Wednesday-Baguettes, Boule & Pizza......

Hump Day.  TGIW?   It's all downhill from here, right? 

While we're waiting for the weekend to come to us, may as well bake.  

This afternoons baking consisted of 3 items. 

First up, baguettes.  

Hadn't made baguettes before, but they were pretty easy.

Made up a batch of no-knead dough yesterday following the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day recipe.  Let it sit in the fridge overnight, took it out when we got home, let it warm up a bit and made these crusty little loaves.

This was a practice run for Danielle's wedding in June. I'm going to bake the bags for (part of) the appetizers, served up with olive oil.

There were four to start-one was consumed in a taste test. 

Nice and crusty on the outside, chewy with a decent crumb inside. 

These'll work, oh boy will they work.

Then I had some leftover dough, so I made a boule for my favorite retiring co-worker.

She'll get this in the morning tonight-it's better warm.

Finally I made 2 pizzas for supper ( hadn't had any in a couple of days).

Used the frozen dough from Sav-A-Lot. 

It cost 99 cents, defrost easily in the microwave and spreads easily. It's not as good as homemade dough, but darn close and for a weeknight it's a timesaver.

Made a white pie with garlic, onion, tomato, parm, mozzarella and some fresh basil. 

Good stuff.

Then a cheese pie with regular pizza sauce.

More good stuff.

With the new oven I can use the pizza stone and my new peel.  I cooked these at 500 degrees.

Makes a huge difference.  Once you start baking on the stone, you won't go back I assure you-just don't let your knuckles brush up against it when you're removing the pizza-it's hot, really hot.

Later!

Ciabatta....

This past weekend was a good one for baking.  The weather was gray and damp, perfect for the kitchen.

What to bake was another story.  At first I almost made a no-knead wheat bread.  Then I said, "Self, you've done the no-knead thing a bunch of times, and it's time to expand your horizons."  

Last year I purchased Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice, and although I read it almost immediately I had yet to take the plunge into his recipes.

Most of his recipes call for a pre-ferment of some type.  A pre-ferment (or sponge) allows the wheat molecules to do their thing, giving more flavor to the final product. It needs to sit and work overnight.

My problem has been I like to bake my bread and eat it on the same day.  Therefore, the thought of starting and having to wait until the next day was not good for the impatient baker. No patience here Padawan.

On the other hand I had dropped 20 something bucks on his book and convinced myself to give it a go.

I decided on ciabatta. 

Sort of rhymes with Chewbacca.

 On Saturday I mixed up my pre-ferment, a poolish (wet sponge).  It's easy.  Mix 2 1/2 cups of flour, 1 1/2 cups of room temp. water and 1/4 teaspoon of yeast.  Cover and leave at room temp for 3-4 hrs. then put in the fridge overnight. 

The next day, take out the poolish and let it warm up for an hour or so.  Mix more flour, salt and yeast, water with the poolish and make a sticky ball.  I mixed in the Kitchen Aid and also kneaded there too.  Layout some flour, stretch and fold and let it sit for 30 mins.  Spray some Pam, dust w/ flour and cover with plastic wrap.  After 30 mins. repeat the stretch/fold and let it rest for 90 mins. -2 hrs. 

Looks like this in my incarnation.

At this point , divide the dough and form into loaves, placing them on your couche (linen w/ flour) and proof for another 45-60 mins. at room temp.

In the couche.

Then bake in an oven pre-heated to 500 degrees, with a steam pan ( a pan to pour a cup of water in to make steam, which makes for a nice crispy crust.)  After 30 seconds of being in the oven, spray the oven walls with water form a spray bottle and repeat 2 more times at 30 second intervals.  At this point drop the oven temp. to 450 degrees until the bread is done, 15 -20 minutes. 

My first loaf came out funky.  My shaping skills ain't quite where they ought to be. I should have divided that into 2 smaller loaves.  Nonetheless, I'm sending this pic to Yeastspotting, so other novices can realize they're not alone.

I did divide the next 2, and they too look funky. 

I gotta say the bread tasted great, very good.  The time involved though makes me reluctant to try it again soon.  For sure I'll do more of Reinhart's recipes, but only on days where I don't have too much too do.  

Another plus is the education one gets form the process.  His book is a great read, even if you don't bake. I'm beginning to understand that baking bread has a lot to do with chemical reactions and that indeed there is a science to it.  If nothing else, this weekends bread baking adventure taught me a lot about bread science.  

So we live learn and bake on.....

Bread and more bread.....

Went to the in-laws in Utica this past weekend for a belated Easter dinner.  So on Friday I decided to make some bread.  I couldn't decide what to make, so I baked a variety.  

Here's how it went.

First I made rolls, following the recipe for Amish White Bread I made the week before.

(Recipe Here) 

Then I made a loaf of rustic Italian.

(Recipe Here)

Then, some rolls using the same recipe as the boule above.

Next, a braided challah.

(Recipe Here)

And finally Veronica's buttery beer bread.

(Recipe Here)

That's it at the bottom right of this pic.

Needless to say, we got our carb fix this past weekend! 

And I'm on a diet!!!!

Amish White Bread.

Broke in the new oven yesterday by baking some Amish White Bread.  Nice easy recipe from Allrecipes, here's the link.  Bread Recipe, Click Here!   

Did all mixing and kneading in the Kitchenaid.  I split the dough in half, made one big loaf and six big rolls  to put pulled pork on last night.  Rolls were great, and I haven't cut into the loaf yet, but will very soon.

Here's the rolls.

Rolls in the oven-Ha, you can see them cook, love the new oven!

The finished products. They'd make great burger rolls.

I gotta send this pic to Yeastspotting.

And the bread...

 Isn't that nice?

Buns and Chops

For supper on Thursday night I made Pork Chops and some Parker House Rolls on the side. 

Well, maybe the side was the pork chops, which isn't to underestimate the importance of pork.  It's just that I'm a breadhead from way back, possibly infancy.  I could subsist on fresh homemade bread and a slice of sharp cheddar, 3 meals a day, 7 days a week.  Unfortunately my better half likes a little more variety on the menu, hence the addition of pork chops, some rice and steamed veggies. 

Parker House rolls have quite a history. The original recipe dates from the 1800's from the Parker House Hotel in Boston.  Fannie Farmer published the recipe in 1896.

How cool is that? Rolls with a pedigree.

Here's the main course....

Joy's Top Ten Quickbreads.

What I like about Quickbreads is self-explanatory, they're quick. Here's 10 recipes from Joy the Baker. The Chocolate Chip Banana bread looks great!

On a Roll......

Well, more like on a loaf......loafing around, get it?  So I picked a recipe from Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. A book I haven't purchased yet, but it's next on the list.  It was posted on The Ivory Hut.
The dough is rising. I know in the post below I said I was going to try one of Peter Reinharts recipes, but I'm not a patient type. I want my bread and I want to eat it today! Maybe tomorrow we'll try one of Pete's. Stay tuned for further updates........it should look like this when it comes out, we'll see about that.

Buttery Beer Bread

Veronica's Buttery Beer Bread

This is a quick bread that I've made 5 or 6 times in the past few months. The crust with the butter is nice and crunchy. Tastes great right out of the oven and makes super toast the next day.  This is from Veronica @ Recipe Rhapsody, who has kindly given me permission to use her photo and recipe. Thanks again Veronica!

;


Buttery Beer Bread


3 cups flour
1 T baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/4 cup sugar
1 (12-oz) can beer
1 stick (1/2 cup) salted butter or margarine, melted
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray and set aside.
Sift the dry ingredients together into a large bowl and stir briefly with a whisk to combine everything.  Pour beer over the flour mixture and stir in the beer with a spoon.  The batter will be thick but much wetter than regular bread dough.  Dump into the prepared pan and spread out as evenly as possible.  Pour the melted butter over the top and bake for 1 hour. (It will run down the sides and underneath as it bakes.) Remove from pan and cool on a wire rack for as long as you can stand it.  I usually cut into it immediately, despite the many burns

Challah for the first time.

This was my first attempt at challah bread and I gotta admit it came out really good. Did all the mixing and kneading in the Kitchenaid.  I halved this recipe for one loaf, and it was huge. Recipe adapted from Allrecipes.com.

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup honey
• 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 3 eggs
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 8 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon poppy seeds (optional)

Directions

1. In a large bowl, sprinkle yeast over barely warm water. Beat in honey, oil, 2 eggs, and salt. Add the flour one cup at a time, beating after each addition, graduating to kneading with hands as dough thickens. Knead until smooth and elastic and no longer sticky, adding flour as needed. Cover with a damp clean cloth and let rise for 1 1/2 hours or until dough has doubled in bulk.
2. Punch down the risen dough and turn out onto floured board. Divide in half and knead each half for five minutes or so, adding flour as needed to keep from getting sticky. Divide each half into thirds and roll into long snake about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Pinch the ends of the three snakes together firmly and braid from middle. Either leave as braid or form into a round braided loaf by bringing ends together, curving braid into a circle, pinch ends together. Grease two baking trays and place finished braid or round on each. Cover with towel and let rise about one hour.
3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
4. Beat the remaining egg and brush a generous amount over each braid. Sprinkle with poppy seeds if desired.
5. Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for about 40 minutes. Bread should have a nice hollow sound when thumped on the bottom. Cool on a rack for at least one hour before slicing.