Hi Earl. You're preaching to the choir around here. Many of us make the Artisan Bread In Five Minutes A Day. If you do a search on the forum there will be many many threads mentioning it. It's rare a day goes by when someone doesn't talk about it. If you check out the what's for dinner threads, there is usually some of it shown or mentioned on each of those threads. If memory serves, the current thread has a nice hunk of it sitting next to some lobster bisque....mmmm. It's great and sure nice to be able to make a loaf any particular evening. Btw, it is considered a no knead bread. Thanks for spreading the word. We are right there with ya.

Shaun, are you working on the master recipe? If so, you won't notice much of a rise during the resting period. Most of the rising will happen during baking. According to the authors' instructions, you should preheat the oven to 450°F twenty minutes before baking. But as you know, I don't follow directions well, so I'd recommend preheating the oven at least 30 minutes prior. Their recipe also suggests you liberally flour the top of your loaf before slashing it, so the blade won't stick to the dough. Well, I don't like a lot of flour baked into my bread, so I always skip that step and the blade slices through the dough without sticking. Just be fearless with the blade and do quick, clean cuts. Stick it in the preheated oven with a baking stone placed on the middle rack and place an empty broiler tray (for holding 1 cup hot water) on another shelf -any shelf- as long as it doesn't interfere with the rising of the bread. We'll be waiting with anticipation for the reveal of your glorious buns, on this heah public forum[G]. Sol

I am a binge challah baker from the abin5 book. Four challahs today-now are in the freezer. I, there is a lot of info on artisanbreadinfive.com that isn't in their books-especially their listing of publishing errors They call it errata ,on the web. I know you bake beautiful things. You might like to take a look at zoebakes.com, which is Zoe's own website-she is a pastry chef. Haven't tried ww as I am stuck on challah.

blueheron, Did you use course salt (kosher or sea salt)? The dough should be wet but not so wet you can't do anything with it. I mix the ingredients in my KitchenAid just until blended then dump it into a big stoneware bowl I've got. I leave it on the counter, loosely covered with plastic wrap, for 2 or 3 hours. Then I deflate it with a plastic spatula (really, the thing from my rice cooker) and dump it on the well-floured counter (since I'm usually baking one loaf that day). I keep a spice jar (that once held sesame seeds) about half full of flour and shake enough flour onto the dough that I can touch it without sticking. I cut off a lump - sometimes 1/4 sometimes 1/3- with a bench knife/scraper then scoop the rest of the dough into a container with a loose fitting lid for it's fridge time. I use a piece of cornmeal sprinkled parchment paper on a flat cookie sheet and let it sit for about an hour. I preheat the baking stone, sprinkle the slash area with the flour (from the spice jar) and cut with a sharp paring knife -somtimes freshly run through the sharpener gadget. I cut about 1/4-1/2" deep then slide the paper onto the stone (and of course add the water to the other preheated pan). I think a lot of it is not adding too much flour to the interior of the dough. Disclaimers: I use KA bread flour - haven't tried any others yet. I also live at 7000' elevation in a very dry climate with a generally cool house. I haven't made the bread anywhere else, so YMMV.