to make bread – but boy oh boy do your pictures make me want to try it! It looks so yummy!
It was so much easier than I thought it would be. Give it a try sometime
I love home-baked bread, I often bake my own.
The bread looks great in the picture, I’ll give it a try. I don’t have a baking stone – do you think just baking it in the oven as usual would do?
We actually used a loaf pan the second time and it turned out great! No baking stone needed
Sounds like a delicious recipe. Made me hungry just reading it! I have never made bread myself – not really the cooking kind – but my mother used to have a bread machine and I miss the smell of homemade bread wafting through the house. Great post. Thank you.
It is a wonderful smell!
I too have a fear of bread making, and then we discovered my husband is allergic to yeast so that dampens the spirit, but your pictures and instructions were helpful.
Here is a recipe for yeast-free bread. Not sure how it will turn out but might be fun to try
http://www.naturarx.com/recipes/yeast-free-bread-loaf.html
this is really funny cause I have been looking into bread recipes recently trying out a bunch of things so thanks for this one!
Great!
I have baked bread several times, and it has always turned out great, but I still think I am going to have to go check out this book. Thank you for the info
It is full of great recipes!
I love, love, love this book. I’ve been using the recipes for years and did a post on it once too. Who knew making homemade bread could be so easy and so rewarding!
Wendy
Around My Family Table
I can’t wait to try some of the other recipes!
I love the smell of bread baking. I haven’t tried it myself, I guess It’s one of my fears. Thanks for sharing maybe, I will try to bake some myself.
Give it a shot
I have really been wanting to make my own bread for a long time, but I’m terrible in the kitchen. Maybe I’ll just go for it one day. I mean, if it doesn’t turn out right, it’s not like the world will end. Then again, we’re talking about me in the kitchen, so the apocalypse is a distinct possibility! Your bread looks like it came out awesome.
Haha! Give it a try, I’ll bet it turns out
I have never tried to make bread myself but I love bread! I am scared to try making my own but your pictures make me want to give it a go!
I was scared too but this was so easy!
I have been wanting to try this for quite some time now….it looks so yummy!! You have inspired me once again to give it a shot!
I want to learn how to make bread! I recently discovered that I am wheat-intolerant. I now eat bread made with other types of grains. They can be heard to find though, so I really want to learn how to make them myself
Do you know if it is cheaper to make one’s own bread?
A homemade loaf usually costs about $.50, pretty cheap considering it isn’t full of chemicals and preservatives. They also have a book called Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day that has gluten free recipes. GF flour is more expensive but so is GF bread!
http://www.amazon.com/Healthy-Bread-Five-Minutes-Day/dp/0312545525/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1330633222&sr=8-1
The bread looks so yummy. And, easy to make. I will definitely try this recipe. Thanks for sharing!
This looks so good, I am going to have to try this! Thank you for sharing.
wow! i have been wanting to make bread too – this looks amazingly easy! thank you for sharing!
It was so much easier than I thought it would be!
looks easy enough – and i like the way the website is set up with straight-up Weaver…..
Thanks!
It looks delicious! There’s nothing better than a warm slice of good bread with butter on it…making me hungry just thinking about it
Warm bread and real butter, mmmmm
There is nothing I love more than fresh baked bread!!!! I need to give this a try!
The day I discoverd I could make bread with my Kitchen Aid dough hook changed my kitchen forever
Your bread looks so yummy! My favorite is making pizza dough with my mixer 
I love my KitchenAid mixer!
I made this style bread a few months ago. Turned out perfect but I was looking for light bread for sandwiches. Thats all my dh will eat.
We also made this recipe using a loaf pan, made it more sandwich style
Thanks for sharing. I have been thinking about making bread for our family. This could be the push I need.
It was fun
Hi your bread sounds yummy. I think a nice crusty bread with real butter is the best.
Thanks for sharing
I live in Poland and the bakery bread here is AMAZING! I can’t even begin to make it for the prices they charge here so my baking bread days are over while I am living here.
I wouldn’t either if we had a reasonably priced baker near by!
I have seen this cookbook, but have never actually done bread-making this way. I have made regular bread before, but lately I am making sourdough bread and it is really fun. It is not as intense as I thought it would be with the sourdough starter and all.
I love sourdough bread, haven’t tried it on my own though.
That sounds delicious!!! I have never been brave enough to bake bread except in our bread machine (cheating, I know!). Thanks for sharing!
We just got a bread machine from my aunt, haven’t tried it out yet.
I just fell in love with baking bread items (pretzels, breadsticks). This bread looks delicious! Thanks for sharing the recipe.
I would like to try pretzels, I keep seeing yummy recipes for pretzel bites!
I LOVE THIS BREAD! I finally stopped making it because I’d find myself eating the entire loaf! Add a little butter and it is simply divine! I find it’s perfect for nights when we have Italian. Or simply because it’s Monday. Or because we’re having soup. Yeah, I found a lot of excuses to make another loaf or two. Amazing, wonderful and great. Also, if you do let it sit until it’s a little stale, stick it in the blender for bread crumbs!
Ours haven’t lasted long enough to get stale
Oh my goodness, I shouldn’t have read this post when I should be making dinner! Sounds DELICIOUS (you had me at crispy crust! and then again at real amish butter!).
I’ve heard great things about that book too. I wonder if there’s a copy at our local library. Until then, I will definitely be trying this recipe- thanks for this post.
If you like this recipe definitely invest in the book, it is filled with yummy sounding recipes!
I have never tried making bread..I’m not much of a cook or baker haha. I leave that to my husband, unless it’s cookies we are making!
Cookies sound good right now!
Your blog is right up my alley. We attended a homestead workshop and I bought a fantastic bread book and another on making my own cheese, but I haven’t tried to make any yet, but I am going to try and make your bread recipe.
And, I will have to follow your blog from here on out!
Great! We have made ricotta cheese, it is very easy to make. Hubby got me a book on cheese making for my birthday, haven’t made anything from it yet though.
Looks yummy! I’ve been trying – or I should say I *was* trying – for years to bake a successful loaf using just whole wheat. Never loved any that I made, even if they turned out ok. I love the process of learning how to do something you thought would be very difficult though! It’s nice to regain some “old wisdom” once in a while in our age of convenience.
We are always trying to regain more “old wisdom”. It makes me wish I had learned more from my grandma when she was alive.
Sounds so yummy!! I have never baked bread by hand before. I need to give it a try one day! I used to have a bread maker I liked…the lazy way out lol
Baking bread is something that I have thought of doing but I am pretty intimidated by it. I actually could use a little work on all my cooking skills.
I first learned how to cook by watching Rachel Ray and the rest of the gang at Food Network
I have the book and we have made many recipes from it. It is so nice you can mix it up let it knead itself and have more dough waiting for you in the fridge. Your bread locks just lovely.
The bread looks so good. I would love to have bread again but I’m on a grain free diet and cant tolerate almond flour to make bread.
I love making bread! We have a bread machine, which makes it pretty easy.
I love fresh bread! I have not actually made fresh bread without the help of my bread machine, but this looks great. Thanks for sharing about this. I appreciate it. {I wish you could send me a loaf via the internet!}
If I could, I would
I think I should try baking. The recipe looks easy. Honestly I never tried before because we don’t have oven back home.
Really 5 minutes? maybe it will take me half hour to do that. LOL
I’m good with quick breads (banana bread, green tomato bread – which I made this past week with my toddler, etc.) but have failed miserably with “real” bread in the past. Pizza dough even seems to elude me. I’ve read part of the book and like what I read, just couldn’t implement it at that time. Wrong season of life for me to do so.
Glad it worked for you. Hope you continue to find wonderful recipes. Perhaps I’ll give it a try again in the near future.
Banana bread is great, it’s a favorite at our house
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My only experience with baking bread is with a bread machine. I’m kinda dangerous in the kitchen. But I certainly appreciate a good loaf of homebaked bread. Thanks so much for sharing!
suzy
this is awesome. i would love to try this and i am going to. i have always wanted to try and bake a nice crusty bread i also have a food blog crustybread.wordpress.com although i don’t bake bread so maybe i should re-name it lol
LOL! Great name
What a neat recipe! I will definitely have to give this one a try. My mother has baked bread for as long as I can remember, and I’ve been making it quite often since I was about twelve years old. My favorite type is the kind that only has to rise once. (Who wants to wait three hours before they can bake their bread?) But the most important thing I’ve learned about bread baking is to grind my own grain. It is so much better for you that way!
I haven’t tried grinding my own grain yet but I hear it is so much better!
This sounds wonderful. I scored a bread machine for $5 at a garage sale last summer and I use the heck out of it. I have never made bread aside from that. I will have to try this. Thanks for sharing!
$5! What a steal!
Nothing compares to the smell of home baked bread! I’m off bread for now – I live in India and am on chappatis….Some day I’ll learn to bake bread!
I would love to visit India, love the food, the art, and the culture!
I read about this book a few years ago, and loved it when I tried the 5 min a day thing! I am so putting it on my wishlist as what I had was just 1 of the recipes. I cheat though I generally make up my dough in my bread machine, then bake the loaves in the oven.
Whatever works! Doesn’t sound like cheating to me
My Grandma used to make the best breads when she was still with us. It’s one of the things I miss the most! I have had a fear of yeast for so long, I haven’t attempted bread yet. But I think I’m going to dig out her recipes and try it soon!
You should! I’ll bet the smell will bring back wonderful memories
Oh I can taste it already! It looks delicious! It is now pinned in my food board. I have to give this a try next week!
Thanks for pinning it!
Looks delicious! I’ve only made banana bread and “friendship” bread. I’ll have to give this a shot!
This may be a dumb question but what is Friendship Bread?
Congratulations on your first batch of bread! I have made bread for several decades. Wow, I can’t believe I can actually say “several” decades but I made my first bread in my teen years and I’m now 48. I have made bread totally from scratch – ground the wheat berries, mixed by hand and kneaded the dough by hand, but I have also used my KitchenAid to do the mixing, and I have used a bread maker to do it from start to finish. Alas, nowadays I do not eat gluten or grains so I do sometimes miss bread. I have found a few nut flour recipes that are pretty good, but I don’t know if anything will ever compare to “real” bread.
Grinding my own flour will be a future goal. For now I’m just excited I made a loaf of bread that tasted good
Yum yum yum! I covet the smell of fresh baked bread. I just wish I loved baking enough to actually take the plunge!
Wow. Some one after my own heart. I am a baker and love to make homemade bread. I will definitley try your recipe. There is nothing like the smell of fresh baking bread. I am going to join your Facebook. Have a beautifully blessed day!
Thank you!
I just visited Amazon to put it in my cart! I can’t wait to get it. Headed over to check out your video now
Thanks! You’re going to love it!
Ooh – this looks great – I’ve been wanting to make some naan – I will try it out!!
You can actually use this same recipe to make naan, pitas, and pizza! The book has directions for them all
I have heard such good things about this cookbook! I don’t bake too many breads, but I’m starting to want to check this cookbook out.
I wanted it for years! I’m really happy we got it
I have recently gone gluten free due to some health problems. I miss fresh bread the most. I would LOVE to make some again but haven’t really wanted to take the time to find or form a great GF Bread recipe.
The authors also have a book called Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day that has GF recipes if you are ever interested
I must admit, I am petrified of baking bread! I tried to make croissants back in high school (talk about starting with something ambitious!), and they were a total flop. I’ve been terrified of yeast ever since! But I love artisan bread, and your post is making me want to give it a try. Thank you!
This was so easy! I’m pretty sure my croissants would be a total flop too
Yummmmm. I love hot bread! Our daughter cannot have gluten, so we are not baking bread much these days!
LIsa
Yum and thank you!
i love breads. and this one had me at the “sea salt” ingredient!!
i like proofing my bread when short on time in the microwave- i take a 1c glass measure cup with water, cook on high 8 minutes, then put my dough in bowl covered with a dish towel in with the water and let it sit for 45 min – 1 hour. big time saver (i don’t rec that all the time but in a pinch it works!!)
Thanks for the time saving tip!
First off, I commend you for baking bread!
I LOVE baking bread. I have a recipe that has been passed through the generations of women in my family (I am the 8th, now teaching the 9th generation the trade). It’s relaxing and so much better for my family than store bought bread.
I hope you continue to develop the skill and love of bread baking.
Wow! What a great family tradition! How wonderful it has been passed through 9 generations
I love making gluten-free bread because I don’t have to worry about over-mixing it. LOL This recipe sounds like something I could manage without messing it up. Maybe.
Haha, I’m sure it would turn out great!
I would love to start this! Thank you for the motivation!
I got hungry reading your post and now I have to go bake something!
LOL
Fresh bread that is easy to make is definately something I am interested in. We love fresh bread, but I have only made quick breads. I have never actually used yeast! This looks easy enough though! Great pictures!
Thanks!!
wow, I have only made banana/choc chip bread but I’ve always wanted to make my own! I think I will have to try this!
Well done!
We do a sourdough version of this bread. It is wonderful to have a bucket full of dough at the ready for fresh bread ‘almost’ instantly.
One more thing to put on the “bucket list”.
My “bucket list” seems to keep getting longer
I LOVE freshly baked bread but haven’t made it for ages. I’m planning to make some soon, though. A blogging friend will be eating unprocessed foods for the whole of March and I think I’ll join her… for a day or two. That includes making my own bread. Lovely!
I will have to check out her blog, thanks for sharing!
I have one of their other books (Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day), but I want this book so bad! It seems like it’s just as good, I’m going to have to buy it!
I will probably put Healthy Bread on this year’s Christmas list
I get both books from the library and they are excellent. I especially like their recipes for brioche, cinnamon rolls, and donuts. Yikes, not very healthy! I like to think the donuts are healthy because they’re whole wheat.
For pizza dough I use my own recipe, as it freezes well. I can make a big batch and freeze single pizza dough balls. After being defrosted for 2 hours they are ready to be used for fresh, homemade pizza.
Thanks for sharing! Homemade pizza is delicious!
That picture looks so delicious, I think I’ll have to give it a shot, thanks for sharing
My son is the breadmaker in our family, I’m going to share this post with him. I think he will be delighted to produce what we normally have to buy from the store. Usually it’s much cheaper making your own bread, too!
I agree, much cheaper and better for you
I love fresh homemade bread with lots of butter! I wish I had a KitchenAid mixer it is on my list of wants. Thanks for the recipe.
They are great!
I’ve heard of this book before and am so tempted to read it and make bread. I haven’t made homemade bread before, but I’ve thought about it…seeing blogs with pics (if only you could send smells through cyberspace) definitely gets me more interested…
Give in to the temptation
If it weren’t for a low carb diet, I would be giving this a try. You make it look sooo easy and delicious!
Wow! Your bread looks delicious! I too have a fear of screwing up bread, so I’ve never baked it.
Freshly baked bread is definitely one of my absolute favorite smells so I really do need to try it one day.
Looks yummy! Thanks for sharing.
We’ve done the artisan bread a handful of times – it always turns out great. My problem has been that half the time I forget the rest of the dough in the fridge and it goes bad before we can use it. So then I don’t make it for awhile.
Your pictures make me want to bust it out again though!
We found that making half the recipe works better for our small family.
Your bread looks delicious! I sometimes make foccacia, but mostly just buy bread!
Foccacia sounds yummy!
When my family was young I used to bake my own bread at least twice a week and would make 4 to 6 loaves each batch, of course we used alot of bread for 6 with lunches snacks and friends that were always visiting. I loved it and miss that fresh smell and delicious, Still have the great recipes that I tweaked over the years, one that does not require punching down. Never had the luxury of a bread machine. Thanks for sharing, Karren
Oh! My Heartsie
This sounds like something my husband would like. He makes his own bread, but he’s always looking for different recipes to alter for different types of bread.
Yummy post! Who doesn’t want to know how to make bread!! Love it! Can’t wait to try it!
I keep my sour dough bread starter in the refrigerator, except when feeding it. Our family enjoys the bread with dinner. Not sure how the artisan differs.
I’ve never tried making sourdough but I love eating it!
I have a neat “beer bread” recipe that I make with self-rising flour. It’s so easy even I can do it. Your blog is very nice looking – I have blog design envy!
Thank you
I’ve heard amazing things about this book, I think I might just have to check it out soon!
Woohoo! I have that same mixer LOL. Definitely gonna have to check out that book. I love homemade bread but it can be so time-consuming.
This method was a lot less time consuming which we need in our family!
It looks yummy but I have never tried to bake my own. I want a stand mixer…really bad!!! I have kitchen appliance envy!!!! Thanks for sharing the post, I really should make our own bread, we eat enough of it!
I love my mixer! I got a great deal at Kohls with a sale, a 30% off coupon, a gift card and a rebate!
I love making bread! My mom got me a bread machine a couple years ago for Christmas and I absolutely love using it. I need to use it more though, that’s for sure.
This book looks wonderful! I need to go add it to my want list.
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