This morning I decided to try another no knead bread recipe. Not too bad, but stickier than other no knead recipes I've made. Well received by my co-workers, who have gone a while without my homemade bread.
One of my colleagues asked me at work, "so what are you bringing me next?"
Well, brioche. The larger of the two loaves I baked up this evening. Forgot to do the egg wash, but it really isn't necessary. I could help myself and cut into the smaller loaf. Nice and buttery. Reminds me of a croissant, but not flaky. Considering how much butter is in the recipe, eating this with butter is not needed. Would be fabulous for French toast. Will have to tinker with it to make mini ensaymadas.
The other bread is a gluten free and I made this specifically for one person at work. Like the brioche I made two - this somewhat shaped loaf and a misshapened mess that should never see the light of day. It's okay, but nothing something I'd eat unless I'd absolutely have to. It's made with sorghum and brown rice flour, and a heavy amount of tapioca starch. It may be in my head but I swear I can taste a fine grit. Weighs a ton.
Will have to remember to bring jam or apple butter in for the bread.
One perk of this shift change is that I get a day off during the week. They usually give me Wednesday off, but it changed to Tuesday this week. With this day off, I get to do all the things I can't because I'm stuck at work, and by the time I get out most things are closed. For example, I get to go to the post office to send back this calendar I never ordered; I can go to Tuesday Morning and buy all the Wilton closeout items; and I can make meals I am normally too tired to make when I get home.
Although today's breakfast was all M's doing. This baking class has turned me into a bread making machine and all he asks is that I make a decent sandwich bread. I've tinkered with a few recipes, but I am sticking with the one that is in the textbook (sorry Bread Bible, yours no matter how many times I tried, never came out right). I am also sticking to the challah recipe in my textbook, but the way they explain how to braid the dough is not clear... at least to me. It took a couple of tries, but we figured it out, and I managed a decent looking four braided loaf.
I could have just eaten it toasted with butter and jam, but French toast is really the way to go with this bread. I don't know what M's egg and cream ratio was, but it was heavy on the cinnamon and delicious. The bread slices were on the thick side, which I prefer so that it doesn't sop up too much of the egg/cream mixture (it's my egg aversion... I can't help it)
Why use a spatula when you have hands?
The only one who didn't get to nosh on the toast was Stella. Poor girl.
It’s been over a week, and I am finally getting around to writing about my first food swapping experience. And hopefully it won’t be the last!
So I’ve tried to go before, I signed up for one in Albany, but they had held it in such a small space… and by the time I got there the place was PACKED. And I made a whole bunch of cupcakes from scratch and I didn’t even go. The size and intimidation factor, I tell ya. And then I tried to be swap curious, but that always conflicted with my volunteering at Honest Weight (which I no longer do… sob).
I am really trying to connect with my new city… be social and friendly and conversive. Yes, it’s a made up word. I like it… I’m keeping it. Anywho, I got an email about the June food swap and I immediately signed up. I had no clue what I was bringing but I figured I’d come up with something. It only took until the night before to decide on what to make – filipino food. Should have been a no-brainer, but eh. I finally chose to make pandesal, which seemed simple enough, but it’s bread. And I have yeast issues. As in it never works for me.
But it worked, and you can see the finished result. Mini pandesals that tasted pretty good! My test batch was regular white APF, and the following batches were a mix of the APF and organic whole wheat from a local business. I divvied the rolls into packs of eight and packed them up into paper bags and slapped on stickers M made for me. Nothing too fancy.
The swap was held at the Oakwood Community Center, which is at the corner of Hoosick Street and Oakwood Avenue in Troy. What I didn't know was which door to use to get in. It only took me catching someone leaving to finally find the open door. Which I had tried opening before, but I guess I didn't try hard enough.
Once inside I signed in and was shown my little area to display my wares. Thankfully I brought a serving dish and knife to cut up the samples. Filled out my little form, and went around the room, checking out what everyone one else brought it.
After sampling, there was a review of the swapping process and then we were off to sign up for the goodies. So you look around, sample the stuff and keep a mental note of what you like. Later, you go back to the ones you liked and get your name on the list for said likes and what you're willing to swap for it. I'm pretty sure how it goes - it was a bit confusing at the time. While I was signing up for items I looked back to see if anyone was signing up for mine. Thankfully, there were. Definitely made me feel good.
After the silent sign up came the mad swap dash. Once again, not really knowing what to do, I kind of just stood there and waited for people to come up to me. And there were... there were! I swapped more than half of it before I started going around to trade the rest. Once I had swapped the last bag of bread, I packed my things and went home. They sped this swap up along due to the humidity.
This is what I ended up with:
Ruby Port & Balsamic Sauce with Cherries and Strawberries - the lady at the table said it would go well with pound cake
Ginger Shrub - no, not a plant... a cordial of sorts made with vinegar. I'm thinking mixing the shrub with some seltzer and maybe... a splash of gin? On the rocks?
Lavender Black Tea & Almond Earl Grey Apple Syrup - The tea will definitely be used to make iced tea. Way too hot for hot beverages.
Currant Jelly - I've always wanted to try currant jelly and the sample I tried was so tasty! Fancy ideas include swirling it into an ice cream, or just spreading it on some toasted pandesal.
Maple Milk - I ended up using this on my last batch of pandesal that I made for my parents. Definitely sweetened the bread up, and not too excessively.
Water Kefir - So excited I got this! I tried (and sort of succeeded and then failed) making milk kefir before, and I figured water kefir would be more fail proof. I'll have to let you know about that. Actually, I lost the instructions the lady gave me.
It was a good experience and I'll definitely sign up again. But next time I'll make sure to get there earlier, and not make my stuff last minute. Also, maybe have a little variety in what I offer, but once again... need to plan and make things ahead of time. And for samples, maybe put more effort into it, pre-cut the food and have them in little disposable cups. And a better display.
So now is the time for the "best of's," looking back on all that was in the twentytwelve. I thought good and hard about doing one, but to be honest... I couldn't think of many highlights for this blog.
Okay. There was my blog recap. Could have been better, sure... but meh.
Anyways, in regards to the french toast. It has been my go-to breakfast option at work lately. In fact, I ordered it for two weeks straight. At both sites. It's just too good to pass up. Yes... chock full of calories and bad for my thighs, but it's the end of the year. I'm allowed to indulge.
I had a bad feeling about this stuff when I saw it. Why? Hello, it's in the dollar store! Obviously was not a big seller, so my expectations for were low.
I waited for M to get home from work before making this. He was as skeptical about it as I was, but whatever... dinner. We used the cheapest beer in our fridge (bud light) and waited the twenty or so minutes for this stuff to bake.
It looked like cake to me, and the smell that wafted from it was not all that appealing. I was able to manage a bite before I gave it to M. He thought it was okay, but reminded him too much of corn bread, something he doesn't really like.
So if you see this on the shelf somewhere, keep moving.
We had a breakfast buffet at work a couple of weeks ago. At first I wasn’t going to bring anything in, but I was kinda put on the spot about it and decided to make baked french toast. Really simple to make, especially since you do the majority of the work the night before. Baked it first thing in the morning, and it was still hot when I brought it in. And what do you know? Someone else brought BFT… and it was pretty much all gone by the time I got there.
Another purchase from the Philippine Bread House. Originally I planned on eating this with some corned beef, but it turned out there wasn’t any at home. Ended up just eating it with butter and a large cup of coffee.
I take that back. I can bake cookies and cakes just fine. However, I can't bake anything that uses yeast. Yeast baffles me. This creature of sorts in a freeze dried state always finds a way to not cooperate, leaving me with tough, hardly risen dough and cursing anything (and anyone) in my sight.
This never used to be the case. Back in the day, I used a bread machine. This machine knew how to tackle the yeast beast and always produced loaf after loaf of wonderful baked bread. But as all non-essential kitchen appliances go, it became forgotten and shoved in the back of a cabinet in the kitchen. Four years ago I got myself reacquainted with the bread machine and once again I was in bread delights.
Until it broke.
Machineless, I have since tried my hand at baking bread the old-fashioned way... by hand. And each and every time has been a failure. Even no-knead bread, the supposed easiest of the bread making techniques lost out to my bread baking curse.
Bittman could save me, right? Well so far, HTCE has not. Twice now. The last two weeks (since I seem to be behind by that much) I have tried to make Cinnamon rolls using the Basic Sweet Rolls recipe.
On the first attempt, things were going well. I tested the yeast before hand to make sure it was still working and yes... with some warm water and sugar, it did its bubbly magic. So I followed the recipe to a t (tee? T?)- adding all the dry ingredients to the food processor and pulsing a few times to get it all incorporated. I added the butter and egg and hit the button again to get it all mixed together. And then came the milk. Now the recipe did not say warm the milk up, so I added the straight from the fridge milk through the feeding tube and allowed it to mix until it formed a ball. I dumped it onto a waiting cutting board and kneaded the dough until it was "silky and elastic." It looked silky enough to me... as for elastic, I pulled and it sorta sprung back. Sounds elastic to me. I dropped the dough ball into a greased bowl and wrapped it with cling. I let it rest in the warmest room in the house and waited two hours for it to double in size. I even took a picture so I could compare and see if it indeed doubled.
Two hours later, I took a peek. It did rise, but it didn't really look like it doubled. Maybe it was 1.5 bigger. But if you round up... that's 2. So I rolled out the dough into a large rectangle, slathered on quite a bit of butter and a generous portion of cinnamon and sugar. I rolled it up and sliced it up into one-inch cuts. I arranged the rolls on the baking sheet and allowed it to rise a second time. An hour later the dough had puffed out a bit, but perhaps not as much as it should have. I threw it in the oven and waited. Perhaps I wasn't attentive enough, because I sortamaybekinda overcooked it. Instead of a nice golden brown, it was more chocolate brown. Notice how I am refraining from using the "B" word? Because it didn't. Not really. Anyways, it did not match the image I had in my head, but it tasted pretty good, albeit kinda hard.
The second attempt I was determined to make this work. I bought new yeast and warmed the milk. Once again following directions as written (except for the milk bit) and after mixing all the ingredients, I dumped the dough onto the board. Knead, knead, knead... where's my silkiness and elasticity? I added a little more milk and kept at the dough once again. With every press of the dough, the skin would turn white. I didn't notice it earlier, but all the skin was pretty dry looking. But I followed the directions!!! Lost at what to do next, I threw it in the bowl and hoped for the best.
I checked the bowl two hours later and was somewhat relieved to see that the dough had indeed risen. But once again it did not double like the recipe said to look for. It was just slightly larger. When I took it out of the bowl, it wasn't light and springy, like you would expect from risen dough. This fell out with a thud and was impossible to work with. It wouldn't obey the rolling pin, and still had that distinct whitening of the dough skin. I could pull off a piece without it having the dough string, or at least fight against losing some of itself.
Not knowing what to do, I filled up a bowl with some warm water and threw the dough in there for a few minutes. If I didn't put enough liquid (even though I followed the directions) hopefully the soak will hydrate it enough to be workable. I worked with the now sticky dough until I had a ball and threw it back into the rising bowl. Two hours later, it was a little better... but still refused to roll out.
It was at this point where I gave up. Instead of making Cinnamon Rolls, I decided to just make monkey bread. After the dough was rolled out, I quickly cut it into long strips, which I cut again into one inch nuggets. Tossed with cinnamon and sugar, drowned it in melted butter, and threw it in the oven. And guess what? It wasn't bad at all. Tasted sort of like the monkey bread I make with the refrigerator biscuit dough. Just a little tougher.
I think I'll steer clear of the yeast bread for now in the book.
Not that a tutorial for one of the easiest things to make is necessary. I just had some time on my hands.
4 cans of biscuits, cut into quarters. Keep in mind if you use this many, you'll need a baking dish that's appropriate- otherwise you'll have cooked dough on top, raw on bottom. Long baking dishes seem to be the way to go. I didn't use it, but you know... hindsight.
In a bowl/deep dish, mix the sugar and cinnamon. I never measure, I just eyeball. Just keep in mind you don't want too much cinnamon, or you'll regret it and then have to add more sugar and then it's just a big ol' snowball thing that will result. But then again, if you make too much you can save and use for your next batch. Whew... good save.
Coat the dough with the cinnamon sugar mixture one handful at a time. You just need to do a basic coat. The dough will also let you know if you used too much cinnamon- excess cinnamon will coat the dough. more than the sugar will.
I used a tube pan, which left the dough on the bottom raw. but it looks so pretty when it's done. When my mom used to make this, she would cut up butter and toss it in with the dough in the pan before baking. I actually never knew that, she told me after I went ahead and melted butter with some cinnamon and sugar. I'll have to use her method next time.
You know how on that Minimalist video they said that no-knead is so easy, that even a four-year old can make it? Well... I guess I'm at a no-knead age level below that.
I read the recipe. Re-read it. Tried to be one with the ingredients, all that stuff. Unlike the regular bread making ways, you just have to mix the ingredients up and then leave it alone for 20 hours. Seems insanely simple, right? Well... if you knew what shaggy was supposed to look like. I ended up adding a little more water until it looked what I hoped was shaggy. Wrapped it up with cling and popped it in the oven for a nice long slumber.
It was all mixed together and ready for rising by 10:35. So very hour after that, I would take a peek to see if anything happened. Nothing at first, which left me somewhat frustrated and resigned to the fact that I cannot make bread, even the simplest of breads.
When I awoke the next day, I was afraid to even check. I kept worrying that all I would see was the same sized mass, and would have to start all over again. I slowly eased the door open. The smell that wafted out was definitely yeasty, but with a slight sweet tinge. Is that normal? I finally took a look at the bowl. Hoorah! The dough had doubled in size and looked very bubbly. I wasn't planning on working with it for another 6 hours, so I closed the door and went off to school.
At this point here I will readily admit my veering from the directions. I took the dough out of the bowl for a "quick rise" before baking. The directions said 15 minutes... I ended up giving the dough a few hours to get ready for the oven (whoops). When the oven was warm enough, I placed it in my pre-heated dutch oven and waited. Thirty minutes with the cover on, and another thirty with it off so the crust could color up.
Results? The crust was really crusty and the inside very dense. But that could be from my tearing into it before giving it enough time to cool down (what can I say... I'm an impatient person). I smeared some butter on a slice and instead of seeping into the bread, it floated on top. Hmmm.
Adapted from Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery Yield: One 1½-pound loaf.
Time: About 1½ hours plus 14 to 20 hours’ rising
3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1¼ teaspoons salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.
In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.
Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.
Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.
At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.
"The book said this is how you're supposed to make it."
"Trust me. The book is wrong."
Pan de sal is the Philippine bread roll. The name (translated: salt bread) is deceiving, since the bread most people are accustomed to is sweet. Before going to the Philippines, the only Pan de sal I ever had was from the Philippine bread house. Great right out of the oven, airy, slighty sweet, and covered in bread crumbs.
On my first trip to PI, my dad and I would walk down the road and buy a boxful of pan de sal to bring back for breakfast. Unlike their American counterpart, these looked more like dinner rolls, and half the size I was accustomed to. They were still soft and had just a hint of sweetness.
I decided to try making these rolls on my own. I borrowed a Filipino cookbook from the library and followed the recipe right down to the letter. I mixed all the ingredients together until it formed a ball of dough and kneaded until it was elastic. Placed the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, covered with a damp cloth, and gave it to hours to double in size.
Two and a half hours later, I was still waiting for it to double.
FAIL FAIL FAIL.
Bad yeast, what can you do? Chuck the dough and try again. This time, I opened a jar of yeast I had lying around (I had used envelope yeast before) and proofed it before continuing. Ten minutes later it had tripled in size so I decided to try again. Because I followed the proofing directions on the jar, I had to alter the measurements a bit (original recipe posted below). I'm never sure how long to knead dough, but it seemed like forever. I let it rise for 4+ hours and it had tripled in size. WIN!
I floured my surface and as the book directed, I took out my rolling pin and rolled to 3/4 in thickness. Which brought about the conversation above. What I learned was that after the first rise, you shape it into a log and then roll in bread crumbs. You then cut them up into pieces and let it rise one more time before baking. My rolling it out I think made for a more dense roll. Oh well.
In the end, it did not resemble pan de sal. At first. Right out of the oven it had a definite sour taste to it, but as it cooled, and when eaten the next day, it became sweeter. I baked the bread on Friday and the rolls are still soft, unlike the bread I buy at PBH that hardens after a day.
I suggest you try it.
Pan de Sal (from the book Fine Filipino Food by Karen Hulene Bartell)
2 teaspoon dry yeast
1/3 cup plus 1 teaspoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
6 cups flour
1/4 cup dry bread crumbs
Add yeast to 2 cups lukewarm water and 1 teaspoon sugar. Let stand for 6-7 minutes.
In a bowl, mix the remaining sugar, salt and 1/4 cup oil. Add 3 cups of flour and the yeast mixture. Blend well, adding the rest of the flour gradually. Continue mixing until the dough no longer sticks to the sides of the bowl.
Transfer dough to a floured board and knead for 8-9 minutes, or until the dough is elastic and has a stain sheen. Placed in a lightly oiled bowl and with the reamining tablespoon of oil, brush the surface. Cover with a damp cloth and place in a draft free spot for two hours, or until the dough has doubled in size.
Punch down. Roll out on a floured board to 3/4 inch thickness, and cut into 1 1/2 inch strips. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon bread crumbs. Let rise for another 15 minutes.
Cut dough into 1 1/2 inch pieces. Arrange on a lightly greased cookie sheet, cut side up, about 1 1/2 inches apart. Sprinkle with the remaining 3 tablespoons breadcrumbs. Let rise for 30 minutes more, or until the dough doubles again in size.
Preheat over to 375. Bake the pan de sal for 12-15 minutes, or until light brown.
I could go for some pan de sal right now. One of my relatives (one of my mom's cousins), had this great recipe for it, but it's at home... if it's even somewhere she remembers. If that doesn't work out, there is one here. This is by May M. and look delish!
Ok, that isn't the same pic for the pan de sal for the recipe, but actually from The Louis Lesaffre Cup. They look so tasty and makes me hungry.
How do you eat pan de sal?
Sometimes I like it toasted with a little butter. More often than not, I make a little sandwich with corned beef (filipino pantry staple!). My grandma used to turn the pan de sal into this great sweet treat. She would coat it in butter and sugar and pan fry. They were so good! I've been meaning to replicate that, but my parents didn't buy pan very much (they'd get hard before they were all eaten up).
What is your fondest pan de sal memory?
Other than the one of my grandma making that sweet treat, my other pan memory dealt with her as well. It was my first time going to the Philippines, and I only went because my grandma was very sick. I stayed in my dad's old house out in Olongapo and had my first taste of provincial life. The lizzards crawling on the walls didn't bother me as much as the roosters did. Always crying. i came across the biggest pig I've even seen (there's a picture of it up on its hind leg and me running away) and climbed up mango trees (sadly, no fruit). I didn't have jet lag per se, but I was sleeping by 8pm and up by 3am. I used to take walks out in the moonlight and wait until the store down the street would open two hours later. It was here that I had the best pan de sal ever. They were very small, maybe two-biters. But they would just come out of the oven and they were toasty warm and when you bit into it some steam would come out. My dad and I would buy at least 100 pieces every day we were there... I think we sold them out a few times! I bought some homemade peanut butter and slathered them onto my bread. I added cold Andok chicken to it and happily muched away. My dad would call my cousins over and tell them to bring some pan with them to school. They must have thought I was crazy to be so happy about bread.
