THE RED TRUCK BAKERY FARMHOUSE COOKBOOK: Sweet and Savory Comfort Food from America's Favorite Rural Bakery

Cookbook cover of THE RED TRUCK BAKERY FARMHOUSE COOKBOOK

THE RED TRUCK BAKERY FARMHOUSE COOKBOOK: Sweet and Savory Comfort Food from America’s Favorite Rural Bakery

Brian Noyes Angie Mosier

Clarkson Potter
August 2, 2022
$28/Hardcover
ISBN-13: 978-0593234815

While the art director of the Washington Post and Smithsonian magazine, Brian Noyes baked pies and breads on weekends in his Virginia Piedmont farmhouse and sold them out of an old red truck he bought from designer Tommy Hilfiger. When a New York Times story sent 57,000 people to his fledgling website overnight after receiving 24 hits the previous day, he left publishing to launch the Red Truck Bakery in a 1921 Esso filling station in Warrenton, Virginia.

The bakery now has two locations, ships thousands of baked goods nationwide, and has earned accolades from Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Andrew Zimmern, and many national publications. Noyes trained at the Culinary Institute of America at Hyde Park, NY; L’Academie de Cuisine outside of Washington, DC; and King Arthur Flour in Norwich, Vermont. He is an adviser to the Jacques Pépin Foundation, and a member of the Southern Foodways Alliance and the James Beard Foundation. He is the author of the Red Truck Bakery Cookbook (Clarkson Potter, 2018).

“Original and highly personal, The Red Truck Bakery Farmhouse Cookbook is a joyful love story to many comfort foods.”—Jacques Pépin, chef and author

“If a cookbook could be a page-turner, this is the one! Brian not only knows how to create comfort in spades, but he writes both the sweet and savory recipes in such a way that you feel like you’re part of those five generations who inspired these vittles.”—Carla Hall, chef and author

Brian Noyes, founder of the beloved Red Truck Bakery in Marshall, Virginia, and author of the Red Truck Bakery Cookbook, presents more than 95 all-new, comforting recipes celebrating ingredients and traditions from the bakery’s home on the edge of the Shenandoah Valley and the Blue Ridge mountains. With small-town charm, an emphasis on local, seasonal produce, and country comfort inspiration from the 170-year-old farmhouse where the bakery began, The Red Truck Bakery Farmhouse Cookbook features Brian’s favorite savory recipes and old-time classics from family, friends, and the bakery archives. This is the food that Brian cooks at home as well as for the bakery’s thousands of customers nationwide—plus recipes for favorite Red Truck Bakery dishes that have not been shared before.

From delightful lunch and dinner options like Potato & Pesto Flatbread, Corn Crab Cakes with Jalapeño Mayonnaise, Mid-July Tomato Pie, Pork Tenderloin with Rosemary and Blueberries, and Sweet Potato and Poblano Enchiladas, to knockout desserts like Lexington Bourbon Cake, Virginia Peanut Pie, and Caramel Cake with Pecans (which Garden & Gun magazine called “the perfect Southern dessert”), the recipes in The Red Truck Bakery Farmhouse Cookbook are what we are all craving—unfussy, homey, Southern-leaning dishes that focus on local produce but don’t shy away from decadence. And for those who are eating vegetarian or vegan, there are plenty of plant-based options, like a vegan and gluten-free Coffee Cake, Carrot & Leek Pot Pies, Mushroom-Ricotta Lasagne with Port Sauce, and the Bakery’s beloved “Beetloaf” Sandwiches.

True to the spirit of the Red Truck Bakery, the recipes in the Red Truck Bakery Farmhouse Cookbook deliver unfailingly delicious comfort all year round.

Strawberry Buckle

MAKES ONE 9-INCH BUCKLE

An old-timey buckle delivers the most bang for the least amount of work, and it’s one of my favorite breakfast treats. The classic buckle is a cross between a light coffee cake and a cobbler, with fresh fruit gently pressed into a quickly made batter. A hefty scattering of turbinado sugar across the top adds a solid crunch, while it also protects the fruit from scorching. Enjoy it throughout the year with other fresh fruit, such as peaches or blackberries (or a combination of the two). When using strawberries or peaches, a pour of heavy cream on top of each serving wouldn’t hurt anything—but that’s still pretty much true no matter what fruit you choose.

1 tablespoon freshly grated lemon zest (from 2 lemons)
1 cup granulated sugar
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 large egg, at room temperature
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¾ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ cup full-fat buttermilk
½ cup heavy cream, plus more (optional) for serving
1½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 pint (about 12 ounces) strawberries, hulled and rinsed (if large, cut into halves)
Turbinado sugar, for Sprinkling

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9-inch round cake pan, pie pan, or cast-iron skillet with vegetable oil spray.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, use a fork to stir the lemon zest into the granulated sugar until well mixed. Let the mixture sit for a few minutes to infuse. Add the butter to the sugar mixture in the bowl. Using the paddle attachment, beat on medium speed until well combined and pale yellow, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and beat until just combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle (where the zest may collect).

Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt onto a sheet of parchment paper.

In a large liquid measuring cup, combine the buttermilk, heavy cream, and vanilla.

Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour and alternating with the buttermilk mixture; beat well on medium speed after each addition. The batter will be thick.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan all the way to the edges without smoothing the surface. Distribute the strawberries evenly on top, pressing them lightly into the batter, skin-side up if cut. Sprinkle the turbinado sugar evenly across the top.

Bake for 45 minutes, rotating the pan from front to back halfway through, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool slightly, then serve directly from the pan, pouring some heavy cream on each portion, if desired.

Summer Gazpacho

SERVES 8

During my first of two tenures at The Washington Post, food critic Tom Sietsema, then an assistant on the Food desk, was writing a piece about local restaurant secrets and asked if I had a favorite dish for which I’d love to have the recipe. I thought immediately of the gazpacho, full of finely diced vegetables, at a dive on Pennsylvania Avenue near the entrance to Georgetown. It was so good that I waited each summer for it to appear on the menu, and more than once I bugged the chef about how he made it. He didn’t share his recipe but rattled off a list of ingredients. Tom, ever dogged, cajoled the secret out of him and included it in that story, and I’ve made it every summer since.

Years later, Dwight and I had a gazpacho in seaside Barcelona that tasted exactly like this recipe, but it had been puréed into a creamy blend, while large chopped servings of vegetables were brought out in little bowls to add as desired. I liked the idea of the larger chunks and revisited my gazpacho project recently, making sure the veggies added bigger texture without becoming a choking hazard. The best success will come at the height of summer, when these fresh ingredients are abundant in a garden or a farmers’ market. Please try it first just as I’ve written before making any substitutions, and cut all the vegetables into a same-size hefty dice; my suggestion is to keep the pieces less petite and more on the chunky side.

2 medium cucumbers, coarsely diced
2 medium red onions, coarsely diced
2 medium carrots, trimmed, scrubbed well, and coarsely diced
1 medium green bell pepper, seeded and coarsely diced
2 celery stalks, including any leaves, coarsely diced
4 red radishes, trimmed and diced
1 firm but ripe avocado, peeled, pitted, and diced
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
¼ cup red wine vinegar
46 ounces canned tomato juice, well shaken
2 teaspoons hot sauce, preferably Tabasco
1¼ pounds ripe tomatoes, cored and diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper

In a large nonmetallic bowl, combine all but ½ cup of the cucumbers, all but ½ cup of the red onions, all of the carrots, the green bell pepper, celery, radishes, half of the avocado, the parsley, half of the cilantro, the Worcestershire sauce, oil, vinegar, tomato juice, hot sauce, diced tomatoes, and garlic, stirring until well blended. Taste and season with salt and ½ teaspoon black pepper. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 3 hours before serving.

Taste the gazpacho again and adjust the seasoning as needed. Ladle it into bowls and garnish them with the reserved cucumber, red onion, avocado, and cilantro or serve the gazpacho in a large serving bowl with the garnishes in side dishes, Barcelona-style. Serve immediately. Leftovers can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 1 day; any longer and the crisp veggies get mushy.

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