Bread

This triple-layer chocolate chip bread is a wonderful breakfast bread similar to old-fashioned swirl bread that you used to get right from your baker.  This bread is easy to make and is even better the next day after sitting in the fridge.  It's moist and flavorful and I suggest sticking with the natural peanut butter for the correct consistency and flavor.  -   Scott C. Anderson is associate food service director and chef with...

Click here to view slideshow BARDANE, W.Va. - The artisan bread technique has endured centuries of technological change, and the resulting loaves have stood up to more - Bill Theriault's brick. Theriault, 61, of Hagerstown, is a historian and head of the Peter Burr Bread Bakers Guild, which hosts events at Peter Burr Farm in Bardane. On Saturday, Oct. 20, the guild will be baking bread in the farm's brick oven as part of a harvest fair. Theriault, who is finishing up a book on making artisan bread, leads demonstrations about the craft of baking artisan bread.

Italian bread soup, or zuppa di pane, is simple, quick and delicious. It's also a perfect dish for anytime of year. -   Scott C. Anderson is associate food service director and chef with Shepherd University dining services in Shepherds-town, W.Va., and Chef Ambassador to the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board. Looking for Chef Scott's past recipes? Read his column at www.herald-mail.com/lifestyle . Italian bread soup 3 large yellow onions 5 tablespoon butter 5 cups beef stock or hearty broth 6 slices thick artisan crusty bread - stale 1 cup grated Gruyere 1/2 cup grated Fontina Fresh-ground black pepper Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

SHARPSBURG -- Bread making in outdoor ovens was popular in this country during the 1700s and 1800s, and in other parts of the world, the practice can be traced back 1,000 years, Bill Theriault said. On Sunday, an outdoor brick oven was fired up at the Washington County Rural Heritage Museum, a tool that museum officials hope will help people learn about how life used to be in the area. Those who have sampled the flavorful bread with its chewy texture say it's an experience that won't be forgotten.

Wayne Braunstein of the Peter Burr Bread Bakers Guild demonstrates the craft of baking artisan bread.  

BARDANE, W.Va. - The Peter Burr Bread Bakers' Guild will bake artisan bread Friday, Aug. 18, and Saturday, Aug. 19. Bread costs $5 for a two-pound loaf and is made using the techniques Mrs. Burr used in the 1700s. Varieties include rustic white, whole wheat, raisin spice and honey rye. Walk-in customers may purchase any items that have not been reserved. Reserved items that have not been claimed by 3:30 p.m. on Saturday will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis. To get to the Burr farm from the south, take W.Va.

CHARLES TOWN, W.VA. Baking and selling bread is more than just a neat way to raise some dough for members of the Peter Burr Bread Bakers' Guild. Bread made at the historic Peter Burr Living History Farm in Bardane, W.Va., in a special wood-fired brick oven also helps illustrate an important history lesson about life in the region more than 200 years ago, said guild member Bill Theriault. "The bread that we bake out there is the way they baked it in the 18th century," said Theriault, who also serves as a member of The Friends of Peter Burr Farm, Inc, an historical preservationist group that organizes events and programs at the Peter Burr House, the oldest wood frame house in the state.

Bread baking tradition broken in Martinsburg By RICHARD F. BELISLE / Staff Writer MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - A 60-year bread-baking tradition ended in Martinsburg Friday with the closing of the Schmidt Baking plant, a change that will cost 90 workers their jobs. Some have been on the job for 20 to 30 years, are in their 50s and are worried about their futures. Schmidt is consolidating operations into its two modern bakeries in Baltimore, said John Kesecker, production manager at the local plant.

BARDANE, W.Va. - It's like no bread stocked on the average grocery store's shelves. Using live yeast cultures and natural grain flour, omitting additives, and mixing and kneading it by hand, the artisan bread baked at the Peter Burr Farm is truly a taste of the 1700s. On Saturday, volunteers at the farm opened the historic home of Peter Burr to visitors, while other businesses in the Burr Industrial Park in Bardane off W.Va. 9 held open houses. The bread, baked in an outdoor wood-fired oven, attracted many.

Mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, grilled cheese - comfort foods are great when you need solace. But when you're not feeling so down, try jazzing them up to make them something special. We asked some food experts for help specifically with the grilled cheese sandwich and received suggestions ranging from using different cheeses and breads to adding an extra ingredient, even strawberries. So set the processed cheese and enriched white bread aside and let's explore some tastier options.

In a fast-paced, convenience-focused world of packaged, processed food, Susan Stoy makes anything possible from scratch. “All our meals, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese are never from a box. They are always homemade,” her daughter Kandis Stoy said. “She makes a loaf of bread every day. She makes sure she gets home to take it out and cuts it a few hours later. Some nights she is up at 1 in the morning cutting the bread.” As if that weren't enough single-minded devotion, Kandis Story, 20, of Boonsboro, said her mom rises between 4 and 5 a.m. to pack lunches and to feed her husband and son before they leave for work.

This week we continue with the different types of muffuletta. This is a mouth-watering version without scooping out the delicious soft innards of bread. Allow the olive salad and extra virgin olive oil to drench every nook and cranny to give you deep flavor and delicious combinations. This recipe will also lend itself to my spicier side of life. I enjoy a little heat in my sandwich and this recipe will showcase just that. To me, heat is a wonderful addition to anything I create but to many my level of heat is often way too hot for others to handle.  In any case, experiment a little to see what heat index is right for you and begin to build from there.

“Here's a question for all the Mail Call readers. Why does our country, being $16.5 trillion in the hole, keep giving all these other countries money? And they're giving Egypt tanks, planes and $1.5 billion this year. It doesn't make any sense. We can't afford it. Let other countries help other countries, not us all the time. And one more thing, I have two pensions, I work part time, my wife works full time, and we go on one vacation a year. Our president goes on three or four vacations a year.” - Williamsport “It wouldn't be surprising to me that the majority of the people that John Donoghue represents in Hagerstown are against this gas tax. Yet Mr. Donoghue decided to vote for it, and he gave the lame excuse, because it was going to pass, I voted for it anyway.

I love a great sandwich. In fact, I would love to have held court with the Earl of Sandwich to see the first creation as it took place. As such there are a variety of sandwiches and flavors, but my next recipes will focus on the wonderful flavors of a muffuletta. Muffulettas originated in the New Orleans' French Quarter and have as many twists and turns as a Mardi Gras festival has partygoers.  The burning question is whether to serven them hot or cold. A traditionalist would swear that cold is the way to go but a new wave of customers are begging for a hot sandwich.

An advanced artisan bread baking class is from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, April 6, at  Washington County Rural Heritage Museum, 7313 Sharpsburg Pike, south of Hagerstown. This class is designed for participants to learn more about historic and artisan breads and methods of bread baking after taking the beginners' course offered at the museum. This is a hands- on class that includes sampling, tasting and understanding advanced bread types, styles and textures. Registration deadline is Monday, April 1. To register or for more information, call 240-420-1714, email eoverdorff@washco-md.net or go to www.ruralheritagemuseum.org.

Editor's note: This is part of an occasional series of stories on children eating vegetables. The series explores ways to highlight vegetables' flavor and appearance as a way to work around the resistance some kids have to eating vegetables. February's featured vegetable is a fruit. The fig. Specfically, dried figs. Growing up, I was not a fan of figs. But then I met my wife, whose parents had a fig tree in their backyard. I ate my first fresh fig, and ... well, I still was not a fan, but I appreciated the difference between moist, fresh figs and denser, darker-flavored dried figs.

What began as a way for Mark and Jayne Metcalfe of Mercersburg, Pa., to give back to the community has grown into one of the largest, free Thanksgiving Day dinners in the area. “It's a way to give back to the community. There's a need with the economy the way it is. Plus we have a family that comes every year with 24 in their family. They have no houses big enough where they can gather for Thanksgiving dinner so they come here,” Jayne Metcalfe said Thursday. “And I don't like to eat alone, so my family has grown to 1,000,” she said with a chuckle.

While I was working on another breakfast recipe, I decided to use up some overly ripe bananas. The secret to this bread: The riper the bananas, the better the flavor.  Let's not get to extreme, I'm not talking moldy, flattened, ripe bananas, but those that have passed their prime as something you would peel and eat. Also, don't let the sucanat throw you, its natural sugar, and it adds a nice deliciousness to the bread. If you can't find it in your grocery store, then you can substitute granulated sugar.

Grains provide many nutrients vital for health and it is recommended that at least half of all the grains you eat be whole- grains. People who eat whole grains as part of their healthful diet have a reduced risk of some chronic diseases, such as heart disease. Consuming whole grains as part of a healthful diet also can help with weight management. Check www.choosemyplate.gov for daily minimum recommendations of whole-grain consumption based on your age and physical activity level. Any food made from wheat, rice, oats, cornmeal, barley or other cereal grains are grain products.

Alisha Hanlin, 27, is owner and chef for Pressed Flour, a baked goods business in Shepherdstown, W.Va. She got her start in cooking when she was young. Her mother invited her to work with her in the kitchen. "I did small tasks around the kitchen at home," she said. "I picked up a lot more from my mother in cooking with her as a child than I realized until I was in the professional kitchen and I was applying this knowledge that I had gotten from her. " Hanlin was until recently the pastry chef for LJ's and the Kat Lounge, a high-end restaurant in Hagerstown.