Sometimes the best discoveries come from happy accidents. I made a pan of caramel cinnamon buns and I was the only one home to eat them. That in itself is no great tragedy, I took great pleasure in sitting down with a cup of coffee and a warm sticky bun in the perfection of solitude. But, the day went by and the kids were busy with sports, finals and all that kids are busy with, so I found myself with a pan of lovely, albeit slightly stale rolls. My boys would have happily devoured them as a midnight snack, but for my taste they were a bit stiff, after 12 hours on the counter. We talk about using stale bread for pudding in our books, that’s not news, but this recipe elevates a rather humble dessert to a special occasion by using sticky buns. I just put the sticky buns right back in the cake pan, with the caramel and all, then covered it with custard. I baked them and a new classic was born in my house. I served the pudding as dessert, but they are also perfect for breakfast or brunch. 

1 1/2 pounds brioche dough – I used the recipe from The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, but you can use Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day or the Gluten-Free Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day as well.

Filling and caramel for pan:

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon orange zest
6 tablespoons butter, melted

Mix together the sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon and zest in a bowl. Divide the sugar mixture in half.

Brush half the butter over the rolled out dough. Here is the technique for creating the cinnamon rolls.

Mix together the remaining sugar mixture and butter, then spread it over the bottom of a Cake Pan, 8-Inch x 3-Inch (if you don’t have one with such high sides, use a 9-inch pan). Place the rolls over this sugar butter mixture.

Bake at 350°F for about 25 to 30 minutes or until just set in the middle.

If you want to make the bread pudding you can skip this stage, but I wanted to show you what they look like inverted onto a plate. Pretty, pretty, pretty little sirens. Go ahead and eat one before you make the pudding, it just makes more room for the custard. If you’ve inverted the buns to sample one or two, then put them back into the pan, with the caramel, to make the pudding.

Pudding custard from The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: 

6 egg yolks

3 cups half-and-half

1/4 cup sugar ( I reduced the amount, since the rolls are sweet)

3 tablespoons rum

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/8 teaspoon fresh nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon orange zest

Mix together the custard and pour it over the baked cinnamon sticky buns in the pan. Let them sit in the custard for at least 30 minutes, but you can refrigerate them overnight.

Reduce the oven temperature to 325°F.

Bake until the custard is just set. 30-45+ minutes. The time will depend on the temperature of the custard and buns.

Serve them warm or room temperature.

I poured a bit of half-and-half over them, but you can top with ice cream and/or fruit.

The cup made by my pottery instructor Kevin Caufield.

I’ve just returned from an incredible week in Denver. I was there working with Craftsy to create another class, this time on show stopping cheesecakes (it will be out in a few weeks). I love working the with the Craftsy team. They work hard and laugh harder. We spent months developing the class concept, all the materials/recipes and then got together for 4 days of non-stop baking and filming. I like to think I’m a hard worker, but then I see the folks at Craftsy and I realize how much more a human can do in a single day when they work as a team. I loved it. Not only the work, but also the people. Writing books and blogging are two pretty solitary jobs, so having 5 days in the kitchen with their crew was a blast. It’s fun to watch other people create beautiful food. It is also fun to see my recipes come to life.

As we were prepping all the cheesecakes for my class, Victoria, the kitchen assistant extraordinaire, told me about a bread she bakes for her young daughter. Victoria helped me on my Craftsy bread class* and played with the recipe to create a rainbow of colors with it. Brilliant. I immediately thought of a Valentine’s Day Bread with swirls of pink and red.

*If you haven’t checked out our Artisan Bread in Minutes class on Craftsy, I am always so happy to have new bakers join the class. If you’re interested be sure to use this link to sign up, you’ll get $20 off. It makes a lovely Valentine’s Day Gift for the baker in your life.

Red Swirled Valentine’s Day Bread:

1 1/2 cups lukewarm water

1 tablespoon Platinum Red Star Yeast

1 tablespoon kosher salt

8 eggs

1/2 cup honey

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, melted, plus more butter for the loaf pan

7 1/2 (1065g) cups all-purpose flour (measure with scoop and sweep)

Gel Paste Food Color

Egg white wash – egg white mixed with 1 teaspoon water

Red Sprinkles for top

In a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the water, Platinum yeast, salt, eggs, honey and butter together. Add the flour and mix on low until combined.

I like to use gel colors, because you get a more intense color and they are neater than the paste. But, if you have one you like to use, any will work. You are going to be adding color, then dividing the dough and adding more color, so you’ll end up with 4 bowls of dough in the end.

Start out with a little color, so the first batch is a pale pink.

Take one pound of the pink dough out, then add more color and mix in thoroughly. Remove another pound of this slightly darker dough. Repeat two more times.

You’ll end up with four bowls of dough, ranging from light pink to dark red.

Loosely cover the containers and let sit for about 2 hours so the dough can rise. You can use it right away or refrigerate the dough for up to 5 days.

When you are ready to make the bread, form each colored dough into a ball

and roll them into 1/8-inch-thick rectangles.

Repeat with the other colored doughs and then stack them on top of each other.

You want them all to be the same size and thickness.

Once they are all stacked, roll the dough out to be about 1/4-inch-thick.

Starting on the long end of the rectangle, roll the dough into a log.

Cut the log in two equal pieces. The layers will be very distinct when you cut them.

Take one of the logs and cut it lengthwise, down the middle. wrap and refrigerate the other log for another loaf.

Twist the two pieces, keeping the cut side facing up.

You will end up with a twisted rope.

Place it into a well buttered Loaf Pan and brush with egg white wash. You don’t want to use the full egg or it will change the color of the bread too much when it is baked.

Let the loaf rest for about 90 minutes (45 if you are using non-refrigerated dough). Brush with more egg white wash and sprinkle with red sugar sprinkles.

Preheat oven to 325°F

Bake the loaf on the middle rack for about 45 to 50 minutes or until the top feels firm when pressed.

Remove the loaf and let cool in the pan for about 15 minutes.

Turn the loaf out of the pan and let cool to room temperature.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

LESAFFRE YEAST CORP. (RED STAR) PROVIDED YEAST SAMPLES FOR RECIPE TESTING, AND SPONSORS BREADIN5’S WEBSITE AND OTHER PROMOTIONAL ACTIVITIES.

When I was growing up in Connecticut I’d spend a fair amount of time in New York City. Every time I’d get off the train I’d get a pretzel from a cart outside the station. That and a trip to the Papaya King were enough to get me through the day. It was a cheap, tasty and filling snack for a teenager.

Part of the characteristics of that perfect New York pretzel is the way they look. Philadelphia has a pretzel culture too, but you’d never confuse it with it’s northern cousin, due to the shape. Philly has figure-8 knots and New York has…pretzel shape. It is admittadly nostalgia that makes me partial to the New York version. And you really should serve them with mustard to complete the experience. I like a grainy mustard and that is just not at all traditional, oh well.

How-to Shape a New York Pretzel Video.

Pretzel Dough from The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day:

3 cups lukewarm water

1 tablespoon Platinum Yeast

1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt

2 tablespoons Non-diastatic malt powder (or sugar)

6 1/2 cups (2 pounds) bread flour – (this will make a stronger dough and holds up to boiling the pretzels. BUT, I’m not going to boil these pretzels, so feel free to use all-purpose flour for this recipe. If you want to boil the pretzels, be sure to use the bread flour.)

For top of the Pretzels:

2 cups water

2 tablespoons baking soda – (We didn’t use lye, because it is a chemical that few people will have on hand and it is a bit risky to use. If you are committed to the authentic pretzel you really will want to find some lye and be very careful when using it, there are some pretty significant warnings on the label.)

1 tablespoon sugar

Pretzel Salt

If you’ve used bread flour, you’ll notice it is dryer than our master recipe (which uses all-purpose flour), and this is by design, so that the dough will hold up when dipped in the baking soda solution.

Because of the bread flour and the Platinum yeast, you’ll see lots of air holes in the dough. Refrigerate and use the dough over the next 14 days.

When you are ready to make your pretzels:

Preheat the oven to 375°F (this is a touch hotter than we say in the book. I did this because my pretzels are bigger and I liked the color, crispness and interior with the hotter oven.)

I’ve made larger pretzels than we make in our book, but you can make them any size you like. These are about 6-ounces each. If you take 2-pounds out of the bucket (about half the dough) and divide it into 5 pieces, you’ll come up with about the right amount of dough.

Form each piece into smooth balls. Cover them and let them rest for about 30 minutes to relax. This will help in your shaping.

Here is a video that shows how to get the right shape. I made a simple pretzel and one with an extra twist:

(Thank you to my son, Henri, for shooting and editing the video. So great to have a teenager in the house.)

After you shape your pretzel, place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, cover them and let them rest for about 20 to 30 minutes.

While they are resting, mix the water, baking soda and sugar, stirring until the soda and sugar has dissolved completely.  Brush the pretzels with the baking soda solution.

Sprinkle with pretzel salt or coarse salt. You can slash with a Lame or knife along the bottom or leave them as is, both are a fine look.

Bake with steam for about 20 to 30 minutes, or until nicely browned.

Let cool on a rack.

Serve with your favorite mustard or with nothing at all.

When we first wrote Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day in 2007 we were immediately asked how to convert the recipes to whole grains. We knew then that we’d be writing another book to satisfy the appetite for healthier breads. We also discovered gluten-free flours and developed our first breads made with them. The book answered a lot of questions and concerns about eating whole grains, but since 2009, when it first came out, we’ve learned even more. Our readers have become curious about ancient grains, baking with sourdough starter and they wanted even more 100% whole wheat. Well, we got the opportunity to create a new edition of the book and we’re thrilled to introduce you to the The New Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day: Revised and Updated with New Recipes.

We’ve added more photos to inspire you and make baking easier, all the recipes are in cup measures and weights, since we love baking with a scale and we’ve added charts for different kinds of flour, since there are so many on the market to choose from. There is a vast chapter of tips and techniques, but we are always available here on the website for your questions.

Now let’s dive into our Master Recipe, which didn’t change much, because it works so well and it is a great place to start for people who aren’t used to baking with whole grains.  With whole grain baking you need more water, and one extra ingredient called Vital Wheat Gluten (sometimes labeled “vital wheat gluten flour”), which is available in most supermarkets, or mail-order/on-line from anywhere…

Whole grains can make for a drier results; all that bran soaks up water.  So we increased the water for all the new recipes.  But that was only part of it.  We found that boosting the gluten content with vital wheat gluten increased the amount of time we can store the dough. Storing the dough is why our recipes are different from all others and makes baking so fast. Vital wheat gluten makes whole grain dough springy enough to be stored in the refrigerator as a large batch. We also offer a version without vital wheat gluten in the book for those who prefer not to use it or can’t find it.

What is vital wheat gluten?  It’s the protein-rich part of wheat that creates the strands that trap gas bubbles and allow yeasted bread to rise (and stay risen).  It doesn’t take much vital wheat gluten to make a difference in a 4 to 5 pound batch of whole grain dough.  Just 2 to 4 tablespoons are all you need, so while the whole bag or box may seem expensive, it doesn’t add much to the cost of baking.

So where do you get vital wheat gluten? Most supermarkets in larger towns and cities carry it.  The two brands in U.S. supermarkets are Bob’s Red Mill and Hodgson Mill, and we tested those extensively.  If your local store doesn’t carry vital wheat gluten, you can mail-order it from Amazon; click for either the Bob’s Red Mill product, or the Hodgson Mill product (you can also order directly from those companys’ websites).  Amazon carries other vital wheat gluten brands but we’ve never tried them.

Master recipe from The New Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day:

There are many, many more details are in the book, along with plenty of recipes that are 100% whole grain; this recipe is about 73% whole grain:

Ingredients:

5 1/2 cups (750g) whole wheat flour – This is based on Gold Medal Flour, but we have a chart in the book so you can easily bake with King Arthur, Bob’s Red Mill, Sprouted Wheat, Kamut, Einkorn, Spelt or Hodgson Mill.

2 cups (300g) unbleached all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon (10g) granulated yeast – can decrease. You can use any kind of yeast including: instant, “quick,” rapid rise, bread machine, or a ctive dry. We’ve always tested with Red Star Yeast and they have a new premium product called PLATINUM, which has worked beautifully in our recipes. You can also decrease the amount of yeast in the recipe by following the directions here. Or you can bake with a sour dough starter, see instructions here.)

1 tablespoon (15g) Kosher salt – can adjust to taste or health concerns

1/4 cup (40g) vital wheat gluten (or vital wheat gluten flour) – Here is a version without vital wheat gluten

4 cups (910g) lukewarm water (about 100°F)

1 to 2 tablespoons of whole seed mixture for sprinkling on top crust:  sesame, flaxseed, caraway, raw sunflower, poppy, and or anise

To make the dough:

First, measure the dry ingredients into a 6-Quart Round Container or bowl, and whisk them together (you can also use a fork, or if it’s lidded, just shake them well).  Mixing the dry ingredients first prevents the vital wheat gluten from forming clumps once liquids are added.

Add the water to form a wet dough and mix with a Danish Dough Whisk or wooden spoon.

Don’t add additional flour to dry this out. It should be wet and shaggy.

Cover loosely (leave lid open a crack) or you can piece a small hole in the lid, as you see above. Allow to rise for two hours at room temperature (if you decreased the yeast, you’ll need more time).  NEVER PUNCH DOWN.  The dough will rise and then begin to collapse.  Refrigerate and use over the next 14 days, tearing off one-pound loaves as you need them.

On baking day, cut off a grapefruit-sized piece of dough (about a pound), using a serrated knife or a Kitchen Shears.

Quickly shape a loaf as you’ve seen in our videos on this website.

It should take less than a minute— you pull the top around to the bottom, rotating quarter-turns as you go.  DON’T KNEAD or otherwise knock all the gas out of the loaf.

Cover the loaf loosely with plastic wrap and let it rest on a pizza peel covered with cornmeal or parchment for 90 minutes (40 minutes if you’re using fresh, unrefrigerated dough.)   Depending on the age of the dough, you may not see much rise and it may spread out. The bottom loaf in the photo is just after shaping and then the one above it has rested and is ready for baking. Our loaves depend more on “oven spring” for rising.

Preheat the oven to 450°F (230 degrees C), with a baking stone placed on a middle rack.  Place an empty broiler tray for holding water on any other rack that won’t interfere with rising bread.

Just before baking, use a pastry brush to paint the top with water (we’ve dropped the cornstarch wash) and sprinkle with seed mixture.

Slash the loaf with 1/2-inch deep parallel cuts across the top (or a singe lengthwise cut as in the first picture).  Use a serrated bread knife held perpendicularly to the loaf:

Slide onto the hot stone…

…and carefully pour 1 cup of hot tap water into the broiler tray (in the book, we give alternatives for creating that steam environment, which is essential for creating a great crust):

After a 30-minute bake, remove from oven and take the bread off the parchment.

cool on a cooling rack.

Below are more shapes and ways to bake our Master recipe. All of these techniques are featured in the book:

Baking in a Dutch Oven is a great way to get a perfect crust without adding steam to the oven.

Slow Cooker bread from our Master recipe

Master recipe baked in a Cloche

Epi and wreath from Master recipe

Moon and stars made from Master recipe. And there are many more in the book, plus 100 other recipes. This may be our biggest book yet!

Studio silliness from our photo shoot with Sarah Kieffer and Stephen Scott Gross, who we credit for helping us make this book a real beauty. Thank you both!

(Many of the pictures in this post are by Stephen Scott Gross, who did the photography For New Healthy Bread in Five). The rest are by Zoe.

I was thrilled when doughnuts took over as the “hot dessert trend” from the fanciful cupcake. I do like cupcakes, but they don’t excite me like a freshly made doughnut. These days you can find gourmet doughnut shops popping up all over the USA. They offer the classic flavors along with some very exotic, even esoteric combinations. I’ve seen everything from bacon to rose petals on a doughnut. I’ve tried every combination I can find and for me it all comes down to the dough. I like soft, airy yeast dough and it should be slightly sweet, but not overly so. The gourmet shops use great ingredients and treat their dough with TLC, so they often cost a small fortune. Truth is, homemade doughnuts are super easy and quick to make, especially with our five minute dough. You can make them as fancy or simple as you like and they only cost about 20 cents each, add a few cents for the bacon and rose petals!

Doughnuts start with Brioche Dough. I used the dough from The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, but you can make a batch with whole grains from Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day.

1 1/2 cups Water

1 tablespoon Red Star Platinum, Quick Rise or Active Dry Yeast

1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons Kosher Salt

8 large Eggs

1/2 cup Honey

3 sticks Unsalted Butter

7 1/2 cups All-Purpose Gold Medal Flour

– Mix the yeast, salt, eggs, honey and melted butter with the water in a 6-quart lidded container. Add the flour and combine with a Danish Dough Whisk or 5-Quart Stand Mixer (with paddle) until a smooth dough forms. Cover, but not airtight, and allow to rest on the counter for 2 hours. It will be quite wet and can’t be used until thoroughly chilled. Refrigerate and use over the next 5 days. For more detailed instructions please refer to page 301 of The New ABin5.

To fry the doughnuts:

Vegetable Oil – 3 to 4 inches deep, use a pot that is large enough that your oil is not sitting too high in the pot.

Cinnamon sugar (one cup sugar + 2 tablespoons cinnamon)

or

Powdered sugar

My 13 year-old son and his friend make doughnuts for themselves. Mine are old enough to use the stove, but you may need to be on hand to help with that portion of the process.

Pull out a 1-pound piece of dough and roll it out to a 1/2-inch thick. Use a Doughnut Cutter or round cookie or biscuit cutters.

Use a small cutter to use up all of the scraps. Allow the dough to sit for at least 20 minutes while the oil heats up. I got distracted before heating the oil and the dough sat out for about an hour. The doughnuts were amazingly light and airy. It isn’t necessary, but if you have the time and patience to let the dough sit longer, give it a try.

Once your oil reads 360-370°F on a Candy Thermometer you are ready to fry. I used a smallish pot, so I was only able to fry two doughnuts at a time. The amount will depend on the size of your doughnuts and pots, but be sure not to over crowd them.

Use a slotted spoon or Basket Strainer to flip the doughnuts over after about 2 minutes and then to take them out of the oil once they are golden brown on both sides. Lay them out on paper towel to allow some of the oil to drain off.

Whisk together the cinnamon sugar in a large bowl and dip the doughnuts in it or dust them with powdered sugar. You can get fancier with the toppings if you like. Here are some that we filled with jam.

Eat them slightly warm. The texture is magic.

All you need is a cup of coffee and you have morning perfection, or evening or afternoon.

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When we wrote Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day in 2009, we made a strategic choice. We knew that most of our readers liked their bread light and fluffy, and our refrigerator storage technique could be unforgiving when you used a lot of whole grains. For some of our tasters, whole-grain bread made from wet dough stored in the fridge could be a little too dense for their taste. So we lightened things up a bit, by boosting the gluten in our whole grain doughs that appear in that book, using vital wheat gluten (VWG). Well, I’ve been experimenting on whole-grain doughs stored without VWG, and I’ve been pleased with the results. Here’s a simple alternative recipe for whole grain loaves without the added gluten. Plus, highlights from our appearance at the Mill City Bread Festival. Here’s what I made at the Mill City Bread Festival this past Saturday, about a 50% whole grain dough–as you can see, you need a little extra water when you swap in whole grains:

3 cups plus 2 tablespoons lukewarm water, about 100ºF (25 oz./710g)

1 package (2¼ teaspoons) granulated yeast (instant or active dry)

1½ tablespoons kosher or other coarse salt (can decrease to 1 tablespoon to taste)

3½ cups all-purpose unbleached flour, measured by the “scoop-and-sweep” method (17 oz./490g)

3 cups Whole Wheat Flour, measured by the “scoop-and-sweep” method (13½ oz./385g)

Flour, cornmeal, or parchment paper

1.  Mixing and storing the dough:  In a 5-quart container or bowl, mix yeast, water, and salt. Add the flours, then use a wooden spoon, stand mixer, or high-capacity food processor to mix until uniformly moist. This will produce a loose dough.

2. Cover with a lid (not airtight). Allow to rise at room temperature for about 2 hours.

3. The dough can be shaped and baked the day it’s mixed, or refrigerated in a lidded container (not completely airtight) or a bowl loosely covered with plastic wrap for up to 10 days. The dough will be easier to work with after at least 3 hours refrigeration.

4. On baking day, sprinkle the surface of the dough with flour. Cut off a 1-pound (grapefruit-sized) piece. Cover the remaining dough and refrigerate for up to 10 days—flavor will develop during storage.

5. Shape and bake as directed in our Master Recipe post.

That recipe is about 50% whole-grain, but you can even experiment with a 100% whole grain swap in our white flour recipes. I’ve found that most of our 4-pound dough recipes made with white flour can be changed to whole wheat, but you need to increase the liquid by 1/4 cup. When I go 100% whole-grain, I often swap a couple of tablespoons of oil or melted butter for the same amount of water, and add a tablespoon of sugar or other sweetener–both of those act as tenderizers. For 100% whole-grain dough, limit the refrigerator-storage to 5 days. 

It actually is just that simple. The dough doesn’t hold it’s shape quite as well as when you use vital wheat gluten, but it’s not bad at all. Here’s the slashing step on a free-form loaf bread, painted with water and sprinkled with seeds:

…and it baked up beautifully:

I’ve even found that you can braid with this kind of dough, so see what you think about converting our challah dough from The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, using this same simple switch:

So if you’re not wild about adding gluten to our whole grain dough, try this alternative, and check back here if you have any question about your results.

Highlights from last Saturday’s Mill City Farmers Market Bread Festival (photos courtesy of Mill City Times):

…

…

Awesome sausage from Red Table Meat, which has a booth at the market:

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It wasn’t that long ago I spent a magic filled weekend with Todd and Diane (White on Rice Couple) in their California studio. It was one of those experiences I will never forget. Not only is their sun soaked space a dream come true for anyone with a camera, but they have a prop room the size of most homes. They invited a group of food bloggers to play in their kitchen and challenged all of us to push our photography in new directions. The talent of the group was mind bending, but it was really the generosity of the group, who freely shared their wisdom, that was so inspiring.

One of the lovely people I met that weekend was Gina Homolka from SkinnyTaste. Her blog and her book are both beautiful and a pure reflection of the woman behind them. She served a salad at the studio party that was simply incredible, so I bought her book. Now that I am home in the polar vortex that is Minnesota, and pretty much snowed in until March, I am all about hot soups. I wanted something that felt hearty enough to conquer the cold, but didn’t make me feel like I needed to nap after. I flipped through Gina’s book and found “Un”stuffed Cabbage Soup. I love stuffed cabbage. It reminds me of my grandmother’s kitchen, but I’ve never had the patience to make them. This soup has all of those wonderful flavors, but none of the work. Perfect for a cold night with a loaf of fresh bread. I went with an ultra crusty Epi, but to keep it skinny, I made mini ones.

Cabbage Soup inspired by Gina Homolka’s “Un”Stuffed Cabbage Soup from SkinnyTaste

Serves 8

1 pound lean ground beef – I had beef that was cut in cubes for stew, so I used that instead and it was awesome.

1 teaspoon salt

1 large white onion, finely chopped

3 garlic cloves, finely minced

1 1/2 teaspoons sweet paprika

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

2 (14.5 ounce) cans of petite diced tomatoes

1 (8-ounce) can tomatoe sauce

5 cups unsalted beef stock

2 tablespoons honey – my grandmother’s sauce was a touch sweet, so I added this, but try it without, as Gina wrote it, first.

4 cups chopped green cabbage

Freshly ground black pepper

1 cup cooked brown rice

Brown the meat over high heat in a large Dutch Oven. If you are using the cubed meat, then you’ll want to brown in some oil. Add the salt as you are browning. Once the meat is browned, turn down the heat to medium, toss in the onions, garlic, paprika, and thyme. Toss to coat the meat and cook for about 5 minutes to toast soften the onions. Add the tomatoes, tomato sauce, and beef stock*. Add the honey, if using. If you are using the cubed beef, cook for about an hour, or until the beef is tender. Once the beef is tender, add the cabbage and cook until it is soft, about 35 minutes. Add the brown rice and serve.

*(If you are using the ground beef you can add the cabbage with the beef stock and cook until soft, about 35 minutes.)

To make the mini Epi:

I used the Master recipe from The NewABin5 with Red Star Platinum Yeast, but you can use any lean dough from our books. (A lean dough is one that has little or no fats, eggs, sweeteners, which means it can be baked at a higher temperature. If you use one that is enriched with the ingredients I mentioned, then follow the baking temperatures for those doughs or they may burn.) You can also use the Master Recipe from our new Gluten-Free Book.

In our books we say to use an 8-ounce piece of dough for an Epi, but I wanted these to be smaller, so I used 4-ounce pieces.

Preheat oven with a baking stone or steel to 475°F.

Elongate the balls using the letter-fold technique found in The NewABin5 or you can find it in this post. Allow the dough to rise for about 20 to 40 minutes, depending on the type of dough you are using or the temperature of your kitchen. (whole grain doughs will take longer than white dough)

Sprinkle with flour.

Gently smooth the flour over the surface of the dough.

Cut the points on the Epi with a pair of Kitchen Shears that have a long blade, you can find directions in the book or in this post.

Slide the bread onto a preheated baking stone and add steam to the oven to create a nice crust.

Bake for about 20 minutes or until gloden brown.

Allow to cool slightly before eating. Because of their small size, these can be eaten warm.

Enjoy your soup and stay warm!

*Enter to win a copy of SkinnyTaste by leaving a note in the comments. All normal rules apply.  This contest is finished and the lucky winner of SkinnyTaste was Keith! Enjoy the book in good health!

Return to FAQs page

Before I launch into these fantastic buns, our winner of the SuperPeel was… Sandy! Congrats, we’ll be in touch. That contest is now closed.

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, I used these weight equivalents for scoop-and-swept cup measures:

1 cup white all-purpose flour:  5 ounces (140 grams)

1 cup whole wheat flour:  4.5 ounces (130 grams)

1 cup water:  8 ounces (225 grams)

Most home scales aren’t accurate enough to weigh small quantities of yeast and salt for single recipes.

These 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…

I was in a great restaurant recently, and they served baguette buns, which were delicious but the slightest bit stale.  Breads this small go stale fast, and really, the best way to enjoy them is at home, an hour or two after they come out of the oven–and you can even eat these a touch warm and the center won’t seem unready.  So here’s how to do it.

First, let’s use some old dough to kick up the sourdough flavor.  In the book, we say “never wash the dough bucket,” because that old dough gives sourdough flavor a head start in the next stored batch.  You can take that further, by using up to a pound of old dough in the next batch.  The problem is getting that sticky dough to incorporate in the water before adding flour. An immersion blender is the best tool I’ve found for that job.  I have the Braun MR430HC, but the Cuisinart looks good too and Amazon reviewers loved it.  Same for the Kitchen-Aid Immersion Blender. Or just let it sit in the water, and then break it up with a fork.

First measure in some dough.  Since I’m going to show you how to use the new-fangled easy-zeroing digital scales to weigh out ingredients, we may as well measure out exactly one pound of dough (I use a Salter Scale, but the Escali is also good).  Put your dough bucket on the scale, press the “zero” button, and add dough until it reads 1 pound:

Now, press the zero button again and add water by weighing it.  Instead of spooning 3 cups of water (this will be our light whole wheat recipe on page 131 of NewArtisan), just weigh the equivalent amount– it’s 24 ounces U.S. (1 pound 8 ounces).  Now that the water’s in there, you can use the immersion blender to create a uniform slurry of the old dough, but first, throw in 1 tablespoon of yeast. We test with Red Star Active Dry, Quick-Rise, or Platinum…

… and 1 to 1.5 tablespoons of coarse salt (like kosher salt), based on your taste. Be very careful with the blade end of the immersion blender.  Unlike a food processor, there’s no safety interlock to prevent you from touching the blades while they’re running.  Don’t let children use an immersion blender:

When the coast is clear, let it rip, keeping the head of the immersion blender submerged (or you will get splashed!):

Now put the bucket back on the scale, hit the “zero” button again, and weigh in 2 pounds (32 U.S. ounces) of flour (I used a mixture of all-purpose and whole wheat in a ratio of about 5:1 all-purpose:whole wheat to give the result in the Light Whole Wheat recipe on page 74). If you’re using cup-measures, it’s 5 1/2 cups of white flour and 1 cup of whole wheat. White all-purpose flour weights about 5 ounces per cup, and whole wheat weigh about 4.5 ounces per cup, but at this ratio, it’s very close to 2 pounds total flour (32 ounces). More about our mixing our doughs: click here.

Mix it in with a spoon:

…and the dough is ready after about two hours at room temperature:

Store the bucket in the fridge for up to two weeks and tear off chunks as you need it (vent the bucket in the first few days by keeping it open a crack).  For the baguette rolls, form a beautiful baguette using the letter-fold technique (click here to see Zoe’s earlier post on this). Then, using a dough scraper or a knife, make angled parallel cuts about 2 inches apart along the length of the baguette:

The buns will flatten from being cut, and they won’t appear to rise much before baking, but they get great oven “spring” (like all of our no-knead stored-dough recipes).  Let the buns rest on parchment paper or a silicone pad for 20 to 40 minutes:

Preheat a baking stone to 450 degrees Farenheit (230 degrees Celsius) near the middle of the oven for 20 to 30 minutes, with a broiler tray to catch water on any other shelf that won’t interfere with the buns.  Place the parchment or the silicone pad with the buns onto the stone, throw a cup of water into the broiler tray, and bake for about 20 to 25 minutes. You’ll get a gorgeous result, crusty and fragrant:

Wait at least an hour before breaking into them! Any sooner and the texture can be overly moist.  Two hours is about perfect.

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This started out as a dessert post, but then I looked out the window, and it’s October in Minnesota, and fresh berries from the U-pick farm are long over with.  My family needs something warming tonight, so I dropped my almond cream and raspberry idea, and jogged to the store for spinach and feta to go with the pine nuts I already had in the house.  Not only is this thing delicious, but I stashed gobs of spinach into it and it was super kid-friendly anyway. 

First, start preheating the oven to 350 degrees F for about a half-hour.  Saute a pound of fresh spinach in a tablespoon of olive oil, until it’s well-wilted and has given up a good amount of liquid, which you need to discard or the pastry will be soggy.  I peppered but didn’t salt the spinach, because my feta cheese is very salty–taste it first; if it’s bland go ahead and salt the spinach to taste.  Set aside the sauteed spinach while you prepare the dough.

Roll out your favorite enriched dough from the book, like challah, or for a really decadent treat, the brioche— the goal is 1/8 of an inch thick.  It took a little less than a pound to get a rectangle about 8 by 18 inches (a small grapefruit-sized piece of dough).   I bought some really nice imported feta and crumbled a little less than a half pound in a line down the center of the rectangle:

Then, layer the drained spinach over that:

Now sprinkle a generous handful of pine nuts (or chopped walnuts, pistachios, almonds, or pecans) as the last layer before you start the braid (you won’t actually have to braid…):

Using a pizza wheel, make 1/2-inch wide strips down each side. 

Now, fold the strips, one side after the other over the filling, creating the illusion of a real braid:

I’m not quite as artful about this as Zoe is, I’ll admit.  But it basically got the job done and through the magic of gauzy photography, who’s going to be able to tell?  Allow the braid to rest for 40 minutes at room temperature.  Egg wash and black sesame seeds completed the effect, which is something like a Turkish spinach pie  This goes into your pre-heated oven for 35 to 40 minutes and a complete meal is done.  If you can sell this filling, the kids won’t need any other vegetable tonight.

Christmas Stollen is a great tradition this time of year. A sweet loaf that is studded with fruit, spiced with cardamom and a little treat of almond paste runs through it. Once it comes out of the oven we dust it with a thick layer of confectioners’ sugar to look like the snow outside. If there is any left the next day it makes amazing French toast. This is a loaf that also makes a great gift for the holidays.

Speaking of gifts for the bakers on your list, here are 10 great ideas for those who love to bake and folks who want to learn how.

The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day – A perfect place for both experienced bakers and new comers to start. We also have a GF version: Gluten-Free Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.

Bread Baking Craftsy Class – An in depth video class that will guide you through the mixing, shaping and baking of our Master recipe. We’ll make dozens of breads, including everything from a boule to sticky buns. You’ll see our tips for shaping properly and getting the best results from all your breads, no matter which dough you use. If you buy the class through our site you’ll get $20 off the price of the class. Hope you’ll join us.

More gift ideas at the end of the post.

100% white whole wheat Christmas Stollen from Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day

Makes enough for three 1 1/2 pound loaves

6 cups White Whole Wheat Flour

1 tablespoon granulated Red Star Baking Yeast

1 tablespoon kosher salt

1/2 tablespoon ground cardamom

1/4 cup Vital Wheat Gluten

2 cups lukewarm water

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly (see the book for other alternatives)

1/2 cup honey

4 large eggs

1/4 cup brandy (OJ or black tea can be substituted)

1 1/2 cups finely chopped dried and/or candied fruit (you choose your favorites. I used cherries, raisins, craisins, and  apricots.)

1/2 cup Almond Paste, per loaf

Egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water)

Confectioners’ sugar for the top

Mixing the dough: Dump the flour, yeast, salt, cardamom, and vital wheat gluten in a 6-Quart Round Food-Storage Container with Lid and stir them together with a spoon or dough whisk. Add the water, butter, honey, eggs, brandy and dried fruit, mix until well incorporated. No kneading! Cover loosely and let stand on the counter for 2 hours. This dough will be sticky, but much easier to handle after it has been refrigerated for several hours. It can be stored in the refrigerator for 5 days or frozen for 2 weeks.

For a version that is a little more decadent, you can use the Brioche Dough (page 189, ABin5) and add the cardamom, the dried fruit fruit and replace 1/4 of the water for the brandy.

On baking day take a 1 1/2 pound (small cantaloupe-size) piece of dough from the bucket.

Using plenty of flour roll out the dough into a 1/4-inch-thick oval. Form the 1/2 cup almond paste into a rope and lay it onto the dough about a 1/3 of the way from the end.

Fold the dough over the almond paste…

in thirds, so that it forms an S-shape…

when you look at it from the end.

Place the loaf on a Sheet Pan with parchment or a Nonstick Silicone Baking Mat and loosely cover with plastic and let it rest for 90 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350F degree, with rack in the middle of the oven.

Once it has rested brush with the egg wash and bake for 35 to 40 minutes.

Let the loaf cool for about 20 minutes and then Sprinkle it with confections’ sugar…

Until it is completely covered and looks like snow!

Here are our top 10 gift recommendations for getting anyone on your holiday list started with bread baking:

The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day – A perfect place for both experienced bakers and new comers to start. We also have a GF version: Gluten-Free Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Baking Revolution Continues with 90 New, Delicious and Easy Recipes Made with Gluten-Free Flours

Bread Baking Craftsy Class – An in depth video class that will guide you through the mixing, shaping and baking of our Master recipe. We’ll make dozens of breads, including everything from a basic boule to sweet sticky buns. You’ll see our tips for shaping properly and getting the best results from all your breads, no matter which dough you use. If you buy the class through our site you’ll get $20 off the price of the class. Hope you’ll join us.

6-Quart Round Storage Container – the most convenient container to mix and store your dough.

Danish Dough Whisk – The coolest tool you’ll have in your kitchen. It makes mixing our dough even easier.

Scissors – long bladed shears are great for cutting dough from the bucket and for cutting loaves like the epi.

Oven Thermometer – check to make sure your oven is running true to temp with an independent thermometer.

Baking Stone– this classic stone is tried and true, but quite thick, so requires a longer preheat or a thin Rectangular Baking Stone – this stone is thinner, so it heats up quickly and can be used on the grill.

Baking Steel – this baking surface heats up quickly and retains great heat

Pizza Peel– this is perfect for sliding pizzas and breads onto the hot stone.

Serrated Bread Knife – a sharp bread knife is key to cutting a crisp loaf of bread.

Combine any of these with a bag of all-purpose flour and Red Star Yeast and they will be off and baking.

Happy Holidays.

The winner of our Emile Henry Bread Loaf Baker, Red Star Yeast Platinum Yeast and the copy of our book is Michele. Thank you all for the wonderful comments.

Sometimes the best discoveries come from happy accidents. I made a pan of caramel cinnamon buns and I was the only one home to eat them. That in itself is no great tragedy, I took great pleasure in sitting down with a cup of coffee and a warm sticky bun in the perfection of solitude. But, the day went by and the kids were busy with sports, finals and all that kids are busy with, so I found myself with a pan of lovely, albeit slightly stale rolls. My boys would have happily devoured them as a midnight snack, but for my taste they were a bit stiff, after 12 hours on the counter. We talk about using stale bread for pudding in our books, that’s not news, but this recipe elevates a rather humble dessert to a special occasion by using sticky buns. I just put the sticky buns right back in the cake pan, with the caramel and all, then covered it with custard. I baked them and a new classic was born in my house. I served the pudding as dessert, but they are also perfect for breakfast or brunch. 

1 1/2 pounds brioche dough – I used the recipe from The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, but you can use Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day or the Gluten-Free Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day as well.

Filling and caramel for pan:

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon orange zest
6 tablespoons butter, melted

Mix together the sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon and zest in a bowl. Divide the sugar mixture in half.

Brush half the butter over the rolled out dough. Here is the technique for creating the cinnamon rolls.

Mix together the remaining sugar mixture and butter, then spread it over the bottom of a Cake Pan, 8-Inch x 3-Inch (if you don’t have one with such high sides, use a 9-inch pan). Place the rolls over this sugar butter mixture.

Bake at 350°F for about 25 to 30 minutes or until just set in the middle.

If you want to make the bread pudding you can skip this stage, but I wanted to show you what they look like inverted onto a plate. Pretty, pretty, pretty little sirens. Go ahead and eat one before you make the pudding, it just makes more room for the custard. If you’ve inverted the buns to sample one or two, then put them back into the pan, with the caramel, to make the pudding.

Pudding custard from The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: 

6 egg yolks

3 cups half-and-half

1/4 cup sugar ( I reduced the amount, since the rolls are sweet)

3 tablespoons rum

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/8 teaspoon fresh nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon orange zest

Mix together the custard and pour it over the baked cinnamon sticky buns in the pan. Let them sit in the custard for at least 30 minutes, but you can refrigerate them overnight.

Reduce the oven temperature to 325°F.

Bake until the custard is just set. 30-45+ minutes. The time will depend on the temperature of the custard and buns.

Serve them warm or room temperature.

I poured a bit of half-and-half over them, but you can top with ice cream and/or fruit.

The cup made by my pottery instructor Kevin Caufield.

I’ve just returned from an incredible week in Denver. I was there working with Craftsy to create another class, this time on show stopping cheesecakes (it will be out in a few weeks). I love working the with the Craftsy team. They work hard and laugh harder. We spent months developing the class concept, all the materials/recipes and then got together for 4 days of non-stop baking and filming. I like to think I’m a hard worker, but then I see the folks at Craftsy and I realize how much more a human can do in a single day when they work as a team. I loved it. Not only the work, but also the people. Writing books and blogging are two pretty solitary jobs, so having 5 days in the kitchen with their crew was a blast. It’s fun to watch other people create beautiful food. It is also fun to see my recipes come to life.

As we were prepping all the cheesecakes for my class, Victoria, the kitchen assistant extraordinaire, told me about a bread she bakes for her young daughter. Victoria helped me on my Craftsy bread class* and played with the recipe to create a rainbow of colors with it. Brilliant. I immediately thought of a Valentine’s Day Bread with swirls of pink and red.

*If you haven’t checked out our Artisan Bread in Minutes class on Craftsy, I am always so happy to have new bakers join the class. If you’re interested be sure to use this link to sign up, you’ll get $20 off. It makes a lovely Valentine’s Day Gift for the baker in your life.

Red Swirled Valentine’s Day Bread:

1 1/2 cups lukewarm water

1 tablespoon Platinum Red Star Yeast

1 tablespoon kosher salt

8 eggs

1/2 cup honey

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, melted, plus more butter for the loaf pan

7 1/2 (1065g) cups all-purpose flour (measure with scoop and sweep)

Gel Paste Food Color

Egg white wash – egg white mixed with 1 teaspoon water

Red Sprinkles for top

In a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the water, Platinum yeast, salt, eggs, honey and butter together. Add the flour and mix on low until combined.

I like to use gel colors, because you get a more intense color and they are neater than the paste. But, if you have one you like to use, any will work. You are going to be adding color, then dividing the dough and adding more color, so you’ll end up with 4 bowls of dough in the end.

Start out with a little color, so the first batch is a pale pink.

Take one pound of the pink dough out, then add more color and mix in thoroughly. Remove another pound of this slightly darker dough. Repeat two more times.

You’ll end up with four bowls of dough, ranging from light pink to dark red.

Loosely cover the containers and let sit for about 2 hours so the dough can rise. You can use it right away or refrigerate the dough for up to 5 days.

When you are ready to make the bread, form each colored dough into a ball

and roll them into 1/8-inch-thick rectangles.

Repeat with the other colored doughs and then stack them on top of each other.

You want them all to be the same size and thickness.

Once they are all stacked, roll the dough out to be about 1/4-inch-thick.

Starting on the long end of the rectangle, roll the dough into a log.

Cut the log in two equal pieces. The layers will be very distinct when you cut them.

Take one of the logs and cut it lengthwise, down the middle. wrap and refrigerate the other log for another loaf.

Twist the two pieces, keeping the cut side facing up.

You will end up with a twisted rope.

Place it into a well buttered Loaf Pan and brush with egg white wash. You don’t want to use the full egg or it will change the color of the bread too much when it is baked.

Let the loaf rest for about 90 minutes (45 if you are using non-refrigerated dough). Brush with more egg white wash and sprinkle with red sugar sprinkles.

Preheat oven to 325°F

Bake the loaf on the middle rack for about 45 to 50 minutes or until the top feels firm when pressed.

Remove the loaf and let cool in the pan for about 15 minutes.

Turn the loaf out of the pan and let cool to room temperature.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

LESAFFRE YEAST CORP. (RED STAR) PROVIDED YEAST SAMPLES FOR RECIPE TESTING, AND SPONSORS BREADIN5’S WEBSITE AND OTHER PROMOTIONAL ACTIVITIES.

When I was growing up in Connecticut I’d spend a fair amount of time in New York City. Every time I’d get off the train I’d get a pretzel from a cart outside the station. That and a trip to the Papaya King were enough to get me through the day. It was a cheap, tasty and filling snack for a teenager.

Part of the characteristics of that perfect New York pretzel is the way they look. Philadelphia has a pretzel culture too, but you’d never confuse it with it’s northern cousin, due to the shape. Philly has figure-8 knots and New York has…pretzel shape. It is admittadly nostalgia that makes me partial to the New York version. And you really should serve them with mustard to complete the experience. I like a grainy mustard and that is just not at all traditional, oh well.

How-to Shape a New York Pretzel Video.

Pretzel Dough from The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day:

3 cups lukewarm water

1 tablespoon Platinum Yeast

1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt

2 tablespoons Non-diastatic malt powder (or sugar)

6 1/2 cups (2 pounds) bread flour – (this will make a stronger dough and holds up to boiling the pretzels. BUT, I’m not going to boil these pretzels, so feel free to use all-purpose flour for this recipe. If you want to boil the pretzels, be sure to use the bread flour.)

For top of the Pretzels:

2 cups water

2 tablespoons baking soda – (We didn’t use lye, because it is a chemical that few people will have on hand and it is a bit risky to use. If you are committed to the authentic pretzel you really will want to find some lye and be very careful when using it, there are some pretty significant warnings on the label.)

1 tablespoon sugar

Pretzel Salt

If you’ve used bread flour, you’ll notice it is dryer than our master recipe (which uses all-purpose flour), and this is by design, so that the dough will hold up when dipped in the baking soda solution.

Because of the bread flour and the Platinum yeast, you’ll see lots of air holes in the dough. Refrigerate and use the dough over the next 14 days.

When you are ready to make your pretzels:

Preheat the oven to 375°F (this is a touch hotter than we say in the book. I did this because my pretzels are bigger and I liked the color, crispness and interior with the hotter oven.)

I’ve made larger pretzels than we make in our book, but you can make them any size you like. These are about 6-ounces each. If you take 2-pounds out of the bucket (about half the dough) and divide it into 5 pieces, you’ll come up with about the right amount of dough.

Form each piece into smooth balls. Cover them and let them rest for about 30 minutes to relax. This will help in your shaping.

Here is a video that shows how to get the right shape. I made a simple pretzel and one with an extra twist:

(Thank you to my son, Henri, for shooting and editing the video. So great to have a teenager in the house.)

After you shape your pretzel, place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, cover them and let them rest for about 20 to 30 minutes.

While they are resting, mix the water, baking soda and sugar, stirring until the soda and sugar has dissolved completely.  Brush the pretzels with the baking soda solution.

Sprinkle with pretzel salt or coarse salt. You can slash with a Lame or knife along the bottom or leave them as is, both are a fine look.

Bake with steam for about 20 to 30 minutes, or until nicely browned.

Let cool on a rack.

Serve with your favorite mustard or with nothing at all.

(The pictures in this post are by Stephen Scott Gross, who did the photography For New Healthy Bread in Five).

When we first wrote Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day in 2007 we were immediately asked how to convert the recipes to whole grains. We knew then that we’d be writing another book to satisfy the appetite for healthier breads. We also discovered gluten-free flours and developed our first breads made with them. The book answered a lot of questions and concerns about eating whole grains, but since 2009, when it first came out, we’ve learned even more. Our readers have become curious about ancient grains, baking with sourdough starter and they wanted even more 100% whole wheat. Well, we got the opportunity to create a new edition of the book and we’re thrilled to introduce you to the The New Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day: Revised and Updated with New Recipes.

We’ve added more photos to inspire you and make baking easier, all the recipes are in cup measures and weights, since we love baking with a scale and we’ve added charts for different kinds of flour, since there are so many on the market to choose from. There is a vast chapter of tips and techniques, but we are always available here on the website for your questions.

Now let’s dive into our Master Recipe, which didn’t change much, because it works so well and it is a great place to start for people who aren’t used to baking with whole grains.  With whole grain baking you need more water, and one extra ingredient called Vital Wheat Gluten (sometimes labeled “vital wheat gluten flour”), which is available in most supermarkets, or mail-order/on-line from anywhere…

Whole grains can make for a drier results; all that bran soaks up water.  So we increased the water for all the new recipes.  But that was only part of it.  We found that boosting the gluten content with vital wheat gluten increased the amount of time we can store the dough. Storing the dough is why our recipes are different from all others and makes baking so fast. Vital wheat gluten makes whole grain dough springy enough to be stored in the refrigerator as a large batch. We also offer a version without vital wheat gluten in the book for those who prefer not to use it or can’t find it.

What is vital wheat gluten?  It’s the protein-rich part of wheat that creates the strands that trap gas bubbles and allow yeasted bread to rise (and stay risen).  It doesn’t take much vital wheat gluten to make a difference in a 4 to 5 pound batch of whole grain dough.  Just 2 to 4 tablespoons are all you need, so while the whole bag or box may seem expensive, it doesn’t add much to the cost of baking.

So where do you get vital wheat gluten? Most supermarkets in larger towns and cities carry it.  The two brands in U.S. supermarkets are Bob’s Red Mill and Hodgson Mill, and we tested those extensively.  If your local store doesn’t carry vital wheat gluten, you can mail-order it from Amazon; click for either the Bob’s Red Mill product, or the Hodgson Mill product (you can also order directly from those companys’ websites).  Amazon carries other vital wheat gluten brands but we’ve never tried them.

Master recipe from The New Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day:

There are many, many more details are in the book, along with plenty of recipes that are 100% whole grain; this recipe is about 73% whole grain:

Ingredients:

5 1/2 cups (750g) whole wheat flour – This is based on Gold Medal Flour, but we have a chart in the book so you can easily bake with King Arthur, Bob’s Red Mill, Sprouted Wheat, Kamut, Einkorn, Spelt or Hodgson Mill.

2 cups (300g) unbleached all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon (10g) granulated yeast – can decrease. You can use any kind of yeast including: instant, “quick,” rapid rise, bread machine, or a ctive dry. We’ve always tested with Red Star Yeast and they have a new premium product called PLATINUM, which has worked beautifully in our recipes. You can also decrease the amount of yeast in the recipe by following the directions here. Or you can bake with a sour dough starter, see instructions here.)

1 tablespoon (15g) Kosher salt – can adjust to taste or health concerns

1/4 cup (40g) vital wheat gluten (or vital wheat gluten flour) – Here is a version without vital wheat gluten

4 cups (910g) lukewarm water (about 100°F)

1 to 2 tablespoons of whole seed mixture for sprinkling on top crust:  sesame, flaxseed, caraway, raw sunflower, poppy, and or anise

To make the dough:

First, measure the dry ingredients into a 6-Quart Round Container or bowl, and whisk them together (you can also use a fork, or if it’s lidded, just shake them well).  Mixing the dry ingredients first prevents the vital wheat gluten from forming clumps once liquids are added.

Add the water to form a wet dough and mix with a Danish Dough Whisk or wooden spoon.

Don’t add additional flour to dry this out. It should be wet and shaggy.

Cover loosely (leave lid open a crack) or you can piece a small hole in the lid, as you see above. Allow to rise for two hours at room temperature (if you decreased the yeast, you’ll need more time).  NEVER PUNCH DOWN.  The dough will rise and then begin to collapse.  Refrigerate and use over the next 14 days, tearing off one-pound loaves as you need them.

On baking day, cut off a grapefruit-sized piece of dough (about a pound), using a serrated knife or a Kitchen Shears.

Quickly shape a loaf as you’ve seen in our videos on this website.

It should take less than a minute— you pull the top around to the bottom, rotating quarter-turns as you go.  DON’T KNEAD or otherwise knock all the gas out of the loaf.

Cover the loaf loosely with plastic wrap and let it rest on a pizza peel covered with cornmeal or parchment for 90 minutes (40 minutes if you’re using fresh, unrefrigerated dough.)   Depending on the age of the dough, you may not see much rise and it may spread out. The bottom loaf in the photo is just after shaping and then the one above it has rested and is ready for baking. Our loaves depend more on “oven spring” for rising.

Preheat the oven to 450°F (230 degrees C), with a baking stone placed on a middle rack.  Place an empty broiler tray for holding water on any other rack that won’t interfere with rising bread.

Just before baking, use a pastry brush to paint the top with water (we’ve dropped the cornstarch wash) and sprinkle with seed mixture.

Slash the loaf with 1/2-inch deep parallel cuts across the top (or a singe lengthwise cut as in the first picture).  Use a serrated bread knife held perpendicularly to the loaf:

Slide onto the hot stone…

…and carefully pour 1 cup of hot tap water into the broiler tray (in the book, we give alternatives for creating that steam environment, which is essential for creating a great crust):

After a 30-minute bake, cool on a cooling rack.

Here are more shapes and ways to bake our Master recipe:

Slow Cooker bread from our Master recipe

Master recipe baked in a Cloche

Epi and wreath from Master recipe

Moon and stars made from Master recipe. And there are many more in the book, plus 100 other recipes. This may be our biggest book yet!

Studio silliness from our photo shoot with Sarah Kieffer and Stephen Scott Gross, who we credit for helping us make this book a real beauty. Thank you both!

The easiest, and cleanest way to chop fresh herbs is to put them into a small container and

snip them with a pair of Kitchen Shears. It eliminates having to clean a cutting board and keeps them from scooting onto the floor as you chop.

Mix them into your favorite breadin5 recipe.

Once the dough has risen, you can use it right away or refrigerate it and use it over the next couple of weeks.

When you are ready to “bake” the buns in your slow cooker, line the bottom with parchment and sprinkle it generously with cornmeal, or brush with oil or butter. (Check your machine’s instructions to make sure it recommends baking in this way.)

Divide 1 pound of dough into 8 equal pieces and form them into balls. Place them into the prepared crock-pot.

Set the slow cooker to high and bake for about 1 hour. (THEY MAY TAKE MORE OR LESS TIME DEPENDING ON YOUR MACHINE.)

Once the buns have set, check by gently poking the top, they should no longer feel like wet dough, but will not be crusty.

If you want a crustier bun, with nice color, you can brush them with olive oil or butter and set them on a sheet pan under a broiler until the color you desire. Be sure to keep a close eye on them so they don’t burn.

Other slow cooker breads to try:

Crock Pot Bread

Nutella Swirl Crock Pot Bread

Cinnamon Rolls in the Crock Pot

Gluten-Free Crock Pot Bread

You are on the right site, we are just taking a short break from baking bread to bring you one of our absolute favorite recipes from Sarah’s new book, The Vanilla Bean Baking Book. You all know Sarah’s gorgeous work here on Breadin5, but you may not be as familiar with her baking website. Sarah has been working with us on the Breadin5 website and has been instrumental in our cookbook photoshoots as a food stylist. During our last marathon photo session she brought us cakes, cookies, scones and even pie she was testing for her own cookbook. When she brought in these chocolate chip cookies we took a moment out of the shoot to declare them the best cookies any of us had ever had. I do not say that lightly, considering I had a cookie company in college, have baked no fewer than 500 chocolate chip cookie recipes and have consumed even more. These are the best and now you have the recipe.

We are thrilled for Sarah and are so proud of her and this brilliant book! She and her publisher have graciously offered a copy of her book to a lucky winner of our GIVEAWAY. Just leave a note in our comments and we will select someone at random. It will make a great addition to your cookbooks or a lovely gift for someone on your list. All our normal contest rules apply.

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES from The Vanilla Bean Baking Book

makes 10 cookies

2 cups (284 g) all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

¾ teaspoon salt

½ pound (2 sticks; 227 g) unsalted butter, room temperature

1½ cups (297 g) granulated sugar

¼ cup (50 g) packed brown sugar

1 large egg

1½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2 tablespoons water

6 ounces (170 g) bittersweet chocolate, chopped into bite-size pieces averaging ½ inch with some smaller and some larger

To bake the cookies:

Adjust an oven rack to the middle position. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 3 Baking Sheets with aluminum foil, dull side up. This helps create the crinkles in the cookies.

In a small bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a Beater Blade, beat the butter on medium until creamy. Add the granulated and brown sugars and beat on medium until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the egg, vanilla, and water and mix on low to combine. Add the flour mixture and mix on low until combined. Add the chocolate and mix on low into the batter.

Scoop the dough into 3½-ounce (100g) balls (a heaping ⅓ cup each). Place 4 balls an equal distance apart on a prepared pan and transfer to the freezer for 15 minutes before baking. After you put the first baking sheet in the oven, put the second one in the freezer.

This step is essential for getting the crinkles on the edge.

Place the chilled baking sheet in the oven and bake 10 minutes, until the cookies are puffed slightly in the center. Lift the side of the baking sheet up about 4 inches and gently let it drop down against the oven rack, so the edges of the cookies set and the inside falls back down (this will feel wrong, but trust me). After the cookies puff up again in 2 minutes, repeat lifting and dropping the pan. Repeat a few more times to create ridges around the edge of the cookie. Bake 16 to 18 minutes total, until the cookies have spread out and the edges are golden brown but the centers are much lighter and not fully cooked.

Transfer the baking sheet to a wire rack; let cool completely before removing the cookies from the pan.

NOTES: These cookies are rather large, but to get the edges to spread out and crinkle, they need to be on the big side. If you want to make the cookies smaller, you won’t get as many ridges on the outer layer, and your center won’t be quite as gooey. They will still be delicious, but not quite what I intended for you.

If you skip freezing the cookies, they will spread too much on the pan and will not form the crinkly outer layer.

I’ve made several recipes from Sarah’s book and they are now staples in my kitchen. It is a great book for both beginners and more advanced bakers. You’ll want to start with these cookies, but then quickly make her chocolate cake. I am known for my chocolate cake and I now use Sarah’s.

Return to FAQs

When we wrote Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day in 2009, we made a strategic choice. We knew that most of our readers liked their bread light and fluffy, and our refrigerator storage technique could be unforgiving when you used a lot of whole grains. For some of our tasters, whole-grain bread made from wet dough stored in the fridge could be a little too dense for their taste. So we lightened things up a bit, by boosting the gluten in our whole grain doughs that appear in that book, using vital wheat gluten (VWG). Well, I’ve been experimenting on whole-grain doughs stored without VWG, and I’ve been pleased with the results. Here’s a simple alternative recipe for whole grain loaves without the added gluten. Plus, highlights from our appearance at the Mill City Bread Festival. Here’s what I made at the Mill City Bread Festival this past Saturday, about a 50% whole grain dough–as you can see, you need a little extra water when you swap in whole grains:

3 cups plus 2 tablespoons lukewarm water, about 100ºF (25 oz./710g)

1 package (2¼ teaspoons) granulated yeast (instant or active dry)

1½ tablespoons kosher or other coarse salt (can decrease to 1 tablespoon to taste)

3½ cups all-purpose unbleached flour, measured by the “scoop-and-sweep” method (17 oz./490g)

3 cups Whole Wheat Flour, measured by the “scoop-and-sweep” method (13½ oz./385g)

Flour, cornmeal, or parchment paper

1.  Mixing and storing the dough:  In a 5-quart container or bowl, mix yeast, water, and salt. Add the flours, then use a wooden spoon, stand mixer, or high-capacity food processor to mix until uniformly moist. This will produce a loose dough.

2. Cover with a lid (not airtight). Allow to rise at room temperature for about 2 hours.

3. The dough can be shaped and baked the day it’s mixed, or refrigerated in a lidded container (not completely airtight) or a bowl loosely covered with plastic wrap for up to 10 days. The dough will be easier to work with after at least 3 hours refrigeration.

4. On baking day, sprinkle the surface of the dough with flour. Cut off a 1-pound (grapefruit-sized) piece. Cover the remaining dough and refrigerate for up to 10 days—flavor will develop during storage.

5. Shape and bake as directed in our Master Recipe post.

That recipe is about 50% whole-grain, but you can even experiment with a 100% whole grain swap in our white flour recipes. I’ve found that most of our 4-pound dough recipes made with white flour can be changed to whole wheat, but you need to increase the liquid by 1/4 cup. When I go 100% whole-grain, I often swap a couple of tablespoons of oil or melted butter for the same amount of water, and add a tablespoon of sugar or other sweetener–both of those act as tenderizers. For 100% whole-grain dough, limit the refrigerator-storage to 5 days. 

It actually is just that simple. The dough doesn’t hold it’s shape quite as well as when you use vital wheat gluten, but it’s not bad at all. Here’s the slashing step on a free-form loaf bread, painted with water and sprinkled with seeds:

…and it baked up beautifully:

I’ve even found that you can braid with this kind of dough, so see what you think about converting our challah dough from The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, using this same simple switch:

So if you’re not wild about adding gluten to our whole grain dough, try this alternative, and check back here if you have any question about your results.

Highlights from last Saturday’s Mill City Farmers Market Bread Festival (photos courtesy of Mill City Times):

…

…

Awesome sausage from Red Table Meat, which has a booth at the market:

Return to FAQs

Once in a while I make a decision that seems like a fantastic idea, then it terrifies me and then proves to change my life. Agreeing to write Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day with Jeff in 2005 was one such moment. Recently, I gave my dad a gift that falls into the same category. He has been going into the BWCA (Boundary Waters Canoe Area) on the Minnesota/Canada border for decades. He’s gone alone, he’s taken my brothers, he’s taken my sons, but I have never gone. To say I am not a camper is an understatement. I like memory foam and a thread count on my sheets that you can’t buy at REI. So, when I asked him to take me camping in the BWCA, he was thrilled and booked the date before I could change my mind, which I have considered many times. I am so excited, slightly terrified and I’ve heard many people say this is a trip of a lifetime. I have no doubt I will come back a changed woman.

My dad came over to start planning our big canoeing adventure, so I figured a cheesy, spinach and egg boat was a fitting lunch. This savory flatbread is featured in our The New Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day book, made with our whole wheat master recipe. Today I made it with brioche dough and it was fantastic. It’s a really fun flatbread, that is easier than you think to make and will jazz up a breakfast, lunch or brunch. It may or may not change your life, but it will add joy!

Cheesy, Spinach and Egg Boat adapted from The New Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day

12 ounces dough – brioche or master recipes from any of our books. Really any dough you have on hand will do.

1 tablespoon oil or butter

1 garlic clove, minced

4 cups chopped spinach

2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

2 tablespoons finely sliced green onions

4 ounces crumbled feta or grated gruyere cheese

4 large eggs

Salt and pepper to taste

To make the boats:

Preheat oven to 400°F – for Master recipe

Preheat oven to 350°F – for Brioche dough

In a skillet, heat the oil or butter. Sauté the garlic, parsley and green onions until wilted.

Add the spinach and cook until all of the liquid cooks off.

It will reduce by quite a bit.

Transfer to a bowl and allow the spinach mixture to cool. Add one of the eggs and the cheese to the mixture. Set aside while you roll out the dough.

Divide the dough into two 6-ounce pieces.

Roll each one into a 1/8-inch-thick oval. (I tend to use a French Rolling Pin, instead of the American version. People often ask if one is better than the other. It’s just a matter of taste and comfort. If you are used to an American Rolling Pin, it works just as well.)

Transfer the dough to a Baking Sheet lined with Parchment Paper.

Fill the center with the spinach mixture. Brush the edges lightly with egg wash (1 egg with 1 teaspoon water).

Fold one side up and over the filling.

Fold the other side up and over the filling and the ends should overlap. Press your finger into the ends to make sure they are sealed shut.

Bake the boats for about 15 minutes or just until the dough is set and just starting to turn golden.

Add an egg to each of the boats and return to the oven to bake.

I like my whites set, but the yolk to be runny. You can bake yours to match your taste.

I’m planning to make a version of these while we’re camping. I know it is possible, because Jeff takes dough on his camping trips, but in the BWCA we have to consider the bears. Oh my, did I really set this trip in motion, before I considered the bears?

Salt and Pepper to taste!

Dig in!

Jeff and I have a new project we’re working on and WE NEED YOUR HELP. Please send us your ideas and recipes. MORE INFO HERE!

Once in a while I make a decision that seems like a fantastic idea, then it terrifies me and then proves to change my life. Agreeing to write Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day with Jeff in 2005 was one such moment. Recently, I gave my dad a gift that falls into the same category. He has been going into the BWCA (Boundary Waters Canoe Area) on the Minnesota/Canada border for decades. He’s gone alone, he’s taken my brothers, he’s taken my sons, but I have never gone. To say I am not a camper is an understatement. I like memory foam and a thread count on my sheets that you can’t buy at REI. So, when I asked him to take me camping in the BWCA, he was thrilled and booked the date before I could change my mind, which I have considered many times. I am so excited, slightly terrified and I’ve heard many people say this is a trip of a lifetime. I have no doubt I will come back a changed woman.

My dad came over to start planning our big canoeing adventure, so I figured a cheesy, spinach and egg boat was a fitting lunch. This savory flatbread is featured in our The New Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day book, made with our whole wheat master recipe. Today I made it with brioche dough and it was fantastic. It’s a really fun flatbread, that is easier than you think to make and will jazz up a breakfast, lunch or brunch. It may or may not change your life, but it will add joy!

Cheesy, Spinach and Egg Boat adapted from The New Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day

12 ounces dough – brioche or master recipes from any of our books. Really any dough you have on hand will do.

1 tablespoon oil or butter

1 garlic clove, minced

4 cups chopped spinach

2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

2 tablespoons finely sliced green onions

4 ounces crumbled feta or grated gruyere cheese

4 large eggs

Salt and pepper to taste

To make the boats:

Preheat oven to 400°F – for Master recipe

Preheat oven to 350°F – for Brioche dough

In a skillet, heat the oil or butter. Sauté the garlic, parsley and green onions until wilted.

Add the spinach and cook until all of the liquid cooks off.

It will reduce by quite a bit.

Transfer to a bowl and allow the spinach mixture to cool. Add one of the eggs and the cheese to the mixture. Set aside while you roll out the dough.

Divide the dough into two 6-ounce pieces.

Roll each one into a 1/8-inch-thick oval. (I tend to use a French Rolling Pin, instead of the American version. People often ask if one is better than the other. It’s just a matter of taste and comfort. If you are used to an American Rolling Pin, it works just as well.)

Transfer the dough to a Baking Sheet lined with Parchment Paper.

Fill the center with the spinach mixture. Brush the edges lightly with egg wash (1 egg with 1 teaspoon water).

Fold one side up and over the filling.

Fold the other side up and over the filling and the ends should overlap. Press your finger into the ends to make sure they are sealed shut.

Bake the boats for about 15 minutes or just until the dough is set and just starting to turn golden.

Add an egg to each of the boats and return to the oven to bake.

I like my whites set, but the yolk to be runny. You can bake yours to match your taste.

I’m planning to make a version of these while we’re camping. I know it is possible, because Jeff takes dough on his camping trips, but in the BWCA we have to consider the bears. Oh my, did I really set this trip in motion, before I considered the bears?

Salt and Pepper to taste!

Dig in!

Jeff and I have a new project we’re working on and WE NEED YOUR HELP. Please send us your ideas and recipes. MORE INFO HERE!

When my boys were little I took them berry picking. The concept was a good one and in my head it would be like a scene from Kinfolk. The boys sitting quietly by the raspberry bushes, adorably tossing berries into a gingham lined basket. The reality was more Lord of the Flies meets Blueberries for Sal (which is my all-time favorite children’s books). The boys would never sit still in a setting as inviting as this for running and wielding sticks, in-which to sword fight. Nor were they likely to toss a single berry into the basket, when they could just as easily eat them. So, I picked berries, while keeping an eye out to make sure my children were not impaling each other and were accounted for. I got enough berries to bake with, but they were not-so-ceremoniously consumed in the back seat of the car, by the before mentioned sword fighters, on the way home. It was an absolutely charmed day in its way, but not if your goal was to bake something tasty. We stopped at the store and bought Driscoll’s perfect raspberries, I baked a lovely raspberry brioche braid, that ended up in ABin5 and I have not gone berry picking (with the intention of bringing home berries) since…true story!

This raspberry braid is ideal for breakfast, brunch, after school snack or makes a sweet gift for your neighbor who just had an adorable baby (as mine recently did). When you have a bucket of brioche in the refrigerator this can be put together in a no time. First, I used the Driscoll’s berries to make a quick jam, which is so simple and delicious and I recommend making extra to just have around. The red of these berries makes for a ruby colored jam and the flavor is just pure raspberry, no additives or binders. These berries are all natural (organic options are available), never genetically modified and Driscoll’s follows the sun, so they are available and perfect all year round. The jam is spread over a layer of rich cream cheese filling and then the dough is folded over the fillings in a pattern that looks fancy, but is incredibly easy  to do. The finishing touches are a fresh raspberry glaze and sweet whole berries. It will impress everyone and they’ll assume you spent so much time preparing it. They never need to know how easy it is, until you share this recipe with them.

Driscoll’s is hosting a Minnesota-exclusive Giveaway (because we are the most raspberry loving people in the land (fun fact…according to the data reported by The Nielson Company the Twin Cities consumes 132% more fresh raspberries than the nation as a whole. This could be why Garrison Keillor, on the Prairie Home Companion, describes Minnesotans as “…all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average!”). When Driscoll’s asked me to create a recipe and share in their #BerryTogether Sweepstakes, it felt like a natural fit. One lucky, top prize winning, Minnesotan will get a 4-night getaway to Madden’s on Gull Lake. Four 1st-prize winners will receive Driscoll’s berries for a YEAR! All raspberry loving Minnesotans should visit www.berrytogether.com to enter. If you don’t have the good fortune to live in this great state, you can still bake this fantastic raspberry brioche treat.

Driscoll’s Raspberry Brioche Braid

1 pound brioche dough (I used the brioche dough from The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, but you could also use Challah dough or one of the enriched doughs from our The New Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day book or even Gluten-Free Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day)

Quick Raspberry Jam

12 ounces Driscoll’s raspberries

1/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Cream Cheese Filling

4 ounces cream cheese

1/2 teaspoon lemon zest

1 tablespoon sugar

Egg wash (1 egg mixed with 1 tablespoon water) for topping braid

Raspberry Icing

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 raspberry

2 tablespoons heavy cream (maybe more to reach proper consistency)

6 ounces Driscoll’s raspberries for garnish

To make the jam:

Place the raspberries, sugar and lemon juice into a pan and use a fork to break up the raspberries just enough to produce a bit of juice. Simmer over a medium/low heat for about 30 minutes, stirring often.

The jam will cling to the spoon when it is done. Allow to cool before filling the braid.

To make the cream cheese filling, mix the cream cheese, zest and sugar in a bowl until smooth.

Take a one pound piece of dough, weighing on a Scale is the easiest way, but if you don’t have one, a grapefruit-sized piece will do.

Roll a 1-pound piece of dough into a 10 x 12-inch rectangle. Make sure to use enough flour that the dough doesn’t stick to the surface or the rolling pin. TRANSFER THE ROLLED OUT DOUGH TO A SHEET OF PARCHMENT (I didn’t do that, because it was easier to photograph on the counter, but building the braid on the parchment will make your life much easier). Spread the cream cheese filling down the center of the dough, not more than 1 1/2 inches wide.

Top the cream cheese with about 3/4 cup of the raspberry jam. You can add more, but some may leak out of the braid as it is baking. There may be a little jam left over to serve with the baked braid.

Cut 1/2-inch thick strips of dough with a pastry or pizza cutter. Try to get an even amount on both sides, but it’s okay if it doesn’t happen.

Lightly twist the top two strips of dough….

Then cross them over the top of the filling. Do not pull the dough too thin or it may break as it rises and bakes.

Continue that same routine of twisting the pieces and crossing them over each other on top of the filling, until you are at the bottom. If you find an odd piece of the dough, that doesn’t have a mate, just twist it and place it over the filling. That happened to me here and I bet you have a hard time telling!

When you get to the end, just tuck the loose ends under the loaf, so they are secure and won’t pop out when baking.

Place the braid and parchment onto a baking sheet, cover loosely with plastic and allow to rest for about 1 1/2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 350°F

Just before baking, brush the loaf gently with the egg wash.

Bake the loaf for about 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Allow to cool before topping with the icing.

To make the icing: mix the powdered sugar, raspberry and cream together in a small bowl.

If it is too thick to drizzle, add more cream.

It should come off a spoon in a thin ribbon.

Once the braid is cool, drizzle with half the icing.

Top with raspberries, drizzle with the remaining icing and serve.

Enjoy! Minnesotans be sure to visit www.berrytogether.com to enter for a chance to win an all-expense paid trip to Madden’s on Gull Lake. This post is sponsored by Driscoll’s and TheFeedFeed (an Instagram sensation), but all the loving opinions of raspberries are my own!