sweet 'n' savory TWO

Cinnamon Walnut Bread - two ways

I like raisin bread, especially for toast, but hubby is not a fan of raisin.

So I decided to make the Cinnamon Walnut bread into two different loaves - one with raisins, the other one with cinnamon sugar swirl, to satisfy both of us.

Instead of adding raisins to the dough before shaping it as Peter Reinhart suggested in the book, I sprinkled a layer of raisins over the surface of the rectangle dough after it is rolled out and before it is rolled up into a sandwich loaf. 

The end result looks just as lovely as the one with cinnamon sugar swirl.

The bread smells good and tastes even better - the nuttiness of walnut adds good contrast to the sweetness and tartness of the plump raisins.  And it is so easy to make!

This will now become my go-to recipe for raisin bread - adiós to the store-bought ones ...

Note:  My loaves were done baking after spending only 30 minutes in the 350 F convection oven.

BBA#4 My Accidental 'Middle-Class' Brioche

This is not the first brioche I had but it is my first time making brioche (hubby has been the bread-baker in our household until I began the BBA challenge.)  My beloved hubby, Bob, is the one who first introduced me to Brioche.  Bob has a soft spot for rich buttery pastries, so it's not a surprise that he would go for the brioche recipe out of the many good bread recipes found in Peter Reinhart's Bread Baker's Apprentice.  Bob had made the middle-man brioche before and it turned out quite well, so I was really tempted to try my hand on the 'Richman's' version even if just to find out how much better another pound of butter can make it.  Just when I thought I had finally overcome the guilt of using 2 pounds of butter in one recipe, I accidentally went with the sponge formula for the middle-class without realizing it until I got to the bread-making stage.  The sponge was ready to go and it was too late to start all over again, so I decided to go with the flow and complete my 'accidental' middle-class brioche. The brioche baked beautifully and the kitchen was filled with its warm and heavenly buttery aroma.  If we ever own a bakery in the future, the brioche loaves will definitely be on our list of offering!

Here is a crumb shot taken by hubby!

This was taken before I found out that I had accidentally made the sponge for middle-class version instead of richman's version. 

The dough started out quite sticky after all the flour and butter were added.

After a few minutes of mixing in the mixer over medium speed with paddle, the dough did turn to be quite soft and smooth to the touch and has a sheen to its surface.

 

I decided to make it into loaves as we prefer slicing it up for making toasts and sandwiches.  Below is a shot of hubby's poking his finger into the bread - like a naughty kid!!

Notes:  For the record, I didn't finish making this bread on my own due to another 'accident'.  While dough was proofing in the fridge, Bob and I went to the backyard to plant the vegetable plans we bought this week.  Just when I thought the weather couldn't have been more perfect and I was so close to finishing putting up netting all around corns to protect them from rabbits, I lifted up my right food and stepped as hard as I could on the poky spike on the side of the stake used to support the netting without giving much thought -- well, that was a stupid mistake.   The next thing I knew is that blood was pouring out of the bottom of my right foot because the metal spike pierced through the crocs I was wearing and poked a deep hole on the bottom of my foot.  It was not a pretty scene at all... Fortunately, hubby was right next to me when this happened.  He had me press the wound tightly and got me inside the house to help me stop the bleeding...  Thanks to hubby's TLC, I am okay now except hobbling slightly due to the injury.  (As a result, hubby took my place after the accident happened and finished making brioche loaves, hence the name - 'My Accidental Middle-Class Brioche'!)

Lesson learned: If you think the garden shoes are strong enough to protect your feet - well, think again.

BBA#3 Bagel

This is certainly not your regular store-bought bagels -- they are big, plump and chewwwwwwwwwwwwwy!  (But, for the first time ever since I started BBA Challenge, I almost gave up halfway through the recipe.  Read on ...)

Lesson Learned #1 - start making bagel the day BEFORE you want to eat it!  I should have read the recipe thoroughly before getting started, but I did't.  So I had to get up at 6:30am on weekend in order to get these bagels ready in time for breakfast.  They are definitely worth it though.

So what is it that got me so close to giving up on this recipe?  The dough.  The recipe does say it is supposed to be a stiff dough.  But I didn't expect it to be so stiff that it almost broke our mixer - hence the picture below: hubby had to open up the mixer to find out the loosen screw in order to tighten it up before the mixer falls apart.  Fortunately, hubby was able to put the mixer back together and get it to work again. :)

So what's the problem the?  Well, it did take over an hour for hubby to trouble-shoot and fix the mixer.  So while hubby was busy working on the mixer, I thought I would manually knead the dough to get it to the windowpane stage.  Boy oh boy, was I wrong to think it would be easy to finish up the kneading part of it!  (Now I see why so many people are so excited to know "No-Knead Bread" exists.)   The recipe states it would take ten minutes of kneading by hand - well, it took me an hour to knead the dough as hard as I could and it was still far from passing the windowpane test.  I even took hubby's suggestion to divide the dough into two so that they are more manageable.  But, after an hour of kneading, the dough was still not ready.  Thank God hubby was able to get the mixer to work again so it did eventually help finish up the dough for me before I broke my arms (another 3 minutes in the mixer - so I guess I kneaded the dough for an hour only to get it halfway ready.)  For the first time ever I realized that our mixer has been under-appreciated for all these years ...

FYI: My arms are still sore from kneading the dough and my legs from standing two days after making these bagels.

By the way, I ended up with 13 bagels (measuring at 4.5 oz each).  They are easy to shape (as shown in the picture above - I figured the hole is big enough once my four fingers can pass through comfortably) and it didn't take long for the shaped dough to retard before they could be moved into the refrigerator.  Flavor wise - I made seven with sesame seeds (my favorite), four plain, and two cinnamon sugar (for my sweet loving hubby, of course!)

Conclusion:  These bagels have undoubtedly good chewy texture that can't be found in store-bough bagels.  However, the flavor seems a bit bland - it doesn't taste bad, just doesn't have much flavor (I did use malt powder as the recipe calls for.)  Also, they can dry out FAST if left uncovered, so be sure you store them properly in order to keep them fresh for a big longer.

BBA#2 Artos: Greek Celebration Bread

After hearing all the oohs and ahhs generated by Artos (a.k.a. Greek Celebration Bread) from my fellow BBAC bakers who made the bread, I really had high expectation and couldn't wait to give it a try.

While I am fond of bread with dried fruits and nuts, Bob is not so crazy about baked goods with dried fruits, particularly raisins, and nuts.  So I decided to make both versions by dividing the dough into two: one with dried fruits & nuts, the other one without.  After all, what motivates me to take on this bread-baking challenge is for Bob and I to break bread together.  And hubby's 'enjoyment is, without a doubt, the most satisfying reward for my labor! :)

Made poolish on Friday evening after coming home from work.  I followed Reinhart's instruction to stir all ingredients "...until all of the flour is hydrated.  The mixture was quite sticky and somewhat dry at first, but I resisted the urge to add more water and just let it sit.  After one and half an hour later, foams and bubbles started to appear, which put me at ease.  By the time hubby and I were ready for bed, the bubbly poolish was ready for an overnight beauty sleep in fridge too.

Instead of sleeping in late on Saturday morning, I committed the crime of getting up early on weekend to get the Greek Celebration Bread started.  Just when I thought it's going to be smooth sailing, I ran into a problem - the dough was apparently too wet & sticky to form a ball. 

My solution -- after adding 1/2 cup of flour to the dough, scraping down the sides of mixing bowl, and letting the mixer run a few more minutes longer, the dough did finally pull away from the sides of the bowl and gather into a ball.

After replacing the paddle with dough hook, I continued to mix the dough at medium speed for about 8 minutes until it became tacky & supple.  The dough clung to the dough hook beautifully and passed the windowpane test like a breeze!

I happen to have Attiki Greek Honey at home, so that's what I used for making this bread.  In the dough with dried fruits and nuts, I added dried cherry, dried fig and chopped walnut.  (After tasting the end product, I think I will like it even better with some raisins.)

 

Learned to make boule for the first time with hubby's help!  I had no problem with the dough without dried fruits and nuts, but it's a bit tricky to shape the other half of the dough without causing the bits of dried fruits and nuts to stick out.  I actually had to do some patching work to smooth out the surface of the boule.  Knowing hubby and I won't be able to finish a big loaf all at once, I made the dough into four boules.      

It took more than two hours for my boules to double in size.

Although the boules rose beautifully, they were a bit 'huge' to be baked in the oven in two racks at the same time, which explains the somewhat burnt top of the two out of the four loaves I got. (It took less than 20 minutes for the bread to register at 190F.)  Fortunately, the bread still tastes delicious with the burnt crust!!

BBA#1 Anadama Bread

Glad I successfully completed the first Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge!!  I was this close to give up due to the lack of several ingredients - polenta cornmeal, Brer Rabbit Golden Molasses, instant yeast that the recipe in the BBA book calls for. (Bob was mocking me for coming up with "excuses" for NOT making the bread... hubby knows me well. :)  Nevertheless, I decided to proceed to bake the bread with the ingredients I have at hand - Quaker Yellow Cornmeal, Mother Hubbard Black Strap Molasses, and Fleischmann's Rapid Rise yeast.  The bread turned out beautifully regardless and makes a lovely sandwich bread.  (Here's the bonus - the house is perfumed with the sweet molasses aroma when the bread is baking in the oven!)

Lessons learned:

1. Use windowpane to determine the gluten development of the dough is sufficient, and the dough should register 77F to 81F.
2. The right way to shape dough into loaf (under hubby's supervision!)
3. Bread should register at least 185F to 190F when done baking.
4. What a "Tacky dough" is -  "the easiest way is to press your hand onto the dough and then lift it up. If the dough pulls ups with your hand and then releases (so your hand comes away clean), the dough is tacky." (Thanks to Phyl Divine!)

1. Mix cornmeal (1 cup) and water (1 cup, room temp.) in a bowl.  Cover with plastic wrap.  Let sit overnight.
2. The next day, add cornmeal soaker, bread flour (2 cups, unbleached), yeast (2 tsp, active dry), lukewarm water (1 cup, 90F to 100F) in the mixer bowl.  Stir to mix well.  Cover with towel and ferment for an hour or until the sponge begins to bubble.
3. Add the remaining bread flour (2 1/2 cups), kosher salt (2 1/2 tsp), molasses (6 TBS) and unsalted butter (2 TBS, room temp.).  Mix on low speed with paddle attachment for about a minute or two until mixture forms a ball.
4. Replace paddle with dough hook and mix on medium speed for about 10 minutes or until the dough is firm, supple, pliable and no longer sticky.  The dough should pass the window pane test and register 77F to 81F.
5. Lightly oil the mixer bowl and roll the dough to coat with oil evenly.  Cover the bowl with towel and ferment the dough in oven set to proof for about 90 minutes or until it doubles in size.
6. Lightly flour the counter.  Remove the dough from the bowl and put on the counter.  Divide dough into 2 equal pieces of 24 oz.  Shape the dough into loaves and place in two lightly oiled bread pans.  Lightly spray the top of loaves with oil and cover loosely with plastic wrap.
7. Proof loaves in oven set to proof for 90 minutes or until the loaves crest fully over the tops of the pans.
8. Preheat oven to 350F with oven rack on the middle shelf.  Remove plastic wrap from pans and place pans on a sheet pan.  Mist the tops with water and dust with cornmeal.
9. Place the sheet pan in oven and bake for 20 minutes.  Then rotate the sheet pan for even baking and continue to bake for another 15 minutes or until the loaves are golden brown and register at least 185F to 190F in the center.
10. When bread is done, remove immediately from pans and cool on rack for half an hour.  Then slice and enjoy it with butter while it is still warm.

No Knead Bread