Bread is Back, Part Deux.

Welcome new readers! I've heard some rumblings that this little blog is garnering a following.

Special props to Zoe for taking the time out of her busy book/event schedule to comment. It's social media in action, people! Get in the conversation!

Due to popular demand and choosing to be mindful of blatant plagarism, I suggest y'all take a trip over to the New York Times site to read a November 2007 review of "Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day," which includes the master recipe. You can find it here. Hell, go to Amazon.com and buy the book! Sometimes you just gotta spend a little money to save a little money, people.

Anyway, the "master" recipe for bread is included via a link on the left side of the article. Play around with the amount of yeast and salt according to your particular tastes (I prefer less salt AND less yeast, and the recipe works out just fine). Depending on what kind of flour you use, you might need to add a little extra (1/4 cup or so) to balance out the recipe (in a nerdy, Alton Brown-esque nutshell, different brands of flour contain different amounts of protein, which can affect how moist the dough is).

Good luck in your bread endeavors, Vieve. If you find yourself in a sticky, doughy mess, you know to who call!

Fabulous Feasting,
The Diva.

Bread is back!

Lets talk bread -- artisan bread, that is. Locally, brands like Iggy's and When Pigs Fly are relatively easy to find in your neighborhood supermarket. But lets face it, times are getting tough and the cost of gas is driving up the cost of grain and we're all looking to pinch a few pennies here and there. So, why not try baking bread at home?

Now, I know what you're thinking. You have a mental picture of flour coating every surface your kitchen, fingers stuck together with dried dough, and a malformed blob of dough in the oven which inevitably comes out looking and tasting like a brick when its done.

Enter the bestseller "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day," by the grand pooh-bahs of all things home-baking, Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois. Their recipes for no-knead refridgerator doughs are phenomenal and best of all, require very little work with great results. After making (and NOT kneading) the dough, you can store it in the fridge for up to 2 weeks -- and the dough, like fine wine, gets better with age. All you do to make bread is cut off a piece, shape it into a ball and let it rest for 40 minutes before baking.

This weekend will certainly include some bread baking, so keep your eyes peeled (and your stomachs growling) for some pics.

In the meantime, take a gander over to Jeff and Zoe's blog to learn more (they're all hip and social-media savvy themselves).

Fabulous Feasting,
The Diva.