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Hi all - I didn't want to hijack the recent cornbread thread, but I'm looking for a recipe for a cornbread bun. Its got to be a little sturdier, less crumbly, but still have the good corn flavor. Perhaps cut the cornmeal with flour and use a yeast bread recipe? My idea was for pulled pork sandwiches on cornbread buns. thanks for the insights...

I'm getting ready to open a retail bakery and I've realized I can't quite make the baguette of my dreams. My bakery will specialize in desserts and breakfast pastries, but we will also offer pre-made sandwiches and salads. Breads are not going to be our mainstay, but we'd like to at least produce them ourselves. I can probably get the hang of it sooner or later, I'd just feel more comfortable with somebody with a little more experience. Ideally, I would like to hire someone proficient in making artisan breads, croissants, and brioche. My question is how much would they expect to earn? Also, since we will be very small at first, this person will also likely help with various prep items and such, just to flesh out their hours. I'm located in Seattle, WA. If you'd like to be confidential about your answer, please feel free to PM me and I will keep your answer in strict confidence for my reference only. Thanks.

I was talking to a friend today, and I want to get a breadmaker. The thought of making my own pizza dough and wholemeal loaves sounds great I'm not sure which one to get though, is it worth spending more or is it just for bells and whistles? In Argos, they sell for between £25 and £100. Is the extra spend worth it?

There was a place in La Grange, Texas called the Bon Ton. They made the most incredible white bread know to mankind - REALLY!!! Does anyone know how I might acquire the recipe???

I've never given much thought to breading. The breaded and fried (either pan fried or deep fried) or baked cutlet or chop has never been part of my culinary repertoire. Lately, however, I've been dipping a toe into the ocean of breading, particularly with chicken tenders and cutlets, those universally beloved foods of today's youths (one of whom lives under our roof). So, can we talk about breading? There seem to be a whole mess of ways to do it. You've got your breading itself, which can be bread crumbs of various kinds (toasted, fresh, panko, herbed), or cereal (corn flakes, etc.), or other stuff (ground up pretzels, crackers, whatever). I guess some people also use just flour -- is that technically breading? There are also batters -- is that breading? Then there's the liquid you use to make the breading adhere to the meat. That could be milk, or eggs, or some people seem to do both in stages. I'm not really sure I understand how that works. There also seem to be different methods of getting the breading on to the meat: the zipper bag "shake and bake" method, the shallow bowl method, maybe some other methods I've not noticed. Then of course you have to cook the stuff. Who's going to give the primer on all this?

on a trip trough some liegeois patisseries my executive pastry chef showed me some small fruit/creme d amande tarteletts. she said the dough used is a mixture of a heavy yeast dough and pate sucree... i certainly have never heard of it.. how is it called, and what is it made of? maybe someone has a few special recipes ??? cheers torsten s.

I just came across mention of lava bread and cockles while searching something else. It certainly sparked my interest. Here are two links: Welsh Icons - Lava Bread The Secret Life of Cockles Has anyone here ever eaten lava bread and cockles?

We are having a picnic for our wedding reception in a few weeks time. The wedding takes place in Tenterden, Kent. We are looking for good bread - sourdough baguettes would be perfect - but are struggling to find any artisan bakeries nearby. Can anyone help or suggest a good supplier in that neck of the woods? Thanks, Gareth

I'm in the middle of making cheese straw type of bread sticks with puff pastry and just realized that the last of the eggs got used this morning- now I don't have an egg yolk to brush the pastry with. Can I use something else or do I really need to run to the store??

Can anyone help me source really good Riveria bread or Genoa Bread in the NJ/NY area? Thanks in advance...

I am asked on a regular basis by customers "Where can I get good bread in West van / north shore." As I don't live there, I don't have as good an answer as I should. Anyone have some reccomendations?

Think what you will of Wonder Bread (builds strong bodies, 12 ways....) it certainly is an American cultural icon in not only food traditions but marketing savvy. It was with great sadness I read in the LA Times today (actually their web site) that the Wonder Bread bakeries in So Cal are shutting down in October. The last loaves of Wonder Bread will come out on 10/20, and the bakeries will close totally by 10/29. They will also cease marketing Wonder Bread in Southern California at that time. They've been in the market in this area since the 1940's. Regardless of the cultural/culinary impact, the area will loose about 1300 jobs in 4 area cities. But.......no Wonder Bread on the shelves west of Las Vegas??? That's just wrong. Not that I've bought any of it in about 40 years, but still. It's something that was always there, and that I thought always would be. It's wayyyyyyyyyy too late, and I'm wayyyyyyyyyy too tired to figure out how to do a clever little clicky link (if one of the e-G staff would like to PM me with a cheat sheet, I'd be forever grateful), but here's the URL for the article. You *may* need to register to read it, but it's free. http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-wond...dlines-business The good news is the Twinkie/Ding Dong/Ho-Ho production and sales will remain.

We have a restaurant customer who wants us to make challah loaves for his french toast. He'd like a loaf to yield as much as possible, so the question begs: is there a way to ensure a more even lengthwise top to the bread? He won't be using the heels, but still, he'd like to get as many consistently sized slices as he can. Any thoughts? Cheers, Steve Smith

Hi All, I'm looking for a date bread recipe from Martha Stewart Wedding book. Does anyone have the book? I have a catering job coming up next month( I'm just doing the apps and desserts for a wedding). I was planning on a taragon chicken salad on date bread. I've made this bread before( at a previous job) and the texture is very sturdy and its not that sweet. Its more like a bread than a cake.

I was just reviewing the last year in anticipation of the Birthday Resolution and thought about something that happened at Christmas this past year. I had made Christmas dinner at my mother-in-laws: roasted capon, green beans with garlic, scalloped potatoes, roasted sweet potatoes. As we were getting everything on the table, Liz couldn't believe I wasn't putting bread on the table. I thought I was covered with two starches but she insisted that there had to be bread on the table. Her mother always had bread on the table with every meal. Growing up about the only times I remember bread on the table at meal time was if it was toast to soak up the egg yolk or under your stewed tomatoes or MAYBE as garlic bread with red sauce and spaghetti. Our rule was protein, at least one if not two veg and one starch. What was your experience?

Inspired by hummingbirdkiss' mention in the Starting a Sourdough topic, where she talked about the use of juniper berries, I decided since I live in the land of junipers, I would give it a go! To start with I have made a sourdough starter once before. I used organic grapes from our local co-op. Everything went according to plan, but after about 6 months, I got tired of feeding it and looking at the grungy jar, so it was laid to rest. My spouse, however, has nagged me to make bread ever since, but my interests have leaned much more sweetly since that time. But with hummingbirdkiss' mention lingering in my mind I set off to collect the berries. Now, if I'm going to do it, I'm going to give it my all. I decided to hike up our highest peak and gather the berries off of the top of the mountain, that way I could call it Bear Mountain Sourdough (nice ring, huh!). As many great tales begin...it was a dark and stormy day. Not really a day recommended for climbing a mountain. But I did. My pups and I loaded up a small sack and decided to race the rain. Curiously, the weather wasn't too bad going up, but there was enough humdity in the air that I noticed the smells that are normally lost to our daily dryness. The smells (and this is no exaggeration) were of grocery store baking bread! A good omen I thought. I got 2/3 up the mountain making very good time, and the scent shifted just a bit. I've learned to pay attention to my nose up in the mountains because my dogs are surely smelling the same thing, and they love to chase animals. This scent was unmistakably - bear. Not good. I saw a bit of fresh scat, and some tree scratchings so we just started singing Valderi, Valdera loudly enough that it would scare off any animal. But the scent got stronger. I assumed we were following the bear (and he was probably wondering why we were chasing it singing a stupid song). I hit the summit, logged in the summit journal, and pulled out my ziplock. I quickly filled it with a dozen juniper berries - the biggest, plumpest, whitest ones I could find. I did my best to not knock off any of the natural yeast that coated the berries. I didn't even know this was yeast until hummingbirdkiss told me. Not even a minute after picking the berries, the thunder started roaring like a loud bear (the comparison to the forbidden fruit was not lost on me). My dogs are used to hiking with me, and we've been in some tight spots before so I'm sure they understood clearly when I said, "We need to get off this mountain right now." And we did, we ran as fast as the trail allowed down the path. The thunder kept getting louder and the rain started to fall. All scent was gone now - no bear, no bread...had I destroyed the garden of knowledge?! (This will seem anti-climatic) Then we got to the car and drove home incident free. I went to the kitchen and pulled out my materials. I used hummingbirdkiss' formula of 1 C. flour, 1 C. water and 6-8 berries. I covered the jar with saran wrap with small holes cut in it and kept it in a warm place. One week later I had this: A good start (or starter in this case). Two days after that I had this: This was looking really good! But then things fizzled as I tried to feed it. Now, nearly a month later I have this: Don't be confused by the bubbles, they're from me pouring into a new jar moments before the picture. I have a good sour-smelling pancake batter. So that is my story as of today. I'm looking forward to a resurrection of sorts with this starter. Any ideas?

I seem to have difficulty when it is time to make my slash marks on by batards and baguettes. I think the problem is the moistness of the dough. Assuming sharp knife, and either wetted or floured to help it travel across the dough, it still seems that when I make my slashes the blade pulls the dough forward causing it to deflate. Here are my questions: After making the slashes do most of you put your bread right into the oven or do you let it rise some more? Any suggestions on how to make a cleaner slash, some method that works for you?

You can read about the charity event here: Description by one of my volunteers I didn't get pics of much of the food, but I did take some pics of both of my breads. Half the epi cooling. A close up. The brioche.

Today, while on the premise of last minute school shopping, I succumbed to the urge to buy decorative Halloween candy thinking I would make a haunted Gingerbread house and these black and white caramel things would look great as tombstones, some candy pumpkins, candy corn in various dark colors; a whole big bag of black jelly beans! (that was really an indulgence since I am no fan of black jelly beans. At least I won't eat them while I'm imagining doing this project....) Anyway.... I've been searching around for some patterns. I have a few books on gingerbread houses, they're ok; but I was wondering what creations you have found or made. I thought Martha Stewart had done one a few years ago, but I haven't been able to find it with a google image search. I did find an interesting pattern at Franky's Attic page Sorry to rush the holiday, but these things take time ETA: Does anyone have the Martha Stewart magazine with the directions and/or picture of the Haunted House? It looked a little like the house from the Psycho movie (but this is going on memory and I could be very wrong). It's not on the MS site. I tried checking Amazon and I can't find it in the index of her Halloween book so I am all out of ideas on where to find this.... ) Thanks.

Hi, The Baker's Catalogue is now offering their version of the no-knead bread titled Absolutely No-Knead Crusty-Chewy Bread. There are significant differences with the Sullivan Street Bakery's recipe. Whopping Hydration: They call for hydration rates between 89% and 97% depending on the protein level of the flour. Second Rise in the Baking Vessel: The crock is not preheated but is used for the second rise. This eliminates the oven spring of the Sullivan Street version. Using the crock for the second rise also necessitates greasing of the container. Shorter Baking Time: The bread is baked at 450 degrees for 45 minutes covered and 4 - 5 minutes uncovered. The resulting bread comes from the oven with a flat top. (I'm not sure about that.) It appears that a period of kneading, rather than stirring, develops a higher, rounder crown. I would like to hear comments on this recipe. Tim

I have a few issues with general practices at fine-dining restaurants when it comes to bread service. First, as much as I appreciate a fine selection of bread, I would rather have a bread basket than deal with a server coming around with a bread selection and going through the whole "Would you like sourdough, olive, multigrain, or raisin-walnut?" rigmarole all night long, over and over, with each individual person at the table. Just give us a few pieces of every type of bread in a basket, and bring more if we need it. I guess with warm bread individual service makes sense, but most places aren't doing warm bread. Second, butter allocations are usually too small. A table of four people might be given essentially a pat of butter in a little dish. I suppose it's understandable that restaurants wish to avoid waste (even though restaurant dining is a fundamentally wasteful experience, but whatever), but if they're going to give small dishes of butter then they should be better about replacing them. That guy who comes around incessantly with a tray of bread; why can't he be more diligent about noticing when you're low on butter, and then not taking ten minutes to come back with more. Third, there should be salt on the table, especially if the butter is unsalted but even if it is salted. Fourth, don't serve cold butter. Yes, the department of health makes you store it cold, but surely you can let it come up to room temperature just before service. Fifth, the system in place at most fine-dining restaurants that offer a bread service seems to be that, if you say "No, I won't be having another piece just now," they take your bread plate away. This I suppose helps them know not to keep offering you bread. But the reality is that I, and many people I know, sometimes just want a bread intermission. I don't want another piece right away because I don't want to eat ten pieces of bread before my food comes. But I will want another piece at some point. Or maybe I'm not sure. In any event, I don't want to have to ask for a new bread plate if I later decide to have more bread. The solution, leaving a small uneaten piece of bread on your plate to deter clearing, is unappetizing and shouldn't be necessary.

For clarity, by bread bag clips, I mean these [CLICK]. As a child I remember a drawer in my grandmother's kitchen full of them ... all sorts of colours & sizes. She never really re-used them, thus the fullness of the drawer. She had to be collecting them. Today, I have a smaller collection (in a smaller box in the tin foil/plastic wrap drawer) that I periodically clear out. Sometimes I'll even revert to my childhood, breaking them in half, "clipping" one half to the tip of my index finger, and flinging it across the room at our dogs, or my wife if I'm feeling brave. Anyone else? A.

Well I found myself(at 10:00 at night) deciding to make a big batch of scones and then I will give most away tomorrow morning...I am a big scone fan but was wondering..... What is everyone's favorite quick bread for whatever time of day or meal? Look forward to hearing everyone's favorites...

I saw that this year's IACP baking book winner is Bread Matters: the sorry state of modern bread and a definitive guide to baking your own, by Andrew Whitley. I haven't yet seen a copy, and I have enough baking books at this point that I hesitate to purchase anything without having a good look through it first. Have you seen this book? Do you use it? How does it compare to other bread-baking books? Thanks, MelissaH

my boss would like to use fry bread as a component for a menu item, and the task of making the dough has fallen to me. i've never made this before - actually, i've never even eaten it before - so i thought i'd check here & see if anyone has any recipes or tips to offer. i've been trolling google for recipes, and they all seem very similar - hard to figure out what makes a good fry bread recipe, and which are not so good. if anyone has any thoughts they'd like to share, i'd really appreciate it - kerry