True story: the other night I was prepping my daughter’s school lunch for the next day, when I realised that I was out of bread. Going to the shops was the last thing I wanted to do… then I remembered that I actually had a batch of bread dough from a recipe that I was testing. This is not an everyday occurrence for me, I don’t normally have bread dough ready-to-bake. Amused, I pulled it out of the fridge and… baked her sandwich bread.
The fact that baking fresh bread was easier than going to the store made this recipe extra special! I wanted to share this with you – it’s made life easier in my kitchen – it may work for you too!
The whole idea behind the recipe, is that you prepare a large batch of dough in advance, to have ready throughout the rest of the week. It takes 5 minutes of active work – there’s no kneading, you just mix the basic ingredients in a container, let it rise once and then store it in the fridge. You can then just grab from your batch when you want to bake up a loaf, making the process really quick and easy.
I don’t know what bread makers think of it, but as a busy mom – I’ll tell you that this recipe is a money maker. It’s already proved itself useful more than once!
Since that day, I haven’t stopped playing with it – I’ve even been stuffing the bread with all kinds of ingredients! You can go sweet or savoury – once you have that starter dough, the options are endless. Here’s a pizza bread I made:
I’ve also tried this same stuffed-bread idea with fruit, sugar and cinnamon, peanut butter and jelly, meatballs and cream cheese (yum!)… basically anything you could imagine sandwiched in-between bread will work! And because you have that dough ready, it makes coming up with snacks and lunches, so easy!
Can you tell I’m excited? Give this recipe a go – check out the creators of Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes – get a sense of how it works, then play. You’ll be surprised how easy it can be!
Make your own Starter Dough: follow this recipe – it’s basically flour, water, salt and yeast. You’ll be able to produce about 3 or 4 loaves throughout the week from it. I did 1 part white with 1 part whole wheat. (they have a gluten free variation, whole grains, pizza dough…)
To make my Pizza Bread, check out my pasta sauce recipe here. Then, all you do is pull off a chunk from your batch of ready-made dough, flour a surface and flatten the dough with your fingers. Spread on the toppings and roll it up. Place it on a baking stone, or loaf pan, seam down. Let it rest for about 30 minutes (up to 90 minutes if you’re patient) then into a hot oven at 425f/220c for another 30 minutes.
Your house smells amazing and you’ve got a delicious treat on the table.
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