Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day?

Karen found a cool video online that shows how to have homemade bread every day without kneading. From the authors of Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day, it shows just mixing the ingredients and placing them in the refrigerator and then using some each day to make fresh bread. So I tried it and I’d like to report on my experience.

First, a little background info for the sake of context. I make almost all the bread we eat and have for years. It really isn’t too much trouble beings I have a bread machine. Well, actually, now I have two since Karen brought home a second one several months ago. Anyway, I use the machines for kneading and the first rise. Then I form the dough into round buns, raise them again and bake. So I’m not really doing the hard work although I do know how having done so plenty of times prior to the advent of the bread machine. So I’m an experienced, regular bread maker and not someone who is new to the idea.

Now for my report –

I measured and mixed the ingredients and it was not nearly as easy as it looks in the video. I actually had to resort to mixing with my hands to get the dry and wet ingredients fully incorporated. I don’t know how they did it so easily, as it was way too dry when I tried it. But I finally got it mixed and then put it in the refrigerator.

The next day, I took out a chunk as directed, formed a loaf and let it rise. It didn’t get very big but the final loaf was delicious! Really, really good. Too good in fact for middle aged folk who shouldn’t pig out on carbs. As the days went by, however, the quality of the bread seemed to diminish. They say you can keep it in the refrigerator for up to 5 days but it was getting iffy by then – I would say 4 days is the max.

But the question remains – was it easier? For our purposes, no. The container takes up way too much refrigerator space and the bread is great with dinner but wouldn’t work that well for sandwiches on a daily basis. So I’m back to my old ways and will reserve the healthy five-minute bread for special occasions.