Mashed Potato Chive Bread

Chris and I did a much better job than usual planning our menu this week. The whole roasted chicken on Sunday turned into soup and then pot pies and the mashed potatoes that we had with the chicken turned into this loaf of bread which accompanied soup one night, and then turned into sandwiches last night.

I pulled this recipe from my Passion For Baking book and while it is a yeast bread, it was so soft and so reluctant to rise that it reminded me in many ways of a quick bread. The book called for two 9x5 pans to bake loaves, but I think the bread would have risen much more attractively if it had been made in 8x4 pans.

The bread was actually very good though with a soft crumb that still held up well for toast and sandwiches. It tasted great by itself with the garlicky mashed potatoes I used and the flavor of the chives and I loved the flecks of red potato skin which contrasted nicely with the bright green of the chives. For a yeast bread it was actually in the oven within a few hours which makes it possible to make it and enjoy it the same day. I know Chris wants to make a loaf of bread from the Reinhardt book that calls for mashed potatoes, but that loaf starts with an overnight Biga and then spends most of the second day rising as well. I'm sure the flavor is much more developed in that loaf than this loaf, but this loaf can be done in a day, and sometimes, that's all that matters.


Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups water (110 to 115 degrees)
5 tsp rapid rise yeast
4 to 6 cups bread flour
1 cup warm mashed potatoes (leftovers are fine)
1/4 cup warm milk
2 tbsps unsalted butter, melted
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp salt
1/2 cup minced fresh chives or finely diced green scallions

Prepare two 9 x5 inch loafpans (mine didn't rise enough to fill these pans and if I made this recipe again I would use 8x4 inch pans) by spraying them with nonstick cooking spray and placing them on a baking sheet.

In a mixer bowl, whisk water and yeast together and let stand 2 to 3 minutes to dissolve the yeast. Add 1 cup flour; then whisk in potatoes, milk, butter, sugar, and salt and blend well. Fold in almost all the remaining flour (I used 4 cups of flour total). Mix ingredients and then knead the dough with dough hook on lowest speed of mixer for 8 to 10 minutes, adding flour as necessary to make a soft, bouncy dough. Dough should be slightly sticky but more or less cleaning sides of bowl. Midway through kneading add chives or scallions.

Remove the dough hook from machine, spray dough with nonstick cooking spray, and cover entire mixer and bowl with a large clear plastic bag (or move the dough to another bowl and put plastic wrap over top of it). Let dough rise about 30 to 40 minutes until puffy but not quite doubled. Turn out dough onto a well floured work surface and gently deflate. Divide it in half and shape into small loaves. Place the loaves into the pans and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place 30 to 50 minutes until almost doubled.

Preheat oven to 350. Bake until just golden, about 30 to 35 minutes. Cool in pans 10 minutes before turning out on a wire rack to cool completely.

Pumpkin Brioche Cinnamon Rolls

My love affair with pumpkin isn't over yet -- not even close. It's not even October yet, which means months and months of pumpkin baking ahead of me. I smile just thinking about it.

These cinnamon rolls were inspired by Peabody's Pumpkin Brioche. I made the brioche (although I misread the directions so mine ended up skipping a 4 hour rise in the fridge and ended up just getting a second 2 hour rise on the counter instead... didn't seem to hurt the flavor any...) and then used a third of it to make cinnamon rolls. Unfortunately I overbaked them a bit leaving them a tad crunchy on the outside rather than soft and chewy like I wanted them. :( Also, I didn't roll them quite tight enough so a bunch of the cinnamon sugar ended up on the bottom of the pan creating a sticky, crunchy, sugary crust that was almost, but not quite burned.

Guess I'll have to make them again... bummer.

With the other two thirds of the dough I made two 8x4 loaves, although I did give them a cinnamon swirl too so they're not that different than the cinnamon rolls. Chris brought one loaf to work and we're going to use the second loaf for French Toast for our Saturday morning breakfast. Man life is good.



Ingredients:

For the Sponge:
¼ cup whole milk, at room temperature
2 ½ tsp active dry yeast
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/3 cup sugar
1 cup bread flour

Combine the milk and yeast in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment ans whisk until the yeast is dissolved. Let stand for 5 minutes, then stir in the pumpkin puree, sugar, and flour, forming a thick batter. Cover with plastic film and let rest in a warm environment until bubbles form, 30-40 minutes.

For the Dough:
5 cups bread flour
2 tsp salt
6 large eggs, lightly beaten
½ lb(2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1.Add the flour ans salt to the sponge, then add the eggs. Mix on low speed for 2 minutes, or until the eggs are absorbed. Increase speed to medium and knead the dough for 5 minutes. The dough will begin to slap around. Hold on to the mixer when necessary.

2. On medium-low speed, add the butter, 2 TBSP at a time. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl occasionally.(Recipe did not say to, but I switched to the dough hook at this point). Knead until the dough is shiny ans smooth, about 5 minutes. Scrape out the dough, wash and dry the bowl, and coat it lightly with oil.

3.Place dough in the oiled bowl and turn it so that the top is coated with oil. Cover with plastic film and let rise at room temperature until doubled in volume, about 2 hours.

4.After the dough has doubled in volume, press down to deflate, folding one half into the other. Cover with plastic film and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight. This is the second rise.

5.Spray three 9 x 5 x 3-inch loaf pans with pan spray. I used one large pan, two mini loafs and made 8 rolls.

6.Remove dough from fridge. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough evenly into thirds.

7. To make cinnamon rolls take a third of the dough and roll it into a flat rectangle. Brush with two tablespoons of melted butter and then sprinkle cinnamon sugar generously over the surface. Roll the rectangle up, starting with the side nearest you and try to get it as tight as possible. Once it's rolled, pinch the seam and cut it into 1-inch pieces. Lay the pieces cut side down in a well-greased 9x13 pan and let rise for 60-90 minutes.

8. With the other two thirds follow Peabody's directions here (or make more cinnamon rolls). With a rolling pin(that is floured), roll the dough into a rectangle equal to the length of the pan and double its width. Starting from the short side, roll up the dough like a jelly roll. If you would like you can add a filling. I added pumpkin pie spices with sugar in one of my loafs. Pinch the seam together. Place the dough seam side down in the prepared pan. Gently work the dough into the pan with your fingers so that it touches all sides. The dough should fill the pan halfway.

9.Cover the dough with plastic film coated with pan spray and let rise at room temperature until it has doubled in size and filled the pans completely, 1 ½ to 2 hours.

10.Toward the end of proofing preheat the oven to 400F. Adjust the rack to the center of the oven.

Egg Wash
1 large egg, plus large egg yolk

Whisk together the egg and yolk. Gently brush the surface of the dough with the egg wash.

Baking:

1. Bake for 10 minutes. Turn down the oven temperature to 350F and bake for 30 minutes more(the mini loaves only need 17 minutes more), with a golden crust and an internal temperature of 180F. Watch the baking closely and check them after 15 total minutes -- better to check them too often then end up with them overdone like mine...

2.Remove the brioche from the pans as soon as they come out of the oven and cool it on a rack before serving.

3.If making rolls, roll them to golf ball size. Proof in paper lined muffin cups for easy baking. Bake at 350F for 20-25 minutes.

Double Garlic Fougasse

Yesterday Chris had to work late while I had the day off. Chris is always really great about having dinner ready when I get home from a long day at work, so I decided to make sure that dinner would be almost ready to go when he got in later than normal, and that the house would smell great too.

We had planned to have ravioli anyway, so I figured something bready and garlicky would go great with that. I decided to look in my Passion for Baking book since there are two sections on yeast breads with mouth watering recipes and pictures. When I saw this recipe for Double-Garlic Fougasse though, I knew I had the right thing.

Garlic powder, minced garlic and garlic infused olive oil combined with yeasty bread, parmesan cheese and italian herbs... yup, can't get much more garlicky than that. The recipe was also great because it only took about 3 hours of rising time and was pretty easy to mix up to boot. Granted, I had to go to the store for olive oil and garlic infused olive oil, but it was well worth it.

The house definitely smelled like I wanted it to when Chris got home from work too. We considered actually making ravioli to go with the bread, but in the end we simply slathered a little butter on the bread hot from the oven and called it dinner. :)



Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups warm water
5 tsps instant yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tsps salt
1/4 cup olive oil
4 to 5 cups bread flour
salt and pepper

1 tsps dried Italian seasoning
4 to 6 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 to 2 tsps garlic powder
1/2 cup garlic infused olive oil (you can sub extra virgin olive oil -- but the garlic flavor will be less pronounced)
1 cup small hunks of parm

In a mixer bowl, whisk water and yeast together and let stand 2 to 3 minutes to dissolve yeast. Briskly whisk in sugar, salt, oil, and most of the flour. Knead with dough hook on lowest speed of mixer 5 to 8 minutes adding more flour as necessary to form soft dough.

Remove dough hook from machine and spray dough with nonstick cooking spray. Cover top with plastic wrap and let rise 45 to 50 minutes. Meanwhile assemble filling ingredients.

Turn out dough onto a lightly floured work surface and gently deflate. Pat out to a 12-inch round. Smear dough round with some of the salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, minced garlic, garlic powder, 2 to 4 tbsps of garlic oil, and cheese.

Roll up dough and let rest 5 minutes. Then roll dough flat again into 10 inch round and repeat seasoning/oil treatment.

Let dough reset 10 minutes and then roll to a 12 to 15 inch round or oval (don't worry if garlic and oil leak out at this point.)

Place dough on baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Smear top with more salt, pepper, seasoning, garlic and oil. Make 3 deep cuts in dough going right through almost to baking sheet. Stretch out those gashes some-what to make 3 openings or ovals.

Cover pan loosely with plastic wrap and let rise 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375. Bake bread 30 to 45 minutes until golden brown and crisp on the outside. Let cool slightly and serve.

Village Baker's Holiday Cranberry Orange Bread

Damn it! I hate, hate, hate it when I do something totally stupid, and mess up a recipe. I forgot to add the butter. Not just a little butter, but an entire stick and a half of butter. Butter is almost always an integral part in baked goods so how I missed it in this recipe is beyond me. I didn't even catch the mistake until I was typing the recipe into the blog -- that's how thoroughly I missed it.

I suppose if you're going to leave the butter out of a recipe though, a multi-rise yeast bread is the place to do it since the bread gets a lot of its flavor from the rising process, and not from the added fats. I am sure that the bread would taste much better with the butter included, but it's actually not bad at all the way it is. Most people probably wouldn't even realize the butter was missing unless I told them.

A yeasted bread dotted with cranberries and (I know JB will hate this part) chocolate chips. I thought about subbing walnuts for chocolate chips, but I decided to just make it the way the recipe wanted it. Tart cranberries, a sweet yeast dough and chocolate chips makes this bread a winner. I'm sure the missing butter would have made it fantastic.

My only real complaint for the recipe is that it takes much longer to bake than first indicated. I took the bread out of the oven after 45 minutes, and because I wanted to get the pictures taken and the blog posted so I could finish getting ready for work, I took off the springform pan and snapped a few shots. Then I sliced off a piece to taste it and realized it wasn't done. There were many down-right doughy portions left all over the top of the bread, but getting the springform pan back on it was out of the question. Luckily, it was done enough to retain its shape for it's repeat trips to the oven -- and there were a lot of repeat trips.

After the first two 5 minute trips I covered the top with foil to try to keep it from over browning... two more 5 minute trips later and I was starting to get a little frustrated with it. Fortunately it seemed to be okay with it's extended time in the oven because it went in for at least 30 more minutes than the recipe calls for which is a bit annoying. I did bump the heat down to 325 after the first 10 minutes because I was afraid to burn the whole thing -- and after having it actually turn out okay even without the butter, I really, really didn't want to do that.

Ingredients:
1/3 cup warm water
5 tsps rapid rise yeast
4 to 5 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup warm milk
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 large egg
3 egg yolks
1 tsp salt
1 1/3 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp orange oil or orange extract
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped fresh or frozen cranberries
3/4 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

Finishing Touches:
1 large egg
pinch of white sugar and salt
white sugar for dusting

Generously spray a 9-inch springfrom pan with nonstick cooking spray. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place pan on it.

In a mixer bowl, hand whisk water and yeast together and then add warm milk, butter, egg, egg yolks, salt, sugar, vanilla, orange oil, and most of rest of flour. Mix ingredients and then, using dough hook, knead on low speed to make a soft dough, 8 to 10 minutes, adding more flour as required.

Remove dough hook, spray dough with nonstick cooking spray, and place a large clear plastic bag over entire mixer and bowl. Let dough rise 30 to 45 minutes, or until almost doubled.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and gently deflate. Press dough down into a flattened round and press cranberries and chocolate chips into dough, folding and incorporating as best you can -- the shape doesn't matter at this stage.

Let dough rest 15 minutes and then cut into 12 portions. Shape each into a ball and arrange on one level in prepared pan. Whisk egg and pinch each of sugar and salt. Brush dough with egg wash and dust with white sugar. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise until puffy and almost doubled, about 45 to 60 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350. Bake bread until nicely browned, about 40 to 50 minutes.

Let cool and serve warm or at room temp.

Irish Cream Cinnamon Rolls

It's Mira's birthday today and she chose cinnamon rolls. I was going to make pumpkin cinnamon rolls since I know she loves pumpkin, but I discovered I was out of pumpkin shortly after I started the sponge for the pumpkin brioche. I didn't really have time to go to the store, so I decided to make regular brioche using the Peter Reinhart Middle Class recipe and using that as a base I would make a pan of Dorie Greenspan's Pecan Sticky Rolls, as well as a pan of regular cinnamon rolls with an Irish Cream Glaze.

The plan worked out quite well I think. The Pecan Sticky Rolls are always a favorite with my crowd. Sticky, sweet, crunchy and chewy -- hard to go wrong. Although I have to admit, for some reason I haven't been as thrilled with them the last couple of times I have made them. I made sure to check them after 20 minutes this time, since I almost burned them the last time I made them, and that seemed to help. But the caramel still almost tastes burned to me... I wonder if I'm over boiling it? Hmmmm....

It ended up that only 12 sticky rolls fit into the 9 x 13 pan I used, so I just cut the rest of the roll of dough into pieces and put them on a pan. I did the same with the remainders of the regular cinnamon rolls which left me with several odd pieces. I baked them with the rest -- they odd pieces came out after 20 minutes -- and I liberally treated them with the Irish Cream glaze, and while they may not be as pretty as the regular ones, and some of them are a bit short on filling -- it's still brioche doused in Irish Cream glaze which = yummy.

For the glaze I didn't even measure anything. I melted a couple of tablespoons of butter, threw in some powdered sugar, doused it with a little Irish Cream, and finished it off with milk until I got the consistency I wanted. When I realized I didn't quite have enough to finish off my rolls, I threw in more powdered sugar, milk and Irish Cream. Simple and delicious.

Ingredients:

Brioche:
Sponge
1/2 cup unbleached bread flour
2 tsps instant yeast
1/2 cup whole milk, lukewarm

Dough
5 large eggs, lightly beaten
3 cups unbleached bread flour
2 tbsps granulated sugar
1 1/4 tsps salt
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temp

To make the sponge: stir together the flour and yeast in a large mixing bowl (or the bowl of an electric mixer.) Stir in the milk until all the flour is hydrated. Cover with plastic wrap and ferment for 20 minutes, or until the sponge rises and then falls when you tap the bowl.

To make the dough: add the eggs to the sponge and whisk (or beat on medium speed with the paddle attachment) until smooth. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, and salt. Add this mixture to the sponge and eggs and stir (or continue to mix with the paddle on low speed for about 2 minutes) 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 (or on medium speed with the paddle), gradually work in the butter, about one-quarter at a time, waiting until each addition of butter assimilates before adding more. This will take a few minutes. 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.

Mist a clean bowl with spray oil. Transfer the dough to the bowl, spray the top with more oil, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or overnight.




Day Two
Pecan Sticky Rolls:
Glaze
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 stick unsalted butter cut into pieces
1/4 cup honey
1 1/2 cups pecans (whole or pieces)

For the Filling
1/4 cup sugar
3 tbsp packed light brown sugar
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
3 tbsp unsalted butter at room temp

For the Buns:
half a recipe of brioche dough, chilled

Generously butter a 9 x 13 inch baking pan.

To make the glaze; In a heavy bottomed saucepan, bring the brown sugar, butter and honey to a boil over medium-low heat, stirring frequently to dissolve the sugar. Pour the glaze into the buttered pan, evening it out as best you can by tilting the pan or spreading the glaze with a heatproof spatula. Sprinkle over the pecans.

To make the filling: Mix the sugars and cinnamon together in a bowl. If necessary, in another bowl, work the butter with a spatula until it is soft, smooth and spreadable.

To shape the buns: On a flour dusted work surface, roll the chilled dough into a 16-inch square. Using your fingers or a pastry brush, spread the softened butter over the dough. Sprinkle the dough with the cinnamon sugar, leaving a 1-inch strip bare on the side farthest from you. Starting at the side nearest you, roll the dough into a cylinder (the dough is a bit sticky so this can be kind of tricky), keeping the roll as tight as you can.

With a chef's knife, using a gentle sawing motion, trim just a tiny bit from the ends of the roll if they're very ragged or not well filled, then cut the log into 1-inch thick buns. Fit the buns into the pan, cut side down, leaving some space between them.

Lightly cover the pan with a piece of wax paper and set the pan in a warm place until the buns have doubled in size, about 1 hour 45 minutes. Then buns are properly risen when they are puffy, sort, doubled, and in all likelihood, touching one another.

When the buns have almost fully risen, center a rack in the oven and preheat to 375. (Disclosure: since I used the Reinhart recipe for the brioche dough, I used the Reinhart temp for the cinnamon rolls -- 350 instead of 375.)

Remove the sheet of wax paper and put the pan on a baking sheet lined with parchment. Bake the sticky buns for about 30 minutes, or until they are puffed and golden. Pull the pan from the oven.

The sticky buns must be unmolded minutes after they come out of the oven. If you do not have a rimmed platter large enough to hold them, use a baking sheet line with a silicone mat. Be careful, the glaze is super-hot and super-sticky.




For the Irish Cream Cinnamon Rolls:

For the Filling
1/4 cup sugar
3 tbsp packed light brown sugar
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
3 tbsp unsalted butter at room temp
1 cup chopped pecans

For the Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tbsp melted butter
2 tsps (or more) Irish Cream
2 tsps (or more) milk

1/2 recipe brioche dough, chilled

On a lightly floured surface, roll the brioche dough into 16-inch square. Spread softened butter on the dough, then sprinkle on cinnamon sugar filling, and chopped pecans. Starting at the end nearest you, tightly roll the dough into a cylinder.

Cut the dough into 1-inch pieces, and place in a well-buttered 9 x 13 pan. Cover lightly with parchment paper, and let rise for at 1 hour 45 minutes, until puffy and doubled in size.

Remove the wax paper, and bake for 20 to 30 minutes.

While the buns are baking, make the glaze. Put all the ingredients into a bowl and stir. Add more Irish Cream or milk as necessary to get the consistency you want.

When the buns are done baking, remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes, then glaze them to taste.

Challah

I just got done watching the movie Waitress and now I want to make pies. The problem of course is that I really, really suck at making pies. Chris thinks that if I make enough of them I will eventually get better, but I'm not sure how long I can go failing at pies before I start throwing stuff around the kitchen.... I will likely attempt another pie soon, and if (when -- I'm a pessimist, that way I can be pleasantly surprised when things turn out right) it turns into yet another pie disaster I will give up on the idea of making 2008 the year of pie.

In other news... my parents are coming to visit later this week and my dad requested bread pudding while they are here. Bread pudding is easy enough, but I've never been happy with the bread I buy at the store to use in puddings or for French toast, therefore I decided to make some challah bread for the pudding. I used my Peter Reinhart book the Bread Baker's Apprentice for the recipe, and I was reasonably pleased with the results.

Anyone who reads this blog has probably figured out that I love the sweet recipes, so while bread baking is certainly an art I appreciate, regular bread recipes don't get me that excited. Yeasted Pumpkin Bread with Cinnamon Pecan Swirl... now that will get me excited... challah bread... eh. But the challah is for a good cause which makes it okay.

I should have read my friend JB's notes when he made his challah bread from the same recipe because I ran into the same problem he did -- slightly overdone because I opted for two smaller loaves instead of one big loaf. The crust was dark and very crispy while the middle was soft and chewy. It tasted fine, but plain bread just isn't my thing. However, that crispy crust will soak up the milk and spices of a bread pudding wonderfully. :)



Ingredients:
4 cups bread flour
2 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tsp salt
1 1/3 tsp instant yeast
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 large eggs, slightly beaten
1 large egg yolks, slightly beaten
3/4 cups plus 2 tbsp to 1 1/8 cup water, at room temp
2 egg whites, whisked until frothy for egg wash
Sesame or poppy seeds for garnish (which I skipped)

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 in an electric mixer) until all the ingredients gather and form a ball. Add the remaining water, if needed.

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 approximately 80 degrees.

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

Remove the dough from the bowl and knead for 2 minutes to degas. Reform it into a ball, return the ball to the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let ferment for another hour. It should be 1 1/2 times its original size.

Remove the dough from the bowl and divide it into 6 equal pieces (for two loaves.) Let them rest for 10 minutes. Form 3 of the pieces into long snakes of equal length and braid together (the book has excellent instructions and picture on how to do this). Repeat with the other three pieces. Place the braided loaves on baking sheets lined with parchment or silicone mats. Brush with egg wash, then mist with oil before covering with plastic wrap and letting them rise for another 60 to 75 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350. Brush the bread with egg wash again, then sprinkle with poppy or sesame seeds.

Bake for 20 minutes, rotate the sheets and bake for 10 minutes more. (the book said 20 minutes more, but mine was overdone, so I would check it after 30 minutes total.) The bread should be a rich golden brown and register 190 degrees in the center.

Transfer it to a rack and let it cool at least an hour before slicing. (uh... yeah... an hour... leave warm bread, fresh from the oven, wafting wonderful bread smells through the house, sitting on a counter for an hour without tasting it... good luck with that.)

Monkey Bread

It has been a great Sunday so far. We laid in bed until almost 8 o'clock, just enjoying the chance to sleep in. Chris made us French toast with the Yeasted Pumpkin Bread I made the other day and it was even better than I expected. Plus, we still have one loaf of the bread left which I will use later this week for bread pudding. I got my taxes done and will even get a return. And we have done our normal Sunday routine of laundry and catching up on some basic chores, which may sound boring to some, but it's a routine I like quite a lot.

Oh... and I made Monkey Bread! I was very excited about the Monkey Bread and I am very glad I made it. I was watching Food Network yesterday and Alton Brown made an overnight Monkey Bread which looked great. I didn't bother to prep anything last night though, so I looked for a recipe this morning and found one on Baking Bites. It seems that a lot of people use pre-packaged buttermilk biscuit dough to make a quick Monkey Bread, that's pretty ridiculous considering how easy it is to make from scratch (and I'm sure it's much better too.)

So, what is Monkey Bread you might ask? It doesn't actually involve bananas at all. In fact, the only reason people seem to call it Monkey Bread is because you roll the dough into balls which means in the finished product you pull chunks of it off and eat it with your fingers. So you make a very basic yeast bread base (mine involved buttermilk and a little sugar) and let it rise. Then you divide it into pieces (16 in this case), roll the pieces into balls, dip each ball into melted butter, then into a sugar mix, and plop them into a baking pan (9x5 inch pan for this recipe.) Simple.

I actually added cinnamon to my sugar mix which I think added a lot to it. It is amazingly good. The sugar/butter combo makes a caramel glaze on the bottom of the bread which is chewy, sweet, sticky. The sugar on top of the bread is slightly chewy and slightly crispy. All of it is yummy. Soft bread surrounded by a cinnamon, sugar, caramel crust.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast (1 package)
1 1/2 cups buttermilk, warm (110F)
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
3 - 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup melted butter (or warm milk)
1 cup brown sugar and white sugar, mixed

In a large bowl, combine yeast and buttermilk. Let stand for about five minutes, then add 1/4 cup sugar, salt and 2 1/2 cups of flour. Mix well and add remaining flour a tablespoonful at a time until the dough comes together and pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 5-7 minutes, until smooth and elastic. Place in a lighlty greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
Grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan. Place melted butter into a small bowl and put the sugar mixture into a fairly shallow bowl.

Turn risen dough out onto a lightly floured surface and gently deflate. Divide into about 16 pieces (a few more or less is ok) about the size of golf balls. Roll each one gently into a ball. Dip each ball into melted butter (or warm milk) and generously coat in sugar. Add more sugar to the mix if you run low at any point. Put dough into pan and repeat with each ball, stacking them up as necessary. Sprinkle a tablespoon ot two of extra sugar on top. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 45 minutes, or until the dough just barely reaches the top of the pan.

Preheat oven to 375F.

Yeasted Pumpkin Bread with Cinnamon Pecan Swirl

I didn't really feel much like baking last night so I did something very strange and took a weeknight off. However, I work my first shift today (1330-2130) so when I woke up at 0630 this morning and realized I had hours in front of me with nothing to do, I started considering recipes. The two recipes that sounded the most appealing to me were this recipe and a recipe for pumpkin cinnamon rolls -- I went with this because the rising and baking times were shorter which would mean I wouldn't be cutting it too close to get to work. Plus, this makes three small loaves which means Chris and I can use at least one of them for French toast this weekend. :)

This is super soft bread, the parts without any sugar topping or swirl are a basic, soft yeast bread -- it tastes nice, but there is nothing crazy going on with flavors, and the pumpkin is very subtle. It would be good with butter or a simple jam. The parts with the sugar though, don't need any extra adornment, they are sweet and wonderful and crunchy all on their own.

Ingredients:
Dough:
1 cup warm water (100 - 110 F)
2 tbsp rapid rise yeast
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
2 tsps salt
5 to 6 1/2 cups bread flour

Filling:
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup currants, plumped and dried

Finishing Touches:
1 large egg, beaten
sugar
ground cinnamon

In a mixer bowl, whisk water and yeast together and let stand 2 to 3 minutes to dissolve yeast. Briskly whisk in pumpkin puree, butter, sugar, egg, and salt and blend. Add 4 cups bread flour and mix. Attach dough hook and knead on lowest speed of mixer 8 to 10 minutes, adding more flour as necessary to make a soft but elastic dough.

Remove dough hook and spray dough with nonstick cooking spray. Cover entire mixer and bowl with a large clear plastic bag. Let dough rise about 30 minutes or until almost doubled.

Meanwhile, for Filling, in a small bowl, blend together butter, brown sugar, and spices. Have pecans and currants nearby.

Turn out dough onto a lightly floured work surface and gently deflate. Divide into three portions. Press each into a 10-inch oval or circle. Scatter brown sugar mixture over surface of each piece and then scatter pecans and currants over each.

Spray three 8 x 4 inch loafpans with nonstick cooking spray. Roll up each oval or circle of dough into a snug jellyroll. place each in a prepared pan. Place pan on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and cover entire sheet loosely with plastic wrap.

Let dough rise 45 - 60 minutes or until almost doubled. Brush each loaf with beaten egg and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon.

Preheat oven to 350. Bake on lowest rack 30 to 35 minutes until lightly browned.

Rosemary Socca

I got this recipe from someone at work who read my post about garbanzo bean flour and gluten-free baking. His wife had a recipe for an Indian flat bread -- Socca -- that used garbanzo bean (chickpea) flour and she graciously wrote it out for me so that I could make it. She also measured out and packaged the dry ingredients for me to make it even easier. Awesome. It's always fun discovering new recipes and it's nice to find people who are just as excited about sharing recipes and tips as I am.

This was a great recipe. Rich and flavorful, thin, slightly crispy around the edges, but still chewy and soft in the middle. Chris is going to make a second batch later with some roasted garlic added in which we think will only add to the yummy factor of the basic recipe. It was also super easy to mix together -- the only downside was that it had to sit for an hour, and really, that's not a huge deal. We ended up putting it together tonight because the Indian lamb and coconut stew we were making for dinner cooked for 70 minutes which left us the perfect amount of time to mix the socca ingredients, let it sit for an hour, and then bake.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups water
1/3 cup plus 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, divided
1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
3/4 tsp salt
2 cups chickpea flour
2 tsp olive oil
Coarse sea salt or kosher salt to taste
Finely ground black pepper to taste

Place the water, 1/3 cup of the extra virgin olive oil, rosemary and salt in a large bowl. Whisk in the chickpea flour until completely incorporated. Let batter stand at room temp for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 475.

Oil four 8-inch round cake pans or small pizza pans with 2 tbsp olive oil and pour in the batter evenly so that it coats the bottoms of the pans. The batter should be about 1/4 inch thick. Bake the socca until they are golden brown and set -- about 20 minutes.

Remove the socca from the pans and cut them into wedges. Drizzle with the remaining 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with coarse salt and freshly ground pepper. Serve warm.

JB's Blog!

:) JB started a bread blog on myspace, but recently moved it here to blogspot. Check it out: http://pooryorickspub.blogspot.com/.

Carmalized Onion Bread

I was looking for something bread-y to go with dinner tonight since we were having salads and I wanted some carbs to go along with it. I considered corn muffins or savory scones or even cheesy biscuits, but I wanted something at least a little healthier. My perfect side would have been a crusty french bread or baguette -- but I was working with a short deadline so most yeast breads were out. The baking bites website came through for me with a caramelized onion bread recipe that looked perfect. It was yeast bread, but a quick read through showed only 1 hour-long rising which would work fine for our schedule.

I should have read the recipe a bit closer... it actually called for 2 hour-long risings... one after the initial kneading, and another one before baking. oops... so we had bread after dinner instead of with it. no big loss and that means more for everyone at work tomorrow since we only had one slice to try it out. plus, an even better benefit -- the whole house smelled like bread baking for the rest of the night.

Chris and I had the bread fresh from the oven so the crust and crumb might be a bit different tomorrow after sitting all night -- but fresh from the oven it was nearly perfect. A nice crust that crumbles and cracks as you bite into it, and a chewy middle. There is a nice underlying onion flavor for the whole bread, and pockets of fresh cracked pepper that pop through every now and again. It would have been perfect with that salad. *sigh* But, it was still good an hour after dinner...

Baking Bites baked her bread in a tube pan, which made a really attractive and slightly different looking loaf of bread. I don't have a tube pan, so I just free-formed a round of bread... mine looked kinda gimpy in comparison. Oh well, it's the taste that counts (that's what I keep telling myself anyway...)

Caramelized Onion Bread
1 1/2-2 cups thinly sliced sweet onions
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp active dry yeast
1 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 cups water, warm (100-110F)
4-5 cups bread flour
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
1 tbsp salt

In a medium sauce pan, cook onions and 1 tbsp of vegetable oil over medium-high heat until onions are translucent. Reduce heat to medium, add remaining vegetable oil and continue to cook until onions are light golden, about 15 more minutes. Cool to room temperature, or just slightly warm.

In a large mixing bowl (or the bowl of a stand mixer), combine yeast, sugar and 1/4 cup water. Stir to dissolve and let sit until yeast is foamy, about 5 minutes. Pour in remaining water, 3 cups bread flour and mix well. Add onions, pepper, salt and another cup of flour and stir again. If using the stand mixer, use a dough hook attachment. Add remaining flour gradually until dough comes together into an elastic ball. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 4 minutes. Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl and let rise unil doubled in size, about 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350F.

Lightly grease a 10-inch tube pan with vegetable oil. Gently deflate risen dough on a lightly floured surface, press a hole in the center of it (like a giant donut) and place in tube pan. Let rise until nearly doubled in size, about 45 minutes.

When bread is finished rising, bake for 45 minutes. An internal read thermometer will read about 200F when the bread is finished and the loaf will be a dark golden color.

Turn loaf out of pan onto a cooling rack to cool to room temperature before slicing.

Makes 1 large loaf

Mozzarella Stuffed Dinner Rolls

Chris and I bought some water-packed mozzarella last week for a recipe that we never got around to making. I have been casually looking for a way to use them ever since. I happened upon this recipe on the baking bites website while looking for recipes for dinner rolls and was immediately excited. We didn't have plans for dinner tonight, this would use the mozzarella and it looked yummy beyond belief.

Despite being a yeast bread, the rolls don't actually take a long time to make and rise. 5 minutes to proof the yeast, about 15 minutes of mixing and an hour of rising. The final prep took us about 10 minutes. While the rolls were rising, Chris made a basic red sauce from his Mario Batali Molto Italiano book. I thought the sauce was a little sweet (nothing I hate worse than sweet flavors with something that's supposed to be savory...) so Chris added some oregeno, red pepper flakes and a couple of other things to improve it.

For most people this would probably just be a side dish along with dinner, but because of my unending obsession with calories we actually made this the entire meal. We had ideas for how to make it more meal-like -- add Italian sausage to the center with the mozzarella or prosciutto bits to the dough, sprinkle Parmesan on top -- to name a few. The rolls were a bit boring fresh from the oven, but we brushed them with butter which instantly improved them 100%, then dipped them into the red sauce. Fantastic.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast (1 packet)
1/2 cup water, warm (110F)
1/2 cup milk, warm (110F)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tsp salt
2 to 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
12 3/4 inch cubes of fresh mozzarella cheese
course sea salt or garlic salt to top
butter for brushing

In a large bowl, combine yeast and water and let stand for 5 minutes, until slightly foamy. Add milk, sugar, salt and 1 1/2 cups of flour, stirring well. Add the remaining flour gradually, stirring until the dough comes together into a ball, away from the sides of the bowl. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until very smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Place in a lightly greased bowl to rise until doubled, 50-60 minutes in a warm kitchen.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface.
Divide dough into 12 equal pieces and shape each into a round. Place a square of cheese inside each dough round and pinch tightly to seal. Place seam side down on a parchment-lined baking sheet and cover with a dish towel for about 15 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375F while rolls rest.

Brush rolls with a little water and sprinkle with coarse salt or garlic salt, if you prefer. Bake rolls for 18-20 minutes, until golden. Brush with butter.

Serve right away, as the cheese is best warm. Don’t worry if it leaks out onto the baking sheet; the rolls will still taste great.

Makes 12 rolls.

For the Tomato Sauce: A couple of notes -- Chris halved this recipe, and ended up adding a few things to it, but I'm not sure what he added besides red pepper flakes, oregeno and parsley. We also used a can of fire-roasted crushed tomatoes since that's what we happened to have on hand. The recipe is written here as it appeared in the book.

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 spanish onion, cut into 1/4 inch dice
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
3 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
1/2 medium carrot, finely shredded
two 28-oz cans whole tomatoes

In a 3-quart saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook until soft and light golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Add the thyme and carrot and cook until the carrot is quite soft, about 5 minutes.

Add the tomatoes, with their juice, and bring to a boil, stirring often. Lower the heat and simmer until as thick as hot cereal, about 30 minutes. Season with salt. The sauce can be refrigerated for up to 1 week or frozen for 6 months.

Brioche Raisin Snails

These were a lot of work and I didn't really think they were worth it. First off, you need half a recipe of the brioche dough from the Dorie Greenspan book. I happened to have the brioche dough available because I was making pecan sticky rolls, so at least I didn't go out of my way for this recipe. You also need half a recipe of pastry cream from the book and some rum steeped raisins. If you happen to have all these things on hand -- this recipe is actually really easy... if you have to make them all it's time consuming and involves lots of standing over the stove (for the raisins and pastry cream.)

The brioche dough alone is a two day process and the first day involves 20-30 minutes of mixing -- without a stand mixer pretty much a workout all on it's own and it would probably take closer to an hour. Even with the mixer it takes a chunk of time. Luckily, once it's all mixed up you just let it rise, first on the counter and later in the fridge.

The raisins were easy, steep them in hot water for a few minutes, then drain them, put them in a small pan and heat them up until very hot, then pour in the rum and light the rum on fire. Nothing easier. Chris even let me run the lighter... brave man, well, either that or he just valued his eye brows more than I value mine. :)

The pastry cream was a pain in the ass and Chris did most of the work. Bring 2 cups of milk to a boil on the stove, meanwhile whisk together some egg yolks, corn starch and sugar, then whisk the boiling milk in slowly (don't want to cook the eggs) and put the whole thing back on the stove to boil some more -- whisking constantly. After it boils for a few minutes -- which we never actually accomplished, add the vanilla and let it sit to cool for a 5 minutes, then slowly stir in some butter. I'm not sure what we missed, but our egg/milk mixture never did boil, it just thickened up pretty quickly, not surprising considering all the corn starch (1/3 cup to 6 egg yolks and 1/2 cup of sugar.) After all that, the whole thing had to cool to room temp before I could use it for the raisin snails.

Finally, roll out the dough, spread half the pastry cream on it, sprinkle the raisins on top of that, and finally sprinkle the whole thing with a little cinnamon sugar. Next roll it up tightly, cut it into 1-inch pieces, put those on a lined cookie sheet and let rise for another hour and a half. After all that, bake for 20 minutes.

For all that work I want something amazing. The pecan sticky rolls are almost as much work, but they are worth every second of it. These just weren't that impressive. I'll see what the peanut gallery has to say tomorrow, I'm really interested what others think of these things. Can't win them all I guess.

If somebody really wants the recipe I will make copies and mail them to you... no way am I typing all three recipes out without several requests...