Onion Bread

First of all, Happy New Year! This is the first post of 2011, and it's quite fitting that it's a bread recipe, since I learned to make bread in 2010 and there's SO much still to learn. I plan to bake a lot of bread and bread-related stuff in 2011. I want to try sourdough, I'd like to give a shot at fresh yeast; pizza dough and cinnamon buns are also on my to-do list. Stay tuned!
Today I had the day off, and the last loaf I bought was kinda so-so (price to pay for not making it myself...). Plus I was craving a ham&cheese sandwich so I thought I should make a fresh new loaf. I paced around the kitchen for about 15-20 minutes trying to come up with a "flavor". I wanted to keep it simple, but I wanted something new to put on this blog. Plain white bread would have been boring. In the end this bread is still pretty simple but it has a nice sweet taste, thanks to the onions. The only thing I would change would be the thyme...I didn't put enough! I love thyme and I thought it would come out but it's VERY subtle! Oh well...
Here's the recipe:

1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 TBSP butter
3 TBSP olive oil, divided 1TBSP-2TBSP
4 cups bread flour
1 1/2 tsp instant yeast
1 tsp salt
1-1 1/2 cup warm water, at 120F
1 tsp sugar
2-3 sprigs fresh thyme (but if you love thyme like I do put 3-4!!)

First, cook the onions in the butter and 1TBSP oil, plus salt and pepper, on medium-low heat until they're transluscent:



Carefull not to burn them, you want them to turn sweet but not caramelized! Actually, that might be good too but this is not what's happening this time..!
When they're cooked transfer to a little bowl and cool a bit. Also, do not throw any oil leftover in the pan! That can go in the bread too!!
Then, for the dough, mix the flour, yeast, sugar, salt and thyme in a big bowl and make a well in the center. Set aside.
Mesure out 1 1/2 cup warm water at 110-120F and add 2 TBSP oil to it. Mix and add in the middle of the flour/yeast mix.
With a fork, mix slowly from the center out and incorporate as much flour as possible to the water. It will come together in a ball, or kinda...
Transfer to a clean and floured surface and knead for 10 minutes until the dough is soft. Add the onions about half-way through the process. I didn't really need to add more flour, maybe 1/4 cup more total. When the dough is soft like an ear-lobe, put it in an oiled bowl and cover with a clean dish towel, store it in a warm place and let it rise for about one hour, until it's doubled in size.
Take out of the bowl, flatten it a bit to "de-poof" it and shape it however you want to. Here I decided to make a braided loaf, so I cut the dough into 3 fairly equal pieces, rolled them into thin logs and braided them.
Then, put the dough in a oiled loaf pan, cover with plastic wrap and let it rise again for about 40-45 minutes, again until doubled:



Turn on the oven at 450F, brush the loaf with eggwhites. When the oven hits the right temperature put the loaf on the middle rack and turn down to 375F. Bake for 35 minutes, until the internal temperature reads 180F, and the bread sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.
Cool on a rack.



I must apologize here for the lack of the "inside view" pictures, they didn't come out right. BUT I did have a wicked ham&cheese sandwich, with Polish ham and brie cheese.



A bit margarine on both sides of each slice (yes, it's greasy. That's how I eat my grilled-cheese sandwiches!!), a little dijon mustard inside, pan-seared until golden. Yum-oh!



I'll send it to Yeastspotting for next week!!

Quinoa Buns with Sunflower Seeds

This week I decided to switch the usual "loaf" into cute little buns. Well, they turned out kinda big but still really nice. They came out super soft and they are very filling. It would've been a nice loaf too but I felt like doing something different. I used quinoa flakes for a protein boost and a nice nutty taste. And then of course the sunflower seeds are always awesome in bread. Nice and crunchy bite...

You'll need:

3 1/2 cups bread flour
1/2 cup quinoa flakes
2 tsp instant yeast
1 scant tsp salt
2 TBSP melted butter
2 TBSP honey
1-1 1/2 cup warm water, at 120-140F.
1/2 cups sunflower seeds

Mix the flour, flakes, yeast and salt in a big bowl, make a well in the centre and set aside.
Heat up 1 1/4 cups of water, add the butter and honey and bring to 120F. Keep 1/4 cup plain water on the side in case you need to add more. *That way all the butter and honey will end up in the bread!!
Pour the liquid in the flour mixture and stir gently with a fork, slowly incorporating the water in the flour. When it starts to come together you can get there with your hands and knead a bit in the bowl, then transfer to a floured CLEAN surface and knead for 8-10 minutes until it's all soft, adding flour or water as needed. Add the sunflower sedds about half-way through the process.
When the dough is all nice and smooth put it in an oiled bowl, cover and let it rise for about 45 minutes in a warm place (top of a stove turned on at 400 for a few minutes, for example...). The dough should double in size.

Before:


After:


After it's risen, punch it down gently and transfer to the same work surface, floured, and shape the buns(or the loaf if you choose to do a loaf..).
Cut the dough into small pieces, about the size of baseball, and arrange on an oiled baking sheet.



Cover with cling wrap and let rise again, until doubled again, for about 30 minutes. Now they should be the size of a softball.
When they've doubled in size, score the top with a sharp knife and brush with butter. I added more sunflower seed on top but they didn't really stick after. But still it looks nice...



Bake at 375 for 20-22 minutes, until it sounds hollow when tapped, or when a thermometer read 170F. Turn off the oven and leave them in there for about 5 minutes. Cool on that same baking sheet, placed on a rack.



Sooooooo soft!!!!!




They are headed to Yeastspotting!!

Sundried Tomato and Rosemary Bread.

I love making bread. It's a little time consuming but it's so rewarding! Lately though I've been worling a lot and since I can get bread from work I kinda stopped making homemade loaves. BUT. Last week I was watching (surprise surprise) the food channel and there was chef Smith making homemade bread, so simple and delicious, and versatile! I got the urge to make bread again. You can take this recipe, keep the 4 main ingredients of flour, yeast, salt and water, and go from there and never have the same bread from time to time! There's usually not much room for changing things in baking but you can play around with a bread recipe. I love that! I don't feel like I have to follow a recipe anymore, I actually make it up as I go along, writing it down so I can pass it along to you all. Kinda like freestyle cooking! And i'm proud to say I've come a long way since my first loaf...



For this "bread of the week" I went for a flavor I love and hadn't used yet in bread: sundried tomatoes!! And I decided to pair it with one of my favorite fresh herbs: rosemary!! (yes, again, rosemary. there's a big plant at work growing like crazy, so lucky me i can take some home!:))). And for even more taste I threw in some parm, because you can't really ever go wrong with the King of cheeses!
This is what you'll need:

3 1/2-4 cups BREAD flour
1 1/2 tsp instant yeast
1 tsp salt
1 TBSP sugar
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 1/2-2 cups warm water, at 120-130F
2 TBSP olive oil (or if you're using tomatoes in oil, use THAT oil, it's SO flavorful!)
2 sprigs fresh rosemary, chopped
4-5 slices sundried tomatoes, cut finely.

In a big bowl, mix 3 1/2 cups of the flour, yeast, salt and sugar. Mix and make a well in the centre. Keep the 1/2 cup flour on the side for the kneading process.
Heat 1 1/2 water up to 120F and add the oil to it. Keep 1/2 cup on the side just in case..
Pour in the middle of the flour mixture.
Mix with a fork, slowly incorporating the flour to the water, gradually stirring from the middle towards the outer edge.
When the dough comes into a ball, or almost, transfer to a clean, floured work surface and start kneading. This is where you add the parmesan, sundried tomatoes and rosemary, and extra flour if necessary. I ended up adding about 1/4 cup more. Keep kneading for about 8 minutes until the dough gets really soft and elastic and feels like an earlobe.
(I was actually pleasantly surprise how this dough came together like a charm! no sticky mess is always nice!)
When the dough is nice and soft, cover and let it rest for about 10 minutes, while you clean up(...).
Then shape into whatever you feel like; braid, buns, round or long log, or in a loaf pan...
Then just cover with saran-wrap and let it rise in a warm place for 45-60 minutes, until it's doubled in size. Here in Montreal it's getting a little cold, so the appartment is cold. What I did was turn on the oven at 200F and put the baking sheet on the oven's cheminee. That's helps A LOT!
Also when it was done "rising" it was a little too round, so I re-shaped it into an oval log. Delicately of course! You don't wanna break the precious air bubbles!
Then turn up the oven to 375F and while this heats up, score the bread 4-5 times, brush with oil (i used the sundried tomato oil from the jar) and sprinkle some parmesan and a bit more chopped rosemary.



Bake it for 30 minutes, then turn off the oven and leave it in 5 minutes extra.
To make sure it's done tap on the bottom it will sound hollow, or check with a meat thermometer, the temperature should say 180F.



Let it cool on a rack, slice and Voila!



This one is going to Yeastspotting!!



I had toast this morning with apple jelly...insanely good with this flavor combo. Sounds weird I know but the salty sundried tomato with the sweet apple is cra-zy!

Carrot Raisin Bread

It seems like it's been forever since I last made a loaf of bread...but I'm happy to say I haven't forgotten the pattern!!



I had the day off today, and with a big ol' bag of carrots in the crisper, begging to be used for something, I came up with this recipe. The carrots and raisins add sweetness, and the quinoa taste comes out really nicely. I used bread flour AND all-purpose flour, to make the dough lighter, but also because I ran out of bread flour(oups..). If I make this again eventually I will use more ginger and maybe even a little cloves, to spice it up a bit.
I was also really pleased with the nice color of the finished loaf. And this time I got the braid pattern right!
So here's the formula:

2 1/2 cups bread flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup quinoa flakes
1 1/2 tsp instant yeast
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground ginger
2-3 carrots
2 TBSP light olive oil
1/2 cup raisins
1- 1 1/2 cup carrot's cooking water
1 TBSP honey

Directions:

-Peel and cut the carrots in small cubes and boil until tender. Let cool and RESERVE THE WATER!!
-In the carrot water, soak the raisins, add in the honey.
-Mix flour, quinoa, yeast, salt and ginger.
-Mash the carrots with olive oil and a pinch of salt.
-Pour the water in the flour mix while stirring with a fork, when it starts coming together add the raisins and the mashed carrots and mix until in comes together in a ball. You may need to add more water or flour, so have the bag of flour on hand. I keep some in a small bowl so that my flour remains plain and "virgin" so to speak...
(*On a side note, this part was really messy for me. Stickyness, lumps of dough and carrots and raisins stuck to my fingers, I kneaded in the bowl for about 5 minutes before transfering to the table. But it worked out fine in the end...That's the thing about bread, even if it seems like it's not happening, it most probably will, it just takes time. Patience is a virtue in this case...)
-Transfer to a working surface, floured lightly and knead until the dough is soft and no longer sticky(mine was still a BIT sticky, but it's better that than tough and dry!).
-Put the dough in an oiled bowl and cover with a clean dish towel. Let it rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
-Punch the dough down and shape(braid, or whatever...)
-Put the loaf in an oiled pan and let it rise again until doubled, another 30-45 minutes.
-Brush with milk and bake in a 375F oven, on the middle rack, for 10 minutes, turn down the heat to 350F and bake 25 minutes. Then turn off the oven and leave the bread in for about 5 minutes.
-When it's done it'll sound hollow when tapped at the bottom, or an instant thermometer will read 170F.
-Cool on a rack and marvell......



I will submit this to yeastspotting, a nice site about bread and baking.

Wheat Germ and Oat Bread.

I finally got the AC installed in my appartment!! So turning on the oven is not a torture session anymore. And since today was a day off and I just ran out of bread... guess...yes, homemade loaf! The past couple of weeks I was able to bring home some bread from work, and even though it's bakery bread its not quite the same.
So I made up this loaf, that I might admit tastes phenomenal and turned out almost perfect! I don't have a lab at home where I can test howrich in fiber it is but I'm sure it's pretty high. The texture is dense but still light at the same time. And the crust is nice and, well, crusty, and flavorful!



3 1/2 cup bread flour
1 cup quick oats
1/2 cup wheat germ
1 1/2 tsp instant yeast
1 tsp salt
2 TBSP dry milk powder(optional)
1 TBSP sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup water

Mix all the ingredients appart from the egg, milk and water.
Heat up the milk and water until a thermometer reads about 110-130F.
Pour the liquid in the flour mix, stir with a fork, add egg, knead until it comes together, transfer to a flouredsurface and knead for 10 minutes until it becomes a smooth ball of dough.
Put it in an olied bowl and let it rise for about an hour, until it's doubled in size.
Shape in the desired form (here I just folded it and put in an oiled loaf pan),
proof for about 30-40 minutes, again until it's doubled.
Score 3 slits accross the dough, brush with egg whites and sprinkle some wheat germ on the top.
Bake at 400F for the first 5 minutes, then turn down the oven at 375 and continue baking for 20 minutes, then turn down at 350 for the last five minutes. When the bell rings(prviding you use the oven timing thing...), turn off the oven but leave the loaf in for another 5 minutes.
This should do it. If it's ready it'll sound hollow when tapped at the bottom.
Then cool on a rack(NOT in the pan!!) and congratulate yourself on a beautiful loaf of healthy bread!!



I'm sending this over to Yeastspotting!!

Two recipes: Apple-Cheddar Bread and Chicken salad sandwich.

It was time to bake a bread for the week today. And once again I kinda just threw it together hoping it would be edible...and it is so nice! The apple in it doesn't really come out in the taste but it adds a nice moisture, as does the cheddar cheese. I was hoping for a stronger taste but nevertheless, this is gonna make great sandwiches and toasts.
Actually, I had a chicken salad sandwich with this bread for diner, and the "recipe" follows this one. This post here is kinda like a 2 in 1...since I don't have a whole lot of time anymore to cook, bake and post stuff on this blog, I give you 2 recipes in the same post. Aren't I generous??!
So for the bread, I got inspired by the cheddar-jalapeno bread from a month or so ago. I really liked how the cheese softens the bread. I used medium cheddar, but for a stronger taste I would use strong or extra strong cheese. The apple, as I mentionned earlier is only for moisture. If I'd had apple juice I would've thrown some in but I thought of it AFTER the trip to the grocery store...oh well...
Here's the formula:

4 cups bread flour
1/2 cup quick oats
1 1/4 tsp instant yeast
1 tsp salt
1 TBSP sugar
1tsp apple jelly(the jar was almost empty...had I thought of it ahead of time I would've bought a new jar and added a lot more...)
1 apple, peeled amd shredded (do this at the last minute to prevent the apple from browning)
3/4 cup cheddar cheese, shredded(throw in a pinch of flour in it so it doesn't clump together...)
1- 1 1/2 cup warm water, at 120F

Mix flour, yeast, salt, sugar and oats in a bowl.
Heat up the water, add jelly, pour in the flour while stirring with a fork, add the cheese and the apple and stir stir stir until it comes together in a ball. Transfer to a floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes, adding more flour or water as needed.
When it's nice and smooth, let it rest for 5 minutes, put in an oiled bowl and cover. Let it rise for about 45-1 hour.
Punch it down, gently, and shape:



*This time I decide to do kind of a braid: cut the dough in 3 equal pieces and roll into logs. Stick the 3 ends together and braid as normal...well, as you can tell on my "before" shot, I don't remember how to braid...oh well...still looks pretty.
Put the dough in a loaf pan, or on a sheet, and proof for about 30 minutes, until it's double in size.
Brush on some egg whites (right before sending it to the oven...).
Bake at 375F for 35-40 minutes.
When it's ready it'll sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.
Cool on a rack.



Isn't it so pretty-looking?

I'm sending it to Susan at Yeastspotting, a gorgeous website about bread and baking, showcasing a wide variety of breads from Ms.Yeastspotting herself and other bloggers passionate about bread. Love that website! Go check it out!!

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Now for the second recipe...
For diner I really wanted to use that bread for something, and toasts with jam(my first choice) is not really diner so I went for a sandwich. I thought of just grilling a chicken breast and sticking it between 2 slices, but that delicious fresh bread deserved better than that. So I made a nice little chicken salad.



For 1 sandwich:
Heat olive oil in a pan at medium high heat. Season chicken a breast on both sides with salt, pepper, paprika, oregano and garlic power. Grill in the pan(or on the "barbi"). The way I do it is this: I throw the chicken when the pan is really hot, let it cook for about 3-4 minutes on that one side, flip it, turn the heat to medium-low, cover the pan and finish cooking it, covered. Takes about 10 minutes.
When it's done, let the chicken sit on a cutting board to allow the juice to settle, and chop into small cubes. In a small bowl, mix 1 tsp dijon mustard, 2 tsp mayo, 1 green onions, salt, pepper and dried parsley. Mix in the chicken until all coated. Slab that in between the fresh slices of apple-cheddar bread with some baby spinach and enjoy!!



Have a great week, everybody!

Maple-Millet Bread

Bread of the week...it's a big one! A little too big I'll probably end up freezing half of it. But it turned out pretty nice. Very soft and tender with a touch of sweetness.
I used millet grains for something different, and because it's been a new "discovery" this past year. It's grown mostly in Africa, but we don't eat it a lot here. Too bad because it's very tasty, has a mild nutty flavor to it. I like cooking it like rice and making salads with it...there's one of those coming this week! So here I decided to try it in bread and it gave it a nice texture, and extra fiber. For the sweetness I used maple syrup, but it comes out very subtle.
Here's the recipe:

1 cup whole wheat flour
2 1/2-3 cups bread flour
1 cup cooked millet
1 1/2 tsp instant yeast
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 TBSP butter
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup water.

Start by cooking the millet and cool a bit. Mix the flour, yeast, salt and millet.
In a sauce pan heat up the milk, water and butter up to 120-130F. Add maple syrup and pour in the flour mix. Make sure the liquid is not over 140F or it might end up killing the yeast and the dough won't rise. And that's a big waste of flour...
Stir with a fork, transfer to your favorite kneading surface and knead away! This one got a little sticky and I ended up adding quite a bit more flour, almost 3/4 cup, but I think it's because I had too much liquid. I noticed when the millet was done there was a bit of water left at the bottom of the pot so I threw it in the milk-water-butter pot...I had almost 2 cups of liquid...little too much. Anyway, when the dough gets to the right consistency put it in an oiled bowl and rise for about one hour, until the ball is doubled in size.
Punch it down, knead it again gently and give it a shape, either for a loaf pan or baking sheet. This time I just cooked it on a sheet, for something different. Cover with plastic wrap loosely and let it rise a bit more, 30 minutes or so.
Slash it 3 times diagonnaly about 1 inch deep, brush with egg whites and if there's leftover millet sprinkle some on top. That's not necessary but it gives the loaf a snazzy look!



Bake in a 350F oven for 30-35 minutes, until it sounds hollow when tapped.



Cool and enjoy your fresh homemade bread!!

Cranberry-Orange Oatmeal Bread

I decided to go for a sweet bread this week. And since I had one lone orange wrinkling in the fruit bowl, too dry to eat, it sparked the idea for this. The zest was still salvagable and I managed to get a little juice from it. And what goes good with orange? CRANBERRIES!! Plenty of dried fruit in my pantry! So giddi-yup!

Ingredients:
2-3 cups bread flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup oats
1 1/2 tsp instant yeast
1 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
1 egg
zest of 1 orange, plus its juice
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1- 1 1/2 cup warm water at 120F

First off, grate the zest, and squeeze the juice of an orange. Set aside.
In a big bowl, mix the whole wheat flour, 1 cup of the bread flour, yeast, salt, sugar and orange zest.
Heat the water to 120 and add the orange juice and cranberries. That way, the crans will soften a bit!!
Pour the liquid in the flour mix and whisk with a fork, add the egg and another cup bread flour. When it starts coming together transfer to the kneading surface and keand for 8-10 minutes, adding more flour if necessary. When it's all smooth shape into a ball and put it in an oiled bowl and rise until doubled, about 45 minutes.
Gently punch it down, knead for 1-2 minutes and shape to fit a loaf pan, or into an old-fashionned loaf and rise again for about 30 minutes, until double in size.
*I was gonna do it on a tray but then decided otherwise. I like the big slices I get in the loaf pan, the bread always gets nice and tall.
After the second rise, brush with eggwhites and sprinkle some oats on top.
bake in a 350F oven for 35-40 minutes.
When it's done it'll sound hollow when tapped.
Take it out of the pan immediately and cool on a rack.
I had a couple slices for lunch, with goat's cheese and coleslaw...the sweetness of the bread go really nice with the tartness of the cheese.



It'll make great french toasts too!!

I'm sending this over to Yeastspotting!!

Sweet Potato and Olive oil Bread

Bread experiment of the week was another success! I thought about it a few days ago when a friend of mine talked about sweet potatoes and how good they are...That gave me the idea, so I kinda threw this all together this morning. The sweet potato taste here is very subtle, but it gives the bread a nice yellow-ish color and a great texture. Especially with the olive oil! I used light-flavored olive oil, so the taste would not be too over-powering. When I do this again though I will use a bigger potato, or a bit more honey, to make it sweeter. The one taste that comes out as a nice surprise is the bay leaf I threw in the pot while cooking the potato. Also subtle but evident. Anyway, I really like this bread a lot, it's really soft inside, and it'll be great for sweet or savory meals.
It also, like the cheddar-jalapeno bread form last week, got HUGE in the oven, and crooked because of my slanted floors...I should really find a way to fix that...



Ingredients:

3 cups bread flour, +1/2 cup for kneading
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/4 tsp instant yeast
1 tsp salt

1 sweet potato
1- 1 1/2 cup potato cooking liquid
4 TBSP olive oil
1 TBSP honey
1 bay leaf, 2-3 sprigs of thyme, salt and pepper

Start by cooking the potato in salted water, with the bay leaf and thyme. Reserve the liquid and mash the potato with the oil, salt and pepper. Add honey to the potato water and dissolve, let the water get to 120F.
Meanwhile, mix the flour, yeast and salt.
When the water hits the right temperature, pour it in the flour/yeast mix and stir with a fork, add the mashed potato and mix until it forms into a ball, if you need more flour, add flour. When it's no longer sticky transfer to a kneading surface and knead for 8-10 minutes, adding flour if necessary, or if the dough is too dry add warm water. It should get really nice and smooth, then transfer to an oiled container and let it rise in a warm place, covered, until double, about 45-60 minutes.
After it's rised, deflate it and transfer the dough to a floured surface and gently fold: to do this I flatened the dough, folded the top end to the centre, the bottom end to the same center, and same thing with the sides.(if this sounds weird...just knead it gently, it'll be the same...)
Shape into a thick log and put in a greased loaf pan, and let it rise a second time for 35-40 minutes, again until it's doubled in size.
Brush with milk, or butter, or egg white. I used milk this time.
Bake at 375 for 30-35 minutes, until it sounds hollow when tapped. Unmold right away and let cool on a rack.

Get you favorite jam or cheese and dig in!


This is heading to yeastspotting!!

Cheddar-Jalapeno Bread with a Quinoa Twist

I've been thinking about making this bread for a few days now. Now that I understand the process and the necessary ingredients and how they work, you can expect a lot of bread on this website!!



This is totally my own recipe. I kinda went into it blindly, and hoped it would work. And boy did it work! I'm eating a slice as I type this and I can't believe how good it turned out. I actually got the idea from a bakery I used to work at in Lake Louise, we used to get cheddar and jalapeno bagels. I looooved them! With cream cheese, wow. And jam? Even better. Or both...And of course just by itself, toasted with butter. This bread doesn't taste the same of course(bread and bagels are totally different in texture!). I put some quinoa in it and that comes out really subtle but obvious when you know it's there. The jalapeno is not too spicy at all, I only put in one just to be safe, but when I make this bread again I'll use 2. The cheddar taste also is veeeeery subtle. I used mild marble cheddar so next time I'll get a stronger cheese. But trust me, it's awesome like this too! The texture is very soft, the oil in the cheese did it's job!!



So here's the "formula":

4 cups bread flour(3 white, 1 whole wheat)
1/2 cup quinoa flakes(available at health food stores)
1 1/2 tsp instant yeast
1 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
1 1/2 TBSP canola oil
1 1/2 cups warm water, at 120F
1 cup cheddar cheese(*little trick: toss in about a teaspoon of flour in the cheese so it doesn't clump together...)
1 jalapeno, finely chopped.

Mix the flour, quinoa, yeast salt and sugar in a big bowl.
Heat up the water at 120F, add oil and pour in the flour mixture while stirring with a fork. If it seems too dry add more water, if it's too wet add flour. When it starts to form a ball transfer to a floured surface and knead until it starts getting smooth. Add the cheese and the jalapeno, and knead more until it's all incorporated. When it's nice and smooth with the consistency of an earlobe put the dough ball in a greased bowl, cover and let rise until double. This one only took 45 minutes.
*A good way to speed things up: turn on the oven and put the bowl on it. My stove top gets kinda hot, that helps the rising process!

When it's risen enough punch it down gently, turn into a floured work surface and knead again for no more than a minute and very gently, all the while shaping it into a short and thinck kinda log. Now you can either put it on an oiled baking sheet and bake it as a rustic-looking loaf, or do the pan thing, like I did. In an oil-sprayed 9x5 loaf pan. Loosely cover with plastic and let rise again until doubled, it took this one 30 minutes(again, on the hot stove top...). Before sending it to the oven brush with eggwhite or milk, or butter, or nothing...I did eggwhites. It's just a fantasy, really, not essential. It changes the look and texture of the crust.
Bake it at 375 for 30-35 minutes, when it's done it'll sound hollow when tapped and thermometer will read 180F. Let it cool on a rack.
As you can see my pretty baby here got really big!(and lopsided because my floors are not quite even...)



Sandwiches this week are gonna rock!

I will submit this to yeastspotting for next week!

Oatmeal-Walnut Bread

This is now my basic bread recipe. I know I always say this everytime... but it's sooooo good!! And really easy. It takes a while to make though, 2 hours total rising plus the baking but it's so worth it!! It makes a BIG loaf, it's healthy and you can add stuff to it. Perfect for my "type" of baking.



This recipe comes from here. The "original" had fruit and almonds in it, I used only walnuts because I had a bit too many left over and nothing's worse than having to throw out a bag of walnuts because they went bad. So walnut bread it is. I made the recipe exactly the same as it was on "Food for Poems", but next time I'm gonna try to tweak it with a different kind of oat and maybe I'll add fruits, maple syrup instead of honey would probably work too, who knows...I'm beginning to understand this yeast chemistry thing...

Ingredients:
3 cups bread flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup oats
1 tsp salt
2 tsp rapid-rise yeast

1/4 cup honey
1 1/2 TBSP butter
1 1/4-1 1/2 cup warm water, at 120F.(start with 1 1/4 and add if necessary...)

3/4 cup chopped walnuts.

Throw all the flour, oats, yeast and salt in a big bowl and mix it.
In a different bowl mix warm water, honey and butter and add to the flour mix slowly while stirring with a big fork(or with the dough hook of a mixer).
Ditch the fork and knead on a well floured surface until nice and smooth, about 5-8 minutes. Add the nuts towards the end of that process. Make sure they get all the way to the middle of the dough, knead knead knead...
Put the dough in an oiled bowl, cover with a dish rag and let it rise for 1-1 1/2 hours, until doubled.

Before:


After:


Punch it down!



Take it out of the bowl and form into a loaf, but no hardcore kneading!! Gentle...
Place on an oiled baking sheet and let it rise again until doubled, another hour or so...I covered it loosely with plastic wrap.

This is the "after" result:


Bake at 350F on the middle rack for about 35 minutes.
Internal temperature will be 180-190F and it'll sound hollow when tapped.



Cool on a rack, wait at least 30 minutes before slicing(THIS is the hard part, actually...).



I have a feeling I'll be making french toast for breakfast tomorrow...

The walnuts here add a really nice crunch. Not to mention some healthy protein and fats!

Mmmm,...Fresh Bread...

I'm happy to say I'm no longer afraid of bread...After that successful Focaccia, and another one last week(didn't post it due to lack of good pictures...), I'm now totally hooked! I still have a lot to learn but from now on I'll bake my own bread. It's so much nicer to have home made bread where you know EXACTLY what's in it, as opposed to the grocery store's perfect-looking loaves but less-than-perfect ingredient list...And it's so gratifing to make, say a simple grilled cheese sandwich with bread that YOU made. I love it. And also the taste is incomparable.



So, lately I've been searching a lot of websites for easy recipes, looked through some books, even got one as a present from a team mate(Thanx Mary!:)) I found some very interesting info and this website ,
where I got this recipe. It's one of the easiest and versatile.
Here it goes:

For 2 loaves(I only made one, so I cut the ingredients in half...)
Ingredients:

6-6 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, or half whole wheat half AP, which is what I did.
*if you use ALL whole wheat flour it's be REALLY dense. The AP softens it a bit...
3 TBSP sugar
2 envelopes RapidRise Yeast(1 envelope=2 1/4 tsp)
2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup water
1/2 cup milk
2 TBSP butter

First of all, mesure the ingredients, if using 2 kinds of flour keep them in 2 different bowls. In another bowl combine 2 1/2 cup flour, sugar, yeast, and salt. Heat the water, milk and butter until it hits 120F, no more than 130F. Gradually add this mix to the flour&yeast mix and stir.(If you have a stand mixer, good for you, do it in the mixer...but I used a fork and it worked fine. Again...think of all the french boulangers in the 19th century who never had mixers...)
So when it starts feeling like a batter add more flour, 1/2 cup at a time, alternating whole wheat and AP if you chose that route. This is where I ditch the fork and use my hands. Nothing like a little manual labor!! So, when it starts to feel like a dough take it out of the bowl on a lightly floured surface and knead, knead, knead, addding flour as necessary(i didn't use all the flour required), and knead until the dough gets to the consistency of an ear lobe(i don't remember where I heard this...but it's a good tip...). Cover the dough and let it rest for 10 minutes(time to clean up a bit and get the loaf pan ready...). Oh, and divide it in half, if you're making the full recipe.
Roll each half into approximately a 12x7in rectangle. At one of the shorter end, start rolling tighly as if making jelly rolls. Pinch the ends and tuck underneath. Place in a 8x4 or 9x5* oiled loaf pan, seam down, cover loosely and let it rise in a warm place for 1- 1 1/2 hour, until doubled in size. I find that turning the oven on at 170F(the lowest on mine)and putting the pan on the cheminee(top right burner) works great.
(*for half of this recipe I find my 9x5 pan is a little too big, the dough doesn't rise above the rim, but it still makes a good bread. I guess a smaller pan would make a taller loaf).
Before:


After:


Bake at 400F for 30 minutes, in the middle of the oven. An instant thermometer will read 190-200F at the centre, or if you dont have a thermometer tap the top if it sounds hollow it's done.
Take out of the pan immediately and cool on a rack.



This bread makes great toasts, the crust gets really, um...crusty...and the inside stays moist. Tastes great with nothing on it, but even better with butter.



Cheers, and start baking!