Bread Baking Babes Year in Bread

2019 was a good year for baking bread with the Bread Baking Babes, although I had the challenge of baking while Sweetie was dieting and asking me not to bake bread!

Here, for your pleasure, are breads baked and links to the recipes, usually on my blog but sometimes on the blog of the Kitchen of the Month.

January started things off with Elizabeth's whimsically named Elbow-lick Sandwich Bread. This delicious bread had sweet potatoes and cooked onions in it. Great for sandwiches and with soup.

February was inspired by the Great British Baking Show and Chelsea buns. Mine were shaped into a heart shape...for Valentine's Day, natch.

For March our challenge bread was a Moroccan flatbread Ksra. Mine was a bit off course from the recipe, but very tasty with some pasta.

April brought a lovely Easter bread. "The Ciambella Mandorlata is an Italian Easter bread that originated in Bologna in the Emilia Romagna region. It is typically baked in the shape of a ring which is supposed to represent the unity of the family." It is basically a brioche type bread with lots of butter and eggs. Most of the sweetness comes from the topping and even that isn't very sweet, so this is a primarily breakfast bread but I think that that you can eat anytime of day with enjoyment. It had some fun shaping, too.

May brought a Multigrain Sourdough Sandwich Loaf, which was a challenge for me because I had to make new sourdough starter (having let my previous starter go when Sweetie started his weight loss) Be sure to allow a few days to create your starter before beginning the bread. If you do, you'll have starter for lots more sourdough breads over time.

June let me use the sourdough starter again.  This fantastic bread was Rosemary Raisin Sourdough. This was an easy bread to work with.  I think the part I like best is the combination of the sweet golden raisins and the zingy fresh rosemary.

July was more free form than usual with no Kitchen of the Month. We could choose a past July bread to bake, so I chose Panmarino. With a huge rosemary shrub on the property, it's easy to enjoy recipes using fresh rosemary and this bread is a winner.

August always has sunshine around here and we baked a bread shaped like the sun.  The Sourdough Sunshine Loaf takes a little more time than a simple bread but it is worth it.

September's bread was a pull apart loaf with garlic and cheese. I passed because can't do cheese and post-surgery digestion didn't welcome garlic. The Babes who baked the bread liked it alot!

October brought apples, as October often does. In this case it was Apple Bread with Cider and Calvados. A keeper!

November's  Danish Crown could be savory with hearty onions or it could be sweet and ready for the holidays with dried fruit, which is the way I did it. Sweetie liked this the best of most of the breads I baked this year. It looks dramatic, but is pretty easy to do.

December I was Kitchen of the Month and I chose the perfect pastry for Christmas morning, a Kringle, American version. I give two versions; King Arthur Flour's Butter Pecan version with caramel sauce and the one I love, a Raspberry and Marzipan version. Either one is a great way to end the year.

It's been a good year with the Bread Baking Babes. If you like these, follow the link and give them a try. Each month we bake and post on the 16th. If you bake that month's bread by the 29th and contact the Kitchen of the Month, you will receive a Buddy Badge and a place in the round-up. Happy Baking!

Sourdough and Rosemary and Raisins...oh my!

This is the first bread I've baked since the last Bread Baking Babes effort in May. Totally unusual for me, but it's been pretty hot around here for the last few days. Sweetie has now lost over 65 pounds and I've lost some, too, although far from that amount. Still, I miss bread baking and so I'm grateful to the Babes for giving me an excuse every month to bake bread. During the last month time was well spent painting and refurbishing the front room of the farmhouse so that it can be a beautiful bedroom this weekend. Sweetie and I have a lovely friend and her granddaughter here for a visit. They've been camping, so a nice, soft bed and good shower was very much appreciated.

Back to the bread...brought to us by our Kitchen of the Month Judy of Judy's Gross Eats.  THis fantastic bread is Rosemary Raisin Sourdough. I used the sourdough starter that I started up last month. This was an easy bread to work with. I chose to make half the recipe so we wouldn't have too much bread (I know, it sounds strange to even think that, but these days Sweetie isn't the only one who is losing weight and too much bread puts the pounds back on). I also substituted molasses for the honey and used some white whole wheat flour instead of part of the bread flour. My sourdough starter from last month came through the month just fine with a few feedings and it really adds great flavor to this delicious bread. I think the part I like best is the combination of the sweet golden raisins and the zingy fresh rosemary. It's a good bread by itself, but it's also a good sandwich bread. We served the last of it tonight to go with our braised lamb shoulder dinner...it went perfectly with it!

Because I do like to change things around and I've been baking bread long enough to feel comfortable with variations, I put all the wet ingredients into the bowl, put all the dry ingredients into another bowl (and mixed them well) and then stirred about a cup of the dry ingredients into the wet, then used the dough hook to mix in the rest of the dry ingredients and to knead the dough (so no 10 minute rest for the dough before kneading), and it worked really well. The bread had a great oven spring and a good crumb. I did burn the top a little bit...should have tented it with foil for the last 7 minutes or so.

Do try this bread. You can probably shape it any way you like to shape bread because it has great body and is easy to work with. Give it a try and take a photo or two and send an email to Judy with your baking experience so that you become a Buddy and she'll send you a Buddy Badge. Her email is on her site.

Be sure to visit the other Babes's blogs to see how this bread worked out for them, too. Bet someone used another grain like spelt...it's the perfect recipe for that kind of substitution!

Thanks for viewing this blog. I'll probably be posting more often now. Berry season has arrived, which always inspires me.

XO, Elle

Rosemary Raisin Sourdough Bread

(Recipe can be halved or doubled)

28 oz bread flour

8 oz whole grain flour

1 oz Kosher salt

2 tsp. active dry yeast

2 oz honey

4 oz olive oil

4 oz raisins

1/8 cup chopped fresh rosemary

16 oz sourdough starter (100% hydration)

16 oz room-temperature water

Blend dry ingredients in mixing bowl.  Add remaining ingredients and mix until just combined into a shaggy dough.  Cover with a towel and let mixture rest for 10 minutes.  

Using a dough hook, knead dough for about 10 minutes, until it is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl.  Place dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover, and let rise in a warm place for 1 ½ to 2 hours, or until doubled.

Remove risen dough from bowl, shape as desired, place on baking sheet, cover, and let rise for 30-45 minutes.

About 20 minutes before baking, heat oven to 500˚F.  Bake at 500˚F for 10 minutes, then reduce oven temperature to 425˚F and continue baking until top is brown and the internal temperature is between 190-200˚F, about 15-20 minutes.  Watch the bread carefully so it doesn’t get too dark (adjust oven temperature accordingly).

Remove from oven; let cool on rack.