Chocolate Babka

It is so exciting to discover delicious new treats. Until recently, my only frame of reference for a babka was a vague recollection of a Seinfeld episode. I also kind of knew that they were something served on Easter. Then a while back I saw a photo of a chocolate babka on Tastespotting, and I haven't been able to get it out of my head ever since.

Since Easter is coming up, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to give this decadent yeast treat a shot. Turns out, what I made is more of a Jewish babka and not the Easter type, but oh well... It is incredibly delicious, and there is no reason it couldn't still be part of your Easter spread!

For some reason, I had a feeling that I would be able to find a fantastic babka recipe on Smitten Kitchen. Maybe because Deb lives in NYC, I don't know. Regardless, I was right. Boy, was I right. I hit the babka jackpot. However, when reading through the recipe, I discovered that it made 3 loaves of this rich chocolate bread. I have no need for even one loaf, and only certain insanity would prompt me to bake three. Looking at the quantities, it is not a recipe that lends itself easily to scaling down, but I knew it was the one I wanted to try so I went ahead and did the math. A scale will be helpful for this recipe, but you can still make the babka if you don't have one. You'll just have to estimate the partial eggs.

So, what is so special about this bread? Where to start...

The actual bread element is soft, tender, creamy, sweet, not at all dry. Actually, I think it would make a better base for the St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake than the one in the recipe, as it is similar in texture but much less dry.

In almost equal proportion to the bread is chocolate. Dark, decadent, beautiful chocolate. This bread is most definitely not for the faint of heart. Even in the scaled recipe there is close to a pound of chocolate.

The less dominant flavor in the bread is cinnamon. I enjoy the combination of chocolate and cinnamon, but was unsure of the almost alarming quantity of cinnamon this recipe called for. I was afraid it would be overpowering. It was actually quite complimentary, though it is a distinguishable flavor.

To finish off this already over-the-top loaf is a streusel topping - which despite slightly resembling cauliflower, is delicious. I have never met a streusel I didn't like, and this was no exception. It is made with powdered sugar, which makes it quite crunchy when baked, and offers a wonderful counterpoint to the soft bread and rich creamy chocolate.

Before you make this babka, be warned; it has many elements and takes a good chunk of time. It is, however, completely worth it.

Make sure you read through this recipe thoroughly before starting out. As I mentioned, it was slightly strange to scale, so some of the quantities are odd. In addition, there are a lot of steps. This one requires a little more attention than your average recipe.

Chocolate Babka

adapted from Martha Stewart via Smitten Kitchen

1/2 cup milk

1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast

1/3 + 1/4 cup sugar

1 large egg divided (33.3 grams - 2/3 egg, 16.67 grams - 1/3 egg)

12 grams egg yolk

2 cups unbleached white flour*

1 teaspoon salt

8 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons unsalted butter

12 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon cream

*depending on the consistency of your dough, you may need more flour. I had to add almost an entire additional cup to mine.

Heat milk to 100-110 degrees. Pour into a small bowl, and add yeast. Let stand for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, in another small bowl, combine 1/4 cup of the sugar, 33.3 grams of egg (that's 2/3 of an egg) and the egg yolk. Add egg mixture to yeast mixture, and whisk to combine. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, stir together flour and salt. Add wet ingredients and mix on low until the flour is almost incorporated. Change to dough hook. Add 5 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon butter to mixer. Beat on medium until dough is smooth and soft, and slightly sticky. If your dough is too sticky, add more flour 1 tablespoon at a time until it is the right consistency. Butter a large bowl, form dough into a ball and roll around the bowl to coat it with butter. Cover bowl with plastic and set in a warm place until doubled in size, about and hour. Meanwhile, make the chocolate filling. Place remaining sugar and butter in a medium sized bowl, and using your fingers or a pastry cutter, combine them until well incorporated. Add chocolate and toss with your fingers until completely blended (though there will of course still be chocolate chunks of different sizes). Butter a 9" x 5" loaf pan. Beat remaining egg (remember, this is 1/3 of an egg) with cream. Turn dough out on a well-floured board. Roll to a square about 16" x 16". Brush edges with the egg-wash, and sprinkle all but 2 tablespoons of the chocolate over the dough, leaving a 1/4 inch border. Roll dough tightly into a log. Pinch seam closed, pinch ends together. Twist 5 or 6 times, and lay twisted log out straight on your board. Brush the left half of log with egg-wash, and sprinkle with remaining chocolate. Fold the right side over the left, making sure your chocolate stays in place. Fold ends under, and pinch closed. Twist your doubled log two times, and place in prepared pan. Brush the top of log with egg-wash, and sprinkle with streusel (recipe below). Cover loosely with plastic wrap, and let it sit in a warm place for 20-30 minutes while you preheat the oven to 350.

Bake until golden, about 55 minutes, then turn oven down to 325 and bake for about 15-20 minutes more, until the loaf is deep golden. Cool in pan on rack. Wait until babka is completely cool before cutting.

Struesel Topping

1/3 cup + 1/4 cup confectioner's sugar

1/3 cup + 2 tablespoons unbleached white flour

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

Combine all ingredients. Using your fingers, mix until completely incorporated. Crumble, so that there are chunks ranging greatly in size.

One-Step Croissants

Croissants are a very special food for me and my mom. I have more wonderful memories associated with croissants than almost any other food I can think of.

When I was growing up, we didn't have a lot of money. We didn't eat out, and we ate simple food. One treat that we ate about once a month though, was croissants. Not fancy croissants, mind you, they were frozen in fact. But they were something that seemed so decadent and so sophisticated. I just loved them. There was a ritual to the way my mom and I ate our croissants; we heated them up, tore off one end, hollowed out the insides and stuffed them with a link of veggie sausage. Sometimes we ate them with cheese, sometimes not. They were especially wonderful when dipped in mustard.

The summer before my senior year of high school, my mom arranged for us to go to Europe by becoming a tour leader for an educational tour company. The tour was 2 weeks in Italy, and then the two of us stayed in Europe for an extra 2 weeks which we spent in Greece. Some of our first nights there were spent in Nafplio in a pension that was above a bakery. You have not known heaven until you've woken up every morning to the smell of fresh bread, and the satisfaction of attaining that bread through nothing more difficult than a flight of stairs and a few dollars. It quickly became an addiction, and even after leaving Nafplio we couldn't function in the mornings until finding ourselves a fresh croissant and our other weakness - a cup of hot cocoa.

I've wanted to make croissants for as long as I have been baking. There are a lot of recipes out there, but the one that caught my eye was this one from The Modern Baker by Nick Malgieri. I've had the book for a few months but hadn't made anything out of it yet, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity.

These croissants are a whole lot easier - and less time-consuming - than traditionally made croissants, anything that helps me save time is pretty great in my book.

I only made a half recipe of these, because I made them by hand instead of with a food processor as the original recipe calls for. They turned out beautifully, so I wish I made a full batch!

These croissants are delicious; unbelievably flaky, buttery, tender on the inside, crisp on the outside - all in all, perfect little croissants!

Are they as good as croissants made with a preferment, laminated dough, and given lots of time to rise? I'll have to let you know when I find the time to make those! I'm planning on trying out the recipe from Tartine sometime soon, they come highly recommended. Until then, these are a wonderful alternative that are ready in a few short hours, and that in itself makes them amazing. Next time, I won't make the mistake of only making a half recipe!

One-Step Croissants (full recipe)

adapted from The Modern Baker by Nick Malgieri

1/2 cup milk

4 teaspoons instant yeast

2 cups unbleached white flour

2 tablespoons palm sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

20 tablespoons (2 1/2 sticks) cold unsalted butter

egg wash: 1 egg, well beaten with a pinch of salt

Heat half of the milk in a small saucepan (keeping the other half of the milk cold) until it is lukewarm - about 90 degrees. Pour into a small bowl and whisk in yeast. Set aside. In a large bowl, combine flour, palm sugar, and salt. Add 4 tablespoons of the butter - keeping the rest of it in the refrigerator - and using a pastry blender, cut the butter in until it is finely mixed into the dry ingredients. Cut the rest of the butter into small chunks and add them to the mixture. Cut in with a pastry blender, just until the chunks have broken up somewhat - about 20 strokes with the blender - but large pieces remain. Add the cold milk to the yeast mixture and pour it into the bowl. Cut the dough once more with pastry blender for about 45 seconds - the dough will not form a ball. Turn the dough out onto a well-floured board, flatten the dough into a disk and roll out into a rectangle about 12" x 15". Fold dough into thirds - like a business letter - then roll up the folded dough and press into a rough square. Lightly flour dough, place in a plastic bag and seal it. Let dough rise inside the bag for 1 - 1 1/2 hours. The dough will not double in size. After the dough has risen, using the palm of your hand, deflate the dough and place bag in the fridge for at least 1 hour or as many as 8 hours. Remove dough from bag, place on well-floured board, gently deflate, and roll out to a rectangle about 12" x 15". If the dough seems hard to roll, let it rest for 5 minutes then resume rolling. If at any point the dough becomes too soft, slide a baking sheet under it and place it in the fridge for 15 minutes. Once the dough is rolled out, straighten the edges, and using a sharp knife (or pizza wheel) cut dough lengthwise into two strips, then cut each strip into 6 triangles. Roll each triangle starting at the flat end and ending at the point. Tuck point under, and place on parchment-lined baking sheet. (You'll need 2) Repeat with remaining triangles until all are rolled. Cover each sheet of rolled dough with buttered plastic wrap and let rise until they are almost doubled in size. About 20 minutes before the rise is complete, preheat oven to 350. Place racks in upper and lower thirds of oven. Just before baking, carefully brush each croissant with egg wash, making sure it doesn't pool under the dough. Bake for about 15 minutes, then rotate pans. Bake for another 10-15 minutes or until they are deep golden brown and springy to the touch. Slide parchment with croissants from baking sheet to rack to cool.

BBA Challenge: Italian Bread

Every time I take a bite of freshly baked bread, I wonder why I don't bake it more often. There is just nothing like it. It has to be one of the most satisfying - in more than one way - processes from start to finish.

This Italian bread is similar in many ways to the French bread I made not too long ago, but there is one very big, very noticeable difference: the crust. The French bread crust is, well, crusty! The Italian bread has a crust that is much softer and definitely easier for little people to chew.

Despite major problems which I will describe in a second, this bread was fabulous. To bake this bread - and many others, including the French bread - you set an empty pan on the floor of your oven while you preheat it. Then, when you place your dough on the baking sheet - also in the oven during the preheat - you pour water into the empty pan, thereby creating steam. It is this steam that creates the more defined crust. Well, when I poured my water in, all of the steam blew my pilot light out! I kept checking my bread, and wondering why it wasn't baking more quickly, then, after about 15 minutes, my oven had cooled down noticeably and I realized the problem. I was afraid that my bread would be ruined, but it came out of the oven looking like nothing at all had gone awry! I was so proud.

I need work on my slashing. The French Bread was slashed too shallow, this is too deep. Ah well. The bread is delicious, regardless. I made 4 torpedo rolls, and one loaf. The recipe calls for water as the liquid in the loaves and milk in the rolls, but since I did both I went with milk.

In addition to the tender, yet chewy crust, the Italian bread has a very soft interior with a tight crumb and a slightly sweet flavor. So far, we've used the bread for toast and sandwiches. I'm planning on French toast in the morning.

The recipe for this Italian Bread can be found in The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart.

I know I promised to post the SMS chocolate piecrust today, but I didn't really like it, so I'm going to skip posting about it.

BBA Challenge: French Bread

Now that I'm back in the bread-baking groove, I can't stop! Fresh on the heels of my focaccia, I whipped up a batch of this French Bread. I am so happy to be baking bread again, because I just love it.

Earlier this year, before I started my blog, I had never baked a loaf of bread. All of a sudden, however, I decided it was something I was going to get into. I was a little nervous, the whole thing seemed daunting. I bought a few bread books, but didn't really make anything. Until I joined The Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge.

Since joining, I've made things I never thought would be coming out of my oven; Brioche, English Muffins, Ciabatta, Focaccia, Cinnamon Rolls, the list goes on and on! I am so grateful for this group, especially the Slow & Steady sub-group, because when I've been dragging my heels, inevitably one of the lovely ladies inspires me to forge ahead. I also think I'm very fortunate to have gotten into bread baking through this amazing book, because it is so specific in its instructions that it really gives you the confidence to make anything!

I love making bread, especially kneading by hand. It is amazing to feel the dough transform over the course of a few minutes from something stiff and restricted to something smooth, elastic, relaxed. It is such a gratifying experience to mix the ingredients together, knead and nurture the dough over a period of time - often two days with Peter Reinhart's recipes - form it into loaves and then entrust it to the oven, where it becomes that nourishing, satisfying thing we call bread. How in the world did someone figure out how to make this stuff?!

I have a difficult time describing the taste of bread, but this French Bread is among the best I've ever had. It had such a depth of flavor that I kept thinking there were things in and on it that weren't there - cheese and butter, namely. The crust was very thick and crunchy as French Bread crust should be, the inside tender and creamy.

I ate a lot of it plain, but also made some into superb crostini topped with olive oil, goat cheese, roasted cherry tomatoes, onions and garlic with coriander and sea salt. Oh my goodness was it amazing. It was gobbled up so quickly I didn't get any photos, but I will definitely make it again so that I can share it with you.

The recipe for this bread can be found in The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart. A must-have book for every home baker.

Even the littlest member of my family loved it!

BBA Challenge: Focaccia

I'm finally feeling back in the swing of things with the BBA Challenge. I had an English Muffin flop a couple of months ago that put me into a bread baking slump. But after my second - and very successful - attempt, I'm happy to say that I'm back in the bread baking groove.

Actually, I made the focaccia several months ago when I had some leftover poolish that I needed to use up. The last two pictures are of my first batch. With that focaccia, I used all unbleached white flour, and topped the bread with basil oil. It was so long ago I honestly don't remember many fine details of it, but I do remember loving it. We made lots of sandwiches with it and it was gone in about 1 1/2 days.

I didn't have any poolish around this time, so I thought I'd give the non-poolish version a shot. I also wanted to use part whole wheat flour - I used 2 cups whole wheat and 3 cups unbleached white.

Once you've had homemade focaccia, store-bought - even bakery-bought in many cases - is basically inedible. This is delicate and tender and flavorful, as opposed to tough and dry and bland.

I can't say that I have a preference one way or the other between the two versions I made. I loved them both. I will say that the non-poolish version doesn't require a preferment, so you don't have to plan ahead when you decide to make it. It does require an overnight rest in the fridge, however, so you will still have to wait a day before enjoying this delightful yeasted creation.

The recipe for this focaccia can be found in The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart. If you don't already have this book you should put it on your holiday wish-list, because it is amazing.

Buttermilk Fantails

I saw these rolls on Tracey's blog a while back, and kept them filed away in my memory, just waiting for an occasion to make them. Thanksgiving was the perfect excuse. I made these along with a flourless chocolate cake, sweet potato pie, French silk pie (post coming tomorrow) and cranberry sauce.

I love the look of these rolls, so festive, so fancy! The technique for making them is so simple, but the result is just stunning. They're also really fun to eat, as you can peel them away layer by layer. The way they're formed also gives a variety of textures which I loved - lots of crispy edges. The interior is fluffy and light and soft.

I was tempted to put some whole grain flour in these, or some fresh cut herbs, but in the end I made them basically as written. I thought the flavor of the rolls could be improved upon, so I wish I had done either (or both) of those additions. I will definitely be making these again, adding my own little tweaks.

Buttermilk Fantails

adapted from Gourmet, February 2009

7 tablespoons of butter, melted

2 teaspoons instant yeast

1/4 cup warm water

3 cups unbleached white flour

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/4-3/4 cup buttermilk

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine water, yeast, flour, salt and 6 tablespoons of melted butter. With mixer on low, add buttermilk in a thin stream until all dry ingredients are moistened and a soft dough forms. Switch to dough hook, and mix on medium speed until dough is smooth and elastic - about 5-7 minutes - adding more buttermilk or flour to achieve the proper consistency. Form dough into a ball. Place in an oiled bowl, rotating to coat the dough. Cover bowl with plastic wrap, and let it rise in a warm place until doubled in size. About 1 1/2 - 2 hours. While dough is rising, butter cups of a 12-cup muffin pan. When dough has risen, punch it down then divide it in two equal pieces. While working with the first piece, keep the second covered with plastic. Place first ball of dough on floured board, and roll it into a square about 12" x12" and 1/8 inch thick. Brush dough with half of the remaining melted butter. Cut the dough into six strips, about 2" wide. Stack all 6 strips on top of each other, butter side up. Cut stack into 6 equal pieces. Place each piece in a muffin cup, then peel way the layers so that they fan outward. Repeat with second ball of dough. Cover the rolls with a kitchen towel, and leave them in a warm place to rise for 1 - 1 1/2 hours, or until doubled in size - the rolls should fill the muffin cups. When the rolls are close to the end of their second rise, preheat oven to 375. Bake rolls for 20-25 minutes, or until they are golden brown.

Tracey has step-by-step photos on her blog if you want to take a look at how the rolls are formed.

BBA Challenge: Whole Wheat English Muffins

I've always enjoyed English Muffins, but they aren't something I ever remember to buy. I was really excited to make my own for the BBA Challenge. They looked simple enough, and they are cooked in a skillet before being transferred to the oven to bake through which looked like a lot of fun to do.

English Muffins were supposed to have been posted oh, I don't know, a month or so ago... I made them on schedule, but they were a total flop. I felt defeated and deflated and hadn't made bread since. Then I saw Nancy's post on her English Muffins and I was inspired to try again.

Everything that went wrong the first time - they were huge and round like rolls, they burned on both sides in the skillet, they had no flavor - was remedied this time around. To combat the lack of flavor, I used 5oz whole wheat bread flour and 5oz unbleached white flour. This added a wonderful complexity that was earthy, a little sweet, and very hearty. Once I put my risen dough balls into the skillet, I pressed them down with a spatula to flatten them. I may have lost my nooks and crannies that are typical of English Muffins, but I much preferred them this way. I think I may have had my burner on too high the first time around, hence the burning, so I was very careful to have a rather low flame for their time in the pan. I also used salted butter instead of oil, and let me tell you what a brilliant idea that was! It added just a hint of saltiness, that played so well off of the crunchy caramelized spots on the crust. So, so good.

I am very pleased to say that I really look forward to making these again. Though I'll probably double the batch and freeze some, because they are already gone (and were only baked last night!).

The recipe for these English Muffins can be found in The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart. A must-have book if you enjoy baking bread at home.

SMS: Apple Sticky Buns with Toasted Pecans

This is one of the recipes that I was considering when it was my turn to choose something for everyone to bake for Sweet Melissa Sundays. Given the disappointing result of my choice, I should have gone with the sticky buns... So, needless to say, I was excited when they popped up on our October calendar!

I really love sticky buns, though this was the first time I ever made them. Every time there is a choice in a recipe between cinnamon rolls and sticky buns, I choose the former. Frankly, my only reason is laziness, which is not a very good reason at all, so this time I decided to put in the extra effort in hopes that the result would be extra good! And it was.

I made a few changes to the recipe: I cut it in half and baked (most of) my rolls in an 8x8 baking dish. I got 13 altogether, and only 9 fit in the 8x8, so I put the others in a separate dish. I was glad that it turned out this way, because the 4 in the smaller dish were not baked as sticky buns, so I had a chance to compare the two. More on this later. I added an apple to my batter, because it is apple season, and what isn't made better by the addition of the sweet, tart fruit! Wherever there was sugar in the recipe, I used palm sugar. I used toasted pecans instead of almonds, because that's what I had.

The dough required A LOT of extra flour, but other than that, I had no issues with it. My house is not terribly warm - I haven't turned my heat on yet this Fall - so for each rise, I pre-heated the oven to about 150, then turned it off and popped my dough in.

My baking time was drastically different from the time in the recipe - my rolls were done in 25 minutes as opposed to 45-50 minutes.

The sauce for the sticky buns was so delicious, I actually ate a few spoonfuls of it by itself... The sticky buns were so wonderfully moist, not terribly sweet and just plain fantastic! However, after tasting the ones without the sticky sauce, I realized that it was only due to the sauce that they were so amazing. The plain ones were very dry and bland, even with the addition of the apples.

So, while the sauce and the sticky buns themselves were incredible, and I will certainly be baking them again, this is not a recipe that I would use if I wanted a cinnamon roll. If you want to see a delicious cinnamon roll here is one from Peter Reinhart, and here is a super quick version that you can make in an hour.

Thanks so much to Jen of Not Microwave Safe for hosting this week! If you'd like the recipe for these sticky buns, visit Jen's blog or pick up a copy of The Sweet Melissa Baking Book.

BBA Challenge: Date Pecan Rolls with Orange Caramel Sauce (formerly known as Cranberry Walnut Celebration Bread)

This was the first recipe from The Bread Baker's Apprentice that I have not been terribly excited to make. Until I saw these, that is. Di had a brilliant idea to make rolls out of her dough instead of braided loaves, and I decided to steal it. After looking at Di's creation, I couldn't wait to make this bread.

The recipe is actually for cranberry walnut bread, but dried cranberries aren't my favorite dried fruit and anyway, I couldn't find any that were both organic and sugar-free. I love dates in baked goods, so that is what I went with. There are few nuts that I'm not crazy about, and while walnuts are not one of them, I didn't have any. What I did have was a few pounds of chopped pecans. Dates and pecans sounded like a delicious combination, especially when I read through the recipe and discovered that the recipe contained orange extract.

Ah yes, orange extract. The recipe calls for a full tablespoon of orange extract. That seemed like overkill to me, so I used 1 teaspoon and the zest of one orange. It was plenty orangey. In fact, I could have gone with less extract and it still would have been plenty orangey.

My plan for these was to add the chopped dates and pecans to the dough during the last 2 minutes of kneading. However, as soon as I put them in the mixer, the dates became one sticky mass, even though I had carefully tossed them in flour in hopes of preventing this. My solution was to take the date-pecan blob out of the mixer, finish kneading the dough, then roll it out, and spread the date mixture in a thin layer over the dough (as you would the cinnamon-sugar in a cinnamon roll. I then rolled it up, cut it and baked it as planned.

I made a caramel sauce out of the juice of the orange I zested, palm sugar, heavy cream and butter. Which turned out to be a perfect complement to the rolls.

I think my idea of the date/nut layer needs some refining - perhaps a bit of liquid to make it slightly more fluid - but overall it was very successful. I did not love the flavor of the bread itself, I could taste the orange extract too distinctly and I thought it would have been much better with zest only. So, I won't be making this recipe again as written - not that I did this time - but it has certainly given me inspiration to tinker with my date & nut orange rolls until they are just right.

Soft Bavarian Pretzels

I have long loved pretzels of pretty much any variety. Since I got really into baking earlier this year, one thing that I was determined to make was pretzels. When these popped up on Tastespotting, promising fresh soft pretzels in 1 hour, I knew I had to give them a try.

Sure enough, in about an hour I had warm, soft pretzels fresh from the oven. They contain yeast, but don't require any rising time. They were easy to make, and my son helped me roll out all of the pieces into long "snakes" before I twisted them. He had a blast, did a fantastic job and was quite proud of his efforts. We'll be making these again for sure!

These are boiled then baked, giving them a wonderful chewy exterior. The inside is soft and slightly dense. Just wonderful. The only criticism I have of them is that the dough could use a little salt. The original recipe calls for sugar, but I left it out because I wanted my son (who I don't give sugar to) to be able to eat them, and I think the sugar is unnecessary. The next time I make them, I'll add a bit of salt to the dough in addition to sprinkling it on the top.

I think there are a lot of possibilities for this recipe: herbs, parmesan or other cheeses, sun-dried or slow-roasted tomatoes, olives etc... would all be wonderful additions to the dough for a savory pretzel; I also think that sweet versions would be delicious, with raisins or other dried fruits, or a dip in cinnamon sugar. They're so quick and easy, the combinations are endless!

Soft Baked Bavarian Pretzels

adapted from the Saucy Sisters via Conversations with a Cupcake

1 1/2 cups warm water

1 tablespoon yeast

4 cups flour

4 tablespoons baking soda

10 cups water

1 egg white

1/4 cup coarse salt

Preheat oven to 475. Combine flour and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add flour, mix on low speed until flour is moistened. Switch to dough hook. With mixer on medium speed, work the dough until it is soft but not sticky, adding more flour or water to achieve this consistency. Put baking soda and 10 cups water on to boil. Divide dough into equal pieces of approximately 3 oz. On a lightly floured surface, roll out into a long rope about 1/2 inch thick. Twist into pretzel shape. Continue until all dough is twisted. When water is boiling, begin dropping dough in baking soda bath for 10 seconds on each side. After removing from bath, place the pretzels on a lightly greased baking sheet. Continue until all pretzels are boiled. Brush with egg white, and sprinkle generously with coarse salt. Bake for 10 minutes, or until pretzels are deep golden brown.

BBA Challenge: Cinnamon Raisin Pecan Bread

It's time for the next installment in the BBA Challenge, and what a tasty one it is!!! I ate 1/2 a loaf while it was still cooling...

I loved everything about this bread. It wasn't too sweet, the crumb was lovely, the crust was soft, just delicious. One of my favorite things about this bread is the amount of raisins and nuts in it. I can't stand it when a raisin bread is raisin poor...

I attempted to make a cinnamon-sugar swirl, though it was not terribly successful... It was more of a cinnamon-sugar arc. Ah well, it tasted great...

Once again, I used palm sugar in place of cane sugar. and it worked perfectly.

I have found that with the recipes in this book, I am always adding large amounts of additional flour to get the dough to the right consistency. This time, I added less liquid to begin with - 1/4 cup of water instead of 3/4 cup. I still had to add some flour, but it was only a few tablespoons.

I'm sure I'll be making this bread again, it was a big hit in my house.

The recipe for this bread can be found in The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart.

BBA Challenge: Cinnamon Rolls

Though this was the first time I ever made cinnamon rolls, it certainly won't be the last. These were amazing. Without a doubt the best cinnamon rolls I've ever had.

They were relatively easy to make, I didn't encounter any problems. Though they do take a few hours (of agonizing anticipation).

I used palm sugar in place of cane sugar in the dough and with the cinnamon so that my son - who has never had cane sugar - could eat them. It was my first time baking with palm sugar, so I wasn't sure what it would do, but they couldn't have turned out better. I made the glaze as written, using vanilla extract for flavoring, and left it off of the ones my son ate. Everyone loved them.

My mom's birthday is this weekend. I'm having a brunch for her at my house, and I'm thinking that I might just have to give the sticky bun version of these a whirl for the occasion...

If you'd like the recipe for these amazing cinnamon rolls, you can find it in The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart.

Fried Green Tomato Sandwich

Every Sunday, my grandmother- Nana - used to make fried green tomatoes, biscuits and cheese grits. She was an amazing cook. Unfortunately, she passed away when I was 9, but I still remember those meals, and have done my best to recreate them over the years. I don't make fried green tomatoes too often, though I always wonder why that is when I take my first bite...

We have been eating our weight in tomato sandwiches this summer. There are so many wonderful variations: tomatoes placed between slices of fresh bread drizzled with olive oil, with a sprinkling of salt and fresh cracked pepper; caprese with fresh mozzarella and basil; roasted zucchini, heirloom cherry tomatoes and fresh sliced tomatoes; and so on. It was only a natural progression to make one from fried green tomatoes.

Fried Green Tomato Sandwich

1 medium sized green tomato (or enough to make 8 -10 slices, 1/4 inch thick each)

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1 egg white, lightly beaten

1/4 cup cornmeal

1 teaspoon salt

olive oil for pan

8 slices of bread (I used the ciabatta I made over the weekend)

2 teaspoons olive oil

4 tablespoons goat cheese

12 medium sized basil leaves

fresh cracked pepper to taste (optional)

To make the fried green tomatoes:

Heat about 3-4 tablespoons of oil in a medium skillet. Mix flour, cornmeal and salt in a large shallow bowl/plate. Slice tomato into 1/4 inch pieces. Cover each slice in egg white, then dredge in the cornmeal mixture. When pan is hot, lay as many tomatoes in the pan as will fit. Cook until crispy and brown, 3-4 minutes. Flip, and brown the other side. Remove from pan and place on paper towel to absorb excess oil. Repeat until all tomato slices are done.

While tomatoes are cooking, drizzle approximately 1/4 teaspoon olive oil on each slice of bread. If you're using pepper, now is the time to add it. Cover one slice per sandwich with fresh basil leaves - about 3 leaves should do it. When tomatoes are ready, lay them on top of the basil - two slices should do it. Spoon goat cheese on top of the tomatoes - about 1 tablespoon per sandwich - and spread it with your fingers (or a knife if you must) so it covers them. Top with the other piece of bread, and enjoy!

This sandwich is certainly something Nana never prepared, but I think she would have approved. It is perhaps the most delicious sandwich I have ever eaten. I only wish I had discovered it earlier in tomato season!

BBA Challenge: Ciabatta

This is one of the breads that I was really looking forward to - though it took me a while to get to it! It's been weeks since I baked any bread!

Well, it was certainly worth the wait. This is delicious ciabatta. Tender crumb, golden crust, wonderful flavor. It came out of the oven looking so beautiful I knew I was in for a treat. Then I cut it open... Something was missing... Where are my holes?! They say a good ciabatta is measured by the size of the holes - one case where bigger is actually better. My holes were tiny, almost non-existent. It was a bit of a disappointment. Though it tasted so good, I suppose I could have much bigger complaints...

We made sandwiches with it - come back tomorrow for a fried green tomato sandwich - and french toast, and ate it unadorned. It was fantastic. I'll be making it again, and striving for more prominent holes!

If you don't already have The Bread Baker's Apprentice, go get a copy! It is an amazing book, and in it you will find the recipe for this ciabatta.

BBA Challenge: Casatiello

I wasn't going to make this bread. Casatiello is a brioche-like bread that is Italian in origin, and traditionally contains salami and cheese. I'm a life-long vegetarian, so the salami was definitely out, but for some reason I couldn't think of a substitute. Of course after I made the bread it dawned on me that sun-dried tomatoes would be fabulous, but since it didn't occur to me at the time - plus I didn't have any - I used toasted walnuts.

This was a delicious bread. The nuts and cheese complemented each other beautifully, and the bread itself was amazing. Light and rich at the same time, with a nice crunch from the nuts and wonderful little cheese pockets. I made a large loaf in a 9" pie pan - which made great sandwiches - and 6 rolls. I'm so glad I went ahead with this one, and I can't wait to make it again with sun-dried tomatoes.

BBA Challenge: Challah

The next bread we were supposed to make in the BBA Challenge was actually casatiello - an Italian bread containing salami and cheese. I'm a life-long vegetarian, so I was planning on tweaking the add-inns anyway, but I needed a bun to take to 4th of July dinner, and it didn't seem as appropriate as challah. So, I'm going out of order here, and I hope to make the casatiello sometime soon.

Back to the challah. This is something I've never made, and honestly, never eaten much of.

This bread was amazing. It made equally wonderful buns and loaf, and let me say that it makes spectacular French toast.

It was easy and fun to make, and I'm sure I'll make it again!

To the other BBA slow and steady bakers: I know I jumped a little ahead here, I just couldn't help myself!!! I'll get back in step with the next bread...

BBA Challenge: Brioche

The next bread to come along in The Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge is brioche. 

Brioche is a wonderfully rich French bread, and we had three versions to choose from: Rich Man's, Middle Class and Poor Man's. The difference in them being their butter content. I went middle of the road with the Middle Class (which still contains a none too shabby 1/2 pound of butter! Yikes!)

This was a really fun and easy bread to make. The dough is made in the mixer, then refrigerated overnight to harden the butter enough to make it workable. It is then formed into loaves or brioche a tete (pictured). Clearly, I need a little practice shaping my brioche a tete, but I'm certain I'll get it, because this bread was delicious and I'll definitely be making it again! It was delicious, and my son loved it. 

I should add that the recipe called for 2 tablespoons of sugar and I replaced it with agave. Since it was such a small quantity, I didn't alter the amounts of any of the other ingredients.

BBA Challenge: Bagels

Bagels. I love bagels. Bagels are one of those foods that never occurred to me to attempt to make at home. Until I started following food blogs, that is. I saw them on so many blogs, and they were all so perfect and bagel-like, I was determined to try my hand at them. 

Thank goodness they're in the Bread Baker's Apprentice, because without the commitment to bake every recipe from the book, I might not have gotten around to baking them for a very long time. That would have been a real shame, because these bagels are amazing. 

They are by far the best I've ever had. My husband even loved them, and he's never met a bagel he loved. They were light and flavorful, really fun to make - though a little time consuming, just chewy enough, and not at all dry or tough. Better than I ever thought a bagel could be, and I love bagels. 

I know I will make these over and over again, and can't wait to try different flavors - this time I kept it simple with sesame seed - my favorite, and plain. 

The recipe for these fabulous bagels can be found in The Bread Baker's Apprentice. 

Christopsomos

Here is my second bread for the BBA Challenge: a Greek celebration bread called christopsomos. 

For this bread, we had a choice between three versions of Greek celebration bread. Once I saw the addition of figs in the christopsomos version, I knew which one I would be making. 

This bread begins with a pre-ferment called poolish. It is a mixture of flour, water and yeast that is made in advance and later added to the other bread ingredients. My poolish was a little thicker than a pancake batter - the consistency the recipe stated it should have - though it still worked wonderfully. 

There are a number of spices in the christopsmos dough, though I only had allspice and cinnamon, so that's what I used. I replaced the honey with maple syrup and added more zest than the recipe called for. I also omitted the raisins, and used more figs and walnuts.

Peter Reinhart gives special instructions for forming the christopsomos loaf, but I decided to go with a simple braid - for some reason it just appealed to me more... I was very pleased with how it came out - especially since it was my first bread braid!

We loved this bread, and ate it toasted every morning for several days with butter (and sometimes honey). The recipe does say that it's a large loaf, but wow was it enormous!!!

The recipe for this bread can be found in The Bread Baker's Apprentice. Next up in the BBA Challenge: bagels! 

Anadama Bread

There is a relatively new baking group that I've decided to join - The Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge - started by Nicole of Pinch My Salt. The group is baking through Peter Reinhart's book in order - which happens to be alphabetical. Most of the group is posting weekly - I think this is officially the 4th week - though I doubt that I'll be able to do that. I don't plan on sticking to a schedule, just baking as my time allows. The first recipe in the book is for Anadama bread - a traditional New England bread with cornmeal and molasses.

I am not an experienced bread maker - something that I'm trying to remedy. I'm determined to make all of my family's bread from now on, and I think I'm off to a pretty good start!

I started making the anadama before I left for work one morning, and got as far as shaping the loaves. The recipe says the dough can be put in the refrigerator at this point. When you want to bake it, it says to let it sit for 4 hours, or until it rises to the top of the pan. I had my husband put it a couple of hours before I left work, thinking that it would probably be late before it was baked and ready to eat, but when I got home, it was fully proofed. Over proofed, in fact. So the loaves both fell a bit in the oven. They also baked more quickly than the recipe stated - they were done in 30 minutes. 

We all loved this bread - my 2 1/2 year old especially. It is a very light bread, slightly sweet, delicious toasted with butter and honey. I'm sure it would make great sandwiches as well, but we haven't tried it yet. 

The only change I would make would be to omit the cornmeal on top of the loaf or use a finer one, as mine was very coarse - locally grown and ground organic grits, actually - and hurt the roof of my mouth a little when I chewed it. A minor problem... Other than that it was delicious, and I was rather proud of having made it! 

You can find the recipe here.