Your opinion of an artisan Bread Book

Do you have or have you seen this in your library? If so, would you share your ideas about it?

"Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a day: Discovery that Revolutionizes Home Baking" by Jeff Hertzberg & Zoe Francois.

I just got this book and can't wait to try some of the recipes.  It has a number of different basic bread recipes as well as a lot of recipes that start with the basic bread doughs.  There are even some additional non bread recipes (i.e. a Three citrus marmalade). 

 

The concept is that you make enough bread dough for four or more loaves and store it in the refrigerator so that you can make fresh bread each day.   All of the recipes are "no knead."

 

debbif

I would not call it "Artisan" bread, there is no art of bread making involved. I read somewhere on the board how it is made and if you presented old European bakers with a loaf full of holes and call it Artisan they would laugh you out of the country.

It's a lazy way of making stringy, holy bread.

Debbif, thanks for your post. I'm anxious to read your review when you try one of the of the recipes.

Grelo, that stringy holey bread is wonderfully chewy and I like it. And those holes can be filled with honey, jams, etc. I can't say that all holey bread is good, but some of them are great

Cookiecarol, in 95% of the European bakeries you will not find "holy" bread, if they accidentally get one, the baker's family would eat it.

Even the last time we were in Germany (80) and France I never bought any bread  that had holes in it. And the only bread that is eaten warm or very  fesh in Germany are Broetchen. In France they do eat the French bread and rolls warm and very fresh, the texture is much like that of Broetchen but in Germany even white bread has only a few occasional small holes. I don't know if people now fill holes with honey that would drip right through those holes, so would butter or jelly if eaten warm..

But that is neither here nor there. She asked for an opinion and I gave mine, no malice inteneded.. German breads do havea deep crust but nobody eats darker bread very fresh, most people want it a day old when it is easier to slice, the crust is still chewy but more mellow, not bone hard..

If people here like had crust how come all you can find in stores is the soft, wet, mushy stuff they call bread? Besides I can't see baking bread every day, to me it is a waste of energy (electricity or gas) to heat a big oven every day just to bake one loaf of bread.

CookieCarol, I agree with you -- I like crusty, chewy  bread. I have been trying for quite a while to get my English muffins to have a coarser texture -- the taste and feel are fine, but the holes are small and numerous -- not as bad as the "Wonder Bread" type of stuff that is foisted on the public.

CookieCarol, I agree with you.  That "artisan" bread is some of the best I've ever made at home.  Of course it can't compare, I'm sure, with "authentic" artisan breads that start out with a poolish or a biga - but these breads, many times, take 2 or 3 days to prepare.  I work outside the home, so it's impossible for me to attempt these.  The bread is crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside, with a good flavor, and I love it.  I'm not sure I think the idea is to replace true artisan breads, but rather to give a solution to those of us who love it but don't have the time to make it. 

When I visit a local town I always have gone to Fresh Market and purchased one of their artisan breads, one of the boules, I think, and I have always loved it.  I have to say, the five minute bread is almost as good as that from Fresh Market. 

 

Not sure holes in the bread are bad, either.

 Just found this description of ciabatta bread on artisanbakers.com:

 The extra large hole structure of this ciabatta is caused by very high hydration levels and long fermentation times. Holes this large are considered difficult to achieve in the craft of baking. Mistakenly, a bread with holes this big is not considered a good sandwich bread because the filling might leak out the holes and be messy. But if the bread is sliced lengthwise, the large cells fill up with juices and the top and botton crusts keep the juices in. There is not a better bread for making a sandwich.

 Ciabatta IS a very holey bread but it is so wonderful!  I don't consider the holes to be detrimental.  More room for the gobs of butter to pool up.