CHAPTER 1

SWEET DOUGHS

FOR THE LONGEST TIME, I HAD AN IRRATIONAL FEAR OF BAKING with yeast (you’re telling me I have to feed it, and it’s ALIVE?). In talking with other bakers, I’ve learned I wasn’t alone. But now that I’ve broken free of that fear, I can say that learning to love the process of baking with yeast turns a person into the kind of intuitive baker that everyone deserves to become. Long-game baking like this is a craft, but a rewarding one to practice. It might require a little more attention than other types of baking, but there’s a payoff—it earns you the ability to really feel the dough you’re working on and determine what it needs, and frees you from always feeling chained to a written recipe. And that’s a skill that will translate to all manner of baking recipes, yeasted or not.

Practical skills aside, there’s nothing quite like a yeast-risen baked good to warm the house, the belly, and the heart. Of all the golden, pillowy baked goods appearing in midwestern bakeries and on breakfast tables, it’s the sweet, enriched doughs I find most compelling. As yeast predates other leaveners by thousands of years, if you’ve got a yeast-risen cake or morning treat on your hands, chances are you’ve got something with an interesting history baked into it, too.

Kneading your way through this section is a terrific way to get to know some of the more prominent immigrant influences of the region and indulge in some old-world baking traditions. And given that most of these recipes are best eaten soon after baking (which in turn will fill your house with a delicious fragrance), they also offer a great excuse to invite some neighbors over for coffee.