Beard on Bread (22 page)

Anyone who has spent time on Cape Cod or Nantucket remembers the delicious light, round loaves of Portuguese bread found there, which resembles the egg bread of other countries. This recipe makes a delicate, spongy bread that is a delight. It has a fine crumb and is excellent for breakfast or tea. It demands the addition of good sweet butter and marmalade, honey, or jam.

[2 round loaves]

Combine the yeast, 1 teaspoon sugar, and water in a large bowl and allow to proof. Put the butter in the warm milk, add the 1 cup sugar, and blend well. Add to the yeast mixture and stir to combine the ingredients. Add 3 of the eggs, lightly beaten, and salt and mix well. Then add 4 cups of flour, 1 cup at a time, kneading with your hands in the bowl, to make a soft dough. Turn out on a
floured board and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, using only enough additional flour to prevent sticking. This should take about 10 minutes. Shape into a ball and put in a buttered bowl, turning the dough to coat the surface with butter. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in bulk.

Punch down the dough and divide into two equal pieces. Shape again into balls and place in two buttered skillets—ones that can be used in the oven and that measure about 9 inches in diameter at the top. (Teflon works perfectly for this, but plain omelet skillets will do nicely.) Or you may use two 8½ × 4½ × 2½ bread pans. Cover loosely and let rise again until doubled in bulk. Brush the tops with the remaining egg, well beaten, and bake in a preheated oven at 350° for about 30 minutes, or until the bread is a rich, dark, shining color and sounds hollow when rapped on top and bottom. Cool on racks before slicing.

This is a rather sweet brioche-type bread, exceedingly light and baked free form. It is a pleasant bread for tea or breakfast, toasts extremely well, and can be used for certain types of sandwiches, such as candied ginger and cream cheese or orange marmalade and walnut. It can also be made as a braided loaf, or baked in a fanciful form; for instance, you could use a flowerpot (well buttered with a piece of aluminum foil on the bottom to cover the hole), clustering three little topknots of dough on top.

[2 free-form loaves]

Dissolve the yeast and ½ cup brown sugar in warm water in a mixing bowl and allow to proof. Stir in the melted butter, whole eggs, egg yolks, and salt and blend well. Add the flour, 1 cup at a time, beating it in with a wooden spoon or with the hand. Turn the dough out on a floured board, and knead with additional flour until you have a soft, velvety, elastic dough with no trace of stickiness. (A good 5 minutes of concentrated kneading should accomplish this.)

Divide the dough into two equal portions. Flatten and shape each into a round loaf. Place on a greased baking sheet, cover with a tent of aluminum foil, and let rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in bulk, 1 to 2 hours. Brush the egg mixture over the tops of the two loaves and slash once or twice with a sharp knife or razor blade. Sprinkle with additional sugar, if desired, and bake in a preheated 325° oven 35 to 40 minutes, or until the bread sounds hollow when tapped on top and bottom with the knuckles. Cool on a rack before slicing.

Although the dough in this recipe is fairly difficult to handle, it makes a very delicate, briochelike bread with a rich, buttery, eggy taste. It is extraordinarily good, ideal for tea or for eating with butter, jam, and marmalade, and toasts extremely well. It can be wrapped in plastic and frozen for 3 or 4 weeks. The bread is called “water-proofed” because the dough is submerged in a bath of water for the first rising.

[2 loaves]

Rinse a 4-quart mixing bowl with warm water. Dry thoroughly. Put in the yeast, the ½ cup warm water, and the teaspoon of sugar, and stir until the yeast dissolves. Allow it to proof for 5 minutes. Heat the milk with the butter and ¼ cup sugar until lukewarm, then add to the yeast mixture. Add the salt and stir to blend well. Add the eggs, one at a time, and again blend thoroughly. Then stir in 3 cups of the flour, 1 cup at a time, to make what will probably be a very wet and sticky dough. Stir quite vigorously. Spread out the dough on a working surface—a table, a piece of marble, or a board—sprinkled with the additional ½ cup flour. Use a baker’s scraper or large spatula to work in this last portion of flour and make the dough firmer. Scrape under the flour and the dough, lifting and folding inward. Repeat until the flour is well incorporated.

When the dough is easy to handle, begin kneading by hand. Continue until the dough can be shaped. (The process of kneading first with the scraper and then by hand is very effective for delicate dough. In this case the dough will remain rather sticky, but don’t worry about it.)

Lift the dough, pat with flour, and place on a clean kitchen towel also sprinkled with flour. Wrap it and tie it in the towel, just as you would a package, but very loosely. Submerge this in a large bowl filled with warm water (about 100° to 115°). It will sink. Let it sit for about 35 to 40 minutes, or until it rises sufficiently to float on top of the water.