Recently, however, I did some research for my current work in progress (wip) that was—wait for it—actually fun! And tasty, very tasty. My heroine, Jane, is a baker, and I wanted to see for myself what some of her cooking methods would be. I found a 17th century beer bread recipe (click here for website), and while it is not completely historically accurate (I can't get my hands on barm, so self rising flour is used instead), it was still very interesting to try. It couldn't be easier—3 ingredients, 1 bowl, no kneading or rising... what could be better? Give it a whirl (I bet the man in your life will love it), and let me know what you think!
17th Century Beer Bread
1 bottle of beer (I used Trader Joe's Bavarian Hefeweizen)
3 cups self rising flour
2 Tbsp honey or sugar
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Mix with your hand until well combined. Place in a greased loaf pan. Bake 45 to 50 minutes, until baked through.
Enjoy!
So awesome! Can't wait to try it!
ReplyDeleteYou'll have to let me know what Ryan thinks, Kara. Well, I guess I want to know what *you* think too... :)
ReplyDeleteWhat do you mean, you can't find barm? LOL. I've come to absolutely love the research process. I can't get enough of it. In fact, sometimes I do so much research I have to physically pull myself away from it in order to actually WRITE the darn MS.
ReplyDeleteActually, Catherine, I too get caught in the trap of too much research and not enough writing when I find an interesting topic :) What I hate, is trying to find the murky, hard-to-find stuff that for some reason a scene always absolutely hinges on! Things like - I know they had baking powder, but what the heck did they call it? Or, were bananas readily available? How about lemons? Bleck!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for stopping by!!
hi ek-the recipe sounds foolproof so i will give it a try! and i love your heroine's name :)
ReplyDelete-andi
OMG! I was going to say the SAME thing that Catherine did about barm! She totally stole my line! LOL! What an easy recipe, though! I'm definitely going to try it! So glad you found some fun amidst all the grueling research :)
ReplyDeleteYay, Andi - I hope you do try it! And the heroine's brother is named Easton, FYI :)
ReplyDeleteJerrica, I'm not sure it's a good sign if you and Catherine are finishing each other's thoughts - LOL! I'm glad I found some fun, too - edible research is the best :)
ReplyDeletebeer + bread. how can you go wrong?
ReplyDeleteEeeexactly, Andy ;) It's like saying 'yes I'd like whip cream on my hot chocolate!' Two perfect things combined into a super food :)
ReplyDelete