Pumpernickel Loaves

This week for Tuesdays with Dorie, the recipe was Pumpernickel Loaves. Whenever the TWD recipe involves yeast, I have the best of intentions but time usually gets away from me. I really do best with yeast recipes where I can do part of the work on day and some the next day. I really wanted to make this one, so I tried to plan the time to do it. I didn’t quite follow my plan, but I did get the recipe baked. So what if it came out of the oven at 8:30 pm?

Pumpernickel bread requires quite a few ingredients: chocolate, molasses, rye flour, caraway seeds. The most challenging ingredient to find was prune lekvar or prune butter. This is an ingredient common to Jewish cuisine, and there is a fairly large Jewish population not too far from my town. The grocery stores in that town have great Jewish food sections and I was able to find it. Now I just need to decide what to do with the rest of the jar!

 

I halved the recipe and made one really big loaf. I followed the recipe otherwise, but the one thing I couldn’t do was grind the caraway seeds. I tried in a small food processor and with a mortar and pestle and I didn’t have much luck. Did anyone figure out a good way to grind them up? This bread takes a while to make, but there’s a lot of down time while the bread is rising. I did an ok job of shaping the loaf as the recipe specified, but the ends of my loaf are a little untidy. You hang the loaf in a hammock-like contraption to help shape the loaf, and that was quite the feat. I did manage to wrangle something together using a coat hanger and a towel. It looked strange but worked!

This baked up very nicely, although I think the bottom crust got a bit too browned. I cut it the next afternoon, which I was a bit worried that the bread wouldn’t be as fresh, but it was fine. I love the flavor of this and it tastes like a store bought loaf. I really enjoyed baking this bread, even though it did take a really long time. Be sure to check out the Tuesdays with Dorie blog to see how others faired with this week’s recipe.

Recipe from Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan, page 95

Pumpernickel Loaves

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This week for Tuesdays with Dorie, the recipe was Pumpernickel Loaves. Whenever the TWD recipe involves yeast, I have the best of intentions but time usually gets away from me. I really do best with yeast recipes where I can do part of the work on day and some the next day. I really wanted to make this one, so I tried to plan the time to do it. I didn’t quite follow my plan, but I did get the recipe baked. So what if it came out of the oven at 8:30 pm?

Pumpernickel bread requires quite a few ingredients: chocolate, molasses, rye flour, caraway seeds. The most challenging ingredient to find was prune lekvar or prune butter. This is an ingredient common to Jewish cuisine, and there is a fairly large Jewish population not too far from my town. The grocery stores in that town have great Jewish food sections and I was able to find it. Now I just need to decide what to do with the rest of the jar!

 

I halved the recipe and made one really big loaf. I followed the recipe otherwise, but the one thing I couldn’t do was grind the caraway seeds. I tried in a small food processor and with a mortar and pestle and I didn’t have much luck. Did anyone figure out a good way to grind them up? This bread takes a while to make, but there’s a lot of down time while the bread is rising. I did an ok job of shaping the loaf as the recipe specified, but the ends of my loaf are a little untidy. You hang the loaf in a hammock-like contraption to help shape the loaf, and that was quite the feat. I did manage to wrangle something together using a coat hanger and a towel. It looked strange but worked!

This baked up very nicely, although I think the bottom crust got a bit too browned. I cut it the next afternoon, which I was a bit worried that the bread wouldn’t be as fresh, but it was fine. I love the flavor of this and it tastes like a store bought loaf. I really enjoyed baking this bread, even though it did take a really long time. Be sure to check out the Tuesdays with Dorie blog to see how others faired with this week’s recipe.

Recipe from Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan, page 95

Blueberry Muffins

For this month's SRC, I was assigned to Ewa's blog, Delishhh, which is the perfect word for it since everything she makes is sensational.  I especially loved looking at her Swedish recipes and still want to try making her Semla one day.  But, for now, I decided to make her blueberry muffins.

Not too long ago, I tried a different blueberry muffin recipe from another site and was extremely disappointed with how they came out.  Those muffins were way too dense.

Ewa's muffins, on the other hand, were sweet, fluffy, and bursting with juiciness from the blueberries in every bite.  They were delicious right out of the oven and just as delicious when they cooled.  I would definitely make these again, and again, and again.  Right now though, I'm off to go get some butter so that I can go and eat up the rest of the muffins in my kitchen.

Thanks Ewa.  Your muffins made for one yummy Sunday morning.

Blueberry Muffins (adapted from Delishhh)

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 egg
1/2 tsp grated lemon zest (I omitted this)
1 cup granulated sugar
4 tbsp (2 ounces) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1¼ cups sour cream, plain yogurt or ricotta (I used 1 c. fat-free Greek yogurt + 1/4 c. water)
1½ cups fresh blueberries (I used frozen blueberries)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a standard 12-cup muffin tin (or line with paper liners) and set aside.

Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl untill combined. Whisk the egg in a separate medium bowl until well-combined and light-colored, about 20 seconds. Add the sugar and whisk vigorously until thick, about 30 seconds. Add the melted butter in 2 or 3 additions, whisking to combine after each addition. Add the sour cream/yogurt or ricotta in 2 additions, whisking just to combine, and then add the lemon zest.

Add the berries to the dry ingredients and gently toss just to combine. Add the sour cream, yogurt or ricotta mixture and fold with a rubber spatula until the batter comes together and the berries are evenly distributed, 25 to 30 seconds. Small spots of flour may remain and the batter will be very thick. Do not overmix.

Using a large spoon or a cookie scoop sprayed with nonstick cooking spray, divide the batter amount the muffin cups. Bake until the muffins are light golden brown and a toothpick or thin knife inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes, rotating the pan from front to back halfway through the baking time. Immediately remove muffins to a wire rack and cool for at least 5 minutes. Serve immediately or at room temperature. Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature.

Blueberry Muffins

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For this month's SRC, I was assigned to Ewa's blog, Delishhh, which is the perfect word for it since everything she makes is sensational.  I especially loved looking at her Swedish recipes and still want to try making her Semla one day.  But, for now, I decided to make her blueberry muffins.

Not too long ago, I tried a different blueberry muffin recipe from another site and was extremely disappointed with how they came out.  Those muffins were way too dense.

Ewa's muffins, on the other hand, were sweet, fluffy, and bursting with juiciness from the blueberries in every bite.  They were delicious right out of the oven and just as delicious when they cooled.  I would definitely make these again, and again, and again.  Right now though, I'm off to go get some butter so that I can go and eat up the rest of the muffins in my kitchen.

Thanks Ewa.  Your muffins made for one yummy Sunday morning.

Blueberry Muffins (adapted from Delishhh)

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 egg
1/2 tsp grated lemon zest (I omitted this)
1 cup granulated sugar
4 tbsp (2 ounces) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1¼ cups sour cream, plain yogurt or ricotta (I used 1 c. fat-free Greek yogurt + 1/4 c. water)
1½ cups fresh blueberries (I used frozen blueberries)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a standard 12-cup muffin tin (or line with paper liners) and set aside.

Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl untill combined. Whisk the egg in a separate medium bowl until well-combined and light-colored, about 20 seconds. Add the sugar and whisk vigorously until thick, about 30 seconds. Add the melted butter in 2 or 3 additions, whisking to combine after each addition. Add the sour cream/yogurt or ricotta in 2 additions, whisking just to combine, and then add the lemon zest.

Add the berries to the dry ingredients and gently toss just to combine. Add the sour cream, yogurt or ricotta mixture and fold with a rubber spatula until the batter comes together and the berries are evenly distributed, 25 to 30 seconds. Small spots of flour may remain and the batter will be very thick. Do not overmix.

Using a large spoon or a cookie scoop sprayed with nonstick cooking spray, divide the batter amount the muffin cups. Bake until the muffins are light golden brown and a toothpick or thin knife inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes, rotating the pan from front to back halfway through the baking time. Immediately remove muffins to a wire rack and cool for at least 5 minutes. Serve immediately or at room temperature. Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature.

5-Seed Applesauce and Honey Bread...and one honey of a summer day!

If your idea of a good summer day is 95+ degrees, wearing jeans, a long-sleeved shirt, hat, boots, gloves, and a BEE KEEPING SUIT, well, you are in for a treat.

Kiddo and I were lucky enough to take a beekeeping class this summer.  There's nothing more fun to a teenage boy than spending an afternoon with his mom while wearing a ridiculous suit.  Promise.

Actually, we BOTH ended up loving the class.  We learned so much about these amazing little creatures...and came away with a whole new appreciation for them.

Here are their hives.  They're filled with frames which the bees use to make and store honey...and make new bees!

And I just love this little guy:

I'm pretty sure that he's saying, "Hi, Honey...I'm home!"  *ba-dum-chhhhh*

Maybe you're like us and don't intend to start beekeeping right now, or maybe you're like my friends Amy and Robyn and are ready to have your own hives.  Either way, take a class if you get a chance.  It's a lot of fun, BEElieve me. ;)

The bread.  I'm a bread girl.  As in, if I had to pick one food to eat for the rest of my life, it would be bread.  This is the perfect bread for breakfast.  It's chock-full of seeds (flax, sunflower, pumpkin, sesame & poppy seeds), studded with chunky almonds, baked with whole wheat flour, and sweetened with applesauce and, you guessed it, honey.

Not too sweet, not too heavy...this bread tastes "healthy" to me...in a good way.  And, healthy in a way that might involve cream cheese frosting.

There are a few options for enjoying it.

1. Slice, toast, and spread with butter.  This is actually my favorite way.  Buttered toast is my ultimate comfort food.
2. Slather that baby with some honey cream cheese frosting.
3. Toast the bread and use the cream cheese frosting as a schmear, like a bagel. 

I love, love, love that this recipe makes two loaves.  Enjoy one now, wrap the other, and pop it in the freezer.  When I have breakfasts pre-made and stocked in the freezer, I feel like I'm QUEEN of the WORLD!!!  How about you?!?

 
5-Seed Applesauce & Honey Bread
{makes 2 loaves}

for the bread:
1/4 cup unsalted sunflower seeds
1/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds
1 TBSP flax seeds
1 TBSP sesame seeds
1 TBSP poppy seeds
1/2 cup blanched whole almonds, roughly chopped
3 cups white whole wheat flour
1 TBSP baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cloves
3/4 cup canola or vegetable oil
3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
4 eggs
1 cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup buttermilk

for the honey cream cheese frosting/schmear (optional):
8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup salted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 & 2/3 cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 325.  Grease two 8" loaf pans; set aside.

Roughly chop the sunflower, pumpkin and flax seeds. (You can also use a coffee grinder to pulse the flax to crack the seeds.)  Place in a large bowl.

Add the chopped almonds, flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and cloves.  Stir together and set aside.

In another large bowl, whisk the oil and applesauce together until combined.  Add the eggs one at a time, whisking each well.  Whisk in the honey and vanilla.  Finally, whisk in the buttermilk.

{I typically use local Texas honey, but I used this organic honey from Wholesome Sweeteners for this recipe.  It was rich and flavorful...and just perfect for this bread. Not an ad, just good stuff.}

Stir the dry mixture into the wet, stirring just until the dry ingredients are fully incorporated.  Divide evenly between the two prepared loaf pans.

Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove from the pans and place on a wire cooling rack to cool completely.


For the honey cream cheese frosting:
Beat the cream cheese and butter until completely combined and fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Add in the honey and vanilla.  Beat together, scraping down the bottom and sides of the bowl as needed.  Gradually add in the powdered sugar.  Chill.

Spread onto the top of the bread, or place in a bowl to be used as a topping for toasted bread.

You know you want one of these outfits...

If you are in the Houston area, you can find beekeeping classes here.
Across the US, check this link for classes in your area.

***Kiddo & I attended a class for free, but I was not compensated for this post.  I just thought you all might enjoy the idea of attending one, too.***

---

5-Seed Applesauce and Honey Bread...and one honey of a summer day!

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If your idea of a good summer day is 95+ degrees, wearing jeans, a long-sleeved shirt, hat, boots, gloves, and a BEE KEEPING SUIT, well, you are in for a treat.

Kiddo and I were lucky enough to take a beekeeping class this summer.  There's nothing more fun to a teenage boy than spending an afternoon with his mom while wearing a ridiculous suit.  Promise.

Actually, we BOTH ended up loving the class.  We learned so much about these amazing little creatures...and came away with a whole new appreciation for them.

Here are their hives.  They're filled with frames which the bees use to make and store honey...and make new bees!

And I just love this little guy:

I'm pretty sure that he's saying, "Hi, Honey...I'm home!"  *ba-dum-chhhhh*

Maybe you're like us and don't intend to start beekeeping right now, or maybe you're like my friends Amy and Robyn and are ready to have your own hives.  Either way, take a class if you get a chance.  It's a lot of fun, BEElieve me. ;)

The bread.  I'm a bread girl.  As in, if I had to pick one food to eat for the rest of my life, it would be bread.  This is the perfect bread for breakfast.  It's chock-full of seeds (flax, sunflower, pumpkin, sesame & poppy seeds), studded with chunky almonds, baked with whole wheat flour, and sweetened with applesauce and, you guessed it, honey.

Not too sweet, not too heavy...this bread tastes "healthy" to me...in a good way.  And, healthy in a way that might involve cream cheese frosting.

There are a few options for enjoying it.

1. Slice, toast, and spread with butter.  This is actually my favorite way.  Buttered toast is my ultimate comfort food.
2. Slather that baby with some honey cream cheese frosting.
3. Toast the bread and use the cream cheese frosting as a schmear, like a bagel. 

I love, love, love that this recipe makes two loaves.  Enjoy one now, wrap the other, and pop it in the freezer.  When I have breakfasts pre-made and stocked in the freezer, I feel like I'm QUEEN of the WORLD!!!  How about you?!?

 
5-Seed Applesauce & Honey Bread
{makes 2 loaves}

for the bread:
1/4 cup unsalted sunflower seeds
1/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds
1 TBSP flax seeds
1 TBSP sesame seeds
1 TBSP poppy seeds
1/2 cup blanched whole almonds, roughly chopped
3 cups white whole wheat flour
1 TBSP baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cloves
3/4 cup canola or vegetable oil
3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
4 eggs
1 cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup buttermilk

for the honey cream cheese frosting/schmear (optional):
8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup salted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 & 2/3 cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 325.  Grease two 8" loaf pans; set aside.

Roughly chop the sunflower, pumpkin and flax seeds. (You can also use a coffee grinder to pulse the flax to crack the seeds.)  Place in a large bowl.

Add the chopped almonds, flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and cloves.  Stir together and set aside.

In another large bowl, whisk the oil and applesauce together until combined.  Add the eggs one at a time, whisking each well.  Whisk in the honey and vanilla.  Finally, whisk in the buttermilk.

{I typically use local Texas honey, but I used this organic honey from Wholesome Sweeteners for this recipe.  It was rich and flavorful...and just perfect for this bread. Not an ad, just good stuff.}

Stir the dry mixture into the wet, stirring just until the dry ingredients are fully incorporated.  Divide evenly between the two prepared loaf pans.

Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove from the pans and place on a wire cooling rack to cool completely.


For the honey cream cheese frosting:
Beat the cream cheese and butter until completely combined and fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Add in the honey and vanilla.  Beat together, scraping down the bottom and sides of the bowl as needed.  Gradually add in the powdered sugar.  Chill.

Spread onto the top of the bread, or place in a bowl to be used as a topping for toasted bread.

You know you want one of these outfits...

If you are in the Houston area, you can find beekeeping classes here.
Across the US, check this link for classes in your area.

***Kiddo & I attended a class for free, but I was not compensated for this post.  I just thought you all might enjoy the idea of attending one, too.***

---

Eastern Mediterranean Pizzas

This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe is for Eastern Mediterranean Pizzas. There isn’t a host for this week’s recipe, but a search online will find the recipe without too much trouble. You can also check out the links from other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers over on the TWD blog. This is a pita pizza topped with seasoned ground lamb and tomatoes. I thought that this recipe would be super easy to put together, until I realized I had to make the pita bread! The pita bread thankfully wasn’t too hard to put together, and you can make it in advance and refrigerate it, which was really convenient.

I made the dough one day, starting in the morning, letting it sit, and the finished it in the evening. It’s simple dough, but I found the dough to be very sticky. When I was kneading the dough, it seemed like I kept adding flour and it was still sticky. It was still fairly sticky when I was shaping the pita breads, but at least at the point it was workable. Maybe the smaller pieces of dough were easier to deal with or something.

You top these pitas with just a couple of tablespoons of the lamb/tomato mixture. I think I would have liked a little more topping. There were good and I liked the flavors, but they weren’t very pizza-like for me. I served them for dinner and they were well received. I didn’t top my pizzas with pine nuts as I don’t like pine nuts all that much. Now I have the rest of the pita dough and I think that I will try making some pitas on the griddle.

Recipe from Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan, page 156

Eastern Mediterranean Pizzas

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This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe is for Eastern Mediterranean Pizzas. There isn’t a host for this week’s recipe, but a search online will find the recipe without too much trouble. You can also check out the links from other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers over on the TWD blog. This is a pita pizza topped with seasoned ground lamb and tomatoes. I thought that this recipe would be super easy to put together, until I realized I had to make the pita bread! The pita bread thankfully wasn’t too hard to put together, and you can make it in advance and refrigerate it, which was really convenient.

I made the dough one day, starting in the morning, letting it sit, and the finished it in the evening. It’s simple dough, but I found the dough to be very sticky. When I was kneading the dough, it seemed like I kept adding flour and it was still sticky. It was still fairly sticky when I was shaping the pita breads, but at least at the point it was workable. Maybe the smaller pieces of dough were easier to deal with or something.

You top these pitas with just a couple of tablespoons of the lamb/tomato mixture. I think I would have liked a little more topping. There were good and I liked the flavors, but they weren’t very pizza-like for me. I served them for dinner and they were well received. I didn’t top my pizzas with pine nuts as I don’t like pine nuts all that much. Now I have the rest of the pita dough and I think that I will try making some pitas on the griddle.

Recipe from Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan, page 156

Butterflake Rolls - SRC

 

For this month's Secret Recipe Club, I was assigned to Meghan's blog, Cupcakes with Sprinkles.  I just love her blog.   It looks so cheerful and her food looks amazingly good.  I thought about making one of her sweets (you know me), but apparently I love bread as much as I love sweets and I couldn't get my mind off her Butterflake Rolls.  Plus, I had just made some peach jam and I needed something to eat it with.

 

What I learned as I made them is that I need to pay attention more to directions.  When I first set out to make the rolls, I just copied down the ingredients, thinking that it was just like all the other bread recipes I had made.  So, as a result, after making the dough, I let it rise for an hour.  That's when I found out I was totally wrong.  When I looked at the recipe again, including the directions, I realized that you're supposed to start rolling and buttering the dough right after you make it.  In fact, the only rise you're supposed to do is after the dough has been cut and formed into the rolls.  Still, I figured, I could make this work.  I took my risen dough, rolled it out, buttered it, folded it, buttered it, folded and buttered again.  The dough began breaking off in layers and was a complete mess and totally unsalvageable.  I would have to start again.  Lesson learned - follow the instructions.

 

The second time around, I followed everything to the letter.  This time, everything came together beautifully and the dough made it into the muffin tins intact.  I was kind of skeptical about only letting them rise once before baking, but if they worked for Meghan, then I trusted that they could work for me too.  Sure enough, once they baked, they were a thing of beauty.  It was like magic.  Instead of the four pieces of dough I put into each muffin cup, the intricate layers of buttered dough had unfolded, giving me even more layers to pull apart and enjoy (kind of like the layers in a croissant).  The bread itself was pillowy soft, buttery in every bite, and paired really well with my homemade peach jam.  Not to mention, since they only need to rise once, they're so much quicker to make!  I'm thinking that these rolls are going to make many more appearances in my house, you know, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, and basically any time in between.  Thanks Meghan! 

Butterflake Rolls (adapted from Cupcakes with Sprinkles)

1 Tbsp. yeast
3/4 c. warm water
1/4 c. sugar (I increased this to 6 Tbsp.)
2 eggs
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 c. buttermilk (I used 1/4 c. nonfat plain yogurt + 1/4 c. water)
3 1/2 - 4 c. flour
1/4 c. butter, softened

Spray a muffin pan with cooking spray and set aside.  In a large bowl, mix yeast in 1/4 c. warm water with a pinch of sugar.  Let sit till foamy, about 5 min.  Whisk in the sugar, salt, and eggs.  Add in the yogurt and remaining water until combined. 

Use a wooden spoon to stir in about 3 cups of flour, adding more up to 4 cups, to make a soft dough.  You want to be able to knead the dough and not have it stick to your fingers.

Knead dough a few times.  Roll it out so that it's a 1/2" thick and spread with a thin layer of butter.  Fold dough in half, then spread with butter, Repeat three more times.

After the final butter and fold, roll the dough out again to 1/2" thick and cut it into 1x2 inch squares.  Place 4 squares upright in each sprayed muffin cup.  Cover lightly with greased plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for 45-60 min., or until doubled.

Preheat oven to 400F and bake rolls for 10-15 min. until golden brown. 

Butterflake Rolls - SRC

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For this month's Secret Recipe Club, I was assigned to Meghan's blog, Cupcakes with Sprinkles.  I just love her blog.   It looks so cheerful and her food looks amazingly good.  I thought about making one of her sweets (you know me), but apparently I love bread as much as I love sweets and I couldn't get my mind off her Butterflake Rolls.  Plus, I had just made some peach jam and I needed something to eat it with.

 

What I learned as I made them is that I need to pay attention more to directions.  When I first set out to make the rolls, I just copied down the ingredients, thinking that it was just like all the other bread recipes I had made.  So, as a result, after making the dough, I let it rise for an hour.  That's when I found out I was totally wrong.  When I looked at the recipe again, including the directions, I realized that you're supposed to start rolling and buttering the dough right after you make it.  In fact, the only rise you're supposed to do is after the dough has been cut and formed into the rolls.  Still, I figured, I could make this work.  I took my risen dough, rolled it out, buttered it, folded it, buttered it, folded and buttered again.  The dough began breaking off in layers and was a complete mess and totally unsalvageable.  I would have to start again.  Lesson learned - follow the instructions.

 

The second time around, I followed everything to the letter.  This time, everything came together beautifully and the dough made it into the muffin tins intact.  I was kind of skeptical about only letting them rise once before baking, but if they worked for Meghan, then I trusted that they could work for me too.  Sure enough, once they baked, they were a thing of beauty.  It was like magic.  Instead of the four pieces of dough I put into each muffin cup, the intricate layers of buttered dough had unfolded, giving me even more layers to pull apart and enjoy (kind of like the layers in a croissant).  The bread itself was pillowy soft, buttery in every bite, and paired really well with my homemade peach jam.  Not to mention, since they only need to rise once, they're so much quicker to make!  I'm thinking that these rolls are going to make many more appearances in my house, you know, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, and basically any time in between.  Thanks Meghan! 

Butterflake Rolls (adapted from Cupcakes with Sprinkles)

1 Tbsp. yeast
3/4 c. warm water
1/4 c. sugar (I increased this to 6 Tbsp.)
2 eggs
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 c. buttermilk (I used 1/4 c. nonfat plain yogurt + 1/4 c. water)
3 1/2 - 4 c. flour
1/4 c. butter, softened

Spray a muffin pan with cooking spray and set aside.  In a large bowl, mix yeast in 1/4 c. warm water with a pinch of sugar.  Let sit till foamy, about 5 min.  Whisk in the sugar, salt, and eggs.  Add in the yogurt and remaining water until combined. 

Use a wooden spoon to stir in about 3 cups of flour, adding more up to 4 cups, to make a soft dough.  You want to be able to knead the dough and not have it stick to your fingers.

Knead dough a few times.  Roll it out so that it's a 1/2" thick and spread with a thin layer of butter.  Fold dough in half, then spread with butter, Repeat three more times.

After the final butter and fold, roll the dough out again to 1/2" thick and cut it into 1x2 inch squares.  Place 4 squares upright in each sprayed muffin cup.  Cover lightly with greased plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for 45-60 min., or until doubled.

Preheat oven to 400F and bake rolls for 10-15 min. until golden brown. 

Savarin

This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe is for Savarin, which is a yeast cake, filled with fruit and whipped cream. We don’t have a host for this recipe, but you can easily find this recipe online and don’t forget to check out the links on the Tuesdays with Dorie site from this week’s bakers.  Probably the most characteristic component of the Savarin is that it is baked in a rounded tube pan. Sort of like a Bundt pan, but smooth. You can certainly make it in a Bundt pan, but I wanted to see if I could find a Savarin pan at a thrift shop. I really lucked out and found one (well, they had two actually) at the second shop I went to for $1.99! 

For yeast baking, this recipe doesn’t take too long to make. The first rise is just 15 minutes and the second is only 30 minutes. The dough is very unusual. It’s more like batter, quite runny. The recipe only uses ¾ cup of flour, which is so little. It seemed to rise fine, and I was absolutely shocked when I checked it after the 30 minute rising time and it had risen to fill the pan! Amazing for such a small amount of dough. 

I served this with raspberries and strawberries, mainly because that’s what they had at the store. I used some pineapple passionfruit preserves in the place of the raspberry puree. Using the strawberries really make this look like strawberry shortcake, and it sort of tastes like that. The cake is unusual, you can absolutely taste the yeast, but it’s light in texture. My cake collapsed a bit while baking, but you couldn’t see that too much once you piled on all the fruit and whipped cream. I thought this dessert was interesting; the strong yeast flavor really was unexpected and I liked the fruit. This was an interesting cake to try!

Recipe from Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan, pages 416-417

Savarin

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This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe is for Savarin, which is a yeast cake, filled with fruit and whipped cream. We don’t have a host for this recipe, but you can easily find this recipe online and don’t forget to check out the links on the Tuesdays with Dorie site from this week’s bakers.  Probably the most characteristic component of the Savarin is that it is baked in a rounded tube pan. Sort of like a Bundt pan, but smooth. You can certainly make it in a Bundt pan, but I wanted to see if I could find a Savarin pan at a thrift shop. I really lucked out and found one (well, they had two actually) at the second shop I went to for $1.99! 

For yeast baking, this recipe doesn’t take too long to make. The first rise is just 15 minutes and the second is only 30 minutes. The dough is very unusual. It’s more like batter, quite runny. The recipe only uses ¾ cup of flour, which is so little. It seemed to rise fine, and I was absolutely shocked when I checked it after the 30 minute rising time and it had risen to fill the pan! Amazing for such a small amount of dough. 

I served this with raspberries and strawberries, mainly because that’s what they had at the store. I used some pineapple passionfruit preserves in the place of the raspberry puree. Using the strawberries really make this look like strawberry shortcake, and it sort of tastes like that. The cake is unusual, you can absolutely taste the yeast, but it’s light in texture. My cake collapsed a bit while baking, but you couldn’t see that too much once you piled on all the fruit and whipped cream. I thought this dessert was interesting; the strong yeast flavor really was unexpected and I liked the fruit. This was an interesting cake to try!

Recipe from Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan, pages 416-417

Savory Brioche Pockets

 

This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe is Savory Brioche Pockets. Our host this week is Carrie of Loaves and Stitches, and you can head over to her blog to get the recipe for these pockets. Also, don’t forget to check out the links for all the TWD bakers over on the Tuesdays with Dorie blog. This recipe is wide open for variations so I’m excited to see what combinations people came up with.

Most cultures in the world have some sort of pocket pastry will filling. Russia has piroshky, England has pasties, Latin countries have empanadas, Asian countries have dumplings. Sure, there are differences but the idea is the same. This recipe uses super rich brioche dough, filled with potato, goat cheese, onion and peas. I don’t like asparagus that much so I used peas instead. I was a bit unsure about making these, but I have made piroshky before so I just tried to remember what it was like making those. Surprisingly, these came together so easily. I was super thrilled.

Thankfully, I had made brioche dough a while ago and had frozen half the batch. I used that here. My dough had been in the freezer a while so perhaps it didn’t rise as much as it could have, but I think they turned out great. I really liked the filling and I think the peas were a great touch. My husband kept calling these pasties, which they are pretty much. These would have taken a whole lot longer had I had to make the dough, so I guess it’s never a bad idea to make some dough and have it ready in the freezer!

Recipe from Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan, pages 421-422

Savory Brioche Pockets

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This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe is Savory Brioche Pockets. Our host this week is Carrie of Loaves and Stitches, and you can head over to her blog to get the recipe for these pockets. Also, don’t forget to check out the links for all the TWD bakers over on the Tuesdays with Dorie blog. This recipe is wide open for variations so I’m excited to see what combinations people came up with.

Most cultures in the world have some sort of pocket pastry will filling. Russia has piroshky, England has pasties, Latin countries have empanadas, Asian countries have dumplings. Sure, there are differences but the idea is the same. This recipe uses super rich brioche dough, filled with potato, goat cheese, onion and peas. I don’t like asparagus that much so I used peas instead. I was a bit unsure about making these, but I have made piroshky before so I just tried to remember what it was like making those. Surprisingly, these came together so easily. I was super thrilled.

Thankfully, I had made brioche dough a while ago and had frozen half the batch. I used that here. My dough had been in the freezer a while so perhaps it didn’t rise as much as it could have, but I think they turned out great. I really liked the filling and I think the peas were a great touch. My husband kept calling these pasties, which they are pretty much. These would have taken a whole lot longer had I had to make the dough, so I guess it’s never a bad idea to make some dough and have it ready in the freezer!

Recipe from Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan, pages 421-422

Barbecue Chicken Sandwich Rolls

For this month's Secret Recipe Club, I was assigned to Jessica of The Inquiring Chef.  Do you know that she lives in Thailand?  So lucky!  I absolutely love Thai food and I can only imagine the wonderful access she must have to both the food and the exotic ingredients to make it.

Her blog is filled with yummy recipes that she came up with herself and it was with great joy that I chose to make her Barbecue Chicken Sandwich  Rolls.  In case you didn't know, she grew up in Kansas with some great barbecue so these rolls are part of her personality and I wanted to showcase that.  Besides, I love barbecue myself as well as baking bread, so this recipe was perfect for me.

I had some chicken tenders in my freezer, so I poached those and used them instead of roasted chicken.  I also made my own barbecue sauce instead of using storebought.  In addition, I changed the method of making the rolls a little, but otherwise, kept the recipe the same.

Eating these rolls reminded me of my favorite baked char siu bao (now I totally want to fill them with char siu aka Chinese barbecued pork).  The rolls were super fluffy and soft, slightly sweet, and paired deliciously with the barbecue chicken filling on the inside.  My only regret is that I didn't use more filling in the rolls.  But, even then, my family declared this recipe to be fantastic and they thoroughly enjoyed eating them.  I would love to try these rolls with other fillings in them, the char siu for instance or curried chicken or even sloppy joe filling.  The possibilities are endless.

And, speaking of possibilities, since I'm very much a sweets person, I went ahead and filled some of the buns with leftover chocolate ganache that I had in my fridge.  Voila!  Chocolate filled sweet buns.  Spread them with some raspberry jam and ohhh so good.  So, if you do what I did, you'll have dinner and dessert with one recipe.  Can't beat that.

Thanks Jessica for your delicious recipe.

Barbecue Chicken Sandwich Rolls (adapted from The Inquiring Chef)

3 Tbsp. warm milk (I used yogurt)
2 1/2 tsp. active dry yeast
1 c. warm water 
2 1/2 Tbsp. sugar (I increased this to 4 Tbsp.)
3 and ¾ cups all-purpose flour (plus about ½ cup extra for shaping the rolls) (I used 1 c. bread flour + 2 3/4 c. all-purpose flour)
1 tsp. salt
2 ½ Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
2 large eggs (separated – 1 for dough and 1 for egg wash)
2 cups shredded and roughly chopped, roasted chicken (I used poached chicken breasts)
½ cup barbecue sauce (can use storebought or your own homemade sauce)

Combine the warm water with the yeast and a pinch of sugar and let sit for 5 min. till foamy.  Combine the yeast mixture with the melted butter, sugar, milk or yogurt, and the egg and mix well.  Add 1 cup of bread flour and the salt and mix well.  Add the rest of the flour and mix well till combined.  Knead the dough as best as you can until it forms a smooth ball.  Put the dough into a well-greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise until doubled in size, about 1-2 hours.

Combine the chicken with the barbecue sauce and mix well.     

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Using lightly floured hands, remove 1/4 of the risen dough and gently roll it into a cylinder, approximately 8 inches long.  (The dough will be quite sticky, but add only as much flour as you need to prevent it from sticking to your hands.)  Using a knife or dough scraper, cut the cylinder of dough into 8 even pieces. Flatten each piece into a circle. Drop one teaspoon of the chicken mixture into the center of each dough circle. Pull the sides of the dough around the filling and twist them together firmly to seal the chicken inside. Place each filled roll, seam-side down on parchement paper.

Let sit until doubled in size, about 30 min.  Preheat oven to 350F.  
 
Brush the top of each roll liberally with a beaten egg.

Bake until the surface of the rolls are golden brown, 18-20 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Note:  Alternately, you could fill each piece of dough with a teaspoon of chilled chocolate ganache.  







 

Barbecue Chicken Sandwich Rolls

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For this month's Secret Recipe Club, I was assigned to Jessica of The Inquiring Chef.  Do you know that she lives in Thailand?  So lucky!  I absolutely love Thai food and I can only imagine the wonderful access she must have to both the food and the exotic ingredients to make it.

Her blog is filled with yummy recipes that she came up with herself and it was with great joy that I chose to make her Barbecue Chicken Sandwich  Rolls.  In case you didn't know, she grew up in Kansas with some great barbecue so these rolls are part of her personality and I wanted to showcase that.  Besides, I love barbecue myself as well as baking bread, so this recipe was perfect for me.

I had some chicken tenders in my freezer, so I poached those and used them instead of roasted chicken.  I also made my own barbecue sauce instead of using storebought.  In addition, I changed the method of making the rolls a little, but otherwise, kept the recipe the same.

Eating these rolls reminded me of my favorite baked char siu bao (now I totally want to fill them with char siu aka Chinese barbecued pork).  The rolls were super fluffy and soft, slightly sweet, and paired deliciously with the barbecue chicken filling on the inside.  My only regret is that I didn't use more filling in the rolls.  But, even then, my family declared this recipe to be fantastic and they thoroughly enjoyed eating them.  I would love to try these rolls with other fillings in them, the char siu for instance or curried chicken or even sloppy joe filling.  The possibilities are endless.

And, speaking of possibilities, since I'm very much a sweets person, I went ahead and filled some of the buns with leftover chocolate ganache that I had in my fridge.  Voila!  Chocolate filled sweet buns.  Spread them with some raspberry jam and ohhh so good.  So, if you do what I did, you'll have dinner and dessert with one recipe.  Can't beat that.

Thanks Jessica for your delicious recipe.

Barbecue Chicken Sandwich Rolls (adapted from The Inquiring Chef)

3 Tbsp. warm milk (I used yogurt)
2 1/2 tsp. active dry yeast
1 c. warm water 
2 1/2 Tbsp. sugar (I increased this to 4 Tbsp.)
3 and ¾ cups all-purpose flour (plus about ½ cup extra for shaping the rolls) (I used 1 c. bread flour + 2 3/4 c. all-purpose flour)
1 tsp. salt
2 ½ Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
2 large eggs (separated – 1 for dough and 1 for egg wash)
2 cups shredded and roughly chopped, roasted chicken (I used poached chicken breasts)
½ cup barbecue sauce (can use storebought or your own homemade sauce)

Combine the warm water with the yeast and a pinch of sugar and let sit for 5 min. till foamy.  Combine the yeast mixture with the melted butter, sugar, milk or yogurt, and the egg and mix well.  Add 1 cup of bread flour and the salt and mix well.  Add the rest of the flour and mix well till combined.  Knead the dough as best as you can until it forms a smooth ball.  Put the dough into a well-greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise until doubled in size, about 1-2 hours.

Combine the chicken with the barbecue sauce and mix well.     

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Using lightly floured hands, remove 1/4 of the risen dough and gently roll it into a cylinder, approximately 8 inches long.  (The dough will be quite sticky, but add only as much flour as you need to prevent it from sticking to your hands.)  Using a knife or dough scraper, cut the cylinder of dough into 8 even pieces. Flatten each piece into a circle. Drop one teaspoon of the chicken mixture into the center of each dough circle. Pull the sides of the dough around the filling and twist them together firmly to seal the chicken inside. Place each filled roll, seam-side down on parchement paper.

Let sit until doubled in size, about 30 min.  Preheat oven to 350F.  
 
Brush the top of each roll liberally with a beaten egg.

Bake until the surface of the rolls are golden brown, 18-20 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Note:  Alternately, you could fill each piece of dough with a teaspoon of chilled chocolate ganache.  







 

Rustic Potato Loaves

This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe is Rustic Potato Loaves. Dawn of Simply Sweet is the host this week and you can get the recipe on her blog. I was excited to make this recipe as I had never made potato bread before, but I do buy it at the store. I had good luck with this recipe and I expect many of the other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers did too. Make sure you check out the links from the other bakers at the Tuesdays with Dorie site.

Unlike most of the other bread recipes in this cookbook, this bread is quick to make (well, for a yeast bread anyway). I was able to put it together one afternoon. I made some muffins during the cooling and rising time, so it probably took a little longer than it needed to. I think waiting for the potatoes to boil and then cool took the longest! 

I made the dough in my new more powerful mixer, and I took the manufacturer’s advice to only beat the dough on the lower setting. I, like others, was sure this would never come together, but it did. It doesn’t rise much but it came out of the oven and looked beautiful. I don’t have a baking stone, so I just baked the bread on a preheated baking sheet. The loaves look and taste great. I love the sweetness of potato bread. My only disappointment is that my cat, who LOVES potato bread, doesn’t seem to like the version I made. Oh well, I guess I can’t take it personally.

Recipe from Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan, page 138

Rustic Potato Loaves

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This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe is Rustic Potato Loaves. Dawn of Simply Sweet is the host this week and you can get the recipe on her blog. I was excited to make this recipe as I had never made potato bread before, but I do buy it at the store. I had good luck with this recipe and I expect many of the other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers did too. Make sure you check out the links from the other bakers at the Tuesdays with Dorie site.

Unlike most of the other bread recipes in this cookbook, this bread is quick to make (well, for a yeast bread anyway). I was able to put it together one afternoon. I made some muffins during the cooling and rising time, so it probably took a little longer than it needed to. I think waiting for the potatoes to boil and then cool took the longest! 

I made the dough in my new more powerful mixer, and I took the manufacturer’s advice to only beat the dough on the lower setting. I, like others, was sure this would never come together, but it did. It doesn’t rise much but it came out of the oven and looked beautiful. I don’t have a baking stone, so I just baked the bread on a preheated baking sheet. The loaves look and taste great. I love the sweetness of potato bread. My only disappointment is that my cat, who LOVES potato bread, doesn’t seem to like the version I made. Oh well, I guess I can’t take it personally.

Recipe from Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan, page 138