Finally: Raisins

Raisins, raisins and more raisins this week. Finally a sweet, almost-dessert bread. Yeast, milk, flour, you know the drill + raisins and cinnamon. Proofed and baked for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Made French toast with this last night...mmm...

Happy Easter?

Yes, it's November, but here's some Paska {Easter} bread! This Eastern European bread is often included in the basket of food taken to church to be blessed at Easter time. A sponge {yeast, milk, flour} is left to rest for 30 minutes and then combined with: butter, sugar, eggs, flour, rum, vanilla, raisins and mace {which I had never heard of; it's made of the covering of nutmeg seeds}. Some of the dough is set aside, braided and placed on top of the loaves before being baked for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Focaccia!

All it takes to make this is: yeast, water, flour, salt and olive oil. A very dry dough which, at first, doesn't look like it will come together. Brushed with olive oil and "dimpled" with your fingers to help the toppings stick. Sprinkled with whatever you like, then proofed and baked for 30-40 minutes at 375 degrees. Dinner is served.

Cheesy goodness

A classic, baked in a big metal pan that folds shut and looked to be circa 1950 {loaves end up coming out log-shaped}. Yeast, water, flour, sugar, shortening, salt, milk and malt are mixed; grated cheese is adding in during the last minute of mixing. Proofed and baked for 30 minutes at 375 degrees.

I heart white bread

Pullman bread is supposed to be made in a loaf pan with a lid that slides on, which forces the bread to bake into a perfect square shape. But because they renovated our bake labs at school, these are nowhere to be found so we baked ours in regular loaf pans = giant misshapen loaves that there was no way I could get a good picture of. So I got creative with some cookie cutters. The bread itself is a basic white sandwich bread made with a sponge starter {yeast, water, malt, flour} that is left to rest for 30 minutes and then combined with flour, sugar, milk, shortening & salt. Proofed and baked for 30 minutes at 395 degrees.

Bread donut

Instead of the usual free-form or loaf breads, Italian Bread is shaped into a ring! It takes so little to excite me these days. Ingredients include: flour, water, malt, salt, water & hard flour. After scaling the dough into pieces and rounding it up, you press your fist into the center of each piece and move it around until a hole is formed, creating a ring. The rings are dusted with cornmeal to make the crust tougher. Baking time is 40 minutes at 400 degrees, with the first five minutes baked with steam to make a crispy crust. I found the crust a bit tough for my liking, but the inside was nice and chewy.

Sourdough for breakfast

We used a commercial-made starter for this Sourdough Bread as the real thing takes about three days to make. That, in addition to water, strong baker's flour and yeast is proofed and baked for 30 minutes. I won't lie - it tastes good, but I don't get why you'd spend three days making this. I think the 'Art of Bread' is lost on me sometimes!

Braided & baked

I had always thought Challah Bread would be a lot harder to make than it actually is. Heavy in eggs and a very sticky dough, we used the 4-strand technique to braid this {4 over 2, 1 over 3, 2 over 3...I will be chanting this in my sleep}. I think these loaves were supposed to end up a lot wider but oh well, not a bad first attempt.

It's not what you think

Chop Suey {or "leftover" bread} is actually an American recipe that uses all of those extra ingredients left over at the end of a day in the kitchen - in this case, candied peel, walnuts and raisins. Once the dough has been mixed, rounded up and rested, it's chopped into small pieces and placed on a baking tray. Then the fruit & nut mixture - along with some eggs - is poured over top and mixed in {huge mess}. The pieces are dropped into loaf pans and baked, which is why the bread ends up looking so textured.

This bread is heavy in eggs, unlike the other breads I've made so far. It's also a much sweeter bread than the others, which means it's my current favourite. A mini version of these will be perfect for the holidays.

The perfect fall meal

Fresh-baked whole wheat bread and Three Onion Soup from Food & Drink magazine for dinner tonight - and tomorrow night. And the night after that...it's a big pot. There's Vital Wheat Gluten in this bread, which I'd never heard of. It's a gluten booster, which whole wheat bread needs as it's heavier than regular bread. Other than that and whole wheat flour, the recipe is basically the same as the other types of bread I've made so far: water, milk, bread flour, sugar, salt, molasses and a bit of shortening.

Honey & jam

This week, Vienna rolls {flour, milk, yeast, sugar, salt, oil, eggs} with butter & jam. Proof time is about 30 minutes and bake time is only 10 minutes on high heat (450 degrees), which creates a crust but keeps the inside soft and chewy.

Oatmeal bread - my favourite so far - made with a long list, which includes: water, yeast, flour, oats, bran, molasses & honey. Proof time is about 30 minutes and bake time is longer: 30-40 minutes at 350 degrees. Toasted and covered with honey.

Bread with butter

More white bread this week, this time washed with mmm...butter. I have to say, the amount of wait time involved in bread making is not that welcome on a Monday night at 9pm, but the end result is always good. Had some toast with peanut butter with this batch.

Back with bread

School is back in session! I saved the bread class for last because, well, bread is not covered in icing. It's yeast, it's flour, it's water, the usual suspects.

These did smell amazing coming out of the oven though. Just basic dinner rolls and free-form loaves for Week 1 - more to come.