Bread, butter and buns

BBD#38 - No-Knead Festival: Medieval Masteluin

2011-03-15T18:23:00.000-07:00

Jim Lahey must be one of the most appreciated men in the world, at least in the bread world. Thousands of frustrated, hesitant or new bread bakers sighed in relief when he revealed a no-knead bread method that allowed many to overcome the kneading hurdle, a big step on the way to beautiful bread. The No-Knead method flies into the face of all baking lessons: no pushing and squeezing until the dough develops elasticity, no looking for opaque windows, no measuring temperatures or watch for overproofing.

The secret is, instead of using your own muscles, to let time do the work. Yeah, you read it right. Time, that one thing that we all have equally much of, 24 hours in a day. Briefly mix all the bread ingredients together until a wet, runny dough forms, put it into an oiled bowl, cover and let it rest overnight. The resting time will develop wonderful flavor, a beautiful gluten network and a lovely, crisp crust when baked.

Masteluin, an equal mix
of wheat and rye flours

For this round of Bread Baking Day, number #38, Cindy from Cindystar's blog invites us to bake a bread according to the no-knead method. If you've never used this method before, this is a great opportunity to try it out! Read more on Jim and his method here.

I chose a flour mix for a bread called masteluin, half rye, half wheat, that was traditional for Holland during the Middle Ages. Nowadays, it is still popular in Belgium, but homebakers in the Netherlands are slowly gaining new appreciation for this bread. Because rye has a tendency to rise less, the bubbles in the bread are not as pronounced as with wheat, but it's still delicious!

Masteluin
2 cups of all-purpose flour

2 cups of dark rye

1 1/2 cup of warm water

1/4 teaspoon of active dry yeast

2 teaspoons of salt

Mix the flours together, add the warm water and the yeast and stir together. Add the yeast, continue to stir the wet dough. Oil a bowl, scrape the dough into the bowl, turn it over and cover. Let it sit on the kitchen counter for at least two hours, fold it over and refrigerate overnight, or leave it on the counter.

The next morning, pull the dough from the fridge and let it come to room temperature. Fold the dough over once and shape it, if possible. The dough is very wet. Take a heavily floured towel, or a couche, and let the dough rest for its final rise, seam side up. Preheat the oven to 500F. Since the masteluin was traditionally baked on the oven floor, I used unglazed tiles on the middle shelf instead. Place a baking pan on the bottom shelf.

When the dough is ready to bake, roll it over on a floured cookie sheet. Open the oven door, score it if you want and slide the bread onto the hot tiles and close the door. Get four or five ice cubes, put them in the baking pan so that they provide steam for the bread, and close the door again.

Bake the bread in about twenty minutes. Remove it from the oven, and let it cool on a rack. The masteluin mix is fabulous for cheese and sandwich meats, and tastes great toasted.

BBB - Third Anniversary Baking: Ensaïmadas

2011-02-19T18:20:00.000-08:00

Happy Anniversary, Bread Baking Babes!! This fabulous group of bakers have entertained and encouraged so many of us during these last three years, sharing their lives, their baking experiences and opening up their kitchens to let us, buddies, bake along with them and share in some of the joy.

This month's challenge was to pick a bread from the last three years and re-bake it. Where to begin? The fabulous spelt bread from last month, that wonderful Indian bread we baked some time ago? Should I dare bake another gluten-free bread, in the hopes that it would turn out lovely and fluffy this time? Nah.....the moment I saw what the challenge was I knew what I'd be baking again: the beloved ensaïmadas from my early teenage years, when I spent a year living in the birthplace of the ensaimada; the island of Mallorca.

Last time I baked these flaky, sweet twirly pastries with butter since the lard was a bit off and I hated the thought of ruining the experiment. Butter worked fine and gave a flaky, tender, buttery pastry. This time, however, I was set on using lard. After all, the name "ensaïmadas" means "covered in lard" and not butter!

I'm so glad I did. Even though the pastry was equally tasteful, and perhaps a tad flakier, it felt more authentic. All I was missing was the hot chocolate to go with it, but I shared them with my dear friend Ann over a cup of coffee. And what's better than sharing good pastries with good company? Pretty darn nothing, I reckon!

For the recipe, click here to be taken back to the original recipe. If you want to bake with lard, just replace the amount of butter in the recipe with lard and you're good to go.

So, once again, Happy Anniversary to you, Bread Baking Babes! It's been a fantastic time, and I look forward to many more baking challenges!

My Dutch Baking Blog: Driekoningenbrood

2011-01-24T17:07:00.000-08:00

My Dutch Baking Blog: Driekoningenbrood: "Three Kings Day, or Epiphany, is traditionally celebrated on January 6th. It's supposedly the day that the three Magi, Balthasar, Melchior a..."

BBB - Hildegard's Spelt Bread

2011-01-22T20:22:00.000-08:00

I say it all the time, so it must be getting old to some of you readers, but I just love baking with these Bread Baking Babe girls! This month, we had a special lady join us, Hildegard von Bingen, not necessarily in baking but most definitely in spirit.

This month's Bread Baking boniface, Astrid from Paulchen's Foodblog, chose Hildegard's Spelt bread for the Bread Baking Babes challenge. Whole grain bread tends to be heavy, both in chewing and on the stomach. This bread however, although 100% spelt, is tender, pleasant and has a wonderful flavor. If you have never worked with spelt before, this recipe is definitely worthwhile!

Here's what Astrid has to say about spelt: "Spelt is closely related to the common form of wheat and is not suitable for people with coeliac disease. Some people with an allergy or intolerance to common wheat (like me) can tolerate spelt. Spelt flour can replace whole wheat flour or whole grain flour in recipes for breads and pasta. Some people like to blend spelt flour with wheat flour. I have used spelt to make bread, rolls, sweet-breads, cookies, muffins, bagels, pretzels and I have used spelt to replace wheat in almost any recipe."

So who is this Hildegard? Is she a new Bread Baking Babe? No, but she might have well been the first one. According to Astrid's page, " Saint Hildegard von Bingen lived from 1098 to 1179 in Germany. She joined a Benedictine convent in Disibodenberg and became the Abbess at the age of 35. St. Hildegard had visions all her life, which helped her see God’s wisdom and be seen as a prophet. She wrote down what God told and showed her through these visions and published many volumes on science, medicine and theology.

She was also very outspoken, going on missionary trips and preaching in other cloisters and in market places. Today, there is a revivalist culture around her teachings, especially her teachings on how to eat to stay healthy and many of her medicinal and herbal remedies."

And here is what Hildegard had to say about spelt: "The spelt is the best of grains. It is rich and nourishing and milder than other grain. It produces a strong body and healthy blood to those who eat it and it makes the spirit of man light and cheerful. If someone is ill boil some spelt, mix it with egg and this will heal him like a fine ointment.”

“Spelt is the best grain, warming, lubricating and of high nutritional value. It is better tolerated by the body than any other grain. Spelt provides the consumer with good flesh and good blood and cofers a cheerful disposition. It provides a happy mind and a joyful spirit. No matter how you eat spelt, either as a bread or in other foods, it is good and easy to digest.”

“When someone is so weakened by illness that he cannot eat, then simply take whole spelt kernels and boil them vigorously in water, add butter and egg (and a pinch of salt). This will make the food tastier and the patient will want to eat it. Give this to the patient and it will heal him from within like a good healing salve.”

I found spelt flour at Winco, in the bulk section, but had a harder time finding the spelt flakes and ended up ordering them from the local health food store. It is a Bob Red Mill's product and you will find it with the other products in the hot cereal section.

Hildegard’s Spelt Bread

This bread is a riser!!

4 cups of spelt flakes

4 cups of whole spelt flour

2 teaspoons of salt

1 scant tablespoon of active dry yeast
3/4 cup of milk, lukewarm

2 cups of water, lukewarm

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon sunflowerseed oil

Mix the spelt flakes and spelt flour with the salt. Dissolve yeast in milk and let it rest until the yeast proofs, about ten minutes, then add the liquid to the dry mix. Knead a couple of times, cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and let rest for about 15-20 minutes.

Add the warm water and lemon juice to the sponge and knead for at least 15 minutes, gradually adding the sunflower oil. Form doughball and coat with warm water. Cover again with kitchen towel and let double in size. This bread LOVES to rise, so get a big enough bowl and keep an eye on it! Knead for another 2-3 minutes.

Cut dough in 2 equal halves, roll them in the remaining spelt flakes and place each in a greased baking pan. Cover and let rise again until doubled in size.

Bake the first 15 minutes at 390°F, then lower heat to 375°F and bake for another 30 minutes. Remove from pans and cool on a rack.

BBD#36 - Corn-y Pandebono from Columbia

2011-01-09T07:44:00.000-08:00

This month's it's bread with corn, hurrah!! Heather from Girlichef announced this month's Bread Baking Day topic, and it's corn galore...... I've had my eye on these Columbian pandebonos for a while, and this is a great excuse to get busy!

If you are not familiar with Bread Baking Day, or BBD for short, it's a monthly event for bakers and wanna-be bakers that was created by Zorra of Kochtopf. A new theme is chosen by a different host each month. You bake and post your findings on your blog, send in the picture and the URL and hey presto! At the end of the month there is a roundup and your picture and your blog will be showcased for all to see.

It's a great way to get into baking, or to expand your repertoire, and it is fascinating to see what everybody's interpretation of the theme is. This group has some amazingly creative people! Bread Baking Day can also be found on Facebook.

Pandebonos are cheesy, corn-y little rolls that can be eaten for breakfast, lunch or as a snack. Traditionally from Columbia, the story goes that an Italian street vendor would offer these for sale, announcing his wares with "pan del bono, pan del bono" ("the tasteful bread"). Over time, the rolls were called pandebonos.....

Whether it's true or not, who cares.....the cheesy rolls are pleasant to eat and easy to make. Now that's good bread!

I found the Harina P.A.N. at our local Hispanic markets and some larger local grocery stores have started carrying it as well. If you are unable to find it, use a finely ground corn meal instead and skip the two tablespoons of yellow corn meal in the recipe. The Harina P.A.N. that I used is the white variety and I wanted a bit more color in the rolls. If you use the yellow harina, you can skip that step as well.

As for the cheese, queso fresco or farmer's cheese is the cheese by choice. Taste the cheeese beforehand to determine how salty it is, farmer's cheeses tend to vary greatly in level of saltiness. If rather bland, you may want to add some salt to the dough. Personally, I'd prefer a bit more cheese flavor, so will probably replace one cup of the queso fresco with feta, or with a sharp cheddar or an aged Gouda. Not entirely traditional, but hey.....this Dutch girl likes her cheese!

Pandebonos

1 cup of precooked corn flour (harina pan)

1/2 cup of tapioca flour (also known as tapioca starch)
2 tablespoons of yellow corn meal
2 teaspoons of sugar
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
2 cups of shredded queso fresco
2 eggs
1/2 cup of milk
salt to taste

Mix the two flours, the corn meal, the salt if needed, the sugar and baking powder. Add the cheese and stir in the eggs, one by one. Add half of the milk and knead, if it's too dry use the rest of the milk. Knead for a good five minutes or until the dough comes together and the grittiness of the precooked corn meal has disappeared. Divide into fifteen pieces, roll each piece into a ball of about 2oz. Place next to each other, but not touching as they puff up considerably, on a sheet of parchment paper on a baking sheet, or grease a muffin pan and place a dough ball in each muffin space and push them down a tad so they fill the cup.

Bake at 400F for a good fifteen minutes or until slightly golden. Cool for a bit, if you can wait, and eat lukewarm......yummie!!

Makes about 15 pandebonos.

BBB - Taralli Pugliese

2010-12-27T10:43:00.000-08:00

These girls sure know how to find great recipes. After a heavy Christmas baking session with cinnamon, sugar, candied fruits, almond paste, more sugar, chocolate and did I mention sugar, I am ready for something simple, savory and cleansing to the palate.

Ilva from Lucullian Delights is this month´s host for the Bread Baking Babes. She chose an Italian specialty called taralli pugliese, a crunchy, crispy dough ring to munch on. Perfect!

The recipe calls for fennel seeds but since I don´t have access to any, I chose fresh rosemary. Works great as well, especially with the olive oil.

Taralli Pugliese
adapted from Anna Maria Gostti Della Salda's monumental food bible "Le ricette regionali italiane"

4 cups of all purpose flour
1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup of tepid water
2 tablespoons of fresh rosemary, minced (or 2 heaping teaspoons of any other favorite, Ilva uses fennel seeds)
1 tablespoon of active dry yeast
1 1/2 teaspoon of salt
2 eggs, beaten

Dissolve the yeast in the 1/4 cup of tepid water. Mix the yeast water with the lightly whisked eggs and the olive oil. Mix flour, rosemary and salt and then add the liquid. Start working the dough and continue to add small amounts of tepid water until you have a firm but pliable dough.

Start rolling 2 inch long ropes that are as thick as your little finger and pinch the ends together to make an oval. Put the taralli on a parchment paper, cover with a towel and leave them to rest about 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 390°F.

While the taralli rest, bring a large pan with water to a boil. Put 3 to 4 taralli at a time in the simmering water and when they surface, remove them with a skimmer and put them to dry on a kitchen towel or a rack.

Put them on baking sheets covered with parchment paper and bake in the oven for about 20 minutes. They should be lightly tanned and dry to the touch. Try one to see if it´s fully baked and not still raw on the inside! You want to have a crunchy bite, inside and out, not chewy like a bagel.

Place them on a cooling rack to cool, then try not to eat them all at once.... I made these this afternoon and at first, everyone present found them a little blah..."they could use a bit more salt", "I would have liked more rosemary" etc etc. But not even fifteen minutes later, they were all gone. Ha! These little bagel-esque taralli will surprise you with their simplicity.

BBD#35 - Bread with dried fruits

2010-12-13T17:51:00.000-08:00

Ah, the challenge! Everywhere in the world, novice and seasoned bakers await excitedly for the topic of the month. Will it be a sweet bread? Maybe something with grains? How about a bread with booze? You can practically hear the groans when it turns out to be a sourdough bread. But whichever one is picked, each participant and host adds a very personal and creative contribution to the Bread Baking Day Challenge.

This month, Umm Mymoonah from Taste of Pearl City is hosting this month's Bread Baking Day. She picked dried fruits for this month's challenge, perfect for this time of year!

I initally planned to bake a kerststol. I love the sweet buttery dough, the chewiness of the raisins and the slight tangy-ness of the candied peels. The almond filling is creamy, nutty and makes the whole bread just one fabulous experience. But the prospect of having an entire stol sitting on my counter (and then having to eat it *grin*) was not entirely convincing so I ended up doing something a little different :-). For a step-by-step instruction on how to make the flowers, see Mis Recetas Favoritas (where you can see a beautiful example!) I love the shape, but found it too cumbersome with the wet filling. Next time I'm going to go with either a pastier filling, or a different shape. Still, they may not look pretty but they were very good!

Christmas Daisies
For the filling
1/2 cup of golden raisins
1/2 cup of candied peel
1 cup of orange juice

For the dough
1 cup of milk, warm

4 tablespoons of sugar

3 tablespoons of butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon of salt
2 teaspoons of yeast
2 eggs, beaten
4 cups of all-purpose flour

4 grams of cream cheese
2 tablespoons of sugar
2 tablespoons of flour
1 egg, beaten

Soak the raisins and the candied peel in the orange juice. In a small bowl, add the yeast to the warm milk and let it proof. In a larger bowl, place the flour, salt and the sugar. Add the yeasty milk, stir until well blended (the flour will be dry), then add in the two eggs and the butter. Knead everything into a nice, shiny, slightly sticky dough. Cover and rise for about 30 minutes.

In the meantime, beat the cream cheese with half of the beaten egg (you'll use the rest for brushing the bread), the sugar and the flour into a thick paste.

Carefully punch down the dough and cut pieces of 2 1/2 oz, roll into balls. Cover and rest while you squeeze the orange juice out of the soaked fruits.

Now carefully roll a ball of dough into a larger circle. Spread some almond spread on top and sprinkle with some soaked fruits. Pulling the dough around the filling up, pinch the seams and carefully roll the ball back together. Place on the counter, seam down and covered, while you fill all the other ones.

Pat the dough down, cut and fold according to the instructions. The filling is wet and lumpy so it takes a bit of practice (or a lot). I'm sure you can do better than I did!

Put your flowers on parchment paper on a baking sheet, or a silicone mat, cover and let rise for another thirty minutes. Brush with eggwash, and bake in a 350F oven for about 25 minutes or until golden.

BBD#24 - Knäckebröd

2010-11-20T07:35:00.000-08:00

I've mentioned before how the Dutch have a huge breakfast culture: many types of breads, sweet toppings, savory meat products...you name it, it's all there. The breads range from soft, white, fluffy buns to hard, crispy flatbreads. These last ones are originally from Sweden, and they're called "knäckebröd", or crisp bread.

The flour used is mainly rye, which gives them a nice, nutty flavor. It's cheap, easy to keep as long as the environment is dry (it will go limp in humid weather) and apparently travels back all the way to the Viking era. Well, how about that!

Just yesterday, I bought some at one of our local stores. The cost of knäckebröd in the United States, as an import item, is prohibitive, but every now and then I treat myself to a couple of "wheels". It's very tasteful, spread with some good butter and a nice jam. But when I saw this month's BBD's challenge to bake bread with grains, I figured I'd give this Swedish bread a try. Might as well learn how to make my own instead of buying it in the store, right?!

I found a recipe from a trusted source, Görel from Grain Doe. She's one of the Bread Baking Babes and several years ago gave a fabulous recipe for it, as follows. As for the sourdough starter, I keep a jar on the counter at all times. It's easy to maintain as long as you remember to feed it regularly and it helps add extra flavor to the breads you may be baking.

Knäckebröd
For the pre-ferment
500 ml/2,1 cups milk
25 g/0,9 oz fresh yeast

3 tbsp honey

180 g/6,4 oz rye flour

80 g/2,8 oz whole spelt flour (or whole wheat flour)

50 ml/3,5 tbsp rye sourdough starter*

Optional: 1 tsp aniseed, ground

For the dough
2 tsp salt
300 g/10,6 oz rye flour
100 g/3,5 oz wheat flour

Pre-ferment:
Heat milk until it's lukewarm. Dissolve yeast and honey in milk. Add flours and sourdough. Cover with cloth and let rise for 40 minutes.

Dough:
Add salt, the wheat flour and 2/3 of the rye flour to the pre-ferment mixture. Add more rye as needed until the dough is "firmish", but not stiff. It should still be a little tacky. Mix well, but don't knead. Let rise for 30 minutes.

Divide dough into 16 pieces, form the pieces into round, tight spheres and leave on table under cloth.

Heat oven to 200 °C/390 °F. Roll out the dough balls to thin rounds. Prick the rounds with a fork and take out a hole in the centre with a small glass or a cookie cutter.

Bake two rounds at a time for appr. 15 minutes until the bread is nicely browned and crisp. If necessary (watch out!), cover with foil during the last 5 minutes. Let cool on racks. I prefer mine a little lighter, so I took them out when they were starting to golden and let them dry on the side.

I used spelt and rye, and chose to add the ground aniseed. It is not prominent but gives the bread just that little 'extra'. Try it!

Potato Loaf

2010-11-08T17:56:00.000-08:00

I peeled some extra potatoes when making hete bliksem yesterday and while I was waiting for the spuds to boil, I realized that although the Dutch love to eat potatoes and they're included in almost every meal, I cannot for the life of me remember ever buying or eating potato bread.

Perhaps it's because potatoes are such a intricate yet humble addition to the meal. They're always there, on the side, serving their purpose, unassuming. In a potato loaf, they would shine and be the main ingredient, the key player to the success of this staff of life. Perhaps the humble Dutch potato is too Calvinistic to assume that role, who knows.

Not so the giant and proud Idaho potato. It sits prominently on the plate, draped in colorful and rich jewelry and coverings: ruby-red bacon bits, velvety sour cream, golden cheese shreds, emerald green onions.....Anyway, you get the idea. It's a big one and it knows it. And that's how it behaves in bread as well. It's there. I mean, THERE.

Bread making is an easy process, and once you get over the yeast paralysis, you'll find that potato dough is very receptive to yeast and to being kneaded. It's a great bread to get started with!

Potato Bread
1 cup of boiled potatoes
2 cups of milk, warm
2 teaspoons of active, dry yeast
3 cups of flour
1 teaspoon of salt

Mash the boiled potatoes with the warm milk, add the yeast and let sit for five minutes. Then add one cup of flour at a time, adding the salt in between, mix and knead until the dough comes together. Grease a bowl, put the dough in, turn over and cover. Rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size. Carefully push air out, knead once or twice and shape. If you bake in a breadpan, place the seamside down. Cover, rest and proof while you heat the oven to 350F.

If the dough does not immediately jump back and the bread has risen slightly above the rim of the pan, place it in the oven. Bake in approx. 30 minutes.

Let cool on rack. Also lovely toasted!

BBB - Broa

2010-10-20T04:51:00.000-07:00

Broa is a nice, rustic corn bread from Portugal. I should probably say "bread with corn", as it's not really anything close to corn bread as we know it, a yellow square of cakey, squishy, moist bread made with honey and corn and highly enhanced when consumed with butter. Although, having said that, this bread is kind of squishy and made with corn and honey and also benefits from a good lick of butter....Heck, maybe it's corn bread after all!

This month's Bread Baking Babe's recipe comes from Elizabeth, who chose the Portuguese bread Broa, a traditional bread made with corn. The bread itself is a dense loaf, rustic on the outside and a moist crumb on the inside. I favor it best a couple of days old and toasted.

Here are Elizabeth's recipe and instructions:

Broa – Portuguese Corn Bread

based on Jane’s (Little Compton Mornings) Pao de Milho
makes one large round loaf or two smaller ones

300gm (~1¼ US c) boiling water
7 gm (~1 tsp) honey
145 gm (~1¼ US c) white cornmeal, finely ground (I used Harina P.A.N)
4 gm (1 tsp) active dry yeast
120gm (~½ US c) lukewarm water
60 gm (~½ c) whole wheat flour
300 gm (~2½ c) unbleached all-purpose flour, not necessarily all of it
15 gm (~ 2 Tbsp) white corn flour (I used yellow corn flour)
10 gm (~1¾ tsp) sea salt

corn flour, for dusting

About an hour before mixing the dough, put the cornmeal (finely ground meal from dried corn, aka maize) and honey into a large mixing bowl. Pour in boiling water and stir well. Set aside to cool until just warm (do the baby bottle test on your wrist to test).

When the cornmeal has cooled, pour lukewarm water into a small bowl; add yeast and whisk well. Set aside.

Add the corn flour, wholewheat flour, 275 gm (~1¾ c) all-purpose flour and salt to the cornmeal mixture (you’ll use some or all of the remaining flour for kneading). Stir well. Check the temperature again to make sure it isn’t hot. Stir in the yeast mixture. The dough should be pulling away from the side of the bowl. Don’t worry if it’s somewhat sticky. Don’t be surprised if it’s down right sloppy.

Kneading: Sprinkle a little of the extra all-purpose flour onto the board. Plop the dough out.

Hand wash and dry the mixing bowl. (Yes, this step is important. It prepares the rising bowl, gets your hands nice and clean AND allows the dough to rest a little.)

Knead the dough until smooth and shiny by hand about 10 minutes. Use your dough scraper to keep the board clean . Add a tiny bit more flour if the dough seems sticky but try not to add too much – the dough should be soft (you don’t have to use up all the extra half cup of all-purpose flour).

Proofing: As best you can, form the dough into a ball and plop it into the clean bowl (there is NO need to oil the bowl!!) and cover the bowl with a plate. Don’t worry if the dough doesn’t seem to be all that smooth. Cover the bowl and leave in a non-drafty area of the kitchen for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes has passed, very lightly sprinkle the work surface with flour. Carefully turn the dough out. If necessary, gently spread the dough out (try not to disturb any bubbles). Using the dough scraper and still trying not to disturb any bubbles, fold the sloppy left side into the center, then the top into the center, then the right side, then the bottom. As you lift it into the bowl, fold it in half once more. Try to place it in the bowl smooth side up. Cover the bowl. Let it ferment at room temperature for 20 minutes again. Repeat this step two more times. (This step is done at 20 minutes, 40 minutes, 60 minutes after the first kneading.) It may not be until the third time that the dough will look like the smooth soft pillow that is described in books. The amount of dusting flour used in those three maneuvres is not more than a couple of tablespoons in all and probably much less (I have never actually measured). It’s the merest dusting.

After the final folding maneuver, cover the bowl again and let rise in a no-draft place on the counter (or in the cold oven with only the light turned on), until it has doubled in size. Depending on the temperature of your kitchen, this can take anywhere from 1 to 4 hours – if your kitchen is around 21C (72F) it will take about an hour. A good way to tell if the dough has doubled is to dip your finger in cold water and poke a hole in the top of the dough. If the hole fills up, it hasn’t risen enough. If there is a whoosh of air and the dough deflates a little, it has risen too much. If the hole stays in exactly the same configuration and the dough remains otherwise intact, it is ju-u-st right.

Shaping: Turn the dough out onto a floured board. Press the dough into a rectangle. Fold the left side into the center, then the top, then the right side then the bottom. Turn it over. Continue to fold it underneath itself to form an even tight ball without actually deflating the dough. Place it seam side down on parchment papered peel or cookie tray. Cover with a clean tea towel followed by any old large plastic bag and allow to the bread to rise in the same no-drafty area of the counter until is has about doubled. To test, flour your finger and press gently on the edge – it should very slowly spring back. For comparison, try pressing early on to see how it quickly springs back when the dough has not risen enough. (1 to 4 hours, depending on the temperature of the kitchen).

Preparing the oven: About fifteen minutes before baking the bread, make sure there is a rack on the second to the top shelf. Preheat the oven to 400F.

Baking: Spray the loaf liberally with water then sprinkle with cornflour. Slide the bread onto the stone if using (the parchment paper can go onto the stone) and bake the bread at 400F for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, turn the oven down to 375F and turn the bread around at the same time to allow for uneven heat in the oven (remove the parchment paper if the bread is on a stone). Bake a further 15 minutes until the bottom sounds hollow when knocked or the internal temperature is between 200F and 210F.

When the bread is done, remove to cool on a footed rack. Wait until the bread is completely cool before cutting it (it’s still not finished baking inside when it’s hot out of the oven).

It's not ugly, it's rustic......

Ofcourse, I don't have half the patience Elizabeth has so I added the boiling water to the corn flour, added in the honey and the salt and let it sit for a good ten minutes until the temperature had dropped to about 110F. Then I mixed the rest of the ingredients together, threw in the now warm corn meal mush, mixed it all and let it sit, covered, for twenty minutes. It is indeed a goopy mess, so I added a handful of flour, kneaded the dough as well as could be expected and let it sit for another forty. Turned on the oven, heated the baking tiles to 450F. Kneaded the dough a bit more, then turned it out onto the floured counter, shaped it into a ball and put it on parchment paper. When the oven was up to 450F I turned it down to 400, put the parchment paper with the dough on the tiles, threw in a couple of ice cubes in the tray on the bottom and closed the door. After fifteen minutes, I lowered the temp to 375F, baked the bread for another fifteen minutes and checked internal temp. 199F and rising, so out it came and rested on the metal grid to cool off. Judging from the fact that more than half of it is gone this morning (toasted last night for dinner and this morning for breakfast), I'd say it's worth the hassle!

Scandinavian Apple Bread

2010-10-10T14:29:00.000-07:00

It started with Emile wondering on FB if it was too late to make an apple pie."Never!" I replied. And then Raffa brought up the Danish movie "Adam's Aebler" or "Adam's Apples" in English (which I have yet to google, no clue what it's about. I'm guessing a guy named Adam and a basket of apples. Or at least, that's what I hope). Well, the word "aebler" made me think of "aebleskiver", those Danish puffy pancake balls that have nothing to do with apple slices, even though that is their name.

Anywayyyyy......so I'm sitting at the compu watching my dear friends going into this thing about apple pie, aebleskivers and whatnot, and my mind is running wild in the meantime. Something like this:
"Mmmm....apple pie sounds good. Ann just gave me a big bag of apples, I should make some. But I really would like to make aebleskiver instead, but I don't have the pan I need. Maybe I should make something Danishy with the apples. Like eh...apple bread. With cardamom because that's really Scandinavish. Sort of like anything with feta is Greek. Is that a word, Scandinavish? Probably not. I should look that up on google. Oh, it's supposed to be Scandivanian. That doesn't sound right, like it has something to do with birds. I wonder what birds they have in Scandinavia?" Anyway, you get the idea.

So while the whole world, give or take a few, was glued to the TV watching the BSU game, I was in the kitchen kneading a gorgeous dough for an apple bread. For once, I chose to stay away from the everpresent apple/raisin combination and decided to stick with apples alone, but you can do whatever you like best. It's all good. I usually try to use 1/3 of dehydrated apples, the apple flavor intensifies and some of the moisture from the fresh apples goes towards moistening the dried ones. This also keeps your bread or crust from getting too soggy.

Three hours later the bread was cooling, I had done some laundry, emptied the dish washer, ate dinner and learnt that BSU had won the game (duh!). With a cup of tea and a still warm slice of my apple bread, I was in hog heaven.

Scandinavian Apple Bread
2 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour (300 grams)
1/3 cup of sugar (75 grams)
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons active dry yeast (7 grams)
3 tablespoons of butter (35 grams)
1 1/2 cup of warm milk (175 ml)

For the filling:

3 medium apples, preferably three different varieties
2 tablespoons of sugar
1 tablespoon of cinnamon
Zest from 1/2 lemon
2 tablespoons of lemon juice

1 egg
2 tablespoons of demerara sugar

Add the flour, sugar, cardamom and yeast together. Pour in the warm milk and knead for a couple of minutes, then add the salt. Knead until the dough comes together, let it rest for a good four to five minutes, then add the melted butter in, little by little, until the dough is soft and supple. Shape it into a ball, and rest it in an well oiled bowl, covered. Let rise for about 45 minutes.

Peel and dice the apples, toss with the sugar, cinnamon, lemon zest and lemon juice. Roll the dough out into a square, add the apples and roll it, jelly-roll style, into a tight sausage. Place the bread roll, seam side down, onto a greased baking sheet. Cover with a damp towel and let rise for another thirty minutes. In the meantime, heat the oven to 375F (200C).

Beat the egg. Brush the bread roll with the egg, sprinkle demarara sugar on top. Now cut three or four horizontal slices in the bread, about halfway down. You can leave it like this, or push each side out as in the picture. Either way is fine.

Bake in the middle of the oven for approximately 30 minutes or until done. Slice and eat warm.

My post is going to Susan's Weekly Yeast Spotting event at Wild Yeast. Check out her blog for some amazing breads!

Wild Yeast Sourdough

2010-10-04T18:48:00.000-07:00

Several weeks ago, I visited the Annual Fruit Field Day at the University of Idaho's Extension Research Center in Parma. After hearing the presentations, we were invited to taste the different varieties of fruit that are researched and grown at the Center, and even encouraged to take some home. Now...I had just put up twenty pounds of peaches so I wasn't entirely interested in taking anything home that needed to be canned, dried or otherwise dealt with, but when looking over the table grapes with my friend Naomi, I decided to take home some Alborz and a few bunches of a grape called NY65. (There is a section of numbers that follows the period in NY's name, but I don't recall.). Especially this last grape, a dark, small fruit, densely clustered, had a beautiful dusty sheen on its skin. Wild yeast.

I just finished making the sourdough starter for this month's BBB's bread, the Brunkan's långa, when I had a brilliant idea. Well, brilliant.....I had heard that wild yeast could be used for sourdough starters. It seemed at the time a great idea, especially if commercial yeast was ever to disappear from the market, or if I found myself lost in the wilderness with a strong hankering for bread. No telling what my imagination can come up with, but the fact that wild yeast could be found in, well, the wilderness, was a very comforting thought to me.

So I made two batches. One with yeast for the Brunkan's langa, and one without yeast for the grape sourdough. Once mixed, I dumped a short bunch of grapes, unwashed and unrinsed, into the batter, covered the jar and let it sit on the counter.

Two days later, I had the most beautiful, bubbly and slightly sour smelling starter!

Feed your starter every other day with the same amount of unbleached flour and water. Best is to use spring water from a bottle, as tap water is often chlorinated or too salty because of the water softener. Organic grapes are going to be your best bet, and do not rinse, wash or otherwise handle the grapes too much. You want to make sure there's plenty of natural yeast on those grapes.

For the sourdough:

Day 1, morning:
Mix 1 1/2 cup (150g) graham flour with 1 1/2 cup (180 ml) water. Crush a grape or two on the cluster and dump the whole thing in the dough. About ten or twelve grapes are more than enough. Cover with cling film and leave at room temperature.

Day 1, evening:
Add 1 heaping tablespoon (15g) graham flour and 1 tablespoon (15ml) of water. Stir carefully and make sure the sourdough does not coat large parts of the glass. It will dry up and possibly mold, affecting your sourdough, so pour the batter into a new, clean container if it's covered with batter. Cover with cling film and leave at room temperature.

Day 2, morning:
Add 1 heaping tablespoon (15g) graham flour and 1 tablespoon (15ml) of water. Mix carefully. By now, the sourdough should be active (bubbly). Leave at room temperature.

Day 2, evening:
Feed the sourdough with another tablespoon of flour and water each, mix carefully and see if the bubbles remain. The starter should have started to develop a network of gluten, visible when you pull up a spoonful of the batter, and the smell should be slightly sour. Cover with film and place in the fridge.

Day 3
Your starter is ready to use. Scoop out one cup of starter. Feed the remaining sourdough with two tablespoons of flour and water, mix, pour into a clean container, cover and leave at room temperature.

For the bread:
1 cup of sourdough starter
2.5 cups of flour
1.5 cup of warm water
1 teaspoon of active yeast
1 teaspoon of salt

Mix all the ingredients together, salt last. Depending on the wetness of the starter, you may have to add a little bit more water or flour, but you are looking for a fairly slack dough. Knead for a good five minutes, then shape into a ball and place in a well-oiled bowl. Cover and let sit for 20 minutes, then place in the refridgerator overnight.

Day 4:
Take the dough out, about three three hours before you are ready to bake. Punch down carefully, shape into a ball and place back in the bowl. Cover and let sit on the counter at room temperature. One hour before baking, heat the oven up to 450F and place a Dutch oven in the oven.

Punch the bread down again and shape. Let it rest in a well-floured towel until the dough has proofed. Place the dough in the Dutch oven, replace the lid and return to the oven for up to 25 minutes. Remove when golden brown. Cool on wire.

Ofcourse I sent my blog post to Susan at Wild Yeast for this week's Yeast Spotting!

BBB - Brunkans långa (the short version)

2010-09-26T16:42:00.000-07:00

One of the many reasons why I like to bake as a buddy with the Bread Baking Babes is because of all the different and new varieties of bread we bake. It's great to try a new recipe and have six or seven other ladies bake it ahead of time so you can see what it's supposed to look like, read about the challenges or add a new recipe to your growing repertoire. Görel from Grain Doe was this month's host of the challenge and chose to bake a Swedish bread called Brunkans långa, or Brunkan's long bread.

When I read the recipe I was hesitant to participate. Five days? Graham flour? I mean, I had the five days but I didn't have the graham flour*. Plus it's a sourdough which can be tricky. Well, not really but it's tricky for me because I am lacking severely in this one area: patience. (Well, and perhaps humility...) And with sourdoughs you have to have patience. I already get antsy when I have to let a dough sit overnight, let alone five days.

But a challenge is a challenge and I know myself well enough to know I wouldn't be able to let it go. So while I prepared the ingredients, the other half went off to the store to find graham flour. I chose to divide the recipe not in half, but in four since I was going to do some additional baking. It resulted in a long enough loaf to feed three for lunch and a rather large heel for me to toast and munch on the next day (I love heels!!).

I cannot explain how much I love this bread. For one, the smell and texture reminded me of the Belgian loaves that my grandma Pauline liked so much. Sweet, slightly moist and extremely flavorful, the bread keeps well even after several days. Also lovely toasted...but then again, what bread isn't?

Görel's original recipe is here: http://graindoe.blogspot.com/2010/09/bbb-brunkans-langa.html. It makes for two rather large loaves, no less lovely for their size. If you want to bake a smaller version, you may want to use the following recipe. I figured it would no longer be called "långa" since it suffered severly in size, so I called it "shånga". Since "långa" means "long", I've decided that "shånga" means "short". (Actually, kort means "short" in Swedish from what I understood, but that doesn't sound half as much fun. I am totally making this up and sure hope shånga is not some dirty word or a gross insult!

(Not) Brunkans shånga
For the sourdough:
Day 1, morning:
Mix 0,42 cup (60g) graham flour with 0,5 cup (120ml) water.
Cover with cling film and leave at room temp.
Day 1, evening:
Add 1 heaping tablespoon (15g) graham flour and 1 tablespoon (15ml) of water.
Mix, cover with cling film and leave at room temp.

Day 2, morning:
Add 1 heaping tablespoon (15g) graham flour and 1 tablespoon (15ml) of water.
Mix. By now, the sourdough should be a little active (bubbly). If not, add a teaspoon of honey, some freshly grated apple or a teaspoon of natural yoghurt. Leave at room temp.

Day 3, morning:
Feed the sourdough with 1 heaping tablespoon (15g) graham flour and 1 tablespoon (15ml) of water .
Mix, cover with cling film and put in fridge.

Day 4
By now, the sourdough should be ready to use. If you don’t want to use it right away, you can keep in the fridge if you feed it as above a couple of times/week.

For the bread:
0.7 cup of water (150ml)
2.1 cup high protein wheat flour (281g)
0.5 cup of graham sourdough starter (see above) (94g)
1 teaspoon of active dry yeast (3g)
2 tablespoons of dark muscovado sugar (38g)
1 teaspoon of honey (7g)
1 heaping teaspoon of sea salt (8g)

Mix all ingredients except the salt. Work the dough in a stand mixer for 10 minutes or by hand for 20. Add the salt. Knead the dough for 5 minutes more. Put the dough in a oiled, plastic bowl and cover. Rest the dough (and yourself, if you have a minute) for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes: fold one side of the dough against the center of the dough, then fold the other end inwards, finally turn the whole dough so that the bottom side is facing down. Cover the bowl, place it in the fridge and let the dough rise overnight.

Day 5
Set the oven temp to 480 F (250C). Leave the baking stone in if you use one. Pour out the dough on a floured table top and shape it into a loaf. Place the dough seam side down on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper and place another parchment paper or a damp towel on top. When the oven is ready, put in the sheet or shove the parchment paper with the loaves onto the baking stone. Put a small baking pan with 3-4 ice cubes on the bottom of the oven. (The water releases slowly which is supposed to be better.) Lower the oven temperature to 350F (175C) immediately after you have put in the bread.

After 20 minutes, open the oven door and let out excess steam. Bake for 35 minutes or until the loaf has reached an inner temp of 208F (98C).

Cool on wire.

*According to Wikipedia:Graham flour is not available in all countries. A fully correct substitute for it would be a mix of white flour, wheat bran, and wheat germ in the ratio found in whole wheat. Wheat comprises approximately 83% endosperm, 14.5% bran, and 2.5% germ by mass. For sifted all-purpose white flour, wheat bran, and wheat germ having densities of 125, 50, and 80 grams/cup, respectively, one cup of graham flour is approximately equivalent to 84 g (~2/3 cup) white flour, 15 g (slightly less than 1/3 cup) wheat bran, and 2.5 g (1.5 teaspoons) wheat germ.

Pogacha - bread from the Balkans

2010-09-12T13:39:00.000-07:00

The first time I came across this Balkan bread was in someone else's kitchen. Asija, the Bosnian lady who I knew from work, had made some sarma for me to try and I stopped by her place on the way home to pick it up. Before she handed me the enamel pan, she asked me what kind of bread I was going to eat these stuffed cabbage rolls with. "It has to be a good bread so you can sop up the sarma sauce. Any other bread will be a catastrophy." Asijah had the most serious look on her face, waiting for me to answer. When I told her I wasn't sure if I had any bread at home at all, she put the pan down, threw her hands up in mock disgust and told me to wait right there.

Asija's sarma

At first, I thought I may have misunderstood her. Wait here? For what? Asija grabbed a small bowl from the counter and reached for the flour container. After putting several cups of flour into the bowl, she walked over to the fridge, bowl in hand, and added a glug of half-and-half and a scoop of sour cream in the bowl. Her hands were moving so fast I had a hard time registering the ingredients, but back at the counter she added yeast, salt and a little bit of oil to the bowl and proceeded to knead. Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh her hands rolled the dough, kneading it into a soft, silky matter. Quickly she patted it into an oval, cut three lines across the top, wrapped it in plastic and handed me the whole package. "Proof for one hour, when you get home bake it at 350F until done. Then you can eat the sarma," she grinned. Time past? Not even five minutes!

When I arrived home, I baked the loaf and it was the prettiest, silkiest, loveliest white crumb I'd seen in a long time. What a great bread! It sopped up the sauce very well and held its shape. I jotted down the ingredients as best as I could remember and vowed to soon make this bread again.

The next time I saw pogacha mentioned was when I was researching ajvar for my Ethnic Idaho blog. Ajvar is a lovely vegetable spread made with roasted red peppers, garlic and eggplant. Spread on a slice of pogacha bread, it is a great way to bridge the distance between lunch and dinner. Since I had just tested several recipes for ajvar and was blessed with plenty of it, I decided that this was a great time to bake another pogacha!

Pogacha

Ajvar and cream cheese on pogacha

4 cups of flour

1/2 cup of half-and-half
1/4 stick of butter
1 tablespoon of sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon of yeast
1/2 cup of sour cream
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon of salt

Measure the flour out in a bowl. Put the half-and-half in a cup, add the butter and warm in the microwave for 30 seconds to a minute: the milk should be warm but not boiling hot. Stir in the sugar and set aside to cool to lukewearm. In the meantime mix the yeast with the flour, then add the half-and-half/butter mixture. Slowly knead four or five times, then mix in the sour cream, the oil and the egg, each one separately until well incorporated into the dough. Finally knead in the salt and continue to knead until the dough comes together and is smooth and silky. Cover in an oiled bowl, and rest until doubled in size. Punch down, shape into a loaf or bake in a loaf pan, slash three times horizontally and bake in an 350F oven until golden brown, approximately 45 minutes.

Pogacha, the Balkan beauty!

Cool on a rack, slice and enjoy with a good stew or something else that requires a good sop-up bread. This bread also toasts nicely.

BBD#33 - Torrijas de vino

2010-08-22T22:02:00.000-07:00

Oh those girls (and boys) from Bread Baking Day......I am so glad the weather is finally turning into something a bit more agreeable, because I've missed these baking challenges. This month's recipe is Bread with Booze, hosted by Baking Powders, and wouldn't you know it......

I've only recently begun enjoying wine again and, as it happened, had a bottom of Barefoot's Muscato wine in the fridge. It's a very sweet, almost dessert-ey kind of wine. Together with several slices of day-old bread on the counter and a couple of eggs, I made something I had been wanting to try for years: Spanish torrijas de vino.....sweet wine soaked pieces of French toast.....yum! This dish is great for dessert, served with some freshly cut fruit, or as a breakfast item for an early morning start.

Yesterday I baked bread for our monthly ladies dinner. It's an eclectic but wonderful group of women who meet to eat, greet and laugh. A lot. I kept one loaf for breakfast this morning and by the end of day had only half a loaf left. It was perfect for this dish! You really want bread that has lost some of its moisture so that it soaks up the wonderful flavors of the sweet wine. Remember to save the wine you soaked the bread in so that you can reduce it to a syrup afterwards.

Torrijas de vino
Half a loaf of day old bread, preferably baguette or something else with a crust

1/4 cup of sweet white wine
1/4 cup of warm water
2 tablespoons of sugar
1 large egg
3 tablespoons of butter
4 tablespoons of honey
Powdered sugar

Cut two inch slices off the bread, preferably at an angle so you get a nice large piece. Mix the wine and the warm water with the sugar and stir until the sugar is melted. Pour into a bowl large enough to soak the bread in. Beat the egg in a separate bowl.

Place the bread one side down into the water/wine mix, then turn over so that the bread soaks through. Take it out and coat it in the beaten egg. Melt the butter in a skillet and place the soaked pieces of bread in the pan, and fry them golden brown on both sides. Place on a plate with some paper towels to soak up most of the grease.

In a separate sauce pan, add the remaining water/wine and stir in the honey. Slowly stir and reduce by half to a syrup. Place the warm torrijas on a plate, pour the syrup over the bread and dust with powdered sugar. Eat warm. The slight tang of the wine combined with the honey syrup and wonderful eggy bread is an absolute must to try!

BBB - Portuguese sweet bread

2010-08-21T22:24:00.000-07:00

The sweet smell of Portuguese bread is filling my kitchen while I type this post. It's lemony, sugary and promising....it's going to be a good one. Sweet, eggy, lovely breads like these are dangerous for me to bake. Dangerous because I'll stand at the counter, slathering butter on a slice of still warm bread, take a bite and dream away.........and before I know it, half the loaf is gone and I am slightly nauseous from all the eating.

For this month's Bread Baking Babes, Tanna chose this lovely sweet Portuguese bread. What a way to start my day! The bread is easy to make (remember to make the sponge the day before) and will toast up lovely if you don't eat the whole loaf in one go. I chose to make a loaf according to instructions, and one pan loaf, so I could slice it and make toast for the next couple of mornings.

Sweet Portuguese Bread
For the sponge
3/4 cup of bread flour
2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
1/4 cup potato water (I didn't have any so used water with a pinch of mashed potato flakes)

For the dough
6 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1/2 cups of brown sugar
Lemon zest of one medium lemon
1 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs, room temp.
1/2 cup of milk, room temp.
4 1/2 cups of bread flour

Mix together the sponge the night before baking the bread. Leave sitting at room temp 8 to 12 hours (overnight).

Beat sugar and butter until creamy. Add zest and salt and beat. Beat in each egg separately and completely; mix will appear curdled. Stir in milk and sponge.

Stir in 2 1/2 cups flour and beat vigorously (in a stand mixer it would clear the sides of the bowl, by hand lifting the spoon up should stretch the dough about a foot.) Add remaining flour to make stiff dough. Knead 5 minutes or more to incorporate all the flour. The dough should be smooth, soft and very supple with a slight stickiness. Looks a little like very thick cake batter or a brioche dough.

Shape into ball, oil bowl and dough ball. Cover and allow to rise about 2 hours, should almost or triple in size. Divide into two pieces. Shape both as a boule, or shape for loaf pan or cake tin.

Allow to rest 20 to 30 minutes before final shaping. Use a skinny rolling pin or a 1 1/2 inch dowel to make indentations in the dough. Allow to rise an hour to 2 hours; more than double in size.

Before placing in the oven brush with egg wash if you want that beautiful glossy finish. Bake at 350° for approximately 50 minutes. After 35 minutes or so, check to see if the top is not burning or getting too dark. If so, then tent with aluminum foil.

Brush with melted butter when hot from the oven. Try to refrain yourself from cutting into the loaf until it's cooled down sufficiently. Good luck......I failed miserably and cut a big chunk of bread out of the round loaf, slathered it with butter and stood at the counter with a happy-go-lucky greasy grin on my face.....

BBD #32 - Italian Bread......Meet the ciriole!

2010-07-29T19:03:00.000-07:00

Summer's been brutal here in Idaho. One day it's hot, the next day it's hotter. The dough mixer, the oven, even the flour has been looking at me, wondering when I was going to put them to good use. Sorry guys!! Not in a hot minute, I am.

Until I saw this month's Bread Baking Day challenge - Italian bread. Andrea from the Family & Food & Other Things blog announced this month's baking theme and I was immediately sold. Today's the last day to submit my entry so I took it as a sign....Time to strip down to the bare minimum and get into that hot kitchen!

Ciriole is a typical roll from Rome. It has a crunchy crust and a lovely crumb on the inside, perfect for sandwiches or a quick snack. It was easy to make, fun to roll and even better to eat......nothing beats fresh bread with good cheese and a homegrown tomato!

Ciriole
7 cups of bread flour
3 cups of water, warm
3 teaspoons of instant yeast
1/3 cup of olive oil
3 teaspoons of salt

Mix the flour with the water and the yeast, knead for a good ten minutes by hand or by mixer. Add the olive oil until integrated into the dough, then add the salt. Take the dough out of the mixer and hand knead for about five minutes until the dough has come together and is pleasant and soft to the touch, but springy....

Rest in an oiled bowl and cover until risen, about 3/4 of its original size. Punch down, rest for a couple of minutes and cut into 100 gram pieces. Roll into balls, cover and rest for five minutes.

Preheat the oven to 420F.

Roll each piece into a rectangle with a rolling pin. Put your hand on the bottom edge and carefully roll the dough into a cylinder, as if you were rolling croissants. Repeat with the other pieces, then cover for the last rise. Depending on the heat of your kitchen, this can be as quick as fifteen minutes. The dough is ready to bake when the rolls have risen to about 1/2 of their original size and the dough does not quickly spring back if poked with a finger.

With a sharp knife or a razor blade, score the bread once lengthwise. Place on a sheet pan or baking stone and bake crunchy and golden in about twenty minutes. The bread will "sing" when you take it out of the oven! Cool on a rack.

BBB - Potato Bread with Chives

2010-04-26T17:53:00.000-07:00

As soon as the Bread Baking Day Challenge hits, I know it's only days until the Bread Baking Babes publish their monthly recipe. They were the first challenge I participated in and I find it most rewarding.

So, too, this month's Bread Baking Buddies. Sara from I Like To Cook came up with a potato bread with chives for us to bake. Oh, how I love potato bread! It is moister, more pleasant to work with and always comforting. It is reason enough to boil an extra tater or two for dinner, so that the leftovers can be processed the next day in a lovely loaf of bread. But what I didn't have were chives, so I set out to meet my friend Lynn at the local nursery. She was going to look at trees and I would look at eh...chives. Kind of the same thing, only different.

Back home, I had the chives, the flour but no boiled potatoes or soy milk. Oops. I don't care for soy milk so "cheated" by using real moo juice and potato flakes. It worked like a charm! The dough rose beautifully and was bubbly, soft and light. For some extra texture (I like chewy crusts) I proofed the bread in a banneton and baked it in a pre-heated enamel Dutch oven, lid on, in a 450F degree oven. The smell of the bread, the look and the taste definitely say Spring!

Half of the bread was gone by evening, and tonight I made leftover steak sandwich with two slices of the chives bread.....yummm!!!!!

Potato Bread with Chives

from Vegan Planet by Robin Robertson

"The addition of mashed potatos gives this bread a moist, dense texture and delicate flavor that is accented by that of the chives. This bread is best eaten slightly warm from the oven on the day it is made. It is also good toasted."

2 1/4 tsp (1 packet) active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1 tsp sugar or pure maple syrup
2 Tb corn oil
2 tsp salt
1 cup cold mashed potatos
1 cup soy milk or other dairy free milk
5 cups unbleached all purpose flour, plus more for kneading
2 Tb minced fresh chives

In a large bowl, combine the yeast and 1/4 cup of the water. Add the sugar and stir to dissolve. Let the mixture stand for 10 minutes, then stir in the remaining 3/4 cup of water, the corn oil and the salt. Mix in the potatos, then stir in the soy milk. Add about half the flour, stirring to combine, then work in the remaining flour to form a stiff dough. Transfer to a lightly floured board.

Lightly flour your hands and work surface. Knead the dough well until it is smooth and elastic, 8 to 10 minutes, using more flour as necessary so the dough does not stick. Place in a large lightly oiled bowl and turn over once to coat with oil. Cover with a clean kitchen towel or lightly oiled piece of plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, 1 to 2 hours.

Meanwhile, lightly oil a large baking sheet and set aside. Punch the dough down and knead lightly. Turn out onto a lightly floured work surface, sprinkle with the chives, and knead until the dough is elastic and the chives are well distributed, 3 to 5 minutes. Shape the dough into one large or two small round loaves and place on the prepared baking sheet. Flatten slightly and cover with a clean damp towel or lightly oiled plastic wrap. Set aside in a warm place and let rise again until doubled in bulk, about 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400'F. Use a sharp knife to cut an X into the top of the loaf or loaves. Bake on the center oven rack until golden brown, 35 to 45 minutes, depending on size. Tap on the bottom of the loaf or loaves - if they sound hollow, the bread is done. Remove from the sheet and let cool slightly on a wire rack before slicing.

BBD#29 - Baking In A Pot

2010-04-21T20:23:00.000-07:00

Spring is here! I've already spent some considerable time (and money) working in my garden, building new beds, amending the soil and trying to figure out where and when to plant the huge amount of vegetable seeds I seem to end up with every time I go to the garden section of the store. How does that happen? Does a girl really need eight different types of green beans? (eh..yes!)

Cathy from The Bread Experience is announcing this month's Bread Baking Day challenge: baking bread in pots. Since I've already been cleaning, filling and planting pots, I might as well bake in one too!

The "pot" I chose is a red terra-cotta clay pan from Spain. I usually use it directly on the stove or as a salad bowl, but had never baked in it before. And to stick with the spring theme, I picked something to do with the fresh spinach from my garden: smoked turkey and spinach rolls!

Smoked Turkey and Spinach Rolls
4 cups of flour

1.5 cups of warm water
.5 cup of warm milk
1 heaping teaspoon of active dry yeast
1 heaping teaspoon of kosher salt
1 egg
1 tablespoon of butter
16 slices of smoked turkey slices
1 package of Boursin cheese
2 cups of fresh spinach leaves

Add the milk and the warm water to the flour, sprinkle the yeast on top and mix the dough once or twice. Now add the salt, the egg and the butter and knead the dough into shape: add a tablespoon of flour if the dough is too wet, or a tablespoon of milk if it's too dry. Knead for a good five minutes or until the dough is soft and does not stick to your hands.

Rest the dough in an oiled container, covered, in a warm spot until the dough has doubled almost in size. Lightly flour the kitchen counter, pat the air out of the dough and stretch or roll it into a rectangle.

Layer the smoked turkey slices shingle-wise on top of the dough. Put half of the Boursin on top of the turkey, then layer the spinach leaves on top. Distribute the rest of the cheese over the spinach, then roll the dough into a jelly-like roll towards you. Pinch the seam and carefully cut the roll into equal sized pieces (2 inch each). Grease your pan (you can also use a muffin pan for individual rolls), and place the rolls with their cut side down in the pan. Cover and rise for about 20 minutes in a warm location.

Heat your oven to 350F and bake the rolls on the middle rack for about 30 minutes or until golden-brown. These rolls are good warm or cold.

Blueberry Buns

2010-04-21T17:31:00.000-07:00

Almost every year I go fruit picking with my dear friend Lynn. We pick pounds and pounds of apples, blueberries ancd cherries at local farms in the area and have a blast. But the work is not quite done when you put down the buckets and gather your pickings: when I get home I have to wash, dehydrate or freeze the blueberries, pit the cherries (which leads to splatters of cherry juice absolutely EVERYWHERE) and freeze, can or dehydrate them. The apples are peeled, sliced and frozen, canned, dehydrated or stored whole for the winter.

I love the cherries and the apples, but I never know why I go blueberry picking. I don't care much for the berries and truly think they are overrated, but heck, they're there so I pick 'm. Which means that I have gallons of these little blue marbles frozen and taking up space in the freezer. The cherries are long gone, the last of the apples will go into apple pies tomorrow and the blueberries were here to stay. Until I saw this recipe from Gloria's Canela Kitchen at the BBD#28 roundup: blueberry buns. What a great way to use up at least some of my berry bounty! Gloria uses a lovely apricot glaze for the buns, but I'm serving them with a creamy lemony sauce instead so I chose not to add the glaze.

Because the berries I pick over here are so juicy, I dry them for several hours in the dehydrator so their flavor intensifies and the juice does not color everything it touches.

Blueberry Buns
For the dough

3 cups of flour
1 heaping teaspoon of yeast
1/4 cup of water, warm
1/2 cup of milk, warm
1 egg
1 teaspoon of grated lemon peel
1 teaspoon of salt
1/4 cup of sugar

Mix the yeast with the flour, add the warm liquids, the egg and the lemon peel. When they are well blended, add the salt and the sugar, and knead for about 5 minutes until the dough is soft and pliable. Rest in a greased bowl in a warm spot, covered, until doubled, or for about 40 minutes.

For the filling
1 package of cream cheese
2 tablespoons of milk
2 tablespoons of sugar
1 teaspoon of grated lemon peel

Mix everything together, taste, adjust and set aside.

Punch down the dough and rest for a couple of minutes (the dough, not you!). Lightly flour the countertop and roll the dough into a rectangle. Make sure you don't roll it too thin! Spread half of the cream cheese filling over the top of the dough, leaving a half inch margin on all sides. Sprinkle a cup of blueberries over the spread, making sure they are distributed evenly. Then roll the dough, starting from the top, jelly-roll style, toward you. Pinch the seam and cut the roll in 2 inch pieces. Be careful to cut through the dough slowly so as not to "squish" the sides: you want the open side of the roll to be, well, open.

I baked mine in a round cake pan. If you prefer, you can bake them individually in muffin pans like Gloria did. But whatever you do, grease your baking pan or container, and place the rolls cut-side up in a circle. Leave a bit of space on all sides as the dough will proof one more time and fill in the voids. If you have some blueberries left over, place them on top of the rolls. Now cover the container and let the rolls sit for a good 30 minutes until they've practically doubled. Heat your oven in the meantime to 350F. Right before you put them in the oven, carefully brush an egg wash over the dough (For the egg wash: beat one egg with one tablespoon of water.)

Bake the rolls on the middle rack in the oven for about 30 minutes or until golden-brown.

Add two more tablespoons of milk to the cream cheese/lemon mix and stir so that you get a tangy, creamy, lemony sauce. Serve your blueberry rolls with a generous drizzle on top. Yummmmm!!!! (Why is there no picture with cream cheese drizzle, you ask? Eh.....because I forgot.....I was too busy eating, shame on me!)

Easter Bunny Bread

2010-04-02T14:41:00.000-07:00

I was supposed to be working in the garden today. My mind was all made up: I was going to re-pot the tomatoes and peppers so that they could stretch their toes a bit, I was going to rake the leaves towards the fence and if the weather would warm up just the slightest bit, I was determined to move four of my raised beds so that I could make some adjustments planting-wise. Yeah.....never did happen. The moment I was ready to step out the back door, brimming with sugar-induced confidence, it started raining. Hard.

All this pent-up energy had to go somewhere, so I turned to my baking books and decided that something had to give. After my first gluten-free disaster (not the last one, I presume) I wanted to bake something easy, quick and given that it's Easter this weekend, I looked for something Easter-ey. And I found it! Cute little Easter bunnies, clutching an egg in their bready little paws, with raisins for eyes, stared at me from my old Albert Heijn cookbook. "Bake me, bake me!" they seemed to say. Oh well, I've always been a sucker for rabbit, so here goes....

Easter Bunnies

4 1/2 cups of flour
1 cup of warm water
1/2 cup of buttermilk
1 1/2 teaspoons of active dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon of salt
6 small eggs
1 egg, beaten

Mix the flour with the warm water and the buttermilk, sprinkle the yeast on top and knead. Add the salt and continue to knead until the dough comes together. Cover and rest in a greased bowl, rise until double. Punch down and divide into six equal parts. Relax the dough for five minutes, then roll into rectangles of approximately 7 to 8 inches tall. With a sharp knife, make a cut of about two inches length-wise in the top and in the bottom part of the dough: those will be the ears and legs. Put three raisins (two for the eyes, one for the nose) where the face is going to be and make a cut on each side of the dough to form the cheeks of his face. Stretch both of those cuts, put an egg on its tummy (somewhere between the chin and the beginning of the legs) and fold the dough over, like arms. You may have to shape the dough a bit into a "bunny" shape. Place the bunnies on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Brush the dough with egg wash, cover and let rise in a warm place until puffy. Make gashes in their paws and feet with a sharp knife before baking.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Bake at 375 for about 20 minutes or until golden.

Owwww, ain't that cute? Well not so cute that I made six of the little buggers, only three. Because by Easter bunny number three, I was well done with trying to get their stumpy little arms to stick around the eggs and their shriveled little eyes to look vaguely like they had any intelligence in 'm. So with the other three parts of the dough, I made a braid, stuck an egg in each fold, slathered the thing in egg wash and baked it after the bunnies came out. And then, while standing at the stove, I ate two of the eggs and half of the bread while it was still warm. Just like that. Because I can *hehe* and it tasted oh-so-good! Happy Easter to ya'll!!

BBB - Gluten-free bread

2010-03-28T13:32:00.000-07:00

Gluten-free bread is eh........interesting. I work with it on a regular basis but never eat, let alone bake it. I'm glad to see that some of the other bakers had better results with this recipe but my experience was definitely challenging. Gluten-free bread is this month's Bread Baking Buddies topic and is hosted by BreadChick.

I must have done something wrong because, for starters, the bread didn't rise much, if any at all. (At first I thought it might have been the yeast but I used it the day after on another dough which rose beautifully). Then the long first rise caused an almost pungent smell to the dough that did not leave, even after the bake. Nevertheless, it was an interesting challenge and I am grateful for it. It has given me a new insight into some of the challenges that people with gluten allergies have to deal with, and it has allowed me to have a newly found respect for those that bake professionally and somehow make gluten-free bread look so good.

Gluten Free No Knead Hearty Seeded Sandwich Bread from Nancy Baggett’s Kneadlessly Simple

Makes one loaf

1 2/3 cup of white rice flour, divided (may need more depending on your dough)
1/2 cup of cornmeal (or brown rice flour)
1/2 cup of cornstarch

1/3 cup of tapioca flour
1/3 cup of ground flax seed
1 1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of instant yeast
1 1/3 cup of ice water
1/3 cup of canola oil
1/4 cup of molasses (not black strap)
1 large egg, at room temperature
1/4 cup of plain yogurt, drained of excess liquid
2 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
3 tablespoons of millet (can also use poppy seeds, sesame seeds, flax seeds, or a combination), divided

First Rise: In large bowl, stir together 1 1/3 cups of white rice flour, cornmeal, cornstarch, tapioca flour, flax seed meal, salt, yeast, and 2 tablespoons of millet. In another bowl, whisk together water, oil, molasses. Add to flour mixture and mix thoroughly. (If too stiff to blend, add more water to form a barely firm dough). Tightly cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate dough for 3 – 10 hrs then let stand at cool room temperature for 12 – 18 hours. Dough will stiffen as it stands and it is alright if it doesn’t rise very much.

Second Rise: Whisk egg in a small bowl and set aside 1 tablespoon of it to brush on top of loaf. Add the yogurt, baking powder, and 1/3 cup white rice flour into the remaining egg and stir to combine. Vigorously stir the yogurt mixture into the First Rise dough until completely mixed. (If it is too soft, you can add more of the rice flour). Turn dough into a well greased 9″ x 5″ loaf pan and brush a little oil on top of loaf. Brush the reserved egg and remaining seeds over the surface. Using a well oiled serrated knife, make a 1/2″ deep cut lengthwise down the loaf. Cover the pan with a lightly greased piece of plastic wrap.

Third Rise: Let dough stand for 2 1/2 – 4 hours in a warm room until dough extends 1/8″ above the pan rim. Loosen plastic wrap as dough nears top of pan to prevent dough from smooshing down.

Baking: Preheat the oven to 375F. Bake bread on the lower rack for 55-60 minutes, until the top is nicely browned. If the top starts to over brown, cover with a piece of foil. Continue baking until a skewer inserted comes out with few crumbs or the internal temperature of the bread reaches 206-208 degrees. Bake for 5 minutes more. Remove bread from oven and cool in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Remove loaf from pan and let it cool completely before slicing.

BBD#28 - Tiger Buns

2010-03-07T13:10:00.000-08:00

They are known as "tiger buns" in Holland, or here in the USA as Dutch Crunch rolls. Tiger buns are wonderfully tender with a crunchy top and look fantastic, whether served with savory or sweet items.

As a child I loved "tiger bread", the big brother version of the tiger buns. I think it was partially the name: it sounded exciting and wild! The other reason was because I was able to pick the crunchy bits off the top and still have a crust available to hold the rest of my sandwich together.

When I read on Tangerine's Kitchen that the theme for BBD#28 was buns, I immediately thought of these "tijgerbollen" or tiger buns. I've been wanting to make these for a while and, at least, now I have a good excuse! BreadBaking Day is an event created by Zorra. Check it out!

I used my standard recipe for buns but found the recipe for the crunchy crust on an old 2006 posting on the Baking Sheet blog, the original recipe coming from The Bread Bible by Beth Hensperger.

Tiger buns
For the dough
4 cups of all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cup of warm water

2 teaspoons active dry yeast

1 teaspoon of salt

1 tablespoon of butter, melted

For the crust
3/4 cup of rice flour
1/2 cup of warm water
1 tablespoon of yeast
1 tablespoon of sugar
1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
1/4 teaspoon of salt

Mix the flour, salt, yeast and sugar. Add the warm water and knead until a soft dough. Add in the tablespoon of melted butter, knead together. Let rise until doubled, punch down and divide into equally sized rolls ( I measure mine out at 3 1/2 oz each, leaving some extra dough to experiment with.)

For the crust, mix flour with water, yeast and the sugar. Stir, then add the salt and the oil. Let sit for about fifteen minutes (get a cup big enough because it will rise extensively!). Brush the rolls with the mixture, applying a layer of the paste on the top and sides of the rolls.

Proof the rolls for another ten minutes, then bake in a 375F oven for about 20-22 minutes or until golden brown.

BBB - Ensaïmadas

2010-02-21T15:44:00.000-08:00

It's odd. I've baked for years and never once remembered to bake ensaïmadas. Even worse, I never once thought about ensaïmadas until I saw this month's Bread Baking Babes challenge, posted by Karen. As soon as I saw the title my memory took me back to the time I lived on Mallorca, during the late seventies.

I had a friend named Cora Guiscardo with whom I often hung out after school. Cora, her two sisters and I would treat ourselves to tender, flaky ensaïmadas that we'd rip to pieces and dunk into our cups of hot creamy chocolate for our afternoon merienda. We'd sit on the balcony of their parent's apartment, close to the Palma harbor, and enjoy the beautiful view, wondering what else was out there beyond the horizon.

Well, there's plenty out there and sometimes I wonder if I've seen it all. So I have no hesitation to bake myself back into my early teens and memories of the company of three dear friends on a sunny balcony in beautiful Spain. Let's go!

Ensaïmadas

Give them plenty of time to rise

3 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour, divided
1/3 cup of sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 cup milk, warm
2 eggs
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
5 tablespoons of soft butter (the traditional version uses lard)
1 tablespoon of powdered sugar

Mix 3 cups of flour, sugar and salt in a bowl and add 3/4 cup of warm milk. Sprinkle the yeast on top, stir once or twice and cover. Let sit for five minutes, then stir in the rest of the milk, the eggs and one tablespoon of olive oil. Knead into a soft and supple dough, adding flour if needed. Place in a greased bowl, cover and rest for about 30 minutes or until doubled in size.

Not for the faint of heart....

Use the second tablespoon of olive oil to grease the counter. Take the dough out of the bowl, weigh and divide into 6 equal parts. Roll each into a ball, set aside and cover. (If you have an untreated wooden rolling pin like I do, rub a little bit of olive oil into the wood before you start rolling, it will avoid tearing the dough). Roll each ball into a thin circle, then use both hands to carefully stretch the dough thinner. The dough will grip the oiled counter, allowing you to stretch really thin. Spread the soft butter onto the dough, then carefully roll the dough into a tube, starting from the top. Here's a video that shows you how to do it: much easier then me trying to verbalize it!

Coil the now rolled dough onto a baking sheet prepared with parchment. Leave some space in between the individual circles so that the dough can fill this up when it proofs. Cover and rise in a warm kitchen up to 4 hours. Heat the oven to 350F and bake the ensaïmadas golden brown in about 15 minutes. Cool on a rack and sprinkle with powdered sugar: eat and grin!

Saïm stands for "lard" in Mallorquin. Ensaïmada therefore means something like "covered in lard", or "larded" (Is that a word?). I guess mine should be called "enmantegadas" (mantega = butter) which doesn't half sound as yummie.

As for the chocolate recipe: melt one 8.8 oz bag of Dove chocolates in a small saucepan with 1/ cup of milk and 1/4 cup of whipping cream. Pour in a pretty cup, tear a piece of pastry off and dunk :-). Yeah, it's not healthy but it sure tastes good!

Bruschetta Braid

2010-02-15T19:48:00.000-08:00

After communicating with Gretchen about the apricot almond twist, I mentioned that I'd like to try a savory version with goat cheese, tomato and basil. Ofcourse that thought haunted my brain for the rest of the evening and was the first thing on my mind when I woke up this morning. So after work I stopped by the store, bought tomatoes and basil and came home, ready to get this puppy going!

I was a little cheese-happy and next time would probably reduce the amount of goat cheese I used for the recipe. It tends to saturate the dough inside the bread and make it rather heavy, and the braid doesn't hold its shape that well. On the other hand, it might not be a beauty but goshdangit, the smell and the taste make more than up for the looks! And that is with wintery tomatoes and hothouse basil, just imagine what this will be like with sunkissed tomatoes from the garden and freshly picked herbs......I am SO ready for summer!!

Purists will say that this is neither a bruschetta nor a braid......oh well. Just humor me :-)

Bruschetta Braid

2 cups of bread flour
1/2 cup of warm water
1 teaspoon yeast
1 1/2 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
4 Roma tomatoes
8 ounces of goat cheese, room temperature
10 leaves of basil
1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil

Put the flour in a mixing bowl, pour the warm water in and spinkle the yeast on top. Stir several times until blended, then add the olive oil and the salt. Knead until supple and soft, for about 5 minutes on a lightly floured counter top. Set aside in a greased bowl, cover and let rise for about 45 minutes or until 3/4 of its original size.

In the meantime, cut the tomatoes in half and scoop out the seeds with a spoon. Place the tomato halves cut side down on a paper towel to drain. Mash the goat cheese with a fork until smooth and creamy. Wash the basil leaves, dry them, roll them up and cut them in tiny, narrow strips, chiffonade-style. Cut the tomatoes in thin strips and dice them.

When the dough has risen, remove it from the bowl and place it on the counter. Make sure you have a light dusting of flour underneath. Carefully pat the dough into a rectangle, cover and let it rest for about ten minutes. Then roll it out into a rectangle, taking care to not roll it too thin or to push out too much of the gas. It's worked hard to get this airy!

Spread the cheese on the dough surface, being careful to leave about an inch of margin on all sides. Distribute the tomato dice over the cheese and decorate with the basil strips. Carefully roll the dough, starting from the top, towards you making sure you roll it tight but not too tight. Pinch the seam when you get to the bottom and place the roll, seam side down in front of you. Now cut the dough roll in half, lengthwise.

Place each roll next to each other, cut sides up, on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Starting from the center, "braid" each half over the other until you reach the end. Pinch ends and tuck under. Make sure that you keep the cut sides facing upward as much as you can. Repeat with the other side. Push back any pieces of tomato that may have fallen out. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let rise for about 30 minutes or until it has increased about 1/2 of its original size.

Set the baking sheet in a preheated oven (350F) and bake for about 45 minutes. Drizzle with the tablespoon of olive oil, let cool on a rack, slice and enjoy!

Apricot Almond Twist

2010-02-14T15:35:00.000-08:00

I have all these jars of jam. Apricot jam, rosehip jam, lemon-pear jam, reine-claude jam, strawberry freezer jam.....Some have been given to me by thoughtful friends, others I have made myself. It's almost as if I collect them because all these jams do is multiply in my cupboard and fridge. They hardly ever get eaten. I have a sweet tooth alright, but somehow jams are just not part of my breakfast repertoire.

More so, I feel guilty for opening a jar of jam when they all look so pretty and comfortable in their glass containers. Their colors vary from golden yellow to ruby red and are often a reminder of summer. They're like a blank notebook: the possibilities are endless. And yet, when I finally open a jar and help myself selfishly to its contents, it ends up sitting there for ever and ever without being used up. The only good thing about this is, I guess, that jams are so sugar-riddled that they very seldomly go bad before I end up using them out of sheer pity for something else than a bread topping.

So, too, this almost empty jar of apricot jam. I love apricot jam on toast....about once or twice a year. I've been confronted by the sight of this violated, purpose-less jam jar every time I've opened the refrigerator door. It's been silently begging me to put it out of its misery, to empty out its half leftover life and to use it to its final glory. And so I did. Finally. Today.

When Canela Y Comino announced that it was hosting Bread Baking Day #27, I visited the website, took duly note of the requirements for this monthly baking event and quickly scrolled down to see what else was on the site. Wow! A gorgeous bread, succulent with orange marmalade and walnuts called Twisted Orange Nut Bread, was proudly displayed on the front page. And no wonder, go see for yourself. As soon as I saw that bread, I knew I was going to make it even though I abhor orange marmalade and I didn't have any walnuts in the house. A replacement was easily found: I would finally honor the remainder of that apricot jam. Any jam would be proud to end up as the key ingredient to this beautiful creation!

Gretchen's recipe calls for over 4 cups of flour: I reduced the recipe in half and still ended up with a huge bread, enough to provide a coffee treat for eight or more.

Apricot Almond Twist

For the dough

1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons of milk, warm

2 tablespoons of sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons of butter, melted

pinch of salt

1 teaspoon of active dry yeast

2 tablespoons of warm water

1 egg

2 cups of flour

For the filling

1/2 cup of apricot jam
1/2 cup of almond slivers

For the topping

1 egg, beaten

1 tablespoon of demerara sugar

Proof the yeast in the warm water. Add to the flour in a bowl and quickly mix, then add the warm milk, the butter, the sugar, the salt and the egg until everything is incorporated, about three minutes. Take the dough out onto a lightly floured counter and knead until soft and supple, about five minutes. Oil a bowl, place the dough inside, turn over so that the top of the dough is coated with oil and cover the bowl. Set aside in a warm place and rise the dough until 3/4 larger than its original size.

Place a sheet of parchment paper on a baking sheet. Carefully take the dough out of the bowl and place on the lightly floured counter. Push some of the air out of the dough, pat it into a rectangle and cover. Let it rest for about ten minutes, then uncover and roll it out into a rectangle, making sure it is no larger than 3/4 of the width of the baking sheet. Brush the dough with the jam, taking care to stay withing an inch margin of the edges, and sprinkle the almonds on top.

Now roll the dough from the top tightly towards you, making sure you don't leave any large gaps and that the dough is rolled evenly across the board. Pinch the seam and turn the dough over so that the seam is on the bottom. Cut the roll lengthwise in half. Carefully transfer one half onto the baking sheet and place the other half next to it, both with the cut side up. You'll be able to see the different layers in the bread.

You'll have to work quickly now. Working from the middle, carefully cross the cut halves over one another until you reach the end. Tuck the ends under, turn the sheet around and do the same with the other half of the bread. Cover the bread with a greased piece of plastic wrap and let rise in a warm environment for about 25 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Remove the plastic wrap and brush the dough with the egg, then sprinkle the coarse sugar on top. Readjust any pieces of nut or dough that may have fallen out of place.

Bake the bread on the baking sheet for 35 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a rack and enjoy slices with a cup of coffee or tea and a lick of butter!

BBD#27 - Pan de jamón (Ham bread)

2010-02-07T16:04:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I had the opportunity to learn how to make this wonderful bread from a great cook from Venezuela, Jorge Kleiss. Excellent timing, because Canela Y Comino is hosting this month's Bread Baking Day #27 which is a monthly breadbaking event for passionate bakers and bread lovers around the world.

The bread is a traditional dish for Christmas time and is filled with ham, bacon, raisins and green olives. The filling seems rather odd: ham and raisins, bacon and olives? Smokey, sweet and salty? And yet it works wonderfully well. Give it a try and enjoy this great bread all year long!

Pan de jamón

2 teaspoons of active dry yeast

1/2 cup of milk, warm

2 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour, divided

1 tablespoon of sugar

1 teaspoon of salt

1/2 stick of butter, room temperature
1 egg, beaten
16 slices of smoked ham
4 slices of bacon, uncooked
1/2 cup of raisins
1/2 cup of green olives, stuffed
1 egg, beaten (for brushing)

Activate the yeast in the warm milk and mix with the flour, the sugar, the salt, the butter and the egg. Knead into a smooth and supple dough: cover and rest for 30 minutes. If the dough is too dry, add a tablespoon of milk at a time. If it's too wet, add a tablespoon of flour at a time. The dough should be soft and pillowy, and not too sticky.

Roll the dough out onto a lightly floured surface to about half an inch thick, into a rectangle. Distribute the slices of ham across the dough, overlapping. Place the four slices of bacon on top, then sprinkle the raisins and olives over the surface. Now roll the dough toward you, fairly tight, into a neat dough "sausage". The olives will bulge the dough so you don't want to roll it too tight and risk the olives breaking through, but not too loose either because you want the roll to stay compact. Brush the part of the dough below the last row of ham slices with some beaten egg, then pinch the ends and pinch the seam. Place the bread seam-down on a lightly greased baking sheet. Cover with a humid towel or some plastic wrap and rest for about 20 minutes.

Heat your oven to 350F. Carefully brush the bread roll with egg. Bake in the oven for about 45 minutes or until golden brown.

Cool on a rack, slice and serve. Christmas or not, this bread is wonderful!

BBB - Indian Bread

2010-01-23T19:17:00.000-08:00

Cookie Baker Lynn's Bread Baking Babes' challenge this month was baking naan. Yum! A lovely Indian flatbread that is easy to bake, quick and very, very tasty, the exercise took me back to a wonderful dinner in London with two dear friends two summers ago. I knew naan as a savory bread but when I bit into a peshwari type naan, I was double sold: the bread had a sweet filling, consisting of nuts, raisins and coconut. Whoa!

So when I saw the Bread Baking Babes' topic for this month, I knew I had to try and replicate that sweet bread. I used the recipe to bake three savory loaves, sprinkled with black sesame seeds, and three peshwari.

Naan dough

4 cups of bread flour

1.5 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
2 cups of milk
1 teaspoon cumin, ground
Melted butter for brushing

For the savory naan
1 tablespoon of black sesame seeds

For the peshwari filling
1/2 cup of golden raisins, soaked
1/4 cup of salted almonds
1/4 cup of shredded coconut
1 tablespoon of shredded coconut
2 tablespoons of apple sauce

Warm the milk to 110F, sprinkle the yeast on top and set aside for five minutes. In the meantime, chop the raisins, the salted almonds and mix with the coconut. Set aside. Heat the oven to 500F and put a baking sheet on the middle rack.

Put the flour in a mixing bowl and add the yeast with the milk. Stir several times, then add the salt and the cumin. Stir until the dough comes together, take it out of the bowl onto a lightly sprinkled counter and knead until the dough is soft and flexible. Place in an oiled bowl, cover and let rise for 30 minutes, or until double in size. Punch down and divide into six equal pieces.

Press each piece or roll it with a rolling pin until it's flat, about twice its size. Set aside on the counter and cover while you do the other ones. When all six have been rolled, cover and let them rest for about ten minutes.

The oven should now be hot enough. Carefully roll one of the rested pieces once or twice to make it bigger, then pull the hot baking sheet out of the oven, and put the dough on top. It will immediately begin to blister. Push the tray back into the oven, wait three minutes, then open again and turn the bread over onto its other side. Close the door, wait another three minutes, open the door and turn the bread again. Brush it with melted butter and sprinkle the sesame seeds on top. Close the door, bake for four more minutes and your bread is ready. Repeat this with two other pieces.

Now take one of the three leftover pieces of dough, spread a light layer of apple sauce in the middle and place a heaping spoon of the coconut-raisin-almond mixture on top. Fold one half of the dough over, pinch the seams and roll the dough carefully into a larger, thinner piece. Repeat with the other two pieces.

Pull the baking sheet out of the oven and place all three pieces on it. Close the door, bake for three minutes, turn over and bake for another three minutes. Brush with the melted butter, sprinkle with the coconut and bake for another two to three minutes, taking care to not burn the coconut.

Brat Buns

2010-01-20T18:47:00.000-08:00

This weekend I had planned to make traditional Dutch sausage rolls, worstenbroodjes, but I never got around to it. I had already thawed a pound of hamburger but with laundry, friends, work and a lazy Saturday evening watching my favorite show on PBS.....no worstenbroodjes. What can I say? I only have myself to blame.

Nevertheless, by Sunday evening, plagued by procrastination guilt and the slight yearning for a snack from my homeland, I found myself in the kitchen wondering what I could fix that would at least tend to the craving. Ha! My always faithful freezer came to the rescue: I found a six-pack of brats and I was ready to go!

Brat Buns
2 cups of flour
1 teaspoon yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 egg, beaten
3/4 cup of milk, warm

6 brats*
1 egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon of milk

Add the yeast to the warm milk and let sit until foamy. In the meantime, put the flour in a bowl and add the sugar. Now pour in the yeast with the milk, stir several times until well mixed, then add the salt, butter and the beaten egg. Stir or mix until the dough pulls away from the sides, scoop out and place on a counter that's lightly dusted with flour. Knead for five or six minutes until the dough comes together and is flexible, then put it in a greased bowl. Cover and let rise until double the size (approximately one hour). Punch down the dough carefully, then weigh and cut in six equal pieces. Roll each piece into a ball, cover and rest on the counter for about ten minutes.

In the meantime, heat your oven to 375F. Roll each piece of dough into an oval, slightly longer than the brat. Place the dough oval with the long side horizontally towards you. Put a brat on top of the dough , fold the left and the right short ends over the meat, then wrap the dough half that is closest to you over the sausage, and roll the whole thing over onto the top half. Pinch the seams and give it a quick roll back and forth so that it becomes a tight roll around the brat and set aside. Do the same with the rest of the dough and the brats.

Place the sausage rolls on a greased baking sheet. Cover and let them rise for about 30 minutes. Brush the rolls with egg wash, score with three diagonal slashes and bake the rolls golden brown in about 15 minutes.
(Make sure that the internal temperature of the meat supersedes 165F degrees, for food safety reasons).

* I prefer my brats grilled. In this case I was too greedy and hungry to mess around much longer so I placed the brats on the dough as they came, straight from the package (they are already cooked). And they were great, hence the fact that the brat bun above was the last one left before I realized I had not taken any pictures yet :-). The next time however, I'm going to grill them first, then let them cool down before I wrap them in dough. In either case, make sure that the internal temperature of the meat supersedes 165F degrees, for food safety reasons, before consuming it.

Think about all the great possibilities you have here: wrap the brat in cheese before you wrap the dough around it, or brush some spicy mustard on the brat before putting the bun together. All these choices! This would be a great Superbowl food: brat bun in one hand, the remote in the other :-)

BBD#26 - Boursin Buns

2010-01-18T09:14:00.000-08:00

"Du pain, du vin et du Boursin" (bread, wine and Boursin) is a commercial slogan that was used in Europe to promote this garlicky soft cheese. It's light, tasty and useful in the kitchen, and easy to replicate if you cannot find it in your store (or if its price is prohibitive).

Bread and Boursin make indeed a good combination. Spread on toast or as a foundation for fresh vegetables on a wrap, it adds creaminess and flavor to your dish. It's even better if you bake bread with the soft cheese incorporated into the dough: the rolls come out golden brown with a hint of garlic, herbs and just yummie goodness.

These rolls are a favorite at dinner parties or potlucks, and they're the first ones to go. That's why I baked them for BreadBaking Day #26. For more information on this month's baking event, check out Life's a Feast.

The rolls are tasty enough to eat by themselves, or with a lick of cold butter. Even better, spread some additional cheese on the roll and you have double the flavor!

Boursin Buns
2 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup cup milk, warm, divided
1 teaspoon dry active yeast
1 tablespoon of sugar
1/3 cup of Boursin*
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 egg

2 tablespoons of milk, warm
1 tablespoon of Boursin*
1 teaspoon of dried herbs, optional

Pour the flour into a mixing bowl. Combine the yeast with 2/3 cup of the milk and set aside until foamy. Add the yeast mix to the flour in the bowl and stir several times. Spoon the Boursin into the remaining 1/3 cup of milk and whisk until dissolved. Add this to the flour in the bowl, then add the sugar the salt and the egg. Mix for several minutes or until well combined. Take the dough out onto a lightly floured counter and knead for five minutes until the dough is soft and flexible. If the dough is too wet, add a tablespoon of flour at a time: if it's too dry, sprinkle some milk on top and knead. Grease a bowl, place the dough inside and cover: let rise until twice its size.

Turn the dough out onto the counter, again lightly dusted with flour as the dough may be a bit sticky. Carefully deflate by pushing out some of the air, then cut and weigh into 2 oz (56 grams) pieces. Shape each piece into a roll. Grease a springform or pie dish, place the rolls inside, cover and let rise again.

Heat your oven to 350F. Mix the Boursin into the two tablespoons of warm milk and brush the rolls. Sprinkle with dried herbs if you want. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool in the pan for about ten minutes, then serve warm, or continue to cool on a wire rack.

Makes 12 rolls.

* If you don't have Boursin, it's easily made. Take 1 cup of whipped butter and an 8 oz stick of cream cheese at room temperature. Stir these two together in a blender (if you have to, I prefer to do this by hand) and stir in one minced garlic clove, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of dried parsley, thyme, oregano, marjoram, basil and thyme each. You can add or leave out whichever one you don't care for. Carefull fold these in and taste. Good enough? If not, add some more of whichever one you prefer, you can also stir in some black pepper for a more, well....peppery bite :-). Replace the cheese in the recipe with this and you're set!

Spelt bread

2010-01-14T16:43:00.000-08:00

Spelt is an ancient grain that was introduced to the United States in the late 1800s. It is a little sweeter and slightly nuttier than whole wheat but is not as "bulky". Spelt flour can be easily found in specialty stores or in larger supermarkets. It contains some gluten but not enough to validate a "spelt only" bread, hence the bread flour in this recipe.

Baking this particular type of bread takes a little bit of planning but it's worth the effort. The day before, mix a flour slurry with spelt, warm water and a bit of yeast. Let it sit overnight at room temperature and in the morning it should smell slightly sour and yeasty, with bubbles.

Spelt loaf

The day before
1/4 cup spelt
1/4 cup warm water
1/ 4 teaspoon active dry yeast

Stir the warm water and the yeast into the flour until well blended. Cover the container and let sit at room temperature for 12-16 hours.

The next day
1/4 cup bread flour

Stir in another quarter cup of bread flour, cover and set aside for about four hours.

Four hours later
1/4 cup warm water
2 cups of bread flour
1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup warm water

Carefully stir a 1/4 cup of warm water into the slurry, making sure there are no lumps. In a mixing bowl, add two cups of bread flour and pour in the warm, bubbly yeast mix. Add the dry yeast and stir into the flour. Let it sit for a minute or two, then add the 3/4 cup of warm water and the salt. Mix the dough until it comes together, then scrape it out of the bowl and knead it for five minutes on a lightly dusted counter. If the dough is too dry, spray it with a little bit of water. If it's too wet, flour your hands and carefully incorporate it into the dough.

When the dough is soft and flexible, oil a bowl and put the dough in it. Cover and rise until 3x its size. Punch down, cover and rise until 2x its size. Prepare a banneton with flour (or if you have a plastic wicker basket, spray with cooking spray and flour generously). At this point you can also weigh the dough and divide into equal parts for rolls, batards or baguettes.

Heat the oven to 400F. Place a baking sheet on the lower rack and add half a cup of water. Knead the dough and shape it into a ball. Put it carefully, seam side up, into the prepared basket and cover. Let it rise one more time, until double its size. When ready, invert the basket carefully onto a baking sheet so as not to deflate the dough and bake for 35 minutes. For the last five minutes, leave the oven door cracked open so that the moisture can disappear and a crunchier crust forms on the loaf.

Cool on a rack before slicing.

Buttermilk Buns

2010-01-14T11:59:00.000-08:00

These rolls are based on a recipe from The Fresh Loaf website.

Buttermilk Buns
1 envelope(or 2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast
1/2 cup water, warm
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 1/2 cup buttermilk, room temperature
1 tablespoon honey
1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
4 1/2 cups of flour
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, room temperature
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons sesame seeds*

Mix the yeast, sugar and warm water in a bowl and set aside. Add the honey and the salt to the buttermilk and stir. In the meantime, scoop the flour into the mixing bowl. When the yeast mixture is foamy, add it to the flour, mix and then slowly add the buttermilk mixture. Continue to mix for several minutes until the dough comes together. If it's too wet, add a tablespoon of dough: too dry, sprinkle in some water. Now lightly dust the counter with some flour, take out the dough and continue to knead for four or five minutes until the dough is flexible and soft. Spray the inside of the bowl with some oil or baking spray, add the kneaded dough and cover. Place it in a warm place until the dough has doubled, approximately an hour and a half.

Carefully take the dough out of the bowl, place on your counter and push some of the air out. Weigh it and cut the dough into 10 equal pieces, and roll them into individual balls. Butter a baking sheet (or a round springform pan), place the rolls with equal distance to each other, cover and let rise until almost double in size.

Heat the oven to 400F. Uncover the rolls and brush with the rolls with the egg, then sprinkle the sesame seeds on top. Bake for about 20 minutes or until golden brown. If you bake a cluster, as in the picture, the baking will take about 35 minutes.

Let cool on a wire rack for at least 10 to 15 minutes before serving.

* If you don't care for sesame seeds, you may want to try poppy seeds or sunflower seeds. Plain rolls are very tasty too, and for a sweet touch, consider rolling them in cinnamon sugar before placing them in the pan.....