Follow us on Twitter 
Our books are back in stock at Amazon.com!
Print
|
Email
|
by Jeff, February 4, 2010
Filed Under press | 23 Comments
Our two books were temporarily unavailable from Amazon.com, but everything appears to be back to normal now. You can get the books again, just click on the links:
Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day
Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day
Follow us on Twitter, and on Facebook.
Whole Grain Pumpernickel, and a look at our new FAQs page
Print
|
Email
|
by Jeff, January 27, 2010
Filed Under HBin5, Recipes | 60 Comments
The “black and white” pumpernickel/rye braid is a New York specialty that brings back fond memories for me. Mark Luinenburg’s photo above is downright savory; you can almost hear the caraway seeds crunching in your mouth. Pumpernickel is a kind of rye, and we included a whole grain version in Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day, which also has a rustic Bavarian-Style pumpernickel based on the same dough. Let’s throw together the recipe for this healthy and hearty dough, plus talk about a new feature on our website: The FAQs–Frequently Asked Questions tab… Read more
Gray color on my dough: Is there something wrong?
Print
|
Email
|
by Jeff, January 26, 2010
Filed Under bread questions | 8 Comments
As your dough stores in the refrigerator, it might develop a uniform gray discoloration on its surface. This is not mold and can be safely ignored– it won’t affect the final baked result. If it becomes hard and leathery, that suggests that there’s too much air-space in your container (or that it isn’t sealed well enough). You can decrease the effect of air that gets into the container by transferring into smaller containers as the dough is getting used up.
If you see patchy light or dark areas on your dough, whether smooth or fuzzy, that could be mold and the dough should be discarded. You are not likely to see mold if you follow our directions for maximum storage life, and keep the dough in the refrigerator.
Gluten-Free Naan and an update on freezing the dough!
Print
|
Email
|
by Zoe, January 18, 2010
Filed Under Gluten-free, Special techniques | 57 Comments
This past week I got together with 3 enthusiastic bread bakers. I’d brought two buckets of dough to work with; the master recipe from ABin5 and the gluten-free brioche from HBin5. From those two buckets we baked everything from an epi and sticky buns to flatbreads like pita, pizza and naan. Charlie, Anne and Carole are very creative and not at all intimidated by bread baking, although they are fairly new at it. I was there to teach them about baking and yet I came away with all kinds of new ideas and inspiration. Out of a request for quick breakfast ideas to feed their kids (some of whom are on gluten-free diets) we experimented with making the gluten-free brioche into a naan. Rolled out in sugar and fried up in butter it was fantastic. The brioche cooked in this way had a crisp caramel coating with an almost pudding like interior. It was so good and easy that it got me thinking about making a more traditional version of naan with the gluten-free crusty boule dough I had left over. It was every bit as delicious as the naan made with our wheat doughs and still as quick.
I also experimented with freezing the gluten-free doughs. Several of you had wondered if this was a possibility since we only recommend refrigerating it for 5-7 days. At the bottom of this post you will see how that experiment turned out. Read more
My shaped loaves don’t seem to rise much before it’s time for the oven. What am I doing wrong?
Print
|
Email
|
by Jeff, January 17, 2010
Filed Under bread questions | 17 Comments
In our method, proportionally more of the rise comes from “oven spring,” rather than “proofing.” Traditional bread methods get more proofing rise than we do. Proofing is the time that the shaped loaf spends just sitting and waiting for the oven. Oven spring is the sudden expansion of gasses within the pores of the loaf that occurs upon contact with the hot oven air and the stone or other hot surface that you might be using.
Don’t be surprised if you don’t see a whole lot of rise during proofing with our method. You’ll still get a nice rise during the oven spring, so long as you didn’t over-work the dough while shaping.
If you’re still not happy with the final result– if it seems to dense and under-risen, check our our “Dense Crumb” FAQ.
Whole Grain Challah With Cranberries and Orange Zest
Print
|
Email
|
by Jeff, January 11, 2010
Filed Under HBin5, Recipes | 54 Comments
Our new book has a terrific braided challah with whole wheat and wheat germ, and I’ve been playing with a variation that includes cranberries and orange zest. This same challah recipe lends itself to many other holiday traditions as well, forming the basis in our book for Scandinavian Christmas breads like Pulla and Julekage. It’s really just a lightly enriched yeast dough that is very, very versatile. The recipe… Read more
Gluten-Free Crusty Boule
Print
|
Email
|
by Zoe, January 5, 2010
Filed Under Gluten-free | 160 Comments
When Jeff and I set off to write HBin5 we knew it would include gluten-free recipes. It was the #2 request from our readers of ABin5, more of a plea than a request. The options for buying gluten-free bread are both unsatisfying and expensive, two qualities we try to avoid. We wanted to create wonderful bread that anyone, celiac or not, would want to eat. Along the way we learned a lot about baking with flours that don’t have gluten, which is what gives wheat breads their desired texture and ability to rise. It took several failed attempts, some sleepless nights and ultimately the advice of experienced gluten-free chef Shauna from Gluten Free Girl before we landed what we think is a dynamite crusty loaf, that just happens to be gluten-free.
Several readers have asked about our olive oil dough on page 238. While the Crusty Boule has a chewy and toothsome texture, the bread made with the olive oil dough has a much lighter, almost fluffy interior. Replace the neutral flavored oil in the Crusty Boule recipe with olive oil if you prefer the texture of that loaf. They are both wonderful and give you fantastic options for free form loaves, sandwich breads, pizzas and even crackers. You will find all of these, plus many other gluten-free breads and awesome sticky buns in Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day.
For those of you who are celiac or just baking for someone who is you will find all of the directions and tips for handling gluten-free dough below. It is just as easy as our other recipes, but requires slightly different techniques and a new list of ingredients. Read more
Storing bread: What’s the best way?
Print
|
Email
|
by Jeff, January 4, 2010
Filed Under bread questions | 9 Comments
We try to make only enough bread to eat on the same day, but if you have leftovers, the best way to store homemade bread is unwrapped and cut-side down on a non-porous surface like a plate. This preserves the crust a little more than if you put it into a plastic bag, which softens the crust very quickly. The exception is pita bread, which is soft-crusted in the first place and is great in a plastic bag–but wait till it cools before bagging.
Announcing our 3rd book: Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day…
Print
|
Email
|
by Jeff, December 29, 2009
Filed Under Recipes | 115 Comments
(… and a recipe for pitas from so-called “Cornell” dough). Don’t quote me on the title, because that will probably change five times before our third book is released in late 2011. But we know for sure that it will have pizza and flatbreads from all over the world—plus, the recipes will be complemented with soup, salad, and dip recipes so that these pizzas and flatbreads become the basis of an entire five-minute meal. As in all our books, the idea is to do all the mixing once, but serve many times from a big batch. That’s a perfect fit for soups and dips (and you can get a salad ready while your bread’s in the oven).
Turns out that you can make great flatbreads (like the pitas above) using a modification of our Whole Grain Master Recipe (that original appears in Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day). The modification was inspired by ”Cornell Bread,” a bread baked from soy-enriched dough originally developed as a vegetarian protein source during World War II. Many of you have asked us about whether our recipes work with some soy flour— they do.. Read more
Pizza Lollipops ~ The Movie
Print
|
Email
|
by Zoe, December 15, 2009
Filed Under HBin5, Special techniques, TV/Radio/News | 32 Comments
Here is a fun video Jeff and I made with Jennifer Samuel from Unplanned Cooking about the ever popular pizza-on-a-stick. This version was made with the whole grain master recipe from HBin5 with classic pizza toppings rolled inside. It is an easy, quick and healthy snack for kids after school or a great idea for your New Year’s Eve Party.
Thank you Jennifer for the use of your wonderful video!
keep looking »