Anna - The no-knead bread that many of us have been working on is based on the sourdough technique. This is a VERY old technique that was used my many different cultures. this was also a technique used by pioneers and the men involved in the gold rush in this country. It was made to utalize basic staple ingredients that were always available. Milk and eggs were often "luxury" items. Basic french bread style recipes also do not use eggs and milk. Please check out the thread http://www.maryjanesfarm.com/snitz/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=28238 for all kinds of info on Bread the MaryJane Way!
Ok, sometimes you DO find egg and milk in bread. I come from a German/Scandinavian background and there are often holiday breads like stollen and julekage that have these ingredients. The bread tends to be quite moist and the whole egg will give it a yellow tint. I would add egg and milk or cream to most any bread or roll recipes if I had an abundance of these ingredients handy, say, you raise your own chickens. Its a nutritious way to change a recipe.
it just occurred to me a few days ago when I threw all this stuff into the bread machine, then double checked the recipe to make sure thes items wern't being overlooked
and the recipe i'm following is an artisan bread, so it's also probably pretty old
bread question
Posted - Feb 03 2009 : 08:04:29 AM
