Book Reviews

Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

“Soon the bread will be making itself… The crusty, full-flavored loaf that results may be the world’s easiest yeast bread.”

Nick Fox, The New York Times

“The Mother Earth News editors give a big, fat stamp of approval to this incredible cookbook, which proves that there is enough time in life for baking, and that it can save you big bucks…”

Mother Earth News, January 2009

“…Homemade bread is making a comeback, and the newest motivational tome is the stupendous Artisan Breads in Five Minutes a Day… regardless of whether you’ve experienced homemade bread as a kid or just seen it in the movies, with help from François and Hertzberg, your kitchen can rival that of a European bakery…”

Andrew Zimmern, Travel Channel host, food writer and radio personality

“I love it when someone challenges conventional wisdom… and wins! Zoë and Jeff will have you baking bread in less time than it takes to make toast. Bring on the Nutella!”

Stephen Durfee, CIA pastry and baking instructor, James Beard Award for Outstanding Pastry Chef, and former executive pastry chef, the French Laundry

“If man cannot live by bread alone, it may be because Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois didn’t publish their book sooner… [They’ve] developed a method that makes any home into a mini artisan bake shop… Hertzberg and Francois’ practical, common-sense method… is, quite simply, genius.”

Robin Mathers Jenkins, Chicago Tribune

“The race to simplify bread baking is over.  Who won?  The home cook… An even more startling idea… is the thought that sweet enriched breads could be made successfully with shortcuts the same way that the crusty loaves could be…”

Rebekah Denn, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

“From all the fuss, you’d think that… Hertzberg and …François had invented sliced bread, or maybe bread itself. Their bookdelivers what it promises, which is a great gift to home cooks who have the desire to bake but worry that they don’t have the time or skill.”

Sylvia Carter, Newsday

“Each loaf of bread I baked tasted better than the last, with a pleasant tang, a more nuanced wheaty flavor.”

Diana Burrell, Boston Globe

“… results from the oven are easy enough for an amateur to master… but delicious enough to meet the demands of a professional chef… breads that look and taste like they came straight from a boulangerie… will henceforth be on the menu…”

Warren Edwardes, GrapesTalk UK (London)

“…the result is a sturdy, crisp loaf with a delicious flavor. Incredible but true…”

Rianne Buis, de Verdieping Trouw, Amsterdam

“You can refrigerate the dough for as long as two weeks, cut off a piece when the spirit moves you and have fresh-baked bread. “

Carole Kotkin, Miami Herald

“Awesome, absolutely awesome! There’s so much enthusiasm in the writing that it becomes completely infectious. The book makes you want to get in the kitchen and bake– I can’t wait to have a fridge full of dough. It’s home baked bread, demystified and made utterly approachable. Even a chef can do it… Bravo!”

Riad Nasr, executive chef, Balthazar Restaurant/NYC and author of The Balthazar Cookbook

“I’m an enthusiastic convert to the no-knead revolution led by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë Francois.  Terrific homemade bread no longer means hours devoted to kneading dough, letting it rise, punching it down, and letting it rise again…”

Aleta Watson, San Jose Mercury News

“If there is a Nobel Prize for food science, I have a nomination. Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë Francois… have made what may be the most significant advance in food preparation since someone whipped olive oil [into] mayonnaise.  [They’ve] developed a… technique that is so easy, it takes away just about all the excuses home cooks had to not bake bread.  And what bread!

Bob Stover, Florida Today

“It looked like a loaf of artisan bread, and lo and behold, it certainly tasted like it… you get to enjoy, not only the sight of a crowd…, waiting for the bread to emerge, but the wafting aroma of a bread that your grandmother would have appreciated– but would never have paid $6 a loaf for.

Sasha Paulsen, Napa Valley Register

“It feels a bit sinful for bread baking to be so easy.”

Harry Merritt,  Baltimore Sun

“If holiday gift-givers are aiming to buy one new cookbook title for the bakers in their lives, they should look no further than the remarkable Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day… Hertzberg and Francois should have called their burst of genius “Breadmaking for Dummies — that’s how user-friendly it is… their master recipe is wildly flexible, generously adapting to a wide range of breads, pizzas, flatbreads and pastries.”

Rick Nelson, Minneapolis Star-Tribune

“Hertzberg… and Francois… have come up with a quick, simple method that produces a crusty loaf as good, if not better than, most bakeries do. The instructions are brief and so clearly written the loaves practically assemble themselves… I’ve tried four of the recipes, and they were all winners. Finally, loafing around proves to be productive.”

Kathie Jenkins, St. Paul Pioneer Press

“The interior of the loaf was so delicious and warm and moist, it was enough to make you cry… go buy the book, people. Anyone who figures out a way to make something this good this easy should be rewarded…”

Jeff Houck, Tampa Tribune

“… stands above the crowd for its ease: Mix flour, any kind of yeast, salt, and water.  Let it sit for about two hours, refrigerate for up to two weeks and cut off chunks of dough when ready to bake…”

Karen Fernau, Arizona Republic

“Already addicted to her desserts and generous spirit, if I can pick one person to teach me the craft of bread making, Zoë Francois it shall be. Together with Jeff Hertzberg, they give us a tome that shall inspire our learning experience and inspirit our homes and kitchens with the warmth of fresh baked breads. Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day will forever change your attitude towards and enjoyment of freshly baked breads.”

Suvir Saran, chef/owner, Devi/NYC, and author, American Masala and Indian Home Cooking

“The two teamed up–chemist and alchemist… “[Hertzberg and François]…explain how to bake European-style breads in less time than a trip to the store… the bread has a lovely crackly crust and is dense and moist with a distinct light sourdough tang.”

Beth Dooley, Mpls.St.Paul Magazine

Breads anyone would be happy to come home to… The concept is inspired. Spend about 20 minutes making a large batch of refrigerator-friendly, no-knead bread dough that, following a standard rise, can keep up to two weeks… Total active time each day you bake is about five minutes…”

J.M. Hirsch, Associated Press

“Hertzberg… and Francois have come up with recipes that even the most Neanderthal of bakers can pull off.”

Jessica Armbruster, City Pages

“… the first edition of the cookbook sold out before Christmas… By some accounts, it’s one of the fastest-selling cookbooks ever… I tried one recipe, and the very next day I was on the phone to the nearest bookstore, asking to reserve a copy for me.”

Jo Marshall, St. Paul Highland Villager highland-villager-review-9-08.pdf

“No weighing, no proofing, no poking, no punching, no kneading, no exacting rise times, no window-pane stage, no autolyse, no worrying whether the dough has doubled or tripled in volume… at home, I discovered that it really is that easy… we had hot, fresh, homemade bread on a weeknight.”

Tricia Cornell, Southwest Journal

“Their innovative approach to high-brow artisan baking appeals to my lazy-man sensibility. Zoë and Jeff offer you a bread basket that brims with chewy boules, crusty baguettes, crispy-thin pizzas, buttery naans, and rich-sweet brioches–all served with an ounce of science and a pound of creativity.”

Raghavan Iyer, 660 Curries and Turmeric Trail

“…An intriguing concept– high-quality, fresh bread in less time than it takes to boil water…those looking for an innovative approach to making bread just might find it in these recipes…”

Publisher’s Weekly

“Any dummy can make them...these easy, excellent loaves fool people into thinking I can cook.

Amy Goetzman, Minnpost.com