Tasty Loaves for Loafers

"What's that mama?" asked Big Dog.
"That's bread dough." I replied.
"Bread doesn't come from dough!" he laughed. Guess I've been slacking too much on my bread baking lately. Damn.

A friend of mine recently discovered that I am a fellow cook/baker and pointed me in the direction of a new bread cookbook. When she told me the name was "Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day" I laughed, thinking it was absurd, but she held her ground and convinced me to try it.

The idea behind the cookbook is making fresh bread with less than 5 minutes hands on time per day. The dough is quickly mixed, let to rest then refrigerated. Each batch of dough makes about 4 loaves, so you can bake on demand over the next 7-14 days. When you are ready for bread, you form your loaf, let it rest while you heat your oven and bake it. Sounds too simple to be true, but my few experiments from this book have been delicious.

My first loaf was the Master Dough recipe, although I had a few changes due to my supplies on hand, I ended up with a very tasty loaf with a delicious crispy crust. The crumb wasn't quite right, so I tried again and the second loaf was much better. After a mishap that left my bucket of dough out on the counter for many hours, I decided to ditch the dough and start fresh.

My next attempt was a Limpa bread, one of my favorite breads of all time. This light colored Swedish rye bread is flavored with orange peel, anise seed and cardamom. I baked my first loaf last night and had a thick slice this morning with my coffee. Delicious. Chewy crust, fragrant interior and a perfect bakery fresh texture. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

Interested in learning more? Check out their website. The authors are very active answering questions, offering advice and troubleshooting the recipes. If they started a cult, this would be one I would be tempted to join.