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.

But first, a word from my sponsor . . .
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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

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Tabbouleh Bread with Parsley, Garlic and Bulgar and Pear Coffee Bread (20 of 42)

As some of you may have gleaned from previous posts, I like Ben's Hot and Sweet Mustard. A lot. Well, apparently the feeling is mutual. Ben's ran a contest this summer, and I won! I won a trip for 2 to be the guests of Morgan Shepherd Racing at Lowe's Motor Speedway. My daughter Katie and I got all access pit and garage passes.  (On the way we stopped at Cabo Fish Taco for lunch, a Triple D destination.  It was great.  Be sure to stop if you are ever in the area.) 

Morgan and the team were gracious hosts and it was really neat to get a "behind the scenes" look at a Nationwide race.





We even got to hang with Danica.




As anyone who knows NASCAR knows,  sponsorship drives the sport, and this was one of my favorite sponsors, Boudreaux's Butt Paste.


Which it's a Diaper Rash Ointment and Skin Protectant.

Once we got home from the race it was time to get baking.  The assignment for this time involved making Tabbouleh Bread with Parsley, Garlic and Bulgar and Pear Coffee Bread.  We really enjoyed both these breads.

The  Tabbouleh Bread includes lemon zest, in addition to the parsley, garlic and butter, and I was surprised at how much that hint of lemon shone through in the bread.  But then I thought back to the ingredients--there was almost no whole wheat flour in this bread--only 1/2 cup for the half batch I made.  (In fact, that is my only quibble with the recipe, the lack of whole wheat flour, though there was the bulgur, which for most intents and purposes is whole wheat, though up to 5% of the bran is removed in polishing.)  I baked a (rather free-form) boule, which we thought was wonderful.










With the rest of the dough I made pitas.  With all the stuff in the dough these did not puff, but they made great flatbread to go with grilled lamb. 




When I saw that we were to make Pear Coffee Bread I thought it was a bread to have with coffee, like a coffee cake.  But the bread has coffee in it!  This dough had even less whole wheat flour, and with the addition of the pureed pears made a very tender loaf.  I made both an oval loaf and a boule.










We thought this bread was was particularly good toasted. 

For my 'speriment this time, I decided to try Michelle's version of Volkornbrot with sauerkraut.  I am not quite sure why.  I do not like sauerkraut (except in rubens).   That is one of my (many) character flaws.  Pretty women can talk me into anything.  (I suspect I am not alone in this.)  That is how I ended up married.  With four  children (counting Marissa).  I got lured.  Anyway, this loaf did not turn out too well, and so I thought I would pass on my experience.  

Michelle drained her sauerkraut, but then bemoaned not using the liquid in the bread.  So I did use the liquid.  I treated the sauerkraut itself as liquid, since it is so wet, and for a half batch of bread dumped an 8 ounce can of sauerkraut with its liquid into a measuring cup and added water to get the total amount of liquid I needed.  I mixed the dough up.  Let it rise.  And---nothing.  I thought maybe it was a bit dry, so I added more liquid, and let it rise again.  I got some rise, but not much.  My suspicion is that the brine from the sauerkraut retarded the yeast growth.  I baked it anyway.  It was pretty dense, but tasted it good.  If you like sauerkraut.  Which I don't. 

And now it's time for Trick or Treat.  In honor of my Ben's Mustard junket, I am giving away a jar of  Morgan Shepherd Special Edition Ben's Mustard.  The trick is, that to get the treat you must be hanging in and still reading my post to know about the contest. (This may be a big mistake.  I may learn something I do not want to know about my readership.)  If you are still reading, and you want to enter, just post a comment and mention Ben's Mustard in it.  I can only ship to the US and if you turn up at my house for dinner fairly often you don't get to enter.  The winner will be selected based on my whim,  and in the complete discretion of the author duplicate prizes may, or may not, be awarded. 

So that is it for this time.  Check back on the ides of November for Pumpkin Pie Brioche Redux.   

14 comments:

  1. You sure tell a great tale Guff :) I also liked the zest and noticed Michelle added mint to hers as well as the parsley which I will do next time. I like the look of your pear bread and must get a move on and make it.

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  2. How exciting. I would love to try Ben's spicy mustard. I have only naked a couple HBin5 breads, but definitely want to try this tabbouleh bread.

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  3. LOL...the Butt Paste! Guff, leave it to you to notice that sponsor and get a photo of it too! HA HAHAHAHAH!

    Sorry about the sauerkraut Volkornbrot \. We loved that bread but I won't think about using the brine any longer! I do use Fresh Yeast so maybe that had something to do with it too!

    Your Tabbouleh Bread looks great. I loved this bread but used a slightly different recipe and one I've used before.

    And your Pear Coffee Bread looks great as well. I did substitute some apple because my pears were not quite right and it turned out very nice. Have not tried it yet toasted but will tomorrow with my morning coffee.

    I was wondering then you were going to have a giveaway for some of Ben's Mustard! I'd love it try it being it's so highly recommended by you!

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  4. I didn't make the saurkraut bread as my spouse wouldn't even try it if I did. The pear coffee bread has an appeal, so I must find time to try it this week!

    Ben's Mustard? hmm... I would try it!

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  5. I have a feeling that you didn't actually get the chance to hang with Danica...more like you just have a really great zoom on your camera :)

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  6. Hi Guff, LOVE your fun post!

    I really love your pictures. The pear coffee bread didn't look anything like I thought it would. I'll have to try it.

    I tried the tabouli bread before, but will have to try making pitas with it. What a great idea!

    Congrats on winning the contest!!! If you get the desire to see more NASCAR, visit us out here. We are near Bristol.

    Oh, yes, I'd like to try Ben's Mustard. You say such good things about it! Thanks so much for offering this fun contest to the group. Are you throwing in some BUTT Paste? :)

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  7. You have made so many delicious loaves of bread, I will sometimes forget which bread is which. I do remember that I really liked the pear bread. It had a great flavor and texture and a sugary coating. I know I'm out of the race for the mustard, but I'd love to try some butt paste! I agree with the healthy girl about the picture of Danica.

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  8. Congratulations on winning the trip. If I'd have known I would have arranged to send my husband with you. He is a serious car person, loving anything and everything to do with them.
    Your pear coffee bread looks wonderful. I am thinking I might try that bread now. Was the dough very wet as hinted at in book?

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  9. I forgot to mention my husband and I would love to try some of that Ben's mustard!!!

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  10. Both loaves look great! I haven't had a chance to make mine yet but now I'm really looking forward to it.

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  11. Tweety,
    The dough was not too wet, I was able to form it without any trouble. I used canned pears, to avoid having to wonder if mine were ripe enough or not, and if anything I would think that would add a bit extra moisture. If you are worried you could hold back a bit of water and see how it mixes up.

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  12. Winning a jar of Ben's Sweet and Hot Mustard would be more exciting for me than going to a car race! My husband loves mustard and is always buying new ones when we go somewhere.

    My stomach churned a bit when I looked at that Pear Coffee Bread recipe. I guess I missed out because everyone seemed to like it. Your pitas sound good, and although I don't eat lamb, it sounds like an ideal accompaniment.

    Thanks for telling us about your trip!

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  13. You can tell how late I am with my bread baking group that I am just now reading your post. I love, love, seeing what your up to and have learned a lot from you. I am baking bread and haven't bought much bread in almost a year! I don't blog but read everything! My hubby loves sauerkraut and have it on my "must" try list.
    Michael made it sound wonderful. I would love your mustard to go with it!

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  14. Great story as usual. Love the photos. The tabbouleh bread looks really good. I'm a little bit behind on my baking groups as well. I'm making this one today. I'm also looking forward to the pear bread.

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