Peter Reinhart's Weblog

Holiday Bread Now Ready

Hi Again,

    Thanks for your patience. Testers can now write in for the new holiday bread recipe (bestbreads@gmail.com ). It will require a sourdough starter and involves a few tricky steps, but it is quite delicious (I hope you will agree). I've been using dried cranberries for the fruit because they're so pretty and also so nutritious (I love cranberries!), but more details and options are provided in the file.

    A reminder to new readers: this is only for those who are "official" recipe testers. The list should open up in a few weeks for new testers, so please don't write in now if you haven't been part of the testing group. If you are a tester and have already written for this, please write again so I don't forget you.

    Much thanks and happy baking!

    Peter

Hold on the Holiday Bread Recipe

Hi Folks,

         A quick note to those who have requested and received the holiday bread recipe. Stop now if you haven't made it yet and wait for news, here on the blog, when a revised version will be ready. I'm not satisfied with the version I sent out and am making some changes at this very moment. When I think it's really ready, I'll send it out again. If you already have made it or are past the point of no return, please do send in your response as I'd like to know what issues you encountered. Otherwise, write back for a different recipe and keep checking here for more updates. Thanks!

        Peter

New Recipes Coming on Sunday

Hi Again,

         I've been receiving requests for recipes from some blog readers who are not on the recipe list. Folks, please wait until I re-open the list, hopefully (no promises) in mid January. Those who have been testing from the beginning have all agreed to keep these recipes private (and thank you to those who wrote telling me how they had to fend off friends and relatives pleading for the recipes), and have all tested the first recipe, which is foundational. I can barely keep up with the incredible flow of information and suggestions they are providing. For those who are patiently waiting for the list to re-open, thank you -- I hope it won't be too long before we open things up again.

        Meanwhile, now that most of you have your sourdough starter ready (or almost ready) to use, I have a few new recipes to send out: a rich holiday bread (think panettone, pandoro, stollen, etc.); pain au levain; and a sandwich rye bread. You can add these to the list already posted and begin requesting one at a time beginning Sunday. The holiday bread requires a fair amount of eggs and butter, while the others are simpler (the rye bread does require a small amount of molasses). All three of these recipes do require sourdough starter--in the instructions each formula will tell you how to build your "mother" starter into a specific starter for the dough. Again, please write in starting on Sunday and request the one you'd like to do. Even if you skipped any of the previous recipes (other than the first one), it's okay to jump ahead to these. Use bestbreads@gmail.com 

        Thank you all, again, for your help, enthusiasm, and patience. It's coming along, slice by slice.

        Since this will probably be my last post before Christmas, let me take this moment to wish you all a happy holiday, whether it be Chanukah, Christmas, Muharram, or Kwanzaa. I hope and pray that this coming year brings us all peace, stability, inspired leadership, and personal fulfillment. Many blessings....

       Peter

Sourdough starter info

Hi Again,

         Many of the testers have begun sending in their responses to the challah and struan recipes (see the previous post if you missed that info) and the loaves seem to be working out quite well for the most part (of course, there's always room for tweaking the instructions).

        Some of you have asked when will we get into sourdough breads (or wild yeast breads, as I prefer to call them). The answer is, soon.  Some of you already have starters that you've used for years and many of you do not yet have a starter. So for those who want to make a starter from scratch, please write in and I'll send you the instructions (the wording is not the final wording that will be used in the book, but the steps are). There is a lot of info on starters in this file to help you understand the process and a little of the science. It will take about 7 to 9 days for the starter to be ready (you will be making a "seed culture" that will then be turned into a "mother starter" (madre as some call it), which will then be used to build a piece of final starter for your recipes. The key is that once you have a mother starter, if you take care of it, you will not have to go through all these steps again--ever (Boudin Bakery in SF has kept their starter going for about 160 years, since 1849). While you're building your starter, I'll start writing up some sourdough bread recipes for testing. These should be ready to start sending out around the 21st of December, so please don't ask for the recipes now, even if you already have a starter. Please wait for me to announce that they're ready via this blog.

       Write to me now only if you want the instructions for building a sourdough starter from scratch.

        I'll also be working on a Christmas bread recipe that I hope to get to you before Christmas (if it's not ready to send we may have to rename it a 12th Day of Christmas Bread, like a King's Cake). This recipe will use some starter (optional, not required, but it does improve it) so start the process of making yours as soon as you get the instructions (or, if you already have one lying dormant in the fridge, wake it up, refresh it, and get it ready for use in about a week).

      Till then, there's still time to catch up if you've missed some of the recipes we already sent out: bagels, biscuits, struan, and challah (everyone has done the French bread already, I believe). So write in if you want to do one of the recipes you missed.

        As for the non-testers reading this, I'm still shooting for mid-January to open it up for a new set of recipe testers (we'll need fresh eyes and opinions to go over the revised versions), so please check the blog then and write in only when I give the word--I can't keep a back-list, there's just too much going on for that right now.

       Okay, I'll be back next week with new recipes. Good luck with your starters!

       Best Wishes,

       Peter

PS If you decide to take a baking break during the Christmas/Chanukah intensity, you can always request the recipes later, when you're ready.

New recipes on Sunday

Hi Again,

     I'm loving the great and helpful responses and, because so many of you have been keeping up, I'm spending more time than I imagined reading through every one. As I've said before, I can't respond to each of you but I have responded to some. And be assured that your suggestions are helping to shape this book and improve the recipes.

    I'd hoped to have four new ones by today but only managed to come up with two, but will be happy to send them out beginning Sunday night. Since there are still responses coming in for biscuits and babka (and even a few for the French bread and bagels), please wait till Sunday afternoon before writing in for the next recipe. You can choose between a new version of Struan (a Celtic multi-grain that many of you know from my earlier books) or a brand new Challah recipe that I'm very excited about. Please, only request one or the other, not both. As soon as you send in the results for one you can request the other. Hopefully, I'll continue to write up more recipes this week so that I can stay a step or two ahead of you.

    Okay, so beginning Sunday afternoon you can write in for either the Struan or Challah. I'm going back to the responses now so I can try to read through them all before your new requests come in. Those who have been waiting for the biscuit recipe, I should get them out tonight.

      For communications not related to the testing please write to recipetesters@yahoo.com  (I know, it doesn't seem to make sense). For approved testers only, use bestbreads@gmail.com to request your recipes. I'm still hoping to open it up in mid-January for new testers, so please hang in there and wait till I post the notice before asking--I won't be able to keep a file on early requests and will let you know via this blog when you can write in. Thanks for your understanding.

      More soon....

     Peter