Tag Archives: baking

BBA #11 Cranberry Walnut Bread…uhmmmm

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Hahaha okay so if you read the title of this post and then looked at the picture above, you might be thinking um those raisins don’t look like cranberries, or walnuts. Well that’s because I basically exchanged this entire recipe for a different one. What can I say? Maybe it was the fact that my cinnamon raisin bread was such a disappointment, or that I really don’t like cranberries or walnuts, that I decided to sub raisins instead. But why stop there! My last experience with lemon extract was less than ideal so I decided to buy the $5.69 raspberry extract at the grocery store and give that a try. The result? Maybe my favorite bread so far! It was so delicious and moist and soft and SMELLED so good! I’m officially a raspberry extract convert. And I LOVE eggy doughs so that also helped. I made a half recipe of this one too because now that I’m a two-person household instead of 5, there just aren’t enough people to eat all this bread (I made this one at the same time as the cornbread). So yeah! This one I really enjoyed…have been having a piece for breakfast every day so far, and I think I’ll be a trifle sad when it’s all gone! Bottom line–I’m back on top :)

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Hope you enjoyed this latest installment of the BBA Challenge–it’s never too late to join, and it’s been loads of fun :)

BBA #10 Cornbread

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So this was the first quickbread of the BBA Challenge. I didn’t quite realize this until I put it in the pan and was like, wait, what? Put it in the oven already? So that was a nice change from 3+ hour breads :) But yeah, I was pretty excited to make this one because 1) I love cornbread, 2) I love bacon. The process was pretty easy. Had to soak the cornmeal in buttermilk overnight, then add in all the dry and wet ingredients. The batter goes in the pan (I used a smallish pie pan from Baker’s Square…can I call this vintage since BS is out of business?) and then I layered come bacon crumbs on the top before baking it in the oven. And that was it! But the best part was that after it cooled a bit, it tasted really good. My barometer for cornbread is Boston Market (I know, I know…but it’s just so. good.) and while this one is different with whole kernels and bacon, etc. it is every bit as good! Unfortunately Drew doesn’t like cornbread, so I ended up freezing individual pieces so I can eat them at my leisure. But yeah, turned out well!

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BBA #9 Cinnamon Raisin Bread—FAIL

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Hey there!

So I hoped I wouldn’t have one of these posts to write, but here I give you my first real fail of the Bread Baker’s Apprentice Challenge…it just did not work. Which was so sad because I LOVE cinnamon raisin bread. I made several mistakes–including using rapid rise yeast which just made the dough rise too much too fast outside the oven, and then it rather deflated when it started cooking. Also I wasn’t patient enough in kneading the dough to spread out the raisins, hence the loaf ended up really uneven. And finally, it just turned out pretty dry. So, really not my favorite :(

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Pretty

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Hey everyone!

Well it’s been an interesting day here…interview this morning that I think went well, but they’re interviewing a few more people next week so we’ll see. Hopefully I get it though!!! Got back this afternoon and chilled for a bit, then have been baking up a storm! As soon as I find my camera cable, I’ll do my posts about BBA cinnamon raisin bread, cornbread, and cranberry walnut bread! I think it is on the top shelf in my closet so I just have to get a stool and hunt around a bit… Anyway, hope everyone had a fantastic day, and enjoy the weekend! :)

BBA #8 Cinnamon Buns

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So Michael had a soccer tournament one weekend and I decided to make a double batch of cinnamon buns to bring for all the parents and such. Oy! This was my first adventure of not all the dough fitting in the mixer. After struggling for a few minutes to knead the dough like a real human being, I cut the dough in half and mixed it KitchenAid style in shifts. What can I say, I guess I’m just a wimp in the kneading department. I like kneading the last minute by hand and feeling it all come together on the counter, but I’m quite happy to let modern marvels get me to that last step. So, yeah. I was thinking about doing half cinnamon buns, half sticky buns, but then it was going to be a nightmare baking them all together and I just decided, no I’m gonna do all sticky buns. So at 3:30am on Saturday I crept downstairs to take the buns out of the fridge so they could finish the last proof, then stuck ‘em in the oven around 7. That’s when I discovered we only had about 1 cup of powdered sugar for the glaze. Well, no problem, I’ll just make my own from granulated sugar and a bit of corn starch. Except for the Cuisinart must have HATED me and I only got half-the-size-of-granualated-sugar particles, and as we were already running late, I just had to plow on. So I made the glaze that didn’t quite turn into a smooth paste, and spooned it onto the buns. I think we ended up with…well at least 30. Everyone really enjoyed them, and I think if I made them again I would make them bigger and actually use powdered sugar, and they’d be great!

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This post has been part of the BBA Challenge started by lovely Nicole…join us!

BBA #7 Ciabatta

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Well, it was unanimous that this was the favorite one so far. I did a half recipe of this one because I made it at the same time as the cinnamon buns, and it was gone in one night. I came down the next morning and there was a measly little piece that I promptly ate up, sad that there wasn’t any more but also pleased that it was such a big hit. It wasn’t exactly how I pictured it turning out…I kept thinking of the oily ciabattas I normally eat at restaurants, and this definitely wasn’t that. But it was nice and crusty, if a bit smaller holes than I should have had as I degassed the dough accidentally even though Peter Reinhart warned me that I had to be careful…whoops. But I would definitely make this again if I was having friends over or whatnot…and even though I would put this one behind the bagels, Michael thinks it’s a close favorite. Well, I guess it doesn’t get any better than that!

Michael pointing out the spot where I must have sprayed the water a little wildly in the oven. Ciabatta was the first of the rustic breads, and as I don’t have a steaming oven, OR a spray bottle, I ended up using a turkey baster to spray water into the oven every 30 seconds. In the end I think it worked pretty well!

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You know you want to start acting like a crazy bread freak like the rest of us participating in the BBA Challenge :)

BBA #6 Challah

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Mmmm, this was good. I ended up making a half recipe of this and the casatiello because I made them at the same time, and boy was I glad I did. I ended up with a huge loaf of challah and even though we ate it all, it was enough! All braided loaves remind me of my aunt’s cinnamon bread that we eat at Christmastime toasted with butter. It reminds me of warm pajamas and family and sleepy, happy times, and I have to say, the challah lived up to those memories. It was nice and crusty on the outside, and really moist on the inside, and toasted really well. One morning Mom and I had like 6 slices, so we deemed that as a sign that it was pretty tasty. Michael said it was “alright” hahaha :) Also Wrigley (the puggle!) really liked it as well!!!

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Join us in the BBA Challenge!

BBA #5 Casatiello: Surprisingly Tasty!

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Okay so when I read that the casatiello was a bread with cheese and salami I thought, oh no, I don’t eat salami, and I’m really not a fan of cheese in my bread (what can I say? I’m a purist). In the end I compromised and included mozerella and cheddar cheese, but omitted the salami…I’m sorry I just find it gross. I made these into little muffins and a little boule with the leftover dough that didn’t fit into one pan. We ate a few right away on the way to pick up Todd from the airport and I have to say, they were delicious! They weren’t too cheesy, and since they were warm the cheese was all melty and yummy. I have to say they were decidedly not as good once they had cooled, so if I made them again, I’d only make enough to feed people right away at dinner.

Also, because I love you, I thought I’d just share what kind of photog sessions go down once I’ve baked all this bread: the unabridged version of my casatiello.

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Honestly! You’d think there was a limit to how many times you could arrange some muffins on a tray ;) Oh it’s all in good fun, but does this little dance happen to anyone else?

Obligatory link to the BBA Challenge!

BBA #4 Brioche…Eh, Alright

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Okay, so not only did I forget to take pictures of this one, but the brioche was also the only bread so far that I genuinely didn’t enjoy. I made the middle class brioche, since 8 ounces of butter seemed like quite enough. I liked working with the melty dough, and I had such high hopes for yummy breakfasts of brioche and strawberry preserves. I didn’t shape them as well as I ought…I should have had them more cone-shaped so they didn’t justs expand outward into a hockey puck shape, so that probably didn’t help. I dunno, I just didn’t get it though! Mom had a few for breakfast and enjoyed them, but Michael gave this recipe a flat “no” and we all hoped for better next time.

BBA #3 Bagels: OMG Soooo Good

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Okay I’ll be honest, I didn’t really think these were gonna be as good as they were. First off, they took FOREVER. I ended up making a crapload of large and mini bagels to use for pizza bagels. Which I decided halfway through so I had to degas the little ones so I could make the holes smaller so the sauce didn’t fall in the middle. But hey, I fulfilled a pestering daydream these days of owning a bakery and making bread for a living, because that’s what it sort of feels like when I get up to make a poolish or take the dough out of the refrigerator…it’s nice. :) But yeah, I ended up making 2 cinnamon sugar, 2 poppyseed, 2 everything (my “everything” was poppyseeds, sesame seeds, cinnamon, sugar, and salt), and about 20 pizza bagels. They were all really good! I preferred the large ones because I hadn’t degassed them and I didn’t leave them in the water as long so they were a bit less chewy. Michael really liked the chewy though and pronounced this the first bread of the challenge that he liked. I ate one of mine right away and it was so warm and delicious I immediately forgot how long they took to make and just enjoyed! I did use the baking soda in the water and I think that did a good job in glazing the outsides a bit. It was better than any bagel I’ve ever bought…and that’s saying something because I really love bagels!!! Okay Peter Reinhart, maybe you do know what’s up. :)

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Pizza bagels!

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