Short video on Rye Beer topping

http://blip.tv/mspmagtv/making-and-baking-beer-bread-at-patisserie-46-5651499

Jim

What are your favorite butters for slathering on top of fresh-baked loaves? I personally enjoy Kerrygold for its rich, fatty flavor, though one could easily argue that the flavor overwhelms the subtle fragrances in the bread. Also, does anybody know of a good internet source for French butters (such as Bordier)?

Hi all

Thanks for the advice from those of you who responded to my question about green cherry tomatoes to be used in focaccia.  I went ahead and used them without pre cooking, and here are the results.  I used Peter Reinhart's pain a l'ancienne dough with 30% whole wheat, then made it into a focaccia after retarding overnight.  I topped it with olive oil in which had been soaked italian herbs and two large crushed garlic cloves.  As you can see, I used up all our remaining cherry tomatoes, in varying stages or ripeness, all of which were fairly small.  The green tomatoes softened up nicely while cooking, and had a slighly sour taste in the bread, which was a nice savory twist.

I've been trying to mirror a pumpernickel walnut raisin from my favorite restaurant. The taste and texture is spot on but I cannot get a good shine. The bread at the restaurant has a nice gloss but mine has been a little dull. What can I use to get the best shine?

Ahhh bread and chocolate! I don't have much of a sweet tooth but do find a warm baguette spread with dark chocolate irristable (to my taste much better than overrich chocolate croissants). 

I'm not a fan of Nutella (too sweet) and I've often wished someone would make a grown up version of Nutella with dark chocolate. So I was pretty excited when I spotted Nusco Dark Chocolate at  my fave food import store the other day.

 I just spread a little Nusco on a slice of toast and it was excellent!  Highly recommend this product.

I purchased a 400g jar for $3.45 but see that it's available online.   Check it out!

I'm about to make the vienna bread that looked so good in several posts. Could someone who has made please it tell me if they baked the breads with steam and what temperature they baked at?

Patsy

When I was young we made use of anything at hand for a sandwich filling. Some sounds quite common like the last fried egg from breakfast and some not so common like mashed new england style baked beans on whole wheat bread with a slice of pickle. Scraping the dripping from the cold pork roast pan was good if mama didn't get after us.

Nick Malgieri calls these "Tiger Rolls". I think they look more like Giraffe Rolls.

Either way, they're delicious:  http://wp.me/pwL3l-pm

This morning, i had the pleasure of getting out my fresh loaf of sourdough, picking some beautiful portobello mushrooms from my mushroom kit and making lovely bruschetta. 

I fried up the mushrooms in some olive oil with thyme and toasted slices of the bread under the grill with basil pesto and olive oil spread on them.  Topped with the fryed mushrooms it made a delicious and easy breakfast all homemade or grown.

I'd love to hear of anyone elses topping ideas that they enjoy with their fresh bread

I've fallen in love with the seed mix DonD used in his  Pain aux Cereales. blog here  The millet really stays really crunchy.  For a twist, I added a bit of caraway too.  I recommend it highly.