Nothing smells as wonderful as a loaf of bread baking. The warm scent instantly triggers hunger no matter the time of night or day, no matter whether you are full or famished, and no matter the place. The smell of bread baking will make you hungry; it will make you want.
For the cook baking the bread, the hunger, the want starts before that, it starts with the immense pleasure of baking. There’s something incredibly satisfying about the tactile experiences of scooping a measuring cup into a canister of flour and sweeping off the excess with a flourish, or grasping the handle of a glass measuring cup and carefully watching the side until the liquid has reached just the right level. Dipping a finger into warm water to make sure the water is just warmer than body temperature, not so hot that it will kill the yeast. The fact that these immense pleasures are so incredibly simple, generated from an almost ridiculously uncomplicated combination of water and flour, makes it all the more special. Baking bread provides food and nourishment for the body, but also the spirit.
Bread both nourishes and transports us to moments in the past. One whiff of buttery cinnamon, and I am a child again with my sister at the kitchen table watching Mama make French toast. A single bite of pain au chocolat—a handful of heaven—yeasty, buttery air wrapped around melting chocolate reminds me of a sleepy morning in Paris sipping café crème at a corner café. One mouthful of chewy baguette swiped with butter and slathered with jam, and I am in France, sipping hot coffee in the cool kitchen overlooking the foggy Yonne River Valley. Toasted bagels topped with cream cheese and smoked fish take me to a crowded Jewish deli on the Upper West Side. Ah, and of course, there’s nothing, absolutely nothing like the smell of biscuits. The smell of a biscuit is a time-travel machine for me, taking me back to when I was three years old, making biscuits with Meme, standing on the stool by her side, dusted in flour as only a little girl cooking with her grandmother can be, just starting my love affair with the kitchen. Bread both feeds me and carries me to places I have once been.
Bread is poetry and artistry, capable of evoking wonderful memories, but there’s science in bread, too. Most western bread is made of wheat flour. Gluten is the generic name for certain types of proteins, including gliadins and glutelins, found in common cereal grains, mainly wheat, barley, rye, and spelt. These proteins are not soluble in water and give wheat dough its elastic texture. They are activated by the addition of water and movement. Gluten provides the framework for dough to rise, by stretching and trapping the gas bubbles given off by the leavener as the dough expands.
Flours react differently in their ability to absorb moisture, depending on the type of grain, humidity, temperature, and even where the grain was grown. The amount of flour needed in a recipe may vary by as much as a cup or two! It is best to start with a smaller amount and slowly add more while kneading to achieve a smooth, satiny dough.
Wheat flour is the most common grain used in Southern and French baking, and several types are used for bread making. First of all, a gentle reminder that there are different varieties of wheat, like there are different varieties of apples. Just as there are Granny Smith, Mutsu, and Red Delicious apples in the bin, there are Turkey Red, Avalon, and Harvard bags of wheat. You may never see the name of the wheat variety listed on a bag of flour, but it’s important for a baker to know that wheat cultivars are defined in terms of protein content, such as hard wheat (high-protein content) versus soft wheat (high-starch content), and growing season, such as winter wheat versus spring wheat.
Hard wheat is higher in gluten-producing proteins than soft wheat. It is best used for yeast-leavened baked goods. Soft wheat has plump wheat berries with less protein and therefore fewer gluten-forming capabilities. Soft wheat is best used for baked goods that don’t need a highly developed web of gluten, such as cakes, biscuits, and pastry.
Southern flours have traditionally been milled from soft winter wheat. Soft wheat is the reason why the South is well known for cakes, biscuits, and pie crusts over yeast breads, which require the gluten strength of high-protein flour. Soft red winter wheat was once grown in Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, and South Carolina. In the days before national food distribution companies, it was the only wheat widely available in the South. We Southern bakers still take that business quite seriously. While living in France and shooting photographs for Anne Willan’s how-to tome Cook it Right, I had Mama ship me White Lily flour to create the biscuit photographs. We chuckled and wondered whether it would be held up by French custom agents.
In 2008, the parent company of White Lily, The J.M. Smucker Company, moved the mill that had been based in Knoxville, Tennessee, for more 125 years to the Midwest. Despite the official party line of “rigorous testing,” some folks insist the flour is not the same. The violation was succinctly dubbed the Second War of Northern Aggression.
The most common wheat flour is all-purpose flour, which is exactly what it sounds like: suitable for everything from yeast breads to cookies to cakes. Bread flour has a higher gluten content and is best for bread. The gluten framework that forms from bread flour is strong and does a great job of trapping the carbon dioxide produced by the yeast. Dough made with bread flour should be kneaded longer than dough made from all-purpose flour to fully develop the gluten. Whole-wheat flour, which contains the entire wheat kernel, adds a nutty taste to dough. All-purpose flour is often added to whole-wheat flour to lighten the dough. Whole-wheat flour is best stored in the refrigerator to prevent rancidity.
Three other flours that bear mentioning are pastry flour, cake flour, and self-rising flour. Pastry and cake flours are high-starch, low-gluten soft-wheat flours with a very fine texture. Cakes made with pastry or cake flour are more tender than cakes made with all-purpose flour. Typically, pastry flour is unbleached and cake flour is bleached, or chlorinated. Bleached cake flour is bright white. Self-rising flour is flour that has had a leavener—baking powder—and salt added to it. A leavener is simply what makes bread rise, usually yeast, baking soda, or baking powder.
Cornmeal, which is simply flour ground from dried corn, comes in three basic grinds, fine, medium, and coarse. Fine or medium cornmeal is generally used in baked goods and pancakes, and coarser grinds are usually labeled grits (see Chapter 8 for more about grits). Because corn contains no gluten, baked goods made with cornmeal only, such as the the Jalapeño Cornbread Muffins, are ideal for anyone who suffers from gluten intolerance.
Representing the perfect union of art and science, poetry and progress, here is a collection of recipes that I hope you will consider the best thing since sliced bread.
Sweet Peach Pancakes, served the Brilliant way with Honey Nut Butter alongside
MAKES 16
With its fertile soils and hot climate, the South yields a nearly year-round cornucopia of gorgeous produce. We’ve always had an emphasis on local. In recent years, there has been an increased interest in fresh and locally grown produce all over the United States. Farmers’ markets are multiplying all over the country, and stores are listening to customers’ requests for seasonal and local foods. Nothing makes me madder than seeing California peaches in the grocery store in Atlanta, Georgia. Nothing against California, but we’re the Peach State, for goodness’ sake.
The food of the South is no longer just about fried chicken and overcooked greens. Or doesn’t have to be. Don’t get me wrong—I love fried chicken—but we are more than that. We were country when country wasn’t cool.
1½ cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
Pinch of fine sea salt
1 cup low-fat or whole milk
1 large egg
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoons canola oil, plus more if needed
2 to 3 peaches, pitted and thinly sliced
Sorghum, cane, or maple syrup (see Pour it On), for accompaniment
Combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt in a bowl. Combine the milk, egg, and butter in a large liquid measuring cup. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and whisk just until combined.
Preheat the oven to 300°F.
Heat a large, heavy-bottomed skillet over medium heat and lightly coat with canola oil. Add 2 peach slices, then ladle ¼ cup of batter over the peaches for each pancake, cooking only a few at a time. Cook until the bubbles on top burst and the bottoms are golden brown, about 1 minute. Flip the pancakes and cook until golden, about 1 minute. Transfer to a baking sheet and place in the oven to keep warm. Repeat with remaining batter, adding more oil to the pan as necessary. Transfer to a warmed serving platter. Serve hot or warm with sorghum, cane, or maple syrup.
Peaches and almonds have a natural affinity because they are related. Pairing the flavors is Brilliant (shown at left in
photo).
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Place 1 cup slivered almonds on a rimmed baking sheet. Roast, shaking the pan occasionally, until the almonds are golden, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Purée until very finely ground. Add 1 tablespoon honey. Makes 1 cup. To serve, scoop a dollop of the honey butter on top of the peaches. Top with syrup of your choice and serve immediately.
MAKES ABOUT 16
My dear friend and colleague Rebecca Lang is also one of Nathalie’s former apprentices. She has written several cookbooks, including Quick Fix Southern: Homemade Hospitality in 30 Minutes or Less. Our styles of Southern cooking are somewhat different, but we share the same belief in doing the work, learning, and paying our dues. We’ve lamented how so many culinary students don’t want to learn, they just want to be on TV, a condition Rebecca dryly described as “stir until famous.”
Rebecca is generally not about shortcuts, but did share with me this handy tip for making sweet potato biscuits. If you don’t have time to roast the potatoes, use sweet potato baby food instead.
2 medium sweet potatoes, plus more for rolling out
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
5 tablespoons (⅓ cup) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
⅓ cup low-fat or whole milk
Preheat the oven to 400°F.
Bake or microwave the sweet potatoes until soft and tender, about 45 minutes in the oven or about 10 minutes in the microwave. Set aside to cool.
When the sweet potatoes are cool enough to touch, peel and mash until smooth in a food processor fitted with a metal blade or with an old-fashioned potato masher. Measure out 1 cup and reserve the rest for another use.
Line a rimmed baking sheet with a silicone baking liner or parchment paper. Set aside.
In the same bowl of the food processor, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Pulse in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Combine the sweet potato and milk in a small bowl and whisk until smooth. Add the potato mixture to the flour mixture, pulsing just until moist.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface; knead lightly four or five times. Using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll out the dough ¾ inch thick. Cut out 10 biscuits with a 2-inch biscuit cutter, pressing the cutter straight down without twisting so the biscuits will rise evenly when baked. Place the biscuits on the prepared baking sheet. Gather together the scraps (by placing the pieces on top of one another in layers instead of bunching it up). Roll out ¾ inch thick. Cut with the biscuit cutter into 5 or 6 more biscuits. Place the biscuits on the prepared baking sheet. Discard any remaining scraps.
Bake until lightly browned, about 15 minutes. Transfer the biscuits to a wire rack to cool. Serve warm or at room temperature.
The flavors of sweet potatoes and apples marry well; they’re both harvested in the fall, highlighting the philosophy, “what grows together, goes together.” A Brilliant quick smash of apple on a tender sweet potato biscuit may best be described as destiny.
Combine 2 McIntosh apples, peeled, cored, and chopped in a medium heavy-duty saucepan with ¼ cup apple juice, 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, 1 teaspoon honey, and a pinch of salt. Cook over medium-high heat until very soft, about 15 minutes. Use a potato masher to mash until smooth. Makes about 1 cup. Serve warm or at room temperature. To serve, split the sweet potato biscuits with a fork or serrated knife. Spread a spoonful of Apple Smash on one half, sandwich together, and serve immediately.
MAKES 10
I wake up hungry. Buttered pancakes dripping with syrup? Sausage and soft-scrambled eggs? Cheese grits? Yes, please. We lived in Louisiana when I was a little girl, and we would pause at a truck stop in Mississippi on visits to see my grandparents back in Georgia. We ordered steaming bowls of scrambled eggs, grits, and sausage rudely smushed together in a glorious mess, a short stack of pancakes on the side.
To this day, every time those flavors marry in my mouth, I vividly remember the tile floors, fluorescent tubes, and vinyl booths of that roadside spectacle. Ham biscuits make me think of eating breakfast in college on the run, and cheese toast brings memories of leftover biscuits leaving dark brown crumbs on the foil-lined bottom of my grandmother’s toaster oven.
¾ cup unbleached all-purpose flour
¾ cup fine yellow cornmeal
2 tablespoons sugar
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
1¼ cups buttermilk
2 large eggs
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoons canola oil, plus more if needed
Sorghum, cane, or maple syrup (see Pour it On), for accompaniment
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk together the buttermilk, eggs, and melted butter in a bowl or liquid measuring cup. Add the buttermilk mixture to the dry ingredients and whisk just until combined.
Preheat the oven to 300°F.
Heat a large, heavy-bottomed skillet over medium heat and lightly coat with canola oil. Ladle ¼ cup batter into the pan for each pancake, cooking only a few at a time. Cook until the bubbles on the top burst and the bottoms are golden brown, about 1½ minutes. Flip the pancakes and cook until golden, about 1 minute. Transfer to a baking sheet and place in the oven to keep warm. Repeat with the remaining batter, adding more oil to the pan as necessary. Transfer to warmed serving plates. Serve hot or warm with sorghum, cane, or maple syrup.
The British version of toad in the hole is a thin Yorkshire pudding batter with sausages, but the American version, at least the one I fondly remember as a child, was toast with a circle removed from the center and an egg fried inside it. It was a special weekend treat.
To create your own Brilliant kid-friendly treat, first prepare the pancakes, undercooking them on the second side. Then, with a small biscuit cutter, remove the center from each pancake. Butter the slightly undercooked side of each pancake and place in a skillet, butter side down. Crack an egg into each pancake hole. Cook until the egg is set and the pancake is a rich golden brown on the bottom, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a warmed serving plate. Serve hot or warm with sorghum, cane, or maple syrup.
SERVES 2 TO 4
This baby is a happy, buttery offspring of the union of an ebullient popover and a levelheaded pancake. A fairly recent addition to Mama’s repertoire of recipes, this pancake has become one of my favorites. It’s easy, simple, and quick. It’s something freshly prepared to enjoy when you don’t want to hover over a skillet making individual pancakes or didn’t think far enough ahead to make a breakfast casserole.
¼ cup (½ stick) unsalted butter
½ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup low-fat or whole milk
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting
Sorghum, cane syrup, maple syrup, or jelly (see Pour it On), for accompaniment
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Place the butter in a 10-inch cast-iron skillet or ovenproof baking dish and heat in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes.
Whisk together the flour, milk, eggs, and salt. When the butter has melted, pour the flour mixture into the hot skillet. Return to the oven and bake until puffed and brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar. Cut into wedges and serve with syrup or jelly.
Sometimes what I call “just a little something-something” is enough to take Basic to Brilliant. First of all, always heat syrup for pancakes and the like. Never pour cold syrup. And, while you are heating, add some spices, and you won’t believe how good your kitchen smells!
Warm 1 cup honey in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add 6 whole cardamom pods and 1 stick cinnamon. Let gently bubble at a very low simmer for about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat to steep, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove the spices. Makes 1 cup. Drizzle over the pancake. Pour yourself a second cup of coffee and enjoy.
MAKES ABOUT 15
Seen for years in France, crêpe booths and stands seem to be popping up at our local farmers’ markets. The cooks in the booths prepare the thin pancake on a large round griddle and apply the batter with a squeegee-type tool. Mama cooked crêpes for dinner parties when I was a little girl, and I have always loved them.
Crêpes may seem fancy, but they are simply a very thin pancake and may be filled with something as common as jam or a store-bought spread, such as Nutella, or as fancy as Mushroom Ragout. Another savory alternative would be Southern Ratatouille, or even Chicken Breasts with Tarragon Velouté, by simply dicing the chicken into bite-size cubes. Keep in mind that a crêpe is really just a thin piece of bread and the possibilities are endless.
1 cup all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
3 large eggs
1 cup low-fat or whole milk, plus more if needed
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 tablespoon sugar (optional)
2 to 3 tablespoons clarified butter
In a bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, eggs, milk, and butter. Add enough milk to get the consistency of heavy cream. If you are making sweet crêpes, add the sugar and stir to combine. Set aside for at least 30 minutes, or up to 1 day in the refrigerator.
Heat an 8-inch nonstick skillet or crêpe pan over medium-high heat. Using a pastry brush, brush with clarified butter, then tilt to pour away excess. Stir the batter and carefully ladle about 2 tablespoons of the batter into the skillet. Rotate the skillet so the batter spreads out and thinly coats the bottom and edges. Return the skillet to the heat and cook the crêpe until the edges turn golden brown and lacy and start to pull away from the skillet, about 2 minutes. Using a knife or an offset spatula, carefully turn the crêpe over; cook the second side until just golden, 30 to 40 seconds. Slide the crêpe onto a plate. Repeat with the remaining batter, stirring it before making another crêpe. Adjust the temperature as needed. Stack cooked crêpes between sheets of waxed paper. Use immediately, or store in the freezer tightly wrapped in plastic for up to 1 month.
A crêpe cake is a thing of Brilliant beauty.
To assemble, place a crêpe on a serving plate and spread with 2 tablespoons jam, jelly, or
Pastry Cream. Top with another crêpe and repeat until all the crêpes have been used. Do not spread filling on the top layer. Dust with confectioners’ sugar. Serve immediately.
Nathalie’s Sally Lunn Bread, with the Brilliant addition of Pecan–Brown Sugar Topping
MAKES 1 (10-INCH) CAKE
There’s mixed food lore about this rich, briochelike bread: that it was brought with Protestant refugees from France, who called it sun and moon or soleil et lune; that it originated in Bath, England, and was baked by a woman named Sally Lunn; or finally, that it was a bread presented by Carême, and called solilemme. As a former history major, I find food history fascinating, but what I really care about is whether it tastes good. And, it does.
2 packets (4½ teaspoons) active dry yeast
½ cup sugar
1 cup low-fat or whole milk, warmed
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon fine sea salt
4 cups bread flour
¾ cup (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, melted, plus more room-temperature butter for the pan
In a small bowl, combine the yeast, sugar, and warm milk. Stir to combine and set aside to proof and dissolve, about 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, in the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, combine the eggs and salt. Add the yeast mixture. With the mixer on low, add the flour to the egg mixture, alternating with the melted butter, beginning and ending with the flour. Increase the speed and beat well to combine. The batter should be thick. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
Brush a 10-inch Bundt or tube pan with room-temperature butter.
Using your hand, punch down the dough. Turn the dough into the prepared pan. Cover again with a clean kitchen towel and return to the warm place to double again, about 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool for 10 minutes to set. Invert onto a cooling rack. To serve, slice with a serrated knife. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Sally Lunn is rich, moist, and cakelike but not too sweet, making it a very adaptable dough for cinnamon rolls and coffee cake. For a very Brilliant version, make a Pecan–Brown Sugar Topping (
pictured). Combine ½ cup firmly packed dark brown sugar, ½ cup (1 stick) melted unsalted butter, and ¾ cup chopped pecans. Spoon into the bottom of the greased Bundt pan. Proceed with the Basic recipe for Sally Lunn bread. Bake, transfer to a rack to cool slightly, then invert onto a serving plate.
The poetic way to tell when a bread is done baking is to tap the bottom; it should sound hollow. A more pragmatic way is to insert an instant-read thermometer. Most breads are finished baking at about 190°F. Breads enriched with butter, eggs, or milk are finished when the internal temperature is closer to 200°F. For both, turn the loaves onto racks immediately after baking to prevent sogginess.
MAKES 1 (10-INCH) LOAF
Once I was a guest on Paula Deen’s show, and the premise was to play up the difference between us. They had me chop, fast and faster. I spoke French, and Paula teased me, smiling her big, pretty smile. We made Paula’s Monkey Bread with canned biscuits, Italian seasoning, and shredded cheese. Let me be perfectly clear, I am not being snotty about Paula. Some of our food is quite different, but we are working for the same goal, to get people to the table.
She asked me to open the can of biscuits. I banged it on the side of the counter. It exploded, and I screamed. I rolled the biscuit dough into balls, and Paula dipped them in melted butter, then cheese. She ummed and yummed, making a tasty fuss, and started to lick her fingers. Next thing I knew she reached her buttery fingers in the direction of my lips for me to taste. I couldn’t help it. I just couldn’t do it. I arched away my mouth from her, raised my face to the heavens, and said, “I don’t know you!” I mean, seriously, the list of people whose fingers I would lick is pretty short. She just laughed and smiled.
¼ cup oil from Garlic Confit or extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
¾ cup freshly grated pecorino romano cheese (3 ounces)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 pound store-bought whole-wheat pizza dough or yeast rolls, defrosted
1 cup Garlic Confit cloves, optional
Brush a 10-inch tube pan with some of the garlic oil.
Combine the remaining oil with the butter in a small bowl. Set aside. Combine the cheese and parsley in a small bowl and season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Set aside.
Rub your hands with some of the buttery oil, then pull off equal pieces of dough about the size of apricots and shape into balls. Dip the balls in the oil mixture, then roll in the cheese. Place in the prepared tube pan, alternating with the garlic cloves. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Bake until a rich golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove to a rack to cool slightly. To serve, use a butter knife or long spatula to loosen the bread from the sides of the pan. Invert onto a serving plate. Pull apart or slice with a serrated knife.
Savory garlic-kissed rolls may be good, but they are Basic restaurant fare. Prepare Sauce Tomate, one of the
Five Mother Sauces, for dipping and they’re Brilliant.
Heat 2 tablespoons pure olive oil in a saucepan. Add 1 onion, preferably Vidalia, finely chopped, and cook until translucent, 3 to 5 minutes. Add 1 carrot, grated, and 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped. Cook until fragrant, 45 to 60 seconds. Add 1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes, 1 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano, 1 teaspoon chopped fresh basil, and 1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley. Season with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper. Bring to a boil, then decrease the heat to simmer. Cook until thick, about 10 minutes. Makes 3 cups. Transfer to a warmed bowl and serve as a dipping sauce for the bread.
MAKES ABOUT 40
Traditionally these quick and easy swirls, also known as pinwheels, are made with canned crescent roll dough, a cheater’s croissant dough. Croissant dough is essentially yeasted puff pastry dough. The sausage rolls are almost the Southern equivalent to pigs in blankets, but not quite. These swirls are great to have on hand in the freezer for weekend company, tailgating, and Sunday brunch.
1 teaspoon canola oil (optional)
1 pound pork, turkey, or chicken breakfast sausage, in bulk or removed from the casing
4 ounces Neufchâtel or cream cheese, at room temperature
4 ounces fresh goat cheese, at room temperature
1 pound Quick Puff Pastry or 1 (14-ounce) box store-bought puff pastry
1 large egg
1 tablespoon water
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with a silicone baking liner or parchment paper.
If you are using turkey or chicken sausage, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat; otherwise, heat a dry skillet. Add the sausage and cook, using a wooden spatula to break up the sausage and stirring occasionally, until no longer pink, about 5 minutes. Drain off all excess fat and let cool.
Meanwhile, combine the Neufchâtel and goat cheese in the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the drained, cooled sausage and whip to combine. Set aside.
In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, water, and salt. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough into a 14 × 10-inch rectangle. Divide in half lengthwise, then, working with one half at a time, roll out again into a very thin 12 × 8-inch rectangle. Place the long edge closest to you and brush the edges with the egg wash. Spread the cream cheese mixture over the dough rectangles. Roll up into a 12-inch log and press to seal the edge. Place seam side down on the prepared baking sheet. Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.
Trim the ends to make 10-inch logs, then slice into ½-inch pieces. Place cut side down on the prepared baking sheet. (At this point you can freeze them on the baking sheet until firm, then transfer them to a sealable freezer container.) Bake until golden brown and puffed, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Buttery dough rolled around a creamy sausage filling is a Basic; a couple of twists learned in the pastry kitchen is Brilliant.
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with a silicone baking liner or parchment paper. Roll out half the dough into a 12-inch square. Cut into twelve 3-inch squares. Brush each with the egg wash glaze. Mound 1 level tablespoon of the sausage–cream cheese mixture in the center of each square. Cut diagonally from each corner to within ¾ inch of the center. Fold the four alternating points to the center, pressing down lightly to hold them in place. Repeat with remaining ingredients. Brush the pastries with the egg wash. Place in the refrigerator and chill until firm, about 30 minutes. Bake until golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove to a rack to cool slightly. Serve warm or at room temperature. (Heads up: You will have about ½ cup of the sausage–cream cheese mixture left over. Spread it on a biscuit or bagel.) Makes 24.
MAKES 12
This is my Basic buttermilk cornbread recipe as seen in my first book, Bon Appétit, Y’all, with jalapeño pepper added. I wanted to tell you so you didn’t think I was trying to pull a fast one on you. I generally prefer to make cornbread with all cornmeal and no wheat flour. However, at the Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia, they serve Kathy Justice’s Blue Ribbon Cornbread, which is combination of the two. Not just for the excellent cornbread, the Greenbrier holds a special place in my heart.
The Greenbrier hosts the Symposium for Professional Food Writers every year. It is where I shared a suite with Julia Child, making sure she didn’t lose her cane as I carried her books for her. I also attended while working for Anne Willan; it is the place where the idea for Bon Appetit, Y’all originated. The Symposium for Professional Food Writers has continually, bar none, been the most influential guiding experience in my career.
2 tablespoons unsalted butter or bacon grease, melted, plus more for the muffin cups
2 cups fine white or yellow cornmeal (not cornmeal mix or self-rising cornmeal)
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups buttermilk
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 jalapeño, cored, seeded, and chopped
Preheat the oven the oven to 425°F. Brush 12 standard muffin cups with butter.
In a bowl, combine the cornmeal, salt, and baking soda. Set aside. In a large measuring cup, combine the butter, buttermilk, egg, and jalapeño. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir to combine.
Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling each cup no more than two-thirds full. Bake until golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove to a rack to cool slightly. Invert into a cloth-lined basket. Serve immediately.
Variation Instead of baking as muffins, this batter may be prepared in a skillet. Preheat the oven to 450°F. Place the 2 tablespoons butter in a 10½-inch cast-iron skillet or ovenproof baking dish and heat in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes. Prepare the batter as directed; remove the heated skillet from the oven and pour the melted butter into the batter. Stir to combine, then pour the batter back into the hot skillet. Bake until golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove to a rack to cool slightly. Cut into wedges and serve immediately.
Slather some Cheddar Butter on those warm muffins and taste just how Brilliant cornbread can be.
In a small bowl, (or in a food processor fitted with a metal blade), combine ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature; 1 cup grated Cheddar cheese (4 ounces); 1 garlic clove, finely chopped; and a dash of hot sauce. Season with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper. Stir until smooth and well combined. Makes 1 cup. Serve at room temperature with the muffins.
MAKES 1 LOAF
Pain aux noix, a yeast bread, is often served at the end of a meal in France with the cheese course and a selection of dried fruit, such as apricots and figs. The biscuit-making Southerner in me wanted to create bread that would be quicker, using baking soda as a leavener. Walnuts are used in France, but pecans would be very good, too. Or, if you are lucky enough to have a source for black walnuts, give those a try. Layer the flavor of the nuts by using nut oil, too. Nut oils are available online and in gourmet specialty markets. This makes an excellent make-ahead breakfast bread, too.
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
¾ cup whole-wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon salt
4 large eggs
½ cup buttermilk
3 tablespoons canola or pure olive oil, plus more for the loaf pan
3 tablespoons walnut or pecan oil
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (3 ounces)
½ cup currants
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Brush a 8½ × 4½-inch loaf pan with oil.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Beat the eggs in a large bowl. Whisk in the buttermilk and oils. Quickly whisk in the flour, and fold in the walnuts. Transfer to the prepared pan.
Bake until nicely browned and a tester inserted near the center of the loaf comes out clean, 50 to 60 minutes. Remove from the oven; allow to cool for 10 minutes in the pan. Invert onto a rack and let cool completely.
A tartine is the French version of an open-faced sandwich. It makes my mouth water just thinking about slathering a spoonful of room-temperature Saint André, Camembert, or Brie on this bread and topping the cheese with sliced fresh figs, perhaps judiciously drizzled with a glistening spoonful of amber honey. Pop it under the broiler until warm and melted? Brilliant.
Michele’s Quick and Easy Fudge, Mama’s Pecan Tassies, Wedding Cookies, Brown Butter–Pecan Tea Cakes.
Sweet Peach Pancakes