Family Baking Traditions and Yeast Rolls

The theme for December for the HBinFive Baking Group is Family Traditions. I have lot’s of family traditions, and, as you can imagine, a lot of those traditions involve baking. 

Baking Cookies

I’ve always loved to bake.  My mom and my sisters and I used to bake cookies and quick breads during the Holidays and I’ve continued that tradition with my sons. For years, we would bake and decorate sugar cookies and make Peanut Butter Blossoms.  Then as my sons got older, it wasn’t cool to bake with mom anymore.  They still loved to eat cookies though so I would bake them and they would eat them. 

Christmas with Family and Baking Cookies Again

On Christmas day, I usually get together with my extended family and enjoy a big dinner and fellowship.  However, this year, my oldest son, who lives a couple of hours away, couldn’t make it home for the Holidays due to his work schedule so he called to ask me to come to his house for Christmas.  We talked about the plans for a little while and what we would do Christmas Eve.  Then he said “and we can bake cookies!”  I said “I’m there!”

So I went to my oldest son’s house for Christmas and we made Peanut Butter Blossoms.  I didn’t think to take a photo of the cookies, but they were extra special this year.  It’s so nice to watch your children mature.

Baking Yeast Rolls

Another tradition my sons enjoy is yeast rolls. I’ve made yeast rolls for years and they never grow tired of them.  I was trying to decide what bread or rolls I wanted to bring for Christmas Dinner and my son said “you could always bring yeast rolls!”  Well, since I’m a sucker and his birthday is December 28th, I decided to honor his request.  He and his roommates don’t have the ingredients or the equipment to make rolls so I decided that rather than transporting everything and making the rolls there, I would make the rolls the day before. It worked out really well.  So my new motto is “have rolls will travel!”

 

 

 

Yeast Roll Recipe

Makes: 16 Rolls (I doubled the recipe to make 32 rolls)

This is our favorite yeast roll recipe.  The best part about this roll recipe is that you get to handle the dough without all the work. The bread machine does the work and you get to have fun shaping the rolls and baking them in a conventional oven. 

Ingredients:

• 1 cup water
• 2 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
• 1 egg
• 3 1/4 cups bread flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 teaspoons bread machine or active dry yeast
• Butter or margarine, melted, if desired

 

Directions:

Measure the ingredients and place all ingredients (except the melted butter) in the bread machine pan in the order recommended by the manufacturer.

Select Dough/Manual cycle. Do not use Delay cycle.

When the bread machine is finished, remove the dough from pan, using lightly floured hands.

Cover and let rest 10 minutes on lightly floured surface. Grease a large baking sheet with shortening or cooking spray.

Divide the dough into 16 equal pieces. Shape each piece into a ball, using floured hands. Place 2 inches apart on the baking sheet.

Cover and let rise in warm place 30 to 40 minutes or until double. (Dough is ready if indentation remains when touched.)

Heat oven to 375°F. Uncover, bake 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. Brush tops of rolls with melted butter. Serve warm, or cool on wire rack.

I didn’t brush the rolls with butter.  After they had cooled completely, I put them in plastic bags for transporting. 

On Christmas Day, we heated the rolls in the oven at 350 degrees for a few minutes and served them with Italian pot roast, homemade macaroni and cheese (that my son made), squash and green beans.  Everything tasted great.

 

 

A New Tradition: Making Chocolate Truffles

I participated in a cookie swap earlier this month with the Trail Dames, one of my hiking groups. I made truffles for the cookie swap, and I do believe this is going to be a new tradition.

My youngest son is home from college and when he saw a bowl of chocolate in the refrigerator, he said, “there’s a bowl of chocolate in the refrigerator!”  I said, “yes, and your point is?” His point was that he wanted to eat it. I didn’t let him eat the bowl of chocolate, but I did save him some truffles for his troubles. He and his buddies enjoyed them immensely. 

I made Chocolate Truffles rolled in crushed peppermint candy, Earl Grey Truffles rolled in Cocoa Powder, Mexican Truffles rolled in chopped toasted almonds, and Chocolate Truffles rolled in candy sprinkles.

 

They all tasted great!  I was so glad I gave most of them away.

 

I hope you’ve enjoyed my family baking traditions. 

 

May you be blessed in the New Year!

Happy Baking,

Cathy

Ezekiel Bread from milled grains

This is my first attempt at making Ezekiel Bread. I’ve been wanting to make this bread for several months. I met a couple of bread vendors at the local farmer’s market this past summer and one of the vendors was selling Ezekiel bread.  I got the mixture of grains to make it from Jerry at freshlymilledbreads.com and it has been on my list of bread breads to make ever since.

Fast forward to November…

As it turns out, the HBinFive Bakers have been making historical breads this month.  Ezekiel Bread is a pretty historical bread so this was my first choice for my submission.  However, I didn’t have the recipe so I made Gingerbread instead.  The Gingerbread was delicious so I’m glad I made it, but I still wanted to make this bread. I finally got the recipe and made it the other night.

Ezekiel Bread comes Ezekiel 4:9 in the Bible.  It is called a “fasting bread” because Ezekiel was commanded by God to eat a specific amount of this bread everyday. Supposedly, this is all he ate for 430 days.

“Take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and spelt; put them in a storage jar and use them to make bread for yourself." Ezekiel 4:9 (NIV)

The scripture is not specific on how the bread is to be made; however, some versions use sprouted grains. For my first attempt, I made the batter bread version using milled grains.

In my research for this bread, I found a site that has a couple of different recipes and methods for making Ezekiel Bread. His methods look interesting so I’ll probably try one of his versions for comparison.  He boils the grains rather than milling them into flour. 

Since Ezekiel was instructed to lie on his side for a specific amount of time, it makes me wonder how he actually did make his bread. Not sure how he would’ve milled the grains. That’s probably why some versions sprout them.  It does say to put the grains in a storage jar, but that could just be for storage not sprouting.  I’ll have to do some more research.  In the meantime, I think I’ll try different methods until I find one that I like the best. 

 

Ezekiel Bread from Milled Grains

Makes: 3 medium or 2 large loaves

Source: I received a scanned copy of this recipe from the nice folks at freshlymilledbreads.com. 

According to the recipe, this is a wonderfully nutritious bread and the combination of grains and beans makes a complete protein.  This mixture makes about 9 cups of flour. It’s a batter bread so I expected it to be a little dense with all of the grains and no white flour.

Ingredients:

Combine the following whole grains:

• 2 1/2 cups hard red wheat
• 1 1/2 cups spelt or rye (Biblically spelt was used)
• 1/2 cup barley (hulled barley)
• 1/4 cup millet
• 1/4 cup lentils (green preferred)
• 2 Tbs. great northern beans
• 2 Tbs. red kidney beans
• 2 Tbs. pinto beans

Stir the above ingredients very well.

 

Grind in flour mill.  I used my electric WonderMill Grain Mill.

 

 

Dough Ingredients:

• 4 cups lukewarm water
• 1 cup honey
• 1/2 cup oil
• 2 tsp salt
• freshly milled flour from the above mixture of grains
• 2 Tbs yeast

 

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine water, honey, oil, and salt. Add all of the flour and yeast.  Stir or knead until well kneaded about 10 minutes.  This is a batter-type bread and will not form a smooth ball.  I mixed the dough using a Danish dough whisk, then I kneaded it with a stand mixer to make sure it was thoroughly incorporated.

 

Transfer the dough to greased loaf pans.  You can use 2 large loaf pans (10x5x3) or 3 medium loaf pans or 2-9x13 brownie pans.  I opted to use 2- 9x5” loaf pans.  This was probably a mistake. My dough didn’t pour, I spread it in the pan. Next time, I’ll try three 8x4” loaf pans and see if I get different results.

 

Let rise in a warm place for one hour or until the dough is about 1/4 inch from the top of the pan.  Do not over rise!  If it rises too much it will over flow the pan while baking.  These loaves may be proofed just a bit too much.

 

Bake at 350 degrees F. for 45-50 minutes for loaf pans and 35-40 minutes for brownie pans.

I barely let the loaves proof for an hour so I didn’t think I let the dough over rise, but the loaves sunk during baking.  I think the dough was too heavy for the pans. Or, it could’ve been because I opened the oven door during baking. I know, shame on me. The loaves were getting really brown before they were finished baking so I covered them with foil to prevent them from burning.

 

Even though I didn’t get the beautiful dome effect on top of the loaves, they taste pretty good. They are a little bit dense but not too much considering the amount of grains that are included.  This bread is very tasty and fulfilling.

 

Although the loaves sunk, I didn’t get the tunnel in the dough effect from not being completed baked through.

This is a photo of some HBinFive Soft Wheat Sandwich Bread.  It didn’t get baked all the way through so it was gummy and had a tunnel running through the middle. After this experience, I got a good digital thermometer so I can tell when it’s done.

 

I sliced several slices of the Ezekiel Bread until I reached the middle to make sure that I didn’t have a tunnel.  No tunnel here.

 

I’ve been enjoying slices of this bread spread with a little bit of peanut butter.  It doesn’t need much. I can only eat one slice at a time.  This is a very filling bread. It tastes and smells very earthy – in a good way.

Happy Baking!

Cathy

Gingerbread

The HBinFive Bakers are at it again.  We finished baking through the Healthy Bread in Five Minutes book, but the fun didn’t stop there.  We decided to continue our bread-baking journey. We won’t be baking through another book, we’re just baking bread each month around a particular theme.

For November, Michele of BigBlackDogs, picked historical breads as the theme.  I love learning about the history of breads so I knew I would have fun with this one.  I had just the bread in mind, but didn’t receive the recipe in time so I’ll post about that one later.

In the meantime, I consulted one of my favorite books, “The History of Bread” by Bernard Dupaigne, to find another suitable recipe. I finally landed upon this Gingerbread recipe in the back of the book.

“Gingerbread is said to have come to the attention of Philippe le Bon in Flanders, where he took such a liking to this ‘bee syrup cake’ that he brought the recipe back to Dijon. It is also found throughout Europe. Each region has its own recipe and traditional shape derived from popular legend or custom, such as the German Saint Nicholas or the little New Year piglet.”

- - Bernard Dupaigne The History of Bread

Although it has “bread” in the name, Gingerbread is traditionally considered a cake that requires neither kneading or leavening.  This recipe includes yeast and it’s in the back of a bread book, so I decided it fit the description of a historical bread.  Well that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

 

 

Gingerbread Recipe

 

Makes: 1 large loaf

From: The History of Bread by Bernard Dupaigne

Ingredients:

• 7 ounces honey
• 1 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk
• 1/4 pound butter (1 stick)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground anise
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Pinch of grated nutmeg
• Pinch of ground clove
• Grated peel of 1 lemon
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 cups rye flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 3 1/2 ounces candied citrus peel or ginger (I used homemade candied orange peel)
• 1 tablespoon shredded almonds, optional

 

Directions:

Melt the honey, sugar, milk, and butter together over low heat.

 

Add the ground spices and grated lemon peel.

 

Add this mixture to the rye and wheat flour blended with the yeast. Mix thoroughly to obtain a homogeneous dough.

 

Blend in the citrus peel.

 

Preheat the oven to 320 degrees F.  Butter a loaf pan and sprinkle the bottom with shredded almonds.  Since I had a good bit of dough to work with, I decided to bake the Gingerbread in my Pullman pan.

 

Fill the pan with the dough and bake about 40 minutes. A knife blade inserted into the loaf should come out dry.

 

Cool to lukewarm temperature and unmold on a rack.

 

The gingerbread is best if stored for 48 hours before serving or eating.  That’s the hard part. 

This bread doesn’t contain any white flour so it is rather dense.  I wasn’t sure what to expect when I took a bite, but I was pleasantly surprised.  It tastes really good.  It reminds me a little bit of a fruit cake but not quite.  It has a very pleasing citrus flavor in almost every bite.  It tastes especially good with coffee or tea.

I think this Gingerbread would make a really nice gift for the Holidays. I plan on bringing some of it to the family get together on Thanksgiving since it keeps really well.  

Thanks for joining me in the bread baking blog.  I hope you enjoy this historical bread.

 

Happy Baking!

Cathy

Pain au Potiron the Final HBinFive Bread

This is it!  The final Bread Braid for the HBinFive Bakers. We’ve spent the past two years baking bread together, making new friends, and sharing our triumphs and mishaps while we mastered the breads in the Healthy Bread in Five Minutes book.  To celebrate our two years together, I’m dedicating this post to Michelle of BigBlackDogs and the rest of the HBinFive Bakers.  

For the final bread braid, I had planned to make the Sweet Potato & Spelt Bread and the Pain au Potiron: Peppery Pumpkin and Olive Oil Loaf, but I ran out of time.  I had a sweet potato and some freshly-milled spelt flour so I decided to combine the two formulas and make a Peppery Sweet Potato and Olive Oil Loaf with Spelt.

HBinFive Bakers, this one is for you…

One of the things I really enjoy about the Healthy Bread in Five Minutes method is that the formulas are really flexible. You can use whole-wheat flour or substitute white whole-wheat or use a greater percentage of all-purpose to whole-wheat depending on your preference or your family's tastes.  Or, in the case of this Pain au Potiron – Peppery Pumpkin (or Sweet Potato) and Olive Oil Loaf with Spelt, you can substitute spelt for the whole wheat flour, combine the recipes, change the ratios, and still make a delicious loaf.

Another thing I really like about the HBin5 method is how easy it is to fit making healthy breads into your daily schedule. With this method, you just mix up the dough, let it ferment a couple of hours, then refrigerate it and use a portion of the dough each time you want to bake bread. The dough will last in the refrigerator anywhere from 5 to 10 days or so depending on the formula. Once you mix up the dough, all you have to do is take the amount of dough you need out of the refrigerator, shape it, let it rise, then bake it. How easy is that?

Even though this is the end of the HBinFive adventure, I’m sure I’ll be making some of the Healthy Bread in Five Minutes’ breads again.

For now, I leave you with…

 

Pain au Potiron: Peppery Pumpkin (or Sweet Potato) and Olive Oil Loaf with Spelt

Makes: 2 medium loaves (about 1.5 pounds each) or 1 large (2 pound) loaf

Adapted from Healthy Bread in Five Minutes by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois

 

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Spelt
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 tablespoon instant yeast
• 1/2 tablespoon kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons vital wheat gluten
• 1 cup peeled, 1/4-inch-dice raw pie pumpkin, squash or sweet potato  (I used a large sweet potato)
• Fresh ground black pepper
• 1 3/4 cups lukewarm water
• 1/8 cup olive oil

 

Directions:

1. Mix together the flours, yeast, salt, and vital wheat gluten in a large bowl using a whisk or a wooden spoon.
2. Generously season the pumpkin, squash, or sweet potato with the pepper; then combine the liquid ingredients with the dry ingredients using a wooden spoon or Danish Dough Whisk. 

   

3. Cover the bowl and allow the dough to rest at room temperature until it rises and collapses, about 2 hours. Refrigerate the dough for at least 24 hours and up to 5 days.
4. On bake day, remove the dough from the refrigerator, dust it lightly with flour and shape it into a ball. Let the ball rest for about 5 minutes before further shaping.  The dough was really wet and I was having a little trouble shaping it, so I placed it seam-side up in a banneton basket to proof.  I used my larger size basket that can hold 2 pounds of dough. 

    

5. Allow the dough to rest (proof), loosely covered with plastic wrap in the basket for 90 minutes or so.  It won’t double in size but it should rise noticeably.

   

    

6. About 30 minutes before you’re ready to bake the loaf, preheat the oven to 450 degrees F, with a baking stone on the middle rack and a steam pan underneath.
7. Gently invert the loaf onto parchment paper that has been sprinkled with cornmeal. Just before baking, use a pastry brush to paint the top crust with water. Then score the loaf with the pattern of your choice using a serrated knife or a lame.  I used a lame to score an X in this loaf. 

   

8. Transfer the loaf (on the parchment paper) to the hot baking stone using a bakers peel or the back of a baking sheet. Pour 1 cup of hot water into the steam pan and quickly close the oven door.
9. Bake the loaf for about 30 to 40 minutes, until richly browned and firm. About two-thirds through the baking cycle, remove the parchment paper so that the loaf will be crisp (not soggy) on the bottom.
10. Allow the loaf to cool completely on a wire rack before slicing and serving.

    

    This bread has been YeastSpotted. Please visit Wild Yeast to view all of the lovely breads in the roundup.

11. Slice and enjoy!

    

    This was a huge loaf so I cut it in thirds and gave some to my mom and my sister. I’ve been enjoying the rest of the loaf with homemade soup.

     

    
    Thank you Michelle of BigBlackDogs for hosting the HBinFive Baking Group for the past two years.  And, thanks also to all of the HBinFive Bakers. I learned a lot from this wonderful and creative group of bakers.  I hope to bake with you guys again.

    Happy Baking!

    Cathy

Whole Grain and Emmer Challah with Apples and Honey

The HBinFive Challenge is winding down. I haven’t made all of the breads in the Healthy Bread in Five Minutes book but I wanted to at least finish the race.  With only a couple of bread braids to go, I decided I better get baking. The breads for the September 15th Bread Braid include Apple and Honey Whole Grain Challah and Sweet Potato and Spelt Bread.

The challah, shaped like a turban, is a delicious Fall bread made with whole wheat, apples and honey. It was a fun bread to make. I added some Emmer flour in addition to the whole wheat and all-purpose flour.  So my version became Whole Grain and Emmer Challah with Apples and Honey.  The Sweet Potato Spelt Bread also sounds really good so I hope to get to that one next time.

 

Whole Grain and Emmer Challah with apples and Honey

Makes: 2 Medium Loaves (about 1.5 pounds each)

Adapted from Healthy Bread in Five Minutes by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups White Whole Wheat flour
• 1 1/2 cups Emmer flour
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/8 cup wheat germ
• 3/4 tablespoon instant yeast
• 1/2 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1/8 cup vital wheat gluten
• 1 1/4 cups water, lukewarm
• 1/4 cup neutral-flavored oil
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 eggs
• 2 large baking apples (I used Fiji apples)
• Egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water) for brushing on the loaf
• Sesame seeds for sprinkling on top

 

Directions:

1. Peel, core the apples and cut them into 1/2-inch dice.  

   

    

2. Mix together the flours, wheat germ, yeast, salt, and vital wheat gluten in a large bowl using a whisk or a wooden spoon.

   

    

3. Combine the liquid ingredients and dates. 

   

    

4. Incorporate them into the dry ingredients using a Danish dough whisk or a wooden spoon.

   

    

5. Cover the bowl (or container) and allow the dough to rest at room temperature until it rises and collapses, about 2 hours. Refrigerate the dough for at least 24 hours and up to 5 days.

   

    

6. When you’re ready to bake, remove the dough from the refrigerator, dust it lightly with flour and shape it into a ball. Let the ball rest for about 5 minutes before further shaping.

   

    

7. Gently roll and stretch the dough, dusting with flour so that your hands don’t stick to it, until you have a cylinder.  Thin out one end so it is tapered.

   

    

8. Keeping the thick end stationary, wind the thinner end around it and, finally, tuck it underneath to seal. Place the turban on a greased cookie sheet or one with parchment paper, and allow to rest, loosely covered with plastic wrap for 90 minutes.

    

    

9. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F, with a rack placed in the center of the oven. Just before baking, use a pastry brush to paint the top crust with egg wash, and then sprinkle the crust with sesame seeds.

    

10. Place the cookie sheet in the oven and bake for about 35 minutes, until browned and firm.

     

11. Allow the challah to cool on a wire rack before slicing and serving.

    

    
    I brought this challah to a get together and it was received very well.  It’s healthy and delicious! 

    This bread is also very photogenic so I took lots of pictures. 

    

     

    I especially liked the way the Challah looked in this Bamboo Turtle Bag.

    

     

    This bread has been YeastSpotted. Please visit Wild Yeast to view all of the lovely breads in the roundup.

     

    Happy Baking!
    Cathy

 

About the HBinFive Baking Group

 

The HBinFive Baking Group was started by Michelle of BigBlackDog.  We have been baking through the breads in the Healthy Bread in Five Minutes book. 

French Toast with KAMUT, Oatmeal Date Bread

Two of my baking groups, the HBinFive Bakers and the Mellow Bakers are baking oatmeal breads this month so I decided to continue the oats theme for August rather than choosing a different grain of the month.  Oatmeal bread is one of my all time favorites so this should be a fun month.

The first bread for the HBinFive Bakers for August is an Oatmeal Date Bread. I had some KAMUT flour left from my Sprouted KAMUT Bread experiment in June so I decided to use it in this recipe instead of whole wheat flour. I loved the flavor of this Kamut, Oatmeal and Date Bread so I used a couple of slices to make French Toast.

 

KAMUT, Oatmeal and Date Bread Recipe

Makes: One 2-Pound Loaf

Adapted from Healthy Bread in Five Minutes by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois

 

 

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups KAMUT flour
• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (plus more for dusting if necessary)
• 1 cup steel-cut oats (or you can substitute old-fashioned rolled oats)
• 3/4 tablespoons granulated yeast or 1 packet
• 1/2 tablespoon kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons vital wheat gluten
• 1 1/4 cups lukewarm water
• 1/8 cup neutral-flavored oil
• 3 tablespoons maple syrup
• 3/4 cup dates, finely chopped
• Egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water) for brushing on the top crust
• Raw sugar for sprinkling on top

 

Directions:

1. Mix together the flours, oats, yeast, salt, and vital wheat gluten in a large bowl using a whisk or a wooden spoon.

   

2. Combine the liquid ingredients and dates and incorporate them into the dry ingredients using a Danish dough whisk or a wooden spoon.

   

3. Cover the bowl (or container) and allow the dough to rest at room temperature until it rises and collapses, about 2 hours. Refrigerate the dough for at least 24 hours and up to 7 days.

   

4. When you’re ready to bake, remove the dough from the refrigerator, dust it lightly with flour and shape it into a ball. Let the ball rest for about 5 minutes before further shaping. Elongate the ball into an oval shape and place it in a greased 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan.  It should fill the pan about three-quarters full. Cover the pan loosely with plastic wrap and allow the loaf to rise for 1 hour 45 minutes.

   

5. Thirty minutes before baking time, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. It might not take your oven this long to preheat. Paint the top of the crust with egg wash using a pastry brush.

   

6. Sprinkle it with raw sugar.

   

7. I also slashed the dough diagonally with 1/4-inch-deep cuts, using a serrated knife. Place the loaf on the middle rack and bake for about 45 to 50 minutes, until richly browned and firm.

   

8. Remove the loaf from the oven and let it cool a little bit on a wire rack before slicing or eating.

   

    

   The first time I made this bread, I got distracted while the loaf was baking and I let it bake a little bit too long.  I gave the end slice to the birds and tested a couple of slices.  It had a wonderful flavor so I thought it would make some killer French Toast.  Turns out…I was right!  This is what I had for dinner the other night. 

   

    

   A few days later… 

   I decided to test this bread again.  This time, I baked it the appropriate length of time and it turned out really well. I didn’t slash the loaf so it separated on its own. The flavor of the oatmeal, maple and dates blend very nicely throughout the bread and the addition of the KAMUT flour gives it a lovely creamy color and nutty flavor.  It tastes great warm with butter.

   

   I’m delighted my experiment worked so I’ll be submitting this bread to the KAMUT International Team (at their request) to be posted on their site www.kamut.com 

    

   Thanks for joining me in the bread baking blog. 

   Happy Baking!
   Cathy