Pretzel Bread

Pretzel bread is not quite a simple as flat bread or dinner rolls, but the loaves come out of the oven with a deep, brown pretzel crust and a slightly sweet, tender center. This particular recipe should be treated as a base to which other ingredients may be added. Cinnamon and extra brown sugar can create a sweet pretzel, or garlic and other spices can create a more savory pretzel. The loaves can be baked into mini-loaves, sandwich loaves or just cut into chunks and served as a snack. If you come up with something good, leave it in the comments.

Imagine eating a fried egg sandwich or grilled cheese on toasted Pretzel Bread. How about a Pretzel Bread roast beef sandwich? Perhaps you’d prefer a wedge of pretzel bread to dunk into broccoli cheddar soup or slow-cooker beef stew with bacon. All of those are good. I won’t lie, though… I’ve cut a slab straight from the loaf and simply dropped it into a frying pan over a melted pat of butter and let it brown up a little on just one side. Crunching through that crispy, buttery, toasted side into the perfect crumb of the pretzel bread and finding that chewy bit of crust studded with pretzel salt on the side is reason enough to make the bread. Everything else is gravy, friends.

How to make Pretzel bread:

Irish Soda Bread

There are many traditional baked goods in Ireland that have evolved over the centuries. From the earliest times, bread-making was an integral part of daily life in almost every home. Families lived in isolated farmhouses where most kitchens had only open hearths, not ovens, so the breads that developed were baked on griddles or in large three-legged black iron pots over fragrant turf fires. The aroma and taste of traditional soda bread is unique to Ireland, and it's become the established favorite with tourists and locals alike.

Buttermilk and soda were the main raising agents used in the past, and the use of these prime ingredients has never lapsed. Buttermilk is a great preservative, but more importantly it gives soda bread and scones that beautiful tender crumb for which they are famous.

Since soda bread is a simple bread to make and can be rustled up in minutes, an astonishing number of variations exist: wheaten, with raisins and caraway seeds, the treacle variety, or simply plain--all equally irresistible.

There's no doubting, however, that soda bread tastes best still warm from the oven, spread with lashings of butter and homemade rhubarb jam and washed down with that essential cuppa tea.

How to make Irish Soda Bread:

Artisan Sourdough Rye Bread

This is my favorite rye bread recipe of all time… so far. I could have just as easily called it Swedish Rye Bread or Aroma Therapy Bread for that matter (takes the coveted baking bread smell to another level). And if you’re not into sourdough baking, no problem, I cover the instant yeast version as well.

It produce higher in protein, phosphorus, iron and potassium than wheat. It’s high in lysine, low in gluten and very low in Saturated Fat, Cholesterol and Sodium. It is also a good source of Zinc, Copper and Selenium, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber and Manganese.Rye bread, including pumpernickel, is a widely eaten food in Northern and Eastern Europe. Rye is also used to make the familiar crisp bread.

Some other uses of rye include rye whiskey and use as an alternative medicine in a liquid form, known as rye extract. Often marketed as Oralmat, rye extract is a liquid obtained from rye and similar to that extracted from wheatgrass. Its benefits are said to include a strengthened immune system, increased energy levels and relief from allergies, but there is no clinical evidence for its efficacy. Rye also seems active in the prevention of prostate cancer.

How to make Sourdough Rye Bread (Part 1)

How to make Sourdough Rye Bread (Part 2)

Baguettes

Baguettes are a funny thing. On paper they look kinda simple to make and in many ways they are. But baguettes, perhaps more than any other bread, have become a standard by which bread baking skill is measured. They’re supposed to look a certain way, the crust and crumb should be just so, and even though they’re typically made from just white flour, water, salt and yeast, the flavors should be complex.

Now the good news. You can still make really decent baguettes without a lot of skill or practice. How do I know? Easy, I did it. I just followed this recipe and the results, at least from an enjoyment standpoint, weren’t all that far off from what a good artisan bakery might turn out. And of course I’m being completely objective.

In any case, they’re certainly fun to make, so if you haven’t made baguettes before or struggled with them in the past, please give it a try and let us know how it went.

Here’s the core of my food philosophy — if you love what you’re eating, it’s good for you. This comes in handy when I’m indulging in, say, a fresh crackly baguette slathered with butter. It’s no accident that baguettes may be the most popular bread in the Western world. So when you need a break from your virtuous whole grain regimen, try this recipe and love the results.

How to Make Bread for the recipe, guidance and inspiration