Fake Ginger

breads

Cheesy Garlic Knots

Cheesy Garlic Knots – soft and fluffy garlic knots filled with mozzarella cheese. Easy recipe and practically fool proof! These garlic knots are perfect for pasta or pizza night.

Garlic knots on a white plate

Originally posted November 21, 2013. Updated September 8, 2020. 

I’m obsessed with these garlic knots.

I’m not even a garlic knot person. I have no problem turning down a garlic knot in a restaurant. 

But these are so perfect. Maybe it’s because they’re so soft and fluffy right out of the oven. Or maybe it’s because they’re full of mozzarella cheese. 

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Hot Cross Buns

Hot Cross Buns – sweet yeast rolls with cinnamon and raisins and topped with icing. Traditional Easter treat.

Hot Cross Buns - sweet yeast rolls with cinnamon and raisins and topped with icing. Traditional Easter treat.

I think Easter’s my favorite holiday.

And yes, I realize that I say that for literally every holiday but I’m serious this time. I think Easter’s my fave.

I mean, Easter candy is most definitely the best candy. Plus you get to decorate with fun, bright colors and dye eggs. And you get to watch Hop as many times as you want and no one can judge you for it.

That’s what the kids and I do. We watch it over and over and over again. It’s our fave.

And finally, Easter food! I love the ham and the salads and, most important, the Hot Cross Buns!

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Bacon and Pepper Jack Cornbread

Happy Monday!

I hope you had a fabulous weekend. Mine went by waaaaaay too fast but I’m lucky that we don’t have preschool today which means that technically I can stay in sweats all day and skip makeup. So yay!

I feel like I did nothing all weekend. Like, I even skipped yesterday’s post because I was feeling so lazy. Plus we were about halfway through the zoo on Saturday before I realized I didn’t have anything made and photographed and at that point, it was a lost cause.

Yesterday I bribed my children with gumballs to get them to go thrifting with me. We found one beautimous green Pyrex but here’s the problem. Now, I need the lid that came with it. Which is going to cost me at least $16 on Ebay after shipping. So, a $4 dish with a $16 lid. Makes perfect sense.

Then I watched all 7 episodes of Graceland on my DVR. It’s one of those shows that I literally say “Ugggghhhh” when I realize it’s the only thing I have left but after about 20 minutes of the first episode, I am INTO IT and can’t walk away until I watch every episode.

During my Agent Briggs (let’s be real, he’s the only reason most of us are watching Graceland) marathon yesterday, I had a crazy craving for cornbread. I’m telling you, the carb craving is real lately.

So I made this awesome Bacon and Pepper Jack Cornbread. Typically I go for a sweet cornbread with nothing added in but this one was exactly what I was craving. It’s spicy from the pepper jack and just a little sweet from the honey. And bacon makes everything better!

Of course, you have to smear it with butter and put more honey on top! That’s the only way to eat cornbread.

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Honey Yeast Rolls

It has been awhile since I’ve done a yeast recipe but yesterday just called for one. Despite the weather people saying we were just going to get a few flurries, it snowed pretty steadily for a couple hours. And that kind of weather requires a cheesy, comforting meal with a fresh-out-of-the-oven yeast roll.

And y’all, I have to say that I’m kind of ready to be done with snow. I love it, I look forward to it, but this year has been so weird! Normally it melts within a day for us but half our backyard is currently a big slab of ice! Plus the snow means I’m without a car since my husband still hasn’t replaced the broken windshield wipers on his car that I complained about 10 months ago. In his mind, there’s no point since he’ll just be deploying soon anyway.

Men have weird brains.

But that has nothing to do with these fabulous Honey Yeast Rolls. I really love when yeast breads have honey in them and I really, really love when they are brushed with honey butter after coming out of the oven. These guys are so soft and fluffy and basically my idea of the perfect dinner roll. My husband has already claimed the leftovers to make sandwiches.

One year ago: Iced Oatmeal Cookies
Two years ago: Thai Chicken Quesadillas

Print
Honey Yeast Rolls
adapted from Handle the Heat
Ingredients
  • 1 packet 2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
  • 1/4 cup warm water
  • 1 cup whole milk scalded and cooled to lukewarm
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 2 tablespoons butter melted
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
For the honey butter:
  • 2 tablespoons butter melted
  • 1 tablespoon honey
Instructions
  1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, stir the yeast, water, milk, honey, 2 tablespoons of the butter, egg, and salt until well combined. Gradually add the flour and knead on medium-low speed until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Turn off the mixer and let the dough rest for 3 to 5 minutes. Continue to knead the dough on medium-low speed for another 5 minutes, or until the dough is soft and smooth. If it seems too sticky, add more flour, 1 tablespoon at a time.
  2. Transfer the dough to a large greased bowl. Cover and let rise until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.
  3. Punch the dough down and turn it out onto a lightly floured work surface. Roll the dough into a 1-inch thick rectangle. Cut the dough into 2-inch squares. Transfer the squares to a baking sheet and cover. Let rise until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.
  4. Preheat the oven to 350F. Bake the rolls for about 15 minutes, or until golden brown.
  5. To make the honey butter, whisk together the melted butter and honey. Brush on rolls as soon as they come out of the oven.

Eggnog Bread

Eggnog is one of those things that I get excited about every year because I think that I love it. But I really don’t. And you’d think I’d remember that from year to year but it never fails: I rush out to buy a carton and then gag on the first sip. Someone please remind me of this next year so I don’t get my hopes up again.

So since I had a carton of eggnog to use up and eggnog is the Thirsty Thursday theme of the week, I decided to bake with it. Surprisingly, I really liked this bread. Until I put the glaze on it which is pretty much straight eggnog. But the bread itself just has a very subtle eggnog taste that’s perfect for those of us that want to like eggnog but just don’t. My husband and kids loved it with the glaze though so if you’re an eggnog fan, definitely add it.

Nicole made homemade cooked eggnog with bourbon!

One year ago: Butternut Squash and Black Bean Enchiladas
Two years ago: Caramel-Filled Chocolate Cookies
Three years ago: Pumpkin Caramel Coffee Cake

Print
Eggnog Bread
from Mommy's Kitchen
Servings: 4 mini loaves
Ingredients
  • 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/4 cups sugar
  • 1 3/4 cups eggnog
  • 2 eggs beaten
  • 1/2 cup butter melted
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1 teaspoon rum extract
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 3.4 oz package instant french vanilla or vanilla pudding
For the glaze:
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • Enough eggnog to make a glaze to drizzle over bread
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease bottom of bread pan or mini loaf pans.
  2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg. Set aside.
  3. Beat eggs, add sugar, eggnog, butter, rum and vanilla extract.
  4. Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture and mix well.
  5. Add the instant pudding and blend.
  6. Pour into greased mini loaf pans. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 minutes. Remove and cool completely on a wire rack before glazing.
To make the glaze:
  1. Whisk together the powdered sugar and eggnog until you get a good consistency. Drizzle or pour over breads.

Wheat-Oat-Flax Buns

Wheat-Oat-Flax Buns – hearty homemade buns made with flax seeds, oats, and whole wheat flour. Perfect for burgers or sandwiches!

Wheat-Oat-Flax Buns - hearty homemade buns made with flax seeds, oats, and whole wheat flour. Perfect for burgers or sandwiches!

Part of the reason I bake bread so often is pure laziness. It’s just easier to bake a loaf than it is to strap 3 kids in carseats and get in and out of a store.

And that’s exactly what happened with these buns – I realized I had all the ingredients to make a burger I had been wanting to try but no buns. Normally I would’ve just slapped the burger on some sandwich bread (which we had) and called it a day but if I wanted to blog about the burgers, I had to make it pretty!

Oh, and these are my Thai Turkey Burgers with Peanut Sauce and they are SO GOOD. 

Wheat-Oat-Flax Buns - hearty homemade buns made with flax seeds, oats, and whole wheat flour. Perfect for burgers or sandwiches!

These buns are packed full of good-for-you ingredients – ground flax seeds, whole wheat flour, oats – and yet somehow they don’t really taste like they are. They are great for burgers but I think they would be fantastic for regular ol’ sandwiches too.

 

Yield: 12 buns

Wheat-Oat-Flax Buns

Wheat-Oat-Flax Buns

from King Arthur Flour

Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Additional Time 3 hours
Total Time 3 hours 45 minutes

Ingredients

For the dough:

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • ½ cup old-fashioned rolled oats
  • 1 cup whole wheat flour
  • ½ cup flax meal
  • 2½ teaspoons instant yeast
  • 1½ teaspoons salt
  • ¼ cup canola oil
  • 1 large egg yolk, white reserved for topping
  • 3 tablespoons honey
  • ¼ cup orange juice
  • ¾ to 1 cup lukewarm water

For the top:

  • 1 large egg white, reserved from dough, whisked with 2 tablespoons cold water
  • rolled oats, for topping

Instructions

  1. Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl and mix until just combined - you are not kneading here, just making sure all ingredients are moistened. Cover the bowl, and let the dough rest for 20 minutes to give the grains a chance to soften. Then knead, by hand, stand mixer, or bread machine, to make a smooth, soft, elastic dough.
  2. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl and let it rise for 1 to 1½ hours, until it's almost doubled in size.
  3. Gently deflate the dough, and divide it into 12 pieces. Shape each piece into a round ball; pull and flatten each ball into a circle about 3" across.
  4. Place the buns on a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet, cover, and let rise for about 90 minutes, until almost doubled. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 350F.
  5. Brush the buns with the egg white/water mixture. Sprinkle with oats.
  6. Bake the buns for 21 to 25 minutes, until they'rere golden brown. Cool completely on a wire rack before slicing.
  7. Store in an airtight container.

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Nutrition Information:

Yield:

12

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 335Total Fat: 14gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 11gCholesterol: 46mgSodium: 360mgCarbohydrates: 45gFiber: 5gSugar: 5gProtein: 8g

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© Amanda Livesay
Wheat-Oat-Flax Buns - hearty homemade buns made with flax seeds, oats, and whole wheat flour. Perfect for burgers or sandwiches!

Sticky Lemon Rolls with Lemon Cream Cheese Glaze

Once every few months I’ll see a recipe and won’t be able to get it out of my mind. I try to fight it because normally it involves an obscene amount of heavy cream but I never win. Like this one – I saw it and couldn’t stop thinking about it. Then just when I had started to move on with my life, Katie from goodLife{eats} started Tweeting about it. That was it. It had to be made.

If you’ve been reading for awhile you’re probably aware of my love affair with anything rolled. Cinnamon rolls, sticky buns, random creations inspired by Christmas candy, I love them all so this was an obvious winner from the start.

They were everything I hoped they would be. Sweet and tart all at once. I was actually shocked at how much I liked them since I’m not found of fruit and yeast bread together.

These would be perfect for a weekend breakfast. Just mix the dough and shape them into rolls, retard in the fridge overnight, and bake off in the morning! I guarantee whoever you’re baking for will be so excited to see these on the table!

Print
Sticky Lemon Rolls with Lemon Cream Cheese Glaze
Ingredients
For the lemon roll dough:
  • 1 envelope 0.25 ounces, or 2 1/2 teaspoons yeast
  • 3/4 cup milk warmed to about 100°F or warm but not hot on your wrist
  • 1/2 cup 1 stick unsalted butter, very soft
  • 1/4 cup white sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 4 1/2 cups flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 2 lemons zested
  • 2 eggs
For the sticky lemon filling:
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly-ground nutmeg
  • 1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger
  • 2 lemons zested and juiced
  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter very soft
For the lemon cream cheese glaze:
  • 4 ounces cream cheese softened
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 1 lemon zested
Instructions
  1. In the bowl of a stand mixer sprinkle the yeast over the warmed milk and let it sit for a couple minutes. With the mixer paddle, stir in the softened butter, sugar, vanilla, and one cup of the flour. Stir in the salt, nutmeg, and lemon zest. Stir in the eggs and enough of the remaining flour to make a soft yet sticky dough.
  2. Switch to the dough hook and knead for about 5 minutes, or until the dough is elastic and pliable.
  3. (If you do not have a stand mixer, stir together the ingredients by hand, then turn the soft dough out onto a lightly floured countertop. Knead the dough by hand for 5 to 7 minutes, or until the dough is smooth, pliable, and stretchy.)
  4. Spray the top of the dough with vegetable oil, and turn the dough over so it is coated in oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and a towel and let the dough rise until nearly doubled – about an hour.
  5. In a small bowl, mix the sugar with the nutmeg and ginger, then work in the lemon zest with the tips of your fingers until the sugar resembles wet, soft sand. Stir in the juice of 1 lemon. (Reserve the juice of the second lemon for the glaze.)
  6. Lightly grease a 13×9 inch baking dish with baking spray or butter. On a floured surface pat the dough out into a large yet still thick rectangle — about 10×15 inches. Spread evenly with the softened butter, then pour and spread the lemon-sugar mixture over top. Roll the dough up tightly, starting from the top long end. Cut the long dough roll into 12 even rolls, and place them, cut side up, in the prepared baking dish.
  7. Cover the rolls with a towel and let them rise for an hour or until puffy and nearly doubled. (You can also refrigerate the rolls at this point. Cover the pan tightly with plastic wrap, and place it in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours. When you are ready to bake the rolls, remove the pan from the fridge, and let them rise for an hour.)
  8. Heat the oven to 350°F. Place the risen rolls in the oven and bake for 35 minutes or until a thermometer inserted into a center roll reads 190°F.

Pasca (Romanian Easter Cake)

With one day left until the big day, I hope those of you that celebrate have your Easter menus all ready to go! If you’re still searching for a great dessert this Pasca, which is a Romanian Easter cake, would be perfect.

I went into this a little intimidated. It looks and sounds far more complicated than it really was. Although I do have to say that the recipe (which was the only Pasca recipe I could find) was complete crap. I ended up adding almost 3 cups of flour to the dough so hopefully I’ve adjusted the recipe to reflect all the changes I had to make. If you have a favorite sweet dough recipe – like cinnamon roll dough – use it! Just add a touch of lemon zest and you’re good to go.

I started planning my week of Easter goodies a few weeks back and this recipe reminded me of something but I just couldn’t figure out what. As soon as I started braiding the dough I went “OMG! It’s like a giant cream cheese danish from Starbucks!” And it totally was. My only complaint was that I let the dough rise too much before adding the filling. Next time I won’t skimp on the lovely raisin studded cream cheese.

Print
Pasca (Romanian Easter Cake)
Ingredients
For the dough:
  • 1 cup milk warm
  • 1 tablespoon yeast
  • 3 eggs lightly beaten
  • 6 tablespoon sugar
  • 1 tablespoon butter melted and cooled
  • 1 tablespoon canola or vegetable oil
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • zest from 1/2 lemon
  • 4 to 5 cups flour
For the filling:
  • 1 8 ounce brick of cream cheese
  • 1 egg
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/4 cup raisins
For the egg wash:
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon water
Instructions
  1. In a large bowl, combine milk and yeast. Allow to sit until foamy. Using a wooden spoon stir in eggs, sugar, butter, oil, salt, vanilla extract, and lemon zest. Add in flour 1/2 cup at a time until the dough comes together in a ball. It should be soft but not sticky. Put down on a floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes. Spray another large bowl with oil and place ball of dough in, turning to coat in oil. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 2 hours.
  2. When dough has risen, divide into 2 equal pieces. Lightly spray a 9 inch springform pan with oil. Take one of the dough pieces and roll it out to fit in the springform. (I found it easiest to put the dough in the pan and use my fingertips to spread the dough, like you would with focaccia). With the other half of the dough, divide it into 3 equal pieces. Roll those pieces out into long thin ropes and braid them all together. Once it’s braided, gently move it to the springform, braiding the end together. Allow to rise just high enough for you to put filling in, 30 - 45 minutes.
  3. Preheat oven to 400.
  4. To make filling, beat cream cheese, egg, sugar, and vanilla together until the cream cheese is smooth. Fold in raisins. Gently spoon into the bread.
  5. Whisk together egg and water. Brush the mixture over the top of the braided bread. Bake for 45 - 50 minutes or until deeply brown and it sounds hollow when tapped. Remove from pan shortly after and allow to cool on a wire rack.


Panettone

I’m not really a lucky person. I’m kind of like Lindsay Lohan in Just My Luck after she kisses the boy. What? I’m the only loser who’s seen every Lohan movie? Okie dokie…

Anyway.

I won a giveaway! Me! The girl who not long ago slammed her thumb in her Camaro door and then had to spend 3 minutes digging through her purse to find her keys and then another 2 minutes trying to get the key to go in the keyhole, all with a baby strapped to her chest. That one right there pretty much sums up my luck. So yeah, I know you’re dying to know what I won. It was a $50 giftcard to Bake It Pretty thanks to The Sweetest Kitchen. $50! Of cupcake goodness! It was one of my more exciting moments of 2010.

I tell you this because I got those cute Panettone wrappers thanks to that giftcard. I was not excited at all about making Panettone (which is the next bread on my BBA list) but as soon as I saw these wrappers I couldn’t wait.

The bread was, as expected, not my favorite. I don’t believe dried fruit and nuts have any place in yeast bread. Ever. It’s just a no. That said, I only used raisins (not golden) because that’s all I had. I also left out the liquor because we don’t keep that either. I did, by the luck of the Irish (get it?! Because it’s Saint Patrick’s day! I kill myself.), have slivered almonds.

The bread was more difficult than the others only because it requires a barm which is the sourdough starter that is in The Bread Baker’s Apprentice. Lucky me, I happened to start my sourdough starter a few weeks ago.


I halved the recipe and still got 6 loaves that looked like oversized biscuits. They were so pretty, they baked up perfectly. Like I said though, we weren’t really fans. There was just a tiny bit of butter in the dough but it still had a brioche feel to it. It was pretty bland and not something I’d make again. It was fun though and I’m glad I had the cute wrappers!

Interested in giving it a try? Open your copy of The Bread Baker’s Apprentice to page 202. And check out the BBA blogroll to see what the other baker’s thought of the Panettone.

Pretzel Rolls


I promised myself that I wasn’t going to make or post any bread for awhile but yesterday I was making some soup (split pea, I know you wanted to know) and wanted a light roll to go with it.

These are by far the best rolls I’ve ever had. They were everything you could hope for in a pretzel but so much easier than shaping actual pretzels. The outside was crisp and salty and the inside was perfectly soft. My 3 year old (who obviously spends too much time in the kitchen with me) broke open a roll and said, “Look at all those pretty holes!”

This recipe is perfect for someone who wants to learn how to make bread but might be scared. From start to finish it took less than an hour and a half. The dough was very easy, not tacky or hard to work with. My only advice is to double the recipe. These went fast in my house!

Print
Pretzel Rolls
Ingredients
  • 2 3/4 cups bread flour
  • 1 envelope quick-rising yeast
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons about hot water (125°F to 130°F)
  • Cornmeal
  • 8 cups water
  • 1/4 cup baking soda
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 egg white beaten to blend (glaze)
  • Coarse salt
Instructions
  1. Combine bread flour, 1 envelope yeast, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon sugar, and water in large bowl (or stand mixer) and stir until dough comes together in a ball. Put on floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes or until the dough is elastic and smooth. Grease medium bowl. Add dough to bowl, turning to coat. Cover bowl with plastic wrap, then towel; let dough rise in warm draft-free area until doubled in volume, about 35 minutes.
  2. Flour baking sheet. Punch dough down and knead on lightly floured surface until smooth. Divide into 8 pieces. Form each dough piece into ball. Place dough balls on prepared sheet, flattening each slightly. Using serrated knife, cut X in top center of each dough ball. Cover with towel and let dough balls rise until almost doubled in volume, about 20 minutes.
  3. Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease another baking sheet and sprinkle with cornmeal. Bring 8 cups water to boil in large saucepan. Add baking soda and 2 tablespoons sugar (water will foam up). Add 4 rolls X side up and cook 30 seconds before flipping over and cooking for another 30 seconds. Using slotted spoon, transfer rolls to prepared sheet, arranging X side up. Repeat with remaining rolls.
  4. Brush rolls with egg white glaze. Sprinkle rolls generously with coarse salt. Bake rolls until brown, about 25 minutes. Transfer to racks and cool 10 minutes. Serve rolls warm or room temperature.

Pane Siciliano

It seems like I’ve been having really good luck with the BBA breads lately so it was only a matter of time before I ran into another dud. Yup, that beautiful loaf of bread was nothing but a waste of my beloved sesame seeds.

It was a simple bread although it took 3 days. Day 1 was mixing the pre-ferment and allowing that to rise before letting it sit overnight in the fridge. Day 2 was mixing the actual bread, shaping it, and then letting the bread hang out in the fridge overnight. Day 3 was baking.

Not a lot of work but a lot of time.

I prepared my oven as I have for the past couple breads (hearth baking) but this bread didn’t have quite the spring that the others had. The crumb was very tight and it was just a very dense bread.

If you’re interested in trying to bread, check out The Bread Baker’s Apprentice. The formula is on page 198. And be sure you visit the BBA blogroll to check on the other bakers!

Bread Baker’s Apprentice – Pain de Campagne

I cheated on this bread. Just wanted to get that out there.

The next bread on my list was the Pain de Campagne which is similar to French bread but has a teeny bit of whole wheat (or rye) flour in it. It requires a pre-ferment and needs hearth baking to get the best results.

I was having a bad day week month when I made this bread and I really just wanted to make some bread to take my mind off everything. I started this one and a sourdough thinking at least one would be done that day (because I always fail to read ahead) but no luck, they both were 2 day’ers.

So I turned this one into a 1 day bread. I let the pre-ferment sit as long as I could but you could definitely tell a difference in flavor from this one and one that has been allowed to sit overnight in the fridge. I was also pretty horribly at shaping and slashing these.

You can laugh at that one. I know I did.

I think I want to try this one again when I’m not so impatient because it’s supposed to be a really good bread.

If you’re interested in making the bread as the book instructs you too, go check out the The Bread Baker’s Apprentice. It’s on page 195. Make sure you visit the BBA blogroll to see how the other bakers are doing.

One year ago: Italian Mac & Cheese

Bread Baker’s Apprentice Challenge – Pain a l’Ancienne

Okay, I’m done. I found the bread. The one I’ll make once a week for my entire life. I can now retire the BBA book and move on with my life. Well maybe I won’t quit the challenge but I’m pretty sure there won’t be a bread to top this one.

Not going to lie, I wasn’t excited about this. More often than not, baguettes get turned into croutons since we prefer sandwich-type bread or rolls. I finally decided that if I ever wanted to get to the fun breads at the end of the book I just needed to get started on the boring baguettes.

This bread is made with ice water and then you put it in the fridge to retard overnight. Weird, right? I had my doubts and was so shocked the next morning when my dough had almost doubled in size. I pulled it out to take the chill off and it just kept on rising.

There was a ton of dough! A ton of super sticky dough! This was enough dough to make 6 baguettes but since we aren’t huge fans, I decided to only make 3 baguettes and use the other 3 portions as pizza dough.

(It was rainy yesterday. Sorry for the poor pictures!)

The dough was very easy to shape since it’s supposed to look rustic. I just gently pulled until it was the length of my baking sheet and ignored the funky shapes. Once they were shaped they didn’t need another rise which I thought was strange. I swear I read the instructions 20 times just to make sure I wasn’t overlooking a rise somewhere.

This bread called for the hearth baking method which I’m starting to enjoy. Not the spraying of the oven walls but I think I’m starting to appreciate what hearth baking does for the bread.

As I mentioned, this is easily the best bread I’ve ever made. I thought it was almost identical to baguettes Panera has but my husband said it was even better. Yeah, that good. Just look at this:

I’ve never seen a prettier crumb.

I wasn’t, however, a huge fan of the dough as pizza crust. It was tough to roll out – I had to let it rest after every roll it seemed. Plus, it took a very long time to brown and crisp and I finally gave up after all my veggies started burning. I’ve got 2 more portions in the freezer so I’ll pre-bake the crust next time. Hopefully that will solve the problem.

If you don’t own the Bread Baker’s Apprentice book, you should check it out. If you do own it, turn to page 191 and get started on this bread. Be sure to check out the BBA blogroll to see how the other baker’s are doing!

This post submitted to Yeastspotting.

Marbled Rye Bread

Another week, another BBA bread. This time it’s the Marbled Rye Bread.

I was really excited for this one. We love Reuben sandwiches but I can rarely find marble rye bread so we usually have plain rye bread which isn’t as exciting as the marbled stuff of course. Unfortunately I wasn’t too excited about how it turned out.

I did it to myself really. One day husband said he wanted to have Reubens the following night and even though it was already pretty late in the day I decided to try to get a jumpstart. Then once I got the light rye part done, I realized I didn’t have anything to make the dark part dark. So off to Target where my 3 month old and I got lost for an hour (as I do every time I go to Target) even though we only bought cocoa powder. Needless to say, everything was rushed. I don’t think I kneaded them enough. I don’t think I let them rise enough. Don’t get me wrong, it was decent and we enjoyed it but it just didn’t live up to my expectations.

Okay, so the one on the left is the marbled one. For that kind, you divide both doughs into a bunch of pieces and the smush everything together. I also did a crappy job on that part. You can see where a piece of dark dough separated from the rest of the loaf in the back.

The one on the right is the spiral one. You divide the doughs into 2 equal parts each and then roll them out, place on top of each other, and roll. I only have one loaf pan (I know, you’d think I’d have 15 with the amount of bread I like to make) so it was baked on a regular baking sheet.

I will probably try this one again one day because I really think it would be a great bread if I had a few solid hours to devote to it.

The next bread in the book is the Multigrain Bread Extraordinaire which I made and blogged before the BBA challenge started so I’m going to skip over that one. We did love it so make sure you check it out. Also visit the BBA blogroll to see everything the other bakers have been up to.

King Cake

HAPPY MARDI GRAS!!

I made 6, yes 6, king cakes this year. They were all hideous. I’m pretty sure I just wasn’t supposed to make them.

I wanted to make beautiful braided king cakes with bright sprinkles and then stand back and ooh and aah over how amazing I am (ha!). I started looking for king cake babies shortly after the new year. I mean, I’d assume the city that gave us Mardi Gras (true story) would be well stocked with babies. Nope. Hobby Lobby has had their Mardi Gras stuff out since before Thanksgiving but no babies.

I should’ve taken that as a sign and just given up on my king cake hopes.

So I wandered into a Mardi Gras warehouse one day where I finally found these freaky gold babies. And ended up with 30 of them. Because they wouldn’t just sell me one baby.

From there, everything else went wrong. My dough was sticky. They rose too much. The filling oozed out. The glaze didn’t stick because I was rushed and put it on right out of the oven. Or all of the above, like the one up top.

Next year! Next year I will make a beautiful king cake. I promise.