Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day - Part I

OK - I've done it.  I've started the great bread experiment.  I'm actually about 4 weeks into. If you're wondering about which "bread experiment" I'm alluding to I refer you back to my early post.

I made my first batch of dough a few weeks ago.

It was as simple to make as the book stated.  Just dump in all the ingredients, mix it with a spoon till everything was incorporated and then put a lid on it.

In hindsight I think I didn't add enough flour - user error in counting. And I tried a new brand of yeasty and it was VERY "yeasty".

Following the directions of the book, after the dough sat in my fridge over night, I formed it into a shape and using my new pizza peel and old-seasoned stone I baked my first loaf.

Drum roll please............................ Tada!

I know, pitiful, huh?!?

It definitely wasn't much to look at, but it tasted fantastic. And just in case you couldn't tell how oddly shaped it was here's the loaf from another angle.

I made 2 more loaves later during the week from the same batch of dough.  Judging when the loaf is done is still kind of tricky for me.  I'm so worried about burning it or over cooking it, that I tend to take it out too early.  I found that I have to bake my bread at least 15-20 minutes longer than it says to in the book.

So the last batch of bread I made from the dough turned out much better, see for yourself:

The bread taste was pretty much consistently the same - great, but the crumb was much improved.  The first loaf was a little dense and moist, this loaf had more air pockets.

Another batch of dough is sitting in my fridge right now.  I haven't had the guts to try one of the flavored recipes yet, because i still think I've got a lot to improve on with these plain loaves.  Once I get them down, I'll go crazy.

One thing I didn't think of though when I started this...I don't usually eat this much bread and I hate to say it but I may be reaching my consumption limit.  I've got to hurry up and perfect this recipe so I can start giving the bread away.

Delicious Homemade Pizza

I just can't own a new pizza peel and not make homemade pizza.  Last week I had a hankering for pizza and so I invited a few friends over for my culinary experimentation - and I scored BIG!

FIRST IMPORTANT STEP

In order to get that perfect authentic pizza crust, I would argue that you need to bake your pizza on a stone.  I've tried the pan method and I don't feel like you can get the same rustic crust color and texture from a pan as compared to a stone.  Besides that, I think every kitchen should have a good stone, because sooooo many things taste better cooked on a stone.

Anyways, back to the important first step -- stick your stone in the oven, second from the bottom tier, and get it heating up.  I turned my oven up to 400 degrees and let my stone heat up for a good 20 minutes - which is about the amount of time it takes to put everything together. ;o)

The Dough

The pizza dough was from a friend of my mom. After putting all the ingredients together I set the bowl aside to rise while I made the pizza sauce.

1/4c. water  with 1 tsp. sugar
*warm water and sugar in microwave until warm, then add
1 TBS. yeast

add yesty-water to
2 1/4 C. flour
1tsp. salt
1 TBS sugar
3/4 c. warm milk

Set dough aside to rise.

The Sauce
And I'm going to do ya'll a huge favor and introduce you to Cento Tomatoes.

This is the secret to a perfect tomato sauce. I swear to you that Cento tomatoes are distinctly different canned tomatoes. Now I'm not a spokes person for Cento, but I am someone who has tried a lot of canned tomatoes. It was obvious from the moment that I peeled back the can lid that these tomatoes were different:

• there was actually a smell of ripe tomatoes that proceed the first glimpse of the contents of the can
• the color of the tomatoes was a deep red, not the regular sickly red with spots of yellow and green
• when I stuck my finger into the can and tasted the crushed tomatoes they were delightfully tomatoey in taste without an overpowering acidity.

With tomatoes like this I really didn't have to do much to make a yummy pizza sauce.  I diced and sauteed a half of a sweet onion and about 2 cloves of crushed garlic in 2 TBS of olive oil.  Once the onions were translucent I dumped 1 28 oz can of crushed Cento tomatoes into the pot, added some dried oregano, basil, and a pinch of rosemary and let it hangout on the stove top on low while I went back to play with my dough.

Shaping the Pizza

Seeing as I make a big enough mess in the kitchen with out throwing dough around, I just stuck to rolling out a hunk of dough on a floured counter top.Thin crust pizza is my favorite (it's the whole dough to toppings ratio thing) and so I probably rolled my dough out more than most people.
I sprinkled the top of my pizza peel with corn meal and then flopped my dough onto the pizza peel.  Transferring the pizza dough from my peel to the super-duper hot stone in the oven required a little shaking and jiggling (the pizza peel, not me).  And here's where the fun began:

• I let the pizza dough in the oven for 2 minutes, then air bubbled begsn to form and in some cases made my pizza dough look like a big pillow. After two minutes, I opened the oven, and using a fork, I popped all the air bubbles.
• After about another 3 minutes I used my peel and pulled out the dough (it smells FABULOUS by this point)
• I covered the top with a light spreading of the tomato sauce (too much sauce can kill the pizza) and added slices of fresh mozzarella and thin slices of Genoa Salami
• I flipped the oven to broil and popped the pizza back onto the stone for a final back of 4-8 minutes

After that, you pull that pizza out and indulge in warm-cheezy-yeasty-salty Italian perfection.

I've been to Italy and tasted authentic pizza from Rome, Florence, and the hill country of Tuscany, and I'd say that this comes pretty ding-dang close.

This is a photo of my favorite pizza in Rome (this is one unforgettable creation)

What do you think?

Pizza Peel and Tomatoes

Yahoo! Two great things on my porch when I got home from work today. 1) a whole "harvest" of new tomatoes were ready to be picked and 2) my new pizza peel.

The tomatoes I'll be eating tonight (haven't yet decided how).  I sure wish I had a fresh loaf of bread, because there are very few things in life that are as good as a homemade tomato sandwich with fresh bread, mayo, big slices of fresh warm tomatoes straight from the garden and bit of salt and pepper - delicious!

However, the new pizza peel does bring me one step closer to the fresh bread.  I'm now just waiting on my "bucket", in which I'll mix my dough.  Maybe tomorrow it will be waiting for my on my porch.

Artisan Bread in Five MInutes a Day - ready to start

Ok - so I finished reading the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day book. I'm ready to start!  I ordered a 6 qt container and a pizza peel today on Amazon and it should arrive here by Thursday or Friday.  I think tomorrow night I'll make the dough and then start baking on Thursday.

I've been impressed by the science behind Hertzberg and Francois's book.  I like to know "why" things work, especially when it comes to cooking & baking.  When I know why then I can figure out "how" when changes need to be made.

I'm really excited!!  I'll take pictures and let you know how it goes.

Pulla - Finnish Sweet Bread

I have this AMAZINGLY talented friend. He does everything from remodeling his home and refurbishing rebuilding old pianos to computer programing, sewing and cooking. Your all around renaissance man. And every year at Christmas time Chaz makes this delectable bread called Pulla. He learned to make it will serving a mission for our church in Finland. He picked up some tips and tricks to making this Finnish delight from a local.

Apparently in Finland Pulla is consumed like Americans consume doughnuts or pastries. Pulla is a mildly sweet bread, flavored with cardamom, that is eaten with coffee or hot chocolate. I had to borrow this photo of Pulla bread from wikipedia because unfortunately I have to confess, I don't have any pictures to show you of a finished Pulla. "Why?" you ask, well, darn it, i ate it all this year before I remembered I hadn't taken a final picture. Aggghh!!!!!

So anyways, below are the step by step instructions. I've been bugging Chaz to have me over when he actually makes the bread so I can learn and this year our schedules finally lined up. THANKS CHAZ!!

First, here is the recipe

Pulla or Finnish Sweet Bread


2.5 c milk
1.5 sticks butter
2 packets yeast
2/3 c sugar
2 Tblsp cardamon
2 eggs
6-7 cups flour

Step 1: Warm the milk and melt the butter in it. (First I should preface this entire recipe with the fact that Chaz has a teeny-tiny kitchen and he is in the midst of doing a whole house remodel - i.e. knocking down walls, ceilings and a roof -- and he still finds the time and means for baking up batch after batch of delicious bread for everyone during the holiday season.)

Step 2: mix together the eggs, the yeast, and the sugar.

I had to show you that eggs don't get much fresher than this. Chaz has his own chicken coop and gets fresh eggs daily. (What did I tell you about him being a renaissance man - it's enough to give a woman a complex)

Step 3: crush the cardamom (usually comes in small seeds).

Chaz gave me a quick course in Cardamom 101 - normally cardamom is a very black pungent seed that comes from a pod found on a plant that is indigenous to India. For some reason the seeds that we get from our stores here in the states seem to be less potent and grayer in color - leading one to believe that they're much less fresh than cardamom which can be found in Finland. So Chaz actually uses a bit more cardamom than the recipe calls for, when he's baking here in the states, because the cardamom is less potent.

You'll need to crush/grind the cardamom seeds. If you've got a spice grinder, that will work great. Mortar and pestle will also work. If you don't have either of those, you can do as Chaz does and just use your blender - unique, but effective.

You can add the ground cardamom to the egg and sugar mixture.

Step 4: Once the butter has completed melted and the milk is starting to scald, temper the egg/yeast/sugar mixture with some of the heated milk/butter mixture. Once tempered, add the all of milk mixture to the egg mixture

Step 5: add 1-2 cups of flour to the wet mixture, this just helps things get started (the yeast becomes active)

Step 6: (if waiting can be considered a step) You now set the dough aside to rise for 20-30 minutes.

Chaz taught me another technique for rising dough - he fills up his sink with warm water and then just sets the bowl in the warm water = warm, moist environment for raising the dough.

Step 7: after it has risen and bubbled a little, you add the rest of the flour. The dough should remain relatively tacky. Shape it into a ball and let it rest in the bowl to rise more.

Here's the dough after it has had time to rest and the yeast has started to do its job.

After adding the remaining flour the dough is being set back into the bath of warm water to have time to rise a second time.

In between rising times, Chaz taught me how to use a nail gun as he had to frame out his new garage door -- fun, fun, fun!

Step 8: after this second chance to rise, your dough is ready to work. You will need to knead it for 3-5 minutes. Kneading will help develop the glutton.

Please note Chaz's amazing bread board. This beautiful kitchen tool is sooo well seasoned and loved that he didn't even need any flour on it. It's been perfectly oiled and used over the years. You can't buy tools like this...and if he's not careful, next time I'm over I may try to slip it into my jacket and make off with it.

Step 9: shape the dough - your choice.

To make the braid, Chaz first rolls out ropes of dough.

Then he lays 3 ropes out and crosses them to begin his braiding.

 

Finally, after braiding he tucks the ends under the braid.

Step 10: break an egg in to a bowl, mix, and apply an egg wash to the top of the formed bread. Sprinkle with course sugar.

Now Chaz swears that the best sugar for sprinkling on top of Pulla can only be found in Finland - he has to stock up when he goes to Finland. But you can probably settle for a general coarse sugar.

Step 11: Bake at 350degrees for 20-30 minutes.

Step 12: Enjoy.  (for pictures of what the final product looks like, refer to the top) Soooooorrrryyyy! I just couldn't wait to eat it, forget taking pictures of it.

The recipe for Pulla in its entirety:

Pulla or Finnish Sweet Bread

2.5 c milk
1.5 sticks butter
2 packets yeast
2/3 c sugar
2 Tblsp cardamon
2 eggs
6-7 cups flour

Warm milk, with butter in it. Mix eggs, sugar, and yeast. Crush and
add cardamon. Pour in warm milk (warm to touch, not hot). Mix in 1-2
c flour. Let sit for 15-30 min.

Mix in rest of flour slowly mixing well.

Let raise for 25-30 min. Shape and cover with egg wash before baking for shiny look. Sprinkle with coarse sugar and bake. 350 degrees 20-30 min.

A new adventure into bread making

I've decided that I need something new, culinarily speaking, to jump start the new year. Several of the food bloggers I follow have mentioned a great book called "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day", by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois. It sounded very interesting. I stink at making bread. Don't ask me why. For my last birthday in October I asked my best friend to come over and give me a a basic bread lesson...she makes amazing loaves of bread (see for yourself below).

She did a great job teaching me, but I'm still struggling to make my bread as light as hers.

I've just started reading my new book. As I begin to experiment, I'll be sure to let you know how things go. Wish me luck!

Simply Fabulous Chocolate Orange Scones

So I went to Crackers for breakfast with some friends last week.  I ordered their cranberry orange scone and it was absolutely delicious - not too dry, not to sweet, and just the right amount of orange and cranberries.  I figured that I could give recreating the recipe a try.  However, rather than cranberries I thought that I would make it with my favorite pairing for orange...chocolate!

The best chocolate chips in the world are Ghiradelli's "Double Chocolate Bittersweet Chips".  You can get them from Costco.  America's Test Kitchen even rated them the best chips.  Great deep chocolate taste without that weird waxy underpinning that you often get in low-grade chocolate chips.

I pulled a "Simple Scone" recipe from USA WEEKENDcolumnist Pam Anderson on Allrecipes.com.  Pretty basic.  Then I "meganized" it...

Here is the recipe for Simple Scrumptious Orange Chocolate Scones.

I'm happy to report that I'm not the only one that though they were delicious.  I took them into work and they were a HIT!!!  I shared some with my dad and he reported (via text) "that breakfast scone was the absolutely most delicious and heavenly pastry I have ever had. Bravo".  So this recipe is a keeper.

Magical Lemon-Blueberry Bundt Cake

I have been remiss. I realized this morning that I have failed to share one of my absolute favorite recipes with you. I have people at work clamoring for this on a weekly basis. It is a truly divine concoction and, I hate to break it to you....but it's low-fat. Eeekkk! Doesn't that equate to "NO TASTE"? Not in this delicious Lemon-Blueberry Bundt Cake from Cooking Light. Here you go...

Lemon-Blueberry Bundt Cake
Cooking Light Magazine

Cake:
Cooking spray
2 Tbsp. granulated sugar
3 C. all-purpose flour
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp salt
1 ¾ c. granulated sugar
¼ C. butter, softened
1 Tbsp. grated lemon rind (zest)
4 large eggs
½ tsp. vanilla extract
1 16-oz container fat-free sour cream
2 cups fresh blueberries
Glaze:
1 C. powdered sugar
3 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. To prepare cake, coat a 12-cup bundt pan with cooking spray; dust with 2 Tbsp. granulated sugar. Set aside.
3. Lightly spook flour into dry measure cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk.
4. Place 1 ¾ C. granulated sugar, butter, and lemon zest in a large bowl, beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 2 minutes). Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition (about 4 minutes total). Beat in vanilla and sour cream. Add flour mixture; beat at medium speed just until combined. Gently fold in blueberries.
5. Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake at 350 for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 15 minutes on a wire rack, remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.
6. To prepare glaze, combine powdered sugar and lemon juice, stirring well with a whisk. Drizzle over cooled cake. Yield’s 16 servings.

Enjoy!

Bright Raspberry Crumb Topped Muffins

I got 2 1/2 pints of fresh raspberries in my bountiful basket last week. I've been trying to come up with something to do with them before they went bad. Finally, I came across a raspberry muffin recipe that had some great potential. I did a bit of tweaking and they turned out pretty darn fabulous. They muffins are not overly sweet and the brightness of the berries perfectly highlighted, so very fresh tasting.

Bright Raspberry Crumb Topped Muffins

1/2 c. butter, softened
1/2 c. white sugar
1/4 c. brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 c. yogurt (I used a single serving of peach no-fat yogurt and it was perfect. I might try lemon next time.)
1/2 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla

2 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 c. fresh raspberries

Crumb Topping
1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1/4 c. quick-oats
3 TBS brown sugar
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. salt
3 TBS cold butter

1. In mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg.
2. In small bowl mix yogurt, milk, and vanilla.
3. Combine dry ingredients (except for Crumb Toppings).
4. Combine dry ingredients; stir into creamed mixture alternatively with wet mixture just until moistened. Gently fold in raspberries.
5. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full.
6. Combine crumb topping ingredients, cut in butter till mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle crumb topping over muffins.
7. Bake muffins at 400 degrees for 18-20 minutes or until muffins test done.
8. Remove from pan and cool on rack.

Enjoy!!!

Dutch Oven - Breakfast Pizza & Carmel Pecan French Toast

I'm back! The past few months have been a little busy and it's been a struggle to find time to actually cook anything, take pictures of it, and then post about it. It's been all I can do just to find something to heat up from the freezer.
Anyways, I've got a few things stored up and will finally be posting them. First, I went camping this weekend and did some dutch oven cooking with my family. My mom and dad have always loved to dutch oven cook and so they've taught us all to appreciate a good meal cooked in cast iron over hot coals.
My contribution to the family dutch oven breakfast was "Breakfast Pizza". Here's the recipe:

Dutch Oven Breakfast Pizza

1 can crescent rolls
1 lb sausage; browned & drained
1 c. thawed frozen hash brons
1 green onion; sliced
3/4 c. shredded cheddar cheese
4 eggs; beaten
3 TBS milk
1 TBS flour/bisquick
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper
3 TBS. parmesan cheese

Unroll the crescent rolls. Line the bottom of a 12" dutch oven with a layer of flattened crescent rolls. Sprinkle evenly with sausage, hash browns, green onion, and cheddar cheese. In a medium bowl whisk together eggs, milk, flour/bisquick, salt and pepper. Pour egg mixture evenly over top of pizza. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Cover and bake using 8 briquettes on the bottom and 12 briquettes on the top for 20-30 minutes, until eggs are set.

RECIPE NOTES:

• I found that I actually used 1 1/2 cans crescent rolls in order to thoroughly cover the bottom of the dutch oven.
• You really need to use name brand -- Pillsbury -- crescent rolls. I tried the recipe the first time with cheap generic crescent rolls and it totally bombed (just ask my dad).
• I made two dutch ovens of pizza. The first was plain, just the recipe above. The second was a "mexican" style pizza. I added a can of green chilis and browned the sausage with taco seasoning. You could definitely add churizo and some red and yellow peppers and it would be great topped with cilantro or fresh salsa.

My brother and his adorable wife, Ellie, made Caramel Pecan French Toast. It was DELICIOUS. And here is their fabulous recipe:

Dutch Oven - Carmel Pecan French Toast

12" dutch oven-6 servings

3/4 cups butter
1 cup light brown sugar
1 cup chopped pecans
8 large eggs
1-1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 loaf French bread, cut in 1" slices

Place slices of bread in large casserole bowl. Mix eggs, vanilla, milk, and cinnamon, beating well. Pour egg mixture over bread and allow it to soak in. Melt butter in dutch oven, stir in brown sugar and cook long enough for sugar to dissolve.

Add pecans covering bottom evenly. Place bread slices in dutch oven, pouring remaining egg mixture over bread.

8 coals on bottom/ 12 top coals. Cover and bake medium to medium-low heat for 30-40 minutes, adding top coals after 15 minutes. Bake until toast is firm and brown.

This is so good, no syrup is needed... enjoy.
Chris http://forums.idos.org/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=21551

Apple Cinnamon Swirl Bread

One of my friends at work requested my Apple Cinnamon Swirl Bread recipe, so I'm throwing it up here. I got the original recipe from a recipe posted by Sharon Walker on Allrecipes.com and then I added my own personal twist.



Apple Cinnamon Swirl Bread
Makes 1 Loaf

1/4 C. butter, softened
1 C. granulated sugar
1 egg
2 C. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 C. buttermilk (I don't have this very often, instead I use 1 C. skim milk with 1 TBS. lemon juice or vinegar)
1 C. diced apples (if you cut them too small they all but disappear, too big and they becoming an eating obstacle)

1 TBS ground cinamon
1/3 C. granulated sugar

1. In a large mixing bowl beat the butter, sugar and egg until well blended. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add to the egg mixture alternately with buttermilk. Mix in the diced apples. In a small separate bowl combine cinnamon and sugar, set aside.

2. Pour half of the batter into the a well greased loaf pan. Sprinkle a very generous layer of cinnamon sugar over the batter. Pour the remaining batter in, sprinkle a small amount of cinnamon sugar over the very top.
3. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for at least 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack to cool completely.