Bread (and Butter) Basics October 2, 2012
Posted by nrhatch in Food & Drink, Home & Garden, Vegetarian Recipes.Tags: Baguette, Bread, Ciabatta, Food, Panera Bread, Soup
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Bread is basic.
At its most elemental, bread dough is comprised of just four simple ingredients ~ flour, salt, yeast, and water.
A week ago, we went to Panera Saturday morning for the third in a series of cooking demonstrations: Bread Basics.
Each participant received an unbaked loaf to shape into a baguette. Once shaped, we scored our creations.
I gave mine a “10.” 
Then, succumbing to peer pressure, I scored the crust with a knife ~ to allow gases from the yeast escape during baking.
While we waited for our loaves to bake, we tasted several types of Panera bread ~ Rye with Caraway, Asiago Cheese, Whole Grain, Tomato-Basil, Ciabatta, and Basic Baguette.
We also received slices of fresh from the oven French Bread Margherita Pizza ~ a reprise surprise of a recipe demonstrated the previous week.
At last . . . our loaves emerged warm and fragrant from the oven:
Already full from the tasty samples we’d been scarfing down, we took them home and thought . . . SOUP!
Chopping onions, celery, carrots, and red pepper for the Curried Lentil Soup caused our appetites to reappear. As the soup simmered, the aroma of curry filled the air, taunting and teasing and tantalizing our taste buds.
We gave in to temptation. We ate the bread. With butter. We bad.
Aah . . . that’s better!
Are you a bread baker? Yeast breads or quick breads? Basic breads or loaves loaded with flavor enhancers?
What a fun thing to do. I used to bake a lot of homemade bread. I’m not quite sure why I stopped. I enjoyed doing it. I never knew why I scored the bread. I suppose I thought it was for looks. Thanks for clearing that up for me.
Bread needs butter, I think. I’m glad you enjoyed it.
I expect that the scoring is both decorative and functional. From somewhere deep in the recesses of my mind, I recall that bakers scored each type of loaf with a distinct pattern so they could tell, at a glance, which breads they had available to sell.
Perhaps it’s time to knead bread for you and Mark to enjoy? It’s such a suitable occupation for the fall.
Love it! Fresh baked bread is hard to resist! It’s been a while since I’ve baked a baguette…now that you’ve inspired me let’s hope I don’t eat it before Dirt Man gets home, lol!
Whenever I make a loaf bread, be it Crusty Cuban Bread or Cracked Wheat or Three Cheese or Oatmeal, we don’t wait long before diving into it! As soon as it’s cool enough to handle without wearing asbestos gloves, we slice off a huge chunk, slather it with butter, and . . . . *chomp*!
There is nothing better than warm bread fresh from the oven! I can make a meal out of that.
Same here, Kate! I’m convinced that man CAN live by bread alone.
I am not. I love it too much and can feel the waistline expansion just looking at yours. Yum!
Ah . . . but what a way to let yourself go.
Nothing better than homemade bread. We like you, eat our bread at the stage its almost too hot to handle. Bread and soup….Yum!
I’ve read that bread needs to cool a bit before we dig into it . . . but it’s hard to wait when a hot-from-the-oven loaf is staring me in the face saying, “Eat Me!”
Now my tummy is rumbling. Somehow my breadmaker doesn’t produce the same mouth-watering visuals…you inspire me to cook a beautiful loaf tomorrow, just for a bit of therapy!!
Cooking, especially bread making, is therapy . . . of the “be here now” variety. Enjoy every bite!
the first time i baked a loaf, heathy full of good stuff. but so heavy when we fed it to the birds they couldn’t take off afterwards
That visual made me laugh out loud. Poor birds . . . turned into paperweights!
it was very sad *sob*
Well, now, I just feel bad for laughing. I’ve made a loaf or two that were better suited for doorstops than the bread basket.
Looks yummy! I am not a good baker, don’t know why, but seriously, if I bake a cake it ends up looking like a pancake. You always have fun experiences to share with us.
I’m not much of a baker either . . . except for bread. BFF handles most of the cakes and cookies these days. He eats most of them too.
Give me ciabatta bread with butter! Bread is just a vehicle for buttah! A bite of a ciabatta roll with buttah, a bite of mashed potatoes!! CH bakes the bread in our family of two. Bread dunked in soup is dee-licious.
Yes. Yes. Yes. I agree . . . yeastfully!
I do bake a few simple bread recipes. I enjoy rosemary bread, in particular. I am afraid I eat too much of it, though, when I do bake it fresh! There’s nothing more satisfying to me than a nice big piece of fresh, warm bread…and then with soup!
Yum! Rosemary bread, rosemary foccacia, and oven-roasted rosemary potatoes are delish! I’ve streamlined my spice rack to essential herbs and seasonings. Rosemary is on it.
I’d ‘score’ yours “10″ as well
Thanks! Scoring bread reminds me of patty-cake: “. . . mark it with a B and put it in the oven for baby and me!”
Mmmm, nothing more tasty than fresh bread straight from the oven – spread with butter of course! Live dangerously I say!
At the Sarasota Farmer’s Market a while back, we ran into “Miss Gluten Free” who INSISTED we would be happier and healthier without wheat gluten in our lives. Silly rabbit!
I love, love, love bread, Nancy. Between my growing intolerance for gluten and my weight loss regimen, it is a rare treat these days. Your loaves are gorgeous. I bet they were tasty.
My sister is on a GF diet ~ a real life-changer. It’s getting easier to find GF bread, rolls, and pizza, but they are not the same.
Glad you can still enjoy the “real deal” as a “rare treat.”
You, give into peer pressure? I don’t believe it?! Looks soooo delicious. *sobbing* I can eat only gluten-free bread which never tastes as good as the real thing
The GF pasta I’ve cooked when my sister visits is pretty good . . . but the bread, rolls, and tortillas are not too enticing. I’ve also had some GF pizza at a few places which is not bad.
Perhaps as more people adopt a GF diet, the offerings will improve?
And, you’re right, I didn’t really give in to peer pressure ~ that would not be ME.
But what Chef Brandon said made sense so I followed his advice and slashed the crust.
My biggest problem with Panera is that buying two of everything is a bit on the spendy side.
Yes! Twice the price of getting just one of everything.
We save on bread by using $45 in Discover Rewards to get a “free” $50 Panera Gift Card . . . which we blow through in no time at all!
There’s nothing better than bread and butter. Except bread and Nutella.
I’m waiting for the heat waves to stop (4 months of them and I’m really fed up!) to start using my oven on a more regular basis. Bread is definitely on my list as I want to have my kids taste “real” homemade bread. Either baguette or loaf will be my pick.
Our oven doesn’t heat up the kitchen much (as long as we keep the oven door closed), but I prefer firing it up in the cooler months.
Your kids are in for a real treat!