Holiday and Celebration Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Zoë François

Jeff: “Easy one! We mix up a large batch of dough that makes up to four loaves, so when you decide to make bread, you’re spreading your initial investment of time assembling ingredients and mixing dough-over all those loaves. How does your approach, as noted in the intro to the book, “produce fantastic homemade loaves without the enormous time investment required by the traditional artisanal method”? “Baking is the greatest joy in my life and I really believe that food tastes better when you enjoy making it-so have fun,” says François. I highlight three recipes from the book here-Finnish Pulla, Stollen and Julekage (which is made with Stollen dough)-and share a little more about their approach and tips for bread-making. As a result of those first chats, they worked diligently to come up with an approach to produce homemade bread without the enormous time investment required by the traditional artisanal method, and published their first book together in 2007, “Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.”Īfter continued success with the approach, these Twin Cities authors have gone on to publish six more bread-baking books including “The New Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day” and “Gluten-Free Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.” In this, their seventh book, they celebrate breads that different cultures enjoy throughout the year during special holidays, including the sweet treats that warm the kitchens in Minnesota during Christmas and into the snowy afternoons of the winter ahead.

“It was an unlikely place for co-authors to meet, but in the swirl of toddlers, musical chairs and xylophones, there was time for the grown-ups to talk,” they write in the intro to their latest book, “ Celebration Bread in Five Minutes a Day,” which came out last month. So how did these two with diverse backgrounds end up writing cookbooks together? It all started in their kids’ music class in 2003. During medical residency, he started a years-long quest to figure out how to make dough that was convenient to use every day. Jeff Hertzberg has been a physician, university professor, information technology consultant and ardent amateur baker.

Zoë François is a pastry chef and baker trained at the Culinary Institute of America.

Holiday and Celebration Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Zoë François