what do you want to eat?

red beet brioche (and french toast too)

For Valentine's Day dinner, I had the great idea of having breakfast for dinner.  I didn't get my bread baked in time, so instead we had pizza last night and made this Red Beet Brioche French Toast for breakfast today instead.  

My inspiration for Red Beet Brioche came from my Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day cookbook and the artisanbreadinfive.com blog.  On the blog, they posted about a lovely heart shaped beet bread loaf using the Red Beet Rolls recipe in the book.  This stuck with me and I bought beets so I could do it.  Then the though of red french toast popped in my head.  The problem was that the Red Beet Roll recipe is a savory recipe with onions in it.  So, I decided to adapt it to a brioche recipe and see what happened.  I used the Pumpkin Pie Brioche recipe and substituted beet pureé for the pumpkin and left out all the spices. I had great success and the bread has such a lovely color.  

Red Beet Brioche
adapted from Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day

3 cups white whole wheat flour
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
handful or two of flaxseed
1 1/2 tablespoons granulated yeast (or 2 packets)
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 1/4 cups lukewarm water (use the reserved beet water)
4 large eggs
1/2 cup honey
3/4 cup neutral flavored oil, or unsalted butter, melted (I used olive oil and it worked great)
4-5 red beets, peeled, chopped, boiled and puréed.

 

First, boil the beets until soft. Pureé the beets and then reserve the red tinted water to use in the dough.

Then, mix the flours, flaxseed, yeast and salt in a large bowl or dough bin.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the beet pureé, eggs, water, honey and oil.

Then mix it all together until all the flour is integrated.  Put the top on the dough bucket loosely (or cover the bowl with plastic wrap) and put it in a warm place to let it rise for 2 hours (or until it doubles in size).  At this point, you can pop this in your fridge for up to 5 days.

When you are ready to use the dough, pull off about a grapefruit sized chunk of dough and shape it for your pan of choice.  I used a small bread pan like this:

This photo shows the bread after the second rise.  I used the dough before refrigeration, so it only need about 30 minutes to crest above the top of the pan.  If you are using the dough refrigerated, then let it rise for about 1 hour and 45 minutes, covered loosely with plastic wrap.

Then bake at 350º for 45-50 minutes depending on the size of the loaf.  The loaf is done when it is medium brown and firm.  Remove the loaf from the pan and allow it to cool on a cooling rack.

Now, the french toast part.  I mixed together 2 eggs, about 3/4 cup of milk (I don't usually measure), and a generous splash of vanilla.  Mix it in a flat dish and then put in slices of bread to soak.  Melt butter in a skillet and fry on both sides until golden.

You'll end up with lovely pink and brown french toast.  Which we promptly topped with butter, blueberries and syrup.  Yum!

Enjoy!!

Pumpkin Pie Brioche Monkey Bread

It has been far too long since I've updated this food blog.  I have some posts to catch up on, but until then, I have this one.  This lovely, lovely bit of yumminess I made tonight.  Yes, it's onto the main event:  Pumpkin Pie Brioche Monkey Bread.  

To start, you make a recipe of Pumpkin Pie Brioche Dough from "Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day".  This is a very versatile dough with a delicious flavor and actually has good things in it for you.  I modified the recipe by doubling the spices and using half olive oil/half butter when it called for oil or butter.  I also (as always) threw in a handful of flaxseed and substituted 1/2 cup quinoa flour for 1/2 cup of the all-purpose flour.  

There are numerous yummy things to do with this dough besides bake a loaf of bread.  I've seen recipes online for cinnamon rolls, mini bundt brioches and my favorite (until now anyway) Pumpkin Pie Brioche with a Twist.

Now, onto the main event:  The Pumpkin Pie Brioche Monkey Bread.  This comes via a blog called Something Shiny (thank you Something Shiny for this wonderful heavenly way to use the brioche dough).  The monkey bread from my childhood consisted of 4 cans of Pilsbury Refrigerator Biscuits that were cut into 4 pieces, rolled in cinnamon sugar and put into a bundt pan.  Then, you would top that with a boiled mixture of butter and sugar.  Out of the oven was a gooey, sticky, sweet monkey bread.  The Pumpkin Pie Brioche Monkey Bread is a more refined and lighter version of this.  You simply roll the balls of dough in melted butter, then in cinnamon sugar and put it in your bundt pan.  Sprinkle any excess sugar on top (I poured on my little bit of excess butter first), then bake.  It's not as gooey as the original, but I don't miss that at all.  Each little bite of brioche is tender and cinnamony and just divine.  We had to cover it back up with the bundt pan so that we would stop eating it.  

First make little balls of dough.  They don't all have to be equal, but they will get bigger when they rise and bake.

Roll each piece of dough in melted butter.

 
   
Then roll in a cinnamon-sugar mixture.  Be careful if a small child is helping you.  My little guy just wanted to stand there and eat the cinnamon-sugar.  Silly boy.

Then put the little balls of dough in a greased bundt pan.

Here's what the monkey bread looks like before it rises and bakes.

Go to Something Shiny now and get all the details.  This is totally worth it!

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.

whole wheat sandwich bread

As those of you who read this blog regularly know, I've been into bread baking lately.  I always have a tub of light whole wheat dough in my refrigerator, courtesy of my most used cookbook as of late, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.  They have a recipe for a whole wheat sandwich style bread that I tried, and didn't really like so much.  It was too hard and too tough for us.  I like the light whole wheat boulé style bread (and I use that dough for everything from pizza crust to naan bread), but it's too hard of a bread to use for Dylan's sandwiches.  So, I kept buying bread for sandwiches from the store.  

That all changed last week.  It all started a couple of months ago when I reconnected with a friend from way back in middle school on Facebook.  Isn't it funny how you can not have spoken to someone in sooo many years, find them again, and find out you have so much in common?  Amanda has a blog called Garden Shoes and Hot Fresh Bread, and on that blog, she has a recipe for "Incredible Sandwich Bread" that I decided I needed to try.  The only thing that held me back is that her recipe calls for a "dough enhancer" that I can't find locally (and I refuse to pay $10 shipping for a $4 item).  Last week, we ran out of bread and I didn't want to go to the store.  So, I looked up subsitutions for dough enhancer and ran across a website called everydayfoodstorage.net.  There I found not only easy substitutions but the reasons behind the substitutions.  So, I tinkered with Amanda's recipe and added in some other ingredients to act as my dough enhancer.  And it worked.  It worked so well that my child wants bread for every meal and I may never buy bread from the store again.  Amanda talks on her blog about pulling this bread from the oven, cutting into it while its warm, drizzling it with honey and eating it.  And oh boy is she ever right....it's a very yummy treat.  So here is my modified version of Amanda's recipe.  If you want the original, click the link to her site above.

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Incredible Sandwich Bread

In a mixing bowl with dough hook attachment, add:

1/3 cup honey

1/3 cup olive oil

2 1/2 cups very warm water

2 T. SAF instant yeast

2 T. white vinegar

2 heaping T. vital wheat gluten

1/4 cup flaked potatoes (the plain instant kind)

2 cups whole wheat flour

1/4 cup flaxseed

Mix for about a minute until combined.  Let mixture sit for about 6 minutes.  Then add in T. sea salt (and I add in some flaxseed and wheat germ here...about 1/3 cup each)  and approximately 5 more cups flour (add flour one cup at a time until the dough no longer sticks to the bowl...for me it takes about 4 and half cups but varies based on the flour you use.  Add the flour a cup at a time and let it mix in, then keep adding until the dough stops feeling sticky.  (If you grind your own flour be sure to look at Amanda's recipe for specifics on grinding).   Let mix for about 6-10 minutes to develop gluten.  Divide into two greased bread pans and let rise for about 30 minutes.  Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.  Immediately turn out onto a cooling rack.

Savory Stuffed Brioche

The idea for this beautifully tasty dish came from the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day blog.  As you know, this is my favorite book for bread baking and the brioche dough was no exception.  If you are interested in making your own bread, I recommend you get the book.   If not, you could probably do something very similar using store bought pizza dough (although, the brioche has such a lovely sweet softness to it).  

The post that references this Savory Stuffed Brioche does a great job of going through the step-by-step of putting this together.  So, I'll post the link and tell you what I added.  Click here for the original post.

I basically took their recipe and added in on some other tasty things.  The original calls for feta, sauteéd spinach and pine nuts.  I added a layer of prosciutto and some grape tomatoes cut in half for color.  The prosciutto added a lovely saltiness and added a lot of flavor to the stuffed bread.  Here's the order of my stuffing:  Prosciutto, feta, sauteéd spinach, freshly grated parmesan, pinenuts and grape tomatoes.  This was a super-tasty combination.  Enjoy!

raspberry chocolate chip muffins

My next baking experiment from Alton Brown's  I'm Just Here for More Food is his recipe for Old School Muffins.  I fiddled with it a little, like I usually do....by adding half whole wheat flour, flaxseed and wheat germ to the mix.  I also added chocolate chips and raspberries as my extras.  Next time, I'll add more raspberries (I only had a few raspberries to add this time).

Toddler note:  Dylan enjoyed helping me make the muffins.  He especially liked adding in the chocolate chips (he did it very carefully).  He ate about half of one of these and then just played with the rest.

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Old School Muffins
Alton Brown

Dry Goods
All-purpose flour 303g  2 1/4 cups (I used about 1 cup all-purpose, 1 cup whole wheat, and 1/4 cup flax seed and wheat germ)
Baking Powder  7g  2 teaspoons
Baking soda    6g 1 teaspoon
pinch of salt

Wet Goods
Sugar 105g   1/2 cup
Vegetable Oil 1/2 cup
Whole Egg  1 large
Egg yolk  1 large
Plain Yogurt 1 cup

Bits and Pieces, 1 to 2 cups

Preheat oven to 375º.  Put the wet goods into your food processor and pulse a few times.  Whisk together your wet ingredients in a separate bowl.  Then combine the two.  Stir just until the ingredients combine, then stir in your bits and pieces. When using fresh fruit toss with the flour mixture before combining.

Prepare your pan by spraying with Baker's Joy.  Fill muffins cups full.  Bake for 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Tip the muffins out of the cups to let steam escape (or else your muffins will have soggy bottoms).

making bread

On Monday afternoon, while waiting for Denny to come home from a trip, Dylan and I made bread.  The recipe is in the book First Art: Art Experiences for Toddlers and Twos, in the midst of all of the play dough recipes.  The recipe is entitled "Easiest Bread Dough" and came together nicely (even with a toddler throwing flour around). 

Dylan helped me dump in the ingredients and stir.  And by stir I mean stirring while taking some stuff out of the bowl and putting it back in.

The nice thing about this recipe is that there is only one rise.  So making bread is not an all day event, it can happen in the afternoon. 

We had fun kneading the dough together, although Dylan's favorite part was sprinkling on more flour.  And when Denny came home, they were able to roll our some shapes while I finished up dinner.  Dylan liked the plain dough and kept tearing off pieces to eat. To see the dough shaping in action, click here.

--
Easiest Bread Dough
adapted from First Art by MaryAnn Kohl

Mix together:
1 cup water (240mL)
1 teaspoon sugar (7g)
1 tablespoon yeast (20g)
in a small bowl.  Let sit for 5 minutes.

Add:
1 cup flour (125g) --I used 1/2  All purpose flour and 1/2 whole wheat flour)
and stir vigorously with a wodden spoon. Then beat the mixture until smooth and add:
1 tablespoon oil (15 mL) (Next time I'm going to add some herbs to the oil and saute for a few minutes to impart some flavor)
1 teaspoon salt (7g)

Stir and Add:
1 cup flour (125g) --Again, I used AP flour and Whole Wheat flour, Dylan also added a handful of ground flaxseed

Mix and then pour the thick batter onto a floured board and add more flour slowly while kneading. Keep a coating of flour on the dough to prevent sticking. knead for about 5 minutes until the dough is smooth, elastic and satiny. It should bounce back if a finger is poked into it.

Put the dough in an oiled bowl and coer it with a clean towel. Place in a warm area and let rise for about 45 minutes.  Then punch it down and work it inot a smooth ball.  Divide the dough in to portions for the dhilcren to use.

Preheat the oven to 400º
Mold and shape the dough into sculptures or forms. Use various kitchen tools for modeling, such as plastic knives, forks, toothpicks, and bamboo skewers (we simply made balls and rolled our breadsticks).

Place each sculpture on a baking sheet.  Bake for 15-20 minutes in th elower part of the oven. Large forms may take longer. Bake until golden and baked through.  (Next time I'm going to either do an egg wash on top or brush on some olive oil to aid in browning.)

Remove the sculptures from the oven and cool them on a rack.

Eat!