Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day--Using less yeast
I know that one of the major criticisms of the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a day method is that it uses too much yeast and the quick fermentation does not permit good flavor development.
The authors have addressed those concerns here [1] by demonstrating that the techniques can still work using significantly less yeast and a much longer fermentation period.
I decided to do a "head to head" test between the Master recipe using the full amount of yeast (2 1/4 tsp for a HALF batch) and the Master recipe using much less yeast (1/4 tsp for a half batch). The low yeast version fermented for 10 hours before being refrigerated, the regular yeast version for only two hours.
Details are posted on my blog here [2]. The bottom line was that the low yeast version is much tastier and has a better texture and crust than the regular version. But all of the convenience of the ABin5 method is still there. It's like having your bread (cake) and eating it too.
If you've been hesitant to try ABin5 because of the amount of yeast and the quick fermentation, you might consider giving it a second look using much less yeast. I'm very pleased with the results and will be using less yeast from now on.