Day Two: Rich Yogurt Bread

January 2nd, 2008, daily bread, one-dish meals, photos, recipes, sandwiches, side dishes, Janaki, 7 Comments

Last week, I made naan. It turned out fantastically, and I’ll definitely make some again as part of this project, but the upshot of this is that I bought a tub of plain yogurt to use in making the naan. Plain yogurt comes in handy for a number of things…but not when you’ve got a fridge full of holiday leftovers, unfortunately.

Enter Meg Hirshberg’s recipe for Rich Yogurt Bread. Prior to making the naan, I hadn’t really made bread with yogurt before. I’ve made bread with milk, buttermilk, cream, almond milk (which is one of our favourites, in fact, and will likely show up later down the line in The Breadening) …the list goes on. And of course, plenty of less rich sorts of bread as well. But yogurt was a new thing entirely. It lent a silky, soft texture to the naan, and I expected it would do the same with this bread as well.

Boy, did it ever! The texture…I can’t even begin to describe it. It’s light and fluffy and tender and sweet, almost like Hawaiian bread. I don’t think I need to add that it’s delicious after that description, although of course it’s that as well. I’m definitely quite pleased. I was a little surprised by how yellow it was once it had baked, but I think it’s quite appealing. It’s a sunny, happy loaf of bread, so its interior decoration seems only fitting. (Note: I decided, however, that I didn’t need to make two loaves of it—so I halved the recipe.)

Of course, it’s always a good idea to plan ahead. I thought that this bread would make a lovely casing for a Croque Madame. Made a Mornay sauce, laid down some ham, and fried an egg to grace the top of each one. As you can see in the photo, my Madame’s yolky hat is unfortunately falling off of her head, but perhaps I shouldn’t tell you that at all, and should instead claim it’s the “to go” version. (In my defense, ace photographer and co-conspirator Joe thinks the stove isn’t quite level. I’m not sure, to be honest.) At any rate, I served this with Chris Schlesinger’s Tidewater Coleslaw, which my sister and our friend Damon made to much fanfare at a family gathering awhile ago. It’s still our favourite coleslaw recipe, although I use a bit less mayo as a rule.