Friday Bread Basket 1/17/25
Spaghetti, noodles, etc.
Hello from the Wordloaf Friday Bread Basket, a weekly roundup of links and items relating to bread, baking, and grain. The Basket has been somewhat intermittent while I’ve been toiling in the flour mines on my book, and it will likely continue in that way until it is in the can next summer, alas. In order to keep up with the pile-up of links I have accumulated, I’m going to try sharing more items, but keep their briefs a little shorter than usual until then.
The other night, before feeding Pauline (my half-rye, half-whole wheat sourdough starter), I realized wanted a loaf of bread. I wasn't in the mood to make a full-on sourdough. I had other, more complicated recipes to test, therefore I wanted somtething simple. So I improvised on a loaf of overnight no-knead (or low-knead) bread, something grainy, seedy, and perfect for sandwiches or toast. I measured some flour, yeast, water, and salt but didn't follow a recipe. I know the basic quantities to fill my loaf pan, the proper amount of salt (2% of the weight of the flour), and that 1/4 teaspoon of yeast is plenty for an overnight rise at room temperature. I know about how much water the dough needs, and I add more until it feels right.
Undertaking this project required relinquishing myself to its timetable and devoting myself to the precise monitoring of the temperature and texture of the butter and dough. I had to get out of my head a little bit; I had to let the croissants possess me. In this intricate, intense diversion, I felt like I was starting to re-find myself. The fog of my grief felt like it was starting to lift: each set of folds that I performed on the dough was a source of newfound meaning and purpose toward a satisfying end goal.
Kitchen Arts and Letters (one of my fave booksellers) recently announced the East Village Cookbook, a comb-bound collection of recipes from restaurants and denizens of the neighborhood, including many spots I used to frequent when I lived on East 9th St. There’s even a recipe from B&H Dairy, a regular lunch spot that inspired the pan challah bread that is going into my book:
This bold, big-hearted community cookbook captures the character and history of New York City's East Village neighborhood. Published to support a soup kitchen and food pantry across from Tompkins Square Park in the heart of the East Village, it features recipes and the occasional story from local cooks, famous residents, and beloved and renowned restaurants.
A very partial list of contributors includes:
Veselka, Momofuku, Cafe Mogador, Superiority Burger, B & H Dairy, and Veniero’s,
Susan Sarandon, Alan Cumming, legendary punk musician Richard Hell, and magician and mentalist Prakesh Puru…
Sales of this book benefit Trinity Services and Food for the Homeless, which operates a soup kitchen and food pantry across from Tompkins Square Park in the heart of NYC's East Village neighborhood. In addition, through Friday, February 14, Kitchen Arts & Letters will contribute an additional $10 for each copy we sell.
Down North Pizzeria, the Philly Detroit-style shop that employs only formerly-incarcerated people, has a book coming out soon—We the Pizza—containing stories and recipes from the restaurant:
Created and launched by Philly born-and-bred entrepreneur Muhammad Abdul-Hadi, the mission of Down North Pizza is to reduce recidivism rates in North Philly and serve up the most insanely delicious food while doing it.
We the Pizza tells the Down North story about how the restaurant fulfills its mission to educate and support the formerly incarcerated while serving dope food. A testament to survival and second chances, this cookbook offers recipes for the tender, crispy-edged, square-cut, sauce-on-top pies that are Down North's signature dish; a whole chapter is devoted to vegetarian and vegan pizzas like No Better Love made with four cheeses and the arrabbiata-inspired Norf Sauce, while the meat and seafood pizza chapter features their most popular Roc the Mic pepperoni pie as well as the smoky berbere-brisket Tales of a Hustler and Say Yes, topped with jerk turkey sausage, roasted butternut squash, kale, ricotta, and lemon-honey drizzle.
You can preorder a signed copy here, or find it at your favorite local bookseller after 2/11 (or get it here).
That’s it for this week’s bread basket. Have a peaceful, restful, and maybe service-focused MLK weekend. See you next week.
—Andrew
Love seeing the shout outs to Martin and Muhammad along with other great Recs!
Thanks for the shout-out, Andrew! Like you, I'm looking forward to reading We the Pizza.