Category: Pastry
Soda Bread Recipe
There are lots of soda bread recipes around, but me, I prefer this one from the queen of Irish cooking, Monica Sheridan. Her 1965 book, The Art of Irish Cooking is a classic, right up there with Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child. Her recipe is about as traditional as you can get, and great for using up that bag of coarse-ground flour your hippie ex-roommate brought to you after his trip to Vermont.
READ ONNext Up: Soda Bread
I’m not in the habit of being so timely with my projects, but 7-year-old Jo Pastry is really into St. Patrick’s Day this year. Soda bread is simplicity itself, so, why not?
READ ONMaking Melon Pan
For a first attempt at melon pan, I was pretty pleased with these. Little 4-year-old Joan Pastry certainly was. Judging by her level of enthusiasm I’ll be making these quite a bit in future. But a very interesting item melon pan is. It’s not terribly sweet, nor does it have an especially pronounced flavor. However the textures are extremely interesting, and that jibes with what I know of Japan. Food lovers there are every bit as excited by texture as they are by flavor, perhaps even more so. Begin your melon by preparing the cookie dough. Put the butter and sugar in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle (beater):
READ ONMelon Pan vs. Concha Bread
There’s been a little debate brewing in the comment fields as to the difference between Japanese melon pan and Mexican concha (“seashell”) bread. The Pastry family happened to be out dining on Mexican food this past Saturday and we passed a Mexican bakery. I went in and snapped this close-up photo:
Bakers are a resilient bunch.
Reader Aaron, who until recently was in Japan and working at the bakery that was featured in this post a few months back, has this to say about the situation there:
READ ONI emailed the bakery and some other friends over there, they are all safe and sound. Anpans (red bean) are being made by the dozen with propane ovens and distributed around town! Many are without electricity, transport and normal food/water supplies. Thank goodness for building codes and modern emergency response. It could have been much worse.
A heck of a week…
…to finally do something Japanese. What to say other than the images coming from there can scarcely be believed. Joe readers in Japan, all of our thoughts and prayers are with you.
READ ONIf it’s a sweet cookie-bread, why is it called “melon pan”?
That’s a very interesting question. The “melon” part of the name arises from the fact that one of these looks very much like one of these. And in fact contrary to my original impression, the name has little if anything to do with the flavor. It seems that flavoring melon pan with real melon or melon extract, while it does happen, is a fairly recent development in the history of melon pan. Originally the cookie layer was simply flavored with vanilla.
READ ONThank you, 52!
food52.com was kind enough to do a write-up on yours truly today, saying some awfully complimentary things. I need to return the favor and do a post on them sometime! Thanks to everyone who put the terrific profile together. “The Rolls Royce of pastry blogs.” Gosh, I’m blushing now…
READ ONAnd now for something completely different.
We spend an awful lot of time in Europe on this blog. Given that, it seems well past time that we took at trip to the other side of the other pond and did something a little different. This week we’ll be making a Japanese delicacy by the name of melon pan. Sure, I scarcely know what it is and have no experience making it. But since when has that ever stopped me? Should be fun!
READ ON