Any one have the Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day book?

[firstbaby]

There was a thread in the cooking forum raving about the Milk and Honey Raisin Bread from the Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. I would love some reviews on the book. I have the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day and use it weekly. Thoughts?

Also, if someone wouldn't mind sharing the Milk and Honey recipe I would love to try a recipe from the book before buying. I requested it through our library to also review before buying but there are MANY others in front of me. TIA

[lvhkitty]

I made a few recipes. They were pretty good but the healthy isn't quite as fun as pure white flour. I haven't made the milk and honey bread. I made a berry bread and the olive oil dough for pizza.

[nrp]

That was me - I'm home and can post now. I bought the Healthy book first and liked it so much I bought the original. As an aside, I made the brioche dough from the first book while I was out of town and it was out of this world good. I made the pecan caramel rolls and then a somewhat improvised cinnamon raisin swirl bread and then cinnamon sugar twists. Yum!

Anyway, here is the milk and honey raisin bread recipe:

4 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
4 1/2 cups unbleached AP flour
1 1/2 tbsp granulated yeast (or two packets)
1 tbsp kosher salt (I increase the salt by a bit in all the recipes in this book, as they purposely decreased it for the sodium-conscious)
1/4 cup vital wheat gluten
2 cups milk
2 cups lukewarm water
1/3 cup honey or agave
3/4 cup raisins (I used more - at least a cup)
egg wash for brushing top
raw sugar for sprinkling on top

1. Whisk together flours, yeast salt and vital wheat gluten

2. Combine remaining ingredients and mix them with a spoon or food processor

3. Cover (not airtright_ and allow to rise at room temp for 2 hours (until rises and collapses)

4. Easier to work with cold dough - refrigerate and use up to 10 days

5. On baking day, grease 8.5 x 4.5 inch nonstick loaf pan. flour the top and cut off 2-lb piece of dough. Shape into a ball as you normally would.

6. Shape into oval and place in pan. Allow to rest covered in plastic wrap for 90 minutes.

7. Thirty minutes before baking, preheat oven to 375 with rack in center of oven. No stone required.

8. Just before baking, brush top with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar (don't go too crazy or the top gets too dark).

9. Bake 45 minutes until brown and firm.

10. Immediately remove from pan and allow to cool before slicing.

** I condensed some of the instructions, assuming that you know the basic ABin5 method. If anything is unclear, let me know. Enjoy!

[firstbaby]

Thank you - this looks delish! And I can totally follow the directions from having the other book

I agree that the brioche is magical I usually halve the recipes to make two loaves per batch, but I made a full order of brioche and we were not sorry We also enjoy the cheese bread and spinach and feta bread in case you were thinking about what to make next

Would you say that both books are a staple or should I wait to get the HB in 5 from the library before buying?

[neeleymartin]

i just requested from my local library network. both books look great, but the waitlist is a mile long. i know that once i get the book i will not be able to renew due to this. want to get crackin' the second i get it.

do i need a special container to let the dough do it's thing in? they have one shown with the book on amazon's website (under the frequently bought together).

also, do i need a lot of fridge space? or does the bread sit out?

we have a discount store nearby (similar to dollar store) that carries the bob red mill line for dirt cheap. should i grab any of this?

also, where can i get wheat gluten? what other ingredients do i need for the majority of recipes? i can't wait for the book and want to have all the stuff that i need to make bread immediately. i still need to look closer at the website it looks very good. btw, i have never made a loaf of bread in my llife. any help is greatly appreciated. tia

[firstbaby]

I use one of the dry cereal containers to store the dough in for the fridge to minimize fridge space occupancy. I mix up the dough in my stand mixer and use that bowl to let the dough rise. Then I transfer the dough into the container. I like that the cereal container has a pop top to pour cereal through that I keep unsealed so it's not air tight. The container they show on Amazon looks nice - I have heard that you can pick up the same bucket from a restaurant supply store for a lot cheaper, FWIW.

I use the King Arthur flours so I can't speak to the other brand. As far as other ingredients, the staple ones in the AB book are water, salt, flour, and yeast. I've read that you can buy a big block of yeast at Costco for a great price. For now, I've just been buying the packets. You will buy some variety of flour depending on which recipe you are using, but I think you should wait and buy the flour once you've picked the recipe rather than having it on hand. The only exception I would say is just your regular all purpose unbleached flour - you will use that A LOT.

I had not done a lot of baking with yeast prior to getting into the AB book, but have had a lot of success with the recipes. The directions are very clear and I love having fresh bread with *good* ingredients. Go for it

[neeleymartin]

thanks for posting a reply. i simply cannot wait to get my hands on this book.

[lvhkitty]

I priced out wheat gluten at a few stores. In the end it was cheapest in bulk at Whole Foods.

I love King Arthur flour and only buy it. It used to be available at Trader Joe's but now I can find it cheapest at Whole Foods (local grocers like Jewel charge more).

After making your own bread, it's hard to buy bread with preservatives!