Comments on Sweet Amandine: The just right thing

Hi Jess, it's Grace from the non-fiction work...

2010-05-19T18:47:50.923-04:00

Hi Jess,
it's Grace from the non-fiction workshop! Unsurprisingly, I can't get enough of your blog and am especially keen to try this soda bread recipe. I'm completely new to bread baking, but really excited about the prospect of impressing my parents with perfect toast.. I'll let you know how it goes!
Hope the end of the semester wasn't too stressful for you. I'm so glad we met in that wonderful workshop!
Grace

Hi! Same Anonymous here, with an update on the rol...

2010-04-28T10:30:54.857-04:00

Hi! Same Anonymous here, with an update on the rolls: they were bad. Lost a lot of moisture from having so much exposure to the oven and I really missed the lovely spongey inside texture of a slice.

Since I can't really afford to throw away food, I re-conceptualized them as whole-meal, flax-seedy English muffins, and they are ok toasted with a layer of butter and jam. Better and heartier than store-bought, and they have the requisite nooks and crannies for butter to pool. Definitely get me through a morning. But I miss the loaf-form and won't make the rolls again.

Darby and Anonymous - Hooray! Your success storie...

2010-04-25T14:16:56.892-04:00

Darby and Anonymous - Hooray! Your success stories are music to my ears.

Thanks for the dough-to-dough comparison, Darby. You can eat all the dough you want, my friend. I do not judge.

Anonymous, thanks for the substitution tips. Butter and apricot jam. Oh yes. And I love the idea of making this bread as rolls.

Hello! I just made this bread with a few substitut...

2010-04-25T10:19:34.351-04:00

Hello! I just made this bread with a few substitutions (given what I had around) and it was PERFECT for a thrown-together-brunch.

So: if you don't have buttermilk, skim milk with 1 T of white vinegar/cup works. No ground flax seeds? Sprinkle whole ones on top! Perfect when spread with butter and apricot jam, alongside scrambled eggs and fruit salad.

It came out tall, fragrant, and truly bready, which amazed me for a 1 hour (start-to-finish, including washing a mixing bowl in the beginning) bread. Thanks, Jess! Next time, I may make soda rolls for an even quicker product.

Jess- Just popped your recipe into the oven and, ...

2010-03-28T19:41:48.366-04:00

Jess- Just popped your recipe into the oven and, though I don't know what the end product looks like yet, the dough was much tastier than my original! (Yes, I taste every bread dough I make. I like dough.) I did eventually settle on 2 t soda (as they suggest in their retested recipe), but I'm CONVINCED that there's 1. too much flour and 2. too little liquid in their recipe. Grr. Gourmet would NEVER have done this to us. At least the photos were pretty.

Thanks, friend. (Also, hi! It has been too long....

2010-03-19T12:09:37.782-04:00

Thanks, friend. (Also, hi! It has been too long.)

looks delicious as always :)

2010-03-19T11:47:40.432-04:00

looks delicious as always :)

Hi, Lilly. Thanks for the tip about the baking so...

2010-03-19T11:23:47.697-04:00

Hi, Lilly. Thanks for the tip about the baking soda. I've had excellent results with just the single teaspoon, so I have no plans to double up. I love the idea of adding citrus zest to the batter. I'm making another loaf for dinner tonight (clearly, I'm obsessed) and I think I'll try some orange zest. Thank you for the inspiration! Also, it's funny that you should mention Ballymaloe, as just last night I was reading this interview with Rory O'Connell, co-founder of the Ballymaloe Cookery School. (That place looks like heaven.) If you have a moment, and you don't mind sending it, I would love to have a look at that recipe and give it a go. (You'll find my e-mail address in the about section up top.) Thanks!

Your bread looks great and I'm so delighted th...

2010-03-19T11:05:43.079-04:00

Your bread looks great and I'm so delighted that you love soda bread now! Definitely don't add more soda as it really effects the taste. I make soda bread nearly every week and throw all sorts of things in: oats, chocolate chips, raisins, bacon pieces & cheese, poppy seeds & lemon zest,rye flour, anything! It does taste a bit stale after 2 days but is SO nice toasted.
I'm in Ireland and always use the Ballymaloe basic soda bread recipe, it never fails! x

Lindsey - That would make for an interesting soda ...

2010-03-18T13:13:37.042-04:00

Lindsey - That would make for an interesting soda bread, indeed! Dr. Pepper soda bread, anyone? (Is it weird that I actually think that sounds kind of good?)

Thanks, Amuse-Bouche for Two. You're too kind.

Thank you, dear Carolyn! It makes me happier than you can imagine when I hear that someone has tried a recipe from this site and found success. I appreciate your taking the time to let me know.

Erin - With the exception of lemon bars and oatmeal cookies, baked things generally don't excite the guy. The fact that he's so into this bread means it must be something special. (Of course, my taste buds alone could have told you that.)

And Diane, hello! What a nice surprise to see your name pop up here. Thanks for your very kind words. As for the soda bread recipe from the March 2010 issue of Bon Appétit, that's actually the recipe that Darby O'Shea (the first commenter up top) tried. She had some trouble with it and, based on the comments on the BA site, so did a bunch of other readers. But there's a note on the BA recipe online now, and it sounds like the good folks in your test kitchens have fixed it up.

Hi! Diane here from BA. We had some brown bread r...

2010-03-18T10:55:38.434-04:00

Hi! Diane here from BA.
We had some brown bread recipes in our March 2010 issue too... wonder how those fare in home kitchens?

LOVE YOUR BLOG!

xo

After seeing your tweet the other day mentioning t...

2010-03-18T08:14:20.113-04:00

After seeing your tweet the other day mentioning that Eli rushed from bed in order to have a slice of this toast in the morning I have a hunch that this is quite the "keeper" of a recipe.

oh, thank you! i totally sympathize with your soda...

2010-03-17T20:15:15.379-04:00

oh, thank you! i totally sympathize with your soda bread disappointments...so i made this tonight and it was exactly what i'd been searching for. just right!

"Sometimes, you have no idea what you’re look...

2010-03-17T16:56:18.492-04:00

"Sometimes, you have no idea what you’re looking for until it’s on the table, staring up at you through a layer of raspberry jam." I just had to repeat that. It's genius. :)

I've never actually had soda bread before...I ...

2010-03-17T16:01:11.309-04:00

I've never actually had soda bread before...I know it makes a big comeback every year around this time, but I have never had it. Or made it. And if you had told me that it had yeast and soda you drink in it, I would have believed you.

Kalyn - It's so good, right?! You know, I'...

2010-03-17T15:17:42.034-04:00

Kalyn - It's so good, right?! You know, I've been meaning to do some baking with this white whole wheat flour that everyone's talking about. I'm going to have to pick some up and try it in my next go-around with this bread. Thanks for the suggestion. I really appreciate it.

Oh, Rosiecat, I can't wait for you to try it. I've actually been thinking that a hunk of this bread would be excellent alongside a bowl of that tomato soup that we both know and love. As for the cinnamon, hmmm, I'm having trouble seeing it in my mind's eye. (By which I mean tasting it with my mind's tongue. Wait, that actually sounds a little gross.) But I do know that this bread swings easily in the direction of sweet. It's great with butter and honey, so why not try a different, cinnamon-sugary take on sweet? Let me know how you like it.

I could really use a good savory quick bread in my...

2010-03-17T13:34:00.155-04:00

I could really use a good savory quick bread in my baking repertoire. Jess, I feel your pain in testing all those recipes and finding no keepers! But I'm happy for a happy ending here because now I can go home and bake this bread and eat toast. Do you think this will make for a good cinnamon toast? I can't wait to try it!

I made this same bread (I found the recipe in the ...

2010-03-17T10:57:13.125-04:00

I made this same bread (I found the recipe in the Bon Appetit cookbook) but I subbed white whole wheat flour for the white flour for a brown soda bread that was 100% whole wheat. I agree, this recipe was a keeper for me too!

Hello there Ms. Darby O'Shea! The simple answ...

2010-03-17T09:46:23.636-04:00

Hello there Ms. Darby O'Shea! The simple answer to your question is that yes, it did rise, though not as high as the yeast breads that I make in this loaf pan. When I read your comment last night, I took a ruler to the specimen that I had just pulled from the oven. (Because, you know, I'm a crazy lady who measures her bread.) At its tallest point, the loaf was about 3.5 inches, just a little higher than the top of the loaf pan. My store-bought sandwich loaf came in at 4 inches (yes, I measured that, too!), so I'm thinking that this soda bread didn't fare too badly. I'm also not sure that soda breads are meant to be super-tall - are they?

I noticed on the Bon Appétit website that, after reading several comments from disappointed readers, the editors have made some changes to the original recipe that you tried and posted on your site. One of their suggested alterations is indeed to add an extra teaspoon of baking soda. Maybe you could give that a try?

Molly, I love that you said "stout" when I was thinking "squat." Your word sounds much kinder. I've baked cakes with yogurt, but never bread. If you have a favorite recipe, I'd love to try it.

Wonderful, dear Tara! I think you're going to like this one.

Our bread bin is looking a bit bare ... I think I&...

2010-03-17T08:27:15.568-04:00

Our bread bin is looking a bit bare ... I think I'll be filling it up rather soon.

Sometimes a stout loaf is just the thing, and oats...

2010-03-16T23:37:20.790-04:00

Sometimes a stout loaf is just the thing, and oats somehow work all kinds of magic in baked goods. The only soda bread I've ever loved called for yogurt instead of buttermilk, but this has promise written all over it.

Yeah, but did it rise? That's been my issue w...

2010-03-16T23:12:23.051-04:00

Yeah, but did it rise? That's been my issue with soda bread - seems like every recipe I try is just too heavy to rise. Maybe more soda? Maybe less flour? I don't know. I'll try your recipe.