Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking

Comment: Have been using this for several months and it is a great process. I've even passed it on to a good friend who has never baked and found wonderful success. It gives an easy, fast great tasting bread.

Comment: This my be the most practical and used cookbook I have ever purchased and I've purchased a lot of cookbooks. The instructions are easy to follow and the results are fantastic.

Comment: Jeff Hertzberg, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery that Revolutionizes Home Baking (Thomas Dunne Books, 2007)

Okay, let's get the main criticism of the book out of the way in the first paragraph: yes, this could have been a pamphlet, and the vast majority of its two hundred forty-two pages are devoted to variations on a single theme, to the point where by page fifty, you will find yourself able to skip the last half of most of the recipes here; you'll have memorized it. On the other side of that coin is the fact (and this is not opinion, it is fact) that what could have gone into that pamphlet is easily worth five times what you're going to pay for this book in the amount you'll save at the grocery store per year by baking your own bread.

It's pretty simple: get yourself an oven thermometer and a pizza stone (assuming you don't have them), whip up a batch of dough, and have enough bread for a week or more with a minimum of time and effort. I don't know about where you live, but in my neck of the woods (cost of living is kind of high compared to Arizona, but nowhere near rural New York), if you shop at a regular everyday grocery store, you're looking at over a buck and a half for a loaf of bread. Depending on the kind of flour you're buying, you may manage to make an entire week's worth of loaves for a buck and a half using this recipe. I'm not seeing a downside to this.

I did knock the book a little for the incredible repetition in the recipes, but that doesn't mean I recommend it any less. It's a time-saver, it's a money-saver, and it's a platform for just about endless possibilities. Pick this up. *** ½

Comment: I received the book in great condition - new. It came quicker that estimated. The recipes are great and easy. Bread was good, made cinnamon rolls also - very easy.

Comment: I heard rave reviews about this book, and was eager to try it. I found it at a local grocery store in the donated books and actually got it for $1.00. I am a traditional bread baker, and was a bit skeptical. First let me get to the point: The recipes are great, and the book is well written (with exceptions of few errors in first printing, etc.). However, I am not a fan of the gimmick and the marketing of the "5 minutes a day" crap. Their 5 minute calculation does not include rising or resting time of course. But guess what? Neither does any other bread recipe out there! It's not revolutionary that while your bread is resting, you can do something else. Pretty obvious. Also, the "no-knead" method has been around for a while, and for someone to take credit for it is unnerving. In recent years it has been known that what forms the gluten is time, not kneading (after the initial form of dough). If you make a traditional bread recipe, you are almost doing the exact same thing. In this book, you don't proof yeast (wow, you save 2-3 minutes!). You don't knead, (wow, another 10 minutes saved), and that's about it. You still have to rise the bread for 2 hours, and you still need to let it rest for 40 minutes (OR MORE) before going into the oven. This is nothing different than a regular recipe!!! The only difference is that you have a huge bowl of bread premade, waiting for you the next time you want bread. But guess what? You still have to shape it, and wait the 40 minutes before popping it into the oven. So where exactly is the 5 minutes a day??? With a traditional recipe I could do the same thing. Make enough to stick in the fridge, and when I want bread take it out. There is no difference except a few lazy individuals who capitalized on a "no kneading" method with a few shortcuts and a great marketing title of "5 minutes". I appreciate new methods and I have an open mind, I just have no patience for gimmicks and clever marketing. Was tempted to trash it, but just donated it instead...