During the pandemic years, many discovered what hobby bakers had always known: that baking is one of the most gratifying and therapeutic activities one can engage in. Not only does it focus the mind and body, it offers boundless rewards in the aromas, end products, and gratitude of those lucky enough to partake of your creations! But trying to the favorite specialty breads that adorn bakery shelves can seem daunting, better left to the experts… until now!
Join NYT Bestselling author Rebecca Eisenberg as she shares her baking “origin story”, some of her favorite recipes that are easily produced at home, and demonstrates live how to execute some crowd pleaser recipes from her book, Small Batch Breads, including Scallion Pancakes and Buttermilk Biscuits.
Small Batch Breads will be available for purchase & signing at our event, and some delicious creations from it available for tasting!
Rebecca Eisenberg is the New York Times bestselling author of Small-Batch Breads. She is also a food blogger and recipe developer who founded the popular baking blog The Practical Kitchen in 2019. Her recipes have been featured on BuzzFeed, King Arthur Baking, The Kitchn, and Well+Good. Thanks in part to her viral small-batch bread recipes, she has built a community of devoted social media followers and newsletter readers.
Small Batch Breads:
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Using just one cup of flour, create sweet and savory bagels, buns, rolls, and pastries with 50 approachable and accessible recipes from the creator of The Practical Kitchen.
It all started with a recipe for miniature focaccia made in a loaf pan. That recipe went viral again, and again, and again. Now, trusted food blogger Rebecca Eisenberg brings her baking expertise, accessible recipe writing, and gorgeous food photography to this collection of sweet and savory small-batch breads made with just one cup of flour. Whether you’re brand new to bread baking or a seasoned baker, Small-Batch Breads is for you.
Why bake small batch breads? Maybe you’re serving just one or two. Or you’re looking to minimize food waste. Maybe you're a new baker just learning the techniques—a small bread is lower-risk than a large loaf. Maybe you don’t own a stand mixer or you’ve got a tiny kitchen counter. Or maybe you just like cute little things.
With fifty easy-to-follow recipes, including 100+ step-by-step photos, you can make adorable crusty loaves; two bagels for brunch on demand; an oversized, Nutella-filled pop tart; and, of course, Rebecca’s viral Loaf Pan Focaccia.
Rebecca covers all the bread bases with recipes perfect for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert, such as:
Little Loaves: Loaf Pan Focaccia, Foot-Long(-ish) Baguette, Classic Brioche Loaf, Overnight No-Knead Crusty Bread
Buns and Rolls: Just Two Bagels, One Large Kaiser Roll, Stovetop English Muffins, Just-Like-the-Tube Buttery Crescent Rolls
Twists, Sticks, and Braids: “Limited” Garlic Breadsticks, One Large Soft Pretzel, Ooey-Gooey Cinnamon Rolls, Mini Chocolate Babka
Flatbreads, Crackers, and Pizza: Single Scallion Pancake, No-Knead Naan, Thin-Crust Pizza, Three Flexible Flour Tortillas
Biscuits, Pastries, and Quickbreads: Flaky Mini Buttermilk Biscuits, Oversized Nutella Pop-ular Tart, Fruit Preserve Pastries Two Ways
With easy-to-follow guidance and minimal ingredients, Small-Batch Breads is the perfect housewarming, engagement, graduation, birthday, or holiday gift for any budding bread baker.
NO~KNEAD NAAN
MAKES 2 NAAN
RISING TIME:
2 TO 2½ HOURS
BAKE TIME:
3 TO 4 MINUTES
DOUGH
120g (1 cup)
all-purpose flour
• more for dusting
3g (1 teaspoon) Diamond Crystal kosher salt
3g (1 teaspoon) instant yeast
2g (1⁄2 teaspoon) sugar
85g (1⁄3 cup
• 1 teaspoon) warm water (90°F)
20g (1 heaping tablespoon) whole-milk Greek yogurt
10g (2 teaspoons) ghee or clarified butter, melted
• more for your hands
TOPPING
10g (2 teaspoons) ghee, melted
Optional: Flaky salt, garlic salt or minced garlic, chopped fresh herbs, cheese, etc.
Buttery, bubbly naan is excellent for scooping up curries and dipping in raita. Naan gets its signature tenderness and buttery flavor from ghee (clarified butter) and whole-milk yogurt in the dough! While it’s traditionally cooked in the high heat of a clay tandoor oven, this recipe cooks the naan under the broiler on a preheated baking steel. (If you don’t have a baking steel you can also use a baking stone or even an inverted sheet pan if that’s all you’ve got.)
1. Mix. In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. Make a well in the center and add the warm water, yogurt, and melted ghee. Use a dough whisk or a fork to stir the liquid in the center, slowly incorporating flour from the sides of the bowl until a wet, sticky dough forms.
2. First rise. Gather the messy dough together at the bottom of the bowl. Cover and let rise at room temperature until almost doubled in size, 1 to 1½ hours. (It’s a bit hard to tell when the dough is truly doubled, but as long as it’s grown a bit and had time to rest, it’ll be fine.)
3. Preshape. Scrape the sticky dough out onto a well-floured work surface. Divide it in half using a bench scraper (each piece should weigh about 121 grams). Follow the instructions in photo 1 to shape each piece into a loose ball.
4. Second rise. Invert the bowl over the 2 dough balls and let them rest for 30 minutes.
5. Preheat. As soon as you cover the dough balls, preheat the oven to 500°F with a baking steel on a rack about 7 inches below your oven’s broiler. Make sure the baking steel has at least 30 minutes to preheat once the oven is at temperature.
6. Shape. Line a pizza peel or a flipped-over sheet pan with parchment paper. Grease your hands with a little bit of melted ghee and gently deflate each dough ball with your fingertips. Shape the naan following the instructions in photos
2 and 3. These don’t have to look perfect, but try not to stretch the dough too thin in any spots. If the dough tears, just pinch it back together
7. Third rise. Place the two stretched pieces of naan on the prepared pizza peel. Cover them lightly with a clean kitchen towel and let rest for another 30 minutes at room temperature.
8. Bake. Turn your oven’s broiler on high for 1 minute. Slide the parchment paper off the pizza peel and directly onto the preheated baking steel. Broil until puffed up on top and spotty brown on the bottom, about 2 minutes, then use a pair of tongs to flip and broil for 1 to 2 minutes more. Check on the naan every
20 to 30 seconds after you flip it—broilers are HOT and things can go from golden brown to charred quickly!
9. Finish. Use the tongs to tug the parchment paper off the baking steel and back onto the pizza peel to remove the naan from the oven. Brush immediately with additional melted ghee and sprinkle any other toppings you like. Let cool slightly before serving.
Recipe Note
Most parchment paper is safe up to 425° to 450°F. in this recipe it’s under the broiler for such a short time that it won’t burst into flames, but it will be quite browned when you pull it out. That’s normal. If you’re concerned, omit the parchment paper and just know your naan might brown faster than the recipe says.
