I have to admit, when I pulled this loaf from the oven I was skeptical. I’m not sure what about it made me leery. It smelled delicious. The golden wheat color was beautiful, and… I mean, it’s bread! What is there not to love? But still, I was cautious. Perhaps it was the dark seeds that looked a little funky?

Alas, when I cut into this bread and took a bite, all my doubts were vanished immediately. This now is in the top 5 on my list of favorite breads, and believe me that’s not an easy spot to take. Sweet, but not too sweet, wheaty without being too dense or heavy, it was the perfect sandwich bread. Or if we’re being more honest, the perfect Eating-Strait-From-the-Oven-With-Butter bread.

One Year Ago
Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Two Years Ago
Rich, Thick & Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Oatmeal Flax Bread
printable recipe

Preferment
Ingredients:
1 cup bread flour
1/2 cup warm water
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast

Directions:
Mix all ingredients together in a medium bowl. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and place in a warm area for 12-16 hours.

Final Dough
Ingredients:
The preferment
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/4 cups bread flour
1 cup rolled oats
3 tablespoons ground flaxseed
2 1/2 tablespoons honey
1 1/2 cups warm water
1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
1 tablespoon kosher salt

Directions:
Pour the water into the bowl of an electric mixer. Add in the oats and flax, stir to combine and let soak for 10 minutes.

Add in the remaining ingredients and mix on low speed until well combined. Using the dough hook knead the dough until elastic, but not gooey. Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, lightly covered with plastic wrap, to let rise for 1 hour.

After 1 hour, fold the dough a few times, re-cover and let rise for another hour.

Shape the dough into either a loaf pan or free-standing loaf placed on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Lightly dust the loaf with flour. Re-cover with plastic wrap and rise for an additional 1 1/2 hours. After the first hour pre-heat the oven to 400.

Using a sharp knife slash the top of the loaf down the center.

Just before placing the loaf in the oven, splash a bit of water on the bottom and sides of oven to create steam. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until golden brown and the center of the loaf reads 190.

Cool on a wire rack and serve.

Source: Kath Eats Real Food

Submitted to YeastSpotting

I absolutely love bread. I love eating it, I love baking it. And for some reason I love punching down the risen dough. It’s an excellent stress-reliever. Ciabatta has been on my list of things to make for a long, long time. Then, a couple of months ago I pulled out my flour-covered copy of Bread Baker’s Apprentice and leafed through it. I landed on this ciabatta recipe and decided I was long overdue. This might be my favorite bread recipe I’ve made thus far. The center is fluffy and light, the crust golden and chewy. I have found that it gives the bread a slightly sourdough undertone if I let the poolish sit out at room temperature overnight rather than the suggested 3 hours.

Ciabatta Bread
print this recipe

Ingredients:
For the poolish- Day One
2 1/2 cups unbleached bread flour
1 1/2 cups water, at room temperature
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast

For the dough- Day Two
3 1/2 poolish
3 cups unbleached bread flour
1 3/4 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
6 Tablespoons to 3/4 cup water (or milk or buttermilk- I prefer milk)
cornmeal or semolina flour for dusting

Directions:
To make the poolish
Mix the flour, water, and yeast together in a medium bowl and stir until all of the flour is hydrated. The dough will be thick and sticky, much like thick pancake batter. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 3-4 hours (or over night). The sponge will be bubbly. Refrigerate until 1 hour prior to baking.

To make the dough
Remove the poolish from the refrigerator 1 hour prior to baking.

In the bowl of an electric mixer stir together the flour, salt and yeast. Add in the poolish and 6 Tablespoons of water. Beat on low speed until the dough forms a ball. Add additional water as needed to bring the ingredients together. Knead either by hand or in the mixer for 5-7 minutes or until the dough is smooth and soft yet sticky. It should clear the sides of the bowl yet will stick a bit to the bottom.

Lightly dust a clean work surface with flour, then turn the dough onto it and stretch gently to form a rectangle. Let rest for 2 minutes, then lightly stretch the dough into a long rectangle, doubling it’s original length. Fold the dough into itself in thirds (like a business letter) back into a small rectangle.

Mist the top of the dough lightly with oil and dust with flour, cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest for 30 minutes.

Stretch and fold the dough again, mist with oil and dust with flour, re-cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 1 1/2-2 hours, until the dough is swollen but not necessarily double in size.

Lightly dust a countertop with flour again. Remove the dough from the plastic wrap and turn out onto the flour. Divide into 2 freestanding loaves. Lightly spray with oil and dust with flour again, recover and let rise for another 45-60 minutes, or until noticeably swollen.

Preheat the oven to 500. Place a heavy duty (not glass) sheet pan on the bottom of the oven. Dust the back of a sheet pan or a peel with the cornmeal.

If the middle of the loaf has risen high lightly press it down with a finger. Place each of the loaves on the sheet pan (I prefer to do one at a time) and place in the oven. Pour 1 cup of hot water into the pan at the bottom of the oven and close the oven door. Wait 30 seconds and spray the sides of the oven with water. Repeat twice at 30 second intervals. After the final spray turn the oven temperature to 450. Bake for 10 minutes.

Rotate the loaves 180 degrees and bake for an additional 5-10 minutes or until the bread is golden and is reading 205 degrees in the center of one of the loaves.

Transfer the loaves to a wire cooling rack and let cool completely before slicing.

Source: The Bread Baker’s Apprentice by Peter Reinhart, pages 106, 136-139

Buttermilk Cheddar Biscuits
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Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more as needed
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, diced
1/2 cup cold buttermilk, shaken
1 cold extra-large egg
1 cup grated extra-sharp Cheddar
1 egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon water or milk

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425°. Line a baking pan with parchment paper and set aside.

Mix 2 cups of flour with baking powder and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer. Cut in the buttermilk and blend until the butter pieces are the size of peas.

Whisk together the buttermilk and egg, then quickly pour into the flour combination with the mixer speed on low. Beat together until just combined and the flour is moistened.

Pour the cheese into a small bowl and toss with a bit of flour to coat, then gently fold into the dough a few times until just combined.

Empty the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead a couple of times, then roll out to a 10×5 rectangle. Using a sharp knife dusted with flour, cut the dough into 8 triangular pieces and place the baking pan.

In a small bowl beat one egg with 1 Tablespoon of water. Lightly brush the tops of the biscuits with the egg wash, then sprinkle with salt.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the insides are done and the tops are golden brown.

Serve warm or hot.

Source: Ina Garten, Barefoot Contessa, Food Network

One of my earliest vivid memories is shopping with my mom at our dinky little mall (now a small strip mall) when I was 4 or 5 years old. I loved going to this mall with her- partly because I learned the art of shopping at an early age (something I’ve already taught to 2-year old Rebecca) and partly because I could beg and plead for her to get me a soft pretzel from the pretzel stand.

It was a kiosk in the middle of the mall that sold gorgeous, saltly, doughy soft pretzels on a stick. And to  make it even more heavenly, they could dunk it completely in that gooey fake, hot soft cheese. I’m making myself hungry now.

These little pretzels (which ended up being MUCH bigger than I expected, by the way) were so close to that pretzel I remember so fondly (minus the disgusting yet delicious cheese). In fact, they were so similar that Brian cracked up as I took a bite and exclaimed “Oh my gosh! They taste just like a soft pretzel!” Sometimes I sound like such a dork.

I was slightly surprised at how easy these work to make. Really, the only “difficult” part was the boiling and that took me a total of maybe 20 minutes, tops. They’re best stored at room temp, uncovered. Not that we had to worry about that since the entire batch was eaten within 24 hours.

Ingredients:

2 cups warm water (100°F to 110°F)
1 tablespoon + 2 tablespoons sugar
1 packet active dry yeast
5 to 6 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 tablespoon salt
2 teaspoons canola or other neutral oil
1/4 cup baking soda
1 large egg
Coarse or pretzel salt (I used kosher salt since it was all I  had. It worked just fine!)
vegetable-oil cooking spray

Directions:

Combine the warm water, 1 T of sugar and the yeast into the bowl of an electric mixer and stir together. Let sit for 10 minutes or until the yeast is foamy.

Blend 1 cup of flour into the yeast mix until well combined, then  add the salt and 4 additional cups of flour, mixing until well combined, then beat until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Now add 1/2 cup more flour and combine until dough is smooth.

Lightly mist a large bowl with oil and roll the dough a few times to coat, then cover with a kitchen towel. Let sit in a warm location for about an hour, or until the dough has doubled in size.

Heat the oven to 450° and prepare 2 baking sheets with either lightly sprayed oil or parchment paper (I went for parchment paper) and set aside.

Punch down the dough to remove any air bubbles (my FAVORITE part of making doughs) and divide into 16 equal pieces for larger pretzels and 32 for minis. *Note: I took the notes on Smitten Kitchen’s recipe calling them “miniature” quite literally and also made some larger (like half the batch I made into 4 pretzels rather than 8 for the large size) pretzels. However, during the boiling process they puffed and the large ones got HUGE and the mini ones got to be the size I was expecting. Holycrap huge. I ate them to hide the evidence of my mistake.

Take the dough pieces and roll out to 18 inch long strip (or “worms” as Rebecca kept calling them) and twist into pretzel shapes, then place on the prepared baking sheets. Let rest for 15 minutes.

While the pretzels rest, fill a pot with 2 inches of water and bring to a boil. Once boiling add in the baking soda and additional 2 T of sugar. (Careful, it fizzes a lot!) Reduce the water to a simmer and place a few pretzels in the pan (I could only fit 2 at a time. Just make sure you have enough room that they don’t stick and you can easily get to them to flip them). Let them cook for 1 minute in the water, flip and cook the other side for 1 minute. Remove with a slotted spoon and set on the baking sheet. Continue until all the pretzels are done.

Beat the egg with 1T of water, then brush the egg over each pretzel and coat with salt.

Bake until the pretzels are golden brown, roughly 12-15 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

Source: Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients:

For the knots:
3 cups bread flour
1/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons instant yeast
1-1/4 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup + 2 tablespoons lukewarm water

For the garlic glaze:
2-4 cloves peeled, garlic
2 tablespoons melted butter
1/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°.

Combine the dry ingredients for the dough in the bowl of an electric mixer, then add in the olive oil, milk and water. Using the dough hook, knead together the ingredients until it becomes smooth and shiny.

Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl and let rise for 1 hour, or until doubled in size.

Separate the dough into 8 equal balls. Roll each dough ball into a 10 inch long rope, then knot together. Let the knots rise again for about an hour, or until puffy.

Bake the knots for 15 to 18 minutes or until lightly golden browned. Meanwhile mix together the glaze ingredients. Once removed from the oven, drizzle with the butter glaze.

Source: Amber’s Delectable Delights

I’ve been looking for a 100% whole grain pizza crust for quite some time. I love, love, LOVE this crust, and I’ve often made it w/ half wheat bread flour & half white, but the 100% wheat version was bleh. When I saw this recipe, I saved it immediately and it did not disappoint.

My only change to the recipe, aside from doubling it- it only makes 1 large crust- was to bake the crust for a few minutes prior to adding toppings. My crust was still a bit doughy otherwise.

Ingredients:

2C whole wheat flour
3/4 C water
1T honey
1T olive oil
1t kosher salt
1/2 t instant yeast

Directions:

In a medium sized bowl, stir together 1 1/4 C of the whole wheat flour, the salt and 1/2C of the water to create the soaker. Stir until well combined. Place in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap, then set aside.

Next, to make the preferment, mix together 2/3 C of the whole wheat flour, the yeast and ~ 1/4C of the flour.water. Stir together until well combined. Place in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap.

Let the soaker and preferment sit for 1 hour (or up to 12 hours).

Place the preferment (yeasted mix) in the bottom of an electric mixer bowl, then add the soaker to the bowl in chunks.  Add in the honey, olive oil and the rest of the flour. Mix on low speed until combined, about 1 minute, then increase speed to medium and mix for an additional 3-4 minutes.

Place the dough ball back into a bowl and let rest for 1 hour (or refrigerate overnight- let the dough rest at room temp for 3 hours after refrigeration)

Preheat oven to 550°.

Roll out and shape the dough on a lightly floured surface. Add desired toppings to your pizza and bake for 10-12 minutes on a heated baking stone or pizza sheet.

Source: Brew and Bake

I really enjoy making bread (which you can probably tell, as that seems to dominate my blog most of the time). However, I’ve grown to prefer wheat breads over white breads which usually require a pre-ferment process, thus requiring some advance planning.

A few days ago I was really wanting to make some bread right then so I started sifting through some saved recipes that were a 1 day recipe. This one has been saved for a while, then showed up on the back of one of my flour bags, so I gave it a shot.

This bread was great, it was labeled as a sandwich bread and that really described it well. It was soft and fluffy, but the oatmeal gave it more dimension than a standard white sandwich bread would have.

Ingredients:
1 cup water
1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons honey
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup rolled oats, ground (I did mine in a food processor)
2 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 1/2 cups bread Flour

Directions:

 Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a large mixer. Using the paddle attachment, mix until the dough forms a shaggy mass, then switch to the dough hook. Knead the dough for 5 minutes, or until the dough is smooth. (I had to add a bit more flour to the mix since it was very sticky.)

Move the dough to a lightly oiled bowl to rest for 1 hour. (The original recipe states that the dough will get a bit puffy, but may not double. Mine doubled- in fact by 1 hour it was HUGE)

Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled counter top and shape into a loaf.

Pre-heat the oven to 350°.

Place the loaf into a lightly oiled bread pan and let rest again for 45 minutes to an hour, or until the dough crests just above the lip of the bread pan.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a thermometer inserted in the center reads 190°. If the bread is browning too quickly, for the last 10 minutes tent foil over the loaf.

Source: King Athur Flour

This bread is one of my favorites for a few reasons. It’s delicious, of course, but also I find that my favorite wheat breads require a soaker or pre-ferment to be made the day prior and I usually don’t think ahead enough to make that! This one fits the bill nicely in that it can be made on whim. It is soft, great for sandwiches especially, but it also has that nutty wheat taste that I love.

Ingredients:
2 1/2 Cups unbleached bread flour
1 1/2 Cups whole-wheat flour
1 1/ T granulated sugar or honey (I prefer honey)
1 1/2 t. salt
3T powdered milk
1 1/2 t. instant yeast
2T shortening or unsalted butter, at room temp.
1 1/4 Cup water, room temp

Directions:

Mix together both flours, sugar (but not the honey yet), salt, powdered milk and yeast in the bowl of an electric mixer. Add the shortening/butter, honey and water. Blend on low speed until the mixture forms a ball.  If needed, add a few extra drops of water to pick up any flour lingering in the bowl. The dough should be soft.

Dust a counter top with either bread flour or wheat flour and knead dough (I use the mixer still w/the dough hook for most of this) until dough is slightly tack but not sticky. Add more flour if needed. (I always need to). Knead for about 10 minutes.

Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Ferment at room temp for 1 1/2- 2 hours or until the dough is double it’s size.

Fold the dough into a loaf shape and place in a lightly oiled loaf pan. Mist the top lightly with oil and cover with plastic wrap.

Proof at room temperature for about 90 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350°. Place the loaf pan on a sheet pan and bake for 30 minutes, then rotate the pan 180° and continue baking for an additional 15-30 minutes. The loaf will be golden brown on the top and sides.

Remove from the pan and let cool.

Source: The Bread Baker’s Apprentice by Peter Reinhart , pages 181-182

A few months ago my mom bought me Peter Reinhart’sThe Bread Baker’s Apprentice as a gift. I’d been borrowing it repeatedly from the library (then accidentally on purpose, forgetting to return it on time). Finally, when the library started calling my house to tell me that other people were waiting for this book, I decided I needed a copy of my own so I could stop being a buttmunch keeping the library copy from others. Mom to the rescue. Thanks mom!

I love this book.  As soon as I got it home, I started leafing through it, deciding what to try first.

I’d tried the Light Wheat Bread a few months ago and we loved it. I decided that the first thing I should make from my very own copy would be this multigrain bread and BOY it didn’t disappoint. Brian’s first comment upon trying a piece was “This is the best bread I’ve ever tasted. You don’t even need to try any others”. Sorry, B. I’ve got a whole bookload of loaves to try! Oh darn.

Ingredients:

For the soaker:
3 Tbs cornmeal
3 Tbs rolled oats
2 Tbs wheat bran
1/4 C water, room temp.

For the dough:
3C unbleached bread flour
3 Tbs brown sugar (I used light brown sugar both times)
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbs instant yeast
3 Tbs cooked brown rice (I confess, I left this out both times I made it so far since I didn’t have any brown rice)
1 1/2 Tbs honey
1/2 C buttermilk or milk
3/4 C water, room temp
About 1 Tbs poppy seeds for topping (optional, which I left out)

Directions:

Day 1: Soaker

1 day prior to making the bread, mix together to soaker ingredients. Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl and cover with the water. The mix will be just damp. Cover with plastic wrap and set at room temp overnight.

Day 2: the Dough

Stir together the flour, brown sugar, salt, and yeast in the bowl of electric mixer. Mix in the soaker, rice, honey, buttermilk (I used milk) and water. Mix with the paddle attachment on low speed until the ingredients form a ball. You can add a bit of water if the flour does not fully mix in.

Switch to the dough hook (or transfer dough to a floured counter top) and knead the dough for about 10 minutes, adding more flour if needed, until the dough is soft and tacky, but not sticky. (I had to add a fair amount more flour both times I made this.) The dough will become smooth and shiny.

Transfer dough to a lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Ferment the dough at room temp. for 90 minutes. The dough will double in size.

Press the dough into a loaf (or roll shapes) and place into a lightly oiled loaf pan.  Mist the top of the dough with water and sprinkle the poppy seeds on top. Mist again with oil and cover with plastic wrap.

Proof the dough for another 90 minutes. It will again about double in size.

Preheat oven to 350°. Bake for 20 minutes on the middle oven rack. Small rolls should be finished baking after the initial 20 minutes. For loaves, rotate the pan 180 degrees and continue baking another 20-40 minutes for loaves. (Mine took about 20 additional minutes, 40 total.) The bread should be golden brown and be about 185° in the center.

Remove loaves from the pans and cool.

Source:The Bread Baker’s Apprentice by Peter Reinhart, pages 187-189

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups warm water
3 tablespoons olive oil (plus additional for drizzling)
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
3 1/2 cups Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1 tablespoon instant yeast
various seasonings for the top of the bread (I used a bit of crushed garlic, oregano, rosemary, basil, parsley, thyme, and kosher salt.)

Directions:

Lightly grease a 13×9 pan and drizzle 1-2 T of oil on the bottom.

Combine all of the ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix for about 1 minute.

Scoop the batter into the glass pan, cover and let rise for 60 minutes until it is puffy.

While the dough rises, preheat oven to 375°.

Gently poke the dough in a few places with your fingertip. Drizzle lightly with oil and add spices to the top as desired.

Bake until golden brown, about 35-40 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let sit for 5 minutes, then turn the bread out onto a rack and serve.

Source: Amber’s Delectable Delights