Fast Breads: 50 Recipes for Easy, Delicious Bread

173 Pages·2010·4.07 MB·English

by  Elinor Klivans

DEDICATION
For the four generations of my bread-baking and bread-loving family and for
Jeff, who baked real good bread
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
It takes a village to make a book happen: an agent, a publishing team, a
photographer, a food stylist, family, friends, testers, and lots of listeners. Thank
you all.
My agent, Judith Weber; editorial director Bill LeBlond; editor Sarah
Billingsley; copyeditor Sharon Silva; photographer Susie Cushner; food stylist
Carrie Purcell; Doug Ogan, Anne Donnard, Ben Hasman, Peter Perez, David
Hawk, and the fabulous team at Chronicle Books.
My family, who care, support, and encourage me; make me laugh; and are
baking partners: my dad, Laura, Michael, Charlie, and Oliver; Kate, Peter,
Madison, Max, Sadie, and Kip.
My supporters and friends, who ate a lot of bread and gave a lot of
encouragement: Flo Braker, Sue Chase, Michael Drons, Susan Dunning,
Maureen Egan, Carole and Woody Emanuel, Rosalee and Chris Glass, Karen
and Michael Good, Kat and Howard Grossman, Faith and David Hague, Helen
and Reg Hall, Carolyn and Ted Hoffman, Alice and Norman Klivans, Susan
Lasky, Robert Laurence, Rosie Levitan, Gordon Paine, Joan and Graham Phaup,
Janet and Alan Roberts, Pam and Stephen Ross, Louise and Erv Shames,
Barbara and Max Steinheimer, Kathy Stiefel, Carol Witham, Elaine and Wil
Wolfson, and Jeffrey Young.
The brave and thorough testers: Jennifer and Howie Goldsmith (the day before
Jennifer gave birth), Howard Grossman, Cheryl Matevish, Taylor Mudge, Dawn
Ryan, Allyson Shames, Louise Shames, Kate Steinheimer, and Laura Williams.
Contents
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 01 Superfast Breads
Butter Drop Biscuits
Very Big Popovers
Savory Lemon-Leek Loaf
Bottoms-Up Cinnamon-Caramel Pinwheels
Toasted Pecan & Chocolate Chunk Scones
Cherry & Almond Whole-Wheat Scones
Pumpkin-Chocolate Chip Pancakes
Christmas Morning Belgian Waffles
Chapter 02 Corn Breads
Bacon & Cheddar Corn Bread
Buttermilk Corn Bread
Southern Corn Sticks
Apricot Corn Muffins
Hush Puppies
Spoon Bread
Chapter 03 Refrigerator Breads
Crusty Artisanal Bread
Multigrain Crusty Bread
Brioche
Dark Rye Bread
Parker House Rolls
Anytime Butter Twists
Cinnamon Twists
A Chocolate-Hazelnut Babka & A Cinnamon Babka
Extra-Sticky Caramel-Pecan Buns
Cinnamon Buns With Cream Cheese Glaze
Auntie Bell’s Bubble Bread
Chapter 04 Buns Rolls & Small Breads
Cheddar Cracker Bread
Crumpets
Butter Crescents
Buttery Rowies
Sunday Lunch Dinner Rolls
Gruyère & Black Pepper Gougères
Gingerbread Doughnuts With Lemon Glaze
Cinnamon Beignets
Chapter 05 Loaves & Rounds
Borrowdale Raisin Tea Loaf
Buttermilk Sandwich Loaf
Carrot, Cranberry & Walnut Loaf
Dark Irish Soda Bread
Toasted Walnut & Date Whole-Wheat Round
An Everyday Crusty Round Or Two
Lots of Cheese Bread
Sally Lunn Bread
Tomato, Basil & Onion Focaccia & Fig & Gorgonzola Focaccia
Chapter 06 Bread Dishes & Bread Toppings
Ham & Swiss on Rye Strata
Baked Almond Brioche Toast
Sausage, Onion, Mushroom
Ribollita
Blt Corn Bread Salad
Winter Panzanella Salad
Salami, Prosciutto, Provolone & Sweet Red Pepper Stromboli
Sliders, Muffaletta & Panini
Chocolate-Ginger Bread Pudding
Savory & Sweet Butters, Sauces & Spreads
Index
Table of Equivalents
Author
Copyright

INTRODUCTION
If I were stranded on a desert island, I know exactly what my choice for survival
food would be: bread and butter. Biscuits, muffins, cinnamon buns, yeast breads
—I like them all. I have been baking bread since I was a teenager, and today it is
still a pleasure to turn a few simple ingredients into a colossal popover or see a
buttermilk loaf rise high in the oven and then eat it.
All the breads I bake take only a short time to put together, and then I fit
finishing them—usually shaping and baking them—around my schedule. I
assemble scones, corn bread, crusty loaves, and doughnuts in minutes. I make
yeast-leavened sticky buns, brioche, dark rye, and a crusty multigrain loaf that
sit in the refrigerator for as long as several days. They wait to be baked until I
have the time or the inclination, and then they rise just once in the pan. My
buttery rolls, cheese loaves, buttermilk loaf, focaccia, and nut-and-fruit whole-
wheat rounds are all batter breads, made from a soft yeast dough. They are
mixed with an electric mixer, in a food processor, or by hand, and rise just once
in the pan immediately after mixing and shaping. Morning toast and crumpets,
lunchtime sandwiches, and dinner rolls—bread is an important part of every
meal. Good bread is a given; the nurturing, pride, and enjoyment are your gifts.
Years ago, David Gayson, the late American essayist and journalist, aptly wrote,
“Talk of joy: there may be things better than beef stew and baked potatoes and
homemade bread—there may be.”
BREAD BASICS
Here are the good ideas—everything from my favorite pans to tips on leaveners
to how to choose the best ingredients—I have learned from a lifetime of bread
baking.
EQUIPMENT
Most of the pans for making bread, including baking sheets, muffin tins, and loaf
pans are probably already in your kitchen. If you do go shopping, remember to
buy good quality pans and tools. You will work more efficiently and your new
purchases will last for years.
Bread Pans
Heavy-gauge aluminum conducts heat evenly and does not warp or bend with
repeated use, making it a good choice for bread pans of all shapes and sizes.
Baking sheets with a low rim on one or more sides simplify sliding baked breads
onto a wire rack to cool. Measurements suitable for home ovens range from
about 15 by 12 in to about 17 by 14 in.`
A jelly-roll pan is a baking sheet with a 1-in rim on all sides. The most common
size is about 15 by 10 in. I use this pan when making Buttery Rowies to prevent
the excess butter from dripping onto the oven.
The loaf pan I use most often has a capacity of about 8 cups and measures about
9 by 5 by 3 in. Round, rectangular, and square pans in varying sizes should have
2-in sides. Ceramic baking dishes in these shapes are good oven-to-table
choices.
You will need a tube pan with a permanently fixed bottom, and a diameter of 9½
in or 10 in. A fixed-bottom tube pan, which is especially useful for batter breads
and bread puddings, is somewhat harder to find than a pan with a removable
bottom, the classic angel food cake pan. The 9½-in one-piece tube can be
difficult to locate, too, but Nordic Ware makes an excellent one-piece 10-in tube
with a 12-cup capacity in heavy-duty aluminum. Even if your tube pan has a
nonstick coating, line the bottom with parchment paper, which ensures that a
large, sticky bread will release smoothly.
I use a so-called Texas muffin tin, also known as a jumbo muffin tin, for my
muffin making. It has six wells, each with a capacity of 1 cup. You can use it for
my Very Big Popovers, too.
Electric Mixer
A heavy-duty stand mixer with a 5-qt bowl performs any bread mixing job with
ease. The mixer comes with a flat beater for beating, a wire whip for whipping,
and a dough hook for kneading yeast dough. The flat beater works fine for
beating batter breads and mixing and kneading soft-dough yeast breads. In the
few recipes where a dough hook is preferred, I have noted it. You can use a
handheld mixer with a powerful motor for any recipe that does not specify a
dough hook.
Food Processor
A food processor can mix and knead bread dough in seconds, rather than