... with just five minutes of active preparation time. ARTISAN BREAD
IN FIVE MINUTES A DAY: The Discovery that Revolutionizes Home Baking,
will show you how. The secret? Mix up a lightning-fast batch of moist
no-knead dough, save it in your refrigerator, tear off portions over
the next week or more, shape, and bake.
Buy ARTISAN BREAD IN FIVE MINUTES A DAY at these retailers and independent bookstores nationwide.
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Chocolate-filled Beignets (or Soufganiyot, or whatever you’d like to call them)
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by Jeff, December 28, 2008
Filed Under Recipes, Special techniques | 15 Comments
If you’ve been to Cafe Du Monde in New Orleans, you’ve had the best beignets (French-style doughnuts) around. They’re really not very hard to make at home; check out our book, on page 197, and the chocolate-filled variation on page 199. We make them at my house for Hannukah (tonight was the last night), and they are sublime (the same deep-fried treat is called soufganiyot in Hebrew). The only special equipment you’ll need is a candy thermometer.
Start with a pound of dough, choosing challah (page 180), or brioche (page 189), which will make 5 or 6 beignets. Roll out the dough into a 1/4-inch rectangle, then cut into 2-inch squares using a pizza wheel or a sharp knife. Place a half-ounce of bittersweet chocolate into the center of each square. Gather the edges of the dough around the filling, pinching at the center to form a seal; you may need to use a bit of water to help the edges stick together. Read more
Rustic Whole Wheat Bread for Pappa al Pomodoro (and some Holiday gift ideas)
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by Jeff, December 19, 2008
Filed Under Recipes | 15 Comments
Once again, my gracious friends Jim and Theresa invited my family to their gorgeous cabin, where we needed a warm-up. Jim made fantastic Italian Tomato Soup (Pappa al Pomodoro), which is actually a bread soup usually made from stale Peasant Bread (see page 46). But we decided to use the dough from the Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread on page 78 instead, forming it into rustic round loaves. That’s them just after being slashed, above. Because they’re free form loaves rather than loaf pan breads as in the recipe, you can bake at 425 degrees F, right on the baking stone for about 35 minutes (use steam from a broiler pan to get a great crust).
Northern Minnesota is JUST like northern Italy in winter, isn’t it? Though I guess tomatoes in the soup would make this southern Italian. Want to make it? Read more
Holiday Wreath Bread!
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by Zoe, December 8, 2008
Filed Under Special techniques, TV/Radio/News, press | 62 Comments
Tis the season for all things festive! Here is a very simple loaf that is gorgeous and will be the perfect addition to your holiday meal. Despite its impressive appearance we promise it is easy to make.
You can watch Zoë make the Holiday Wreath loaf and a Panettone on KARE11 Showcase Minnesota.
We will also be doing a book signing at Cooks of Crocus Hill in Edina, MN this Thursday from 6-8:00pm. We’d love to see you all there!
Then on Friday December 12, Jeff appeared on Fox 9 News at 8:30 am, to mix up more Holiday favorites in five minutes (click here to view).
Now for the Holiday Wreath Bread, and some Holiday gift suggestions: Read more
Braided Savory Spinach, Feta, and Pine Nut Pastry
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by Jeff, December 3, 2008
Filed Under Recipes | 39 Comments
This started out as a dessert post, but then I looked out the window, and it’s December in Minnesota. My family needs something warming tonight, so I dropped the almond cream and raspberry idea (page 231 in the book), and jogged to the store for spinach and imported feta to go with the pine nuts I already had in the house. Not only is this thing delicious, but I stashed gobs of spinach into it and it was super kid-friendly anyway. Read more
Thanksgiving Buns and Helpful Hints for Holiday Baking!
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by Zoe, November 26, 2008
Filed Under Special techniques, bread questions | 26 Comments
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and Jeff and I wanted to express our gratitude to all of you! We’ve loved hearing from you over the past year. Your questions have challenged us to learn more, your stories have inspired us and your encouragement makes this whole project a joy!
We know from your comments and emails that many of you will be baking bread for Thanksgiving. We are so pleased it will be part of your special meal. Just in case you need a little guidance on Thanksgiving day, I wanted to lead you to some good information about our most frequently asked questions:
Dense Crumb or Loaves Not Rising Enough?
How to Improve Whole Grain Loaves?
Using a Different Type of Flour?
Too Salty or Not Salty Enough?
During the past week we’ve had several questions about making our various doughs into buns. These tiny little loaves are the traditional shape for the holidays and can be easily made from any of our doughs. Here is how: Read more
Two new book giveaways– and they’re not even from our site!
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by Jeff, November 26, 2008
Filed Under TV/Radio/News | 4 Comments
Hey, just wanted to let you know about two new opportunities to win free copies of our book. Click on these links to enter:
The Baltimore Sun interviewed Zoe and I just before Thanksgiving and ran our cornbread picture and all our wise words 
The Baking and Books blog: This is a marvelous site for all kinds of baking ideas, and it certainly goes way beyond bread.
Thanksgiving Cranberry Corn Bread from Stored No-Knead Dough… and, announcing winners of the book giveaway
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by Jeff, November 19, 2008
Filed Under Recipes | 14 Comments
Before I launch into our Thanksgiving Cranberry Corn Bread, Zoe and I want to thank everyone who posted their bread stories into our blog this past week. Hearing other people’s stories about their bread has been the best part of doing this website.
Well, Kelly (see the post from 11/11) is the first winner of the signed book. Kelly does not use her bread machine and loves giving bread away. Bravo. Beth, who posted on 11/14, is the 2nd winner– a working mom with an active blog of her own. We’ll be in touch with both of you.
This week’s bread is a yeasted corn bread adapted for American Thanksgiving but based on the Portuguese Broa style (page 82 in the book). It’s basically our regular Master Recipe, but with 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour taken out and replaced with an equal amount of cornmeal. Read more
Bagels on Our First Anniversary (and a Book Giveaway)! WINNERS HAVE BEEN CHOSEN, SEE 11/19 POST
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by Zoe, November 11, 2008
Filed Under Special techniques | 178 Comments
A year ago this week Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day hit the book store shelves. That evening Jeff and I drove to the nearest Barnes&Noble and drank champagne out of the trunk of his car to celebrate. 
Neither of us had any idea of the journey we were about to embark on. For us it was a labor of love, we wanted to get people back in their kitchens baking bread and with this method we knew they could do just that. Never in our wildest dreams did we anticipate so many people would be as excited about baking home made bread as we were. Over the past year it has been a thrill to meet people through this website from all over the world, see pictures of their loaves and hear stories of their baking. Some of our favorite stories are those who tell of the memory of their grandmothers and loved ones who baked for them when they were children. Tell us your story about baking bread! Leave it in the comments and we will pick 2 random winners and send them a copy of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day!
Thank you all for making this past year so exciting and for sharing your stories with us. We are busy writing our next book and you have been our inspiration!
Zoë and Jeff
Now lets make bagels: Read more
Thanks Culinary Institute of America and Seattle Post-Intelligencer!
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by Jeff, November 9, 2008
Filed Under TV/Radio/News | 3 Comments
The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) is a terrific institution; what can you say about a professional culinary school that:
a) … trained Artisan Bread in 5’s brilliant and creative co-author, Zoe Francois, and,
b) …sent Rebekah Denn’s wonderful article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer about our book to all of its SmartBrief subscribers!
Click on the links to read… thousands of people have come to our site because of the Seattle article and the link to it from SmartBrief. Smartbrief is a wonderful thing to subscribe to, even if you’re not a food professional; you can do that from the 2nd link. And if you’re curious about our book’s other reviews, click here.—Jeff
Yeasted chocolate cupcakes… little morsels from no-knead chocolate dough
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by Jeff, November 3, 2008
Filed Under Recipes, Special techniques | 17 Comments
OK, I know, these aren’t really cupcakes because they aren’t cake! They’re yeasted, so they’re actually super-mini chocolate breads based on Zoe’s chocolate bread in our book (page 211). I wanted you to get a sense of how versatile this method really is— need a quick kid treat? If you’ve got chocolate dough in the freezer you are set.
I didn’t frost them because they were perfect without it– maybe a little cherry jam if you really want something with them. Just mix up a full or half-batch of the chocolate dough, and then break off little pieces and load them into muffin tins, or mini-muffin tins (the picture above has both). Be careful not to overbake these little guys; the regular size are done in no more than 20 minutes at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C), and the minis are done in 15 minutes.
This is all a welcome distraction from writing (I ate about four of these this AM!)… our new book’s manuscript is due 1/3/09, with likely release 12/09. Wish us luck, and follow our new book’s progress on Twitter!
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