Sourdough Baguette

Ever since I got in to bread making I have been on a mission to make the perfect baguette. It has to be nice and crunchy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside with lots air bubbles. Well I have been using a new sourdough baguette recipe that is pretty amazing and I wanted to share it here.

Ingredients:
2 cups sourdough starter
2 cups bread flour or all purpose flour
1/3 cup water
2 tsps salt

Mix all your ingredients together to form a shaggy, wet dough the night before you want to bake. The next morning, divide the dough in half and shape each half in to a long rectangle on a lightly floured surface. Roll each rectangle up to form a long roll and place in a well oiled baguette pan (the baguette pan makes all the difference in my opinion but if you can also try it just on a baking stone. You won't get the same rounded shape though.)

Allow the dough to rest for 30 minutes. In the mean time, preheat your oven to 500 degrees and place a baking sheet on the bottom rack. Just before baking, slice a long, shallow slit along the top of your loaves with a very sharp knife. Place the baguettes in the hot oven and quickly dump one cup of ice cubes in to the baking sheet. Close the oven door immediately so as not to let the steam escape, the steam is what gives you a nice, crisp crust. Bake for 20 minutes and allow to cool before slicing.

Homemade English Muffins

For Christmas this year Eric got me some amazing bread baking supplies and cookbooks. I now have the start of a great bread baking library and since one of my new years resolutions was to continue my bread baking journey it has been the perfect thing to get me going.

The fact that it has been such a cold and sometimes snowy winter has also encouraged me in my baking and I have really been enjoying trying new recipes and learning more about the art of baking. One of the fabulous books Eric got me is called "Baking Bread, Old and New Traditions" And it is in this book that you can find the recipe I used for my home made English Muffins. Baking Bread is  a good basic bread cookbook with a decent variety of recipes as well as some baking technique that is nice to know. It's a really nice addition to my cookbook collection.

I have been scarfing these things down for breakfast and they are so much better than store bought muffins! They really came together pretty quickly and easily too. Check out the recipe:

Ingredients
1 Tablespoon dry yeast
Pinch sugar
1/4 cup warm water
4 to 41/2 cup all purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
1 egg
1/14 cup warm milk
2 Tablespoons butter, melted
1/4 cup cornmeal for sprinkling

In a small bowl combine yeast, sugar and warm water, stir to combine and let stand until foamy.  Place 2 cups flour and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer with dough hook and make a well in the middle. Add egg, milk, butter and yeast mixture and blend until smooth. Gradually add remaining flour 1 cup at a time until a soft dough that just clears the side of the bowl forms. Turn dough on to a lightly floured surface and knead for about 3 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to coat and cover with a dishtowel. Let stand until doubled in size, about and hour and a half. Lightly sprinkle work surface with cornmeal and roll dough to 1/2 inch thickness. Sprinkle top with cornmeal and use a upturned drinking glass to cut out biscuit shapes. You can re-roll and cut out extra dough  until it is all used up. Heat a cast iron skillet over medium heat and lightly grease. Cook muffins for about 6 to 7 minutes on each side until well browned.

This recipe makes about 12 3 inch muffins. They taste great with melted butter or homemade strawberry jam :-)

I hope to share some of the other baking we've been doing with you soon. We have been cooking up some truly delicious breads but I just have't been good about documenting it. Hopefully I can get my act together this month and post more recipes!

Challah Bread

 I find I am getting more and more adventurous in my baking these days. Bread can be so intimidating but the more you do it the more you realize it really isn't that big of a deal. A year ago I would never have attempted a bread that was this complicated and lovely looking. I've made this recipe from Everyday Reading  several times now and it always turns out lovely and delicious.

Challah bread is a little sweeter and richer than some others I've tried and it is great for anything from sandwiches to French toast. Echo loved the beautiful braided shape as well as the taste and as you can see from the photos she couldn't keep her hands off it! Unfortunately I messed up my braid somehow (for some reason it's harder with dough than with hair) but it still looks pretty darn good if I do say so myself.

I encourage you to try this recipe even if it seems scary. It has a lot of steps but each one is really simple if you just take it one at a time. Who knows, after my challah success maybe I will even be up for trying bagels in the near future.

Irish Soda Bread

Maybe it's that hint of Fall in the air but I have been kind of crazy about baking lately. I have been working really to make all of Echo's snacks from scratch and to make all of our family bread at home. I feel so much better us all eating home grown goodies instead of store bought ones which are full of preservatives and dyes. It's been a lot of work to keep on top of but so rewarding and I am turning in to a decent baker if I do say so myself :-)

I had some buttermilk left over from my Mom's Birthday pie and jumped at the chance to use it in some traditional Irish soda bread. It always puts me in mind of the trip to Ireland that I took while in college so it is a warm, nostalgic bread for me. It's also an incredibly easy bread that requires no yeast and it slices thin so it's great for sandwiches. here is the recipe!

Makes one loaf

1 c all-purpose flour

1 c whole-wheat flour

¾ tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

1 c buttermilk 

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and lightly coat a baking sheet with cooking spray (or use a silicone baking mat like I did). In a large bowl, whisk together flours, baking soda and salt. Make a well in the middle and pour in the buttermilk until just incorporated. Turn on to a well floured surface and knead 4 or 5 times. Shape in to a an 8 inch round loaf and place on prepared cookie sheet. Cut a 1/4" x in to the top of the loaf with a  very sharp knife. Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes. Without opening the oven, turn the temperature down to 400 degrees and bake for another 15 minutes. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before serving warm with butter. 

Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls

I made a yummy soup for dinner the other night and was looking for the perfect roll to go along with them. These rolls are 100 percent whole wheat and are soft, chewy and slightly sweet. They have a fantastic flavor and go great with just about anything. I got this recipe from Averie Cooks and I think it's pretty fantastic. Check out the instructions below.


Ingredients3/4 cup warm water
3/4 cup warm milk
1/4 cup honey
2 to 3 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil
1 tablespoon molasses
2 1/4 teaspoons yeast
3 cups whole wheat flour
pinch salt, to taste

Combine first 5 ingredients (through molasses) in a bowl and sprinkle the yeast over the top; wait 5 to 10 minutes, or until yeast is foamy. This means it's alive and will work. 

Add the flour, salt, and stir with a wooden spoon to combine. Then stir for about 1 more minute, mashing the dough around (this is as much 'kneading' as this recipe requires).

Stir dough into a ball, cover the bowl with a tea towel, and place in a warm, draft-free place to rise until doubled in bulk, about 3 hours. Whole wheat rises slowly so don't be surprised if it takes a long time. 

Punch dough down, remove it from bowl, and turn it out onto a well-floured surface. Knead it only so much as necessary to shape it into balls for rolls (I divide the dough into 16 rolls and they're just a bit bigger than golf balls). 

Place balls of dough in a cooking sprayed round baking dish or pie plate, or in an 8x8 or 9x9 pan; size depends on how many you're making. They can be close to each other, but not squished, or they'll rise and bake into each other.

Cover baking dish with a tea towel, and allow rolls to rise in a warm, draft-free environment for about 1 hour, until almost doubled in size. 

In the final minutes of rising, preheat oven to 350F. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until rounded and slightly browned. 

 

Quick French Bread

I know we are late to the game but we finally got a stand mixer! I really didn't want one for a long time to be honest. I felt like it would take up too much room on our counter and that we really didn't need one. I was however frustrated to see how many recipes (especially bread recipes) assumed I had a stand mixer. Well when I saw one on sale for a really great price at Target I broke down and got one and it has revolutionized my bread making. I had previously stuck to knead varieties because it was too much work to knead and keep an eye on my baby at the same time. Well no more! I love that this machine does the kneading for me and I feel like the quality of the bread is soooo much better than the kind you get from a bread machine and is just as easy.

I have been on a quest for the perfect French bread recipe that is just the right mixture of chewy, crusty and airy so I have been trying lots of new ones (with the help of my stand mixer of course). While this is not quite what I was looking for ( I found it not quick crispy enough in the crust department and a little too dense in the middle) it is still a very solid recipe and great for sandwiches! I got this recipe from Hungry Hungry Highness, like I said it is very solid and a great easy recipe for beginners plus it is quick to make (by bread making standards anyway).

Quick French Bread

Yields: 2 baguettes

1 1/2 tbsp active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water (split)
2 tbsp honey
3 1/2 to 4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp salt
5 ice cubes

1. Combine honey with 1/2 cup warm water. Add the yeast and stir with your finger. Let it sit and activate for 5 minutes.

2. Mix the flour and salt in a mixer. Add the water with the yeast and mix with the dough hook. Mix with the mixer for 1 minute, or until combined.

3. Pour out of mixer bowl onto lightly floured surface. Knead for 2-6 minutes, or until elastic. Do the fingerprint test. If you can press your finger very lightly into the dough and the dough pops back out slowly, it is elastic enough. Put it back in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise for 25-30 minutes or until doubled in size.

4. Punch down dough and divide in half. Shape into 2 baguettes by trifolding the dough (like you fold a letter). Pinch the seam closed and repeat the process twice until it's about 14 inches in length. Fold the ends round. Set in a baguette pan or a lined cookie sheet (baking stone would probably work well too). Cover with a dish cloth and let rise for 30 minutes, or until doubled in size.

5. Preheat oven to 450 degrees fahrenheit. Set an old (non-glass) baking dish on the bottom oven rack.

6. When the rising is done and the oven is ready, quickly put the baguettes in the oven and throw the ice cubes into the old baking dish in the bottom. It should steam.

7. Bake for about 15 minutes, or until golden brown.

Whole Grain Banana Bread

I don't really like to eat bananas by themselves but I love having them on hand because they are great for making smoothies, ice cream and my personal favorite banana bread! Here is a whole grain take on the classic using half whole wheat flour and half oat flour. I thought it tasted fantastic and really couldn't tell much a difference from the white flour versions I've used in the past. 

Ingredients

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup oat flour

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

4 tbs butter, melted

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs, beaten

3 ripe bananas

1/3 cup plain greek yogurt

Mash bananas with a wooden spoon in a large bowl, add butter, eggs, yogurt and sugar mixing well to combine. Mix all other ingredients in a separate bowl and slowly add to banana mixture, stirring as you go. Pour batter in to a greased loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for  1 hour. Enjoy hot with lots of butter and a cup of tea!

Honey Wheat Sandwich Bread

Continuing my bread baking kick is a fabulous honey wheat sandwich bread.

It's another o knead bread which I love but it does require more yeast that my other no knead varieties because it has a shorter rise time. This is a nice one if you don't want to wait 12 to 18 hours for your bread. It also has a great, slightly sweet flavor and is cooked in a loaf pan so it's perfect for sandwiches. This recipe makes two loafs.

Ingredients
3 cups warm water
4 1/2 tsp dry yeast
1/4 cup honey
3 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup oat flour
2 cups white flour
2 tsp salt

Directions
Grease loaf pans and set aside. Combine water, yeast and honey and stir until yeast is disolved. In a large bowl, mix dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients to dry and mix thoroughly. Divide in to loaf pans and loosely cover, let stand in a warm spot for 20 minutes, dough will rise slightly. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. Turn out of pan and cool on a rack.

This bread is fantastic hot out of the over with lots of butter, yum!

No Knead Bread Variations

Baking is a passion I discovered last year and no knead bread is pretty much my favorit thing to make ever. You can see the original recipe I used here. I wanted to jazz things up a bit so for a holiday dinner party I made a cranberry orange bread. Delicious!

To make this one all you have to do is add about half a cup of dried cranberries and the zest of one large orange. I also threw in about a quarter cup of brown sugar to make it a little sweeter.

I guess I got cocky from my first variation because then I went crazy modifying the recipe. I added half whole wheat flour (which I have done before and it turned out fine), flax seeds, a cup of rolled oats and a few tablespoons of molasses. I was loosely basing this on a recipe for honey wheat bread but I didn't have any honey so I thought molasses could be interesting. I also added some extra water because the consistency seemed wrong. I hoped it would be a rich, dark bread and while the flavor was good I couldn't get the middle to cook and it turned out doughy.

It came out pretty but not that tasty. I may try it again in the future and fiddle with the ingredients a bit, but for now I think I'll stick to recipes that others have tried so I know they'll turn out well.

Carb Cravings

If you've noticed a decline in my posting lately, there's a reason. Not only am I exhausted ALL THE TIME but I am also still doing battle with morning sickness. I have to drag myself to work each day and when I get home I pretty much lay on the couch until it's time for bed (around 9:00 PM these days). Housework has pretty much gone by the wayside, the only exceptions being laundry and dishes since those are the two absolutely essential things that have to get done. I thought the morning sickness had just about ended when I had a break in symptoms this weekend but it turns out I just had a lucky few days because it has been back with a vengeance this week. I can't wait for the second trimester so that I will get some of my energy back and not feel sick all the time! It won't be much longer now and I do feel like the worst is over (knock on wood).

As of right now I am feeling nauseous a lot of the time and on top of that I am also having weird food aversions. This means that many of my go to meals and long time favorites are suddenly repulsive to me. Instead I have been craving a lot of weird things, many of which are meals that I loved when I was a kid. For example, I can't get enough sloppy joes and orange sherbet, weird huh? Most of the things that I can eat without feeling like I'm going to throw up are carb heavy such as pasta and bread. Too bad for Eric trying to eat low carb, when the pregnant lady is doing the cooking you have to eat what I want ;-P

Yesterday I had a lovely day off from work and I had an overwhelming urge to bake bread from scratch. Pretty weird since I haven't done that since I was a kid. I roped my mom in to helping me and we had a fun day of bread baking and hanging out, it really took me back to my childhood and the bread was amazing! There is something therapeutic about kneading the dough and I don't care what people say, bread machine bread is not in the same league as honest to goodness homemade bread. Here are some pictures of the deliciousness, half of it is gone already :-) I got the recipe from the King Arthur Flour website, here . It's called hearth bread and it is a really simple recipe to make, plus it tastes great and is perfect for sandwiches.