Front Burner: Bread winners
Photo by Sam Dean l The Roanoke Times
Warm, freshly baked bread is a wonderful accompaniment to almost any meal, but mine is probably not the only home where this goal is seldom, if ever, realized.
It would be lovely if I could channel my grandma and serve buttery, yeasty Alabama biscuits with dinner or thick slabs of toasted salt-rising bread for breakfast, but I’m a working woman and that just isn’t happening unless it’s Thanksgiving or Christmas.
Many of us settle for old standbys such as biscuits or cornbread, and while there’s certainly nothing wrong with either of those classics, I recently went looking for savory breads without yeast that could be whipped up for dinner, even on a weeknight.
What I found were three very easy, tasty options for serving alongside winter soups and stews, bowls of beans, meat-and-three dinners, or even a nice salad. Before I describe these breads, allow me to offer a couple of pointers.
To continue reading this column, and to see recipes for olive bread, savory onion bread and Irish soda bread, click here.
What is your go-to bread when you want to whip up something fast to go with supper? Or do you only make bread when you’ve got the time to use yeast?
October 26, 2011 - 10:07 AM
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While it’s not a “quick bread” cookbook, I love my Healthy Bread in 5 minutes a Day book. Tons of great recipes, still trying them all out. The name is a little misleading – there’s still the intial prep, but after that, yeah, you can have fresh bread with 5 minutes of prep time. Great for us weekend baker warriors!
We don’t eat too much bread any more, due to gluten. But, when we do desire something, we usually make biscuits using GF Bisquick, and add garlic and cheese to them…they’re quite good. If we want some quick bread, my wife found a recipe for a microwave bread that uses small amounts of flour, flax seed, shortening, salt, egg (or replacer),and baking powder. It takes a minute or 2 to make it, and it’s pretty tasty and fluffy.
Beer bread! It couldn’t be easier.
3 c. self-rising flour, 1/4 c. sugar, 1 can/bottle beer, 1/4 c. melted butter plus a bit more to pour over the top. 375 for an hour in a greased loaf pan.
Dress it up with whatever you have on hand (garlic & basil is delish!)
Am I doing something wrong? When I click on the link, it takes me to the blog, but there isn’t a link to the recipes.
While it isn’t exactly a quick bread and it does use yeast, I prepare focaccia once in a while. You can mix and knead it in 10 minutes or less, then let it rise for about 45 minutes. Shape it in your bread pan, let it rise another 20 minutes, then bake for 25 minutes. It’s excellent for making sandwiches or you can make breadsticks or for whatever you normally use focaccia. I have a pan of it rising for the 20 minutes prior to cooking as I type this!
Vickie, the recipe links are at bottom left on that page. Thanks for the idea to make focaccia. I tested a yeast-free focaccia recipe for the column, but it wasn’t as good as the others.
Tass, thanks for the beer bread idea. Another reader emailed me that same recipe today. Easy peasy!
My sister will spend a day and make 3-6 loaves of french bread and put them in the freezer. Whenever we want fresh bread, we just take a loaf out and stick it in the oven @ 250 for 15-20 minutes. I also have the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day and Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day cookbooks and LOVE them!!!
Thank you, Lindsey! Sometimes I simply can’t see something, even when it’s right in front of me. The older I get the more often it happens.
Thanks for the recipes! You and Tass have just made my bread loving husband very happy, even though he doesn’t know it yet!
Well, those links aren’t exactly jumping out at folks, Vickie. I’m sure you aren’t the only one who had trouble spotting them.
I made the savory onion bread tonight to go with a corn & wild rice soup. Very tasty!