Sunday, February 15

another 5 minute bread convert


I havent done a food post for a while (or a gardening post for that matter)...not too much going on in the garden of late; the is corn maturing, the tomatoes are teasing me with their 'not quite readyness', the beetroot is finishing up and im letting a few go for seeds, the last cabbages are standing, the basil prolific, the beans are going for second flush as are the lemons, some oranges and mandarins are edible and we're harvesting a huge bowl of apples daily; the drying rack and Vacola are about to get a workout. Im focussed on getting the beds ready for the next round of planting and their second season. This was the first growing season for these new patches, and it exposed what needs doing differently; better attention to irrgation to compensate the slight slope and which parts lose moisture quickest.

Back to the food post. After hearing so much about this book, i bit the bullet a few weeks back and ordered it, as the breadmaker has gone back to school. Most weekends she's got just no time for breadmaking. So bread can get a bit hit and miss around here now, but I still havent resorted to anything wrapped in plastic-its been months now. So i whipped up the inaugural batch of dough this morning. Like the title says, its ready in five. Its quite incredible. After the initial investment of about 10 minutes of actual work (2 hour minimum of cumulative time, most of it waiting), its ready to go.

The idea is to get the bulk batch ready and just pull it out of the fridge, chop off what you need, shape it up and bake it. Dead easy. That pretty much sums it up, and the texture and flavour... Wow! *who needs a bread oven* she says tearing out her hair. Look at those chewy holes! The book promises your loaves will emerge from baking with that lovely artisan crust and even my shitty oven, which leaks heat, managed it. Yippeee! Cant wait to try the rye and wholewheat. White bread is nice every so often, but when i crave bread, its the heavy stuff. Sorry kids.
Next dilemma after they came out of the oven was to find a something other than cheese to top it off ... a look in the fridge declared itself. Beetroot dip. I used up leftover cooked beets, a spoonful or two of cashew butter, a hunk of parmasaen, a clove of garlic, some olive oil and juice from a lemon. Magic.

So while the oven was still hot from baking, despite the leaks, and as we had friends coming over, i made an apple streusel cake for afternoon tea, which used all of about 8 apples (double the recipes suggestion) and a baby leek and feta galette for dinner (im thinkng galette is just a posh term for a long thin quiche?) - looks like muck in the pic, tasted great. Im very ready to stop and sit with a cold glass of wine.

Does anyone have any feedback or have done anything interesting with this basic Boule recipe?

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh that bread looks gorgeous and I LOVE the sound of the beetroot dip - I'm going to be trying that for certain.

Any chance you could share the bread recipe with us? I'd love to have a go as I have not yet really succeeded with my quest for a decent loaf.

Many thanks!
Mrs G

Anonymous said...

I pondered your beetroot dip photo for quite a while until I realized that it was a top down look into a blender/food processor. It looked like paint, or a gooey flower. So nifty.

Rixa said...

I've had great success with the New York Times no-knead bread (similar to what you did, but it's made 1 batch at a time and rises for 15-18 hours with a lot less yeast). I tried the method you used recently and it didn't work very well for me. I could never get the bread to rise very much, so I always ended up with really dense loaves. I might give it one more go and if it doesn't work, I'll back to my trusty no-knead method which has worked amazingly well every time.

Anonymous said...

Can you please bring all to my house? Pretty please??

Pip said...

I've tried both the New York Times bread and the 5 minute artisan bread.
My thoughts: the 5 minute bread has a good flavour, more so the second week, it does take up a bit of room in your fridge, (mine doesn't look like your picture being somewhat flatter), I agree with Rixa it doesn't seem to rise very much, if you leave it for longer then it tends to spread out. I don't bother using a pizza stone, I used it the first time, and the top of the loaf browned more than the bottom (my oven maybe) It is very convenient, you can have a loaf in about an hour.
The NY Times bread also has great flavour and rises really well. It seems to have a better crust than the 5 minute bread. If you plan ahead, it doesn't take long. You do need a dutch oven or similar to bake it. I think it would use more energy as you have to heat the oven for longer.
I use Laucke Wallaby flour for all my bread baking.
I'm going to keep trying with the 5 minute bread and maybe tweak the recipe a bit.

Minni Mum said...

Yes, I'm jealous of the shape of your boule too, like Pip mine tends to be much flatter. When school went back I went back to sandwich loaves to fit in the lunchboxes so I haven't done any experimenting yet. I'm also not much of a white bread fan so I'm keen to see how your other loaves turn out. The dip sounds divine...

Kelly said...

Hi Mrs Green. Welcome! the dip is really good and one of my favourites and very easy. How 'bout i do a bread post? i would have liked that before i bourgt the book!

elburro - glad you think its nifty -me too! getting that dip to look good was almost as hard as the galette!


Rixa- hmm, the book says its fail safe and it definitely was that for me with this first batch. will have to see if the fridge batch is as good. keep you posted.

Frugal - hmmm, youll just hve to come to Oz!

Rest IN- thanks for your thoughts, so very useful. Interesting that everyones bread is rather flat...it spread a bit on the tray (no stone used either) but still turned out fluffy and chewy and crusty- everything thats good about bread. BUT, the test will be whether i can keep it up!

Julie- im very curious about the flat bread! Umm, apparently this boule can go in a tin for sliced snadwich breas...will keep you posted on the rye and wholemeal.

Sarah said...

All that food makes me so hungry!

Can I please have the order for the apple cake : )

Veggie Gnome said...

That bread looks fantastic!! So does everything else.

One big question, though. As you are harvesting apples already, I am curious to learn what variety that would be? Cause any tree that produces apples to pick in February would be worth planting.

Kelly said...

hi veggie- they are called summer strawberry.

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