I recently re-discovered one of the best recipes I have in my collection. Life has been crazy around here lately, and dinner is usually one of the first things to suffer! Luckily, there are some amazingly simple recipes out there to help a mama out ;). Have you heard of 5 minute bread? I feel like it was a big sensation a few years ago, but it’s been awhile since I’ve actually made some, and on a whim last week I decided to make a batch- and it was as delicious as I remembered! Some of you have tried it, I’m sure- and for those of you that haven’t, you’ll thank me later!

So does 5 minute bread actually take 5 minutes to make? Not quite, but pretty close ;). Most tasty bread recipes require a lot of work- hours of rising, tons of kneading, and then the baking time on top of it! If you’re going to have freshly baked bread with your dinner, you really have to plan ahead! But this bread recipe allows for some of us procrastinators to still have fresh bread at dinner ;). You literally mix the dough for 5 minutes, let it rise for 25 minutes, bake for another 25 minutes and voila! Freshly baked bread- that’s actually super tasty too! You can have fresh bread in an hour- and it requires so little work that you can easily be working on the other parts of dinner while you’re allowing the bread to rise and bake! It’s a busy chef’s best friend ;).

Frankly, it’s also really hard to mess up ;). I have added various amounts of flour and lecithin or have cut the rising time short or let it rise too long- and it’s always turned out just fine! It also calls for bread flour, but I’ve used regular flour with great results too! Baking is definitely a science, and messing with a recipe too much can mess up your final result, but I feel this recipe is very forgiving for forgetful moms, beginners, distracted students, and anyone else that may find getting a bread recipe absolutely perfect a little daunting.

I also really love the versatility of this recipe. Obviously, you can stick with basic bread- I mean, it is really hard to top a slice of warm homemade bread and jam! But you can do a lot more with this dough recipe as well, which is the other reason this recipe is just pure magic ;) .

For starters, I’ve used this dough for pizzas, and it works fabulously! If you’re a fan of thin crust, it may not be your favorite option, but if you like thicker, chewier pizza crusts you’ll definitely LOVE this recipe! And again, it’s great for when you’re in a pinch! I have some fabulous pizza dough recipes- but they all require several hours to allow the bread to rise, and sometimes you just don’t have that kind of time in a day! (Or you’re trying to figure out a last minute dinner while all your kids are running like crazy through the kitchen…. ;) ). The great part is you don’t need to let the dough rise when you’re just using it for crust, so you can literally have enough dough for 2-4 large pizzas in 5 minutes!

This dough also makes SUPER tasty breadsticks. These are actually some of my favorite, as they are very thick and chewy! And of course, so easy! I like to cover them in butter and sprinkle Italian seasoning, garlic powder, and parmesan cheese for a really tasty compliment to any meal. (Especially when we do pizza!) But we’ve also done a cinnamon stick version- and they did not disappoint! You could experiment with a variety of seasonings to find what your kids/family absolutely loves!

You can also do a cream cheese braid- this recipe alone deserves an article of its own because it’s FANTASTIC. Look for the recipe next week!

I have yet to try it, but you can also do cinnamon rolls with this recipe! I imagine they would be very tasty, and this bread is so chewy and delicious!

And of course, artisan bread! You’ll feel really fancy pulling out your loaf of hard-crusted artisan bread, and your guests don’t need to know that it took you less than an hour to pull together!

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Have you tried 5 minute bread? What’s your favorite way to use this versatile magic recipe? Share with us below!