Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 15, 1995 TAG: 9511150017
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ALMENA HUGHES FOOD EDITOR
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Not that there's anything wrong with kneading. In fact, some bread bakers find the process soothing, therapeutic, even sensual - right up there with fresh bread's alluring aromas and tantalizing textures and tastes.
Abundant aids are available to bread bakers. Frozen dough manufacturer Rhodes International Inc. offers usage guidance and a free recipe booklet through its toll-free bake line at (800) 876-7333. Wheat germ manufacturer Kretschmer is offering a collection of recipes plus tips for baking with the versatile wheat kernels. Send your name and address to Holiday Baking with Wheat Germ, 332 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 900, Chicago, Ill. 60604.
Fleischmann's Yeast Baker's Help Line fields baking questions at (800) 777-4959. Plus, the company offers two good bread making cookbooks for $2.95 each that might make nice, inexpensive holiday gifts alone or packaged with other bread-related items. Order "Best Ever Breads" from P.O. Box 5970, Dept. PR, Stacy, Minn. 55078-5970; and "Bread Machine Favorites" from P.O. Box 5953, Dept. PR, Stacy, Minn. 55078-5953. Allow four to six weeks for delivery.
Cookbook authors have risen to the quest for information on bread making. Bakers who want to make bread the old-fashioned way, without a bread machine, may find the following among the more interesting books on the subject:
``Beard on Bread'' by James Beard ($15, Alfred A. Knopf) was first published 22 years ago; now with an introduction by Chuck Williams of Williams-Sonoma. The book includes a master recipe for a basic yeast bread, a 12-point list of remedies for improving one's loaf and a wonderful variety of recipes.
``Anne Willan's Look & Cook: Classic Breads'' ($19.95, Dorling Kindersley), by Anne Willan - who founded the famous French cooking school La Varenne - shows each stage of the recipes photographed in close-up detail.
``Great Breads: Home-Baked Favorites from Europe, the British Isles and North America'' by Martha Rose Shulman ($19.95, Chapters Publishing) has recipes for flat breads, yeast breads, pizzas, savory and sweet quick breads, muffins, popovers, pancakes and crepes.
``The Secrets of Jesuit Breadmaking'' by Brother Rick Curry ($16.50, HarperPerennial) is packed with 80 recipes, practical advice (treat yourself to a nice 6- to 8-quart ceramic bowl) and fascinating tidbits about bread baking, which has been a Jesuit tradition since the order was founded in 1534.
"The Art of Quick Breads - Simple Everyday Baking" by Beth Hensperger ($18.95, Chronicle Books) pulls together an impressive assortment of more than 100 fast, easy recipes emphasizing seasonal produce and grains, plus butters, sauces and spreads.
Bakers who favor bread machines can choose from among a wide assortment of cookbooks, too. ``What Can I Do with My Bread Machine?''is Barbara Norman's handy paperback ($4.50, Dell Books) filled with more than 100 ideas and recipes to make specialty breads, yeast cakes, rolls and other baked goods. It also has a trouble-shooting guide, cost-cutting advice and cleanup tips.
``Pizza, Focaccia, Flat, and Filled Breads From Your Bread Machine - Perfect Every Time'' ( $22, William Morrow) is the newest cookbook from Lora Brody, author of ``Bread Machine Baking'' and ``Desserts from Your Bread Machine.'' Brody includes a new creation - quitza - which is a cross between quiche and pizza.
Madge Rosenberg offers ``The Best Low-Fat, No-Sugar Bread Machine Cookbook Ever'' ($16.95, HarperCollins). In the introduction, she writes: ``Although many of the breads taste rich enough for dessert, I never used an egg yolk or even unwrapped a stick of butter or margarine. Instead, these recipes are luxurious in nutritious grains, in the natural sweetness of fresh and dried fruits, in the savor of seasonal vegetables and sensuous spices.'' Most of the recipes contain less than 5 percent calories from fat.
Rosenberg, author of two previous bread machine cookbooks, describes various brands of bread machines, gives tips on measuring ingredients and explains various types of flours and grains.
``Rustic European Breads From Your Bread Machine'' ($25, Doubleday), is by Linda West Eckhardt and Diana Collingwood Butts, who also wrote ``Bread in Half the Time.''
``The Bread Machine Magic Book of Helpful Hints'' by Linda Rehberg and Lois Conway (St. Martin's Press) can increase your bread machine know-how once you get beyond the basics of bread machine baking.
``Electric Bread (1991) and its follow-up``More Electric Bread, which debuted this month ($29.95, Innovative Cooking Enterprises, I.C.E. Inc.), are real bread-machine brainchildren. Anchorage, Alaska-based I.C.E. is actually a test kitchen in which 150 different models of bread machines have been tested on more than 16,000 loaves of bread. When you call the books' toll-free help line (800) 541-2733 - which I.C.E. claims is the only one directly affiliated with a cookbook - you're likely to reach someone who has hands-on experience with your particular machine. Especially nice features of the lay-flat books are the nutritional breakdowns and success hints accompanying each recipe. Good color photos also give a feel for what the finished products should look like, both size- and texture-wise. A list of universal bread-machine success tips is also included, almost ensuring nothing left to do but bring on the butter and jam.
- The Associated Press contributed information to this story.
recipes for:
BANANA WHEAT GERM SODA BREAD
BITS O' BACON*
MINCEMEAT BREAD
CHICKEN AND MUSHROOM BRAID
HOLIDAY TREASURES
by CNB