Olive Oil Flatbread with Asparagus and Caramelized Onion Spread

By Jeff Hertzberg - photos by Sarah Kieffer, June 11, 2013
Filed Under and flatbread, flatbreads | 16 comments

The asparagus season is short, and since we’re on the very tail end of it, working it into a flatbread seemed like a good idea. Technically this might just as easily be a pizza, since there is sauce, some cheese, and a heaping of vegetables. Either way, it’s a delicious dinner. The caramelized onion spread is sweet, and adds a nice backdrop of flavor. The asparagus is peeled into ribbons, and this technique helps them bake easily, leaving a tender bite and a subtle flavor. Goat cheese lends just a bit of tang, and if you happen to have chives growing in your garden, topping it all off with chive flowers makes a beautiful presentation.

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Gluten-Free Calzone

By zoe, May 22, 2013
Filed Under Gluten-free, pizza, Special techniques | 27 comments

Stuff it with any fillings you like and you have a simple and delicious lunch. And if you make them small, individual-serving-size, you can pack them for a great school lunch. There is no end to the flavor combinations. This recipe can be made with any of the doughs in our Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day book, but today I made it with the gluten-free dough, which is super tasty and easy to work with. Because the dough doesn’t have the same gluten-full stretch, we have to handle it slightly differently, but it is just as simple as traditional dough with the right technique. Continue reading →

Soft Puerto Rican Sweet Buns (Mallorca) with Gold Medal Flour

By zoe, April 30, 2013
Filed Under Gold Medal Flour, Recipes, Special techniques, Sweets, travels | 25 comments

For spring break my family visited Puerto Rico. It took me less than 24 hours to find myself an amazing local bakery with all kinds of tasty pastries and breads to try. My favorites, which I managed to sample several times during our stay, were the Quesitos and Mallorca buns. The buns are a sweet enriched dough that is wound up into a snail shell shape and dusted with a thick coating of powdered sugar. We ate them plain with coffee or split open, stuffed with eggs and bacon, as a breakfast sandwich. When I got back home, I used our brioche dough to recreate the sweet buns and they are delicious and easy to make. Continue reading →

Thanks Michael Pollan, for telling MN Public Radio that you can live on bread alone…

By jeff, April 29, 2013
Filed Under press, TV/Radio/News | 4 comments

… at least if it’s got some whole grain. Michael Pollan was on MPR May 2, 2013, with Kerri Miller. Charming guy, you can listen to the interview (click here). He was in town to promote his new book Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation.

To our ever-lasting joy, he really focused on bread; that’s where the conversation started. Long-fermented (like ours), and home-baked. We have lots of whole-grain loaves in Healthy Bread In Five Minutes a Day, while most of our white-flour based breads are in Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. Michael, by the way, talked about the value of a little white bread now and then. Everything in moderation, including moderation.

Braided Black-and-White Pumpernickel and Rye Loaf in the KitchenAid Mixer

By Jeff Hertzberg - photos by Sarah Kieffer, April 15, 2013
Filed Under Special techniques | 21 comments

KitchenAid Professional 600

Given how lazy I am, you’d think I’d have started using a KitchenAid mixer years ago. But believe it or not, I’ve recipe-tested for three books using nothing but a wooden spoon or a Danish dough whisk.

Well, I’m tired. So above, my new KitchenAid Professional 600 series, 6-quart capacity stand mixer, which is an outstandingly beautiful piece of industrial design that hasn’t really changed its look in nearly 100 years. I have been visiting it in the kitchen as a way of avoiding work. More on the mixer in a bit.

So many doughs, so little time. I’m hooked on this machine, especially when I have to make more than one dough for a recipe, like in this very beautiful Braided Black-and-White Pumpernickel and Rye Loaf from two doughs in Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day (this photo by Mark Luinenburg):

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Easter Bunny Brioche Rolls

By Sarah Kieffer, March 27, 2013
Filed Under holiday breads | 22 comments

Easter Bunny Brioche Rolls | Bread in 5

Yes, we took on the Pinterest Easter bunnies. Have you seen them, pinned on everyone’s holiday boards? Turns out that picture is actually of a bunny cookie, and these sad rolls are more an accurate visual of how things would turn out. But, I’m happy to tell you that after making dozens upon dozens of rolls, we have some tips to help you make some cute little bunnies.

However, I won’t lie to you (it is Easter, after all) that they are a little tricky. And you may have some rolls that end up a little wonky. But, as my children oohed and ahhed over even the misshapen ones, I could see we had a winner idea.

Easter Bunny Brioche Rolls | Bread in 5

Making these bunnies is way too much fun, lots more photos are here…

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5 Minute Easter Bread – Tsoureki

By zoe, March 20, 2013
Filed Under holiday breads, Special techniques, Sweets | 28 comments

Easter Bread 11

This beautiful loaf is the traditional bread of Easter in Greece and many other Christian countries. It is an enriched dough that is twisted around brightly dyed eggs. The bread is often braided with three strands to represent the holy trinity, formed into a circle as a reference to life and the eggs are dyed red as a symbol of Christ’s blood. The dough is lightly sweet, flavored with orange zest and a traditional Middle Eastern spice called Mahlepi, which is made from ground cherry pits. The spice can be found in Middle Eastern or Greek markets. If you don’t have the spice, you can make the dough with ground Anise seed or even Cardamom. Continue reading →

Green Four-Leaf Clover Broccoli & Cheddar Buns for St. Patrick’s Day

By jeff, March 13, 2013
Filed Under HBin5, holiday breads | 28 comments

They say that everyone’s Irish on St. Patrick’s Day, and I hope that’s true, because I love the Irish–for their music, their literature, their Guinness Stout, and believe it or not, for their food. It’s been many years since I was in Ireland, but I remember swooning over the fresh, wild salmon, buttered potatoes (of course), and the moist and flavorful brown bread. But brown bread’s not particularly festive (or green!), and Zoe and I don’t have a recipe for classic Irish soda bread, which is made without yeast (for that, I rely on James Beard’s recipe in Beard on Bread– the first bread I ever made). Then Zoe reminded me about our broccoli-and-cheddar buns in Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day. Turns out that four-leaf clovers aren’t especially Irish, but they’re very lucky! Sprinkled with cheese, these make a lovely accompaniment to corned beef and cabbage. One little disclosure– the broccoli doesn’t make it all that deeply green, as you can see. Some would have used green food coloring, I suppose. Bain taitneamh as do bhéil! Hearty appetite (I think)… Continue reading →

Whole Wheat Pullman Loaf with Tapenade

By Jeff Hertzberg - photos by Sarah Kieffer, February 28, 2013
Filed Under HBin5 | 16 comments

Olive tapenade bread

I must admit that I use my Pullman pan quite frequently – there is something about those neat, square pieces that seem to make my sandwich more special. However, I wanted to change things up a bit, and decided to get a little creative. Normally I prefer sweet swirled breads, but sometimes something savory is needed. I found that this French olive spread (tapenade) is just the thing.

Tapenade bread 2

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Valentine’s Day Bread – (Brioche made with Gold Medal Bread Flour)

By zoe, February 11, 2013
Filed Under Gold Medal Flour, holiday breads, Special techniques | 22 comments

heart bread 10

Nothing expresses your love as much as a tasty homemade gift. All you need is a bucket of brioche, a heart shaped cookie cutter and red decorating sugar to make this gorgeous heart shaped loaf. It’s an easy and fast project to do with little kids on Valentine’s Day.

Heart bread 07

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