Tortillas and Oranges » bread

Cooking School: French Peasant Bread

admin — Fri, 03 Oct 2014 11:44:17 +0000

Cooking School/ French Peasant Bread

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon dry yeast
1 cup warm water
½ Tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups flour

oil
cornmeal
melted butter

1. Place yeast, water, sugar, and salt in warm bowl and stir until dissolved.

2. Add flour and stir with a wooden spoon until blended.

3. Cover and let rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size.

4. Spread a good amount of vegetable oil on a cookie sheet. Sprinkle the oiled cookie sheet with cornmeal.

5. Flour hands really well, remove dough from the bowl and place in 1 round on your prepared cookie sheet.

6. Let your beautiful round of dough rise 1 more hour. (But 45 minutes into this hour, preheat your oven!)

7. Preheat your oven for 425.

8. Brush top of dough round with melted butter.

9. Bake your beautiful round of dough for 10 MINUTES at 425 THEN TURN THE OVEN DOWN!!!!! Turn the oven down to 375 and cook an additional 15 minutes. Doing this one simple step will give your bread a crusty crust…and everyone will think you bought that beautiful round in France!

10. When golden brown on top, remove round from oven and brush again with butter. Serve warm.

Bread: Christmas Party Rolls

admin — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 13:28:20 +0000

I’m up at 6am, I’ve got “White Christmas” playing on Netflix, and I’m making various breads for tonight’s family Christmas party. I’m making both hearty rolls and lighter, eggy rolls. While they are rising, I’m going to do a bit of research on shaping rolls. I’ll post what I find in a little while. Happy Baking!

Dinner: Irish Soda Bread

admin — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 11:38:18 +0000

Friends,

It’s on Saturday. The day of all days. The day you better wear green or I’ll be horribly offended. If you don’t want to do the entire St. Patty’s Day meal (which the Irish rarely eat, by the way), at least make some soda bread. My favorite recipe is below. Without fail, the bread comes out of the oven beautifully. Remember to tap on the bottom of the loaf and listen for the “hollow” sound. And not to brag, but one year we slathered our bread with homemade butter. Oh. My. Gosh. I’ve never been the same. Luck ‘o the Irish to you.

Irish Soda Bread

4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons caraway seeds
1 cup raisins
1 3/4 cups well-shaken buttermilk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Preheat oven to 375°F. Butter and flour a large baking sheet, knocking off excess flour.

Sift together 4 cups flour, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl and stir in sugar, caraway, and raisins. Add buttermilk and stir just until dough is evenly moistened but still lumpy.

Transfer dough to a well-floured surface and gently knead with floured hands about 8 times to form a soft but slightly less sticky dough. Halve dough and form into 2 balls. Pat out each ball into a domed 6-inch round on baking sheet. Cut a 1/2-inch-deep X on top of each loaf with a sharp knife, then brush loaves with butter.

Bake in middle of oven until golden brown and bottoms sound hollow when tapped, 35 to 40 minutes. Transfer loaves to racks to cool completely.

Makes 2 (6-inch) loaves

Lunch: Whole Wheat Bread

admin — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 11:05:22 +0000

Oh friends. I don’t know what to say. Just kidding. I totally know what to say. I found a killer bread recipe. Every few years I get the craving to make my own bread. I can’t say that I make my own bread on a regular basis because it really does happen every few years. Today I skimmed through the internet and read a few recipes. The one below stood out because of its use of evaporated milk. I’ve never heard of a recipe that called for that bit of goodness. Another interesting part of the recipe was the advice to let the moisture absorb the whole wheat flour. Fascinating. The very best part of this recipe was how beautiful the bread cuts. The biggest pain about homemade bread is that it falls apart and feels…well “homemade”. I want my bread to taste homemade but feel store bought. Does anyone out there know what I’m talking about? The crumb in this bread was absolutely perfect: firm yet moist. I just loved it. Make it and you’ll be as happy as I am.

When baking bread, the best weigh to measure flour is by weight, not by cup.

Honey Whole Wheat Bread
makes two loaves
1 lb whole wheat flour (This means you need to weigh the flour. If you can’t weigh it, it’s about 3.5 cups.)
12 oz hot water
8 ounces bread or all-purpose flour (about 1.5 cups)
1 5 oz can evaporated milk
1/3 cup honey
2 teaspoons salt
3 teaspoons instant yeast
an additional 1/2-1 cup flour, as necessary, to achieve the desired consistency

Directions for making bread using bread machine (and you know how I feel about bread machines)

Add hot water, milk and honey to bread machine can. Add salt, wheat flour, white flour, and yeast. Set pan in bread machine and select “dough” setting. When complete, divide dough evenly between two well oiled bread pans. Allow dough to rise while preheating oven to 425. Once oven is preheated, put both pans in and immediately reduce oven to 375. Cook loaves for 45 minutes or until brown on top. When done, remove from oven. Take loaves out of pans and let them cool and cooling racks.

Directions for making bread by hand:
Mix the hot water and whole wheat flour together in a bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic and set aside until around room temperature, at least 1 hour.

(Soaking the flour may help soften the bran and release some of the sugars in the wheat.)

Add the milk, honey, salt, yeast, and bread flour to the original mixture and mix until well combined. Add additional flour and knead by hand or in a stand mixer until a tacky but not completely sticky dough is formed. Place the ball of dough in a well-oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and set aside to rise for 60 to 90 minutes.

Divide the dough in two and shape the loaves. Place the loaves in greased bread pans, cover the pans loosely with plastic (I put them in a plastic bag), and set aside to rise again for 90 minutes.

During the final 30 minutes of rising, preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Place the pans into the oven and immediately reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees. Bake for approximately 45 to 55 minutes, rotating the pans once so that they brown evenly, until the internal temperature of the loaves is around 190 degrees and the bottom of the loaf sounds hollow when tapped.

Dinner: Easy Halloween Fill ‘em up before they crash Options

admin — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 11:15:14 +0000

Today is Halloween. You are scrambling to get the costumes together. Your house is probably a wreck because not only is today Halloween, it is a Monday. The weekend happened to your house and now you are going to pay. But you need a good dinner before the kiddies pound the pavement. It needs to be healthy, kid friendly, and require minimal labor. Friends, I’m here to help. I’m going to throw out a list of options you can consider before planning your day.

soft taco bar (small tortillas, seasoned ground beef, shredded cheese & lettuce, salsa, sour cream, diced avocados)
nacho bar (tortilla chips, shredded cheese, bean dip, salsa, sour cream, guacamole)
hot dogs bar (canned chili, shredded cheese, minced onion, diced avocado)

And finally, I’ll throw out another idea. We have a traditional Halloween Evening Meal. It has nothing to do with Halloween but I started making this years ago and haven’t stopped. I’m pretty sure the tradition started because I was looking for a solid, warm, easy meal before the candy fest. I don’t have time to make the biscuits in the evening so I do all the prep work in the morning and put the uncooked biscuits on a cookie sheet in the fridge. Before I start dinner, I turn on the oven and cook the biscuits while I shred the chicken and lettuce. I don’t know why, but there’s something about the smell of homemade biscuits on Halloween night that’s very comforting to me. And now, it’s my standard Halloween Dinner. Don’t make fun.

Chicken and Biscuits
1. Buy a rotisserie chicken and shred.
2. Bake biscuits (recipe below).
3. shred romaine lettuce and toss with simple dressing.

I love arranging the chicken, biscuits, and simple salad on their plates. And I don’t let them leave ’til they’ve eaten enough to make me feel like I did my part.

Becca’s Halloween Biscuits
(adapted from the book Baking with Julia, by Julia Childs)

2 cups all purpose flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup vegetable shortening
1 cup whole milk or buttermilk

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Place dry ingredients in bowl and mix with fork. Add shortening and mix with fork until little crumbs form. Add the milk and continue stirring. You’ll have a sticky mass of dough. Flour a work surface and knead the dough ten times. Don’t over knead it–you’ll be sorry. Roll dough out and cut into shapes with cookie cutter or any small round (about 2-inch round is best). Place on greased cookie sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden. Serve warm with fresh butter.

Bread: Biscuit Style Cinnamon Rolls

admin — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 06:45:37 +0000

Today is a favorite Aunt’s birthday. In honor of E, I am posting a recipe she gave me long ago (like 20 years long ago). As with all recipes from E, these cinnamon rolls are unique, simple, scrumptious, and full of character. My girlfriends and I made them all through college. I’m still making them today for breakfasts and brunches all year long. Happy happy birthday E. You are an amazing woman.

Biscuit Style Cinnamon Rolls (or fancy Cinnamon Rolls with no yeast)
These rolls are great if you want the taste of cinnamon goodness but don’t want to wait for the yeast to do its job. Yummilicious.

2 cups flour
1 Tablespoon sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cream of tarter
1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup milk

Streusel Mix
3 Tablespoons melted butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 cup pecans, finely chopped

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Toss together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cream of tarter. Using a pastry blender or two butter knives or your fingers, blend shortening into dry mixture until have a bowl of fine crumbs. Add milk to dry butter mixture and toss with a fork until everything is moist. DO NOT OVERMIX. As Alton Brown famously said, “step away from the batter.” Dump out the moistened dough onto a floured board. Gently kneed the dough 10 times. Dough should be smooth. If you need to, sprinkle on a bit more flour so you can work with your dough. Using a rolling pin, shape dough into a larger rectangle, about 1/4 ” thick. Brush on melted butter, sprinkle with streusel mix. Gently press streusel into dough so its says during baking. Roll up the dough, starting from the long side, into a tight jelly roll. Slice off 1-inch thick cinnamon rolls. Place on greased baking sheet. Bake for about 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Bread: Mormon Rolls (don’t know what else to call them)

admin — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 11:06:53 +0000

In my world there are two kinds of rolls. The kind you eat with soup and salad (hearty, rustic, chewy) and the kind you eat with a roast beef dinner (light, delicate, eggy). Because I don’t do roast beef dinners often (no offense, just not that into meat lately), I almost never make the latter. But if you are a Mormon or any other church-going soul and you love the days of large family gathering Sunday meals, you know these rolls. This particular recipe is from Danny’s side of the family. His sisters, mother, and grandmother all have the recipe memorized. These rolls are so very good. And I’m sure your family has your own version. In case you don’t, feel free to use the Cannon’s version. They like to share.

Cannon Rolls

1/2 cup warm water
1 Tblsp. Yeast
1/2 cup sugar (plus a bit more to help the yeast)
1/2 cup butter (melted, but not too hot, don’t want to kill the yeast, now)
1 1/2 cups milk
2 eggs (room temperature)
1 tsp. salt
4-5 cups flour

Combine yeast, warm water, and the bit of sugar and wait for mixture to bubble up, about 7 minutes. For you brainiacs out there this is called “proofing” the yeast. We just want to make sure that dear little bacteria is up and running. While you are waiting for mixture to react. Grab a very large bowl and in it combine sugar, butter, milk, and eggs. Mix well. Add yeast mixture then add flour. Mix all ingredients together with wooden spoon but do not overmix. Unless you want chewy rolls. These should light and fluffy, not chewy. Mix just until moistened. Cover bowl and let rise ’til double (45 minutes-1 hour). After this initial rise, shape rolls however you’d like:
With heavily floured hands, floured board, and a bowl of flour on the side, divide the ball of dough into two halves and shape.
Shape options (among the many there are, these are two I use often):
1. Roll into circle and, using a pizza cutter, cut into pizza slices, roll each slice into crescent shape.
2. Roll into circle, cut pieces with biscuit cutter then fold each small circle in half.

Place rolls on baking sheet, then let rise ’til double in size again. Bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees F.

Bread: The Best Cornbread. Period.

admin — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 06:15:57 +0000

Although Fall began officially in September. I can’t really grab a hold until October. And to celebrate my unofficial beginning of my very favorite season, I am posting one of my most frequently asked-for recipes. If I had a dollar for every time someone wants this recipe, I could buy another electric pressure cooker. Oh wait, I bought that last week and I’m insanely excited about it. But more about that later. This cornbread is a keeper. I’ve made it for years, and whether it accompanies chili or raspberry jam, it is the very best. And yet another shout out to JM in San Francisco. She gave this recipe to me in the first place. She’s a genius and I hope she knows it.

The Best Cornbread
2 eggs
1 cup sugar*
2 cups buttermilk
2 cups flour
1 cup cornmeal
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking soda
1 cup vegetable oil**

Mix eggs, sugar, and buttermilk together. Add the rest of the ingredients. Bake in a 9X13 at 400 for 15-25 minutes.

*This amount of sugar is a bit steep for me. Ever since I read Good Calories, Bad Calories, I cringe at really sweet things that are meant to be savory. I belong to the camp that believes cornbread is a savory, not a sweet. So, I usually about about 1/2 cup sugar or even less if I’m feeling really tough. Sorry I’m not that much fun anymore.

**I’ve made this with 1 cup of butter instead of oil, and boy oh boy is it divine. A bit more fattening and expensive, but divine nonetheless.

Bread: Caramelized Onions with Goat Cheese or Feta on Bread

admin — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 03:34:06 +0000

If you have spent any amount of time with me or my food you will know one thing: I love caramelized onions. I will look for any decent vehicle to hold the golden beauties. I love them in salad. I love them on pizza. I love them in soups. With steak. On hamburgers. Maybe I should turn this experiment around. When are caramelized onions not good? When I am really on top of my game, I caramelize a large pan of onions on Monday mornings so that I have them as an ingredient throughout the week. Just kidding. I’ve never done that before. I never really have my act together, so it would never occur to me (on a Monday morning) to prep a week’s worth of the best ingredient. But don’t you think it’s a good idea?

Last week I took food to two different families. Cream of tomato soup, focaccia, young spinach with vinaigrette, and chocolate cherry cookies. It was a good meal. But, it’s the focaccia/pizza/bread portion of the meal that won the coveted caramelized onions. I love this dish because it always turns out, it is very tasty, and turns a boring soup or salad into a really interesting and yummy meal.

To make this you will need: caramelized onions, 4 cups crumbled feta or goat cheese, and 1 recipe of my french bread dough. With your bread machine on dough setting or in a large bowl with a wooden spoon, make my french bread recipe. While that is working its magic. Make some caramelized onions. Before you start, tell yourself that this will take some time. Caramelizing onions is literally that–you warm the onions up long enough that the sugar within turns to a savory caramel. Oh my gosh I am drooling on my computer.

Caramelized Onions
3-4 large onions, sliced into half rings (about 1/8″ thick)
3 Tablespoons olive oil
1 Tablespoon butter

Pour generous amount of olive oil into pan (3-4 Tblsp). Place all of your sliced onions into the biggest frying pan you have. you'll think you have no room, but don't worry. they'll shrink with time.

With stove on medium heat, toss onions around every 5 minutes or so. Here is where you have to stay in the kitchen and by the stove. If you leave, the onions will crisp and you won't have any caramel.

With pan on medium heat, continue stirring until onions have completely reduced to a lovely golden color. This usually takes somewhere around 30-45 minutes. Crumble the cheese while you are waiting. Be patient and watch the magic happen.

Once the dough has risen (or the dough cycle on your bread machine is complete) and the onions are caramelized, preheat the oven to 450 F. Prepare two jelly roll pans (or baker half sheets) by lining the bottoms with parchment paper and sprinkling with cornmeal. Separate your dough into two even balls. Roll each ball out into a rectangle shape that fits into the jelly roll pan/cookie sheet. I like my dough paper thin with a bit of crust. Place both sheets of dough in pans.

Sprinkle each dough sheet with feta or goat cheese and caramelized onions. Don't by shy. The more the merrier.

Bake focaccia for 15-20 minutes or until crust is slightly golden.

This bread is always devoured. When I made it last week, I kept a pan for our family. We ate all but three pieces. The next morning I had the three pieces for breakfast.

They had been sitting on the counter all night long.

Oh well, I am who I am.

Bread: Consider the Bread Machine

admin — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 19:21:54 +0000

In December 1998, a large package arrived at my door. It was a new and innovative tool called a bread machine. Fast forward 12 yeas later. A walk through any local Salvation Army or thrift store today produces several donated bread machines. They have become passe. But today I want you to rethink your bread machine. In fact, think of it as more of a dough machine. I own two now. Every Sunday morning, I throw the ingredients for my favorite french rolls into each pan and set the timer. Hours later, I reshape the dough, bake the rolls, and people are happy. (Now, here is where I will let you in on a little secret. When I shape my rolls, I dip each one in melted butter, then sprinkle the lot with kosher salt. The salt on top adds a nice touch–it’s impressive and it tastes yummy.)

My very easiest loaf/baguette/roll recipe and how to do it in a bread machine:

Ingredients:

12 ounces (1 ½ cups) water
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 heaping teaspoon salt
4 cups flour
1 Tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons yeast

Place all ingredients in your bread machine “can” in the order above (liquids always go first). Set the bread machine to it’s dough setting. Once complete, shape your dough to desired serving. I usually shape the dough into rolls or long baguettes. Once shaped, let dough rise an addition 30 minutes then bake according to its shape.

Rolls–375 for 12 minutes or until golden on top.

Baguettes (recipe above makes at least 2, possibly three)–375 for 2o minutes or until bottom sounds hollow when knocked.

Loafs–350 for 30 minutes or until golden on top.

All ingredients listed above put into the bread machine cans, ready to go to work.

The shaped rolls next to the underappreciated machine.

The crown jewel of our Sunday table. Don't forget the butter.

Post bread machine and pre oven, bread dough ready to go.

Ahhh, the finished product. Two days' worth sandwich bread for the kiddies.