Equipment used in the Craftsy Class
Here is a list of some of the equipment that I used in the Craftsy Class. If you click on the pictures it will take you to more details about the item. Read More
Epicurious names “The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day” as one of the greatest cookbooks of all time
We are insanely flattered. Epicurious.com, which is the food website of Conde Nast, publisher of Bon Appetit and the late, lamented Gourmet, has named The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day as one of the 53 greatest cookbooks of all time. That’s our book in their picture, right in the middle of some very exhalted company. Bakers like Dorie Greenspan, Julia Child, Peter Reinhart. We’re hyperventilating. Thanks for the shout-out, Epicurious:
“We were surpised that more baking books weren’t nominated… all the baking frontrunners are bread books. The panel’s favorites were Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois, and The Bread Baker’s Apprentice, by Peter Reinhart.”
For more, click on Epicurious.com, in “The Hunt for the Greatest Cookbooks of All Time”
Weighing The Ingredients: Whole Grain Baguette Buns With Extra Sourdough Kick
In this post, I’ll go through the method for using a kitchen scale to measure in flour and other ingredients, which some readers, especially outside the U.S., have said they prefer. In this recipe for whole grain baguette buns, I used these weight equivalents for scoop-and-swept cup measures:
1 cup white all-purpose flour: 5 ounces / 140 grams (or 141.7, to be more precise)
1 cup whole wheat flour: 4.5 ounces / 130 grams (127.6)
1 cup water: 8 ounces / 225 grams (226.8)
Most home scales aren’t accurate enough to weigh small quantities of yeast and salt for single recipes.
These whole grain baguette buns are from The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, being cut from a baguette-shaped cylinder, which gives the buns crusty little edges that will impress your guests. They’re incredibly easy to make from any of the lean stored doughs that you already have in your fridge, mixed up from our book. Read More
Our artisan loaf is the #1 recipe in the history of NPR’s The Splendid Table, chosen by listeners
Whenever Zoe and I are on the Splendid Table, NPR’s cooking show starring Lynne Rossetto Kasper, we leave behind a recipe. Now the show’s national listeners have voted our basic recipe as their all-time favorite (click to view). Thanks Lynne, and all the great producers who create this national show right here in St. Paul, Minnesota.
One thing–an updated, and more extensive online version of our basic recipe is right here on the website, with pictures and more detail (click to view).
Hear all three of our appearances on the show:
April 4, 2000, when Jeff called Lynne with the book idea.
December 15, 2007, right after the publication of the first edition of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, we talked bread with Lynne.
March 8, 2014, Jeff talked with Lynne about the changing world of cookbooks and the adventures we’ve had.
Super Peel Giveaway CONTEST CLOSED, WINNER HAS BEEN ANNOUNCED
This is a Super Peel. It is one of those products, like the Danish Dough Whisk, that changes the game for baking with our dough. I was skeptical that this cloth-covered peel would do the trick of transferring our wet dough onto the hot stone in the oven without sticking. I’ve come to use parchment to guarantee the dough won’t stick to the peel, but that’s not at all necessary with the Super Peel. Even after an 1 1/2 hour resting time the dough slid right off the cloth, no sticking, no prying it off with a dough scraper. Voila! The most exciting part is that it scoops the loaf off the hot stone with as much ease. No more chasing the loaf to the back of the oven while trying to get it back on the peel.
Now that we are heading into grilling season, and there is nothing better than pizza on the grill, you have to watch this video about using the Super Peel for transferring pizzas. Gary Casper invented the Super Peel and generously shared the Peel with me to try out. I loved it so much I asked him to do a giveaway so we could share one with you. *Leave a note in the comments below and you will be eligible to win a Super Peel. The winner is: Sandy! We’ll be in touch, Sandy. Read More
Gluten-Free Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Video
(photo by Stephen Scott Gross, video by Sarah Kieffer)
Many of the folks who are baking from Gluten-Free Bread in Five Minutes a Day have asked:
- What’s the dough supposed to look like?
- How do you handle such unstructured dough?
- What’s it look like when baked?
Click on the “play” button in the video image above to play the video… it’s the Master Recipe from the book (the egg-white version, though you can make a version without egg). About stand mixers: We’ve had best results with our gluten-free recipes when we’ve used a stand mixer. Hand-mixing works too, but you really have to go a long time to make it nice and smooth. We have lots of experience with the 5-quart KitchenAid stand mixer. You can use the 6-quart or larger capacity, but we’ve found that those large models have a harder time mixing gluten-free dough.
You’ll notice that we used Red Star Quick-Rise yeast, which is gluten-free (so is Red Star’s Active Dry Yeast product). Gluten-free bakers can’t use the Red Star Platinum product, which has dough conditioners derived indirectly from a wheat protein–so it has a trace of gluten.
More on gluten-free bread-baking in Gluten-Free Bread in Five Minutes a Day, or on our Gluten-Free FAQs page.
Cracker-crust pizza: you’ll need this French dowel rolling pin giveaway WINNERS HAVE BEEN CHOSEN
This pizza is so thin and crackly that light shines through it! It’s much easier to achieve perfection with this Tuscan specialty than you might think. You will need a good rolling pin, and the good folks at JK Adams in Vermont have a terrific French dowel rolling pin that we like (especially the thinner 1 1/2″ model), and they’re providing five of them to give away in a drawing here. We prefer these tapered handle-less pins to the handled straight rollered versions–seems that you get better control of thinly-rolled items… Read More
Our Artisan Bread Baking Class on Craftsy!
We are super excited to announce our new Craftsy bread baking video class. We’ve made a video of our most popular breads with lots of tips and techniques for getting a professional loaf every time you bake with very little time or effort! It is the perfect companion to all of our books. In the video we’ll use a single dough to create all the breads, but the techniques are useful for all the doughs from any of our books.
Here’s some pictures from our video shoot in Denver. Our readers get 50% off the video by clicking the link below. This offer only lasts for two weeks, so join us soon!
Cinnamon Brioche Wreath and a book giveaway
I’ve written before about being enamored with braided breads, and after making twisted loaves I thought it was time to add a cinnamon brioche wreath into the mix. Seeing braided wreaths of bread all over Pinterest makes me immediately think of the Holidays, that holly jolly time of year when everyone turns a blind eye at eating too many delicious sweets. I have a special breakfast for Thanksgiving and my family always makes these cinnamon rolls for New Years Day, but Christmas Eve needed something special. This wreath is the perfect treat. It looks harder than it is: just a few simple twists sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon make for a beautiful presentation. Click continue viewing below for more. But also: anyone posting a comment to this post will automatically be entered into a drawing–we’re giving away a copy of our any one of our U.S. books to five lucky winners (either The New Artisan Bread in 5, Healthy Bread in 5, Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in 5, or Gluten-Free Artisan Bread in 5). Contest closes and winners will be selected on December 19. Usual rules apply, (will only ship to a U.S. address, only one entry allowed, and must respond within 24 hours if you’re a winner). Contest is closed; winners have been chosen and notified in e-mail as of 12/19/14.
City Pages (Minneapolis): Thanks for the great review
Gluten-Free Artisan Bread in Five was their #2 cookbook in 2014!