Super Eco

You do have time to bake delicious, fresh organic bread. I know you do. You have 5 minutes a day, right? Then you can have a hot fresh loaf. Every day. A hot fresh loaf you made yourself out of quality, organic ingredients. Have you read the ingredient list on a package of bread lately? If you can't pronounce it, you probably don't want to eat it. And the good stuff? Costs about $5 a LOAF these days. Yikes. Wouldn't you rather have your bread for more like 50 cents a loaf? Sure you would. And did I mention HOT? And you made it yourself? I think I did. And it's so easy.

The secret is water.

The method is simple. You mix flour, yeast, and a little salt with water in a glass or ceramic or stainless container. There. That's it, really. No kneading. No kidding! No more laboring over a marble slab, up to your elbows in whole wheat bread dough. Nope, all you do is mix. And wait. (I told you it was easy!) When you're ready to turn it into bread, you scoop some out, shape it into a loaf, and wait some more and then bake. That's IT.

Want to know more? Of course you do. The method was developed by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François, and it's in a book you can own, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day (I Twittered about this and got an immediate response from someone who SWEARS by this book and says it's now the only cookbook she uses and in fact was on her way home to make pizza dough that minute and how cool is that?). In Mother Earth News, Jeff said that the book is an "attempt to help people re-create the great ethnic breads of years past, in their own homes, without investing serious time or effort. Using our straightforward, fast and easy recipes, anyone can create artisan bread and pastries at home with minimal equipment."

Sounds encouraging, doesn't it? You can make an artisan-style boule, caramel-pecan rolls, pizza, and much much more. Go here for recipes and the full technique.

Go! Bake! You can thank me later.

(Photo credit: SXC)