Pizza Revisited

I've posted some pizza recipes in the past, including a nice sourdough one. A couple of nights ago I decided to take that dough and revisit it so that I could make it with dry yeast from a packet. My sourdough starter has been defunct since January, so I'm back to buying packets of dry yeast. I prefer the RapidRise yeast because it has more active yeast in it so I never worry about enough yeast action when I use it.

When I was back East, we ate out once...at a local brew pub. I shared a fantastic pizza with one of my sisters and a niece. This is my attempt to capture some of the flavors of that pizza. The base was ready-made pesto, then I added blue cheese crumbles and mozzarella cheese shreds, toasted walnuts, dried cherries, finely chopped fresh rosemary and some thinly sliced Italian sausage, plus some Parmesan cheese on top. The crust for this one was stretched nice and thin. This was a pizza with robust flavors and a nice crunch from the walnuts.

I also decided to make an almost-veggie pizza with the other half of the dough. It does have some ham and a bit of pepperoni, but it also has snow peas and sugar snap peas, carrots, celery, onions, and sun-dried tomatoes for the veggie part. The base was plain yogurt with a sprinkle of garlic salt, and there was mozzarella cheese, cheddar cheese and Parmesan. I couldn't seem to get the crust on this one as thin as the other, but with the heavier ingredients, maybe that was for the best. The flavors here were more mellow and dairy and veggie but with a bit of emphasis from the pepperoni.

Although the two pizzas had very different flavor profiles, they went well together and made for a delicious meal. Best of all they allowed me to test-drive my new 13" x 15" pizza stone. Awesome crust! I guess the stone, especially since I preheated it, really makes a difference in creating a crust that is browned top and bottom. It also allowed me to only make two large pizzas instead of the four smaller ones I usually make with my small round pizza stone.

I'm sending this over to Yeastspotting, Susan of Wild Yeast's every changing and inspiring weekly round up of yeast-based recipes. Check it out!

Simple Pizza Dough and Fun Toppings

1 packet rapid rise yeast and 1.5 cups water
½ teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 – 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour (or adjust if using the rapid rise yeast)

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the yeast and the barely warm water. Let this mixture sit at room temperature for two hours. If you will be making the rest of the dough another day, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate this starter mix.

When you are ready to make the dough and make pizza, put the starter mix into a stand mixer bowl and stir the sugar, olive oil and salt into the starter mix. Using the dough hook, gradually add the flour until a dough forms. Knead with the mixer for 4-5 minutes, adding more flour a tablespoon at a time as needed.

Once dough is smooth and elastic, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead by hand for another minute, adding flour if necessary to fully blend the dough.

Form dough into a ball. Place in a lightly oiled bowl or other container good for dough to rise in. Cover with oiled plastic wrap and a tea towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

When it is about 45 minutes before you plan to bake the pizza, preheat the oven to 500 degrees F and if you have one place a baking stone in the oven to preheat, too.

On a lightly floured surface place 1/2 of the dough. Using floured hands, stretch the dough into a rough circle or rectangle, keeping a rim of thicker dough around the edges. Some people like to toss the dough to do this, but mine always ends up on the floor if I do, so I just push the dough or hold it by the edge and work my way around. Place the stretched dough (about 9-11 inches in diameter) on a piece of baking parchment.

Top the dough as desired. I used pesto as the base for one pizza, then added some crumbled blue cheese, topped with shredded mozzarella cheese, finely chopped dried Michigan cherries, toasted walnuts, chopped, finely chopped fresh rosemary and thin slices of cooked Italian turkey sausages, topped with some Parmesan cheese. The second pizza using the other half of the dough had plain yogurt on the bottom, a dusting of garlic salt, both shredded thinly sliced ham and thin rounds of pepperoni, some raw, chopped snow peas and sugar snap peas, some mirepoix, finely chopped sun-dried tomato and three kinds of cheese: mozzarella, cheddar, and Parmesan.

Feel free to combine your own toppings to suit your tastes.

To bake, slide the parchment paper holding the pizza onto the preheated baking stone. If no stone is available, turn a jelly roll pan upside down on an oven rack in the preheated oven and immediately slide on the parchment paper holding the pizza.

Bake about 5 minutes, then turn the pizza around 180 degrees for even baking. Bake until golden brown. Remove from oven to cutting board, cut and serve. If you are making more than one pizza (recipe makes 2 large or 4 small crusts) prepare it on another piece of parchment and once you remove one pizza, put the next one in the oven.

Serve at once.

Babes Bake Italian

The colors of the Italian flag...red, green and white...are all on display in this month's delicious bread, Pane Bianco with Garlic, Basil and Sun-Dried Tomatoes, brought to us by Kitchen of the Month Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies. The fragrance that fills your kitchen when you bake this seems very Italian, too. The best part about this bread isn't the colors or the fragrance, but the taste. It is savory and you can really taste the sun-dried tomatoes, followed by the herby basil, warm garlic and wonderful melty cheese. I used some roasted garlic, as suggested by fellow Babe, Elizabeth, and it brought a depth of flavor that was delightful. Otherwise I pretty much followed the recipe as written (shocking!) until it came time to shape the second half of the dough. (Well, my dough did take longer to rise, but it was a chilly day.)


For the first half I made the lovely 'S' shape that the recipe gave directions for. I really enjoyed working with this dough. It was easy to shape.

For the second half I decided to make mini-buns to take to a morning meeting the following morning. I baked them a little less than golden (see photo), then reheated them in the morning until they were warm and golden. They were a hit!

The key to the mini buns is to roll the dough very thin and about twice as wide as the shaped loaf. Since you are spreading the same amount of filling ingredients over twice the amount of rolled dough, the buns don't get too filled and stay small. The last 'trick' is to then divide the filled dough in half (I used my bench scraper) so that each piece is about the same width (8 1/2 inches) as the big loaf, then roll up the dough from that point, one roll to the right, one to the left, which gives you two thin snakes of rolled dough. Cut each snake in pieces about an inch thick and lay those pieces cut side down in a greased cake pan...or two. Cover and let rise as you do the big loaf, but bake them for a shorter time, about 25 - 30 minutes. You should end up with a nice tray of savory, cute mini-buns with all the flavor and cheesy goodness of the big loaf.

Thank you Natashya for choosing this great recipe, and for giving us recipes by weight, volume, etc. I used the one by grams and it worked out perfectly.
Also sending this over to Susan at Wild Yeast for the wonderful weekly Yeastpotting event. Check it out!

With a bread this delicious and fun to play with, I'm sure you want to be a Bread Baking Buddy, right? Just bake this bread, take a photo or two to share, and e-mail Natashya with a short description of your experience that that photo or two. She'll get a Buddy Badge to you and include you in the round-up. You have until April 29th, so do consider making Pane Bianco with Tomatoes, Basil and Garlic!

Tomato Basil Garlic Filled Pane Bianco
Ingredients by grams: (direct from King Arthur Flour website)

• 113g warm water
• 50g sugar
• 4 teaspoons instant yeast
• 227g warm low-fat milk
• 67g extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 723g bread flour
• 1 (241g) jar oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes
• 4 cloves roasted garlic (or more if you really like garlic) my change
• 170g shredded Italian blend cheese, divided
• 14g chopped fresh basil

Directions
1) Combine the water, sugar, yeast, milk, olive oil, eggs, salt, and flour, and mix and knead by hand, stand mixer, or bread machine until you've made a cohesive, soft dough. If you're kneading in a stand mixer, it should take 5 to 7 minutes at second speed, and the dough should barely clean the sides of the bowl, perhaps sticking a bit at the bottom. In a bread machine (or by hand), it should form a smooth ball. Place the dough in a greased bowl, and turn to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until double, about 45 minutes.

2) Meanwhile, thoroughly drain the sun-dried tomatoes; lay them on a paper towel to absorb any excess oil. Using kitchen shears, finely chop the tomatoes.

3) Line two baking sheets with parchment. Gently deflate the dough and divide it in half. Roll one piece into a 22" x 8 1/2" rectangle. Sprinkle on half the garlic, cheese, basil, and tomatoes.

4) Starting with one long edge, roll the dough into a log the long way.

 Pinch the edges to seal.

5) Place the log seam-side down on a baking sheet. Using kitchen shears, start 1/2" from one end and cut the log lengthwise down the center about 1" deep, to within 1/2" of the other end.

6) Keeping the cut side up, form an "S" shape. Tuck both ends under the center of the "S" to form a "figure 8"; pinch the ends together to seal.

Cover and let rise in a warm place until double, 45 to 60 minutes. Repeat with the remaining dough.

7) While the loaves are rising, preheat the oven to 350°F.

8) Bake the first loaf for 35 to 40 minutes. Tent the loaf with foil after 15 to 20 minutes to prevent over-browning. Bake the remaining loaf.

9) Remove loaves from their pans; cook on racks. Store any leftovers well-wrapped, at room temperature.
Yield: 2 loaves.

For mini-bun directions, see the post, above the recipe.

Happy Centennial Julia!

A hundred years ago today Julia Child was born. Even though it took her half a lifetime to get her iconic cookbook published, she is an American institution and expert on French cooking. Although she died a few years ago in 2004, she spent many years encouraging Americans to take food seriously, as the French do, and she did a lot to bring professionalism to American restaurants and chefs and particularly encouraged women to be food professionals.

Her enthusiasm was legend and so was her energy! In researching recipes, first for Mastering the Art of French Cooking, but later for other cookbooks and TV programs, she repeated and repeated them until she not only had great recipes, but she understood why and how they were great.

I most admire her work ethic. For example, Mastering the Art of French Cooking took years of hard work, researching the classic way of making iconic French foods, cooking them over and over with slight variations, typing them up, sharing them with Simca, more revisions, and then finding her way through the whole cookbook publishing process...hundreds and hundred of hours!

One recipe that sometimes scares off potential bakers is her recipe for Pain Français, French Bread. The ingredients are really simple...flour, water, yeast and salt. Technique is the name of the game and she spells out every bit of it, so it takes something like 15 pages. I think that our hostess, Susan of Wild Yeast, the Bread Baking Babes Kitchen of the Month, has included a summary of the recipe in her post, so I won't. The full 15 or so pages can be found in Mastering the Art of French Cooking. The really wonderful thing is that if you follow the recipe, you, too, will have some batards (short baguettes) of excellent, delicious French bread! It might take a lifetime to learn how to slash the tops for the perfect looking loaf, but even less elegant renditions are soooo good. Just give it a try.

This month, to celebrate Julia Child's 100th birthday, the Bread Baking Babes are posting a day early so that the posts can be ON her birthday. We are also baking, just this once, WITH our Buddies...they will be posting their breads today, too! As Julia would say, "Hooray!" Visit the Babes blogs and Susan might have links for the Buddies.

Since I like sourdough style French Bread, I used my sourdough starter to make the bread, but the dough was still soft, the dough rose triple high where it was supposed to, I shaped it carefully as directed by Julia and let it rest in floured linen troughs as required.

The only thing that didn't work out too well was that my slashes didn't seem to be deep enough, so the expansion happened at the sides, toward the bottom of the loaves. Otherwise these were excellent examples of French Bread and were consumed with delight. I did manage to hide the last third of the second loaf so that I could make bruchetta with the last slices.

Sending this over to Susan, our dear Babe of the month, at Wild Yeast for her awesome Yeastspotting weekly event of all things yeasted. Check it out!

Bon Appetit!

P.S. Jama R is doing a whole week of posts of Queen Julia. She is also giving away some books related to Julia Child. Go to her blog Jama's Alphabet Soup to check it out!

Third Time is the Charm for Easy Little Bread

It's a good thing that Sara invited us to experiment with the recipe she gave the Bread Baking Babes this month! With a new 2 year old dog on the house I was looking forward to the easy part of the Easy Little Bread that Sara of I Like to Cook, our Kitchen of the Month, gave us. I had forgotten how much a young dog is like a toddler, but it is also rewarding in that, like a toddler, you gets lots of affection back for the care given. His name is Pi (like the mathematical term) and he is a rescue dog and a gorgeous black Labrador with a sweet disposition. Unlike most young labs I have known, he is mellow and doesn't' try to jump on people. The only time he is puppy-like is when he is playing with his dog toys which leads to lots of laughter and fun.

The easy little bread turned out to be not so easy for me. For my first attempt I followed the recipe exactly and ended up with a dense and fairly flavorless bread even though I followed the recipe closely.

That might have been the problem since I almost always add some sort of twist to recipes, even ones I've never tried. I love, love, love oatmeal bread so I decided to try it again but to cook the oats before adding them to the batter, plus I put in 1/2 cup of sunflower seeds for flavor. Unfortunately I both misjudged the amount of liquids to use and left it to rise too long. I ended up with a gray bread that I didn't even try to eat.

The third time was the charm! That's the one in the photo at the top of the post. I took half of the rolled whole grains (in this case a mixture of rye, wheat, oats and barley) and cooked them for a minute and a half in the microwave with 3/4 cup of water. The other 1/2 cup of grains went, uncooked, into the bowl with the flours. I also increased the plain flour to 2 1/4 cups and used bread flour because I ran out of all-purpose flour making the other two breads and a loaf of banana bread (more about that another day) plus the cup of whole-wheat flour. I increased the water by 1/2 cup. If you include the water used to cook the grains that were cooked, that is an additional 1 1/4 cup water offset by an additional 1 1/4 cup flour. The resulting bread was good. It rose, it had lots of flavor and a much better texture and crumb than the first one. It makes great toast.

Oddly enough it isn't like the twists from last month even though both are oatmeal breads. This Easy Little Bread has no kneading involved and has a much more open crumb and rough texture. Should be great with soup!

This photo is for comparison of bread #3 and bread #1 (the shorter one):

The changes I made only add five minutes to the process (for cooking and cooling the oatmeal) so it is still a very quick and easy bread. This is also a healthy bread with only a tablespoon of honey and no milk, eggs, or butter in the dough. Do give it a try. It might become you favorite go-to bread for quick and easy bread making.

If you'd like to be a Buddy you can use the original recipe, below, or try your own variations. The Third Time is the Charm version is below the Easy Little Bread recipe in case you want to try my version. Once you have baked YOUR version, send an e-mail with a photo and a link to your blog to Sara at iliketocookATshawDOTca by July 29th to be included in the round-up and to get a Buddy badge. Do visit the other Babes' sites to see their breads this month. I'm sending this over to Susan at Wild Yeast for the weekly Yeastspotting event, a wonderland of yeasted breads that you should visit regularly if you love baking breads.

The following is from Susan's post...just to keep my readers up to date :) Thanks Susan!

And now for something a little different:

The Babes will bake and post on August 15th in honor of Julia Child’s 100th birthday, and we would love for the Buddies (that is, anyone who would like to play), to join us in posting on that day. Big thanks to Elle for creating the invitation. For the recipe we will be baking, please email Susan: susan at wildyeastblog dot com (NB: This is an invitation for NEXT month, August. THIS month (July), Buddies are still invited to make the Easy Little Bread.)


Easy Little Bread
from 101 Cookbooks

1 1/4 cups / 300 ml warm water (105-115F)
2 teaspoons active dry yeast (one packet)
1 tablespoon runny honey
1 cup / 4.5 oz / 125 g unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup / 5 oz / 140 g whole wheat flour
1 cup / 3.5 oz / 100 g rolled oats (not instant oats)
1 1/2 teaspoons fine grain sea salt
2 tablespoons butter, melted, for brushing

In a medium bowl, sprinkle the yeast onto the warm water and stir until the yeast dissolves. Stir in the honey and set aside for a few minutes, until the yeast blooms and swells a bit - 5 - 10 minutes.

In the meantime, mix the flours, oats, and salt in a large bowl. Add the wet mixture to the dry and stir very well.

Brush a 8-cup loaf pan generously with some of the melted butter. Turn the dough into the tin, cover with a clean, slightly damp cloth, and set in a warm place for 30 minutes, to rise.

Preheat the oven to 350F / 180C, with a rack in the middle. When ready, bake the bread for 35-40 minutes, until golden and pulling away from the sides of the pan. I finish things up by leaving the bread under the broiler for just a heartbeat - to give the top a bit deeper color. Remove from oven, and turn the bread out of the pan quickly. Let it cool on a rack so it doesn't steam in the pan. Serve warm, slathered with butter.

Makes 1 loaf.

Adapted from Gran's Kitchen: Recipes from the Notebooks of Dulcie May Booker.

Prep time: 10 min - Cook time: 35 min



Third Time's the Charm Easy Little Bread
based on recipe from 101 Cookbooks

1/4 cups warm water (105-115F)
2 teaspoons active dry yeast (one packet)
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup rolled oats (not instant oats)(I used a mixture of rye, wheat, oats and barley rolled whole grains)
1 1/2 cup warm water (105 - 115F)
1 tablespoon runny honey
2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (I used part bread flour...ran out of all-purpose)
1 cup / 5 oz / 140 g whole wheat flour
1/2 cup rolled oats (not instant oats)(I used a mixture of rye, wheat, oats and barley rolled whole grains)
1 1/2 teaspoons fine grain sea salt
2 tablespoons butter, melted, for brushing (I used spray canola oil to oil the bread pan)

In a medium bowl, sprinkle the yeast into the 1/4 cup warm water in a small bowl and stir until the yeast dissolves. Set aside for a few minutes, until the yeast blooms and swells a bit - 5 - 10 minutes.

While yeast is blooming, cook the 1/2 cup rolled oats/mixed grains with the 3/4 cup water in the microwave for 1 1/2 minutes. Cool. Mix in the 1 1/2 cups water and the runny honey and stir to mix well. There may be some clumps of cooked grain...that is OK.

In the meantime, mix the flours, 1/2 cup oats/mixed rolled grains, and salt in a large bowl..

Add the yeast mixture and the wet mixture to the dry mixture in the large bowl and stir very well.

Brush a 8-cup loaf pan generously with some of the melted butter (or spray with cooking spray). Turn the dough into the tin, cover with a clean, slightly damp cloth, and set in a warm place for 30 minutes, to rise.

Preheat the oven to 350F / 180C, with a rack in the middle. When ready, bake the bread for 55-60 minutes, until golden and pulling away from the sides of the pan. If the top is too pale, leave the bread under the broiler for just a heartbeat - to give the top a bit deeper color. Remove from oven, and turn the bread out of the pan quickly. Let it cool on a rack so it doesn't steam in the pan. Serve warm, slathered with butter. Makes great toast!

Makes 1 loaf.

Note: Total water used for Third Time bread is 2 1/2 cups. Total flour and grains is 4 1/4. Depending on your flour you may need slightly more or less flour, but batter is meant to be fairly loose and sticky. No kneading is necessary.

A Northern Rye Bread from the Babes

The fragrance was irresistible! I know that you are supposed to let bread rest and cool before slicing it but this time we could barely wait for the bread to finish baking.

The braw Bread Baking Babes of March baked a lovely Swedish Rye bread as we gathered around the kitchen table of our hostess of the month, the lovely Astrid of Paulchen's Food Blog. Sweetie can attest that she chose a wonderful recipe for Swedish Rye Bread adapted from the Tassajara Bread Book by Edward Espe Brown. Tassajara Bread Book. It is described in the Tassajara Bread Book as "sweet-smelling and scented, a light bread suitable for sandwiches." This one is a keeper.

The bread that came out of the oven was moist and light and thrilled the taste buds with the flavors of orange, rye and caraway. (I left out the anise seed since it is not a flavor I enjoy.) There was a wonderful crust and just the right amount of chewiness. At Astrid's recommendation I baked it in a bread pan. I've never been a huge fan of rye bread but this may be the rye bread that changes that. It's wonderful!

I used a dark rye flour and expected a strong rye flavor, but it was just right, a sort of medium rye flavor. We had those first slices topped with some butter. I look forward to enjoying the rest of the loaf with some cheese, as toast, and maybe with pastrami because it goes so well with rye.

I know you are going to want to be a Buddy this month and bake this great and easy rye bread. Instead of using a mixer we get to play with wooden spoons and our hands. To be a Bread Baking Buddy just go over to Astrid's post for the recipe (including great step by step photos), bake it, take at least one photo to share with her via e-mail and tell her about your experience baking this great rye bread. She even has a fill-in form on her blog to make it super easy.

Do check out the beautiful loaves baked by many of the Babes this month. The links are to the right.

Other than not adding the anise seed and only making half the recipe, I followed the recipe as written. That may be why it turned out so well! Since the recipe is over at Astrid's I won't post it here.

Last but not least in any way, I'm sending this to Susan at Wild Yeast for the weekly Yeastspotting event. A treasure trove of great bread recipes awaits you when you visit and there just might be some variations on the Swedish Rye Bread...next Friday probably.

XO Elle

Swedish Rye Bread

adapted from Tassajara Bread Book by Edward Espe Brown

1.
3 cups lukewarm water
1 1/2 tablespoons dry yeast (2 packets)
1/3 cups honey
1 cup dry milk
grated peel of 2 oranges
2 teaspoons anise seeds
2 teaspoons caraway seeds
4 cups unbleached white flour

2.
4 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup oil
4 cups rye flour
1 cup whole wheat flour (for kneading)

Method:

1. Dissolve the yeast in water. Add the honey and dry milk plus the oranges and seeds

2. Add the flour to get a thick batter.

Add one cup of flour at a time, stirring good after each addition. The more flour you add the more you knead to go into a beating mode with your spoon. Best way is to stir up and down in a circular mode from the bottom of the bowl to the surface of the dough. Don't forget to scrape the sides of the bowl from time to time. After the 4 cups of flour you should have a thick mud-like dough.

3. Beat well with a spoon (100 strokes).

Continue to beat until you have a smooth dough. Again pull your spoon under the dough and bring it up to the surface again in a circular mode. The batter will be more elastic while you are doing this as more and more air gets incorporated.

4. Let rise for 45 minutes.

Cover the bowl with a damp towel and let rise in a warm place.

5. Folding in the remaining ingredients. Do not stir! Do not cut through the dough, this will improve the elasticity and strength of the dough.

6. Sprinkle on the salt and pour on the oil. Stir around the side of the bowl working carefully your way towards the center. Rotate your bowl a little with every stroke you do. Repeat until all of the salt and oil is incorporated.

7. Sprinkle the flour 1/2 a cup at a time onto the dough. Again fold it in while rotating your bowl.

8. Continue until the dough comes away from the sides of your bowl. Now the dough is ready to give it a good knead!

9. Plop your dough on your kneading board and scrap all remainings from the bowl onto the dough. Keep in mind that your surface should be floured enough to prevent the dough from sticking to much on the board.

10. Flour your hands and the top of the dough. From the middle of your down stretch it away from you and then fold it back onto the remaining part of the dough. Continue to push down and forward.

11. Turn the dough a quarter turn. Again continue with the pushing and folding.

12. Turn, fold, push. Rock forward. Twist and fold as you rock back. Be careful not to stretch the dough too much and tear it. Add flour to the boards as needed.

13. While you continue with the kneading the dough will become more and more elastic, smooth and shiny.

14. When you are finished, place the dough in your lightly oiled bowl smooth side down, then turn it over so the dough ball is covered lightly with oil. This will prevent the dough from forming a crust on the top while rising.

15. Cover the bowl with a damp towel again and set aside to rise in a warm place. (50.60 minutes until doubled in size)

16. Punch down your dough with your fists steadily and firmly about 15-20 times.

17. Let rise again 40-50 minutes until doubled in size again.

18. Preheat your oven at 350°F.

19. Turn your dough onto the board again.

20. Form the dough into a ball. Cut the dough into two even pieces and form smaller balls again. Let rest for 5 minutes.

21. Knead the dough and fold it about 5 times, this gives the dough added spring. After the final push turn the dough a quarter turn.

22. Roll up the dough into a log shape. Seam at the bottom, flatten the top of the dough. Square the sides and ends. Turn the dough over and pinch the seams all the way.

23. Put the dough seam side down into your pan. Press it down into the pan with your fingers.

24. Cover and let rise again. This will take 20-25 minutes.

25. Cut the top with 1/2 inch deep slits to allow the steam to escape.

26. You and brush with eggwash and sprinkle with poppy seeds or sesame if you want!

27. Bake for about 50-60 minutes.

28. Remove from pan to cool down completely.

Have a Heart

This is a super late Valentine's post (due to a trip to Monterey this past weekend), but you could use this idea for St. Patrick's Day by making three braids, coiling each into a circle, placing on the baking pan in a clover shape, and using a bit of dough cut off one end to make a stem for the clover. It would also make a fine triple braid loaf (well actually two triple braid loaves) if you are not into holiday celebration craftiness.

I made the Valentine's heart bread for Grandma L since she invited us for dinner on Valentine's day and she is more of a savory person than someone who likes sweets. She loved it and we ate about half of it with dinner.

I like that it is an easy dough to work with and that it has seeds throughout. There is also the goodness of oatmeal and whole wheat flour plus the happy use of sourdough starter for the leavening. Makes great toast, too. I was making the savory biscotti dough at the same time as this dough, so I put the seeded dough into the fridge for a day and a half which deepened the sourdough flavor and meant that I could bake it up fresh for the dinner party.

Yesterday I made the same dough again, but didn't retard it as long as Grandma's loaf. I also make enough for three loaves, each about a pound and a half. Two became long braids and one a braid coiled to fit a 9" cake pan.

As you can see, this is all about fun with delicious bread as the product.

I'm sending this over to Susan at Wild Yeast for the weekly Yeastspotting event. This is a wonderful weekly roundup of great yeast based recipes, and a few things made using bread. Do jump over there and check it out.

Sourdough Oatmeal and Whole Wheat Bread with Seeds

Poolish
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup water
1 1/2 cups sourdough starter

Second
1/3 cup oats
1/3 cup water
1 cup bread flour
1/3 cup water
all of the Poolish

Third
2 1/2 cups bread flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup mixed seeds (I used King Arthur Ancient Grains which also includes some rolled grains) like sunflower, flax, poppy, sesame, pumpkin
all of the Second mixture
1/2 cup milk (I used 2% but any milk will do, even canned evaporated)
1/2 cup water

about 1/4 cup additional bread flour

Olive oil to oil rising container and plastic wrap

Glaze:
1 egg
1 teaspoon water

Poolish:
In a large bowl combine the all-purpose flour and the whole wheat flour. Stir in the water until it is combined and fairly smooth. Stir in the sourdough starter and combine well. Let sit at room temperature about two hours. Tiny bubbles will form in the mixture.

Second:
In a microwave safe bowl combine the rolled oats and 1/3 cup water. Microwave on high one minute. Stir. Return to microwave and cook and additional two minutes. Set aside to cool.
When oatmeal is cool, break it up with a spoon. Take the Poolish mixture and stir in the flour, water and cooled oatmeal. Let sit on the counter 2 hours.

Third:

In a large bowl or measuring cup combine the bread flour, whole wheat flour, salt and seeds.
Place the Second mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the milk and water and beat on low speed with the paddle attachment to combine.

Switch to the bread hook and add the flour/seed mixture, about a 1/2 cup at a time, letting the dough form and climb the hook. As the dough becomes supple it will mostly clean the sides of the bowl. Use the additional flour, if needed, adding it about 1 tablespoon at a time, to keep the dough from slumping off the hook and into the bottom of the bowl. Knead 6 - 8 minutes or until dough is soft and supple.

Use olive oil to prepare a large bowl or container for letting the dough rise. Cover with oiled plastic wrap or a clean shower cap and let rise until doubled in bulk, about 2 hours.

Punch down the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured board. Divide into two or three equal portions.

Each portion can be shaped as you wish, put in a pan if desired or put onto a baking sheet lined with parchment or Silpat mat. Cover with oiled plastic wrap and a tea towel and let rise until doubled in bulk.

Glaze the loaves with a wash made of one egg beaten with 1 teaspoon of water.

Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 20-35 minutes (depending on shape) until golden brown and loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the back. Let cool a bit before slicing into bread.

Kaiser Rolls with the Babes

Yes, it's that day of the month when the Bread Baking Babes gather around the kitchen table and talk bread.


When the introduction to the month's bread includes and 'evil grin' you know that you're going to have fun.

The lovely Astrid of Paulchen's Food Blog, our Kitchen of the Month, brought us a lovely recipe for Vienna Bread from Peter Reinhart's Bread Bakers Apprentice book.

It makes a wonderfully soft and easy to handle dough, even when roughened up a bit with stone-ground whole wheat flour as mine was. (I used a cup of whole-wheat bread flour in place of a cup of regular bread flour. It's some that I got at the Bale Grist Mill. A recent article in the local paper indicates that the Mill might close due to State of California budget cuts so if you can get to Napa California on a weekend this summer do check it out before it's closed.)

Here is what Astrid had to say about the history of Vienna bread: Vienna bread is a type of bread that is produced from a process developed in Vienna, Austria, in the 19th century.

In the 19th century, for the first time, bread was made only from beer yeast and new dough (no old dough). The first noted or applauded example of this was the sweet-fermented Imperial "Kaiser-Semmel" roll of the Vienna bakery at the Paris Exposition of 1867. These sweet-fermented rolls lacked the acid sourness typical of lactobacillus, and were said to be popular and in high demand.
In 1867 the Paris Exposition was said to recognize the Vienna Bakery as, "First in the world."

In Vienna leaven is never used for making the rolls and small goods for which that city is famous. Viennese bakers use either brewers' yeast or a ferment, prepared by themselves, of which the basis is an infusion of hops.

Citation: Hugh Chisholm, ed (1910). The encyclopædia britannica: a dictionary of arts, sciences ..., Volume 4. Retrieved 2010 Aug 20.

The Vienna bread-production process innovations are often popularly credited for baking with steam leading to different crust characteristics, however Horsford, in his 1875 Report on Vienna Bread, wrote:
The Austrian bakery in the Paris Exposition in 1867, for the production of loaf-bread, was provided with the steam-arrangement; but the oven of the Vienna bakery, on exhibition at the Vienna Exposition for the production of rolls, was a dry oven.

Peter's version does use 'old bread' so it's not completely authentic, but it is delicious. You can also skip letting the pâte fermentée sit overnight and use it after it has mellowed on the conter for two hours which will get you a bread closer to the authentic one, but the overnight wait really does enhance the flavor of the bread.


I really enjoyed this bread. The crumb is tight and the texture is very soft. Although I did use water in the pan and sprayed the oven and the rolls when they went in, I found the crust to be minimal, which was surprising. It was fun making the Kaiser shape. I've never made Kaiser rolls and had wondered how the top got that pleated look...it's easier than you might think. Astrid provides a great demonstation set of photos on her post. I guess I enjoy shaping dough and seeing what happens.

Do check out the other Babes' renditions of Vienna bread, too. Links can be found at the right. It makes good sausage rolls, too, a plus if you are doing a lot of cooking on the grill.

Here is what Astrid said about being a buddy:
The Bread Baking Babes are a closed group but we thought it would be fun to reward people who take the effort of baking our breads with us and give them a nice Buddy Badge and mention in a round up post every month. Just to say thank you for baking along and sharing your thoughts with us.

Since we are Babes and do no obey to rules, there are nearly no rules for Buddies, except these two:
1. Bake the featured bread, snap a pic & share your thoughts about how you liked it (or not liked it)
2. Send an email to the Kitchen of the Month to notify us and make it easier to write the round up

I'm sending this over to Susan at Wild Yeast for the weekly Yeastspotting round-up, too. Check it out if you love yeasted bread and things made with yeasted bread!

Peter Reinhart's "Bread Baker's Apprentice" Viennese Bread

Pâte Fermentée
makes 16-17 ounces

1 1/8 cups (5 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/8 cups (5 ounces) unbleached bread flour
3/4 teaspoon (.19 ounces) salt
/2 teaspoon (.55 ounces) instant yeast
3/4 cup (+ 2 tablespoons) (6-7 ounces) water, room temperature

Method:

Stir together salt, yeast and flours. Add 3/4 water mix on low speed with paddle attachment until everything comes together. The dough should be neither too sticky nor too stiff. When touched with finger it should stick to finger but be easily released (better stay on the stickier side than to be too stiff!)

Transfer dough on counter sprinkled with some flour. Knead until dough is soft and pliable (tacky, not sticky!) Knead for 4-6 minutes.

Oil your bowl and transfer dough to the bowl coating it with oil all around! Cover with plastic foil and let ferment until 1 1/2 swelled in size (about 1 hour).

Degas dough trough kneading lightly an d return to bowl again to go to sleep in the fridge over night.
I like to use an airtight plastic bag. You can store it up to 3 days in you fridge now.

Peter Reinhart says:
"You can also use this on the same day you make it, if you ferment it at room temperature for 2 hours instead of refrigerating it. Flavor enhances through the night in the refrigerator though,... "



Vienna Bread
makes two 1 pound loaves or 9-12 pistoles

2 1/3 cups (13 ounces) pate fermentee
2 2/3 cups (12 ounces) unbleached bread flour
1 tablespoon (.5 ounces) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon (.25 ounces) diastatic barley malt powder
or 1 tablespoon (.75) barley malt syrup
1 teaspoon (.25 ounces) salt
1 teaspoon (.11 ounces) instant yeast
1 large (1.65 ounces) egg, slightly beaten
1 tablespoon (.5 ounces) unsalted butter or shortening ant room temp, melted
3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoons (6-7 ounces) water, lukewarm

semolina flour or cornmeal for dusting

Method:

1 hour before starting to make the bread: remove pate fermentee from fridge. Cut into 10 pieces. Cover with a towel or plastic wrap.

Let's start: flour, sugar, malt powder, salt and yeast go into the mixing bowl. Add pate fermentee pieces, egg, butter and 3/4 cups of water. Stir together until you have a nice ball. If your dough is rather firm or stiff, use a little more water, we want the dough to be soft at this stage.

Knead to knead: Knead for about 10 minutes on floured counter or on your machine with dough hook on medium speed for 6 minutes. Add flour if needed to achieve a firm but elastic dough (tacky not sticky).

Peter Reinhard says: "the dough should pass the windowpane test" - honestly I've never done this and it worked for me without this test... dough temp should range between 77° and 81°F.

Rest baby, rest: Transfer dough to lightly oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap. Ferment at room temp for two hours or until doubled in size.

Punch it: When doubled in size, punch it down and return to bowl until dough doubles again.

Shape it, baby: Remove dough from bowl to counter and divide into 2 equal pieces for loaves. Or into 3 to 4 ounce pieces for pistolets (French split rolls). Shape larger pieces into boules (balls) and smaller ones into rolls. Mist the dough lightly with oil and cover loosely with plastic.

Rise, rise, rise: Leave to proof at room temp 60-90 minutes or until they have risen to approx. 1 3/4 of their original size.

Let's bake: Preheat your oven to 450°F and place an empty steam pan in your oven.
Just before baking mist the loaves or rolls with water and dust lightly with flour. Score loves and rolls down the center.

Steam it: Slide loaves or rolls onto baking stone or baking tray. pour 1 cup water into your steam pan quickly close oven door. After 30 seconds open oven door and spray oven walls with water, close again. Repeat twice in 30 sec intervals. After final spray lower heat to 400°F for 10 minutes. Rotate breads 180° for even baking. Continue baking until breads are golden brown.

Cool it: Remove breads or rolls from oven and let cool on cooling rack for at least 45 minutes before slicing or serving (if you can!)

I will probably do a loaf as stated above and a variation of it called "Dutch Crunch or Mottled Bread" - if any of you Babes is interested here is how:

Peter Reinhart says:
Dutch crunch is one of many names given to bread made with a special mottled topping. It doesn't refer to any particular formula, as the crunch topping can be spread on pretty any type of bread.

Here is how:
Whisk together, 1 tablespoon bread flour, 3/4 cups rice flour, 3/4 teaspoon instant yeast, 2 teaspoons granulated sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 2 teaspoons vegetable oil and 6-8 tablespoons water to make a paste.
If it seems too thin to spread without running off the top of the dough add more rice flour. It should be thick enough to spread with a brush, but not so thick that it sits like a lump of mud. This makes enough for 2-4 loaves.


You can also easily make "Kaiser rolls" with this dough which is THE common roll here in Austria (especially Vienna)
.
The Kaiser roll, also called a Vienna roll or a hard roll (original name: Semmel or Kaisersemmel; if made by hand also: Handsemmel), is a kind of bread roll, supposedly invented in Vienna, and thought to have been named to honor Emperor Franz Joseph. It is a typically crusty round roll made from flour, barm, malt, water and salt, with the top side usually divided in a rotationally symmetric pattern of five segments, separated by curved superficial cuts radiating from the centre outwards. Kaiser rolls are often produced by machine, as well as by hand. You can see the details at Astrid's post on Vienna Bread.

Herbs Join Potatoes and Sourdough

One of the joys of baking bread, once you have gotten used to it, is that you can play around with recipes to make your own custom bread, just the way you like it.

I love sourdough and I also love herbs, Parmesan cheese, and breads with mashed potatoes in them. Since my 'toss off' from feeding my sourdough starter had itself been fed a combination of a cup of flour and a cup of water and had sat out on the counter for a couple of hours letting the yeasties get happy, I decided to put all of these things together into one bread. It helped that I had some cooked, cooled potato chunks and the cooking water. You probably think that I knew all along that I would make potato bread today, but in reality I was making something else with potatoes and had some ends left over, so I cooked them up and they cooled off while I was doing other things.

A quick look at my Index (see the link over at the right with the table set for a meal photo?...if you click on it you'll jump to my Index of recipes. I know the Bread section is long, but you might stumble across a bread (or other recipe) you might like to try...you never know) yielded both an herbed bread recipe I put together one day and a potato bread recipe from the talented Tanna of My Kitchen in Half Cups. A short time later some elements from each were combined into this great bread recipe. I bet you could look at it and easily figure out ways to make it YOUR custom bread...add some pine nuts or feta, change the herbs, fold in some sun dried tomatoes....you get the idea!

Sending this over to Susan at Wild Yeast for her weekly Yeastspotting event...a virtual wonderland of bread recipes using yeast...or recipes using bread made with yeast. Check it out! More opportunities to custom make your own bread by starting with one you find through Yeastspotting and making small changes. Just be sure to give credit where credit is due if you post your creation.

Italian Herbed Sourdough Potato Bread
makes two loaves

1 cup sourdough starter at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon instant yeast (I used RapidRise)
1/4 cup tepid water
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 cup mashed potatoes, cooled (OK to leave skins on or to peel them)
1/2 cup water from cooking the potatoes for mashed potatoes, cooled
1/2 teaspoon each dried basil, oregano, and crumbled dried rosemary
1 tablespoon minced fresh Italian parsley (or any parsley)
1/4 cup olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
about 5 cups all-purpose flour (I used 2 cups whole wheat flour and about 3 cups all-purpose flour whisked together)

Put the sourdough starter in a large mixing bowl. If using a stand mixer, attach the paddle.

In a small bowl, combine the yeast and the tepid water and sugar. Stir. Let sit for 5 minutes to make sure yeast is active. Active yeast will smell very yeasty and clumps of bubbly yeast will rise to the surface of the water.

After it has proofed, add the yeast mixture to the bowl containing the sourdough starter. Add the mashed potatoes and potato water. Mix in the herbs, olive oil and salt. Add a cup of the flour and mix until combined.

Switch to the dough hook (or continue mixing with a wooden spoon), adding flour a 1/2 cup at a time and mixing until incorporated. If using a stand mixer, keep adding flour until the dough cleans the sides of the bowl. Continue to knead using the dough hook another 6 - 8 minutes until dough is satiny. If stirring by hand, stir flour into dough until it is too hard to stir, then turn dough out onto a well-floured board or clean, well-floured counter and knead the rest of the flour into the dough. Amount of flour will vary. Keep kneading until dough is satiny and supple.

Once you have finished kneading dough if using the stand mixer, turn out onto a lightly flour surface, knead a few times to make sure everything is combined.

Using either method of kneading, place kneaded dough into an oiled large bowl or rising container, turn to coat whole of dough with oil, cover with plastic wrap and a tea towel and let rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 - 1 1/2 hours. Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface, divide in half and put one half back into the rising container. For the half of dough on the work surface, press down on it to shape into a rectangle about 8 by 12 inches. (Optional: sprinkle dough with about 3/4 cup of mixed Italian shredded cheeses).

Roll up dough along the long side, fold the ends under, pinch to seal, and put into a greased loaf pan. Shape second half of dough the same way or shape into a braid, as I did, or into rolls.Cover shaped dough with a damp kitchen tea towel(s) and put in a warm place to rise.

When risen to double in bulk, place in preheated 400 degree F oven to bake for about 20 - 25 minutes. Finished loaf is golden and sounds hollow when bottom is tapped. Let cool on rack until barely warm. Slice and serve. Enjoy the aromas of herbs and fresh bread.
This bread has a nice crackly crust from the sourdough starter and a tender crumb from the potatoes. Photo below shows sliced braid.

Going Slower

Time certainly seems to be flying by at its usual breakneck pace but the healing of the knee injury seems to be going slowly, so I'm going slower and doing less, too. Every now and then Sweetie and I go to our favorite cafe during the week for breakfast. They have a great breakfast special with reduced price and Sweetie really loves their French Toast. With the knee still somewhat painful if I use it much at all, this week we stayed home when we usually would have gone to the cafe. The good news is that I had made that yummy French bread, so we had some nice homemade bread for French Toast.

French toast is pretty easy as long as you adjust the heat under the pan or griddle so that you don't burn the toast before it is warmed all the way through, especially important so that you aren't eating raw eggs. It helps if you like eggs and dairy and cinnamon.

I started out by mixing the toast soaking batter and getting a couple of slices going. Then I made some cooked apples with cinnamon to go with the French Toast, something that the cafe doesn't do, but it really adds deliciousness and extra nutrition and fiber. Apparently we are still not getting enough fiber in our food and apples are a great and really enjoyable way to do that. Looking back I see that I usually make apples to go with the French toast I blog about...hope you don't mind...but at least this time the bread is also French! French toast with whatever bread you like is such an easy-to-make and well-loved dish that it bears repeating.

So even though it was a chilly gray day (by California standards...probably warm by Minnesota standards) when we had our French Toast, we started off with a sunny breakfast.

(If you were wondering about my cooking and baking with an injured knee, I can assure you that my kitchen is so small that I barely take any steps, I'm only on my feet a short time, and the worse problem I have with the knee is with change in elevations, especially going down. The doctor warned me about that and he is so right. That has kept me indoors a lot because there are a few steps down to the front walk and uneven ground is really a bad idea, so no weeding or pruning or even going to check for tulip bud hidden in the leaves, something I usually do every spring.)

I'm sending this recipe over to Yeastspotting, Susan of Wild Yeast's delightful weekly collection of breads, rolls, sweet rolls and other things made with yeast. Do check it out.

French Toast for Sweetie
Serves 2

4-6 slices bread, French bread if possible
2 eggs or 1/2 cup egg substitute
1 cup milk - 2% or above is recommended, although non-fat condensed (not sweetened) is fine
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, or to taste
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
oil, margarine, or butter if you skillet or griddle isn't non-stick

In a large pie plate or other flat dish scramble together the eggs, milk, and cinnamon. Sprinkle the sugar over the mixture and whisk it in. Elle's note: I use a fork for all of this. Sprinkling the sugar on last helps bring that floating cinnamon down into the mixture.

Heat a large skillet or a griddle over medium-high heat until a drop of water flicked on the surface sizzles. While griddle is heating, soak 2-3 slices of bread in the milk mixture for 1 minute, then turn and let soak another minute.

Place soaked bread slices on the preheated skillet (which you oil while it is preheating if oiling is necessary) and cook until first sides are golden brown, about 2 minutes. Turn and cook the second sides are dark golden brown and toast is heated through. Elle's note: While the first slices are cooking, soak the rest of the slices, turning them over in the batter when you turn the slices that are cooking.

Repeat cooking the remaining slices as you did the first ones. Serve while hot with sauteed apples, maple or cider syrup or other garnish of your choice. Elle's note: some people like a dusting of confectioners sugar and that's what they do at the cafe.

French Sourdough and the Greenthumb Girl

I'm fortunate in my friends. I bet you can say the same dear reader, if you think about it. There are all kinds of friends and if you are lucky, at least one of them will give you a great bread recipe.

One of my friends has a phenomenal green thumb. Her gardens are always beautiful. The plants are happy ones and the colors she uses and shapes go so well together that it is a joy to visit her home and see the gardens. Since I like to use nicknames on the blog instead of true names, she deserves the name Greenthumb Girl.

Greenthumb Girl is also a sweetie and she lent me a favorite recipe of hers for French Bread. Being almost always unable to stay to a recipe as written I don't think that she will mind that I used her recipe to make Sourdough French Bread.

The nice thing about French Bread is its simplicity. Yeast, water, salt and flour are the basic building blocks. This recipe adds a little bit of sugar because yeast really does like a little sugar almost as much as I do. There is also a tiny bit of oil. I ended up using olive oil because it was at hand. It's a mild one so it didn't add much flavor. In fact the sourdough flavor was pretty mild, too, but it still is a wonderful bread.

As you can see from the photos it has a nice combination of tight crumb and holes. It is moist and the crust is thin but crunchy. Grandma L got a small loaf while it was still warm and she had trouble stopping after a few slices it's so tasty. Makes great toast, too!

Our long loaf is gone but we still have the boule. I baked it longer so the crust is darker. All in all its a great bread and I'm so glad Greenthumb Girl let me have her recipe. I'm including her recipe first and my variation second so you can make either one.

Sending this over to Susan at Wild Yeast for her weekly Yeastspotting event, the most wonderful weekly collection of yeasted recipes you can imagine. Hit the link HERE and check it out!

Greenthumb Girl's French Bread

1 pkg yeast
1 1/4 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon shortening oil
1 1/2 cup warm water
1 teaspoon salt
4 or more cups flour

Punch down every 10 minutes...5 times. Let rise 10 minutes. Score before baking. Bake at 400 degrees F for 30-40 minutes.

Makes 2 loaves

Drawing on the recipe card shows two long loaves with scoring like done on baguettes.

Elle's Sourdough Version

Take 1 cup sourdough starter. To it add a mixture of 1 cup all-purpose flour and 1 cup water and 1 tablespoon honey or sugar. Mix to combine and let sit on counter 2 hours, uncovered. Then add a mixture of 1/2 cup all-purpose flour and 1/2 cup water. Mix to combine, cover loosely with plastic wrap and store in fridge overnight.

Warm the mixture by letting it sit on the counter for an hour. Place sourdough mixture in bowl of an electric stand mixer. Attach the dough hook.

To the starter in the bowl add 1 tablespoon vegetable or olive oil and 1/2 cup barely warm water. Mix to combine.

In another bowl combine 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and 5 cups bread flour. Gradually add the flour mixture to the mixture in the bowl until a soft dough forms. Continue adding just enough flour (it may take 6 cups or more) so that dough can knead in the bowl and that it cleans the sides of the bowl. Knead for 10 minutes this way.

Turn kneaded dough into a very large bowl that has been lightly oiled, or into a raising bucket prepared the same way. Turn dough over to coat with oil. Place oiled plastic wrap loosely on top of the dough, cover with a tea towel and let rise for 1 hour. Pull dough over itself in the bowl or bucket, cover again and let rise another 30 minutes. Repeat the dough pulling and rising twice more. (I allowed much longer rising times because often my sourdough starter takes longer.)

Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface and knead a few minutes to release trapped gas. Divide dough and shape into loaves (I made two long loaves and one large (1/2 of the dough) round boule.

Cover shaped dough, which has been placed on parchment for baking, with oiled plastic wrap and tea towel(s) and let rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

Once doubled, remove wraps, brush with a beaten egg, and score tops.

Bake in preheated 425 degree oven until golden brown and loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom...about 30 minutes for the long loaves, 45 minutes for the boule. I added some ice cubes to a pie pan on the bottom of the oven after I put the loaves in...for some steam...and it did make for a nice crust.

Toasted Walnuts Gild the Lily

We have a big walnut tree out back and some of the limbs hang over our deck. At this time of year now and again you will hear the walnuts falling onto the deck…rustle, rustle, clunk…and that’s when I know it’s really autumn.

Most years I’m able to harvest enough nuts to shell that I have some for holiday baking. They need to be removed, in some cases, from their outer husk, laid out in the sun to dry a bit, then stored in a cool place until I have time to crack them and release the meats from the shells. This year the squirrel got there first and seems to have eaten all of the good walnuts. Now when Xam, the Baker’s Dog, barks at the squirrel I cheer him on!

I’ve put up a few posts before now sharing the wonderful sourdough graham bread Brunkans Långa which the Bread Baking Babes baked for September. I continue to make the Brunkans Långa because I now have graham sourdough, which gets fed regularly when I feed my regular sourdough.

The last time I made it I decided to add toasted walnuts because I thought that the slightly bitter and very rich flavor of toasted walnuts would complement the strong and slightly sweet grain flavor of the dough. Was I ever right! It made a wonderful bread even better! Although I enjoyed thick slices of the regular Brunkans Långa, with the toasted walnut version I found that I liked it sliced thinly. It was great by itself, toasted and buttered, with cheese and with sliced meats. I used King Arthur White Wheat flour for the whole wheat part of this and found that I needed to use a bit more than when I made it with regular Whole Wheat Flour.

Now that it is fall and walnuts should be readily available, treat yourself and make this wonderful bread! This picture is slightly blurred...the bread was eaten so quickly that I never had another chance to take a better photo once I realized that this one was sucky.

This great bread will be sent over to Susan at Wild Yeast for the weekly Yeastspotting event, a cornucopia of fantastic yeasted bread recipes. Check it out!

Brunkans långa Note: I made half the recipe, then kneaded 1 cup toasted, chopped walnuts into the dough right before putting it into the container and letting it rise overnight.

Graham flour* sourdough:
Day 1, morning:
Mix 60g/100 ml/0,42 cups graham flour
with 120 g/120 ml/0,5 cups water.
Cover with cling film and leave at room temp.
Day 1, evening:
Add 60g/100 ml/0,42 cups graham flour and
60 g/60 ml/0,25 cups water.
Mix, cover with cling film and leave at room temp.
Day 2, morning:
Add 60g/100 ml/0,42 cups graham flour and
60 g/60 ml/0,25 cups water.
Mix. By now, the sourdough should be a little active (bubbly). If not, add a teaspoon of honey, some freshly grated apple or a teaspoon of natural yogurt. Leave at room temp.
Day 3, morning:
Feed the sourdough with 60g/100 ml/0,42 cups graham flour and
60 g/60 ml/0,25 cups water.
Mix, cover with cling film and put in fridge.
Day 4
By now, the sourdough should be ready to use. If you don’t want to use it right away, you can keep in the fridge if you feed it as above a couple of times/week.
*Graham flour can’t be found everywhere. If you want to recreate an exact substitute, here’s what to do, according to Wikipedia:
Graham flour is not available in all countries. A fully correct substitute for it would be a mix of white flour, wheat bran, and wheat germ in the ratio found in whole wheat. Wheat comprises approximately 83% endosperm, 14.5% bran, and 2.5% germ by mass. For sifted all-purpose white flour, wheat bran, and wheat germ having densities of 125, 50, and 80 grams/cup, respectively, one cup of graham flour is approximately equivalent to 84 g (~2/3 cup) white flour, 15 g (slightly less than 1/3 cup) wheat bran, and 2.5 g (1.5 teaspoons) wheat germ.

Brunkans långa
The tall loaf of Brunkebergs bageri
2 large loaves

Ingredients
600 g/600 ml/2,5 cups water
1125 g/2,48 lb high-protein wheat flour (for 1 loaf: 300 g bread flour, 262 g whole wheat flour)
375 g/13,2 oz graham sourdough (see above)
20 g/0,7 oz fresh yeast
150 g/5,3 oz dark brown sugar
25 g/0,88 oz honey
30 g/1 oz sea salt
1 cup toasted, chopped walnuts if using

Day 1
Mix all wet ingredients in a stand mixer bowl. Whisk together all the dry ingredients in another bowl. With the dough hook attached, add the dry ingredients to the wet, keeping the mixer on a low setting. Work the dough in a stand mixer for 10 minutes. Put the dough in a oiled, plastic box and put the lid on. Leave the dough for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes: fold one side of the dough against the centre of the dough, then fold the other end inwards, finally turn the whole dough so that the bottom side is facing down. If making the toasted walnut version, knead into dough at this point, form dough into as much of a ball as you can and put into the plastic box. Put the plastic box with the dough in the fridge and let it rise over night.

Day 2
Set the oven temp to 250 C/480 F. Leave the baking stone in if you use one.

Pour out the dough on a floured table top and divide it lengthwise with a sharp knife. Put the dough halves on a sheet covered with parchment paper and place another parchment paper or a towel on top. I dusted them with some flour at this point. When the oven is ready, put in the sheet or shove the parchment paper with the loaves onto the baking stone. Put a small tin with 3-4 ice cubes at the bottom of the oven. (The water releases slowly which is supposed to be better.) Lower the oven temperature to 175 C/350 F immediately after you have put in the loaves.

After 20 minutes, open the oven door and let out excess steam.

Bake for 35 minutes or until the loaves have reached an inner temp of 98 C/208 F.

Let cool on wire.