HBinFive March 1st Bread Braid

I enjoyed myself with the effects of the Black-and-White Braided Pumpernickel and Rye Loaves in this assignment. I chose a random spot in a loaf to slice for photographing purposes. I ended up with a yin and yang design.

As a family, we had great delight in slicing the loaf up at dinner time. Each slice was differently patterned, even the fronts and backs of a piece were often unique. The bread accompanied a split pea soup.

Did it taste like more like rye or pumpernickel? I think together with the caraway seeds, I noticed an overall rye flavor.

I made my Bavarian-Style Whole Grain Pumpernickel loaves freestanding. I own a brotform, and I have not used it since we have lived in this house because I have no idea where it is. Once, I recall stumbling upon it, and noting it's hiding spot. I left it there, and well, all I know is that it is not in our kitchen or dining room. I suppose a box in the basement is a pretty good bet.

I made my own caramel coloring, an essential ingredient to make pumpernickel bread dark and give it a bitterness. The directions said to be careful not to burn it. I kept a close eye, stirring frequently. Then I walked away for maybe 30 seconds and returned to a mixture that resembled molasses. Did I burn it? I'm not really sure. It smelled a little burned...

My pumpernickel was not so dark; it was more of a gingerbread cookie color. Perhaps the purchased coloring would have given the blackness I associate with pumpernickel.

With my leftover dough I made two more freestanding loaves. I divided the rye and pumpernickel into small pieces and then mushed them together to create a different marbled effect.

I felt a little like a kid with play dough. We all need that freedom sometimes!

HBinFive February 15th Bread Braid

Our two loaves for this assignment centered on a rye dough.

The first was a Whole Grain Rye Bread. Caraway seeds were added throughout the dough and sprinkled on top before baking. I added a little oil and honey to the dough. This loaf had good flavor and made wonderful toast. (I did over-bake it by five minutes, losing track of time).

The Stuffed "Sandwich" Loaf was so easy to assemble and was a wonderful accompaniment to a butternut squash and root vegetable soup. I stuffed my loaf with roasted red peppers, goat cheese and sauteed portabello mushrooms. Even though I left the artichoke hearts out, I could barely roll my dough around all that filling! I think you could try cutting back an ounce each on the cheese and mushrooms, and see if that is more manageable.

I love the fact that any lean or enriched dough can be used for this stuffed loaf. I think the rye works nicely with the mushrooms, but I like knowing that there are numerous possibilities. I plan on coming back to this recipe again.

HBinFive February 1st Bread Braid

I didn't go gluten-free this assignment, but I did make a boule and a bread with cheddar and sesame. I like to find a way to follow some aspect of the theme.

I didn't photograph my boule for you because it is from the master recipe, which we all made way back when. However, I experimented, which I said I might do. I added 2 tablespoons of canola oil and 2 tablespoons of honey to a full batch of the master dough.

The bread rose and all was well in the universe. I think these additions gave the loaf a little more flavor. It wasn't sweet at all, but instead there was no longer that nagging voice in my head that always says, "this still needs more salt." The blandness was gone.

I'm sure a little oil and honey are not suitable for all the HBinFive recipes, but they seemed appropriate for the master dough.

My other loaf was this rather large braided Sesame Cheddar Bread (Betsy Oppenneer's Sesame Cheddar Bread). When I made this I wasn't the slightest bit phased by the fact that the directions were to make this into one braided loaf! When I had to wrestle it out of the oven, however, because it grew beyond the baking sheet and stuck to the stone, I suddenly focused on the fact that this was 6 cups of flour turned into one loaf of bread!

At this size, it might be a nice addition to a party. Otherwise, you might want to make two loaves!

This is a light bread with a sesame crunch. Even though I used 3 cups of grated sharp cheddar, the cheese flavor was pretty subtle. I'm learning a lot from this King Arthur Flour Cookbook. It was another great Christmas gift. I didn't find the recipe on their site to link you to, but perhaps you already have this book in your collection.

HBinFive January 15th Bread Braid

There seem to be some grumblings circulating among this bread group of muted flavors and spouses tiring of whole wheat breads.

I'm sure none of us expected these concerns to be part of our learning experience, but a year in and a year to go, I think it's time to put our flours out on the table and take stock, examine, vent even.

I passed on the dill rye bread in this assignment because I'm not really a dill-lover. Maybe a little fresh with poached salmon on a fair weather day, dining outdoors, with a glass of white wine...Instead I headed back over to ABinFive and made a Caraway Swirl Rye that I had yet to try.

I have made the dough before for the Deli-Style Rye, but not with the extra caraway interior. It was delicious, and I found reward in my swirl. Honestly, I was so relieved to be back in ABinFive territory, knowing that even if the swirl didn't look perfect, that the bread would be good. I am that confident with this book.

I couldn't pass up a rosemary experience, so I made the 100% Whole Grain Rosemary Potato Dinner Rolls with a Salt Crust. When I read that this dough used diced, raw potato, I was immediately wary. I considered making an ABinFive dough that called for mashed potatoes, but I wanted to remain with the group for one bread.

I thought these would be inedible. Half the amount of potato would have sufficed, as I couldn't seem to incorporate a lot of the cubes into the dough. I skipped the soy flour and added extra whole wheat flour.

Most of my bread baking friends seemed to have made larger rolls. I followed the instructions and divided a pound of dough into eight balls ("the size of golf balls"--the recipe said). Well, I made golf balls all right. They rose a tad.

We ate these with a lentil soup. They were edible, and better than expected, considering what my expectations were. The potato was cooked, which I was suspicious wouldn't happen. O. said they looked hard. Well, not so much, just heavy.

Sometimes when I write my posts, I imagine my HBinFive friends sitting around my kitchen table with me. So, gathered around, I ask you, what's going on here?

I recently have made a 50% whole wheat bread and a 100% whole wheat bread from Peter Reinhart's Artisan Breads Every Day. In the former, he suggests olive oil and honey as optional ingredients. In the latter, they are not optional. He says they are needed to mellow the wheat flavor and soften the bran. Both the breads were wonderful, even O. ate the full whole wheat, which she calls brown bread.

What do you all think? Would some vegetable or olive oil and a little honey give us some flavor back, allowing us to taste some of the additional flavors, like the herbs for instance, without cutting back on the whole wheat like some of you are thinking about?

Well, maybe I'll be brave and give it a try with the master dough. I'll let you know what happens if I do. I want to make the most of the next year baking together. I'll just go pull up some more chairs around my kitchen table.

HBinFive January 1st Bread Braid

Happy New Year to all! I hope you have had wonderful holidays.

We've been having pajama days, playing daily games of Apples to Apples, which Santa kindly brought, and eating dinner at a little table in the living room to be by the Christmas tree and the fireplace.

Speaking of dinner, the loaves for this assignment accompanied soups we made. Soups have seemed like the right nourishment for days spent shoveling snow and sledding. We've also shared some sadness this week, with the passing of a 14 year old girl we knew. Soup seemed like the right comfort for that, too.

We ate the 100% Whole Wheat and Flaxseed Bread with split pea soup. While I have decided that I really like the flaxseed flavor, I can't say that this bread was particularly flavorful. I already increase the salt in these recipes, but I kept thinking that this dough really needed more salt.

The Roasted Garlic Bread was a surprise. While I like to cook with garlic, it's going to take an assignment to push me to try something like this. The whole kitchen smelled like garlic when the dough was rising.

The garlic in the baked loaf isn't too strong, however, and the texture of the interior is moist and chewy, with a good thick crust. We enjoyed this with a maple parsnip soup that Husband (who would henceforth like to be called Mr. Savory, for his preference for savory foods over sweet) made.

A new year, a new name for my spouse, and a new header for my blog. It's not exactly the most original of ideas, but it's my photo of my bread, and I managed to do it myself...except for when it came time to remove the old one on my dashboard. I let Mr. Savory do that--I was too scared that there would be nothing but a big blank space up there. I can only handle a little technological bravery at a time!

It's good to be back. I look forward to another year of baking together. Cheers!

HBinFive December 1st Bread Braid

This 100% Whole Wheat Christmas Stollen heralds my Holiday baking. I am already feeling behind judging by my clicking around. Making a Christmas cookie list is still on my to-do list.

However, the Holiday CD's have been spiraling for six days, and we're enjoying our morning coffee from Christmas mugs.

I do believe I have had Stollen before, one given to us from Germany. If I am recalling correctly, the German one was more like a dense cake, while ours is, of course, more like bread.

I used dried cherries and currants in mine, orange juice instead of brandy (did anyone try tea?), and slivered almonds. Oh, and an extra dose of salt by mistake, which thankfully was undetectable.

I think this needed the brandy and almond paste. I had a feeling about that, but I wanted to stick with ingredients I'd use more often. If I ever make this again, I would at the very least toast the almonds, and perhaps chop or grind them.

Happy Holidays to you all! Will we really not be back again until the New Year? It will be our one year anniversary! I'll miss you, baker friends, but I hope you'll stop by because I plan to be here several more times before Santa comes.

HBinFive November 15th Bread Braid Part II

I am here today, as promised, with the second part of our assignment. I made Fruit-Filled Pinwheels with my ABinFive Brioche dough.

This was a cheerful task, these pastries being so pretty and whimsical. I can almost see them spinning! I am not really a pastry person, so making these pinwheels delighted me, much the way our crescents did back in the Spring.

These were easy, both on the mind and the spirit. I made them while cooking dinner, albeit a simple one. We needed to think light because O. got bottom braces yesterday, 8 of them, and I wanted to make something that she could eat.

She did alright this morning. We cut one in half, and with a fork, over the course of about 30 minutes, she managed to slowly make her way through a pinwheel! Thumbs up from all of us on this end. I felt like I was eating a bakery-made Danish, but better. Oh, and I used this strawberry jam.

HBinFive November 15th Bread Braid Part One

I'm pacing myself with our two pastries for this assignment, considering that this may be the third time I've made some type of brioche in the past month. While I don't normally mention such things here, my scale is sounding the alarm bell.

I started with the Pistachio Twist, playing it safe after my disappointment with the Pumpkin Brioche, and used the brioche dough from ABinFive (it's one of my favorite dough's).

My Co-Op does not sell shelled pistachios, and I was surprised how long it took me to shell enough to get a cup, finely ground.

The only change I made to the filling was to use orange flavor instead of orange blossom water. It is an organic, orange-infused oil. A little goes a long way, and I used a 1/2 tsp.

Husband and I have this Pistachio Twist all to ourselves (now the scale is sounding a double-alarm). I tortured him by taking this out of the oven early Sunday evening, but telling him that he couldn't have any that evening or for breakfast the next morning because I wouldn't be able to photograph it until late Monday morning. I think it was one of the first things he asked about when he came home Monday evening. He even tried some before dinner, noting how I had already had a large piece.

I enjoyed making this and am definitely enjoying eating it. My brioche dough will be good until Thursday, when I'll be trying Pinwheels. The Twist will probably be gone by then.

I'd say I've got this pacing thing down.

HBinFiveNovember 1st Bread Bread

I've heard my bread companions rave about the Pumpkin Pie Brioche dough ever since I joined the HBinFive group in January. I've been so eager to give it a try.

I decided to make the Pear and Apple Coffee Cake from the ABinFive recipe (although I used only apples) using the Pumpkin Pie Brioche dough. It's almost like a layer cake, with a bottom layer of dough topped with sliced apples and brown sugar, an oat crumble topping, and then another layer repeating.

The consensus in our house was that this cake was OK. The dough is heavy and the result was a dough-like cake.

Even the brioche loaf I made was heavy. It had a wonderful cinnamon flavor, but overall this dough disappointed me a bit, considering what a fan I am of the ABinFive brioche and the whole wheat variation from HBinFive, as well.

I like it when we are all really excited and pleased with what we have made, but I suppose a difference in experience gives us depth as bakers.

HBinFive October 15th Bread Braid

This was a pleasant assignment, baking three rustic Italian style recipes with the Master Dough, using lots of herbs.

I made an herbal arrangement to place on my kitchen table, and as I worked my way through the recipes, I went over and picked what I needed, or reached into the cherry tomato bowl in one instance.

The Whole Grain Pizza recipe is intended for the grill, but we've slowed down with our grilling. It was also a week night and the usual rush-rush, so my pizza baked in the oven. It was very simple with canned, chopped tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, a few olives, and basil.

The Garlic-Studded Baguette recipe gave an alternate of using cherry tomatoes instead of garlic, which I chose since we still have our own coming in. When I took it out of the oven, I laughed because the swelled and irregular shape of the loaf with the tomatoes perched on the top looked like someone's belly bursting open the buttons on their shirt!

After shaping the baguette, the directions say to use the handle of a wooden spoon to make a well across the loaf and then to press your garlic or tomatoes in there. My dough kept bouncing back, so I didn't get much of a trough, hence the bursting buttons.

The use of tomatoes here was decorative. I imagine garlic would have infused the loaf (but I'll find out from my baker friends how that worked). We enjoyed this with a pasta with fresh herbs.

The Grissini smelled heavenly while baking. All that rosemary! O. ate four of them for breakfast this morning. I doubled the batch, having a feeling that we would enjoy these. I keep thinking of that stunning photo of these in the book.

HBinFive October 1st Bread Braid

It's been a sweet, rich week. Our HBinFive assignments involved three recipes using brioche dough of our choice.

I chose Whole Wheat Brioche dough. My dough was a little light on the whole wheat because I didn't check my pantry supplies until I was ready to mix my ingredients together. I substituted half the white whole wheat flour called for with bread flour. In the end I really liked this ratio, and might consider doing it again.

Not knowing if I should decrease the vital wheat gluten, I put in the full amount. My dough rose all the way to the top of my bucket! There seemed to be no problems in baking, however.

First I made the Honey Caramel Sticky Nut Buns, which were incredibly good. Again, not planning ahead, I realized that I had used nearly all my honey for the dough itself, so I used all brown sugar in the filling. To keep this recipe daughter-friendly, I omitted the nuts and raisins, and used 1 cup of cinnamon chips sprinkled over the brown sugar-butter filling.

These sticky buns were so buttery, sugary and cinnamon-y. The chips melted and fused with the spreadable filling. These are dangerous to have around! I could barely keep my hands away.

The Pear Tarte Tatin was a surprise. It came together in a way I didn't expect. The caramel was very juicy after I baked the tart and flipped it out of the pan. I expected the crust to be soggy because of this, but it wasn't. I found this tart to be delicious--and good for breakfast, too.

I was a little frustrated, however, with the recipe which called to roll out 1/2 pound of dough to fit over the pan before baking to make the crust. I did this and then realized that it was not enough dough. I started over using a pound of dough, which was more than enough, but I tucked the extra over like the photos demonstrated. Fortunately I still had plenty of dough, or I would have been mad!

With my final dough, I decided to use my brioche pan and make a loaf. No photo to show as we dove right into it this morning for breakfast!

September 15th HBinFive Bread Braid

Maple Syrup and oats are two of my favorite foods. The combination here in our assignment for 100% Whole Grain Maple Oatmeal Bread did not disappoint.

Husband loved this bread so much he sent me an e-mail one day from work telling me how he was eating some right there and then, and how great it was.

I did leave the raw sugar off the top, as I imagined it would be sweet enough. I was right-on with that choice, at least for my taste.

I am a big fan of Grade B. Thick, dark, and so flavorful. The best maple syrup I have ever had is a Grade B Vermont maple syrup purchased from a food co-op in Middlebury, Vermont. Our friends who had a house there told us about it. The co-op filled up mason jars for purchase.

I did use Grade B organic Vermont maple syrup here, purchased from our co-op, but it didn't come with the same memories of staying in our friends' farm-house amongst apple orchards, views of Lake Champlain, and the news that I was expecting our first child.

The next time I use maple syrup, however, I now have a big bottle of a local one. It is Grade A, but it allows me the romantic vision of living in an area that can provide me with one of my favorite flavors.

It also endears me further to our two, old, huge sugar maples. One is in our front yard, and it has become my friend and protector since living here. It shades our front porch, and its branches are right outside A.'s front bedroom window.

When I help him do his exercises, I look out that window, and I tell him about the birds on the branches, in Spring how the leaves pop out suddenly one day, and in Winter, how beautifully the snow rests on the limbs.

In another month or so, we'll be raking up piles and piles of its leaves. On one side of it's trunk, there is a bare area where there is no bark. The tree experts believe lightening must have struck it at some point. Maybe this makes me feel closer to our tree that continues to shelter us, despite its scars. Would it and its friend on the side of the house give us sap for syrup? I don't think we'll try, but it's fun to think about.

The other recipe for this assignment, Quinoa Bread, has made a good sandwich loaf. I have to admit, I was skeptical after I made my dough. It seemed dry compared to all the other HBinFive dough's.

Quinoa reminds me of our vegetarian days. I haven't cooked with it in a long time. It's good to return to things sometimes, particularly knowing of Quinoa's ancient past.

HBinFive September 1st Bread Braid

One Hundred Percent Whole Wheat Bread, Plain and Simple. This was the dough made for this HBinFive assignment to use in several ways.

We loved the Zucchini Flatbread. We ate this as a main dish with a side salad of garden tomatoes and cucumbers. Like the pizzas from earlier assignments, this one I would add to the repertoire.

This dough, as a loaf of bread, was not the most flavorful, but it had good texture, as compared to the One Hundred Percent Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread in HBinFive, which had great flavor, but was really dense and heavy.

Straying off the path a bit, I couldn't resist trying out this loaf, but used honey instead of molasses.

Blognews: I am starting an online blogging course that officially starts next week. I have no idea if it will bring about any changes here, but I am hopeful to learn a lot.

HBinFive August 15th Bread Braid

My favorite bread in HBinFive, the Rosemary Flax Baguette, was found in this assignment.

I have never used flax meal before, but I love rosemary, olive oil and wheat germ. This bread is soft and flavorful, the olive oil flavor comes through loud and clear. I could even taste a little salt, which is the first time I can say that here (I always increase the salt to 1 1/2 tablespoons and usually it makes no difference).

Then, there was the pretty addition of adding sprigs of rosemary to the slashes before baking. Aaah! A very nice idea indeed.

We enjoyed this with some tomatoes and cucumbers from the garden, and a pasta dish with pesto and roasted potatoes.

Only once have I had pasta with potatoes. My cousin, who has traveled all over Italy, made it once at a party. It was delicious, as was our dish.

Pesto with New Potatoes and Pasta
adapted from Chez Panisse Pasta, Pizza & Calzone

5 or 6 new potatoes
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Fresh thyme leaves
1 pound linguine
Pesto
Parmesan (optional)

Wash the potatoes; leave the skins on. Cut the potatoes in thin slices, then toss them in olive oil in a baking dish. Season with salt and pepper, add some fresh thyme leaves, and roast them in a hot oven. Turn and stir the potatoes a few times during the cooking so that they brown evenly. Meanwhile, cook the linguine. When the potatoes are brown and crisp, remove them from the oven. Toss the linguine with the potatoes and pesto. Serve immediately with freshly grated parmesan, if desired. Serves 4

HBinFive August 1st Bread Braid

Every now and then the yeast beckons me to play elsewhere. Somewhere other than HBinFive. I am here to tell you that my hands have been in the dough, but not in any way with broccoli or mesquite flour.

If you remember from our last assignment, I told you I would report back about my explorations into Peter Reinhart's cold fermentation method from Artisan Bread Every Day.

I've now made two batches of the Classic French Bread dough. I started with this one because he says it's one of the easiest to work with as it isn't as wet as some of the others.

This dough is a dream after our wet, sticky dough. I've been baking from ABinFive/HBinFive for so long now, that such elastic, perfectly textured dough was a shock. I forgot what it feels like.

After the dough is mixed and kneaded for only a minute, it goes into a clean, oiled bowl to rise in the fridge overnight or up to four days. Big difference number one.

On baking day, you need to take your dough out to shape it and let it rise about 2 hours before you want to bake. Baking takes about a half-hour or so, and then he suggests you let it sit for 45 minutes before slicing. So, refrigerator to table, allow about 3 1/2 hours. Difference number two (we've been know to put up baguettes from ABinFive, shape, rise 20 minutes, bake 30 minutes, and take it right out of the oven and tear into it at the table--so, maybe an hour?!)

Once I completed the process a couple times, it was easy, and I didn't have to think about each step so much. However, I was then so relaxed that one evening I completely forgot about my rising batards while I was getting A. and O. through their bedtime routines. No harm done, it seems.

I find this book really helpful in terms of it's suggestions for shaping the loaves. The step-by-step color photos made the instructions very clear.

Both my boules and batards crackled for a few minutes after I took them out of the oven. It sounded a little like a bowl of Rice Krispies with milk!
The interior of the boule was a fine crumb and the bread tasted like, well, French Bread that I would buy from Baker Street. It tasted less salty to me than the loaves from ABinFive Master Dough. Difference number three.

In terms of flavor, I would say I prefer the ABinFive bread from the Master Dough. In terms of texture or crumb, I prefer the Reinhart Classic French Bread. Perhaps these aren't the two best dough's to compare, however, maybe I need to compare one of the wetter dough's.

I've had fun here and look forward to delving into the more challenging dough's. I also recalled that I have a signed copy of Brother Juniper's Bread Book from an event we went to 11 years ago. He signed it, "To Clarice, May your bread always rise!"

So far, so good.

HBinFive July 15th Bread Braid

I opted to make the Vermont Cheddar Bread from ABinFive for this assignment. I've made this bread before, quite a while ago, so it seemed like a new recipe again.

I used some local, sharp cheddar. I really tasted the cheese in the crust. Mmmmn hmmn.


I do have a couple of other bread-related items that I have been wanting to tell you about.

The first is an awesome discovery we made one morning when we were in Cape May. We were driving to Sunset Beach, also known as Point Beach, where dogs are allowed. We wanted Harry to have at least one beach experience.

Along Sunset Boulevard, a woman was selling fresh baked bread, as well as flowers and herbs. I had Husband stop and turn around, of course!

This woman bakes clay oven bread. She had been up at 5am baking. Judging by the number of loaves and varieties she had, I would have thought she would have been up all night.

We bought 3 loaves--French boule, wheat, and rosemary thyme. They were amazing. I don't think I have ever had clay oven baked bread before. The crust was firm but not thick, like the artisan loaves we are baking. The bottoms were toasty, and the interiors were dry with a fine crumb. When I say dry, I mean not chewy like I feel my breads lean towards.

She said she had someone build her oven, but yes you can build your own.

I went online to check this all out. I think, though, you need space for a clay oven because it needs to be a certain distance from your house or any structure. I don't know how much distance, but I'm pretty sure we don't have it, unless we wanted to put it smack in the middle of our back yard! This woman has a farm, so space is probably not an issue.

Interestingly, you can fire up, bake bread at high temperatures, then let the oven cool down a little and slip in some cakes or other lower-temperature types of baking. Efficient is you ask me.

My other topic to share is that I am getting ready to start baking from a book Husband gave me for my birthday, or was it Mother's Day, or our anniversary? They are all in May, so the appreciated gifts all blur together.

I am curious, and a little nervous. In this book, Peter Reinhart offers his methods for cold fermentation. There appears to be more handling of the dough than we are doing, and more rising.

I'll report back soon.

HBinFive July 1st Bread Bread

When we left for Cape May it was strawberry and rhubarb season.

We returned two weeks later to blueberries. In between, we were lucky to find black raspberries.

So, I made blueberry bread for our Whole Wheat Mixed Berry Bread assignment. I couldn't bring myself to buy frozen berries at this time of year, despite the author's comments that this bread is best with frozen.

I'm not sure what frozen berries would have contributed here other than turning the bread purple, which some of you did not like about this recipe. With the fresh berries, this dough was perfectly manageable to work with and was not wet and sticky like it would have been with the frozen.

My bread in looks and taste made me think of raisin bread, but with blueberries instead of raisins. I had some dough left to make a few muffins, and I let O. have these spread with leftover cream cheese icing. She really liked this bread plain and with the icing.

I've been enjoying it as buttered toast, but this recipe confuses me a little. I think the bread could be a little sweeter, so it has more of an identity. If it needs honey butter, than why not just make the bread a little richer and sweeter?