5-Minute French Boulè

Prep time: So easy you won't believe you're making bread
Source: Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes A Day, heavily revised by me

Not only is this the easiest bread recipe I've ever tried, but it is also THE MOST DELICIOUS. And the best part about this technique is that you can have fresh bread every single day! Also, don't be overwhelmed by the amount of text in this recipe. I've tried to include all of the tips and tricks I've learned in several years of making this recipe so that it's very easy to get a perfect batch of bread on your first try.

Basic Loaf (French Boule)

3 cups warm water
.5-1.5 T yeast

1 1/2 T kosher salt (a heaping tablespoon of table salt)

6 1/2 cups flour (I like to use 3 1/2 cups wheat, 3 cups white)

A note on yeast and flour in this recipe: The original Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes recipe calls for 1.5 T yeast per batch. However, after making this recipe for several years, I've started decreasing the yeast in most batches I make and increasing the rising time. Most similar high-moisture bread recipes I've seen use only half a tablespoon of yeast and allow the bread to rise overnight. In my opinion, less yeast and a longer rise time makes for a yummier, more sophisticated crumb, so I typically do .5-1 tablespoon yeast and allow it to rise longer (usually 4-6 hours for 1 tablespoon and overnight for half a tablespoon, though if my kitchen is really warm 6 or so hours is usually enough for the smaller amount too). If I'm in a hurry, I still use the higher amount of yeast and a 2-hour rising time.

The original recipe calls for all unbleached white flour. However, since we're big whole-wheat bread fans over here, over the years I've steadily increased the amount of wheat flour in my recipe. The amount of wheat flour that I can get away with without it resulting in a dense and heavy loaf varies greatly depending on the kind of flour used; if I use freshly-ground white wheat flour I can substitute all of the white flour for wheat, but if I use store-bought red wheat flour I can only get away with half to two-thirds. I try to make sure that my wheat flour batches have plenty of time to double in their initial rise, and I typically rest the refrigerated dough longer than white flour (40-60 minutes verses 20-40). Personally, Mahon and I have both come to prefer the taste and texture of this recipe with wheat flour, and it's still light and delicious with a perfectly crisp crust.

How to make the bread:

In a large (5 quart) container, mix together all ingredients with a wooden spoon. That's all you have to do: mix gently until all the ingredients are combined and evenly moist. It will be very "gooey" and moist and not at all like a typical bread dough. Then stick your spoon in the sink, cover your bowl with something breathable (I typically do plastic wrap or tin foil, and I punch holes in the top of the covering—I tried a towel at first but my dough rose so high it stuck to the towel and that was a pain to clean off!) and let sit in a draft-free place for 2+ hours (see rising note above), until it's doubled in bulk. 

After that time, you can work with the dough (although it's easier to shape if it's been refrigerated first). Pull or cut a section of dough that's 1-1.5 pounds (about the size of a large grapefruit to the size of a canteloupe). Gently fold the edges of the dough under until you have a ball. (If your dough is really wet, you won't be able to do this; you can either add more flour or just plop some dough onto your pan. It's still delicious, but not quite as pretty.) Allow your dough to rise for at least 30 minutes (it's impossible to over-raise this dough, so feel free to leave it out a few hours, though it will lose a lot of its shape). 20 minutes before you are ready to put it in the oven, turn your oven on to 450 degrees. Place a dish with a lid (it can be an enamel-coated cast iron pot like Le Creuset, an oven-safe nonstick pot, or a glass or ceramic dish with a lid—I have been using an oblong vintage Pyrex baking dish and it's worked great) on the top rack of the oven and allow to heat with the oven for 20 minutes (it's important to heat it this long, or your dough will stick). 

After this preheat is done, slash your loaf with a serrated knife (you can slash it with an X, a tic-tac-toe, or with diagonal lines running in one direction) and carefully lift loaf into your prepared pan. Cover with lid (you might be able to use a non-lidded dish and cover it with foil, but I haven't tried this yet) and cook for 20 minutes. Remove bread from dish (it should release very easily) and allow to cook for 15-20 more minutes, just sitting alone on the oven rack (it will be plenty done by this stage—now you just want to brown the crust). Remove from oven and allow to cool almost all the way before cutting. (I usually can't resist, and so I slice off one of the heels and eat it hot with butter, but you don't want to cut off more than that because the bread actually finishes cooking as it cools.)

If you don't have a lidded dish to use, that's okay! Cook it free-form on a regular baking sheet, and during the oven preheat time put a metal cake pan (empty) on the bottom rack of the oven. When you put the bread in, pour a cup of hot water into the cake pan and then close the oven door right away. Bake 35-40 minutes.

One other thing—you may be tempted to brush the top of the boule with egg white/oil/something else, like you do in many bread recipes to create a better crust. I did that for awhile, but once I stopped doing it I realized how utterly stupid that was. Trust this bread: it will make you the tastiest, chewiest, yummiest crust you've ever tasted, no help needed.

AN IMPORTANT TIP: I learned from Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes A Day that the proper way to store a crusty bread is NOT in a plastic bag. The best way to store crusty bread, it turns out, is to simply place it on the cutting board with the cut side down. I was a little skeptical of this idea at first, but it works GREAT. This bread is amazing the first day, pretty darn good the second day, edible the third day, and ready to be made into bread crumbs the fourth day—if it's still around at that point!

A quick note on larger loaves— I have only used the method above with loaves that are fairly small (about 1-2 pounds). For a much larger loaf, you will want to reduce the heat a bit (probably to 400 or 425) and up the cooking time, so that the center of the loaf has a chance to cook before the crust browns too much.

Old-Fashioned Whole Wheat Bread

Rating: 5 stars

Prep time: Not hard, but time-consuming

This is soft-crusted wheat sandwich bread like your mom/grandma/Relief Society president used to make. Although I've lately gone to using the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes A Day method, I still have a soft spot in my heart for this recipe.

3 cups warm water

1 T yeast

1 T salt

Generous 1/3 cup oil

1/3 cup honey

Approximately 8 cups flour (I typically do about 6 wheat, 2 white—my store-bought wheat is too coarse to use 100% whole wheat and get a proper raise)

Sunflower seeds, rolled oats, flax seeds, poppy seeds or any combination of preferred grains & seeds (optional)

Egg white (if you use seeds)

Preheat oven to 350. In mixer with dough hook attachment, combine water and yeast. Add 3 cups wheat flour, salt, oil, and honey, and mix on low speed until combined. If desired, add a small handful of sunflower seeds to dough at this point. Slowly add in the rest of flour until your dough is no longer sticky and forms a ball on the dough hook, pulling away from the sides of the bowl. (A note on breadmaking: the flour measurement is NOT an exact science. Depending on the temperature, humidity, and other factors, you may need more or less flour. Once your dough ball is pulling away from the sides of the bowl and you can touch the dough without getting it all over your finger, then you have added enough flour.) Turn to a higher speed and let the mixer knead the dough for about 6-8 minutes. Remove dough from hook and form into a ball; spray with cooking oil (making sure to coat all sides) and let rest in bowl, covered, for about an hour or until doubled in size. Divide dough into 3 portions. Roll each portion flat with a rolling pin to remove air bubbles, then shape into a loaf (you do this by rolling your flat rectangle up into an oval and patting the ends together). Place loaf in sprayed loaf pan, cover, and allow to rise for another hour or until doubled in size. If desired, brush loaf with beaten egg white and sprinkle toppings over loaf—I use a mixture of ground rolled oats, ground flax seed, and poppy seeds. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 for 30 minutes, or until loaf is rich brown.

Strawberry Lemonade

Rating: 5 stars!

Prep time: Easy

It's that time of summer when I find myself craving cold, fruity drinks all day long. Tonight I came up with this delicious creation to assuage that thirst, and it was perfect! I will definitely be making it again. Also, if I've calculated it correctly, it's only got a little over 7 grams of sugar per cup. Then again, I never said I was good at math....

1 cup water

3/4 cup sugar

1 cup finely chopped or pureed strawberries (I used frozen strawberries and just put them in the blender while still frozen to chop them up)

1/2 cup lemon juice

5 cups water

In small saucepan, combine sugar, water, and strawberries. Heat until boiling; reduce heat and simmer for three or four minutes. Cover and let stand in refrigerator for about 15 minutes. In pitcher, combine water and lemon juice. Add strawberry syrup and stir; serve over ice (if you serve the lemonade right away, it will still be warm from the syrup, so don't skimp on the ice!). Enjoy. I also would love to try this with blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, etc... the options are endless!

Chicken Parmesan

Rating: 5 stars

Prep time: Easy

Uncooked chicken breasts, cubed

Bread crumbs

Italian seasoning

Olive oil

Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 375. Heat olive oil over medium-high heat in skillet. Mix breadcrumbs (about 1/3 cup) with about 1 T italian seasoning. Toss chicken breasts with breadcrumbs and fry in skillet until lightly browned on each side. Transfer browned chicken into casserole dish; cover with foil and bake at 375 for 25 minutes. Uncover and sprinkle with parmesan cheese; bake for another 10 minutes. Serve with tomato sauce, or if you discover you have no tomato sauce halfway through cooking your meal (like I did), with lemon dressing (mince one clove garlic and add to 2 T olive oil; heat in microwave for 1-2 minutes; stir in 2 T lemon juice). Serve over pasta; top with parmesan cheese.

Flour Tortillas

Rating: 5 stars

Prep time: Medium... at least compared to the tortillas you pull out of a bag!

Growing up, I LOVED it when my mom made fresh flour tortillas. Fresh flour (I can't believe I initially spelled that "flower"! yikes!) tortillas + crock-pot cooked pinto beans was my idea of heaven. These tortillas have so much more flavor than tortillas from a bag! Now, we make them once every week or two. In this particular picture I used 1/2 wheat 1/2 white flour, but I sometimes do all white flour—they are both good in different ways.

4 cups flour

2 t. salt

1/2 t. baking powder (err on the side of too little or you will end up with puffy flatbread instead of tortillas)

1/2 cup shortening or butter

1 1/4-1 1/2 cups hot water

Heat pan or griddle to about 325 (do not grease). In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, and baking powder. With pastry blender, cut in shortening or butter (tip: if you are using refrigerated butter, slice before adding to flour mixture for easier blending). When shortening/butter is mostly blended, add water gradually (I usually start with 1 cup, mix, and then add the water about 1/4 cup at a time after that) until dough is moist and holds together without being sticky. Knead with hands for a minute, then divide into balls a little bigger than a golf ball. On VERY VERY lightly floured surface, roll balls as flat as possible and transfer immediately to hot griddle or pan (otherwise they will puff up). Cook a few minutes on each side, until tortilla is just beginning to have golden-brown spots but still flexible. Fill with your normal taco filling.

Six (or five!)-seed Soda Bread

Rating: 5 stars for heartiness and great for soup!

Prep time: Easy

Source: 101 Cookbooks

This, paired with Panera soup, was my lunch today. It's definitely denser and heartier than a yeast-risen bread, but oh my goodness, was it good!!! It was absolutely divine paired with the broccoli cheese soup. I might never be able to serve the two dishes apart again! Not to mention, it was so EASY and so GORGEOUS!

2 1/2 tablespoons each sunflower, pumpkin, sesame, poppy, and flax seeds (I actually had all of these on hand)

1 t. fennel seeds (I didn't have these, so I just left them out—you really can customize this seed list to be whatever you prefer, or have on hand, though I thought the 5 I used were perfect)

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 3/4 cups spelt or wheat flour (for those of us who don't have spelt flour on hand!)

2 t. baking soda

1 t. salt

1 3/4 cup buttermilk, plus a little more for brushing (I didn't have buttermilk so I used a buttermilk substitute, 1 cup milk to 1 T lemon juice)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees (really, let it preheat all the way before you start making the dough—the dough makes up very fast and you want your oven to be all the way hot when it goes in). Place a rack in the center of the oven. Mix all seeds together in a bowl; set aside.

In larger bowl, combine flours, baking soda, and salt. Mix in all but 2 tablespoons of seeds. Create a well in the center of flour mixture and pour in 1 3/4 cup buttermilk (or substitute). Mix until just combined (but not too sticky), then turn onto a lightly-floured surface and knead about one minute (add a little flour at this point if necessary) or until mixture makes a nice bread dough. You don't want to knead too long, as the bread should go into the oven ASAP. Lightly flour a cookie sheet OR line with parchment paper. Shape dough into a round loaf and place on cookie sheet; with serrated knife, mark deep X in top of loaf. Brush with remaining buttermilk and sprinkle with remaining seeds. (Next time, I'd mix some egg yolk in with the buttermilk as some of the seeds fell off after baking—although I'm actually pleasantly surprised by how well the buttermilk did hold them on.) Bake for 35-40 minutes or until bread is a rich golden brown. Enjoy! Yields one loaf.

Fresh Strawberry Tarts/Pie

Rating: 5 stars

Prep time: Easy-medium

My mom always makes fresh strawberry pie in the spring, when NC strawberries are abundant, delicious, and cheap. I was just dying for some strawberry pie this spring, but we just didn't have enough in the budget for the 4 pounds of strawberries it would take—plus, two people don't exactly need a whole pie to themselves. Instead, we created these darling strawberry tarts. I won't tell you how many of these we've eaten in the past week....

For those more interested in the pie, I've put the pie measurements in parentheses. The tart recipe is intended to yield one dozen tarts, but it totally depends on how thinly you roll your pie crust—the first time I didn't roll it out very thinly, and we only ended up with 7 or 8 tarts.

1 9-inch pie crust (I used this recipe)

1/2 cup mashed or pureed strawberries (1 cup)

1/2 cup sugar (1 cup)

1 1/2 t. cornstarch (1 T)

1/4 cup water (1/2 cup)

1 oz cream cheese (3 oz)

1/4-1/3 t. sugar (1 t.)

1/2 T milk (1-2 T)

1 lb chopped strawberries (app. 4 lb strawberries, whole), less the amount you used for the puree

Whipped cream (I definitely recommend using real, freshly-whipped cream! Then again, I recommend that for just about anything) for topping

For tarts: Heat oven to 375. Roll pie crust as thin as possible (really, as thin as you can get it without it falling apart on you). Punch circles in pie crust with the biggest cup or other circle you can find—we used a 32oz hospital mug, which I think is about 5 inches in diameter. Gently stretch circles with your fingers, and place into cups of muffin tin. The edges of the crust should be at least as tall as or taller than the edges of your muffin tin. Prick crust with fork (including sides) and bake for 8-12 minutes or until very lightly golden. Once crusts are done baking, gently remove from muffin tins and let cool on a plate. While crusts are baking, mix sugar and cornstarch together. Fold in pureed strawberries and combine. Add water; heat until mixture has boiled for 1 minute (on the stove or in the microwave, either works—if you heat it on the stove, be sure to stir regularly). Let cool. Combine cream cheese, sugar, and milk. Once crusts are cooled, spoon a dollop of the cream cheese mixture into the bottom of each crust. Spoon a few of the chopped strawberries into crust (don't overdo it—these will fill up fast!), using the spoon to pack them in if necessary. Gently spoon or pour glaze over the strawberries. Top with another layer of chopped strawberries. Add a dollop of whipped cream, and enjoy! They can be eaten right away (and trust me, we did), but the next-day leftovers are even better.

For pie: Heat oven to 375. Roll out pie crust and place in pie dish. Prick bottom and sides with fork and bake for 8 minutes (or until done). While crust is cooking, mix sugar and cornstarch. Fold in pureed strawberries and combine. Add water; heat until mixture has boiled for 1 minute. Let cool. Combine cream cheese, sugar, and milk. Spread over bottom of (cooled) pie crust (if you don't let it cool a little, it will melt the cream cheese... ask me how I know!). Spread one layer of strawberries, sliced in half, over bottom of pie (cut sides up). Layer glaze over strawberries. Continue to layer cut strawberries and glaze until pie crust is full; top with whole berries. Serve with whipped cream.