Brandywine Table: The Upper Crust

As we roll into November, everyone has a lot on their plate before the Thanksgiving table is even set. There are decorations to pack away (so long, Halloween) and get out, lists to make, groceries to buy and, somewhere in there, a feast to cook. This month at Brandywine Table, let’s take one thing off that proverbial plate.

Why? Because sometimes it isn’t even your Thanksgiving table. Maybe someone else has claimed the turkey and you’ve been assigned a side dish. You want to contribute something memorable without arriving at your in-laws’ house with a competing pumpkin pie and starting a family incident.

Bring bread. It plays nicely with everybody else’s traditions while leaving room for a little showmanship.

A spectacular bread basket doesn’t require making everything yourself. Instead, think like an event caterer and build variety. Mix textures, shapes, colors and flavors: something soft and pillowy, something with a crust that crackles when you tear into it, something savory and something with a touch of sweetness. Add good butter melting into warm bread, and suddenly the humblest part of the Thanksgiving menu doesn’t feel quite so humble.

The secret is deciding what’s worth making, what’s worth buying and where to find the good stuff. Fran McLaughlin of Brandywine Valley Bread in Downingtown knows the good stuff. After a career in food service, a trip to Sicily to visit his wife Maria’s family sparked his fascination with naturally leavened bread. That fascination eventually grew into farmers markets and the family’s Downingtown bakery.

Natural leavening requires patience and precision. Rather than commercial yeast, the baker works with a living culture, responding to time, temperature and place. McLaughlin has noted that over- or under-proofing can make an undesirable loaf. Today, Brandywine Valley Bread emphasizes heritage organic grains and offers naturally leavened loaves alongside bagels, croissants, morning buns and pastries. McLaughlin once summed up local tastes simply: “Here, in Chester County, people want quality.”

We do. But quality doesn’t require kneading every crumb. Brandywine Valley Bread offers holiday preorders, or visit another favorite local bakery for a crusty loaf. Then have fun with the homemade pieces: Pumpkin-Shaped Dinner Rolls, Cranberry- Walnut Quick Bread, Little Hands Parmesan-Rosemary Drop Biscuits or colorful Flower-Power Focaccia.

For the pièce de résistance, there’s our Horn of Plenty Bread Cornucopia. Fill that showstopper with everything you’ve made and bought, add some compound butter and take it to the table. It’s a very Brandywine Table approach to Thanksgiving: abundance, local food, a little showmanship — and absolute sanity. Because the best Thanksgiving table isn’t the one where the cook made everything. It’s the one where the cook gets to sit down and enjoy it, too.

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Online Exclusive: Horn of Plenty

Before it spilled across American Thanksgiving tables, the cornucopia belonged to the gods. Its story reaches back to the infant Zeus, hidden from his father, Cronus, and nourished by Amalthea — described in different versions of the myth as a goat or a nymph who tended one. When one of Amalthea’s horns was broken, Zeus blessed it with the power to provide an endless supply of food — the original horn of plenty.

For centuries, the cornu copiae — Latin for “horn of plenty” — symbolized abundance and prosperity. And 19th-century America loved the classical world. Greek and Roman influences appeared in everything from architecture and furniture to the symbols adopted by the young republic.

So, when Thanksgiving developed into a national tradition during that same century, the ancient horn overflowing with fruits, flowers and grain was a natural fit for a celebration of the harvest and abundance.

From the table of the gods to ours. Not bad for a centerpiece.

Online Exclusive: Better Butter

The easiest way to make every bread in the basket taste more special? Start with the butter.

Compound butter sounds fancy, but it’s simply softened butter blended with herbs, spices, fruit or other flavorings, then refrigerated until firm. Make it several days ahead, shape it into a log in parchment paper and slice into pretty rounds for the table. Or skip the geometry and spoon it into a favorite little crock.

For a savory compound butter, blend ½ C. softened unsalted butter with 1 T. finely chopped fresh sage, 1 tsp. fresh thyme leaves, ½ tsp. grated orange zest and a pinch of salt.

For something sweet, combine ½ C. softened unsalted butter with 2 T. brown sugar, ½ tsp. cinnamon, ¼ tsp. vanilla and a pinch of salt.

Make both. After all, nobody ever complained that the Thanksgiving table had too much butter!