BBD#59: Bread for Company

To celebrate Mother's Day this month, I chose to use the challenge for May's Bread Baking Day.

Ninive, of Ninivepices - Music, Dreams, invited us to bake bread for company.  Moms can be company, right?

So, for a special Mother's Day breakfast, I made yeasted waffles with fresh blueberries from the garden.  The basic batter is made the night before, so it doesn't take much extra time to prepare the meal.

 In the morning, right before baking, add eggs, baking soda, and a splash of vanilla.

The waffles were a great success.  Delicious and easy to make.  I'll definitely make them again (as long as I remember to make the batter the night before!).

Thanks to Ninive for hosting challenge #59, and thanks to Zorra for creating such a fun bread event. 

Marion Cunningham’s Raised Waffles

½ cup warm water
1 package (2 ¼ tsp.) dry yeast
2 cups whole milk, warmed
1 stick (½ cup) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 tsp. table salt
1 tsp. sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
¼ tsp. baking soda


Pour the water into a large mixing bowl. (The batter will rise to double its volume, so keep that in mind when you choose the bowl.) Sprinkle the yeast over the water, and let stand to dissolve for 5 minutes.


Add the milk, butter, salt, sugar, and flour, and beat until well blended and smooth. (Electric beaters do a nice job of this.) Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and let it stand overnight at room temperature.


Before cooking the waffles, preheat a waffle maker. Follow your waffle maker’s instruction manual for this.


Just before cooking the waffles, add the eggs and baking soda, and stir to mix well. (I also added ½ t. vanilla at this point.) The batter will be very thin. Pour an appropriate amount of batter into your hot waffle maker: this amount will vary from machine to machine, and you should plan to use your first waffle as a test specimen. Cook until golden and crisp.

Yield: depends on the size and configuration of your waffle iron

Breads with Seeds and Flakes (BBD #58)

First, before I begin, I have to say that this bread is one of the best I've ever tasted.  It disappeared way too quickly!  

April's bread baking challenge was hosted by Cinzia of Cindystar.  She chose the theme of breads with seeds and flakes.   This was a great theme, since there are so many delicious seeds to use.


I chose a recipe from the Red Star Yeast website, Seed and Wheat Bread.  It incorporates flax seeds and sesame seeds into the dough, and I also added roasted sunflower seeds.  The addition of molasses provides a rich color as well as wonderful depth of flavor.  It turned out to be one of my all-time favorite breads.

I used the bread machine to prepare the dough, but decided to make a free-form boule rather than a regular loaf.  Either way, it turned out fine.

I'm sending this over to Cinzia for this month's Bread Baking Day (#58).  Thanks to both Cinzia and to Zorra for yet another delightful bread experience.  The roundup should appear in a few days.

Seed and Wheat Bread

This recipe makes 1 loaf

Ingredients

		Medium	Large
Water		1/2 cup, plus 3 TBSP	3/4 cup, plus 2 TBSP
Vegetable Oil		3 TBSP	4 TBSP
Light molasses		4 TBSP	5 TBSP
Egg(s)		1	2
Flax seeds		1 TBSP	1 TBSP, plus 1+1/2 tsp
Sesame seeds		2 TBSP	3 TBSP
Salt		1+1/2 tsp	2 tsp
Whole Wheat Flour		1 cup	1+1/3 cup
Bread Flour		2 cups	2+2/3 cups
Active Dry Yeast		2+1/4 tsp	1 TBSP

Directions

Baker's Note: Due to the low volume of this loaf, the medium recipe can be used in a small machine.

Bread Machine Method

Have liquid ingredients at 80°F and all other ingredients at room temperature. Place ingredients in pan in the order specified in your owner’s manual. Select basic cycle and medium/normal crust. Do not use delay timer. Check dough consistency after 5 minutes of kneading. The dough should be in a soft, tacky ball. If it is dry and stiff, add water, 1/2 to 1 TBSP at a time. If it is too wet and sticky, add 1 TBSP of flour at a time.

Mixer Methods

Use ingredient amounts listed for medium loaf, combine yeast, 1 cup bread flour, and other dry ingredients, except whole wheat flour. Combine liquids, except egg, and heat to 120°-130°F.
 
Hand-Held Mixer Method: Combine dry mixture and liquid ingredients, except egg, in mixing bowl on low speed. Beat 2 to 3 minutes on medium speed. Add egg; beat 1 minute. By hand, stir in whole wheat flour and enough remaining bread flour to make a firm dough. Knead on floured surface 5 to 7 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Use additional flour if necessary.
 
Stand Mixer Method: Combine dry mixture and liquid ingredients, except egg, in mixing bowl with paddle or beaters for 4 minutes on medium speed. Add egg; beat 1 minute. Gradually add whole wheat flour and remaining bread flour and knead with dough hook(s) 5 to 7 minutes until smooth and elastic.

Food Processor Method: Put dry mixture in processing bowl with steel blade. While motor is running, add liquid ingredients and egg. Process until mixed. Continue processing, adding whole wheat flour and remaining bread flour until dough forms a ball.

Rising, Shaping and Baking

Place dough in lightly oiled bowl and turn to grease top. Cover; let rise until dough tests ripe. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface; punch down to remove air bubbles. Roll or pat into a 14 x 7- inch rectangle. Starting with shorter side, roll up tightly, pressing dough into roll. Pinch edges and taper ends to seal. Place in greased 9 x 5-inch loaf pan. Cover; let rise until indentation remains after touching. Bake in preheated 375°F oven 30 to 40 minutes. Remove from pan; cool.

BBD#57: A Blogwarming Party

In the nick of time, I have made it to Zorra's blogwarming party, celebrating her new and improved blog site.  

I'm excited to share a new bread recipe that I came across recently.  It is wonderfully delicious and so easy to make.  

Meet Tipsy Batter Bread:

Because of fairness to Mary (the author) and her blog post (One Perfect Bite), I'm posting the link to the recipe rather than the recipe itself.  The only alteration I made to the recipe was to add some fresh orange zest along with the currants and toasted almonds.


The bread's texture is almost cake-like, but it's still a bread.  Adding the rum syrup is a must, but glazing the top is optional.

In the next few days, be sure and stop by Zorra's website to see all the delicious party entries and checkout her new blog.

Then, head over to Mary's website for a great variety of wonderful recipes.

Assyrian Spinach Pies

Once again the month has flown by too quickly.  At the beginning of 2013 I was sure my workload wouldn't be as heavy as 2012, but I was wrong.  Hence the reason this poor blog is underpopulated for February.


The other day I just had to bake bread.  It's one of the activities that grounds and centers me.   I decided to choose the interesting bread presented by the Bread Baking Babes.  This month, Tanna was the hostess, and she chose Assyrian Spinach Pies in celebration of the Babes' fifth year anniversary.


One key ingredient for the dough, aside from ground flax seeds (always in my freezer), was mahleb, a Middle Eastern spice made from ground cherry pits.   As luck would have it, I actually had a small container in my pantry.  I only had to grind the seeds and I was good to go.

For the filling, I substituted Swiss chard and dried cherries for the spinach and pomegranate seeds.  All other ingredients were the same as the recipe.
  


The dough was absolutely lovely to work with.   Because of the mahleb, there was a slight fragrance of cherry (or so I was convinced).   True confession here:  I made the dough in my bread machine.  I tossed in all the ingredients and let the machine work its magic while I prepared the filling and slipped in a bit work.

The filling went together nicely, although I found that I only needed a scant 1/4 cup for each pie.  Otherwise, I would have run out of filling.

 Ready to bake:

I did manage to freeze most of the pies -- they make a tasty lunch on the spur of the moment with just a quick reheating. 

So, if you want to try the recipe, head over to Tanna's blog for the ingredients and the instructions.

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.