Author: jeff

Pumpernickel Bread– how to make your own caramel coloring

jeff 59 Comments

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I’ve been getting a lot of questions about the caramel color, a brown and slightly bitter powder made by over-caramelizing sugar) that we call for in the pumpernickel bread recipe on page 67 of the book.  It’s hard to find in local stores, and it’s not an absolute requirement for the bread, but most U.S. consumers will miss it if it’s left out.

Yes, caramel color can be made at home, but not as a powder– what you make will be a liquid that is added to recipes; you should decrease the liquid a bit to account for the extra. Here’s what I’ve done at home (it won’t be quite as dark a result as powdered caramel color): Put 3 tablespoons sugar and 1 tablespoon water into a saucepan. Melt the sugar over a low flame, then increase heat to medium-high, cover, and bring to a boil for 2 minutes. Add a pinch of cream of tartar and continue to boil uncovered until the mixture becomes very dark. Remove from heat and allow to cool partially. Very carefully, add a quarter cup of boiling water to the pan (it may sputter and water may jump out of the pan so wear gloves and keep your face away from it). Dissolve the caramelized sugar and cool to room temp. Use about a quarter-cup of this mixture in place of commercial caramel color powder in our Pumpernickel recipe on page 67.

If you use liquid caramel coloring like this, you need to add extra flour to make up for it– about twice the volume of flour as liquid.  Otherwise the dough will be too loose.

Craziest Pizza Combo Yet: Limpa Dough, Tomato, Anchovies, and Black Olives

jeff 18 Comments

OK, so I rolled some ground anise, orange zest, and ground cardamom into some light rye dough (see page 65) and it was going to be a limpa loaf, the traditional Scandivian spiced rye, and I was going to use that dough for a class I taught Tuesday night.  Never got to it.  What to do?

Tonight it’s pizza topped with tomato, anchovies, fresh mozzarella, and cured black olives.  I’m starting to think you can get away with anything if you keep an open mind.  We all devoured it. 

Challah done two ways from the same dough (Jewish New Year’s loaf AND a braided challah)

jeff 160 Comments

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It’s Jewish New Year (tonight) and the traditional loaf, a round, turban-shaped one (round=continuity of life) took a back seat in this photo– so I decided to do a challah extravaganza and go through both shapes, which are easy once you see how they’re done.  Here’s the turban from a little closer:

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They’re both made from the same dough but the New Year’s  turban always has raisins or other sweet fruit (to symbolize a sweet new year)– we’ll roll them into the dough so you don’t have to mix up a special one.  Read More

Marco’s Heirloom Tomato Bruschetta (and, how to hear about new recipes on Twitter)

jeff 4 Comments

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Years ago, my friend Marco (from Livorno in Italy) made my family a beautiful and simple dinner of buttered pasta with Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, and this gorgeous bruschetta with fresh tomato.  The cheese was brought from his mother’s kitchen in Livorno, but the fruit were perfect locally grown heirloom tomatoes.  Someone recently gave my wife and me some heirloom Brandywine tomatoes, vine-ripened, and we thought of Marco.  This dish is really just tomatoes on toast, but it manages to approach the sublime — that’s why it went into our book.  To hear about new recipes when they’re posted here, follow me on Twitter if you’re already signed up, or join Twitter today.  For more about our bruschetta recipe, from page 49, read on… Read More

The world’s freshest watercress for savory watercress flatbread

jeff 12 Comments

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I picked the world’s freshest watercress from a chilly Minnesota river last week, and baked it into fantastic savory flatbread, all out in the wild (everything tastes better outdoors).  This camping-trip method blends two favorite techniques from our book:  rolling in something that wasn’t originally mixed in the dough, like our raisin challah on page 183, and baking in a skillet on the stovetop (like our naan on page 173).  Read More

Door County Sour Cherry Preserves for Brioche

jeff 18 Comments

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Yes, I did bake some brioche on the outdoor gas grill, and it works quite well, but more on that in a minute.  My family just got back from Door County, Wisconsin, home of the famous Montmorency sour cherry.  It has an indescribable, almost spicy flavor that can be perfectly heightened by adding sugar in jams and sauces (they’re not for eating out of hand).  For jams, you’re pretty limited to a sweet version (for canning safety), and that’s what’s pictured above.  It’s what we gave you in the book (page 213 of Artisan Bread in Five).  When my family goes to the Door peninsula, we make a bunch of different versions, some that we can and store; but some that we just eat immediately.  This time around, we put the cherry preserve on top of luscious brioche (yes, done on the grill).  Then we gilded the lily with a little fresh whipped cream:

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We ate very, very well, and everyone was in a good mood–no one was voted off the peninsula.  Cherries and brioche didn’t hurt–  Read More

Contest and Giveaway Rules (don’t post your entry here!)

jeff

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From time to time we run giveaways here on the website.  Sometimes it’s one of our books or baking equipment, other times, it’s been ingredients.  We randomly select from entrants who respond to the post using the Comments field in the post where the contest announcement appeared (don’t post your entry anywhere else or we won’t see it).  Here are contest rules:

  1. We will only ship to U.S. addresses in the 50 states.  If you’re a winner, you must respond to our e-mail within 24 hours to win (winners will not be notified by surface mail).
  2. You must type  your “Comment” entry under the post announcing the contest.
  3. Only one entry in any single contest is allowed. If you post more than one comment on the contest post, you will be disqualified.  But you can enter in any or all of our contests over time.
  4. If selected, you will be notified electronically. You must respond electronically, with a U.S. mailing address, within 24 hours to claim your prize, otherwise we’ll repeat the drawing for an alternative winner.

Good luck!

Note: BreadIn5.com is reader supported. When you buy through links on the site, BreadIn5 LLC earns commissions.

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Rustic Fruit Tart On The Gas Grill (from brioche dough!)

jeff 22 Comments

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A fruit pizza: The fruit sat on top of our basic non-enriched white dough (Master Recipe in the book, page 25), but I’ve been wondering whether we could get away with using brioche dough on a stone placed in the gas grill.  I wasn’t so sure, because brioche dough is a bit finicky and prone to scorching or drying if the temperature isn’t quite right or the heat isn’t quite even.  So today’s recipe is very similar to the fruit pizza, but it’s made with rich brioche dough (page 189 in the book) and it’s folded into a rustic tart.

For me, it’s the Holy Grail:  the entire meal done outside in the summer, including a delicious dessert.  It works beautifully, so long as you have a gas grill with a reasonably controllable heat source.  If you do, you can bake brioche dough outside, at least when it’s rolled out for tarts and other thin creations.  Read More

Smoked salmon on pumpernickel on the lawn

jeff 27 Comments

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I admit it, I’m becoming obsessed with outdoor dining.  We’re at the perfect summer moment up here Minnesota– not too buggy, and perfect temperature for dining al fresco.  So I’ve been doing everything on the grill.  The pizzas and flatbreads are no surprise, but the loaf breads are more challenging.  I did a pumpernickel on the gas grill and topped thin slices with butter, smoked salmon, fresh dill, and capers.  But you need to know the new twist for trapping steam to crisp the crust, which usually doesn’t work well on the well-ventilated gas grill. Read More