peter rinehart – In Good Taste

BBA Challenge (Week 17): Lavash Crackers

Maris Callahan — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:00:00 +0000

My deepest, darkest secret is that sometimes, I eat cheese and crackers for dinner. Actually, not sometimes. Often. It’s my go-to dinner when I don’t feel like cooking. For some people, it’s cereal and milk. For others, it’s takeout from the Thai place on the corner. When I’m not in the mood to cook, which is seldom — it’s more likely that I’ll not cook because I’m not in the mood to do dishes — I break out a box of whole wheat crackers, the creamiest brie I can afford and maybe some fig jam or my favorite store-bought hummus. However, eating cheese and crackers for dinner really isn’t such a shortcut when you occasionally bake your own crackers. Though I typically buy my own crackers, there have been few occasions that have merited baking them. Finding an especially delicious recipe accounts for one occasion and the Bread Baker’s Apprentice Challenge is another. Lavash is a Middle Eastern flatbread, similar to the Mexican tortilla but baked to a crisp, golden brown sheet and then broken into shards, into rough, unevenly shaped crackers perfect for dipping or topping with a creamy cheese. I’m breaking the Rule again. I’m posting this recipe […]

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BBA Challenge (Week 16): Kaiser Rolls

Maris Callahan — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0000

I’m going to come right out and say this. I have long since thought that New York food is overrated. First though, let’s take a step back and start from the beginning. I made Kaiser Rolls, the 16th bread in the Bread Baker’s Apprentice Challenge, recently. They were a nice change from my usual whole grain sandwich bread, but what I enjoyed most about eating them was realizing that the big, crusty, sesame-seed encrusted rolls seemed so New York. I might have bittersweet feelings towards my city, but I suppose that New York food is not all overrated. The Big Apple, is, after all, home to some of the best restaurants in the world. The problem is, most of those great restaurants are tucked away in Soho, hiding in the West Village, so that visitors often miss them in lieu of places like bustling pizza and pasta joints like Carmine’s or the famous that is the Second Avenue Deli. It’s not that any of these places are bad, but when I’m in a new city, I like to wander off the beaten path and look for hidden gems that I haven’t read about in the guidebooks. Places that the locals know and love. Though […]

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BBA Challenge (Week 14): French Bread

Maris Callahan — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Recently, a friend and I were talking about narcissism. Bloggers spend a great deal of timing writing into space, on our blogs and on Twitter, about ourselves, hoping people will read them, hoping people will like them, hoping people will like us. We write about what we had for breakfast, we write about our dogs, our kids, our boyfriends and our parents. We right about the trivial moments of our lives and we write about the most important moments in our lives. Are we narcissistic or just outgoing? Do we have a lot to say or do we say too much? I think that there is a boundary, a happy medium that’s defined by how genuine you are. Is it all good, all the time? Or are you just sharing stories from your life as they happen, when they happen, because you havre a passion for that? Well, I talk about my great cooking all time but I’m going to be honest with you when I tell you about this week’s Bread Baker’s Apprentice Challenge: it was a flop. I. Am. Bad. At. Hearth. Baking. When you bake certain types of breads from the book, Peter Reinhart instructs you to replicate a […]

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BBA Challenge (Week 11): Cranberry Walnut Celebration Bread

Maris Callahan — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 05:00:00 +0000

Peter Reinhart and I have a very different idea of what it means to celebrate. Now, keep in mind that I’ve never even met Peter Reinhart, let alone celebrated with him, but I’m basing my statement on substantiated evidence. In The Bread Baker’s Apprentice, Reinhart has a recipe for Cranberry Walnut Celebration Bread. Now, I like bread as much as the next person (maybe even more, as evident by the fact that I’m doing this challenge in the first place) but when I celebrate, I want to be celebrating with a rich, decadent dessert like my favorite chocolate cake. I admit my initial skepticism but when I pulled the finished loaf from the oven, those hard feelings were instantly replaced by awe: why had I not started baking braided breads sooner? Not only are they elegant and impressive but the fat, floppy braids hide mistakes quite well. Now, I’ve never been accused of being perfect, but I dare you to tell me where the mistakes are in that loaf of bread (and since I moderate comments, if you do tell me, I’ll probably just delete you…the world will be none the wiser). While I probably won’t start baking Cranberry Walnut […]

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BBA Challenge (Week 10): Cornbread

Maris Callahan — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 05:00:00 +0000

Since I’ve been baking my way through the Bread Baker’s Apprentice, some the breads that I’ve made are new-to-me, like Artos, a Greek Celebration bread or Anadama, a Boston brown bread.. Others, like simple quick-breads, are a welcome change from the kneading and proofing of a lot of the BBA recipes. I occasionally feel pangs of guilt for the amount of time, energy and unbleached bread flour I’ve invested in what is, essentially an experiment. While the challenge has pushed me to bake outside of my comfort zone and experiment with new recipes, I often wonder if I would be better off spending my time, energy – and the money spent on unbleached bread flour – on nutritious breakfast, lunches or dinners. A 2004 study reported that Americans toss approximately $75 billion in food each year, which is alarming when you think of how much food that could feed hungry children winds up in the garbage disposal. To give myself insurance on food waste, I sometimes like to think of new salad, sandwiches and dessert recipes that are a surefire way to use up any extra slices and loaves that might otherwise lurk in my freezer. No matter how ubiquitous of a bread, […]

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