Honeyed Words: The Girl Who Didn’t Tread on Her Au Gratin Bread

The Girl Who Didn’t Tread on Her Au Gratin Bread · 9 June 2007

Picture of a Loaf of Au Gratin Bread

The Girl Who Trod on a Loaf was a demanding book. It questioned many of the standard ideas of feminism and the proper role of family. It demanded a recipe that was no less challenging.

When I started thinking about food that would embody the spirit of this book, the obvious choice was bread.

Inger, the heroine of the original fairytale, is gifted with a loaf of bread from her mistress and sent through the bog to visit her family. A spoiled and mean-hearted child, Inger trods on the loaf, ruining it, rather than get her pretty new shoes dirty. I'd like to think that I'm not a spoiled or mean person, but my prior bread making attempts have pretty much demonstrated that bread I make is only good for stepping on.

Instead of stepping on my food (never tasty), I resolved that I’d step off the beaten path and make my peace with yeast. After all, crossing the barrier and entering the bog is how one finds the fairies, the bog queen and her children. The bog is the place you can embrace the wild pieces of yourself or lose other pieces to the bog’s murky depths. In Inger’s case, it’s where her petty nature literally swallowed her up. I didn't expect to find magical creatures or receive divine retribution, but I did hope that by embracing yeast rather than avoiding it, I might be able to finally rise above my bready troubles.

After reflecting on my prior bread making experiences, dough lovingly escorted to the bathroom for a nice steam by the tub, poked, prodded, yet ultimately lacking that key characteristic that makes defines yeast bread, rising, I called on expert help, the bread machine. My mom purchased a bread machine years ago, shortly after I graduated High School and moved out. (Alas I didn't get to reap the benefits of most of her bread). I remember her telling me how easy and fun it was to make bread, quite the opposite of my own bread baking failures. So, once I resolved to tackle bread again, it was to my mom’s trusty bread machine that I turned.

Imagine my surprise, upon opening up her bread cookbook, More Bread Machine Magic, in finding that the authors had lived scant miles from me, making tasty bread treats for the teachers of my middle school's arch rival. There recipes had been lovingly crafted and tested at exactly my temperature, altitude and humidity. Take that yeast! I've got professional backup.

This book may have saved the bread. There were two very helpful introductory chapters, dealing with specific bread baking tips such as the proper flour to use, ingredients to avoid as poisonous to yeast, and measuring techniques to ensure maximum measuring accuracy.

I wanted a nice savory bread, something with a bit of "oomph" that would do justice to the characters from the book. I also had leftover cheddar from the Farmhouse Eggs I made a few weeks ago, so I selected the Au Gratin recipe from a host of other scrumptious looking ones.

Picture of a Package of Red Star Yeast

Au Gratin Bread

Annotated recipe from More Bread Machine Magic, by Linda Rehberg and Lois Conway, pg. 90.

Each of the recipes has several notes that dealt with the authors’ experience in making the bread. Also included were ingredient quantities for small, medium, and large loaves. I made a medium loaf.

If you start this recipe by boiling the potatoes, it will take you over 4 hours from start to finish. You can save time by making the mashed potatoes the day before, then bringing them to room temperature by microwaving them for about 10-15 seconds.

.625 to .75 cup Heavy cream (I substituted low fat milk)
½ cup potato water (save from boiling the potatoes)
One third cup plain mashed potato at room temperature (by plain, I assumed no milk or butter added)
1 & ½ tsp each salt and sugar
3 cups bread flour
¾ cup diced sharp cheddar cheese
¼ cup chopped onions
1 & ½ tsp active dry yeast

Method:

Place all ingredients in the bread machine, in the order listed, using the minimum amounts for liquids with ranges.

Select the Medium Crust setting on the bread machine, and press the Start button.

After 5 – 10 minutes of kneading, observe the dough. It should be tacky, but not sticky. If too dry, add the remainder of the liquid, 1 Tbsp at a time, allowing the dough to absorb the liquid completely before adding more.

When the baking cycle is complete, remove immediately from bread machine and from pan, and allow to cool 1 hour on a baking rack before slicing.

As you can see, the loaf did turn out. I can chalk this up as my very first bread success. It wasn’t as cheesy as I expected, but it’s still very tasty. It's also much fluffier than previous potato breads I've eaten, which I'm not sure I like. I was hoping rich, dense, potato slices. Nevertheless, I plan to serve this bread with some fresh avocado spread (spread being a fancy word for mashed avocados with salt and nuts stirred in) later as a light lunch snack.

Avocado Spread, Bread Machine, Comfort Food, Potato, The Girl Who Trod on a Loaf, Vegetarian, Yeast