Tuesdays with Dorie BWJ: Rustic Potato Loaves
April 2, 2013 at 12:01 am | Posted in BWJ, groups, savory things, tuesdays with dorie, yeast breads | 17 CommentsTags: baking, bread
I don’t make bread super-often. Only sometimes. I’m usually proud of myself just for having made the effort to stir together yeast and water. But when I opened the oven yesterday and pulled out Leslie Mackie’s Rustic Potato Loaf, I felt like a pretty legit bread baker. Look at that crust…it is awesome. I was in love with this bread before I even cut it open.
You can’t see any trace of them, but the bread has mashed boiled potatoes in it. I guess they help make the bread really soft inside and give it a slightly earthy flavor. I wasn’t sure if I should peel the potatoes or not…in the end I did peel them, but also tossed the peel scraps into the cooking pot just to infuse some extra flavor into the water (which is also used in the dough). The dough looked like a big blob of uncooked gnocchi but it was a quick riser, with two proofs of just 20-30 minutes. So, for a “rustic” bread, it was pretty quick from start to finish.
I’m making cream of celery soup tonight and toasting off a couple of slices of this bread, and I just can’t wait! For the bread recipe, see Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan or read Dawn’s Simply Sweet. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie BWJ: Focaccia
February 5, 2013 at 12:01 am | Posted in BWJ, groups, savory things, tuesdays with dorie, yeast breads | 12 CommentsTags: baking, bread
A warm pan of this stuff– this olive oil-soaked bread– is dangerous. Craig Kominiak’s Focaccia is the type of thing I could polish off myself in one sitting.
There was some talk about KitchenAid burnout from the full batch of dough, which made three breads. In the interests of both self-restraint and my red KA, I did just a third of it. No problems with the mixing, and only one pan of focaccia to tempt me.
Don’t make this dough in the morning and expect to have focaccia by dinner. It needs a solid 24 hours to rest in the fridge (after two room temp rises) for flavor and air bubbles. I was daydreaming about that pizza from a couple of weeks ago, and in the course of that downtime made a pan of caramelized onions to top my bread.
I think with focaccia, as with most things savory, the more olive oil the better. Rather than sprinkle my baking sheet with cornmeal, I lubed it up with extra oil before stretching the dough into it. Then I brushed garlic and thyme infused olive oil all over the top. At the half-way point in baking, I scattered on my caramelized onions (so they wouldn’t burn), popped the focaccia out of the pan and slipped it directly onto my pizza stone to finish baking. I had delicious oily, salty bread with an almost fried bottom crust. If I had a criticism, it would be that slashing the dough, as the recipe calls, just before baking seemed to really deflate the air bubbles and inhibit its rise. Next time, I’ll dimple the dough with my fingers instead and hopefully it will be puffy and tall.
For the recipe, see Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan or read Sharmini’s blog Wandering Through (a modified version is also here and there’s a video here). Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie BWJ: Pizza with Onion Confit
January 8, 2013 at 12:01 am | Posted in BWJ, groups, savory things, tuesdays with dorie, yeast breads | 19 CommentsTags: baking, bread, pizza
My husband is going out for a business dinner tonight, and I have plans of my own. Sometimes when he’s not around for dinner I’ll meet up with friends for wine and gossip. But tonight, it’s a little alone time…just me, Steve Sullivan’s Pizza with Onion Confit and the first episode of the new season of Downton Abbey. Perfect
Here in Brooklyn I don’t have to look too hard to find good pizza, but I make it a lot at home anyway. I fiddle around with different recipes, too, so I didn’t mind trying a new one here. This dough uses a sponge starter to add flavor, but the process can be done in a day, unlike some doughs that require a day or two of fridge fermentation (like this excellent one). I cook my pizzas on a stone in a ripping-hot oven. And I (obviously) don’t care too much if they are perfectly round or not.
All the tears you shed slicing onions will be worth it when you wind up with a pan full of soft, sweet onion confit to top your pizza. I didn’t have the red wine the recipe calls to simmer the onions in, but I did have an open bottle of white, so I used that instead. I’m sure the red wine would have made the confit a beautiful shade of rich purple, but mine wound up more like traditional caramelized onions. Leftover onion confit is like gold in the fridge, and I can’t wait to use it on a turkey burger or a sandwich.
I also put a handful of spinach on top of my pizza, you know, for vegetables. And at the halfway point I crumbled on a little Point Reyes blue cheese. For the recipe, see Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan or read Paul’s The Boy Can Bake. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie BWJ: Bagels
October 16, 2012 at 12:01 am | Posted in breakfast things, BWJ, groups, savory things, tuesdays with dorie, yeast breads | 12 CommentsTags: baking, bread, breakfast
I eat my fair share of bagels. Frankly it’s hard not to when you live in New York City and there are bagel shops all over the place (Bergen Bagels being my favorite close-to-home joint). I’m not just a bagel-eater, I’ve actually made a lot of bagels, too, at my first restaurant job where we’d get slammed with weekend brunch crowds who all seemed to want the smoked trout with quail egg and a mini bagel….so Lauren Groveman’s recipe wasn’t totally Greek (or should I say Yiddish?) to me.
There were a couple of things I did differently than the recipe, just out of old habits. After boiling the bagels for about a minute on each side, I removed them from the water and placed them on a cooling rack set over a baking sheet. I baked them on the rack as well, because it allows the oven heat to circulate underneath the bagels. I didn’t bother brushing them with the egg white glaze before baking. They may not have been laquer-shiny, but they still browned very nicely and the toppings held in place. Also, in the bagel dough, I used half sugar and half barley malt syrup for the sweetener, which Groveman did on the TV show, but did a little differently in the book (which calls for only sugar).
I wasn’t super-prepared in the toppings department, so I just went with poppy seeds on some and grey salt on others. The salt ones were my favorite. I stirred some dill and chives into cream cheese to jazz up my schmear a bit. These were chewy and had a nice crust….with a cup of coffee, these bagels made for a perfect New York breakfast.
If you’ve never had a super-fresh, warm bagel before, you can really make great ones at home, so give it a go! You can make the dough the night before and it’s ready to shape and cook off the next morning. For the recipe, see Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan or read Heather’s Bytes (it’s also here). And there’s even a video of Julia and Lauren making bagels together. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie BWJ: Whole Wheat Loaves
September 18, 2012 at 12:01 am | Posted in BWJ, groups, savory things, tuesdays with dorie, yeast breads | 14 CommentsTags: baking, bread
Now that it’s ever so slightly cooler outside, it’s nice to spend the better part of a Sunday morning making bread. Baking a yeast bread makes me feel productive, even if I’m really doing almost nothing at all. Craig Kominiak’s Whole Wheat Loaves were this weekend’s TWD project.
This wheat bread has a kiss of honey and malt extract (I used the Eden Foods malt syrup). It’s slightly sweet, soft and wholesome…not bland, dense and healthy (if you know what I mean). It’s good for sandwiching and for toasting. Now that I say that, it would no doubt make an awesome grilled cheese. That’s avocado toast up top…one of my favorite toast applications…and a turkey sandwich down below.
This is how wheat bread should be. I’m glad that the recipe is so unintimidating…there’s no excuse for me to not make it often. For the recipe, see Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan or read Michele’s Veggie Num Nums and Teresa’s The Family That Bakes Together. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie BWJ: Semolina Bread
July 17, 2012 at 12:01 am | Posted in BWJ, groups, savory things, tuesdays with dorie, yeast breads | 17 CommentsTags: baking, bread, savory
I thought I was in for a whole day project when I set out to make Nick Malgieri’s Semolina Bread. The recipe calls for three two-hour proof periods, but with the East Coast heat and humidity, my kitchen is its own proof box. I had that loaf ready for the oven in under five!
I made the dough in the food processor. So easy. I cut the salt by a quarter teaspoon, and added it to the dough after the rest period in the processor. Besides that and my shorter proof times, I followed the recipe as-is.
I wanted my loaf to be like bread from the Italian bakeries over in Carroll Gardens, so I spritzed it with a little water and sprinkled on some sesame seeds before I put it in the oven. Then they all more of less fell off when I cut into it, but whatever. I had a crusty, golden loaf of bread, and it was delicious. My favorite part of a crusty loaf like this is the end bit. Actually my favorite parts, since there are two end bits! Slathered with a little salty butter, they are my ideal baker’s treat.
For the recipe, see Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan or read Renee’s The Way to my Family’s Heart and Anna’s Keep it Luce. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie BWJ: Oasis Naan
June 5, 2012 at 12:01 am | Posted in BWJ, groups, savory things, tuesdays with dorie, yeast breads | 32 CommentsTags: baking, bread, savory
Phew…I cut it close on this one. I just made Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid’s Oasis Naan a couple of hours ago. Luckily it’s a pretty simple bread dough, as long as you have the time to proof it.
The recipe calls for making this flatbread dough by hand. I’m lazy…I used the food processor, same as I do for pizza dough. (I must say here, that I only made a half batch of dough, so everything fit just fine.) I started by adding the minimum amount of flour to my processor bowl, then with the machine running, I poured in my water/yeast combo. I added more flour to touch and turned off the machine for 10 minutes. Then I sprinkled the salt and a little bit more flour over the dough (because it still felt pretty sticky) and turned it back on for a few more seconds. I kneaded it on the counter for about a minute before putting into a bowl to proof.
The dough bakes up nice and puffy (be sure to dock it well!), and chewy, too. I topped mine with chopped spring garlic and za’atar spice, but I bet all kinds of things would be good on top. You could even make them like mini pizzas. It’s not quite as soft and charred as the naan I get from my local Indian takeaway, but I’d make this again for sure.
We ate our naan with a freekeh, beet, chickpea and feta salad I concocted. Very healty…I think my husband thought the naan was the best part!
For the recipe, see Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan or read Maggie’s Always Add More Butter and Phyl of Of Cabbages & King Cakes. There’s also a video of Alford, Duguid and Julia making the bread together, and the authors wrote this article that gives more naan tips. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie BWJ: White Loaves
February 7, 2012 at 12:01 am | Posted in BWJ, groups, savory things, tuesdays with dorie, yeast breads | 37 CommentsTags: baking, bread
Here we go…the next round of Tuesdays with Dorie starts today, and this time we’re Baking with Julia! I’ve had this book for years, and have made several things from it, so I’m looking forward to getting to know it better. And also to getting to know a new group of TWDers!
First up, we’re doing Craig Kominiak’s White Loaves. I’m really excited about the bread section of the book, so I was pleased to tackle this one at the get-go. This is your basic sandwich loaf, perfect for PB&J, as you can see above. It wasn’t hard to make. I halved the recipe to do one loaf instead of two, and my mixer had no problem getting the dough together quickly (the full two loaves probably would have made it whine). A couple of rises later, and the dough was ready to become bread! Seriously, the hardest part here was waiting for my loaf to cool so I could get my lunch together (it’s always important to let bread like this cool properly or the texture won’t be right). I loved the crust on this…a nice crispy top. And the bread was so soft inside. I have half the loaf stashed in the freezer, and am looking forward to a turkey and cheese sandwich next.
Homemade yeast bread smells so good in the oven. You won’t get that from a store-bought loaf, so for the recipe, see Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan or read our founder Laurie’s blog, slush, and our group manager Julie’s blog, Someone’s in the Kitchen, as they are co-hosting the first recipe. Thanks, ladies! Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll.
Daring Bakers in October: Pizza & Toppings
October 29, 2008 at 4:12 am | Posted in daring bakers, groups, savory things, yeast breads | 39 Comments
October’s Daring Bakers’ Challenge is hosted by Rosa of Rosa’s Yummy Yums, and it’s the third recipe the group has made from The Bread Baker’s Apprentice: Mastering The Art of Extraordinary Bread by Peter Reinhart. Judging from the other two, we will all have had spectacular results with this month’s PIZZA! I completed the recipe so early in the month (which is quite unusual for me), that I’ve actually had too long to think about what I’d say. In my head, this became quite a long, rambling post…sorry…I understand if you don’t have the patience!
I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like pizza. I do have a couple of good friends who don’t eat cheese, but they still love cheese-less pizza. As a New Yorker, I prefer pizza that has a chewy, puffy, nicely browned and slightly salty outer crust. I think the crusty edge part is just as good as the topping part– you’ll never see me leaving a heap of chewed-around crusts on my plate! I had a bit of a hard time with pizza in Sydney, where the preference seems to be an ultra-thin crust, with really no outer edge to speak of. Eventually, we found Pizza Mario in Surry Hills (it’s an accredited member of l’Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana), which gets my vote as Sydney’s best!
I make pizza often at home, but I’ve had mixed results. My best work came out of the oven in my last apartment in Brooklyn. It was an old gas Magic Chef with a bottom heating element (I could see the flames under the oven floor) that got my stone ripping hot. The bottom crust was always brown and crisp. In Sydney, we had electric ovens with top heating elements in all three apartments, and no matter how long I preheated my stone, or where I placed it in the oven, I could never get the bottom to brown nicely. It became quite frustrating, and I tried many dough recipes and little technique modifications along the way. (It may also be the stone itself, as my old one went into storage accidentally and I had to get a different one in Sydney. I’ve read about making pizza on the bottom side of a super-hot cast iron skillet under the broiler…sounds promising, but my skillet is kind of small.) I’m definitely crossing my fingers for a gas oven in the future!
I made half a recipe of dough, from which I formed two largish pizzas. This is a well-hydrated dough, and requires an overnight rest in the fridge. I can be held for up to three days, though, so I decided to make one pizza for dinner one night, and the other the next night. I know that Rosa wanted us to shape the dough by tossing it “like a real pizzaiolo,” but mine was much too sticky. I had a hard time even with just the hand-stretching. Despite the stickiness, the dough had a wonderful, soft feel, and I could tell by touch that the recipe would be a good one.
As far as pizza toppings go, I am a minimalist…I don’t like too many different things, or too much of any one thing, either, to weigh down or sog out the crust. I usually do tomato sauce, mozzarella and basil– black olives, too, if I’m feeling crazy– so I thought I’d try a couple of “unusual” topping combinations for my challenge. Inspired by a favorite at the aforementioned Pizza Mario, I made a pizza topped with potato, rosemary and Maldon salt with the first night’s dough. Before baking, I simply sliced a red-skinned potato super-thin with a Japanese mandolin, spiraled the slices on the dough, sprinkled on the rosemary and salt, and drizzled olive oil all over it. The next night, I slowly caramelized a sliced onion in a little olive oil and butter to top my second pizza. Then I scattered on bits of gorgonzola picante and some more rosemary.
I just realized, looking back at the DB details to type up this post, that we were supposed to use both toppings and sauce. Well, we can just consider olive oil to be the sauce on these, because I used copious amounts of the stuff on both pizzas!
The pizzas were a hit! Potato pizza may sound like starch on starch, but it’s really so delicious. If you’ve never tried it, I recommend giving it a go sometime. The sweet onions with the sharp gorgonzola was a perfectly balanced match on the second pizza (and, in the oven, some of the onions got a little crispy on the edges– the best part!). And the dough was wonderful– just the kind of bready crust I like! I unfortunately had the same problems browning the underside, but I expected that, and I’ll try it again when I’m settled in New York.
Rosa was originally to host this challenge with Sher from What Did You Eat?, and it was Sherry’s idea to make this recipe. Sherry passed away in July, but Rosa decided to go ahead with her choice, honoring her friend and her accomplishments as a cook and baker. So don’t call for pizza delivery this weekend! Make your own instead, and get the recipe on Rosa’s site. Don’t forget to check out the DB blogroll!
Daring Bakers in September: Lavash Crackers & Toppings
September 27, 2008 at 6:42 am | Posted in daring bakers, groups, savory things, snacks, yeast breads | 51 CommentsTags: baking, savory, snacks
This month we had our first “Alternative” Daring Bakers’ Challenge! Natalie from Gluten A Go Go and Shel of Musings From the Fishbowl teamed up to bring us a two-part challenge. The first part involved making homemade lavash. Lavash are thin Armenian-style crackers. They are very popular here in Australia, and packets go for big bucks in the gourmet stores. Funny how easy it is to make them yourself! Lavash are great with cheese, but the second part of this challenge was to concoct a vegan and gluten-free spread or dip to go with them.
Lavash dough is a simple yeasted dough, rolled out thin and often sprinkled with a seedy topping. We were allowed to flavor the dough itself if we so desired, so I subbed a couple of tablespoons of the bread flour for wheat germ. This gave the baked crackers a subtle, almost Wheat Thins-like flavor. I made a full batch of the dough and divided it into two pieces–one to use straight away, and one to park overnight in the fridge. I used different toppings and made a different spread for each.
When it came time to roll the dough, I busted out my pasta machine (for the first time since moving to Sydney, so I was glad to actually have used it and justified its move). I’ve made some form of cracker in every restaurant I’ve worked in, and have always used a pasta machine to roll them out. It makes such quick work of it and is the easiest, least frustrating way to get your crakcers paper thin. Use the lasagna sheet section, work with one bit of dough at a time, and take it down to the thinnest setting.
For my first batch of cracker, I rolled out long, wide pieces that I sprinkled with black and white sesame seeds, cumin seeds, cayenne pepper and Kosher salt before baking (brushing on a little water first acts as glue for the topping). I simply broke these big pieces into more manageable shards after baking. I served them with a chunky avocado relish with heaps of cilantro, lemon juice and spices.
For my second batch of cracker, I got a bit more fussy. Instead of just baking off big pieces in whatever form they took when rolled, I used a pastry wheel to cut them into rectangular crackers. I sprinkled them with poppy seeds and Maldon salt. I had a huge bag of fava beans (a.k.a broad beans) from the farmers’ market, so I took about half of them and whizzed them into a dip for this batch of lavash.
I was really pleased with challenge! The lavash and dips made perfect pre-dinner snacks (with a glass of wine, not too shabby!). And how impressed would your friends be if you served them homemade crackers at a dinner party?
Check out the DB blogroll! And visit Gluten A Go Go or Musings From the Fishbowl for the lavash recipe (which was adapted from The Bread Baker’s Apprentice: Mastering The Art of Extraordinary Bread by Peter Reinhart). I made my two spreads pretty much freehand, but the basic procedures are below.
Chunky Avocado Relish
1 avocado
leafy green herb (such as basil or cilantro)
juice of half a lemon
olive or avocado oil
ground spices to taste (I used garam masala, cayenne, and cumin)
salt and black pepper to taste
-Scoop out the avocado and dice into chunks. Chop your herb. In a small bowl, make a dressing from the lemon juice, a slight splash of oil, the spices and salt and pepper. Add the avocado and herb to the bowl and toss gently to mix.
Fava Bean Dip
1 1/2 cups fava beans, shelled from the outer pod
1 clove of garlic
leafy green herb (such as basil, parsley or cilantro)
squirt of lemon juice
olive oil
salt and black pepper to taste
-Bring a medium pot of water to the boil. Blanch the fava beans for about thirty seconds, remove with a slotted spoon and shock in ice water. Pop the garlic clove, peeled or unpeeled, into the boiling water and blanch for about 1 minute (this just helps take the edge off the raw garlic).
-Pop the papery outer skins off the blanched fava beans and discard. Peel the garlic clove if you haven’t already, and rough chop.
-Put the fava beans, garlic, lemon juice, herbs, splash of olive oil, salt and pepper into a mini food processor. Pulse until it’s the consistency you like (you can use a couple tablespoons of water to thin out, if needed). Taste for seasoning.
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