Debra enjoyed the history in this novel, but had a little difficulty with some of the characters, and sometimes found the narration and plot to be rambling
She was inspired to make this classic French Pastry by the section of the book where "Laurent, Micheline’s fellow culinary student, makes a blackberry clafouti for Noémie, the younger sister."
Deb of
Readerbuzz was next to post, and I'm so glad she joined us. This was my first visit to her blog, but it won't be my last.
She made Croissants!
Deb, very bravely, tried to follow one of the recipes written in the novel by Lisette. Here is what she had to say....
I used the recipe (above) from the 1871 portion of this book, and I might have needed a little more guidance about temperature than "a medium oven," especially as I imagine this might have been a wood stove of some sort. There was a lot (a lake, if I am being completely honest) of melted butter halfway through the bake. They may not be beautiful, but they do have great flavor (as you might expect, with 3/4 lb. of butter in the recipe).
I would gladly enjoy some of those croissants with you Deb, while we talk about all the books we are dying to read.
Marg of
The Intrepid Reader & Baker had been wanting to read a novel by this author and was happy to report that she was not disappointed. She enjoyed the fact that both timelines were historical and that each character in the timelines operated a bakery.
When it came to choosing a recipe to make I struggled a little bit as there were almost too many options, and In the end I decided to try and make a clafoutis which is a traditional dish, originally from the Limousin region of France.
Thanks so much for joining us Marg. This recipe sounds amazing.
Amy of Amy's Cooking Adventures wrote: "This was an enjoyable historical read following strong female bakers generations apart." Amy shared an incredible-looking brioche en Tete, having found a brioche pan at a garage sale for $0.25 while she was reading this novel. What a steal!!!
Simona of
Briciole made a beautiful
Fruity Chard recipe inspired by the protagonist, Lisette's fiancé's residence being in Provence.
After her husband, Théo, dies fighting with the Communards, Lisette, pregnant, is expected to marry her first fiancé and go to Provence (Provenza) with him until after giving birth. She ends up not going and not marrying him (again), but I decided to stay there for inspiration.
Tarte aux blettes is a Provençal dessert made with Swiss chard. While I was not interested in replicating it (we don't eat dessert), I played with the idea of adding a sweet note to a vegetable I like and eat regularly.
I love Swiss Chard. I am definitely printing out this recipe and picking up the ingredients on my next trip to the Farmer's Market.
Claudia of
Honey from Rock was also able to join in this month. I am so happy that she enjoyed the novel and shared a quick and easy sounding recipe for
Naan Flatbread with us.
I was inspired by all the bread in the novel, how necessary, how central It became, especially for those people in line to get a loaf in difficult times, and often unable to get any. Since I usually have sourdough on hand I made a very easy flatbread, called naan.
I am always happy for another recipe to help me use my sourdough discard. Thanks Claudia.
Be sure to visit, read and comment on all the full posts. I would like to end this post with an invitation for you to join us for the August/September edition of Cook The Books hosted by Claudia of Honey From Rock. She has chosen Coming to My Senses by Alice Waters. If you have any questions about joining in, go to the Guidelines page.
