Fair Baking - My Equal Opportunity Pledge!
Like some teachers have their "pets", I have some favorite baking books that I always turn to when I'm looking for new recipes. These books have old envelopes, supermarket receipts, movie tickets, and other odd papers stuck between pages as markers, my own volume/weight conversions (or corrections), and lots of scribbled comments. And, they are also graded with stars, enthusiastic exclamation marks, or a scathing: "Not that great!"
Then there are The Others, bought or received as presents, that, for some reasons, never captured my attention, either because they have no attractive photos to inspire me, their design is too dull, their write-up too boring (yes, I am that shallow!), or I just forgot all about them. They end up in a dark corner of my bookshelf, forsaken and forlorn, probably hiding treasures that no one will ever know in the Anderson house - and NOBODY CARES!
This shameful negligence has to come to an end - these books are people, too! They, too, deserve a chance to be looked at, taken seriously, and, maybe, supply the next candidate for Karin's Bread Hall of Fame.
So my New Year's Resolution is this Equal Opportunity Pledge - fair treatment of all my baking books, every one shall have a chance, no more "pet baking", but equal opportunity for all those disadvantaged recipe collections, that never saw the light of my kitchen!
LIST OF EQUAL OPPORTUNITY BREADS (with links to the posts):
- Richard Ploner: Malzbrot - Tyrolean Rye Malt Rolls ("Brot aus Südtirol") DONE!
- Daniel Leader: French Walnut Bread - Pain au Levain Complet aux Noix ("LocalBreads") DONE!
- Saatenbrot - German Many Seed Bread ("Die besten Rezepte aus der Allgemeinen Bäckerzeitung") DONE!
- Jeffrey Hamelman: Country Bread ("Bread") DONE!
- Andrew Whitley: Arkatena Bread ("Bread Matters") DONE!
- Müslibrötchen - German Muesli Rolls ("Brot & Kleingebäck") DONE!
- Bill Middeke: Beer Rye Bread ("Baking with the St. Paul Bread Club") DONE!
- Bernd Armbrust: Camembert-Trauben-Brot - Camembert Grape Bread ("Brot") DONE! (But needs more work)
- Peter Reinhart: Croissants ("Artisan Bread Every Day")
- Fanny Gerson: Mexican Conchas ("My Sweet Mexico")
- Dan Lepard: Alehouse Rolls ("The Guardian")
- Bäckerei Hesse: Herzbube Walnuss - Knight of Hearts Walnut ("Brot - So backen unsere besten Bäcker")
- Jan Hedh: Cosa Nostra Bread ("Swedish Breads & Pastry")
- Bauernbrot - Farmers' Loaf ("Brotrezepte aus ländlichen Backstuben")
- Cornelia Zingerling: Mandel-Vollkorn-Brot ("Brot backen")
- Niels Schöner: Pain au Levain de Sarrasin ("Notes From a Floury German Kitchen")
- Vollkorntoastbrot mit Leinsamen - Whole Grain Toast Bread with Flaxseed ("Brot backen - Köstliche Rezepte aus der guten alten Zeit")
- E. and J. Wood: Cranberry-Nut Sourdough ("Classic Sourdoughs")
- Ayla Agar: Turkish Simit ("Classic Turkish Cooking") (this is a different version of Simit than the one I posted already).
- Ute-Marion Wilkesmann: Allerweltsbrötchen - Ordinary Rolls ("Brötchen statt Brot")
- Chad Robertson: Basic Country Bread with Sesame ("Tartine")
- Rose Levy Beranbaum: Golden Semolina Torpedo - Altamura ("The Bread Bible")
- Richard Bertinet: Breton Bread ("Crust")
- J. Alford and N. Duguid: Ethiopian Spice Bread ("Flatbreads & Flavors")
- R. Topp and A. Riffert: Heilkräuterbrot - Healing Herb Bread ("Vollkornbäckerei zu Hause")
- Martin Pöt Stoldt: Buttermilch-Weizenvollkorn-Kastenbrot - Buttermilk Wheat Sandwich Loaf ("Der Sauerteig - das unbekannte Wesen")
- Floyd Mann: Rustic Bread ("The Fresh Loaf Pocket Book of Bread")
So far, so good. There might be more.....
Malzbrot - Tyrolean Rye Malt Rolls - they went straight into my Bread Hall of Fame!
Comments
That is why I alternately bake out of the 3 bread books I own, may because I like variety, or because I seek to learn more recipes and skills.
That is very thoughtful of you, Karin, to reach out and consider giving deserted books a chance.
Karin,
I will be eagerly waiting for the recipe for the breads pictured. They look great and I just made up a fresh batch of malt!
Truth be told, I will be waiting for all of the recipes and your comments on them! Glad you are only posting one at a time or my 'to bake' binder would surely explode :-0
Take Care,
Janet
They have all looked excellent to me. Keep sharing those recipes, please.
Jim
Khalid, I also had to justify my buying all those books - and always looking for new ones.
Karin
I appreciate your interest - I will post the first Equal Opportunity Bread today.
Happy baking,
Karin
Karin,
What 'room' will you post it in?
Janet
Karin, it is a sad thing, but with the huge number of books out there most of the bread recipes will have to wait for their recognition ...
Great of you to pull some of them into the spotlight.
Good Work!
Juergen
Janet, I will update the list above with the links, and will, also, post them in my "Brot & Bread" blog (http://hanseata.blogspot.com/).
Jürgen, I always regret that a lot of those baking books are never translated. I also have some older ones, probably out of print, where you can easily adapt recipes to more modern techniques.
Here is the link to the wonderful Malt Rye Rolls: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/26969/malzbrot-tyrolean-malt-rye-rolls-sesame-and-pumpkin-seeds
Happy Baking,
Karin
I'm happy to be in such a great company of bakers Karin!
You are going to be very busy, for sure
Happy Baking!
Andy
you are a dear!
I just pulled the third EO Bread out of the oven, this time a bread from a professional German bakers' magazine. (It had to be scaled down from 21 loaves), a medium rye/whole wheat sourdough "Saatenbrot" - Many Seed Bread, with sesame, flax and hemp seeds. It looks very nice, but still warm, and I have to curb my impatience and wait until it has cooled down.
Karin
wonderful idea! i always feel that guilt wen i look at my cookbook collection, as well as the wonderful recipes you come across as special but then forget. my to-bake list is soooo long lol, and this site only makes it longer! bread baking has made me neglect other forms of baking lol sometimes i'll bake a cake and think to myself, well that was fast and easy (no waiting for the yeast to do its thing). wen i want to bake sweet treats, i forget the simple cakes cookies or brownies, lol and go straight cinnamon rolls and sweet buns :)
I collected too many recipes that I really, REALLY want to try - and then forgot all about them! - and keep on buying baking books - and then putting them on my crowded shelf - and never get to look at them, always finding something new and interesting.
Making such a pledge to yourself, and taking one recipe from every baking book you own, is a good way to get to know all of them. I threw in some recipes from TFL and other blogs for fun, and the list will, most likely, even get longer.
Just made the paté fermentée for Hamelman's Country Bread, let's see how that turns out.
Karin
Karin, I did just the opposite. I consigned my old cookbooks out of the kitchen and to the dead shelf upstairs and and left the newer cookbooks with "weight" measurements in the "baking" bookshelf. I saved the much loved recipes from my old cookbooks but tossed those recipes that I have always meant to make but never have. (I was astounded at the amount of paper I threw away). I determined to only bake new recipes from my new cookbooks. It was sad saying goodbye to books like "Baking with Julia", but there are so many new books (Michael Suas, for example) that have a great deal of extra information that answer many questions that I have. I also love the books by Ciril Hitz thzt come with DVDs. I also cruely tossed a couple of cookboks that seem to have a plethora of errata in their recipes. Then I made a list of recipes that always turn out for me (NO new baguette recipes) and that we always eat or give away, those that are favorites on The Fresh Loaf, and a blank list that I will fill in as I go. A brand new start for Pam!!! One of the first on my new list is the Matzbrot Rolls. Thanks for the recipe, Karin, and good luck with your list.!
Pam, if I hadn't weeded out those cookbooks that I hardly, or ever, used, selling them to a special cookbook store, my bookshelves really would have caved in! These books that I included in the Equal Opportunity list, are basically more or less new, with the exemption of some old, often used ones. For example, I didn't include Peter Reinhart's BBA or WGB, because I did almost all of the breads - except for some flatbreads that don't tempt me, and the croissants (that are in my list).
I also like the challenge of converting old recipes with interesting ingredients to newer techniques - with good results.
Karin
The Guilt, the guilt....you make me feel so much better. And, how we enjoy you converting those recipes for us!!! Pam
We all have to live with our sins.... I just remember (with a very bad conscience) why I didn't put a recipe from Bertinet's "Crust" on my list. All that sensual handling and fondling of the dough, I'm afraid I can't deal with it again - and to see the reproachful, sad eyes of my poor husband.... It was then, when I first slapped the dough of a Pain au Levain on our kitchen counter, that my husband got the idea of my having "The Other Man"!
Happy baking,
Karin
When my husbandand retired I had to learn to restrain myself from fondling the dough. No Bertinet in our house. (Frankly, I think he just ignores me when I am in that phase of bread production. Thank goodness) ! Pam
naked in a 'bookish' way with my one bread book the 1973 edition of B. Clayton's "The Complete Book of Bread" that turned out not to very complete it seems - many years later in hind sight. I am very jealous and your post, hanseata, doesn't help one little bit either :-) Now I have to find an envious green bread - with seeds - and I know Clayton won't be any help in that regard!
St. Patrick's Day gone by - did you come up with an (envy-)green bread, yet, Dabrownman? I wonder whether you can make one, without dying the dough, maybe with that mysterious green pea flour that Breadsong used for her Clover Leaf Breads.
Right now I'm a bit stuck in my Fair Baking efforts - the three last breads all didn't satisfy me (too sweet, too much overpowering spice, too dry), and need some tweaking, I have to revisit them, when I'm back from my trip to Germany.
Looking forward to see your green bread :)
Karin
Thanks, Janet, for passing on Varda's information how to embed a link in your text more elegantly. Works like a charm, and looks much less cluttered.
Karin