There are few virtues a man can possess more erotic than culinary skill.
Aphrodite: A Memoir of the Senses by Isabel Allende


Starting in November of 2009 Michelle at the Big Black Dog formed a group to bake its way through Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Zoë François and Jeff Hertzberg. I loved Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, so I signed up with the group. Michelle first had us do a couple of warm-up assignments, which were my first attempt at blogging. The first "Official" post was on January 15, 2010, and it was followed by 41 more, on the 1st and 15th of each month. When I signed on I said I would bake the whole book, and like Horton (the elephant) I meant what I said and I said what I meant. I finished baking the book on October 1, 2011. Having completed that challenge, now I am just going to do some stuff, and post about it. As part of that stuff Michelle is posing a new, and different, challenge for us each month.

But I am still baking bread, mostly the Five Minutes a Day kind, and if you would like to try the Five Minutes a Day bread method there are some links, with recipes, in the right hand column to get you started. Please give it a try.

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This day be bread and peace my lot.
Alexander Pope

How can a nation be great if its bread tastes like Kleenex?
Julia Child

Everyone is kneaded out of the same dough but not baked in the same oven.
Yiddish proverb
(And some are only half baked.)

There is no love sincerer than the love of food.
George Bernard Shaw, via Sharon

Of all smells, bread; of all tastes, salt.
George Herbert

Friday, December 11, 2009

Date Walnut Pumpernickel

Posted by Guff
OK, so this is not an HB in 5 recipe, it is from the first book, AB in 5, but I made it during the hiatus between bonus recipes. 

It was really outstanding, and makes a terrific holiday date nut bread.  And it is certainly more healthy than my regular date nut bread, much lower in calories and fat. I took about a pound of the dough (I use 14 ounces when I make recipes from the first book since that is about 1/4 of a batch) rolled it out, covered it with chopped dates and walnuts, perhaps a few more than called for, rolled it up, let it rise and baked it.  Notice that instead of using the cornstarch wash I just dusted it with four before slashing.  I think it makes a nice contrasting effect.  I highly recommend this bread, especially for the holidays, but any time.  It makes great toast, too.

7 comments:

  1. MichelleDecember 11, 2009 at 7:14 AM

    What a gorgeous loaf of bread! I love the contrast between the dark pumpernickle and the dusting, very striking!

    ReplyDelete
  2. JudyDecember 11, 2009 at 8:35 AM

    Thanks for the recommendation. I think I'll make that for a Christmas Social I'm going to next week.

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  3. FemalechefDecember 11, 2009 at 3:02 PM

    Looks Yummy!!! Thanks for sharing......

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  4. Bread Over HeelsDecember 16, 2009 at 1:26 PM

    I bet if you slice it thin enough, you can make some nice double baked crisps to dip in tea or hot cider. Looks delicious especially because of the dusting. Thanks!

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  5. Judy's Bakery & Test KitchenDecember 16, 2009 at 2:37 PM

    Glad to see what this looks like. I'm still working on the AB5 recipes also.

    Judy L, TN

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  6. Heather S-GDecember 19, 2009 at 8:17 PM

    Wow, this is absolutley out of this world beautiful!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. CristieDecember 29, 2009 at 11:48 PM

    Oh, my. This really looks out of this world fabulous! Thanks for sharing. Love the big chunks of dates and walnuts.

    ReplyDelete

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