bread

I am waiting the requisite 40 minutes as dictated by what I am assured is a life transforming book called Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. I am waiting for the little ball of dough pictured above to rise on my makeshift peel. In 40 minutes I will dust and slash the top, then slide it easily (thanks to the liberal sprinkling of corn meal on the peel) into the oven where it will bake for 30 minutes. Upon cooling it will have a 'custard crumb' and crisp crust and be a delicious French Boule loaf.

If all goes to plan I will repeat this process (which really does take about 5 minutes) daily and never buy bread again. Once every couple of week I will be required to make a quite sloppy, yeasty, bubbling mass that is my dough mixture and store it in the fridge, removing grapefruit size hunks for the daily ritual.

Can it really be this easy? I doubt it. Last night while letting the dough mix fester rise on the bench for three hours it overflowed the enormous tub I had it in and required transferring into a tub that is normally used to store kids' toys. The mess was manageable but significant. I will persevere though as the thought of making our own bread free from preservatives and bleaches and whatever else goes into a supermarket loaf really does appeal. More photos to come - hopefully with some success to report.