Baking with the St Paul Bread Club: Recipes, Tips, and Stories

by Kim Ode

Overview

Baking bread at home has enjoyed a resurgence in recent years. It can be therapeutic and build community. It is cost-effective and sustainable. And it allows for culinary creativity and experimentation in the home kitchen. All you need is some motivation and tasty recipes—both of which the St. Paul Bread Club will offer you.

The St. Paul Bread Club grew out of a shared desire for community and a love of baking, and Baking with the St. Paul Bread Club explores the stories and recipes that made the club a cherished place among its members. More than 70 favorite recipes emerge from intimate profiles of the club members who perfected them—from the accountant and her nearly flawless baguette to the former Iron Ranger who shares the secrets of her grandmother's strudel-like potica. One member, a book designer who was given a copy of The World of Breads nearly four decades earlier, transformed the book's anadama recipe into a peppery delight, swapping out molasses for chipotles and butter for bacon fat.

Author Kim Ode demystifies the ancient art of bread making with special sections on "Bread Wisdom for Beginners" and "Seasonal Favorites," and club founder Dan "Klecko" McGleno offers a step-by-step guide to starting a bread club in your own hometown. Whether you prefer to bake in solitude or wish to build a community in pursuit of the perfect loaf, this book reveals the true heart of this everyday food.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781681342054
Publisher:	Minnesota Historical Society Press
Publication date:	03/30/2021
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Kim Ode is a retired newspaper reporter and columnist for the Minneapolis Star Tribune and author of Rhubarb Renaissance.

Editorial Reviews

"Through Klecko and his St. Paul Bread Club, Ode found a community of other bakers, each of whom came to bread for her own reasons. Ode's book is their stories, as well as their recipes, and each story is as personal as religion or biography. Some bake to recover balance from a life made hectic by a fast-paced career; others to commune with departed loved ones, through the ritual of their recipes; still others for health. The recipes in the book are intriguing, and provide a portrait of our region through dough: There's one for the St. Paul hotel's legendary raisin pumpernickel, courtesy of Klecko; another for Iron Range Eastern European walnut potica; one using wild rice; one using Summit beer; one a Pillsbury Bake-Off veteran; one for Norwegian flatbread; and so forth."
—Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl in City Pages

"Baking with the St. Paul Bread Club's infectious enthusiasm and straightforward recipes successfully encourage people to reclaim the craft of home bread baking, for the sake of art, sanity, and truly tasty bread, but also for the health of our communities. One wonders if it rings more true to today than it did even three years ago, with the economy down—surely we are cooking at home more, but might we also be looking for comfort in our communities, bread or otherwise?"
—The Heavy Table

From the Publisher