Brilliant post! I would die without toast. I wasn't even trying to rhyme, but when I talk about bread, poetry happens. In our household, we're fans of a delicious sourdough boule from our local bakery that often sells out. We monitor the number of slices left like life-saving medication, paranoid that we'll run out before we can restock. This was such a fun and relatable read. I lol'd in several places. So happy to find another bread head and excited to read more of your posts.
Haha I actually learned how to make bread partly because so few bakeries here make breads that toast up properly.
And I usually "underbake" them deliberately, taking them out before they get too dark or crusty because most of the bakes are meant for the Big Toast Transform.
I too learned to make bread after deciding that it was just wrong for a good French baguette (crusty on the outside, tender interior) to forgo the divinity of including a rash of extras : toasted sesame, poppy, bulgar, finely chopped nuts, etc. Heretical to bread purists and French foodies, but ugly Americans will do anything to complicate and over-do the already complicated cuisine de France. If all those extras keep the bread from rising, don’t add anything till the second rising or press it all in right before baking. If it comes out just right, you (or certainly I) don’t even have to toast it. Gobble it up as the butter melts and the jam is piled on. Or get 1000 seed bread from a shop and toast away.
Read it with toast. Nora, I totally forgot about the honey butter lunch sandwiches! I had to butter both sides of bread liberally to keep the honey from seeping into the bread. What a lovely essay, it should resound widely, as there are no cultures I can think of that don’t feature some form of mood-enhancing toast, butter and jam. In England I came to view elevenses as right up there with the Magna Carta.
Brilliant post! I would die without toast. I wasn't even trying to rhyme, but when I talk about bread, poetry happens. In our household, we're fans of a delicious sourdough boule from our local bakery that often sells out. We monitor the number of slices left like life-saving medication, paranoid that we'll run out before we can restock. This was such a fun and relatable read. I lol'd in several places. So happy to find another bread head and excited to read more of your posts.
Thank you! Life-saving medication is accurate
Haha I actually learned how to make bread partly because so few bakeries here make breads that toast up properly.
And I usually "underbake" them deliberately, taking them out before they get too dark or crusty because most of the bakes are meant for the Big Toast Transform.
Wow this is inspired
Haha loved your post - gave me some great laughs, and such a sense of camaraderie 😂
I too learned to make bread after deciding that it was just wrong for a good French baguette (crusty on the outside, tender interior) to forgo the divinity of including a rash of extras : toasted sesame, poppy, bulgar, finely chopped nuts, etc. Heretical to bread purists and French foodies, but ugly Americans will do anything to complicate and over-do the already complicated cuisine de France. If all those extras keep the bread from rising, don’t add anything till the second rising or press it all in right before baking. If it comes out just right, you (or certainly I) don’t even have to toast it. Gobble it up as the butter melts and the jam is piled on. Or get 1000 seed bread from a shop and toast away.
Yes! Bring back Elevenses! In the novel Buddenbrooks, they are always having "second breakfast."
I have to read!
Read it with toast. Nora, I totally forgot about the honey butter lunch sandwiches! I had to butter both sides of bread liberally to keep the honey from seeping into the bread. What a lovely essay, it should resound widely, as there are no cultures I can think of that don’t feature some form of mood-enhancing toast, butter and jam. In England I came to view elevenses as right up there with the Magna Carta.
What a deeply satiating read.