BBA S&S: Globe Trotting Breads

One of my favorite professors in college was a philosophy professor. It was a night class with a break, and she would pass around a sign up sheet so that each week someone would bring a snack for the break. How great is that? One week someone brought bagels, and she mentioned that she was very fascinated by the different types of bread/starch that every culture has. I'd never thought of it before, but she was right. Every culture does have its own bread (or breads). Our trip through the Bread Baker's Apprentice offers a little bit of globe trotting through bread: we're baking English muffins, focaccia, French bread, and Italian bread for the next couple of months.

First up: English muffins. I found out via Wikipedia, that elctronic fount of knowledge, that English muffins really are English. You can read about there origin here. Thus, we really are globe trotting with this bread.

I wasn't particularly excited about these. English muffins are just a vehicle for me, and I'm not really wild about the bread itself. I've been known to eat a breakfast sandwich on one, but I much prefer a biscuit as my special breakfast bread of choice. They're the standard for eggs Benedict, and I thought about making that to go with these muffins, but I didn't have time.

As far as the making and baking process goes, they're not that difficult. I debated making a loaf or muffins, and decided on the muffins for the fun of it. I don't think that I caught mine "on the rise" because they're devoid of any telltale little holes and crevices for things such as butter to sink into. I actually ended up serving these as rolls with dinner one night, and then I turned the rest into bread pudding. They were good, but I'm not going to make them again. I'd like to try making English muffins with looser dough/batter and a ring. I think that the result might be better. If I make this recipe again, it's definitely going to be in loaf form!

Next up on the tour, focaccia, that seriously delicious Italian bread. Small related side note: my dad has loved Nick Malgieri since way back when the Food Network was just starting and he appeared on Cooking Live from time to time. So for his birthday one year we got him Nick's book How to Bake : The Complete Guide to Perfect Cakes, Cookies, Pies, Tarts, Breads, Pizzas, Muffins, Sweet and Savory. This started my dad's focaccia kick. He made focaccia all of the time, at least once a week, and it got to the point where, when my dad was in charge of dinner, we'd have just focaccia and fresh tomatoes on the table. This is my dad's idea of a really.good.dinner. Now that I'm older, I can say that if you have a glass of wine, it can be a really good dinner. But, when you're a teenager and you're starving and you can't have wine that dinner doesn't cut it! My siblings and I rebelled, and my dad was banned from making focaccia.

Needless to say, I can't make or even hear of focaccia without thinking of my dad. I thought of him the whole time that I made this bread. My dad is religious about using Nick's recipe, and he wouldn't think of using another one. I, on the other hand, was really excited about trying this recipe. It's fairly simple to make and has a stretching and folding process similar to ciabatta, but it requires some overnight resting time in the refrigerator. I pulled this out of the fridge to eat after class one night, and I forgot to redimple and oil the dough, so I goofed this one up. My focaccia was extra fluffy, but I'm not certain that's a bad thing! It tastes amazing! I loved this bread, and I've been periodically taking squares out of the freezer to enjoy with a salad for dinner. I can say with certainty that it freezes well.

I talked to my dad, and I told him that I'd made focaccia and that it was from a new recipe. I was explaining the difference in the method to him, and we chatted about focaccia in general. As we got off the phone he said "I think I might make some focaccia for dinner . . ." I think that the ban has been lifted now that his children have flown the coop.

So, this concludes our current bit of globe trotting with the Bread Bakers Apprentice. Next up is French bread. I'm a little nervous!