Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day

I love having homemade bread! However, I am a busy, pregnant mom. I have enough cleaning to do when I don't spend all day in the kitchen. So, making traditional bread just doesn't seem very practical right now.

A few months ago, one of my friends introduced me to Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day and I absolutely love it! I'll give you a quick overview to show you how you can have fresh bread every day with your meal...or at least every other day. The basic recipe makes four 1 lb loaves.

You start with these ingredients. The basic recipe doesn't call for wheat flour or vital wheat gluten, but I decided to try to make healthier bread this week:

Then you mix it all together. They say you can mix it with a spoon in your storage container, but I prefer using my mixer...much faster and easier. Just mix it up until all the flour is mixed in...no kneading!!

Here comes my favorite part...you put it in a storage container. I have just been using an ice cream bucket because that is what I have. You let it rise for a couple of hours.

Then you can either use the dough immediately, or put it in the fridge to use over the next 14 days! (Be sure you don't seal the lid completely)

When you are ready to bake it, you cut off a chunk. Let it rest on your counter for a while. Preheat your oven and baking stone. And bake the bread. Be sure to let the bread cool before cutting or eating -- the texture is much better that way.

TaDa! You have fresh homemade bread! And the best part...It took me 15 minutes from the time I started getting out the ingredients to the time my KitchenAid was clean and put away! When you bake the bread you can get it out and preheat the oven while you are starting the rest of your meal. Super easy!!

You can find the basic recipe here. However, I highly recommend reading the book. They have lots of great tips and recipe variations.