Category: Special techniques

Easy Sourdough Starter (with new troubleshooting tips)

BreadIn5 265 Comments

Easy Sourdough Starter | Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

Before we even start, if you’ve already tried this recipe and are having trouble getting your sourdough starter to the “very-active” stage, or if your loaves aren’t rising well, or if they’re too dense, you can skip to the Troubleshooting tips below… scroll waaaay down. If you’re new to this page, start right here:

Here’s a great method for and easy sourdough starter from Chapter 11 of The New Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day. (The recipe also appears in Chapter 12 of The Best of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day) You can create a sourdough starter (in French, levain); without fear and without dedicating your whole day to the project. It only takes a few minutes a day to get starter up and running. It takes a while to get your starter strong enough to actually use in a batch of bread, but until it is ready to go, you can always bake any of the other yeast-based recipes in the books, or from the Master yeast-based method.

Sourdough starter just needs flour, water and a container to keep it in. Nothing special or fancy. Just make sure the container can hold at least two quarts of starter. You’ll see some Baking Bloopers below of what happens if your container is too small (or if you seal a glass container. Spoiler alert: don’t).

Sourdough Bread Loaf | Easy Sourdough Starter | Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

Once you have created your starter you can use it to bake beautiful loaves, with or without added yeast. The flavor is incredible and you will still be making a large batch of dough and storing it for up to a week, so you will do the work on one day for many loaves.

To make the starter: Read More

Herb Crock-Pot Dinner Rolls – Easy Thanksgiving Baking

BreadIn5 72 Comments

crock-pot buns

This week is Thanksgiving and we have to make the most of our oven space. Scheduling what will go in and out of the oven is just shy of a NASA level endeavor. By the time the pies come out, the Turkey must go in and then what to do about the rolls? There is an easy answer. What was originally a lark, bread in the slow-cooker has become my go-to holiday baking method. As you orchestrate the yams and dressing in the oven, your rolls can be baking on the counter. I made a savory herb dough for our Thanksgiving meal, but really you can bake just about any of our breads in this method.

Apple-Peach Braided Brioche Cake

jeff 10 Comments

apple-peach brioche cake

‘At no other time (than autumn) does the earth let itself be inhaled in one smell, the ripe earth; in a smell that is in no way inferior to the smell of the sea, bitter where it borders on taste, and more honeysweet where you feel it touching the first sounds. Containing depth within itself, darkness, something of the grave almost.’ – Rainer Maria Rilke

I’ve got peaches and apples in my kitchen. Summer is gently fading, and autumn is slipping in with an occasional cool breeze, a golden leaf here and there. I don’t know how August is already over, but here is September with its crisp ciders and juicy pears. I’m ready for bread-making again, and am starting the cooler months off with this brioche cake.The juicy peaches and the apple-cinnamon flavor are a good combination; a perfect intermingling of the seasons.

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Blueberry Morning Buns

BreadIn5 64 Comments

blueberry morning buns

Summer months means fresh fruit aplenty. I love going to the market and finding rows and rows of peaches, plums, and several varieties of berries as far as the eye can see. I always look for ways to incorporate them into everything: pies, tarts, scones, and our no-knead bread dough. Swirling fresh blueberries in brioche dough (with just a little bit of sugar and cinnamon) was my latest experiment, and the result? Delicious morning buns I’m happy to wake up to. Read More

Nutella Swirl Bread

BreadIn5 35 Comments

Nutella Swirl Bread - a Babka Cheat | Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

This is a babka cheat, but no one will complain that it just took a few minutes to put this Nutella Swirl Bread together. I just used a piece of whole wheat brioche dough, slathered it with Nutella, rolled it up, tucked it into a loaf pan, let it rest and baked it. That’s it. Super Easy. Super Tasty. Super Fast. And Beautiful.

Check out the Swirly Crock Pot version as well. It is perfect for hot summer days or when your oven is occupied with other goodies.

Sliced Nutella Swirl Bread - a Babka Cheat | Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

I went pretty light on the Nutella, so the bread would have a bit of chocolatey sweetness, but wouldn’t be over-the-top. You can use more and go with our brioche dough from New ABin5, for a more decadent treat. Read More

Valentine’s Day Swirled Bread

BreadIn5 3 Comments

Valentine Bread | Breadin5 (25 of 28)

I’ve just returned from an incredible week in Denver. I was there working with Craftsy to create another class, this time on show stopping cheesecakes (it will be out in a few weeks). I love working the with the Craftsy team. They work hard and laugh harder. We spent months developing the class concept, all the materials/recipes and then got together for 4 days of non-stop baking and filming. I like to think I’m a hard worker, but then I see the folks at Craftsy and I realize how much more a human can do in a single day when they work as a team. I loved it. Not only the work, but also the people. Writing books and blogging are two pretty solitary jobs, so having 5 days in the kitchen with their crew was a blast. It’s fun to watch other people create beautiful food. It is also fun to see my recipes come to life.

Valentine Bread | Breadin5 (26 of 28)

As we were prepping all the cheesecakes for my class, Victoria, the kitchen assistant extraordinaire, told me about a bread she bakes for her young daughter. Victoria helped me on my Craftsy bread class* and played with the recipe to create a rainbow of colors with it. Brilliant. I immediately thought of a Valentine’s Day Bread with swirls of pink and red.

Valentine Bread | Breadin5 (28 of 28)

*If you haven’t checked out our Artisan Bread in Minutes class on Craftsy, I am always so happy to have new bakers join the class. If you’re interested be sure to use this link to sign up, you’ll get $20 off. It makes a lovely Valentine’s Day Gift for the baker in your life.

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Caramel Cinnamon Bun Bread Pudding

BreadIn5 1 Comment

Caramel Cinnamon Bun Bread Pudding | Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

Sometimes the best discoveries come from happy accidents. I made a pan of caramel cinnamon buns and I was the only one home to eat them. That in itself is no great tragedy, I took great pleasure in sitting down with a cup of coffee and a warm sticky bun in the perfection of solitude. But, the day went by and the kids were busy with sports, finals and all that kids are busy with, so I found myself with a pan of lovely, albeit slightly stale rolls. My boys would have happily devoured them as a midnight snack, but for my taste they were a bit stiff, after 12 hours on the counter. We talk about using stale bread for pudding in our books, that’s not news, but this recipe elevates a rather humble dessert to a special occasion by using sticky buns. I just put the sticky buns right back in the cake pan, with the caramel and all, then covered it with custard. I baked them and a new classic was born in my house. I served the pudding as dessert, but they are also perfect for breakfast or brunch.  Read More

Ghoulish Breadsticks for Halloween!

jeff 22 Comments

halloween breadsticks

This week is the one time a year when we purposefully make our food look creepy. Halloween is great fun for the kids, but we adults love to play with our food too, and its great fun to watch people squirm just a bit. Even though these breadsticks are ghoulish, they are crunchy and delicious as well. Stick a few in the lunch box to give your kids a little Halloween thrill at school. Read More