Ben Starr

The Ultimate Food Geek

Category: Yeast Breads

  • Rosemary Sourdough Dinner Rolls

    Makes about 24 rolls. I’ve been maintaining my sourdough culture for about 2 years now, and I just love the thing.  I had always been hesitant to maintain a culture because of how much “work” I assumed it would be…regular feedings, complex calculations.  It turns out that sourdough is FAR less picky than its reputation…

  • How to Make the BEST Loaf of Bread on Planet Earth

    Tough title to live up to, right?  But I was literally stunned out of my mind when I tasted this bread the first time, and each time I’ve baked it since, it seems to get better.  This bread makes people scream.  Literally. What you are about to read is very, very long.  After all, if…

  • Homemade Garlic Naan Bread

    Everyone loves flatbreads, from pitas to naan to foccacia, to the spongy fermented teff bread of Ethiopia: injera.  Naan is the staple flatbread in India, and there are as many ways to make it as there are cooks.  Naan is quick and easy to make, and for you guys who limit yourselves to the grill…

  • 1-Hour Hazelnut Cranberry Sticky/Sweet Rolls

    When I’m making a very special breakfast, I often choose my Overnight Cinnamon Rolls because they get rave reviews.  Any kind of yeast-risen roll for breakfast is a winner…but sometimes you can’t prep the night before, or don’t have HOURS to prep that morning.  So I’ve been developing a series of 1-Hour yeast risen recipes…

  • “Pumpkin”nickel Bread

    You all know how obsessed I am with pumpkin.  This recipe was birthed years ago for one of my legendary Fall Dinner Parties where I wanted to marry the dark autumn flavors of pumpernickel bread with my favorite ingredient: pumpkin.  The first incarnation was not a success, I have to say.  Recently, for our all-pumpkin…

  • 1-Hour No-Knead Yeast Dinner Rolls

    Bread.  It can be a problem with dinner, because sometimes you just don’t have 4-5 hours to prep contemporary yeast bread or roll recipes.  You all know that I prefer to use long, slow fermentations with my yeast breads to produce incredible flavor and crust.  But that requires me to start the bread the day…

  • Overnight Cinnamon Rolls

    Who on Earth can resist a warm, yeasty, sticky, sweet cinnamon roll fresh from the oven?  ESPECIALLY if there’s cream cheese frosting to smear on top? The problem is that it takes a solid 3 hours to get cinnamon rolls finished once they are started, and who wants to get up THAT early?  The solution,…

  • One-Hour Buttermilk English Muffins

    I used to be grossed out by packaged English muffins.  In fact, all packaged breads give me the creeps.  I just can’t buy them.  If they’re not sitting in the open air on the shelf of a bakery, and I’m confident they came out of the oven that day, I can’t bring myself to buy…

  • One-Hour Yeast Risen Monkey Bread

    Monkey bread probably evolved out of a 1950’s housewife’s attempt to turn canned biscuit dough into a more glamorous breakfast food.  Traditionally it’s made from taking canned biscuit dough, rolling it in butter and cinnamon and sugar, and baking the dough balls in a bundt pan.  The theory was that the little dough balls would…

  • Indian Stuffed Yeast Breads

    I ran across some recipe for yeast bread stuffed with curried veggies about a decade ago and over the years the recipe has morphed into my own.  My friends LOVE these, and it’s a great introduction to Indian food for those who are nervous about it.  These are individual rounds of crusty yeast bread stuffed…