Okay-the clickable thumbnail didn't work for me so here's a photo that you can actually see!

Robin, Great looking loaf. I have been using the Dutch oven and have had great results. I used stone for pizza and that's a thing of beauty. I'm eager to hear your comparison of the two.

Oh that does look good! I've never tried cooking bread in a dutch oven I usually use my stone for artisan type breads. I too will be interested in your comparison.

Oh = that is next on my list! It looks awesome!

Alexa

Robin --

It's beautiful -- such gorgeous color. Well done!

Tamara

Robin, that is a beautiful loaf. And I like your counters too!

Annie

I have been baking my own breads for years, most w/o a recipe. Bread isn't like "baking", there is no chemistry, it's yeast, flour, water, salt and flavourings. I tried the AB in 5 and while the process is simple and the bread quite good on the day it's made, I feel that the next day it's only suitable to go out for the squirrels. It is absolutely stale, inedible and dense as a rock. I have never had this experience with any other dough product I have made. Am I doing something wrong?

Thank you everyone and thanks for the compliment on the counter, Annie. Sometimes I wish I'd chosen a different color, either lighter or all black and other times I'm okay with it. I think if I could find a way to keep it clutter free, I'd like it all the time!
skeip-I know what you mean about the AB in 5 bread being quite dry the second day. My family gobbles it up the first day, but from experience, I think breads with little or no fat in them are much drier overall and tend to completely dry out much faster. Do you store it in an airtight container? I guess it's a trade off between ease of making these "artisan breads" and the ability to store it a few days and still enjoy a tasty slice.

sowngrown...beautiful bread and counters!

The ABin5 is so easy. It is not a fail proof bread though. Sometimes for some reason my batches havent turned out as well. For those times, I just make crackers or flat bread out of the dough.

Tried a recipe in the newest Healthy Artisan Bread in 5 book, Sandwhich bread. This recipe is amazing. Have made 2 batches, made loaves and buns that were very tasty. It is a much softer crumb. The dough is very wet, so I did at from 1/2-1 extra cup of white flour.
In the photo you can see that I sliced the bread when it was a little to warm. Also in the photo is the most boring counter around, what were we thinking!

Well, Trudy, the bread looks delicious and even though you have boring counters ;), that jam looks amazing!! Yum!

I'll have to give the Sandwich Bread a try -- so far, I've only made the Whole Wheat with Olive Oil (delicious).

Thanks Trudy-your bread looks soooo good and your counters are fine :-)! Did you use a nonstick loaf pan for that loaf? I'll have to order the Healthy Artisan bread cookbook. Thanks to people in this forum I learned about the dough whisk and ordered one from breadtopia. I'm waiting on it to arrive. AB bread in 5 is turning into a fun hobby for me-it's great for getting through gloomy winter days. I'll post a photo of the bread I baked on the stone this morning after it cools and I cut it open. I'm hoping the inside is cooked properly. I need an instant read thermometer...

Sowngrow, I believe you are correct about the fat component. All my other breads have whole milk, oil, butter, some sort of fat. My foccacia is like wool, but contains a fair amount of olive oil, and lasts for days, well it would, if I could keep it around! I do love being able to come home and have a hot fresh loaf ready by dinner time, so I like the AB in 5 for that reason alone. Plus, it's fun to experiment with.

gwtamara...thanks for the hint, will be trying the Whole Wheat with Olive Oil soon.

I did try the beer bread, but was disappointed in the flavor.

The strawberry jam was given to me, but I am going to find out the recipe. It's delicious on this bread :)
The fun thing is experimenting with the doughs. No set rules on what you can do or the extra spices and cheeses you can use.

Great winter hobby, but difficult when trying to loose some weight.
Our church has a 'Food Ministry', that I am involved in. This is one way that I dont have to eat all the bread I am making.

skeip-this bread I'm making lately, is made with rye, whole wheat and all purpose flours. It contains wheat germ also along with honey and 4 tablespoons of unsalted butter. I use Smart Balance margarine instead of butter. I think the wheat germ, honey and margarine used in the recipe which makes up 3, 1 1/2 pound loaves, gives this bread a wonderful, somewhat moist, even texture. Baking it on the stone today or in the dutch oven as I did yesterday, produced the same beautiful loaf. I'll use the dutch oven in the future because I preheat my oven for 30 minutes less when I use the d. oven rather than the stone. One trick I learned years ago is to place a clean dish towel over the bread as it cools and that will help to keep the crust and bread a bit softer, at least initially.
Robin

Those of you that have baked AB in a dutch oven....do you grease or oil the pot first?

I don't have the book, just a few of the recipes from the AB website. All of them say to bake on a stone, which I have done, but I might like to try a small "loaf" in a bread pan or pot. I have a small enameled cast iron dutch oven that would be perfect. I just don't want to experience the sticking like sowngrow did with her loaf pan!

Linda

I tried letting the dough rise on a cotton towel as in Mark Bittman's video on Youtube and ended up with a sticky mess. Then, I tried letting the dough rise on parchment and put the whole thing in my dutch oven to bake. Works perfectly. No mess-no sticking. I don't spray the parchment like the guy on breadtopia does either. The fewer steps, the happier I am!

Funny you should post this - a coworker brought in a small loaf of multi-grain artisan bread she had made using the technique in this book, Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day , by Jeff Hertzberg, M.D., and Zoe Francois, on Amazon.com. There's a video, too.

Here is a link that might be useful: Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day

Linda, I use parchment as Sowngrow mentioned without greasing or oiling the pot or parchment. Just be sure the Dutch oven is heated, I preheat the oven and Dutch oven 30 minutes before dropping the bread. Also, I use a thermometer probe to tell me when the bread reaches 120 degrees.

One thing that I do love about having bread at-the-ready is that I didn't realize until 9pm last night that we needed bread for lunches. So, I grabbed a chunk of it out of the fridge and by 11pm when I was getting ready for bed, it was cooling on the counter.

This is the Semolina Bread from the first Artisan in Five book.

Tamara that looks awesome! I love that crumb. Mine always seems too dense :( Any tips?

Cathy, I thought bread was suppose to be cooked to 200-210. Is the temp you refer to particular to bread cooked in a dutch oven or 5 min bread?

Whoa, thanks for catching that typo! I set my thermometer alarm for 210.

mustangs-What brand of thermometer do you use and where can I find one? I bought one and it didn't last long. Thanks.
Robin

Trudy, that bread and jam looks like breakfast! The bread looks nice and soft too, I could get Ashley to actually eat that. Not a darned thing wrong with your counters, remember, mine are orange formica!

Tamara, that bread looks like MY kind of bread and the texture would be perfect to go with soup. I do like to be able to take a piece of dough out of the fridge and bake it, and I do that regularly with my "regular" bread, it does make life so much more simple.

I was disappointed with my first couple of loaves, I'll try one of the other variations.

Annie

Sowngrow, I've had it for a long time, the newer model doesn't get the high marks. Here is the one I have...

Here is a link that might be useful: Thermometer

Thanks Mustangs!
Tamara, that bread looks very tasty. How long did you let it rise before baking it? I love having dough ready in my fridge for bread, pizzas or buns. It's a nice feeling.
Robin

Robin -- My rising time usually varies depending on how old the dough is and how warm/cold my kitchen is. I let this loaf sit for about an 1.25 hours before going into the oven. Being as gentle as possible when shaping and handling the dough is really important so as not to disturb the little gas bubbles that have built up.

Chase -- The AB5 blog has this FAQ that I think is really helpful about crumb. Be sure to read the comments as well. There are so many determining factors that include age and wetness of the dough, room temperature, etc., Each batch of dough is going to produce slightly different loaves because of these factors. The more you bake, the more you are able to gauge and adjust.

Tamara

I had a fiasco last night. I made four hamburger buns out of the dough I have in the fridge. Baked them up, they looked good. Went to take them out of the oven and they slid offf the parchment onto the bottom of the oven. The parchment caught fire, so I had to grab it and get it into the sink and douse it in watr. In the meantime the buns were resting against the coil on the oven floor and they started smoking.

Long story short, I was able to keep the flames under control, but my buns were "toast"! LOL

Linda

Your buns are smokin! lol

Sowngrown, trudy, and gwatamara, what good looking loaves there!

Homemade breads are heart warming even the smoking ones! :-) We haven't bought any store breads for years. Hubby and little man love homemade and I love baking... a couple of loaves a week will do. I always make sandwich breads because that's what we use during the week. Make the free form loaves once in a while. But I have never used a stone. Guess that's why I don't do boules too often. I know I could use the back of a baking sheet but it's never the same. Al

Oh my Gosh Linda-I can visualize that and that same thing could happen to me easily. I know how those buns roll! lol Were your smokin buns salvagable?
Thanks Al :-)
Robin

Nope. I did manage to cut the burnt part off one and get a taste, tho!

Linda

We should start are post on things that can go wrong.

I grow hosta seedlings on a metal rack in a bath in the basement. It's a very nice warm room to let bread rise. Put a loaf of Olive Oil bread to rise on top shelf of rack.

Forgot it was there, went to open a cupboard and poof the bread on the pizza peel hit my head and fell on the floor. It is in the oven now, but sure didnt have much rise the second time.....oh well it was a good lesson, dont open cupboard door when letting bread rise. :)

Linda, glad you got to have a bite!

FWIW, I have a batch sitting on my kitchen counter right now. I used the recipe that was on the Amazon site, then found an article on the Mother Earth News website by the same authors.

The recipe given MotherEarth has slightly different proportions, no vital wheat gluten and they add the yeast and salt to the water instead of the dry ingredients. (Wonder which one came first?) There are also other recipes for Neapolitan pizza dough, naan and caramel rolls, etc.

I just love bread, so if this turns out good, it could be very dangerous! I'll bake it tomorrow (I think) and will report back, with possibly a pic.

Here is a link that might be useful: MotherEarth News - Artisan Bread in 5 Min. a Day

Haha Trudy-based on yours and Linda's experiences I can see the headline now: "Artisan bread in 5, fast but deadly method!"
virginia-funny you should post that. In searching artisan breads yesterday I came across the Mother Earth website which prompted me to remember how much I liked that magazine when I'd read a copy a year or so ago. I promptly ordered a subscription and am anxiously awaiting the first issue. As far as the method of adding the yeast goes...like skeip said: "Bread isn't like "baking", there is no chemistry, it's yeast, flour, water, salt and flavourings." That's a great thing for me since I get so distracted around this house, I nearly always forget to do something in the order the recipe calls for and so far (knock on wood) I've been lucky to have good results the majority of the time!
Robin