Bread Makes The Meal

I have to say, this dark rye I made yesterday is delicious! (And almost gone!) I made a couple of sandwiches with it, and I wanted to share. Yesterday, I was just hungry, and I wanted to have something hearty. Fortunately, we had some Kerrygold "Blarney Castle" cheese around. This is lovely cheese, not bland but not with an overpowering taste and smell; a bit sharp but mild enough to let the taste of the bread show through. The only thing I found disappointing about the bread was that the characteristic "rye" taste wasn't very strong. I wonder if this was because I modified the recipe not to use the sourdough starter? It was still delicious, a lot like the brown bread I remember Mama making for us. I just cut off a few slices, put them straight on the bread, and Yum! But you know what was missing? (And I haven't had this for ages .) That's right—pickle! They have this at the Stop & Shop, but we rarely go there for our groce...

So Saturday we were out pretty much all day shopping and running errands, so I took most of Sunday off to recuperate :-) Today was going to be the recipe I gave for bread from 1857, but Nancie requested rye bread instead, so that takes precedence. Since I didn't have a sourdough started, I tried to modify the recipe. It's just coming to the end of the rise, but I thought I'd share with you what I've done so far: Dark Starterless Rye Bread (modified from Leslie Bilderback's Light Caraway Rye recipe) 1 cup warm water 1 tablespoon granulated sugar 2 teaspoons active dry yeast, about 1 package ½ cup cool water; 2 cups dark rye flour 1 teaspoon salt 3 – 4 cups bread flour In a large bowl, combine warm water, sugar, and yeast. Stir to dissolve, and let stand until foamy, about ten minutes. Add cool water and rye flour; stir to combine and form a sponge. Let the sponge stand for about 10 – 12 hours, until well fermented: Add enough bread flour to c...

I may or may not go to get rye flour tonight to make the awesome bread I was talking about the other day. (I don't think I'll be going for long hikes or climbing mountains while waiting for the bread, though. Especially not in near-100 degree heat.) I would like to make sure this is popular with Herself as well, of course. And "raisins and walnuts"—I know we have walnuts, but I'd leave out the raisins; I've never been a fan of raisins in bread. Not even cinnamon bread. The other recipe that got my attention recently was from the same blog, and not even a bread recipe (!): Chilled Peach And Ginger Soup . I've never had a cold soup before; this sounds wonderful. But what bread would go with it? God speed, and remember, All sorrows are less with bread .

Herself and I were out from 7:00 AM until after 9:00 PM yesterday, and when we got home I was way too exhausted to write anything. Apologies. I'm not sure I like The Complete Book Of Bread & Bread Machines , the cookbook that my neighbor gave me the other day. It's got lots of pretty pictures in it, but there are two big faults: Although it gives recipes for bread made from sourdough starters, it doesn't tell you how to keep the starter going. Surely that's the point of having a starter? It has a lot of descriptions of traditional regional breads, but It Doesn't Give All The Recipes . What's with that?? So instead, I'm going back to the Bilderback. Everything Bread has a good-looking sourdough starter recipe, and a rye bread made with it. In keeping with the best sourdough blogs :-) I'll post pictures as the starter develops. According to the recipe, the starter takes about two weeks to develop; but don't worry—I'll be baking (and pos...

What I made today (I thought I had pictures but I don't see them on the camera) was just a plain Amish white bread. Lots of sugar to get the yeast kicked up, a fairly short rising time - just barely an hour - the bread is soft, noticeably crusty but not hard, just a little bit of sweetness. Perfect for sandwiches. What's your favorite sandwich bread? So Esteis likes the idea of a dense, heavy bread. I was looking for the opportunity to start a sourdough starter. Herself likes rye bread. So when I combine all three of these, I come up with: German Rye Bread. I actually have a new bread book that a neighbor gave me - thanks, Stacy! - which has a very interesting-looking description. So I'll get the ingredients together and get the starter going in the next days. This should be very interesting (if the cats don't get into it)! God speed, and remember: All sorrows are less with bread. Edit: I couldn't find the pictures. And updated the text to reflect that th...