I’ve talked about using stand mixers before, and it’s not required for my method… but it’s nice to have. There are Black Friday deals around for the KitchenAid brand, which is the only one I’ve ever used (10 years on now so it’s pretty durable). Here’s a Black Friday sale link to a five-quart Tilt-Head KitchenAid, for which is big enough for a full batch of the Master Recipe.
Happy shopping!
As the holidays approach, people have been writing to ask where they can buy my holiday and celebration book. It’s become very hard to find because it’s been out of print for a while. You can find used copies at online sellers and used bookstores. But if you like Amazon Kindle electronic books, and you’re a Kindle Unlimited subscriber, you can now read it for free! For more info or to sign up, click here.
And here’s a round-up of my favorite sweet and buttery recipes for the holidays (click here)!
Cinnamon Buns from The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking: mix the brioche dough (using a Scale and a Danish Dough Whisk), roll it out, make the filling, and bake. Click here for the Cinnamon Buns Dough Recipe. You can do the overnight rise… See below for details.
Roll out the dough, put the filling on…
roll it up into a log.
Cut the log into individual rolls. 
Put the rolls on a baking sheet prepared with parchment, you can also use a Silicone Baking Mat, covered them with plastic wrap, stuck them in the refrigerator to rise overnight, or do a ninety-minute rise at room temperature.
Preheat the oven to 350°F,
…and bake them for about 30 minutes.
As they bake, make the icing, and spread the icing over the rolls while still a bit warm, so it melts all over.
Note: Red Star Yeast is a sponsor of BreadIn5’s book promotion and other activities, and provided free samples of Red Star and Platinum yeast for testing.
BreadIn5.com is reader supported–when you buy through links on the site, BreadIn5 LLC earns commissions.
I’ve already started planning for Thursday’s baking, and looking back over all the old recipes here on the website took me back to great times and great meals with family and friends going back to 2007 or so, when the blog began. Above is a favorite of mine, Thanksgiving Cranberry Corn Bread, but here are dozens more: Click here for the recipe list and links, and be sure to click on “Older Posts” when you get to the bottom of the page (eventually the pages start showing some non-Thanksgiving stuff). You’ll find dinner rolls, crock pot recipes, pumpkin swirl brioche, pull-apart buns, stuffing, German pumpkin seed rolls and much more.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Note: BreadIn5.com is reader supported–when you buy through links on the site, BreadIn5 LLC earns commissions.
There is nothing more American than grilling on the 4th of July, well, maybe a star spangled pizza is the most patriotic of all. This is a super fast pizza that is ideal for breakfast, which I just served my family this morning, or can be throw together at your holiday BBQ as dessert. I made the pizza in a small baking sheet, but you can make a larger one if you have a crowd to feed.
Happy 4th of July!
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Mardi Gras King Cake, named for the three kings from the Christmas story, is traditionally served during Mardi Gras in New Orleans and throughout the South. Not only is it decorated with the colors of the festival, but it also has a hidden trinket in the dough. You can use an almond, but in New Orleans bakers often use a ceramic or plastic doll to represent baby Jesus. The person who gets the slice with the trinket is responsible for making the King Cake the following year.
There are many versions of this sweet bread, depending on the traditions of different families. Today’s version from Holiday and Celebration Bread in Five Minutes a Day is made with Brioche dough which has nutmeg, cinnamon, and raisins added into it. The dough can be Braided and/or formed into a Couronne (crown shape) as I have done here. Some bakers even use a cream cheese and praline filling, but we went with a more traditional filling.
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I’ve used Red Star Yeast in my recipes since the very first book in 2007, so I was super intrigued when they introduced the Platinum Instant Sourdough Yeast. It’s the perfect entry into sourdough baking, if you don’t have the days to create a sour starter, nor the hours and hours to let each loaf rise. This yeast contains real sourdough starter, which is activated along with yeast, to create an instant loaf of real sourdough, without the wait. Here is the Brioche recipe from Holiday and Celebration Bread Book made with the Platinum Instant Sourdough. You can use this Super Fast Sourdough Brioche for anything you’d make with Brioche, but it has the extra depth of flavor you get from a sourdough starter. The strength of that flavor will increase as the dough rests and we found that the dough behaved best within the first 3 days of storing it in the refrigerator, after that we froze the dough to use later.
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There are about one hundred recipes in all of our books, but we always start with a Master Recipe. It is our opportunity in each book to dive a little deeper into our super fast and simple method of bread baking. In Holiday and Celebration Bread in Five Minutes a Day
we started with a simple and nostalgic white bread master recipe. It can be the perfect school sandwich bread or the base of some pretty fancy holiday breads. If white bread is not your cup of tea (or loaf of bread) then try one of our enriched or whole grain breads from the new book. With dozens of doughs to choose from in the book, you will find many that suit your holiday needs.
If you are familiar with our dough and method, you may notice that the doughs in this new book are a bit drier than our previous ones. This is on purpose, since some of the more intricate loaves in this book would be more difficult to shape with a very wet dough. Since many of the doughs in the book are enriched (with butter, eggs, milk, etc) they only store in the refrigerator for about 5 days (you can freeze what is left). Because the dough is drier, we find it much easier to mix with a stand mixer, as opposed to a wooden spoon or even a Danish Dough Whisk. You can use those tools, but you’ll need to put some muscle into it, so the dough comes out nice and smooth and consistent.
This post is meant to provide a guide to baking the bread, but the book has tons more details and lots of tips and techniques for those who are just starting out with bread baking or our method in particular. Read More
This fanciful holiday bread made it into our newest book, Holiday and Celebration Bread in Five Minutes a Day, and it is one of the prettiest, easiest and most sensational breads to make for a family gathering or work party.
This Holiday Star Bread has been making the rounds all over social media, so I decided to try it with some of our no-knead Challah dough. I’m happy to report that it works quite well, and it is not that difficult to make. Most of the recipes online have the same directions for shaping the star, so I borrowed from those when practicing, but substituted pumpkin pie spice for the cinnamon just to change things up a bit. We also have a variation with jam, but Nutella or many other fillings would be fun, so if you are interested in playing around with recipe, there is room for your own interpretation. If you do end up making this bread and post on social media, tag #breadin5 so we can see your creations! You can also find us on Instagram at @breadin5.
The older I get, the less I am ‘into’ Valentine’s Day, but I have two little kids who still think it is an amazing holiday, so anything red, pink, and heart-shaped is welcomed into our home on February 14. I was scrolling through Instagram last week and came across this lovely heart-shaped challah, and then, remembering Zoe’s pink swirled bread and pink braid, I thought I could combine the two together for some celebration bread. I’m happy to report that it worked! The heart braid bread turned out pretty, and tasted delicious, too.
