Having grown up with bread bakers, of Scandinavian and French descent... I began undertaking my own versions of bread in my early 20’s... our family did white and oatmeal. I as a child of the 60’s, brought home whole grain and whole wheat bread and flour. To my surprise, my mother embraced it! To this day I cannot come close to her bread. But I too have been playing with Rye. I love it! ❤️❤️❤️
Fire. Bread. Sharing. These are all part of the common human experience. Woodsmoke and fresh bread might be some of the most powerful scents to draw individuals together. They signal warmth and nourishment and companionship to us. They are impossible without community. Community might be impossible without them.
There is something special about homemade bread. My father and I regularly baked 8 to 10 loaves at a time to feed our family along with sweet rolls and whatever else my mom would request. I experimented with making sourdough wheat bread and oat bread but we never managed to make rye bread--mostly because the one time we managed to get our hands on rye flour, it turned out to be moldy. I am now getting back into making something other than wheat breads and it feels very good--even better when I can share the results with a friend or neighbor.
This is wonderful. You're immersing, and profoundly touching people's hearts and memories all at the same time. No better way to do that than through bread. Loved what you said about the baking and the breaking, that's so very true and I feel the same way.
Rye is my favorite but we can’t find good rye in TX. If you corn any venison, would love your take or spin on a NY deli sandwich on HAGC. Merry Christmas Hank!
Bread !!! yes I too have found neighbors to taste test. Could it be the insane amounts of Kerry Gold butter? I keep ignoring my sourdough starter and it dies, so am inclined to move on to more adventurous grain.
Being homesick for the west coast, friends are gifting me salmon and dungeness. pairs well with rye bread don't you think?
Enjoy the Journey,
Lynne (Just another replant to Minnesota) and snow? you shoulda been here last year! I'm kind of liking the "less" shoveling ;)
My dad spent years developing his recipe for a no-knead rye bread, which both of us make pretty much weekly now. (It's so easy, in fact, that it might not scratch your intellectual bread-baking itch...it's much harder to fuck up than most loaves I've tried.) Once he got the basic rye really solid, he worked out a killer pumpernickel, and then a marbled loaf combining both. The marbled loaf is a pain to make but absolutely never fails to inspire the "You made this? Thank you!" response that you mention -- usually said through a mouth very full of bread and butter. It is exactly that gentle kindness you describe, every time. I don't know why -- that's the miracle of it, I guess.
In the family cookbook my dad wrote for me & my sibling, the footnote to the marbled bread recipe is as follows:
"This bread is the perfect potluck offering for those who crave “Wait! You made this YOURSELF?” Do not fail to share the etymology of “pumpernickel” (=German for “fart devil”) just as your friend is blissing out over a butter-and-cherry-jam-covered slice."
Please. Where does one purchase the best flours, especially the Rye, to make any of the breads you mentioned? You noted some doctoring up with berries too.
I, too, shunned sourdough during the pandemic because everyone was doing it AND I had just finished a few years of playing with it. However, I have always loved making bread. I had just started sprouted grain flours (sprouting and grinding) before we moved in with my in-laws. That was fun and the results were interesting.
Thanks so much for the tip on The Rye Baker. You are so right about bread being a gift. I’ve been making rye sourdough for a year since traveling to Scandinavia. Just pulled out from the oven a seeded rye loaf cold fermented over 4 days. I’m lucky to have local millers who supply both coarse and fine rye flours and want to try grinding my own flours.
A wonderful column that brought back many memories to this child of the Great Plains now living these past 50 years in Canada. I love bread for all the reasons that you have cited, but I’m also celiac – the kiss of death for most forms of bread. But one of the great product developments of the past 30 years has been some really good gluten-free flours – especially from Bob’s Red Mill and King Arthur Flour. And I have become expertly adept at all kinds of soda bread, manifestations, as well as gluten-free bannock, cornbreads and fry bread! It is yet another world for you to explore and share with family, friends and neighbors in addition to your new expertise with rye breads!
I've been struggling quite a bit lately, feeling like I'm losing the joy in cooking and growing steadily more disaffected with our Meta overlords and their algorithmic wizardry. Starting a wholesome kitchen project not tied to posting or online recipe work might just be the key to push through it. Thanks for the inspiration!
Hank, have you tried Einkorn grain? I’ve been experimenting with long fermented no knead Einkorn Sourdough bread. As one who was severely gluten sensitive, I can tolerate this grain well, especially because it’s organic- no glyphosate used at all, not even as a desiccant!!🥖🍞🥨🥐
Having grown up with bread bakers, of Scandinavian and French descent... I began undertaking my own versions of bread in my early 20’s... our family did white and oatmeal. I as a child of the 60’s, brought home whole grain and whole wheat bread and flour. To my surprise, my mother embraced it! To this day I cannot come close to her bread. But I too have been playing with Rye. I love it! ❤️❤️❤️
Fire. Bread. Sharing. These are all part of the common human experience. Woodsmoke and fresh bread might be some of the most powerful scents to draw individuals together. They signal warmth and nourishment and companionship to us. They are impossible without community. Community might be impossible without them.
There is something special about homemade bread. My father and I regularly baked 8 to 10 loaves at a time to feed our family along with sweet rolls and whatever else my mom would request. I experimented with making sourdough wheat bread and oat bread but we never managed to make rye bread--mostly because the one time we managed to get our hands on rye flour, it turned out to be moldy. I am now getting back into making something other than wheat breads and it feels very good--even better when I can share the results with a friend or neighbor.
This is wonderful. You're immersing, and profoundly touching people's hearts and memories all at the same time. No better way to do that than through bread. Loved what you said about the baking and the breaking, that's so very true and I feel the same way.
Rye is my favorite but we can’t find good rye in TX. If you corn any venison, would love your take or spin on a NY deli sandwich on HAGC. Merry Christmas Hank!
Bread !!! yes I too have found neighbors to taste test. Could it be the insane amounts of Kerry Gold butter? I keep ignoring my sourdough starter and it dies, so am inclined to move on to more adventurous grain.
Being homesick for the west coast, friends are gifting me salmon and dungeness. pairs well with rye bread don't you think?
Enjoy the Journey,
Lynne (Just another replant to Minnesota) and snow? you shoulda been here last year! I'm kind of liking the "less" shoveling ;)
Beautifully expressed Hank! Quite moving.
My dad spent years developing his recipe for a no-knead rye bread, which both of us make pretty much weekly now. (It's so easy, in fact, that it might not scratch your intellectual bread-baking itch...it's much harder to fuck up than most loaves I've tried.) Once he got the basic rye really solid, he worked out a killer pumpernickel, and then a marbled loaf combining both. The marbled loaf is a pain to make but absolutely never fails to inspire the "You made this? Thank you!" response that you mention -- usually said through a mouth very full of bread and butter. It is exactly that gentle kindness you describe, every time. I don't know why -- that's the miracle of it, I guess.
In the family cookbook my dad wrote for me & my sibling, the footnote to the marbled bread recipe is as follows:
"This bread is the perfect potluck offering for those who crave “Wait! You made this YOURSELF?” Do not fail to share the etymology of “pumpernickel” (=German for “fart devil”) just as your friend is blissing out over a butter-and-cherry-jam-covered slice."
Please. Where does one purchase the best flours, especially the Rye, to make any of the breads you mentioned? You noted some doctoring up with berries too.
I, too, shunned sourdough during the pandemic because everyone was doing it AND I had just finished a few years of playing with it. However, I have always loved making bread. I had just started sprouted grain flours (sprouting and grinding) before we moved in with my in-laws. That was fun and the results were interesting.
Thanks so much for the tip on The Rye Baker. You are so right about bread being a gift. I’ve been making rye sourdough for a year since traveling to Scandinavia. Just pulled out from the oven a seeded rye loaf cold fermented over 4 days. I’m lucky to have local millers who supply both coarse and fine rye flours and want to try grinding my own flours.
Why, Hank...you have the palms of a much younger man! Merry Christmas, pal.
A wonderful column that brought back many memories to this child of the Great Plains now living these past 50 years in Canada. I love bread for all the reasons that you have cited, but I’m also celiac – the kiss of death for most forms of bread. But one of the great product developments of the past 30 years has been some really good gluten-free flours – especially from Bob’s Red Mill and King Arthur Flour. And I have become expertly adept at all kinds of soda bread, manifestations, as well as gluten-free bannock, cornbreads and fry bread! It is yet another world for you to explore and share with family, friends and neighbors in addition to your new expertise with rye breads!
I've been struggling quite a bit lately, feeling like I'm losing the joy in cooking and growing steadily more disaffected with our Meta overlords and their algorithmic wizardry. Starting a wholesome kitchen project not tied to posting or online recipe work might just be the key to push through it. Thanks for the inspiration!
Hank, have you tried Einkorn grain? I’ve been experimenting with long fermented no knead Einkorn Sourdough bread. As one who was severely gluten sensitive, I can tolerate this grain well, especially because it’s organic- no glyphosate used at all, not even as a desiccant!!🥖🍞🥨🥐