Whole Wheat Flour

These simple, traditional Indian flatbreads are wonderful served with any of the curried soup and stew recipes in these pages.

If you’d like an accompaniment to summer fruit soups but don’t want to turn on the oven, these slightly sweet scones are just the thing to make.

These delectable little pancakes are appreciated by adults and children alike, and are the perfect accompaniment to Asian-style soups.

Moist and slightly crumbly, these scones team especially well with soups made of root vegetables—potatoes, parsnips, and the like.

These little biscuits pair especially well with mild-flavored soups featuring cauliflower or broccoli, but they are compatible with most any kind of vegetable soup.

Tender and just slightly sweet, these are good teamed with spicy or chunky soups and stews.

Moist and flavorful, these muffins pair nicely with bean soups. Try them with Long-Simmering Black Bean Soup (page 38).

Tiny bits of fresh vegetables give these muffins a fascinating flavor and texture. These are particularly good with pureed soups, as well as those that focus on one primary ingredient such as carrots or squash

Although this excellent traditional Italian bread is yeasted, it does not take as long to make as other yeasted breads, since it requires only one rather brief rising. If you are making a long-simmering soup, this bread will likely fit into the time frame. It’s a natural pairing with Italian-style soups such as Minestrone (page 50), but it’s good with most any tomato-based soup.

These offbeat little griddle biscuits pair well with bean soups, purees, and soups that feature root vegetables.

This tasty bread goes well with many soups. Try it with mixed vegetable, tomato-based, and bean soups.

Here’s an unusual bread that teams beautifully with many kinds of soup. Try this with anything from hearty bean soups to light, brothy ones. Use your favorite kind of olive; it works well with most any variety.

Try serving this offbeat pan bread, studded with pink beans and scallions, with hearty vegetable soups and stews. I especially like this with soups that feature corn and/or squash.

When I have the urge to bake bread on a weekend and want something not quite so time-consuming as French bread, I often make this loaf. It is a healthy bread with a good texture and makes particularly delicious sandwiches. It is also great toasted for breakfast.

What could be more appealing on a weekend than to fill the kitchen with the good smell of bread baking? I like to start my bread dough when I get up, and for lunch I reward myself with a fresh-from-the-oven pizza. Perhaps I’ll share a baguette over dinner with friends, and have some mini-loaves to put in the freezer and enjoy in the weeks ahead—all made from the same dough. If there are children around, I announce what I’m up to, and invariably they will want to join me and pitch in. For them, there is something magical about making bread-the way it rises quietly in a bowl under a cover, the fun of punching the dough down, forming the loaves, and creating steam in the oven just before baking. To say nothing of how good it tastes. I started baking bread in the sixties, when I persuaded Julia Child to work out a recipe for French bread that could be baked in an American home oven. In those days, it was almost impossible to buy a crusty baguette. Now there are artisan bakers all over who have mastered the techniques, and there’s really no need to bake one’s own. But it is such fun.

First off, don’t be scared by the idea of making pizza dough at home; it couldn’t be easier. The little bit of whole wheat flour adds an earthiness to the dough, and a touch of honey adds a background sweetness that rounds out the flavors without your being able to really put your finger on it. This dough recipe is really versatile and not just for pizza. Use it to make flatbread for sandwiches and wraps, or Garlic Herb Bread Twists (page 35.)

Banana leaves gracefully cover cocoa beans in their fermenting bins where the beans develop their extraordinary flavor. Roadside farm stands in chocolate’s growing regions offer a jumble of bananas, cinnamon sticks, plantains, cacao pods, walnuts, vanilla beans, and coconuts, all from trees of the tropics. For that extra earth-friendly touch, use muffin or cupcake liners made with unbleached, eco-friendly paper.

It was summer in New England the first time I read about the health benefits of blueberries. I rushed to the pick-your-own patch on a nearby hill. I put several perfect ones in my palm with all their little hats aligned—an army of antioxidant soldiers. I ate them. Sweet, with a tang. Yet, sadly, I felt nothing. My blood did not quicken; my heart did not swell with strength. I was my just my same old self, munching a handful of blueberries by the side of the road. In my chocolate research, this moment comes to mind often. The benefits of chocolate arrive quietly amid a myriad of other healthful living components. Health through chocolate is a practice. Chocolate and blueberries, both miracles of nature, join here for a berry breakfast or homey, warm dessert.

This country was built on apple pie with a very flaky crust, thanks to an abundance of lard or vegetable shortening. Instead of an overly caloric full-blown crust, this lightened-up pie has a crumbly Brown Betty–type topping. When you pulse the topping mixture, don’t over-mix or it will be tough—not melt-in-your-mouth tender. If you must serve ice cream with this pie, look for a low-cal alternative. The usual scoop of “à la mode” adds 250 to 350 calories.