Breakfast bread: English muffins

Okay, I missed both September and October. We were out of town way too much. There was just no way. No way at all! Anyway...on to November.

I love breakfast for dinner. Since I work, I usually cram a yogurt and a bar for breakfast during the week and then weekends get crazy with the kids' activities. This leaves little time for a real breakfast. You know. Real.

So one weekend night I made English muffins. I know it says "muffins" which is not what you think of when someone says they are making bread, but it uses yeast. So it's bread enough for this quest. I got the recipe from Alton Brown.

It was interesting to pan fry the dough before putting them in the oven for the rest of the baking process. You have to be careful and watch them when frying. The cornmeal can burn quickly.

After we made the muffins, we made eggs and built sandwiches. So awesome I realized I hadn't taken a picture of the sandwich. They were gobbled up so fast!

Now Bake That!

Cheater cornbread muffins

Yeah. Life gets insanely busy with the beginning of the school year. I realized I ran out of time and it is the end of August. The thought of sneaking in making real yeast bread seemed exhausting. I just made chili and from-scratch cornbread muffins. The word "bread" is in there!!

I used the recipe on the side of the box of Quaker cornmeal. Not very original, but they were yummy.

Now bake that!

Parker house roll sliders

I missed June due to out of town guests and travel. No worries right? We were having an impromptu party for the 4th of July. We were grilling sliders so I decided to make rolls that could be used as buns. I used this from Baking Illustrated cookbook, which I won't violate copyright law to reprint on my blog. However, you can also find the recipe here via Bobby Flay on the Food network website.

They were excellent! Super buttery and yummy.

Now bake that!

Braiding brioche

This month I chose to try: Brioche. Looking at the recipe itself, it looks like fancy schmancy challah really...with butter.

I admit it. The only reason I made brioche is so I can make it into something else...

Now the tricky part was how to shape it. There were all sorts of options. Put it in a loaf pan, shaped pan, etc. I decided to go easy. I braid challah in a round for Rosh Hashana so I did the same for the brioche. 

So pretty!

It made killer french toast.

It also was incredible for bread pudding, which became my husband's birthday dessert (he doesn't care for cake).

Now bake that!

All booked up

One of my co-workers is retiring. She is the librarian for our Assistive Technology-Instructional Materials library at the Special Education collaborative I work for.

Not only is my friend super amazing, we spent some fun times outside of work going swing dancing so I wanted to do something extra, extra special for her retirement. It helped that we had two parties for her.

Our first party was at the office. I made her a Kransekaka (I have made it before, see the link here for Rings of Glory for more information). I tried a different recipe, nearly identical to this link from Artic Grub.

The difference from the online recipe is that I made chocolate icing and put on little flower shaped sprinkles. Traditionally you put a bottle of wine inside. But I didn't want anyone to get in trouble at work, so there is a small bottle of lemon flavored Perrier inside.

Later in the month we had a party outside of work at a local bar and grill. Here is where I got more creative. Since she is a librarian, I made books on a stick!

Here is how I made them:

1. I made a from scratch, yellow cake in a cookie sheet (or jelly roll pan, which is what we called them growing up) and cut them into rectangles




2. I melted a few candy melts in a bowl. I dipped the sticks into the candy and then poked
the rectangles. I froze the cake pops for 30 minutes.
 

3. I dipped the cake pops in white candy melts and let them dry. Sorry no picture of that.

4. Then I cut the sugar sheets into rectangles with a kitchen scissors.


I wrote on a few of the sugar sheet rectangles with Wilton writing pens (food coloring). Treating the candy melts like glue, I spread a little of melted candy on the cake pop. I wrapped the cut sugar sheet around the cake pop like a book cover.

 

5. Then I rolled out some shape-n-amaze edible dough and cut out book mark shapes with a knife. I used a little melted candy as glue again to keep the bookmark on the cake pop.

Ta-da!

Then I ran out of sugar sheets! Here is the bad part about baking at 11pm at night. No store with sugar sheets would be open. So I had to improvise. I rolled out some of the shape and amaze and used it as book covers. I used scraps of yellow sugar sheets to make yellow bookmarks.

The best was that my friend LOVED the the cake pops and they were completely personalized to her.

Now Bake That!

Crazy Creepin' Creeper Cake Pops

There is something you should know about most boys I know under the age of twelve. They're all addicted. 

To Minecraft. 

Yep. That fuzzy block shaped, animated video game featuring Lego inspired robots, sheep, spiders, diamond swords and creepers has invaded my life. It is on my phone, my husband's phone, my iPad, my husband's iPad, my laptop and our Xbox. The only good part of this game is now my youngest child has something in common with his cousin who lives two states away, whom he sees only once a year and is five years older than him. These two boys talked two hours about Minecraft. Whoa.

My oldest child was turning ten this year. He chose to have his first sleep over birthday party this year. The theme was of course...video games. Not that it was really a theme, just justification for creeper cake pops. After some surfing on google images, I made my own.

 

Molded cake pops are my second choice. I prefer cutting my cake into shapes. I baked a from scratch yellow cake and using a ruler, cut cubes.

  

 2. I melted a handful of candy melts from Wilton and dipped each stick into the cake. I froze the cake pop in the freezer for 30 minutes. Then I melted the rest of the green candy melts. I dipped and then let it dry.


3. Then came the conundrum. How do I get the faces on there? I tried two methods using Wilton products: Shape-n-Amaze and Cookie icing in a glue shaped bottle. I actually thought the cookie icing looked nicer (it was shiny). However, the Shape-n-Amaze was far easier to do, so I went with that for the rest of the cake pops.

I don't know why I fussed. The kids didn't care. They were thrilled they were creepers!

Now Bake That!
  



 

Stick it!

My son had his first baseball game today. 

So in honor of all 7 year olds trying to bat with a machine pitcher, I made soft pretzels for April's bread baking adventure!

I used a recipe I had my eye on for awhile from Cook's Illustrated, soft pretzels. However, if you don't get Cook's Illustrated or have the Baking Illustrated cookbook, I searched and found a similar recipe on about.com Homemade soft pretzel bites. The main difference in the recipe is Cook's Illustrated used honey instead of sugar and some of the quantities are different.

Anyway, I prefer pretzel sticks. So instead of rolling into snakes and making knots, I just cut the dough in 12 pieces and stretched it out before boiling. I made cheese sauce from velveeta and milk. Basically the same sauce on the box for Mac n' cheese.

My parents were visiting from Minnesota and were super happy to help trying them out. They were awesome!

Now Bake That!

Sweet abandonment

My husband games. He plays video games. He does role playing online computer games. He plays card games and occasionally a board game or chess. And as geeky as it sounds, Dungeon and Dragons. Or something like it. The cool thing about him gaming is he comes home in a good mood. Not the "Packers-just-won-a- football-game-exuberant-happiness" mood... but rather chipper.  It's also an excuse for me to bake! He has taken various treats to this group, bringing me back empty or nearly empty containers.

We both got out of work late so I was rushing around when he got home. Unfortunately he was home for just a few minutes before declaring he only had 15 more minutes before he had to leave again. I panicked. I was only half way into my new recipe I just found for Caramel Butter Bars. I quickly whipped up a pan of rice krispie treats made with homemade marshmallows (I had made marshmallows last week for s'mores). My husband took the rice krispie treats and I was abandoned with an entire pan of these sweet beauties:

You know it smells good if I couldn't wait to eat one before snapping a picture.

Note: I left out the sea salt by accident. They were wonderful even without that added complexity. Well there was an entire pound of butter in it, so it was destined for yumminess.

Now Bake That!

Biga deal

I've been playing it safe by making easy recipes. As my co-worker says, it was time to put on my big girl boots. I had to push my skills forward. Even if I had to throw away bread.

I picked an intermediate recipe from a book I got as a gift from my mother-in-law by Maggie Glezer: Artisan Baking. It's an excellent book but the recipes are intimidating. I had tried a beginner recipe in the past for Bialy and it took me awhile to feel comfortable with the recipe. 

This recipe for Ciabatta was two full, oversized pages. And that was after three pages of introductory information. I was freaked out. I was going to try to make a pre-ferment called a Biga. Which is like a sourdough starter but uses store bought yeast, not sourdough yeast. Whatever sourdough yeast is. According to Ms. Glezer, there are five different kinds of pre-ferments: poolish, scrap dough, biga, sponge and mixed starter. Some are Polish, some are Italian, and some are French in origin. Whatever. I love Ciabatta so I will do what I need to do.

The purpose of the pre-ferment is to have flavorful bread without additives. 
The biga is made up of several kinds of flour, yeast, and water. It's super stiff and kneading it was difficulty. Like a trying to knead sticky silly putty. You cover it up and it rises (aka ferments) for 24 hours.

I let my bread rise in one of two places: my oven with the oven light on and that I preheated for a few moments to 100 degrees and then turned off (I use a thermometer. I try to get it around 75 degrees) OR my laundry closet with the pocket doors closed and when the dryer is going. I chose the oven this time for most of the job and planned on switching to the laundry closet if necessary. I was worried that I would forget about my poor biga sitting in my oven for a whole day. What if I wanted to bake a pizza or something and forgot about the sleeping biga? I wrote myself a note on a sticky, "Mind the Biga". Paranoia isn't all bad. Who wants to cook dough in a mixing bowl with press and seal and a kitchen towel? 



After that full day of rising, it is time for step two. In a mixer you add more flour, yeast, salt and water and mix it with the biga. The dough that is created is the opposite of the biga. This is a wet dough. Wetter than anything I've used before. You scrape it out and wrap it up again and let it rise again for another 4 hours. However, it's not like making the biga, where you mix it up and leave it. It's a needy dough. I have to pull out of the bowl, all gooey and stretch it and fold it up like a piece of paper. It's called turning the dough.  Turning is instead of "punching down the dough". The purpose is to develop gluten. 

You do it four times, twenty minutes apart and when you are done it rests for the rest of the rise time. I was worried though. The directions said that the dough would stiffen up a bit with turning and it didn't. It still seemed just as soft and sticky to me. Maybe I let it rise too long (over-ferment)! It was the one thing in the pages of background info that you had to watch out for.

After all that fun it almost fills up my huge bowl and has some giant bubbles.

I had no idea that the bread is going to be huge. I was worried it wouldn't fit on my baking stone or while it baked it would fill up my oven and shove out the edges like a cartoon. I put it in the oven anyways. I wanted a crispy crust. I pulled a trick I learned from making baguettes, which was putting a pan of water underneath and spraying water on the walls of my oven.

My worries about over-fermenting were unfounded. The outcome was fantastic!

Crusty on the outside and soft on the inside. Biga success!

Now Bake That!

74 is the best number

Chuck Norris has a number.
I'm a huge fan of the television show Big Bang Theory. There is an episode (Alien Parasite Hypothesis) where one of the characters on the show, Sheldon, tells everyone that 73 is the best number. Or as another character referred to 73, the Chuck Norris of numbers. Bad news Big Bang Theory, Sheldon Cooper is wrong about the best number. Well if you want to apply perfect numbers to baking bread. According the the authors of a famous bread baking book written in 1993, Bread Alone, the magic number is 74.

Double F
I chose focaccia for February. When I went through Bread Alone's recipe, it did not list a temperature that I needed to have the water for dissolving the yeast. I began to panic. It was already 8:30am and I didn't have enough time to figure it out. I wanted to eat this bread before midnight tonight and this bread needed 8 hours for its first rise. I just bit my lip and went with room temperature water. Later I was able to get back to the book.

Temperature of everything matters.
The reason why the temperature wasn't in the recipe is you have to do something. A four letter word. Math. At least it is easy math! You have to add the temperature of the flour, temperature of your kitchen and then add 10-14 degrees due to friction you will impart to the dough when kneading it. Then subtract it from 240 degrees which is the ideal sum temperature of ingredients/room. What you're left with is temperature for your water.

Now I know you are at the edge of your seat...what's with 74?

In general, bread rises best at 80 degrees. Yet the authors highlight 74. Here is why. The minimum temperature to ferment dough is 74 degrees. If you go below that number, it rises too slowly. If you get above 80 degrees you will rise too fast and too much. 

Fancy schmancy! 

I was worried. I got to this information too late and we keep our house around 65-68 degrees in the winter. It all worked out somehow. The bread was excellent!

T

Focaccia has different topping options. The loaf on the left I topped with olive oil, rosemary, thyme, garlic and truffle salt. The one on the right is olive oil and sea salt.
 
Now Bake That!

*This blog is brought to you by the letter F and the number 74.

The Cure For Epic Fail Brownies

It was a snow day yesterday. The first thing that pops into my head (after I do my happy-I-work-for-a-school-district dance) is that a snow day means making a fort, playing in the snow and of course...hot chocolate. To me, hot chocolate means homemade marshmallows. Making homemade marshmallows may seem extreme. They are not. They are the best. If you have ever tasted a homemade marshmallow, you understand the internal disappointment I feel when I have to buy a regular bag of cylindrical globs of rubber.

I use the Bon Appetit Marshmallow recipe. Easy-ish..but very messy.

Then we had another snow day today. What to do?!? 

My favorite ice cream has marshmallow and caramel. So why not make brownies with marshmallow and caramel sauce on top? Instead of researching on the internet like I normally do, I decided to wing it. 

What could possibly go wrong?

The first caramel sauce recipe I tried was Caramel Sauce from Simply Recipes. I did my best but I know exactly what happened, I burned it. I tasted it and it was bitter and disgusting. Ick!

For take two on the caramel sauce, I used a recipe from the food network, Easy Caramel Sauce. It had 5 stars. It must be good! Now though the instructions didn't guide use of a candy thermometer, I decided to use one and bring it up to 230 degrees. I was determined not to burn it this time.

It was a good idea to use the thermometer because the sauce was pretty good. Whew! 

Next step, make the brownies. I used a friend's family recipe so I can't share it. (I discuss my brownie tips on my past post, Magical Brownies.) My son helped me make the batter. As we were stirring I told him what I was going to do next and he said, those sound like epic brownies! He is right. Anything with caramel AND marshmallow must be epic.

I cut up my marshmallows into pieces and place it on top of the brownies. Put it in the oven for 5 minutes, swirled it around, added caramel sauce and then popped it back in the oven for 20 more minutes.

Conclusion:

Epic fail brownies. :(

They were grainy. They were a little bitter. Plus they didn't even look that good. 

I had to do something....

The cure for epic fail brownies is coat something chocolate!

I took my marshmallows, cut them up again and melted some Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate. I dipped and found happiness again! I think I just wanted chocolate with my marshmallow.

Ah...chocolate covered homemade marshmallows.
 
Now Bake That!

Choly Challah Batman!

When my kids were born, I started buying challah nearly every week. We would use it to celebrate Shabbat on Friday night and then eat amazing french toast or grilled cheese the next day. I normally bought the challah from a local bakery. I would reserve it ahead of time because they ran out so frequently. Then one day in 2007, I forgot to reserve one and arrived at the store too late. I went to a grocery store and they were out of it too. Then I tried for the local kosher bakery and they were closed! (They moved to a new location but of course didn't write it on the sign on the door). Arrgh!!

Clearly the universe was trying to tell me something.

I started to drive to another store. Then I had an idea at the red light (My husband likes to call these vehicular epiphanies). I said to myself, "Screw it!! I have a package of yeast at home. I'll just go make it." 

It was the best thing I ever did.

From then on, I made it several times a month. I swear our friends agree to come over for dinner on a Friday just to have some fresh out of the oven. I use it as currency for my neighbor who helps put our kids on the bus in the morning. My challah obsession is why I picked bread as my year long baking quest this year. It's the only bread I know how to make and I just had to push the envelope. So even though I am going to make a new recipe each month, I had to blog about my recent challah story because I did something I never thought I would do. 

I made 12 loaves. In one day.

Oy.

I made it for my bus-helping neighbor's daughter's wedding. I used my neighbor's double oven as well as the one I had at home. That meant I was walking back and forth with dough and bread on my street. I'm sure it looked weird.

They turned out pretty! They were even prettier at the wedding reception.

About baking supplies: You can do this receipe without fancy stuff. However, I have had my best results using some toys. Consider getting a kitchen scale, parchment paper, a square shaped pizza stone, King Arthur Bread Flour, a Kitchen Aid stand mixer, Pampered Chef adjustable measuring cup (for the honey), and a candy thermometer. If you are using a stand mixer, read the manufacturer's instructions to find out the setting and time for using the dough hook. My 6 qt Professional Kitchen Aid kneads on setting 2 for two minutes.


Recipe:

Betsy's Challah
*makes two small loaves
1/4c water between 105-110 degrees
1 tsp quick acting yeast
1 tsp granulated sugar
1/3 c vegetable oil
1/3 c honey
2 eggs
600g of bread flour (4 cups)
10g kosher salt (roughly 1 1/2 tsp)
1/2 c warm water
Additional flour for kneading
1 egg 
1 tsp water

Using a candy thermometer run the water in your sink until the it reaches between 105-110 degrees. Measure quarter of a cup of water and stir in yeast and sugar. Set aside and allow to get bubbly, about 5 minutes. While the yeast is waking up, work on the rest of the dough. Using a kitchen scale and a stand mixer with the dough hook attachment, measure and pour in oil, eggs, honey, flour and salt into the mixer bowl. When the yeast mixture is completed, start your mixer on the lowest setting. While its running, pour in the yeast mixture and then the other 1/2 cup of warm water. Turn the mixer up a level (mine is level 2 for kneading bread) and knead for 2 minutes (or what your mixer's instructions suggest). Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead for about 1 minute. Place in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap and/or cover with a towel. Place in a warm area to rise for 1 1/2 hours (I put mine in the oven with a pan of hot water in it.) Punch down the dough and let rest for 10 more minutes. Turn the dough on a floured surface again and divide into 6 pieces. Braid three pieces at a time making two small loaves. Place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Either place in the fridge overnight or back into the warm place for 45 minutes. 

30 minutes before you are going to bake, place a small pan of water in the oven (I put it on the bottom rack). Place the pizza stone in the oven on the middle rack. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. If you used the fridge to do the second rise, pull the baking sheet out of the fridge and place it on the counter while the oven preheats. Whisk together 1 egg and 1 tsp of water. Brush onto both loaves. Using the parchment paper, slide the dough onto the stone (you can bake it on the paper). Bake for 30-35 minutes. The loaves should be golden brown and sound hollow when you tap them.



 
Notes:
No stand mixer? Work on your arm muscles and knead the bread for 10 minutes.
No pizza stone? It's okay to bake it on a baking sheet. 
No parchment paper? Grease the pan with vegetable oil or use non-stick spray.
No King Arthur Flour? You can use unbleached all-purpose or a different brand of bread flour.
No adjustable measuring cup? Enjoy cleaning the honey stickiness!
Want to make dinner rolls instead of loaves? This recipe will make 18-20, 2 ounce rolls. Bake the rolls for 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees.

Now Bake That!
 

New Years Take 2: The Yeast Beast

This year my New Year's Resolution is (drumroll)....to tame the yeast beast!

Yeah, you know what I mean! 

BREAD!

This means once a month I am going to try a new bread recipe. Like my pie challenge, I'm not a true nube to bread making. I make Challah, Bialy and on occasion, pizza. But mostly I make Challah. Typically I do it Thursday night and let it do its second rise in my second fridge. When I escape work Friday, I do not open my garage door and promptly slip into the suburban mom uniform (yoga pants and a cotton T while holding a Starbucks/red wine). 
I put my pizza stone in the oven and start preheating. 
And when its all in the oven....then I put on those yoga pants. They're just so comfy!

As awesome as my Challah is, I'm well aware that I am still just making beginner stuff. I wanted a challenge again. Making pies was like doing a half marathon. Bread making will be like a full marathon. Except with a stand mixer and wearing Danskos clogs.

To get ready for this crazy project, I attempted to plan ahead. When I was at my in-laws during winter break I dug through my mother in-laws cookbooks. She has four shelves of cookbooks. Two books deep. I found several books and then I started read. Then I started to freak. What is a biga anyways? A poolish? Ferment? Sponge? Starter?

Wednesday Thursday Friday! (WTF) 

What did I get myself into? I decided to be kind with myself and start with something my level and move from there.

Recipe:
Eat Well Baguettes 

I didn't have fancy baguette pans. So like any good Occupational Therapist, I made them out of whatever was nearby: aluminum foil. Not just for tin foil hats anymore folks! I shaped them and placed it on a piece of parchment paper for easy sliding on the pizza stone later.

They worked. 

Sorta.

Here are my baguettes after its second rise before I slashed them. 

I go to slide the production onto the pizza stone and the baguette in the back tumbles onto the lower rack of my oven. Eek! I rescue it, figuring it just has a more rustic look. 

Here is how they looked after baking:

Funny thing is you can tell the one on the left looks a better than the other two, even though it took a tumble.


The problem with my homemade pan? I didn't spray them or sprinkle them with flour or line them with parchment paper. They stuck to the bread. I had to peel the foil off the bread like those annoying wrappers that encase laffy taffy candies.

I'm buying a real baguette pan next time.


I ate some bread straight out of the oven with a wee bit of butter. They were great! Then I used it to make meatball subs for dinner. My oldest child loves meatball subs.

Now I can make a sub sandwich 500 times better than Subway.

Now Bake That!