There’s a new baking group on the block and let me tell you, I came this close to hopping on board. The group is baking their way through Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice – a truly terrific book I’ve borrowed from my library on a few occasions. After some consideration, though, I decided against joining for two reasons: 1) I don’t actually own the book and can’t justify purchasing it right now and 2) I wasn’t sure I could commit to a new group while still maintaining responsibilities for Tuesdays with Dorie and Sweet Melissa Sundays AND finding time to bake outside of “group baking”.
So even though I haven’t joined the group, many of my food blogging and Twitter friends have, and I’ve been following their progress (mainly on Twitter where @pinkstripes, @nancyo and @thetortefeasor are a terrific source of advice, tips, fun, etc.) The first bread the group baked was the anadama and I was intrigued because Peter Reinhart says it’s “one of the great New England breads”. Curious. Aside from a brief 3 year stint in Nashville for law school, I’ve always lived in New England and I’m pretty sure I never had anadama bread. So, of course I wanted to give this bread a shot.
The bread starts off with a soaker made up of cornmeal and water. I’ve made some yeast breads but never one that starts with a soaker so that was a new experience. The soaker sits overnight and the next day becomes part of the bread-making process. The bread is actually really easy to make, in part because the instructions are so clear. In no time, I had two beautiful loaves of bread and there’s just nothing better than freshly baked bread. Shane and I enjoyed some of the bread that night with our dinner but it was the next day that I discovered my favorite use for the anadama bread. The bread is tender, slightly sweet thanks to a fair amount of molasses among its ingredients and fairly hearty and I just knew it would make a terrific grilled cheese sandwich. And did it ever! I made 3 more grilled cheese sandwiches after that first one and they were all out of this world.
You can find the recipe for the anadama bread here. Though I won’t be joining the group, I will definitely be trying some additional recipes from The Bread Baker’s Apprentice. For more information on the group, or to see some of the other recipes they’ve made, check out their site.
wow….the smell of a freshly baked bread loaf is hard to turn down.
The bread you made looks absolutely picture perfect. It looks like itwould even be delicious just toasted with butter:).
Yum! I think that grilled cheese was a wonderful way to eat the anadama bread. I was just thinking that it’s been my favorite of all the Peter Reinhardt breads that I’ve made — so far. Now you’ve got me thinking about grilled cheese!
Those loaves look perfect! Yeast proofing and bread baking are some of my favorite smells… mmmm…
Tasty looking bread – and I hear you on joining another group! There simply aren’t enough days in the week to get everything baked.
What great looking bread. I’m in the BBA Challenge group and I think it is great that you are baking some of the goodies along with us.
Great job,
Susie
Great looking bread!! Beautiful loaves. Love the tender texture. I love baking bread (especially when it turns out good, like it did in your case). Great job!
I just made this bread in Hawaii – am back now sadly, and we LOVED it. I almost joined too, but just can’t do it all. But love the book so will try a few things along the way.
I love the name of this bread – kind of tounge twister!
Ive been very into making my own bread lately, and this looks amazing! I will have to bookmark it to try soon!
Thanks for sharing!
That bread looks fantastic! All these breads from the BBA look splendid, but I hear you on not joining another baking group; I would need a few more hours in the week and a couple more people to eat the baked goods.
fantastic bread! this one looks so good 🙂
Wow! The perfect bread and the absolutely perfect grilled cheese sandwich if I may say so…
Talk about killer grilled cheese sandwiches! These look amazing!! Your bread turned out just great. Congrats!
Your loaf looks amazing!! That grilled cheese is calling my name. I can’t believe I haven’t made grilled cheese with this bread. I’ll have to make it again.
Tracey, your anadama bread looks just gorgeous! I can’t believe that I didn’t try grilled cheese with mine – it had to be the absolutely perfect way to enjoy this slightly sweet bread. I was born & raised in New England and never had Anadama Bread until I baked it in Alabama last month – ha! I hope that you join in for lots more BBA adventures!
i dont have the guts to bake bread :p 🙁
Wow, your bread looks perfect. I didn’t make grilled cheese with mine, but I should have! Actually, I still have some bread in the freezer…
I am in that group too but have nto gotten past anadama. I need to get baking. Your bread looks wonderful. I really liked the texture.