Zosia's Reviews
6 recipe(s) reviewed. Showing 1 to 6Sort by: Title 
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The Bread Bible
By Rose Levy Beranbaum
W.W. Norton & Co. - 2003
Golden Semolina Torpedo (Altamura) : page 365
This is a delicious bread with a lovely golden colour, a bouncy/chewy crumb and a crisp crust.
It’s also one of the oddest breads I’ve ever made. It’s a lean dough, made entirely of durum semolina flour with water, yeast and salt. The author recommends kneading by hand to avoid overworking the gluten. The dough ends up very soft and silky, but also quite slack, causing me great difficulty with the shaping….my loaves look more like baguettes than torpedos :). I was supposed to slash the loaves while they were still underproofed…I missed the boat on that one, but was happy that they didn’t fall as a result of over-proofing them.
Having never had this bread before, I don’t know if mine came out correctly. What I do know is that it’s very different in taste, texture and appearance from other lean breads made with bread flour, but equally delicious.
useful (1)
Irish Soda Bread : page 148
I made this bread yesterday, in honour of St. Patrick’s Day. I have no idea how authentic this recipe is - all I can say is that it’s a tender, lightly sweetened loaf with a lovely crust, almost like a giant scone.
Despite the 4 pages of instructions, the dough comes together in ~5 minutes and bakes in 30. It's a simple mixture of flour (I used ½ whole wheat), sugar, soda (of course), butter and buttermilk.
I omitted the whiskey soaked raisins and didn’t make the whiskey butter, elements that would probably earn this an extra star, but it was delicious nonetheless and disappeared quickly. Next time, I’ll have to make 2!
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Perfect Pizza Dough : page 189
This is one of the easiest and most delicious pizza doughs I’ve ever made. Thin, crispy and chewy, it’s the perfect vehicle for any number of toppings.
Basic ingredients of flour (I use unbleached AP), yeast, salt, sugar and water are barely stirred together – no kneading! – to form a shaggy dough that’s left to rise (or store in the refrigerator to allow the flavour to develop further) in an oiled bowl. Once doubled, it’s spread on an oiled baking pan and allowed to rest again.
Before any toppings are added, the dough is baked in a very hot, pre-heated oven for a few minutes. I can’t tell you what a difference this step makes, not only in this recipe, but in other pizza dough recipes I’ve used since: it virtually eliminates the soggy top and bottom crusts that plague so many pizzas, especially those with heavy toppings. The baking is completed after the toppings are added.
I hesitated before making this the first time as I don’t own a pizza stone, but I’ve had excellent results without it. I normally do 4x the recipe (but only ~2x the oil) for 5 people.
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Potato Buttermilk Bread : page 319
Crusty, moist, chewy, this bread has a texture quite unlike the soft, fluffy sandwich loaves I’m accustomed to with potato breads. It has definite potato flavour but lacks the sweetness the tuber usually imparts to breads.
This is a 2-day bread that starts with a biga, a mixture of bread flour, water and yeast. It only takes about 5 minutes to make the biga but it must sit for 6 hours before refrigeration for up to 3 days. Once you’re ready to make the bread, the biga is added to the other ingredients and the process is fairly standard: kneading, 1st proofing, shaping, 2nd proofing, baking.
The ingredients for this bread are unusual in that the recipe calls for potato flour and vital wheat gluten. It was my first time using the gluten and it was clear that the chewiness of the bread was due, in part, to this ingredient. The bread is baked in a very hot, preheated oven using Rose’s ice cube method to create the steam necessary to develop the crispy crust.
I doubled the recipe and made 12 sandwich buns that tasted like they came straight from an artisanal bakery. Delicious!
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Sweet Potato Loaf : page 276
This bread is so delicious, I actually cook sweet potatoes just to make it. It’s light and airy but has a tight, though soft, crumb that makes it perfect for sandwiches. It doesn’t taste like the tuber, but it is slightly sweet and it gets its pretty golden colour from the potato.
The only drawback of this recipe is the time involved…it not only starts with a sponge that needs to ferment, but the dough requires 2 periods of proofing before it’s even shaped, and, this dough rises very slowly.
I usually make buns to be enjoyed with burgers or in sandwiches. The latest batch was used for these turkey sandwiches.
useful (1)
Traditional Challah : page 516
This is a gorgeous bread, both in flavour and texture: it’s light and airy with the perfect level of sweetness for my family’s tastes.
The bread is enriched with eggs, oil and honey and takes a fair bit of time to make, but most of it is waiting time. It can be made in 1 day, which is what I did, but the dough can also be refrigerated at different stages if that’s more convenient…..this also helps to develop the flavour.
Though I’ve made challah before, I’ve never attempted a braid. I used the instructions on the King Arthur website for the 6-strand braid…..I think I should have practiced with cords first : ) Here's the link http://www.kingarthurflour.com/blog/2012/03/09/shaping-braids-6-strands-without-using-6-hands/
I was hoping to have leftover challah for French toast but it wasn’t meant to be from this loaf…I’ll have to make another soon!
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