Another use for the Chocolate Espresso Bread

The next step in this cooking adventure, was to take the Chocolate Espresso Bread Dough that I made (that turned out too bitter to eat) and convert it into Chocolate Tangerine Bars. It was my hope to fix the lack of sweetness by adding more milk chocolate chips (the recipe called for more bitter sweet) and hoping that the tangerine helped tone down the bitterness. Of course, as is my fashion to do these things, I discovered that the recipe called for dried cranberries, which I did not have. So I embarked, cranberry-less on with the bars.

I took the rather wet dough (this dough is wetter and stickier than most of the bread recipes in the book) and worked in the chocolate chips and tangerine zest. Again, it looked and smelled pretty good, and my hopes were high again. So I cooked the bars and set them out to cool. After cutting them into the bar shapes my family hesitantly took a bar each and ate.


The result of the bar was mixed. It was definitely better with the sweeter milk chocolate chips and tangerine zest, but there was still an underlying bitterness to the bar that couldn't be masked. This bar has great potential, since the fact that it is not a sweet bread makes this bar have a nice amount of sweetness without feeling like you are eating a dessert. With the correct type of chocolate in the dough originally, this could very well become a nice Saturday afternoon treat that I would feel comfortable letting my family have, in lieu of some sweet treat that will hype up the kids for a while. Despite all this, my young son ate a couple of bars, despite everyone else having one, and was even caught trying to sneak one off the counter a couple of hours later. So it was definitely not a total loss as quite a bit was eaten, but I should divulge that my son is a huge bread addict (like his parents) and is not very picky when it comes to his bread.

Explaining the Bread in 5 Minutes a Day Method

I'm going to take a quick break in here to explain more fully the method that is behind the "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day" and "Healthy Breads in Five Minutes a Day". I know that some may be wandering how making bread at home could possibly go hand-in-hand with the lazy mom way. So I'll try to sum it up here.

The method behind these books is that you spend a few minutes mixing up a batch of dough that can make about 3-4 loaves. This dough is a no-knead dough, meaning that it is mixed up well and then just set aside to rise. After the initial 2 hour rise, you can then just move the dough to the fridge for later use. In fact, the dough tends to develop some wonderful sour dough notes the longer it is left in the fridge, so it is suggested in the book (and by me) that if you can let it sit overnight before using it, you will get better flavor. However, it still tastes fantastic if you can't do that (which we frequently can't because... well we love bread).

The dough for the breads tends to be wetter than most other bread doughs, and can be a little off putting for those that are already adept at bread baking. Once you get used to this, though, bread baking is made simple, and trust me as someone who has tried to learn to just "pull together" a loaf of bread and figure out the science behind it (with plenty of fails) I'm glad I have a simple method that works so well.

Once you are ready to use your dough, you pull out what you need from the refrigerator, make a dough ball, and set it on the counter to rest, meanwhile you heat up the oven with your stone in it. Once an appropriate amount of time has passed you slit the top of the dough and slide it on top of your baking stone, pour some water in a roasting pan (this makes the crispy, chewy crust) and bake for the amount of time your particular dough and shape require.

See, pretty simple. You spent maybe 15 minutes (and that's with an almost 5 year old helping) mixing everything together so that you can have 3-4 loaves over the next week and an additional minute or two shaping out your dough before letting it rest and bake. Yes, there is a lot of "sitting on the counter" time, but that doesn't really require much attention on your part. Now, this is a general overview of bread baking with this method, and there are many variations depending on dough type and shape. Also, there are some great ways to utilize many of the dough recipes for other kinds of treats (like doughnuts). So join along if you will and post on your trials and successes, or just watch me as I make delicious breads and occasionally fumble around the kitchen a little.