Homemade bread in five minutes a day

This is a great article in our food section that I want to share by J.M. Hirsch.

Artisanal quality breads in just five minutes a day? Not quite. But for that little effort, even breads that are merely pretty good would be worth baking. And that’s what Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois deliver in their forthcoming book, “Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.”

The concept is inspired. Spend about 20 minutes making a large batch of refrigerator-friendly, no-knead bread dough that, following a standard rise, can keep for up to two weeks.

Each day, the desired amount of dough can be removed from the batch, shaped and baked (the basic recipe produces three to four small loaves). Total active time each day you bake is about five minutes.

Testing of the basic white and basic whole-wheat bread recipes (the book also offers dozens of variations and other breads) produced breads anyone would be happy to come home to.

Bread Boule in Five Minutes a Day

Start to finish: 20 minutes active to prepare the dough, 5 minutes active on day of baking.

3 cups lukewarm water (about 100 degrees)
1 1/2 tablespoons granulated yeast
1 1/2 tablespoons kosher or other coarse salt
6 1/2 cups all-purpose white flour (no need to sift)
Cornmeal, for the pizza peel

In a 5-quart bowl, combine the yeast, water and salt.Add all the flour, then use a wooden spoon to mix until all ingredients are uniformly moist. It is not necessary to knead or continue mixing once the ingredients are wet. This will produce a loose and very wet dough.

Cover with a lid (not airtight), or plastic wrap with several holes poked into it. Allow the mixture to rise at room temperature until it begins to collapse, about 2 hours, but no more than 5 hours.

After rising, the dough can be baked immediately, or tightly covered and refrigerated up to 14 days. The dough will be easier to work with after at least 3 hours refrigeration.

To bake, prepare a pizza peel by sprinkling it with cornmeal. Alternatively, overturn a baking sheet and sprinkle it with cornmeal. This will prevent the bread from sticking when you transfer it to the oven.

Uncover the dough and sprinkle the surface with flour. Pull up and cut off a 1-pound (grapefruit-size) piece of dough (serrated knives are best). Recover the remaining dough in the bowl and refrigerate for baking at another time.

Hold the mass of dough in your hands and add a little more flour as needed so it won’t stick. Create a smooth ball of dough by gently pulling the sides down around to the bottom, rotating the dough as you go.

While stretching, most of the dusting flour will fall off. The bottom of the loaf may appear to be a collection of bunched ends, but it will flatten out during resting and baking. This shaping should take no more than 1 minute.

Place the dough on the peel or overturned baking sheet. Allow the loaf to rest for about 40 minutes. It does not need to be covered. The bread may not rise much during this time; this is normal.

Twenty minutes before baking, place a pizza stone on the center rack of the oven. If you don’t have a baking stone, use another baking sheet. Remove any upper racks. Place a broiler pan on a rack below the pizza stone or on the floor of the oven. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

When the dough has rested for 40 minutes, dust the top liberally with flour, then use a serrated knife to slash a ¼ -inch-deep cross or tic-tac-toe pattern into the top.

Slide the loaf off the peel or overturned baking sheet and onto the baking stone. Quickly but carefully pour 1 cup of hot water into the broiler tray and close the oven door.

Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the crust is nicely browned and firm to the touch. Allow the bread to cool completely, preferably on a wire cooling rack.

Makes four 1-pound loaves of bread.

Recipe from Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois’ “Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day,” Thomas Dunne Books, November 2007, $27.95.