I was fiddling with pita over the weekend and came up with this new formula. It's much faster than the original version, assuming you have some refreshed and active starter hanging around. I put sourdough in quotations since a bread that's not made with a starter that's local to the San Francisco Bay area can't really claim to be "sour" in that sense. But it still tastes darn good.

11 ounces unbleached all-purpose (AP) flour (substitute whole wheat four for up to half if desired)
10 ounces bread starter
2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
2 1/4 teaspoons sugar
2 tablespoons (1 ounce) olive or vegetable oil
3/4 cup (6 ounces) lukewarm water

Combine all the ingredients in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, and stir on low until all the ingredients are moist, about 30 seconds. Switch to a dough hook and knead 5-7 minutes, until dough is smooth and elastic. Let rise in an oiled bowl for an hour, until almost doubled in size.

Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 550 and arrange a pizza stone on the middle rack. Turn the dough out of the bowl and divide it into nine 3-ounce pieces. Roll each into a ball according to the bun shaping instructions under the How to Shape Buns and Rolls tutorial over to the right. Let them rest for 20- 30 minutes. Roll out to circles about 7 inches across. Let rest about 10 minutes.

When ready, simply pick up one or two pitas and drop them onto the baking stone. Bake for 2-3 minutes, until puffy, then gently, with tongs, turn over. Bake another two minutes or so, until the breads achieve the desired color (the lighter the pitas, the more tender and flexible they'll be...I like mine a little darker for flavor). Cool and eat. These freeze very well.

This bread works every bit as well as a free-form rustic loaf as it does in a loaf pan. If that's the sort of thing you're after, you can shape it as you wish, then follow the instructions under the How to Make Your Oven More Brick-Oven Like post under the techniques menu to the right.

Whole wheat sandwich bread has a few more steps than standard white, but not too many more, and the results will amaze you. Especially if you use a good white whole wheat grind (King Arthur makes a great one), the loaf will be nearly as light in taste and texture as white bread. This is a two-day bread, requiring a preferment (starter) and a soaker. Make your soaker by combining your flour and salt in a bowl:

Whisk it together...

...and add the milk. You can use water if you want, yogurt and buttermilk are good alternatives too.

Stir with a fork until everything's wet.

Cover that mess with plastic wrap and let it sit out overnight. For the starter, combine the flour, yeast and water in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle...

...and stir until a dough forms.

It helps to work the dough a little by hand once that's done, to stretch it and help the gluten develop. Knead it on a floured board for about a minute. Put the starter in an oiled bowl, cover with plastic and put it into the fridge.

The next day, assemble your final dough. Combine the flour, salt, yeast, honey and soft butter in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle. Add in the soaker, then tear up the starter and put the pieces in.

Stir for about a minute until everything is combined, then switch to the dough hook. Knead on medium speed for 2-3 minutes until a dough forms.

It will be a little sticky.

Turn the dough out onto a floured board and knead by hand for 3-4 minutes. Let it rest for five minutes to give the flour time to fully absorb moisture, then knead for another minute or so until it's soft, spongy and only slightly sticky.

Cover it with plastic wrap and let it sit 30-60 minutes...

... until it has increase in size by about 50%.

No we get to the "punch down" stage, though to be fair, this isn't so much a punching down as it is a merciless can-kicking. With a heavy hand, push the dough out into an oblong shape.

Grab it by one of the ends and bring it down hard on the table top — wham! Feel good? Then do it some more.

Now beat the dough with the back and heels of your hards. Hurt it. Go on, and don't be shy. The object here is to pop any large gas bubbles, which is important for sandwich bread. Why? Because good sandwich bread has a tight, even crumb with very small holes, the kind that don't let mustard drip out onto your brand new khaki trousers. Skip this step and you risk what we used to call "mouse houses" at the bakery: big tunnels in the crumb, or large gaps under the top crust where gas and steam have been allowed to collect.

Now that your sandwich dough knows who's boss, pat it down into a rectangle. If you see any large gas bubbles, gently tear them open to allow the gas to escape, then press the tears back together.

Now fold/roll it up, taking care that you don't roll in any large pockets of air.

When it's completely rolled, seal the edge with your thumb to create surface tension on the outside of the loaf.

It'll look like this when you're done:

Now pat it into a plump log and lay it into an oiled 4 1/2" x 8" pan.

Spread some of that oil on the top , cover the loaf with a towel or plastic wrap.

Let it rise another 30-60 minutes until it is again about 50% larger than it was. Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 425.

Just before baking, slash the top to allow for expansion.

Bake for 20 minutes and rotate. If the top is very brown at that point, you can put foil over it to keep it from burning for the second half of the bake. You want something along the lines of this:

If you like a shiny top, your can paint the surface with egg wash. I generally appreciate a rustic look. Allow the bread to cool on a rack for 2 hours before slicing, then break out the ham salad.

It's said that if you're going to steal, you might as well steal from the best. So I did. This is recipe is from Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads, a book that every serious or aspiring bread baker should own (along with all his other books). I'll be making the 100% whole wheat version of the recipe, though I generally favor a 50-50 mix of whole wheat and white flour. If you want to go that route, simply made the starter with white bread flour instead of whole wheat flour. You'll end up adding a little more flour to the final dough to get the right consistency, but otherwise the recipe will perform the same.

Note that you'll be making two "pre-doughs" on the day before you make and bake your bread, one of which you'll store at room temperature and one you'll store in the fridge. (Don't mix them up.)

ON DAY 1:

Make the Soaker

8 ounces whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
7 ounces milk

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir until moistened. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature overnight.

Make the Starter

8 ounces whole wheat flour
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
6 ounces water (preferably bottled)

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and stir until a ball forms. Knead the ball by hand for about two minutes until all the ingredients are moistened. Rest the dough for five minutes and knead again for about a minute. Put the dough back into the bowl and cover it with plastic wrap. Refrigerate over night.

ON DAY 2

Make the Dough

Remove the starter from the refrigerator two hours before you plan on making the dough to take the chill off. Then combine:

the soaker
the starter (torn into pieces)
2 ounces whole wheat flour
5/8 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
1 1/2 ounces honey
1/2 ounce butter

...in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and stir on low until a dough forms, about a minute. Switch to the dough hook and knead for 2-3 minutes more. The dough should be soft and not too sticky. Add more flour or water as needed to achieve the right consistency.

Place the dough on a floured board and knead it by hand for 3-4 minutes, letting it take up extra flour as needed. For the dough into a ball, let it rest five minutes, then knead it for about a minute more. It should feel soft, pliable and a little bit sticky. Form it into a ball and place it in an oiled bowl. Allow it to rise 45 minutes to an hour, until it's about 150% its original size.

Shape the dough and put it into a greased 4" x 8 1/2" loaf pan. Let it rise about another hour until it's again about 150% its original size. Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 425. Bake for 20 minutes, rotate the pan in the oven, and bake for another 20 minutes until golden brown. Transfer the loaf to a rack to cool for a minimum of an hour.

World, witness the way Americans prefer to consume cheese. I'm not sayin' it's right, I'm not sayin' it's wrong, it's just the way we do it (and that's before our main meal, not after). Crackers are a low-effort bit of savory bakery with a high payoff. ("Excellent crackers!" Thank you, you know I make them myself). They taste unlike anything you can find in stores...in a good way. Start by combining your ingredients in a bowl, in the bowl of a mixer or a food processor.

Work the dough until it's smooth and uniform. Here you can see it's rather wet. Don't worry about that...

...because after a several-hour chill it will take on a notably firmer character (this is mostly a result of the butter re-firming).

Preheat your oven to 375. Place a piece on a well-floured board. Flour your dough and your pin and roll it out quite thin, about 1/16th of an inch.

Here I rolled out a pretty small piece. Why, I don't know...it really doesn't matter.

The crackers can be cut to any size you like.

Transfer to a greased or parchment-lined baking sheet.

Dock them with a fork to allow steam to escape.

You can bake these as they are, or you can get a little fancy with the toppings. I generally paint on a little melted butter...

...then sprinkle on some large-crystal salt.

And if I have them on-hand, a few fresh herbs.

Bake 15-20 minutes or until lightly golden. You can eat them right away, though I think they're even better after they've staled and dried a bit.

So then, imagine you're a military rations purveyor to the US government circa 1865. The Civil War just ended and your hardtack business has tanked. You've got dozens of hard-earned dollars invested in your state-of-the-art baking equipment and need to find a way to re-purpose it for peacetime use. Could crackers be mass-marketed to ordinary citizens? Crazier things have worked, but first you need to gentrify the recipe a little. Adding some leavening would be a good start — why not some of that newfangled chemical stuff everybody's using these days? This is modern American industry, after all. Then maybe some fat, and who doesn't appreciate a little sugar? Mix it all up, roll it out thin and there you have it — a new industrial food product is born. You might not go bankrupt after all!

I'm including three different recipes for the same cracker here. Why? Because you may want to put lots of advance planning into your crackers, but then again you may not. The cracker recipe I used a decade ago was a simple mix-and-roll affair. It was quite nice, but the crackers were rather bland if we didn't cover them with herbs or seeds (which we did). Surveying recipes on the web, I found that quite a few call for commercial yeast. Not for leavening (classically, crackers are made with soda or baking powder), but for flavor. A little yeast in the mix plus an overnight retarding in the fridge adds a bread-like depth to a plain jane cracker. But then if yeast and bacteria flavors are so desirable, why not just add a little bread starter instead? Provided your starter is relatively fresh, it's a best-of-both-worlds (fast and flavorful) solution. For the straight crackers you'll need:

7.5 ounces (1 1/2 cups) all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon sugar
5 1/2 ounces (2/3 cup) water
2 ounces (4 tablespoons) soft butter

For yeasted crackers you'll need:

7.5 ounces (1 1/2 cups) all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons instant yeast
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon sugar
5 1/2 ounces (2/3 cup) water
2 ounces (4 tablespoons) soft butter

For starter crackers you'll need:

5 ounces (1 1/2 cups) all-purpose flour
5 ounces bread starter (see instructions under the bread menu to the right)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon sugar
2 ounces water
2 ounces (4 tablespoons) soft butter

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl or in the bowl of a food processor and stir or process until smooth and even. The dough will be rather wet and soft, however a chill in the fridge will firm it up significantly. Cover the bowl with plastic and put it into the fridge for at least 2 hours, or if you're making the yeasted version, 18 hours.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Place about a third of the dough on a well-floured surface and roll it out quite thin, about 1/16th of an inch. At this point you have a decision to make: if you like a flaky cracker, you can give the sheet a 3-way "letter" fold and re-roll it to 1/16th of an inch. Or you can proceed straight to the cutting stage, which is what I normally do. Next, cut the dough into squares — what size is again up to you. Transfer them to a parchment-lined baking sheet and "dock" them with a fork by pricking holes all over them (if you like you can do this step before you cut, but with such a small quantity of crackers, it doesn't make much difference). Oh, and in case you were already feeling like you had too many choices, did I mention you can use a biscuit cutter to make circle shapes if you want? Roll and cut all the dough, recycling the scraps. You'll have about two cookies sheets worth.

Paint the crackers with melted butter if you like. It's not only tasty, it helps things like seeds, herbs and salt to stick. Sprinkle with seeds, herbs or salt. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until light browned and mostly dry. Cool and eat.

These things are so easy to make, you'll want to bake up a batch every Friday (or Saturday, or Sunday, or Monday...). The higher gluten flour you can find, the better for these. If you have some or have a source, terrific. If not, some bread flour from the supermarket will still turn out excellent buns.

As you can see from the photograph, I didn't add any raisins, despite what the recipe called for. What can I say, it was a busy day and I didn't have time to run out. However I should emphasize that many different kinds of dried and/or candied fruit will work well in these. Currents are very English, citron is very hip, dried apricot is very, um...Louisville. Swap them in and out to your heart's content.

Start by adding your dry ingredients to the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle.

Then whisk your liquid ingredients in a medium bowl.

Give the dry ingredients a stir to blend them, then add the liquids all at once.

Mix just long enough to moisten them...

...and switch to the dough hook. Knead several minutes until the dough comes together in a soft ball, about like this:

If it's too wet, just add a few tablespoons of extra flour. The dough will be rather sticky and will cling to the bottom of the bowl. Turn the mixer back on and add the soft butter. Once it's all incorporated, add the dried and/or candied fruit.

Let the dough rise for about two hours or until doubled in volume, then shape into rolls according to the directions in the post How to Shape Buns and Rolls over to the right. Cover with greased plastic wrap,

Proof the buns for another hour or so, until the balls are again almost doubled, but still spring back a bit when you poke them. Score with x's on the top, paint with egg wash if you wish (I didn't, since I kinda like the flat, rustic finish) and bake for 15 minutes at 350. You should have something like this:

The scores don't always stay straight or perpendicular, but what the hey, the icing's coming next, right?

Right.

I'm normally a long-fermentation snob, but frankly with all the spices in these little breads, it's mighty hard to pick up the subtleties that a long rise offers. A full tablespoon of instant yeast blows this dough up in no time — foom — which means from start to glaze, you can have these done in about four hours.

1 lb. 6.5 ounces (4 1/2 cups) bread flour
1 tablespoon instant yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 3/4 cups warm milk
1/4 cup honey
2 eggs, warm
4 tablespoons soft butter
1/2 cup dark raisins
1/2 cup golden raisins

Put flour, yeast spices and salt into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the beater (paddle) attachment. Turn on low to blend. In a medium bowl combine milk, honey, eggs and whisk lightly to combine. Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl of the mixer as it's running and continue to stir until the flour mixture is completely moistened. Turn off the mixer and switch to the dough hook. Turn the mixer up to medium and add the butter and raisins. Knead 5-7 minutes until the dough comes together in a soft ball. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in size (about 2 hours).

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Cut the dough into 18 pieces (they should weigh a little over 3 ounces each). Shape the pieces into buns according to the How to Shape Buns and Rolls instructions under the bread how-to's on the right. Place the rolls on parchment-lined sheet pans and spray lightly with cooking spray. Cover gently with greased plastic wrap and let rise until almost doubled in size, about another 45 minutes (they should be puffy, but the dough should spring back some when you poke it).

Paint the buns with egg wash and score the tops of them in a criss-cross pattern. Bake for about 15 minutes or until very lightly browned. Cool thoroughly on a wire rack. When completely cooled, drizzle on a simple icing of 2 cups powdered sugar and 1/4 water or milk in a cross shape.

Is this a Joe-style afternoon snack or what? Home made pretzels are another one of those things that will amaze you for their simplicity and make you wonder if you can ever be happy with the store-bought variety again. As you already know from the recipe below, my version calls for a stater. You want it well fed and rarin' to go, which is to say, it needs to be able to reach this bubbly active stage within four hours of a feeding (at room temperature):

Starter in hand, you're good to go. Combine your stater, flour, malt syrup, water and salt in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a dough hook...

...and knead for 6-8 minutes until the dough comes together. It should be firm but largely smooth.

Cut it into 3-ounces pieces (for soft pretzels), 1-to-1 1/2 ounce pieces for hard ones. Spritz your board with a little water and roll each piece into a ball. Cover the dough balls with a moist towel and let rise for one hour.

Now you're ready to shape. Pat each ball into a log, like so.

Now prepare to roll each piece into a long snake. Here the proper technique helps. Start with all four fingertips on the top of the dough log.

As you push forward, spread your fingers apart. This will help stretch this very elastic dough.

When the piece is long enough, put both hands to the task. You'll want to roll it out to eighteen or more inches in length.

To shape the pretzel, form the dough into a "u."

Cross the ends.

Cross them again.

Then fold the forked end downward. Done!

Put the shaped pretzels on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper, cover loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate them overnight or up to two days. The next day, when you're ready to make your pretzels, prepare your lye bath or baking soda poaching solution. If you're using lye, be sure to take the appropriate safety precautions: put on protective eyewear, gloves and a long-sleeve shirt and make sure no children or pets enter the kitchen. Here I'm just using a boiling baking soda solution, so I don't need the gear. Dip or poach your pretzels for about 30 seconds.

Poached pretzels will be slightly plumped.

Put them on a rack and let drip-dry for a minute or so.

Transfer to a greased or oiled sheet pan. If you're not using a lye solution, you'll need to apply your egg wash at this point.

Sprinkle on your kosher salt...

...and you're ready to bake. Do it immediately or the salt will begin to melt. Here actual "pretzel salt" is nice, but kosher works just fine too. Bake on a middle rack in a 400 oven for 10 minutes, rotate the pan, and bake another 7-10 minutes until well browned.

For hard pretzels, bake them at 350 for 45 minutes or more until dark brown and crunchy.

Break out the mustard and beer!

You may have heard a rumor that you can only make truly authentic pretzels by using dangerous chemicals. That's pretty much true. Lye has been an important part of the pretzel-making process for hundreds of years. However it's not essential. You can make very serviceable pretzels without it. This recipe includes instructions for both. It's also based on "sourdough" starter, which I think gives the pretzels a much better flavor. It goes like this:

8 ounces active starter
8 ounces water
1 lb. 4 ounces bread flour
1 tablespoon malt syrup
2 teaspoons salt
2 ounces food-grade lye added to 2 quarts warm water OR 5 ounces baking soda mixed with 10 cups water brought to a boil, plus egg wash made from 2 yolks plus 2 teaspoons water.
Additional coarse salt for sprinkling

Combine starter, water, flour, malt syrup and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Mix on medium for 6-8 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic. Turn it out onto a lightly floured board and cut into roughly 3-5 ounce pieces depending on the size pretzel you like. Roll them into balls, cover with a cloth spritzed lightly with water and let them rest for 1 hour.

Shape them (photo tutorial to follow) and place on parchment-lined baking sheets. Re-cover the sheet with a cloth and let rest for one more hour. Cover the sheet pans lightly with plastic wrap or a trash bag and put them in the refrigerator to develop overnight or up to two days.

When ready to bake preheat your oven to 400 degrees. For those of you who wish to use lye solution, stir together the lye and hot water in a non-reactive (glass or ceramic) bowl. Line two more sheet pans with parchment paper, spray them with non-stick spray. Set them on the far end of your kitchen counter. Next, prepare a drying rack by spraying it liberally with non-stick spray, setting it on another sheet pan and placing it next to your prepared baking pans. Next to the prepared rack place your bowl of lye solution.

It's important to note here that lye is a caustic that should NEVER come into contact with your skin, eyes or any other part of your body. Handle it like you'd handle drain cleaner (and in fact lye is used as a drain cleaner). Even when it's diluted it can still irritate, so use rubber gloves and wear eye protection (like googles) when you're working with it — and keep your kids out of the kitchen.

So then, gear on, remove the pretzels from the fridge. At this point they'll be firm enough to dip without losing their shape. Using a large spoon or spider, dip each one — one at a time — into the lye solution for about 20 seconds. Remove the pretzel from the solution and place it on the rack to dry. The pretzels will take a minute or so to drip and get tacky. Sprinkle each one with pretzel salt. The leftover dipping solution can be poured down the drain.

Alternately you can skip the lye and poach then in boiling water and baking soda. Paoch pretzels a few at a time for about a minute. Dry on a rack and then paint the pretzels with egg wash and sprinkle with salt. They won't have the same classic pretzel taste, but they'll be simpler and safer to prepare.

Transfer the pretzels to the baking pans, placed about two inches apart. Bake for 10 minutes, rotate the pans, and bake for another 10-15 minutes until they're a deep brown. Makes a dozen 3-ounce pretzels.

UPDATE: Several readers have suggested looking for food-grade lye at soap-making supply stores.

UPDATE: Reader Ryan says

It is recommended to always add the lye to the water, never water to lye. Lye releases a lot of heat as it dissolves and if you add water to the crystals the first few drops could boil causing splattering and other nastyness.

UPDATE: Reader Tom is very worried that I'm not properly impressing upon everyone how dangerous pure sodium hydroxide is. Being a chemist, he requests that I supply this very scary language from a sodium hydroxide materials safety data sheet:

Appearance: white. Danger! Corrosive. Causes eye and skin burns. Hygroscopic. May cause severe respiratory tract irritation with possible burns. May cause severe digestive tract irritation with possible burns.

Target Organs: Eyes, skin, mucous membranes.

Engineering Controls: Facilities storing or utilizing this material should be equipped with an eyewash facility and a safety shower.
Eyes: Wear chemical goggles.
Skin: Wear appropriate protective gloves to prevent skin exposure.
Clothing: Wear appropriate protective clothing to prevent skin exposure.

Potential Health Effects
Eye: Causes eye burns. May cause chemical conjunctivitis and corneal damage.
Skin: Causes skin burns. May cause deep, penetrating ulcers of the skin. May cause skin rash (in milder cases), and cold and clammy skin with cyanosis or pale color.
Ingestion: May cause severe and permanent damage to the digestive tract. Causes gastrointestinal tract burns. May cause perforation of the digestive tract. Causes severe pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and shock. May cause corrosion and permanent tissue destruction of the esophagus and digestive tract. May cause systemic effects.
Inhalation: Irritation may lead to chemical pneumonitis and pulmonary edema. Causes severe irritation of upper respiratory tract with coughing, burns, breathing difficulty, and possible coma. Causes chemical burns to the respiratory tract.
Chronic: Prolonged or repeated skin contact may cause dermatitis. Effects may be delayed.

Oh, lovely, lovely spoon bread. I like it plain, the wife and daughters prefer theirs with honey...I don't think you can go wrong either way. And is it ever easy to make. Start by bringing your milk to the boil. Turn off the heat and begin to pour the cornmeal in a steady stream, whisking all the while.

Allow the mixture to cool completely, an hour or two, or overnight in the refrigerator. It will firm up quite a bit, but that's nothing to be alarmed about.

When ready to make the spoon bread, preheat your oven to 375, then combine the corn meal and milk mixture with all the other ingredients in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle. Beat the mixture for 15 minutes on medium speed to aerate it. You can do this by hand if you'd like, the finished product will be almost as good.

Pour the batter into a buttered form, either a flat casserole, cake layer pan or a soufflé dish like this. Be aware that the form you choose will affect your baking time. A deep form like a soufflé will take about 50 minutes, while a shallow pan will take less, about 30.

In the last few minutes of baking, the spoon bread will rise impressively, then fall with alacrity once it's removed from the oven. Don't be alarmed, this "bread" simply has no structure. It will be delicious all the same.

Serve immediately, piping hot, directly from the dish at the table.

It's debatable where spoon bread first originated, though it is known where the world's best spoon bread is served: right here in Kentucky at the Boone Tavern in Berea. This spoon bread has been drawing crowds to the Boone Tavern for over 60 years.

3 cups whole milk

1 1/4 cups (5 1/2 ounces) cornmeal
 (white corn meal if you can find it)
3 eggs
at room temperature, beaten
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

Preheat your oven to 375. In a medium sauce pan, bring the milk to the boil. Then, while stirring, add the corn meal in a steady stream (if you've ever made polenta, you'll recognize this process). Take the pan off the heat and set it aside, allowing the mixture to cool to room temperature. It will be very cold and firm at that point. Be not dismayed. Put the mixture into the bowl of an electric mixer, add the beaten eggs, melted butter, salt and baking powder. Beat at medium speed for 15 minutes. Pour into a buttered casserole or 9" cake round, and bake for 30 minutes. Serve at the table, straight from the pan.

This can be done by hand as well. In that case, add pieces of the cooked corn meal cake to the eggs steadily until the mixture is smooth. Add the remaining ingredients and beat the well for about ten minutes.

Now that's what I call a big ol' pile of fresh-baked goodness. For a summertime mezze (Middle Eastern appetizer) party, homemade pitas can't be beat. Sheesh! There I go getting all Martha Stewart on you again. Plain old chicken salad sandwiches work great on them, too.

One of the really nifty things about pitas is that you don't need a good oven — or even an oven at all — to make them. They work in everything from a brick oven to a cast iron skillet. Which means there's really no excuse not to try them. Start by combining your ingredients, save for the water, in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle.

Stir the ingredients on low, then add the water, stirring about 30 seconds more until the ingredients are moistened and the dough comes together.

Switch to the dough hook and knead for 5-7 minutes until the dough is elastic and a somewhat sticky. Can you do all this by hand? Of course, yes.

Turn the dough out into an oiled bowl and let rise for an hour, or put it in the fridge, covered with plastic wrap, overnight. If you decide on the latter (and I recommend it), it's a good idea to de-gas the dough by pressing down on it with your palm once or twice in the first 4-6 hours of chilling.

The next day, remove the dough from the fridge (here it's got my big ol' hand print on it), and remove to a floured board.

Cut the dough into nine 3-ounce pieces...

...and roll them into balls.

Let the dough balls rest for 20-30 minutes, then apply your pin and roll.

You want a rough circle about seven inches across. Once rolled, let the dough circles rest about 10 - 15 minutes.

All you need to do now is apply them to a hot baking surface. That can be a baking stone in a 550 oven, a cast iron skillet that's been pre-heated over a medium-low flame, or— ehem — a big brick oven. Guess which one I'm using? Simply place the dough circle on your device...

...and after a minute or two — depending on the heat — it'll puff up into a little pillow. Once it's puffed, you can turn it. I recommend it for brick oven bakers (since brick ovens are so hot...use the longest tongs you own) as well as for skillet bakers. Home oven bakers can simply let them bake without turning to the desired degree of doneness.

If you plan to split the pitas to make pocket sandwiches, I suggest a very light bake, until there's just a hint of brown on the bottom. Otherwise, bake them to whatever degree you wish. Obviously I like mine a little more well done. The brick oven chars them if I'm not careful, though soot-dusted pitas are their own rustic pleasure. You really can't go wrong.

If Neolithic man could make flat bread, odds are just about all of us can too. If you're convinced you're one of those people who's simply not capable of making palatable bread, your self-image is about to change. The formula is:

16 ounces unbleached all-purpose (AP) flour (substitute whole wheat four for up to half if desired)
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons instant yeast
2 1/4 teaspoons sugar
2 tablespoons (1 ounce) olive or vegetable oil
1 1/4 cups (10.5 ounces) lukewarm water

Combine all the ingredients except the water in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, and stir on low to combine. Add the water and continue stirring until all the ingredients are moist, about 30 seconds. Switch to a dough hook and knead 5-7 minutes, until dough is smooth and elastic. Let rise in an oiled bowl for an hour, or for the best flavor, immediately refrigerate the dough overnight.

When you're ready to bake, take the dough out of the fridge and let it warm up for about half an hour. Remove the higher racks in your oven and place a baking stone on the lowest one. Preheat it to 550. Turn the dough out of the bowl and divide it into nine 3-ounce pieces. Roll each into a ball according to the bun shaping instructions under the How to Shape Buns and Rolls tutorial over to the right. Let them rest for 20- 30 minutes. Roll out to circles about 7 inches across. Let rest about 10 minutes.

When ready, simply pick up a pita and drop it onto the baking stone. Bake it for 2-3 minutes, until it puffs up, then gently, with tongs, turn it over. Bake another two minutes or so, until the breads achieve the desired color (the lighter the pitas, the more tender and flexible they'll be...I like mine a little darker for flavor). Cool and eat.

Chef James L. from Tennessee points out that true Southern Cracklin' corn bread is made from white corn bread, ideally White Lily if you can find it. Yellow will work too, of course, but for that extra touch of authenticity, well, you know what to do.

Like all truly great things to eat, this is extremely simple. Start by preheating your oven to 450, and measuring out your (room temperature) ingredients. Add a tablespoon or so of bacon drippings or lard or butter to a 10-inch cast iron skillet:

Put the pan in the oven to heat while you make up your batter (you only want it there for a couple of minutes, so the fat doesn't burn). Whisk together the dry ingredients:

Next, whisk together the wet ingredients:

Combine the two...

...and whisk until incorporated.

Lastly, whisk in the cracklings.

Remove the pan from the oven and pour in the batter. It will sizzle a bit. Turn down the heat to 350 and bake for 25 minutes until golden. Flip the bread out of the pan so the crispy side is up. Slice into wedges and serve.

What's a great use for cracklings? Brothers and sisters, here's one of the best: cracklin' corn bread. Talk about a definitively southern bread, this one has it all: lard, corn, buttermilk. Pleasantly coarse and rustic, you'd have found southerners eating something almost exactly like this 150 years ago. To give it that extra country flare, make it in a 9- or 10-inch cast iron skillet.

9 ounces (2 cups) cornmeal (ideally White Lily white corn meal, but yellow will do)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
12 ounces (1 1/2 cups) buttermilk
1 large egg
1 cup cracklings
1 tablespoon lard, butter or bacon drippings

Preheat your oven to 450°F. Once the oven is hot, put the tablespoon of fat into the skillet and put the skillet in the oven to heat. Meanwhile, mix up your batter. Whisk the dry ingredients together in a medium bowl. Whisk the buttermilk and egg together in another bowl, then combine the wet and dry ingredients, whisking just until combined. Lastly, whisk in the cracklings. Remove the pan from the oven and pour in the batter, it will sizzle appealingly. Turn the heat down to 350 and return the pan to the oven. Bake until golden, about 25 minutes. When baked, flip the bread out of the pan so the crispy crust faces up. Slice into wedges and serve, with a drizzle of honey if desired.

There's almost no limit to what can go on focaccia, but like pizza, the sparer you are with your toppings, the better the result. Salt, herbs and oil is the classic combo, and the herbs can be whatever you like: rosemary, thyme, basil, parsley, oregano, chives, sage, tarragon, chervil...either by themselves or in combination. Roasted garlic is another tried-and-true (just make sure you roast the cloves ahead of time and push them well down into the dough). Raisins, believe it or not, are common as a focaccia topping in the old country (where both sweet and savory focaccia abound), and are often accompanied by a light dusting of cinnamon. Other sweet variations include dates, (possibly with nuts, possibly with honey instead of oil) and candied orange peels. A few black olives can be very nice, throw on a couple of anchovies and some herbs to go full-on Provence. And let's not forget cheese. A light dusting of good parmesan is delightful, especially with some thin-sliced or roasted garlic, but then lots of cheeses work well with focaccia (mozzarella, provolone, goat cheese, feta...just make sure to add them later in the baking...about halfway through, so they don't burn). Where vegetables are concerned you can do chopped onion, chopped or sliced tomato, roasted red pepper slices, chopped mushrooms, sliced shallots, thin-sliced zucchini or yellow squash, spinach...just don't pile on too many, or the result will be sodden bread. Pine nuts and walnuts work wonderfully, purées of all types (tapenade, pesto, roasted garlic), even meats like shredded chicken, sausage or pepperoni.

That's a lot of stuff — and it's by no means an exhaustive list (write in with more if you like, friends). Just for goodness sake don't overload your dough. Think of your toppings more like garnishes and you'll do fine. Mangia, mangia!

THAT WAS FAST: Lauren A. suggests using flavored oils. Sounds good.

Fluffy, salty and redolent of aromatic olive oil and fresh rosemary, these little hunks of bread are great as casual appetizers, simple snacks, or as substitutes for dinner rolls (man, I should be writing ad copy). Begin by combining your ingredients in the bowl of a mixer.

Add about 5-6 ounces of the water, and mix on low for a minute, then medium, adding as much water as is necessary to get to the right consistency — which is this, sort of like melted fresh mozzarella...smooth, tacky and elastic:

Scoop it out into a bowl or a dough rising container and let it rise...

...until it's twice its original volume. It'll take about 4 hours.

Apply a liberal amount of olive oil to a half-size sheet pan...

...and spread it all around (don't forget the lip of the pan).

Turn out your dough and let it rest for 10 minutes, then begin to gently stretch it out over the surface of the pan.

It will want to snap back, but just let it rest a few minutes after the initial stretch and try again. Repeat the stretching and resting until it's almost spread out over the whole pan. About like so:

Allow it to proof another hour, until it's puffy and has expanded to cover almost all of the pan (for the most developed flavor put the pan inside a clean trash bag and chill overnight in the fridge...then proof for about two hours). When ready to bake, make deep depressions in the dough with your fingers (i.e. push through to the pan) and pop any large bubbles.

Add a sprinkling of your favorite fancy salt (like fleur de sel) and herbs of your choice. Rosemary is the classic.

Drizzle on some more olive oil...

...and bake at 550 for five minutes. Rotate the pan in the oven, drop the heat to 425 and continue baking for another 25 minutes or so, until it looks like this:

Cool on a wire rack, slice and eat!

There are several possible ways to go with focaccia, depending on the texture you like. Here's my base recipe, and I'll do my best to show you how to vary it.

16 ounces bread or high-gluten flour (substitute durum flour for up to half of it)
16 ounces poolish or starter preferment (directions for both to the right, you'll need to double the poolish recipe and/or grow the starter as needed)
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
1 3/4 teaspoons salt
2 ounces olive oil
1 tablespoon honey
5-8 ounces lukewarm water (proportion may vary depending on your preferment)
toppings of your choice

Combine all the ingredients with 5-6 ounces of the water in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a dough hook (not the toppings though, obviously). Mix on low for one minute to moisten all your ingredients, then turn the machine up to medium and knead for a full 15 minutes. You want your finished dough to be smooth and silky but still quite wet, so as the mixer is running add more water if it seems too stiff. It should clear the sides of the mixer bowl, but still stick to the bottom...all in all a consistency not unlike melted mozzarella cheese.

Apply cooking spray or olive oil to a bowl or dough rising container and cover with plastic wrap or a lid. Let rise until doubled, about four hours. Turn the dough out onto a well-oiled 18" x 13" sheet pan and let it rest for 10 minutes. After the time is up, with oiled fingers, spread/stretch the dough gently outward. If it springs back too much (and it will) allow it to rest for 5-10 minutes before stretching it more. Repeat the stretching and resting one or two more times, until the dough is most of the way to the edges of the sheet pan. Let proof one more hour, or until the dough starts to get puffy again and spreads out nearly to the corners of the sheet pan (alternately, for still better flavor, put the sheet pan in a clean trash bag and let rest overnight in the fridge...remove 2 hours before baking to allow it to warm up and proof).

Preheat your oven to 500 or 550 (whatever your oven will put out). With your fingers, dimple the dough all over so as to prevent the top crust from rising off the bread in one big bubble as it bakes. Apply a drizzle of olive oil, some fancy salt, herbs, or whatever toppings you wish. Bake for five minutes. Drop the heat to 425. Open the oven door, rotate the pan, and bake about another 20-25 or until golden. Cool on a wire rack and serve.

As I mentioned earlier, a great baguette, at least for the home baker, is a journey and not a destination. Still, I'll have my journey slathered with plenty of raspberry jam, thank you very much. Am I still finding my way toward my perfect baguette? Most certainly, but the following method yields a baguette that it very, very good.

Begin by combining your poolish (or starter) and flour and instant yeast in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle. (You can whisk the dry ingredients together first if you wish).

Turn the mixer on and stir the ingredients, then add the water and continue to stir until all the ingredients are moistened. Let this mixture sit for 20 minutes.

Next, add your old dough pieces and salt to the heap. Switch to the dough hook and knead for 5-7 minutes.

Your dough should be firm and smooth, yet still a little tacky to the touch.

Put the dough into a rising container and let sit for 2-4 hours, until doubled in bulk.

Weigh out your pieces (oops, too heavy...it's SEVEN ounces you dolt!). Don't forget to reserve five ounces for the freezer. What, you'll want to do this again soon, right?

Now then for the shaping. Pat your dough piece down into and oval shape...

...then gently roll it with both hands into a small football. Let sit for ten minutes.

When the relaxing is finished, and using the edge of your hand, gently make a trench down the middle of the dough.

Fold the bottom half up...

...and the top half down. This creates surface tension on the outside of the dough, and yields a prettier and more even baguette.

Then using your thumb, pinch the seam closed. Let the dough sit for ten minutes more.

After the relaxing is done, roll the dough out with both hands to a length of about 8 inches. Again, let it sit for ten minutes.

Finish rolling the dough out to a length of 12-14 inches, depending on how skinny you like your "sticks".

I like mine a bit on the skinnier side. Put the baguettes in a baguette pan — yes I use them, there's no shame in it, though if you aren't retarding the baguettes in the fridge, you won't necessarily need to. Spritz with water and either let proof another 30-45 minutes and bake, or refrigerate overnight, then proof about 1 1/2 hours (and bake).

When ready to bake, slash the loaves and give them a final spritz with water. Bake according to directions posted under How to Make Your Home Oven More Brick Oven-Like. Remember to slash down the loaf and not across.

Bake for about 20 minutes, then open the oven to inspect the progress. Rotate the pan and bake another 5-10 until the baguettes are well browned. Makes three 7-ounce baguettes.

Yes, I know what I’ve been saying about baguettes, that they’re the ultimate “fast” bread, that bakeries whip them out in as little as four hours. The thing is, that’s only true if you’ve got your preferments on-hand and ready to go (like full-time bakeries do). Home bakers need to mix up their preferments a day ahead, let them mature overnight, then mix, raise and shape their dough the next day. I also suggest another overnight rest for your baguettes to develop even more flavor, though that’s not strictly necessary.

So really, if you had the preferments on-hand (some old dough in the freezer, plus, say, some well-fed sourdough starter that you could refresh early in the morning on the day of the bake), you could theoretically do these in an afternoon. More time makes better bread, however. Up to you.

This recipe is designed to yield three small, 7-ounce baguettes, plus give you 5 ounces of leftover “old” dough that you can stash in the freezer and use the next time. What follows is my recommendation for what I think is the best possible baguette, but by all means do your own interpretation. Here’s the formula:

9 ounces bread flour

Scant ¼ teaspoon (0.6 grams) instant yeast

4.5 ounces lukewarm water

Either 7.5 ounces refreshed and bubbly sourdough starter (instructions to the right) or 7.5 ounces poolish preferment (instructions also to the right).

5 ounces old dough (pâte fermentée)

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

And here are the procedures:

Day 1

Make up your old dough and your poolish, OR refresh your starter.

Day 2

Put the flour and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle and mix 15 seconds to combine. Add the water and poolish (or starter) and mix for 30 seconds to moisten all the ingredients. Let stand for 20 minutes.

Then, rip up your old dough into several pieces and add them to the bowl with the salt. Switch to the dough hook and knead on medium speed for 5 minutes. The dough should be tacky but not too sticky. Add a little extra flour if necessary.

Put the dough into an oiled dough rising container and let rise until doubled, anywhere from 2-4 hours depending on whether you’ve used the poolish or the sourdough starter. Cut the dough into 7-ounces pieces, reserving the leftover 5-ounce piece for your next batch. Shape the larger pieces into small torpedoes, and let them rest for 10 minutes to relax the gluten. With the edge of your hand, using a gentle karate-chop motion, make a trench down the middle of each oblong loaf. Fold the lower half up, and the top half down, so as to create surface tension on the outside skin of the dough. Pinch the dough closed along the seam, then gently roll the dough out to a length of about 8 inches. Let rest 10 minutes, again to relax the dough, then roll the baguettes out to a full 12-14 inches. Lay the loaves out on a baguette pan and spritz lightly with water.

Now then, here’s the point of decision. You can either preheat your oven to 500 and let the baguettes proof for 30 - 45 minutes and then bake them, or you can park them in the fridge (retard them) for better flavor. If you plan to retard them, do it for a minimum of 5 hours, preferably overnight.

Day 3

Preheat your oven to 500. Remove the baguettes from the fridge, spritz them with water again and let them proof for about 1 ½ hours, until a bit puffier than they were when they came out (they will have risen some in the fridge). Slash them with a sharp knife to allow for expansion, spritz once more with water, and bake according to the directions in the post How to Make Your Home Oven More Like a Brick Oven for 20 minutes. Open the oven, rotate the pan, and bake another 5-10 minutes until they’re well browned.

Set on a rack and allow them to cool completely before going and getting out the really good butter.