Celebrating “Anything Bread-y” With A Great “Unity” Recipe!
Time to bake with the iconic Chef Dominique Crenn – this time, bread with a purpose!
I always look forward to Jo Tracey’s wonderful “Brookford Kitchen Diaries” challenge, which asks fellow cooks to share recipes that fit one specific category…in this case, bread!
As always, Jo’s breezy instructions have fun with the food category, and this month is no exception.
Here is what Jo shared with us:
“For August’s challenge, I thought we’d try something a little different: ‘bready’ things. I said you could take this literally and talk about sandwich recipes – I’m thinking also toasties, jaffles, hamburgers – pretty much things either in or on bread (or whatever it is you use instead of bread). You know me, anything goes …”
Well, you know I wouldn’t let that challenge go by without some fun – but I did begin by making real bread – something I rarely do, and it was all because of this acclaimed Chef:
We met Chef Dominuqe Crenn in her San Francisco kitchen a few years back…a look at that incredible meal follows…but she also took part in a fund raiser for Ukraine, when I ordered her “Unity Bread Kit” – which she made along with other acclaimed Chefs….as they noted at the time:
“This recipe comes from 3-Star Michelin Chef Dominique Crenn. Thanks to our partners at Miyoko’s Creamery, 100% of proceeds will go directly to World Central Kitchen and their efforts to distribute fresh meals across Ukraine and at border crossings. As a thank you for your donation, you will get the ingredients to make her beautiful pain de mie!”
I was excited to take part for such an important cause – and I bought Chef Crenn’s incredible cookbook as well:
So here’s my “BKD” cooking challenge – I made a loaf of Unity bread, along with Chef Crenn’s “Vegetable Parmentier” dish – more on that to come, but first, time to bake some bread!
Here Are The Ingredients For “Unity Bread!”
As I said, I rarely bake, but I buckled down and did it – and was glad I did – here are the ingredients:
Make sure you have all of your ingredients laid out and that your butter is softened and at room temperature. Separate out 2 Tablespoons of the bread flour to use for dusting your table for kneading the dough. Into the bowl of a stand mixer add the milk, egg, crème fraîche, and yeast.
Gently add in your bread flour, with a spatula, or your hands, and begin to gently combine the ingredients together.
Here’s a video doing just that, and as I explain, all of the ingredients were already portioned out by Chef Crenn in her package:
As you can see, it quickly becomes a rough dough, before it was time to haul out the mixer:
Put the bowl onto your stand mixer with the bread hook attachment and mix on the lowest speed until the dough starts to come together, and then after about 30 seconds, add your salt and sugar. Once those are incorporated, add in your butter.
After about 4-5 minutes of mixing, your dough should start to look like a soft, springy dough. Make sure there are no clumps of any ingredients.
Once the ingredients have been fully incorporated, and the dough is springy, soft, and slightly sticky, take it out of the bowl and put it onto a lightly floured work surface. Gently knead the dough by rolling it into a loose, plump log and pushing it towards you then pulling it back with the heel of your hand. Then fold one side into the middle, then the other side, rotate it 90 degrees and knead the log the same way again.
Here’s a video of me doing just that for you “completists!” It is filled with many apologies for my lack of baking expertise!
So that was fun! I will try to bake more to get better at “kneading!”
Next up, grease a large mixing bowl and transfer your dough into it, covering it with a kitchen towel. Let it proof for 30 minutes (it will proof two times after this!) in a warm area of your kitchen, such as on top of your fridge or on your oven, which will preferably be around 75°F-80°F.
Here’s my second proof:
So apparently when I said “proof” I was right, not “prove”! I am “proving” that I’m not a baker!
Once the second proof is done, spray a loaf pan with cooking spray then roll your proofed bread into a log to fit into your pan. Cover it with a kitchen towel and proof for one hour back in that warm area of your kitchen. About 10-15 minutes before it’s done proofing, preheat your oven to 375°F.
Put the bread into the oven and bake for 35-45 minutes, or until a food thermometer comes out at 195°F.
Once it’s out of the oven, carefully unmold the bread from the pan and let it rest on a cooling rack for at least 30 minutes.
Well, that was fun – and challenging for me – I really need to bake more and this was a reminder of that…thanks Jo for the inspiration – all of you need to go and check out the latest “BKD Challenge” here:
Speaking of bread, I shared one of the most unique sandwiches I’ve ver seen:
Yes, a “bread sandwich!”
Click here to see the flavorful culinary history on display – and how you can make one at home!
I have had some fun making “bready” items as well, like this unique burger bun:
Those are buns made out of “okonomiyaki” – Japanese pancake batter!
See how I did it here:
And I also made an “oopsie” as well:
These buns have a unique recipe and you can see it here:
Back to Chef Dominique Crenn: my wife and I met her in her kitchen when we dined there:
Chef Crenn is America’s first 3 Michelin-starred female Chef – click here to see why she deserved it!
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Okay, now you’ve inspired me to make bread! It’s been years!
Follow Jo Tracey – always . . . make bread – rarely, but am mad at myself for not doing so more often. Love your story and result . . . personally in the past decade or so have largely gone from loaf breads (sourdough rye mostly) to various kinds of Mediterranean and Eastern flatbread/wraps . . . thin bread with a mountain of fillings 🙂 !
I reckon that looks amazing. I’d get stuck into that. I love the whole kneading process – it’s quite meditative, isn’t it? Now off to check out your oopsie.
i made bread during covid and should get baking again!
Julie used to make bread sometimes, but she hasn’t been up to doing that since her stroke last December due to lack of strength in her hands. Your loaf came out really well, John, and I am sure you will improve with practice. Shared on Twitter.
Best wishes, Pete.
Thanks Pete…I have so many great bakeries near me that I tend to focus on other things to make…unless it’s garlic bread of coursE!
What fun John! Although I prefer cooking to baking, the exception is bread. I love making and baking and of course eating good bread!
I am NOT a baker at all: too precise for me, meaning I love to “jazz” when I cook for good or bad…but it was fun to try and maybe I’ll do some smaller baking options as well to see if I get more “into” it…thanks for the note, always great to hear from you!