Week 1 of the CSB – Baking for 20 is Awesome!
The first week of the CSB is always the most stressful and the first day of the first week of the CSB is the stressiest of them all. True to form, the schedule for the first day turned out to have some built-in convergences between the recipes (formulas as bread recipes are called). I have to slice the biscotti, mix the first batch of Anadama bread and pre-shape the Dutch Crunch rolls all at 10:30! After a couple minor heart attacks trying to smooth out the schedule, I fell into the rhythm I love when making bread. All of sudden, it was worth it and when the golden rolls came out of the over I knew everything was ok.
This week the CSB box included Anadama Bread, Dutch Crunch rolls and Orange-Hazelnut Biscotti.
Anadama Bread deceives you by looking like a regular whole wheat loaf but upon reaching the taste buds it melts into molasses-y goodness and leaves you with a slight hint of the cornmeal inside. We’ve been eating it every morning with butter and jam and using our houseguest as a guinea pig to test each loaf.
The lore around the name Anadama, which is a traditional New England bread, surrounds a strong-willed woman who left her husband after some ill treatment. Upon returning home from a no-doubt physically demanding day of lumberjacking or working in a quarry (as I imagine this man, he is a bearded, red plaid shirt-wearing, foul-mouth and foul-tempered, take-no-nonsense kind of fella), he realizes he had been jilted and left only with a pot of soggy cornmeal mush and some molasses. Cursing and muttering under his breath, “Anna, damn her” he proceeds to throw together the only meal he can from such meager ingredients. Lucky for us this recipe has been refined over the years into the loaf bread in the CSB box this week. (Please note I have taken liberties in the re-telling of this story, but this gist of the folk tale is there).
The Dutch Crunch rolls are just beautiful with a crackling golden top and soft buttery interior (no butter in them, but no other adjective comes to mind). Going to still work on heightening the texture contrast between the crust and the inside.
The biscotti, while a bit rustic-looking, are enjoyable with tea or coffee. We’ve had a couple batches around for the past couple weeks and shared them with everyone who’s been over.
I’d love to hear what you thought of the bread this week. Feedback is much appreciated and can only make the bread better.
