I promised to get busy developing some yeast recipes for the sourdough starter that I introduced a few months ago and thought English muffins would be a good first challenge. I’ve had a fair taste-test run with a variety of gluten-free English muffins; mostly the kind you buy frozen in the grocery store.

Deal-breaker #1: One muffin costs about the same amount as the ingredients to make them at home. Make your own batch!

Deal-breaker #2: Most all of them were shaped like English muffins, but when broken into, were no different than a lightened gluten-free white bread: soft and spongy with an even crumb, no nooks or crannies.

I may as well have taken a biscuit cutter to a loaf of bread and saved the money.

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Stuffing.

You’re thinking bread cubes, onions, herbs, celery, a bit of broth, right?

Or maybe a bag of Stovetop.

Well, think again. When it comes to this breakfast bread, “stuffing” runs a whole different (and tasty) gamut of possibilities.

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How does this…

Become this…

…and then this?

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“Bend me, shape me, any way you want me…”

If you now hear a long-forgotten rock tune wafting through your mind, keep it to yourself – lest you reveal yourself to your younger colleagues as a True Boomer.

Yes, that song, from the barely remembered group American Breed, hit the top of the rock charts in…

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Ah, supermarket bread!

Beloved of children, remembered with nostalgia by their crusty-chewy-artisan-loaf-eating parents. Close-grained, soft, moist, dense, and perfect for sandwiches. And toast.

But not for rolling into bread balls and firing at the kid across the lunchroom table.

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If you’ve never traveled to Europe, you’ve probably never experienced a true continental breakfast.

A Continental breakfast.

In America, continental breakfast conjures up visions of freebies at the motel, with little boxes of cold cereal, perhaps a few pastries, a bowl of bananas, and maybe, if you’re lucky, hot oatmeal. Or a real live make-your-own waffle station.

But on the Continent – especially in Germany – oh, my, breakfast is truly a course of a different color.

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Baguettes. Crusty, golden… unattainable-except-from-an-artisan-bakery baguettes.

Not so. And we’re here to prove it to you. read the rest of this entry »

“Great taste – less filling.”

We can only make half that famous Miller Lite claim for this tasty pizza crust.

Great taste? For sure.

Less filling?

Well, depends what’s on top, doesn’t it? read the rest of this entry »

Ah, the perfect waffle. Golden brown; light on the fork; crisp on the outside, “creamy” soft at the center; and offering the rich flavor of butter and eggs, with a tiny bit of deep-fried taste from the hot iron.

Since waffles are SO good, remind me again why I don’t make them more often?

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Ah, the age-old baker’s Christmas morning dilemma: how to serve fresh, hot cinnamon buns without getting up at 2 a.m. to start the long process…

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