Breads

Crusty, bakery-quality baguettes are surprisingly easy. A bit of instant yeast helps the dough rise quickly. Throw a handful of ice cubes on the oven floor when the baguettes go into the oven to create steam, which gives the baked bread an exceedingly crisp crust. 

Sourdough is the unsung hero of the bread basket. Composed of little more than flour, water, salt, and a fermented starter — and more nutritious than commercially made breads — the tangy, chewy loaves are perfect for lunch-box sandwiches, and ideal for yeast-phobic bakers.

 As most of you know, I have been experimenting with cheese bread for quite a few years and after much adjusting and testing, the attached recipe seems to work best of all. At least it does for us. So I thought I would pass it along. The Kitchen Aid is not mandatory, you can also make it by hand, or even in a bread machine if you wish.

I know some of you will never use it but feel free to pass it along to a friend who might be interested. Who knows, they might even give you a loaf!

Is it worth making pita at home? Absolutely. Store-bought pita (like store-bought sandwich bread) is often several days old. Warm, fragrant home-baked pita is obviously superior, and there’s a bit of a thrill when the breads puff up in the oven. And once you get the hang of it, it’s not difficult. For the best flavor, try to get freshly milled whole-wheat flour. Even though only a little is called for in the recipe, it makes a difference.

It wasn’t until I went for lunch at a friend’s place a couple weeks ago that my life changed. When I walked into her apartment I could smell it. Something malty and definitely baked, toasty, nutty…when I rounded the corner to her kitchen, there it was. A very beautiful loaf of bread, pretty as a picture, studded with sunflower seeds, chia and almonds, golden around the corners and begging me to slice into it.

In Northern California, East Coast transplants are producing crunchy, chewy, dense bagels on either side of the bay. The water may not be New York’s, but some argue that the bagels are as good.

Dan Graf, a genetics major who dropped out of Rutgers University, founded Baron Baking in Oakland after working in a delicatessen. 

Your Irish grandmother might not recognize this cheesy version of traditional soda bread. Like its sweeter, raisin-studded cousin, it is quick to make before a hearty breakfast. Before baking, the bread is marked with a deep cross and pricked in the four triangles “to let the fairies out.’’ The bread is best eaten on the same day it is baked, but makes delicious toast for a couple more days.

Be sure to use very ripe, heavily speckled (or even black) bananas in this recipe. This recipe can be made using 5 thawed frozen bananas; since they release a lot of liquid naturally, they can bypass the microwaving in step 2 and go directly into the fine-mesh strainer. Do not use a thawed frozen banana in step 4; it will be too soft to slice. Instead, simply sprinkle the top of the loaf with sugar. The test kitchen’s preferred loaf pan measures 8½ by 4½ inches; if you use a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan, start checking for doneness five minutes earlier than advised in the recipe.

No-knead bread is easy because it eliminates kneading, the mechanical process that forms the gluten (a strong network of cross-linked proteins that traps air bubbles and stretches as the dough bakes) necessary for bread structure. Our starting recipe (first published in the New York Times) uses two approaches to replace kneading: a very high hydration level (85 percent—meaning that for every 10 ounces of flour, there are 8.5 ounces of water) and a 12-hour autolysis period that allows the flour to hydrate and rest.

Original recipe from B&O American Brasserie in Baltimore, MD

B&O's menu offers everything from juicy steaks to local seafood, but our money's on the brick-oven pizzas (or flatbreads, as they're called at the restaurant). Savor the arugula, asparagus, and fried egg version while taking in the scene at the restaurant's downstairs bar.