The host of no-knead recipes from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day have been making quiet ripples through the baking community, and we felt that it was time take a look for ourselves to see what the hubbub was all about.
Given that this book was likely in production around the time when Jim Lahey's recipe appeared in the New York Times, we were curious to see how they compared.
A physician and a pastry chef make an unlikely author team for a book on no-knead breads, but Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois share a passion for baking that speaks for itself in the enthusiasm and detail they have put into their writing.
The first few chapters provide a comprehensive yet accessible introduction to ingredients, tools, and techniques, including one entire section devoted to problem-shooting our baking mishaps -- we think we'll find this section particularly helpful!
Side bars reinforce key points and photos illustrate difficult concepts. Along with their master no-knead bread recipe, the authors include variations for using different grains and for making rich breads like brioche, challah, and sticky buns. Reading through the book feels like having a nice chat over coffee with a good friend, albeit one who knows a lot about bread!
The concept for no-knead bread that the authors outline is one that has become familiar since last year's no-knead bread phenomenon: combine water, yeast, salt, and flour in a bowl and let sit. However, there are some key differences. While Mark Lahey's recipe relied on a small pinch of yeast and a long fermentation period before baking, this recipe uses over a tablespoon of yeast and a relatively quick two-hour fermentation, after which you can bake a loaf right away or store the dough in your fridge for up to two weeks.
The resulting dough also has a firmer structure that doesn't rely on a Dutch oven for its shape when baking. Loaves can be easily formed into a variety of shapes, allowing bakers a versatility that other no-knead doughs do not. Each recipe makes four loaves, so fresh bread is a simple matter of lobbing off a piece of refrigerated dough, letting it come to room temperature, and baking it off.
The recipes do indeed live up to the author's promises. Our artisan boule made from the master recipe had a nicely browned and crackling crust with a chewy, nutty-flavored interior. (Those of you who thought Lahey's recipe lacked depth of flavor might like to give this approach a try!) Loaves baked on subsequent days from refrigerated dough didn't develop as much in flavor as we had expected from the authors' descriptions, but they were certainly as good as the first one and were devoured just as fast. We also tried their recipes for rye bread and challah, both with positive results.
Have any of you tried recipes from this book? How do you think they stand next to other no-knead recipes?
We received permission to share a No-Knead Challah recipe from the book:
• No-Knead Challah
Links:
• Buy Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking, $18.45 at Amazon
• Master Recipe from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day
• NY Times Review Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day
• Video of Zoe and Jeff Making No-Knead Bread
• Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day website
More No-Knead Bread:
• No-Knead Bread in a Hurry
• No-Time Bread
• Bittman's No-Knead Bread Phenomenon
• Dutch Oven Roundup
• Dutch Oven Alternatives
This is by Emma, who is up for one of our new writer positions. Welcome Emma!
(Image credits: All bread images by Emma Christensen for The Kitchn. Cover image from "Artisan Bread" credits: Cover design by Jennifer Huntsman, cover photograph by Mark Luinenburg.)
This book rocks, it's just so easy to have fresh bread. Be sure to pick up the 2 lb yeast at Costco($3.65) since you'll no doubt want to try every recipe.
view sally599's profile
Hi Emma,
Thank you so much for trying the recipes and sharing them with your readers. I'm so glad you are enjoying the book. Your breads look gorgeous!
As you and your readers work through the recipes in the book you should visit our website where we have posted an errata sheet. As hard as we tried to catch all the mistakes while editing we missed a few!
www.zoebakes.com
www.artisanbreadinfive.com
Thank you! Zoe Francois
view Zoe Francois's profile
Great stuff. Out here we bake all our bread. Town, and baked goods, are way over that'a way .. like 30 miles
I've been trying 'artisan' breads for some time, now and cannot produce the air pockets and holes found in authentic artisan breads. I'm using high quality ingredients - organic unbleached higher protein flours, high quality yeast, dang near perfect well water, great olive oils and sea salt ... but to no avail. Any comments on how I can get those lovely holes in the texture of my bread?
view RancherJack's profile
Hi RancherJack,
I'm not sure if you have been trying the breads from our book? If so, we have lots of tips on improving the crumb of your bread. They are too numerous to post here in the comments, but if you go to our website www.artisanbreadinfive.com you will find a Q&A for dense bread crumb that just might help!
Thanks, Zoë
view Zoe Francois's profile
Thank you very much, Zoe.
I'll tend to that immediately.
:-)
view RancherJack's profile
I'm excited to see this reviewed here. I got this book for Christmas and with great success have been making bread and pizza using recipes from this book ever since. I'm loving it-- I haven't had a bad loaf/pizza yet. My favorite part is that I've had TWO, count it TWO spur of the moment pizza parties in the last month thanks to this book. My friends are impressed that I can whip up a pizza at a moments notice.
The only bad news is that on the advice of this book, I bought an oven thermometer and learned that despite what the dial says, my oven won't get any hotter than 450 degrees. I used to like my oven.
view J-fer Rose's profile
Do you mean Mark Bittman or do you mean Jim Lahey? Because I'm pretty sure there is no Mark Lahey, or at least not when it comes to the no knead bread recipe, and no doubt both of these guys would appreciate it if you'd correct the multiple errors in this post...
view splatgirl's profile
I got this book for xmas and I love it. I think it beats the NY times no-knead recipes because:
-no dutch oven or other special equipment required
-faster results on dough-making day
-refrigerated dough leftover for even faster bread on subsequent days
-less mess
-more versatile dough
I have no baking stone, so I've just been cooking my bread on an aluminum half-sheet with silpat. The crust is turning out wonderfully, so I have no plans to buy a baking stone.
My very first bread from this book is pictured here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/angorian/2317043733/
view angorian's profile
I just started an working with the master dough and am loving it. The first time I made it I did not pull off enough dough and ended up with a "petite" loaf. That was a happy accident though and now I make them all little so we can have it fresh everyday! See the project journal here: Spectacular Eats
view BRaffenberg's profile