Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a day; recipe at post 30

I need some help or I'll have to give up with this method - which rather annoys me as my other methods for HM bread work well! My problem is that I find the texture to be very slightly sticky (springy) when cooked. DS/DH think its really nice but I need convincing. It looks as though it is cooked and has an open texture but feels slightly sticky to the touch. I also find that it takes ages to toast and that I can only get two decent size loaves from the 2lb flour/750ml water mixture? Can anyone tell me whether this is as it should be?

PennyPinchingPrincess wrote: »

I've been making the basic recipe, using white flour, for the past few weeks, but I'm starting to miss the extra fibre I was getting from wholemeal bread Does anyone know if it works well using wholemeal flour, or a mixture of wholemeal and white?

5 1/2 cups of white flour and 1 cup of wholemeal flour, everything else stays the same, water (3 cups) and salt. This is classed as "light" wholemeal.

I've been reading this thread since it started and been so tempted, but was trying to lose some weight by low carbing so didn't try it out. On Saturday night though I succumbed and made a full batch of the dough which I left in the fridge over night. I made a 1lb loaf this morning which my husband and I ate warm for breakfast - yes the whole loaf! Then, as I'd intended the bread to be for family tea, I used the rest of the mix to make a large round loaf in a Le Creuset casserole, using the method of cooking with the lid on in an oven from cold. This was much easier and made a beautiful round loaf with a crisp crust. The only problem was that it stuck to the greaseproof paper which it suggested lining the casserole with, so next time I'll just lightly grease the casserole and not put any paper in. For the 1lb loaf I did have to use a loaf tin otherwise as others have said it would have spread over the baking tray and made a flattish loaf.

For those having problems, I think that you do need to cook this dough in something which has a little structure. It's also important to understand how americans measure dry ingredients (apologies for those who know and whose bread is still failing!). As others have said dry ingredients are measured by volume but how you fill the cups is important. You must loosely pack the flour, by spooning it fairly gently into the cup and then lightly levelling off the top with a flat knife. If you dip your cup into the flour bag to fill it, the flour will be tightly packed and you will be using far more than the recipe suggests. It also doesn't really work to pour the flour into the cup from the bag. hth.

Anyway the upshot was that despite the diet, we've managed to eat nearly the full 4lb of bread between 4 of us in one day! But it was delicious and I will definitely be trying this method again, along with some of the sweet brioche recipe in the links. Thanks to all who have posted links to other recipes using this technique.

How do i get the brioche dough?? I found it briefly, wrote it down then lost it.

wow i made a flat garlic bread for a bbq we had monday night had some family and friends over and everyone of them had asked where i bought it as it tasted so good, i was very proud to inform them that actually i made it from scratch myself.