Latest culinary discovery

For a little over 2 years now we've been making most of our own daily bread in a breadmaker.  But I was still buying what Peter calls 'fancy bread' from the markets (sourdough loaves) to go with our soups and other situations where a nice crusty loaf would be best.  A bit over a month ago I saw a book on the shelves at the library called 'Artisan bread in five minutes a day', so I decided to borrow it and see what it was like.  And since then I've been baking this bread reasonably frequently, making bread rolls, small loaves, brioche and foccacia style breads.

It works on the principle of having a bulk batch of dough that you mix up and then store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks in which time you can pull out a lump of any size to bake, and leave the remainder in the fridge.  This means making last minute loaves and being able to bake a batch of rolls when I have time is easier than the breadmaker which takes over 2.5hrs as you have to start the whole process from the beginning.  With this 'fridge dough' method there is only a 40min prove and then bake!  You do need to have the space in the fridge for a 5L container to live (which we do, just), so it might not suit you if you have a small fridge and don't already have spare space.

(here's their website if you want to have a look)