breadbakingday

BBD #08 Roundup

BBD Roundup logo It seems there was an awful lot of celebrating going on in March, and I have the breads to prove it. This month’s BreadBakingDay #08: Celebrate! found 49 53 people in 15 countries making breads in honor of official and unofficial holidays, personal triumphs, special people, and more. Now I have the honor of presenting them all to you.

First let me thank Zorra (1x umrühren bitte aka kochtopf) for originating and managing this wonderful monthly event. I am passing the hosting baton to Astrid (Paulchens FoodBlog), so keep your eye on her blog for the announcement of the new BBD theme on April 6.

And now without further ado, I give you, in the order they arrived in my mailbox, the most stunning collection of celebration breads ever assembled anywhere:
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Hot Cross Buns: Not Just for Easter

One of the first nursery rhymes I remember learning was Hot cross buns! Hot cross buns! One-a-penny, Two-a-penny, Hot cross buns!

When my mother was ticked off about something, she always said she was “cross.” So when I sang the rhyme, an image of grouchy buns languishing in summer heat would paint itself across my mind’s little eye. I suppose I imagined they were cross because wasn’t being hot (in those days when that wasn’t a good thing) enough to make anybody cross?

I’ve understood for quite some time that “cross” refers to the buns’ decoration and not their state of mind, but it was only recently that I learned that hot cross buns are a traditional spring celebration bread.

Although hot cross buns have been associated with Easter for several centuries, they probably predated Christianity. Small cakes or loaves adorned with an equilateral cross were offered to deities in ancient cultures such as early Egypt and Greece. The feast of Eostre, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring (from whom Easter derived its name), was celebrated at the vernal equinox. The cross on the sacramental cakes eaten during the feast may have symbolized the balance (between light and darkness) of the equinox, the four quarters of the moon, or the symmetry of the seasons.

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BreadBakingDay #08: Celebrate!

BBD 8 The range of flatbreads contributed to last month’s BreadBakingDay is nothing short of amazing. Check out Petra’s roundup and prepare to be inspired. And now I’m delighted to say it’s my turn to host my favorite all-bread event.

What holiday, festival, or special event are you celebrating this month? I’m thinking of Easter… Purim… St. Patrick’s Day… the vernal equinox… what others can you tell me about?

As one of the oldest and most universal of foods, bread is associated with celebrations in every part of the world. For this month’s BreadBakingDay, you are invited to share your own spring holiday bread tradition, explore one you’re not yet familiar with, or start a new one.

To participate, choose any seasonal holiday or event you’d like to honor with a special bread*. On or before April 1:

Bake a bread to celebrate or represent your holiday.
Post the bread on your blog, with a link back to this post.
Email me at [redacted], and include:
- Your name
- Your blog’s name and url
- The name of your bread and its post’s url (permalink)
- The occasion your bread celebrates
- Your location
- If possible, a 200-pixel-wide photo
- Whether you’d like me to notify you by email when the roundup is posted (which will be by April 5)

*Birthday breads will also be accepted, in honor of the March birthday of BBD’s charming founder and steward, Zorra.

Crisp Sesame-Semolina Flatbreads

It will be a long time before I buy crackers again.

Flash back to two hours ago: I need to decide on a flatbread for this month’s BreadBakingDay. Our host Petra (Chili und Ciabatta) has mandated no pizza. Pitas are out, because I just posted about those last month. I’d like to try Ehtiopian injera, but the 3-day fermentation doesn’t fit into my schedule just now.

I’m really in the mood for something thin, crisp, flavorful but not overly complex. And quick. I thumb through the newest addition to my baking library, Savory Baking from the Mediterranean, by Anissa Helou. The Sardinian Crackers (Pane Carasau) look interesting, and the wheels start turning.

What if I add sesame seeds to the dough, as Helou suggests as a variation? How about making them black ones, to add a bit of visual punch? I wonder if I could use a pasta roller to make them super-thin, and wouldn’t baking them on a stone make them super-crisp? And I’m thinking just a bit of olive oil and coarse salt would work well for topping.

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Shaping a Couronne Bordelaise

It’s time for another BreadBakingDay, and host Eva (Sweet Sins) chose “Shape” as this month’s excellent theme. I opted to make a couronne Bordelaise (Bordeaux-style crown), because it was about time I put my oddly-shaped couronne banneton, which I’ve had for a few months now, to use.

What I wish I had figured out before I spent a small fortune ordering this 12″ linen-lined banneton from France, however, is that you absolutely don’t need it. You can rig up a perfectly good stand-in with an inverted cereal bowl inside any flat-ish basket (even a large pie plate would do), and a piece of linen draped over them. I made one couronne in the “real” banneton and one in the mock-up, and I truly couldn’t tell the difference in the final loaves. The diameter of my basket is about 11″, and of the bowl, about 4.5″.

Mock couronne basket Linen-draped mock couronne banneton

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Cardamom-Pear-Pecan Sticky Buns for BBD (Recipe Not Included)

If I’m being honest, I have to breathe a sigh of relief that 2007 is almost over. Well, maybe not all of 2007, just the last couple of weeks. OK, maybe not all of the last couple of weeks, but the baking part. At least the part where I make at least one very stupid mistake with each and every thing I bake.

My mental bandwidth overloaded with holiday freneticism, and my brain cells additionally blunted by the consumption of a staggering amount of butter and sugar (excuses, excuses), I have felt, of late, like I’m starring in “Inspector Clouseau in the Kitchen.”

Everything turned out to be salvageable, and I’ll spare you the details, except to offer a vague explanation for why I’m not including the recipe for my submission to this month’s BreadBakingDay (#05). Our host Chelsea of Rolling in Dough chose the theme of filled breads, and I made Cardamom-Pear-Pecan Sticky Buns.

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