Breakfast Time - Morning Rolls with Raisins

Truth be told, I have never really been a breakfast person. I know, I know, it's the most important meal of the day etc. etc. etc. Those arguments never quite persuaded me, I guess. I was mostly just trying to wake up with my 2 (yea, 2) cups of strong coffee in the morning to think about food. And truthfully, even though I have started having something, it's still not my best time. I actually only eat one big meal a day, usually at night along with a few smaller snack-like meals during the day. And that's what makes these rolls so perfect for me.

First they are really not all that big (about 2 oz. or 60 g.) each. Maybe a little more with the raisins. So I can have one and not feel too guilty. Second, I can load it up with peanut butter (one of my favorite vices), have an apple or other fruit with it and, of course, another cup of coffee. Entirely too much coffee but I'll have to work on that. Starting tomorrow, I promise!

This recipe is a variation of several I have tried over the years. It is on the whole a breakfast roll that is enriched with milk (I use soy milk so it's dairy free). The inclusion of the raisins (you can use cranberries or other dried fruit if you like) makes it similar in style to a kind of roll eaten in Eastern Europe just before Lent, a rich breakfast roll before the fast, as it were. But that's not where I'm going with this! It is simply a soft, sorta sweet, rich roll with dried fruit in the center. Oh, and delicious, of course.

Here's What You'll Need:

1 1/4 cups (310ml) milk at room temperature (I used soy milk)
1 large egg
1 tsp. salt
2 oz. (60g) butter or margarine at room temperature
3 Tbs. powdered sugar
1 Tbs vanilla sugar
about 4 1/3 cups AP flour
1 Tbs. dry yeast
3 1/2 oz. (about 100g) re-hydrated raisins*
egg + milk for glazing


* To re-hydrate raisins: Place the raisins in a glass bowl and cover with boiling water for about 20 minutes or so. Drain the water and dry them with a paper towel, and the raisins will be re-hydrate. You can do this during the first rise of the dough.

Here's What You'll Need To Do:

1. In a large bowl, mix in the dry ingredients, i.e., the flour, sugar, vanilla sugar and salt. Mix to disperse uniformly, then add the yeast and stir it in.

2. Add the egg and mix it in. Then add the milk, the butter or margarine and mix to form a rough dough. Knead this dough vigorously for about 10 minutes until it becomes smooth and shiny.

3. Remove the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, turn to coat, then cover and place in a warm draft-free location until it about doubled in size. This could take as much as 2 hours.

4. Divide the dough into 12 pieces (16 if you want smaller rolls). Flatten each into a rough rectangle and place several re-hydrated raisins int he center. Close the dough around the raisins, then roll into a ball. Place the rolls on a baking sheet covered with baking paper, then cover to rise a second time. This time they should only rise about 45 minutes.

5. About 15 minutes before the end of the second rise pre-heat the oven to 350 F (180 C). Just before baking, brush an egg and milk wash over the tops of the rolls. Bake for about 15-18 minutes or until a beautiful rich brown color.

6. If you're like me, you will end up eating one (just to try) while still warm and on the cooling rack. These rolls will keep well for a few days. I had to say, but honestly, they won't last for a few days, so why bother! Enjoy.

Dinner Rolls with a Twist - Onion Poppy-seed Muffins

I admit it, I have never known exactly how to relate to savory muffins. When I was growing up, muffins were small cake-like creations, soft and sweet sometime plain, sometime with some kind of dried fruit. But decidedly cake-y. In recent years, a new creature has started to haunt the dinner table, in places normally occupied by soft rolls. These are muffins, that are savory and not sweet. Using herbs or other decidedly un-muffin-y ingredients, like onions and poppy-seed. Aside from the switch required in my head, I must admit, the idea is long overdue. And so, here is my contribution to this ever-growing dinner course - onion poppy-seed muffins. Get past the cake-y idea and I'm sure you'll agree they are truly fabulous.

Here's What You'll Need:

for the 'filling'
2 large onions chopped fairly finely
about 1/4 cup butter for sauteeing
salt and pepper

for the muffins:
2 cups AP flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. mustard powder
1 1/4 cups warm water (or milk)
3 large eggs
1 tsp. salt

Here's What You'll Need to Do:

1. First make the filling. Chop the onions and then, on medium-high heat, saute them with the butter until soft. DO NOT BROWN. They will get plenty brown in the oven when you bake the muffins. Place them aside in a bowl to cool.

2. Now make the muffins. Preheat the oven to 375 F (190 C).

3. Mix together all the other ingredients to make a batter the same consistency of pancake batter. Quite runny, but still with a little body.

4. Grease a muffin tin, then place it in the oven for 1 or 2 minutes to preheat the tin. Then fill each muffin about 3/4 full. Place about 1 Tbs. of onion and about 1/2 tsp. of poppy-seed on each muffin. Don't worry if it sinks in. That's actually good since now the topping will become the filling!

5. Bake for about 25 minutes, or until golden brown and your house smells wonderfully oniony.

6. Remove to a cooling rack, but wait about 5 minutes before removing it from the muffin tin. It needs to stabilize first. These are great still warm, or at room temperature. Enjoy!

Head of the Class - Hungarian Potato Bread

The everyday breads of Eastern and Central Europe have certain notable characteristics. Firstly, they are usually quite dense in texture and also sturdy. By that I mean they are 'designed' to hold smoked meats and cheeses, to absorb mustard and other condiments, to be chewy and just a little sour. Secondly, they are also known for using ingredients as fillers (because often regular ingredients were not available). Like potatoes, for instance. When you think about it, mashed, white potatoes are really just starch , very much like AP white flour. So... let's say you don't have very much flour and you do have lots of potatoes. What do you think we could do in this situation?

This bread exists in various guises all over Eastern Europe. Sometimes with caraway seeds, sometimes with butter. But always with potatoes making up some of the starch needed for the dough. This particular loaf, comes from Hungary, but like I said, it is really a generic loaf that can be found in one form or another all over Europe. Like tomato sauce in Italy sort of... A million variations.

Text for this post, (for printing without the photos), can be found here. 

Here's What You Need: (for 2 loaves)

about 1 lb. potatoes, peeled and cubed
700 g (25 oz) AP flour
300 g (10 oz) whole wheat flour
40 g (1.25 oz) salt about 4 tsp.
60 g (2 oz) butter, cubed (or margarine or vegetable oil)
20 g instant dry yeast (slightly less than 2 Tbs.)
1 tsp. caraway seeds (optional) or
about 200 g (6.5 oz) sharp cheese

Here's What You'll Need to Do:

1. Boil the potatoes in water until very soft (but not dissolved). Drain the potatoes reserving the cooking water for use in the bread. Set aside to cool.

2. In a separate bowl, combine the flours with the salt and butter and the yeast.

Add this mixture to the cooled potatoes. Finally, add about 330 ml (11 oz) of cooking water to the mixture and combine to for a smooth dough. Adjust the flour and water accordingly to make sure the dough is smooth and only very slightly tacky. If adding the caraway seeds, now is the time to knead them into the dough.

3. Place the dough in a lightly-oiled bowl, turn to coat, then cover and place in a warm location to rise. It should about double in volume in about 1.5 hours.

4. Divide the dough into two equal pieces, form each piece into a round ball without removing too much of the air, then cover to let it rest for another half hour.

In the meantime, preheat the oven to 400 F (about 190 C). Just before baking, slash the bread 2 or 3 times to allow for even 'oven spring', i.e., so the bread rises in the oven evenly.

5. Spray water into the oven to add steam, then bake the bread for 10 minutes. Lower the temperature to 350 F (180 C) and continue baking for another 25 minutes or so until the bread is deeply browned and sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.

Jó étvágyat!  (Hungarian for Bon Appetit - Google translate!)
Text for this post, (for printing without the photos), can be found here.

A New Direction - Healthy Artisan Loaf

As I mentioned on my last post, (posted too long ago), I have started moving in a new direction, sort of. I am re-writing and adapting ideas I get from other recipes and using them as a basis for new recipes. I am creating my own recipes based on ideas I have on how ingredients should work together. The idea is that good bread should be healthy, of course, but also look great, and btw, it should taste great. This bread I am posting today, is one of those breads. The recipe is adapted from Peter Reinhart's 'Roasted Three-Seed Bread', in his seminal book, Brother Juniper's Bread Book. If you don't own it, btw, you should. Plain and simple.

To the base recipe I have added some enhancements. The original uses only white flour; I have replaced one-third with whole wheat to increase the fiber, etc. Also, I have added 2 Tbs. of both chickpea flour (softens the crumb and adds a nice yellow color) and 2 Tbs. of soy flour (increased protein content). The dough was allowed to rise in a bowl covered with a floured cloth, them baked on a stone for 35 minutes at 400 F. It looks and tastes incredible! I hope you like it.

A word. I have not posted as much as I should lately mostly because my business has been taking off. Over the holidays, I have been teaching workshops all over the area. I have been to Modi'in (about 25 miles away from Jerusalem) twice. I taught at a workshop at a home for mentally challenged women in Mevasseret (a suburb just outside the city). I catered a Bat Mitzvah party, and delivered orders for cakes, pies, quiches and of course, lots and lots of bread. So, I am glad to say that the reason is a good one. Still I promise to try and find time for it all, of course, including breadmanTalking!!  If you have been following for a while, you know that this is my goal, a viable baking business, so it's all good. I'll write again soon, I promise.

Here's What You'll Need:

1/4 cup pumpkin seeds, toasted
1/4 cup sunflower seeds, toasted
4 cups bread flour, or AP flour, or 3 cups white flour and about 1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup wheat bran
1 Tbs. instant dry yeast
1 Tbs. salt
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup buttermilk (or soy milk to avoid dairy)
about 1 3/4 cups water
2 Tbs. soy flour
2 Tbs. chickpea flour

Here's What You'll Need To Do:

1. Lightly toast the seeds on a dry skillet for a few minutes. Remove the seeds from the skillet when done since they continue to roast on the hot pan.

2. Mix all the dry ingredients, including the seeds, in a large bowl, stirring to evenly distribute.

3. Add the buttermilk (or soy milk, if using), then the honey, and finally the water, adding just enough to make a soft, slightly sticky dough. Knead vigorously for about minutes, until the dough is smooth and the gluten is well developed.

4. Place the dough in a lightly-greased bowl, covered, for about 1 1/2 hours to rise until doubled.

5. Gently remove the dough, from the bowl and place in a basket, lined with a generously floured cloth to continue rising. Make sure the dough stays covered so it doesn't dry out.

6. In the meantime, heat the oven to 400 F (195 C). Finally, place the dough on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper directly on a baking stone. Bake for about 35 minutes or until the crust is very firm and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.

7. Enjoy!

OMG!! Really Good Bread - White Sandwich Bread with Fresh Herbs

Do you think the the headline is a little over the top? I don't know, maybe it is. But then this bread is over the top, too. So should I just lie and say something like. You'll like this bread, better try it. Nah!! Doesn't quite make it. This is bread that attacks practically all your senses at once. I mean, this bread not only tastes incredible, but also fills the house with an intoxicating aroma. And I mean that in a good sense. And if that wasn't enough, then, if you can, wait until it cools down, slice it open and the smallish hints of fresh herbs poking out at you, combined with the sense of feel when you eat it will completely convince you that this bread is a definite keeper. Oh, and it's great for all kinds of sandwiches. Cold cuts with a nice sharp mustard, for instance. Or a strong cheese (again with the aforementioned sharp cheese). Or even pan-seared veggies like eggplant or red bell pepper. You will make this one many times, I'm sure. So when you're slicing your fourth (or fifth) slice, don't say I didn't warn you.

Here's What You'll Need: for 1 loaf or about 12 rolls
2 1/2 to 3 cups AP flour
1/2 Tbs. salt
3/4 Tbs. sugar
1/2 Tbs. instant dry yeast
about 3 Tbs. coarsely chopped fresh herbs (basil, parsley, thyme, oregano, dill, etc.)
1/8 cup olive oil
about 1 cup warm water

Here's What You'll Need To Do:

1. Mix all the dry ingredients, (flour, salt sugar, yeast and herbs) together in a large bowl until evenly distributed.

2. Add the oil, then the water, mixing to form a rough dough.

3. Remove the dough to a lightly-floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes until the dough is soft and smooth, and only very slightly sticky.

4. Place the kneaded dough in an oiled bowl, cover to coat(prevents drying out), then cover with plastic wrap or a damp towel to rise. It should about double in volume. This will take about 1 1/2 hours.

5. If making rolls, divide the dough into about 10 to 12 equal sized pices, round into rolls and place them on a baking tray covered with baking paper. Otherwise, form the dough into a ball (boule, in french), then cover again to rest and rise again, about 45 minutes.

6. About 15 minutes before the second rise is done, pre-heat the oven to 350 F (180 C).

7. Bake the rolls for about 15 minutes or until golden brown. The loaf will take longer, about 25 minutes.

New Business - Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread

First things first: this is my 100th post on breadmantalking!!! Thanks so much to all the readers and followers who have encouraged me along the way! I am having fun and I am glad you are all enjoying it too.



So, if you've been following my progress as a professional baker, you will know this... I am trying to establish a baking business that specializes in healthy bread. Hand-made and delivered to your home. Alongside workshops and private lessons in healthy baking. Slowly it is coming together and only last week I got a new customer with a standing order. Thirty sandwiches every Thursday morning to be delivered at 0745. This is on top of my standing orders for challah etc. for every Friday. And the workshops every Thursday evening. So, as I said, slowly it is really coming together, and the business is starting to take off!!! Which, of course, leads to this bread I baked today. Whole wheat healthy bread for sandwiches. Last week I brought sandwiches that were on rolls. Of course, there were complaints like, "Why rolls, aren't sandwiches on sliced bread lower in calories?" (The answer is not really: the shape of the bread does not determine calorie count.) Still, I am having fun and this bread is, therefore, an experiment. An attempt at a new sandwich bread for my Thursday morning client. I think it came out great. The crumb is not too close and strong enough to hold the fillings without falling to pieces, or turning into mush, the crust is strong but not too crunchy. The taste is wonderful. Try it and you be the judge.

Here's What You'll Need:

1 cup AP flour
about 2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 egg
1 tsp. salt
 1 Tbs. butter, melted
1 Tbs. sugar
1 cup warm water
 1 Tbs. instant dry yeast
some sesame seeds (about 2 Tbs.) and wheat germ (about 2 Tbs.)

Here's What You'll Need to do:

1. Dissolve the sugar in the water, then stir in the yeast. Let it stand for about 10 minutes until the mixture becomes foamy and smells 'yeasty'.

2. Lightly beat the egg, mix in the melted butter, then pour this mixture into the yeast mixture and mix thoroughly.

3. Add the whole wheat flour one cup at a time, mixing to stiffen. Finally, add the AP flour, mixing until you can no longer stir. Knead this dough until it becomes soft and slightly sticky.

4. Knead the dough for about 7-10 minutes until the dough is very smooth. Place this in a lightly oiled bowl, turn to coat. Cover the bowl and place it in a warm place to rise until roughly doubled in volume. This will take about one and a half hours.

5. Remove the dough and shape into a loaf form, by dividing the dough into three pieces and braiding them. If you want to make the bread even healthier, try spraying it lightly with water, then roll the pieces in the sesame seeds and wheat germ.  Place the dough into a greased loaf pan then cover to let it rise until just over the lip of the pan, about 45 minutes.

Here it is, in the pan:

6. Preheat the oven to 350 F (180 C). Bake the bread, turning halfway through to get an even color, for about 25 minutes in a convention oven, or about 35 minutes in a conventional oven. Cool completely on a rack before slicing.

7. Bon Appetit!

Warm & Fuzzy Feeling - True Comfort Bread (Raisin Walnut)

I admit I'm a sucker for this bread and always have been. I remember eating it as a kid back in Canada. I mean eating the store bought kind. Of course, back then (too many years) the bread was at least closer to being real bread, even if it was baked in an industrial oven by the hundreds. No, not thousands, I do come from a very small town, but still. Also, back then it wasn't laced with all the emulsifiers, and stabilizers and freshness enhancers like today. Oh, and the color was real, brought on by the cinnamon and the wheat. Maybe that's why raisin walnut bread has such a warm spot in my heart, I don't know. But for me it means breakfast, lightly toasted and covered with butter. Or, better yet, peanut butter that starts to 'melt' and gets sloppy all over everything from the still warm bread. Whatever it is, I admit it. I love raisin bread and this version, a recipe I kind of made up on the fly, is perfect. The evidence is that I made it yesterday, and the loaf is almost gone. What can I say?

Here's What You'll Need:

about 3 cups (420 g) AP flour
1/2 Tbs instant dry yeast
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbs. sugar
1/4 cup dry milk powder (or use baby formula as a substitute)
1 tsp. cinnamon
about 1 cup (250 ml) warm water
about 1/2 cup re-hydrated raisins*
about 1/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

* To re-hydrate the raisins, place then in a glass dish and cover with very warm water for about an hour. They will plump up beautifully. Drain and squeeze the water out, then add to the dough. Because they have added water, you will need to adjust the amount of flour.

Here's What You'll Need To Do:

1. Mix everything together  (except the raisins and walnuts) and mix to form a rough dough. Add flour or water to keep the dough just barely sticky and very soft. Knead the dough until smooth, then place in a lightly oiled bowl, turn to coat, then cover and let it rise until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours.

2. Punch down the dough. Spread it out, gently, into a rough rectangle, spread the raisins and walnuts on the dough, then 'wrap' them up like folding a letter. Knead the dough until they are evenly distributed. You will probably need to add flour as the raisins are moist and will make the dough quite sticky. Add just enough to keep the dough just slightly sticky.

3. Form into a loaf, them place the dough into a prepared loaf pan, and cover to let it rise again, until just peering over the edge of the pan, about 45 minutes.

4. Bake at 350 F (180 C) for about 30 minutes until it is a nut brown and fills the house with the most wonderful aroma. Oh, and it sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.

5. Cool completely (if you can) on a rack. Then smother with butter, cream cheese or whatever is on hand and gobble it up!