Difficulty Level Easy
My challenge to go for four weeks without purchasing any bread is going quite well. Other than my husband's little faux pas last week,all the bread in the house has been made by me and neither my daughter nor I have bought any at all. To be sure there have been a few mornings where I have had oatmeal rather than toast because I didn't feel like baking, but that's also the case when I forget to buy bread.
I've been making a lot of quick breads recently, but in the next and final week of the challenge I think I'll get back to yeast breads. I feel I should end the challenge with a bang and make a variety of breads from different cuisines. I've already made foccaccia and Chinese steamed pork buns so I'm thinking of making some naan or another kind of Indian bread.
This week I made some cornbread. It seems that there are as many corn bread recipes as there are bakers. I went with something that was fast and simple. This is certainly not a sandwich bread but it's a bread that would be great with a soup or stew or as a breakfast bread with bacon. This is best eaten right away, but I've been toasting it for breakfast and it's still quite good. Corn bread is traditionally baked in a cast iron skillet, but I gave mine to my son because it was too heavy for me to work with. I just baked it in a regular pan so I didn't get the crust on the outside, but it was still fine.
INGREDIENTS
| 3/4 cup | unbleached all purpose flour |
| 1 1/2 tsp | baking powder |
| 1 1/2 tbsp | sugar |
| 1 tsp | salt |
| 1 1/4 cup | cornmeal |
| 1/4 lb | unsalted butter, plus more for greasing the pan |
| 1 cup | milk |
| 1 | egg |
PREPARATION:
From Chez Panisse Vegetables by Alice Waters
Making quick breads are simple, especially if you follow our easy-to-use ingredients list and baking instructions.
If you're looking for a quick bread, try this recipe for Christine's zucchini bread from Sister Waves.