Bread (and Butter) Basics October 2, 2012
Posted by nrhatch in Food & Drink, Home & Garden, Vegetarian Recipes.comments closed
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?
Spirit Lights The Way 