I love cookbooks

My mother in law recommended this book to me, "Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day". At first, I was skeptical. What could be easier than using a bread machine? Granted, I'm getting to the point where I'm too lazy to use the bread machine, but I still wasn't sure what could be easier. Also, I wasn't sure what Artisan Bread really entailed, and when I saw the picture on the cover I was like, well, that's frou frou bread that I don't even really like. You know, the fancy loaves that are really expensive at the bakery. They're not even loaf shaped. How can I make a sammich with unloaf-shaped bread? Still, after reading through it I did think it sounded kind of easy, so I figured I'd give it a whirl...

Sooo easy! I mean, it's a pretty simple concept. Basically you just have a bucket of dough in your fridge and you pull some out when you want to make bread. And not just the frou frou bread. You can make loafy bread, or pita bread, or naan-- all from the same bucket of dough. Which, by the way, you just mix up and let rise before you throw it in the fridge. No kneading or anything. It's perfect for me, because I am very lazy and terrible at making dough. Of course, there is still room for error in the cooking process. You could, for example, forget to grease the pan while making pitas, which would cause them to poof all wrong and of course stick to the pan. Or you could cook them for a few minutes too long at a high temp, causing your house to be flooded with smoke for an hour or two. Or not get them flat enough and end up with a bready hockey puck. Or get them too flat and have a cracker. (Obviously, my pitas need some work.) But if you're just throwing some dough into a loaf pan... well, even I haven't screwed that up yet. And it's really, really yummy bread. So far I've only used the basic white bread recipe, but I'm pumped to try some of the peasant loaves and wheat breads too. This is cool stuff. Of course, the authors are from MN. I never should have doubted that kind of intelligence.