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.

Golden Cake Batter Bread
September 25, 2011

by stacy

Published on: September 25, 2011

Categories: Batter Breads, Golden Cake Batter Bread

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“A light, rather sweetish, easy-to-make bread that is similar to Sally Lunn.”
-James Beard, Beard on Bread

Yesterday marked the official halfway mark for the Brooks Bakes Bread project: I made loaf number 52, Golden Cake Batter Bread. The recipe can be found on the James Beard Foundation’s website.

Here are the ingredients:

The recipe starts out like a cake recipe: I mixed all the ingredients, except for 2 cups of flour, together with an electric mixer to form a thin batter. Next, I mixed in the remaining two cups of flour into the batter to make a thicker, more dough-like batter. I let this mixture rise for one hour, stirred it down, and let it rise for another 45 minutes.

Since I was concerned that my kitchen was too cool to allow for a good rise, I set my oven to “warm”, let it heat up, and then turned it off. I placed the dough in the slightly-warmed oven for both of its risings.

Mindful of the thick, tough crust that developed on my Sally Lunn bread, I pulled the bread out of the oven after only 25 minutes at 350 degrees. It was perfect: fully baked and golden, but not overly browned.

Golden Cake Batter Bread is very similar to Sally Lunn–perhaps a bit sweeter, but it shares the same rich buttery flavor and spongy texture. When cooled, it makes excellent toast.

In the past 6 months, I have baked 52 bread recipes, most good, some mediocre, a few downright inedible (Prune Bread, I’m thinking of you!); washed innumerable dishes; hauled home at least a dozen sacks of flour; and logged hours blogging about it all. It has been a lot of work, and sometimes additional stress. But taste of fresh bread, the joy of discovering a new recipe, and the sense of accomplishment more than makes up for everything. I can’t wait to see where the next 52 loaves take me.

Cream Biscuits
September 14, 2011

by stacy

Published on: September 14, 2011

Categories: Baking Powder and Soda Breads, Cream Biscuits

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“We had a reputation at home for very special biscuits…The secret of their unique quality is this: They use heavy cream instead of butter or shortening.”
-James Beard, Beard on Bread

Whatever the calendar says, today was the first day of fall. It was 46 degrees as we drove in to work this morning, there was a frigid wind as I waited at the bus stop, and tonight we have a frost advisory. I needed something to make myself feel better about this whole fall thing, and a dinner of baked acorn squash and cream biscuits seemed like it just might be the thing.

The ingredients:

I mixed all of the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder) together, then slowly added the cream. I had to use the whole 8 ounce carton, as well as a splash of whole milk, to get my dough to the right consistency. It still seemed crumbly when I turned it out onto my kneading surface, but a bit of light kneading turned the mixture into a heavy dough. I rolled it to a half inch thickness and cut out the biscuits using a round cookie cutter.

I baked the biscuits at 425 degrees for 12 minutes, which was enough to bake them to golden-brown perfection.

Dinner was wonderful. As I ate my biscuits, with spoonfuls of moist, flavorful squash in between each bite, fall seemed a bit more bearable.

Although they are tasty, Cream Biscuits don’t have a fluffy texture like Baking Powder Biscuits–the cream makes them much heavier. Personally, I prefer Baking Powder Biscuits, but Cream Biscuits are certainly delicious and well worth a try.

Sally Lunn
September 12, 2011

by stacy

Published on: September 12, 2011

Categories: Batter Breads, Sally Lunn

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“This is an old, old recipe for Sally Lunn…It makes a beautiful standing loaf that, when fresh, should be torn apart with forks rather than cut, to maintain its lightness. Or, after cooling, it can be sliced and toasted.”
-James Beard, Beard on Bread

After spending yesterday afternoon blogging about bread, I was in the mood to bake some more. I settled on Sally Lunn as an easy recipe to try.

Here are the ingredients:

I didn’t have enough all-purpose flour on hand, so I substituted bread (or hard wheat) flour.

Since this is a batter bread recipe, there is no kneading–I just mixed the ingredients together and let the dough rise for about an hour. Then, I stirred the dough a bit and poured it into a Bundt pan (I didn’t have a regular tube pan, so I used my Bundt/fluted tube pan). Then I let the dough rise for another hour and a half.

I baked the bread at 375 degrees for 30 minutes (15 minutes less than the minimum time recommended), and it was already becoming over-browned.

Sally Lunn tastes amazing–buttery with the perfect hint of sweetness. When served hot out of the oven, it has a wonderful fluffy texture; when cool, it has a dense texture similar to a pound cake. My only complaint is that the crust was too tough; I recommend keeping a very close eye on the bread and removing from the oven as soon as it starts to brown.

Dark Herb Bread
September 11, 2011

by stacy

Published on: September 11, 2011

Categories: Dark Herb Bread, Whole-Meal Breads

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“This makes a loaf quite firm in texture, with a delicious herby, peppery flavor that lasts.”
-James Beard, Beard on Bread

Since I had some rosemary left over from making Pizza Caccia Nanza, I wanted to use it up to make Dark Herb Bread. The only problem was finding the rye meal the recipe required. I found some online, but with a hefty $8 shipping fee. Instead, I bought some rye flakes from the co-op and ground them in the food processor. Presto, rye meal in about 10 seconds, for only 71 cents.

Here are the ingredients (my improvised rye meal is in the bowl, which is unfortunately the same beige color as the meal):

After my experience kneading a stick of butter into my bread dough to make Currant Bread, it was a relief to make a more straightforward loaf. Due to the whole-wheat flour and rye meal, the dough was a bit stiffer than a typical white-flour dough; however, it still kneaded up well.

After an hour of rising time, I kneaded the dough again and shaped it into two loaves to fit into my 8 x 4 bread pans. I let those rise for about 45 minutes, and then poked holes into the top of the loaf to insert slivers of garlic, just like I did for Pizza Caccia Nanza (however, unlike in Pizza Caccia Nanza, for Dark Herb Bread I chopped up the rosemary and mixed it into the dough).

After 20 minutes at 400 degrees, followed by another 20 minutes at 350 degrees, my bread was done.

Dark Herb Bread is delicious–the hearty texture is nicely complemented by the flavors of garlic and rosemary. It should make some delicious sandwiches for a Sunday evening picnic.

Currant Bread
September 11, 2011

by stacy

Published on: September 11, 2011

Categories: Currant Bread, Sweetened Breads and Coffee Cakes

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“[Currant Bread], which I used to eat very often as a child, is a rich, flavorful, extremely pleasant loaf that keeps well and toasts magnificently.”
-James Beard, Beard on Bread

This week I made a trip to the Linden Hills Co-op to pick up ingredients for some upcoming recipes. I hadn’t had any luck finding currants at my local grocery store, but the co-op had them in abundance. Given my hatred of raisins, I was disappointed to discover that a currant is nothing more that a dwarf raisin. But since I had to make currant bread, I decided to get it over with this past Friday.

Here are the ingredients:

After my experience with Prune Bread, I have decided that sherry is disgusting and contaminates everything it comes into contact with. Instead, I marinated the currants in bourbon (Beard recommends using sherry, rum, or Cognac; if you can use any of those liquors, I figured bourbon would be fine).

Also note the two sticks of butter; those will come into play later.

The technique used for Currant Bread was unusual. I started by mixing the the milk, some sugar, yeast, half of the butter, salt, and flour together to form a dough. Then, I kneaded the dough and let it rise for about 45 minutes. At that point, I punched it down and was instructed to knead in the rest of the sugar and butter along with all of the currants. Huh? It wasn’t clear to me exactly how I was supposed to knead in 1/2 cup of sugar, a stick of butter, and 1 1/2 cups of currants. The answer? With great difficulty. Mike assisted by laughing and taking pictures as my bread dough degenerated into a gloppy mass of butter studded with currants. There may have been some profanity involved.

At this point, with my hands glistening with butter, I abandoned any hope of the Currant Bread being edible. I slopped it into two 8 x 4 loaf pans, let it rise another 45 minutes (surprisingly, it actually did rise–I figured all of the butter would weigh it down too much), and put it in the oven at 400 degrees.

After putting the bread in the oven, I decided that it would be a good idea to fall asleep on our bedroom floor. Luckily, Mike saved the day (and redeemed himself after making fun of my kneading attempts) by pulling the bread out of the oven before it burned.

So what was the verdict? Currant Bread did turn out better than I thought it would. It has a surprising light texture for the amount of butter used, reminiscent of Portuguese Sweet Bread. Yes, the currants do taste like raisins, but the bourbon gives them an interesting flavor. And Beard was right–it does toast magnificently.

Pizza Caccia Nanza
August 28, 2011

by stacy

Published on: August 28, 2011

Categories: Basic Yeast Bread and Other White-Flour Breads, Pizza Caccia Nanza

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“The literal translation of ‘caccia nanza’…is ‘take out before.’ When bread was made in traditional Italian households a bit of dough was reserved to make a pizza. The pizza was placed in the oven with the bread and obviously cooked more quickly. It was ‘taken out before’ the bread, hence the name…This is the only garlic bread I have ever eaten in Italy.”
-Edward Giobbi, Italian Family Cooking, as quoted by James Beard, Beard on Bread

Pizza Caccia Nanza is a unique recipe in Beard on Bread: a flat loaf of bread flavored with garlic and rosemary. I’ve been looking forward to baking it since I started my project, and finally got around to it yesterday.

Here are the ingredients:

The dough is a very basic white bread dough, with only flour, yeast, salt, and water. After combining all of the ingredients (I had to add an extra teaspoon of water to make the dough hold together), I kneaded the dough and let it rise for one hour and 15 minutes. Then I kneaded the dough again, and let it rise for an additional 45 minutes.

Next came the interesting part: instead of shaping the dough into a loaf, I rolled it out flat and made dozens of tiny indentations in it with the tip of a knife. I had to place a sprig of rosemary into each indentation. It was a tedious process.

After I finished with the rosemary, I cut two cloves of garlic into thin slivers and placed all of the slivers into the indentations as well. By this point, I realized that 1) I could never work on an assembly line, and 2) the bread would have to be pretty tasty to be worth the effort. I drizzled the finished loaf with olive oil and sprinkled it with salt and pepper, and it was ready for the oven.

After 15 minutes, the loaf was golden-brown.

Before eating the bread, I had to remove all the rosemary and garlic that I had placed so carefully. Luckily, the smell of fresh bread lured Mike downstairs and he helped me out.

Then came the moment of truth: did all of the time and effort result in a delicious loaf? The answer: definitely yes! Pizza Caccia Nanza has a wonderful light, chewy texture, with a tender crust. The flavors of rosemary and garlic blend together throughout the loaf, giving it a delightful flavor. The highest praise came from Mike, as we polished off the loaf together.

“You know, this tastes like something that you would pay a lot of money for in a really expensive restaurant.”

Victory!

Portuguese Sweet Bread
August 25, 2011

by stacy

Published on: August 25, 2011

Categories: Egg Breads, Portuguese Sweet Bread

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“This recipe makes a delicate, spongy bread that is a delight. It has fine crumb and is excellent for breakfast or tea.”
-James Beard, Beard on Bread

Mike and I have been busy enjoying some amazing Minnesota end-of-summer weather, so I am behind in posting. On Tuesday, I made Portuguese Sweet Bread.

Here are the ingredients:

This recipe yields a very sticky dough. I had to add quite a bit of extra flour while kneading, along with using a rubber scraper to get the dough unstuck from my kneading surface. Despite the two packages of yeast, it took two hours of rising time for my dough to double in bulk.

Since I don’t have the 9-inch skillets called for in the recipe to bake round loaves, I used the alternative option and shaped the dough into loaves to fit in my 8 x 4 bread pans. I made the mistake of trying to roll out my dough on an unfloured surface and had to repeat the process of scraping it up. After another hour of rising, my loaves were ready to go in the oven.

After only 25 minutes in the oven at 350 degrees, the loaves had risen quite a bit and were nicely browned.

Just as Beard claims, Portuguese Sweet Bread is a delight. It has a delicate, buttery texture with a lightness from the milk and eggs. Really, you can’t go too far wrong using a recipe with a cup of sugar and a stick of butter.

Bavarian Rye Bread
August 21, 2011

by stacy

Published on: August 21, 2011

Categories: Bavarian Rye Bread, Whole-Meal Breads

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“This quite unusual bread is from a very old German recipe. Originally the dough was prepared at home and put into an airtight wooden keg for 18 to 24 hours. Then it was formed into loaves and rushed to the local baker’s oven. I have worked out a version that can be done from start to finish in your own kitchen.”
-James Beard, Beard on Bread

Since I still had some rye flour left over from making Finnish Sour Rye Bread, I decided to try making Bavarian Rye Bread.

Here are the ingredients (all four of them):

On Friday night, I mixed the mixed the rye flour, yeast, salt, and water together. The resulting mixture looked like wet sand. I tried to knead it with limited success, since the dough was the consistency of mud. I gave up and placed the dough in a bowl, sealed it with plastic wrap, and then covered it with aluminum foil (an “airtight wooden keg” in my very own kitchen!) Next, I let the dough sit for 16 hours.

On Saturday afternoon, I uncovered my dough to find…a slightly larger pile of wet sand. Kneading number two went about as well as the first kneading. I dumped the dough into an 8 x 4 loaf pan and let it rise for an hour. I don’t think that it actually rose, since the sandy lump had the same texture and didn’t seem to have gotten any bigger, but I made the executive decision to bake my loaf anyway.

After 40 minutes, I pulled my loaf from the oven. It looked like a chunk of cement.

Luckily, the bread tastes much better than it looks. It has an interesting texture–very dense and grainy–and a pleasant flavor. Despite its unusual baking method and appearance, Bavarian Rye Bread was a decent loaf of rye bread.

Carl Goh’s Zucchini Bread
August 19, 2011

by stacy

Published on: August 19, 2011

Categories: Baking Powder and Soda Breads, Carl Gohs' Zucchini Bread

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“This rather unusual loaf has a very pleasant flavor, a little on the sweet side, and a distinctive texture.”
-James Beard, Beard on Bread

Yesterday I bought some giant zucchinis at the farmer’s market and made Carl Goh’s Zucchini Bread. Back in May, I spent almost 6 hours making Carl Goh’s Bread, with mediocre results. His zucchini bread is the opposite: a minimumal amount of time that produces some delicious loaves.

Here are the ingredients:

Any potential health benefits from the grated zucchini are completely negated by the cup of oil and two cups of sugar.

After I mixed the ingredients together, I poured the batter into two 9 x 5 pans lined with wax paper to prevent the loaves from sticking to the pan (thanks for the tip, Mom!)

My loaves were ready after 50 minutes in the oven at 350 degrees.

Carl Goh’s Zucchini Bread is amazing. The vanilla, cinnamon, and walnuts were a perfect blend of flavors, while the zucchini made the bread incredibly moist. Carl Goh has redeemed himself in my eyes with this recipe.

George Lang’s Potato Bread with Caraway Seeds
August 14, 2011

by stacy

Published on: August 14, 2011

Categories: Basic Yeast Bread and Other White-Flour Breads, George Lang's Potato Bread with Caraway Seeds

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“This fine example of gutsy Middle European peasant bread, from The Cuisine of Hungary, is baked free form, rises well, looks appetizing, and has a delicious ‘nose’.”
-James Beard, Beard on Bread

“I was too intimidated by the loaf of potato bread to cut into it, so I just ate some more Prune Bread.”
-Mike

“It’s a Frankenloaf!”
-Me

Since I still had 4 pounds of leftover potatoes, it was time to try another potato bread recipe. This recipe is very different from Whole-Meal Bread with Potatoes because it uses all white flour instead of mostly whole-wheat flour.

Here are the ingredients:

I boiled and mashed the potatoes beforehand to save some preparation time. As I was attempting to knead my bread dough, I realized that I didn’t really mash them enough: there were little potato chunks poking out of my dough. In the future, I should probably invest in a potato masher–or just use instant mashed potatoes.

George Lang’s Potato Bread with Caraway Seeds yields a fairly large loaf of bread. Here it is after its second rising:

The baking time for this recipe is 1 hour; I checked on my loaf at the 30 minute mark and realized that I was in for some trouble.

“Mike,” I said as I peered into the oven, “It’s a Frankenloaf!”

“What are you talking about?”

Then he joined me at the oven, to stare at the loaf of bread that had a strange bulge protruding like a tumor off its side, had expanded to fill the cookie sheet that it was baking on, and almost was touching the top of the oven. Hands down, it’s the largest loaf of bread I’ve ever seen. It was monstrous.

That’s the bad news. The good news is that it is delicious: light and chewy, with the distinctive flavor of caraway seeds blending nicely with the moistness of the semi-mashed potatoes. Because I don’t want to be eating George Lang’s Potato Bread with Caraway Seeds for the next two weeks, and also so the loaf doesn’t attack us as we sleep, I cut it into two pieces and froze one. The half loaf fit in a gallon bag only after I had strategically hacked some pieces off the edges.

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