A Beautiful (Bargain!) Bread Book For Beginners& A Recipe For Carrot Herb Rolls

Packed With Carrots & Perfect For The Autumn Table

Some of my personal goals for this year included delving into the numerous (and mostly unused) cookbooks on my shelves, baking new kinds of breads, and making much better use of all the beautiful herbs in my kitchen garden. I've been doing okay, but with this new recipe I hit the personal goal jackpot. It's a variation of the carrot bread in Bread: Artisan Breads from Baguettes and Bagels to Focaccia and Brioche by authors and cooking instructors Eric Treuille and Ursula Ferrigno (he's French, she's Italian).

I've been reviewing this book, and my opinion of it can be summed up in one word: wonderful. Wait, make that two words: wonderful and inspiring. This is the second recipe I've made from it so far, and the first bread (a round Italian Rosemary Raisin Loaf I'll be writing about soon) is as pretty as it is delicious.

Here's a little blurb from the book jacket, and it's all true:

Bread mixes delicious recipes with essential techniques to provide the home cook with practical reference and inspiration. From mixing and shaping to proofing and glazing--each stage of the bread-making process is clearly explained, with problem-solving tips and a complete illustrated guide to key ingredients and equipment to help you succeed. Bread's step-by-step demonstrations of the principles and practices of bread-making will give you the confidence and skills to try its tantalizing range of over 100 breads.

If you learn best by looking at pictures, then this is definitely the book for you because it's packed with gorgeous, full-color photos. And while it's a perfect book for beginners (I already know at least one budding bread baker who'll be receiving a copy for Christmas), I think many experienced bakers would also enjoy it. I've already discovered all sorts of handy tips and useful nuggets of information, and there are several more breads I'm planning to make, including the Hungarian Potato Bread, Dark Chocolate Bread (1-1/4 cups of cocoa powder!), Swedish Dill Bread (made with cream cheese), and the Prune and Chocolate Bread ("a deeply indulgent loaf, chock-a-block with juicy prunes and melted chocolate").

There's also an intriguing recipe for a straight dough (as opposed to sourdough) Pane con Pomodori e Cipolle Rosse (Tomato and Red Onion Bread) which looks similar to my Fresh Tomato & Basil Whole-wheat Sourdough Bread I wrote about last month.

One of the nice things about it is that many of the breads start with the same basic recipe and build on it, which means trying all sorts of different breads suddenly becomes much less daunting. Variations on the same recipe are also often given. For example, you can take the American multigrain bread and turn it into sunflower and honey bread, cracked grain bread, or shape it into rolls. The pita bread recipe includes a whole-wheat version as well as instructions on how to make Lavash (Armenian Flat Bread).

But the very best thing about this 168-page, full-color book just may be the bargain price. The hardcover edition is available for only $13.60 on Amazon.com, with free shipping on orders over $25. There's also a softcover edition available for $11.01.


A New Holiday Tradition?

Susan's Carrot Herb Rolls
Adapated from Bread: Artisan Breads from Baguettes and Bagels to Focaccia and Brioche
Makes 16 3-inch rolls

The carrot bread recipe this is adapted from came from the chapter in Bread called Flavored Breads, and what caught my eye was its use of raw shredded carrots. Other variations included are: spinach bread, beet bread, chili bread, onion and caraway bread, and herb bread (which didn't include the carrots).

First I made the plain carrot dough, shaping half into a round loaf and the rest into rolls. The second time around I dove into the herb garden first, emerging with fistfulls of fresh parsley, rosemary, and thyme which I tossed into the mix. I also substituted 1 cup of white whole wheat flour for 1 cup of the bread flour.

The result? Flavorful, healthy, autumn-colored rolls that I think would be a welcome and interesting addition to any holiday table. They have a soft but substantial crumb and a chewy crust that crisps up nicely when reheated. They also freeze beautifully. You can really taste the carrots, and a taste-tester friend I gave some to reported that they're great with goat cheese.

As always, I urge you to seek out local and organic ingredients whenever possible. At around a dollar a pound and readily available, organic carrots are one of the world's best bargains. Look for organic flours in the bulk sections of natural food stores.

3 cups bread flour (15-3/8 oz, 437 g)
1 cup white whole wheat flour (5 oz, 143 g)
2 teaspoons (10 ml) instant yeast
1-1/2 cups warm water (12 oz, 335 g)
2 Tablespoons butter, melted (1 oz, 28 g)
2-1/4 cups carrots, finely shredded (13-7/8 oz, 380 g)
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley (3/8 oz, 10g)
2 Tablespoons (30 ml) chopped fresh rosemary
1 Tablespoon (15 ml) chopped fresh thyme
2-1/2 teaspoons (12 ml) salt


At First It May Seem Like There Are Too Many Carrots

Mix the whole-wheat white flour, bread flour, and yeast in a large bowl. Make a well in the center and pour in the water and melted butter. Stir until combined. Mix in the carrots, parsley, rosemary, and thyme and stir until a soft sticky dough forms.

Turn dough out onto a well-floured surface and knead 5 minutes, sprinkling on a little more bread flour if necessary to keep dough from sticking to your hands and the work surface.


Kneaded Dough Ready For The Autolyse

Cover dough with bowl and let rest 20 minutes (this rest period is called the autolyse).

Sprinkle the salt over the dough and knead for another 5 minutes, until the salt is fully incorporated and the dough is smooth and still slightly sticky, adding more flour if necessary.


It's So Easy To See If The Rising Dough Has Doubled In Size

Put the dough in a clear, straight-sided plastic container with a snap-on lid and let it rise until doubled in size, about 1 to 1-1/2 hours. I mark the height of the unrisen dough and the doubled height on the side of the container with a felt tip pen (it comes off when scrubbed with a sponge). For home baking, the containers don't need to be very big, and you can find inexpensive ones for sale almost anywhere.

The ideal temperature for rising dough is about 70 to 75 degrees F. If the air is cooler, you can use warmer water when mixing the dough or simply let it rise longer (which will actually improve your finished bread).

An instant read thermometer, like the one you can see poking into my dough in the photo above, is an inexpensive, handy little item that is extremely helpful when baking bread. Use it to check the temperature of your ingredients (water, milk, even flour) before adding them. Then use it to check the temperature of the dough while it's rising. You can even check the air temperature in your kitchen by putting the thermometer in a glass of room temperature water (this is also a good way to accurately check the temperature inside your refrigerator). You may be surprised at just how much such a small investment will change your kitchen experiences. Once you start using one, you'll probably wonder how you ever lived without it. These thermometers are called "instant," but it does take a few seconds to get a reading. There are also digital versions available, but I've never used one.

Once the dough has risen, punch it down by pressing down with your knuckles into the center of the dough. Turn the dough out of the container onto a lightly floured work surface, then let it rest for 10 minutes.

Shaped Rolls Ready For Proofing

Divide the dough into 16 pieces, about 3 ounces/84 grams each. To shape round rolls, press down on the pieces to expel any air bubbles. Cup the palm of your hand over each piece and roll it over an unfloured surface until it forms a smooth ball. (For more about how to shape dough into rolls, see the sidebar of this post.)

If you don't want your finished rolls to end up touching each other, simply space them farther apart on two baking sheets. Either bake both sheets at once, or set the second one in the refrigerator or someplace cool while the first one bakes. Alternatively, you can place the dough balls closer together and in a circle to make decorative pull-apart rolls.



Risen & Ready For The Oven

Place rolls on a parchment-lined baking sheet.** Sprinkle rolls lightly with flour and cover with a tea towel. Proof until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.

About 20 minutes before baking, heat oven to 400F (205C).

For a light shine and crisp baked crust, brush rolls with lightly salted water immediately before baking. I use a silicone pastry brush.

Perfect For Mini Sandwiches, Too

Bake in preheated oven until the tops are golden brown and the bottoms sound hollow when tapped, about 25 to 30 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container or freeze. If desired, reheat at 350F (175C) for 5 to 10 minutes before serving. This will crisp the crust right back up.

** I highly recommend investing in a couple of commercial half-size baking sheets. I refuse to bake on anything else, and once you try using them you probably won't either. There's simply no comparison. Are you a closet cookie burner? These might very well cure you. Really. Chicago Metallic (a well-respected name in the restaurant equipment industry and maker of my favorite loaf pans) offers a set of two heavyweight baking sheets for $24.99 at Amazon.com--a bargain for something that is a mainstay in my kitchen. Treat them well and they'll last for ages; I've had some of mine for over 15 years.

I almost always line my baking sheets with unbleached parchment paper--something else I can't believe I ever lived without. I use it whenever I'm baking cookies, scones, crackers, etc. It keeps your baking sheets cleaner and saves you from having to grease them. Just cut a piece of parchment to fit your baking sheet and then use that same piece for the entire batch of whatever you're baking.

NOTE: Both the baking sheets and loaf pans mentioned above are eligible for Amazon.com's 4-for-3 promotion that is currently going on. Over 100,00 eligible products include select Books, CDs, DVDs, Single Copy Magazines, Home & Garden items, and Home Improvement tools. Buy any 4 eligible items and get the lowest-priced item free. You'll find details in the product links above, or click here for more information on the 4-for-3 promotion and to see all the products. In addition, right now the loaf pans, which are regularly $11.00 each and come with a 25-year warranty, are on sale for a ridiculously low $5.75.

Copyright © 2007 FarmgirlFare.com, the award-winning blog where Farmgirl Susan shares stories & photos of her crazy country life on 240 remote acres.

Local Breads Does GoodAnd We're Giving Away Two Signed Copies!

Parisian Daily Bread from Local Breads: A Four Hour Baguette

It seems I'm not the only baker willing to crank up the oven in midsummer in the name of fabulous homemade bread. My new favorite bread book, Local Breads: Sourdough and Whole-Grain Recipes from Europe's Best Artisan Bakers, by Daniel Leader (world renowned baker, owner of Bread Alone Bakery in New York's Catskill Mountains, and author of my previously favorite bread book, Bread Alone), is receiving rave reviews and selling like crazy. A big thanks to Karen at the Union of Concerned Scientists (check out their wonderful new Green Cuisine feature here) for letting me know that Daniel Leader was the guest on last week's edition of "The Food Chain" radio program on Metrofarm. I really enjoyed it. You can listen to a recording of the show (#554) here.

Do you have a bread question for Daniel? I'll be interviewing him in the next week or two and invite you to email me your questions: farmgirlfare AT gmail DOT com.


No Canvas Needed

So far I've made the Parisian Daily Bread, the Italian Black Olive Cheeks, and the Rosemary Filone from Local Breads. All were easy to make and tasted wonderful, though the filone wasn't full of those nice big airholes like in the mouthwatering photo. Advanced bread bakers are going to glom onto this book, but beginning bakers definitely shouldn't shy away from it. The first 60 pages are packed with detailed information on equipment, ingredients, and techniques, all of it clearly written and easy to understand. The book also contains dozens of frequently asked bread baking questions and simple yet invaluable tips, such as how to fashion a couche out of a piece of parchment paper, as shown above (brilliant!).

I can't wait to try out more of the 80 recipes over the next couple of months, including some of the authentic German sourdough ryes. Part travelogue, part bread making class, and part gastronomic history lesson, if the gorgeous photos in Local Breads don't have you running to the store in search of stoneground organic flours, the descriptions--or even simply the names--of these European Old World breads, many of which have never been shared before, most certainly will.

Of the Soulful German Farmhouse Rye, Daniel says:
Rye breads this deep, dark, and sour can be found only in places like Oberseifersdorf, Germany, where Gert Kolbe, a fifth-generation baker, has his shop. Canals still flow through the town, and a waterwheel works the mill where Gert gets his coarse whole rye flour. The grain is grown in the surrounding fields. The rolled rye flakes Gert uses as a topping make his loaves resemble the local thatched-roof houses. This hearty traditional bread in particular is why I made the trip to the bakery; I left not only with the recipe but with a long-keeping loaf that I snacked on with smoked sausages and spicy mustard on the five-hour drive back to Wiesbaden.

I'm hoping some of you will bake along with me as I delve further into Local Breads. I'll let you know in the next couple of weeks which breads I'll be baking, so you can get your sourdough(s) mixed up in plenty of time. For years I've been baking beautiful sourdough breads using two starters I made following the simple instructions in Bread Alone, a French levain and a rye sourdough. After the successes I've had with these, I'm really looking forward to branching out and experimenting with some new sourdoughs.

Meanwhile, over at A Year In Bread, we're giving away two signed copies of Local Breads. You'll find all the details here. Wondering what A Year In Bread is all about? Read more about this joint blog project between myself and two other passionate bread bakers here.

More links for bread lovers:
Parisian Daily Bread from Local Breads
Small Scale Marketing & Italian Black Olive Cheeks from Local Breads
Grape Harvest Focaccia from Local Breads
Rosemary Filone from Local Breads
My Ten Tips For Better Breads
My Oatmeal Toasting Bread
My Italiano No-Knead Bread
The Pita Project & My Best Pita Bread Recipe
My Favorite Straightforward Pizza Dough Recipe

© 2007 FarmgirlFare.com, the award-winning blog where Farmgirl Susan shares photos & stories of her crazy country life on 240 remote Missouri acres.

Small Scale Marketing & Little Olive Cheeks

Italian Black Olive Cheeks (Puccia) (recipe at A Year In Bread)

If your bakery cafe has 500 locations scattered around the country, launching any new product is a complicated endeavor. First there's the research and development stage, which in many cases can last as long as a year, even if all you're creating is a sandwich. Producing something that is not only tasty, visually appealing, and on budget, but that can also be easily and exactly replicated around the country — or even the world — is no small feat. Then there are the amazingly expensive, in-store and out-of-store publicity/marketing/advertising campaigns needed to spread the word about your delicious new invention.

If, however, your bakery cafe has only one location, one oven, and one baker, introducing a new item is as easy as flipping through a cookbook, pointing to a recipe and saying, "That looks good!" then baking it up and sticking the results in your display case next to a handwritten sign stating what it is. Years ago when I had a little bakery cafe in northern California, that's exactly what I used to do.

One of the nicest things about opening a small eatery several miles from any place to buy a cup of coffee, let alone a still-warm chocolate chip cookie and a latté made from freshly roasted coffee beans, or a pot of English tea and a freshly baked scone, is that you quickly develop a band of very loyal customers. And although some of them happily ordered the same thing day in and day out, I was fortunate to have a fair share of eager guinea pigs. These adventurous eaters were always willing to try something new and different, no matter what it might be. Some of my experiments, such as the pistachio olive quick bread, never made it onto the permanent menu (or even into the oven a second time), but others, like the pesto piezones, were instant bestsellers. This ongoing creative challenge was one of the most enjoyable parts of the job.

I haven't been trying many new bread recipes lately because I've been focusing on refining the five or six breads that will be the mainstay of the small wholesale bread bakery we're building here on the farm. But the other day I had an enlightening realization. When it comes to offering additional items for sale, things won't be much different than they were at the cafe. Testing out a new type of bread will simply be a matter of finding a recipe that sounds interesting, baking a few dozen loaves, loading them into the delivery truck, and seeing if our wholesale customers want to offer them to their customers. If the response is positive, we bake more. If not, there's no big loss.

That was all the excuse I needed to start baking new breads. Add in the publication of my new favorite bread book, Local Breads: Sourdough and Whole-Grain Recipes from Europe's Best Artisan Bakers, by Daniel Leader (renowned baker and author of my previously favorite bread book, Bread Alone), and my priorities around the farm have suddenly shifted. Weed-filled garden, piles of dirty laundry, ravenous baby chicks, and scorching summer heat be damned — I'm on a bread baking roll.



These little cutie pies, made with the strong and salty oil-cured olives I love so much, may very well make it onto our bread delivery truck some day. In the meantime, they've been on the lunch menu every day here for over a week, starring in a scrumptious new version of a very old summertime favorite: cream cheese and tomato sandwiches. Simply pluck a couple of olive cheeks out of the freezer and let them defrost enough so you can slice them in half (they defrost quickly at room temperature), tuck them in the toaster oven, then slather each toasted half with some nice cream cheese and top with thick slices of juicy garden tomatoes. Add salt and pepper to taste, and try to pace yourself.

These are absolutely amazing. So simple, and yet literally one of the best things I've eaten in months (and we eat pretty darn well around here). I used to have open-faced cream cheese and tomato sandwich on toasted English muffins as a kid, then later on bagels. They were always very good, perfect for lunch, brunch, or even breakfast. But the flavor of the olives in these delightful little rolls--which have just enough crunch and just enough chew--brings this humble meal to a whole new level. Three ingredients combine to become edible perfection. This is more fast farm food. This is seasonal eating at its best.

Local Breads is a 448-page, hardcover beauty of a book that I highly recommend for bread bakers of all levels, including complete beginners. It will be available in stores on August 13th, but you can pre-order copies now at Amazon.com for $23.10, which is 34 percent off the cover price of $35.00, plus there's no tax and free super saver shipping on orders of $25 or more. Click here for more info or to place your order.

There's no need to wait until August to start baking, though. Over at A Year In Bread we're devoting this month to Italian breads in Local Breads, and I made these Black Olive Cheeks. Click here for the rest of my article and the step-by-step recipe. It's easy to follow, and you don't even need a baking stone, just a couple of baking sheets. (Any kind will do, but if you do any baking at all, I urge you to treat yourself to a couple of commercial half-size sheet pans. I promise once you try them you'll never look back.) Kevin made a gorgeous Grape Harvest Focaccia, and I can't wait to see what Beth is baking up for next week. Ready, breadie? Then come bake bread with us!

Related articles & info you might find interesting:
--Parisian Breads, Local Breads, A Year In Bread includes the recipe for a four-hour French baguette, another easy and tasty bread from Local Breads, along with more about Daniel Leader's new book and why I love it so much.
--Don't know what A Year In Bread is? Click here to read more about this joint blogging project between myself and two other passionate bread bakers. I also discuss some of my favorite and affordable bread baking equipment.
--Oatmeal Toasting Bread is already a bestseller in my book. Try it and let me know what you think.
--My Ten Tips For Better Bread is one of the most popular posts in the Farmgirl Fare archives.
--I still recommend Daniel Leader's first book, Bread Alone, which was pretty much responsible for nudging me into the bread baking business. Considering that more than ten new cookbooks a day are published in the U.S. and it's still in print after 14 years, I'm obviously not the only one who thinks this book is wonderful.

© 2007 FarmgirlFare.com, the award-winning blog where Farmgirl Susan shares photos & stories of her crazy country life on 240 remote Missouri acres.