Friday, January 30, 2009
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Artisan bread in five minutes a day!
Artisan bread in five minutes
This book has really revolutionized my interactions with dough. Hertzberg and Francois are fellow Minnesotans, and after some recipe development tweaking, they came up with this fabulous method of having bread dough ready to bake at the drop of a hat. I have used the recipes in the book for making boule and pizza, and they come out delicious. I even bought a pizza peel and stone in an effort to create really good crusts.
The concept is so easy: You mix up your ingredients in a big 5 quart container, you don't knead, and you let time do all the gluten development. Then you cool, shape, proof, and cook. None of it takes more then five minutes. It's nuts, especially considering how good the bread turns out.
It is important not to use too much whole wheat flour, I have found that is creates a denser dough, which doesn't really turn out well. The dough should be pretty wet and goopy, and it's fun to slap around, and it tastes pretty good raw!
This is the best, most useful book I have on bread making, and I have a few. A bonus for me is that the authors are local. I would recommend buying this book if you want a reference, otherwise you can get it from the library and make a few notes from it and you'll be set.
My business partner and I were considering expanding our business into making cob ovens. Sadly, the weather got too cold so we couldn't finish our first oven last year. This year when we finish it, I'll definitely know what dough I am going to make and use in it first.
This book has really revolutionized my interactions with dough. Hertzberg and Francois are fellow Minnesotans, and after some recipe development tweaking, they came up with this fabulous method of having bread dough ready to bake at the drop of a hat. I have used the recipes in the book for making boule and pizza, and they come out delicious. I even bought a pizza peel and stone in an effort to create really good crusts.
The concept is so easy: You mix up your ingredients in a big 5 quart container, you don't knead, and you let time do all the gluten development. Then you cool, shape, proof, and cook. None of it takes more then five minutes. It's nuts, especially considering how good the bread turns out.
It is important not to use too much whole wheat flour, I have found that is creates a denser dough, which doesn't really turn out well. The dough should be pretty wet and goopy, and it's fun to slap around, and it tastes pretty good raw!
This is the best, most useful book I have on bread making, and I have a few. A bonus for me is that the authors are local. I would recommend buying this book if you want a reference, otherwise you can get it from the library and make a few notes from it and you'll be set.
My business partner and I were considering expanding our business into making cob ovens. Sadly, the weather got too cold so we couldn't finish our first oven last year. This year when we finish it, I'll definitely know what dough I am going to make and use in it first.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
The Cultivation of Human Beings
"The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings"
-Masanobu Fukuoka
-Masanobu Fukuoka
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
