Grandma's Kitchen Table

Bread Alone: Sherry Raisin Bread (Buns)

      Last week I made Sherry Raisin Bread (Rolls) with Nancy. (The recipe for these is available if you click here.) This is a Dan Lepard recipe (although I had to make some changes for ingredients on hand), Nancy and I are both big fans of Dan Lepard's bread recipes and have made several together.  They always turn out well and the method he uses for mixing and kneading could not be any easier.  If you haven't made any of his breads, pick one and give it a go soon, I'm sure you will be a fan as well. 

      Ingredient list:  sherry, milk, marmalade, bread flour, rye flour, raisins, yeast, almonds, and salt. 

      I made a full recipe which made 16 rolls (3 ounce dough balls).  While Nancy wanted the bread for toasting, I thought maybe the roll option would be nice to have as we seem to have better luck with Mark eating rolls rather than bread these days. 

      I hadn't intended to make them when she mentioned the recipe as I had other things going on, but the day came when baking bread sounded like a good thing to be doing.  Since I didn't have all the exact ingredients, I had to do a bit of subbing.  First, I didn't have sherry so I substituted equal parts rum and water (I thought rum would go nicely with raisins), which turned out lovely, just a hint of something and not boozy at all.  I didn't have raisins so I used currants.  I didn't want quite so many currants or almonds, so I used a half measure of each.  That's it...the rest is all as stands. 

      The recipe goes together very well, is extremely easy, and the results are delicious.  The rise times were spot on correct for my dough.  I baked them at 390 degrees for 5 minutes, then turned down the oven to 350 degrees and baked them an additional 27 minutes, switching the pans halfway through, up and down, back to front.
      They taste a little sweet from the currants and marmalade, but not too sweet, definitely more savory than sweet.  The almonds added a nice nutty taste and a little crunch inside.  It all worked very well together.  I want to make this recipe again when I get cream sherry and try it as a loaf as I can just tell that this is going to make excellent toasting bread. Definitely a repeat.  Delicious.

Bread Alone: Orange-Buttermilk Rolls

      Last week I made these Orange-Buttermilk Rolls with Phyl. (The recipe for these is available if you click here.)

      Ingredient list for the rolls:  flour, buttermilk, honey, yeast, sugar, butter, orange zest, and salt.  Ingredient list for the Fresh Orange Honey Butter: butter, powered sugar, honey, vanilla, and orange zest. 

      I made a full recipe which says it makes 13 rolls but I formed them a little larger, as 8 rolls, so that Mark could use these for sandwich buns for lunches.  I thought the orange would go well with the ham he had for sandwiches, and it did work out nicely that way. 

      These rolls have quite a bit of sweetness to them, i.e. you could really eat them as a sweet roll almost, especially if you drizzled a little vanilla cream cheese frosting on the top, so the next time I make these as sandwich buns (and there will be a next time for certain), I will decrease the sugar/honey measurements and just use the honey I think, omitting the sugar completely.  They had the most wonderful orange flavor imaginable.
      I made a little Fresh Orange Honey Butter to go along with them, click here for the recipe, I highly recommend it. 

      The only real note I have about this dough recipe is that it was a slow riser...the first rise took 1.5 hours instead of 1 hour, the second rise was right on target at an hour, however.  Otherwise, it was straight forward, going together perfectly and handled beautifully. Definitely a repeat.

Bread Alone: Herb and Onion Rolls

      Last week I made these Herb and Onion Rolls with Margaret. (The recipe for these is available if you click here as it is a KAF recipe on their site.)

      Ingredient list:  flour, salt, sugar, instant yeast, dried onion, herbs de Provence, olive oil, and potato water (or potato flakes). 

      I made half of the recipe as I just wanted 6 medium-sized rolls to use as sandwich buns for Mark's lunches.  (Margaret made the cloverleaf shape with her dough and I plan to do that the next time as well.)  The dough was lovely and easy to work with. It all couldn't have gone better and the rolls were full of herb and onion flavor, just as advertised.
      Mark enjoyed them as sandwich buns and after sampling one, I can tell this dough is going to make very nice cloverleaf dinner rolls.  Definitely a repeat.  I think Margaret is posting hers today as well.

Bread Alone: Gruyere Chive Popovers

      Phyl's quest for making new popover recipes continues.  He purchased a new 12 cavity popover pan so now there is no stopping him, he can make popovers for a crowd at a moment's notice. This week a few of us joined in and made Gruyere Chive Popovers, you can find the recipe here. 

      The ingredient list:  milk, flour, salt, eggs, Gruyere cheese, chives, and butter.  Please use really good Gruyere (other cheeses would work as well but if you are going to use Gruyere, please use a good one as it just shines in this recipe).
      The recipe goes together quickly and easily.  It makes a lot of batter, the recipe said to fill the cavities 3/4 full but my batter filled them almost to the top.  I was afraid they would bake over and spill out so I placed a baking sheet on the shelf below the popover pan in the oven just in case.  They did not, however, spill over even though they puffed up really high.  Huge. The next time I make these (and there will be a next time), I will make 2/3 of the batter measurements for the same amount of popovers and I think that will be a good amount. 

      These are tasty and full of melty cheese goodness, so delicious warm.  The next morning I split the popovers in half lengthwise, toasted them in the toaster oven, and served them with a scrambled egg/bacon mixture on top.  Very nice...tasted like quiche  actually. 

      Phyl said he warmed his back up in the oven for 10 minutes in the pan and they were just like freshly made ones.  All good to know.  Because, as I said, there will be a next time.  I think these would make really good little bite size popovers made in a mini muffin pan, I'm also going to try that soon.

Bread Alone: Dawn's Best Hamburger Buns (French Bread, Hoagies, and Buns)

      Sometimes in my wanderings around Blog Land, I will stumble upon a recipe that someone says is the best, or their new favorite, or one that has replaced their tried-and-true old favorite, and I am always intrigued by these statements, feeling that I should immediately make whatever it is just to see if the claims are indeed worthy. Such was the case with these rolls.  Dawn had posted them on her blog (I like Dawn's blog a lot, she cooks for her family and she features nice family-friendly recipes that I can easily incorporate on a weekday around here) and I had them in mind for a go when Nancy thought she'd like to join in, and we set out to see if Dawn's claims were valid.  Indeed, Dawn's claims are valid. Here's Nancy's post as well.

      These are wonderful rolls/buns.  We only eat hamburgers in grilling weather because we loved outdoor grilled burgers best, so when the request came for grilled burgers (Mark is the master at grilling), I figured I would do my share by making some homemade buns for them to rest upon.  These did not disappoint, in fact, Mark said that they were the best hamburger buns I had ever made, and I have made quite a few, so that is high praise.

      The recipe is easy and straightforward with no special ingredients, pretty much things one has on hand.  It does use a lot of yeast (I checked and the recipe calls for Active Dry Yeast) and the result for me was that my dough rose in half the time stated for both rising times, which was not a bad thing at all. 

      The dough is lovely to work with, and I even made a full recipe knowing that it would probably make good sandwich buns for Mark's lunches as well..I was right, it did.  I tossed some sesame seeds on the top, a sort of weak effort as I was at the bottom of the jar and didn't have a whole lot, but it was fun having them on there.
 

      The flavor of the bun is fresh, yeasty, and truly melt-in-your-mouth good. I thought the texture would be more firm as it is called a "French Bread" so I was expecting something more in the line of a baguette I suppose, but it was not like that, it was nice and soft with a medium crumb.  It complimented the hamburger very well. Try this one...even if you think you can't bake bread, you can with this recipe, and I have no doubts that it will be a win for you as well. 

      Did it become my new "best" hamburger bun recipe, is it my new favorite, does it replace my old tried-and-true hamburger bun recipe?  Yes, yes, it does.  Thanks, Dawn! Definitely a repeat. Here's the recipe by permission from Dawn.

French Bread, Hoagies, and Buns 

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon Active Dry Yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
4-5 1/2 cups flour
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 egg separated
2 tablespoons cold water

Directions:
Combine yeast, water, and sugar in a large mixing bowl and allow to stand 10 minutes or until bubbly. Add salt, vegetable oil, and egg yolk (set egg white aside for later) and combine. Add 3 cups of flour and mix well until combined. Add enough remaining flour to make soft dough that barely sticks to your finger. Knead for another 2-3 minutes. Cover and allow to rise for 1 hour 45 minutes.
Punch down dough. Lightly grease cookie sheet with shortening or spray cookie sheet with your favorite nonstick cooking spray. For a loaf of bread shape into a loaf and place on the greased cookie sheet. For buns or hoagies divide into 8 to 10 (or more if you desire smaller buns) pieces and shape as desired. Cover and let rise for about 30 to 45 minutes (original recipe called for 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours it depends on the yeast you use and the temperature of the area where the buns are raising) or until doubled.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Mix egg white with water and brush over dough. Bake for 10 minutes and repeat with brushing the dough with egg wash. For buns bake about another 5 minutes and for bread another 8 to 10 minutes or until the bread is nice and golden brown.
Note: Keep an eye on the bread or buns as it rising so that it does not get to large. Make sure to egg wash this will make the tops of the bread or buns nice and crusty.

 

Bread Alone: Cinnamon Roll Popovers

      Last week the TWD BwJ group made Popovers and we were all pretty much asking ourselves why we didn't make these more often as they are easy, quick, delicious, and lend themselves to a variety of fillings and toppings. 

      Phyl put out a proposal for making a new Popover recipe this weekend.  Susan has been running Popover Project on her blog since the beginning of the year (please note that the list isn't complete, she's working on it, she has made far more recipes than she has currently linked, so hopefully she will update or you will have time to scroll through her blog entries and check out her other recipes for them).  I saw her first entry for Cinnamon Roll Popovers (click here for the recipe) and figured it would be a nice way to start, and a nice little treat for breakfast on Sunday morning.
      The popovers were delicious!  And, a big plus, they made the house smell divine with all that cinnamon-roll essence wafting throughout the house.  Keep in mind that a Popover is not a Cinnamon Roll, so if you are expecting that yeasty doughy goodness associated with a true cinnamon roll, you might be a bit disappointed.  If you are expecting a lighter version of a dough, with the true cinnamony taste and cream cheese icing aspects, you will enjoy these for what they are and the ease of preparation.  I know we did. 

      I think next we are going with a savory cheese Popover recipe...it's just so much fun to watch these pop up and over the tops of the pans, a little bit of kitchen magic.

Bread Alone: Cheddar Scallion Rolls

      This past Sunday I made these Cheddar Scallion Rolls with Abby and Margaret. (The recipe for these is available if you click here as it is a KAF recipe on their site.)

      This makes a lot of rolls, so I made a quarter of the recipe as I didn't need 48 rolls, little or not.  I made 8 rolls from the quarter recipe to have them just a little larger than the 2 ounce size stated so Mark could take them for sandwiches in his lunch, even then, they were pretty small and he ended up taking two of them for each lunch, which worked just fine.  The recipe worked well using a quarter measurement of everything and the dough was lovely and easy to work with. 

      The rise times on this were very slow...I think I had to double what was stated in the recipe.  Not a problem if you aren't standing by waiting, so just noted that on my recipe.  I used regular cheddar cheese, not the reduced fat, but other than that, followed the ingredients and directions as stated.
      The rolls turned out very good, Mark was happy to have them for his sandwiches this week, and we enjoyed one each with dinner Sunday, very nice. 

      I would make these again, I think that the next time I would use fewer scallions as the taste does overpower a bit, and maybe up the sharp cheddar a bit to give them a more cheesy distinction, although I could taste the cheese in mine just as they were.  (Note: it was suggested that one not use finely grated cheese as the taste totally disappears into the roll, so I grated mine very coarsely, you can see bits of cheese in the photo of the inside of the roll.)  Definitely a repeat. 

Bread Alone: Ciabatta Rolls

      Several of my baking friends on Twitter gather every now and again to bake bread together.  One of us will have a recipe and others join in and while we bake we compare notes and in the end blog or show photos of our results.  There's sharing back and forth about how we might change the recipe or decrease or increase amounts or size, substitute different ingredients, etc., and all in all, it's a very informative process. 

      This recipe for Ciabatta Rolls was one Di selected (and if you click here you can find the King Arthur Flour recipe on their site).
      These rolls don't take long to make, although the timing in the recipe seems long as you take a couple of minutes to make a starter, let it sit for 15 hours, and then you make the dough the next day, so plan ahead. 

      I made it all by hand, not using the mixer or bread machine.  The dough was lovely to work with and the process was relaxing and enjoyable, making the little dimples in the bread is just a whole lot of fun as well.  I didn't get the rise on mine that I thought I wanted, but that turned out to be a good thing as the sandwiches were much easier to eat with a bun that did not rise to a greater height.  I hope it turns out that way again the next time I make them, which should be soon as the flavor was delicious, fresh, and yeasty with a nice medium chew to it...just what I like in a ciabatta roll, something that will stand up to sandwich ingredients and enhance them.  Definitely a repeat. 

      Here's Abby's post on the rolls.

Cooking The Books; Bread Alone; May Twitter Chef Avatar (Giada De Laurentiis)

      Am a bit behind in blogging here at The Table.  It's been a busy month. Di was hosting a blogging event today entitled Cooking The Books.  The assignment was to make anything we wanted out of one of our cookbooks and pass the love along.  Since my latest cookbook acquisition was the newest Giada one for my birthday, I decided I would pick a recipe to make from it...and make it count 3 for 1 as I could use it for my Twitter chef avatar this month and for a Bread Alone post.  What a deal.  Here is the link to Di's blog about the blogging event, it will also link you to others who participated and made recipes they love from some of their books. Enjoy! 

      We are also having a bit of avatar fun over at Twitter, my baking/cooking pals and I, just to shake things up a bit and confuse everyone each month as to who is who and all.  Nancy came up with the great idea of each of us picking a different chef for each month, all of us making anything we each selected to make from that chef's recipes, taking a photo of our efforts, and using that photo as our avatar for that month.  It has been a great way to learn new chefs and cook something in their repertoire.  May's avatar chef is Giada De Laurentiis, chosen by me...we love Giada's recipes and I have all of her cookbooks. 

      This recipe for Scallion and Mozzarella Cornbread can be found in Giada's newest book, Weeknights with Giada, on pages 198-199, or online here. 

      We make chili quite often here as everyone loves it.  It's the only time we serve cornbread and we enjoy trying different recipes for it, so I am always bookmarking cornbread recipes to try.  This is a very good one...the onions, olives, mozzarella, all make one very flavorful cornbread.  It's also very pretty, not as important to the guys, but it entertains me a great deal. 

      The recipe goes together nicely and I wouldn't change one thing, although I am going to try them as mini muffins next time as I think that would be a lovely use of this recipe...they would be so cute and pretty, and we all know by now I am all about the cute and pretty in food, right?  Admit it, so are you!  The rest of the recipe is great just as written.  Definitely a repeat.

Bread Alone: Cook's Country Pepperoni Rolls

      Several of my baking friends on Twitter gather often to bake bread together.  One of us will have a recipe, then others join in, and while we bake we compare notes.  In the end we blog it all or show photos of our results.  There's sharing back and forth about how we might change the recipe or decrease or increase amounts or size, substitute different ingredients, etc., and all in all, it's a very informative process. 

      This was Abby's recipe (and if you click here you can find the recipe on her blog).  She had come across the recipe and thought it sounded like something her family would enjoy and Margaret (click on her name for her versions) and I jumped in and made them with her...on different days as it turned out, but we three made the same recipe and chatted back and forth through the process.
      I was expecting these to be nice, but I wasn't expecting them to be quite as good as they were (and I am not the biggest fan of pepperoni).  They don't take long to make (like all breads, most of the time is in the rising of the dough which you don't need to supervise), they go together easily, bake nicely, and are delicious. 

      While I served some of them with the tomato/mozzarella dip from my DH Wednesdays group, and that complimented the pepperoni rolls ever so nicely, we also had them just plain and they were wonderful that way as well. 

      Included in the recipe are instructions for freezing and reheating them, which Abby did.  I didn't have the chance as I only made a partial batch and those were gone in no time. Next time I will make some of the pepperoni (and maybe add some cheese in there as well), and then some with ham and cheese as those sound good. 

      These are easy to pack into a lunch and the quality of the dough is excellent, a joy to work with beginning to end.  They remind me of Hot Pockets...but so much more elevated and better with that homemade dough and fresh ingredients. 

      In the recipe it gives interesting instructions for assembling the pepperoni inside the dough...enough already, it's dough, it pepperoni, just stuff it in there however you want by lining up the pepperonis and folding the dough over them.  I did cook the pepperoni for 3 minutes before as they suggested and that got rid of all that pepperoni fat that would have made the rolls soggy and greasy, so do that part for certain.  And, use thick pepperoni, not those thin pizza slices...below is a photo of how mine looked before rolling the dough around them.
       Definitely a repeat. 

Bread Alone: KAF's Italian Easter Cheese Bread

(Note: not the best photo, sorry about that...it was truly glorious in looks and taste!)

      On Wednesday this week, because we were all in a bread-making mood, Di found a nice recipe on the King Arthur Flour site for us to try:  Italian Easter Cheese Bread, here is the link for the recipe.  Margaret and I jumped right in on baking this one as it was, after all, cheese and bread all in one, and what is not to love about that? 

      Oh, my, is this a good bread.  The Parmigiano Reggiano cheese really stands out and is wonderful, so be sure to use the real stuff.  You can see bits of the cheese in the photo below.
      The recipe directions showed a round boule shape baked in a brioche pan (the one I chose to make) and another shape where the dough was braided and placed into a loaf pan (which I will make next time as that looks pretty as well).  I liked the edging on the bread in the brioche pan, sort of scallop-shaped, it was pretty and interesting, something different than just a standard loaf of bread. 

      We enjoyed the bread straight up, Mark took it as sandwich bread for his lunches this week, and I had a grilled cheese sandwich made with it (probably one of the best grilled cheese breads I have ever had).  This is definitely a repeat. 

Bread Alone: Jeffrey Hamelman's Soft Butter Rolls

      Bread baking is therapeutic for me, it just is.  There is something relaxing and settling about mixing up the dough, kneading it, letting it rise, and seeing where it all grows and goes.  I am always in awe of how many ways one can use the same ingredients and come out with such differing results and breads. 

      This week school was on spring break so I talked up bread baking with my Twitter pals and had some takers...I baked bread happily all week long. Nancy needed to make rolls for the homeless shelter in Atlanta on Monday, so she sent out a query asking if I would like to join in and which rolls should we make.  I searched my pin boards at Pinterest and came up with this recipe, Soft Butter Rolls from Bread: A Baker's Book of Techniques and Recipes by Jeffrey Hamelman, p. 258 that Di had made (Di always finds good bread recipes for us to try) and soon Nancy and I were making rolls, and Margaret joined right in as well. 

      The roll dough went together easily (there is a misprint in the book in regards to the yeast measurement, so if your copy of the recipe says 1 teaspoon of instant yeast., you need to change that to 2.75 teaspoons, a big difference). 

      I made cloverleaf-shaped rolls as Mark likes those...he can butter up each section like we all did when we were little kids.  Nancy and Margaret made basic dinner rolls from it.
      I think I could have taken them out pf the oven a couple of minutes earlier than the recipe says as they were quite colorful, but both the inside (so fluffy and nice) and outside (buttery from the extra butter the recipe says to apply after baking) were delicious, so maybe that's just how they are supposed to be...they were good and I would not hesitate to make this recipe again.

        Click here for the recipe and directions.

Bread Alone: Nick Malgieri's Old-Fashioned Raisin Bread

      Quite often friends on Twitter will bake together and compare results.  Someone will come up with a recipe and toss out an idea of making it and others will grab onto the idea, and before you know it, a few people are tackling the same recipe at the same time, kitchens spread across the world at times. 

      Phyl noticed that Nick Malgieri had a new bread recipe on his blog and soon Phyl had Nancy and I lining up ingredients and settling on a time to make and bake the bread.  (No easy task as Phyl and I are in the same time zone, but Nancy is currently out in California so she had to get up nice and early to bake with us.) 

      I made the recipe according to the instructions, with just one minor change, instead of a total of 3 cups of raisins, I used only 2 as I knew we wanted this for toasting for breakfast and it has been my experience that if I have too many raisins, they fall off in the toaster and burn.  That said, if I wasn't using the bread for toasting, I would have used all 3 cups of raisins as they were really good in this bread.

      The bread was wonderful from beginning to end:  it went together like a dream, the dough is silky and lovely to work with, the fragrance from the raisins was wonderful as I was kneading it, the dough behaved wonderfully well on both the rises, and....you guessed it:  a truly wonderful loaf of raisin bread resulted from all my efforts!  The key word here, obviously being: wonderful.

      We couldn't resist, we sliced it warm and ate a piece standing at the counter...the aroma was so enticing and it was just too much to think of not trying a nice warm slice five minutes out of the oven.
      I also toasted a piece and it is excellent toasting bread, the crumb nice and light and crispy with a good crunch, it is good plain or with a little cinnamon sugar on it.  Definitely a repeat. 

      Here's the link to the recipe so you can make it in your own kitchen.  Oh, and be sure to thank Nick for the recipe as it is going to be in his new bread book coming out in September, so it's like a little gift to print that for us on his blog.  Thanks, Nick...we loved it.

Bread Alone: BOM - Pumpkin Knot Yeast Rolls

 

      My blogging buddy Phyl runs BOM (Bread of the Month) on FB and I joined in last month for Nick Malgieri's Fig and Almond Bread.  This month is a recipe for Pumpkin Knot Yeast Rolls.  I am ever so happy that I decided to make these rolls, despite not being fond of pumpkin, as they are gorgeous in color and delicious with a rich buttery taste.  The recipe suggested serving them warm or room temperature with butter or honey butter, but trust me, these rolls were just lovely without a single other thing.

      Ingredient list:  flour, pumpkin, milk, butter, sugar, eggs, salt, and yeast.  (I know, I know...pumpkin is not my favorite ingredient but everyone assured me that the pumpkin flavor is not all that pronounced and I weighed the obvious benefits of adding pumpkin to the recipe from a nutrition standpoint and figured I would give it a try.) 

      The dough came together quickly and beautifully, the kneading time was about 8 minutes of pure joy as the dough is absolutely buttery silky smooth to knead.  It rose for 1.5 hours (directions said about an hour but my kitchen was a little cool), dividing the dough into 12 pieces and rolling it into 10" ropes was fun.  I'm not an expert at shaping dough by a long shot but the knots seemed fairly easy to make, I'm sure I could do better the more I practice. 

      The knots rose for another half hour, baked for 15 minutes and smelled absolutely wonderful.  I could not resist a warm roll, so I sampled.
      Did it taste like pumpkin?  No, not really...it was delicious and rich-tasting but not pumpkin-y at all.  Love these rolls.  I'm so happy I made them and I will make them again...easy, fairly fast, delicious, and just a little more nutritious with that pumpkin in there!  Thanks for the pick, Phyl, we loved them.   

      If you would like the complete recipe, click here.  I highly recommend giving these rolls playing time at your place, I think you will be very happy with the results.

 

Bread Alone: Tapenade Fan Rolls from Dan Lepard

      Last spring Nancy was making Tapenade Fan Rolls from Dan Lepard, see link here for the recipe.  We all love olives, so I knew these rolls would be something of high interest if I made them, but I didn't have time the day she was making them to join in, so I put it high on my "to make" list.  I'm surprised it took me so long to get around to them actually.  I finally got to them the week before last when I knew Matt would be home for the day to enjoy them with us.
      These were a hit, definitely a wonderful recipe and one I will make again. 

      The rolls themselves are easy to make, the dough recipe in the style of the Milk Loaf Bread we all make.  Dividing the dough into 3 pieces, rolling those out, spreading the olive paste on two layers, and cutting them to fit as fans into muffin tins was a snap.

      I used plenty of tapenade and they were perfectly delicious. Not a single one went to waste, in fact there was a search for more later in the evening. Guess I will need to make these again soon.  Bread and olives, what's not to love? 

Bread Alone: Fancy & Delicious Cinnamon Bread

 

       Nancy's daughter, Allison, bakes bread in a bread co-op in New York called Fancy & Delicious and sells it at market each week.  This is one of the loaves that has been very popular for them and when Nancy asked if I wanted to make it with her this week, I didn't think twice..."cinnamon, raisins, okey dokey, I'm in." 

      The dough is absolutely lovely, very silky and nice to work with...all that cinnamon makes it lovely to smell as you are kneading as well. 

      While I don't usually publish recipes that aren't mine on this blog, Nancy did get permission from Allison to include the recipe, so I will do that for you so that you can all make it and have cinnamon toast for breakfast this week because it is just that good...and that easy to make. 

      I particularly like the combination of flours as it gave the bread a depth of flavor, that and the raisins and cinnamon sugar, sort of elevates this bread to the dessert category. Thank you, Allison...another wonderful recipe.

Fancy & Delicious Cinnamon Bread

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup wheat flour
1/2 T cinnamon
1 t. instant yeast
2/3 t. salt
1/4 cup milk
2/3 cup warm water
1 T oil
1 T honey

1/2 cup raisins
 
1/4 cup of cinnamon sugar (1 part cinnamon, 5 parts sugar)

To make dough:
Mix dry ingredients: flours, cinnamon, yeast, salt.
Add milk, water, oil, and honey and mix to combine.
Knead until pliable, stretchy, and doughy.
Knead in raisins.
Place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover. 
Let rise until doubled.

To shape dough:
1. Prepare 8.5x4.5 bread pan:  butter pan and cut parchment to fit pan (so cinnamon sugar will not cause bread to stick to pan), butter/flour parchment.
2. Shape dough into rough ball and grab a rolling pin.
3. Roll dough into a rectangle 1/2" thick.
4. Spread the 1/4 cup cinnamon sugar over middle of the bread, leaving an inch around all the edges.
5. Start rolling by turning a short edge inward.
6. Roll tightly until a cylinder is formed.
7. Press down edges, turn seams under, roll on work surface until sealed.
8. Place seam side down in loaf pan.
9. Let rise until it reaches an 1/2-1" over the rim of loaf pan. 

To bake:
After bench rise, heat oven to 400 degrees and bake for 40-45 minutes (start checking after 30 minutes). 
Bread is done when it reaches internal temperature of 190 degrees. 
Remove from pan, cool on rack, slice when cooled.

 

Bread Alone: Knotted Dinner Rolls from Peter Reinhart

      It's a bit strange, but as I sat down to write this post I realized that last week's post were breads I made with Di and Allison and Nancy, and as coincidence would have it, today was another day of baking bread with Di and Allison and Nancy.  We don't all make bread together that often, so that seems a bit odd to have it be two in a row.  And again, it's rolls and bread. 

      Di found a recipe (click here) for Knotted Dinner Rolls from Peter Reinhart (the author of Bread Baker's Apprentice which I have been baking from the past couple of years).  Knowing how well-written PR's recipes are, and what tasty results ensue, I didn't hesitate to join in when Di broadcasted it on Twitter for a bake-along this week.
      Once again this recipe proved PR's expertise:  easy, tasty, definitely a keeper of a recipe worthy of repeating often. 

      I made the recipe as stated, tried to form the knots properly (obviously that needs a little work, but until then let's just call them "rustic," shall we?), and smiled at the rave reviews.  The rolls were nicely tender and soft, full of yeasty flavor, and I used poppy seeds on a few, and sesame seeds on the rest.  Like last week:  their little selves are just so cute.  Quite often, I am all about the cute in food.

      Here is the link to Di's rolls. 

      The bread I made with Nancy today, using Allison's recipe, Fancy & Delicious Cinnamon Bread, is on the rise and I will post that later today when it finishes baking.

Bread Alone: Fig and Almond Bread from Nick Malgieri

      My blogging buddy Phyl runs BOM (Bread of the Month) on FB and so far I haven't joined in even though the selections each month sound very good.  One just has so much time.  I've been in a bread making slump most of the summer as we don't eat a lot of bread in the summer and it's too hot to really be interested in firing up the ovens for bread making.  It's been cooler here this week, however, and thoughts of returning to bread baking have been dancing in my mind. 

      Recently Phyl has been trying out some possible Thanksgiving recipes and he was baking this Fig and Almond Bread, featured on Nick Malgieri's site here (recipe and photo).  "Figs and Almonds you say?"  That was about how  much it took for me to start lining up the ingredients. 

      Ingredient list:  dried Calimyrna figs, almonds, water, yeast, bread flour, whole wheat flour, sugar, salt, olive oil, and butter.  I didn't have access to dried Calimyrna figs (a light colored fig), so I subbed in other California figs, the dried Mission figs, but otherwise I made the recipe exactly as written by NM.
      Oh, my, oh, my, oh, my is this delicious!  It's a savory bread, with a touch of sweetness from the figs and a nice little crunchy texture from the chopped almonds.  Trust me, if you like figs and almonds, you should really make this bread as soon as possible.  The recipe is straight-forward, just follow each step and it works perfectly. 

      On his site, NM says this is a recipe that he pulled from his new bread book manuscript...the book is set to publish next fall (2012), so this was sort of a preview for us.  If this is any indication, and I am certain it is, of just how wonderful that new book is going to be, stand aside, I'm first in line.  Thank you, Nick...another wonderful recipe.

Bread Alone: 1) Buffalo Barn Raisers Wheat Bread and 2) Crusty European-Style Hard Rolls

      Now that I've decided to give Saturday's posts over to bread making (we will see how long this actually lasts), I have two breads that I made with my Twitter friends and have never posted because I am just that untimely at times with things like this. 

      The first was called Buffalo Barn Raisers Wheat Bread and when I saw it on Allison's site here I knew I wanted to make it as 1) It looked delicious, 2) She raved about it, 3) Nancy was also going to make it (see post here), 4) I always like to try new bread recipes that others recommend, 5) it's good to try new grain recipes as I tend to use the same ones over and over, and maybe most of all, 6) it uses a bread pan!  (I am not too great with the free-form breads, those still need a lot of work in my kitchen yet, but a bread you can put into a pan to bake is just great!)
      The bread was really nice, very easy to make/bake, and we enjoyed it as toast and using it for grilled cheese sandwiches, giving both a pleasant taste and chew.  The recipe can be found on both Allison and Nancy's sites and Nancy even ground her own wheat in her new food mill!
      The second bread (as you can see from the photo above) is really a roll recipe that I made with Di one Sunday afternoon, and these were a big hit with the guys, they were gone before I had a chance to use them a second day. 

      The recipe for the rolls is on the King Arthur Flour website here (a wonderful resource if you don't know about this, and you like to bake, you should check it out for all sorts of baked goods).  They are called Crusty European-Style Hard Rolls.  They are crusty on the outside (but not too much so) and light and fluffy on the inside.  I'll bet you can't eat just one.
       It takes a little planning for these rolls, as one day you make a starter and the next day are a couple of rises and a stint in the refrigerator, but the hands-on time is not all that much of a commitment and the rolls are so worth every single minute of it. 

      The second time I made them, I put some aside for sandwich-making and they were perfect for that as well, smallish and just wonderful bread for a sandwich.  Easily they are a favorite around here...that, and their little selves are just so cute.  Sometimes I am all about the cute in food.

Nancy's Notions: Cucumber Pickle Juice Rye Loaf

      It's been awhile since Nancy and I have had a chance to Twitter bake together but we found occasion yesterday after her daughter Allison made and posted  Dan Lepard's Cucumber Pickle Juice Rye Loaf.  It caught my attention because, well because it had the word "pickle" in the title and that's all it takes to pique my interest as I am all about a good pickle always.

      Dan Lepard is the author of our much beloved and much baked Milk Loaf Bread, of which I must be entitled to some sort of award by now for making it the most of anyone other than possibly Dan Lepard himself.  What can I say, it's a hit around here for sandwiches, toast, and grilled cheese.  We never tire of it.

      While the Pickle Bread is of a completely different nature, very dark, dense, and made with toasted rye flour, I wanted to give it a try for Ruben sandwiches so Nancy and I worked on it together, with Allison's tweeting her experience, opinions, and advice as well, and came up with a nice and interesting experiment. 

      I say experiment as it is good, but I didn't care for it with Rubens, preferring a softer rye for those instead.  That said, Mark really liked this for Ruben sandwiches and thought it was just great.  A good thing because Nancy and I were twittering the whole day about how the bread was not rising as we had envisioned it would, etc.
      In the end, I prefer to have one thin slice of this bread with just a little cheese on it.  It is great with the pickle flavor and that I did love.  I just didn't care for so much bread in my mouth and the need to chew it quite so much...that's why a thin slice works better than a thicker one loaded with all the Ruben ingredients, i.e. corned beef, sauerkraut, cheese, as you have to have a thick slice of bread to handle all that.  You can make it and be your own judge. 

      The dough is fun to work with and it makes a really cute little loaf.  (The recipe says to divide it into two loaves but on Allison's advice, I made it into one loaf as she felt the little ones were maybe just a little too little.  My loaf was about six inches in diameter when it came out of the oven.  No discernible rise at all, despite several hours of encouragement otherwise.)  

      I was most excited about learning some new techniques with this bread, especially using toasted flour as I had never toasted flour before using it and I wasn't sure how that would go and what that would taste like. Turns out that it is quite easy to do, smelled wonderful, and tasted very nice...sort of a deeper richer nuttier type of flavor with a more brownish color to it.  Now I can say I have done that...and used pickle juice for the liquid in a bread! 

     The bread definitely tastes like dill pickles and is delicious!  I might actually make this again when I have pickle juice enough saved up (it takes 1-1/2 cups of it).  It was a fun day. Here's the link to the bread recipe so you can give it a try in your kitchen, especially on days like this one (photo below) where it's a good thing to just stay inside and bake while looking outside at all this snow coming down...I think we had another five inches yesterday...I've sort of lost my excitement over it all (okay, I never really had any excitement over it all) and am ready for my green grass, blooming flowers, and leafy trees.  Soon.

Nancy's Notions: Sour Cream Sandwich Bread

 

It's been awhile since Nancy and I have had a chance to Twitter bake together but we found occasion last week when she proposed making Dan Lepard's Sour Cream Sandwich Bread together. 

Dan Lepard is the author of our much beloved and much baked Milk Loaf Bread, of which I must be entitled to some sort of award by now for making it the most of anyone other than possibly Dan Lepard himself.  What can I say, it's a hit around here for sandwiches, toast, and grilled cheese.  We never tire of it. 

When Nancy came upon this new recipe, and blogging/Twitter friend Ulrike also was making it last week, I decided that I needed to give it a shot as well.  This is one HUGE loaf of bread. 

I made a double batch and baked it in two 5x7" pans as I did not have the exact pan he specifies in the recipe.  It worked out well, but too tall for my toaster.
It's just wonderful, we all liked it.  Will it replace the beloved Milk Loaf for sandwiches, toast, and grilled cheese?  No, it's a little softer than we like for those items.  That said, I think it would make delicious dinner rolls, so I am going to try making those with the dough very soon.  I must find something to use it for, it's just too good to pass it by.  I'll keep you posted.

Here's the link to the bread recipe so you can give it a try in your kitchen.

Nancy's Notions: Buttermilk Baps

A little while ago Nancy found a recipe from Dan Lepard (one of our favorite bread bakers) for some rolls called Buttermilk Baps (baps being a word for a sort of roll in England), and a twitter bake-along was organized with Nancy, Margaret, Tracey, and then later Di and I baked the baps as well. 

I have had very little experience baking with buttermilk in things so now that I have discovered the joys of this, I am constantly looking for more ways to use buttermilk in baked items.  Buttermilk gives a nice lightness to the batter/dough and has a lovely tang of flavor that we all enjoy. 
These dinner rolls were easy and very good.  Need to remember to make them more often actually. 

If you would like the recipe, you can link here.  If you haven't discovered baking with Dan Lepard's recipes yet, you really need to, he has such an easy style that produces such great results, even for a beginner. 

Nancy's Notions: Simple Milk Loaf

A while ago

Nancy found a recipe from Dan Lepard (one of our favorite bread bakers) for a sandwich bread called Simple Milk Loaf, well, actually her husband found the recipe while looking through the recipe book and suggested she make it.  

 

She made it, they loved it, and she proceeded to rave about it to the rest of us who bake on Twitter together each week.  She kept raving about it.  And raving about it.  So, finally, just so that I could say I made it, I tried it. 

 

That was a couple of months ago and it is now the definitive bread in our house.  I have made probably 50 loaves of this bread, and also used it countless times to form into pans of dinner rolls.  We all love it. 

 

It is great for eating out of hand, sandwiches, toast, and very nice for grilled cheese, the real test of a good bread around here with teens.  Okay, I admit it, me, too.  I cannot remember the last time I actually bought a loaf of bread at the store.  This recipe is so easy and is so good that no one here wants to go near the bread aisle at the store anymore.  

 

If you would like the recipe, click here for Nancy's post on it all, including the recipe link.  Her photos are way better than mine.  I hope you try it...then you can rave about it to all your friends and soon hardly anyone will be buying bread in the stores anymore...thanks, Nancy!