"loaves" news and stories

I recently tried this bread recipe from Young Mo Kim I found while perusing a magazine called Pastry and Baking North America. Bread and red wine just go so well together that I had to see what a bread made with red wine would taste like. It was good if I do say so myself.

The recipe is called red wine walnut bread, but I had some dried currants which I thought would be so much better with the red wine. There's no specific red wine mentioned, and I just used a Cabernet Sauvignon. I made two more deviations from the recipe. Since I didn't have any rye meal, I used the same amount of wheat bran instead. Also, I forgot the softened butter, so I'm not sure how the bread would have turned out with it.

Even with all of the changes I ended up making, the red wine bread was very good. It was a little dry, which I'm sure would have been taken care of had I not forgotten the butter (or added a little more hydration), but the red wine taste really came through. The taste of the red wine was strongest when I first took a bite, and mellowed after that to a sweet, wheat-y taste. The dried currants were also really nice in this bread, and they added to the sweetness. For more of a crunch and less fruity-ness, go with the walnuts. Recipe after the jump.

I became aware of cottage cheese dill bread when I started working in my pastry kitchen. It's one of the breads that I have to make on a regular basis, as it's used for all kinds of canapes and finger sandwiches. I've never seen it in a retail bakery and so far as I can tell, it's not a very popular bread, but it should be.

Cottage cheese dill loaves are made with a variety of savory ingredients that make for a saliva-inducing aroma and taste. In addition to the cottage cheese and dill you've got onion and horseradish, and in some cases Parmesan cheese (I've seen it in recipes, but don't use it in my bread).

The dill loaves I make are used mainly for smoked salmon canapes and cucumber finger sandwiches, and I also make a cottage cheese dill dinner roll. They make the pastry kitchen smell absolutely wonderful. They can make your house smell just as good, and you'll be very pleased with what this bread can do for your sandwiches, not to mention toast! This recipe I found online looks good, but I'd add a tablespoon of horseradish if you have it. Also, there's a good version in Bernard Clayton's "New Complete Book of Breads". Check out the gallery below for some inspirational photos.

Meyer lemons are a slightly sweeter version of regular lemons and are becoming more and more popular with bakers as they become easier to find in stores. The distinguishing feature of the lemons, aside from their small size and thin skin, is that they have none of the bitterness that is found in regular lemons. This means that anything they are used in, from lemonade to lemon tarts, will have a very intense lemon flavor that is not cut by an overly tart aftertaste of any kind. Jen, the Barmy Baker, took advantage of their fantastic flavor and baked up these Meyer Lemon Loaves using a recipe from Pierre Hermes' Desserts and some lemons from her small Meyer lemon tree. The loaves are only a tiny bit lighter than a pound cake and are rich with butter and sour cream. They are also spiked with a little bit of rum, which makes them seem a little bit more festive for the holidays.

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One of the most popular comfort foods is meatloaf. But how do you put one together? Meat in a loaf pan? The Meatloaf Pages are here to help with possibly the largest, tested meatloaf recipe collection on the internet. The have recipes from Emeril's Most Kicked Up Meatloaf Ever to the posh Veal, Chicken and Wild Mushroom Loaf, which is fit for the finest restaurant table but simple enough to serve on a weeknight at home. Every recipe includes the observations and comments of their professional, experienced meatloaf chefs, as well as advice for improving the recipes.

And if you're looking for meatloaf inspiration, take a look at the Flickr meatloaf gallery, with photos of meatloaf, meatloaf sandwiches and the most popular meatloaf side dish: mashed potatoes. The photo above is one of my favorites, and a Flickr member's first attempt at homemade meatloaf.

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