Bread of the Week: English Muffins

It's been too long. We're back from sunny California. Aaand there's no bread in the house. But we happen to have just enough to make bread! Flour, yeast, butter, milk, and my trusty bread book.

This is the second time I attempted making English muffins. First make a soft dough and let it rise for three hours.

Heat a frying pan and cook the dough for eight minutes on one side.

Eight minutes on the other side.

Bake them in the oven at 350 degrees for eight more minutes.

"Fork-split" muffins after they're cooled. Darn...no nooks and crannies this time. The dough has to be even softer. Nonetheless the enriched dough is soo tasty. Maybe I'll make a loaf next time.

Bread of the Week: Viennese Rolls

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This week, I made some rolls with two awesome birthday gifts I got last month. My thoughtful stepsister sent me a recipe book filled of delicious bread recipes. I picked the Viennese rolls to make first because they looked so deliciously mouthwatering. They are also very versatile--we had them for dinner twice in a row!

Coincidentally my mother-in-law sent me a vintage bread bowl and a butter paddle. It's perfect for this recipe, as you will see.

Viennese Rolls
Makes 6 to 8 rolls
Adapted from Bread

2 tsp active dry yeast
1 1/2 cup warm milk

2 large eggs
2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp salt
4 cups bread flour, separated
4 tbsp softened butter

Let the yeast dissolve in the milk for five minutes. Mix in the eggs, sugar, and salt. Add 3 1/2 cup bread flour and mix until combined and smooth, about five minutes. The dough will be very soft and sticky.

Cover with a towel and keep it in room temperature for 30 minutes. Next, knead in the bowl 20 times. The paddle comes in handy here as the dough stays very soft and sticky. Cover and let rise for one and a half hours. Then, knead 20 times. Work in the butter and sprinkle the rest of the flour to keep the dough for sticking. Cover and let rise for one hour.

Divide dough into six large rolls, or eight smaller rolls. This dough works kind of like drop biscuits. Line and sprinkle a baking pan with cornmeal. Drop the rolls on the pan. Cover and let rise for 20 minutes next to the stove. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees with a pan of water on the lower rack. Bake for 18 minutes without opening the oven door for the first 10 minutes.

The first night, we had them right out of the oven. Warm and wonderfully soft. Even better with butter.

Served with roasted chicken and green beans.

The second night, we had them as burger buns.

Grilled mushrooms, cheese, homemade patties. Now that's a burger!

Bread of the Week: Italian Bread

Another great recipe from The Bread Baker's Apprentice is the Italian Bread.

With the recipe, we made a loaf and four rolls. Now, we're set for the week!

Two techniques were used: pre-fermented starter called biga, and a make-shift hearth oven with a pan of steaming water and spraying the walls for the first two minutes. This produces a crunchy crust and soft center. The aroma was irresistible.

Bill says it's almost as if we bought it in Italy! We store the loaves in paper bags to keep the crust from softening.

Top down view.

Spicy Soft Pretzels

For those of you who always wanted to make soft pretzels...thanks to Martha Stewart's recipe, now you can! It's a simple recipe, especially if you have a stand mixer. If not, follow Martha's directions here.

These are addictive, tasty snacks. I think it's because of the cayenne. My adaptation is spicier. Martha recommends mustard dips. I like them sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar. You can make them savory or sweet!

Spicy Soft Pretzels
Makes 12 snack-sized pretzels

1/4 tsp coarse salt
2 tsp sugar
1 cup warm water
2 1/4 tsp quick rise yeast
3 cups bread flour
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tbsp butter, softened
3 tbsp baking soda

For seasoning:
1 tbsp coarse salt
or
1 tbsp butter, melted
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tbsp cinnamon sugar

Stir salt and sugar in 1 cup of warm water. Add yeast to a small bowl. Pour water into the bowl and wait five minutes until bubbling.

In a stand mixer, add flour and cayenne pepper, and stir. Add softened butter, and mix with a paddle mixer until incorporated. Add yeast mixture and mix until the dough comes together. Use a dough hook and mix for four minutes on medium speed. Form dough into a ball and put it in a large oiled bowl to rise. Takes about forty minutes to an hour to double.

Divide dough into 12 pieces. Form each piece into a boule and let the dough relax for ten minutes.

Roll each piece into an 18 inch rope, twist, and form into a pretzel shape.

Line two pans. Lightly brush with oil. You don't want to make the rookie mistake I made the first time of getting pretzels stuck on the pans.

They look nice, but it's a bad idea to not line the pans

Place on the sheets. They look small for now, but they get pretty big after the soda water treatment.

Let proof for twenty minutes in a warm room. They should look puffy. These are much spicier than Martha's--you can even see the cayenne in the dough.

Preheat the oven at 475 degrees. Boil half a pot of water in a large pot. Add baking soda. Boil pretzels in batches, one to two minutes per side. The pretzels double in size so keep the batches small.

Use a flat utensil with slots to lift the pretzels because any mark you leave will stay on when baking. Drain on a drying rack right side up until all pretzels are boiled.

The spoon lines are visible, but these pretzels are still delicious!

Sprinkle with coarse salt if you like them savory. Bake in the oven for 13-15 minutes (Rotate pans after 10 minutes has passed). I usually do half savory and half sweet, but I forgot to salt the pretzels before they went in the oven so the salt didn't stay on as well.

If you like cinnamon sugar pretzels, brush them with butter when they come out of the oven and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Serve these right away. There may not be any left but if you do have left overs, they are just as delicious reheated. You can even pop them in the toaster. They're the perfect size for a snack!

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Pita Bread, Pita Chips, and Feta Squares

Last weekend we had a few friends over, and boy did we have a fantastic time. Our guests brought home-brewed beer, great wine, and sparkling conversation. We made dinner. It's gonna take me a couple days to recount it. 

For appetizer, pita chips and hummus are always delicious and easy to make at home! I got both recipes from The Kitchen Bible. To make the hummus, process chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, salt, and paprika in a food processor until smooth. Voilà!

The pita bread is just as easy as the Naan. Mix together olive oil, water, yeast, salt, sugar, and flour. Knead for 5 minutes, and rise for an hour. Roll out 8 pitas and place them on 2 baking sheets. Proof for 20 minutes.

Bake for 10 minutes. 10 minutes!

I saved half as bread for those who prefer soft pita. And toasted the rest at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

Drizzle with some love...I mean...EVOO

This is the first time I made these feta squares. They are tasty, especially as afternoon snacks with tea. But this recipe could be improved; it's a little dry as dinner appetizer. Next time I might add the cheese on top instead. It's got butter, olive oil, milk, flour, and feta. Topped with cayenne pepper and poppy seeds. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

In addition to food pictures, I must show you my blogging companion.

Rupert has something to say: "Stay tuned for main course and dessert!"

Bread of the Week: Anadama Bread

I found another recipe that uses molasses! I'd never heard of Anadama bread, and skipped this page in The Bread Baker's Apprentice entirely until last week because of it. But Bill wanted a loaf bread, so I flipped through the book again. I'm so glad I did! Its flavors are from molasses and cornmeal, making it kind of sweet and very fragrant. Not to mention it's got a funny background story.

First make a soaker with water and cornmeal (polenta) the day before. It's another awesome thing about this recipe--I get to use polenta in a different way.

The next day, add the yeast and two cups of flour to the soaker. Mix and let it sit for an hour until it's bubbly.

Add the remaining flour, butter, and molasses. Mix until the mixture comes together. Then knead for ten minutes until it passes the window pane test. It was a lot of dough so I hand kneaded to protect the stand mixer.

Shape the dough into a boule and put it in an oiled bowl. Cover and let rise for two hours.

Once the dough rises to twice its original size, punch down the dough and shape it into a loaf. My bread pan is twice the suggested size, so instead of two loaves, I made a giant one. And boy, it was giant. I didn't know how much it was going to rise in the oven on top of the proofed size. Sprinkle some cornmeal on top before putting it in the oven for 40 minutes at 350 degrees.

My attempt at scoring the bread did not matter because it reached new heights in the oven. I put the pan in the middle shelf as instructed, but the top touched heating element after 20 minutes. But it was still delicious (not to mention the nice sandwich slice shapes)!

I think it will go really well with ham, but we have roast beef and Swiss cheese this week. Nonetheless, Bill's been enjoying his sandwiches. Even though (or because of) the sandwiches are huge and I have to cut the sides to fit them in his lunch box. Just plain butter is tasty too. It brings out the corn flavor. Try some Anadama bread if you hadn't heard of it like me. I think you will be pleased!

Bread of the Week: Not-So-Plain White Bread

This week I am out of town so I baked ahead. I picked a white bread recipe because it's easy to make sandwiches with.

White bread has a bad reputation for being plain and flabby. It's not plain at all! All the flavor of the bread comes from the milk, butter and egg. Sounds pretty delicious to me already. Add a few seeds on top if you want to fancy it up.

The slow fermentation in this recipe from The Bread Baker's Apprentice makes it flavorful and oh-so-soft. It takes a sponge that ferments for two hours then two rises. After the first rise, I put it in the fridge overnight instead of on the counter for an hour, because I was running out of time that night. It proofed nicely and was ready to be baked in the morning.

My husband thinks it tastes like potato bread, which is his preferred sandwich bread. Not too bad for plain white bread. I hope he's making good use of it while I'm gone!