Errors in the first printings of Artisan Bread in Five

Early editions of our first book, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day (2007), contained some errors, and this first note about resting times (that we wished we’d included):

Resting times: In the book, a 1 pound loaf of non-enriched dough rests for 40 minutes. Some bakers will prefer the lighter texture you get with a longer rest– experiment with a range of 40 to 90 minutes. Why? Some kitchens are cooler than others and some people have a firmer hand while working and may compress the air out of the dough, both resulting in a denser crumb. If you allow the dough to rise until it is slightly “wobbly” it will bake up with a very nice crumb.

Page 19 (“Increase resting and baking time if any of the following apply”): Remove “wetter dough” from the list; wetter dough requires less resting time.

Page 26 (Master Recipe):Cornmeal for the pizza peel” is left off ingredients list

Page 29 (Master Recipe): In step Step 7, it should read: “Twenty minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 450ºF, with a baking stone placed on the middle rack” (not the lowest rack).

Page 72 (Bran-Enriched White Bread):  Omit “Cornstarch wash” from Ingredients list.

Page 90 (Spicy Pork Buns): In Step 9, insert a sentence after “… onto the hot stone:” “Pour 1 cup of hot tap water into the broiler tray, and quickly close the oven door.”

Page 91 (English Granary-Style Bread): In the 2nd paragraph of the introduction, the second sentence should finish with “… a multigrain loaf that includes malted wheat and barley malt powder.”

Page 100 (Oatmeal Pumpkin Bread): The ingredients list should call for: 1 pie pumpkin

Page 115 (Aunt Melissa’s Granola Bread), Step 7:  The step should start with “Brush the loaf with egg wash.”

Page 123 (Bagels): In step 5 the oven should be set to 450 degrees not (400 degrees).

Page 188 (Sticky Pecan Caramel Rolls): In Step 2, it should read “… 1 1/2 pound (cantaloupe-size) piece.” (not “grapefruit-size”).

Page 191 (Brioche a Tete): It calls for 1 pound of brioche dough on (page 187) it should be (page 189).

Page 192 (Brioche a Tete): Step 8, take the brioche out of the mold to cool on a rack, so the crust won’t get soggy.

Page 199 (Chocolate or Jam-Filled Beignets): Step 2 of the instructions should call for a 1/4-inch thick rectangle, not 1/2-inch thick.

Page 209 (Cinnamon-Raisin Bread): Above Ingredients list, it should read “Makes one 1 1/2 pound loaf.”

Page 211 (Chocolate Bread): Ingredients should read 2/3 cup honey, not sugar! In step 2 use the honey in place of the sugar. It should also be 2 cups water.

Page 217 (Sunflower Seed Breakfast loaf): Step 2 should include adding the 1 cup of sunflower seeds to the dough.

Page 218 (Sunflower Seed Breakfast loaf): “… use over the next 5 days (not 9).  Or store the dough for up to 4 weeks in the freezer in loaf-sized portions.”

Page 221 (Chocolate-Raisin Babka): The ingredients list should call for 7½ cups all-purpose flour (not 6 cups!). Also, there’s a missing instruction at the end: “Brush rum onto loaf when slightly cooled.”

Page 227 (Sunny-Side-Up Apricot Pastry): Step 13 should read 350 degrees, not 375 degrees.

Also note, sometime after publication, the Williams-Sonoma company stopped offering a lifetime replacement guarantee against cracking of its baking stones, so we can’t recommend their product anymore (see page 13).

135 thoughts to “Errors in the first printings of Artisan Bread in Five”

  1. I live in Mexico in the wintertime. I have been using your first book here in CO & am loving it. However, when I go to Mexico, I will not be able to obtain unbleached white flour. Can I use the regular bleached variety in your recipies? Thanks so much – – am loving this!!!

    1. Bleached works, yes, but Mexican flour may be lower in protein (don’t know). So you may have to decrease the water by about 1/8 cup. May or may not need to do this; non-US flours can be unpredictable. When traveling, I once used an English flour that was super-high-protein but wasn’t labeled as such…

      1. Hi! I have a question. The formed dough rises on my pizza peel just fine, but it always expands out and never up, even in the oven. I always end up with flatter loaves. How can I correct this?

    2. Jan, I hope you’re still following this thread. I live in Mexico all year, and am getting my supplies together to try 5 min bread for the first time. Honestly, to try making bread for the first time. How did you make out with your Mexican bleached flour? What adjustments did you make?

      The only yeast I’ve found is Tradi-Pan levadura instantanea. I think its real yeast, but the “instantanea” part concerns me. Are you familiar with it? What kind of yeast are you using?

      Muchisimas gracias,
      Ryan

      1. Ryan: I’m guessing that you’ll just need to experiment with less water. Not sure how much. 1/4-cup for starters? Instant yeast works fine in our recipes. Jeff

    3. 2007 edition page 78
      I have tried this recipe 3 times now. After mixing all ingredients together the dough seems too wet and requires more flour. Is this supposed to be a wetter dough?

  2. When making the Buttermilk Bread, p 208, AB5, Step 7, I find it a bit difficult to brush the top with melted butter after it has been dusted with flour. Can I just skip dusting with flour, and just brush the top with butter?

  3. I’ve twice tried the recipe for the Challah from Artisan Bread in 5 and both times have found the dough to be overly sticky.. not just tacky but outright sticky regardless of how little or how much I flour it or the surface. This creates problems for me both in rolling the dough up (it sticks and rips) and also when trying to elongate it. Am I doing something wrong or should the recipe have more flour in it than it does?

    1. Well, if you’re using bleached flour, or a Southern US all-purpose low in protein (better for biscuits), that would explain it. Other possible explanation: are you measuring cup-measures with spoon-and-sweep rather than scoop-and-sweep? That will under-measure the flour. See this video: https://artisanbreadinfive.com/2010/04/28/how-we-measure-our-flour-using-the-scoop-and-sweep-method

      If neither of those are the explanation, and you’re already using a 10% protein flour like Gold Medal all-purpose, you may just find our dough too sticky to work without modification. By all means, you can increase the flour by 1/4 cup and see what you think. Jeff

  4. I just got all three copies of your books for the kindle, and started looking at the web site. I find that the corrections are not in the 2009 copy. There are still errors in it and some don’t even match the page that it is supposed to be on. Is there any chance that these could be changed in a new release?

    1. Russell: Can you tell us what pages the errors are on, and in which book? Then we’ll connect with the publisher. Jeff

      1. Jeff,
        I have the kindle versions of the book and all the corrections listed in “Corrections for Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day” were not corrected. In the Artisan Bread in five minutes the correction listed as “page 29 is actually listed on page 31, pg 91 missing, pg 191: the page ref was deleted shows none, pg 211: 2 cups of water, pg 218: was not added and I think it should have been pg 217 because that is where it say use over next 9 days, that is it, I hope this helps…

  5. I am looking at making your roasted garlic potato bread with variations for our traditional Italian Christmas bread that we fry. It is a potato type of bread. I would be leaving out the roasted garlic and was wondering if I could substitute 00 flour for the unbleached all purpose flour? Would that work?

    1. Debbie: ’00’ is lower in protein, so you may need to adjust the water downward or the dough’ll be too wet. But it will work. We have a ’00’ dough in the new Pizza book (click on the icons of the book cover to view on Amazon). Jeff

  6. I noticed the “100% Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread” recipe does not use vital wheat gluten. Will the dough still rise properly during baking without it?

    I was also wondering if I can mix up the proportions of whole wheat vs all-purpose flour without changing anything else in some of your recipes, or is there a formula I should use for the amount of vital wheat gluten required as I increase the amount of whole wheat flour?

    By the way, we made pizza dough from your latest book, and it was amazing! Just like having gourmet pizza at home. It was much better than takeout.

    1. Susan: First book was REALLY plain and simple, and this WW was no exception. Compared to the 100% WW in HBin5, it’s definitely denser because it lacks VWG– see what you think.

      In general, we found that about a quarter cup of VWG was right for 4 pounds of whole grain dough. So glad you liked the pizza!

      1. Thanks Jeff. I’ll try experimenting with some all purpose and whole wheat combinations. My husband finds the flavour of whole wheat too strong.

  7. in my AB in 5, last # on copyright page is 5, still had to make corrections 1st paragraph; pg 72; pg 91; pg 115; pg 211 (2 c water); pg 218.

    1. Hi Dorothy,

      The corrections were made is a later printing, so all of those should be taken care of, but I will double check a later printing to make sure.

      Thank you! Zoë

      1. Which printing has all the corrections both for ABin5 and HBin5? I’m finding it exhausting going through both books with only some of the corrections and I just bought the books new. I want to make sure when I exchange them, that the new ones are up to date. Thanks!

      2. Hi Jen,

        If you just bought the books new, then the corrections should all be fixed. We are in the 20th printing of ABin5 and all of the errors were taken care of by the 5th printing, so it has been years since they appeared. Unless you bought the book second hand or from a smaller retailer, it is unlikely you still have the errors.

        The HBin5 issues that we listed were fixed by the 3rd printing.

        Do you know how to check which printing you have?

        Thanks, Zoë

      3. I thought I did…….the # for ABin5 is 2007027635 and the # for HBin5 is 2009016846. I just received the replacements today from Amazon and they have the same numbers as well (bottom right hand side). I was told by Amazon that they are usually very good when it comes to sending the current editions of new books shipped from them. Are these the current edition #s?

        Thanks,
        Jen

  8. Hello, I have the 2007 copyright version and on pg 191 and 192 for Brioche a Tete, the directions say allow to rest for 1 hr 20 min and to brush the loaf with egg wash and bake for 40 min. According to your video, rest time should be 40 min and bake time should be 20-25 min.

  9. I’ve never baked so much bread before! It was always so time-consuming, mysterious, and iffy! Now, the mystery is gone, and the time it takes to whip out a loaf of bread is truly minimal. Every loaf has gotten raves from my husband, and the pizza crusts I’ve made are better than any before. Thanks so much!

  10. I have been using your master recipe for Ciabatta and Boule breads from your first book. After 4 attempts, the bread still seems heavy (not enough bubbles in the bread to make it light). The crust is fantastic, better than I ever though possible. Any ideas on what I am doing wrong?

    1. See our FAQ called: Dense crumb: What am I doing wrong?
      Best guess? YOu’l be happier with a longer resting time. Try 60, or even 90 min after shaping.

  11. Now that I’m sure I have the current printings, both books still have uncorrected errors in them:

    ABin5:
    1) Page 72 still shows cornstarch wash.
    2) Page 91 “… a multigrain loaf that includes malted wheat and barley malt powder.” Still not showing malt powder.
    3) 1/30 – Page 123 (Bagels): In step 5 the oven should be set to 450 degrees not (400 degrees). Does 1/30 mean page 130 and if so, temperature says 400 degrees for Montreal Bagels. Page 123 was corrected, however.
    4) Page 211 stills shows 1 3/4 cups water and not 2 cups.
    5) Page 218 “… use over the next 5 days (not 9). Or store the dough for up to 4 weeks in the freezer in loaf-sized portions.” still not added.

    HBin5:
    1) Page 65 “Sprinkle grated cheese over the knots” for step 5 was not added.
    2) Page 271 “… use over the next 5 days (not 10). Or store the dough for up to 2 weeks in the freezer in loaf-sized portions.” still not added.

    Thanks,
    Jen

    1. Hi Jen,

      Thank you so much for this list. I will bring it to the publisher’s attention and make sure they have fixed all the mistakes.

      Best, Zoë

  12. Hi. I have made 3 loaves of ciabatta and LOVED them. Those were all made within a day or 2 of day 1. I decided to start a batch of dough before leaving for the weekend and leave it in the fridge until Tuesday. When I pulled it out today it had water floating on top and was way too wet to form a loaf. What do I do or did I do something wrong? Thanks.

    1. no problem– just pour off the water, sprinkle with flour and work it in– you’ll be fine. See also our FAQ: “Gray color on my dough: Is there something wrong?”

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