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| From New York Times |
Today I just wanted to share this link from the New York Times, German Baking, From Almond Paste to Zimtsterne. Elisabeth and I attempted Zimtsterne, post here. It was difficult. Kudos to these bakers, bringing German baked goods to the U.S.! We can always use more good Stollen, and Schwarzbrot and any other non-squishy bread! (The article has a hilarious bit about how Americans think "rye" = "caraway seeds".) Also interesting that the article title mentions "almond paste"...do Americans not know what "marzipan" is?
My sister also recommended I read The Master Butcher's Singing Club (Louise Erdrich) ...which is okay so far. I really laughed at this one part at the beginning of the book, where someone brings American bread into this German village, around 1919 or so: "This man held something white and square in his hand that Fidelis took at first to be a picture of some sort, but it was blank. When he saw that it was bread, shaped with a precision that could only be the work of fanatics, Fidelis entered the circle of men to examine it. The thing was sent in a package from distant relatives...Machines had kneaded and baked and then sliced it. Or were these everyday American bakers? That was the argument. Fidelis inspected the bread when, passed hand to hand, it came around to him. He noted the fine texture and wondered at the treatment of the yeast...It seemed an impossible thing to him, an artifact from some place that must adhere to an impossibly rigid order."
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