The Backyard

The Backyard

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Artisan Bread - Not My Style


Artisan Bread in Five Minutes is my latest cookbook and I'm sorry to say, its just not my cup of tea. For many reasons, I found the book a disappointment. First, there are only two whole wheat "bread" recipes -- the rest called for the less nutritious all purpose flour and a spattering of other types of like rye. Second, there were very few "bread" recipes, and bunches of bunches of recipes for things I couldn't begin to pronounce. One of the author's is a pastry chef... need I say more? And the "breads" take on "artsy" shapes that are a far cry from a loaf of bread. Brioche a' Tete' and Turban-shaped Challah with Raisins. Huh? That's bread?? Now don't get me wrong, if this is your kind of creative thing, then this is the bread book for you. What attracted me to the book was the "five minutes a day" because we all know what its like to bake a loaf bread. But the time saved by not kneading dough, you'll spend trying figure out how to pronounce some of the recipe titles and creating the artisan appearance. Lastly, the dough container takes up a huge amount of space in the refrigerator. You need a five-quart size container, and that's a big container. Stick to your tried and true kneading dough, unless you want artsy, non-nutritious bread.

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