The Essential James Beard Cookbook (60 page)

CRUMPETS

MAKES 8 TO 10 CRUMPETS

Crumpets, which once could be found all over England and in many places in New York City, have become less and less available. They are flat, about ½ inch thick, and very porous. When toasted, they will absorb vast quantities of butter. Served with raspberry or strawberry jam and Devonshire cream, they are about as habit-forming as any teatime specialty can be.

½ cup whole milk

½ cup boiling water

One ¼-ounce package (2¼ teaspoons) active dry yeast

1 teaspoon sugar

1¾ cups unbleached flour

1½ teaspoons plain salt

¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons warm (110° to 115°F) water

¼ teaspoon baking soda, dissolved in 1 tablespoon water

Unsalted butter, for serving

Combine the milk and boiling water in a medium bowl and cool to lukewarm. Add the yeast and sugar, let stand for 5 minutes, and stir to dissolve the yeast. Sift the flour and salt together. Add to the milk mixture with the warm water to make a batter. Stir several minutes with a wooden spoon. Cover with plastic wrap and let the batter rise in a warm place until almost doubled in bulk and rather bubbly. Stir in the dissolved soda. Cover again and let rise again until doubled in bulk.

Butter four 3½-inch diameter crumpet rings. Place the rings on a moderately hot griddle. Spoon the batter into each ring to a depth of about ½ inch. Cook until the crumpets are dry and bubbly on top. Remove the rings, turn the crumpets, and brown lightly on the other side. Transfer to a wire rack. Repeat with the remaining batter. Let cool. To serve, toast and flood with butter.

Editor: You can purchase crumpet rings at kitchenware shops and online at
www.amazon.com
or
www.kingarthurflour.com
.
In the past, home cooks would craft rings from tuna cans and the like, but the cans are not the correct size anymore, and it is better to buy the rings.

HARD ROLLS

MAKES 2 DOZEN ROLLS

Editor: A few brushings of ice-cold salt water gives these rolls their shiny, crisp crust. Two choices for soft-wheat flour include White Lily Unbleached Flour (
www.whitelily.com
) and Bob’s Red Mill Unbleached Pastry Flour (
www.bobsredmill.com
).
Do not use whole wheat pastry flour. Imported Italian “00” flour, with various brands available at specialty food stores and online, is another option.

Two ¼-ounce envelopes (4½ teaspoons) active dry yeast

1 teaspoon sugar

2 cups warm (100° to 115°F) water

1 tablespoon kosher salt or 2 teaspoons plain salt

1 cup bread flour

4 cups soft-wheat flour, as needed

Vegetable oil, for the bowl

Yellow cornmeal, for the baking sheets

For the Glaze

²
⁄
₃
cup ice water

1 tablespoon salt

Combine the yeast with the sugar and warm water in a large bowl and let stand until bubbly, about 5 minutes. Stir to dissolve the yeast. Mix the coarse salt with the hard-wheat flour and add to the yeast mixture. Stir in the soft-wheat flour, 1 cup at a time, until you have a firm dough. Transfer to a lightly floured board and knead about 10 minutes, adding soft-wheat flour as necessary, until no longer sticky. Place in an oiled bowl and turn to coat the surface of the dough. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a cool place for about 2 hours, or until doubled in bulk.

Punch down the dough. Turn out on a floured board and knead for about 2 minutes. Cut the dough into 24 equal pieces and form each into a ball. Place on 2 baking sheets that have been sprinkled with cornmeal. Slash the tops of the dough with a very sharp knife or single-edge razor blade. Cover each baking sheet with plastic wrap and let rise about 30 minutes, until doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Place four heatproof baking cups filled with boiling water on the lowest rack of the oven. To make the glaze: In a small bowl, mix the ice water and salt together. Uncover the rolls. Bake the rolls on the center and upper third racks for 25 to 30 minutes, brushing the tops with the salted ice water every 5 minutes, until the rolls are nicely browed and sound hollow when tapped. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

PITA BREAD

MAKES 8 OR 9 ROUND LOAVES

Pita bread is that flat, round, softish bread called, among other names, Syrian bread, Armenian bread, and Middle Eastern bread. Its two layers are almost separated in the baking, and one can split it very easily to use with shish kebabs and even with hamburgers, as well as all kinds of other sandwiches. It is also extremely good buttered, cut into strips, and baked in a slow oven to get quite crisp, to be served like Melba toast with soup or salads or cold fish dishes. It can be wrapped and stored in the refrigerator or frozen successfully.

The warm bread should be wrapped in aluminum foil to keep it soft after baking. Pita loaves are great fun to make.

Two ¼-ounce envelopes (4½ teaspoons) active dry yeast

½ teaspoon sugar

2 cups warm (100° to 115°F) water

¼ cup olive oil, plus more for the bowl

1½ tablespoons plain salt

6 cups bread flour, as needed

Yellow cornmeal, for the baking sheets

Dissolve the yeast and sugar in ½ cup of warm water in a large mixing bowl, let stand 5 minutes, and stir to dissolve. Then add the remaining 1½ cups water. Stir in 1 cup of flour with the oil and salt. Vigorously stir in enough of flour to make a stiff, rather sticky, dough. Turn out on a floured board and knead, working in the remaining flour, as needed, for a good 10 minutes or more until the dough is smooth and elastic. Shape into a ball, place in an oiled bowl, and turn to coat with oil on all sides. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm, draft-free place for 1½ to 2 hours, or until doubled in bulk.

Punch down the dough, turn out on a floured board, cover again, and allow to rest for 10 minutes. Divide into 8 or 9 equal pieces and shape each piece into a ball. Cover the balls with plastic wrap and let rest for 30 minutes. Flatten each ball with a well-floured rolling pin and roll into 8-inch circles with a thickness of about
¹
⁄
₈
inch. Dust two baking sheets with cornmeal, place 2 circles on each sheet, cover, and let rest again for 30 minutes. (Leave the remaining circles on a lightly floured working surface and transfer them to the baking sheets, dusted again with cornmeal, when the first 4 are baked.)

Preheat the oven to 500°F. Uncover the baking sheets. Put one of the baking sheets on the lowest rack of the oven for 5 minutes.
Do not open the oven door until the 5 minutes are up!
Transfer the sheet to a higher shelf and continue baking 3 to 5 minutes longer until the loaves are puffed like balloons and just very lightly browned. Repeat the procedure with the second baking sheet, unless, of course, you have a large oven so that the baking sheets can go in side by side on the same shelf (or use two ovens, if you are fortunate enough to have two). The loaves should deflate on cooling. After cooling, the pita can be wrapped in aluminum foil and frozen. The loaves will reheat in a 350°F oven in 10 to 15 minutes.

YEASTED CARROT BREAD

MAKES 2 SMALL LOAVES

Editor: Note that this is a yeasted bread, and not the typical sweet carrot quick bread.

One ¼-ounce package (2¼ teaspoons) dry yeast

1 teaspoon sugar

¾ cup warm (110° to 115°F) water

1½ cups grated carrot

½ cup vegetable oil

½ cup sugar

1 large egg, beaten

1 teaspoon plain salt

3½ cups unbleached flour

1 cup graham flour (see Editor’s Note,
here
)

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

¼ cup chopped candied orange and/or lemon peels

¼ cup seedless raisins

Softened butter, for the bowl

For the Topping

1 tablespoon honey

1 tablespoon water

Cracked sunflower seeds

Dissolve the yeast with the sugar in the warm water and let stand until bubbling, about 5 minutes. In a large mixing bowl, combine the carrot, oil, sugar, egg, and salt. Add the yeast mixture. Add the unbleached flour and the graham flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, candied citrus peels, and raisins, and mix well.

Turn out onto a floured work surface and knead, adding more flour as needed, to make a soft, smooth dough. Shape into a ball, put into a buttered large bowl, and turn to coat the dough evenly with the butter. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1¼ hours. Punch the dough down, cover, then let it rest for 10 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and form into 2 loaves. Put the loaves into two 8 by 4 by 2½-inch loaf pans. To make the topping: Mix the honey and water together in a small bowl. Lightly brush the tops of the loaves with some of the honey mixture, and sprinkle with the sunflower seeds. Let the loaves rise in the pans for 10 minutes. Bake for 15 minutes, then lower the heat to 375°F and bake for 40 to 50 minutes until the loaves sound hollow when tapped on the bottoms.

MONKEY BREAD

1 RING LOAF

This is a sensationally good and oddly textured sweet bread or coffee cake. It has been known as monkey bread for as long as I can remember. I have never seen an explanation for the name; perhaps it has stuck because of the bread’s silly shape. I have also heard it called bubble bread. It is made in a tube pan, and if you follow directions carefully you will have a very light finished product that can be cooled and sliced or served warm and pulled apart in little clumps. You must, however, take special care in the baking to see that it is thoroughly cooked before it comes out of the oven.

Two ¼-ounce packages (4½ teaspoons) active dry yeast

1 cup granulated sugar

½ cup warm (110° to 115°F) water

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, plus more for the bowl and the pan, at room temperature

1 tablespoon plus 1½ teaspoons kosher salt

1 cup warm (110° to 115°F) whole milk

3 large eggs, plus 2 large egg yolks

6 cups unbleached flour, plus more as needed

½ cup dried currants, soaked in hot water for 1 hour, then drained and patted dry

½ cup packed light brown sugar

Combine the yeast, granulated sugar, and water in a large mixing bowl. While this is proofing, stir ½cup (1 stick) of the butter and the salt into the warm milk. (The butter does not need to melt completely.) Stir the yeast mixture to dissolve the yeast, then add the milk mixture. Stir in the eggs and yolks. Beat with a wooden spoon to blend thoroughly. Add the flour, 1 cup at a time, stirring well after each addition. (After the first 5 cups it will get harder to incorporate the flour and the dough will be very sticky.) Turn out on a floured board, and using a dough scraper or large spatula, scrape under the flour on the board, lift the dough, and fold it over. Continue this procedure, adding more flour until the dough is no longer sticky and can be kneaded with your hands. Knead a full 10 minutes, until the dough is elastic and pliable.

Shape into a ball and put in a buttered bowl, turning to coat all over with butter. Cover with plastic wrap and set in a warm, draft-free place to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1½ hours. Meanwhile, soak the currants in a bowl with hot water to cover until plumped, about 1 hour. Drain well and pat dry with paper towels; set aside.

Punch the dough down and let rest for 5 minutes. Turn out on a lightly floured board (using about 1 tablespoon flour) and again shape into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for another 5 to 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, butter a 10-inch tube pan. [
Editor: If your tube pan has a removable bottom, wrap the bottom of the pan with aluminum foil to avoid leakage.
] In a saucepan, melt the second stick of butter with the brown sugar and drained currants; let cool until tepid. Pinch off the dough to make golf ball–size balls. Roll the balls in the butter mixture, line the bottom of the tube pan with them, and continue to arrange them in loose layers. Pour what is left of the butter mixture over the top. Cover loosely with an aluminum foil tent and let the dough rise to the top of the tube pan, about 45 minutes.