French Boule, or, A (Gratuitous) Book Plug, or, A Thank-You Note

We must admit, we have been long skeptical of any book whose title includes the words “artisan” and “five minutes.”  Especially when dealing with bread, everyone knows that the long, arduous journey of preparation is just as much a part of the homemade bread “experience” as that final triumphant moment when the bread knife finally bites through that perfectly browned, crackly crust.

Nothing “artisan” ever involved a mere twelfth of an hour.

The now famous “no-knead” bread comes pretty close, with minimal actual effort, but involves a preplanned overnight wait and two-stage baking using heavy and really really hot cast iron vessels.

But what if we opened the refrigerator and pulled out of a bucket a grapefruit-sized hunk of stored dough (which only took 5 minutes to mix up one afternoon, maybe as long as two weeks ago), and we spent 1 minute wrapping it into a ball like this . . .

. . .  and we let it rest on the counter for 40 minutes, then baked it for 30 minutes, resulting in this:

What if we were only ever 70 minutes (or less!) away from a fresh-baked, artisan loaf of bread?  And what if we only had to put forth a few minutes (literally) of work time to achieve it?

Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day makes this dream a reality.  Yes, we were skeptical, but now we are believers.

We know, this book has been out forever and everyone has talked about it – well, tonight it is our turn.  This book really is worth buying, if you have even the slightest interest in trying your hand at homemade bread.

Or, better yet, perhaps a good friend and fellow food enthusiast will give you the book as a gift.  Thanks, Jeff!!  And thanks to Allyson and Ed, who provided our new favorite food photography lens, the Nikon 35mm f/1.8G.