Artisan Bread Bakers

[funlvnman]

Oooohhh challaH! I LOVE me some good challah! I used to have a wonderful recipe, but alas, lost it during the move to Japan. <sigh> It was light, fluffy, sweet.... Man, if I could only get that recipe back again someday.

There is a restaurant here in town that serves stuffed french toast made from challah bread. The filling is bananas and orange flavored cream cheese. The topping is cinnamon flavored maple syrup. A half order puts me into state of blissful carb coma for hours. Good thing I can only go every so often or I'd be huuuuuuuuuuuuge.


Maybe we can get a poll going as to which type of artisan bread is your favorite. A poll where you can rank stuff from 1-5 so you can vote for more than one type.

[Dall_Piobaire]

I used to make Boston Brown bread for my Grandfather, you actually steam it. Warm with honey butter, once you try it you are hooked for life

[WeaselMender]

I have a recipe for stolen an Alsatian fruit bread that has been in my family for at least 6 generations. My wife says every year we ARE NOT baking stolen this year, but as I start the quest for the ingredients (who would have thought citron and black walnuts are so hard to find) she sets aside a weekend to bake. It is a double raised bread, the second raising with the loaves filled with the fruit and nuts can take 12 hours to raise. I will offer the recipe via PM to any one who will use it with this warning, it is a lot of work and you are likley to start a tradition. However sitting down with coffee laced with Baileys and a slice of stolen dripping with butter that was in oven 10 min. ago is one of lifes good things!

Weasel :ootd:

[Dall_Piobaire]

Stolen, oooh, you know what else is good, Kulgel(sp) especially right from a Norwegian bakery!

[Heming]

I don't recognise Kulgel as a Norwegian word (could be the America-Scandinavian name?), but we do have a lot of lovely yeast-risen cakes here... We don't call it bread unless it's savoury. Makes sense to me, but also makes us really picky about what we're willing to let pass as bread...

We have a christmas "bread" cake here with all kinds of dried fruits and candied orange peel, very lovely hot from the oven with lots of real butter and "geitost" (actually goatsmilk toffee). Mmm... That's a tradition waiting to happen as well...

[Dall_Piobaire]

You guys have some of the best food!

Sorry about the spelling, I know it would be considered a pastry, and it's horseshoe shaped, and, it doesn't last long!

[Pleater]

Oh yes - stolen - the local Lidl sells it - I have to buy it several times before Christmas as I take it home and it evaporates in no time at all.

I thought all bread was raised twice - that is what bread is - if it is just mixed and then cooked when it has frothed up then it is an oatcake or a pikelet. They are cooked on a griddle rather than in the oven. OK, yes it could be a griddle cake if it is raised with yeast.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

[CDNSushi]

Might not be what you want (not sure about the whole kashrut thing...) but check out "The Bread Bible" by Rose Levy Beranbaum.

Sounds interesting. Bread poses some interesting questions for those who keep kosher. Even though there are no Biblical or rabbinical prohibitions against vegetable products (with the exception of the prohibition of grain products during Passover), other ingredients being added (like milk, animal-based shortenings or emulsifiers) can make finding kosher bread a nightmare if you don't live in an area with a high Jewish population or aren't willing to bake your own.

I'm not so picky. I try to keep Biblical (as opposed to Rabbinical) kosher as best I can, but I'm not strict about it. Besides, that gets into some verbotten topic territory on XMTS... But one thing that I will NEVER eat -- because I just think it's a crime against food: ham & cheese bagels!

[Heming]

You guys have some of the best food!

PM me for any trad. Norwegian recipies you might be missing. I learnt from my mother and granny how to make all the ancient foods...

Sorry about the spelling, I know it would be considered a pastry, and it's horseshoe shaped, and, it doesn't last long!

Don't worry, I don't expect anyone outside of Norway to speak Norwegian... Sounds like some sort of "kringle", can't think of any other horseshoe-shaped pastries baked with yeast... Anyway, that's one of the best coffee cakes I know. Takes the whole day to make, though. For those of you not in the know, that's a stuffed pastry which in theory could be stuffed with anything sweet, but traditionally its either nuts, sugar and raisins (borgermesterkringle, "mayors pastry") or some kind of jam or fruit puree. It's quite large, and you cut it up in slices and serve it with pride and coffee.

Thank you for reminding me - that's (now) what I'll be making when I get visitors from Australia this summer!

[Bugbear]

Back in the college days, I used to take a small ball of moist whole wheat and a tiny dab of honey; keep it in a closed, but not completely air tight container; and let the natural yeasties from the environment make it into a starter. Then I would start growing sour dough loaves and other sour dough stuff until I ran out of wheat etc.

That is how I was taught to do it, and it makes a bit more flavorful sour dough.