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The Great English Muffin Experiment

I'm quite a bit behind on my BBA blogging (and regular blogging), so I'll attempt to catch up.  After the massive post below, the next item in The Bread Baker's Apprentice was English Muffins.  And as I'd just bought a wonderful new sourdough cookbook The Complete Sourdough Cookbook by Don and Myrtle Holm, I decided to make this weeks challenge a showdown.  I simultaneously made the BBA English Muffins and the Sourdough English Muffins.  Right off the bat there were some big differences.  The BBA dough was much tougher than the Sourdough dough....I don't know if I over mixed or added too much flour or if that was just the way it was supposed to be.  Second, the sourdough batch rose like crazy.

 
I didn't take a before photo, or an after photo...nope, I waited til after I had punched it down.  Needless to say it was huge before the punchdown.

One of the main differences in these two recipes was the shaping of the muffins.  The BBA method was to make little boulé balls of dough and let them rise.  The Sourdough way was to roll out the dough and cut out english muffins shapes, then let them rise.

The BBA english muffins after shaping.  This recipe only made 6 muffins.

Cutting out the sourdough english muffins.  This recipe made a ton of english muffins.

The sourdough english muffins on the rise.

Both recipes cooked the english muffins on the griddle.  The BBA recipe called for them to be baked in the oven after being browned on the griddle to ensure the middles were cooked.

The sourdoughs on the griddle.  Unfortunately, I lost a few of my photos before saving them, so I don't have my photo of the BBA muffins on the griddle.

The BBA english muffins were supposed to spread on the griddle.  But, mine didn't, they retained a much puffier state than english muffins usually have.

The BBA english muffin is on the left.  The sourdough is on the right.

And after cooking them, it was time to cut them open and check out the nooks and crannies.  And of course have a taste.

We cut these two samples open the morning after (the photos I took the night before were the ones I lost).  The BBA had much better crumb the next morning, but after our taste test, Denny and I both agreed that the sourdoughs win the prize for flavor and texture.  And they froze really well too.  I probably won't revisit the BBA recipe again, although I may not have done it correctly.  I'll be making sourdoughs again and again.

"The Bread Baker's Apprentice" Challenge

For those of you who read my blog regularly, you know I've been into making my own bread recently.  It all started last summer when we visited my Aunt Elinore in Michigan and she showed us her Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day book.  We ordered our own copy and started keeping a bucket of dough in the refrigerator.  I use this dough not only to make crusty bread, but to make pizza dough, pita pockets, naan bread, breadsticks, garlic knots...you name it I can probably make it with my light whole wheat dough.  Then, a few months ago, my friend Amanda shared her Incredible Sandwich Bread recipe with me and I made it and loved it.  I haven't bought bread since then.  

A few weeks ago, Amanda asked me to join her in a challenge she found out about online.  A group of bloggers are baking one recipe a week from The Bread Baker's Apprentice cookbook.  The recipes are in alphabetical order, and by the time we started, they were in the C's.  You can read all about the challenge at Pinch My Salt.

My first loaf was Cinnamon Raisin Bread.  I had Dylan help me with the kneading and adding in the raisins.  He really liked that part.  This was my first time kneading bread by hand (I use my mixer for the sandwich bread).  I found that I enjoyed the kneading. And when you are making this type of bread, you learn to have patience.  Which is something I can always use more of.   These breads need lots of fermenting time (rising), and some of the ones we'll be doing soon will need overnight time as well.

I wish I could have gotten Dylan to "hug" the bread again for the camera. He put the bread up to his cheek. It was sooo sweet. 

Cinnamon Raisin Bread (with a Swirl!) 

Next up was cornbread.  The author said he usually doesn't group quickbread with yeast-based bread, but because this recipe is so good he had to include it in his book.  And he's right.  This was the most moist, tender, cakelike cornbread I'd ever had.  The bacon on top was like icing on the cake.  Delicious.  I made this one after arriving in Idaho for our summer trip.

Cornbread in cast iron.

Denny's mom flipped through the cookbook (yep, I lugged it in my carry-on) and saw the recipe for Anadama Bread and said she'd always been curious about it.  I'd never heard of it before (and need to backtrack to catch up), so we decided to make it.  It's a mixture of cornmeal, flour, water and molasses.  The cornmeal gave the otherwise soft bread a little texture and crunch.  And the molasses added a hint of sweetness.  It also received a big thumbs up from all who tried it.

Dylan and his Grandma mix up the wet ingredients for the Anadama Bread.

 Anadama bread after kneading and after the first rise.

The finished loaves of Anadama bread.

A slice of Anadama bread with huckleberry jam.  Mmmmmmmmm.

Back home this week, I made the Cranberry Walnut Celebration bread.  Except without the cranberries or the walnuts.  I used dried blueberries instead.  And I just don't like nuts in my bread, so I always leave those out.  This was a golden crusted, braided beauty truly fit for a celebration.  We celebrated by eating it, and a couple of days later turning it into some really tasty french toast.  Yum!

My Blueberry Celebration Bread after braiding and in its second rise.  

The finished Blueberry Celebration Bread.

A cross section.

mmmm......french toast

Next up, English Muffins.  I'll let you know how that goes.  We actually did English Muffins the "Five Minute a Day" way, using our bucket of dough while we were in Idaho.  They were yummy fresh off the griddle.  We'll see how the "real" thing compares.  I also plan on trying Sourdough English Muffins sometime soon too.