BREAD, post Photos and Recipes here.

[Gary350]

I only made 1 loaf of 100% whole wheat Cinnamon Raisin bread today we are still trying to find the exact flavor we like. 3/4 cup of currents is finally the correct amount per loaf. I added an extra 1/4 cup of whole wheat flour to make a slightly larger loaf so it will fill the loaf pan, next time I try 1/2 cup extra whole wheat flour. 1 tablespoon of cinnamon is still not enough the problem is $10 per lbs cinnamon has less flavor than a $7 bottle for 2 ounce cinnamon. Bright red cinnamon that looks almost like chili power has a stronger cinnamon flavor. This time I used less yeast for a long slow rise it took all day for this loaf to rise keeping it warm 100 degree. Finally 9:15 pm last night loaf was large enough to bake 350 deg, the long slow rise makes bread taste like sour dough and gives it a better texture too. Next time I will do a sour dough starter. I think the bread is good, wife wants more cinnamon and more sugar. I want to avoid sugar so we will try honey next time. Toppings are, sun flour seeds, sesame seeds, flax seeds, it looks nice but adds nothing to flavor. Next time I will put 1/2 cup mixed seeds in the bread dough. Butter on dough before baking makes soft crust and very dark color, it also makes seeds stick like glue. Next time I want a light golden brown color.

[pepperhead212]

Looks great, Gary! As for your cinnamon dilemma, I have found the cinnamon (and other spices, as well)from the online spice companies to be more powerful than the supermarket cinnamon, due to faster turnover. And if you want even stronger cinnamon, look for the Vietnamese cinnamon.
https://www.penzeys.com/online-catalog/ ... p-955/pd-s

[applestar]

I second Vietnamese cinnamon — totally different aroma, too. Very nice. If you compare, the regular cinnamon smells woodsy — what are these, sticks from out in the garden? — and the Vietnamese cinnamon smells like what a proper spice should. Haha. I’ve been out of the V cinnamon for a while now, so I’m back to being used to the other cinnamon, however. Now I want to get some.
.
.
.
I had anko — adzuki bean jam — leftover From the NY celebration sweets, so I made 餡饅 (an man) — anko-filled steamed dumpling buns.
...only 4 out of 8 left, but here they are. Normally they are pure white, but of course I made mine with whole white wheat and bread flours, so they turned out this tan-color


In Japan, if these had been made with sweet dinner roll-type recipe, usually about hamburger roll sized, and baked — they would be called アンパン or 餡パン (an pan)

[applestar]

OK you tempted me into baking a loaf of bread.



Typical throw things together and mix until it looks about right recipe — 2:3 white bread flour and whole wheat + 1-2 Tbs potato starch, handful of old fashioned oatmeal, vanilla sugar, honey and molasses, active dry yeast, sea salt, kefir and whey, and a splash of apple cider... then ground up flax seeds/chia seeds/coconut flakes, brown sugar, and shaved butter worked into the dough. Sunflower oil used for coating the doughball for first proofing, 2nd proofing in the butter and Sunflower oil coated pan — both using the proofing function of the new toaster oven at 86°F. Baked with a tray of hot water on the bottom rack at 350 for 40 minutes, 325 for last 10 minutes.

As you can see, I over-proofed it and it rose way over the top of the pan and collapsed on one side. But it turned out very light and soft... and yummy!


...I was scrolling through this thread and came back to my latest loaf of bread — oh wow mine looks so lopsided compared to the rest of the beauties

[Gary350]

Yesterday I built a bread proofing box from stuff I already had in the work shop, 3/16" plywood, thermostat from electric wall heater, 2 light fixtures, 2 incandescent light bulbs 100 watts each, dry wall screws, electric cord from old junk TV, and my wine making thermometer. I call it my Bread Incubator it weights about 7 lbs. It is basically free, 2 hours work and it saved me $176.00 not buying the 1 wife found at Amazon.

Today I tested the bread proofing box with temperature set at 95 degrees F. Wow this is the fastest loaf of bread I every made. I proofed the yeast in 1 cup sugar water, mixed the dough, put dough in the incubator, 45 minutes later I rolled the dough out flat 8" wide about 16" long, sprinkled on the currents & seeds. Rolled the dough up, incubated it 45 minutes in the baking dish then cooked it 30 minutes in the oven. Covered loaf top with butter & seeds. Bread cooled 15 minutes then sliced it into double thick slices for breakfast.

I built the proofing box large enough to hold a 9"x12" cake pan full of 15 cinnamon rolls or 3 loaves of bread, or a large double loaf cow pile or 15 dinner rolls.

[Gary350]

MORE whole wheat Bread. Today I put 1/4 cup black strap molasses in the flour mix instead of 1 tablespoon of sugar for the yeast rise it added a nice flavor. This is the second time I used my home made proofing box temperature was 95 to 105 degrees F this time. Bread dough grew quick as magic it made a good loaf of bread. I put no butter on the outside of this bread, I used a brush to paint dough with water so seeds would stick before baking at 350. Whole wheat bread for breakfast every morning is helping my blood sugar problem. This loaf was 1 1/2 cups whole wheat plus 1/2 cup bread flour with 1 1/4 teaspoon salt. I threw about 1/8 cup flax seed and poppy seeds into the flour mix. I have the best luck with a 2 rise bread, today I did not kneed the dough for the 2nd rise I only pushed it down then stretched it out about 20" long 8" wide to be rolled up from one end and baked. No butter or oil on the outside of the dough this time. Rise was much faster and bread turned out better. Bread cooled 10 minutes, I dumped it out of the pan and sliced it thick while bread was still hot. It is interesting how little things like not kneeding the second rise make such a big improvement in the bread and painting the dough with water when it is stretched out 20" long before rolling it up makes all the layers stick together. Bread has a nice round top that did not fall during the bake.

[pepperhead212]

I made some bread today - good day for baking, since it was a cold, dreary day. It was a Potato Rye, with some ground golden flax seeds in it, and I made it with some whey I had from making some Greek yogurt, so that gave it some tang. Not a two or three day bread - just a simple two rise bread, with almost all whole grain (the last cup of flour added to the bowl while "kneading" is bread flour, just so it doesn't get too dry). I also added a tb of nigella seeds, along with all those 2 tb of caraway seeds, so it's loaded with seeds! I got two 32 oz and one 26 oz loaf from this dough.

Dough, finished kneading:
IMG_20190119_153234187 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Dough back in bowl, ready to rise:
IMG_20190119_155131547 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Dough, finished first rise:
IMG_20190119_183618533 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Loaves, ready for second rise:
IMG_20190119_184405829 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Loaves ready for baking:
IMG_20190119_195606426 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Pans removed from oven:
IMG_20190119_205309437 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Loaves cooling:
IMG_20190119_205500109 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[HoneyBerry]

Next down from fresh squeezed O.J., I love home made bread. You fresh loaves look sooooo good, Pepperhead.
My Mom used to make home made bread and cinnamon rolls to die for. I miss that.

[applestar]

Do biscuits count?

Flaky biscuits made with whey


This was one of those things you can’t help making “nom-nom” noises as you eat.

Inspiration recipe: https://saladinajar.com/family-recipes/ ... f-cinnamon

Mods —
- Made with white whole wheat, sub 1/4 cup with corn starch, sea salt
- 1/2 cup kefir whey with 1/4 cup kefir
- 6 Tbs unsalted frozen butter cut in 4 long bars and thinly sliced, and 2 Tbs virgin cold coconut oil, hand cut in
- ground cinnamon and home made vanilla sugar layered with additional 1 Tbs shaved unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts layered into last tri-fold
- Cut into 16 cubes
- Brushed with another 1 Tbs melted unsalted butter before baking, then after baking, with mixture of leftover melted butter and cinnamon vanilla sugar, organic molasses, about 1 Tbs leftover chopped walnuts, my blackberry sauce, 1/2 dropperful my own toasted hazelnut extracted in rum

[Gary350]

Today after lunch I decided to have fun in the kitchen. I made, pizza dough, cinnamon roll dough, and dough for bagels. My homemade bread dough proofing box made quick work of this.

Roll out pizza dough, cover with your favorite toppings, then roll it up. Wife cooked Italian sausage in the skillet with onion, garlic, Italian herbs, cheese plus pepperonis on the dough. I made the dough, let it rise 1 hours then rolled it out flat to fit a pan. As it turned out pan was too small or pizza roll was too big. After baking 40 minutes on 350 it was ready to eat. Wife had pizza sauce hot and I cut the pizza roll into several pieces. Put a slice on your plate then cover it with as much sauce as you want. Sprinkle on some cheese and its ready to eat.

Pizza dough bread recipe is, 1 3/4 cups bread flour, 1 cup warm water, 1 big teaspoon salt, 2 tablespoon sugar, 1 teaspoon yeast. Mix, kneed, rise 1 hr or double in size, roll dough out flat, cover dough with topping, cook and eat.

[Gary350]

Part 2 more pictures.

I decide to make 1/2 recipe of dough for bagels. 1 C bread flour, 1/2 cup warm water, 3/4 tsp salt, 3/4 tsp yeast. Mix, kneed, let rise 1 hr or double in size. Form into balls let rise until double in size. Slightly flatten dough ball then poke hole through center to form a donut shape. Let rise until double in size. Boil in water 2 minutes on each side. Top with seeds then bake 350 degrees for 20 minutes on top side then 10 minutes on the other side.

I also made 1/2 recipe of bread dough for a small batch of cinnamon rolls. Same recipe at bagels. Roll out dough, cover with 1/2 stick melted butter, 1/3 cup brown sugar, 2 tablespoons cinnamon. Roll up then cut into 2" long pieces. Rise until double in size, spray top with butter, bake 350 for 20 minutes. Top with frosting. I microwaved a container of white cream cheese cake frosting then drizzled it over the cinnamon rolls.

[Gary350]

Part 3

WOW these Bagels are GOOD. I love how crispy the crust is. I cut a bagel in 1/2, butter each 1/2, toasted them in the toaster. I'm not sure I want to make anymore bread for breakfast, I only want bagels I am spoiled now. Why does a bagel need a hole in the center. With no hole is it still a bagel. Maybe with practice holes will get easier. Next time I will make a few bagels with no holes. Next time I think the whole bread loaf recipe will be all bagels. I will need to modify my bread proofing box with 3 shelves for 12 bagels. I baked at 350 F 20 minutes. Recipe says bake 425 F or 100 C for 15 minutes.

Cinnamon Rolls turned out great. I only had 1/3 of a bread dough recipe to work with, I rolled dough too thin but it still made good cinnamon rolls. Bake 350 F 20 minutes.

[Gary350]

This morning 1/27/19 I was out of bed at 4am, breakfast at 7am, bagel snack at 9:30 am, I can't get over how good these bagels are. Today I need to find 3 pans at Dollar Tree or Walmart that will fit into my bread incubator box to grow bagels. This recipe is, white bread flour, salt, sugar, water, yeast.

This morning 1/28/19 I ate my 3rd bagel. Wow it is just as good as the other 2. Tomorrow I eat the last bagel then need to bake 10 or 12 more. My bread dough proofing box will need to be larger other wise it will take all day rising and baking 4 bagels each time. Pictures will be out of order unless I delete them and upload them again.

[Gary350]

Today I whipped up a recipe for making bagels. After kneeding dough and it doubled in side I pushed it down, cut in 10 pieces, rolled into balls, pushed balls flat on the baking pans then poked a hole in center with my finger. After double in size I removed bagels from proofing oven and they all degassed and fell flat. I think I let them raise too much, also I did not spray them with oil to help hold in the gas I want the crust to be crispy so I painted them with water. Oh well maybe I get better with practice. Wife wanted cheese topping on some and I want seeds on some. They turned out GOOD anyway. We will enjoy these for breakfast for several days.

This recipe is.
1 cup warm water in a bowl.
1 teaspoon yeast in bowl.
1 tablespoon of bark brown sugar in bowl.
1 cup bread flour in bowl.
Stir very well let rise to activate the yeast.

1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup bread flour
1 tablespoon sugar
Kneed until dough is stiff.
Let rise in warm place until double in size

Kneed dough, cut into 10 pieces, roll into balls, flatten into pancakes, poke hole in center.
Spray dough with oil, put topping on bagels, let rise until double in side.

Bake 20 minutes at 350 degrees F

[Gary350]

Does anyone think of pancakes as bread. Pancakes are actually called, quick bread. This is one of our favorite breakfasts at the camp ground. Griddle is perfect for cooking a whole breakfast the trick is timing. Start hash brown potatoes first, then bacon, then pancakes & eggs, they all finished cooking at the same time & breakfast is ready.

I made 1/2 a recipe = 6 pancakes & used a 1/4 cup measuring spoon to dip and pour batter on the griddle.

Recipe
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 T sugar
1 tsp salt
Whisk in a medium bowl

2 cups warm buttermilk or milk with 1 tsp vinegar added.
2 T butter melted
2 eggs
When butter melts into the milk whip in the eggs then stir into the flour mixture. Do not fool around make pancakes now other wise you do not get light fluffy pancakes.

Pour batter on 325 degree F griddle, when they start to bubble flip them over. They are ready to eat when other side is golden brown about 2 or 3 minutes.

We are not having hash brown potatoes today we decided to eat an extra pancake instead. We have homemade blackberry syrup, homemade strawberry syrup, real maple syrup. This is a fast breakfast it takes 10 minutes to cook once the pancake batter is mixed. You can mix, chopped nuts, oatmeal, seeds, raisins, blueberries, blackberries, chocolate chips, etc into the batter if you like.

[applestar]

Quick rolls made with 1/2 cup rye flour, 1-1/2 cup white bread flour, and 1 cup whole white wheat, yeast and salt, a little kefir and raw honey plus the water. This recipe used no oils. Brushed with egg wash with toasted sesame seeds mixed in before baking.



Very good accompaniment to simple chicken soup made with chicken thighs, onions, carrots, celery, yellow potatoes and carrots.

—-

Subject: No Knead Bread

I forgot about this thread. The rolls I made today are “no knead”. Very wet shaggy dough, still sticky when you stretch and pinch into balls and arranged on parchment - lined baking sheet.

Baked in pre-heated 450°F oven, with a tray of hot water on bottom rack, but I lowered temp to 425 after 5 min, and finished at 325 for the last 10 min. Maybe because I’m using a convection toaster oven and not a full size

[Gary350]

applestar, those rolls look good. Grocery store baking supply section gets smaller and smaller I can not find Rye flour anymore. Did you do anything special to make seeds stick to the outside?

I am trying to learn different bread making techniques. So far I have not learned how to make seeds stick like glue. Lots of seeds fall off after baking. Maybe there is no way to make all seeds stay permanently stuck.

German Bread looks very good.

I am learning about different types of crust. Hotter temperature makes darker crisper crust. Egg wash makes darker crust, Water wash makes a dry crispy crunchy crust. Sugar water wash makes much darker color crust. Baking soda water wash makes a very dark very crunchy crust. Butter or oil makes a darker soft chewy crust.

There is technique to use a round basket with flour soaked cloth inside to allow bread to rise with seam side up. After bread rises dump it directly onto a cookie sheet to bake. This makes a large round load.

[applestar]

Wow, those look fabulous.

I mixed the sesame seeds into the eggwash, dunking them down until coated. I didn’t have any basis for doing this, just did. But maybe it DOES help them to stick onto the bread?

I brushed on just before putting the tray in the hot oven. I used a silicone pastry brush and scooped the seeds up between the bristles, which actually didn’t pick up very many. I was in a hurry so let it go, but maybe more would stay on the bread if you spoon the eggwash on.

I suppose, you might roll the dough in a tray of seeds, too? But seeds put on before final rise tend to get pushed off the surface by the dough as the bread finishes rising.... Maybe you could take nearly finished baking bread, and glue on with egg wash, then finish baking?

[Gary350]

I screwed up but you would never guess that. I started out making 2 loaves of bread. 1 is 70% whole wheat, the other is 50% whole wheat. After the dough was finished and risen until double in size I decided 2 loaves of bread are boring I want to do something different.

I divided to cut the 70% whole wheat loaf in half. One 1/2 loaf became cinnamon current bread. Wife does not want seeds on the cinnamon current bread so I sprinkled it with oatmeal. The other 1/2 loaf has a German baking soda wash with seeds.

I started out with 10 biscuits they are too small. I changed it to 8 they look too small also. I changed it to 6 this looks better. I put German baking soda water wash on the 2 smallest biscuits. I put sugar water wash on the 2 medium size biscuits. The 2 largest biscuits have plane water wash.

Well darn..........no way to get this all in my bread proofing box in 1 batch. I ran out to the work shop and cut a piece of aluminum then bent it to the correct shape to fit in the bread proofing box. Hurry back into the house to put the bread dough on it.

40 minutes later bread is double in size. Ok I screwed up again there is no way to bake the German bread & sugar water wash bread at 450 degrees and the rest of the bread at 350 degrees at the same time. So I decided to cook everything at 375 degrees F for 25 minutes.

I decided to experiment with cutting slots in the top for 3 biscuits after I sprinkled them with a variety of seeds.

I put the tray in the oven 25 minutes later bread is finished baking. Razor blade cuts did not do much they must need to be deeper. Bread all turned out good but German bread looks the same as all the others. I was wanting some of that hard crunchy German crust. Oh well it will all be good anyway.

Now bread is cool and ready to eat but in the panic to run out to the workshop and make a tray I forgot to spray the aluminum tray with oil for baking the bread. Only 2 biscuits were slightly stuck all the others came right off.

Applestar too late to try your idea I try it next time, egg wash & seeds. Does cooked egg need to be refrigerated?

[applestar]

How do you SPRAY with butter? Do you use clarified butter? What a difference the butter spray makes

I bought the rye flour at Whole Foods. I used to mail order specialty flours from King Arthur, but Whole Foods stocks most of the KA flours I like, as well as Bob’s Red Mill flours and Pamela’s gluten free ones I’m interested in trying.


These are rye hard-rolls I made based on this rice cooker recipe (it’s in Japanese, but it has step by step photos and maybe your browser can run a translation) https://cookpad.com/recipe/255469

Mine is older, one of the earliest in the computerized rice cooker line up. I believe most modern multi-pot and maybe insta-pot can do the same thing?


— I divided the dough into 8 so the rolls are smaller and mushed into odd shapes. You can see one of the quick rolls I made before among the 200g rye/100g white bread flour hard rolls.


I came across this article while looking around for rye bread proofing and baking temperatures. If you haven’t seen it, I bet you’ll be interested, too.

BAKING WiTh RYE - The devil's in the Chemistry. By Stanley Ginsberg
https://theryebaker.com/wp-content/Ginsb ... .24.02.pdf

[Gary350]

applestar, wife calls the yellow color spray can of PAM, spray butter. I don't often use the spray can so I have not read what is in the can. I like to rub real butter on hot bread but if bread has seeds I can not do that. The other day bread was covered with seeds so I used the spray can but it is not real butter. Next time I have seeds on bread I will melt butter then pour it over the top to see how that works. I want to try your egg wash idea to make seeds stick but I worry cooked egg on top of bread will spoil if not refrigerated or eaten right away and have Salmonella bacteria, I will try it on something that will get eaten the same day. I had 2 tablespoons of roasted seeds on the pan I scooped them up and ate then they were very good. I have an idea to roast 1 cup of seeds in the oven then mix them in bread dough.

[applestar]

That’s a valid concern about the egg wash... hmm.... Well, I think this time, my winter bread keeping method probably helped with that. Rolls are typically eaten up quickly anyway, since they are picked up for easy snacks too.

I wouldn’t do this in the summer because higher temp will make bacterial pressure too high: I simply don’t wash the bowl used to make the initial sponge/wet dough, and line it with the DRY linen towel used to cover the rough while proofing (I wouldn’t use moistened proofing towel). This was used as “bread basket” for the rolls and tucked inside the towel. I believe the high density of yeast in the dried dough on the bowl and towel helps keep out and keep mold spores from settling in.

I guess otherwise keep in fridge for a day or two, or (slice loaves and) directly freeze for longer.
Looking forward to seeing/reading about your new bread ideas.

[Vanisle_BC]

Apple & Gary; I don't understand the reference to salmonella on cooked egg.

[Gary350]

4 years ago I got Salmonella poisoning from eating 2 day old cookies that had eggs in the recipe I spent 5 days in hospital.

[applestar]

This isn’t really bread, but I can’t think of where else to post this ....


This was made based on recipe for Fluffy Japanese Soufflé Hot(Pan)cakes. https://cookpad.com/recipe/3744249
As you can see, the basic key step is to separate the eggs and whip the egg whites with lemon juice until peaks form, then fold into the rest of the batter. I substituted storebought strawberry kefir for yogurt and used cake flour. Cook over low heat and cover, adding spoonfuls of batter in layers for extra fluffy height.

It’s funny — this became a fad in Japan a couple of years ago and is still going strong, sold by specialty shops. But this is similar to the hotcake recipe that was in my first cookbook ever— a cookbook with real recipes written for 8-9 year olds. That was ...oh, maybe ...oh wow, almost half a century ago?

We had ours with butter and genuine maple syrup. These really do practically melt in your mouth. It was a great hit with the family, but the recipe only made two small pancakes each. I will have to double it next time.


ETA — I didn’t refer to this recipe while making mine, but I forgot that I saved the link — FYI
Japanese Souffle Pancake スフレパンケーキ • Just One Cookbook
https://www.justonecookbook.com/souffle-pancake/

[pepperhead212]

Today I baked something I hadn't baked in a long time - some Sprouted WW bread. The original recipe is in an old book (I think 1973?), and I've been making it since I was in a co-op in '76 or '77. I happened to have a small amount of spelt berries in a jar, which is what made me think to sprout them - too little to do anything else with! The sprouted wheat berries give the bread a unique flavor - only 1/4 c wheat berries (before sprouting) to 6 1/2 c ww flour.

Sprouted wheat by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Poolish, made with WW flour, and sprouts added. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Dough, ready to rise. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Risen loaves. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Baked loaves - sprouted wheat bread. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[Gary350]

When I was in grade school my mother used milk for glue it works good on paper so I tried it on bread. 1 tablespoons of seeds and barely enough 2% milk to make seeds wet, stir well. Then spoon seeds onto the top of the bread before it is baked. I used bottom side of spoon like a putty knife to cover the top of the loaf with a good even layer of seeds. After baking 25 minutes at 350 degrees F seeds are stuck tight. I rubber my hand over the seeds a few times only 2 seeds fell off. I am a bit surprised how well this works seeds are not coming off easy.

This bread recipe is 1 cup whole wheat flour, 1 cup white bread flour, 2 tablespoon of sugar, 1.5 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon yeast in 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons 100 degree water. Proof yeast in warm water 30 minutes then add white bread flour, salt, sugar and stir well until dough becomes elastic and sticky. Add the rest of the flour then kneed until dough is too stiff to kneed. When double in size 1 hr kneed until too stiff to kneed, place in bread pan until double in size. Bake at 350 for 25 min.

I am never putting raisins or nuts in bread dough every again it causes too much trouble with things poking out all sides of the dough and baked bread. I rolled dough out flat about 7" x 16" then sprinkle raisins on flat dough then roll it up. Put roll edge on bottom of greased pan then force dough into the pan very hard forcing it in all the corners and edges. Force dough down hard on both ends this gets rid of the rolled end look after it is baked.

I cut the bread only a few seeds fell off compared to other breads with seeds that I put seeds on bread in the past. Bread turned out good I ate a slice with butter. This will be good in the toaster every morning for breakfast.

[SQWIB]

Finally got around to making my Dill Bread.
For the bread I just used all purpose white flour and wheat flour and dumped into my bread maker.

• 2c all purpose white flour (wasn't going back out to the store for bread flour)
• 2c wheat flour
• 1-1/4c water
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• yeast per directions (bread machine directions)
• tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 Cup of Cream Cheese
• 2 tablespoon of Dried Minced Onions
• 2 tablespoon of Dill Seed

[pepperhead212]

I baked some Russian Black Bread today. I gave the recipe below, but I did start it a couple days early, with some sourdough culture, which I do sometimes. I just started it two nights before with 1 oz firm starter, plus 1 1/4 c of the water, plus enough rye flour to make a slightly firm, but sticky dough. I let it rise until this morning - about 36 hours, then added the remaining ingredients, reducing yeast to 2 tsp. It definitely got acidic, as the dough rising and the loaves rising took about 3 hours each!
Russian black bread, before adding last 2 c rye, and bread flour. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Dough halfway through the kneading. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Ready to rise. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Risen loaves. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Baked Russian Black Bread. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Slice of Russian Black Bread. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

It looked and smelled so good that I had to have a late night sandwich on it!


RUSSIAN BLACK BREAD

4 tsp yeast, instant
2 3/4 cup(s) water
1/4 cup(s) blackstrap molasses
1 tsp sugar
2 cup(s) bran
4 cup(s) dark rye flour
1/4 cup(s) vinegar
5 tb oil
2 tb caraway seeds
2 tsp Russian caraway seeds (nigella)
1/2 tsp fennel seed; crushed
1 tb salt
2 tsp instant coffee powder
2 tsp caramel powder (optional)
2 tsp onion powder
3 tb dark cocoa powder
3.5-4 cup(s) bread flour

A. Combine the yeast, water, molasses, sugar, bran, and rye flour in the mixer bowl and set aside while preparing remaining ing., to allow the water to be absorbed. Add the vinegar, oil, seeds, salt, coffee, cocoa, and onion powder, and mix well. Add the bread flour a cup at a time, leaving it just a little moist. Knead 6-7 min. on medium with the dough hook, or 10 min. by hand. Place into an oiled bowl and roll over to coat. Cover and let rise 1 1/2 hrs. or until doubled, turning after 15 and 30 min.

B. Punch dough down and divide into two pieces. Shape each into a round loaf, or place in two 2 lb. loaf pans. Spray with oil, and cover with plastic. Let rise 45 min., or until about doubled.

C. Bake 1 hr at 350º, or less if using a stone at higher temps. Cool on a wire rack.

[applestar]

...trying to keep up with the serious bread bakers...



— this is another toss ingredients together bread. About 3/4 cup puréed winter squash (Mrs. Aquillard’s Striped Cushaw) plus water and kefir whey for the liquid warmed with saved strained bacon grease, crumbled krispykream pecan pie (that nobody wanted to eat) for the sugar, pumpkin pie spice, 1/2 tsp yeast and 1-1/2 tsp sea salt, 2 cups all purpose whole wheat flour, a handful of rye flour, and then white bread flour added to knead with a handful of broken up pecans.

Pretty long first rise in sufflower oil greased covered bowl in front of the heater, then cut in half and shaped. 2nd rise loosely wrapped in parchment using toaster oven’s proofing setting for 1 hour.

Preheated 350°F oven for 45 minutes. Dense-looking but surprisingly light and moist interior with chewy crust.



,,,3/4 eta... this really was good bread. It’s flavor wasn’t assertive in any way, but it was all around very satisfying when thickly sliced, lightly toasted and slathered with unsalted cultured butter, that it got eaten up as snack

[Gary350]

I am enjoying all these breads everyone is making. I wish we could all get together for bread tasting. Bread, cheese & wine all go together.

Today I wanted to make 1 loaf of bread but was not paying attention to what I was doing and made the whole recipe instead of 1/2 a recipe. 1 1/2 C whole wheat flour, 1 1/2 C white bread flour, 2 heaping teaspoons salt, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 1/2 C warm water, 1 tsp yeast. Many years ago I use to add corn meal it makes a much better bread so I added 1/4 cup white corn meal instead of yellow corn meal that is all I have in the pantry. I also added 1/4 cup oatmeal this is very good in bread too. I have sunflower seeds that need to be used up before they get stale so I ground up 1/4 cup in the coffee grinder then threw them in the mix. I have a large jar of molasses I bought for wine making so I poured in 1/4 cup. Molasses turned dough bright orange yellow color but after bread was baked 350 deg F 25 min now bread is brown. I have learn to use metal bread pans instead of the glass pans, metal pans make a much better bread. Glass heats up slow top is cooked 5 minutes before the inside, by the time inside is golden brown the top is over cooked. I used milk again to glue seeds on the sunflower seeds are stuck tight too.

[Gary350]

MUFFINS with Raisins, Nuts, Red Wine, Quick Bread.

I think this is the correct category for this recipe most cook books call muffins, quick breads. I thought I had lost this recipe it has been 10 years or more since I made this. Zucchini bread & banana nut bread are quick bread. Pancakes, fry bread, tortillas, Pita bread are quick bread in many cook books.

If you have not eaten currents they are like tiny raisins with much better flavor. I bought a 9 oz package of currents for another project but after I found my old recipe and made it instead. Pour the currents in a jar large enough to double in size then pour in your favorite red wine then screw on the lid, shake to mix every 4 hours. After 24 hours currents soak up wine and double in size. Pour off the wine to drink later.

Recipe for all dry ingredient.
2 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 1/2 currents soaked in red wine.
Mix well

Wet ingredients
1 cup milk
1 cup melted butter
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
4 tsps white vinegar
Mix well.

Make sure oven is hot 350 degrees before you mix the 2 mixtures together.

Recipe makes 12 large size muffins or 24 smaller muffins, have cup cake papers in the pan ready to go.

Mix dry ingredients with wet ingredients and stir well, quick as you can about 60 seconds. Use ice cream scoop or 1/4 cup measuring spoon to spoon batter into the paper cups quick as you can. Batter will begin to slowly foam put muffin pans into the oven bake 350 degree F for 25 minutes.

Original recipe said, soak raisins in water until double in size. I decided grape juice will be better than water and it is. Then I decided wine will be better and it is. Then I decided currents and wine will be better and it is the best.

[applestar]

You inspired me Gary350. I tried soaking the cranberries and raisins in the last of that cherry wine I mentioned before.

— I use a same basic batter recipe as reference for baking in a loaf pan or muffin tin — yesterday, I made these whole wheat squash-cranberry-pecan-walnut-raisin-oatmeal-coconut muffins. I only measured the flour and sugar and the leavening.


...I made 12 regular size and 12 mini muffins, and these were all that was left in less than 8 hours. One of the kitties even jumped up on the counter (our kitties are NOT allowed on the counter) and STOLE a mini muffin off the cooling rack.

DH has discovered that if the rest of the family sit quietly in the family room and some of us leave to go out, one of the kitties will sometimes jump up on the counter or the table to look for edibles within less than a minute after the front door has been closed. She apparently did exactly that after one DD and I left the house.

[Gary350]

RUSSIAN BABKA BREAD.

This looks so good I could not resist making it. I watched about 15 video recipes on YouTube how to make this. This is a traditional bread that is handed down from family to family, each family recipe is slightly different. This is a soft dough bread with a cream cheese type filling with a crumble topping. Cream cheese can be flavored with Dutch Chocolate or any pie filling, fruit, nuts, berries, etc, what ever you like. This recipe is suppose to make 1 loaf of bread but as it turns out it will make 2 loaves of bread. Most original recipes call for Farmers Cheese which is cottage cheese you use to make your own sour cream. If you want to make filling with cottage you need a cheese press to squeeze liquid out of cottage cheese for 24 hours so you have dry cheese.

DOUGH RECIPE
1 cup warm milk plus 1 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons yeast
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 stick of melted butter
2 eggs
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1 tsp salt
Proof the yeast in warm milk 20 minutes then add 1/2 the flour, butter, eggs, sugar, salt. Stir 10 minutes with electric mixer then slowly add the rest of the flour & stir 5 more minutes. Dough will be very soft let it rise until double in size about 1 hour in a warm place.

FILLING RECIPE
16 oz cream cheese.
3/4 cup white sugar
2 tsp vanilla.
Microwave cream cheese 20 seconds stir in sugar and vanilla.

CRUMBLE TOPPING
1/3 cup cold butter cut into 16 pieces
1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup dark brown sugar.
Run in food processor 30 seconds until it looks like butter pieces covered with flour & sugar.

My bread dough turned out perfect just like the videos shows. I folded the dough over and push out all the air about 10 times before stretching the dough out over the counter top very thin. Butter in dough keeps it from sticking to everything. Roll or stretch dough out very thin on counter top. I rolled dough out 3 times the length of a bread pan and about 15 inches wide then covered it with cream cheese then a whole can of cherry pie filling. Roll up along the long side. Fold into S shape then twist 360 degrees. Put into a bread pan until double in size about 1 hour.

MY bread is 2 times too LARGE it will not fit in a bread pan, I can not twist it 360 degrees. Maybe we put in too much filling. Now I understand why video said roll dough thin as pie crust. Dough should be divided in 1/2 to make 2 loaves of bread. This will still take practice making this fit into 2 bread pans.

CRUMBLE TOPPING. Cut 1/3 stick cold butter into about 16 pieces then place into the food processor with sugar and flour run it about 30 seconds until it looks like small pieces of butter covered with flour and sugar. Sprinkle on top the dough after double in size 1 minute before putting it in the oven.

Bake in hot 350 degree oven 45 minutes.

After letting this cool for 1 hours we ate some with a couple scoops of frozen yogurt ice cream. Wow this is GOOD. This won't last long around here. Filling is perfect.

Next time we make this it will be with Dutch Chocolate cream cheese filling.

3rd time I want to made cranberry orange juice pie filling like I saw in a video.

Next morning I had a slice of Babka with coffee and got a better photo in sunlight. You can see the fluffy bread & layers of cream cheese an cherry filling. We kept this in the refrigerator all night it slices much better cold. I microwaved this slice 25 seconds. Wow I am amazed how good this is.

[Gary350]

CROISSANTS

I have never made these before so this will be a learning experience. Recipe makes 12 to 14 rolls.

1 cup warm milk
1 tsp yeast
1 T sugar
Proof yeast until it foams up.

2 cup bread flour
1 tsp salt
1 T sugar
Mix, flour, salt, sugar.
Add 1/2 the flour mix to milk mixture stir with electric mixer several minutes then slowly add the rest of the flour. This will be a thin soft dough.

Let the dough rest in a warm place until double in size.

Roll dough out to a rectangle shape the thickness of cardboard. Coat top of dough with melted butter.
Fold dough in thirds so you have 3 layers of dough. Roll dough out to a rectangle thickness of cardboard again.
Cover top of dough with butter fold it in thirds again and roll out again.
Fold and roll out dough 9 times this gives you 27 layers be sure to cover dough with butter each time before folding it.
Roll dough out 1 last time about thickness of cardboard then cut into 6"x9" triangles with pizza cutter.
Roll pie shape pieces up from the 6" wide end. Place rolls on a cookie sheet 2" apart to rise until double in size.
If you want a dark crust paint dough with milk or egg wash before putting it in the hot oven.
Bake 350 degrees F for 15 to 20 minutes.

My dough started out a bit too soft but after coating it with flour to make it easy to roll, folding and rolling again and again dough soon was easier to work with. The hardest part is keeping track of how many times I folded and rolled out the dough, need pencil and paper to keep track when it was rolled out 9 times to = 27 layers. I should have used a yard stick to get all the triangles the correct size. Pizza cutter makes dough easy to cut. I buttered the rolls on bottom then set them on the baking pan so they don't stick. Rolls were kept in warm place until double in size, coated with milk then baked 20 minutes. Rolls turned out a bit darker brown than we wanted but they taste good. Next time no milk top coating we like the golden brown look. Tomorrow morning wife is going to make sausage gravy to pour over croissants for breakfast with coffee & yogurt.

[Gary350]

BLUEBERRY BREAD

Today I made a soft bread by adding milk & egg to the bread dough. I bought a jar of Smucker's Blueberry Preserves because it has less sugar & more blueberry flavor than jelly or jam. I heated the Blueberry Preserves to about 140 degrees F then puree the fruit so it is all liquid with the french mixer.

RECIPE

1/2 cup warm milk
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp yeast
Proof the yeast about 20 minutes until it foams up very much.

20 minutes later mix in
1 egg
1/2 cup blueberry preserves with french mixer

1 cup white bread flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/4 tsp salt

Stir in the liquid. Stir until stiff then let dough rest 10 minutes.
Kneed dough until stiff let it raise at 105 degrees F in incubator until double in size about 1 hour.
Push the dough down flat then roll it out 8" wide 24" long.
Pour the rest of the Blueberry preserves on the dough then spread evenly over the top.
Roll up from the 8" end place dough in a greased pan to double in size 105 degrees F about 1 hour.
Bake 350 degrees F for 20 minutes turn off oven leave bread in oven another 10 minutes
Butter top of bread loaf while it is still hot this will make it softer.

This bread slices noticeably different than bread with no egg & no milk, it is soft as cake.

[Gary350]

Wife & I went to Farmers Market last week, wife bought a Banana Bread. I have eaten a lot of banana bread in my day but nothing as good as this. I like it the recipe takes advantage of science & physics plus does not call for a cup of Oil or cup of Crisco to make it soft. It does not leave your mouth and teeth covered in grease. The hardest part is letting 3 bananas turn black an disgusting looking it took 6 days of waiting. Put 3 bananas in freezer over night then leave them in the refrigerator 4 days then 2 days on the counter top. Bananas turn out soft as room temperature butter and sweet as sugar. It is all natural. Use metal baking pans not glass. Low temperature 325 degrees F allows the batter to cook all the way through an not burn or over cook the outside.

BANANA NUT BREAD

1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup soft butter
2 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
3 disgusting looking medium size black bananas
Whip at high speed for a few minutes until creamy and smooth

Add
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup sour cream
Whip at high speed for a few minutes until creamy and smooth

Add
1 cup of pecans stir in by hand with a spoon.

Grease 2 metal 5x9 bread pans then pour 1/2 the batter into each pan.

TOPPING
1/2 cup white sugar
1 T cinnamon
1 T soft butter
Whip at high speed until mixed then sprinkle over the top of each loaf

Bake at 325 degree F for 60 to 65 minutes. Test with tooth pick make sure it is done in center.
Cool for 10 to 15 minutes so it dumps out of the pan easier.

[applestar]

Looks good! What I have always done to get my children to eat vegetables is to sneak them into banana bread/muffins.

Replace half the banana with zucchini, squash, broccoli, even carrots although they ate carrots without needing to hide them. I also added any fruits that were not getting eaten fast enough — cut out soft spots and add apples, pears, plums, peaches, ... leftover berries, etc. Nuts, too — walnuts or pecans, almonds, flake coconuts ...mix-n-match depending on other ingredients

...also, I always use White Whole Wheat/Whole White Wheat flour. When you get used to eating whole grain baked goods, white flour-made stuff are too gummy in texture, and they are missing the other flavors you get used too.

[Gary350]

Looks good! What I have always done to get my children to eat vegetables is to sneak them into banana bread/muffins.

Replace half the banana with zucchini, squash, broccoli, even carrots although they ate carrots without needing to hide them. I also added any fruits that were not getting eaten fast enough — cut out soft spots and add apples, pears, plums, peaches, ... leftover berries, etc. Nuts, too — walnuts or pecans, almonds, flake coconuts ...mix-n-match depending on other ingredients

...also, I always use White Whole Wheat/Whole White Wheat flour. When you get used to eating whole grain baked goods, white flour-made stuff are too gummy in texture, and they are missing the other flavors you get used too.

We always had a garden when children were growing up so they were use to eating vegetables all the time an seldom complained. They did not like carrots so I use to puree carrots then mix them into meat load. But the kids did not like meat loaf so I started cooking meat loaf in hamburger shapes fried in the skillet or baked in the oven kids bragged how these are the best hamburgers we ever ate. LOL. I don't like beef but the kids like hamburgers so we cooked beef in some things.

When I make a new recipe I like to make it original the first time then I have a better idea how I want to change it next time. Next time I leave off sugar topping and put the 1 T cinnamon into the batter. Next time I swap out 1/2 the white flour for whole wheat flour. After baking and changing it a few times I get closer and closer to what we like best. Third time I want to leave out some of the white sugar and maybe add more whole wheat flour. Also swap out $12 pecans for $4 lb walnuts because walnuts cost less. This will probably become our #1 recipe for making muffins, blackberries will be ripe soon plants are loaded this year. I think my 3 bananas were too large on this first time making this I should have used smaller bananas or more flour. Recipe calls for 3 medium bananas not sure exactly what size medium really is there should be a more exact measurement like 1 1/2 cups or what every works best.

[Gary350]

YEAST ROLLS with filing.

Today I wanted to make something I can eat as snack food that is not loaded with sugar so I decided to make yeast rolls.

1 1/4 cups white bread flour
1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup warm milk + 1 teaspoon sugar
2 eggs
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
2 T sugar
1 teaspoon yeast
1 T heaping spoon of peanut butter
1 T heaping spoon of mash potatoes

Proof yeast in warm milk + 1 tsp sugar until it foams in about 30 minutes.
Stir in eggs, peanut butter, mash potatoes.
Slowly stir in flour little at a time.
Kneed bread until stiff, let rise 1 hour until double in size at 100 degrees F
Kneed bough enough to push out all the air.
Roll dough out into a long sausage shape about 20" long.
Cut dough into about 18 golf ball size pieces.
Roll each pieces in balls then squeeze them flat like a 2" diameter pancake.
Place filling in center on 1 side of pancake then pull dough edges in 6 places 1 by 1 to back side in center to cover up the filling.
Place back side down on baking pan.
Mix seeds with milk they will stick to dough like glue while baking.
Bake 350 degrees F for 25 minutes.
Top with melted butter.

When these came out of the oven wife said, I want to eat 1 while they are still hot. Then wife said, WOW these are good we are having these with dinner.

My filling is fresh garden herbs, oregano, thyme, rosemary and 2 kinds of cheese, cheddar, Swiss, also Jalapeno peppers. I bought a jar of Meggetta jalapeno not realizing the label says, Tamed peppers. Tamed means 95% of the spicy hot has been removed also the flavor has been removed too. Tame peppers have less flavor than a paper plate throw them in the trash. Meggetta usually have good peppers some are better than Mt Olive. The spicy hotness of the Mt Olive Jalapeno is perfect for me I can eat these with a fork like pickles. I love hot spicy food but my stomach can not deal with it anymore I will be sorry I ate these tomorrow. The rolls need 5 times more Jalapeno peppers next time, wife won't be eating any so I get to eat them all.

Rolls with a mix of all 3 herbs in several combinations they were very good. I liked the rolls with Swiss cheese best, wife liked cheddar cheese best. Next time add more cheese 1" wide piece 8" long rolled up like a carpet fits perfect in the dough. Maybe I buy cheese cubes next time instead of flat cheese.

Now that I finally learned the correct way to put filling in dough I can make, Jewish Knish and German Pasties, easier.