Roasted Red Pepper Fougasse + Simple Olive Oil Dough

This month is all about the RED. Valentine's Day, National Heart Month, and the Red Carpet (thanks to the Oscars) all come to mind when I think February. With those as our abstract inspiration, the #TwelveLoaves bakers have chose RED as our bread baking theme this month. This theme was wide open to so many ingredients. I was very close to making a bread with red quinoa, but I just couldn't find one that I was happy with in time. Then I thought maybe I'd go the jam route and make some sweet buns or danish. Ultimately, I wound up making a beautiful, yet simple, loaf of fougasse that is stuffed with roasted red peppers.

The basis for this fougasse is a no-knead olive oil dough that I make often from The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. It comes together in five minutes, it's sturdy, and it freezes nicely. It's great for a simple loaf of white bread, some focaccia, or what we use it for most often - pizza crust!

No-Knead Chocolate Bread Dough (+ Chocolate Chocolate Chip Bread and Chocolate Prune Bread) for Bread Baking Babes

There's a moment early in my marriage that I will never forget. Okay, plenty of moments, but...

We were living in our first little house. It was probably the first year of our marriage. Our kitchen was ridiculously tiny. My total counter space was 12-inches by 13-inches. That made not only cooking and baking things hard (the prep part), it also meant we had limited space to put things. So, our loaves of bread were stored on top of the refrigerator - right next to the cereal, of course.

I was in the kitchen doing dishes, or something equally exciting, when I heard the crinkle of a cello bag.  The hubs was going in. He reached around me to grab a clean plate, then plopped a couple of slices from the bag onto it. Thirty seconds later I hear sounds of protest. This isn't chocolate. I thought it was chocolate!

Nope. It was Rye-Pump Swirl.

Fantan Rolls: Orange Marmalade + Cinnamon-Sugar. It's official, I'm a Babe.

Yup, it's true.  I am a Babe.  For a couple of years now, I have been baking alongside the Babes as a Buddy.  But this month, I have officially been welcomed into the racy* circle of lovely ladies and given the title of "Babe".  I'm honored!

And to kick off my very first month as an official babe, I made our bread of the month (chosen and hosted by Babe Elle), Fantan Rolls.  Fantans are basically a mini... or individually portioned... little pull-apart breads like this one.  It just so happens that that is one of THE most requested types of bread in my house - especially by my littlest man.

If you check out Elle's original recipe, you'll see that she used orange marmalade in hers.  It looked so sunny and jewel-like that I had to use marmalade myself.  But since I know the fam's favorite filling in this style of bread is cinnamon-sugar, I made half of the Fantans that way.

I really loved the lightly sweetened dough that is speckled with hints of whole wheat and nutmeg.  Plus, once drizzled with a little icing, these rolls would make the perfect addition to any breakfast or brunch table!  I am aching to make a savory version, though...maybe half using smooshed, roasted garlic and brie, and half using salty olive tapenade.

I did two things slightly different when making and forming the dough than the original method stated. Number one, I used my trusty bread machine to do all of the mixing and kneading (it was a busy weekend - that half hour with free hands really helped).  And number two, I found that cutting the dough into all squares before stacking (as opposed to stacking the long strips and then cutting) really made for a much easier time assembling the dough.

So what do you think?  Would you go sweet or savory?  And what would you fill your fantan rolls with?

Fantan Rolls

by Heather Schmitt-González

Prep Time: 2½ hrs. + overnight (largely

Cook Time: ~20 minutes

Keywords: bake bread breakfast

Ingredients (12-18 rolls)

starter:

• 2¼ tsp. instant yeast
• ½ c. warm water
• ½ c. bread flour

dough:

• ~3 c. bread flour + more as needed
• 1 c. whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp. fine salt
• ¼ tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 c. non-fat evaporated milk
• ¼ c. (½ stick) butter
• ¼ c. pure maple syrup
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• ½ tsp. pure vanilla extract

filling:

• ~2 oz. (½ stick / 4 Tbs.) melted butter
• ⅔-1 c. jam or marmalade, warmed for 30 seconds in microwave

Instructions

starter:

Combine yeast, warm water, and flour in a bowl. Let sit at room temperature for at least 4 hours, or up to overnight; it should be a bubbly.

dough:

Combine the evaporated milk, butter, and maple syrup in a small saucepan and heat slowly until butter is just about melted. Turn off heat and swirl to finish melting butter. Let cool to 110° F if not at that temperature already.

Place the flours, salt, and nutmeg into a large bowl and mix to combine. Make a well in the center and add the yeast mixture; start stirring. Add milk mixture and continue to stir until fully incorporated, switching to your hands when too stiff for spoon.

Turn out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead until smooth and silky; should be just tacky to the touch, but not sticky. If needed, add a bit of additional flour while kneading.

Place in a lightly oiled bowl, turning to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and set in a warm place to rise until doubled in size, ~1 hour.

finishing:

Dust your work surface with flour and turn the dough out onto it. Punch it down, then divide it in half (to make 12 really large rolls) or in thirds (to make 18 medium-large rolls). Wrap unused portion in the plastic wrap and set aside while working with other dough.

One at a time, roll the dough portion into a 12"×12" square (or square-ish shape). Brush dough with half (or a third) of the melted butter.

Spread the surface of the dough with about ½ (or a third) the warmed filling. Cut into 6 equal strips. Cut again the opposite way to make 6 equal squares per row (you should wind up with 36 squares). Pile the squares into stacks of 6, turning the top square on each stack filling side down.

Place each stack into a greased/buttered muffin tin, standing up so the layers are visible. Gently fan them open. Each will have six dough pieces with filling in between. Repeat with the remaining dough and the rest of the filling for the other six cups of the muffin tin (or use an extra half of a muffin tin if making 18).

Cover with a plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel and let the rolls rise in a draft free spot at warm room temperature until doubled in size, 45-60 minutes.

Place the rack in the middle and preheat the oven to 375° F during last 15-20 minutes of rise time.

Remove plastic or towel. Slice rolls into preheated oven and bake until golden brown, ~20 minutes. Let the fantans cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack and allow to cool for about another 20 minutes before serving. (It is important to turn them out after 10 minutes, especially if you used a jam/marmalade filling, as it can start to stick as it cools.)

notes:

You could also use cinnamon-sugar in place of jam or marmalade - or do half and half. You could also add finely chopped nuts or dried fruit.

Try making a savory version by leaving out the nutmeg and maple syrup, and using a savory filling (like pesto, tapenade, etc.).

If you like, you can whisk together 1 teaspoon milk with enough confectioners' sugar to make a thick glaze. Drizzle over the rolls and let icing harden a bit before serving.

If you don't have any evaporated milk, you can stir together ⅔ cup non-fat powdered milk with ¾ cup warm water until dissolved; this should yield 1 cup.

These rising times were what worked in my kitchen. Depending on the temperature of yours, it's possible it could take a bit longer. Just keep an eye on the dough.

Also, I'll admit that I like to use my bread machine to mix up the dough when I'm busy and want to use the mixing and kneading time to get something else done. Simply place all of the ingredients into the bread machine in the order suggested by the manufacturer (with the overnight starter added last), and let run through mixing and kneading cycles. Remove and place dough in oiled bowl for first rise and continue as directed. I did this and it worked beautifully. I was also too lazy to mix the powdered milk and water that I used in place of evaporated milk, so I added the water with the wet ingredients and the powdered milk with the dry - didn't make a difference.

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*rac·y  /ˈrāsē/Adjective
1. Lively, entertaining, and sexually titillating.
2. (of a wine, flavor, etc.) Having a characteristic quality in a high degree.
Synonyms: spicy

The Bread Baking Babes

Bake My Day - Karen

blog from OUR kitchen - Elizabeth

Feeding my Enthusiasms - Pat/Elle

girlichef  - Heather

Life's a Feast - Jamie

Living in the Kitchen with Puppies - Natashya

Lucullian Delights - Ilva

My Kitchen In Half Cups - Tanna

Notitie Van Lien - Lien

Paulchen's Foodblog - Astrid

Provecho Peru - Gretchen

Thyme for Cooking - Katie

Babe Elle of Feeding My Enthusiasms is the Bread Baking Babes host kitchen this month.  If you'd like to be a buddy this month, bake your fantans and send the link over to Elle by the 29th!


I am also sharing this post with:
Yeastspotting & Bake Your Own Bread

BYOB - #BakeYourOwnBread (Dec.'12)

Hello!  Who else cannot believe that it is already December?  I look forward to a month filled with holiday-inspired creations.  Speaking of inspired, did you check out last month's #BakeYourOwnBread basket? As usual, I have about a zillion more recipes that I must try.  MUST.  This month is bittersweet for me.  I'm so excited that we've made it through another year of baking bread at home...and that all of you have joined me on this journey.  But that also means that my year of hosting is drawing to a close.  And that I will be passing the bread basket.  But not to worry, the lovely Roxana of Roxana's Home Baking will be taking over in the new year; the basket will be ready and waiting for your home baked bread.

And now, I look forward to everybody joining us and helping us to fill up our final bread basket.  Let's fill it high!  I want some lovely holiday breads poking out this month.

How to participate (the rules):
1.) Blog about bread.  It can be a post about baking bread in any form (yeast, wild yeast, quick breads, flat breads, sweet, savory, loaves, rolls, breadsticks, tortillas, scones, biscuits, crackers, etc.).  It could also be a recipe that uses bread in it or as a base (pizza, bread pudding, sandwiches, etc.).  Or it could be an informative post, a tutorial or how-to post (such as how to make sourdough, bread baking essentials, favorite products for baking bread, etc.).  It could be a review of a book or cookbook having to do with bread.  It could be a photo-only post (bread festival, bakery tour, etc.).  Anything that inspires us to bake bread at home.

2.) Include a link back to this post or any of the monthly link-up posts (link in my sidebar or at the bottom) OR link to one of the other hosts.  As long as there is a link that leads people back to BYOB.  You can use a text link or the BYOB button.

  3.) Add a link to your post in the current month's BYOB linky/roundup post on any of the hosting blogs.  If you are participating in the optional BYOB - Featured Bread Blog, please let us know by dropping me a note in the comments or somehow marking  your post.

4.)  Please link only posts from the current month.

BYOB - #BakeYourOwnBread hosting team:

 -Heather from girlichef

-Connie from My Discovery of Bread

Let's make this December bread basket overflow!

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Enter your BREAD and BREAD-RELATED posts below

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1. Four breads from Bread Bakers Apprentice	2. Cherry Berry Crescent Rolls	3. Mrs. Kostyras Christmas Stollen	4. Nazook With Toasted Coconut	5. Christmas Tree Bread by Jessie
6. Herbed Oatmeal Pan Bread	7. Whole Wheat-Spelt Sourdough Puffed Breads	8. Banana Bread	9. Potato, Cheddar, and Chive Torpedoes	10. Cornmeal, Scallion, and Smoked Gouda Drop Biscuits
11. Cranberry-Vanilla Cinnamon Swirl Bread	12. 3 Cheese and Prosciutto Bread Sticks	13. Choreg/Chorak~The Armenian Brioche	14. My Discovery of Bread - What I baked this week	15. Santa Bread
16. Otah Buns	17. Toasted Sunflower & Pumpkin Seed Rye Sourdough	18. Caramelized Onions Cheese & Chive Sourdough Biscuits	19. Cranberry Muffins	20. Sourdough French Rolls
21. Chocolate cinnamon rolls	22. Healthy Edible Christmas Tree	23. Oat Bread with Avena Vital	24. Sweet and Thats it - Finnish Pulla	25. Finnish Pulla
26. Honey Wheat Sourdough Rolls	27. Chia Seeds Whole Wheat Sourdough	28. Amaranth and Fig Rye Sourdough	29. Polish Gingerbread Soft Cookies	30. Czech Christmas Bread
31. Christmas Bread	32. Eggless Stollen Bite With Toffee Candy	33. No-Knead Dinner Rolls (Martha Stewart)	34. Christmas stollen	35. Soft Butter Rolls colored with Thai herbs
36. Cracked Wheat & Bran Bread	37. Chocolate & Chestnut Spiced Loaf	38. Champagne Bread

<a href="http://www.girlichef.com/p/byob-bake-your-own-bread.html"target="_blank"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7103/7346181244_48bfb32925_o.jpg" width="125" height="125" alt="BYOB 125 x 125"></a>

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Since this our final month hosting BYOB before passing the bread basket to Roxana, we will not be having a featured bread blog.  Instead, Connie and I would like to present the optional feature of - HOLIDAY BREADS.  If you link up a holiday bread, be sure to let one of us know in our comments section so that we can gather them up and feature them!

As always, feel free to tweet any BYOB posts using the hashtag #BakeYourOwnBread. I will be tweeting entries using that hashtag. I've also started a BYOB Pinterest Board to share the love!

I want to send out a big THANK YOU to everybody who has baked bread in their home kitchens this year and added it to our big, virtual bread basket.  I've found so many recipes that I want to try...they're sure to take me through a whole 'nother year!  Be sure to head over to Roxana's place at the start of 2013 to share all of your inspiring bready creations!