It is called toast
Thank you for the many cheers and kind words about our anniversaries. You are so good to us! We went to Bellingham to celebrate over the weekend - which, in our world, means Monday and Tuesday, the days when Delancey is closed - and I regret to report that the dinosaur graffiti has been painted over. There’s a cafe there, and they put in some outdoor seating, so I guess they wanted to spruce the place up. The only good news is that the graffiti was painted over badly, with white paint, so if you squint, you can still make out the curving neck of the brontosaurus. Shine on, dinosaurs!
I should also report that I have made a discovery, and it is called toast. I understand that most people discover toast as teething babies, and that this makes me about 31 years late to the party. But I am okay with this, because it means that I have 31 years of toast-eating to catch up on, and that is a lot of toast to look forward to.
It’s not that I had never eaten toast before. I want to be clear about that. I have eaten a lot of toast. But if you’ve been reading here for a while, or for any length of time at all, you probably know that I’ve tended to spend my morning hours in the company of granola. I’m crazy for granola, and I am also deeply boring. I’ve been making my own for close to ten years, and I’ve eaten it almost every day. On the other days, I’ve had toast, or pancakes, or French toast, or scones, or muffins, or fried eggs, because that’s what people do, but mostly, I eat granola.
But then. A couple of months ago, the granola jar was empty, and I had some bread on the counter. It was veering in the direction of stale, so I decided to toast it. Whoop de doo. No big deal. I didn’t put much thought to it. I made some coffee, set the toaster dial to medium, slid a slice of bread in, got out the butter and jam, smeared them on, and sat down to eat. And there it was, boom, as though I had never tasted it before: crisp at the edges, a faint chew at the middle, sweet in the way that browned things taste sweet, juicy with hot fat and cold fruit. I understood toast. I cut another slice.
The world doesn’t really need a recipe for toast, and I’m not going to try to give you one. The esteemed John Thorne devoted twelve pages to the topic in his book Pot on the Fire, if you’re interested, and it’s a very good read. No one can top John Thorne, and I am willing to bet that no one can top John Thorne’s toast. But technique aside, I will tell you one thing that I have come to believe: the bread is key.
The best breads for toasting are dense and damp-crumbed. If you toast a flimsy bread, the kind that’s so soft that you can wad up a slice of it in your fist without even using any muscles, the result will be something akin to a piece of crusty old foam that you might find popping out of the busted seat of a 1960s Chevy. You do not want to eat that. This morning, I had a couple of slices of pain de campagne from a bakery, one of those breads with a thick, shattery crust and a shiny, chewy crumb, and it was excellent. But my favorite bread for toasting is a homemade one, a loaf that I’ve made three times in as many weeks, from Good to the Grain, by Kim Boyce.
I have to admit that I did not come to this book unbiased. I heard about it from my friend Luisa, who is apparently also into toast right now, how weird and terrific, and who was, in her previous work life, the book’s editor. Luisa told me that Kim was onto something good, and so I had high hopes when I tried my first recipe, the oatmeal sandwich bread on page 130.
It’s probably the most unassuming recipe title in the book, so if you’re thinking Booooring, I won’t blame you. But it’s a top-notch bread, and once you try it - toasted, ideally - you’ll see why I am going on and on like this about toast. This bread is my everyday ideal: dense and hearty, but not heavy, and very fragrant with the natural sweetness of oatmeal and wheat. Prior to trying this recipe, I was buying a locally made whole wheat loaf at the grocery store, and it was nice, but it was sweetened with honey, and the flavor was too strong and too sweet. This is much better. It uses basic pantry ingredients, and once you’ve got them, you can bake whenever you want, and though it takes about four hours from start to finish, the actual work time is very brief, so you could start it before dinner, finish it by bedtime, and spend most of the intervening hours lying on the couch. The kitchen will smell like yeast, molasses, and a million bucks, and in the oven, the loaf will bloom up and out of the pan like some sort of fantastic mushroom. It’s gorgeous, especially smeared with apricot or raspberry jam, or even just butter, or, better yet, butter and a fine dust of crunchy salt. And that’s only breakfast, and you’ve got the whole day ahead.
Oatmeal Sandwich Bread
Adapted from Good to the Grain, by Kim Boyce with Amy Scattergood
I’ve noticed that some reviews of this book complain that it calls for ingredients using only volume measures, not weight measures. I don’t find that to be a deal-breaker, but it is important to measure the ingredients correctly, particularly the flours. Before you scoop any flour out of the container, take a spoon and stir the flour, lifting and loosening it. (It tends to get packed down, and you don’t want to measure packed flour.) Now, to measure, spoon the flour into your measuring cup until it heaps above the rim. Then sweep the back of a dinner knife, or any other straight utensil, across the top to level it, letting the excess flour fall back into the container.
This recipe is made for a standard-size loaf pan, one that measures about 9 by 5 by 3 inches. But mine is on loan to Delancey, so I’ve been using a different pan, one that I picked up at a thrift shop a couple of years ago. It measures 10 by 3 ¾ by 3 inches, and I love the long, skinny loaf it makes.
One last thing: the original version of this recipe calls for 1 tablespoon of kosher salt. That sounds like a lot, but kosher salt isn’t very salty, and I found the bread a little bland. Instead, I now use table salt, and I like the result when I use 2 ¼ teaspoons.
Oh, and this bread is also good for sandwiches, as you might have guessed from its title.
1 package (2 ¼ tsp.) active dry yeast
3 Tbsp. unsulphured (not blackstrap) molasses
2 ½ cups whole wheat flour
2 cups bread flour
1 cup rolled oats
4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
2 ¼ tsp. table salt, or to taste
Grease a large bowl and a loaf pan (see above) with butter or cooking spray.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine 2 cups warm water, the yeast, and molasses. Stir briefly, and then allow the yeast to bloom for about 5 minutes. Add the flours, oats, and butter, and stir to mix. The dough will look rough and shaggy. Cover with a towel, and let stand for 30 minutes. [This rest allows the dry ingredients to absorb the liquids, making for a dough that’s easy to work with and even-crumbed.]
Attach the bowl and the bread hook to the mixer. Add the salt, and mix on medium speed for 6 minutes. The dough should come together around the hook and slap around the sides of the bowl without sticking. If the dough is sticking, add a tablespoon or two of bread flour, sprinkling it down between the dough and the sides of the bowl. [Alternatively, you can knead by hand for about 15 minutes, adding flour as needed.] The dough should be soft and supple and slightly sticky.
For the first rise, scrape the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead it a few times. Put the dough into the greased bowl, cover with a towel, and leave it to rise for about 1 hour, or until it is doubled in size. To see if it’s ready, gently push a floured finger into it. If the dough springs back, it needs more time; if the dimple remains, it’s ready for the next step.
To shape the dough, scrape it onto a floured work surface. Press down on it, working it into a square shape, taking care to depress any bubbles. Fold the dough down from the top to the middle, then up from the bottom to the middle. Next, bring the newly formed top and bottom edges together, pinching the seam to seal. Pinch the sides together, and roll the shaped dough back and forth, plumping it so that it’s evenly formed and about the size of your pan. Place the dough in the pan with the seam side down, and press it gently into the corners of the pan.
For the second rise, cover the dough with a towel, and let it rest in a warm place for about 1 hour, or until the dough rises to half again its size. While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 400°F.
When the dough has finished its second rise, bake for about 40 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through. The loaf is ready when the top crust and bottom crusts are nicely browned. [Boyce says that the top crust should be the color of molasses, but mine never gets that dark.] To see if the bread is ready, give the top of the loaf a thump with your hand. If it sounds hollow, it’s ready; if not, give it another few minutes in the oven. Remove the finished loaf from the pan and cool completely on a wire rack. Resist the urge to cut in until it’s fully cooled, so that the crumb has time to set and the flavor can develop.
Note: This bread keeps beautifully at room temperature. I keep mine in a plastic grocery bag, tied shut, and I set it on the counter with the cut side down. It stays good that way for 4 or 5 days, easy.
Yield: 1 loaf
I should also report that I have made a discovery, and it is called toast. I understand that most people discover toast as teething babies, and that this makes me about 31 years late to the party. But I am okay with this, because it means that I have 31 years of toast-eating to catch up on, and that is a lot of toast to look forward to.
It’s not that I had never eaten toast before. I want to be clear about that. I have eaten a lot of toast. But if you’ve been reading here for a while, or for any length of time at all, you probably know that I’ve tended to spend my morning hours in the company of granola. I’m crazy for granola, and I am also deeply boring. I’ve been making my own for close to ten years, and I’ve eaten it almost every day. On the other days, I’ve had toast, or pancakes, or French toast, or scones, or muffins, or fried eggs, because that’s what people do, but mostly, I eat granola.
But then. A couple of months ago, the granola jar was empty, and I had some bread on the counter. It was veering in the direction of stale, so I decided to toast it. Whoop de doo. No big deal. I didn’t put much thought to it. I made some coffee, set the toaster dial to medium, slid a slice of bread in, got out the butter and jam, smeared them on, and sat down to eat. And there it was, boom, as though I had never tasted it before: crisp at the edges, a faint chew at the middle, sweet in the way that browned things taste sweet, juicy with hot fat and cold fruit. I understood toast. I cut another slice.
The world doesn’t really need a recipe for toast, and I’m not going to try to give you one. The esteemed John Thorne devoted twelve pages to the topic in his book Pot on the Fire, if you’re interested, and it’s a very good read. No one can top John Thorne, and I am willing to bet that no one can top John Thorne’s toast. But technique aside, I will tell you one thing that I have come to believe: the bread is key.
The best breads for toasting are dense and damp-crumbed. If you toast a flimsy bread, the kind that’s so soft that you can wad up a slice of it in your fist without even using any muscles, the result will be something akin to a piece of crusty old foam that you might find popping out of the busted seat of a 1960s Chevy. You do not want to eat that. This morning, I had a couple of slices of pain de campagne from a bakery, one of those breads with a thick, shattery crust and a shiny, chewy crumb, and it was excellent. But my favorite bread for toasting is a homemade one, a loaf that I’ve made three times in as many weeks, from Good to the Grain, by Kim Boyce.
I have to admit that I did not come to this book unbiased. I heard about it from my friend Luisa, who is apparently also into toast right now, how weird and terrific, and who was, in her previous work life, the book’s editor. Luisa told me that Kim was onto something good, and so I had high hopes when I tried my first recipe, the oatmeal sandwich bread on page 130.
It’s probably the most unassuming recipe title in the book, so if you’re thinking Booooring, I won’t blame you. But it’s a top-notch bread, and once you try it - toasted, ideally - you’ll see why I am going on and on like this about toast. This bread is my everyday ideal: dense and hearty, but not heavy, and very fragrant with the natural sweetness of oatmeal and wheat. Prior to trying this recipe, I was buying a locally made whole wheat loaf at the grocery store, and it was nice, but it was sweetened with honey, and the flavor was too strong and too sweet. This is much better. It uses basic pantry ingredients, and once you’ve got them, you can bake whenever you want, and though it takes about four hours from start to finish, the actual work time is very brief, so you could start it before dinner, finish it by bedtime, and spend most of the intervening hours lying on the couch. The kitchen will smell like yeast, molasses, and a million bucks, and in the oven, the loaf will bloom up and out of the pan like some sort of fantastic mushroom. It’s gorgeous, especially smeared with apricot or raspberry jam, or even just butter, or, better yet, butter and a fine dust of crunchy salt. And that’s only breakfast, and you’ve got the whole day ahead.
Oatmeal Sandwich Bread
Adapted from Good to the Grain, by Kim Boyce with Amy Scattergood
I’ve noticed that some reviews of this book complain that it calls for ingredients using only volume measures, not weight measures. I don’t find that to be a deal-breaker, but it is important to measure the ingredients correctly, particularly the flours. Before you scoop any flour out of the container, take a spoon and stir the flour, lifting and loosening it. (It tends to get packed down, and you don’t want to measure packed flour.) Now, to measure, spoon the flour into your measuring cup until it heaps above the rim. Then sweep the back of a dinner knife, or any other straight utensil, across the top to level it, letting the excess flour fall back into the container.
This recipe is made for a standard-size loaf pan, one that measures about 9 by 5 by 3 inches. But mine is on loan to Delancey, so I’ve been using a different pan, one that I picked up at a thrift shop a couple of years ago. It measures 10 by 3 ¾ by 3 inches, and I love the long, skinny loaf it makes.
One last thing: the original version of this recipe calls for 1 tablespoon of kosher salt. That sounds like a lot, but kosher salt isn’t very salty, and I found the bread a little bland. Instead, I now use table salt, and I like the result when I use 2 ¼ teaspoons.
Oh, and this bread is also good for sandwiches, as you might have guessed from its title.
1 package (2 ¼ tsp.) active dry yeast
3 Tbsp. unsulphured (not blackstrap) molasses
2 ½ cups whole wheat flour
2 cups bread flour
1 cup rolled oats
4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
2 ¼ tsp. table salt, or to taste
Grease a large bowl and a loaf pan (see above) with butter or cooking spray.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine 2 cups warm water, the yeast, and molasses. Stir briefly, and then allow the yeast to bloom for about 5 minutes. Add the flours, oats, and butter, and stir to mix. The dough will look rough and shaggy. Cover with a towel, and let stand for 30 minutes. [This rest allows the dry ingredients to absorb the liquids, making for a dough that’s easy to work with and even-crumbed.]
Attach the bowl and the bread hook to the mixer. Add the salt, and mix on medium speed for 6 minutes. The dough should come together around the hook and slap around the sides of the bowl without sticking. If the dough is sticking, add a tablespoon or two of bread flour, sprinkling it down between the dough and the sides of the bowl. [Alternatively, you can knead by hand for about 15 minutes, adding flour as needed.] The dough should be soft and supple and slightly sticky.
For the first rise, scrape the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead it a few times. Put the dough into the greased bowl, cover with a towel, and leave it to rise for about 1 hour, or until it is doubled in size. To see if it’s ready, gently push a floured finger into it. If the dough springs back, it needs more time; if the dimple remains, it’s ready for the next step.
To shape the dough, scrape it onto a floured work surface. Press down on it, working it into a square shape, taking care to depress any bubbles. Fold the dough down from the top to the middle, then up from the bottom to the middle. Next, bring the newly formed top and bottom edges together, pinching the seam to seal. Pinch the sides together, and roll the shaped dough back and forth, plumping it so that it’s evenly formed and about the size of your pan. Place the dough in the pan with the seam side down, and press it gently into the corners of the pan.
For the second rise, cover the dough with a towel, and let it rest in a warm place for about 1 hour, or until the dough rises to half again its size. While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 400°F.
When the dough has finished its second rise, bake for about 40 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through. The loaf is ready when the top crust and bottom crusts are nicely browned. [Boyce says that the top crust should be the color of molasses, but mine never gets that dark.] To see if the bread is ready, give the top of the loaf a thump with your hand. If it sounds hollow, it’s ready; if not, give it another few minutes in the oven. Remove the finished loaf from the pan and cool completely on a wire rack. Resist the urge to cut in until it’s fully cooled, so that the crumb has time to set and the flavor can develop.
Note: This bread keeps beautifully at room temperature. I keep mine in a plastic grocery bag, tied shut, and I set it on the counter with the cut side down. It stays good that way for 4 or 5 days, easy.
Yield: 1 loaf
posted by Molly at 12:30 AM
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78 Comments:
I have been having so much toast lately, with butter, or with thick yogurt and homemade strawberry jam. Or especially lately with fresh almond butter. Mathematically it's about time I start making my own bread. This is magnificent. I adore your blog. Sad about the dinosaurs.
I love a good ode to toast!
Toast is my most favorite food, and it makes me very happy. I can't wait to try this bread recipe because there is nothing better than homemade bread toast.
(Have you made cinnamon sugar toast yet? That might blow your mind.)
It´s such a coincidence that you´re writing about this bread, because I just got this great book for my birthday and decided this would be the recipe to try; and also the first bread I'll ever make.
My only problem is the molasses. I've been trying to find it here in the Netherlands, but haven't yet. Is there anything I can substitute it with?
Thanks so much and I love your new approach to the blog. More posts, yay!
Help the novice--what is bread flour? Thanks.
I have that book too, but have yet to try the bread. the other recipes i made so far were great (granola bars, olive oil cake, chocolate chip cookies). i'm eating avocado toast almost everyday during summer. perfect breakfast/lunch. yum!
i have been reading "good to the grain" & admiring the carrot muffins & summer peach pie recipes…
after reading your beautiful post i think that i would try my hand @ "toast."
thanks molly!
Hi Molly
Huge fan of your blog. My desert island meal would be a loaf of crusty white bread and a pat of salty butter, preferably with little salt crystals in it. Nowhere to plug a toaster in, but hey. I learned how to bake bread about 2 years ago and have never looked back!
Mmm, love the combination of oatmeal and molasses!
You know, toast for breakfast opens up a whole slew of possible spreads...apple butter, jam, lemon curd, marmalade, peanut butter, honey...
Getting Jim Lahey's book when it came out and starting to make a loaf of his bread once a week has changed my life. Walter went crazy when he found out the recipe had been posted in the NYTimes YEARS BEFORE. He wondered what took me so long - a question to which I had no answer.
As I have recently gotten Good to the Grain, I will try YOUR loaf this weekend because
I LOVE TOAST!
When I was a child visiting my grandparents in England, for breakfast I would be allowed to toast a thick slice of bread speared on a toasting "fork" right in the fire (followed by porridge with cream from the un-homoginized milk floating on top). It was the best toast I've ever had, but Jim Lahey's bread in thick slices comes close. I'll let you know how I like yours. Thanks for the tip.
Homemade bread is wonderful. This recipe is similar to my favorite one, which is a cracked wheat loaf from New Recipes from Moosewood Restaurant. The only difference is bulgur instead of oatmeal, a cup of milk and additional bread flour. Chewy, slightly crunchy, easy to slice, and divine toasted. Here's to sharing breakfasts - miles and time zones apart!
I am also on a bread-making spree, but I prefer to use my bread for fancy grilled cheese rather than for breakfast. I would think you'd need the same type of bread for grilled cheese as you would for "toast" because you want the same crispy-chewy thing going on.
Hi Molly,
I'm so glad you've entered the world of toast lovers! We are sound inhabitants (both mentally and physically), eaters of mountains of toast, sometimes a whole loaf at one meal/bedtime snack.
Our favorite toast is homemade sourdough made from flour (and a little raw wheat germ), salt, and water. We slather the toast with way too much butter and grape jam---the jam is made from the same arbor from which I obtained my bread starter's grapes. All my life's a circle...
How fitting a title! Last night you were toasted at our book group on the shore of Lake Champlain in Vermont...We feasted on the corn cakes, tomato and fennel soup, salmon, meatballs, pasta with pesto and zucchini, and the french yogurt lemon cake from your book. A Homemade Life was enjoyed by all...and I'm a dedicated reader here. Your voice is so refreshing--and your taste is even better!
Oh, this is funny (in a great sort of way)!
I was going through some old (1930's era) cookbooks last week and found a handwritten recipe really similar to this. You're right, it's delicious. And quickly becoming a favorite around here.
Oh heaven help me.
I can't say no to fresh bread. I sometimes make my own, if I have the time and energy at the exact moment the stars align (or the kitchen is clean). I've been looking for better recipes, so I'm going to have to give this one a try!
My mom was a very 'the-littlest-time-I-have-to-spend-in-the-kitchen-as-possible' type person. She still is. Yet her food, as simple as it was and is, always hits the spot- and leaves me wondering if I'm approaching the whole 'food thing' wrong. My kids rave about her food. Always a reminder that simple is okay, and better than complex at times.
Toast is one love that my mom passed on to me. I thought it was universal, until I got strange looks from my husband when early in our marriage, I suggested (if short on time- or food:)), "Let's just have toast." Toast with butter and jam- YUUUUUUM.
I like making (and eating) bread, although I try not to use the oven in the summer. I don't use a mixer for bread, especially not just one loaf. I usually just buy unbleached white flour for bread flour. Do you find it makes a difference? Where do you get bread flour?
I'm a toast addict, especially this time of year with homemade jam in abundance. The bread recipe sounds delicious. My little one loves to make bread~we'll give it a try. One of my favorite breads for toast (again, this time of year) is peaches and cream bread (recipe from king arthur flour). It needs nothing more than butter. Yum!
Man...I love toast. Unabashedly and forever. I've had my eye out for a nice wheaty, oatmeal-y bread and this looks like just the thing.
I'm so glad you're back, Molly.
I've been wanting Kim's new book for a while now, but other books keep pushing their way to the top of the list. But by the looks of this recipe, it looks like I need to buy it! Thanks for sharing :)
Oh yum. It looks quite delicious! Ali has requested that I stop testing loaves and just pick one that can be our daily loaf, but what I can say? I love new things. So I think I'll give this a whirl this weekend.
I've made this oatmeal toasting bread from Susan at Farmgirl Fare several times, and it's also delicous: http://foodiefarmgirl.blogspot.com/2006/11/oatmeal-toasting-bread-baking.html
You actually soak the oats and butter and sugar in some hot water for a while before beginning in earnest. Mmm.
I love oatmeal bread! I made my first and only batch this past winter. It is about time I make another. My loaves turned out quite flat, not very good for sandwiches, but it was magnificent toasted. Mmmm...
This book is really having a moment! It's at the top of my wish list, especially since our neighborhood bakery recently shut down after more than 80 years of a family business. :( I'm making do with grocery store toast in the meantime (Arnold's Ancient Grains isn't half bad!).
Toast. A thick slice of stodgy toast with a thick slab of butter, a slice of cheese, and a lovely ripe tomato. Olive oil. Salt. Really, it's so delicious....
Love your writing.
I was so excited to see this topic today...I worship at the church of toast! it is humble and yet totally satisfying. my favorite homemade loaf for toast is english muffin bread. i'll also throw in some sunflower seeds and millet for even more crunch and texture.
my favorite (well one of them) wintertime simple dinner--toast with salt sprinkled on it with a huge cup of hot chocolate (the kind made by melting reeeeeally good chocolate in milk).
a toast to toast!
I like the sound of this bread, and the earthiness of the oats and molasses. My favorite toast ever was with my very own homebaked sourdough rye. But alas, after several heavenly loaves my starter up and died. Toast just hasn't been the same since.
Ode to toast: I love toast so much that for the last year or two, I've had it nearly every day for breakfast and often for snacks as well. It's one of those things that serves as a canvas for whatever you are craving--savory or sweet. And good bread makes it a thousand times better. Thankfully I read this while eating toast. I might make my own bumper sticker that reads I HEART TOAST.
Too much?
Excellent! Thanks for the enticing recipe, and your sterling writing, Molly. Looking forward to trying this bread. Cathy
I have made crabapple jelly and white peach jam this summer. Still have to make the wild plum jam. On toast there is no 'depth of flavor'. Just the fruity goodness, butter and toast. Sublime on these hot summer Oklahoma days.
Molly - love your ode to toast. I'm making a loaf of oatmeal spelt bread right now because I love it so much (it's based on the basic bread recipe in America's Test Kitchen) and uses brown rice syrup instead of honey. It is yummy for sandwiches but divine toasted - especially with Luisa's mustard mayo & avocado mix. Better go make some toast right now.
i love toast, lately I've had it with my homemade marionberry jam, which is my favorite of all. Best with homemade bread.
Toast can be wonderful, indeed. So what brought you to Bellingham? I live here, and I can't figure out where the dinosaur graffiti was. It's driving me crazy! :-) Happy Anniversary, by the way!
Yeah, toast is pretty awesome. My 10 month old teething baby thinks it's the best thing around too. She's right though, it is. My husband is the baker around here and nothing beats his honey whole wheat bread with homemade blackberry jam. It's so good we serve it as dessert.
I grew up in Brazil eating white bread from the store with mayonnaise. It was alright but nothing to rave about. However, white bread toasted with mayonnaise is pretty good too.
Toast is easily my favorite food. There's so much to enjoy: jam, honey, butter, nutbutters... and that is just breakfast. Lunch can be divine too. I regularly have a French style tartine at noon. It's what gets me through the afternoon. Enjoy your toasty adventures.
I just now got back from being out in this damp morning to get toast! At Nelly's, by the Ballard Locks. They make the most delicious toast ever -- with butter, with jam, with cheese, with Swedish fish paste toppings...it's fabulous. How fun to see toast feted!
Too bad about the dinos but I'm glad you finally "get" toast. It's my go-to meal when My Beloved is not home for dinner.
I'm so glad you "discovered" toast! I too, am a granola maker, but often get lazy and neglect to make another batch...those are peanut butter toast mornings (crunchy, homestyle PB).
This sounds like an absolutely fabulous recipe. I have been really hooked on your granola for the past few months...my son has even put in orders for it to be sent to him at college on a regular basis. But this loaf looks like just what I have been looking for.
Thank you! You are the breakfast queen without a doubt!
Toast and tea are my go-to breakfast choices right now. But I can't say I've ever had much success with baking my own bread. Maybe I'm cursed, but it never rises properly. I'm going to give this recipe a try, though. It really does sound delicious.
I like the idea of molasses in bread. Can't wait to try it! Yesterday morning I had a piece of toasted leftover baguette with apricot puree on top. The puree is for my experimental Chaussons aux Abricots, which I haven't gotten quite right yet. In the meantime the puree works well as a sub for jam. BTW I love your recipes (and blog), they always work amazingly well!
As soon as it isn't August in Massachusetts, I am trying out that magnificent bread recipe.
Also, in a fairly unrelated note, I finished reading your book yesterday, and had to say how much I adored it. It really seemed to speak to who you are as a person... and that person rocks. Please keep on with the blog, I love it!
great-looking bread! will have to try it, for sure!
Have you seen/heard Heywood Banks's song "Toast"? We heard this on a marathon car trip with my kids and nephew on Sirius Kids. It is hysterical...
There are few things better than toast.
MY love of toast is reignited with one simple find while traveling the isles of the World Market last night. The word is Marmite, and to me it beats peanut butter any day. I was given my first taste years ago in a Peruvian hostel by a lone wandering Aussie who later visited me in my Eugene home and gifted my a bottle of this salty goodness. I had forgotten about it in the years since and admit I yelped in delight when I spotted it on the shelf. Just a light spread of this soft yeast on thick warm bread and its heaven for me!
You make toast sound like... an early morning spent sitting out by a waterfall in a fragrant dewey garden... or really good sex... or even a nap stolen away in the middle of the day with sunshine warming your face.
I want to experience this kind of toast. I may just have to bake some of that bread.
Yum...I love toast with butter and a perfectly ripe avocado half spread over it with salt and fresh ground pepper mixture of pink peppercorns, white peppercorns, allspice and coriander. Sigh. Also butter and marmite is a tasty treat. Thanks for the bread recipe, I can't wait to try it.
This sounds fantastic and would be great for my daughter, whose current favorite food is a warm slice of bread. But a question: I'm off dairy for the time being, so do you think there's a way to alter this so that something's used instead of butter?
One of my best toast experiences is with Bill Granger's Coconut Bread. The bread itself is easy to make and fabulous - the resulting toast sublime (served with rhubarb compote). It also lends itself beautifully to French toast.
Foodelf
Oh Molly you just make me laugh- I just love your writing! I agree~ there's nothing better than toast made with homemade bread. I really am looking forward to trying that oatmeal bread recipe! Got all the ingredients in my pantry! Woo hoo!
I love your bread photos! I have heard so much about this book, I can't wait to pick up a copy.
Adored this post! Makes you remember how sweet the simplest things can be. And those recipes look excellent... thanks!!
Molly, what a great writer you are.
I have been suckered in with toast and now I am baking bread. lol.
The toast thing happened to me 2 summers ago when I discovered how to make toast over a campfire, after 5 days in the woods. Add butter and honey - it was true bliss.
Can't wait to try this bread!
Bellingham! I'm from Lynden, which is a bit north. I'm curious where you stayed and where you ate. -- B'ham has some grat spots. I especially love Pepper Sisters.
I usually bake bread once a week, so I'll have to throw this recipe into the rotation and give it a whirl.
I was watching nigella lawson videos the other day and one episode in particular, she made a trio of toasts and toppings for breakfast which looked perfect to me, as I opt for the savory breakfast rather than sweet on most occasions. She made a chickpea, parmesan and lemon spread, by just pureeing the mixture a bit and spreading on toast, another was avocado and lime. Worth a go, I think.
We don't have molasses where I live, so what do you think the bread would taste like if I omitted molasses? Or what would the best substitution?
For as many years as I can remember, I've known that my last meal (not that I intend to be forced to choose one, but it gives the mind something to rattle on about) would be toast. Buttered toast. Good bread, browned just so, and buttered to the point that it is JUICY.
Oh, and if you haven't tried it? Caramelised toast! Take a piece of bread, toast it to your specs (a bit on the light side), butter it well, then toast it AGAIN, until the butter bubbles and browns (yes, the BUTTER browns) and the whole shingle top goes nutty and sweet. Stop me now.
It's a little fiddly, since you have to handle that second toasting in the oven, so I don't do it often. Which is a huge relief, or I couldn't reach my shoelaces, ever. But oh, as a treat, or a last meal, it is magnificent.
A very happy 31-years-of-toast-eating-catching-up to you.
Someone should write a sonnet to toast. Shakespeare should ahve skipped comparing thee to a summer day and written more extensively about food. It is my "go to" snack/breakfast/accompaniment to coffee, teas and wine.
I love your ode to toast. Where you have eaten granola for breakfast, I have eaten toast. And I completely agree with your assessment that the right kind of bread is the key.
Good to the Grain has been my before-bed reading lately. I've been dreaming of chocolate babka and olive oil cake. Now I must take a closer look at this oatmeal sandwich bread. I love a good slice of toast. Thanks.
I know this goes without saying, but a slice of crispy bacon, tucked longways into a slightly buttered piece of toast, is about as good as it gets.
Ummm...bacon. And if you put a little blackberry jam on the crust, well game over!
this made me giggle until i reached the toast description... you are right, nothing like warm buttery fat and cold jam...
I have been meaning to try this bread again--I made a loaf right away when I got the book, but found it really dry compared to a really similar bread I've always made also sweetened with molasses, but made with oil instead of butter. I'll have to try being more careful with the measurements. Still, I ate it as toast at least two meals a day for about a week spread with butter and honey.
For anybody looking for a place to start in the sea of delectable photographs that is "Good to the Grain," I loved the Rosemary Olive Oil Cake, which Luisa ran a while back(http://www.thewednesdaychef.com/the_wednesday_chef/2010/05/kim-boyces-good-to-the-grain.html). It is excellent.
I am reminded of a book I posted on a while back ... 'Making Toast' ... a worthy read ... also, I have done toast today with bacon, lettuce, and tomatoes. Nothing like that late summer delicacy - the classic BLT. Go for the toast!
I'm really into toast especially with my mom's special cinnamon sugar (which is all about ratios of the two). Toast makes me happy, always. I've never felt grumpy with toast. That's pretty impressive since I can't think of anything else which has that track record. Glad toast made the blog, it's deserved of your discerning palate. Cheers to toast.
toast with lashings of fresh avocado, a decent squeeze of lemon, sea salt and pepper is about as good a breakfast (lunch or tea) that you can have...
Just read 'A Homemade Life' and im hooked. Scottish lemon and ginger scones fabulous. Thank you for enhancing my life.Food, Glorious Food!Never visited anyones blog before, and i love knowing you really exist. The first time I visited was yesterday before you added 'its called toast' and saw all your celebrations. Sweet Woman.
Michelle, Auckland, NZ
i agree, with a long absence, toast can be great and super. In the summer, I am a huge lover of fresh berries, yogurt and muesli. But every once in a while I get a monstrous craving for a piece of toast. With peanut butter and jam. It can be a day or two of heaven! I must admit, i usually return to yogurt and other things but once in a while, I eat with abandon, a great slice of bread with peanut butter and jam. Now I will think of you!
In Elizabeth David's magnificent book "English Bread and Yeast Cookery" she states that the best toast is made over an open fire.
I always thought this was ridiculous until last winter when during a power outage I found a long fork and toasted our (always homemade thanks to my husband) bread in front of the fire. And, YES, it is better, much better. You haven't had toast until you try it.
looks gorgeous, like a mushroom! (i'm very much attracted to everything mushroomy...haha) I want to make some bread and croissants too, soon after the cheesecakes and macarons!
I had just read The Wednesday Chef's blog on toast so I made this bread and put her topping of mustard mayo with mashed avocado on the toast. It was fantastic!
I grew up with our main source of bread being my great-grandmother's two hands. The toast I ate as a kid was made from this bread - thicker than pre-sliced, store-bought bread, with lots of jagged edges that seem to get shatteringly crisp when you toast it.
Aboslutely lovely, but my favourite thing about the homemade bread was not the toast. As soon as my grandma's loaves came out of the oven and she tipped them out of the tins, she would brush the top crust with butter, adding a salty-savoury note. But the best was yet to come. In true grandma fashion, I'm sure she spent my childhood trying to fatten me up (and I can't say she didn't succeed). She would thickly slice off one of the still-warm heels, pour a good measure of cream into a small glass bowl, and hand the two of them to me. I would eagerly tear off chunks, dipping into the cool cream, and popping them into my mouth, savouring the combination of the warm, buttery crust and the cool dairy sweetness of the cream. Heaven!
I must admit, I still carry out this ritual every time I turn a fresh loaf out of a pan. The taste isn't quite the same - no one makes bread like grandma did - but it is close enough to take me back to her kitchen.
Well I don't think I've ever been as hungry for bread or toast as I am right now. I need to try this recipe, thanks!
Toast has always been one of those things that I know I love, and I know I don't eat enough of. I always forget that its an option. But when I DO eat toast, its usally to mop up my poached eggs, or lately with butter and hummus spread across it. Delish.
My sister and I always talk about...the other side of life. Grapefruit juice -- for the other side or Orange juice. So there's toast -- the other side of doughnuts.
Toast is the match for butter. Okay, there's popcorn and an butter. But I'm all about toast. And butter. Sure, you can jam it up. But make sure you're in the mood for that fruity-sugary jolt. Me? All about the butter.
And toast is a 24/7 food. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, post-bar closing. Toast.
Really nice post Molly. Your writing is always a joy.
I have ALWAYS had toast, for breakfast AND as an afternoon snack too.
But only when I started making my own bread I really enjoyed them.
I make an oatmeal-wheat bread too, but it's just plain or salty, without any sweetener. I just heard once that if you moist the oatmeal first in warm milk (or water) it would soften a lot and make the bread feels perfect.
AND IT DOES!
Wow, I NEED to bake this bread. Possibly as soon as tomorrow morning. I just mastered jam-making, so this would compliment those efforts perfectly. Now all I need is a good recipe for butter...
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