Breads

Brioche Loaves

June 4, 2009 by Charles 11 Comments

From a Croque Norvegien to an ABB&M, I’ve been in sandwich mode recently. Which got me thinking. Instead of running out and grabbing a new loaf of bread, maybe I could make my own.

I settled on brioche, a butter- and egg-enriched yeast bread, French in origin. Yet, despite its French origins, the French put their brioche in the viennoiserie basket. Unlike something in the bread basket, a viennoiserie (meaning “in the Viennese style”) boasts the addition of eggs, butter, milk, cream, or sugar, which gives it a pastry-like character.

Viennoiseries are leavened, often layered, and commonly served in the morning. Beyond brioche, …

Banana Chocolate-Chip Muffins

May 21, 2009 by Charles 9 Comments

I tend to stock-pile bananas. Every weekend, without fail, I buy enough bananas to get me through the work-week. Unfortunately, I tend to overindulge my banana enthusiasm. And before I know it, I’ve tossed another two overripe bananas into the freezer – with the idea that some day soon they would find themselves in banana bread.

“Soon” soon took on new meaning.

Last week I opened my freezer to a veritable army of frozen bananas, their ranks having swelled over the …

Banana Bread

January 11, 2009 by Charles 4 Comments

The modern banana may be a dying breed.

Unlike apples and oranges, supermarkets only carry a single variety of banana – the Vietnamese Cavendish. And unlike other fruits, domestic production of bananas is virtually nonexistent. Instead, the vast majority of our bananas come from Latin America; Ecuador, Costa Rica, and Colombia represent three of the four largest banana-exporting nations.

The concentration of a single banana variety in a single area helped popularize the banana by creating large economies of scale with respect to harvest periods, and shipping and distribution routes. These economies of scale made the banana the cheapest fruit in the produce section – a modern miracle considering that the banana has traveled thousands of miles, in cooled containers, and has a shelf life of but a few weeks.

This concentration and homogenization may, unfortunately, also lead to the banana’s demise. In the early 1900s, the banana of choice was the Gros Michel – a banana superior in taste, size, and texture to today’s Cavendish. Sadly, the Gros Michel was all but wiped out by Panama disease, a resistant fungus.

Today, the Cavendish is threatened …

Lemon Yogurt Cake

December 17, 2008 by Charles 7 Comments

Unlike most of her recipes, Ina Garten jokes, this one does not start with a pound of butter. And yet, her lemon yogurt cake is no worse for the wear. In fact, I’ve made this recipe countless times without ever growing tired of it. And because it’s so good and so easy to make, it’s become my recipe of choice for pot-lucks and parties.

Over time, I have made my own small changes…

Pumpkin Redux: Pumpkin Bread

November 12, 2008 by Charles Leave a Comment

When I first started cooking, the first effort was just that – a rough, initial effort to make something edible. If things went awry, it was helpful to have ingredients in reserve. So I got in the habit of stockpiling my cooking ammunition. If a recipe called for a cup of something combustible, I tried to have an extra cup (or two) on hand.

But as my learning curve has progressed,…