Whilst at my Grandma's this weekend, I decided to kick off the family atmosphere and mood by making some bread. Looking through my Grandma's collection of cookbooks, she chose me one: Beard on Bread.
James Beard is wonderful. He's this funny guy who writes in the most eccentric manner. He basically brought French cooking to the American middle and upper classes of the 1950s. He lived in France in the 1920s. He has a foundation set up to give scholarships to culinary students. After he died (1985, year of my birth!), Julia Child preserved his home.
Two awesome Beard quotes:
"There is absolutely no substitute for the best. Good food cannot be made of inferior ingredients masked with high flavor. It is true thrift to use the best ingredients available and to waste nothing."
"I'm going to break one of the rules of the trade here. I'm going to tell you some of the secrets of improvisation. Just remember — it's always a good idea to follow the directions exactly the first time you try a recipe. But from then on, you're on your own."
I agree. Anyway.
Here was the book's recipe, and the recipe I copied out:
Recipe follows the exciting photos of my cooking in my Grandma's kitchen in Port Townsend.
First, we start out with a lovely KitchenAid Artisan mixer, and make sure you have a cup of potatoes you have boiled to tender and mashed. It's great because you can boil however many potatoes, not needing to be paranoid about making too many or anything, and then save some to have with dinner the next night! I freaking love mashed potatoes. Who doesn't?? So you reserve a cup, and let it cool, putting it aside. Like this:
Make sure you have your utencils:
So, then you take 1/2 a cup of warm water (110ºF to 115ºF), and dissolve one package (2 1/4 teaspoons) of active dry yeast in there, then mix in 3 tablespoons of all-purpose flour.
You'll want to let this mixed up "starter" "rise" for 30 minutes. Just cover the top with a towel, put it in an out of the way place where it's not going to cool off very easily. My favorite place to put bread and stuff when it rises is actually on top of the fridge. Heat rises, and it does seem a little warm up there, and it's out of the way in my tiny kitchen. Of course, this was my amazing grandma's amazing kitchen, so I just put it next to the pressure cooker every time it needed rising...where she was cooking split pea soup with ham hock...yummm. But enough on that later.
You'll see the starter a bit puffy like this, activating the yeast, when you uncover it.
Add the remaining 2 cups of warm water, the salt and the caraway seeds, then add the remainder of the flour and the mashed potatoes and mix well.
Mixing...I always keep my mixer on low unless I'm whipping cream. Start very slow.
It'll start coming together...
You'll prob have to lock it when it starts thunking around in the bowl...
Turn out on a floured board and knead until the dough is elastic and supple and has great life to it, about 12 to 15 minutes.
Shape into a ball.
Oil a bowl, put the dough into it, and turn the dough to coat it with oil.
Place in a warm, draft free spot for 1 to 2 hours to rise until doubled in bulk.
There's the split pea soup with ham hock.....to be served later with the bread....
Remove the dough and punch down.
Knead 4 to 5 minutes.
You can definitely tell the bread is ready when it "pulls a window." This is when you work a little piece of dough with your fingers and palms, teasing it slowly, until you can stretch the piece so that you can see light through it when you hold it up to the window.
Now, this is the part where I went off of the notes that James Beard adds to the recipe and followed them instead of the regular recipe. I also decided to make a few small loaves instead of one huge one. Cut into the pieces you want to make loaves out of.
Form into round loaves, or loaf, if you're making one big one.
Let the loaves proof on a cookie sheet sprinkled with cornmeal.
Slash X's across the loaves with a very sharp knife, making a quick, but sawing, movement.
Brush the loaves with water.
I also saw that at the end of this recipe in the book, James Beard suggests using tiles, or a tiled surface, a tiled cookie sheet, something as such, for baking bread. My grandma had one!! You put it in as the oven preheats and slide your formed and risen dough onto it. The cornmeal will help.
Bake it in a pre-heated 400º oven for 1 hour, or until it is nicely browned and sounds hollow when tapped with the knuckles. (The baking time can vary, taking even as long as 1 1/4 hours).
Cool on a wire rack! This bread gets even better the next day. It's a great dunking bread for soup! : ^ D
Well, that was George Lang's Potato Bread With Caraway Seeds. I found a few things out with this recipe: Letting it rise longer is better. Try one of my mom's tips, which is to let it rise, instead of a couple hours at room temp, for 8 hours, in the firdge. If you have the time :) It gives you more airiness and those big holes that are in really delicious restaurant bread. Also, my grandma made me put in double the amount of caraway seeds.
Grandma: "Put in a tablespoon or so of the caraway seeds."
Me: "The recipe only says half a tablespoon."
Grandma: "Don't believe everything you read."
I love my Grandma. I'm making more bread next time I go there too!
Actual Recipe From Book:
~ ~ ~
George Lang's Potato Bread With Caraway Seeds
makes 1 large free-form loaf
3 medium potatoes, or enough to make 1 cup mashed potatoes
1 package active dry yeast
2 1/2 cups warm water (110º to 115º, approximately)
2 pounds unbleached all purpose flour (approximately 8 cups)
1 1/2 tablespoons salt
1/2 tablespoon caraway seed
Cornmeal (optional)
Scrub the potatoes and boil them in their skins until tender. Drain them, then peel and mash or put them through a potato ricer while they are still warm. Allow the potatoes to cool.
Dissolve the yeast in 1/2 cup of the warm water, mix well with 3 tablespoons of the flour in a large bowl, and let this "starter" rise for 30 minutes. Add the remaining 2 cups of warm water, the salt and the caraway seeds, then add the remainder of the flour and the mashed potatoes and mix well. Turn out on a floured board and knead until the dough is elastic and supple and has great life to it, about 12 to 15 minutes. Shape into a ball. Oil a bowl, put the dough into it, and turn the dough to coat it with oil. Place in a warm, draft free spot for 1 to 2 hours to rise until doubled in bulk.
Remove the dough, punch down, and knead 4 to 5 minutes. Shape into a large round loaf, place in a buttered 12-inch oven proof skillet with rounded sides, and let rise for about 30 to 35 minutes. Brush the loaf with water, and then make a deep incision in the form of a cross in the center. Bake it in a pre-heated 400º oven for 1 hour, or until it is nicely browned and sounds hollow when tapped with the knuckles. (The baking time can vary, taking even as long as 1 1/4 hours).
notes:
If you find the dough is not too soft, you might try letting it rise in a free-form shape on a cookie sheet sprinkled with cornmeal. Then slide it directly onto hot tiles to bake (see page 12).
- You may want more salt in this bread the second time you make it; I find that 2 tablespoons is not too much.
~ ~ ~
Okay, well, I have photos from when I made croissant dough, too, the other night, but I might wait until the next time I make it because it didn't turn out as amazing as it usually does, and I have very high standards for croissants. Maybe I'll put it up this time anyway, and then when I make them again it'll be a cool comparison.
This weekend, to be more exact, tomorrow, I am meeting Nicoletta and we are going to have an awesome amazing time making food and taking photos of it! Definitely on the menu: homemade pop tarts :) Good night and Bon Appetit!
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