Brooks Bakes Bread

“Despite my own feeling that sourdough bread is much overrated and is difficult to perfect at home, I am including one recipe in this collection because interest in the subject is so tremendous…Certainly it is just as unpredictable as Salt-Rising Bread, and I am not sure it is worth the […]

“You may try the same recipe [for Salt-Rising Bread] without success three or four times and find that it works the fifth time. Or you may get a loaf that is halfway good. If it works, fine; if it doesn’t, forget it. I am including it in this collection because […]

“I learned to bake this bread in Norway, at Mrs. Ovenstad’s farm near Oslo.  She bakes it twice a week…” -James Beard, Beard on Bread I put this recipe off until the end night because I couldn’t find any whole-wheat kernels locally.  I ended up substituting cracked wheat instead, which […]

“This is an extremely interesting bread, but since it is practical to make only in large quantity, I recommend it solely to those of you who have large kitchens and large bowls.  Besides this, the dough is very sticky and takes a lot of deft working to get it to […]

“This was a raisin bread that my mother made very often, modeled on one she had admired at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco.  During World War I she used to do benefit teas for the British Red Cross, and there were always requests for this bread, thinly sliced and […]

“This bread is reminiscent of Cornish and Welsh teas, where saffron buns and bread have been exceedingly popular for generations…It makes fine toast.” -James Beard, Beard on Bread “No offense to you or your cooking, but I think it tastes like water out of a garden hose.” -Mike, who discovered […]

“A very special Norwegian sweet bread baked in round loaves, verterkake takes its name from verterol, or brewer’s wort…dark beer can be substituted in its place.  The bread is densely textured and has a highly interesting, spicy flavor…” -James Beard, Beard on Bread Mike: It tastes…interesting. Me: In a good […]

“This is supposedly a recipe that Marie Antoinette took with her from Austria to France, where it became increasingly popular.  It is traditionally baked in a special Kugelhopf mold, which gives it a festive look.” -James Beard, Beard on Bread The recipe for Kugelhopf can be found on the James […]

Since I live north of the Mason-Dixon Line, I couldn’t find any pork cracklings.  I also couldn’t find lard in a quantity less than five pounds, and Minnesota has blue laws that prohibit the sale of most alcohol on Sundays (such as the white wine the recipe calls for).  Also, […]

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