October 14, 2016 - Blue Gouda & Cracked Black Pepper!
Putting my Blue Gouda to good use. (You know, other than stuffing my face with it.) Blue Gouda & Cracked Black Pepper Bread! This bread came to me in a vision–a vision, I tell you!–when I cut into my Blue Gouda cheese. The dough is packed with crumbled Blue Gouda and a sprinkle of coarse...
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June 15, 2016 - The Breaking Point with Bread
Bread, beautiful bread. Back in medieval times, there was one person in the village who had an oven. This was the baker. (Baker, and incidentally, Baxter, are occupational surnames that come from this practice.) But, something more comes out of this history, and that’s the slashing of bread. You know, those pretty slash marks that...
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April 1, 2016 - Maple French Toast Bread
On store shelves recently, I noticed that Thomas’ English Muffins has a “limited edition” Maple French Toast English muffin. This sounded incredibly delicious to me, so I figured I’d go home and make some maple French toast bread on my own. Not an English muffin bread, just a regular bread, with maple French toast flavorings....
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May 5, 2015 - Garlic Knots
Last week, a friend of mine asked me if I had any pictures of garlic knots on my website. Yes, yes, I do! Only….. That’s a garlic braid, actually. I was quite confused when she started talking about looking for garlic knot photos on Allrecipes if I didn’t have one, and it’s really not the...
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April 28, 2015 - Potato Bread
Bread, bread, glorious bread! I used to make bread every day when I had three voracious teenagers at home. I still make bread several times a week. I’m spoiled to fresh bread and after a few days, leftover bread goes to the chickens. I’ve been enamored with bread and breadbaking since I was a little...
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January 16, 2015 - Grilled Flatbread
I’ve been baking bread since I was knee-high to a grasshopper–nine years old, see The Keeper of the Bread story. I make more regular loaf bread than anything else, but I like to try new things, different ways to play with bread. It keeps me entertained. Not there’s anything new about flatbread. People have been...
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December 9, 2014 - Making King’s Hawaiian Rolls
Being a curious bear, I was recently fascinated with the notion of creating the perfect sandwich roll. Substantial yet tender, and of course, it had to be delicious. King’s Hawaiian is a brand of rolls that is very popular–for a reason. They’re substantial yet tender….and delicious. What is the secret of these rolls? I embarked...
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August 13, 2013 - Herb and Swiss Crescents
These are some of the best, most tender and flavorful rolls I’ve ever made. I am in love with them. The dough is Grandmother Bread, with egg, oil, and milk. It’s simple, easy, and will wow your family tonight! They are also pretty enough for company or a holiday meal. How to make Herb and...
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June 17, 2013 - Homemade Soft Pretzels
We just had two days of workshops here, with cheesemaking, soapmaking, and baking. One of the attendees at the baking day asked about homemade soft pretzels. I took up the challenge and here’s what I came up with–and they came out delicious! Start with a batch of Grandmother Bread dough. How to make Grandmother Bread:...
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March 6, 2013 - The Winter of Our Discontented Bread
I’ve gotten several emails recently about winter bread. The common problem with bread in the winter is that it won’t rise. It’s a bad time to be a first-time breadbaker because it’s discouraging. It can be discouraging even if you’re an experienced breadbaker! Yeast breads don’t rise well under certain atmospheric conditions. Heavy barometric pressure...
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August 9, 2012 - Crusty Chipotle & Onion Bread
Hot summer? Hot bread! This is a savory and spicy Grandmother Bread with reduced sugar and increased heat to form a crispy crust–using the sponge method for an airy texture. How to make Crusty Chipotle & Onion Bread: To start the sponge– 1 1/2 cups warm water 1 teaspoon yeast 1/2 teaspoon sugar 1 cup...
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May 24, 2012 - Bread 911!
I get more emails about breadbaking disasters than anything else. I’ve been making bread since I was a kid, so sometimes I wonder if I’m the best person to ask about making bread, but I do like to talk to people about bread and teach people to make bread. My main thing is making bread...
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February 29, 2012 - Honey Oats & Groats Bread
Buckwheat groats are very versatile. If you’ve never used them in your cooking, consider adding them for some variety. (They’re gluten-free.) You can use them in meatless (or even with meat) chilis, in place of rice in soups and stews, or just cook them up, add some milk, raisins, and cinnamon, and make a tasty...
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December 21, 2011 - A Basic Pastry Dough and Bear Claws
I got all hung up on bear claws recently when I found some lost recipes in my kitchen that belonged to previous owners of the house. I didn’t want to use that recipe, but I did want some bear claws. So I decided to create a Grandmother Bread recipe with a pastry effect. I like...
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October 6, 2011 - Pizza Crust Yeast
I’m a sucker for anything cooking-related, especially when it comes to anything bread-related. If I’m ever in a store, and fortunately I’m rarely in a store, I love to browse all things cooking- and especially bread-related. I will even browse the baking aisle at the grocery store as if I were at Lehman’s, and I’ve...
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August 22, 2011 - Pepperoni, Sausage, Ricotta, and Mozzarella Roll
A couple of days ago, I posted about this delicious meat roll I had eaten for lunch in Morgantown. Pepperoni, Sausage, Ricotta, and Mozzarella Roll, served with marinara sauce. It was so good, that despite how tired I was by the time I got home, the first thing I did was make a bowl of...
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August 13, 2011 - Texas Toast
Texas Toast isn’t so much a recipe as it is a method (and a simple one at that). You’d think Texas Toast got its name from everything being bigger in Texas, but according to the story, it’s just a result of a bakery request for thicker than usual bread slices. A cook at The Pig...
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August 9, 2011 - “Sun-Dried” Tomatoes in Oil (and Bread)
I’ve been working on an article for the Charleston Daily Mail on various ways of preserving tomatoes, which brought me back to my issues with dehydrating tomatoes. I’ve had trouble in the past with stickage. (Is, too, a word!) The tomatoes stick to the dehydrator trays. I took my sticky issue to the Chickens in...
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July 28, 2011 - Garlic-Rosemary Flat Bread
Recently, I received this tantalizing comment from Sarak K on my Garlic-Rosemary Butterhorns. “I’ve made these a few times now and love them! Last time I used the dough to make crackers instead of rolls. Roll them thin. Poke them with a fork. Don’t let them rise before baking. Pull them out when they start...
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July 14, 2011 - Morning Cocoa Rolls
I made up this cocoa sweet rolls recipe the other day when I was working on recipe ideas that will be used at the CITR Retreat in breadbaking classes. (If you’re coming to the retreat, you will be either making these or eating these or BOTH!) Attendees in the bread classes will be making several...
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April 22, 2011 - In Search of Open Crumb
This post rose (get it? ha!) from a question on the Chickens in the Road Forum about achieving light, airy bread with holes–an open crumb. An open crumb is a method, not one specific recipe, and it involves an emphasis on extended fermentation, a less dense dough, and a high gluten content. There’s more to...
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December 26, 2010 - Party Sandwich Ring
Yesterday afternoon, we were going to a little family get-together and I was supposed to bring something sandwichy. I baked a ham last week, and I love sandwiches on thick-sliced homemade bread, but even that gets a little old sometimes and I want something different. Different yet still sandwichy. I had this dim, distant, long-ago...
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October 28, 2010 - Put A Little Spice In Your Swirl
I always get in the mood for cinnamon-swirl bread in the fall. I’m not sure why–it’s good any time of year! But crisp autumn mornings do make me want some sweet cinnamon toast. Slathered in melted butter. Yum. I love to try new and different things with my breads, and my latest idea is a...
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September 10, 2010 - Making Bread with a Dough Hook
Over a month ago, I received this vintage K5-A KitchenAid mixer as a gift. I was very excited. I’ve never had one before. I’ve never had any kind of stand mixer before, so I really didn’t know how I would like it, though I was pretty certain I would as one hears the wonders of...
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August 18, 2010 - Secrets of Chicago-Style Pizza
While I was in Great Lakes for Ross’s boot camp graduation, I got the chance to sample Chicago-style pizza at the pool party the division moms threw for the boys. Wow. Pizza in Chicago is ridiculous. But I mean that in a good way. I was able to try a piece of both stuffed and...
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June 7, 2010 - Garlic-Rosemary Butterhorns
Butterhorn or crescent rolls have always been my favorite style of dinner roll. This recipe uses the one-loaf Grandmother Bread dough with add-ins of milk, butter, and egg, rosemary, and garlic, with an extra half-cup of flour to make up for the additional moisture of the melted butter. You could also make these rolls plain...
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April 28, 2010 - Grandmother Bread in a Crock Pot
I wander through my kitchen, plaintively seeking that which is not there. Oven, oh oven, why hast thou abandoned me? My days without an oven are filled with trials, tribulations, and tears. And experiments! So I got out my crock pot and started working on the situation. I’ve seen examples of people baking bread in...
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April 4, 2010 - Maple Sticky Buns
Need a maple sticky bun? Of course you do. And, of course, you begin with Grandmother Bread. These maple sticky buns use the one-loaf standard recipe with oil and egg added. You can let these buns rise and bake them right away, or let them rise overnight in the fridge for a make-ahead easy breakfast!...
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