email this pageEventually, the clamor subsided, and bakers were asked to describe their offerings. "My experiment for the week was sushi rolls," proclaimed one member as she described a white dough doused with sake and rolled around sesame seeds and nori. "I made butternut squash buns using the same soup I brought today," explained another. "I tried a multi-colored levain-type bread," said yet another. People who consider baking a science find their view irrevocably challenged. Clearly, to club members it's an art-with dough a palette on which to lavish endless creativity.
The Bread Club is the brainchild of Dan "Klecko" McGleno, a professional baker who guessed that if you mixed people with flour, you'd give rise to a yeasty community of home bakers. Today's meeting is proof that his hunch was right. The assembled group includes teenagers and professionals and retirees. Men are as plentiful as women. Kitchen newbies mingle with long-time veterans of the oven wars.
"Part of what I love about baking is being alone with my thoughts," says member Kim Ode. "But the club certainly draws out the inner extrovert.
"People have always come together over the breaking of bread," she chuckles. "We come together over the baking of bread."
Story by Jo Marshall, a food writer in Deephaven, Minn. Recipes adapted with permission from Kim Ode's Baking With the St. Paul Bread Club (Minnesota Historical Society, 2006).
Finnish Cardamom Bread
Mark Boughton Photography; styling by Teresa Blackburn
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St. Paul Bread Club member Pat Roberts grinds cardamom seeds in a coffee grinder. This beautiful golden loaf with a braided top is perfect for breakfast. Leftovers would make great bread pudding or French toast.
Ingredients
Ingredients
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1/2 cup, plus 1/2 teaspoon, sugar
1 cup 2% reduced-fat milk
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon crushed cardamom seeds or ground cardamom
4 1/2 cups bread flour
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 beaten egg for glaze
Granulated sugar for sprinkling (optional)
Instructions
1/4 cup warm water
1/2 cup, plus 1/2 teaspoon, sugar
1 cup 2% reduced-fat milk
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon crushed cardamom seeds or ground cardamom
4 1/2 cups bread flour
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 beaten egg for glaze
Granulated sugar for sprinkling (optional)
1. Mix yeast, warm water and 1/2 teaspoon sugar until yeast dissolves. Set aside.
2. Heat milk in a saucepan over low heat until small bubbles appear along the edges. Cool to about 120F. Add beaten eggs, remaining 1/2 cup sugar, salt, cardamom and 3 cups flour. Beat well. Add butter; beat well. Add yeast mixture. Add remaining 11/2 cups flour in three additions, mixing well after each addition, until dough has a soft to medium consistency.
3. Knead on a lightly floured surface or with a mixer fitted with dough hooks until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes, adding as little additional flour as possible.
4. Place dough in an oiled bowl, turning to coat top. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until almost doubled, 1 to 2 hours. Punch down dough and let rise again until almost doubled, about 1 hour.
5. Place dough on a lightly floured surface and divide into 6 pieces. Roll each piece into a rope. Braid 3 ropes together to form a loaf. Repeat with remaining 3 ropes. Place loaves on a greased baking sheet or in greased 81/2 x 41/2-inch loaf pans. Cover with a cloth and let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes.
6. Preheat oven to 375F.
7. Brush loaves with beaten egg and sprinkle with sugar. Bake 25 minutes or until loaves sound hollow when tapped on bottom. Invert from pan and cool on a wire rack. Makes 2 loaves. Serves 20.
Adapted with permission from Kim Ode’s Baking With the St. Paul Bread Club (Minnesota Historical Society, 2006), "The Gospel of Bread," Feb. 2010.
Nutritional Information
2. Heat milk in a saucepan over low heat until small bubbles appear along the edges. Cool to about 120F. Add beaten eggs, remaining 1/2 cup sugar, salt, cardamom and 3 cups flour. Beat well. Add butter; beat well. Add yeast mixture. Add remaining 11/2 cups flour in three additions, mixing well after each addition, until dough has a soft to medium consistency.
3. Knead on a lightly floured surface or with a mixer fitted with dough hooks until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes, adding as little additional flour as possible.
4. Place dough in an oiled bowl, turning to coat top. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until almost doubled, 1 to 2 hours. Punch down dough and let rise again until almost doubled, about 1 hour.
5. Place dough on a lightly floured surface and divide into 6 pieces. Roll each piece into a rope. Braid 3 ropes together to form a loaf. Repeat with remaining 3 ropes. Place loaves on a greased baking sheet or in greased 81/2 x 41/2-inch loaf pans. Cover with a cloth and let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes.
6. Preheat oven to 375F.
7. Brush loaves with beaten egg and sprinkle with sugar. Bake 25 minutes or until loaves sound hollow when tapped on bottom. Invert from pan and cool on a wire rack. Makes 2 loaves. Serves 20.
Adapted with permission from Kim Ode’s Baking With the St. Paul Bread Club (Minnesota Historical Society, 2006), "The Gospel of Bread," Feb. 2010.
Per serving: 140 calories, 3.5g fat, 40mg chol., 5g prot., 24g carbs., 1g fiber, 75mg sodium.
Garlic Pull-Apart Bread
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St. Paul Bread Club member David Cargo, a computer engineer by day, created this recipe, the blue-ribbon winner in the club’s 2004 bake-off. It’s best served warm.
Ingredients
1 cup half-and-half
1 tablespoon sugar
1 (1/4-ounce) package active dry yeast
2 1/2 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
6 to 8 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
1. Heat half-and-half in a saucepan over low heat until lukewarm. Pour into mixing bowl. Add sugar and yeast and let stand until yeast foams, about 5 minutes.
2. Add 1 cup flour and salt and mix well. Add remaining flour and mix until a workable dough results, adding water if necessary. Knead by hand on a lightly floured surface 10 minutes or with a mixer fitted with dough hooks until dough cleanly pulls away from sides of bowl. Let rest 10 minutes.
3. Melt butter in a small skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and sauté 3 minutes.
4. Roll dough into an 8 x 12-inch rectangle. Spread garlic mixture over top of dough. Cut into 4 strips vertically, then horizontally to get 16 (3 x 2-inch) pieces. Place pieces in a greased 81/2 x 41/2 -inch loaf pan. (The arrangement will look like an accordion pleat.) Cover with a cloth and let rise in a warm place until slices fill pan, about 1 hour.
5. Preheat oven to 375F.
6. Bake about 30 minutes, until golden brown, placing foil on top after 10 minutes. Immediately invert bread onto a wire rack; cool slightly. Serve warm. Makes 1 loaf. Serves 8.
Adapted with permission from Kim Ode’s Baking With the St. Paul Bread Club (Minnesota Historical Society, 2006), "The Gospel of Bread," Feb. 2010.
Per serving: 200 calories, 7g fat, 20mg chol., 6g prot., 30g carbs., 1g fiber, 300mg sodium.
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