Happy President’s Day! Also, Dr. Dre Day—the man’s 48! I read through this recipe three times and my head was still ringing. Everything seemed so important—one misstep and my baguette would need a body bag, I read between the lines. I stretched this process into two days of work. I pre-fermented overnight. I let the […]
This bread made me want to square dance. So good—5 stars. Happy Random Act of Kindness Day. Bake this and put it on your neighbor’s porch. Even if you don’t know them. Hearty Country Bread Adapted from Baking Illustrated Makes 1 large loaf. Sponge 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast 1 cup room temperature water 1 cup […]
Pliny the Elder had a low opinion of rye. Pliny, who happens to be one of my favorite historical sources not because of his authority but because of his Sesame Street name, said rye “is a very poor food and only serves to avert starvation” (quotation abstracted from Wikipedia, what you will). I can now […]
I would have thought wheat germ to look like a little unicellular organism, perhaps with cowlickish spikelets of wheat hull plumed off its droplet body. Thanks to mass marketing of pharmaceutical cold remedies, I now cannot help but imagine “germs” with grins and sinister eyebrows and little steaming raisin bodies. In reality, wheat germ, I’ll […]
Do not be daunted by what appears to be a very very long recipe. It is worth every step. The delayed gratification in this baking endeavor is analogous to the very very long drive KP and I are about to make to New Orleans, worth every mile, worth each second of 18 hours. Izzy has […]
I stared at this recipe for a long time suffering flashbacks of the disastrous Boston Brown Bread. The ingredients are so similar, and my memory of the Brown Bread was so awful, I was hesitant to invest time in what I was sure to be failure. The history of Anadama Bread’s name, too, is disconcerting. […]
Happy Groundhog’s Day! I wish I had something witty to say about American Sandwich Bread. Just kidding, it is, in fact, the day after Groundhog’s Day—and while the Sandwich Bread recipe shall repeat itself today, as many of our days seem to repeat themselves, there is an added element, a garnish, which does make all […]
Happy Groundhog’s Day! There is nothing witty to say about American Sandwich Bread. It’s white bread. No Wonder. The only thing I got is a joke by Mike Birbiglia: “I wanted to be a rapper—I really did—and it surprises people because I’m a white bread cracker. That’s my favorite white person slur—‘white bread.’ The other […]
We are at capacity over here. Bread now lurks on every available counter surface. I’m tired. My wooden spoons are begging for mercy. My blood gluten levels, if they could be drawn, would be screaming. Rather than whip together another sweet, desserty quick bread of the recent variety, my good ole’ sour dough starter (origins […]