Not Your Mother's Cookbooks

In each genre of cooking, there are the celebrities, the ones who are well known by being on TV, and then there are the insider pros, the ones who the food world recognize but often are not more widely known. If you are a serious home bread baker, you know Bernard Clayton’s recipes.

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Mildred Pierce move over. Here is the alternative to all that messy stovetop frying.

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There have been epistles written about Irish soda bread. This recipe is from my family and it still is the best. Makes great toast, crunchy and tastes just like an English muffin.

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The office staff at Harvard Common Press, my publisher, cook out of the books we publish, which includes mine. Yesterday I was told that one of the gals made the Pear Bread from the Quick Breads book. It is such as fabulous loaf and one of the best I ever created. I was happy to be reminded about it.

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Ink is one of the oldest tools of magic. Whether needed to write a spell or symbol, magical ink can invoke or banish potentially dangerous beings. To make invisible ink appear, hold the paper over a candle flame to gently…

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When I worked at the bakery in 1980, my assistant Celeste made this variation of our standard Sunflower Molasses Bread with buttermilk and honey. It was scrumptous and ended up being one of our best sandwich/toasting breads, rich flavored and moist textured. When I wrote Bread for Chronicle Books, I included the recipe. Good thing I wrote it down for Celeste never did and had forgotten she ever created it. Always write down your variations!

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Whole wheat bread is the mainstay of the baker’s kitchen. Until you have mastered whole wheat bread you cannot say you are a bread baker. The easiest whole wheat bread is a 50-50 blend of whole wheat and white flour: it makes the dough easy to work with and gives a high rise. Use fresh flour, as fine a grind as you can find, for the grind will dictate the overall texture. Remember when kneading to leave the dough a dash sticky, as the whole grains will absorb it during the rise. This is real old fashioned home baking at its best and is perfect made in the terracotta bread pans.

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