Maria's Golden Oven

new address

2010-02-13T12:05:00.000-08:00

Kindly go to my new blog location: http://mariasgoldenoven.tumblr.com/.

semolina boule

2010-01-27T11:37:00.000-08:00

Semolina flour is made from durum wheat. Durum means "hard" in Latin (similarly, in Spanish "duro" means "hard"). Durum is the hardest species of wheat, which means that it has high protein and gluten, so when the flour is mixed with water and yeast, strong gluten bonds form. This makes a rich, high-protein, puffy bread, or a tough dough, which is why semolina is commonly used to make pasta.

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Ingredients

2 3/4 tsp active dry yeast
1 5/8 cups warm water
2 Tbsp sugar
2 cups semolina (I used Bob's Red Mill
2 cups bread flour
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 3/4 tsp salt

Directions

Put ingredients in bread machine, in order. Start the "dough" cycle. Take dough out.
Shape into a loaf and put in a floured banneton or bowl or basket to proof for an hour, covered by a towel.
Preheat the oven for that same hour at 450 degrees Farenheit.
Bake for 25 minutes, or until the crust is brown.
Take the bread out, let cool for 15 minutes.

flower pot bread

2010-01-25T11:45:00.000-08:00

This is probably my favorite bread-dinner. It's like a calzone, but inside a flower pot. It's beautiful to serve at the dinner table, fresh out of the oven.

Roll out the dough and put the goodies inside.

Press the cherry tomatoes onto the dough.

Close into a round package by folding in.

Put into the pot.

Repeat with the rest.

Bake until the top is brown

and the inside is bubbling.

As you cut it open you will find a surprise in the bread!

Technique inspired by Jamie Oliver.

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Tools

Ceramic flower pots.

Ingredients

For dough:

4 1/2 cups unbleached bread flour (if you use all-purpose flour, omit the olive oil)

1 3/4 tsp salt

1 tsp instant yeast

1/4 cup olive oil

1 3/4 cups water

Cornmeal for dusting

For filling (use finer ingredients if possible - you can pick whatever you want here, really):

Mozzarella

Parmesan

Cherry tomatoes (squash them onto the dough)

Sun-dried tomatoes

Prosciutto

Arugula

Olive oil

Salt + freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Put the flour on a counter and make a hole in the middle, like a volcano.

Throw in the salt and yeast. Put the water and oil in the middle and start stirring with a fork, incorporating more and more flour every time. Finish off by kneading until you get a silky, uniform dough (5 minutes).

Divide the dough into six (for my size pot, less for larger pots).

With a rolling pin, stretch out each piece as if making pizza.

Now fill up the bread. Tear the mozzarella and put it on the dough, squash the tomatoes onto the dough, add some parmesan, add the rest of the ingredients. Sprinkle with olive oil, salt and pepper.

Fold in the sides to create a round package, and flip it over. Put it in one of the well-floured ceramic pots. Do this for the rest of the pots.

Let the breads rise (covered by a towel) for an hour while the oven is preheated at 450 degrees Farenheit.

Bake for 30 minutes or until the top is brown. Let cool and serve. You can either take the bread out and serve it, or just leave it in the pot.

anadama oatmeal bread

2010-01-24T14:40:00.000-08:00

Anadama bread is originally from New England. It has oatmeal and molasses. The legend about the origin of the name goes like this (according to a not-so-reputable source):

"A fisherman, angry with his wife, Anna, for serving him nothing but cornmeal and molasses, one day adds flour and yeast to his porridge and eats the resultant bread, while cursing, 'Anna, damn her.'"

Ahem... So, I thought I'd show more of the process of baking the bread. Here are the steps to take after making the dough.

Once you've made the dough, flour the banneton.

Make the dough into a ball and place it in the banneton.

Cover with a towel and let proof (rise) for an hour.

Bake at 450 degrees Farenheit for about 25 minutes.

Let cool and serve.

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Ingredients

1 cup + 2 Tbsp boiling water

1/4 cup oatmeal

2 Tbsp cornmeal

2 Tbsp oil

2 Tbsp molasses

1/4 cup dry milk

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 cup whole wheat flour

2 cups bread flour

2 Tbsp gluten

2 tsp instant, rapid-rise yeast

Directions

Put ingredients in bread machine, in order. Start the "dough" cycle.
Shape into a loaf and put in a floured banneton or bowl or basket to proof for an hour, covered by a towel.
Preheat the oven for that same hour at 450 degrees Farenheit.
Bake for 25 minutes, or until the crust is brown.
Take the bread out, let cool for 15 minutes.

cumin rye bread

2010-01-22T19:40:00.000-08:00

My easy attempt at making rye bread. This is kind of a wuss rye bread (mixed with other kinds of flour), but it's delicious! I exchanged the more commonly-used caraway seeds for cumin seeds, and I got a curry-like bread. Next step, darker rye bread, like the kind you eat with salmon and capers in Scandinavia.
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Ingredients

1 egg
1 cup+1 Tbsp water, lukewarm
3 Tbsp oil
3 Tbsp honey
2 Tbsp powdered milk
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups bread flour
3/4 cups whole wheat flour
2/3 cups rye flour
1 Tbsp cumin seeds
2 tsp active dry yeast

Directions

Put ingredients in bread machine. Start the "dough" cycle.
Shape into a loaf and put in an oiled loaf pan to proof for an hour, covered by a towel.
Preheat the oven for that same hour at 450 degrees Farenheit.
Bake for 15 minutes, cover with tin foil so the top doesn't burn. Bake for another or 20 minutes.
Take the bread out of the pan as soon as you take it out of the oven so it doesn't get soggy.
Let cool for 15 minutes. Serve!!!

rosemary french bread

2010-01-20T16:08:00.000-08:00

First loaf this year! A classic French bread with a kick, and with the beautiful banneton pattern.

Note to self (and other artisan bread bakers): I wish I had scored the bread (cutting a 1-in-deep slice through the middle) before baking it because it kind of rose through a crack on the side while in the oven. These are minor mistakes, but I like to notice them to get it better the next time.

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Ingredients
1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp sugar
4 cups bread flour
2 1/4 tsp instant yeast
2 Tbsp rosemary, dried

Directions

Whisk together the flour, yeast, salt, sugar, and rosemary. Add the water.
Mix the ingredients until you get a dough that comes off the sides of the bowl.
Take out and knead for 10 minutes.
Let rest for 20 minutes.
Knead again for 5 minutes.
Let rise for 1 hour in a warm place (in a bowl covered by plastic). The dough should have doubled in volume.
Take out and form. You can either make a loaf or a boule.
To make a loaf, take one of the halves and flatten it into a rectangle. Do a business-letter fold and turn 90 degrees. Start rolling from the side farther away from you, and as you roll in, press down with your fingers to seal the dough and to stretch it a little on the roll. When it's ready, put it on a heavily-floured towel and put some plastic wrap on top of it so it doesn't dry out.
To make a boule, take one of the halves and shape it into a ball. Seal the bottom and put it in a bowl covered with a heavily-floured towel seam-side down. Put some plastic wrap on top of the bowl so it doesn't dry out.
Let proof for one hour (I proofed the bread in a banneton this time). At this time start preheating the oven. Preheat the oven with the baking stone inside at 450 F at least an hour before baking. If using a baking sheet, don't preheat the sheet.
Uncover the dough, rub some flour on it, and slice/score it however you want (I made two almost vertical lines side-by-side on the loaf, and I made a square on the boule).
Put proofed dough in the oven and toss some water in before closing the door to create steam. Let bake until the crust is golden brown and the bread sounds hollow when you tap it.

pause

2010-01-12T20:23:00.001-08:00

Maria's Golden Oven will be paused until further notice for health reasons.

Will be back soon!

PS. Any requests for recipes I should try and perfect when I come back? Make a comment!

chocolate beer bread

2009-12-09T20:24:00.000-08:00

I invented this recipe after being inspired by Jim Lahey's no-knead method. It's even better than beer itself! At least I think so.
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Ingredients
2 cups bread flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 tsp yeast
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar
5/8 cups chocolate stout beer (I used Rogue beer from Portland, OR)

Directions
1. Whisk all the dry ingredients together. Add the beer and mix the ingredients together with a wooden spoon. If it's not really sticky to the touch, mix in another tablespoon or two of water. Cover the bowl and let sit at room temperature until the surface is dotted with bubbles and the dough is more than doubled in size, 12 to 18 hours.

2. When the first rise is complete, generously dust a work surface with flour. Use a bowl scraper or rubber spatula to scrape the dough out of the bowl in one piece. Using lightly floured hands or a bowl scraper or spatula, lift the edges of the dough in toward the center. Nudge and tuck in the edges of the dough to make it round.

3. Place a tea towel on your work surface and generously dust it with wheat bran, cornmeal, or flour. Gently place the dough on the towel, seam side down. If the dough is tacky, dust the top lightly with wheat bran, cornmeal, or flour. Fold the ends of the tea towel loosely over the dough to cover it and place it in a warm, draft-free spot to rise for 1 to 2 hours. The dough is ready when it is almost doubled. If you gently poke it with your finger, it should hold the impression. If it springs back, let it rise for another 15 minutes.

4. Half an hour before the end of the second rise, preheat the oven to 475 degrees F, with a rack in the lower third, and place the covered 4 1/2- to 5 1/2-quart heavy pot in the center of the rack.

5. Using pot holders, carefully remove the preheated pot from the oven and uncover it. Unfold the tea towel and quickly but gently invert the dough into the pot, seam side up. (Use caution - the pot will be very hot) Cover the pot and bake for 30 minutes.

6. Remove the lid and continue baking until bread is a deep chestnut color but not burnt, 15 to 30 minutes more. Use a heatproof spatula or pot holders to gently lift the bread out of the pot and place it on a rack to cool thoroughly.

peanut butter and jelly bread

2009-12-02T20:32:00.000-08:00

What a perfect combination!

This bread is not as sweet and rich as a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but it is delightful because the bread itself has a warm, peanuty flavor. Also, the texture is almost like cake because of the egg.
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Ingredients
1 egg, beaten
2 cups plus 2 Tbsp bread flour
2 Tbsp whole wheat flour
3/4 tsp table salt
1/4 tsp active yeast
1 cup plus 2 Tbsp cool water
3 Tbsp unsalted smooth peanut butter
1/4 cup unsalted dry-roasted peanuts, whole
1/4 cup unsalted dry-roasted peanuts, roughly chopped
1/3 seedless fruit jam of choice (I used raspberry preserves)
nonstick cooking spray

Directions
1. In a medium bowl, stir together the flours, salt, yeast, and the egg. Blend the water and peanut butter in a blender until smooth (some settling will occur fi this is left to stand, so blend just before using.) Add mixture tot he flour mixture and, using the wooden spoon or your hand, mix until you have a we, sticky dough without any lumps, about 30 seconds. Stir in the whole peanuts until evenly distributed. Cover the bowl and let sit at room temperature until the surface is dotted with bubbles and the dough is more than doubled in size, about 12 hours.

2. When the first rise is complete, sprinkle the surface of the dough with flour. Use a bowl scraper or rubber spatula to scrape the dough out of the bowl in one piece. Lightly flour your hands and gently pat and pull the dough into a rough rectangle about 8 by 12 inches.

3. Now you're going to make a sort of jelly roll: Position the dough so a long side is in front of you. Spread the jam evenly over the surface of the dough, leaving a 1-inch border on all sides. Lift up the far side of the rectangle and fold one third of it over toward the cetner, the continue rolling up the remainder into a cylinder. With the seam on the bottom, tuck the ends of the roll under to seal them, so the jam doesn't ooze out during baking.

4. Lightly coat the loaf pan with cooking spray. Sprinkle half of the chopped peanuts into the bottom of the pan. Gently transfer the dough, seam side down, to the loaf pan. Sprinkle the remaining chopped peanuts onto the dough. Cover the dough with a towel and place it in a warm, draft-free spot to rise for 1 hour. The dough is ready when it has doubled. If you gently poke it with your finger, it should hold the impression. If it springs back, let it rise for another 15 minutes.

5. About 15 minutes before the end of the second rise, preheat the oven to 450 degrees F, with a rack in the center.

6. Bake until golden, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. If the peanuts start to darken, loosely cover the loaf with foil. Use pot holders to invert the pan onto a rack, remove the pan, and turn the bread right side up to cool thoroughly. (Don't dawdle - the bread will get soggy if it cools in the pan.)

walnut cinnamon bread - pan co' santi

2009-11-27T19:25:00.000-08:00

Walnuts and cinnamon make the bread perfect for winter! I am falling more and more in love with the no-knead method.

The beauty of the no-knead method, as Jim Lahey says in his book My Bread, The Revolutionary No-Work, No-Knead Method, is that it's so easy and it yields such amazing results because the bread creates the bonds needed for the structure by itself.

Jim Lahey says, "Applied in the modern home kitchen, it requires about 5 minutes of actual labor, followed by 12 to 18 hours in which the bread rises, developing structure and flavor on autopilot, and then another short rising time, and, finally, the brief baking in a covered pot. It's a terrific loaf of bread, easily within the reach of any home cook." I highly recommend trying this at home because it's beautiful, delicious, and very easy.

I have a QUESTION for bakers who read this. How do you feel about burnt loaves? I read a quote in Dan Lepard's The Handmade Loaf said by Johan Sorbergs, a baker in Stockholm, saying that "Today burnt crusts are viewed as deadly at worst... But without the penetrating effect of the browning and charring, the crumb flavor is thin." Is it true that to get a better crumb flavor the crust has to be nearly burnt?
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Yield: One 10-inch round loaf, 1 1/2 pounds
Equipment: A 4 1/2- to 5 1/2-quart heavy pot

Ingredients
3 cups bread flour
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 1/4 tsp table salt
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp active dry yeast
a pinch of freshly ground pepper
1 1/2 water, cool (~60 F)

Directions
1. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, raisins, walnuts, salt, cinnamon, yeast, and pepper, mixing thoroughly. Add the water and, using a wooden spoon or your hand, mix until you have a wet, sticky dough, about 30 seconds. If it's not really sticky to the touch, mix in another tablespoon or two of water. Cover the bowl and let sit at room temperature until the surface is dotted with bubbles and the dough is more than doubled in size, 12 to 18 hours.

2. When the first rise is complete, generously dust a work surface with flour. Use a bowl scraper or rubber spatula to scrape the dough out of the bowl in one piece. Using lightly floured hands or a bowl scraper or spatula, lift the edges of the dough in toward the center. Nudge and tuck in the edges of the dough to make it round.

3. Place a tea towel on your work surface and generously dust it with wheat bran, cornmeal, or flour. Gently place the dough on the towel, seam side down. If the dough is tacky, dust the top lightly with wheat bran, cornmeal, or flour. Fold the ends of the tea towel loosely over the dough to cover it and place it in a warm, draft-free spot to rise for 1 to 2 hours. The dough is ready when it is almost doubled. If you gently poke it with your finger, it should hold the impression. If it springs back, let it rise for another 15 minutes.

4. Half an hour before the end of the second rise, preheat the oven to 475 degrees F, with a rack in the lower third, and place the covered 4 1/2- to 5 1/2-quart heavy pot in the center of the rack.

5. Using pot holders, carefully remove the preheated pot from the oven and uncover it. Unfold the tea towel and quickly but gently invert the dough into the pot, seam side up. (Use caution - the pot will be very hot) Cover the pot and bake for 30 minutes.

6. Remove the lid and continue baking until bread is a deep chestnut color but not burnt, 15 to 30 minutes more. Use a heatproof spatula or pot holders to gently lift the bread out of the pot and place it on a rack to cool thoroughly.

pain viennois/roscones colombianos

2009-11-24T14:07:00.000-08:00

There is a Colombian pastry I really love called roscón. It is bread shaped like a donut that has guava paste inside and sugar sprinkled on top. I don't have the recipe for this (my grandmother Tuti is getting it for me, probably by exchanging it for the hottest gossip in town), so I made one up. I used the recipe for sweet bread, sometimes called pain viennois (from Richard Bertinet's Dough), and stuffed the bread with guava paste.

It is remarkably similar to the real thing.
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Ingredients

4 cups bread flour
2 1/2 tsp instant yeast
1 tsp fine sea salt
2 2/3 caster (superfine) sugar
4 Tbsp unsalted butter
2 large eggs
1 cup whole milk, at room temperature

Directions

1. Whisk together the dry yeast and bread flour in a large, wide mixing bowl. Add the salt and sugar and whisk in well.

2. Add the unsalted butter, cut into small cubes, then rub the butter into the flour mixture until well crumbled.

3. Add the eggs and milk, then mix together with a spatula until it forms a shaggy dough. Cover with a tea towel and allow to rest for 10 minutes. Note that this recipe uses two eggs – the photo below was from a double batch.

4. Knead the dough until smooth.

5. Oil the scraped-out mixing bowl, then return the dough to the bowl, cover with clingfilm and allow to rise until doubled in size (about an hour).

6. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and gently fold it onto itself. Divide the dough into five pieces, then shape each piece into a long roll. If you want, insert the jam or chocolate in the rolls and make sure none of it is sticking out. Make the rolls into rings. Place the dough on a tray lined with parchment paper, allowing room to spread. Brush each roll with two coats of beaten egg, before making several deep cuts diagonally across the top with a razor or sharp knife.(I forgot to do this). Preheat the oven to 350 F.

7. Allow the dough to prove for an hour longer, then bake in the preheated oven for 10 – 15 minutes, until dark golden brown. The finished bread has a brioche-like quality and can be used for a variety of sweet and savoury applications

simplest no knead bread

2009-11-24T11:33:00.000-08:00

This recipe was made popular by the New York Times. They published it in 2006 and sparked a whole new generation of home artisan bakers. This bread is so easy to make and yields such great results that everyone was fascinated with it and started getting interested in more difficult recipes.

The crumb is really airy, has lots of bubbles, and it is very similar to Pugliese bread, which is my favorite to buy at the store and I've never managed to make right. Now I will never have to buy bread again!

I got the link from my friend Marta, and I'm so glad I know about it now! No kneading involved!
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Adapted from Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery
Time: About 1½ hours plus 14 to 20 hours’ rising

Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1¼ teaspoons salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.

Directions

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

Yield: One 1½-pound loaf.

spelt bread

2009-11-21T18:53:00.000-08:00

Spelt is a species of wheat that was used since the beginning of agriculture itself (~5000 years ago) in the Iberian Peninsula. It was then widely used in Europe in medieval times, and it recently became popular again as a health food. Spelt flour has a somewhat nuttier and slightly sweeter flavor than whole wheat flour. It contains more protein than wheat, and the protein in spelt is easier to digest. It is not gluten free, but some people who are allergic to wheat might be able to digest it.

I bought some spelt flour the other day and was testing it out. It's not such a drastic difference from whole wheat bread, but it is lighter and has a unique flavor that seems ideal for the winter.

I recommend you eat it with goat cheese and pomegranate seeds on top.
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Ingredients

1/2 Tbsp active dry yeast
1 cups warm water (105° to 110° F)
1 1/2 tablespoons honey
1 1/2 tablespoons melted butter
1 teaspoons sea salt
3 cups spelt flour (use any combination of whole or white spelt)

Directions

Combine the yeast, water and honey in a large warm bowl. Let stand for 10 minutes or until the yeast softens. Stir in the butter and salt and 3 cups of the flour. Stir vigorously with a wooden spoon. Add the remaining flour in increments until the dough becomes too stiff to stir, then place the dough on a lightly floured surface. Knead for about 6 minutes, adding any remaining flour as necessary, until the dough becomes smooth and elastic. Do not overknead.

Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl. Cover and let rise in a warm, draft-free spot for about 2 hours or until doubled in bulk.

Grease two 8 ½" x 4 ½" loaf pans. Punch the dough down to deflate it and divide it in half. Form each half into a smooth loaf and place in a prepared pan. Cover and let rise in a warm, draft-free spot for about 1 hour or until the dough has risen to the top of the pans.

Preheat the oven to 350° F.

Uncover the risen loaves. Place the pans on a heavy baking sheet and bake for 45 minutes or until the tops are light brown and crusty. Remove from the oven and tap out of the pan into the baking sheet. Turn the oven off and return the breads to the oven to crisp for 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack.

Recipe by Rebecca Wood.

cranberry-nut-seed bread

2009-11-20T18:27:00.000-08:00

I just made up this recipe. I think it's my favorite bread so far: whole wheat bread with cranberries, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, and flax seeds. It is great for winter because the walnuts give it a nutty warm, texture. Amazing.
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Ingredients

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups unbleached white bread flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 Tbsp instant yeast
2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1/2 cup dry milk
1 egg
2 cups water, at room temperature

Seeds, etc.

1/4 cup chopped-up dried cranberries
1/8 cup chopped walnuts
1 Tbsp flax seeds
1 Tbsp pumpkin seeds

Directions

Mix the dry ingredients except salt and seeds etc., mix the wet ingredients. Combine wet and dry ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon until you get a ball of dough that comes off the sides of the bowl.

Put the seeds (not the cranberries) in a cup with boiling water. I've heard you're supposed to leave them in water overnight, but this worked just fine.

Knead for 10 mintues, by hand or machine, and then let rest in a bowl, covered with plastic, until doubled in volume.

Add salt and seeds, etc. Knead for 5 more minutes until everything is evenly distributed.

Preheat the oven at 450 degrees F for one hour.

Form dough into loaves, by using the business letter fold, and let rest for 90 minutes.

Put dough in oven, toss some water, and bake until golden brown.

Let cool.

pan de medianoche

2009-11-16T00:09:00.000-08:00

This isn't me. It's my friend Rachel, and Paul is in the background.

I ran into this recipe randomly on the internet and thought it sounded great. I've probably had it in sandwiches before, but I can't remember. It is very aromatic and almost sweet. It would go well with Cuban sandwiches or at tea time with jam.
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Ingredients

4 1/2 cups flour
2 Tbsp yeast
2 cups water
8 cups milk
1 whole egg
1/2 little cup of anise extract
1 lemon and its peel
1 orange and its peel
2 tsp salt
1/4 cup sugar
1 whisked egg for eggwash

Directions

Mix the dry ingredients, mix the wet ingredients. Combine wet and dry ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon until you get a ball of dough that comes off the sides of the bowl.

Knead for 10 mintues, by hand or machine, and then let rest in a bowl, covered with plastic, until doubled in volume.

Preheat the oven at 400 degrees F for one hour.

Form dough into balls or loaves and let rest for 90 minutes.

Brush eggwash on the dough. Put dough in oven and bake until golden brown.

Let cool.

simplest pita bread

2009-11-15T14:45:00.000-08:00

I got this recipe from The Fresh Loaf. I had the best Greek food I've ever tried after taking the Physics GRE about a week ago. They served a giant pita bread for the whole table (~ 1.5 ft diameter) with delicious tzatziki sauce and hummus (these are much better fresh than if you buy them at the store, which is not always the case (... maybe I've just been to terrible Greek restaurants)). It was very satisfying to grab a piece of pita bread and guiltlessly dip it into these abundant sauces, so I decided to try making it myself.

It's exactly what you would expect from pita bread.
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Makes 8 pitas

Ingredients

3 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar or honey
2 tsp yeast
1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups water, roughly at room temperature
2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions

Mix the yeast in with the flour, salt, and sugar. Add the olive oil and 1 1/4 cup water and stir together with a wooden spoon. All of the ingredients should form a ball. If some of the flour will not stick to the ball, add more water.

Once all of the ingredients form a ball, place the ball on a work surface, such as a cutting board, and knead the dough for approximately 10 minutes (or until your hands get tired). If you are using an electric mixer, mix it at low speed for 10 minutes.

When you are done kneading the dough, place it in a bowl that has been lightly coated with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside to rise until it has doubled in size, approximately 90 minutes.
When it has doubled in size, punch the dough down to release some of the trapped gases and divide it into 8 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball, cover the balls with a damp kitchen towel, and let them rest for 20 minutes. This step allows the dough to relax so that it'll be easier to shape.

While the dough is resting, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. If you have a baking stone, put it in the oven to preheat as well. If you do not have a baking stone, turn a cookie sheet upside down and place it on the middle rack of the oven while you are preheating the oven. This will be the surface on which you bake your pitas.

After the dough has relaxed for 20 minutes, spread a light coating of flour on a work surface and place one of the balls of dough there. Sprinkle a little bit of flour on top of the dough and use a rolling pin or your hands to stretch and flatten the dough. You should be able to roll it out to between 1/8 and 1/4 inch thick. If the dough does not stretch sufficiently you can cover it with the damp towel and let it rest 5 to 10 minutes before trying again.

Open the oven and place as many pitas as you can fit on the hot baking surface. They should be baked through and puffy after 3 minutes.

buttermilk potato bread

2009-11-06T15:01:00.000-08:00

This bread has a nice scent of potatoes. I put some oregano on top before baking it, after Papa Wall's recommendation, and the smell coming out of the oven is amazing.

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Ingredients

For the biga:

1/2 cup bread flour

1/16 tsp instant yeast

1/4 cup water, at room temperature

For the dough:

1 3/4 cups bread flour

1/3 cup plus 1 tsp potato flour

1/2 Tbsp vital what gluten

3/4 tsp instant yeast

1/2 cup water, at room temperature

1/2 cup buttermilk, at room temperature

1 tsp sugar

1 1/2 tsp salt

Directions

Combine all the biga ingredients until smooth. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let sit until tripled and filled with bubbles (~6 hours).

Whisk the bread flour, potato flour, yeast, salt, and sugar.

Whisk the water, buttermilk, and eggs. Add biga.

Mix wet and dry ingredients until you form a ball that easily comes off the sides of the bowl.

Let rise in a bowl covered with plastic until doubled in volume.

Form a loaf by doing the business-letter-fold and rolling the dough. Put the loaf in a tall, bread baking pan.

Preheat one hour before putting the bread in. Let dough rise for an hour under plastic again.

Put some oregano on the bread before baking.

As soon as you put the bread in the oven, toss some water in there to make steam. Quickly close the oven door.

Let bake for half an hour or until golden brown.

Let cool and enjoy.

san francisco baking institute: artisan 1 workshop

2009-11-06T14:53:00.000-08:00

I am very excited to announce that I will be going to the San Francisco Baking Institute to take an artisan bread baking course called Artisan Breads I: Artisan Baking Fundamentals.

After lots of translations from Spanish to English (my other occupation at the moment is to be a freelance translator) and a present from my mother, I have saved up enough money to go to this workshop.
Here is a description of what I'll be doing:

"As a student in Artisan I, you will become familiar with the terms short mix, improved mix and intensive mix while learning what types of flour you should be using and the proper mixing techniques for every bread imaginable. You will gain an understanding of the relationship between mixing and fermentation, through demonstration and discussion.

Learn how you can completely change the profile of bread by adding an additional ingredient such as butter or sugar. Acquire overall knowledge about the most common preferments used in bakeries today while you see and taste how they effect breads differently. Get started in understanding and using baker's math—an invaluable kitchen tool that will make you a more efficient and responsive baker.

We use the classic baguette to teach the fundamentals, but you will also learn to make Rye Bread, Whole Wheat Bread, Multigrain Bread, Pan Bread and Braided Egg Bread. The skills you learn in this class are directly applicable for a position in a professional bakery or for a serious home baker. When you finish this class, you will be able to write recipes instead of following them!"

I have read some reviews of the workshop and I am very impressed with what they said. My friend Floyd from the Fresh Loaf also said he knew some people who took the course and absolutely loved it as well, so I think it'll be worth it.

The most exciting part about taking this course is that I have so many questions to ask a professional baker, but I haven't been able to ask anyone because, thanks to the economic recession, bakeries are not hiring or willing to give me (free) internships. I applied to work at virtually every bakery in Portland! So, this is my chance to ask everything I've been wondering this whole time.

I'll post again with my conclusions after the course (~January 23rd).

challah bread

2009-10-30T22:01:00.000-07:00

4-braid and 3-braid challah bread, respectively.

Color test: Close up of challah braid. If it's golden brown on the bumps and yellow on the inside, it's ready.

Sound test: Tap the bread when you take it out of the oven. If it sounds hollow, it's ready.

Challah bread is beautiful, and when you bake it, it feels like a celebration, no matter the day.

I will copy Peter Reinhart's text on challah:

"Challah, the braided Sabbath bread of Judaism, is a European celebratory loaf symbolic of God's goodness and bounty. The braids traditionally separate the loaf into twelve distinct sections representing the twelve tribes of Israel. The use of eggs in the bread was probably a way to use up excess egss before the strict Judaic Sabbath day of rest made it impossible to harvest the new eggs, as harvesting is one of many activities considered work in Orthodox Jewish communities."

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Makes 1 large braided loaf, 2 smaller loaves, or 1 large double-braided celebratory loaf

Ingredients

4 cups unbleached bread flour
2 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 tsp salt
1 1/3 tsp instant yeast
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 large eggs, slightly beaten
2 large egg yolks, slightly beaten
3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp water, at room temperature
2 egg whites, whisked until frothy, for egg wash

Directions

1. Stir together the flour, sugar, salt, and yeast in a mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the oil, eggs and yolks, and 3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp water. Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture. Mix with a spoon (or on low speed with the paddle attachment) until all the ingredients gather and form a ball. Add the remaining water, if needed.

2. Sprinkle flour on the counter, transfer the dough to the counter, and knead for about 10 minutes (or mix at medium-low speed for 6 minutes with the dough hook), sprinkling in more flour if needed to make a soft, supple, but not sticky dough. The dough should pass the windowpane test and register at about 80 F.

**I tried out this recipe twice, and both times I needed about 1 1/2 extra cups of flour, by the way.

3. Lightly oil a large bowl. Form the dough into a boule, and transfer into the bowl, rolling it around to coat it with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Ferment for 1 hour at room temperature.

4. Remove the dough from the bowl and knead for 2 minutes to degas. Re-form it into a ball, return the ball to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and ferment for an additional hour. It should be at least 1 1/2 times its original size.

5. Remove the dough from the bowl and divide it into 6 pieces for 2 loaves. Form each of the pieces into a boule, cover them with a towel, and let them rest on the counter for 10 minutes.

6. Roll out the pieces into strands, each the same length, thicker in the middle and slightly tapered at the ends. Braid them using the 3- or 4-braid-method.

**I liked the 4-braid-method better. When I first braided them, the 3-strand-braid was much prettier, but after baking, the 4-strand had much more depth and looked more interesting. So, I recommend the 4-braid-method.

Line a sheet pan with baking parchment and transfer the loaves to the pan. Brush the loaves with the egg wash. Mist the loaves with spray oil and cover loosely with plastic wrap or place the pan in a food grade plastic bag.

7. Proof at room temperature from 60 to 75 minutes, or until the dough has grown 1 1/2 times its original size.

8. Preheat the oven to 350 F, with the oven rack on the middle shelf. Brush again with egg wash.

9. Bake for 20 minutes. Rotate the pan 180 degrees, and continue baking from 20 to 45 minutes, depending on the size of the loaf. The bread should be a rich golden brown.

**It took only 20 minutes for the bread to be done in my oven. Just make sure it's golden brown and that when you tap it it sounds hollow.

10. When done, transfer the bread to a rack and cool for at least 1 hour before slicing and serving.

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I sold this bread to a certain costumer, and he paid me with eggs from his chickens! Here they are:

buttermilk cluster

2009-10-27T22:52:00.000-07:00

This recipe was taken from The Fresh Loaf. I made it because:

1. It looked beautiful in their pictures, and
2. I study galaxy clusters in physics, so I thought it appropriate to make cluster bread.
3. It's a super easy recipe.

I made half the recipe because I only wanted eight rolls.
Now. Let's do it.
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Ingredients
3 1/4 cups bread flour
1/4 Tbsp salt
1 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
1/2 Tbsp warm water
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 Tbsp honey

For the glaze
1 egg, beaten

For the topping
Poppy seeds

Directions
Combine the flour and salt in a large bowl. Combine the warm water and yeast in a small cup and allow to proof for 10 minutes.

Pour the yeast, buttermilk, and honey into the flour mixture and mix well. If the dough is so dry that some of the flour won't stick, add a bit more buttermilk or water. If the dough is too sticky to knead, more like a batter, add more flour by the tablespoon until the correct consistency is achieved.

Knead by machine or hand for approximately 10 minutes. Return the dough to the bowl, cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a damp cloth, and set aside to rise until the dough has doubled in size, approximately 90 minutes.

Divide the dough into 12 to 18 pieces. If you are a stickler you can scale them so that they are even, but I just cut them roughly the same size. Shape each piece into a neat ball and place in a round dish or spring-form pan close together.

When all of the rolls are in the pan, cover again with plastic or a damp towel and set aside to rise again for 45 minutes to an hour. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 425.

Uncover the rolls and brush gently with the egg wash. Sprinkle on the grain topping, if you like. I used poppy seeds.

Bake for approximately 30 minutes, until the rolls are firm and spring back when tapped.

Unmold the rolls from the pan and serve warm.

bavarian pumpernickel

2009-10-16T19:09:00.000-07:00

This is my first experiment with rye flour. My friend Adams asked me to make bread "like they do in Russia", so I thought I'd give it a try. I had also seen Peter Reinhart's TED Talk about whole wheat bread, and I had his book at home, so I thought it would be fun to try.

Little did I know, you need lots of time and lots of "unusual" ingredients for this recipe (by unusual I mean that I hadn't seen them in any bread recipes before). I ended up not having half the things required, so I improvised.

Among the required ingredients that I didn't have were: altus (crusted bread soaked overnight), diastatic malt powder (better texture, more flavor and improved shelf life), whole wheat or rye mother starter (read about it here).

I replaced the whole wheat started with sourdough starter, and it tasted delicious. I'm sure it's completely different if you follow the recipe closely, but it was still delightful!

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Ingredients

For the mash:

1 1/4 cups + 1 Tbsp of water

3/4 cup + 3 Tbsp whole rye flour (preferably coarse grind)

1/2 tsp brown sugar

For the starter:

1/3 cup sourdough starter

1 2/3 cups rye flour (preferably coarse grind)

3/4 cup water, at room temperature

For the final dough:

All the starter

All the mash

2 cups whole rye flour

1 3/4 tsp salt

2 1/4 tsp instant yeast

1 1/2 Tbsp cocoa powder

Directions

For the mash:

1. Preheat the oven to 200 F.

2. Heat the water to 165 F in an ovenproof saucepan, then remove the pan from the heat and whisk or stir in the rye flour and malt until the flour is fully hydrated and makes a paste similar to thin pudding or gravy. Using a spatula or plastic pastry scraper dipped in water, scape the spoon or whisk and the walls of the pan to get all of the dough bak into the pan and off the inside walls. Immediately cover the pan with its lid or aluminum foil and place it in the oven.

3. Turn the oven down to warm (150 F) and leave the mash in the oven for at least 1 hour and up to 3 hours. You can also leave it out overnight at room temperature if you plan to use it within the next 24 hours.

For the starter:

1. Mix all of the starter ingredients together in a bowl to form a ball of dough. Using wet hands, knead the dough in the bowl for about 2 minutes to be sure all of the ingredients are evenly distributed and the flour is fully hydrated. The dough should feel very tacky. Let the dough rest for about 5 minutes, then knead it again with wet hands for 1 minute. The dough will become smoother but still be tacky.

2. Transfer the dough to a clean bowl, cover loosely with plastic wrap, and leave at room temperature for approximately 4 to 6 hours, until the dough is nearly double in size. This could take up to 8 hours or even longer.

3. When the starter has fully developed, knead it for a few seconds to degas it. The starter is now ready for mixing into the final dough.

For the final dough:

1. Using a metal pastry scraper, chop the starter into 12 smaller pieces (sprinkle some of the extra flour over the pre-dough to keep the pieces from sticking back together.)

2. Combine the starter pieces and mash in a bowl with all of the other ingredients except the extra flour and stir vigorously with a mixing spoon or knead with wet hands (or use a mixer) for about 2 minutes, until all of the ingredients are evenly integrated and distributed into the dough. The dough should be soft and slightly sticky; if not, add more flour or water as needed.

3. Dust a work surface with flour, then roll the dough in the flour to coat. Knead the dough by hand for 3 to 4 minutes, incorporating only as much extra flour as needed, until the dough feels like firm, damp clay. Form the dough into a ball and let it rest on the work surface for 5 minutes while you prepare a clean, lightly oiled bowl.

4. Resume kneading the dough for 1 minute to strengthen the gluten and make any final flour or water adustments. The dough should feel soft and malleable, like modeling clay. Form the dough into a ball and place it in the prepared bowl, rolling to coat with oil. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature for approximately 20 minutes, until it swells and just begins to show signs of growth.

5. Preheat the oven to 400 F. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and form it into a ball or loaf pan shape. If you chose a loaf pan shape, oil the pan and sprinkle some flour on it. Place the loaf in the pan, sprinkle whole rye flour over the top, mist the top with pan spray, and place an inverted sheet pan over the dough. If you chose a ball, just put it on a baking sheet and sprinkle some flour on top of it. Do not proof the bread; bake it immediately.

6. Place the pan in the oven, lower the temperature to 375 F, and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the lid if you have one, and bake for another 30 minutes. Rotate the bread so it bakes evenly. Bake until the loaf is crisp and caramelized on all sides, sounds hollow when thumped on the bottom.

7. Transfer the bread to a cooling rack and allow it to cool thoroughly before wrapping (about 3 hours). For the first 24 hours, keep in a paper bag or wrap it in a cloth towel to allow it to continue drying out and developing flavor. After that, it can be packaged in aluminum foil.

Recipe adapted from Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads: New Techniques, Extraordinary Flavor (book courtesy of Floyd Mann)

tassajara whole wheat bread

2009-10-13T17:50:00.000-07:00

This bread is made from a classic Zen monastery recipe.

The Tassajara Zen Mountain Center in Carmel Valley, California, is the oldest Japanese Buddhist Soto Zen monastery in the US. The Tassajara bread book was published by the monastery personnel in 1970 and it is credited for bringing back artisan bread baking to America. After this book was published, everyone realized that they could make bread at home, so a huge movement for eating home-made, not store-bought bread started, and it continues today.

The recipes in the Tassajara Bread Book are quire liberal, and they don't specify exactly what amounts or ingredients you need. It's more of a "you could add something sweet if you wanted, but you don't have to, and you should do just want you want to do with your loved loaf" kind of idea. In any case, I ended up coming up with this recipe with ideas from the book. It makes some amazing bread!
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Ingredients

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups white bread flour
1/2 Tbsp active dry yeast
3/8 cup brown sugar (or molasses)
1/2 cup powdered milk
1/2 cup crushed oats
1 1/2 cups water (at room temperature)
1 egg

Directions

Whisk together the flours, yeast, sugar, milk, and oats. Add the water, egg, and a little bit of warm milk if you want to have creamy bread.
Mix the ingredients until you get a dough that comes off the sides of the bowl.
Take out and knead for 10 minutes.
Let rest for 20 minutes.
Knead again for 5 minutes.
Let rise for 1 hour in a warm place (in a bowl covered by plastic). The dough should have doubled in volume.
Take out, cut in half and form. You can either make a loaf (left in the picture) or a boule (right in the picture).
To make a loaf, take one of the halves and flatten it into a rectangle. Do a business-letter fold and turn 90 degrees. Start rolling from the side farther away from you, and as you roll in, press down with your fingers to seal the dough and to stretch it a little on the roll. When it's ready, put it on a heavily-floured towel and put some plastic wrap on top of it so it doesn't dry out.
To make a boule, take one of the halves and shape it into a ball. Seal the bottom and put it in a bowl covered with a heavily-floured towel seam-side down. Put some plastic wrap on top of the bowl so it doesn't dry out.
Let proof for one hour. At this time start preheating the oven. Preheat the oven with the baking stone inside at 450 F at least an hour before baking. If using a baking sheet, don't preheat the sheet.
Uncover the dough, rub some flour on it, and slice/score it however you want (I made two almost vertical lines side-by-side on the loaf, and I made a square on the boule).
Put proofed dough in the oven and toss some water in before closing the door to create steam. Let bake until the crust is golden brown and the bread sounds hollow when you tap it.

Recipe from the Tassajara Bread Book.

orders going wrong

2009-10-12T17:12:00.000-07:00

Somehow every time I have an official order something goes wrong and I have to rush, repeat the recipe and try to get it right the second time. Here are my three stories so far:

1. For this one cake, I used the same ingredients as always, but I started using a Kitchen Aid. I got so excited about mixing the ingredients that I ended up curdling the milk or the butter or something in there. The dough definitely looked like it had chunks in it and it did not taste good. It was salty and odd.

2. I ran out of bread flour so I got some new one at the store, except they didn't have the one I usually use, so I bought some other, cheaper kind. I think it was all-purpose flour (although it said it was "superb for bread"), and instead of looking like puffy, shiny, formed loaves, these were just gooey blobs on the counter that stuck to everything. They tasted good in the end, but they looked so silly.

3. For beet bread, I ran out of whole wheat flour, so I used white flour. It turned out that the beet color really took over, and in the end my beet bread was so bright pink it looked like a Barbie torpedo.

The second times have worked pretty well so far, but I can't keep wasting all that time and materials. I wonder how other bakers do it. Any ideas? Is this Murphy's law, or am I just freaking out about orders? I wonder if this happens to everyone.

my favorite bread books

2009-10-10T20:15:00.000-07:00

I have done lots of research about which bread books are the best, mostly on culinary school websites, bread websites, and by word of mouth. These are the ones I've collected so far (I don't actually own any of them. They're all borrowed from libraries or friends. I hate having to give them back! But it's great because they're free! By the way, I had to return the last one here, Reinhart's "The Bread Baker's Apprentice," to the library. That's why I couldn't include it in the top picture.):

E.J. Buehler - Bread Science: The Chemistry and Craft of Making Bread: A scientific approach to bread baking. Lots of chemistry and hand-drawn diagrams of molecules and such. A good combination of art and science.

The Tassajara Bread Book: Coming from a Zen monastery in California, this is the book that brought back artisan bread baking to America in the 60s and 70s.

Dan Lepard - The Handmade Loaf: I haven't read this book because I just got it. I'll update this and add some info later.

Richard Bertinet - Dough: Simple Contemporary Breads: This book has really beautiful and shocking recipes, like the puff balls I made the other day, and a soup bowl made out of cracker-like cooked dough.

Richard Bertinet - Crust: Bread to Get Your Teeth Into: Similar to Dough. Really pretty and "quick" recipes.

Eric Treuille - Bread: I bought this book for a friend before I knew anything about bread. It seemed approachable enough, but now that I look at it it's not very specific. They show beautiful breads and pretend that you make them with a super simple recipe. It's not that simple to get nice bread, especially if you're a beginner.

Daniel Leader - Bread Alone Bold Fresh Loaves From Your Own Hands: Great for learning how to hand knead.

Peter Reinhart - Whole Grain Breads: New Techniques, Extraordinary Flavor: Amazing book about how to make whole wheat bread taste delicious. Watch Reinhart's TED talk video.

Jim Lahey - My Bread: The Revolutionary No-Work, No-Knead Method: I haven't read this book because I just got it. I'll update this and add some info later.

***Rose Levy Beranbaum - The Bread Bible: This has been my bible. I have learned most everything I know about bread from this book because it's written clearly and succinctly, and has wonderful hand-drawn diagrams. The rest of the books seem to be a repetition of something mentioned in this book. This is probably because I read The Bread Bible first, but I do think it's very comprehensive.

***Peter Reinhart - The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread: My second bible. I have used this book for its great recipes for bagels and pizza dough. Peter Reinhart writes beautifully, has great stories about the different kinds of bread, and his recipes work wonderfully. I hear he is a great teacher, and you can tell by the way he writes advice about baking bread.

failed poppy seed cake

2009-10-05T21:14:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, right when you need a baked good to turn out perfectly, something goes terribly wrong.

This pile of poppy seeds, which looks like a compartment full of ideal gas particles, is supposed to be a cake.

More than a cake, this is the insides of a cake.

Everything went wrong that could go wrong with this cake: I ran out of milk and had to replace it with water, the butter-sugar-egg mixture curdled with the orange blossom water, even though that's impossible, it was super salty, and the cake got stuck to the sides as if it was superglued on.

What?!

How did this all happen in one pastry when it has never happened before? Maybe it's because I'm using this new machine and I got too excited about mixing things a lot. Maybe I added the ingredients in the wrong order. Whatever it was, it did not turn out as i expected. So, I fed my roommates the old cake, and I made another cake to sell. It was the most beautiful cake I've ever made. Problem solved!

ciabatta

2009-10-04T17:38:00.000-07:00

I already made a post about kalamata olive ciabatta, but I don't think I really made it properly that time. I used bread flour instead of all-purpose, and I added too much flour when kneading the dough. This really makes it a different kind of bread.

Today I attempted ciabatta because I borrowed my friend Rachel's beautiful Kitchen Aid with dough hook attachment. This allowed me to really knead the dough without adding more flour, which is really hard to do by hand.

I've attempted to make this recipe many times and it never works out. The dough is always too wet. When I'm done kneading the dough doesn't look like the picture in the magazine and it is impossible to fold over like they ask you to. This time it worked, I think because I kneaded for longer and got a silky dough before rising. Yes... I think that is the trick...

______________________________

Ingredients

For the Biga
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/8 tsp dry active yeast
1/2 cup water, at room temperature

For the Dough
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp instant yeast
1 1/2 tsp table salt
3/4 cup water, at room temperature
1/4 cup milk, at room temperature

Directions
1. FOR THE BIGA: Combine flour, yeast, and water in medium bowl and stir with wooden spoon until uniform mass forms, about 1 miut. Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature (about 70 F) overnight (at least 8 hours and up to 24 hours).

2. FOR THE DOUGH: Place biga and dough ingredients in bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Mix on lowest speed until roughly combined and shaggy dough forms, about 1 minute; scrape down sides of bowl as necessary. Continue mixing on medium-low speed until dough becomes uniform mass that collects on paddle and pulls away from the sides of bowl, 4 to 6 minutes. Change to dough hook and knead bread on medium speed until smooth and shiny (dough will be very sticky), about 10 minutes.

This is the part I had done wrong before. You really have to knead it on the machine for about 10 minutes until you get a silky dough that collects on the hook.

Transfer dough to large bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Let dough rise at room temperature until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.

3. Spray rubber spatula or bowl scraper with non-stick cooking spray; fold partially risen dough over itself by gently lifting and folding edge of dough toward middle. Turn bowl 90 degrees; fold again. Turn bowl and fold dough six more times (total of eight turns). Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for about 30 minutes. Repeat folding, replace plastic wrap, and let rise until doubled in volume, about 30 minutes longer. Meanwhile, adjust oven rack to lower-middle position, place baking stone on rack, and heat oven to 450 F at least 30 minutes before baking.

4. Cut two 12- by 6-inch pieces of parchment paper and liberally dust with flour. Transfer dough to liberally floured counter, being careful not to deflate completely. Divide dough in two with a bench scraper. Press each half into rough 12- by 6-inch rectangles. Shape each dough half like a business letter into 7- by 14-inch loaf and let rest 30 minutes. Gently transfer each loaf seam-side down to parchment sheets, dust with flour, and cover with plastic wrap. Let loaves sit at room temperature for 30 minutes (surfaces of loaves will develop small bubbles).

5. Slide parchment with loaves onto inverted rimmed backing sheet or pizza peel. Using flour on fingertips, evenly poke entire surface of each loaf to form a 10- by 16-inch rectangle; spray loaves lightly with water.

My advice here is that you sprinkle some cornmeal on the hot, preheated baking sheet, and flip the risen loaves directly onto the sheet. Put them in the oven, toss a cup of water in the oven (just the water) and close it quickly. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown. This picture shows the two options: when you flip the bread over before baking it (left), and when you don't (right). I like the left one, personally. This is what they recommend:

Omit this if you took my advice: Carefully slide parchment with loaves onto baking stone using jerking motion. Bake spraying loaves with water twice more during first minutes of baking time, until crust is deep golden brown and instant-read thermometer inserted in centers of loaves registers 210 F, about 20 minutes.

Transfer to wire rack, discard parchment and cool loaves to room temperature, about 1 hour before slicing and serving. This will help the crust solidify properly.

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated.

bread delivery business

2009-10-03T20:28:00.000-07:00

The bread delivery business is up! Here's the menu (the first draft).

It'll have to be a small-scale operation, since I only have one oven and one employee (myself). One order per day! Interested?

rich man's brioche

2009-10-02T13:52:00.000-07:00

I was in a Paris hotel once with my dad and sister, and my dad went out to buy us breakfast at a cafe nearby. He saw this beautiful loaf of bread, and touched it. Then he saw that it was rich man's brioche, and that it cost 10 euros. For one loaf. The lady said he had to buy it because he had touched it, so we ended up with the fanciest loaf of bread in town. He brought it back to the hotel room, and as soon as I tried it I tasted some orange essence and a complex buttery flavor: it was the most delicious bread I'd ever had.

I looked up the recipe for brioche in Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice, and found the Rich Man's Brioche recipe. After making it, I found that the next two recipes were for Middle-Class Brioche and Poor Man's Brioche. If only I'd known I would have made the poor man one! It has much less butter. Oh well. By the way, these pictures don't do justice to the amount of butter this bread has. This first one looks kind of like the bread feels in your mouth: full of butter. Not very healthy. For a healthy bread go here.

The story everyone always tells about brioche is when Marie Antoinette said, "Let them eat cake!" Except they say she actually said, "Let them eat brioche! (Qu'ils mangent de la brioche!)" Except she never actually said it at all. From what I know, in his book Confessions, Rousseau wrote about a great princess who said the line. it is commonly thought that it was Queen Marie Antoinette that he was talking about, but it's just a myth.

Peter Reinhart says that "brioche is the standard by which all rich breads are judged," so I will start learning about rich breads in this process.

And with that, let's begin.
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Ingredients

For the sponge:
1/2 cup unbleached bread flour
1 Tbsp instant yeast
1/2 cup whole milk, lukewarm

For the dough:
5 large eggs, slightly beaten
3 1/2 cups unbleached bread flour
2 1/2 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 cups unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 egg, whisked until frothy, for egg wash

Directions
To make the sponge, stir together the flour and yeast in a large mixing bowl. Stir in the milk until all the flour is hydrated. Cover with plastic wrap and let ferment for 20 minutes, or until the sponge rises and the falls when you tap the bowl.

To make the dough, add the eggs to the sponge and whisk until smooth. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, and salt. Add this mixture to the sponge and eggs and stir until all the ingredients are hydrated and evenly distributed. Let this mixture rest for 5 minutes so that the gluten can begin to develop. Then, while mixing with a large spoon, gradually work in butter, about one quart at a time, waiting until each addition of butter assimilates before adding more. This will take a few minutes. Continue mixing for about 6 more minutes, or until the dough is very well mixed. You will have to scrape down the bowl from time to time as the dough will cling to it. The dough will be very smooth and soft.

Line a sheet pan with baking parchment and mist lightly with spray oil. Transfer the dough to the sheet pan, spreading it to form a large, thick rectangle measuring about 6 inches by 8 inches. Mist the top of the dough with spray oil and cover the pan with plastic wrap or place it in a large food-grade plastic bag.

Immediately put the pan into the refrigerator and chill overnight overnight, or for at least 4 hours.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and shape it while it is very cold. If it warms up or softens, return it to the refrigerator. If you are making loaves, grease two 8 1/2 - by 4 1/2-inch loaf pans. Divide the dough into 2 or 3 pieces (I did 2) and shape the dough into loaves by flattening the dough into a rectangle and folding down, long-wise, three times. Close off the seam and put it in the pans, seam facing down.

(I don't have the little brioche à tête pans, so I did not use that part of the recipe at all. Check Reinhart's book for that extension.)

Mist the top of the dough with spray oil and loosely cover with plastic wrap, or slip the pans into a food-grade plastic bag. Proof the dough until it nearly fills the pans (1 1/2-2 hours). Gently brush the tops with egg wash. Cover the dough with plastic wrap that has been lightly misted with spray oil. Continue proofing for another 15 to 30 minutes, or until the dough fills the molds or pans.

Preheat the oven to 350 F with the oven rack on the middle shelf.

Bake for 35 to 50 minutes. The bread should sound hollow when thumped on the bottom and be golden brown.

Remove the brioches or loaves from the pans as soon as they come out of the oven and cool on rack.

Recipe from Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice.

lemon poppy seed orange blossom water cake, for the old paradox

2009-10-01T18:58:00.000-07:00

Ok, that's the longest post name so far. I thought I'd try making some cake for the Paradox tomorrow. After all, I'm selling at a cafe in the morning, and people tend to buy pastries then. I know I would.

This contains orange blossom water, my favorite ingredient.
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Makes 16 servings.

Ingredients:
For cake:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups quick oats
3 Tbsp poppy seeds
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 Tbsp grated lemon peel
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1 Tbsp orange blossom water

For lemon glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar
1 Tbsp butter, melted
4 to 5 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp grated lemon peel
Directions

Heat oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease and flour 12-cup Bundt® pan or 10-inch tube pan.

For Cake: Combine flour, oats, poppy seeds, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.

In a large bowl, beat sugar and butter in large bowl on medium speed of electric mixer until fluffy. Add lemon peel. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Add orange blossom water.

Add 1/3 of flour mixture to sugar/butter mixture, mixing until blended. Add half of milk, mixing until blended.Continue flour mixture and milk alternately, mixing well after each addition. Pour into pan.

Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack in pan 10 minutes; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

For Lemon Glaze: In a small bowl, mix all ingredients until smooth. Drizzle over cooled cake.

Recipe from http://www.cooksrecipes.com/cake/lemony_poppy_seed_cake_recipe.html.
I just googled it and added the orange blossom water.

bread baking tools

2009-09-29T17:27:00.001-07:00

I use all of these tools when baking bread. I thought I'd explain what each one is for. (Click on the name of the tool and it will take you to a place where you can buy it. I just found these places by searching on Google.)

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Lame (bread slashing tool): A razor blade on a stick. It can be substituted for a very sharp razor blade, but it has a nice handle that makes neat slashes. Making slashes will help the bread rise in a controlled place while in the oven.

I got this at Sur la Table for $7.

Baker's couche: A rising cloth made from unbleached natural flax fiber. This is a better surface for rising bread than a towel because its rough texture doesn't let the dough stick. I hear that the surface absorbs some of the moisture in the dough, which gives the bread a thick crispy crust. It's also helpful for making a wall between loaves. Don't wash the couche! Keep flouring it and not washing it to create a better surface.

I got this from Sur la Table for $6.

Cooling rack: When the bread comes out of the oven you should always let it cool before eating it! This is because cooling is part of the process of forming the crust and the structure inside. Just take the bread out of the oven, put it on the cooling rack for 15 minutes and it'll be ready to eat. It will still be warm and delicious.

We just had this cooling rack at our house.

Baking stone: This will conduct heat really well to get your bread hot enough to have a crispy crust and be baked evenly. You preheat it with the oven for an hour before baking the bread.

I don't have this yet, but I have a ceramic baking sheet that works. I've heard you can also just use an unglazed ceramic tile.

My friend Christian found this sheet at a garage sale, and it was like $10.

Plastic wrap: This is what you should cover your dough with so not much, but some, air gets in or out. It's good to spray it with oil before letting the dough rise because sometimes it will stick to the plastic and deform the dough.

You can get this at any grocery store.

Dough scraper: Indispensable for working with sticky dough. It's great for when you're first kneading the dough and it keeps sticking to the counter because you don't have to add extra flour. Adding extra flour makes the dough less wet and thus creates less bubbles. It's also great for helping you move the dough around.

I got this from a Goodwill store for $3.

Oil spray: So necessary! Otherwise you have to spread oil with a paper towel or your hands into plastic bags, saran wrap, pans, etc. and waste a lot.

I got this (actually an olive oil spray) at Trader Joe's for $3.

rate my video on youtube!

2009-09-28T12:14:00.000-07:00

I don't think I won the Cuisinternship contest (see my post about it). However, I can still get something for making my video!

The highest rated video on youtube at the end of the promotion will win a gift basket.

Will you guys rate my video highly on youtube? Thanks!

pizza napoletana - thin crust

2009-09-27T21:08:00.000-07:00

These pictures aren't so great because it was dark, and the more beautiful pizzas got eaten in less than one minute. Paul Clay thought that adding the green pepper would make it look more beautiful. hmm. The pizza was so so good, though. This one has goat cheese and prosciutto.

I decided to try this out since I'd been making so much bread and the recipe for pizza crust is almost identical to white bread's.

It seems that people usually try making pizza before making bread, so their crust isn't so good, but since I've made so much bread, my pizza dough was great! It's all about letting it rest and developing the gluten by kneading (but don't knead too much). The flavor gets a lot better if you let it rest overnight because it gets more acidity through cool fermentation.

I used a tomato sauce (like pasta sauce) we made with tomatoes from our garden, Parmesan and Asiago cheese, and some toppings my friend Cooper got (green peppers and mushrooms, prosciutto, salami, onion slices, etc.)

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Makes 6 6-ounce pizza crusts

Ingredients

4 1/2 cups unbleached bread flour (if you use all-purpose flour, omit the olive oil)

1 3/4 tsp salt

1 tsp instant yeast

1/4 cup olive oil

1 3/4 cups water (ice cold)

Cornmeal for dusting

Directions

1. Whisk together the flour salt and instant yeast in a 4-quart bowl. With a large metal spoon, stir in the oil and the cold water until the flour is all absorbed. Stir until you get an even dough, repeatedly dipping your hands or the metal spoon in cold water. Reverse the circular motion a few times to develop the gluten further. The finished dough will be springy, elastic, and sticky, not just tacky, and be at about 50°F (10°C).

2. Sprinkle flour on the counter and transfer the dough to the counter. Using a metal dough scraper (or a sharp knife), cut the dough into 6 equal pieces. You can dip the scraper into the cold water between cuts to keep the dough from sticking to it. Sprinkle flour over the dough. Make sure your hands are dry and then flour them. Lift each piece and gently round it into a ball. If the dough sticks to your hands, dip your hands into the flour again. Transfer the dough balls onto a lightly-oiled pan. Mist the dough generously with spray oil and slip the pan into a large plastic bag. Alternatively, after oiling the balls, put each one in a separate plastic bag.

3. Put the bag into the refrigerator overnight to rest the dough, or keep for up to 3 days. If you want to save some of the dough for future baking, you can store the balls in individual bags in the freezer (these will last 3 months max.) Transfer them into the refrigerator the day before you plan to make pizza.

4. On the day you plan to make the pizza, remove the desired number of dough balls from the refrigerator 2 hours before making the pizza. Dust the counter with flour, and then mist the counter with spray oil. Place the dough balls on top of the floured counter and sprinkle them with flour; dust your hands with flour. Gently press the dough into flat disks about 1/2 inch (1 1/3 cm) thick and 5 inches (13 cm) in diameter. Sprinkle the dough with flour, mist it again with spray oil, and cover the dough loosely with plastic wrap. Let rest for 2 hours.

5. At least 45 minutes before baking the pizza, place a baking stone on a rack in the lower third of the oven. Preheat the oven as hot as possible, up to 800°F (430°C) (most home ovens will only go up to 500°F (230°C)). If you do not have a baking stone, you can use the back of a sheet pan, but don't preheat the pan.

6. Generously dust a pizza peel or the back of a sheet pan with cornmeal. Make the pizzas one at a time. Dip your hands, including the backs, in flour and pick up 1 piece of dough by getting under it with a pastry scraper. Reinhart recommends tossing the pizza like they do at restaurants, but I couldn't figure it out. I was nervous about ripping the dough, so I used a rolling pin. Start rolling it out with a lightly-floured rolling pin. Do a quarter turn after every roll to ensure radial symmetry. Also flip over once in a while, adding enough flour so that it doesn't stick. If the dough keeps springing back (mine did), let it rest for 5 to 20 minutes so the gluten can relax, and try again.

7. When the dough is stretched out to your satisfaction, lay it on the peel or pan, making sure there is enough cornflour underneath to allow it to slide. Lightly top it with sauce and then with your other toppings, remembering that the best pizzas are topped with a less-is-more philosophy. The American "kichen-sink" approach is counterproductive, as it makes the crust more difficult to bake. Usually 3 or 4 toppings are sufficient. Less is more!

8. Slide the topped pizza on to the stone (or bake directly on the sheet pan) and close the oven door. Wait 2 minutes, then take a peek. The pizza should take 5 to 8 minutes to bake. If the pizza baked faster on one side than another, or top than bottom, then rotate the pan or move the rack.

9. Remove the pizza from oven and transfer to a cutting board. Wait 3 to 5 minutes before slicing and serving to allow the cheese to set slightly.

A good choice for cheeses is: a fresh hard bread (ie. Romano, Asiago, Parmesan), a good "melter" (ie. Mozzarella, Cheddar, or Gruyere), and any favorite (ie. goat, blue cheese).

Recipe from Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice, Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread

multiseed whole wheat bread

2009-09-26T17:22:00.000-07:00

Because Paul Clay keeps telling me that whole wheat bread is so much better for you than white bread, I made this bread. This is a juxtaposition of my loaf (R) and Richard Bertinet's loaf (L). What a lovely bread.

This is a present for Joel Wakeman on his birthday!
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Ingredients

1 c white flour

2 1/3 c whole wheat flour

1/2 Tbsp yeast

3/8 c brown sugar

1/2 c dry milk

1 1/2 c water

2 tsp salt

2 eggs (one for the bread, one for the egg wash)

A mixture of seeds (eg. sunflower, flax, pine nuts, oats, etc.)

Directions

Mix dry ingredients, add water and egg.

Mix until you get a dough to form. Take out to the counter and kead for 5 minutes.

If it's still too dry, add water; too wet, add flour.

Let rise covered by a towel until doubled in volume.

Take out and form however you like (I did it with the same procedure as I showed in my video).

Preheat the oven to 450 F (230 C) one hour before baking.

Toast the seeds on a little bit of butter until golden.

Right before baking, brush egg wash (egg + pinch of salt), and roll the loaf on the seeds.

Bake until golden brown.

I adapted the bread recipe from the basic bread in the Tassajara Bread Book.

I got the idea of the seeds from Richard Bertinet's Dough.

mini baguettes for sale at Paradox on Friday

2009-09-25T14:11:00.001-07:00

I just delivered my second batch of bread to the old Paradox cafe! I only made 12 this time instead of 18, mostly because I'm hoping to sell all of them. It turned out that last time I didn't sell 4 :( , so I made less this time. It's hard because two other people also sell pastries on Fridays, and not that many people buy food there. But I think this will work.

In any case, the most interesting part of this is that I'm learning how to live by the baker schedule:

Starting at 1 AM, when I got home, I made the dough in the bread machine.
At 2:30 AM I put the dough in the fridge and made more dough. You can only make the equivalent of 6 mini baguettes in one batch.
At 4:00 AM the machine broke, so I had to figure out how to fix it. Eventually it worked, and I got two batches of dough ready.
At 6:30 AM I took the dough out of the fridge to get it to room temperature.
From 7:30 to 8:15 AM I shaped the loaves. This took longer than I expected.
At 8:15 AM I started preheating the oven (takes 1 hr) to 450 F (230 C).
At 9:15 AM I scored the bread, put some loaves in the Le Creuset pot, and some on a ceramic baking sheet.
From 9:15 to 10:15 AM I baked all the little baguettes.
At 10:25 AM I delivered the baguettes with butter and Bonne Mamman raspberry preserves.

Now it's 11 AM and I'm going to sleep! I'm nocturnal!

Note 1: I called them baguettes, but they're actually French bread. Baguettes are much harder to make.

Note 2: I messed up sliding some loaves into the oven so they're oddly shaped. Lovely artisan bread.

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Ingredients

3 1/2 cups unbleached bread flour

1/2 tsp yeast

1 1/2 cups water at room temperature

2 tsp salt

Directions (similar to beet bread directions)

Whisk flours and yeast together.

Add water and mix with a wooden spoon.

Knead on a counter until dough forms.

Let rest under plastic for 20 minutes.

Add salt and knead again until well mixed.

Let rise under plastic for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 450 F (230 C) at least one our before baking. Remember to put the sheet in the oven before you preheat.

Take out dough, cut in half, and shape on the counter (business letter fold and rolling - watch video for guidance).

Put on a floured towel and cover with plastic. Let rise for an hour.

Slash bread with a razor blade.

Take baking sheet out of oven, put some corn meal on it, put bread on it.

Toss water in the oven to create steam and quickly close.

Bake for 15 minues (30 minutes in Le Creuset) or until golden brown.

Test to see if ready by tapping on bottom. If it sounds hollow, it's ready.

Let cool before slicing.

Alternative: Put all the ingredients in a bread machine and choose the dough setting. When it's done you can shape and bake. Easy!

Dano Wall made the signs.

basic sourdough bread

2009-09-23T14:21:00.000-07:00

The first time I tried this recipe I was using a bread machine, so I decided to let it go through the whole process, including baking. I left, thinking that when I came back I'd have a lovely sourdough loaf waiting for me. Instead, I came home at night and the machine had caught on fire, and the dough had spilled all over the place. Fortunately, my friends Tom and Paul found it before it burnt the house down. OK, so maybe I shouldn't have expected so much from the bread machine since I got it used at a Goodwill. It still works wonderfully on the dough setting, though.

I'm not sure if I like this recipe for basic sourdough bread the best. I'm still investigating. You'll get dense, moist, tasty white sourdough bread.

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Ingredients

4 3/4 cups bread flour
3 tablespoons white sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
1 cup warm milk
2 tablespoons margarine, softened
1 1/2 cups sourdough starter
1 extra large egg
1 tablespoon water

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine 1 cup flour, sugar, salt, and dry yeast. Add milk and softened butter or margarine. Stir in starter. Mix in up to 3 3/4 cups flour gradually, you may need more depending on your climate.

2. Turn dough out onto a floured surface, and knead for 8 to 10 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turn once to oil surface, and cover. Allow to rise for 1 hour, or until doubled in volume.

3. Punch down, and let rest 15 minutes. Shape into loaves. Place on a greased baking pan. Allow to rise for 1 hour, or until doubled.

4. Brush egg wash over tops of loaves, and sprinkle with chopped onion. 5. Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 30 minutes, or till done.

beet bread

2009-09-19T10:34:00.000-07:00

I made up this recipe, with an idea from R.L. Beranbaum's The Bread Bible. I made a video of how to make it, but I had never tried the recipe before I filmed the video (the video deadline was yesterday, so I had to make bread as quickly as possible.) In any case, I don't like whole wheat bread that much, but it is better for you than white bread. The beet juice gives the bread a nice red tint (the longer you boil the beets the darker the red tone), and it's also full of vitamins and sugars. The sugars are good for the yeast to rise, and they give the bread a slightly sweet taste. See the video in the post below.

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Ingredients

2 1/2 cups white bread flour

1 cups whole wheat flour

1 1/2 cups beet water (what's left from boiling beets)

1/2 tsp yeast

2 tsp salt

Directions

Whisk flours and yeast together.

Add beet water and mix with a wooden spoon.

Knead on a counter until dough forms.

Let rest under plastic for 20 minutes (autolyse: see bottom of post).

Add salt and knead again until well mixed.

Let rise under plastic for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 450 F (230 C) at least one our before baking. Remember to put the sheet in the oven before you preheat.

Take out dough, cut in half, and shape on the counter (business letter fold and rolling - watch video for guidance).

Put on a floured towel and cover with plastic. Let rise for an hour.

Slash bread with a razor blade, sift flour on top.

Take baking sheet out of oven, put some corn meal on it, put bread on it.

Toss water in the oven to create steam and quickly close.

Bake for 15 minues (30 minutes in Le Creuset) or until golden brown.

Test to see if ready by tapping on bottom. If it sounds hollow, it's ready.

Let cool before slicing.

Autolyse refers to a particular period of rest after the initial mixing of flour and water, a rest period that occurs sequentially before the addition of yeast and other ingredients. This rest period allows for better absorption of water and allows the gluten and starches to align. Breads made with autolysed dough are easier to form into shapes and have more volume and improved structure.
(Gisslen, Wayne (2008). Professional baking. New York: John Wiley)

cuisinternship contest

2009-09-19T02:23:00.000-07:00

I just submitted a video entry for the Cuisinternship contest! See below. If I win, I get to spend a week learning with a famous chef in Portland, OR, and $1000. I would love to see the kitchens of the best restaurants in town and to meet all the best chefs. I could ask them so many questions! I'll hear back from them on the week of September 28th. Fingers crossed!

The recipe I filmed in the video is for beet bread. It had to be cut a lot because the video had to be at most two minutes long, so I omitted some important images. I'll post the recipe for the bread here tomorrow.

exciting! first bread for sale

2009-09-18T11:28:00.000-07:00

I just delivered my first batch of bread for sale! I am baking bread every Friday and selling it at a cafe at school called the Paradox Cafe. French poppy seed rolls, $1.50 each! Raspberry preserves included in a little plastic container.

I couldn't get a picture of them because I was rushing to get them there at 10 AM. I was also sleepy because I went to bed around 2 AM after making the dough, and then had to be up at 6 AM to finish the process. It was as if I had a real bakery!

r.l. beranbaum's dvd

2009-09-16T15:02:00.000-07:00

Rose Levy Beranbaum, author of The Bread Bible made a DVD! You can watch some of it for free on her website.

some questions about general bread-making

2009-09-15T01:49:00.000-07:00

These are some questions I would ask a baker:

Question: What is the difference between fresh and non-fresh yeast?

Question: What are the different kinds of yeast? For example, active dry, instant? Is one better than the rest?

Question: Does using a Dutch oven really help the crust come out crispier? Is it really a replacement to injecting steam like they do in commercial ovens?

Answer: Yes! I borrowed my friend Luke's Le Creuset Dutch Oven and it made a huge difference! The crusts crackled and crisped and looked just like store-bought bread, but better. Now I just need something like 300 dollars to buy one! ahem....

To be continued...

some tips for general bread-baking

2009-09-15T00:00:00.000-07:00

Here are some tricks I've learned while baking bread (I will keep updating these as I learn more about them):

- Always preheat the oven 1 hour before baking. This ensures that the oven is hot enough so the crust can be crackly and crunchy.

- Make sure the baking stone or sheet is in the oven so it gets hot too. Materials can crack if they experience a drastic change in temperature. The best option is to have a pizza peel with which you can slide the bread in and take it out without taking the baking sheet out.

- If you don't have a baking stone, you can use a regular metal baking sheet, but you should put a thick pot (like a cast iron pot) on the shelf below the sheet. This will distribute the heat evenly throughout the oven.

- What you want in bread is a strong structure. You can achieve this by using bread flour, which has lots of protein. This means there will be lots of gluten bonds that improve the dough's ability to retain gas as the dough rises and bakes.

- While kneading you shouldn't add any more flour than the required for the recipe. You can use a dough scraper or spatula to help you peel it and fold it, but you shouldn't make it drier. Keep in mind that the key to large bubbles is wet dough. Also for getting bubbles, it is important to add lots of air to the dough when kneading bread. This is done by folding the dough, never ripping holes through it.

- To get a crackly crust, you need some steam at the beginning of the baking process (in commercial ovens they inject steam). To achieve this at home, after putting the bread in, toss some water into the oven and quickly close the door. Some books recommend putting ice cubes in the pot under the baking sheet, but this can crack the pot because of the harsh temperature difference.

- You want to let the dough rise for as long as possible because this will provide more bubbles and acidity for taste, but you don't want to let the dough rise for so long because you want to have some of the sugar left from the carbohydrates in the flour-water combination. Achieving this balance is difficult and varies from bread to bread, but dough should never rise for more than 12 hours. A starter can rise and ferment for longer, but dough shouldn't.

- Always use the same towels for rising bread on. Don't keep washing them because the smell of soap will permeate your breads. Also, as you use them over and over you'll add flour so the dough doesn't stick.

- There is a technique called autolyse, introduced by famous French baker Raymond Calvel, which prepares the dough and helps achieve big fluffy bread. It is a process that works when you combine the flour and water in the recipe, mix them and let them sit for 20 minutes to an hour. Then add the salt and keep kneading until you reach the first rise. This prevents the salt from stopping the yeast from rising, and it allows the flour to hydrate and the enzymes to start working, particularly protease, which works to break down the protein in the flour. Autolyse creates more gluten bonds in the dough, which makes fluffier, lighter, bread.

- Let the bread cool after you've taken it out of the oven. Some of the structure of the bread is still forming at this stage. Resist temptation!

poppy seed bread

2009-09-14T23:57:00.000-07:00

This is a version of the white French bread but I substituted 1/3 whole wheat flour instead of all white bread flour, and 1/3 milk instead of water. I also added egg wash (egg+pinch of salt) after baking to give it shine, and poppy seeds for loveliness.

english muffins

2009-09-14T23:24:00.001-07:00

I made these a couple of weeks ago. I should have divided the dough into less, larger pieces, to make bigger English muffins. That way they would have been more moist and more delicious to eat. There were just too many this way, and they were a little dry. It's cheaper to make them than to buy them at the store, and they're really good toasted.

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Ingredients

1 cup milk
2 tablespoons white sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons (0.25 ounce) active dry yeast
1 cup warm water (45°C)
1/4 cup melted butter
6 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

Warm the milk in a small saucepan until it bubbles, then remove from heat. Mix in the sugar, stirring until dissolved. Let cool until lukewarm.

At the same time, dissolve yeast in warm water in a small bowl. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.

In a large bowl, combine the milk, yeast mixture, butter and 3 cups flour. Beat until smooth.

Clean the sides of the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let sit for 20 minutes.

Add salt and rest of flour, or enough to make a soft dough. Knead on a counter. Place in greased bowl, cover, and let rise until doubled in volume (about 1 hr, depending on the temperature of the room).

Punch down. Roll out to about 1/2 inch (1.3 cm) thick. Cut rounds with biscuit cutter, drinking glass, or empty tuna can. With the remaining dough, roll up, flatten and cut rounds again. Repeat until there is no more dough left. Sprinkle waxed paper with cornmeal and set the rounds on this to rise. Dust tops of muffins with cornmeal also. Cover and let rise 1/2 hour.

Heat greased pan. Cook muffins on pan about 10 minutes on each side on medium heat (350 F, 180°C). Allow to cool and place in plastic bags for storage.

To use, split and toast.

Photography: Adams Carroll

Recipe adapted from LindaPinda's recipe at http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/English-Muffins/Detail.aspx

bagels

2009-09-14T19:27:00.000-07:00

These bagels were so delicious! If they didn't consume so much flour, and if I had lots of money I would make them every day. This recipe makes about 12 large bagels or 24 mini bagels. They have a great consistency and they're better than store-bought bagels. Maybe even in New York. That's maybe not true. They're so good!

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Ingredients

SPONGE

1 tsp instant yeast

4 cups unbleached bread flour

2 1/2 cups water at room temperature

DOUGH

Ingredients

1/2 tsp instant yeast

3 3/4 cups unbleached bread flour

2 3/4 tsp salt

2 tsp malt powder or 1 Tbsp brown sugar

some cornmeal

FINISH

1 Tbsp baking soda

Cornmeal

Sesame seeds or poppy seeds or kosher salt

Directions

1. Stir the yeast into the flour in a bowl. Add the water and stir until it forms a sticky batter.

2. Cover with plastic wrap for about 2 hours. It should double in size and collapse when the bowl is tapped on the countertop.

3. In the same mixing bowl, add the additional yeast to the sponge and stir. Then add 3 cups of the flour and all the salt and malt. Stir until the ingredients form a ball.

4. Knead on a countertop for about 10 minutes. The dough should be firm, all the ingredients should be hydrated. The dough should feel satiny but not tacky.Divide the dough into 4 1/2-oz pieces for standard bagels, or smaller if desired. Form the pieces into rolls and let sit, covered with a towel for 20 minutes.

5. Form the bagels by either a) poking a hole into a ball, or b) rolling the ball into a snake and gluing the ends together. Spray oil on the bagels and cover with plastic wrap. Let sit for another 20 minutes. Put the pans in the refrigerator overnight (they can be in there for up to two days).

6. The following day, preheat the oven to 500 F (260 C).

7. Bring a large pot of water to a boil (the wider the better), and add the baking soda.

8. Remove the bagels from the refrigerator and gently drop them into the water, boiling only as many as comfortably fit. After one minute, flip them over and boil for another minute. For chewier bagels, extend the boiling time to 2 minutes per side.

9. Put the boiled bagels on a baking sheet that has been sprinkled with cornmeal. If you want to top the bagels, do so as soon as they come out of the water.

10. When all the bagels have been boiled place the pans on the two middle shelves in the oven.

11. Bake for 5 minutes, then rotate the pans (switching shelves and given the pans a 180-degree rotation. After the rotation lower the oven temperature to 450 F (230 C). Bake until golden brown.

12. Let the bagels cool for at least 15 minutes before eating.

Recipe from Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice

puff balls

2009-09-13T21:34:00.000-07:00

What a beauty! You can serve almost anything you want in these balls, (my friend had some cereal in one of them, and it didn't break!) and it will make a meal look beautiful! If you follow the directions closely you'll get perfect puffs. I read that sometimes they crack, so you can eat them as chips, but mine all worked nicely.

The key to getting perfect puffs in this recipe is to make sure that there are no tiny pieces of dried dough on the counter or rolling pin, as any pieces that get into the dough will stop it from puffing up. Keep in mind that the balls can't be too big, otherwise they will be too heavy and they won't puff up.

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Ingredients

A little more than 3/5 tsp yeast

1 tsp salt

A little less than 2 cups white bread flour

3/4 cups water at room temperature

Directions

FOR WHITE BREAD DOUGH: Whisk yeast into flour.

Add water and mix with a wooden spoon until strands form.

Take out onto counter and knead.

Put in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let sit for 20 minutes.

Take out, add salt, knead again.

Let rise for an hour.

Preheat the oven to 450 F (230 C) an hour before baking the puffs.

FOR PUFF BALLS: Put the white bread dough on a clean counter.

Cut it into 10 pieces (each piece should weigh 40 g).

Round each piece of dough into a small ball, cover with dishtowel, and let sit for 5 minutes.

Roll out each piece of dough into a thin disc (1-2mm thick), flour as you go.

Bake the puff ball one at a time. They are ready when they are completely puffed up, and partly golden on the outside.

Carefully remove the puffs and let them cool on a wire rack.

TO SERVE: Brush a small circle of water at the bottom of puff balls. Put some fresh salad inside (dressing on the side so it doesn't get soggy), and flip over. Let everyone break the tops with a spoon or fork, and the salad will spring out.

Recipe from Richard Bertinet's Dough.

white sandwich bread

2009-09-13T19:37:00.000-07:00

This sandwich bread is much better than store-bought bread, and it has a wonderful flaky crust. It has a great flavor, and doesn't take much talent to make. I made this batch at the beginning of my bread adventure this summer, about two months ago, so I bet that if I made it now it would look even more like regular pain de mie. I'll update this if I make a new batch.

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FOR THE STARTER:

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups plus 2 1/2 Tbsp unbleached all-purpose flour (use King Arthur flour!)

1 3/4 cup water at room temperature

2 Tbsp plus 1 tsp honey

3/4 tsp active dry yeast

Directions

Combine ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon until very smooth. This will have the consistency of a thick batter.

FOR THE DOUGH

Ingredients

2 cups plus 3 Tbsp unbleached all-purpose flour (use King Arthur flour!)

1/4 cup dry milk

3/4 tsp active dry yeast

9 Tbsp melted unsalted butter

2 1/4 tsp salt

Directions

Whisk together the flour, dry milk, and yeast. Sprinkle this on top of the sponge and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Allow to ferment for 1-4 hours at room temperature.

Add the salt and butter to the bowl and mix with wooden spoon until all the flour is moistened. Knead the dough on counter without adding more flour until the dough is formed. It will be sticky.

Cover with bowl and let rest for 20 minutes.

Knead the door for another 5 minutes.

Put the dough in a bowl covered with plastic wrap and let the dough rise until doubled (1 1/2 to 2 hours).

Take the dough out, form a rectangle and fold in the business letter way. Set it back into the container to rise for another hour or two.

Take the dough out and cut in half. Shape each piece into a loaf

Place the loaves in oiled loaf pans (the dough should be 1/2 inch from the top of the pan).

Prehead the oven to 350 F (180 C) for 45 minutes.

Put the bread in the oven, toss a cup of water to create steam, and close the oven door quickly.

Let bake for 50 minutes or until medium-golden brown.

Take loaves out and let cool on a wire rack.

Optional: As soon as you take the bread out of the oven, glaze it with melted butter.

Recipe from R.L. Beranbaum's The Bread Bible

dark beer bread

2009-09-13T19:20:00.001-07:00

I made this bread when I bought a case of Imperial chocolate stout beer at the Rogue Brewery's garage sale in downtown Portland: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3346/3645682879_48be490657.jpg.

As R.L. Beranbaum says, dark beer gives bread an incredibly soft texture, subtle mellow flavor, beautiful mahogany crust, and dark golden crumb.

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Ingredients

1 1/4 tsp Instant yeast

1 Tbsp malt powder or sugar

2 1/2 cups less 1 Tbsp bread flour

3 Tbsp plus 1 tsp whole weat flour

1 cup plus 2 Tbsp dark beer at room temperature

1 1/4 tsp salt

Directions

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the yeast, malt or sugar, all but 1/4 cup of the bread flour, and the whole wheat flour. Then whisk in the salt (this keeps the yeast from coming in direct contact with the salt, which would kill it).

With a wooden spoon or your hand, gradually stir in the beer until the flour is moistened. Knead the dough for 5 minutes, enough to develop the gluten structure a little, adding as little of the reserved 1/4 cub of flour as possible to keep it from sticking. Use a bench scraper to scrape the dough and gather it together as your knead it. At this point, it will be very sticky. Cover it with the inverted bowl and allow it to rest for 20 minutes. (This resting time will make the dough less sticky and easier to work with.)

Knead the dough for another 5 minutes or until it is very elastic, soft, and smooth. Shape the dough by rounding it into a ball.

Place the dough in a lightly-oiled bowl and let it rise until almost doubled, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. When it is pressed gently with a fingertip, the depression will very slowly fill in.

Preheat the oven to 450 F, one hour before baking. Have an oven shelf at the lowest level and place a baking stone or baking sheet on it before preheating.

With a sharp knife or razor blade, make 1/4-inch-deep slashes in the top of the dough. Mist the dough with water and quickly but gently set the baking sheet on the hot stone. Toss 1/2 cup of water into the oven and immediately shut the door. Bake for 15 minutes. Lower the temperature to 400 F and continue baking for 30 to 40 minutes or until the bread is golden brown and a skewer stuck into the middle comes out clean.

Remove the bread from the oven and transfer it to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe from Rose Levy Beranbaum's The Bread Bible: my favorite bread book.

kalamata olive ciabatta

2009-09-13T18:50:00.000-07:00

Ciabatta is a rustic Italian bread shaped like a slipper. I made a ciabatta loaf with kalamata olives, as requested by my good friend Julia, who almost took a part in the making of this bread. I looked at several recipes and combined them as I pleased. I like doing this to see what I could improve in each recipe. The first was from the Cook's Illustrated magazine, where they have a team of chefs that take about 25 tries until they find the best recipe. The other is from Richard Bertinet's Dough, a book that shows simple recipes for beautiful breads, but it's so simple that it is sometimes difficult to know exactly, what he wants you to do.

By the way, my ciabatta was much too "springy," because I added too much flour as I was kneading it. Remember that the dough must be wet!

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Wet and very sticky dough is the key to making good ciabatta. The key to manipulating the dough is working quickly and gently. When possible, use a large rubber spatula or dough scraper to move the dough. If you have to use your hands, make sure they are well floured. If you don’t have a baking stone, bake the bread on an overturned and preheated rimmed baking sheet set on the lowest oven rack.

Ingredients

Biga

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1/8 tsp dry active yeast

1/2 cup water, at room temperature

Dough

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp instant or rapid-rise yeast

1 1/2 tsp table salt

3/4 cup water, at room temperature

1/4 cup milk, at room temperature

2 Tbsp black olives (optional)

Directions

FOR THE BIGA: Combine flour, yeast, and water in medium bowl and stir with wooden spoon until uniform mass forms, about 1 minute. Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature (about 70 degrees) overnight (at least 8 hours and up to 24 hours).

Remember to preheat your oven to 475 F (250 C) at least one hour before you start making the dough. This is important for ensuring a beautiful crunchy crust.

FOR THE DOUGH: Preferably make the dough by hand. Put the flour in a mixing bowl and rub in the yeast. Scoop the ferment into the bowl, then add the water, and salt, mixing well until all combined (if desired, add olives now). Once the dough is no longer sticking to the bowl, transfer it to your counter with the help of a dough scraper or spatula, and knead the dough until it looks shiny and elastic. Remove the dough from the bowl, transfer to a lightly oiled surface and mold into a ball (see future post for how to knead and form dough into a ball).

Lightly oil a bowl, place the dough in it, and let rest for 1 1/2 hours, covered with plastic wrap, until it has risen and feels bubbly and light (so when you poke it the dough doesn't come back up).

Flour your work surface generously with white flour or cornmeal, and with the help of a dough scraper or spatula, turn the dough out in one piece. Flour the top. Press the dough lightly and gently, dimpling it slightly with your fingers. Divide the dough into four roughly equal strips, and fold into three. Do this by folding one side of your flattened dough into the middle and press it down and seal. Bring the other side over to the middle and again press down to seal. Finally fold in half lengthwise and seal the edges.

Place the pieces of dough onto well-floured lint-free dishtowels. Cover with another towel and let rise for 30-45 minutes.

Flour a baking tray (turned upside down) or wooden peel, pick up one ciabatta at a time, turn it over, stretch it lengthwise a little at the same time, and lay it on the peel or tray (This stretch is what gives the bread its characteristic "slipper" shape.) Spray the loaf with water and then quickly slide the ciabatta onto the baking stone or tray. Turn down the heat to 435 F and bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated and Richard Bertinet's Dough

starting a bread blog

2009-09-13T15:06:00.000-07:00

There are a couple of things I want to address before starting a bread blog:

First, I should have started this bread blog at the beginning of the summer, three months ago. I have been baking bread every day, and I haven't been keeping track of what I've learned this whole time. I have beautiful pictures to share with the world, so I will start sharing them now.

Second, I am a little hesitant to start a food blog because they are so common these days! I get sick of reading the same story about green beans over and over. So, I will try to bring something new to the bread baking blog process: my point of view. Granted, other blog-writers also have this to add, but mine will be unique!

Third, my friend Nick, who does not like the fact that people value internet relationships more than human relationships, was watching me make bread one day. He said, "Hey, you should make a bread blog!" I said, "Yeah, I know! That's a great idea," only to realize that he was joking because he says people can't do anything in real life anymore without blogging about it.

Apart from transcribing my every move into the internet, I feel that this blog will help me keep track of bread recipes I make, and what I wanted to improve with each. I can also share them with all of you, blog readers, because that way someone else can profit from this knowledge. By the beauty of the internet, all of us beginner home artisan bakers will all be able to learn together!

And with that, let's begin.