LoveTheJourney

Because so many bread puddings can get mushy, I like Gaston Lenôtre’s version the best. Not only is it classic Lenôtre — simple and light yet elegant — it delivers a range of textures from crispy to tender to soft. You’ll need:
6-7 ounces sliced sandwich bread, crusts removed and cut into triangles
about two ounces butter [...]

A simple bread pudding doesn’t have terribly many ingredients, which means, according to Joe’s Inverse Law of Ingredient Dynamics*, that the ingredients you use should be good ones. Good milk, fresh eggs and fresh, real vanilla beans are all desirable. However no single ingredient will effect the quality of your pudding like the bread. It [...]

I’ve been having some fascinating discussions with a few readers via email, all about Peter Reinhart and the evolution of his whole wheat sandwich bread recipe. The conversations began when three readers alerted me to the fact that Reinhart updated his recipe in his most recent book, Peter Reinhart’s Artisan Breads Every Day. Essentially, he [...]

Speaking of bread reenactment, making one’s own sandwich bread really puts a person in touch with early 20th Century living. What I mean by that is that one must slice one’s sandwich bread, an act that we Americans haven’t had to perform since 1930. That was the year that Wonder Bread debuted sliced bread on [...]

Whole wheat sandwich bread has a few more steps than standard white, but not too many more, and the results will amaze you. Especially if you use a good white whole wheat grind (King Arthur makes a great one), the loaf will be nearly as light in taste and texture as white bread. This is [...]

Nothing like a three-day weekend to help a person get a little perspective back. Truth be told, I wasn’t traveling on business last Friday, but rather meeting with my father and sister to retrace a little family history, back in our ancestral homelands. No, not Chicago, though that’s where my mother’s family has lived for [...]

It’s said that if you’re going to steal, you might as well steal from the best. So I did. This is recipe is from Peter Reinhart’s Whole Grain Breads, a book that every serious or aspiring bread baker should own (along with all his other books). I’ll be making the 100% whole wheat version of [...]

Given all the pressure I’ve been receiving to do a true whole wheat bread, I’m officially caving. Whole wheat sandwich bread it is!

Actually “whole wheat” sandwich bread was the official request, but for reasons that will become clear as the week progresses, I thought “whole” wheat was a bit too limiting. Make no mistake, I plan to make a “wheat” bread of some description, but the odds are excellent that I’m going to sneak at least a [...]

Me and strawberries are going through the wringer this week. It started with a large, plank-like shortcake with cream cheese, sour cream and a buttered center. It was a dud, an all-caps level DUD. I should have known better than to try a recipe from a dubious source, and also to mess with a perfect [...]