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A Tale of Two (V. Different) Breads

four mini loaves of stollen dusted with sugar
~ mary_m ~ 2 Comments

This week I made two kinds of bread: Stollen for holiday gifting (and enjoying) and Adventure Bread for holiday survival.

Stollen is not quite yet a personal tradition, but is my current attempt to meet my desire to have something homemade to bring as host gifts, etc. in the holiday season. It’s what I plan to bring with me for Christmas travel and what I snuck into the gift package for my sister’s household.* Honestly, I quite like it, but given that it’s a cross between bread and fruitcake held together with massive amounts of butter, of course I like it; also I wouldn’t be surprised if some people I know are a bit more reserved. A more crowd-pleasing recipe may supplant stollen someday as my holiday go-to.**

In the meantime though, stollen! I use the Melissa Clark NYT recipe, but with ~1/2 cup of rye flour substituted for some of the AP and with ~1/4 cup more milk. This year’s version also has more ground ginger than strictly called for due to a “reading the recipe while cooking” error.*** We’ll know how tasty it is when we open the first one on Solstice.

Adventure bread is an entirely different thing. It’s super-easy, gluten free, and vegan. I make it for myself, because it’s a great answer to “What the heck am I gonna eat?” when I find myself surrounded by cookies and busily making intricate plans for meals that are still a week away. Adventure bread makes fantastic toast and is an excellent vehicle for butter, peanut butter, pesto, cheese, or whatever else I happen to have on hand. It’s also delicious. David Lebovitz has a great write-up of how to make it. Recommended.****

*Hi Sis! If you’re up for it, the directions say you should sprinkle even more powdered sugar on top before serving. Crazy, hunh?

**Suggestions welcome!

***It really does pay to read recipes through beforehand, even if I’ve made them before, but…

****particularly as a cookie hangover cure, should you find you need such a thing.

 

Pie Advice, Pie Dough

~ mary_m ~ Leave a comment

I’m a little bit in love with this Thanksgiving pie advice from Marian Bull on Food52. (Summary: If pie making makes you nervous, don’t do it for Thanksgiving. Do, however, bake pie some other time.)

I love pie. I love Thanksgiving pies. I love when people try new things. And I love when people don’t fret too much about baking. So Marian, thank you for your voice of sanity here. The only thing I would add is, if possible, when you’re learning how to make pie crust, learn with a friend. A good friend who’s already suffered life’s fair share of utter pie crust defeats can be the best cure for wanting to throw your lump of mangled pie dough across the room. (Not that that will happen! But… it might, and that’s totally OK.)

A brief round up of pie dough recipes:

  • Never Fail PieCrust is more-or-less the one my mom taught me, decades ago, although we always divided the recipe into five. Mom still uses this recipe, and it’s still great. I use it less often, because I don’t generally have shortening in the house.
  • This vodka trick one is great if you’re looking for a relatively foolproof, yet delicious crust.
  • 3-2-1 pie dough is what I generally make, because I love a good, easy formula.

I don’t generally make pie on Thanksgiving. My father-in-law has dibs on pie baking for in-law Thanksgiving, and my mom and sister tend to handle the traditional pies when we gather with my side of the family. This year, however, I’ll be going to a second Thanksgiving and I’m thinking of making Cranberry Walnut Pie, which is one of my favs.