Joining a Bread “Revolution”

I guess I’ve joined a revolution.  A bread “revolution”.  My yoga friend Michelle shared her Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day book with me and it has inspired me to bake bread for my family.  I’ve gone through spurts of baking my own bread but have never been able to pull it off long term.  I always go back to buying bread when I’m in a pinch, or when the kids need sandwich bread.  With the unique approach of keeping a wet dough refrigerated for up to two weeks and baking loaves as you need them, I think the five minute a day approach is possible.  I actually got the Healthy Bread in Five Minutes A Day because I’m all about the whole grains.  My first loaf was a soft sandwich bread and when we cut into it there was a very big hole in the middle.  My second and third batches have been better, if only a little dense.

My only complaint with the book is that a lot of the recipes call for eggs and milk or butter but their master recipe (my first freeform loaf picture above) is a basic recipe with just flour, yeast, salt, and gluten.  Hopefully my loaves will get better and not so dense, or I’m sure Iris will complain about the hard bread for her sandwiches.

Well, I have a lot more to write about but alas, Finnegan only took a 20 minute nap (no surprises there) and the twins are not playing well together in their quiet time.  Most days I feel like I live my life in 10 minute chunks, because that is all the time I ever get to concentrate on one task.  This too shall pass, I keep reminding myself.