Bread

These hoecakes have become a favorite with our guests. Use them to soak up that good pot liquor from turnip or collard greens. After the plate is completely sopped clean, save one to eat as a dessert along with maple syrup.

The flavor improves with age and the bread keeps well frozen. You can also substitute pumpkin for zucchini.

When we arrived in Vermont to visit my editor for several intensive days of work on this book, she had made the focaccia from her children’s bread book for our lunch. Several days later, when we were winding up, I noticed on the windowsill a pint basket of fresh figs we hadn’t used up, and, remembering how much I loved the sweet fruit-studded focaccias I had had as a child, I suggested we improvise with those figs. So here is the recipe we put together, which celebrates a warm childhood memory reborn in the northern hills of Vermont. It fits right in with our dessert theme in this book of fresh fruits embedded in crusts, and is lovely for breakfast, for tea, or with after-dinner coffee.

It is hard to reproduce an authentic version of a typical Pugliese bread without the special starter and the wood-burning oven for baking. But, as you will find with the following recipe, this memorable focaccia is one that you can bake successfully at home. The topping of marinated onions and cherry tomatoes is simple and delicious. With this dough as a base, however, you can be creative and make a focaccia with mushrooms, leeks, sausages, and cheese in any combination. Keep in mind, though, that a simple topping, with a few distinct and harmonious flavors, is always more successful than a topping that tries to incorporate too many things. Be sure to season your topping ingredients and, where appropriate, cook and cool them before assembling the focaccia, so they don’t just dry out in the oven.

The last days of October are filled with the aromas of marigolds, copal (incense), toasted canela, orange blossoms, aniseed, mole, tortillas, and wood. Many people are busy preparing for the Día de los Muertos celebrations that take place during the first days of November (the main festivity is on the 2nd). The celebration dates back to the Aztec times, when it was believed that the deceased embark on a journey, eventually leading them to the Mictlan, the highest level of the underworld, where they would finally rest in peace. People gather in cemeteries and bring the deceased’s favorite foods and music. It is a way to celebrate the time we had with our loved ones and keep their memory alive. The cemeteries are filled with laughter, mariachis, food, lights, and flowers, and it is a celebration of life. There are many different breads made for this celebration. In Michoacán, they are sculpted into shapes of flowers, the Virgin Mary, skulls, and animals. In Oaxaca, you will find round breads topped with sesame seeds and colorful heads coming out of them. In the center of Mexico, the dough is made with pulque (a fermented beverage made from the maguey plant) instead of yeast, giving it a very distinctive, somewhat herbal, acidic flavor. Many places dust the tops with pink sugar to remind us of the ceremonial use of bread. The varieties are too many to count, but this one is perhaps the most well known. This recipe is adapted from Maricu, a chef from Mexico City who owns a cooking school of the same name. Even though you may not celebrate Día de los Muertos, I encourage you to make this delicious bread decorated with “bones” and take a moment to remember those who are no longer with you in this life.

Three kings bread is a colorfully decorated bread adorned with candied fruit and a sugary topping and with a tiny plastic figurine baked into it. In Mexico, this bread brings friends and families together for the annual Three Kings celebration on the January 6.

As weird as it may sound, whenever I think of these, I think of the trunk of a car. You see, parked around the streets of Mexico City are numerous cars filled with towers of corn breads. Their trunks are open and there is a cardboard sign announcing the delicacies for sale. This particular recipe takes only a few minutes to prepare (plus baking time, of course) and the result is very tasty and moist. Enjoy a slice with a cup of cold milk or coffee.

GINA You could easily order pizza for delivery, but why not have flat-bread instead, and cut it into little squares? You can just buy the dough from your local grocer (or your local pizzeria, if you ask nicely) and add in all the other ingredients. Ripe figs will turn your traditional pizza into an amazing party favorite. We absolutely love this dish: it’s hearty yet light, fruity, and flavorful. If you find the taste of blue cheese too strong, you can always substitute a mild goat cheese, which has a creamy tang that also goes well with the figs. We add the handfuls of fresh arugula to the flatbread while it’s still hot, to add a pop of bright peppery flavor and color.

You can’t have collard greens without corn bread, and these bite-sized corncob-shaped sticks are a cute way to serve them. You can also bake the batter in a 9-inch cast-iron skillet—just cook the vegetables in the same skillet you’d like to bake the bread in.

My sister used to make these rich rolls for her husband and kids when they went duck hunting. She would prepare them the night before, wrap them in foil, and refrigerate. Then, when Pat and the kids got up to go hunting—sometimes as early as four in the morning—they would just pop the rolls in the oven to melt the cheese and hit the road. The way everything melds together on the soft, steamed rolls is so irresistible, I’m pretty sure the rolls never made it to the duck camp, or even out of the driveway. For nonhunters like me, these rolls, served warm or at room temperature, are great for tailgating, picnics, and road trips.

These splendidly soft dinner rolls, which my aunt June used to make for special occasions, are the Southern equivalent of brioche, minus the egg. I’ve added fresh sage for an aromatic boost.