Index of our Recipes!

Beth's Potato Bread

This is one of those housekeeping posts that I've been needing to do for a long time, and I apologize for taking so darned long to get to it. Unlike Susan, I can't even claim to have been out in the barn with the totally adorable, entirely too cute for words baby lambs (and chicks).

This list is arranged by month, in the order we did them, with additional recipes, tips and tricks, and other relevant posts following. Be sure to check the comments section of each post for helpful hints, answers to questions, and reader feedback. Happy baking!

Pizza
Kevin: Pizza Dough
Kevin: Pizza II
Beth: Pizza Dough
Beth: Pizza crust 2
Susan: Pizza Dough
Kevin: Calzone

No-Knead Breads
Beth: noKnead Bread
Kevin: No-Knead Muffins
Susan: No-Knead Bread

Basic White Sandwich Breads
Susan: Farmhouse White Bread
Kevin: Sour Cream Bread
Beth: Potato Bread

Summer Breads
Kevin: Summer Breads - Buns
Beth: Summer Breads - Pesto Rolls
Susan: Summer Breads - Parisian Daily Bread (A Four Hour Baguette)

Italian Breads from Local Breads
Susan: Italian Breads From Local Breads - Black Olive Cheeks (Puccia)
Kevin: Italian Breads From Local Breads - Focaccia
Beth: Italian Breads From Local Breads - Filone

Quick Breads
Kevin: Quick Breads - Cheese Bread
Beth: Quick Breads - Blueberry Muffins
Susan: Quick Breads -- Beer Bread
Beth: Feta & Chives Cornbread Recipe

Whole-grain Sandwich Breads
Beth: Honey wheatBerry Bread Recipe
Kevin: Sandwich Rye Bread Recipe
Susan: Whole Grain Cottage Cheese Bread
Susan: Honey Bran Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread Recipe

Holiday Breads
Beth: Holiday Rolls - Rosemary Fans
Susan: Holiday Rolls - Carrot Herb Rolls Recipe
Kevin: Holiday Rolls - Yeast Beer Rolls Recipe

Seasonal Breads
Kevin: Seasonal Breads — Cinnamon Rolls Recipe
Beth: Seasonal Breads: Challah Recipe
Susan: Holiday Breads - Italian Rosemary Raisin Bread

Bite-sized Breads
Kevin: Bite-sized Bread - Gougères Recipe
Beth: Onion Cheddar Breadsticks Recipe

Other recipes
Susan's Savory Cheese & Scallion Scones
kitchenMage's Quick and Flaky Biscuits
Kevin: Butter Popovers
Susan: Easy Rosemary Focaccia (Flatbread) Recipe
Kevin: Hot Cross Buns
Kevin: Prosciutto Bread Ring Recipe
Kevin: Reuben Braid

Tips and Techniques
Baking Better Bread
Beth: Weights & Measures
Susan: How To Shape Dough Into Sandwich Loaves
Ever wondered how to cut an epi?
Math is NOT hard! Adjusting yeast for slow rise bread.

Ingredients
obsessions: oat flour

Story contest
Prizes! Awards! Gimmicks!
Bread Time
Tales & Travails
Being the Heartland
Breadtime Stories
Deadline
The Lost Stories
We have one winner!
Bribery, Blackmail, and Physical Threats

Conversation
What Are Your Bread Baking Goals for 2009?
The Knead to Know: Your Bread Baking Questions Answered

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Math is NOT hard! Adjusting yeast for slow rise bread.

Those of you who have read a few posts here may know that I am a huge fan of cold-fermentation. The long, slow process allows the flavor of the grain to fully develop and the ability to bake bread on my schedule, rather than the dough's, is extremely useful.

Most recipes can be made using this method, just start with cold ingredients and reduce the yeast a bit. Therein lies the rub, or the knead. How much do you reduce the yeast? What is 'a bit' anyway?

While wandering the tubes of the internet today, I stumbled across this post at The Fresh Loaf. It has an actual formula for calculating the amount of yeast you need when you adapt a recipe to the long, slow fermentation method.



Using Susan's Farmhouse White Bread as an example, let's see how this works.

Her recipe calls for 2 tablespoons of yeast and 60-90 minutes of bulk fermentation, so let's start by converting the yeast to teaspoons: 6 teaspoons to be exact. We'll use 90 minutes, or 1.5 hours, since that's about what it takes when I make this bread. My typical long, slow rise time is 12 hours so that's what we'll use. Then we do the math, which gives us 3/4 teaspoon of yeast.

See?

6 teaspoons of yeast X 1.5 hours
---------------------------------
12 Hours

9
-- = 3/4 teaspoon
12


This looks about right, but I have to test the theory later this week. After I get to the store and buy some bread flour. Because I don't have any in this house. Whatever the heck is up with that. Bad breadie!

Theories are great and all, but we want to know about your real-life experiences trying this. If you adapt a recipe, please stop back and let us know how it worked.

Technorati: Food | recipe | baking | bread | artisanal | artisan | bread baking | slow_rise

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Susan: Cozy Breads For Cold Winter Days Recipe Roundup On FoodieView & Focaccia, My New Favorite Flatbread

My First Foray Into Focaccia

Up until the other day, I'd never made focaccia. When I decided to test my friend Stephen's Quick Rosemary Focaccia recipe for an article I was working on, I realized that not only had I never made focaccia, but I'd never even eaten it. I know, I know, where have I been? I have no idea. Probably too busy eating pizza. You know I love homemade pizza. What I know is that after devouring large hunks of this rosemary focaccia for three meals in a row (yes, I ate it for breakfast, and no, I didn't have it with my meals, it was my meals), I am ready to embark on a focaccia making rampage.

Stephen warned me that focaccia purists may scoff at his crowd-pleasing, quick and easy version which is mixed in the food processor* and shaves hours off the traditional resting times, but I couldn't stop eating it. Warm from the oven, at room temperature the next day, or reheated in my beloved little toaster/convection oven - this stuff is good.** It also freezes beautifully. And the smell of the rosemary-infused dough that permeated every nook and cranny of The Shack while it was rising was wonderful. I'm pretty sure I followed Stephen's recipe exactly, except I scattered a few handfuls of pecorino romano over the focaccias along with the rest of the rosemary just before baking. I also skipped the egg wash. Next time I'll try using only half the amount of yeast.

Apparently there are all sorts of ways to enjoy focaccia - not to mention all sorts of toppings you can put on it before baking. But so far I have yet to get past splitting a warm hunk in half and tucking in a couple of slices of Irish Shannon, my new favorite cheese.

As soon as I find some nice organic grapes I plan to try the focaccia recipe in Local Breads, my new favorite bread book by my favorite bread baker, Daniel Leader. Kevin made it last year when we each chose a different straight dough Italian bread from Local Breads and said it was the best focaccia he's ever tasted. I already have my eye on a couple of other interesting focaccia recipes in some of my other cookbooks as well, and one of these days I'll have to take the time to make a truly traditional version, such as this one by Dan Lepard, as demonstrated by Fanny on Foodbeam.

Stephen's quick rosemary focaccia is just one of the recipes included in my Cozy Breads For Cold Winter Days article for the Recipe Roundup, a new weekly feature written by various food bloggers on FoodieView. I tried to offer something for everyone, from tasty quick breads that are ready in under an hour to impressive yeast breads that are perfect for beginners. Many of you will recognize some of my own favorite bread recipes. You'll find all of the FoodieView Recipe Roundups here, and you can subscribe to them via e-mail here.

FoodieView is a neat site run by some really nice foodies that makes "good food easy to find, whether you're dining in or dining out." Check out the restaurant guides for nine major cities (more will be added) or search through over 1 million recipes from places like Cooking Light, Eating Well, Gourmet/Bon Appetit, Fine Cooking, Food Network, Sunset, and Saveur. The neatest part about the FoodieView search engine is that you can narrow down your search criteria by ingredient, dish, cuisine, special considerations (gluten free, low carb, vegetarian, etc.), sources, and more, including famous chefs.

As for me, I'm off to check out Michael Chiarello's Country Focaccia With Blue Cheese & Lavender Honey recipe, see if I can locate a source for organic semolina flour so I can try making Jamie Oliver's favorite focaccia, and work my way through some of the other 4,793 hits my FoodieView search for 'focaccia recipe' came up with.

Are you a focaccia fan? I'd love to hear about your favorite recipes and ways you like to eat it. I'm already drooling over the thought of focaccia sandwiches piled high with slices of juicy heirloom tomatoes from next summer's garden. (It's gonna be a long six months waiting for them.) Beth tormented me the other night with a description of the dinner she'd just made: lamb burgers with blue cheese and shallots on homemade focaccia. Yum.


Stephen's Quick Rosemary Focaccia Ready For The Oven

Move over pizza. There's a new flatbread on the farm.

* A word of warning: This is a soft and sticky dough, especially if you haven't added quite enough flour to it. Do NOT reach into the food processor bowl and try to grab the finished blob of dough with your bare hands while the blade is still buried in it. Yeah, ouch. Not that I think you would ever do anything that stupid.

** A technical note about Stephen's recipe: It makes two 8" - 10" round focaccias. I didn't realize until they were ready to go into the oven that there was no way they were both going to fit on my baking stone at once. Fortunately it's winter, so I just popped one into the oven and set the other out on one of the chest freezers on the covered porch next to the kitchen, protected by a large upside down bowl since Smudge the cat (who lives on the porch) was very interested in it. If it had been summer things would have been a little tricker, as I don't usually have enough space for an entire unbaked focaccia in my fridge. If both won't fit in your oven at once and you don't have a cool spot to put the second one while the first one bakes, you might want to halve the recipe.

© Copyright 2008 FarmgirlFare.com, the award-winning blog where you're allowed to eat rosemary focaccia and chocolate cake for breakfast.

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Beth: Summer Breads - Pesto Rolls

Around my place, summer means casual food that can be grabbed on the run, or taken to impromptu parties and late night bonfires. Like tomorrow night's solstice bonfire, or tonight's impromptu birthday celebration. (Not that the birthday is impromptu, but the celebration is.)

Summer is also when my herbMage aspect emerges in full bloom to fall upon the bounty of seasonal herbs, especially basil. Don't get me wrong, I love most herbs but I have a particular soft spot for basil. I am guessing that many of you share this particular fondness; basil seems to always have plenty of dates for summer parties.

These rolls are one of my favorite summer breads. Easy to make and infinitely variable, they don't need to be sliced or buttered, making them perfect for those casual summer picnics and parties where cutlery is superfluous.

The dough is relatively simple, although it does use a starter, and the extra few minutes it takes to fill, roll, and slice into rolls is well worth it for the payoff. I usually make my first batch of these babies in early June and keep making them until the freeze kills the basil…or later if I managed to freeze pesto.

kitchenMage's Twirled Pesto Rolls

Ingredient | Volume US | Volume Metric | Weight US | Weight Metric
Starter:
water| 1 cup | 235 ml | 8 ounces | 450 grams
bread flour| 1 cup | 235 ml | 4 1/2 ounces | 125 grams
whole wheat flour| 1/2 cup | 112 ml | 2 1/4 ounces | 62 grams
instant yeast| 1/4 teaspoon | 1-2 ml | 1/4 ounce | 2 grams
Dough:
water| 1 3/4 cups | 350 ml | 14 ounces | 392 grams
bread flour| 5 cups | 1175 ml | 22 1/2 ounces | 630 grams
instant yeast| 1 1/4 teaspoons | 8 ml | <3/8 ounce | 10 grams
olive oil| 3 tablespoons | 45 ml | 1 1/2 ounces | 42 grams
salt| scant tablespoon | 15 ml | 1/2 ounce | 15 grams

pesto for filling| 1 cup | 235 ml | 8 1/4 ounces | 232 grams
parmesan cheese (optional)

Notes:
If you don't have a favorite pesto recipe, I'd recommend Susan's pesto as a starting place.
I posted a flickr set with a number of photos if you want a more visual how-to than what follows. I did not link them here because they seem to work better taken in order. So click already!

Mixing the starter
In mixing bowl, combine starter ingredients and mix until well combined. Cover and let rest on the counter for about two hours until it is very bubbly. (You can shorten this to ~20 minutes or wait as long as 4 - 5 hours. You can also refrigerate the starter for 24 - 48 hours after it bubbles.)

Mixing the dough
Add water, 4 cups of bread flour and yeast to the starter and mix well. Add the oil and mix until it is integrated. Sprinkle in the additional cup of flour as you go — you may not need all of it, you may need a little more. (As we all know, my flour lives in a fog valley and yours does not, so they weigh differently. They would weigh differently in any case, but that is my excuse.)

When the absorption of the flour starts to slow down, turn it out on a well-floured counter, cover with a towel and let rest for 20 minutes.

Sprinkle the salt on the dough and knead until firm yet supple (like a Chippendale's dancer's butt). This is basically a baguette dough and it feels like it – smooth and neither tacky or dry. When it is done it feels good to knead and I think, "this is what bread dough should feel like!"

Roll the dough in flour and place it in a clean bowl. Cover the dough and let rise until doubled in bulk (about an hour).

When the dough has doubled, turn it out on a lightly floured counter and flatten into a rectangle. You are going to roll this out into a 12 x 24 rectangle and it will take a few cycles of rolling and resting (that Chippendale's reference just hangs there…begging to be used) to accomplish this. Roll the dough out until it starts resisting and springing back, then let it rest for 5 minutes and repeat.

Other fillings

I love these rolls filled with pesto but that is not the only thing you can use. Almost any very thick mixture will work for filling so feel free to experiment. If you think that bread would taste good dipped in it, then it will probably be a good filling. You can even include bacon if you must have that touch of pig.

Many sauces can be made the right consistency for filling by reducing the liquid (often olive oil) used to make it. I have been wanting to make a paste version of my favorite roasted red pepper sauce (mostly garlic, roasted red peppers and rosemary) but seldom remember it when I am in a store that has the peppers – let me know how it is if you try it.

I have also made these with deconstructed pesto: brush the dough with olive oil, scatter liberally with torn fresh basil, pine nuts and parmesan cheese, then roll, cut and bake as described.

Place the dough on the counter so that the long side is parallel to the counter edge. Spread pesto on the rectangle of dough, leaving an inch uncovered the long edge that is further away from you. Brush the exposed edge with water. Roll up the dough starting on the side closest to the counter edge and rolling away from you. The water brushed edge will be the last part to be rolled up, pinch the edge to seal. You should now have a 2 foot long cylinder of dough. (don't you dare bring up the Chippendale's now!)

Cut the rolls into 1 1/2" - 2" sections (my three fingers are about 1 15/8 inches wide so that's how tall my rolls are) and place in a lightly buttered baking pan. When I last made these, I had 15 rolls, which fit into two glass pie pans.

Cover and let rise until doubled in bulk, about an hour. Bake in a preheated 400°F/205°C. Bake bread for 25 minutes or until golden brown (~195°F/90°C internal temperature). Cool rolls in pans for 15 minutes and then place on rack to finish cooling.

Optional: If you want a bit of melted parmesan on top of the rolls, use a vegetable peeler to shave off little pieces onto the hot baked rolls and return them to the oven for a couple of minutes to melt.

Variation: This recipe can also be made into two loaves of bread. To do so, divide the dough in half before shaping and then roll into two rectangles (~9 x 14) before filling and rolling. Don’t cut the loaves into rolls and place the loaves on a parchment lined baking sheet to proof and bake.

Sources and inspiration: The bread recipe is based on Peter Reinhart's polish baguette (BreadBaker's Apprentice) and while I had the idea independently, I must note that Jerry Traunfeld's Herbfarm Cookbook has a rolled pesto loaf in it. This last bit makes me happy that I could come up with the same thing as Mr Traunfeld because as Daniel Leader is to Susan, Jerry Traunfeld is to me. sigh

Technorati: Food | recipe | baking | bread | artisanal | artisan | bread baking | pesto | rolls | summer breads

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Metaphor Gone Mad

Conan Obrien and Bread

Technorati: Food | video | baking | bread | bread baking | conan+obrien

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Break bread with us...

Beth: What the heck is the great plot? Susan sent me like two lines: "…baking bread… the three of us" And then she went away.

Kevin: The plot is a joint project between the three of us.

Susan: This was the original message I sent Kevin:

I had an idea yesterday about doing a bread baking thing/ongoing project/whatever with you and maybe Beth if she's interested, but then I realized I was already over my head with commitments, so I didn't tell you about it. Oops.

Beth: That does sound interesting. We have so much fun talking about bread, we really should let others join in. But I actually need to jump offline right now and make pizza to go on the 500 degree baking stone in my oven. Send me mail and we can talk about this more...it's a very cool idea!

Susan: Oh sure, now you leave.

An hour passes...the pizza was excellent.

Kevin: While you were eating pizza, we decided that we could create a blog called "A Year in Bread." One type of bread a month, we each do a recipe, then we discuss our efforts online. It should be very focused, and yet very personal.

Beth: This could be so much fun! Remember when you started baking bread and how nice it was to have someone to talk to about bread?

Kevin: I was about 14 the first time I baked bread. It was a 100% whole wheat brick.

Beth: Ouch.

Kevin: You could have built a house if you had enough of them.

Beth: Hey, I need raised beds built for my garden—you could bake me some. My first bread was challah.

Susan: Was it brick challah? I baked croissant bricks when I was in high school. That seven hour disappointing experience made me terrified of yeast for 10 years.

Beth: No, but then challah is very forgiving. I also stuck with 50% whole wheat for the first few years, until I had a clue what the heck I was doing.

Kevin: Ahem. Back to business. So every month we pick one kind of bread and each of us makes it in turn.

Beth: Do we all use the same recipe, or do we each use our own?

Susan: Doing the same recipe might be interesting…but if we each do our own, then people can try three different approaches to the same thing and see how different recipes actually work.

Beth: Yeah—it will be like having a series of intensives on a dozen kinds of bread.

Kevin: We can still bake each others' recipes if we want. Kind of as extra credit--and as a basis for explaining why our own recipe is superior of course. So...which breads?

A lot has happened since those first chats. Suddenly 12 months seems short. There are so many breads to bake—and so much more to bread than just recipes and baking.

We've had discussions about yeast and flour and how to measure them. We declared whose bread baking books we love and whose we don't like much, followed by a round of confessions of cookbook neglect. (I'm sure that each of us said "Oh! I have a copy of that…but I never use it" at least once. Hopefully we can do something about that.)

We argued the merits of mixing dough by hand or machine, organic ingredients vs. not, whether it's better to try a dozen different recipes or make the same recipe a dozen times—and quickly realized our blog will need to have a special rant section (as well as some serious bread porn).

We all agreed that we should cover sandwich breads, hamburger buns, and rolls that are good for summer barbeques. Then there are sweet rolls, as well as more rustic breads such as a pain a la ancienne and foccacia. Sourdough is a must, as are fancier breads such as challah, baguettes, and brioche. Baking with whole grains will definitely need
to be covered.

Some months we'll do three different recipes, and other months we'll take a pass at the same recipe, such as that now infamous NY Times No-knead bread. But where to start?

Susan: Pizza!

Beth: Hey! I already said pizza—forever ago in a chat.

Kevin: And I was about to.

Susan: That's why we should do pizza first—because it's simple and not as intimidating as bread. Plus everybody loves pizza.

Kevin: Yeah, and when you think of pizza as bread, you get the best pizza.

Three passionate bakers, 12 months, 36 recipes--and more fun than should probably be allowed in the kitchen. Come bake bread with us.

Technorati: Food bread aYearInBread

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