Brooks Bakes Bread

A novice breadmaker's adventures baking all 104 loaves from Beard on Bread

After one year and 104 recipes, I finished the Brooks Bakes Bread Project on March 27, 2012. You can still find me baking and cooking at my new blog, Tangled Up In Food.

Water-Proofed Bread
December 28, 2011

by stacy

Published on: December 28, 2011

Categories: Egg Breads, Water-Proofed Bread

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“Although the dough in this recipe is fairly difficult to handle, it makes a very delicate, briochelike bread with a rich, buttery, eggy taste…The bread is called ‘water-proofed’ because the dough is submerged in a bath of water for the first rising.”
-James Beard, Beard on Bread

The holidays are over, I have the week off work, and it’s time to get caught up with the Brooks Bakes Bread project. My goal is to finish all of the loaves in one year, which gives me until March 27 to bake 32 more loaves.

I decided to try Water-Proofed Bread today because it looked complicated, and I had the whole day to work on it. Luckily, I didn’t need it (especially since I had to catch up on laundry after our Christmas trip to Colorado).

Here are the ingredients:

The dough was fairly difficult to handle, because it was so soft and sticky. I followed Beard’s suggestion and used a spatula to help me knead in additional flour until the dough was easy enough to handle. After a bit more kneading, it was time for the unusual step of placing the dough on a towel, wrapping it up, and submerging it in a bowl of warm water for the first rising. Beard doesn’t spell out what, exactly, is accomplished by this klutziness.

The dough started out sunk to the bottom of the bowl:

And after half an hour had risen enough to float to the top:

I unwrapped my dough package to discover a sticky mass of dough adhered to a towel. After scrapping the dough off, I added more flour and shaped it into two loaves. Based on the volume of my loaves, I used 8 x 4 loaf pans instead of the 9 x 5 loaf pans called for by the recipe.

After another 45 minutes of rising, I brushed the loaves with cold water and made some diagonal slits in the tops.

I baked the loaves at 375 degrees for 20 minutes until they were browned, then removed the loaves from the pans and baked them on the oven racks for an additional two minutes to crisp the crust.

Water-Proofed Bread was my favorite recipe from the Egg Breads section to date. It has a fluffy texture with flaky crust, and subtly buttery flavor. I’m not sure what the whole water-proofing step actually does for you, but the end result was tasty.

Gingerbread
December 12, 2011

by stacy

Published on: December 12, 2011

Categories: Baking Powder and Soda Breads, Gingerbread

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“Many people consider gingerbread to be a cake, but it was originally meant to be a bread served at lunch or dinner with sweet butter.”
-James Beard, Beard on Bread

Since Christmas is less than two weeks away, and I needed to bake something to make up for the Pissaladiere disaster, I made Gingerbread for dinner tonight.

Here are the ingredients:

I mixed all the ingredients together and poured the batter into a greased 9 x 9 pan.

Since the batter is fairly thick, I smoothed it out with a spatula.

After 22 minutes in the oven at 375 degrees, the house smelled like Christmas and the Gingerbread was done.

Gingerbread is a very unusual recipe. It tastes nothing like the little man-shaped cookies; there’s no sugar involved, so it is savory instead of sweet. It has a rich, full-bodied flavor from the molasses, with pronounced bite from the ginger. The texture is crumbly and moist. Mike and I agreed that it was delicious, but it has such a distinct flavor that it would be tricky to pair food with it (we ate it with grapes and cheese).

The best part about this bread? How incredible it smells! Three hours after pulling the bread out of the oven, my house still smells like a North Pole bakery. I feel downright merry.

Pissaladiere
December 12, 2011

by stacy

Published on: December 12, 2011

Categories: Filled Breads, Pissaladiere

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Comments: 2 Comments

“This is one form of the Provencal version of pizza. It calls for tomatoes, pureed onions, anchovies, and ripe olives and is baked using a brioche dough or a plain white bread dough.”
-James Beard, Beard on Bread

“I don’t really like the anchovies…or the olives…or the onions.”
-Mike

Last Friday, I tackled a recipe that I have been dreading for a long time: Pissaladiere. I’m not particularly fond of anchovies, olives, or masses of onions, so the combination thereof failed to enthrall me.

Here are the ingredients:

Since I didn’t like the Brioche Bread recipe, I used Basic White Bread dough for my crust. Basic White Bread is the first recipe that I tried in Beard on Bread, and I felt nostalgic as I mixed up the dough. I have come a long way since I started this project almost nine months ago.

While my dough rose, I made tomato paste (I used canned tomatoes with two tablespoons of tomato paste instead of fresh tomates):

and made an onion puree:

Then I rolled my dough out into a circle, place it on my pizza pan, and topped it with Parmesan cheese, the tomato paste, the onion puree, anchovies, and olives.

It was at this point that I started to have some serious misgivings about the final product. Other than the bread dough and the Parmesan cheese, there didn’t seem to be any redeeming features to this bread. However, it was too late to turn back: this was loaf number 70 of the Brooks Bakes Bread project, and I needed to see this recipe through.

After 25 minutes in the oven at 375 degrees, dinner was ready.

The good news? I managed to complete this recipe and cross it off my list. The bad news? I thought Pissaladiere was absolutely disgusting. I tried to like it. I ate my way through two pieces as Mike somehow made his way valiantly through three pieces.

“You know what? I don’t really like this at all,” I said, as I stared down at the mess of anchovies and olives. “I mean, I really, really don’t like this. I think I’m going to throw the whole thing in the garbage.”

“It’s not too bad. But I don’t really like the anchovies…or the olives…or the onions,” said Mike.

So the Pissaladiere ended up in the garbage, and Mike went out and bought some Chardonnay, and we had wine and pretzels for dinner. It was a vast improvement over the original plan.

Rye Bread
December 5, 2011

by stacy

Published on: December 5, 2011

Categories: Rye Bread, Whole-Meal Breads

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“A pleasant rye bread of good texture and interesting flavor. It is rather difficult to make but worth the trouble.”
-James Beard, Beard on Bread

Between Thanksgiving, a knitting retreat, three different out-of-town Christmas celebrations, and Christmas cookies, I don’t foresee a lot of bread baking getting done over the next few weeks. Yesterday I managed to squeeze in Rye Bread, and I’m glad I did. Somewhere between kneading the dough and chewing my way through a gloriously textured slice, the hectic pace of my life slipped away.

Here are the ingredients:

One minor adjustment: instead of a “heaping” tablespoon of salt I used a level tablespoon. The container is full of rye flour from the co-op.

Despite Beard’s rather ominous comments about this bread being “difficult to make” I had the opposite experience. My dough kneaded up nicely, rose quickly, and baked beautifully. Please don’t bother with the allegedly “easy to prepare” and completely convoluted Pronto Pumpernickel recipe–just make this one.

My only snag was the misjudgement I made when dividing the dough, which resulted in one loaf that was quite a bit larger than the other.

After a baking time of only 30 minutes at 400 degrees, I pulled two gorgeous loaves out of the oven. The texture of the bread was perfect thanks to the egg white wash I brushed over the loaves: crunchy on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside.

This is a winning recipe. Rye Bread is straightforward to prepare and results in a lovely, basic loaf of bread.

Sour-Cream Bread
November 19, 2011

by stacy

Published on: November 19, 2011

Categories: Basic Yeast Bread and Other White-Flour Breads, Sour-Cream Bread

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“This is a very rich bread with a slightly acid flavor and a wonderful texture. I invented it one day when I set out to make buttermilk bread and didn’t have any buttermilk. I resorted to sour cream instead, and the results were highly satisfactory.”
-James Beard, Beard on Bread

Continuing on my sour cream kick (it was on sale) I made Sour-Cream Bread tonight. Today was our first snowfall of the season, so it was a perfect night to stay in.

Here are the ingredients:

This recipe took a bit longer than anticipated because the sour cream is supposed to be at room temperature, so everything was delayed by an hour while the sour cream sat on the counter. Otherwise, this was fairly straightforward recipe to prepare. The dough was a challenge to work with; the sour cream made it extremely soft, but at the same time very crumbly. It took a lot of elbow grease and patience to knead the dough to the point where it stayed together.

After the first rising, I didn’t have enough dough to shape into 9 x 5 loaves, as called for by the recipe, so instead I used my 8 x 4 pans. I was so anxious to get the bread in the oven that I forgot to take a “before” picture, but here is the “after” picture when the bread came out of the oven after 20 minutes at 375 degrees:

Sour-Cream Bread is definitely not a bread I would make again. It is very rich and heavy; I prefer my white breads to have a light texture. However, it was still lovely to eat soup and fresh bread and watch the snow fall, and bask in the appreciation of not having to shovel any of it since we live in a townhouse.

Rich Sour-Cream Coffee Cake
November 19, 2011

by stacy

Published on: November 19, 2011

Categories: Rich Sour-Cream Coffee Cake, Sweetened Breads and Coffee Cakes

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Comments: 2 Comments

“This is another coffee bread, baked in a tube pan, one that I have enjoyed all my life. In fact, it is my favorite of all the sweet breads.”
-James Beard, Beard on Bread

I usually don’t mess with Beard’s recipes. That seems to defeat the purpose of the project: why bake all the recipes from a cookbook if you’re going to change them? I am guilty of leaving out raisins and the occasional exotic liqueur, but I mostly bake by the book.

Rich Sour-Cream Coffee Cake is an exception. James Beard was a man who really, really loved butter, so when he calls something “rich” it means “obscenely decadent.” Furthermore, the recipe as written yields two large coffee cakes and contains ingredients I know I hate, like currants and apricot jam. So I decided to step outside the box and modify the recipe a bit. Instead of my usual post, I’m posting my recipe variation.

Stacy’s Blueberry-Sour Cream Coffee Cake
A variation on “Rich Sour-Cream Coffee Cake” from Beard on Bread

Ingredients:

For the dough:
2 packages active dry yeast
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup warm water (110 degrees Fahrenheit)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup cold skim milk
1/2 cup light sour cream
1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 1/2 sticks softened unsalted butter
2 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

For the filling:
1 tablespoon melted unsalted butter
1/8 cup granulated sugar mixed with 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 cup finely chopped walnuts

For the glaze:
4 ounces blueberry jam

Instructions:
The night before, combine the yeast, 1/8 cup sugar, and water in a large bowl and allow to proof. Stir in the remaining 1/8 cup sugar, salt, milk, sour cream, lemon juice, and vanilla; mix well. Add the egg; mix well. With a pastry blender or two knives, cut the butter into the flour in a separate large bowl. Add the flour mixture to the yeast mixture; stir. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic. Shape dough into a ball, place in a tightly covered bowl, and refrigerate overnight.

The next morning, roll out the dough into a rectangle (it will be stiff and difficult to work with, but persist). Brush the rectangle with butter and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon; then sprinkle with walnuts. Roll dough up from the wider end. Form into a ring and place in a Bundt pan that has been buttered or sprayed with baking spray. Join the ends together. Let dough rise until puffy and doubled in bulk. (To make your dough rise faster, preheat oven to “keep warm” setting. Turn off oven and place dough in the oven to rise. This is particularly helpful if you keep your house cool during the winter months).

Bake bread in a preheated 375 degree oven for 30 minutes or until brown and hollow sounding when rapped with knuckles. Turn out of Bundt pan onto a large plate or cake stand.

Melt jam over medium-high heat in a small saucepan. Drizzle jam over cake. Serve warm and enjoy!

Quick Cranberry Bread
November 13, 2011

by stacy

Published on: November 13, 2011

Categories: Baking Powder and Soda Breads, Quick Cranberry Bread

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“The cranberries give the loaf good touches of color and a pleasant tartness.”
-James Beard, Beard on Bread

Since I was in a Thanksgiving frame of mind after yesterday’s turkey dinner, I made Quick Cranberry Bread today. The recipe can be found on the James Beard’s Foundation’s website.

Here are the ingredients:

The white bowl has the chopped walnuts. I skipped the rosewater called for by the recipe.

Quick Cranberry Bread lives up to its name: all I had to do was measure out the ingredients, stir, and it was ready for the oven.

After one hour and two minutes at 350 degrees, the bread was done (I tested it with my cake tester).

Quick Cranberry Bread is a wonderful quick bread: the walnuts and cranberries are a tasty flavor combination, and there is a perfect balance between the sweetened bread and the tart cranberries. This is an easy and delicious recipe that is perfect for autumn.

Sweet Potato Rolls
November 13, 2011

by stacy

Published on: November 13, 2011

Categories: Rolls, Sweet Potato Rolls

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“This is a traditional American bread that can also be made with winter squash. it is deep yellow in color and has a lightness and a lasting moisture.”
-James Beard, Beard on Bread

Yesterday we celebrated an early Thanksgiving dinner with my parents, since we’re spending Thanksgiving in Milwaukee with Mike’s parents. We had a turkey breast cooked in the slow cooker with cranberry-sage stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry sauce, and Sweet Potato Rolls. I am happy to report that the first “Thanksgiving” dinner Mike and I hosted was a success, and the Sweet Potato Rolls were delicious.

Here are the ingredients:

The recipe calls for 1/2 cup of mashed sweet potato. I boiled a small sweet potato for about 45 minutes, skinned and mashed it, and measured out 1/2 cup.

The dough mixed up nicely, and was easy to knead. It was much softer than a typical white bread dough due to the sweet potato, and a lovely light orange color. After letting the dough rise for 45 minutes, I divided it into 24 approximately equal pieces and rolled each one into a ball. After another 30 minutes of rising time, I glazed the rolls with a cream and egg mixture and they were ready for the oven.

The rolls were done after 15 minutes at 375 degrees.

Sweet Potato Rolls are the perfect bread for a Thanksgiving spread: light and fluffy, with a subtle flavor sweet potato and a hint of sweetness. This Beard on Bread recipe just might become a family tradition.

Pronto Pumpernickel
November 9, 2011

by stacy

Published on: November 9, 2011

Categories: Pronto Pumpernickel, Whole-Meal Breads

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“[Pronto Pumpernickel] makes a delicious, moist, round loaf resembling the Middle European rye breads.”
-James Beard, Beard on Bread

Pronto Pumpernickel is a unique Beard on Bread recipe because it starts with a pre-packaged bread mix. Much more on the debacle that turned out to be later.

Here are the ingredients:

My problems started with the hot roll mix itself. The recipe calls for a 13 3/4 ounce package of hot roll mix; I could only find a 16 ounce package. Since I don’t have a kitchen scale, I carefully measured my mix by volume, and then set up a ratio to determine how much roll mix to discard. Then came the next step: “Prepare a hot-roll mix as directed on package.” I interpreted this to mean, well, prepare the mix as directed on package. I set up another ratio to determine how much water to use (85% of one cup), and added the required butter and eggs.

The next step was where everything fell apart. Following Beard’s instructions, I added another 3/4 cup of water, 1/4 cup molasses, 3/4 cup of rye flour, and 1 1/2 teaspoons of caraway seeds to the prepared mix. This resulted in a soupy mess that resembled porridge more than bread dough. So, either 1) bread mixes and the directions for preparing them have changed drastically since 1973 or 2) I was supposed to leave out the water as called for by the mix and just use the water called for by the recipe. My best guess is number two, but that seems to directly contradict the first line of the recipe.

Regardless, I had a problem. I added an additional 3/4 cup of rye flour to no avail. Then, apparantly not heeding any of the lessons I learned from Cornmeal Bread, I turned the dough onto my cutting board and tried to knead it. The dough was so sticky that I had to enlist Mike’s help to dump flour on the dough as I attempted to scrape dough from my hands. After adding about 3/4 cup of all-purpose flour, I finally had dough that I could knead. After kneading, I let it rise for an hour, shaped it into a round loaf, and let it rise again for about half an hour.

I baked the loaf at 375 degrees for 45 minutes. It was a nice looking free-form loaf, if I may say so myself.

As far as taste, considering all the modifications I made to the recipe it came out pretty well. There wasn’t enough flavor in the way of salt or caraway seed, since I added so much flour, but the crust was incredible–nice and crunchy. At some point, I may retry Pronto Pumpernickel without adding the water call for by the recipe, just to see if that works. But I have a lot of recipes to work my way through before I get there.

Persimmon Bread
November 6, 2011

by stacy

Published on: November 6, 2011

Categories: Baking Powder and Soda Breads, Persimmon Bread

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“This old recipe, sent to me by a dear friend from the Middle West, makes a bread that is almost cakelike in texture…It is unusual, rich, and thoroughly delicious.”
-James Beard, Beard on Bread

I have been a persimmon quest for almost two months now. They are extremely difficult to find in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area in the fall: I struck out at my big-box grocery store, the farmer’s market, and the Linden Hills Co-op. Just as I was about to give up and buy persimmon puree online at an exorbitant price, I happened along some persimmons at the Mississippi Market when I was visiting St. Paul. It was a happy day, up there with my last day of high school gym class and the day I discovered Nutella.

So what is a persimmon? It’s an orange fruit that looks like a pointy tomato:

After letting my persimmons ripen on the counter for a week, I tackled Persimmon Bread last Friday.

Here are the ingredients:

There are a couple inaccuracies in this picture: 1) the recipe calls for baking soda, not baking powder, which I luckily realized before mixing it in, and 2) there were four persimmons, not three, but I had already made persimmon puree with one of them. I also substituted nutmeg for mace and left out the raisins (no surprise there!)

Beard doesn’t specify how to go about making persimmon puree. I used a potato masher. From experience, I can assure you that it works much better to peel the persimmon first, instead of smashing the persimmon and then picking out pieces of peel. The persimmon puree tasted like peaches.

Pureeing the persimmons is the most difficult part of this recipe. Since this is a baking soda bread, I simply mixed the ingredients together. There is a lot of everything in this recipe: two sticks of butter, four eggs, two cups of sugar, and 2/3 of a cup of bourbon. Feeling slightly woozy from the alcohol fumes, I poured the batter into three quart-sized Pyrex dishes.

I baked the loaves for 1 hour at 350 degrees, checking for doneness by poking the loaves with a cake tester.

The loaves looked pretty darn cute. The taste was another matter: Persimmon Bread tastes like bourbon. This may be a positive selling point for some people, but after hunting for two months and spending $7.96 on organic persimmons, I wanted my bread to actually taste like said persimmons. On the plus side, Mike thought the bread was pretty good and has made his way through one loaf. Next time, I’ll skip the persimmons and just add some more bourbon.

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