Jump to content
  • Welcome to the eG Forums, a service of the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters. The Society is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the culinary arts. These advertising-free forums are provided free of charge through donations from Society members. Anyone may read the forums, but to post you must create a free account.

"Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day" Zoe Francois (2010–)


robirdstx

Recommended Posts

That is a beautiful loaf.

I've also been fiddling with the basic recipe and have a variant which is gaining rave reviews (at home).

I substitute just under a cup of whole wheat flour for one of the six cups of white in the standard recipe, plus I throw in about ½ - ¾ cup of kibbled grains and a rough handful each of pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and linseed (aka flax seeds). When forming the loaf (this method) I roll the dough in a bit more kibbled grain.

The texture is if anything slightly lighter than the 'plain white' version, with a good crunch to the crust being helped by the kibbled grain sticking to it. I'll see about a photo sometime soon.

That sounds really good. And in looking back, I am going to use your folding method next time out. Thanks.

The Philip Mahl Community teaching kitchen is now open. Check it out. "Philip Mahl Memorial Kitchen" on Facebook. Website coming soon.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The planets were in alignment last night, so here are the photos threatened/promised above ...

A blob of dough, straight from my container. Note interesting seeds:

Bread_1.jpg

A sprinkle of kibbled grains on the benchtop, ready for the part-folded loaf to be plopped onto to finish shaping (this is after the 'fold the edges into the middle, then flatten a bit' stage and before the 'fold one edge over' stage):

Bread_2.jpg

Shaped, slashed and ready for the oven:

Bread_3.jpg

Half an hour or so later:

Bread_4.jpg

And this morning, ready for my toast:

Bread_5.jpg

I really like this mix with the kibbled grain, sunflower, pumpkin and flax seeds.

One caution; not wishing to be indelicate, but if you eat enough the effect on one's bowels is, let's say, not insignificant!

Leslie Craven, aka "lesliec"
Host, eG Forumslcraven@egstaff.org

After a good dinner one can forgive anybody, even one's own relatives ~ Oscar Wilde

My eG Foodblog

eGullet Ethics Code signatory

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The planets were in alignment last night, so here are the photos threatened/promised above ...

A blob of dough, straight from my container. Note interesting seeds:

Bread_1.jpg

A sprinkle of kibbled grains on the benchtop, ready for the part-folded loaf to be plopped onto to finish shaping (this is after the 'fold the edges into the middle, then flatten a bit' stage and before the 'fold one edge over' stage):

Bread_2.jpg

Shaped, slashed and ready for the oven:

Bread_3.jpg

Half an hour or so later:

Bread_4.jpg

And this morning, ready for my toast:

Bread_5.jpg

I really like this mix with the kibbled grain, sunflower, pumpkin and flax seeds.

One caution; not wishing to be indelicate, but if you eat enough the effect on one's bowels is, let's say, not insignificant!

Lovely - what do you use for slashing?

The Philip Mahl Community teaching kitchen is now open. Check it out. "Philip Mahl Memorial Kitchen" on Facebook. Website coming soon.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

this thread has inspired me to start baking bread again.

I have this:

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/items/lame-bread-slashing-tool

but have never in the past got it to work well: it seems to deflate the bread rather than slash it

any help? any vids?

many thanks!

Try using a scissor, snipe almost to the level of the pan - You should get a lot of oven bounce.

The Philip Mahl Community teaching kitchen is now open. Check it out. "Philip Mahl Memorial Kitchen" on Facebook. Website coming soon.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jmahl, what was your favorite recipe for caraway flavored bread?

Can you sprinkle caraway seeds on the surface, do they burn or become hard/unpleasant?

I had some caraway flavored breadsticks the other day at a restaurant and they were addictive with mustard.

Now I have a jar of caraway seeds I need to use up!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi, Rotuts. Welcome back to breadmaking!

I also have a lame like yours but I've found it completely useless for this recipe. I suspect it's because of the high moisture content in the five-minute dough; something more serious is required. There's a photo of the bread knife I use for slashing over here in my earlier post about shaping - it doesn't get stuck and drag its way through like the lame does, but Jmahl's scissor idea is good too.

Is your cat a British Blue? Two of them own me!

Leslie Craven, aka "lesliec"
Host, eG Forumslcraven@egstaff.org

After a good dinner one can forgive anybody, even one's own relatives ~ Oscar Wilde

My eG Foodblog

eGullet Ethics Code signatory

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i have to get my oven repaired the gas what ever doesnt light the oven all the reast OK

'

that would involve a 'cleaning' of the top etc. not for a while

ill start with my old soughdough and then move to the 5-min

(BTW thats Earthquake, my fathers cat now mine. he is a pure bread american long hair. an orphan when he was brought to my father. in California hence the name. he has a good appetite, and enjoys the woodstove in the winter here in New England. he thinks breakfast is served just as the sun begins to show.very polite about it: tap tap tap with the paws, then a careful bite.)

Edited by rotuts (log)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jmahl, what was your favorite recipe for caraway flavored bread?

Can you sprinkle caraway seeds on the surface, do they burn or become hard/unpleasant?

I had some caraway flavored breadsticks the other day at a restaurant and they were addictive with mustard.

Now I have a jar of caraway seeds I need to use up!

Sure, just your formula maybe 20% whole wheat, 10% rye and for the caraway seeds like 2 Tbs. or more. To stick to the crust, an egg wash of egg beaten and some water. I have also tried milk but it does not glue as well. The seeds do not burn in my experience but, as you know, every oven is different. Having seen your work I have no doubt that you will get very good results.

The Philip Mahl Community teaching kitchen is now open. Check it out. "Philip Mahl Memorial Kitchen" on Facebook. Website coming soon.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Latest attempt at brioch - did not have any honey so used blue agave syrup.

Mona\

The loaf lasted 10 minutes before being gobbled up.

  • Like 1

The Philip Mahl Community teaching kitchen is now open. Check it out. "Philip Mahl Memorial Kitchen" on Facebook. Website coming soon.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

I made three loaves this morning. Or, rather, I mixed the dough over the weekend, boxed it up and baked it this morning.

-- Deli rye. I used a bit more rye and a bit less regular flour than what the recipe said. Bad idea, I guess. It tasted good but didn't rise much at all once shaped.

-- Smoked bread. Took the base recipe and parked 1/3 of the flour in the smoker for one hour.

-- Olive bread. Worked from the base recipe, too. Next time I'd just use the olive oil dough, but people still seemed to like it.

Chris Taylor

Host, eG Forums - ctaylor@egstaff.org

 

I've never met an animal I didn't enjoy with salt and pepper.

Melbourne
Harare, Victoria Falls and some places in between

Link to comment
Share on other sites

this thread has inspired me to start baking bread again. I have this: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/items/lame-bread-slashing-tool but have never in the past got it to work well: it seems to deflate the bread rather than slash it any help? any vids? many thanks!
Try using a scissor, snipe almost to the level of the pan - You should get a lot of oven bounce.
R

If you're bread is deflating when you slash it, I suggest that it is a sign that you are overproofing the dough. To get good openings (grigne) the bread should be somewhat underproofed (about 85% proofed).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

The most surprising though, is the Soft white bread. Hubby had commented that he didn't see why we bothered buying bread anymore and I had explained that he still liked some sandwiches on woolly store-bought bread! So today I decided to give this recipe a try. I mixed up a 1/2 recipe very early this morning (4 a.m.), left it to rise at room temp for a couple of hours and then immediately put it in a bread pan, left it for 40 mins and then baked it. I wasn't expecting much and wasn't about to blame Zoe if it didn't work out. But it did and amazingly so!

The recipe states that it will make three - 11/2lb loaves and suggests a bread pan with dimensions of 9x4x3. This struck me as odd so I did a search on loaf pans and found that the dimensions seem to be a mix of the two standard sizes 9x5 and 8x4!! (Is this a misprint Zoe?). The recipe states that it can be halved or doubled but halving it poses a problem if you intend to bake it in a pan! It will then make one 1 1/2 loaf and leave you with a rather small blob of dough. Undeterred I put all of the dough from the 1/2 recipe into my 9x5x2 1/2 pan and it was the perfect amount. As usual I converted the recipe to weights from volume so this may have been sheer luck that it fit so well.

We had leftover roast beef sandwiches on this bread for lunch today and it got thumbs up even without a long rest in the 'fridge. I am ever more impressed with the recipes in this book!!!!

I made the Soft American-Style White Bread last night with good success. The recipe makes 3 loaves (my loaf pan is approximately 9 x 4 x 3 so the loaf of bread fits perfectly), and I reduced it by 2/3 for a yield of two loaves. I took pictures of the process.

First rise (I proof the dough in the oven). It almost escaped from the container.

7290852070_2aee840852.jpg

I then put it in the fridge for a short time to make the dough more manageable, and used half the dough.

7291183898_caaa1c4c8c.jpg

Second rise.

7291853818_4a1ff29614.jpg

I sprinkled some flour and slashed the top, and put it in the pre-heated oven.

7291854722_bf37933b0a.jpg

I did not hear the timer go off so it spent a few extra minutes in the oven, meaning that the top developed a small crust. Other than that it looked pretty good.

7291859322_1a11dc44db.jpg

I was nervous that it would be hard to get out of the pan in one piece, but that was not an issue.

7292352284_e6bff36da4.jpg

I cut a few slices to try it. There is only a small amount of butter in it but you can really taste it. I was out of regular butter and used goat butter, and I can definitely recognize it (it's great).

7292588748_4c98364a71_z.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Beautiful rye bread, Chris.

I made these little brioches à tête (aka brioches parisiennes) for my daughter. They remind me of Paris - I used to live near a briocherie that had the most amazing deep-brown brioches in all sizes.

7451826200_4b34525691_z.jpg7452086772_1eea4d6e48_z.jpg

7452249700_e3edc62106_z.jpg

They are a little more time-consuming to make than a brioche loaf, and cleaning the fluted-edge pans is somewhat of a hassle, so I don't make then very often. They are really pretty though and have a more interesting texture than the loaf.

The best part of course is biting off the little head.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Beautiful rye bread, Chris.

I made these little brioches à tête (aka brioches parisiennes) for my daughter. They remind me of Paris - I used to live near a briocherie that had the most amazing deep-brown brioches in all sizes.

7451826200_4b34525691_z.jpg7452086772_1eea4d6e48_z.jpg

7452249700_e3edc62106_z.jpg

They are a little more time-consuming to make than a brioche loaf, and cleaning the fluted-edge pans is somewhat of a hassle, so I don't make then very often. They are really pretty though and have a more interesting texture than the loaf.

The best part of course is biting off the little head.

Lovely, I have been showing lots of people how to make these breads at the Philip Mahl Memorial Kitchen and I think I have changes some lives.

The Philip Mahl Community teaching kitchen is now open. Check it out. "Philip Mahl Memorial Kitchen" on Facebook. Website coming soon.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I made these little brioches à tête (aka brioches parisiennes) for my daughter. They remind me of Paris - I used to live near a briocherie that had the most amazing deep-brown brioches in all sizes.

The best part of course is biting off the little head.

So beautiful! And I bet they taste phenomenal, too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The planets were in alignment last night, so here are the photos threatened/promised above ...

And this morning, ready for my toast:

Bread_5.jpg

I really like this mix with the kibbled grain, sunflower, pumpkin and flax seeds.

One caution; not wishing to be indelicate, but if you eat enough the effect on one's bowels is, let's say, not insignificant!

Beautiful and very inspiring. Where do you find kibbled grain?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...