Bread Baking Day #56: Fashionable Bread

2013 bread making is off good start.  Jenni from The Gingered Whisk is the hostess for Bread Baking Day #56. She challenged us to bake a beautiful bread, worthy for any fashion show.  


For the bread itself, I chose an egg bread recipe from the Red Star Yeast website.  I thought I had one tucked away in one of my bazillion cookbooks, but, no, I couldn't track it down.  Never fear, though, the Red Star Yeast site has a huge selection of tasty-sounding breads.

For the shaping, I wanted to use a technique I discovered in my ramblings around the web.  Basically, you roll the dough into a thin oval, then make diagonal slashes about an inch apart over the whole oval.  Then, you roll the dough jelly-roll style and finally, coil the resulting tube like a snail.  The slits in the dough provide a beautiful texture on the surface of the bread.

This is one bread that is visually appealing and tastes pretty gosh darn good as well.

Thanks to Jenni for a fun theme, and to Zorra for creating such a wonderful bread event.

Jenni should have the roundup available after the first of February.  Then, stay tuned on Zorra's website for the February challenge.

 

Bread Baking Day #55: Colored Bread

2012 is ending on a tasty and colorful note thanks to Bread Baking Day #55.  This month's hostess, Katha, chose Colored Bread as the theme.

Making this bread was my Christmas day project.  I chose a braided egg bread from the Red Star Yeast website, and added coloring to each of the three pieces.  While I had wanted to use holiday colors (red and green), I was, alas, out of red coloring, so I used what I had available.

In this case, it was green, yellow, and violet.  King Cake colors.  Guess I'm ahead of the game here.  ;)

Regardless of the colors, this bread turned out great.  Besides tasting delicious, it's fun to see what patterns each slice has, and it's very tempting to just keep slicing.

Thanks to Katha for her choice of theme, and thanks to Zorra for creating such a delightful bread baking event.  I'm looking forward to the challenges of 2013.  

The roundup will be available after the first of the year at Katha's website.

BBB Buddy: Holiday Apple Kuchen

I am finally emerging from an extreme workload overload.  On Friday I sent off the last of three multi-year projects, and my brain is ready for some R&R (aka bread baking therapy).  I promised myself I would take off two days before the end of the year -- my birthday and Christmas.   One down, one to go.

Saturday, I tackled the bread project from the Bread Baking Babes, Holiday Apple Kuchen, this month hosted by Gretchen Noelle of Provecho Peru.  I've nearly forgotten what free time feels like, so this recipe was a great re-start recipe.  

I used a combination of Fuji and Granny Smith apples, and for the spice blend, I mixed cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, and cardamom.  This spice combo is one of my favorites.  I make streusel toppings frequently, so this was an easy step.  

Overall, the bread turned out fine.  It was difficult to tell since the dough was buried under the apple and streusel mixtures.  

I omitted the topping, but only out of sheer laziness, since I just wanted to eat the end-product without a lot of extra fuss.

It still tastes delicious this morning, and because the sun is out briefly, I improved on the 'slice' photo.

To try your hand it this, head over to Gretchen Noelle's blog for the recipe and the links to the other Babes' blogs.

BBB Buddy: Pocketbook Rolls (aka Kissy Lips)

November's challenge from the Bread Baking Babes came just in time for Thanksgiving.  

Astrid found a delicious recipe for Pocketbook Rolls that were easy to make, especially since the dough can be prepared a day or two ahead of time.  

The only differences I encountered were --

rising time: it only took mine one hour to double in size.  Had I used the full 2.5 hours, I think they would have failed due to extreme over-rising;

and baking time:  while the recipe says 7-8 minutes, mine took about 12.

Otherwise, they turned out great, and disappeared quickly during Thanksgiving dinner, which I shared with my dear next door neighbor and her family.

If you wish to give these rolls a try, head over to Astrid's web site to find the recipe.  And, while you're there, check out rolls from the other Babes.

Twd: Bagels

Today is a triple bread whammy day.  My previous post shared the bread I made for World Bread Day and for the Bread Baking Babes.   



Today is also the posting day for the Tuesdays with Dorie/Baking with Julia baking group.   This go-round, we all baked bagels. 

I've made bagels before using other recipes, so I was a bit surprised that there wasn't a second rise.  It clearly didn't seem to matter, however. 

During the boiling phase, I timed the bagels for one minute on each side.  The end-result was a bagel that had just the right amount of chew.


I did conduct an experiment of sorts.  For the first batch, I did not use the egg white wash.  The bagels baked up with an obvious uneven surface, but the taste was not compromised.

For the second batch, I brushed the bagels with the egg white wash and sprinkled on some sesame seeds and some poppy seeds.   This batch looked more like the traditional bagel, so it seems that the wash is a useful step in the process.


Our bagel hostess this month is Heather of Heather’s Bytes.   Stop by Heather's blog for more information about the recipe, then head over to the Tuesdays with Dorie website to see how the participating bakers fared.

Triple bread whammy

Today is a triple whammy for bread bakers. 

First up is the combination World Bread Day challenge and Bread Baking Babes' Buddy challenge.  

Looks complicated, no?   But this lovely Russian Braid is easy, easy.


 I was pleased to learn a new technique with this bread and that's what made it so much fun.  Check out this YouTube video to learn the secret.

After I took this photograph, I replaced the 10-inch springform pan with a 9-inch one.  I didn't think there was any way that the bread would rise to fill this pan.


Some of the bakers chose a savory filling of pesto and cheese.  For me, this bread just screamed cinnamon, so I decided to make a very large cinnamon roll.   I was not disappointed in the end-result.

Figuring out how to slice this beauty was a challenge.   Because each slice had a different pattern, it was a surprise every time.    



Sadly, the last piece disappeared yesterday.  Even so, I'm sending this virtual Russian Braid over to Zorra's blog for World Bread Baking Day.  Every year I look forward to seeing what all the participants bake.


The remaining virtual pieces will go to the Bread Baking Babes.   This was one delicious Buddy challenge!  


For the basic recipe, head over to The Fresh Loaf.  However, if you check out the various blogs, you will find an amazing variety of flours, seeds, and fillings.  It is truly a versatile loaf of bread.

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TwD/BwJ: Cranberry Walnut Pumpkin Loaf

Surprise, surprise!  I'm actually posting on time for once.  

The house has cooled to a balmy 85 degrees (at 10:30 pm), so I'm ready to roll.  

The first October recipe is a fall favorite:  cranberry walnut pumpkin bread.   (That would be fall in a normal place, not southern California.  Fall here translates to 100+ degree temperatures.  Not my favorite time of year here.)  Even so, this is a terrific flavor combination.   

This bread also threw many bakers for a loop.  It's a yeast bread, not a quick bread, and it requires some ahead-of-time planning, since it rests in the refrigerator overnight.  That resting helps improve the texture and flavor, so, although you can skip it, I wouldn't.  

I had all the ingredients on hand, including frozen cranberries.  They were fine, but I'd probably use dried cranberries the next time.

All in all, this was a straight-forward recipe.  The dough rose nicely both times, and the bread baked up beautifully.   Because of the cinnamon and nutmeg, there is a lovely spicy background note.  The slices taste fine either toasted or plain. 

This pumpkin bread was hosted by Rebecca at This Bountiful Backyard.   Other bakers will post on the Tuesdays with Dorie website so you can read all about their trials and tribulations with a yeasted dough.

(I truly have been baking along all these months, but I have been neglecting the posting part.  Work has been overwhelming of late, but I foresee some breaks in the coming weeks, so I'll do my best to get caught up with the posts.)