Updated Method for Bread Baking

I’m still sold on the “Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day” technique and recipes from Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois (2009, St. Martins Press) however I’ve been trying some adaptations mentioned in the book or on their blog.  Here is my current method for baking off a baguette with italicized text noting changes from how I was baking it by their standard technique.

Start with a grapefruit sized piece of the Master Dough Recipe
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSOoH686_b8) or page 53 of the book. 

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees for 30 minutes with baking stone on the lowest shelf of oven; no roasting pan in the bottom of the oven as required in previous method.  By the way, I recently got an oven thermometer and learned my oven was off by 30 degrees (lower) when set on 450 so I’d encourage you to check your oven temp if you haven’t lately.

Shape, rest, covered, on silpat, brush with water, sprinkle with mixed sesame seeds and kosher salt, and slash as in original recipe.

When oven is ready, place silpat with bread on baking stone and cover with a disposable baking pan large enough to cover the dough completely and still fit on baking stone.  This is now how the steam is generated instead of water poured into a hot roasting pan.

Bake for 15 minutes.    Remove baking pan and move bread, without silpat or baking stone, to an upper rack in oven and bake an additional 10 minutes or until golden brown.

This steam method works-when you take the disposable baking pan off the bread, there is still steam under there so be careful not to burn yourself.  I didn’t have any problems with my oven from the other steam method, but read about plenty of people who had problems with the control boards going out which was blamed on the steam.  This method avoids any possibility of that.  Moving the bread up in the oven for part of the baking time gives the top crust more color and crunch.

Are you baking your own bread?  I’d love to hear about your experiences, methods in the comments.

Homemade Wheat Bread Crostinis



I’ve admitted before that I could exist on appetizers.  I just love bites of “this and that” much more than a big serving of just “this”.   Here’s an example.  I could have happily just eaten the homemade wheat crostinis, cheese, and grapes and skipped the meal (which was pretty good: my “not just for special occasion roasted chicken”, a huge crunchy green salad and fresh broccoli).  I managed to resist and share the appetizers with our guests!

Recipe for Honey Wheat and Oatmeal Hamburger Buns

If you’ve been reading the blog for a while, you know I like to make our bread in my bread machine or by hand using mostly whole wheat flour.  I wondered if the bread machine recipe would work to make buns so I used the basic recipe but used the dough hook in my mixer, did the rises, and then used the oven with a pan of water in the bottom to generate steam as described in my post on no knead bread.

Recipe for Rosemary White Bean Crostini



Here’s a healthy and quick appetizer or snack that is sure to please.  The rosemary, wine and shallots play very nicely together.  I used my new favorite healthy baguette recipe for the bread.

Makes about 2 cups of dip, approximately 83 calories, 0.8 grams fat, 13 grams carbs, 3 grams fiber, 4.3 grams protein, 2 WW Points+, per ¼ cup

Bread: approximately 21 calories, 0.1 grams fat, 4.25 grams carbs, 0.5 grams fiber, 1 grams protein, 1 WW Points+ per ½ of thin slice

"Healthy Bread in Five Minutes" Master Dough Recipe

Jeff Hertzberg, M.D. and Zoë François have written a couple of books and have a website and videos describing their no knead healthy and artisan breads.  I’m a big fan of whole wheat homemade bread and use my bread machine faithfully for our sandwich bread.

I was intrigued by this claim of 5 minutes a day to make great bread.  Of course, it takes longer than five minutes but it is great bread.  You can watch the authors make this basic recipe here:

 

I didn’t make the boule shape, opting instead for a baguette.  I followed the recipe outlined in the video except I used ¼ cup more water than they suggest as my dough was not wet like theirs was. 

This turned out really yummy, has only 5 ingredients-flour, water, yeast, salt and vital wheat gluten (a godsend when baking with whole wheat), and is a snap to make, even if it takes a bit longer than 5 minutes.    There is no sugar or sugar substitute in the recipe.

The master recipe mixes up a large amount, enough for 4 small loaves or baguettes and can be stored for up to 2 weeks in the fridge.

Whole Wheat Oatmeal Bread

I’ve been making my own bread for about 3 years now (in a bread machine). While I’ve been on phase 2 of the South Beach diet, I’ve cut down on bread products and when I do have bread, it is either whole wheat sandwich thins or whole wheat bagel thins. For the hubby, though, I make this bread which, after faithfully, uncomplainingly trying many versions, is his favorite. This one seems just right: good for you, good texture, good taste, easy to slice.