ARTISAN BREAD or NO-KNEAD BREAD…Finally made it!
“If thou tastest a crust of bread, thou tastest all the stars and all the heavens.” Robert Browning
OK, I’m part of the club too. Finally, after all the bread bakers, their neighbours, cousins, aunts, & just about everyone has made & talked about this artisan bread, I’ve finally had a go!! Five Minutes a Day, just five minutes & voila…you have dough. Been reading of this sensational bread for ages, & the picture was firmly stamped in my mind when I first saw it on Paula’s blog @ Dragon’s Kitchen back in July last year. Her loaf was stunningly pretty, moreish, rustic & has remained on my list of things to do for really long. 
I fiddled a bit with the kind of flour, substituting a little bit of plain flour with garlic-chives whole-wheat flour, & some oatmeal flour. Also added some roasted garlic & fresh herbs to the basic dough. The bread was good, & tasted better the next day. I love a handsome loaf of bread, & this was just that!! 
It’s taken me long to get here. To begin with, the book was not, & is still not available at any of the bookshops here. Then winter was here, & all action of the yeast type ground to a halt. Just recently I was looking for ‘go green’ ideas, renewable energy sources & Earth hour suggestions for the son’s school project, & I was elated to find this post Five Minutes a Day for Fresh-Baked Bread on Mother Earth News. 
In a review of their book, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François say that this is an “attempt to help people re-create the great ethnic breads of years past, in their own homes, without investing serious time or effort.” 
(Artisan Free-Form Loaf)
Makes 4 1-pound loaves
3 cups lukewarm water
1 1⁄2 tbsp granulated yeast (1 1⁄2 packets)
1 1⁄2 tbsp coarse kosher or sea salt
4 1⁄2 cups unsifted, unbleached, all-purpose white flour
Cornmeal for pizza peel
In the authors words… The artisan free-form loaf called the French boule is the basic model for all the no-knead recipes. The round shape (boule in French means “ball”) is the easiest to master. You’ll learn how wet the dough needs to be (wet, but not so wet that the finished loaf won’t retain its form) and how to shape a loaf without kneading. And you’ll discover a truly revolutionary approach to baking: -
Heat the water to just a little warmer than body temperature (about 100 degrees Fahrenheit).
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Add yeast and salt to the water in a 5-quart bowl or, preferably, in a resealable, lidded container (not airtight — use container with gasket or lift a corner). Don’t worry about getting it all to dissolve.
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Mix in the flour by gently scooping it up, then leveling the top of the measuring cup with a knife; don’t pat down. Mix with a wooden spoon, a high-capacity food processor with dough attachment, or a heavy-duty stand mixer with dough hook, until uniformly moist. If hand-mixing becomes too difficult, use very wet hands to press it together. Don’t knead! This step is done in a matter of minutes, and yields a wet dough loose enough to conform to the container.
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Cover loosely. Do not use screw-topped jars, which could explode from trapped gases. Allow the mixture to rise at room temperature until it begins to collapse (or at least flatten on top), approximately two hours, depending on temperature. Longer rising times, up to about five hours, will not harm the result. You can use a portion of the dough any time after this period. Refrigerated wet dough is less sticky and easier to work with than room-temperature dough. We recommend refrigerating the dough at least three hours before shaping a loaf. And relax! You don’t need to monitor doubling or tripling of volume as in traditional recipes.
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Prepare a pizza peel by sprinkling it liberally with cornmeal to prevent the loaf from sticking to it when you slide it into the oven.
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Sprinkle the surface of the dough with flour, then cut off a 1-pound (grapefruit-sized) piece with a serrated knife. Hold the mass of dough in your hands and add a little more flour as needed so it won’t stick to your hands. Gently stretch the surface of the dough around to the bottom on four “sides,” rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go, until the bottom is a collection of four bunched ends. Most of the dusting flour will fall off; it doesn’t need to be incorporated. The bottom of the loaf will flatten out during resting and baking.
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Place the ball on the pizza peel. Let it rest uncovered for about 40 minutes. Depending on the dough’s age, you may see little rise during this period; more rising will occur during baking.
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Twenty minutes before baking, preheat oven to 450 degrees with a baking stone on the middle rack. Place an empty broiler tray for holding water on another shelf.
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Dust the top of the loaf liberally with flour, which will allow the slashing, serrated knife to pass without sticking. Slash a 1⁄4-inch-deep cross, scallop or tick-tack-toe pattern into the top. (This helps the bread expand during baking.)
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With a forward jerking motion of the wrist, slide the loaf off the pizza peel and onto the baking stone. Quickly but carefully pour about a cup of hot water into the broiler tray and close the oven door to trap the steam. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the crust is browned and firm to the touch. With wet dough, there’s little risk of drying out the interior, despite the dark crust. When you remove the loaf from the oven, it will audibly crackle, or “sing,” when initially exposed to room temperature air. Allow to cool completely, preferably on a wire rack, for best flavor, texture and slicing. The perfect crust may initially soften, but will firm up again when cooled.
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Refrigerate the remaining dough in your lidded (not airtight) container and use it over the next two weeks: You’ll find that even one day’s storage improves the flavor and texture of your bread. This maturation continues over the two-week period. Cut off and shape loaves as you need them. The dough can also be frozen in 1-pound portions in an airtight container and defrosted overnight in the refrigerator prior to baking day.
I sliced the boule into thin slices, brushed them with olive oil, grilled them till crisp & then allowed them to cool. Topped them with goat cheese & tomatoes, peeled & chopped & marinated at room temperature in balsamic vinegar, & sprigs of fresh basil. Served them as a side with a lamb & red bell pepper spaghetti. The bread was delicious & wholesome. As I write, 2 more boules are baking in the oven … Jeff & Zoe are so right, the house does smell like a bakery!!
‘Off this goes to Susan @ Wild Yeast for her ongoing event Yeastspotting‘
Deeba @ PAB
About me: I am a freelance food writer, recipe developer and photographer. Food is my passion - baking, cooking, developing recipes, making recipes healthier, using fresh seasonal produce and local products, keeping a check on my carbon footprint and being a responsible foodie! I enjoy food styling, food photography, recipe development and product reviews. I express this through my food photographs which I style and the recipes I blog. My strength lies in 'Doing Food From Scratch'; it must taste as good as it looks, and be healthy too. Baking in India, often my biggest challenge is the non-availability of baking ingredients, and this has now become a platform to get creative on. I enjoy cooking immensely as well.
46 Comments
Nandini Vishwanath
Really!!?! 5 mins only! I’m making this then. Mebbe this weekend.
Cate
That bread looks gorgeous!
Aparna
So, now who’s also baking bread, Deeba? 😀
Seriously, looks good. There is something very different and tasty about slow rise bread.
Dawn
looks like I’m the only one left to finally make this wonderful bread. came out perfect!
Happy cook
I love that book, when i got the book first thing i made is a sweet bread.
This bread looks sp delish.
Now you are tempting me to take that book out 😉
Elra
Congrat … congrat … Deeba! You did a splendid job!
Your bread look fabulous!
xoxo,
elar
Soma
Now this I have to make, have to have to. after i make by breads at home, i do not enjoy ther regular store bought ones any more.. I just love everything u put in there. farlic chives. so wonderful.
ChefBliss.com
Oh this is fabulous!! You did such an awesome job, I now want to bake bread!! 🙂
stephchows
Love the book, and I’m totally trying your whole grain adaptation!! Looks and sound delicious!
meeso
Awesome bread, I could almost smell it baking!
Snooky doodle
OH what a fantastic loaf of bread. this looks wonderful and I can imagine the smell of freshly baked bread. Awesome 🙂
Bharti
I really love this one…nice twist with oats, herbs and garlic.
Nicisme
Looks like it has great texture, and a lovely crisp crust!
StickyGooeyCreamyChewy
Welcome to the Artisan Bread craze! I can’t live without my copy of that book! Your bread looks absolutely gorgeous! It could have come out of a fancy boulangerie!
Reeni♥
I am so convinced to try this. It looks wonderful, so crusty and tender on the inside. I love that you can leave the dough in the fridge for when you need it. Lovely!
Gigi
OMG, Beautiful boule! This recipe is on my long list of “must bake”. I think you have inspired me to move it to the top of the list!
5 Star Foodie
I would love to try this recipe soon too. Gorgeous bread!
Donna-FFW
Would you believe I have the book, have had it for over 6 months, amybe a year, and I still have not cooked out of it. Shame on me! Your bread looks wonderfully delicious and what a spectacular post you put together on it. I love all the detail and time you put into it. It is all so , well, perfect.
Rachel
looks very rustic…beautifully done
noble pig
Deeba-
That crack in the bread is so beautiful! You did an amazing job, I am so, so jealous.
Linda
Beautiful photos. I have never been good at making bread. This post just might make me try it.
Nachiketa
Amazing…..
I’m running out of compliments n words to describe the great stuff you do 🙂
Am totally ‘Yeast-Challenged’….
Someday maybe…..
People: I’ve tasted this bread made by Deeba….. It was really tasting great 🙂
Simran
I didn’t like the results, but that has to be me – after all, thousands of people followed the NY Times recipe successfully. And your bread looks lovely!
Jo
I’m only just starting to try out baking my own bread and this looks like a recipe to start off with. It sure looks delicious and I love the pictures you have posted.
Ricardo
There is nothing like fresh bread and the fresh bread smell yumyum…and also if just out of the oven with a little butter melting into it as is still hot …yumyum 😀 xxx this one looks “THA BOMB” beautiful
Lucy
Congrats!! Your bread just looks wonderful.
I just love the recipes & so far their Challah recipe is one of my favorites!! Now that I have the book, I will be trying some of the others!
MAHIMA
Looks awesome deeba!!
I m surely going to try this soon.
Kerstin
Gorgeous! It definitely looks like it took a long time to make!
Gera @ SweetsFoods
Bread, food for the soul! Awesome baking job Deeba!
I want a slice of these lovely-fresh ones 🙂
Cheers!
Gera
lisa (dandysugar)
What a beautiful lovely rustic loaf of bread! 5 minutes? No way!! From the looks of this hearty bread, it must have taken you HOURS! Great job, Deeba! This is a “must try!”
Lorraine @NotQuiteNigella
Fabulous looking bread Deeba and I love the title of the book! I must look for it 🙂
Poornima Nair
The bread looks awesome Deeba…Love its rustic look.
How To Eat A Cupcake
Thanks for posting this recipe! I’ve been eyeing that book at the bookstore for a while now! 🙂
Not Another Omnivore
Bread looks great! I love all the pictures!
NAOmni
Superchef
cant believe it takes only that less time to make it!! looks perfect!
Helene
You finally made it. We love that bread. I even made pizza with the dough. It was delicious.
Usha
The bread looks absolutely gorgeous!
Susan/Wild Yeast
Beautiful Deeba! I love all your fresh herbs and the bruschetta.
Sara
It looks wonderful. I want to reach in and grab a slice.
Flo Makanai
Lovely breads and pics!
Dragon
Outstanding! Welcome to the club, my friend. 🙂
Purnima
AH, the bread looks toooooo good..lovely crust n perfect at shape! Mmmmmmmm…yum yum!
Arwen from Hoglet K
I haven’t heard of the 5 min bread before, but it’s a great idea. I love the way you’ve hidden the veggies in the pizza sauce too!
DK
Deebs – thats one hell of a good looking bread. I am drooling out here. Will give this one a try 🙂
Rosa's Yummy Yums
Both strudels look fantastic! Very well done, as always!
Cheers,
Rosa
Zoe Francois
Here I am admiring your strudel and I look down on your site and see a gorgeous loaf of bread. I click on the picture and I nearly fall out of my chair! I’m so thrilled that you tried the recipe and made absolutely lovely bread!
Thank you!!! Zoë