Our holiday edition of Traveling Tastebuds is here! If you are planning a trip to Calgary this winter, get ready to see a vibrant city with a thriving art scene and world class restaurants. It is also the gateway to the Canmore Mountains, Banff and Lake Louise. There is plenty to see and do in Cowtown not matter what the time of year is. If you are looking for recommendations on where to stay, The Dorian, Autograph Collection is a tasteful, elegant hotel in the heart of the city.
The Dorian, Autograph Collection is also well-known to foodies under the watchful eye of Executive Chef, Joshua Dyer who shared this story about his grandmother’s New Brunswick Brown Bread:
“It has been well established that our olfactory sense can trigger vivid memories we thought were buried beyond recall. For me, one whiff of fresh baked New Brunswick brown bread, ushers in wonderful memories of Christmas at my Grandparents and the amazing dinners my Grandmother prepared with apparent effortlessness.
Her recipe had remained a closely guarded secret for many years, but before she passed away she decided it was time to share her brown bread with the world. The recipe had not been easy to come by. She learned it from my great, great grandmother who ran a little tea room in the backwoods of New Brunswick in the 1930’s. A fresh slice brown bread was a favourite of the many travellers who happened to stop in as they travelled the old highway on their way through the Maritimes.
When my grandmother asked my great, great grandma for the recipe she was told that she didn’t actually have one. She made it so often that she didn’t really think about what she was doing. So one afternoon my grandmother watched attentively as she prepared a fresh batch and studiously wrote down all the steps and ingredients.
Now almost 100 years later we are proud to offer it to everybody this holiday season.”
The Dorian, Autograph Collection shared the recipe for Executive Chef, Joshua Dyer’s grandmother’s New Brunswick Brown Bread with us so that you can being a taste of New Brunswick to your dinner table:
Yield: 5 dozen muffins
Portion Size: 40 grams
Ingredients
all-purpose flour 845 g
instant yeast 22 g
kosher salt 10 g
unsalted butter soft 80 g
blackstrap molasses 250 g
golden raisins 400 g
oats, cooked 150 g
granulated sugar 105 g
Mise en Place:
- Cook the oats with water until soft
Procedure:
- straight dough method
- combine all of the ingredients for the bread together
- knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic
- cover the dough and let it rise until the volume is double in size
- press down on the dough to release the gas (“punching” the dough)
- 1 hour bulk ferment
- shape 40g, then proof into muffin molds
- proof for 30-45 minutes (until doubled in size)
- bake at 350F for 15-20 mins
- serve warm with salted butter!
