Intro Eight: Culinary Chronicles, Capers & Canards

Emily Toby Ms. Hoagland Culinary 1, Class 8 November 17, 2013 Yeast Breads “From where I stood, the field stretched west to the bluish ridge of the Coast Range, a shimmering blonde avenue of lawn. If you stand in a wheat field at this time of year, a few weeks before harvest, it's not hard to imagine you’re looking at something out of mythology: all this golden sunlight brought down to earth, captured in kernels of gold, and rendered fit for morals to eat. But of course this is no myth at all, just the plain miraculous fact” (Pollan 289). Thus ends the chapter on bread in Michael Pollan’s wonderful book, Cooked. During this unit, we explored different types of yeast bread and different methods of cooking them. Two recipes we prepared were soft pretzels and rolls. They were polar opposites in success; the pretzels were beautiful and tasted delicious, and the rolls turned out unattractive but yummy. The rolls became unappealing when we took the plastic wrap off. We should have taken it off right after they came out of the refrigerator, but we waited until just before we put them in the oven. The dough stuck to the plastic, revealing the bubbly, airy surface underneath. When we baked them, they weren’t smooth and round, but blob shaped and varying thicknesses. However, they still tasted delicious, especially with butter and jam! The pretzels were more successful. We cooked these differently than the other yeast breads; first boiling them in two quarts of water and ½ cup of baking powder, then letting them bake completely in the oven. Afterwards, we drizzled them in butter and cinnamon sugar, and they came out delicious. It was my favorite bread we prepared this unit.