Since dinosaurs roamed the earth (or so it feels), I’ve been baking with my bread machine. A few years ago, the book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day turned people on to home baking. However, I never tried it before the most recent book, Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day (or, as authors Jeff Hertzberg, M.D. and Zoe Francois shorthand it, HBin5,) came out. Both the purported ease and the health aspects intrigued me. I became curious: How does their master recipe for whole wheat bread stack up to my less healthy, but delicious and easy, bread-machine recipe?

EASE. The HBin5 method is, indeed, quick. Throw stuff in a bowl, mix, add water, mix again, and you’re done. And then... you wait. It sits for two hours before you put it in the refrigerator and then, when you’re ready to pull off some dough and bake, the dough rests for 90 minutes and bakes for 30. However, there is no kneading, and it makes a fancier-looking loaf than the bread machine. I had no qualms with the (minimal) work or the waiting, but it’s not going to be a beginning-of-the-day treat unless you wake up at 4 a.m. Obviously, the bread machine wins the early-morning battle.

EXPENSE. Advantage: HBin5. I paid $8.29 for vital wheat gluten, which I did not already have on hand. I used ¼ cup (2 oz), or about .75, out of a 22-ounce bag, which makes up for the initial outlay. And you’re making dough for several one-pound loaves. The other ingredients are straightforward ones any baker would have on hand (flour, yeast, salt.)

TASTE. I love my bread machine recipe, so although I’m in like with HBin5 taste, I’m not in love... yet. My bread-machine loaf is neither chewy nor dry. And it’s lightly sweet and heavy on the wheat. The HBin5 bread tasted lighter overall and, for me, came out a hair gummy. However, the crust was PHENOMENAL. Even with the chewiness, I envision making this hearty, crusty bread to go with (or in) soups this winter.

Result? If I want sandwiches or something to start the day, I’m going with the bread machine. If I have time to wait for the bread to rise and I’m making soup, or trying to impress company, I’ll use HBin5. It’s nice to have options.

Here’s the recipe I use in my old Oster machine, loosely adapted from the one from the cookbook that came with it.

INGREDIENTS

1 ¼ c. water
2 T. butter, softened (if you’re putting it in the night before, it will soften enough as it sits)
4 c. whole wheat flour
1/3 c. brown sugar
1 t. salt
1 ½-1 ¾ t. yeast

Put ingredients in order into bread machine pan. Ready in four hours, or whenever you tell the bread machine to be done.

Organize your recipes, grocery lists, and shopping lists with Cozi's customizable lists - accessible from anywhere.

Robin Dodds, the writer behind Cheap and Crunchy, is a wife and mother of four children-two daughters and two sons, ages 3 to 11. When she’s not mothering or working with words and music (sometimes all at the same time), she is figuring out how to keep her family afloat in the most frugal way possible.