In college I was known as the angry baker. When I would get mad or stressed off I would go to bake in the very tiny dorm kitchen. When I was really stressed I would bring down my little special jar from my fridge that most people thought was a little strange to be keeping in my mini fridge…that special jar was full of liquid starter for sourdough. 🙂 Yes, I’m weird. But in my opinion everyone needs a little liquid sourdough in their fridge.
There is something so very therapeutic about kneading bread by hand. It somehow erases with worries and stress with each turn of the dough. My dorm kitchen of course had no mixers or things like that so, just like I learned in my culinary classes, I had to do it by hand. While I often put on here that you can mix your bread with a dough hook, I almost always knead my bread by hand.
So when I was asked to review Baking By Hand: Make the Best Artisanal Breads and Pastries Better Without a Mixer
Bread is the least popular thing I make on this blog. Not because I don’t make good bread but because people have such a fear of it. Bread can be fickle and therefore most people don’t want to invest the time or ingredients into making it. We want foolproof. Sadly real world is not fool proof. We don’t get on a bike and suddenly know how to ride. We don’t get an algebra sheet in front of us and know what to do. We learn. Life is learning. So the only way to get better at things is to keep doing them!
It’s worth it to me. Warm bread from the oven and slabs of butter are pretty much one of the greatest pleasures in life. I make bread a lot. I just don’t put it on the blog. I need to get better about that. I need to be encouraging you to explore the world of bread making. Real bread making.
While this time around I chose to feature a bread pudding (they have a chapter on bread pudding so you know I was loving that) that would be good for Thanksgiving…there are many breads I want to make from this book. And I can as I am one of those fools with liquid sourdough in their fridge. 🙂 The Semolina-Apricot Bread is screaming my name as is the Brown Ale and Barley Bread.
If you have in any interest in bread making I suggest picking this book up.
Now to the bread pudding. I roasted the pumpkin because the recipe called for it. It was so worth it. This was a really good bread pudding…and I am a bread pudding snob. I was a tad concerned that it wasn’t baked in a water bath but the pumpkin keeps the pudding warm. This one is a keeper. The next one I plan to make from the book…Cinnamon-Apple-Mascarpone Bread Pudding (ummm mascarpone???!!!!).
Ingredients
- For the bread pudding:
- 3 large eggs
- 7 oz. whole milk
- 7 oz. heavy cream
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 6 oz. roasted pureed pumpkin
- 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
- ¾ tsp. ground allspice
- ¼ tsp. ground nutmeg
- 1 lb. stale challah bread, torn into pieces
- Maple Glaze:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 oz. maple syrup
- 2 oz. heavy cream
Instructions
- In a large bowl whisk the eggs, heavy cream, milk, puree, sugars, and spices until smooth and fully combined.
- Add the bread, and toss with your hands or spoon until all the bread is coated with the custard. Let it sit for 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 375F.
- Pour bread and custard into a 8-x-8-inch greased pan.
- Press the mixture down.
- Bake for 45 minutes until golden brown and feels firm when pressed.
- For the glaze:
- Add all the ingredients together.
- Pour over the glaze over the pudding.
- Adapted from Baking by Hand
Becca at Cookie Jar Treats says
I love baking bread! The smell of yeast rising makes me so happy. Good god if they made a candle that smelled like yeast I wold buy about 20! The only reason I don’t bake bread so often is because of how time consuming it is. I feel as if I don’t have any time for it at all. But I also feel to need to bake some kind of fall-flavored bread. Man I love carbs… and bread… and yeast 🙂
Erin @ The Spiffy Cookie says
Making homemade bread products definitely can be daunting but I am always won over when I do it!
Emily @ Life on Food says
I love baking bread. It is always a weekend project for me but it is so relaxing. I have also been known to wake up very early on stressful work weeks to make muffins or cookies at 5am. Crazy but so good for my mental health.
foodnerd4life says
I love to bake when I’ve had a crazy day. There is something soothing about pounding some dough or the repetition of a process that just makes me much calmer.
Also I had baking bits in my dorm room that I didn’t dare put in my normal fridge – one being a jar of sea salt caramel!
FoodNerd x
http://www.foodnerd4life.com
KB says
I’m like you – I call being in the kitchen my version of therapy. Nothing gets me up when I’m down like baking or cooking. My mom shares your love for kneading, too. I’m not so much a fan of kneading, but I do love warm fresh yeast bread enough to do it. I used to be so afraid of yeast, but it’s so worth it and it’s easier than it looks. Yeast or no, I do love me some bread pudding…so I have a feeling I’ll be making this whether I “knead” to or not. (Lame pun alert! :D)
Jill says
Oh my God you had me at Bread Pudding… and now with the pumpkin too?? I must make that!!! YUM. I think I’ll add this to my Thanksgiving menu. thanks!
Helen in CA says
Artisian Bread in 5 Minutes technique solved the “time” issue for me. Now, I either use those techniques or the day-long depending on my calendar. Works here. And Bread Pudding certainly helps w/ the issue of small-household & bread!
Erika says
One of my life goals is to make delicious homemade bread by hand 🙂 I’ve tried a few recipes, mastered a couple, but need to practice.
One thing I do now is always take my yeast’s temperature 🙂 That small step has really improved my baking skills – I was always bad about killing my yeast….oops!
I would love to see some simple bread recipes, and perhaps your recipe for sourdough starter?!??
Renee @ Awesome on $20 says
I love bread pudding, especially when it’s not ruined by raisins. This looks gorgeous! I can’t wait to try it.
Bebe says
Baking bread is on my list of things to try this year!
Samantha says
Where do you get your sour dough yeast?
Peabody says
@Samantha- I don’t think there is a sour dough yeast. Sour dough requires a starter…is that what you mean?