The Basics of Bread + Butter

Over at Provisions, we're all about collections of beautiful, useful products to help make the most of good food -- and we don't want you to miss out on the fun.

Today: Bread and butter is the ultimate (and simplest) comfort food.

We could live on bread and butter for days on end. But since we are responsible adults, we make ourselves eat our vegetables and our fruit.

If you, like us, believe in the marriage of bread and butter, then you’ll understand that such a simple pairing demands high-quality ingredients. Our preference? A lightly toasted, tangy sourdough slice spread thickly with soft, salted butter. Here are some suggestions to make yours even better: 

Try making seedy bread with spent grains, and then wrapping your leftovers in beeswax Bee's Wrap. The heat of your hands warms the wax so it conforms to any shape (heel of bread, whole loaf, baguette). That means it keeps bread fresher longer than any other method -- and we're not the only fans. Bee's Wrap is one of our most popular products of all time in our Provisions shop. It's so popular that we stocked it in bigger sizes, baguette shapes, and stripes!

Or, instead of putting butter on your bread, put it in your bread and make challah -- a bread so buttery you don't need more on top. (Or do you?) To slice delicate breads like a challah or ciabatta, you need a good bread knife. This serrated Wusthof one is a classic, and it's on our list of top 10 kitchen essentials.

More: Everything you need to know about butter.

Speaking of butter, it's much easier to scoop and spread if it's at room temperature. We keep some on hand in a butter keeper -- this ceramic one uses a French country technique of adding water to the base to create an airtight seal, both protecting and softening the butter. 

To apply an even layer, use a knife with a broad blade (this is also a good idea for making PB&Js and spreading mayonnaise on sandwiches). The walnut-handled knife pictured above is handcrafted by R. Murphy, a Boston knifemaker whose experience making top quality kitchen knives dates back to the 1850s.

Tell us, what toppings do you prefer on your bread? Butter? Jam? Tahini? We want to know!

Photos by James Ransom