Many, many years ago—way back in my teens—I first noticed Pannetone on the shelves of upscale department stores. Packaged with beautiful wrappings and tied with satin bows, these square boxes piqued my interest solely for the look of them. Even though my father had...

Every member of my family has introduced a new food to our holiday dinners. More than 30 years ago my sister, Robin, brought a golden ring of bread that has complemented every family gathering ever since. The bread ring is deceptively simple to make, looks impressive,...

When French peasants were starving from a lack of bread Marie Antoinette was rumored to say, “Let them eat cake.” The traditional French translation for cake is brioche, the velvety soft, sweet bread of France. (This phrase cast the young princess as callous and...

Growing up in California I was introduced to good sourdough bread at a very young age. My Italian father grew up in San Francisco and insisted my mother buy sourdough. We weren't well off in my childhood and my mother shopped at a day-old bakery where she bought large...

When we lived in Japan I loved the soft, fluffy white bread sold at neighborhood bakeries and supermarkets. Sometimes the loaves were completely square, like an old pullman loaf, while other times they were crowned with a beautiful arch. The texture was pillowy soft,...

It’s not Christmas until someone makes gingerbread. Gingerbread cookies, gingerbread houses, gingerbread cake. Now forget everything you know about that gingerbread, because this yummy yeasted gingerbread is not your fairytale gingerbread. Today’s bread in my 12...

Today’s bread is a hearty white bread stuffed with olives and enriched with shredded parmesan cheese. It tastes wonderful hot or cold, and is delicious slathered in butter, or smeared with herbed cheese. Adventurous types could even make sandwiches out of it. (Salami...

Everyone has seen the beautiful braided breads called challah. In Jewish culture, challah is eaten on sabbath, and for ceremonial occasions such as Passover and other Jewish holidays. Challah is soft and pulls apart like cotton candy. The shiny crust is achieved by...

[mpprecipe-recipe:7]I am a fool for a rich, dark bread. Over the holidays my mother used to buy pumpernickel bread to eat with cheese and liverwurst. These were small, rectangular loaves with thin, square slices that were dense, hearty, and sweetly bitter. German...

Sugarplums dancing in your head? Not here either. Growing up in California we had raisins. Raisins were those wrinkly nuggets of sweetness packed in school lunches, baked into oatmeal cookies, and mixed into granola. Raisins are nature’s candy. Several dozen years ago...

Honey wheat bread is a comfort like no other and emits an aroma that warms the heart and conjurs memories of grandmothers and bakeries and dinners in great restaurants. I've presented honey wheat as the second bread of Christmas because it's easy to make and...

Welcome to my 12 Breads of Christmas series. This first bread I’m introducing in my 12 Breads of Christmas series, White Sandwich Bread, sounds rather bland, right? Yet this recipe is the skeleton for every bread recipe I’ve developed through the years. This is the...

Bread. The food of life. I’ve been baking bread for my family for about 25 years. Every Christmas season I bake bread for my neighbors and friends as a way to thank them for enriching my life. This year I wanted to extend the good will I feel during the holidays to...