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Eric Bakes Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day - Questions

The bread looked great. I have to second Paul's question:

I have some questions:

What purpose does leaving a piece of the dough in the container serve? I know there are sour doughs and such that have organisms that give flavor to the bread, does this end up like that?

Through the description it seems like you make a big batch of this dough and it's good for a week or two in the fridge, is that right? So you make it on a Sunday, say, then you have minimal effort bread all week?

Tags: artisan, bread

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Permalink Reply by Jess on November 15, 2009 at 8:42am: It is what's called a pre-ferment, and it adds mature dough flavor. Trust me, it's good. I keep some in the refrigerator (in a smaller covered bowl) and add flour and water all the time to the old stuff. The key here is to read the book - the most important element is that the dough is WET. Really wet. That's what allows the gluten to form with no kneading. So wet you almost can't handle the dough.

You can make it more whole grain, as well. Get the book. It's worth it.

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Permalink Reply by Nick Wondra on November 15, 2009 at 4:07pm: Yeah, this sounds a lot like a sour dough starter to me too. I think what distinguishes sour dough, though, is that the yeast in the dough is "wild", not cultivated as a byproduct of other processes (like making alcohol). Wild yeast is accompanied by different types of bacteria which give the sour dough starter its unique flavor. The specific bacteria that travel with wild yeast varies from region to region, which is why St. Louis sour dough doesn't taste the same as San Francisco sour dough.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by eric rochow on November 24, 2009 at 5:00pm: the beauty of this method is that it is less work than a sourdough starter. you don't have to feed it. you just leave some scraps of dough from the last batch in the container, and start a new one. i'm not an expert on this, but its pretty easy to do.

the authors are coming out with a new book on doing whole grain breads and they are supposed to send us a copy to review and give away.; ▶ Reply to This