One of my Twitter buddies, Michelle over at Big Black Dog, has been waxing poetic about the new book by Dr. Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe François, Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day. Their previous book, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, introduced a different way to bake bread that, in the long run, saves a lot of the time and effort in the process of baking bread at home. AB in 5 (for short) became a sensation and still enjoys enormous popularity. Heck, I bought a copy of it, myself.

HB in 5 (see how I picked up the lingo?) is dedicated to making healthier breads, using multigrains, fruits, and even vegetables, and using the same methods and principles that made the first book such a phenomenon.

So when Michelle put out the word that she was putting together an internet group with the idea of baking its way through Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day, I was intrigued and decided to join in.

Although we won’t officially begin our “Bread Braid” until January, we’ve been assigned a bread that’s perfect for autumn to get started, a Pumpkin Pie Brioche. If you don’t already own HB in 5, click here to get the recipe, and join in!

This is my first experience with this type of bread baking, i.e., mixing a wet dough that is never kneaded, is stored in the fridge, and that you basically just scoop out, let rest, and bake. And even though the dough is supposed to be “wet”, I think this particular recipe was even wetter because of the addition of the pumpkin.

I was really unprepared for just how wet and sticky it really was. So the first loaf I made was pretty fugly. Actually, the second loaf was only a little better. I also decided to break in the little mini-brioche molds I bought about 5 years ago, but never had the guts to use. If you decide to make this, keep the bench flour close and keep your hands well-floured at all times.

Without further ado, I bring you my lumpy Pumpkin Pie Brioche and mini-brioches! Looks are deceiving, though. It tastes delicious!

If you’d like to join in and try baking healthy breads in a whole new way, click here to visit Big Black Dog and learn about our monthly “Bread Braid”.