Here's our second try at sourdough bread. The loaves aren't very big but they look delicious.
Showing posts with label BBA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BBA. Show all posts
Monday, October 19, 2009
Sourdough Bread
Here's our second try at sourdough bread. The loaves aren't very big but they look delicious.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
BBA: English Muffins
These made an amazing breakfast for dinner evening, and they were a lot of fun to make as well.
After being cooked in the griddle on both sides and baked for a couple of minutes.
Fork split. Not quite the big hole you see from the grocery store, but they tasted a million times better.
Sausage, cheese, and egg english muffins and hash browns for dinner! Unfortunately, none of the english muffins lived to see the next morning.
Here is the dough all ready to fry.
After being cooked in the griddle on both sides and baked for a couple of minutes.
Fork split. Not quite the big hole you see from the grocery store, but they tasted a million times better.
Sausage, cheese, and egg english muffins and hash browns for dinner! Unfortunately, none of the english muffins lived to see the next morning.
BBA: Corn Bread
The week we were supposed to make corn bread my and my husband were headed up to north Idaho with some friends to stay in their cabin. So, I pack all the ingredients and we made it up there. My husband loved this bread will all of it's flavor and texture. I however, felt that it was a little overloaded. I am more of a fan of fluffy cake like cornbread.
After one meal this was all that was left to come home with us!BBA: Cinnamon Raisin Walnut Bread
Now this is one of my favorite recipes so far in this book! This bread was simply amazing! My favorite thing to do with it is to toast it and make peanut butter and banana sandwiches. Amazing!
We almost didn't get any pictures of this one because we ate it so fast, but my darling husband took some before he finished it off.
The only thing I wish I could figure out is how to keep the bread moist and sealed up without the moisture making the cinnamon sugar mixture on top turn to goo.
We almost didn't get any pictures of this one because we ate it so fast, but my darling husband took some before he finished it off.
The only thing I wish I could figure out is how to keep the bread moist and sealed up without the moisture making the cinnamon sugar mixture on top turn to goo.
BBA: Cinnamon Buns and Sticky Buns
The introduction to this recipe in the book states that this was the recipe he would give his students when the wanted to make cinnamon buns as good as the ones in the mall from Cinnabon. Well, that is a fantastic idea! Make homemade cinnamon rolls as goopy and delicious as those in the mall! Well, here's what I learned. If you want to make goopy cinnamon rolls you need to add more than a sprinkle of cinnamon and sugar and maybe even butter! I think these turned out more like those cinnamon swirl donuts you get when their out of all the other good kinds. Danny thinks I'm crazy and that they were great and that I have just been brain washed by years of my parents making overly stuffed cinnamon rolls. I'm not sure but, when I want a cinnamon roll I am not looking to taste the wonderful bread, I'm in it for the goop!
Oh a word on the sticky buns. In the book it says that it takes practice to know just when to pull these from the oven when the glaze as been caramelized and the dough is cooked through. Well on the first try we were pretty close they tasted great but the caramel became a little too hard. However, this was solved by leaving them in the car all day at our family reunion then they tasted great soft and warm :)
Sorry, we made these on our way out of town so I forgot to take some better pictures.
Oh a word on the sticky buns. In the book it says that it takes practice to know just when to pull these from the oven when the glaze as been caramelized and the dough is cooked through. Well on the first try we were pretty close they tasted great but the caramel became a little too hard. However, this was solved by leaving them in the car all day at our family reunion then they tasted great soft and warm :)
Sorry, we made these on our way out of town so I forgot to take some better pictures.
BBA: Challah
Wow! It's been a long time. It seems that baking and blogging has proven to be too much for me, but I have kept on track with the baking at least. I am going to throw up everything I've made in my absence and recommit myself to writing better blog posts once I move. So here is my apology in advance for all the short posts I'm about to make. Stay tuned and they'll resume to their prior glory in a couple or months :)
A word on Challah: According to the book challah is the braided sabbath bread of Judaism symbolic of God's goodness and bounty. The braids traditionally separate the loaf into twelve distinct sections representing the twelve tribes of Israel.
Oops this on this loaf the top braid slipped off the top. It ended up more of a side-by-side double braid.
The crumb. This was a nice soft, light bread. Actually, I think this could make a delicious french toast as well.
A word on Challah: According to the book challah is the braided sabbath bread of Judaism symbolic of God's goodness and bounty. The braids traditionally separate the loaf into twelve distinct sections representing the twelve tribes of Israel.
Oops this on this loaf the top braid slipped off the top. It ended up more of a side-by-side double braid.
The crumb. This was a nice soft, light bread. Actually, I think this could make a delicious french toast as well.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
BBA: Multigrain Bread Extraordinaire
aka: Little piece of heaven!
Once again we're baking out of order in order to keep up with our daily lunch needs. I must say however that this bread is my favorite sandwich bread so far.
What a beautiful loaf of bread! I did however make a couple adjustments to the recipe as follows:-I substituted a 7 grain cereal for the cornmeal and wheat bran because that was what I had at home.
-I also substituted white rice for the brown rice, once again because that was what I had in the fridge already.
-I found that I needed to add a lot of extra flour I could be because of my soaker. I didn't measure the water I just filled till it covered the grains as it states in the recipe.
I doubled the recipe and it made 2 large loaves over 2 1/2 pounds each.
My lunch! I am officially committed to never buying store bread again. One bite and I was with my family eating a $7 sandwich at the Atlanta Bread Company. This loaf could easily sell for $5-10. Let's just say 5 stars! This bread is pretty well perfect.
BBA: Brioche
Let them eat Brioche!
According to Peter's book, the history of brioche "includes allusions to Queen Marie Antoinette, whose last words are reputed to be properly translated as 'Let them eat brioche,' and not 'Let them eat cake.'"
There are three different types of brioche in the book, rich, middle-class, and poor man's. I decided to make the middle-class so that I could get a good idea of what brioche is (I've never had it before) but not needing to work-out non stop.
Here's my pretty bread! I was surprised at how quickly this loaf baked. The times in the book are a little vague depending on what shape you made the dough. I figured the loaf would be on the max side of things. It cooked a lot faster than I thought, so it turned out slightly over done.
The Crumb! Looks almost like pound cake, but it's a lot lighter think cream puff.
French Toast
(We almost had breakfast for dinner I was so excited about this!)
Ingredients
* 2/3 cup milk
* 2 large eggs
* 1 1/3 tablespoons honey, warmed in microwave for 20 seconds
* 1/8 teaspoon salt
* 5 (1/2-inch) slices day-old brioche
* 2 tablespoons butter
Directions
In medium size mixing bowl, whisk together the milk, eggs, honey, and salt. Pour the mixture into a deep plate or pie pan
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Dip bread into mixture, allow to soak for 30 seconds on each side, and then remove to a cooling rack that is sitting in a sheet pan, and allow to sit for 1 to 2 minutes.
Over medium-low heat, melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a 10-inch nonstick saute pan. Place 2 slices of bread at a time into the pan and cook until golden brown, approximately 2 to 3 minutes per side. Remove from pan and place on rack in oven for 5 minutes. Repeat with all 8 slices.
Buttermilk Syrup
I was introduced to this at a local restaurant and had to try it at home
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3 Tbsp butter
1/3 cup buttermilk
1 Tbsp corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla
pinch of cinnamon (optional)
Combine sugar, butter, buttermilk and corn syrup in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a low boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and simmer for 2 minutes (continue to stir!) until all sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and cinnamon if desired.
Recipe from Dinner's on me
Ta Dah! This was the most amazing french toast I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing! I am planning on freezing and saving the other loaf of brioche for breakfast when my sister comes down next week. (yup Tiff that's you so be excited!)
I wouldn't say it's a healthy breakfast, but what a way to start the day!
According to Peter's book, the history of brioche "includes allusions to Queen Marie Antoinette, whose last words are reputed to be properly translated as 'Let them eat brioche,' and not 'Let them eat cake.'"
There are three different types of brioche in the book, rich, middle-class, and poor man's. I decided to make the middle-class so that I could get a good idea of what brioche is (I've never had it before) but not needing to work-out non stop.
Here's my pretty bread! I was surprised at how quickly this loaf baked. The times in the book are a little vague depending on what shape you made the dough. I figured the loaf would be on the max side of things. It cooked a lot faster than I thought, so it turned out slightly over done.
The Crumb! Looks almost like pound cake, but it's a lot lighter think cream puff.
French Toast
(We almost had breakfast for dinner I was so excited about this!)
Ingredients
* 2/3 cup milk
* 2 large eggs
* 1 1/3 tablespoons honey, warmed in microwave for 20 seconds
* 1/8 teaspoon salt
* 5 (1/2-inch) slices day-old brioche
* 2 tablespoons butter
Directions
In medium size mixing bowl, whisk together the milk, eggs, honey, and salt. Pour the mixture into a deep plate or pie pan
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Dip bread into mixture, allow to soak for 30 seconds on each side, and then remove to a cooling rack that is sitting in a sheet pan, and allow to sit for 1 to 2 minutes.
Over medium-low heat, melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a 10-inch nonstick saute pan. Place 2 slices of bread at a time into the pan and cook until golden brown, approximately 2 to 3 minutes per side. Remove from pan and place on rack in oven for 5 minutes. Repeat with all 8 slices.
Buttermilk Syrup
I was introduced to this at a local restaurant and had to try it at home
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3 Tbsp butter
1/3 cup buttermilk
1 Tbsp corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla
pinch of cinnamon (optional)
Combine sugar, butter, buttermilk and corn syrup in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a low boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and simmer for 2 minutes (continue to stir!) until all sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and cinnamon if desired.
Recipe from Dinner's on me
Ta Dah! This was the most amazing french toast I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing! I am planning on freezing and saving the other loaf of brioche for breakfast when my sister comes down next week. (yup Tiff that's you so be excited!)
I wouldn't say it's a healthy breakfast, but what a way to start the day!
Sunday, May 24, 2009
BBA: Light Weat Bread
Okay I know this recipe is skipping ahead, but I needed a good PB&J bread for this week's lunches.
My proof box! This works so well. I microwave a small cup of water for about 5 min. Then, I stick the dough in with the now boiling water and it proofs perfectly.
Looks pretty good huh? Read on :(
Still looks pretty good...
Eeek! We can't make sandwiches out of holey bread. So here is my question for all you bread bakers out there What went wrong? I think I have narrowed it down to two possible culprits.
A: I do not have bread flour only all-purpose so in order to get the gluten-high that makes bread so tasty I added some wheat gluten. Here is my first thought, maybe I added too much? We did the calculations so that the flour would be about 16% gluten, but maybe we were wrong.
B: Sometime after the proofing before the shaping the dough did not deflate all the way (didn't get totally punched down) and thus when it was shaped a giant air bubble got trapped? What do you think? Please, let me know.
At least all is not lost this bread made fantastic croutons!
One thing I didn't mention is that this bread tasted INCREDIBLE!! It was quite possibly the best sandwich bread I have ever had the privilege of tasting.
My proof box! This works so well. I microwave a small cup of water for about 5 min. Then, I stick the dough in with the now boiling water and it proofs perfectly.
Looks pretty good huh? Read on :(
Still looks pretty good...
Eeek! We can't make sandwiches out of holey bread. So here is my question for all you bread bakers out there What went wrong? I think I have narrowed it down to two possible culprits.
A: I do not have bread flour only all-purpose so in order to get the gluten-high that makes bread so tasty I added some wheat gluten. Here is my first thought, maybe I added too much? We did the calculations so that the flour would be about 16% gluten, but maybe we were wrong.
B: Sometime after the proofing before the shaping the dough did not deflate all the way (didn't get totally punched down) and thus when it was shaped a giant air bubble got trapped? What do you think? Please, let me know.
At least all is not lost this bread made fantastic croutons!
One thing I didn't mention is that this bread tasted INCREDIBLE!! It was quite possibly the best sandwich bread I have ever had the privilege of tasting.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
BBA: Pizza Dough
I love making homemade pizza! While this dough was good I'm not sure it was leaps and bounds over what I already use. We made the dough and my sister and her husband brought the toppings it was one delicious dinner party.
The recipe tells you to split the dough into sixths I found this made medium sized thin crust pizzas. I learned that I definitely need to work on my dough tossing skills. We decided to eat four of them and put the extra dough into the freezer.
I use these racks for everything. This time they worked great as racks for all our different kinds of pizza.
I know less is more but this pizza has refried beans, lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream, avocado, and black beans.
Here we have artichoke hearts, tomatoes, chicken, and garlic ranch.
Classic pepperoni and red sauce.
The recipe tells you to split the dough into sixths I found this made medium sized thin crust pizzas. I learned that I definitely need to work on my dough tossing skills. We decided to eat four of them and put the extra dough into the freezer.
I use these racks for everything. This time they worked great as racks for all our different kinds of pizza.
I know less is more but this pizza has refried beans, lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream, avocado, and black beans.
Here we have artichoke hearts, tomatoes, chicken, and garlic ranch.
Classic pepperoni and red sauce.
BBA: Casatiello
We baked this bread way out of order, but my husband was so anxious to try it. This is a bread that is loaded with meat and cheese. We discussed our various options of meat and cheese. I wanted bacon, Danny kind of wanted sausage. I wanted provolone Danny wanted cheddar. In the end, we had bacon and cheddar. (a fairly good compromise)
Here you can see all of those yummy pieces of bacon and cheese. We did have a little mishap with the bacon. We wanted the bacon really crisp so that we could crumble it. So as I was cooking I started thinking of other things I needed to do. I figured since we wanted the bacon crispy I could walk away for a second. The problem was I got distracted and ended up completely burning it and we had to start over.
This bread was really tasty! We really like eating a slice as an afternoon snack. Overall, I would give this recipe a 4 out of 5. Why? Because, aside from just eating it I'm not sure what you would do with it. (Doesn't make very good sandwich bread.
Here you can see all of those yummy pieces of bacon and cheese. We did have a little mishap with the bacon. We wanted the bacon really crisp so that we could crumble it. So as I was cooking I started thinking of other things I needed to do. I figured since we wanted the bacon crispy I could walk away for a second. The problem was I got distracted and ended up completely burning it and we had to start over.
This bread was really tasty! We really like eating a slice as an afternoon snack. Overall, I would give this recipe a 4 out of 5. Why? Because, aside from just eating it I'm not sure what you would do with it. (Doesn't make very good sandwich bread.
BBA: Artos, Christopomos
This is actually a Greek holiday bread, but what the heck school's almost over so we'll say we're celebrating that! :)
This was our first bread that required a pre-ferment and I was really excited, but in order to get everything done on Saturday Danny took charge of that piece.
I promise I will get better at taking pictures of the process, but this time we were in a mad dash to finish the bread before we had to go to church.
We ended up taking the loaf to a BBQ with the in-laws and it was devoured so I was unable to take pictures of the crumb. I kind of resembled a cinnamon bun with less sweetness and more fruit if that makes any sense. I was a little surprised at the density of the bread, for how much it rose I was expecting a light bread. However, this loaf was actually quite dense. I love how the loaf looks, even if our swirls didn't stick. Next time I will use a little bit of water to bind the curl to the bread.
This was our first bread that required a pre-ferment and I was really excited, but in order to get everything done on Saturday Danny took charge of that piece.
I promise I will get better at taking pictures of the process, but this time we were in a mad dash to finish the bread before we had to go to church.
We ended up taking the loaf to a BBQ with the in-laws and it was devoured so I was unable to take pictures of the crumb. I kind of resembled a cinnamon bun with less sweetness and more fruit if that makes any sense. I was a little surprised at the density of the bread, for how much it rose I was expecting a light bread. However, this loaf was actually quite dense. I love how the loaf looks, even if our swirls didn't stick. Next time I will use a little bit of water to bind the curl to the bread.
BBA: Anadama Bread
I actually made this bread a couple of weeks ago. I was a little
surprised by the cornmeal molasses mix and wondered how the finished
bread would taste. I was particularly worried about what I had gotten myself into as I kneaded the grainy dough.
I ended up using a really dark molasses because
that was what I had on hand. The finished product had a strong
molasses flavor, but the texture was perfect. It is still a little
chilly here in Utah at times so I had to turn up my heat a little to
get everything to rise. (It is a good thing my apartment doesn't charge us for our gas) This was probably the lightest, best textured
bread I've ever made it also had a nice thin crunchy crust. I think
the directions in the beginning of the book about kneading and steam
in the oven made the biggest difference for me.
Overall, I'd give it about 4 out of 5 stars. It made a pretty good
PB&J and it would be good for variety every once in a while, but not
my absolute favorite.
Finally Pictures!
Sorry these were taken with my cell phone
surprised by the cornmeal molasses mix and wondered how the finished
bread would taste. I was particularly worried about what I had gotten myself into as I kneaded the grainy dough.
I ended up using a really dark molasses because
that was what I had on hand. The finished product had a strong
molasses flavor, but the texture was perfect. It is still a little
chilly here in Utah at times so I had to turn up my heat a little to
get everything to rise. (It is a good thing my apartment doesn't charge us for our gas) This was probably the lightest, best textured
bread I've ever made it also had a nice thin crunchy crust. I think
the directions in the beginning of the book about kneading and steam
in the oven made the biggest difference for me.
Overall, I'd give it about 4 out of 5 stars. It made a pretty good
PB&J and it would be good for variety every once in a while, but not
my absolute favorite.
Finally Pictures!
Sorry these were taken with my cell phone
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