Fresh Mango Bread

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was selected by Kelly of Baking with the Boys. This was a new treat for me - I had never heard of mango bread, let alone attempt to make my own batch. Come to think of it, I don't think I'd even bought a whole mango before I set about baking this bread. Regardless, the end product was ultimately delicious, and makes for a great breakfast bread.

In this bread, Dorie brings together both fresh mango and raisins, giving the bread a light fruity flavor. I don't know how other mango breads taste in comparison to this one, but if they're anything similar, then I'm surprised they haven't spread more. I now have no reason to shy away from the mangoes when I see them in the grocery.

Recipe: Baking: From My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan, p. 45

Cloverleaf Rolls

My job this thanksgiving was a simple one - to bring some sort of dinner roll. I wanted to make something a little different, at least shape-wise, so I made some classic cloverleaf rolls (something I hadn't done in the past).

Recipe:
3 tablespoons warm water
2 1/2 teaspoons instant dry yeast
3 tablespoons sugar, divided
1 stick + 1 tablespoon butter, divided
1 cup whole milk
2 cups bread flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 - 2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

In a stand mixer bowl, mix together the water, yeast, and 1 tablespoon sugar. Let stand for 5 minutes and froth. Melt 3/4 of the stick of butter, add milk to the mixture, and heat until lukewarm in a microwave. Add the milk and butter mixture into the yeast, add the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar, bread flour, and salt. Mix with a wooden spoon, and then place into the stand mixer with a hook attachment. Add 1 cup all-purpose flour, and begin kneading the dough. Add the remaining flour slowly until the dough is no longer sticky (about 10 minutes of kneading). Cover with a towel and wait for it to double in size, about 1 hour. In the meantime, butter 18 muffin cups with 2 tablespoons butter. Punch down the dough and cut into 54 equal portions (I cut the dough in half, divided each half into thirds, divided each third into an additional third, and thirded one last time to try to get even pieces). Roll each bit of dough with your fingers to get a roughly round shape, and position three pieces into each muffin cup. Cover with a tea towel and allow to rise 30-40 minutes or until doubled in size. Preheat the oven to 400ºF. If the seeds need to be toasted, empty them into a heavy skillet and put over medium heat, stirring frequently until lightly browned and fragrant. Melt the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter and brush the tops of each roll, then sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds. Bake 15-20 minutes.

These simple rolls are fairly simplistic in their flavors, so serve them alongside some jams or butter. Their fun shapes and ease to pull them apart set them aside from the standard dinner rolls, and you could boost the flavors to your own whim by topping them with a different spice or herb of choice.

Egg Bread Knots

I was in the mood for making a different sort of bread, and had a large batch of eggs in the refrigerator about to go bad. I found an egg bread recipe, but it formed a large loaf. I decided to change it up a little bit and make these simple knots instead. They're a perfect size for a sandwich (about the size of a large hamburger bun), and they're fluffy inside with the added light taste of eggs.

I baked two batches at the same time, but the top batch browned a bit more than I had anticipated. It didn't burn, so the taste wasn't poor, but it just came out darker than my liking. If you prefer a browned top, stick to the top third of the oven - a lighter golden color is achieved by using the lower third.

Recipe:
4 1/2 teaspoons instant dry yeast
2/3 cup warm water
6 egg yolks
4 eggs, divided
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
4 1/2 cups flour

Dissolve yeast in the warm water. Combine egg yolks plus three eggs (the remaining egg is for an egg wash) and whisk together lightly. Pour this into the dissolved yeast mixture and add the vegetable oil, sugar, salt, and 3 1/2 cups of flour. Using a stand mixer attached with a paddle attachment, begin kneading the dough on low speed, adding the remaining flour until the dough pulls cleanly away from the edges. Continue kneading for 8 minutes. Oil a large bowl and add the dough - allow to rise for 90 minutes, or until doubled in size. Punch the dough down, and cut into 16 equal pieces.

Lightly knead each individual piece to get rid of air pockets (they rise quickly) and roll into an 18-inch long tube shape.

Fold one end over the other, and form the knot by tucking one end underneath the formed circle, and the other on top.

Place 8 on each of two baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Maximize empty space - they'll double in size during proofing. Allow to proof for 45 minutes, and preheat the oven to 375ºF with a rack placed in the lower third. Whisk the last egg and brush the tops of each knot with the egg wash. Bake for 12 minutes, then place onto cooling rack to cool. Makes 16 knots.

Although these have a similar look to Hawaiian sweet bread, don't serve this as anything other than plain bread - I got a couple confused looks when I brought these into work. They're great for sandwiches, or serve with just a little homemade mayonnaise (trust me, delicious on this bread).

Kugelhopf

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was selected by The All-Purpose Girl. It's a simple sweet bread, or cake, with the flavor of butter, sugar, and raisins. However, this is the first time I had a serious problem with one of Dorie's recipes. It may be because I don't have a Kugelhopf pan and used a Bundt pan instead, but the dough didn't rise as expected. When it was freshly made, it doubled and I punched in down as per directions. When it was in the fridge, same story. When I took it out the next day to rise in the bowl...nothing. It still tastes delicious, but it's probably not as light and airy as it should be.

Lack of a rise aside, this cake is very flavorful in its simplistic way. The top is brushed with butter as soon as it comes out of the oven, then sprinkled with sugar to form a thin glaze (at least in my case). After it's cooled to room temperature, it's sprinkled with confectioner's sugar for decor and served. Small slices are perfect, giving you a few bites to satisfy your sweet tooth.

Recipe: Baking: From My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan, pp. 61-63

Black-and-White Banana Loaf

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was a banana bread loaf with a twist - adding some chocolate to half the dough and marbelizing it.

The recipe calls for 4 eggs and 1 1/2 bananas. Since I know you can use half a banana as a substitution for an egg, I just threw in 2 bananas and 3 eggs. I've mentioned it before, but whenever I bake anything using bananas, I prefer to freeze them ahead of time and then thaw them out in time for the cooking. The ice crystals that form inside the banana help break down all the cell walls and release all the flavorful juices.

Making the marble design was easier than I had anticipated. I alternatively ladled in some of the white and black batters, making sure I wasn't too even while pouring them. Some spots got too much black, some too much white, and that was just right. I then did a quick zig-zag through the mixture once all the batters were added, and the simple marble look came through.

I accidentally fell asleep while baking this. The loaf itself didn't burn, but I didn't get foil on top of it in time so the crust turned out a bit darker than I had wanted. This didn't affect the flavor at all, and the bread is great to munch on.

Recipe: Baking: From My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan, p. 232

Buttermilk Biscuits

Whenever I have some extra buttermilk laying around, I love making these biscuits. This recipe has been tried several times, and delicious fluffy biscuits are always the end result.

Recipe:
2 c. all-purpose flour
4 t. baking powder
1/4 t. baking soda
large pinch, salt
1 T. butter
3 T. shortening
1 c. buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Mix dry ingredients together, then cut in fats with a pastry cutter, two butter knives, or just use your fingers like I do. There is no need to cut the fats until they are tiny, just make sure that there are no pieces larger than the size of a raisin left behind. Add the buttermilk and fold with a spoon until just combined - do not over-mix! Turn out onto a floured surface.

Roll into a 1"-thick round, then cut with a 3" round cookie cutter. Alternatively, you can scoop the dough into a baking sheet directly from mixing bowl (this is how I normally bake them, as it gives a nice texture on the tops of the biscuits). Cut 12 biscuits out of the dough - hopefully there won't be much left over, or your biscuits are going to come out short.

Position the biscuits on a baking sheet so they are just touching each other at the edge. This ensures that they rise straight up. Dent the top of the biscuit with your thumb (something I forgot to do until close to the end). If you are spooning the dough straight to the baking sheet, the biscuits do not need to be touching each other or dented. Bake for 20 minutes, then move directly to a cooling rack. Allow to cool a few minutes before eating. Yields 1 dozen biscuits.

If you want biscuits with more butter flavor, you can substitute add more butter and take out the shortening, though it will make the biscuits shorter and a little crispier. This basic buttermilk biscuit recipe is like an empty canvas when it comes to exploring other flavors. Using this recipe, I've adapted to make cheesy biscuits, rosemary biscuits, oregano biscuits - and it's easy to make all of them. Biscuits and gravy were always a favorite of mine when I was young, so I'm sure I'll get around to making a batch of that as well.

Sourdough Bread

I usually eat sourdough several times a month. It's pretty standard for me to go into the grocery store and buy a loaf of sourdough, a pound of meat, 1/4 pound of cheese, and be set for lunch for the next week. I've always loved the flavor of it, but never understood how easy it was to make it myself until I did some research. After reading a little, I decided to start an journey towards making my own sourdough bread.

This started a couple of weeks ago with the making of my sourdough starter. To sourdough purists, there shouldn't be any packaged yeast in the dough. It should all be pulled into the flour naturally, so that's what I set out to do. I combined 1/4 c. white all-purpose flour with 1/4 c. filtered water, covered it with a tea towel, and let it sit for 24 hours. After that time passed, I added another 1/4 c. of each and mixed it up. Gradually, yeast is pulled out of the atmosphere and into the sourdough starter. Every time you add flour and water, you're giving the yeast some more food to eat and multiply.

You essentially keep feeding the starter water and flour until you're ready to bake with it. If you feel that your starter is getting too big, you can easily take out as much as you're planning to add (i.e. you can mix up the starter, remove 1/2 c. of starter, replace with 1/4 c. flour and 1/4 c. water, that way you're still equal). Some people keep their starter around for years, and the older the sourdough starter the more developed the flavor becomes. When your starter finally becomes nice and bubbly (should take anywhere from 4 days to a week), you can cover it and store it in the fridge, then you only have to feed it once a week instead of daily.

You can tell it's ready when it gets a nice froth on top and turns bubbly. Don't worry too much about bacteria - a byproduct of yeast is ethanol, the same reason why beer and wine have alcohol in them. This ethanol is a natural defense mechanism, since most bacteria can't live in alcoholic conditions, and that can be used to our advantage to make sure that the starter remains bacteria-free. However, isn't a guarantee though. Always play it safe - if you start getting any pink or green colorings, immediately throw it away and start over.

Don't forget that this starter is your new pet. Sure it doesn't have to be taken for walks or cleaned, but it does need to be fed. You'd be sad if you went to make sourdough and found your colony of yeast had died off because you forgot to give them dinner.

After raising the little guys for a couple weeks, I decided it was time to sacrifice some of them and make some dough.

Recipe:
2 c. sourdough starter
2 t. salt
1/2 t. sugar
2 T. olive oil
3 c. flour

In a mixer with hook attachment, pour in the starter, salt, sugar, olive oil, and 1 c. flour. Mix until it just comes together, then add 1c. more flour. At this point, start to add the final cup of flour only a small amount at a time. Once the dough is no longer sticky and comes cleanly from the sides of the mixer, stop adding flour and knead the dough. This can be done by hand, but it's very convenient to use the mixer. I kneaded for about 10 minutes - sourdough takes a lot of kneading to make sure you get all the gluten into it. When your dough ball is kneaded to your content, place into a bowl with a small amount of olive oil and allow to rise from 6-12 hours. Sourdough takes longer than most breads to rise, so be patient.

Punch down the dough and spread into a rough rectangle with the dry side on top (the part that was exposed during the rising). Roll tightly to avoid air pockets, and form a loaf. Sprinkle some corn meal onto a baking pan and place your loaf on top, then spray with water and allow to proof for about 6 more hours, spraying with water periodically to keep the outside damp.

Make deep slashes into the dough (about 1/3 of the way into the dough) along the top, spaced about an inch apart. Place into a cold oven and spray once more with the water, then turn the oven to 425ºF. Rotate the loaf 180º every 10 minutes and spray with more water. This steam adds to the nice crust. Mine baked for a total of 35 minutes, but it could take longer depending on the oven.

Allow to cool completely before cutting - the bread continues to cook even when you remove it from the oven, and if you cut in too early it could let out too much steam and ruin the interior. Once it's cooled, slice and enjoy. This came out pleasantly more sour than I was expecting. I assumed that with a young starter, I wouldn't be able to get the bite that I was hoping for, but I was happily surprised. This little loaf packs a lot of flavor, and I'm looking forward to the next week's lunches - without having to buy my own sourdough for once.

Ciabatta Bread

I felt like making something different the other night - I've been making way too many sweets, and haven't tried my hand at bread in a while. Plain white bread has been the staple of my bread baking in the past, and while sufficient, it just isn't exciting. After searching for...well, not that long at all, I found a recipe for ciabatta bread on Peabody's site.

It turns out this was good timing. I needed some serious bread this morning to help out with a mild hangover (note to self: THAT much tequila should only be enjoyed on the weekends, not on a work night). I tried to add some oregano to give a bit of flavor, because for the first time my plant is looking real healthy. Took a tablespoon of finely chopped fresh leaves, but it didn't change the flavor at all - I'll have to add much more next time.

The sponge was made the night before I made the bread. After sitting out for 2 hours, it didn't seem to be rising too much, but after waking up the next morning, it was trying to escape from the bowl it was stuffed into.

It deflated a bit after forcing off the wrap on top, but here's a general idea of what it looked like. After letting it sit on the counter for the day, I walked home to find it nice and puffy, and smelling a bit like beer - the yeast were definitely having fun.

Mixed together the rest of the ingredients, kneaded it, and shaped it. After poking the holes on the top and flouring it, I let it sit on the counter for 2 hours to give some time to rise a bit more.

After baking on the parchment paper, on the baking stone (first time I threw parchment paper into the oven like that...I was slightly afraid I'd get a small fire), I pulled the loaves out with a spatula and let them cool down for an hour before cutting into them. It didn't turn out quite as bubbly as it should have, probably because I didn't let it rise as long as I could have in the middle steps (had to hurry up before people came over for the liquor!), but it still has a great texture, very soft inside. Tonight I'll probably pour out some olive oil and balsamic vinegar and just snack on it, always one of my favorite ways to eat bread.

Recipe (Source: Gourmet Magazine, March 1998):
Sponge:
1/8 t. active dry yeast
2 T. warm water
1/3 c. room temperature water
1 c. flour

Mix together the yeast and warm water, allow to stand for 5 minutes until creamy. Add in the remaining water and flour, stir for 4 minutes, then let sit at room temperature for at least 12 hours, up to 24.

Bread:
1/2 t. active dry yeast
2 T. warm milk
2/3 c. room temperature water
1 T. olive oil
2 c. flour
1 1/2 t. salt

Mix together the yeast and milk, then let stand for 5 minutes. In a stand mixer using the hook attachment, mix the milk mixture, sponge, remaining water, oil, and flour, until just moist. Beat at medium speed for approximately 3 minutes, add the salt, and then beat for another 4. Move to an oiled bowl, and let it rise (this is where I definitely could have let it rise longer - next time I'll wait about 2 hours). After it's gotten nice and big, move onto some floured parchment paper and cut it in half (it will be sticky!). Form two oval-shaped loaves about 9 inches long, dimple with floured fingers, and dust the tops with flour. Let them rise for another 2 hours before moving them into the oven which should be preheated to 425ºF with a baking stone or something similar inside (heat the stone for about an hour before throwing the bread on top). I threw one loaf in at a time because my stone is relatively small, on the parchment paper and all. After 20 minutes, the loaves were nice and golden. Removed from the oven with a spatula, moved to a cooling rack for one hour before cutting in and enjoying.