Kneading bread is like quiet time for your hands. No scrolling can take place, no online shopping, no liking or commenting when your hands are dipped in a sticky flour-water-yeast mixture. I’m typically not a regular bread baker, but when my Six-Week Basics students asked about some of my favorite recipes from my time in cooking school over two decades ago, I reached for the folder of bread recipes that hadn’t seen sunlight in over 20 years. Since then, I’ve been thumbing through these old folders of bread, cracker and pastry recipes from my time in cooking school. Our bread section was truly a highlight. I had never made homemade bread before enrolling in my professional culinary program. Kneading bread, proofing yeast, forming baguettes, and learning to bake good homemade bread felt like a primal act. It also made me feel “legit” for lack of a better word.
I regularly make quick breads, no-knead focaccia and popovers, and I teach them in classes regularly. Unfortunately for my soon-descending summer wardrobe, I’ve had a bevy of new carby recipes, like a Lemon Blueberry Dutch Baby that I developed for a Staub Mother’s Day post. It reminded me of the German Pancakes my friend Alissa’s mom would make on weekend sleepovers. Her dad would line us up on the couch and make us watch old tapes of Duke basketball games. The pancakes would more than make up for the VHS assault. I had never had anything like them. German pancakes are almost like a crepe in a pan. Puffed, crispy and golden on the edges, spreading out to take over a 9x13 Pyrex dish. This, my friends, is the gateway drug to the Dutch baby.
Lemon Blueberry Dutch Baby
German Pancake in Cast Iron Pan
Dutch babies (both sweet and savory) aren’t a bread but when you pull a puffed and golden one of these babies out of the oven they make you look accomplished. One of the bread recipes that will make you look really good is focaccia (see a photo of it sitting on my counter during a cooking class in the photo below). I make Alexandra Cook’s recipe for no-knead focaccia most often. The dough rises slowly in the refrigerator overnight and it takes about five minutes to stir the ingredients together, before covering it and stashing it in the fridge. I am not exaggerating when I tell you it’s the easiest bread recipe you can conquer that will make you look like a true bread badass.
Focaccia and Popovers from Bread Basics
The focaccia is a simple 4-2-2-2 ratio (4 cups flour to 2 teaspoons yeast and salt and 2 cups lukewarm water). That is a very pared-down recipe, but once you make it once, you will have it down. I use SAF instant yeast (which I buy in bulk and store in my fridge), Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt and King Arthur Bread Flour. I finish it with Old Country Olive Oil and a shower of Maldon Sea Salt. I like to snip some rosemary from our garden or flowering chives to embed in the dimpled dough before baking.
Another recipe we made in my Bread Basics class is English muffins cooked in a cast iron pan. I make them with half whole wheat flour and half bread flour and finish them off with cornmeal while they’re cooking. Thanks to an overnight rise, the dough tastes almost like a sourdough English muffin, and when they’re toasted up and slathered with salted butter, they are truly delicious.
Mark Bittman’s No Knead Bread
Mark Bittman’s No Knead Bread is a showstopper because of the crust that develops as the bread cooks in a heavy Dutch oven. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. The dough develops a tangy flavor, the crust is golden and delicious and it’s the type of bread you could make and slice off pieces all week.
Buttermilk Bread from Bread Basics
One of my favorite recipes from cooking school was a buttermilk sandwich loaf bread that you can make with 50% whole wheat flour, bread flour, or all-purpose flour. The buttermilk bread recipe hadn’t been made in over 20 years until my recent bread class. The recipe isn’t the most detailed, and I tried to add some notes for you all, but please know it’s still getting tested and tweaked for human consumption. As written, the recipe told me to start with a pound of flour and add up to another pound as necessary. Recipes intended for culinary and industry professionals are often not the most detailed in instruction because they assume a certain level of base knowledge. When I made this bread again for the first time in 20 years, I added cup after cup of flour to a very loose and sticky dough for about 10 minutes. The dough finally kneaded into a smooth consistency, and I let the loaves rise. I was worried that the bread didn’t look right, but when it came out of the oven, I knew it would taste just like I remembered. We sliced it up and toasted it with honey butter. It was a warm memory on a plate.
Buttermilk Bread Glamour Shot
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Marcia— i have a direct line to some outstanding olive oil from Tuscany. My friend GianLuca has 1000 trees and sends oil directly to me in the Hill Country and to about 20 people in Houston, plus Dallas and points north. If you want more info please message me.
Marcia— i have a direct line to some outstanding olive oil from Tuscany. My friend GianLuca has 1000 trees and sends oil directly to me in the Hill Country and to about 20 people in Houston, plus Dallas and points north. If you want more info please message me.
Kyra Bowman