Larry’s dad spoiled me for Christmas and got me several excellent cookbooks. One that really interests me is Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. Really? Five minutes a day? I had to try it out this weekend. I recruited Amy to join me in a long-distance cooking project. I sent her scans of the appropriate pages from the cookbooks, and we both made up our dough on Friday. It was super quick to make, just dump everything into a plastic container, mix it up and let it rest for two hours. No need to worry about the type of yeast to use. No need to weigh the flour (although I did because it’s just easier in my opinion). The five minutes a day doesn’t include rest time. It was fun exchanging emails about making the dough. Amy thought the dough was about the same wet consistency of other no-knead breads she’d made.

After the rest period – which for both of us turned out to be more like three hours – the dough can be used right away or refrigerated. We both refrigerated and baked the bread this afternoon. The dough is a large batch, enough for four 1-pound loaves, and it lasts a couple of weeks. The idea is to just cut off a chunk of dough whenever you have a hankering for fresh bread. The peasant bread needs to be formed into a boule and then it rests (and barely rises) for 40 minutes. It really did only take five minutes to form it.

The peasant bread needs to rest for longer than the standard dough that uses regular AP flour (that one is only 20 minutes). Amy described the bread as having good oven spring. She’s right! It poofed right up and filled the house with the delicious aromas of baking bread. Mine took quite a bit longer than the suggested 35 minutes to bake, but I think I may have an oven problem.

The bread is delicious! Amy thought it was a little salty because neither of us thoroughly read the master recipe instructions that say to use Kosher salt instead of table salt. I always cook with Kosher, bake with table salt. I don’t think it’s overly salty, though.

I’m sold on this technique! It’s yet another variation on the NYT no-knead bread, but I like this because I feel like I have more control over the time commitment. I get to decide when I make the bread, instead of working my schedule around when the rise is done. I love the idea of having dough on hand, ready to bake. I can easily see baking bread any day of the week.

• European Peasant Bread (Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, p. 46)