BBB - Third Anniversary Baking: Ensaïmadas

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!

BBB - Hildegard's Spelt Bread

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.

BBB - Taralli Pugliese

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.

BBB - Broa

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!

BBB - Brunkans långa (the short version)

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.

BBB - Portuguese sweet bread

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.....

BBB - Potato Bread with Chives

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.
 
 

BBB - Gluten-free bread

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.

BBB - Ensaïmadas

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!

 

BBB - Indian Bread

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.