French Toast for Breakfast and Dinner

My son had a bit of a stomach bug yesterday and couldn't eat very much. He was hungry though and so I suggested making some French Toast. The eyes of my little princess lit up as she asked "Like the ones in hotels?"

Yes, I replied, just like the ones in the buffet breakfasts at hotels. To make the French Toast a little more interesting, I dusted them with cinammon and sugar. Rather yummy indeed!

This morning, being a public holiday for Malaysia's Independance Day, the kids again asked if they could have French Toast - this time for breakfast. I remarked that there was no more cinammon nor was there any more bread. The bread problem was easily fixed by popping over to the local petol station but there was no cinammon there. It was also too early to get any cinammon from the local supermarket. So, this time, I just dusted the toast with icing sugar.

Ingredients
4 eggs
pinch of salt
2 Tbsp milk
8-10 slices white bread

Method
In a shallow bowl, beat eggs, milk and salt lightly with a fork. Over medium-low heat, heat a skillet or shallow pan with a thin layer of oil or butter.
Dip the bread slices, one at a time, into the bowl to coat one side then carefully turn to coat the other side.

Transfer bread skillet and cook till the bottom is nicely browned before turning over to cook the other side. Remove to a plate and while hot, sprinkle with cinnnamon sugar or icing sugar. Alternatively, serve with some honey or maple syrup.

It's quite amazing how something so simple is so well liked. My little princess wolfed down 5 pieces - equivalent to 2.5 slices of bread. Her words said it all as she reached for piece number 5 - "I'm already full, but I'm still hungry!"

Focaccia the CPK way

My son is not a real fan of bread, although he will eat it when he has no choice. That is quite unlike my princess. She loves her bread, any which way and any kind. That is also quite unlike me and The Lovely Wife. We all love our bread and I'm wondering whose "I dont really like bread" gene my son picked up.

Having said that however, my son really likes the bread at California Pizza Kitchen (CPK). There is no need to use any coercion or a stern glare - he will actually ASK for the bread at CPK.




The Lovely Wife and I decided one evening that we were going to try the recipe from the California Pizza Kitchen recipe book that she has. The Lovely Wife has a fear of yeast and I don't blame here because I too used to have a fear of yeast. However, after making bread and breaded goods with the Daring Bakers, I am no longer afraid of yeast!

Like most bread recipes, this one is fairly long winded but I've edited it to make it simpler and left out the options of using a food processor - so that makes it a little shorter.

Ingredients
2 tsps dry instant yeats
1/2 cup lukewarm water
3 1/4 cups bread flour or plain flour
2 Tbsp honey
2 tsp salt
1/2 cup cold water
2 Tbsp + 2tsp olive oil
for the topping
1 small onion
rosemary
salt
Method
Dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm water in a small bowl. Set aside for 10 minutes till it foams up a little. Combine the other ingredients (except the extra 2 tsp olive oil) in the mixing bowl of your electric mixer. Add in the yeast. Using the dough hook on the lower speed, mix the dough until smooth and elastic - about 2 to 3 minutes. Don't overmix or the dough will be tough and rubbery.
If using your hands, mix all ingredients together and then knead till the dough is only slightly tacky , barely beyong sticking to your hands.
Shape the dough into a ball and then lightly oil the dough ball with the remaining 2 tsps oil. Place the dough into a bowl and seal the top with plastic wrap. Set aside to proof until it rises to double its bulk - about 2 hours.
Punch down the dough and then reform it into a nice round ball. Return to the same bowl, cover with plastic wrap and put into the refridgerator to rise overnight for a retarded proof.
About 2 hours before you plan to bake the foccacia, remove the dough from the refrigerator. Divide the dough into 4 portions.
On a non floured surface, roll each portion of dough out back and forth to make a 9 inch long rope. Sprinkle a little flour over a clean smooth surface and roll out each rope to an oblong shape, about 2 inches wide.
Place the rolled out dough on a foil lined baking sheet - at least an inch apart. Lightly spray the tops of the dough with cold water and then distribute the onion and rosemary over the top, gently pressing into the dough. Sprinkle with salt and then drizzle a little olive oil on top.
Let rise for another 30 minutes for the final proof.
Bake the foccacias for about 10 minutes in a preheated 230C oven until golden brown.

This Focaccia is really soft with a lovely, delicate crumb. It goes well on its own and is great with a salsa or just chopped tomatoes. Although it takes quite a long time to make, the work is worth it as the bread is really delicious.


This has become a favourite in our household and it's just a pity that it takes so long to make as if it were quicker, we would be baking this far more often!

Danish Braid and Vikings

Truth be told, I almost missed this months challenge. June has been a rather busy month with things just happening and happening. Before I knew it, there was only a week left before the posting date. I had a bit of an issue with this months challenge too – the requirement to chill the dough for at least 5 hours or overnight meant that I would need to set aside two days to do this challenge. Seeing how I usually only have time to bake on weekends, this was a perfect excuse not to do the challenge – especially when my weekends were all looking so full.

So it really wasn’t looking good. Yet, I knew that I would have to rise to the challenge for isn’t that what the Daring Bakers are all about? Another reason I felt I had to rise to the challenge was that this month’s challenge involved a yeast and butter based pastry. I may have conquered my fear of yeast and making bread but I have never, ever made my own pastry dough using yeast before so this seemed like a pretty good time to try.


This challenge was selected by Kelly of Sass & Veracity, and ?Ben of What’s Cookin’?. In true Daring Baker’s style, they chose something that I would never have dreamed of making not ever had the confidence to try. So thanks guys for pushing me on to greater heights!

I had read the recipe once online and it didn’t sound all that complicated.
I decided I would make the dough on the 21st and since we had a wedding reception to attend that night, I planned on baking the dough on Sunday. Good. Sounds like a good plan.

Early on Saturday morning, I sat in front of my PC and scanned the recipe again. I printed out the recipe and I should have known that things would start to get complicated when I found my black ink cartridge ahd dried up. Never fear, we’ll just print in colour then. Nope, all the blasted cartridges were dry. Fortunately I had a spare black cartridge and managed to print the recipe.

I knew I didn’t have any oranges in the fridge but had some lemon so I would just substitute the lemon for the orange. The dough was fairly easy to make and as always, I am thankful for my Kenwood Major. What a marvellous piece of machinery. While the dough was chilling in the fridge, I made the butter block or beurrage. No issue here either and it came together very nicely.

The problem kind of started when I started to roll out the dough. It was a little sticky and I kept dusting it with flour. However, as it got thinner and wider, the dough got stickier underneath and although I kind of had the feeling this was happening, neglected to flip the dough over to prevent it from sticking. Silly, silly, silly.

Anyway, what happened was that after I had spread the beurrage over the dough, when I tried to fold the left side over, it was all sticking to the table and so some bits tore. Pooh! Never mind though, I still managed to patch it up and stick in in the fridge.

Each time I took the chilled dough out and rolled it, bits of butter seemed to ooze out but in the end, after 4 turns, I got a nice dough that had enough butter layered in it. It was not time to wrap the dough and leave it overnight. I must say I was kind of relieved that no major disaster had happened yet!

On Sunday morning, after picking up the kids from Sunday School, I decided I would roll the dough, fill it and proof it. I had decided to make the filling out of a mix of Dark Pitted Cherries and Chocolate as I had a can of cherries on hand as well as some leftover chocolate chips.

The dough handled really nicely although I found that the pads of my hands especially where the palm joined the fingers were really sore after all that rolling the previous day. Each time the rolling pin rolled under my hands, I could feel some pain. Guess this is all signs of age eh! Oh Well!

I got the dough into a nice spread out rectangle and then trimmed the edges. Lovely! This is where I think I made a small mistake. Not having read the recipe enough and basically having it fixed in my head that braid meant braid as in how your braid hair, I think I messed up this part.

In hindsight, I should have had more filling in the centre so that the filling came right up to the edges of the slits. What I did was to pile the filling in the centre of the centre strip, meaning there was excess dough to fold over. So when I tried to fold the flaps over, I actually needed to fold the dough over too and that caused a bit of a mess with the flaps flapping all over! That’s kind of how I got a braid criss-crossing all over the place. Actually quite attractive to look at but not the way a braid should be right? Oh so what, lets just call it artistic licence - especially since we were given licence to braid the dough any way we wished!

I made a smaller braid too and then since the remaining dough was starting to melt and get all sticky, I rolled it out, filled it and then made a kind of ‘rocket’ shape for the kids!

It was time for the dough to proof and so I left it to do its rising. My son had been peeking in to check on what I was making and when I said it was a Danish Braid he didn’t seem too excited as he thought it was a Danish Bread. His interest was piqued though when he saw me braiding the dough and he got even more excited when I explained that it wasn’t really a bread but more a pastry that was filled with Chocolate and Dark Cherries! You could almost see his eyes light up.

After checking in every couple of minutes and asking when it would be ready, I told him that he would have to wait more than two hours for the dough to rise and then for it to bake in the oven. I told him to go and play and that I would call him once the Danish was ready.

I was rather excited too especially when I saw how nicely the dough had doubled!



Into the oven the dough went and after 10 minutes, I turned it just as the recipe called for. Another 25 minutes in the oven and the whole house smelled like a bakery!

I place the big Danish on a nice plate while I placed the smaller Danish on another serving plate and called out to my son.


He was thrilled to carry out the smaller Danish to show off to the Lovely Wife and pose for this picture.


It was rather apt that he was playing with his Lego Vikings as not only does Lego come from Denmark, but Danes also have a proud Viking tradition. My son insisted on this picture of the smaller Danish Braid with his Viking – which explains the title of this post.




I guess the most pressing question is how did the Danish taste? Well, I think my combination of Chocolate and Dark Cherries was fantastic as not only did the fruit go really well with the Danish, but the chocolate added a bit of decadence as well. I think Chocolate makes everything taste better!!



The Danish itself was lovely with it’s buttery layers and almost melt in the mouth texture. My official testers loved it as you can see below.





They say that a picture is worth a thousand words but sometimes words can say so much more. The proof that my testers really enjoyed this Daring Bakers Challenge is the fact that not one, but both of them chirped up after finishing a large slice of Danish:

“May I have another piece please?”

Need I say more?


This is the recipe from Sherry Yard’s The Secrets of Baking

DANISH DOUGH

Makes 2-1/2 pounds dough

Ingredients
For the dough (Detrempe)
1 ounce fresh yeast or 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1/2 cup whole milk
1/3 cup sugar
Zest of 1 orange, finely grated
3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped
2 large eggs, chilled
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
3-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt

For the butter block (Beurrage)
1/2 pound (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour

DOUGH
Combine yeast and milk in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix on low speed. Slowly add sugar, orange zest, cardamom, vanilla extract, vanilla seeds, eggs, and orange juice. Mix well. Change to the dough hook and add the salt with the flour, 1 cup at a time, increasing speed to medium as the flour is incorporated. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes, or until smooth. You may need to add a little more flour if it is sticky. Transfer dough to a lightly floured baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Without a standing mixer: Combine yeast and milk in a bowl with a hand mixer on low speed or a whisk. Add sugar, orange zest, cardamom, vanilla extract, vanilla seeds, eggs, and orange juice and mix well. Sift flour and salt on your working surface and make a fountain. Make sure that the “walls” of your fountain are thick and even. Pour the liquid in the middle of the fountain. With your fingertips, mix the liquid and the flour starting from the middle of the fountain, slowly working towards the edges. When the ingredients have been incorporated start kneading the dough with the heel of your hands until it becomes smooth and easy to work with, around 5 to 7 minutes. You might need to add more flour if the dough is sticky.

BUTTER BLOCK
1. Combine butter and flour in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat on medium speed for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle and then beat for 1 minute more, or until smooth and lump free. Set aside at room temperature.
2. After the detrempe has chilled 30 minutes, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough into a rectangle approximately 18 x 13 inches and ¼ inch thick. The dough may be sticky, so keep dusting it lightly with flour. Spread the butter evenly over the center and right thirds of the dough. Fold the left edge of the detrempe to the right, covering half of the butter. Fold the right third of the rectangle over the center third. The first turn has now been completed. Mark the dough by poking it with your finger to keep track of your turns, or use a sticky and keep a tally. Place the dough on a baking sheet, wrap it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
3. Place the dough lengthwise on a floured work surface. The open ends should be to your right and left. Roll the dough into another approximately 13 x 18 inch, ¼-inch-thick rectangle. Again, fold the left third of the rectangle over the center third and the right third over the center third. No additional butter will be added as it is already in the dough. The second turn has now been completed. Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes.
4. Roll out, turn, and refrigerate the dough two more times, for a total of four single turns. Make sure you are keeping track of your turns. Refrigerate the dough after the final turn for at least 5 hours or overnight. The Danish dough is now ready to be used. If you will not be using the dough within 24 hours, freeze it. To do this, roll the dough out to about 1 inch in thickness, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and freeze. Defrost the dough slowly in the refrigerator for easiest handling. Danish dough will keep in the freezer for up to 1 month.


DANISH BRAID
Makes enough for 2 large braids

Ingredients
1 recipe Danish Dough (see below)
2 cups apple filling, jam, or preserves (see below)

For the egg wash: 1 large egg, plus 1 large egg yolk

1. Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper. On a lightly floured surface, roll the Danish Dough into a 15 x 20-inch rectangle, ¼ inch thick. If the dough seems elastic and shrinks back when rolled, let it rest for a few minutes, then roll again. Place the dough on the baking sheet.
2. Along one long side of the pastry make parallel, 5-inch-long cuts with a knife or rolling pastry wheel, each about 1 inch apart. Repeat on the opposite side, making sure to line up the cuts with those you’ve already made.
3. Spoon the filling you’ve chosen to fill your braid down the center of the rectangle. Starting with the top and bottom “flaps”, fold the top flap down over the filling to cover. Next, fold the bottom “flap” up to cover filling. This helps keep the braid neat and helps to hold in the filling. Now begin folding the cut side strips of dough over the filling, alternating first left, then right, left, right, until finished. Trim any excess dough and tuck in the ends.

Egg Wash
Whisk together the whole egg and yolk in a bowl and with a pastry brush, lightly coat the braid.

Proofing and Baking
1. Spray cooking oil (Pam…) onto a piece of plastic wrap, and place over the braid. Proof at room temperature or, if possible, in a controlled 90 degree F environment for about 2 hours, or until doubled in volume and light to the touch.
2. Near the end of proofing, preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Position a rack in the center of the oven.
3. Bake for 10 minutes, then rotate the pan so that the side of the braid previously in the back of the oven is now in the front. Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F, and bake about 15-20 minutes more, or until golden brown. Cool and serve the braid either still warm from the oven or at room temperature. The cooled braid can be wrapped airtight and stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 days, or freeze for 1 month.

Corn Bread with Whipped Herb Butter

Back in the days when I was scared of yeast, actually terrified would be a better word, I longed to make bread. How though to make bread when you are terrified of yeast? Well, I happened to come across an old, old recipe book at my mom's house that had a few recipes for 'yeast-less' Bread in it. The book in question is the Australian Women's Weekly New Cookbook. Obviously not so new now since the book is dated 1978.

I tried quite a few of these 'yeast-less' breads including Beer Bread and even Coke Bread - the kind of Coke you drink and not the kind you sniff. Although sometimes when you drink it really fast, it goes up your nose and you can always say that your snorting coke...? Ha Ha. I used to tell that joke many years ago. I was young - so shoot me!

Anyway, after many abject failures, I tried the Corn Bread recipe. It turned out really nice although it didn't rise quite as much as I thought it would. I reckon it you wanted a higher bread, you'd just need to double the recipe.

This recipe soon became a favourite of mine and I've made it quite a few times.


Corn Bread
60g Butter
1 Cup Cornmeal / Polenta
1 Cup Self Raising Flour
1 Tsp Baking Powder
1 Cup Milk
1 Egg
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt

Method
Put Cornmeal in a large mixing bowl. Sift Flour and baking powder together into the bowl. Mix all dry ingredients together. Heat milk and butter together in a pan until butter melts. Pour into flour and mix well. Add in egg and mix the whole mixture well. Pour into a greased loaf pan and bake in a pre-heated 220oC oven for 25 minutes or till done.




I like to serve the Corn Bread with whipped herb butter. This is how I make my herbed butter.

Whipped Herb Butter
100 g Butter
1 tsp Oregano
1 tsp Rosemary
1 tsp basil
Olive Oil

Method
Pound or grind the spices till fine and set aside. Beat Butter on high speed until light and creamy. Add in the spices and continue beating together. Slowly drizzle in some olive oil while beating. This makes the butter light and more flavourful
Pipe onto serving bowls.

The secret is in the dough...

Pizza! Who doesn't love it? I've always been a great fan of pizza and the lovely wife and kids are no different. We can polish off two large Pizza's and still be a little hungry (read greedy!) I've made pizza at home before, but I've always used the ready made, frozen crust you get at the supermarket.

Just yesterday, I had to see to a few household fixits while the lovely wife took the kids for their immunisation shots. Just before leaving for the doctors, as we were discussing food plans, she said she felt like some homemade Pizza for dinner. She asked what ingredients I needed and I told her. As an afterthought, I added that I would try and make the Pizza dough myself for a change. She didn't seem too convinced though.



The reason why I wanted to try my own Pizza dough was simply because I have overcome my fear of baking bread. This is in a way thanks to my blog buddy - Breadchick who dared us all with the French Bread on last months Daring Bakers Challenge. I think I did a pretty decent job on that and I figured that if I can make French Bread, then a Pizza dough shouldn't be a problem. Also, Breadchick has often expounded the virtues of home made bread and I also had to push my boundaries didn't I! So thanks Breadchick for pushing me and for allowing me more belief in my breadmaking skills.

Both the Lovely Wife and I prefer a thin crust to a thick crust although whenever we order Pizza takeout, we normally go for thick crust. Simple economies of scale as a Thick Crust feeds more mouths...!

So anyway, I prepared myself for my Pizza Endeavour by surfing the web for Pizza Dough recipes. I found a few but I liked the one from Video Jug - complete with a video showing you how its done.

I doubled the recipe and substituted Instant Yeast for the Dried Yeast. I also dumped everything into my Kenwood and let the dough hook do its magic. I added a little flour as I now had a 'gut feel' as to what sort of texture to expect!

This is the recipe as I made it.

12oz Plain Flour
2 tsp salt
2 tsp Instant Yeast
1 tsp sugar
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
240 ml Warm Water
Polenta/Corn Meal for dusting

Method
Sift flour. Make a well in the flour and add in the salt, yeast, sugar and Olive Oil. Then add in the warm water. Mix well. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes until a smooth, soft ball is formed. Place dough in a clean bowl and cover with a cloth. Leave to rise for about 2 hours. Dough will double in size. Cut dough into two and sprinkle with a little flour. Dust your rolling surface with a little flour as well. Roll out one piece of dough into a rough circle. Dust a pizza tray or circular tray with polenta (to prevent dough from sticking) and then press the dough to form a neat circle. Cover with your choice of Pizza Toppings and bake in a preheated 230C oven for about 20 minutes.




To get a thin dough, after rolling into a kind of circle shape, I let the dough hang from my fingers while slowly turning it - kind of like letting gravity stretch it out! When it was almost able to fit into the round Pizza tray, I spread out the edges and then patted it out onto the tray.



I only had one Pizza tray so what I did for the rest of the dough was to roll it out and then put a 9" round baking pan over the dough. I then cut around it to get a nice round Pizza shape! I baked the dough on Polenta dusted Cookie trays.

The measurement above gave me one 12" Pizza and two 9" pizzas. The Pizza dough turned out much, much better than I expected and the Lovely Wife was pleasantly surprised. She had expected my attempt at Pizza dough to be thick and chewy - sort of like the Foccacia that I had made before - and that was the reason for her reluctance to let me try to make my own dough. I was rather smug, I must admit! Okay, Okay... Very, Very Smug, actually!!!


For topping, I used a combination of Minced Beef, some Salami that I cut into strips, Cheese, Loads of Mushrooms and some capsicum. I also made my own sauce by frying lots of chopped garlic with basil, black pepper and oregano. Then I added some tomatoes and continued frying till a nice paste was formed. Add a little water and a whole can of tomato paste and I had this lovely Pizza sauce.

The kids thoroughly enjoyed my homemade dough and had their fill of pizza. I must say that it was very satisfying to be able to make my own pizza dough. Even more satisfying was how much the kids and lovely wife enjoyed the Pizza! I think we ALL overstuffed our faces...




As my son finished off his third Large slice of pizza, he commented with the trademark waving of his arms in the air.

"Okay! No need to order Domino's Pizza anymore, we can just have Dharm-ino's Pizza!"

Now I've always known that my son has inherited my sense of humour but even I was surprised at this gem!

French Bread - Daring Bakers

It's the last day of February, and incidentally it's also the last day of February in a Leap Year! So what better date can there be for the blogosphere to be inundated with another Daring Bakers Challenge! YAY!

This months Daring Bakers challenge is hosted by two wonderful ladies - Mary, also known as the Breadchick and Sara. Now Breadchick is one of my Favourite DBs and being a Breadchick, it's no surprise that she tied up with Sara to pick a Bread challenge. The challenge is a French Bread recipe from Julia Child.

Umm.. Julia Who???



Okay, so hit me on the head and call me names. I'm sorry but before this I had NEVER heard of Julia Child. So knock me on the head again - hard!. For those of you that know me, whether in person or in cyberspace, you would know that whenever I don't know something, I NEED to find out - it's like a compulsion.

Thank Goodness for Google! A quick search and I proceeded to read about Julia Child and now I know something about her.

I can imagine all of you, especially in the USA gaping with your mouths wide open while reading this. In my defence, at least I know about the Galloping Gourmet! Ha! You've never heard of Graham Kerr? If you haven't, we'll just put that down to the era of pre-globalisation. If you DO know who good ol' Graham is, then bully for you!

Of course nowadays, everyone knows every other personality on either side of the Atlantic as well as the Pacific and all the crinkly bits in between as well. Just like most of us know that the answer to the Great Question of Life, The Universe and Everything is 42. And if you Don't know that, then I would seriously question your literary choices. And that would also mean you didn't get the aforementioned 'crinkly bits' joke...

Ah... But I digress. And for all of you that know me, you would know that digressing is what I do best...

So anyway. Julia Child eh. Apparently , before Julia became a chef, she was a little bit of an Agent 99. More specifically, she worked as a Research Assistant for the US Office of Strategic Services (OSS), a newly formed government intelligence agency. She and her colleagues were sent on assignment to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) where she played a key role in the communication of top secret documents between U.S. government officials and Sri Lankan intelligence officers. Pretty Secret Agent kind of stuff if you ask me...

After getting married to Paul Child and moving to France, good old Julia developed a fancy for French Cuisine and went on to study at the famous Le Cordon Bleu Cooking school whilst she was in Paris way back in the late 1940's. Julia then started a series of cooking shows with the first one debuting on February 11, 1963. A little before my time so perhaps that explains why I never heard about her? Anyway, apparently Julia is THE person when it comes to cooking and without her, we wouldn't have Nigella or Jamie entertaining us - or Chef Wan (local Malaysian Celeb Chef!)for that matter.

Julia Child was also responsible (with two others) for the two-volume cookbook titled Mastering the Art of French Cooking (1961). Published in the U.S., the 800-page book was considered a groundbreaking work and has since become a standard guide for the culinary community. The recipe for French Bread comes from Volume Two of this book.

So, enough about Julia Child and on to my experience with this Challenge.

Making bread is not my favourite thing in the world. I may have overcome my fear of yeast but bread still scares me. Reading the recipe (over, and over) I kept thinking that it was a Recipe for Disaster. These are some of the things that spooked me:
1. It was a Bread Recipe - scary in itself
2. 16 pages long - Yes! The recipe was that long
3. Recipe stated that it took about 9 hours to complete - if that's not scary I don't know what is!
4. The bread was supposed to be made in “free form” fashion. No loaf pans, bannetons, brotforms or baguette pans may be used.
5. Refer to the above, I didn't understand banneton or brotforms
6. We had the choice of making baguettes or batards; short loaves, ficelles; round loaves, boules; round or oval rolls, petits pains or large round or oval loaf, pain de menage or miche; pain boulot. All of which sounded very scary. Not to mention that I didn't know what to expect from any of them with the exception of a Baquette.
7. There was a complicated procedure in final proofing and shaping that involved flouring a piece of canvas or fabric and then using a piece of cardboard to move the dough from the cloth to the oven.

Enough things to worry about! So you can imagine that I was practically pissing in my pants when I decided to attempt this challenge. Unlike my usual attempts, this was on a Thursday morning as it was a Holiday here for Chinese New Year. I was up early and I used my new Kenwood mixer to do the mixing of dough and kneading.

Beautiful machine, my Kenwood!

The recipe is simply a mix of flour, a little salt, yeast and water. I used Instant Yeast but as the recipe states, you need to 'proof' the instant yeast in water till dissolved to improve the taste.

The dough came together fairly easily and I only had to add in maybe two handfuls of flour to get the right consistency. I was thrilled! This is how my dough looked.



Then of course it was time for the first rise and what a time it was!

The recipe said that the temperature needed to be 70F which is about 21C. I have a thermometer hanging in my kitchen that showed a temp of 27C (81F) so I decided to place the dough in the cooler living room. It took about 4 hours for the dough to rise to the required 10.5 cups.

I then did the folding of dough into a parcel trick. I couldn't figure out why that was needed but the recipe said to do it and so I did it. Then it was the second proof that took another 2 hours so we were about 6.5 hours into the recipe (including the measuring, mixing and kneading) No real problems so far.

Then it was time to do the forming of the loaves and the final rise. I opted to make 2 Batards (or maybe they were Ficelles) and about 6 rolls (petit pain). I had no problems forming the ovals but couldn't for the life of me figure out why you had to flip here and press there and use your thumbs with one but your heels with another. I followed the recipe diligently though.

Then it was time to place the dough on the floured fabric. I used an old cotton t-shirt of mine and floured it thoroughly. That was pretty fun actually! While waiting for the dough to rise (another 2 hours) I prepared the unmoulding board by coating it with cornmeal and also greased a baking tray.

The dough had risen beautifully and I regret not taking any pictures - its just that I was busy cooking other dishes as well. We were having some friends over for dinner and I was planning on serving the bread with the soup that The Lovely Wife was making.

Unmoulding was tricky but fun as well and then it was slashing time!! I felt like a professional Slasher! A nice slash here, another slash there. The dough splits and spreads... All quite exciting really...

Into the oven but not before a quick brush with cold water. Stared at my watch for 3 minutes and then quickly pulled the tray out, brushed the rising dough with cold water again then stared at my watch once again. Process repeated itself every three minutes and The Lovely Wife was getting irritated with me as she was trying to cook in the kitchen as well and SHE kept getting in MY way. Good thing I had put the razor blade away or else there may have been some other form of slashing going on...

Ding! 25 minutes in the oven and I pulled my bread out.



Boy o boy did it smell lovely! The Lovely Wife reached over greedily to test the bread and I slapped her wrists. "It's got to cool first!" I screamed almost demonically, my eyes wide while my fingers twitched wildly as I looked around for the razor... Not to worry, that was just a Hitchcock moment, no more slashing occurred.

It was nearing 6pm and I had been at this for more than 9 hours. Our guests were due at around 7.30 for dinner at 8 so I was hoping the bread would be cool by then. We only actually got round to dinner at 8.30 but I had sneaked a sample of one of the Petit Pain just a tad earlier...that's why there are only 5 buns in the picture below!



It was Delicious! The crust was crusty while the inside was soft, but not too soft. It had a lovely fresh taste and The Lovely Wife thought it was fantastic! First time - EVER - that she has thought my bread was any good!

The guests loved the bread as well and the true test was that my darling son enjoyed the bread. Whats so special about that? He usually doesn't like bread!!

So thank you Mary and Sara for this wonderful challenge and it was DEFINITELY something that I would not have made if not for the Daring Bakers. I doubt I would make this again, simply because it just takes too long but at least I know I CAN make it and that is something special for me. I also know that I can now act all cocky and 'condemn' French Bread from commercial bakery's - not that I WOULD do that, but knowing that I CAN is what I like!! :)



I also learnt a fair bit... and I really love learning new things! Not only did I learn about Julia Child, but I also picked up a little French and also enhanced my baking repertoire. Only problem is, I'm not sure if I made a Batard or a Ficelle. More troublesome than that is that I learnt that Batard means Bastard in French since the Batard is the bastardised form of a Baguette! Even MORE troubling is that when I was trying to find a picture of a Ficelle on Google Images, the search result for Ficelles (with an s, yes!) showed me pictures of scantily clad women!! Apparently Ficelle, aside from meaning a demi-baquette, or thin loaf; also means string - thus explaining the scantily clad women wearing strings as undergarments... all very interesting, really.

Finally, a quick check with the Breadchick (After I had completed the challenge) on the reason to fold the dough in such a specific manner led to this explanation. It seems that when you fold the dough in this manner, you are aligning the gluten strands so they build a really strong structure to support the formed bread during the rising and baking process. This is required since this type of bread is baked WITHOUT a loaf pan or support other than the dough itself. So the gluten needs to be really strong. Failure to align the gluten strands means that you wont get such a nicely shaped Baguette or loaf but rather a lumpy, mess.

You just keep learning new things!!

You can find the rest of the Daring Bakers at the Official Daring Bakers Blogroll so please visit them to see how they fared with this challenge.

Thanks again Mary and Sara for this wonderful challenge and this link takes you to the recipe over at Breadchick's!

Wholemeal Bread Rolls

This Saturday, I woke up with the yearning to bake some bread. Yes, there's nothing wrong with your eyes and neither have you accidentally gone to another blog. It's true. I suddenly felt the need to bake some bread.
The need wasn't to just bake some bread, but to eat some home baked bread too. I think I am finally understanding that home baked bread tastes so much better, even though it takes a whole lot of work. I think all the recent breadmaking has made me yearn to make more bread and better bread.

So anyway, early Saturday morning, I decided I was going to use the leftover Wholemeal flour that I had from the Daring Bakers challenge to make some Wholemeal bread. I had been looking aroung for a few recipes and found one that didn't look too difficult over at cookitsimply.com.
I halved the recipe and decided to make some rolls rather than a full loaf. I must say that after baking bread a few times, I AM finally getting the hang of it and I do know, intuitively, when enough flour and/or water has been added. This time, I think I did a pretty good job and the rolls turned out rather delicious!
I think I may had added a little too much flour this time because the rolls were not as soft inside as I would have liked. Nonetheless, they were still very, very tasty. I paired the bread with some eggplant dip that I made and it was very well received. The eggplant dip was just two eggplants roasted in the oven and then pureed in the food processor with a little garlic, lemon juice, basil and cayenne pepper.


This is the recipe for the Wholemeal Rolls:


4 cups plain white flour
4 cups wholemeal plain flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
4 teaspoons active dry yeast
2 1/2 cups water
1 tablespoon butter
milk

Method
1. Blend the two flours and sift.
2. Add any grist left in sifter to flour.
3. Mix half the flour, the salt and sugar in a warm mixing bowl, stir in yeast.
4. Heat butter or lard with 1 cup water, add remaining water and cool to lukewarm.
5. Add to dry ingredients.
6. Beat 2 minutes on mixer or 300 strokes by hand.
7. Blend in remaining flour and knead to a soft, elastic dough.
8. Allow to double in size, knead, shape and prove a second time.
9. When loaves have risen brush tops with milk and sprinkle on cracked wheat if used.
10. Bake in a moderately hot oven 190-200°C (375-400°F) for 35 to 40 minutes.

Wholemeal bread rolls
1. Divide half the dough into 20 pieces after first proving.
2. Roll each into a ball and place on greased baking trays.
3. Cover and leave in a warm place until doubled in size.
4. Brush with milk and sprinkle with cracked wheat.
5. Bake in a moderately hot oven 190-200°C (375-400°F) for 15 to 20 minutes.
serving amount - makes two loaves

Strangely enough, I had to bake my rolls for about 30 minutes as when I took one out after the allocated time, it was still uncooked inside.
So, it appears that just like with anything, a recipe is NOT foolproof. Oven temperatures differ, flour differs and even environmental conditions such as temperature and humidity seem to make a difference. And I suppose therein lies the secret to making good bread - experience.
I am proud to say that I think I am slowly getting the hang of bread making and am also actually starting to enjoy it.
The best part however was that for the very first time, the lovely wife truly enjoyed my bread. As she devoured the second roll, she smiled at me, battered her eyelids rather coyly and remarked that the rolls were of "restaurant standard!"


Ahhh. One reason less to go out for a meal....!

Tender Potato Bread

Welcome back folks to another exciting edition of the Daring Bakers....!

Having conquered my fear of yeast and bread, I was actually quite excited by this month's challenge hosted by the great Tanna from My Kitchen in Half Cups. She chose to challenge us with Tender Potato Bread, a recipe from Home Baking: The Artful Mix of Flour & Tradition Around the World by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid

Now November was a particularly busy month for me. Very, very busy in fact that I ALMOST considered giving this months challenge a miss. Then, just this weekend I thought I'd give it a whirl and see if I could rise to the challenge.

We had all been warned that working with this dough was going to be different. First of all, it used potatoes. Now I've heard of potato bread that is sweet but the specific instructions here were that this recipe HAD to be savoury. I'd never used potato to make bread before so that was the first concern.

The second concern was that we were told that the amount of potato used could greatly affect the texture. We were told to use 8 ounces (for amateurs) and not more than 16 ounces (for experienced bread makers). I decided to go with 12 ounces but after washing and paring the potatoes, I weighed them again and they had lost 2 ounces. Now if only that would work for me, I could give up doing this Daring Baker stuff and open a Weight Loss Centre. First customer of course - ME!

Third concern, this dough was a soft dough and very, very sticky. Again, NO experience with soft, sticky dough. I would need to wing it. See, I always knew I should have gone to Flight school. So many things in life I seem to wing. Since I seem to wing thing so well, I should have just made it into a career. I blame my father for not letting me go to Flight school. I could be a professional Wing Man today....

And he digresses yet again!! Yes, Ladies and Gentleman, the man has a disease. He cannot stay on topic and true to form, he digresses....!

Anyway, Oh dear, I've actually lost track of what I wanted to say. Oh yes, 3 concerns and lastly, time. So much to do, so little time.

So, I washed the potatoes, peeled them, cut them, boiled them till very soft and everything looked like it was going well.

Then I mashed the potatoes, added in the potato water, let it rest added in the flour and yeast, let it rest, added in the butter and the whole wheat flour and another two cups of flour. Alls Quiet on the Western Front.

But I had forgotten that I was in the East and not the West. So perhaps all was NOT so quiet. The enemy was lurking just beyong the trenches.....

You see this is EXACTLY the point where I had to start to wing things. The recipe said "At this point you have used 4 cups of the possible 8 ½ cups suggested by the recipe." and I was supposed to "incorporae flour as needed to prevent sticking". But we had been told that the final dough was going to be sticky. So how? How now brown cow?

And so I kneaded and added flour and kneaded and added more flour and kneaded some more. It all started to come together and I thought it was all good. I had forgotten to measure how much flour I had incorporated but by the way I was adding flour, I put it at a total of about 7 cups.

Now it was time to proof it and I left it to sit while I went about my other business. After about 1.5 hours, it had more than doubled and I turned it out to knead again. The flour was extremely sticky and also rather moist. Very moist in fact. My fingers were sticky and gooey and so I decided to just plop 2/3 of the dough into a large pan and shape it into a Focaccia.

Then I tried to roll the remaining dough into rolls but the dough was just too darned sticky. This is where I started using expletives. Beep. Beeping Hell and Beep, Beep, Beep! I was Beeping so much I could have been the Beeping Roadrunner! I added more flour but it was still too Beeping sticky to roll. Beep. Beep. Beep!

Then a light bulb went off in my head! And I was no longer the Roadrunner but Wile E.Coyote (remember how he used to get an idea and a lightbulb would light up over his head? You dont remember? Am I than old???!) Anyway, the idea was to drop the dough on to the pan like drop biscuits. Very clever I thought to myself. Well done Agent 99.

So I left everything to proof again and went to clean up and found that my sink was clogged. Aaaarrrrgggghhhh!!! Beep. Beep! Beep!! BEEEEP!!!!

But that's another story and I don't think any of you are really interested in my clogged sink. Such uncaring people.... humph. That's another reason for the lack of in-progress photos. No silly. Not because you don't care about my sink but precisely Because of the clogged sink! I wasn't going to risk getting dough on my precious Digital SLR.

After half an hour, the dough had risen beautifully. I popped the Focaccia in the oven after seasoning it with oregano and seasoned salt. After baking it, it had risen very nicely and I popped it out and let it cool while I baked the rolls.

So! Daring Baker Challenge completed. Well almost, because the proof of the pudding is in the eating and in this case, the proof of the potato bread is in the eating. Pardon the pun about proofing there..... Yes, yes, I'm really in a funny mood tonight. Absolutely Bloody Hilarious!

The Focaccia was tasty. Very tasty indeed although I thought it may have been a little undercooked. However, it tasted a darn site better the next morning.


The rolls were nicer though. Very soft and with a nice crumb. Only problem though, the rolls tasted a little bland and this is where I realised I had forgotten the second tablespoon of salt. Actually, I added in another TEAspoon of salt rather than TABLEspoon. I.D.i.O.T. The small 'i' in the centre is just to emphasise how small I felt at my lack of cleverness. I always tell my children not to say 'stupid', so
just in case they read this in years to come.....



There was a LOT of bread so the next morning, which is this morning (at time of writing that is) unless you believe strongly in the Theory of Quantum Physics in which case Time can be manipulated but only if you really understand it and you cant really understand it if you claim to do so and I really dont know what I'm talking about so maybe I didnt even eat the potato bread this morning......or understand Quantum Physics for that matter. Which I dont. And never claimed to do.

So! Another succesful Daring Bakers Challenge. Well sort off, as I think I needed more flour and I should have added that tablespoon of salt. Nonetheless, I took the Focaccia to my parents house where they, along with my aunts who were there, were rather astounded at the Tender Potato Focaccia. My father asked if I had bought a breadmaker and I proudly puffed out my chest, sucked my stomach in and declared - "The only breadmaker I have are these hands."

Thanks Tanna for a great challenge although I seriously, seriously doubt I will ever make this again. But the thing is, now I know I CAN make it and that's all because of you...and of course, that in essence, is one of the reasons why I AM a Daring Baker!!!!

Check out the rest of the fabulous team at the Daring Bakers Blogroll

Focaccia and the history of my bread baking

I love bread. All kinds of bread. Baguettes, Sourdough, flatbreads, crusty breads, soft breads, you name it. I'm still pretty much a novice when it comes to baking bread. I can still count my bread making endeavours on one hand and I can still tell you about each of them.....

The first time I ever, ever made bread was when I made a Corn Bread. That turned out really, really well as no yeast was used.

So 1-0 to me!

The second time, I got a little more adventurous and tried out a Focaccia recipe I found of the web. This required kneading and proofing but of course, being the novice I was, I didn't quite know how to proof much less knead. The bread turned out rather tough although it was still edible - just about. So there was the equaliser for the bread. The score now 1-1.

Not to be disheartened, I flipped through some recipe books and learnt about baking bread without using yeast. Yay! That sounds like fun. There was this recipe for Beer Bread which claimed to give it a sort of sourdough like taste. No kneading, no proofing. Just mixing and baking.

Bad doesnt quite describe it. The bread turned out hard and tasteless. Even the beer in it didn't lend it much taste. One goal down now. Dharm 1 - 2 Bread.

I perservered. I tried a Coke bread. I really don't know why I expected drastically different results from the Beer bread attempt, but I did. The Coke Bread turned out pretty much the same. Bad, bad, bad. Dharm 1 - 3 Bread.

So to try and get back in the game, I went back to the Focaccia recipe. This time I talked to a few people and read up a bit more. I learnt that with making bread, texture and consistency was all important. You needed to add flour or water and knead till it was the right consistency. That was all a matter of experience I was told. Clearly I didn't have enough experience as the Focaccia, although clearly an improvement, was still a little tough and dry.

Dharm 1 - 4 Bread. It was beginning to look like the start of a mauling.

Then came the Daring Baker's Cinnamon Roll challenge. I knew that consistency was the key and I also learnt to trust my gut feeling...

And from 30 meters out, a stunning strike into the top left corner of the goal. The crowd erupts.

The cinnamon rolls were soft and tasty - just like the ones sold in the shops! Success!

Dharm 2-4 Bread

I was invigorated. Yeast no longer worried me. Although still a bit wary about consistency, I was so much more confident. And so I decided to try this new Focaccia recipe that my friend KJ at A Cracking Good Egg posted about. She based her recipe on this post over at Delicious Days but adapted it somewhat. I think her adaptations suited me as well! This is the recipe:

Focaccia
Recipe source: adapted from Chefkoch-Forum (German)
Prep time: 5min., rising time: overnight (if possible); baking: 15-20 min.

Ingredients:

1 cup (250 ml) tepid water
20g fresh or 1 tsp dry yeast
1 tsp ground sea salt
2 cups flour
olive oil

toppings: coarse sea salt, rosemary, olives...really anything you fancy

In a large bowl, dissolve the 1 tsp of instant yeast in 1 cup of tepid water. Add 1 cup of flour and 1 tspn of salt. Stir for a few minutes.
Add another cup of flour and mix. To get the right consistency, as it is supposed to be soft, sticky and almost liquid, I added another 1/4 cup of water. This is the same issue that KJ had. Stir for another 2-3 minutes.

Set aside in a warm spot to proof. The dough will rise niceley. Pour dough into a cake pan well coated with olive oil. I used a round pan and had to pull the dough a little to shape it. Brush the top with olive oil and sprinkle with preferred topping. I just used some oregano, basil and salt.

Bake for 15-20 minutes in a preheated 230C oven.

The Focaccia turned out lovely! Cripsy on the outside and soft on the inside.



Dharm 3-4 Bread. read the scoreline!! The crowd cheers and applauds wildy!



My bread baking is reaching new heights now. Bread may still have the better scoreline but I'm fast catching up.


My daughter loved the bread and in fact ate three pieces in one sitting. And that was before lunch!


This is a picture of her stuffing her face while watching cartoons. Now is there really anything better than making your little princess happy??!!

Cinnamon Buns

If you see a post around the 29th or 30th of every month, it can only mean one thing - it's Daring Bakers Challenge Time again!

This month's challenge was provided by the lovely and talented
Marce and is nothing less than Cinnamon Buns and Sticky Buns (from Peter Reinhart´s The Bread Baker´s Apprentice).

Now I dont have a lot of experience baking bread or for that matter anything that uses yeast. Sure, I've taken the plunge and actually tried a Foccacia recipe that used yeast but the first time it turned out rock hard. Fortunately the second time produced a nice enough (read edible but not quite making the mark) Foccacia bread. So that's the extent of my bread baking endeavours and that was all I had to go on as far as experience is concerned.

One thing I hate about bread recipes is that they are never precise. I like precise - I'm an Engineer for goodness sakes. I'm used to getting down to decimal points and two decimal places just doesn't quite cut it. Pi may be 3.14 or 22/7 to the rest of you but to me its 3.141592 (and I even have a rhyme that can enumerate pi to 20 decimal places - so there!).

Why do I say brad recipes are not precise? Because EVERY and I mean EVERY bread recipe I have looked at says something to the effect of "More flour or water may be needed to get it to the right consistency". How is someone to know what the right consistency is? How would you like it if your car door was manufactured to "just about the right hardness - you may need to add some titanium to make it harder." Not so good now huh?

Yeah, so that's what I hate about bread recipes......

So anyway, the morning of the 15th, I decided to roll up my sleeves and try the Cinnamon Buns. We were given the choice of making Cinnamon Buns or Sticky Buns or even both if you wanted to. I decided to just stick to the Cinnamon Buns as I figured I would have enough trouble with the dough and wouldn't need to complicate things further. I also wasn't too keen on having to eat through a pile of sticky buns as my wife isn't really a fan of sweat breads. Give her savoury bread and she will wolf down the whole loaf - but not sweat breads. No.

So this is how it went...

Cinnamon and Sticky Buns
(from Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice)

Days to Make: One (1)
Active/Resting/Baking Time: 15 minutes to mix, 3 1/2 hours fermentation/shaping/proofing, 20 - 40 minutes to bake
Recipe Quantity: Eight(1) - twelve (12) large rolls or twelve (12) - sixteen (16) small rolls

Making the Dough

Ingredients:

6 1/2 tablespoons (3.25 ounces) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
5 1/2 tablespoons (2.75 ounces) shortening or unsalted butter or margarine
1 large egg, slightly beaten
1 teaspoon lemon extract OR 1 teaspoon grated zest of 1 lemon
3 1/2 cups (16 ounces) unbleached bread or all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons instant yeast*
1 1/8 to 1 1/4 cups whole milk or buttermilk, at room temperature OR 3 tablespoons powdered milk (DMS) and 1 cup water
1/2 cup cinnamon sugar (6 1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar plus 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, or any other spices you want to use, cardamom, ginger, allspice, etc.)
White fondant glaze for cinnamon buns or caramel glaze for sticky buns (at the end of the recipe.)
Walnuts, pecans, or other nuts (for sticky buns.)
Raisins or other dried fruit, such as dried cranberries or dried cherries (for sticky buns, optional.)



1. Cream together the sugar, salt, and butter on medium-high speed in an electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or use a large metal spoon and mixing bowl and do it by hand);

I don't have a paddle attachment so I proceeded to mix the whole thing by hand. It may have been easier to just use my mixer with the beaters but hey, lets try and follow the rules! Too my surprise, everything mixed together really well and quick too.

Whip in the egg and lemon extract/zest until smooth. Then add the flour, yeast, and milk. Mix on low speed (or stir by hand) until the dough forms a ball.

Since it said whip in the egg and lemon extract, I decided to use my electric mixer. I whipped in the egg and extract and then added in the flour, yeast and milk. It all mixed up rather well but the dough didnt really form a ball. It was sort of cookie
dough like and rather soft. I was expecting it to be firm like a bread dough...

Switch to the dough hook and increase the speed to medium, mixing for approximately 10 minutes (or knead by hand for 12 to 15 minutes), or until the dough is silky and supple, tacky but not sticky.

I switched to the dough hook and let it mix. I still wasn't happy with the texture and wondered what SILKY and SUPPLE, TACKY but not STICKY is supposed to mean??!!! WHAT?? HOW?? And that's when the next line just send me spiralling into the stratosphere.

You may have to add a little flour or water while mixing to achieve this texture.

Aaarrrgghh! What cant the recipe just say EXACTLY how much flour and or water is needed?? Why the subjectivity?? Anyway, I proceeded to add in some flour, and then some more and I think I added maybe a quarter to half a cup extra flour....

The dough was still softish and not at all what I expected - but as I said before, the only yardstick I had to measure it on was my prior Foccacia making experience.

Lightly oil a large bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling it around to coat it with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.

So I did just that. Rolled it around in an oiled bowl. I may have put in a little too much oil but I'm glad I used my common sense and used vegetable oil instead of Olive Oil. I'll admit that my hands sort of automatically reached for the Olive Oil but I quickly realised I didn't want olive tasting cinammon rolls! Covered the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit as the next step instructed.




2. Ferment at room temperature for approximately 2 hours, or until the dough doubles in size.

After the first hour, the dough had increased in size


After two hours it had more than doubled!


3. Mist the counter with spray oil and transfer the dough to the counter. A) Roll out the dough with a rolling pin, lightly dusting the top with flour to keep it from sticking to the pin. Roll it into a rectangle about 2/3 inch thick and 14 inches wide by 12 inches long for larger buns, or 18 inches wide by 9 inches long for smaller buns. Don´t roll out the dough too thin, or the finished buns will be tough and chewy rather than soft and plump. (B)Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over the surface of the dough and (C) roll the dough up into a cigar-shaped log, creating a cinnamon-sugar spiral as you roll. With the seam side down, cut the dough into 8 to 12 pieces each about 1 3/4 inches thick for larger buns, or 12 to 16 pieces each 1 1/4 inch thick for smaller buns

I used baking spray to mist the countier and then rolled out the dough. The cinammon sugar was liberally sprinkled on and then I proceeded to roll up the dough. It didn't quite roll up as well as I wanted it to and the ends sort of bunched up. Nonetheless it rolled up fairly easily.

I then proceeded to cut the roll and this is where I wished I had one of those pastry cutters. The knife I use kind of flattened the slices in the sense that they became a little rectangular. But a quick squeeze and tuck put them back in shape.

4. For cinnamon buns, line 1 or more sheet pans with baking parchment. Place the buns approximately 1/2 inch apart so that they aren´t touching but are close to one another.

I liked how the cinnamon sugar showed up nicely on the cut rolls. It was starting to look like a plan coming together!




5. Proof at room temperature for 75 to 90 minutes, or until the pieces have grown into one another and have nearly doubled in size. You may also retard the shaped buns in the refrigerator for up to 2 days, pulling the pans out of the refrigerator 3 to 4 hours before baking to allow the dough to proof.

The pieces doubled in size again and they were really starting to look like cinammon buns - or Cinammon Rolls as we are more used to calling them.

6. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) with the oven rack in the middle shelf for cinnamon buns but on the lowest shelf for sticky buns.


7. Bake the cinnamon buns for 20 to 30 minutes or the sticky buns 30 to 40 minutes, or until golden brown. If you are baking sticky buns, remember that they are really upside down (regular cinnamon buns are baked right side up), so the heat has to penetrate through the pan and into the glaze to caramelize it. The tops will become the bottoms, so they may appear dark and done, but the real key is whether the underside is fully baked. It takes practice to know just when to pull the buns out of the oven.



8. For cinnamon buns, cool the buns in the pan for about 10 minutes and then streak white fondant glaze across the tops, while the buns are warm but not too hot. Remove the buns from the pans and place them on a cooling rack. Wait for at least 20 minutes before serving. For the sticky buns, cool the buns in the pan for 5 to 10 minutes and then remove them by flipping them over into another pan. Carefully scoop any run-off glaze back over the buns with a spatula. Wait at least 20 minutes before serving.


White fondant glaze for cinnamon buns
Cinnamon buns are usually topped with a thick white glaze called fondant. There are many ways to make fondant glaze, but here is a delicious and simple version, enlivened by the addition of citrus flavor, either lemon or orange. You can also substitute vanilla extract or rum extract, or simply make the glaze without any flavorings.


Sift 4 cups of powdered sugar into a bowl. Add 1 teaspoon of lemon or orange extract and 6 tablespoons to 1/2 cup of warm milk, briskly whisking until all the sugar is dissolved. Add the milk slowly and only as much as is needed to make a thick, smooth paste.



When the buns have cooled but are still warm, streak the glaze over them by dipping the tines of a fork or a whisk into the glaze and waving the fork or whisk over the tops. Or, form the streaks by dipping your fingers in the glaze and letting it drip off as you wave them over the tops of the buns. (Remember to wear latex gloves.)



The verdict?

I thought the buns were really soft and tasty although I think I'd have liked more cinnamon sugar in them. The icing was waaay too much and the recipe could be halved. However, the icing was Really tasty!! It had a nice lemon tang to it too that went so well with the buns.



My son enjoyed the buns tremendously and between the two of us, we polished most of them off! Here's to another succesful Daring Bakers Challenge and please visit the rest of the gang to see their creations

The Pretzel Endeavour

Pretzels, for me, always bring back fond memories of my rather frequent trips to Germany back in the '90s. I used to travel to Munich and Hanover on work and it was in Munich (or rather Munchen) that I was first introduced to the Brezen, as pretzels are called in Germany. My prior experience of pretzels was the tiny, dried, crispy kind and not the soft, baked variety.
I've always wanted to make pretzels. Why? Mainly because my son and daughter both love the pretzels at Aunty Annies (That's a franchise and not a relative...) Also, its the kind of thing that's nice to be able to make - especially for bragging rights down at the pub. I mean, imagine if I was back in Germany, scarfing down a huge Brezen while simultaneously gulping down a Dunkles (Dark Beer). I could then say (in a german accent):
"Ja,Ja... Zis Brezen is very good, but perhaps next veek you come to my house and I vill also make you zie Brezen...."

I can imagine a few large mugs of beer dropping to the floor....!!

Anyway, once I learnt that the roots of the Daring Bakers was started by a Pretzel challenge issued by Ivonne of creampuffs in venice I decided I was going to try and do it as well.

So this morning, I printed out the recipe and decided to get my hands stuck into kneading.

Now I immediately ran into a problem. 500F equates to 260C and my trusted oven only goes up to 240C! Never mind, I would just set it at its maximum. Next I didn't have any Kosher Salt. Never mind, just use some normal salt. Wait a minute, why not use my Rosemary Salt mix? That might taste better. So I did.


Here's the recipe:

Adapted from The King Arthur Flour Baker’s Companion.

For the dough:
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. sugar
1 package (2-1/4 tsp.) instant yeast
1 cup warm water (you may need a little more)

For the pretzel topping:
1/2 cup warm water
1 tsp. sugar
kosher salt
3 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

1.Combine all the dough ingredients in a large bowl with your hands. Work the ingredients together until you can form a ball. If the dough is very dry, add a bit more warm water until it comes together. The dough will look messy, but don’t worry about it.
2.Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and begin kneading by pushing the dough away with the heel of your hand, and then folding it back in onto itself. Push the dough away again and then fold back in. Continue this motion, working the dough until it’s smooth. This should take anywhere from 8 to 10 minutes. (Alternatively, you can knead the dough in a mixer with your dough hook for 5 to 6 minutes).

3.Once the dough is done, sprinkle some flour on the dough and put it in a large, oiled bowl. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let the dough rest for 30 minutes to an hour. It will rise considerably.
4.Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
5.Dissolve the sugar in the warm water and set aside.
6. Divide your dough into 8 equal pieces. Roll each piece out into a long rope that’s roughly 24 inches in length. (Don’t make it too long or your pretzels will be too thin.)
7. Taking hold of the ends of the rope, cross the rope over itself to form a circle with about 4 to 5 inches on each end that are sticking out. Twist the ends over themselves and secure each end on either side of the pretzel.

8. Carefully dip the pretzel in the water and then place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat with the other pieces of dough.
9. Sprinkle the pretzels with the kosher salt and let them rest for about 15 minutes.
10. Put the pretzels in the oven for 6 minutes, then rotate the trays and bake for an additional 6 minutes. Keep an eye on the pretzels so that they don’t burn.
11. Remove the pretzels from the oven and immediately brush them with the butter. Keep brushing them with butter until you’ve used it all.

I must say I was rather surprised at how well the pretzels turned out. I should have made the 'dough rope' a little thinner and longer. I should also have baked it a bit longer to allow it to brown more but this wasn't a bad effort for a first try. The pretzels were delicious too - rather crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.

I scarfed one down as soon as it cooled down and would have had another except that we were rushing off to lunch. The lovely wife raised an eyebrow in surprise as she took a bite as I don't think she was expecting that I'd be able to make such delicious pretzels.



Now all I have to do is to book my flight to Munchen so I can brag about being able to make Brezen...!!