5 Minute Bread? Is it possible...A Review

Five Minute Bread..is that even possible…I mean I have a solid bread baking experience and have slaved for hours in the kitchen covering myself & the Kitchen counter in layers of flour, sticky hands (= unanswered door/phones) and much more. I have waited looking at the dough for hours to make sure its rising and have had to make space in my tiny kitchen for a draught-free area to let the dough rise happily. I have sat in front of the oven seeing my creation bake and have jumped/screamed in joy when I hear that tapping noise.
So when the publishers sent me this "Five Minute Bread"(The discovery that revolutionises home baking) by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë Francois…I was more than excited to try their No Knead, No Bread Machine approach. “The steps from traditional Baking that We Omitted” page is a must read as they surprise you by saying, that you don’t need to make fresh dough every day to have fresh bread, you don’t need to proof your yeast, and you don’t have to knead your dough. The fortuitous discovery of pre-mixed, pre-risen, high-moisture dough in the fridge made sense to me. I will admit though that I kneaded the dough a bit for the Spinach & Feta Bread and didnt bother refrigerating it as I wanted to bake it straight away. But even when I didn’t knead or proof & refrigerated the Brioche (I did my version with saffron & Indian Spice mix for a kick) dough for 24 hrs, the resulting bread was very satisfying. I do now agree that high-moisture stored dough cant over rise…I stored the brioche dough in a measuring bowl and could see how it rose in the fridge. 

For novice bread makers the "Ingredients" chapter explains the kind of flour & yeast to use, "Equipment list" & “Tips and Techniques” explain the moisture content and how to modify doughs, are precious. "The troubleshooting" chapter is a must for anyone as it tackles issues associated with under-baking/ over-baking loaves, giving you helpful tips to improve your baking. In general, the chapters in the book include:

The Secret

How to Make Bread in Five Minutes

Ingredients

Equipment

Tips and Techniques

The Master Recipe

Peasant Loaves

Flatbreads and Pizzas

Enriched Breads and Pastries
Some colour bread photos to show the end results would have been an added advantage for beginners, although I like the free-hand drawings throughout the book. I absolutely loved the inclusion of many “accompaniment” recipes, such as the chilled morrocan-style gazpacho to go with ksara (morrocon anise & barley flatbread) or the Bread Puddings made with stale breads or the Fattoush the Lebanese salad made with Pita. Beginner or Pro in bread making, Five Minute Bread is definitely a great addition to any library. I adore “Spinach Feta Bread” which is staple bread I make with soups & loved the buttery Brioche (biting into one as I type). I have bookmarked the "Italian Semolina Bread", "Panettone", "Lavash" & "Ciabatta" to try soon.
Who knew one could make artisan bread in 5 minutes? This book is a must have for those who despise home-made loaves & buy them from supermarkets as making them seems over daunting.

Jeff Hertzberg has been a physician, university professor, information technology consultant & ardent amateur baker. He developed a love of great bread while growing up in New York City.

Zoë Francois is a pastry chef and baker trained at the Culinary Institute of America. In addition to teaching baking and pastry and consulting to restaurants, Zoe creates desserts and custom wedding cakes.

Five Minute Bread is published by Ebury Press, priced at ₤14.99 hardback.

Spinach Feta Bread

Ingredients (I halved the original recipe)

60g spinach (lightly steamed, boiled or sautéed), chopped

375ml lukewarm water

10g yeast

1tsp salt

20g feta

10g sugar

450g plain flour+extra for dusting

Polenta for dusting

Method:

1. Mixing and storing the dough: Squeeze the cooked spinach through a strainer to get rid of excess liquid. Mix the yeast, salt, spinach, cheese and sugar with the water in a 5-litre bowl, or a lidded (not airtight) food container. Mix in the flour without kneading, using a spoon, a 3.5 litre capacity food processor (with dough attachment), or a heavy-duty mixer (with dough hook). If you’re not using a machine, you may need to use wet hands to incorporate the last bit of flour.
2. Cover (not airtight), and allow to rest at room temperature until the dough rises and collapses (or flattens on top), approximately 2 hours.
3. The dough can be used immediately after the initial rise, though it is easier to handle when cold. Refrigerate in a lidded (not airtight) container and use over the next 7 days.
4. On baking day: Dust the surface of the refrigerated dough with flour and cut off a 1-pound (grapefruit size) piece. Dust the piece with more flour and quickly shape it into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go. Allow to rest and rise on a cornmeal-covered pizza peel for 1 hour (or just 40 minutes if you’re using fresh, unrefrigerated dough).
5. Thirty minutes before baking time, preheat the oven to 230°C, with a baking stone placed on the middle rack. Place an empty boiler tray on any other shelf that won’t interfere with the rising bread.
6. Sprinkle the loaf liberally with flour and slash a cross or criss cross pattern into the top, using a serrated bread knife. Leave the flour in place for baking; tap some of it off before eating.
7. Slide the loaf directly onto the hot stone. Pour 1 cup of hot tap water into the broiler tray, and quickly close the oven door. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until deeply browned and firm. Smaller or larger loaves will require adjustments in baking time.
8. Allow to cool before slicing or eating.

Indian Spice mix-Saffron Brioche

Ingredients (I halved the original recipe)

175 ml lukewarm water

11/2 tsp yeast

1tsp salt

4 eggs

4 tbsp honey

175g butter

500g flour+extra for dusting

few strands of saffron

1tsp my indian spice mix (cardamom, clove, cinnamon, nutmeg, pepper)

Method:

1. Mix the yeast, salt, saffron, spice mix, eggs, honey, and melted butter with the water in a 5-quart bowl.

2. Mix in the flour without kneading, using a spoon. If you are not using a machine, you may need to use wet hands to incorporate the last bit of flour. The dough will be loose but will firm up when chilled, don't try to work with it before chilling.

3. Cover (not airtight)

4. Refrigerate in a lidded (not air tight) container (or in the same bowl, covered with plastic wrap) and use over the next 5 days. Beyond 5 days freeze the dough in one pound portions in an airtight container for up to 4 weeks. When using frozen dough, thaw in the refrigerator for 24 hours, then allow the usual rest and rise time

5. Defrost the dough overnight in the fridge if frozen. On baking day grease 9 x 4 x 3 inch nonstick loafpan. Dust the surface of the refrigerated dough with flour and and cut off a 1 pound piece (grapefruit size) (Again, I find it easier to dust hands and work surface so you don’t overflour leftover dough). Dust the piece with more flour and quickly shape into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all sides, rotating the ball a quarter turn as you go.

6. Elongate into an oval shape and place in the prepared pan. Allow to rest for 1 hour and 20 minutes

7. Preheat the oven to 190°C.

8. Using a pastry brush, brush the top crust with egg wash.

9. Place the bread near the center of the oven and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a medium golden brown. Due to the fat in the dough, brioche will not form a hard crackling crust.

10. Allow to cool before slicing or eating.

Sky-High Coffee Hazelnut Praline Cake & a book review

I like coffee, I love coffee, I am addicted to coffee, I am obsessed with coffee! So when I received a preview copy of ℃ookery School by Michelin-starred Chef Richard Corrigan to review, It did not take me much time to zero in on my favourites: Tiramisu & Coffee Walnut Praline cake. So yesterday afternoon I invited my lovely friend 'P', a novice baker, for her comments. 'P' was my sous chef for the day and in no time both of whipped up this massive cake, sky-high coffee cake, reserving the Tiramisu and the related post for a very, soon to come, special occasion! I am not a big fan of walnuts and have used hazelnuts instead but pretty much stuck to the original recipe as this is a review. I have so enjoyed watching Richard in Great British Menu & Gizzi's Cook Yourself Thin. It is a real pleasure to review this book by my favourite star chef!

Coffee Hazelnut/Walnut Praline Cake

Ingredients (Recipes extracted from '℃ookery School', brought to you by Channel 4 with recipes by Richard Corrigan. Published on the 3rd March (Penguin HB, £20) 
For the Coffee Cake
300g unsalted butter,plus extra to grease the tins

300g caster sugar

5 eggs

300g self-raising flour, sifted

1 level tsp baking powder

4 tbsp strong freshly brewed coffee,cold

a splash of whole milk,if needed

For the Walnut/Hazelnut Praline

120g caster sugar

150g walnut halves/ hazelnuts

For the Coffee Icing

200g unsalted butter, softened(Iused 250g)

400g icicng sugar (I used 300g)

4 tbsp strong coffee,cold

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas4. Grease 3 6 inch loose bottom tins with butter & line the base with parchment.
2. Place butter & sugar in a large bowl & whisk with an electric beater until the mixture becomes pale in colour. Beat in the eggs one at a time.
3. Fold in the sifetd flour & baking powder. Next stir in the cooled coffee. If the mixture is too thick add a splash of milk.
4. Divide the cake mixture between the tins and bake for 25 minutes.
5. To test if the cakes are done, stick a skewer in the centre of each cake & if the skewer comes out clean, they are cooked. Take the cakes out & turn them on to a cooling rack. Peel the parchment.
6. to make the walnut/hazelnut praline, place the sugar with 1 tsp water in a small non-stick pan over high heat without stirring until the sugar turns a light caramel colour. Add the walnut/hazelnut, stir well to coat in the caramel & pour on to a silicone mat. Using an oiled spoon set 8 of the caramel coated nut aside. 
7. Once the caramel has cooled & set-about 15 min-place the mixture into a small food processor and blitz to the texture of rough crumbs. (I simply put them in a freezer bag & bashed them with a rolling pin ;-)).
8. To make the icing, beat butter & the icing sugar until pale & fluffy. This should take around 5 minutes. Once the mixture has reached this stage beat in the coffee.
9. Slice the 3 six inch cakes to halves so that you get 6 layers of sponge. Spread a generous amount of icing on the bottom layer of the cake & sprinkle the praline mix. Place the next layer and repeat steps. Spread the top layer with a thick coating of the icing, using most of the remaining icing.
10. Put the remaining icing into a piping bag with a star nozzle on and pipe 6-8 rosettes around the edge of the cake. Top each rosette with the reserved caramel coated nut & sprinkle the middle with the remaining praline.
11. To serve place the iced cake on a cake stand & cut into desired pieces.

There is plenty of choice with over 100 recipes and skills covering specific techniques, the book is made up of four chapters: Starters, Fish, Meat, and Puddings, with each chapter divided into Basic, Intermediate and Advanced sections. The book also includes step-by-step photographs to teach the techniques through a variety of recipes which are easy to reproduce by anyone, no matter what the level of skill might be. All along, it offers valuable tips and suggestions, picture tutorials. The recipes vary in levels of difficulty & complexity with Basic, Intermediate, Advanced & Super Advanced sections, offering classic puddings like Tiramisu on one end and an all out stunning Indian main course of Pilau, Okra-Ginger Kari & a spiced Pomegranate Raitha on the other. 

From chopping and clarifying to filleting a fish, jointing a chicken or making a crème anglaise (good old custard), readers will soon be cooking like a Michelin starred chef. Each week on the ℃ookery School show, the students will master recipes from each of these areas, and readers can cook along with them using the book.

All the dishes are aspirational, from Griddled Leeks with a Honey and Mustard Dressing, to Pan-fried Beef with Tarragon and Chervil Sauce and Baked Beetroot or Clam Chowder with Mini Garlic Bread Loaves. These are dishes that are perfect to cook for family and friends, for everyday or for special occasions, and readers will turn to this book time and time again. 

Alongside Richard Corrigan’s delicious dishes, the book also features Gizzi Erskine’s ℃ookery School notes on fish, beef, bread, cheese, marinades, herbs and more. 

About the book & the show ℃ookery School is a learn-to-cook book for everyone, whether readers are complete beginners in the kitchen, or if they want to advance their skills. With recipes developed by Michelin-starred chef Richard Corrigan and ‘lessons’ by Gizzi Erskine as seen on the show, this book allows readers to learn to cook with ℃ookery School. 

℃ookery School is on Channel 4 every day for 10 weeks from the 31st January at 2.05pm. The book to accompany the series ‘℃ookery School’, with recipes by Richard Corrigan is available, published by Penguin Books, priced £20. 

About the Chef

Richard was born in County Meath, Ireland, to a farming family for whom ‘the supply chain was as short as it gets’. Richard has been a head chef for fifteen years, winning his first Michelin star in the mid-1990s for Lindsay House. In 2005 he bought Bentley’s Oyster Bar and Grill and he has rejuvenated this much-loved institution, making it the first port of call for seafood lovers, which now serves more oysters than any other UK restaurant. He opened his latest restaurant, Corrigan’s Mayfair, in August 2008. Richard has been a prominent figure in recent television shows Great British Menu on BBC2, Great British Waste Menu on BBC1 and now ℃ookery School on Channel 4. 

Gizzi is a chef, food writer and television presenter best known for presenting Channel 4’s Cook Yourself Thin and as author of the bestselling book of the same name. She trained at the prestigious Leith’s School of Food and Wine, graduating top of her year and winning a place at BBC Good Food Magazine. Last year she hosted series two of Cook Yourself Thin, as well as being guest judge of Channel 4’s Iron Chef and regularly appearing on This Morning. She is the food columnist for Company magazine and the News of the World’s Fabulous magazine, author of Gizzi’s Kitchen Magic and has contributed to Marie Claire, InStyle, Elle USA and Arena. ℃ookery School marks her first show of 2011, with more projects to air later this year. 

About the production Company

Red House is the production company founded by John Silver, who has been responsible for many successful returning series, including Masterchef Goes Large, Celebrity Masterchef, Grand Designs, Jamie’s Kitchen and Property Ladder. It is part of the Zodiak Group, one of the world’s largest TV Production Groups.

℃ookery School is a gorgeous and an enviable book to own no matter what your skill levels are, with a clean, crisp attractive cover & embossed title. The photographs throughout the book are stunning & drool worthy, though fewer than I would like. I enjoyed making the cake and I am so looking forward to make many more from the book.

The book has many interesting dishes that I have bookmarked to try like the onion spinach & ricotta ravioli with a lemon-cream sauce, Citrus & herb roasted veg couscous, Arun Kapil’s pilau rice okra ginger kari & spiced pomegranate raitha, tiramisu, Eric Lanlard’s mogadores…the list is pretty much endless J

Thank you for Julie for sending me this book.