Gluten-Free Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

by Jeff Hertzberg, Zoë François, Stephen Scott Gross (Photographer)

The bestselling authors of the groundbreaking Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day bring you a new cookbook with 90 delicious, entirely gluten-free bread recipes made from easy-to-find ingredients.

With more than half a million copies of their books in print, Jeff Hertzberg, MD and Zoë François have proven that people want to bake their own bread, so long as they can do it quickly and easily. But what about people with celiac disease or gluten sensitivity? They want to eat well too, but gluten is everywhere: in cakes, pastas, desserts, gravy—even in beer and Scotch whiskey. But the thing they miss most? Bread.

Based on overwhelming requests from their readers, Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François have returned to their test kitchens to create an entirely gluten-free bread cookbook—most of the recipes that readers loved in Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day appear here in a gluten-free version. In just five minutes a day of active preparation time, you can create delectable, gluten-free Sandwich loaves. European Peasant Bread, 100% Whole Grain Loaves, French Baguettes, Crock Pot Bread, Caraway "Rye" Bread, Challah, and even fabulous dessert breads like Brioche, Doughnuts, and Sticky Pecan Caramel Rolls.

Gluten-Free Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day extends their revolutionary stored-dough method to yeasted and unleavened breads made without wheat, barley, or rye. With 90 recipes—plus 100 black-and-white instructional photos and 40 gorgeous color images—the authors adopt the rich palette of world breads to their unique method. With this revolutionary approach, you CAN have mouthwatering gluten-free artisan bread in just five minutes a day!

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Food, Nonfiction, Reference, Health

304 pages, Hardcover

First published October 21, 2014

About the author

Jeff Hertzberg is a physician with 20 years of experience in health care as a practitioner, consultant, & faculty member at the University of Minnesota Medical School. His interests in baking & preventive health sparked a quest to apply the techniques of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day to healthier ingredients. He lives in Minneapolis with his wife & two daughters.

--from the author's website

http://us.macmillan.com/author/jeffhe...

Reviews

[Allie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been waiting for this book for years!! In college, before my celiac diagnosis, a friend introduced me to Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day and it was a revelation! I'm SO EXCITED to read this.

UPDATE 11/2/14: SO GOOD SO GOOD SO GOOD!! I WANT TO BAKE BREAD ALL THE TIME!!

[Robyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just a quick update on this: the pizza crust recipe in here is incredible! Can barely tell it's gluten free (great chewy/crispy texture) and it actually tasted good. And bakes for the same time/temp as a wheat crust, no parbaking required! A triumph for gluten free baking.

---

I think we can all agree that gluten free "bread" is trash and anyone who swears that they've found a recipe that is exactly like wheat bread, or somehow better than wheat bread, is full of it.

Hoping to reintroduce gluten back into my diet in a couple weeks but in case GF turns into a forever lifestyle I have been exploring my options. I have never viewed bread as just a vehicle for jam or sandwich fillings, so if I was going to eat a dense amount of carbs it better be worth it and also have some degree of nutrition. So I usually had been making my own bread (and pizza etc) for close to 10 years.

The thing many people don't realize about most gluten free bread is that it is arguably less nutritious/healthful than wheat bread because it is mainly made with rice flour and tapioca starch, so it's actually often higher in refined carbs than wheat bread. So if I'm going to have to eat gluten free bread I want to make my own so I can at least add some whole grains or fibre or something so it is not just the equivalent of Wonder bread made with rice flour. I also just straight up do not want to eat bread with a strong rice flavour.

This book has the easiest and most forgiving method/recipes I've seen so far. I had high hopes but my bread did not really rise that well - it's still a tiny little loaf and there was a slightly odd taste to it, I wondered if the salt content was appropriate for the recipe. I guess if one wants to make a "normal sized" sandwich type loaf they need to double/triple the recipe (which means adding even more carbs to your diet just to get appropriately sized slices).

BUT I will admit that the loaf I made, while tiny, was hands-down the most "bread-like" of any of the GF bread I've bought or made so far. You could potentially even fool someone who is not picky about bread into thinking it's made with wheat (except for the size). As I was eating a tiny piece of toast with peanut butter I felt I was sort of tricking my brain into thinking I was eating "real" bread. I think I will try the pizza crust recipe next as the couple pizza crusts I've made from other recipes so far have been duds.

Disclaimer - I did not make a "full" recipe and store it in the fridge and break off pieces to make multiple loaves. I used the concepts described in the book (namely, keep as much air in the dough as possible) to quarter a 4-loaf recipe, and then only did one rise. I rose it at room temp for about 4 hours and then left it in the fridge for two days. Then rose on the proofing setting in my oven for another couple hours before baking. It is a tiny loaf but does not feel as dense or as wet/ gummy as the other breads I've bought or made - definitely the most pleasing texture.

If I have to keep up with GF long term (hopefully not though because I desperately miss real bread), I will probably buy this book.

[Judy Collins · Rating 4 out of 5]

A special thank you to St. Martin's Press -Thomas Dunne Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

If you have read the blog, BreadIn5.com, you will love the beautifully packaged, Gluten-Free Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François, an incredible book filled with easy recipes, tidbits, and valuable information regarding celiac disease, and how to maintain a gluten-free diet without eliminating delicious bread.

As the studies note celiac disease (a debilitating auto-immune disease caused by gluten- I have this issue) is front and center. As the gluten-free trend has grown, a much larger population is experimenting with the gluten-free lifestyle to treat health symptoms. Four times more common today than it was in the 1950s. Sometimes it is hard to find certain breads, pastries, and other goodies; thereby creating a need to find alternative ways to prepare at home, for busy lifestyles.

Gluten-Free Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, offers more than 60 recipes--as well as 100 black-and-white instructional photos and 40 gorgeous color images. Five Minutes a Day extends their revolutionary stored-dough method to yeast and unleavened breads made without wheat, barley, or rye. There are also recipes with or without eggs, (for all of us who do not use dairy), and ways to use Stevia (which I use) or honey and other substitutes for the other diet restrictions.

The dough conditioners, preservatives, GMOs, and added sugars are bad, bad, bad. I speak from experience, as I developed severe food allergies, several years ago. Severe anaphylactic shock, with swelling of lips, face, tongue, and throat (this is very scary). For the last three years have been on a strict diet (it is a lifestyle), following six months of maintaining a daily food journal and checking blood pressure, heart rate, etc. Additives were causing all sorts of health issues. NO wheat, gluten, dairy, alcohol, meats, nor caffeine – all organic, a vegan-- feel great!

I am unable to take any medication, and have to be very careful with my environment, products, and chemicals, as highly allergic. I do not dine out often, due to these allergies, as you never know what about preservatives or additives. (carry an EpiPen), so am always on the lookout for new creative ways to cook and bake, with new recipes, while maintaining my healthy lifestyle. I have had no problems in the last three years, stay fit with NO allergy problems-- love eating whole grain breads, Quinoa, and veggies.

The book offers a wealth of information- from instructional tips to mixing, preparing, rising, baking, storing, and brushes. Alternatives to making larger portions to refrigerate, and make ahead for busy lifestyles.

Since I am single, I prefer to make my whole grain loafs ahead of time, bake them, and then slice and put in large freezer baggies. This way I take out only one a day and pop in the toaster oven for a few minutes and have warm delicious bread without the fuss. Or if you prefer you can prepare and shape, and bake as you see fit, or refrigerate the dough and use it over the next ten days.

The good part, you can still have homemade indulgences that make no apologies for skipping the wheat. A wide variety of information, broken out in an easy to read format from: Ingredients, equipment, tips and techniques, flour mixtures, the master recipe, and recipes for loaves, flatbreads and pizzas, enriched breads and pastries, and sources for a variety of bread-baking products with FAQ. Well-done. Highly recommend!

[Terri · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book makes it FUN to bake bread. Due to a medical condition I have a gluten free diet.I really really miss bread. Most of the pre made gluten free bread is sub par at best . This bread is absolutely fabulous. Don't be afraid , dig in and try your first recipe and you will be hooked, I promise!

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

Friggin' magic. After several loaves, I've purchased this amazing book. Yay for bread!

[Allison]

This books looks great - I’ll save my rating until after I try to make the bread though

[Suzanne Barrett · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was sent a copy of Gluten-Free Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day by the publisher for an honest review. Having switched to a gluten-free diet some 30 months ago, I was eager to give this new cookbook a fair review.

It contains 90 gluten-free recipes, everything from sandwich bread to baguettes to beignets and challah. There are two basic all-purpose flour mixtures which form the basis for the recipes. Each makes a sizable quantity of flour (4 ¼ pounds for Mixture #1), so you’ll have some to use right away and some to store. Questions about the dough are answered in the Tips and Techniques section, things such as: “My loaves are too dense and heavy—what am I doing wrong?” (My first question after attempting the Boule.)

I was such a fan of Dr. Herzberg’s first Artisan book that I was eager to try some of the gluten-free recipes. The Boule was my first attempt, and as stated earlier, I found the flavor quite enjoyable, but the texture a bit dense. I had hand-mixed my dough and will hereafter use my stand mixer which will also lessen the over-handling of the dough—another factor in a dense product.

The beignets were far more successful, as was the baguette. I have not tried the Spinach Feta Bread (p. 158), however, since this is a gluten-free version of the popular phyllo dough, it’s next on my list of recipes to make.

My normal eating plan is more Primal or Paleo, which means I don’t generally indulge in rice, which makes the basis for this flour mixture. However, if rice is a part of your diet, Dr. Herzberg’s book will more than satisfy your baking needs with peasant loaves, flatbreads, pizzas, brioche and a number of pastries. I recommend it.

The center section has some amazing full-color recipes while the “how-to” sections show the processes in black and white. There’s a ton of information packed in the book’s nearly 300 pages, and every question you might want to ask is answered in understandable terms.

If baking is your passion, but wheat poses dietary problems, Gluten-Free Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day is the book for you.

[Jenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A friend gave this to me shortly after I was diagnosed with celiac disease. There is a base flour recipe that can then be used for several base different dough recipes—which can then be used for many different breaded items. So far I’ve tried three different dough recipes: the master recipe (which is a basic for French bread items), the pizza dough, and the brioche dough. I didn’t care for the pizza dough, but the master recipe makes maybe the best crust I have made so far. I also used the master recipe for naan bread and it was wonderful bThe brioche bread was not soft like store bought brioche, but it was still good. We used it to make beignets and they were great. The premise of the book is to make a large batch of dough (which doesn’t take long, but definitely more than 5 minutes) and refrigerate the dough to be used or frozen over the next 5-10 days (depending on the type of dough). That part really is quick. My boules and baguettes are definitely not as pretty as the bread in their pictures, but they do get eaten. I’m excited to keep experimenting with this book.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

To be honest I was a bit sceptical, having spent 20 years trying to find a way to make bread that didn't involve a chemistry lab and a lot of duds. This book finally showed me a way it could be done. Not being overly keen on trying to track down heaps of different sorts of flours (which would probably necessitate a long haul drive to Melbourne), I've cheated a lot and am using www.bakels.com.au/products/bakels-glu... with a bit of added xanthan gum.

I've also been using the make the dough / store in the fridge method to create a couple of batches in one go, cooked over the next week (the dough will keep for 10 days apparently).

Lots of variations to be tried yet - but so far I've done loaves of all types, rolls. Flat breads and some of the fancy items to be tried over the next …

[TLP · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is of the same great quality as the previous books in the series. I was particularly impressed with the depth of information given to educate on the ingredients, process, variations and expectations of gluten-free prior to any recipes. This book allows you to go beyond the recipes included in this book, based on the knowledge you acquire here. I highly recommend this book if you want to get comfortable with gluten-free bread baking.

[Ash · Rating 4 out of 5]

Other than using gluten free flour mix, this isn’t very different from the other artisan bread book by these authors. I think if you own one, you don’t need the other since they are mostly identical.

[Alexandre Milouchev · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing book! If you've ever wanted to bake gluten-free bread, get it. Most other books use eggs, but this book is the real deal: flour, salt, water, and yeast.

The basic flour blend is the same as is found in many recipes online: white rice flour, starch (we use arrowroot), cassava flour. The extra secret ingredient required to make it stick like gluten is either psyllium husk or xanthan gum. We use psyllium, because it seems to have fewer nasty side-effects than xanthan.

The "5 minutes a day" bit is a gimmick, you really need a lot more than that: you prepare the dough during the weekend, let it sit in the fridge, and on weekdays you take one loaf's worth and pop it in the oven for close to an hour -- and then there's still the cooling time, which is another hour or so. Indeed, the active work part is 5 minutes, but that's irrelevant in my opinion because you realistically can't bake this bread for breakfast except if you get up 1.5h-2h before everyone else. I guess the title sells, though. It's okay, the content makes up for it.

Some more positive points:
* There are many, many great recipes in the book. They are all different and well-explained. They will provide you with inspiration for years to come. Chapter 9 in particular is awesome with its enriched dough with which you can make brioche, challah, and many other fancy breads.
* There are many tips and tricks that make gluten-free bread possible: like for example how to manage to transfer the bread correctly into the oven without it sticking. Or special items that can be particularly useful for baking gluten-free bread. For almost every part, you're given multiple options on how to do it, based on what you have or what you're willing to buy.

Overall, this book is incredible. Get it and stop eating gluten already, it's bad for you! Even if you're healthy, new research comes out every day to show the different ways in which it makes the gut permeable. And a permeable gut = an open invitation to autoimmune disease. It may come in 20-30 years, but it'll come. We live longer nowadays, long enough that it makes it highly likely you'll live to get chronically ill if you don't clean up your diet.

Ugh I didn't want this review to end on a negative note. Bread is awesome, gluten-free bread is even more awesome. Bake one and you'll soon find yourself baking it every week!

[Punk · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven't made anything from this yet because it requires mixing up a batch of their flour mix, which makes me want to throw the book across the room on principle because I can't be mixing up custom flour mixes every time I pick up a cookbook, you guys. But I'll do it eventually because I loved François and Hertzberg's no-knead wheat bread method, and I'm excited to try their gluten-free version.

The breads look great and there's a variety of doughs to choose from. They use two gluten-free flour mixes. One's an all-purpose flour (white rice, sorghum, tapioca, potato starch) and the other is whole grain (brown rice, teff, sorghum, oat flour). They allow for some substitutions in flours and, for those who want to avoid gums, both mixes let you choose between xanthan gum and powdered psyllium husks. The recipes give measurements in volume and weight (grams and ounces).

The book has some grainy black and white pictures to go along with the text and recipes. The introduction goes through the materials, ingredients, and techniques required. But it also leaves some things out. It says you can use a cast iron skillet instead of a baking stone "(see below)" and then just...never gets to the part about the cast iron skillet?? Irritating.

It also has an index and three sections with colored photos, but there are only photos for some of the recipes, and the recipes that do have color photos elsewhere in the book only say "see colored photo" and no page number. Not super helpful.

Still four stars, and if it works, maybe I'll bump it up to five.

[Friederike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Herr Jeff Hertzberg und Frau Zoë François hatten zusammen die Sehnsucht nach frischem einhfach herzustellendem glutenfreien Brot.
Backen mit „ohne Gluten“ ist vollkommen anders als mit Gluten. Der Backkleber fehlt, welches das Gerüst für das Brot gibt. Aber keine Sorge, das wird im Buch ausführlich beschrieben.
Es kann der Wochenvorrat auf einmal angemischt werden und die entsprechende Mehlmenge täglich Portionsweise, ohne Vorteig und Hefe zu verarbeitet. So spart man sich viel Zeit und braucht lt. Buch nur 5 Minuten je Brot Aufwand.
Im Buch werden unterschiedliche Brote z.B. Baguette, Kastenweißbrot oder herzhaftes Brot vorgestellt. Auch unterschiedliche Backtechniken im Schongarer oder Pizzastein.
Die Grundidee einen Teig für den Brotbedarf der Woche einmal anzurühren und dann Portionsweise zu Backen finde ich sehr interessant und ein neuer Gedanke. Allerdings werden im Buch Mehle verwendet, die zwar der Buchverlag auch führt, aber nicht unbedingt jeder Supermarkt. Aus dem Grund habe ich einen Stern von der Wertung abgezogen.

Fazit
Innovative Backidee leider mit nicht allzugängigen Mehlen

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was pleasantly surprised at the results I was able to obtain using the methods and recipes in this books. I am not a novice baker, so I know what a good, real freshly made loaf of bread should look and taste like and this book makes GOOD gluten free bread easy and attainable for just about anyone. There is some front end work and the 5 minutes a day slogan is a little misleading, but overall I felt like this was an excellent purchase and I have used it many times and will use it often in the future.

[Elly Call · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bread bread bread bread bread and also bread. A fundamental cause for the French Revolution and my torturous desire.

I thought I’d never enjoy a decent rye again, and for too long I settling for screaming stomach aches or yearning yeastily from a distance.

Now, I can enjoy crunchy crusted victory whenever I like. I can finally choose artisanal bread-making as my quarter life crisis activity of choice and get on with aging. My only god is the loaf.

Also you don’t always need psyllium husk as a binding agent. You can also use ground chia seeds.

[Emilie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hands-down, the very best gluten-free baking book I have EVER tried. I appreciate the level of detail, the descriptions, the images… the process seems daunting at first but it is not very difficult to get the hang of. So far I have made a small round loaf with the base recipe, and I’ve just made the bagel recipe. They were both absolutely incredible. I’ve done a lot of baking since I discovered my gluten intolerance, but I have never made anything of this caliber! It tastes like bread you’d pick up from a fancy artisanal bakery. There are so many more recipes in here that I can’t wait to try.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my most used gluten-free cookbooks. So many recipes have become our family standards. My copy is so well used the binding broke and I have bookmarks and sticky notes on most every page, it’s got stains and well-loved pages. I bought a new copy, but still pull out the one that looks like it’s been through a war! This book gave me confidence in baking gluten-free.

[Carol Bledsoe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Made one basic loaf and it's delicious. I have some experimenting to do to make the crumb better, but I had to do that with their original recipes too. Breadmaking isn't only about the recipe. It is affected by temperature, humidity and other environmental factors too. This recipe even with an imperfect crumb is far superior to any store bought gf bread.

[Pamela Hale · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gluten-free bread is an oxymoron. I tried 3 or 4 of the recipes. The one redeeming feature of this bread is that it's great to bait my minnow fish trap. The bread doesn't dissolve in water and the fish won't eat it.

[J.S. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve never had great luck making gluten-free bread, but this one has some great recipes for things I really miss like dinner rolls and brioche!

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m having a lot of trouble with the “beginner” recipes that I’ve tried so far. They haven’t turned out well.

[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really happy with the bread loaves I've made so far.

[St Tho · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very iffy recipes. Get from library before buying it.

[Tanya Kiefer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great bread cookbook for gluten-free

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful book. Very compelling. Only one problem: the bread sucks.

[Elly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great! I used the original “Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day” years ago, and it is an easy way to have good fresh bread regularly. I ended up moving on from it, because 18 hour bread and sourdough are tastier (IMO), but picked up this book when my kid’s IBS made it clear that wheat was no longer on our family’s menu.

The basic recipe and basic bread are very very good. In fact, I would not have known that the baguettes and bagels we made were not gluten containing, had someone served them to me without telling. The bagels were among the better bagels I have made.

This bread is NOT going to be the kind with big chewy holes, and the brioche was... very not good (grainy and crumbly and very cornstarchy, which makes sense bc there is a lot of cornstarch in the recipe 🤷‍♀️), but it is MUUUUCH better than gluten free bread that we have tried purchasing (MUCH! MUCH!!), and can be made without gums (which are also a no-no for my kid). (Edit: we tried the challah recipe and that was significantly better than the brioche, but still not as good as the basic recipe.)

The breads we have made (excepting the brioche!) are uniformly quite good and have made my family feel excited about trying more. Yay!

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

My thanks to Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François, co-authors and Goodreads First Reads Giveaway for my copy of Gluten-Free Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day that I won in the Giveaway.

Gluten-Free Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day is a beautiful cookbook that explains how to make bread, rolls and pastries along with chapters on ingredients, tips and short-cuts to make it easy for the baker. The photographs of the end products are excellent that are placed in three locations in the book and they made my mouth water just looking at them.

We are concerned about eating gluten-free to have good health but my husband is allergic to yeast, so when the book description said it contained recipes for unleavened bread, we were excited to win the book. After reading every page, I did not find any recipes for unleavened bread, so it is going to my best friend as a birthday present. (She is a bread maker and will get more use from Gluten-Free Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day and I am happy to have it to give her such an excellent present she will enjoy and use.) This way I will get to sample some of the recipes when I visit her, as I am not allergic to yeast.

I do highly recommend this book as it is excellent in composition and gives hundreds of yummy recipes for gluten-free bread products. The authors have outdone themselves with creativity and presenting the cookbook in easy to understand terms with good explanations of every step of every recipe.

[Meran · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars until I get some recipes made- I expect to go to 5 stars then though!

Subtitle: The Baking Revolution Continues with 90 New, Delicious, and Easy Recipes Made with Gluten-Free Flours
(why do they do that? Add "delicious" as if any cookbook would advertise "crappy" recipes!)

The book looks a little complicated, set yup fairly involved… but only TWO basic flour mix recipes, and, once set up, very easy to make bread whenever you like, with little effort!

The 5 minutes mentioned is the hands-on time. I doubt it's really 5 minutes. It may take that long just to get the bread pans out! But it should take not much more than that. The rising and baking times are longer of course and preheating a baking stone is very important… Still, dinner could be being prepared and cooking while this is going on; saying hello to the loved ones after a long day; doing other end-of-the-day chores getting done too.

The breads depicted make me anxious to try these recipes! No sloppy cake batters here; I can actually form a pretzel, not "pipe" one!

Be sure to check out the website, which is at the bottom of every even numbered page: "Visit GFBreadin5.com, where you'll find recipes, photos, videos, and instructional material."

[Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

At the direction of her physician, my Mother began following a gluten free lifestyle. The hardest thing for her over the past 2 years was giving up bread. When I saw the Gluten-Free Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day recipe book show up on the goodreads.com giveaway - I immediately signed up, hoping I'd win a copy and I did!

I was first drawn to the book by the lovely display of artisan bread on its cover. Then, I couldn't wait to get the book home to read and share with my Mother. I would love to say that after reading the book and trying out the formula, I've been enjoying lovely loaves of artisan breads - the first try with the recipe was a disappointment. However, after a bit more study and re-reading a few key notes, we've tried it again and had much better success. Now, I look forward to mastering the breads highlighted in the cookbook.

For the pictures alone, I'd say this book is worth having in your kitchen! Thanks for creating such a lovely, inspiring and educational piece on the joy of bread that just happens to be "gluten free" by design.