Roasting “Sugar” Pumpkins for Bread

Zoë François 4 Comments

oatmeal pumpkin bread

It is nearly Thanksgiving and there are pumpkins in everyone’s shopping cart, generally in a can. If you want a real treat, that is easy and will have you wanting to skip the canned isle in the grocery store, try roasting your own pumpkin. Baking the pumpkin caramelizes the sugars and makes for a sweeter puree than boiling. You’ll want to start with a “pie” or “sugar” variety and avoid the BIG Jack-o-Lantern pumpkins which are great for carving but are too watery to eat their flesh. Once you have roasted your pumpkin you can use 1 cup for Oatmeal Pumpkin Bread on p. 100 of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, the rest is for your favorite pie recipe. Read More

1st Book Signing at Borders!

Zoë François Leave a comment

book signing at Rosedale Borders


Today we had our first book signing at the Borders in Rosedale Center. It was a flurry of enthusiastic bakers and non-bakers alike coming by to chat about bread and sample our Italian peasant loaf. Everyone that stopped had a story of their own bread baking or wanted to share their grandmother’s recipe. We sold and signed the entire stock of books in just a couple of hours. It was fantastic! It would seem people really love to bake bread.

My Mom’s Bialys

Zoë François 7 Comments

mom’s bialysWhen Jeff and I started to write Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day I sent the “master” recipe to my mom. It was, in my mind the ultimate test. Not because my mom has been baking for years and would be hyper critical, quite the opposite. You see my mother has many, many talents, but baking is not one of them. Or I should say it wasn’t until now. I sent her the recipe and waited. A couple of days later I got a hysterical call from her and she was slathering butter all over her first loaf of bread. She had just taken it out of the oven and despite our recommendation to let it cool she cut into it when it was still warm. She was talking to me between bites and was so proud of herself.

Read More

Why is peeling a boiled egg so HARD???

Graham 10 Comments

eggs fresh from the farm

This morning my 8 year old son asked me for hard boiled eggs for breakfast. Nothing fancy, just a few whole eggs topped with salt and pepper. I went to the CIA, so this request should have seemed like a walk in the park, right? Let me start by telling you about the eggs. My husband works by a small farm which is tucked into the sprawl of suburbia. They sell wonderfully fresh organic eggs, which have yolks the color of marigolds and taste wonderful. My kids have been to the farm and have chased the chickens that lay the eggs they eat. They now want to raise chickens in our yard. But I digress from my egg peeling dilemma. By the time the eggs made it to the table, half of the whites were spiraling down the garbage disposal. I presented the remainder to my son and he said “these look like zombie heads!” He was thrilled with my presentation and ate them like an 8 year old savage eating zombie heads. This was not the effect I was going for.

Read More

Zoë on KARE 11 Saturday Show

Graham Leave a comment

Zoe on Kare 11 with Belinda JensenThis week Jeff and I were on the KARE 11 Saturday morning show with Belinda Jensen to promote our book and mix up our dough in front of her viewers. I admit I was a bit nervous, more than a bit, but Belinda made us feel like we were just chatting in her living room. Everyone at the studio was so kind and after our 5 minute TV debut they swarmed around the table of bread and devoured everything we brought. They have our “Master recipe” on their website. Eric Perkins was there as well and he grabbed a “sticky pecan caramel roll” between every segment.

Read More