Betsy Bailey

It all started with my brother-in-law, who brought bread to our Thanksgiving feast this year. (When Andrea said, Jay will bake bread for the meal, I was like, “really? Jay bakes bread??”)

It was a delicious loaf of white bread with molasses. And he told me I needed to try it for myself – he sent me an email right that moment with a link to the recipe for a simple crusty bread that requires no kneading and no lengthy rising times. (Adapted from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day). I watched this video, and couldn’t get over the simplicity!

And so began my obsession.

That gorgeous loaf on the right was my third batch of dough, where I sprinkled some rosemary into the dough while mixing it up. These loaves turn out so beautifully, my kids gather around the cooling rack to admire the freshly-baked  bread whenever it comes out of the oven. It’s almost like a shrine!

It pleases me that even as a VERY busy working and otherwise multitasking mom I can bake bread for my family nearly every day. Especially when they react so favorably, as if it is the greatest gift that MOM! Bakes bread! For us!!

Finally, a food I make that they can truly appreciate.

If that’s not revolutionary…

The method
The dough you mix up with this no-knead bread method has a high yeast and high water content (it’s also called “high moisture dough”). The extra yeast aids a faster rise (saving time!). The high moisture content breaks down the gluten in the wheat flour – a task normally accomplished with kneading.

My first time
I was so excited to put this bread in the oven and watch it bloom and bake. The whole house smelled just amazing. Bailey and I were in raptures (she thinks homemade bread every day is quite luxurious).

I can’t get over just how easy this is! I messed it up my first batch in a couple ways and it still turned out PERFECTLY. I used bleached flour before realizing that was a no no. Besides adding chemicals, bleaching removes some of the protein and that throws off the recipe because the dough will be too wet.

I read that AFTER I mixed up my first batch of dough with bleached flour and of course I fretted about it all night.

However, it turned out PERFECTLY. My future loaves might be better with other flours, but this was still quite amazing. The crackly crust is divine.

I made four loaves of bread with bleached flour they were tasty!

The texture with the unbleached is definitely different (not quite as dense), but everyone was still in raptures about the bread I made with bleached flour.

I’ve read elsewhere online that this recipe is incredibly forgiving and found that to be true!

I also did a crappy job portioning out those first loaves and forming them (see photo above), but I already feel much more practiced about that.

Like sourdough?
One of the cool things about this dough is that you make a large batch (enough for 4 one pound loaves) and refrigerate it for UP TO 2 WEEKS! The longer it’s refrigerated, the more it ferments and the more if achieves sour dough tang (without any starter maintenance!). You don’t stir it, knead it nor mix anything further into it.

One of the tips they have in the book to get even more sourdough-y goodness is to NOT wash your dough container when you make a fresh batch. Just scrape it down and incorporate the aged dough remnants into the fresh dough mixture. They call it the lazy sourdough shortcut. How inspired is that?

Oh, and I’ve read some people mention that between day 10 and 14 it does start to lose it’s rising ability. Tired yeasties. That’s when it’s a good time to roll it out into pizza dough!

I’m trying to imagine this dough lasting anything like 2 weeks around here, though. I might have to make bigger batches at one time!

Challah fun

Make sure to also spend some time on the authors’ website. After browsing the many recipes and variations in the book, I found myself anxious to try a different bread. The next dough I mixed up was the challah.

I found this recipe on the authors’ website: Braided challah filled with spinach, feta and pine nuts

It was amazing – Scott is becoming more seriously impressed with this method.

Since making the challah I’ve also made the Broa (Portuguese cornbread), the Vermont cheddar bread (will use more cheddar next time), the chocolate bread, which I then made into chocolate bread pudding (which has a super chocolate-y custard – divine!) and onion pletzel (don’t forget to sprinkle with kosher salt – that makes it!).

I feel like I’m cheating to make such easy bread and have it look/taste so awesome!

Tips and hints
For more analysis, discussion and variations with the 5 minute bread method, don’t miss this cool interview with the book’s authors.

There is much discussion there about how to get higher, airier loaves of bread, and the positive impact of longer rising times during the second-rise stage. The longer rise has definitely improved my breads.

Also, using parchment paper to transfer bread to the baking stone has greatly simplified the process (as if it was ever complicated!). I set the bread out to rise on a cookie sheet covered with a piece of parchment paper. When its time to put the bread in the oven, I slip the loaf onto the pre-heated baking stone, parchment paper and all. After about 15-20 minutes – when the crust is good and firm – I slip the parchment paper out so the bottom crust can bake directly against the stone. This is a particularly superior method for transferring pizza and pletzel and other flatbreads to the baking stone.

I just finished the Twilight series two nights ago, specifically vetting it for my 12 and 11 year old daughters who were hot to see what all the fuss is about.

WARNING: There are spoilers ahead.

HM finished the first two books and she’s done (for now) – she says Bella needs to get a life and she thought it was boring and that’s that.

Bailey also thinks Bella needs to get a life – she thinks Meyers wrote her WAY too hormonal (heh, an advantage to having a so-far non-boy crazy preteen reading it) and makes very bad decisions, including doing reckless and dangerous things in defiance of parental authority for very unhealthy reasons.

It’s already inspired some very spirited conversations in our household!

If you read amazon reviews, you’ll get the gist. It’s very much the stuff of fairy tales. As a theme, it really has this troubling inherent problem that underlies many of its other problems: To fulfill her dream (which is to become a vampire so as to be with Edward forever without physically aging beyond HIS physical age of 17) means sacrificing Bella’s very humanity. There is no way to turn that into a healthy decision.

Reminds me of the problem with The Little Mermaid. But at least Ariel has a talent – some aspirations. Bella has… NOTHING. She has no ambition, no dream, no aspirations whatsoever. I don’t understand why Meyer did that. I don’t understand why the editors didn’t suggest this simple improvement which would have given Bella even more to weigh when considering what she’d be sacrificing to be undead with Edward.

Ultimately, I kept turning the pages because Meyer IS a good storyteller. I wanted to see what would happen next – how this would all end. I wanted to see vampirism through Bella’s eyes (and that WAS cool in a fairy tale wish-fulfillment kind of way). But, damn, I was also frustrated because it could have been SO MUCH better in hundreds of different ways.

Back to values… There aren’t many values Bella represents that you’d want your daughter to emulate. Bella has no respect for her parents (nor does Meyers, nor does the reader), she is not a good friend – she is quite the user. She is attracted to Edward, but it seems to be a purely chemical thing. When Bella finds a good friend and Meyer paints a picture of relatively healthy companionship based on more than physical attraction and infatuation, Bella doesn’t pick that boy.

I think it’s a fun read, escapism and wish fulfillment galore, but it’s really important to help our daughters read with a critical eye, IMO. Just like we try to savvy them to all the unhealthy values expressed in media.

Ultimately, I think it’s a shame that Bella got everything she wanted without really sacrificing anything. The whole series really is about gratification of your desires, even at the expense of others, with little sacrifice required. I would say it’s definitely a mirror of much that is wrong with our society and its most superficial of values.

Read this series just a couple months after reading Reviving Ophelia like I did and it’s pretty chilling actually.

One friend of mine also made a good point about the unrealistic portrayal of having a baby in the fourth book. Bella becomes a vampire after having a baby, so she is immediately in perfect physical form and has superhuman strength and wants to have hot sex constantly. The birth – definitely not glorified, but problematic in its own ways. The postpartum period is beyond glorified, though, lol. Perhaps not the message you want to send teen girls about what having a baby is like.