20 thoughts to “Our Book Tour: The View From Denver”

  1. Bravo!

    Question on pizza baking for those without stones: I tried a perforated pizza pan but got a spatzel-like effect of dripping dough (!) underneath. Then I tried baking parchment over the pan but it stuck. I can’t find a baking stone here, even in a European-French culinary area. My silicon baking mat makes soggy doughs, of course. Any ideas?

    1. Katharine: Wow, thanks for the insight re: non-availability of the stones. But… Amazon UK has them, see https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dkitchen&field-keywords=baking+stone&x=0&y=0 I’d have tried Amazon FR but don’t know how to say “baking stone” in French?

      Is that any help to you? Otherwise, try a heavy-gauge baking sheet like this one on US Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00004R91M?ie=UTF8&tag=arbrinfimiada-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=B00004R91M More on that in Pizza in Five
      https://ow.ly/7nmI8

      But I’m surprised the parchment stuck– we use silicon-coated parchment and it does well (though scorches for pizza): https://tinyurl.com/bctz2c

      1. Thanks Jeff! Nice new avatar too. I have plain old baking parchment (in French and Dutch) that’s definitely not coated in silicone; come to think of it has stuck to ABi5 baguettes too but enriched doughs come off fine. (I’m hoping not to pay the fancy international shipping charges for a heavy stone. Will keep an eye peeled for a stone and a heavy gauge pan, thanks. Some friends are travelling to Italy for the holidays and might bring me back a stone!)
        Silicone gives me an idea, I’ll try putting a little oil on the parchment then on the stone, and using more of a gluten coating on the bottom of the dough to see if that helps. It’s Friday night pizza night!

        Would really like to give both you and Chef François a very big thanks for helping busy families like ours with putting healthy meals quickly and easily on the table. I heard about ABi5 through La Leche League, you have such good word-of-mouth. Two mothers have told me having bread dough ready to bake all the time has helped them avoid getting overloaded and falling prey to PPD. I have two children under the age of 2 and 2 hungry teenage stepchildren myself. Thank you very much.

      2. Katharine: Thanks for the kind words, glad you like the books.

        I think oiling your parchment will certainly help. Jeff

    2. An idea for Katharine: There is good enameled cast iron in France. Perhaps the bottom of a frying pan or shallow pot would work as a substitute pizza stone. You could start it baking with the oiled parchment, if you are scared it will stick.

    3. The method I use has been discussed in the Healthy Breads in 5 minutes a day, but I have a couple of tweeks that give me super results every time.

      1. Get a cast iron dutch oven 5-6 quart
      2. Place a piece of parchment paper (MUST be parchment – not waxed paper) and place it in a medium-sized bowl, or on the counter
      3. Get your dough out of storage, dust with flour and place to rest on the parchment paper.
      4. 30 minutes before baking time, place the empty dutch oven with lid on into the oven, and pre-heat to 500 degrees.
      5. Once pre-heated, slash the rested bread dough and carefully take out the dutch oven and remove lid
      6. Pick up the dough by grasping each of the four corners of the paper and set it into the dutch oven, paper, dough and all
      7. Put the lid on
      8. Put in the oven and turn the oven down to baking temp recommended in the recipe, usually 450 or so
      9. After 20 minutes, remove the lid from the dutch oven and continue to bake until the loaf is done – about 20-25 more minutes It will be nicely browned.
      10. Take everything out of the oven, carefully remove the bread and cool on a rack. The parchment will have browned but will not burn. You will have a super loaf.

  2. I have 2 questions for you!
    I made the 100% whole wheat and wanted to do it 50% whole wheat and 50% unbleached all-purpose. I’m measuring by weight and thinking I’m not getting the right proportions (I’m playing with the water a bit after mixing). What would you recommend for weight measurements?

    Also… I got ahold of some Malted Barley Flour (used to make bread flour) and wondered if it would be helpful for pizza or would mess with the final texture.
    Thanks!!
    Anita

    1. Hi Angela,

      Which book are you baking from? The recipe you describe sounds a lot like our Master recipe from Healthy Bread in 5. Not quite 50/50, but closer: https://artisanbreadinfive.com/2009/10/26/our-new-book-healthy-bread-in-five-minutes-a-day-is-released-tomorrow-get-yourself-some-vital-wheat-gluten-and-make-our-whole-grain-master-recipe This recipe is in weights in the book on page 54.

      The Barley Flour doesn’t have gluten, so you can’t use it in place of wheat flours.

      Thanks, Zoë

      1. Sorry, there are many, many recipes!- I’m working off the 100% whole wheat dough recipe in the new book, although making it the lighter variation at 50/50- pg 83.

  3. Holy Crap! I missed you guys in Denver but thanks SO much for posting the video. It brought tears to my eyes to see you guys in action and I’m just so darned happy for you. I’m at 7000 feet about 30 miles north of your photo from Nederland and I’m pleased you liked your view. ON ANOTHER NOTE: Today I made Bavarian Style Whole Grain Pumpernickel Bread; used a bannetonne (6.5″), half of the recipe, rose it 90 minutes, baked it an hour. We just tried it and Jim suggested we have it (and just IT) for dinner. YUM! Another stunning success. What IS it with ovens? I’ve got a GE Cafe gas top/electric oven and keeping a constant 450 degrees is a full-time job. Jack it up to 500, drop it down to 450, I’m constantly fighting the little dial on my thermometer, but I’ve found keeping that temp constant makes for a perfect loaf.
    Again, THANK YOU guys for revolutionizing breadmaking. marcia in colorado

      1. not a single one. and i always use half the dough recipe per loaf because i like the larger loaves. sometimes i wonder if i did make changes if the loaves would be a little taller rather than what they are, but they match your pictures so I think they’re how they’re supposed to be. the pannetone rises up perfectly (again, i only make 2 loaves from the recipe). I figure if I wanted more loafy breads, i would use a loaf pan. But these slice just fine…about 3 inches in the middle of the loaf at the highest point.
        Maybe I should experiment with your high altitude changes and see what happens.
        m

      2. Hi Marcia,

        If you are enjoying the bread as it is, then why fix it? If you want to try it as an experiment, let us know how it goes.

        Thanks, Zoë

      3. yup, i’m with you; if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. i’m not a very good cook but i CAN follow a recipe, so that’s my safety zone. we just got some more interesting flours so now i’m going to try some of the breads I’ve not heard of from HBin5. We’ll of course keep you posted. New book should be in the mailbox (alas! my list was NOT adhered to this year) as we speak, too. Excited!

  4. Have you ever considered translating any of your books to German? My father and I both love your books and each have a copy of your first two. The third is on our wishlist and will be purchased soon. However, I have a lot of family in Germany some of which love to bake bread but don’t have time. My cousin in particular has two kids and makes bread in her bread machine or goes to her local bakery. I sent her a copy of your first book, but she is having problems because while she knows English, its difficult to work with a cookbook in another language. I do know German, but I know what she is going through since I have a few German cookbooks that come out only once in a while. If you ever do translate any of your books, please do German and please let me know.

    Thanks.

    1. Michelle: I’ll be in Berlin, Rothenburg ob der Tauber, and Mittelwald this summer, and I hope to eat a lot of great German bread! Unfortunately, convincing publishers to translate US cookbooks isn’t easy, because they don’t tend to be big sellers unless the authors have international visibility. If it ever gets translated into German, you’ll hear about it on this website.

      There is a UK version which uses weights and metrics… https://www.amazon.co.uk/Five-Minute-Bread-revolutionary-kneading/dp/0091938945/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1294401650&sr=1-1

      … but I’m assuming that the Chinese version will not help you (https://artisanbreadinfive.com/2011/10/15/finally-received-our-chinese-copies-of-artisan-bread-in-five-minutes-a-day). Not sure why we’ve had more success getting Asian translations (versions in Taiwan and Japan are coming next year).

      1. Ah, Rothenburg ob der Tauber! My husband and I were there several years ago in May, and on happenstance it was in the middle of the city’s founding festival. Such fond memories. Well, if you happen to go into Munich, and are thinking of doing some sort of demo let me know and I will have my cousin attend. She lives in Munich and I’m sure would love to meet you.

        Thank you for such wonderful books!

      2. Michelle: Who knows, it could happen, though doubtful. If there’s going to be a demo, it would appear on the Events tab above…

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