Prairie Home Breads: 150 Splendid Recipes from America's Breadbasket

by Judith Fertig

Overview

Prairie Home Breads proves that not only is the Midwest where America's grains are grown, but it's also where the art of bread baking is taken seriously. To create these 150 recipes, Judith M. Fertig visited artisanal bakeries, working farmhouse kitchens, rural church suppers, urban bakeries, farmer's markets, and typical home kitchens. She found yeast breads as varied as Amish Pinwheel Bread and Roasted Sweet Pepper Bread, as well as naturally leavened breads like Brewhouse Bread and whole grain breads like Northern Prairie Barley Bread. There are also buns and rolls, as well as quick biscuits, popovers, and crackers. Along with elegant tea breads and homey muffins there are scrumptious coffeecakes, kuchens, and strudels. Last but not least, there are recipes for accompaniments and for using up leftovers. Prairie Home Breads is also filled with rich stories of ethnic and regional culture, agriculture, Midwestern culinary traditions, and warm celebrations of Heartland food.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781558325807
Publisher:	Harvard Common Press, The
Publication date:	10/11/2011
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	7 MB

About the Author

Judith M. Fertig is a bestselling and award-winning cookbook author. She lives in Shawnee Mission, Kansas, where she develops recipes that celebrate the rich culinary traditions of the Heartland. A recognized authority on regional Midwestern cuisine and an experienced cookbook author and food writer, she has studied at the Cordon Bleu in London and La Varenne in Paris. Prairie Home Breads follows Fertig's definitive Prairie Home Cooking, a collection of recipes inspired by the abundant produce of the Midwestern states, including wild and heirloom fruits and vegetables, game, grains, and beef. The bestselling Prairie Home Cooking was a 1999 nominee for both the IACP Cookbook Award and the James Beard Book Award. Fertig is also the author of the award-winning Pure Prairie: Farm Fresh and Wildly Delicious Foods from the Prairie, as well as several books on barbeque with co-author Karen Adler.

Judith M. Fertig is a bestselling and award-winning cookbook author. She lives in Shawnee Mission, Kansas, where she develops recipes that celebrate the rich culinary traditions of the Heartland. A recognized authority on regional Midwestern cuisine and an experienced cookbook author and food writer, she has studied at the Cordon Bleu in London and La Varenne in Paris. Prairie Home Breads follows Fertig's definitive Prairie Home Cooking, a collection of recipes inspired by the abundant produce of the Midwestern states, including wild and heirloom fruits and vegetables, game, grains, and beef. The bestselling Prairie Home Cooking was a 1999 nominee for both the IACP Cookbook Award and the James Beard Book Award. Fertig is also the author of the award-winning Pure Prairie: Farm Fresh and Wildly Delicious Foods from the Prairie, as well as several books on barbeque with co-author Karen Adler.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction
Bread-Baking Tips and Techniques

Yeast Breads
Naturally Leavened and Slow-Rising Breads
Whole-Grain Breads
Rolls and Buns
Quick Breads, Muffins & Popovers
Scones, Biscuits, Crackers, and a Soda Bread
Coffee Cakes and Pastries

Source Guide
Prairie Bakeries
Index

Editorial Reviews

A cooking columnist and author of three cookbooks, including the James Beard Cookbook Award and IACP Cookbook Award nominee Prairie Home Cooking (LJ 8/99), Fertig returns to the Midwest to explore its diverse bounty of breads. Opening with an overview of bread-baking tips and techniques, she devotes separate chapters to various types of breads, including yeast, naturally leavened, whole-grain, and quick rising. Covering everything from Swedish Rye Bread to Raspberry-Almond Muffins, Fertig's collection of sweet and savory treats should please both those searching for a taste of the past and those who prefer something more modern. A few recipes for jams, preserves, and selected dishes that use bread as a main ingredient, such as bread puddings, are slipped in along with some wonderful short essays on topics such as quinces. Written with wit and a keen appreciation for her topic, Fertig's book is a culinary delight: a cookbook as much fun to read as it is to bake from. Highly recommended for all public libraries. John Charles, Scottsdale P.L., AZ Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

"Prairie Home Breads is packed with interesting breads and fascinating stories from the Heartland. These unique, traditional breads should be lovingly made at home and shared with family and friends. You'll never find them in a bakery. Create your own baking traditions using Judith Fertig's inspiring recipes." —Amy Scherber, author of Amy's Breads and owner of Amy's Breads, New York City

“Prairie Home Breads reminds me again of what it is that makes bread so special—its ability to connect us to something deep inside. Whether a taste memory or that warm place of comfort, bread, and certainly these breads from our own prairie Heartland, expand our awareness of the universal implications of that simple, but infinitely profound, staff of life.”—Peter Reinhart, author of The Bread Baker’s Apprentice and Bread Upon the Waters

“Prairie Home Breads is a deceptively humble title for a fascinating book of modern homemade breads infused with the flavor of yesteryear. America’s Heartland has been almost a secret cache of enviable breadbakers and Judith Fertig has given us a taste: family recipes, bakery specialties, a sense of place, a who’s who on the baking scene. Maybe we don’t grow our own wheat or churn our own butter anymore, but we can most certainly bake our own bread with the heart-to-heart soul of American bakers in every loaf.”—Beth Hensperger, author of The Bread Lover’s Bread Machine Cookbook and The Best Quick Breads

From the Publisher