Twisted-up Everything Bread ...and yummy stuff for shmearing...on Moon & Stars bread...or any other.

There's been lots of fun with yeast around mi casa over past week or so.  I went to make another batch of Whole Grain Artisan bread, only to realize I was basically out of Whole Wheat flour...and I had already begun mixing the other things. I changed it up a bit and hoped for the best.  I ended up having less than a cup of the ww flour, so I subbed bread flour...not quite as healthy, but turned out every bit as satisfying!  Next came deciding what to actually make from the dough.  This was a crazy week anyway with it being the last week of school for the kiddos...which included field trips, end of year programs and field day...so we were out of the house a lot.  That's one of the cool things about making the no-knead dough...it lasts a few days in the fridge.  Although, my dough was kind of iffy this week...it seemed to be getting a bit too wet!?  It was hard to form...it just sort of sat and spread it's way across the surface it was resting on.  Basically it didn't rise as well as it could have, but you know...it didn't lose any of its appeal. You know how I adore food with rustic appeal, anyway.

The first loaf I made was from Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day...called Moon and Stars Bread...although I prefer to call it Crescent Moon bread; that's what it looks like after all!  Since this was the first loaf made from the dough, it wasn't quite as wet as it got later...but you can tell it didn't rise as much as a regular, kneaded loaf.  But the dusting of sesame seeds on top and the fun shape totally made up for it!  I used the recipe (slightly adapted, obviously...with the flours) for Whole Grain Artisan Bread found HERE at the HBin5 website.  From here you just form a 1 lb. size piece of the dough into tapered ends and form it into a crescent shape.  After a 90-minute rest, brush it with water and sprinkle it with sesame seeds before cutting slits around the sides with kitchen shears.  Bake ~30 minutes or until done.

This was a great tasting loaf made even better by shmearing with a little White Bean and Roasted Garlic Purée w/ Thyme, which is from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman.

White Bean Purée with Roasted Garlic (& thyme)
slightly adapted
2 c. cooked Great Northern Beans
20 roasted Garlic cloves
2 tsp. fresh thyme leaves
1 Tbs. olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Purée beans, garlic and thyme in blender or food processor...adding a bit of the bean cooking liquid or water or stock until it just makes a smooth purée.  Add to small saucepan with olive oil and mix until hot.  Season with salt and pepper.  Dip it, spread it, shmear it!

...and now on to my favorite surprise from this dough...a happy surprise!  Although I had my doubts...when I turned out the last 3 pounds of the dough onto the counter, it was wet.  Very, very wet.  I added a bit of flour just to help me form the loaves.  I divided it into five ropes and rolled each rope in different delicious toppings.  I wanted to make a twisted-ropelike loaf...um...it was a struggle just to braid them.  Once I left the loaves (I cut it in half because it was a lot of dough) to rise...they just sort of melted together...no visible twist.  Ugh.  BUT, the gorgeous toppings were still twisted and combined and scattered...they looked gorgeous!

I let them rise for ~1 hour and cooked them at 450 degrees F for ~35 minutes, until they were golden and inviting!  What was really cool about the bread was the goodies enveloped inside...since the ropes melded together, there were seeds, crunchy salt, pungeant garlic and mellow, roasted, delicious garlic cloves hidden inside!  It was soooo tasty.  It didn't form and rise perfectly...as a matter of fact it kind of looked like a loaf of ciabatta...but man, was it tasty!

It was delicious sliced lengthwise and made into sammies!  I used what I had today which was salami, pepper-jack cheese, roasted red peppers and bbq potato chips...sound strange?  It was awesome! Mingled with all the deliciousness going on in the bread itself...I think I'll go make another when I'm done here, actually.

Me and my Twisted Everything Bread...we're goin' places.  Like on a picnic...yeah, that sounds perfect.

*I am submitting my Twisted Everything Bread to my friend Natashya at Living in the Kitchen with Puppies for Bread Baking Day #30~ Breads with a twist.
*I am submitting both breads to the current HBin5 Bread Braid...our host for HBin5 is Michelle of Big Black Dog...where the HBin5 group is based!
*The White Bean Purée with Roasted Garlic is my entry to this week's Herb Garden theme over at IHCC...please join us!
*And last, but not least...I'm sending the bread to Susan at Wild Yeast submission into Yeastspotting this week.
Whew!

This bread has been YEASTSPOTTED!!!

Whole Grain Challah with Cranberries & Orange Zest (for our 2nd Bread Braid)

Bread baking time again...hooray! Do you remember me joining the fairly new baking group HBinFive? The one that helped me conquer that fear of the BBY forever? Well, it's time for our December bonus recipe...and I couldn't be happier with the way it turned out! We officially begin baking from the book Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day in the new year, so you have plenty of time to grab your own copy and join us over at Big Black Dog our home base with our host Michelle. While our bonus recipe last month was given to us by Zoe Francois, one half of the team who brings us the book HBin5, this months was chosen by the other half, Jeff Hertzberg, MD. While I can't post the recipe for the Whole Grain Challah with cranberries and orange zest, I can tell you that it is posted HERE...and then show you my process of baking it...so pretty and just begging to be photographed! One thing that I love and that has been so helpful in conquering my fear of the BBY, is the simple process given for the bread in HBin5. Mixing the dry ingredients... ...and then adding the wet...that's it. Look how beautifully this dough rose over the course of a couple of hours! I ripped off an approximately 1 lb. piece and divided into three, formed them into ropes and did a simple braid for my first try. Take my picture, take my picture!! I let it rise for ~90 minutes oh yeah and then gave it an egg wash and sprinkling of sugar and orange zest. It came out of the oven all golden and crusty and beautiful...and sliced up just as nice. Why did I ever fear yeast? I no longer remember. Be sure to head on over to this months Bread Braid to see all of the other variations that were baked up by the members of HBin5!

Pumpkin Brioche CINNAMON ROLLS!!! You want one...doncha!?

There's no stoppin' me now! Me and the BBY are getting to know each other. And we like what we see. I even made cinnamon rolls that you didn't have to pop from a can first! Not that I'll totally shun that convenience, because yeast takes time...but I will definitely make them from scratch any chance I get! 

When I made the Pumpkin Pie Brioche dough last week as a part of the new baking group Healthy Bread in Five, I had half a recipe left in the fridge. After seeing many tempting variations on a plain loaf, I knew cinnamon rolls was the way I had to go. And guess what...it wasn't hard! In fact, it was heavenly. I love the feeling of the dough in my hands...the rolling of the pin...the slight resistance of the dough...perhaps I was a baker in a different life.

Pumpkin Brioche Cinnamon Rolls w/ Cinnamon Icing

(Pumpkin Pie Brioche dough from HBin5)

yield: 12 (big ones)

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Rolls:

½ recipe Pumpkin Pie Brioche dough

4 Tbs. butter, soft

2 handfuls brown sugar

cinnamon, as needed

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Cinnamon Icing:

2 Tbs. butter, melted

3 Tbs. milk

2 c. powdered sugar

¼ tsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp. vanilla

Turn your dough out onto a floured surface. This dough is pretty wet, so pat it in a bit of flour, just so that you're able to work with it.

Shape it into a rectangle.

Roll out to about 1/4" thickness. I'm sorry, I forgot to actually measure the dimensions...but you can basically see in the photo to get an idea.

Rub the softened butter all over the top surface of the dough. Sprinkle the brown sugar evenly over the butter and then sprinkle with cinnamon...as much as you'd like. I went fairly light since my icing has cinnamon in it.

With the long edge horizontal in front of you, begin rolling, jellyroll fashion.

Continue rolling, keeping it as tight as possible until you reach the end.

You should now have a thick log. Push it in at the ends a bit if it seems to thin out.

Using a lightly floured bench scraper, cut into 12 even slices. The easiest way is to cut in half, then quarters...then cut each quarter into 3 equal parts.

Place in a greased 13 x 9 pan and set in a warm place, loosely covered to rise for 90 minutes. It's going to seem like the pan is too big...but no worries.

Those BBY really get busy in this 90 minutes!! The original dough that didn't fill the pan...it's puffed right up and out and the rolls are now crowding each other. Nice! Place your pan in the center of a pre-heated 350° F oven and bake for ~18-22 minutes. But as ovens vary, use your eyes and your nose and touch 'em!!

While they're baking, mix up your icing. Simply place all of the ingredients in a bowl and mix them up! Set it aside until the rolls are ready.

You should be able to tell when they're done...even if you've only ever made the pop can kind! Take those babies out of the oven...

...and drizzle or spread with icing while still warm.

Pull one out...

...and enjoy.

Immensely!!!

If I can do it...you can do it! Now I wish they weren't all gone...because I want another one :)

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If you're interested in baking Healthy Bread in Five, please join us...just click on the button!

I made yeast bread...or Pumpkin Pie Brioche for HBin5!

I did it. I did it. I did it. Yay. Yo lo hice.... Seriously, I want to bust out in a Dora song!!! Remember scaredy cat me? You know, afraid of the big, bad yeasties? How long have I been telling you I'm just going to do it? Jump in. Make friends with BBY (big bad yeasty). I bit the bullet. Michelle of Big Black Dog has started a new group based on the new book by Jeff Hertzberg MD and Zoe Francois called Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day. It's called (fittingly) Healthy Bread in Five (or HBin5, as you'll see me refer to it from here on out). We're going to be...baking bread. Healthy bread. And I couldn't be more excited! Oh yes, I'll still visit my favorite bakeries to bask in that beautiful smell and tear into that warm bread....just not as often. Because I am conquering my fear. HBin5 officially starts at the beginning of 2010 to give people time to get through the craziness of the holidays and to purchase the book. But until then, we'll be baking a bonus recipe once a month! Never before published recipes from Zoe and Jeff...Novembers recipe being Pumpkin Pie Brioche. I can't give you the recipe because of copyright laws, but Michelle has permission to print it, so you can head over there to see it. But I'll show you how I accomplished step #1 in conquering my BBY fear...just doing it. A yeasted bread, baking in the oven is one of my most favorite scents in the whole wide world! And even though there is both pumpkin and spices in this bread...they are very understated. I smelled that heavenly scent after 10 minutes or so in the oven...and then tasted it in every bite. Goodbye BBY, hello homemade yeast bread!So, don't forget to follow that link for the recipe if you want to give it a try (you totally should). But I can't help but show you the process...you know me.... Those BBY were ready to taunt me, but I threw them in with the other ingredients without a second glance. I mixed the dry and added the wet. I put it in a container. And it rose! It really, really rose! Pretty, huh? I tore off a piece and I shaped it. And then I set it aside to rise again. And it rose! Again!! Woot, Woot! I prepped it for the oven and sat in a mix of anticipation and sensory ecstasy while it baked. And then the torture of letting it cool before cutting. But all worth it. All completely worth it. Beautiful plain.Beautiful toasted with cinnamon and sugar sprinkled on top. Want to join us for next months Bread Braid (HBin5 round-up, basically)? Head on over to sign up now! Simply click on the badge.....