For tomorrow's bread, I've chosen Polish onion rolls. I found the recipe in Polish Heritage Cookery (Strybel, 809) . The original recipe is as follows:

In a small bowl, mash 1/2 cake yeast with 1t. sugar, add 3/4c. lukewarm milk, and 1/2c. all-purpose flour, sifted. Mix well, cover with cloth, and let rise in a warm place for 10-15 minutes. Sift 2c. all-purpose flour into a large bowl, add yeast mixture, 3T. cooking oil, 1 beaten egg, and 1/2-1t. salt. Work into a smooth, glossy dough. Cover with cloth and let rise until doubled (30-45 minutes). Transfer to floured board, sprinkle with flour, and divide into 8 equal parts. Between floured hands, roll each piece into ball, flatten with palm, and roll each into 1/4" thick circle. Place on greased baking sheet, leaving 1 1/2" between rolls. Cover with cloth and let rise about 60 minutes. Meanwhile, peel and thinly slice 4 onions and saute in 2T. fat (oil, butter oleo, or lard) to a pale golden hue. Add 1 T. water, cover, and simmer 1-2 min. or until liquid evaporates. Salt & pepper to taste and set aside to cool. When rolls have doubled, use floured bottom of drinking glass to make a depression at center of each and fill depression with fried onions. Brush parts of roll extending beyond onion filling with beaten egg and sprinkle with poppyseeds. Bake in pre-heated oven (350F) about 20-30 minutes or until golden.

This recipe has a few gaps which I plan to fill in as I proceed. For instance, at some point I will add the yeasty mixture to the rest of the flour. It should be delicious, though!

Tunisian Terabilesi

This is the bread from 2-21-2008.

This week’s effort is Tunisian Terabilesi Bread, from The World Religions Cookbook by Schmidt and Fieldhouse. It is a leavened bread from northern Africa, and purportedly the recipe dates from the Roman occupation of Carthage.

Founded by settlers from Tyre in one of the most fertile river valleys of Northern Africa, the city-state of Carthage was one of the great naval powers of the Mediterranean for centuries. Through its colonies, Carthage produced silver, tin, the highly-sought after purple dye, textiles, pottery, wine, horses, olives, and grain. At its greatest point, the empire encompassed most of the northern coast of Algeria, southern Spain, Sardinia, Sicily, the Balearic Islands, and some of Libya’s western coast. Their trade network included Greece, Rome, the British Isles, the Canary Islands, Persia, the African interior, and Asia Minor.

Millet has been the primary grain crop in most of Africa for centuries, due to its hardiness and resistance to drought, but in the northern river deltas it was possible to grow wheat and other grains. Olives also flourished near Carthage, but their trade networks would have made importing olives from Greece or the Iberian Peninsula possible as well. Leavened breads were common well before 146 BC, when Carthage fell to Rome in the 3^rd Punic War. Clay ovens were also extremely common, so the baking method is legitimate. From a historical perspective, it is not impossible that this recipe has survived intact from the Classical era.

Recipe:

1. Combine 2 cups whole wheat flour, 2 cups all-purpose flour, 2tsp dry yeast, 1 ½ tsp salt, 2c lukewarm water until blended

2. Knead on floured surface until smooth.

3. Wrap dough in plastic and let rise 1 hour at room temperature.

4. To make glaze, combine water (I used 4 tbsp) and 1tbsp flour in a saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring continuously. Set aside to cool.

5. Knead dough again on floured surface.

6. Divide dough into two pieces and form into tight balls. Set on baking sheet (greased next time) and let rest 30 minutes.

7. With knife, make 4 cuts on top of each loaf and brush with cooled glaze. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. (I omitted sesame seeds, because I don’t like them.)

8. Bake at 400F for 50 minutes.

The World Religions Cookbook, p156

First Bread - Croissants Cambo

I'm catching up on my previous weeks, so here is the bread from 2-7-2008.

This week’s bread is the croissant cambo, or unlayered croissant. Clayton got this recipe in Cambo-les-Bains, probably from a Basque boulanger. It differs from a typical unfilled croissant in several ways. Firstly, a typical croissant is made with lots of malt syrup and sugar, to give it its characteristic sweetness. This recipe calls for no additional sweetening and produces a much more savory bread, which would probably go quite well with jam. A layered croissant takes 15-18 hours to prepare, since there are two risings, the layering is time consuming, and it must spend at least 2 hours refrigerated before baking. Typical croissants are also glazed with egg whites at several stages and have butter sandwiched between very thin layers. Whichever type of croissant is being made, it’s a process which requires a lot of patience. If the dough is forced into shape or cut before it has relaxed, the final product will be much less attractive and delicious. My favorite variation on the croissant is filled with chocolate (it has a more rectangular shape, to accommodate the filling) and is best eaten after the chocolate has been melted in your hands.

The croissant has a storied history, but most of it appears to be fabrication. The most common stories claim that the origin of the croissant is in the siege of Vienna (or Budapest) in 1683 (or maybe 1686) by the Ottoman Empire. According to the legend, a baker working late near the city wall heard suspicious noises which, when investigated by the proper authorities, turned out to be the Turks attempting to tunnel under the city’s fortifications. As a reward, the baker was allowed to be the sole producer of fancy rolls in the shape of crescents, reminiscent of the Ottoman flag. (Larousse Gastronomique, Lang, 1988) The rolls then presumably migrated to France, where they were dubbed “croissants” for their crescent shape. A similar story actually exists for the name of bagels – they are said to be named for the bugles which sounded the alarm when the Turks invaded and to be shaped like stirrups. This is all very charming and romantic, but in fact, the first mention of croissants is in a French text from 1835, where they are categorized as a luxury bread. The earliest recipe dates to 1905 and is found in Favre’s Dictionaire universel de cuisine. (Oxford Companion to Food) This recipe is not at all similar to today’s buttery, flaky roll – it is a recipe for a pastry made of crushed almonds and sugar. The croissant we know today is a much more recent invention.

This week’s recipe was derived from “The Breads of France: How to Bake Them in Your Own Kitchen” by Bernard Clayton Jr. I also relied on reference materials including www.foodtimeline.org and “The Story of Bread” by Sheppard and Newton. For next time, I will be sure to have a pastry brush and sharp knife at hand.

Olin Self Study - An Anthropological Investigation of Bread

I am a senior at Olin College of Engineering doing a 4-credit independent study on bread. Each week, I select a bread, find a recipe, and write about that particular bread's relevance and development in society. This blog is mostly so that I can keep track of the time I spend on project and so that I have a lasting record of my research and recipes.