The Bread of the Month for the Bread Baking Babes is Beaujolais Bread from A Passion for Bread by Lionel Vatinet.
Beaujolais is a red wine from the Beaujolais Region of France. Beaujolais is part of what’s co
nsidered the Burgundy wine region, but instead of using Pinot Noir grapes like the rest of the region, Beaujolais is made from the fruity Gamay grape.
Every year, on the third Thursday in November, at one past midnight, over a million cases of Beaujolais Nouveau are shipped around the world. This event marks the first fruits of the harvest of Beaujolais Nouveau.
These wines are barely given time to ferment so they are easy-to-drink, fruity wines that are as close to white wine as you can get. The wines go well with food, especially ham and cheese and even Thanksgiving fare (the event falls close to Thanksgiving in the U.S.)
In his book, Lionel shares how he spent his youth surrounded by a vineyard at his grandparents’ lovely stone house near the Rhone region of France. He created Beaujolais Bread, which is shaped like a grape cluster and filled with salami, to pay homage to the first grape harvest of the year.
To celebrate the release of Beaujolais Nouveau each year, Lionel recommends that you serve this bread and invite guests to pull off a “grape” to enjoy with their glass of wine.
Burgundy Grape Cluster Bread
Cheers to you for all those beautiful words on the Beaujolais Nouveau celebration! I loved his writing filled with wonderful bread romance and passion.
Your grapes look just wonderfully inviting … I’m ready with a little cheese and wine for another cluster 😉
I really like Lionel Vatinet. I got the opportunity to meet him at the Asheville Bread Festival and he even signed my copy of his book.
Love that you gave some history and background of the Beaujolais Nouveau passion. Pinot seems like a great wine for this bread and yours sure look delicious!
Thanks! It was a good wine for this bread.
I love learning the history behind food, so thanks for that background. I really like the way your cluster looks. 🙂
I enjoy food history as well. Glad you liked it.
Also from me, thanks for the interesting read on the wine and Lionels background. Lovely write up!
Thanks Karen! This was a fun one!
My husband has refused to buy or drink a Beaujolais for years, I can’t even remember how many. Your pinot noir, on the other hand, is a big yes! Your rolls are beautiful! Perfect crust, lovely cluster!
Thanks Jamie! That’s too funny!
You met Lionel Vatinet? How lucky are you?! Judging from his introduction to his book, he sounds like a wonderful man.
I’m also so envious of your grape cluster. It looks perfect. And how interesting that the colour of your finished rolls is so light. It’s almost as if you used white wine rather than red!
Thanks Elizabeth! He is a neat man. I love his French accent.
Here’s my disclaimer about the photos: The photos I used in this post are lightened because my original photos were awful. It was cloudy and dark when I was making the bread and I couldn’t get good photos. So that’s why they look so light.
I want this…. Salami and wine and bread. A complete picnic in a bite!
Your grapes have a lovely shape Your salami pieces are cut smaller, I think that makes them easier to incorporate.