Beyond the Bread Basket
Recipes for Appetizers, Main Courses, and Desserts
by eric Kayser
Flammarion, 2008
$34.95, cloth
160 pages
Bread - basic, elemental, even manna. But, wait for it - man cannot live by bread alone. Even if that man is Eric Kayser, a fourth generation French baker with an international chain of elegant bakeries that specialize in bread.
The problem, his recipes call for a wide variety of gorgeous breads - Sweet Chestnut Loaf, Pain Viennoise, Seaweed Bread, and more. On the other hand, I know I can find a good loaf of Olive Bread to be filled with a Three Meat Ragout, and who among us cannot manage a Baguette Pizza, here suavely topped with cherry tomatoes, shallots, mozzarella, and pistachio nuts?
Kayser does offer one bread recipe in a four page spread with lots of pictures of the baker at work, up to his wrists in drippy sourdough starter, fingers flying to knead and shape. The recipe is adapted for a home kitchen, though it still makes a substantial five small loaves from eight cups of flour. The recipe is a balance of detailed directions and the freedom to add nuts, fruits, and spices to the dough, a combination to guarantee success and inspire creativity.
And beyond bread, Kayser seems to apply the same freedom to flavor combinations in sandwiches that pair Lemon-flavored Persimmons with Fennel, a tandoori inspired chicken club, Brie and Hazelnut Butter, a classic 100% Parisian of ham, cheese, and butter on a baguette, and his interpretation of another classic - White Sausage, Honey Bread, and Exotic Fruit Chutney - a soigné hot dog for sure.
His chapters use bread in every way possible. Bread as a Plate features open sandwiches, fougasse, and pizza; Bread as an Ingredient offers his most creative recipes, like meatballs made with chestnut bread, or a tapenade made of toast that replaces the traditional olives and capers with toasted sourdough crumbs and pecans, hazelnuts, and walnuts for a smooth sauce.
Bread as a Seasoning uses flavored breads to add dimension to soups and salads. Sandwiches from around the world pick up international flavors and what can I say about Breads for Dessert. Surely recipes like Spiced Pineapple in a Coconut Brioche, Gingerbread Mille-Feuille, and a Strawberry Club Sandwich can almost speak for themselves.
And despite the evidence of history - ancient Greeks who flavored their bread with honey and olive oil, and mankind's wide and continuing bread making - Kayser feels compelled these days to propound the nutritional value of bread. Though it goes without saying, he means artisinal bread, made varied flours and grains, without preservatives and with a minimum of salt, not supermarket mush. And to keep you away from faux artisinal (most often found on the shelf next to supermarket mush) Kayser describes a tasting of his own breads along the lines of a wine tasting with a bit of the same preciousness.
He describes their characteristics and suggests parings, for example, brioche with a fine champagne and dark chocolate or a rye with a little salted butter and oysters. Are you salivating yet? But no such conceit is needed, just keep in mind the words he uses to describe a good loaf - crackle, sheen, elasticity, the aromas of toast and hazelnut.
With great style, Kayser reminds cooks to pursue the best, and that even the simplest food can be sublime.
© 2008 Claudia Kousoulas
