How does one deliquesce bread? With white truffle chocolate drizzled over a sponge like bread as done with “Nuts About You”. A dessert bread that has a lite nutty flavor with the texture of cake.
The multi grain, multi seeded bread named “Extra Ordinary” is so called because you just need to experience it!
“Seattle Swirl” bread has swirled in it pineapples, currants and spices to drive your nose crazy.
Banana Bread is one of those “should be easy” to bake breads but it took me a minute to get the nuances down pack. So after much trail and error, assistance from confidant Chef Chrissy of Elijah’s Promise Culinary School, I renamed it “Banana Bananza Bread”. Then I went on a chocolate fix and created another version called “Chocolate Banana Bananza Bread”. Hey its all about the bread with me.
Speaking of yams…nothing like sweet potato pie to hit my southern spot. I like to eat it with a slight chill on it but my Dad prefers it nice and warm with a dollop of vanilla ice cream if you can handle that.
This bread dully named Yami-Yami is yummy, yummy! With savory ingredients like beet, squash and yes yam, Yami-Yami is a must have for all sandwiches, panini’s or just plain ol’ toast.
“Yami-Yami” bread.
Right out the oven and too hot to de-pan…must cool for about a minute. A mini-loaf of Blueberry Blues and three Sweet Cherry breads to follow.
The loaves pictured are some of the many breads Amatullah Lewis, founder of Sweet Spice and Honey, bakes from her commercial kitchen in Central New Jersey. Photo by Monica Holder, courtesy of Sweet Spice & Honey. A year ago, Entrepreneur University graduate Amatullah Lewis found herself with a common problem: unemployment. So she came up with an uncommon solution: draw from a lifetime of memories and experiences to create a unique line of artisan breads. She sells them through her business, Sweet Spice & Honey. Lewis bakes some staples like chibatta, carrot cake and banana breads, but she specializes in the exotic: her “I’m All That Aristocrat” line is an Italian style loaf jammed with spinach and Gruyere cheese. Twinzestic, inspired by Lewis’s twin daughters, features ginger and tangy lemon zest. One of Lewis’s personal favorites is Seattle Swirl, a loaf whose pineapples, currants, cocoa and ancho chili powder combine the sweet tastes with savory ones. The business came about partly as a remedy for the stress Lewis’s unemployment created. She finds it relaxing, she said, “to create, and to taste something I like and make it uniquely my own.” Part of the inspiration for Lewis’s business came from women artisans from the developing world. When Lewis visited Highland Park’s 10,000 Villages, a retail chain that purchases a range of apparel and crafts at a fair price from individuals throughout the world, she thought, “why not me?” Shortly after her visit, she called on several local grocery stores to see if they would like to sell the carrot cake she’d been making for years. She cut two loaves into 10 slices each, sold them to the local stores, and earned $40. “It was the best $40 I ever made in my life,” Lewis said. Amatullah Lewis poses with a fresh-baked loaf of bread. Photo by Monica Holder, courtesy of Sweet Spice & Honey Since then, she has refined the recipes, adding loaves to her repertoire, and slowly getting the word out to potential customers and grocery store buyers. In addition to the first two grocery stores who bought her carrot cake, Lewis sells at a number of farmers markets in New Jersey and New York City. Customers have bought several hundred loaves during the past year, Lewis said. Lewis’s most exciting sales outlet was one of New York’s underground supper clubs. The club hosts mobile soirees for foodies and critics alike. They meet in private homes, converted warehouses and upscale restaurants to sample up-and-coming culinary masters. The contacts she made there earned her more sales and a write-up in a Village Voice food blog. Acclaim from gourmands is nice, but the critics Lewis really seeks to impress are those of an instinctively honest variety: young children. Earlier this month, Lewis set up shop at “LocalPalooza,” a showcase of area merchants hosted by the Whole Foods in Princeton. At the event, Lewis said, “A kid came up and said, ‘I really love your cornbread.’ His mother told him to be polite and introduce himself, so he did, and then he said again, ‘I really love your corn bread.’” “I know that comes from a real, honest place,” Lewis said. http://intersectfund.org/blog/entrepreneur-directory/comfort-food-is-creative-outlet-for-highland-park-baker/
