Pumpkin and Cheese Yeast “Flowers”
These are very cheesy and pumpkiny yellow. The rolls are excellent slightly warm with soup, although I like them best split and turned into turkey sandwiches.
Fitascetta Onion Covered Bread Ring
This is another uncomplicated, but delicious bread. And how can this not be good with almost two pounds of onions slowly sautéed in butter as a topping?!
I usually put the dough after its first rise in the fridge overnight. I do believe the flavor gets better with longer fermentation. And besides, it’s nice to have the dough made in advance and only shape the bread the day you need it.
Goat Cheese Mozzarella and Fresh Herb Foccacia
It’s all about good cheese accentuated with delicate flavor of fresh herbs. I wouldn’t add anything else to the topping.
Obviously, it makes a great lunch paired with a big green salad.
Brioche with Chocolate Banana Cardamom Jam
I often make brioche dough on Friday, bake it fresh for Saturday breakfast, and turn the leftovers into some kind of bread pudding on Sunday – very little fuss, really, and a lot of appreciation from the family.
The brioche recipe I use these days (and I’m not looking for another) is an Alice Medrich’s adaptation of Desiré Valentin brioche, the best bread I’ve had. The brilliant idea of the chocolate banana jam belongs to the local genii – Dominique and Cindy Duby. It can perfectly replace Nutella for those who can’t eat nuts.
Fresh Mozzarella and Prosciutto Filled Focaccia
There are always some plans for weekends, and cooking is seldom the first priority unless we are having people over. So, having pizza or filled focaccia on our weekend menu is a good choice since most of work – making the dough - is done in advance. All I need to do the following day is to fix a quick salad while this thing is baking.
This focaccia is doubled-baked. First, it’s baked in a pan, then split horizontally, generously brushed with extra-virgin olive oil, filled, and baked again until the cheese is melted. If you are a happy owner of a panini grill, I definitely recommend to use it here. Unfortunately, I had to follow a more conventional way of cooking.
Sun-dried Tomato and Red Onion Bread with Tamari-roasted Sunflower Seeds and Book Review
Recently, a publisher sent me a copy of Andrew Whitley “Bread Matters” book
If you are planning to dive into a warmth and comfort of home bread-baking, if you are thinking about buying a serious book to begin, trying to choose the best among dozens, let this book to be the one. You won’t be disappointed. Not only the author possesses amazingly deep knowledge and understanding of the subject, he also writes so clearly and explains so thoroughly. Sourdough and leaven breads finally don’t look scary at all. He offers a different approach to the care of the starter, which doesn’t resemble an infant-care. Health-conscious people will find the book very valuable as the author emphasizes the importance of organic and natural ingredients, and long-fermented, low-yeast breads.
The book is wisely structured and easy to use. First chapters cover equipment, ingredients, applied methods, and troubleshooting. Then, the recipes follow. There are breads, rolls, pastries, and much more, from simple to more complex but still perfectly understandable and doable. How pleasantly surprised I was to find among these recipes traditional and very familiar Russian breads - Borodinsky, Russian Rye, Caraway Rye, as well as kulich and famous pirozhki. These are truly authentic, without any coffee or cocoa powder in the rye bread. Andrew Whitley does know what he is writing about; he lived in Russia himself and wrote warm and kindly about his experience. I personally was very touched reading it.
There’s an interesting “gluten-free baking” chapter where he describes in details and nutritionally analyses flours used in gluten-free baking. The recipes are intriguing – a brown rice sourdough starter is what I’m thinking to try in the near future.
The final chapter “Growing Old Gracefully” is devoted to the utilization of stale bread. I can’t help myself but repeat an old Russian proverb which is an epigraph of this chapter: “When you die, all the bread you ever wasted is weighed. If it is heavier than you, hell is your destination”. My Russian readers would, probably, understand my joy to find here a recipe of kvas which doesn’t call for any commercial yeast but for rye sourdough starter and Borodinsky bread.
I’ve just baked Andrew Whitley’s the Tomato and Red Onion Bread, and its deliciousness certainly proves the author’s geniality. I’m off to start my rye sourdough - I’ll keep you posted.
