so, after another brief (ha!) hiatus, i’m back sharing my kitchen adventures. to be honest, besides being consumed by work this fall and winter, it took me a little while to get excited about baking again. planning time to bake, take pictures, and post took away some of the spontaneity and fun of it, but a few things have helped me get back on track lately. one, the girl got a new digital SLR, with which she has generously let me play. but two, more importantly, i spent a few days at my parent’s house for christmas, and i was reminded of the care my mom puts into the dozen plus varieties of cookies she makes for the holidays each year. she does it because she loves to bake, and she loves to see others enjoy her baking. it’s the reason i started blogging in the first place, and it’s re-inspired me. i feel privileged to share these photos and recipes and stories with all of you.

so onto the bread. this is not the first time i’ve attempted no-knead bread, but it is the first time it’s actually come out right, and i have christopher kimball to thank for that. until just recently, the girl and i had 6 meager tv channels in our place, one of which was the truly awesome WETA “create” network which is nothing but PBS cooking and baking shows. every night, it was jacques pépin, julia child and, our favorite, america’s test kitchen.

i was surprised to see their version of no-knead bread that, well, required some kneading. it also included a bit of beer, which got me interested. i decided to get back on the horse and whip up a batch. for the most part, it follows jim lahey’s original recipe, but the beer gives it a bit of flavor, and a tablespoon of vinegar helps stabilize the loaf. the ingredients still come together quickly and easily.

and like the original, the majority of the work is done overnight as the bread rises (8-18 hours).

don’t mind me, just doing a quick knead, won’t be a sec.

ok, all set.

i’ve learned that when the recipe tells you to score the bread, score it deep enough to really open up the dough. the idea is to direct where the bread will expand during the “oven spring” (when it first hits the heat of the oven and expands). i happen to have a bread scorer, but any sharp knife will do.

this bread truly comes out best when baked in a dutch oven. it’s the best way to get the heat and steam needed for a good rise and the perfect crust. don’t be afraid of a deep, dark crust – bread baked in a home oven usually takes more time than in a commercial oven, because it’s harder to get the temperature high enough at home.

it’s amazing that a dough that takes all of 5 minutes to prepare could produce such a beautiful crumb and robust taste. it’s great by itself, or even better toasted with a little butter. if you’ve tried the original no-knead recipe (either with success or failure), it’s worth trying this one as well.

almost no-knead bread
makes one delicious loaf. from america’s test kitchen (requires a login).

3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (15 oz), plus additional for dusting work surface
1/4 tsp instant or rapid-rise yeast (or 1/2 tsp dry active yeast)
1 1/2 tsp table salt
3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp water (7 ounces), at room temperature
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp mild-flavored lager (3 ounces)
1 Tbsp white vinegar

1. whisk flour, yeast, and salt in large bowl. add water, beer, and vinegar. using rubber spatula or a wooden spoon, fold mixture, scraping up dry flour from bottom of bowl until shaggy ball forms. cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 8 to 18 hours.

2. lay 12- by 18-inch sheet of parchment paper inside 10-inch skillet and spray with nonstick cooking spray. transfer dough to lightly floured work surface and knead 10 to 15 times. shape dough into ball by pulling edges into middle. transfer dough, seam-side down, to parchment-lined skillet and spray surface of dough with nonstick cooking spray. cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until dough has doubled in size and does not readily spring back when poked with finger, about 2 hours.

3. about 30 minutes before baking, adjust oven rack to lowest position, place 6- to 8-quart heavy-bottomed dutch oven (with lid) on rack, and heat oven to 500F. lightly flour top of dough and, using razor blade or sharp knife, make one 6-inch-long, 1/2-inch-deep slit along top of dough. carefully remove pot from oven and remove lid. pick up dough by lifting parchment overhang and lower into pot (let any excess parchment hang over pot edge). cover pot and place in oven. reduce oven temperature to 425F and bake covered for 30 minutes. remove lid and continue to bake until loaf is deep brown and instant-read thermometer inserted into center registers 210 degrees, 20 to 30 minutes longer. carefully remove bread from pot; transfer to wire rack and cool to room temperature, about 2 hours.

when i was much, much younger, one of my sisters and i came across a bowl of what looked to be delicious cookie dough in a mixing bowl on the kitchen counter. with my mom out of the room at the moment, we took the opportunity to scoop up huge gobs and wolf them down, only to find out that what we thought was cookie dough was in fact cheese bread dough. i don’t care how much you like cheese, eating raw cheese bread dough is not a pleasant experience.

it didn’t ruin cheese as a whole for me, but i couldn’t bring myself to eat cheese bread for a long time. it wasn’t until years later that i accidentally ate an asiago cheese bagel and realized it can be one of the finer things in life. when i stumbled across this recipe last week for cheddar bread in Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day, i decided to give it a shot. it happened to be the same day the girl brought home a whole mess of farmer’s market tomatoes to roast, so we figured, why not?

making roasted tomatoes is staggeringly easy. here they are at stage one: the tomatoes are happy and healthy on a baking sheet, doused with olive oil, salt and pepper, and ready for a 300F oven.

stage two: 3 hours have passed, and the tomatoes are looking a little tired. you can see where this is headed. you could stop now, but we’ve only just started to see the potential locked inside these little beauties.

stage three: 6 hours have passed, and the tomatoes have become something else entirely, caramelized and flavor-concentrated beyond words. it’s amazing what a little time and heat can produce. eat them straight off the pan, toss with some fresh pasta or add to cheese bread dough and enjoy (once you’ve baked it, of course).

the bread is versatile, good enough toasted with a bit of butter, with hints of cheese and tomato throughout, but even better in sandwiches. the recipe below produces a bread with flavors that aren’t too overwhelming, but if you’re a cheese or tomato junky, adjust accordingly.

roasted tomato and cheddar bread
adapted from Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. makes 4 1-lb loaves.

bread
3 c lukewarm water
1 1/2 Tbsp yeast
1 1/2 Tbsp salt
1 1/2 Tbsp sugar
7 c flour (unbleached all-purpose)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
about 10 slices roasted tomato (or more to taste) – see recipe below

roasted tomatoes
1 lb tomatoes
3 Tbsp olive oil
sea salt and pepper for sprinkling

1. to make the roasted tomatoes: preheat oven to 300F. slice tomatoes, place on baking sheet. drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. bake for 6 hours, flipping tomatoes halfway through baking time.

2. mix the yeast, salt, and sugar with the water in a large bowl (or the bowl of a stand mixer). mix in the dry ingredients and the cheese without kneading, using a spoon or stand mixer. cover, not airtight, and allow to rest at room temperature until the dough rises and collapses (or flattens on top), approximately 2 hours.

3. the dough can be used immediately after the initial rise, though it is easier to handle when cold. refrigerate in a lidded, but not airtight, container and use over the next 7 days.

4. on baking day, dust the surface of the dough with flour and cut off a  1 pound (grapefruit-sized) piece. dust the piece with more flour and quickly shape it into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go. allow to rest and rise on a cornmeal-covered pizza peel for 1 hour.

5. twenty minutes before baking time, preheat the oven to 450F, with a baking stone (or unglazed quarry tiles) on the lowest rack. place an empty broiler tray on any other shelf that won’t interfere with the rising bread. sprinkle the loaf liberally with flour and slash across the top, using a serrated bread knife. leave the flour in place for baking; tap some of it off before eating.

6. slide the loaf directly on the hot stone. pour 1 cup of hot tap water into the broiler tray, and quickly close the oven door. bake for about 25 minutes, or until deeply browned and firm. small or larger loaves may require adjustments in baking time. allow loaves to cool before slicing and eating.

creating a sourdough starter is a lot like having a pet. you need to feed it, clean it, watch it closely and occassionally play with it to keep it happy and healthy. it won’t bring you the newspaper or fetch your slippers, but it will eventually become delicious bread that you can share with your whole family. and weirdly enough, you can keep a starter alive for much longer than a typical pet. that last fact may seem a little morbid, but the boudin sourdough bread company in san francisco has been using the same starter for over 150 years!

let me caution: when you look at the recipe, you’re going to be overwhelmed. don’t panic. at its heart, a sourdough starter is nothing more than flour and water. no expensive ingredients, no fancy kitchen gadgets needed, no big loss if you screw up. secondly, it takes a few days, especially the first time around, so it’s helpful to read the entire recipe before starting so you can plan accordingly. although most sourdough recipes set hours against the feeding schedule, you can be very flexible with timing and still end up with an incredible loaf of bread. above is my starter on day 1. just flour and water in a tupperware container loosely covered in plastic wrap. the tape is there to mark the height of the dough so i can see any changes that occur.

here’s my starter on day 2. no changes, but just a few small bubbles. let me try and explain in as few words as possible what’s going on when you make a starter. yeast is the thing that makes your bread rise, and it’s in air all around us, right now. this isn’t quite the same yeast you can buy in yellow packets at the grocery store (although those work wonders). the stuff in the air is wild yeast, the kind of yeast that doesn’t always do what it’s told and stays out past curfew. but despite it’s rogue nature, wild yeast still likes to eat, and leaving a paste of flour and water out is like a giant all-you-can-eat sign. the really cool thing about wild yeast is that bread made with starters from different environments (for instance, san francisco vs say, washington, dc) will have unique tastes based on the environmental conditions.

here’s day 3 (or 4, can’t remember). the yeast jumped into action overnight and left my kitchen a mess. however, this was a great sign for the starter. the bubbles were caused by the yeast feeding on the sugars in the dough and giving off carbon dioxide. feeding the starter fresh water and flour every day allows the flavors in the dough to develop more slowly, which gives them more depth. this is the way bread was made in the good ‘ole days (commercial yeast is a relatively new invention in the timeline of bread).

now before i embarrass myself anymore trying to explain how wild yeast works, let me give you a few helpful resources i used during this process. first, the fresh loaf is a great place to find common questions and answers about sourdough development. second, wild yeast blog is an endless source of information and inspiration for at-home bakers. susan has tons of delicious sourdough recipes and lots of tips that will really help you take the next step to great breadmaking. be sure to check both out.

i used peter reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice, which instructed me on how to turn my starter into a “barm.” the barm is a piece of your starter plus a larger amount of flour and water than you’ve been adding to feed you starter. once you’re at this step, you can use the barm to make your final dough mix, or you can refrigerate it and feed it on a regular basis to keep it potent for use later. this barm is the “mother starter,” the basis for all of your future sourdoughs (and the thing that boudin bakery has kept going for so long).

so after a long labor of love, i finally baked my first sourdough loaf. the result? it was…okay. really not all that sour. although the starter and barm had really vibrant smells, the final bread was pretty underwhelming. i discovered that it’s actually a pretty common problem with the first loaf – the barm simply hadn’t had enough time to develop deep flavors yet. another possible issue could be the air in my apartment – it’s not quite the same as the san francisco sea air that fed the original boudin starter.

although i was disappointed, i decided to keep working on the barm for a week and make another few loaves, one of which is above. i was thrilled to find out that the flavor did indeed improve over time. one change i made in the baking process was the keep the oven at a higher temperature for longer than instructed (10 minutes at 500F, then turn it down to 450F), and the result was a much more pronounced and tastier crust. i’m learning that i need to allow the loaves to get darker than i think they should before pulling them from the oven.

i don’t usually set a timer when i make chocolate chip cookies anymore, because it’s gotten to the point that i can tell when they’re done by the smell and look. i’m not anywhere near that confident with bread, but i’m finding out that it’s more about using all of your senses than sticking to the recipe. i’m going to keep this barm going for as long as i can and make as many varieties of sourdough as possible. i’m getting hungry just thinking about it now…

sourdough bread
from Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice

seed culture
day 1
1 c flour (any type, preferably dark rye or coarse whole rye)
3/4 c water, at room temperature

days 2, 3 and 4
1 c flour
1/2 c water, at room temperature

day 1: mix the flour and water together in a bowl until they form a stiff ball of dough. press this piece of dough into a 4-cup measuring cup and place a piece of tape on the side to mark the top of the dough. cover the cup with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for 24 hours.

day 2: in a mixing bowl, combine the day 2 ingredients with the day 1 sponge, mixing with a spoon until all of the ingredients are evenly distributed. return to the container and mark the height of the dough with a new piece of tape. cover with plastic wrap and let ferment for 24 hours at room temperature.

day 3: there may be some rise in the dough. there may also be an unpleasant aroma (this will improve with time). discard half of the starter and mix the remaining half with the day 3 ingredients. return to container, re-mark the height, and let ferment at room temperature for another 24 hours.

day 4: the sponge should have at least doubled in size. if not, allow it to sit out for another 12-24 hours. if the sponge has doubled, repeat the steps on day 3. cover and let ferment until doubled (this could take 4-24 hours).

barm
3 1/2 c flour
2 cups water, at room temperature
1 c seed culture

stir together the flour, water and seed culture in a mixing bowl (you can discard the remaining seed culture or give to a friend). it will make a wet, sticky sponge. transfer this sponge to a clean plastic glass, or ceramic storage container twice as large as the barm. cover the container with a lid or plastic wrap and ferment at room temperature for approximately 6 hours, or until the barm is bubbly. the plastic wrap will swell like a balloon. when this happens, open the lid or release the plastic wrap to let the gas escape. replace the cover and refrigerate overnight before using. the barm will be ready to use the next day and will remain potent for 3 days.

starter
2/3 c barm
1 c flour
1/8-1/4 c water

1. remove the barm from the refrigerator and measure it out 1 hour before making the firm starter. transfer it to a small bowl, cover with a towel or plastic wrap, and allow it to warm up for 1 hour.

2. add the flour to the bowl and mix together the barm and the flour, adding only additional water so that you can knead it into a small ball. lightly oil a small bowl and place the starter into the bowl or bag, turning to coat it with oil. cover the bowl.

3. ferment at room temperature for about 4 hours, or until the starter has at least doubled in size. then, put it in the refrigerator overnight.

4. remove the starter from the refrigerator 1 hour before making the dough. cut it into about 10 small pieces with a pastry scraper or serrated knife. mist with oil, cover with a towel or plastic wrap and let sit for 1 hour to take off the chill.

final dough
4 1/2 c flour
2 tsp salt
1 1/2 – 1 3/4 water, lukewarm
semolina flour or cornmeal for dusting

1. stir together the flour and salt in a mixing bowl. add the starter pieces and enough water to bring everything together into a ball as you stir with a large spoon (or in an electric mixer).

2. sprinkle the counter with flour, transfer the dough to the counter and knead by hand for 12-15 minutes. adjust the water or flour as needed. lightly oil the bowl and transfer the dough, rolling it around to coat. cover the bowl with plastic wrap. ferment at room temperature for 3-4 hours, or until the dough has nearly doubled in size.

3. remove the dough from the bowl and divide it into 2 equal pieces. gently shape into boules, batards, or baguettes. placethe dough on parchment lined sheets that have been dusted with semolina flour or cornmeal. mist the dough with spray oil and loosely cover the dough with a towel or plastic wrap. proof the dough for 2-3 hours at room temperature (or overnight in the refrigerator).

4. preheat the oven to 500 F. remove the plastic wrap from the dough 10 minutes before baking. dust a pizza peel with cornmeal or semolina flour and gently transfer the dough to the peel. score the top of the dough with a serrated knife.

5. slide the dough onto your baking stones (or bake directly on baking sheets). pour 1 cup of hot water into a steam pan on the oven floor. after 30 seconds, spray the oven walls with water and close the door. repeat twice more at 30-second intervals. after the final spray, lower the oven to 450 F and bake for 10 minutes. rotate the loaves 180 degrees, if necessary and continue baking for another 10-20 minutes, until the loaves are a rich golden brown. transfer to a wire rack to cool for at least 45 minutes before serving.

all of the best foods have “bizzaro” versions: regular pizza has dessert pizza, apple pie has chicken pot pie, and monkey bread has…savory monkey bread (though if you’re looking for a really good sweet monkey bread recipe, go HERE). this works out great, because while i have a serious sweet tooth, the girl usually prefers more savory flavors.

just like sweet monkey bread, the dough is a cinch to bring together. i used green onion and parley with a bit of greyere cheese, but any combination of herbs works. i could see adding some crumbled bacon as well…

when we were kids, the best part of making monkey bread was tearing it into tiny pieces and rolling it in cinnamon and sugar. with savory monkey bread, you roll the pieces in herb butter.

then you arrange all the dough pieces in a pan, and brush them with more butter. right before baking, you give it yet another brush of butter. i guess it goes without saying, but the finished monkey bread is incredibly buttery and rich. this would be great dish to just put out and snack on with some friends.

i wanted to give a gigantic shout out to everyone who donated to the susan g komen breast cancer 5k last week. if it was possible for me to give hugs through the internet, please know that i would. it was a fun event and you all really came through. you guys are the best.

and finally, i think i mentioned briefly last week that i was moving soon – well it’s happening this weekend. i’m saying goodbye to my current kitchen and hello to my new one. pro: i now have a dishwasher! con: i now have an electric range. it may take some time to adjust.

cheesy, savory monkey bread
adapted from Chris Pandel’s Monkey Bread with Dill, Butter and Sea Salt. makes one loaf pan full.

2 Tbsp warm water
1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
1 tsp sugar
2 1/4 cups flour
1/3 tsp salt
1/2 cup whole milk
1 egg
1 Tbsp plus 4 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted (keep them separate)
3 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
3 Tbsp spring onion, chopped
2 cups grated gruyere cheese

1. mix yeast, sugar, and warm water in a small mixing bowl. set aside for ten minutes to allow yeast to proof (bubbles will form at the surface).

2. mix flour and salt in large mixing bowl. set bowl on mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment (or use a spoon and some elbow grease). with the mixer set on medium speed, slowly add the proofed yeast mixture to the dry ingredients, followed by the milk, egg, and 1 Tbsp melted butter. add 1 Tbsp of the parsley, 1 Tbsp of the onion and 1 cup of the cheese.

3. mix on medium speed just until the dough releases from the side of the bowl, about 6-to-8 minutes. knead dough together lightly with your hands. transfer dough to a lightly greased bowl, cover bowl with plastic wrap and place in a warm place. allow dough to rise for 25-30 minutes.

4. after 30 minutes, punch dough down and roll into balls, about 1 inch in diameter. mix 4 Tbsp of the melted butter with the remaining parsley, spring onion and gruyere, roll balls in the mixture, and arrange in a lightly greased loaf pans. allow loaves to rise once more in a warm spot for 30 minutes.

5. Brush loaves again with melted butter. Bake in a 375F oven for 35 minutes, brushing twice throughout the baking with any remaining melted butter. serve monkey bread hot out of the oven.

not only has it been a while since i last posted (sorry), it’s been a long while since i’ve made bread from scratch (double sorry). i had convinced myself that i would try to make fresh bread each week so i could stop buying it from the grocery store, but it’s proven harder to keep up than i thought.

luckily, baking bread is like riding a bike in that the old mixing, kneading and shaping methods become instantly familiar again once you dive in. it felt good to be throwing flour all over the counter again and making a giant mess.

i was lucky to get a few brotforms for my birthday and this seemed like a great opportunity to test one out. a brotform is essentially a bowl with ridges that helps shape and create designs on the dough during the final proofing. since these pieces of dough were pretty small, the effect was less dramatic than i had hoped, but it looked cool nonetheless. next time i need to remember to dust the inside of the brotform with whole wheat flour instead of unbleached white, because the whole wheat is much easier to get out. afterward. susan at wild yeast blog has a must-read tutorial on brotforms that i consulted more than once.

oooh, see how pretty?

here i tried another technique where you snip the top of the dough with kitchen shears to make the whole thing look like a hedgehog. i had never done it before, but i think it’s usually reserved for smaller dinner rolls instead of entire loaves. oh well!

after a long day of apartment hunting (more on that later), it felt great to open the oven to find these beauties ready to be sliced and slathered with butter or sweet pea puree – delicious! pain de campagne is an all-purpose french bread (literally countryside bread) that has no one single recipe – it allows for a lot of experimentation using different fours and rising methods,  so it’s a good way to play around and learn.

the hedgehog bread came out looking and tasting great, but those spikes were surprisingly sharp. like cut your finger/mouth open sharp. i may have to refine my technique next time.

pain de campagne
from Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice. makes 3 loaves.

pate fermentee
1 1/8 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/8 cups unbleached bread flour
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp instant yeast
3/4 cup water, at room temperature

final dough
3 cups pate fermentee
1 3/4 cups unbleached bread flour
1/3 cup whole-wheat or rye flour
3/4 tsp instant yeast
3/4 cup water, lukewarm
semolina flour or cornmeal for dusting

1. day one: make the pate fermentee: stir together the flours, salt an yeast in a large bowl (or in a stand mixer). add 3/4 cup of the water, stirring until everything comes together and makes a coarse ball. adjust the flour or water so the dough is not too sticky or too stiff.

2. transfer the dough to a counter sprinkled with flour and knead for 4-6 minutes. lightly oil a bowl, transfer the dough to the bowl, roll around to coat with oil. cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 1 hour. remove the dough from the bowl, knead it lightly, return it to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator overnight.

3. day two: remove the pate fermentee from the fridge 1 hour before making the dough. cut it into about 10 small pieces and cover with a towel or plastic wrap and let sit for 1 hour to take off the chill.

4. stir together the flours, salt, yeast and pate fermentee in a large bowl (or stand mixer). add the water, stirring until everyting comes togerther and makes a coarse ball. the dough should be soft and pliable. transfer the dough to a floured counter and knead for 8-10 minutes. lightly oil a bowl, transfer the dough to the bowl, roll around to coat with oil. cover with plastic wrap and ferment at room temperature for 2 hours, until the dough doubles in size.

5. sprinkle flour on the counter and gently transfer the dough. divide into 3 pieces. shape the dough into your desired shape. sprinkle baking sheets with semolina flour or cornmeal and transfer the dough to the pans. mist the dough with spray oil and loosely cover with plastic wrap. let rise for 1 hour. preheat the oven to 500F (with your baking stone inside if you are using one) and place a steam pan on an oven shelf beneath where the loaves will bake.

6. slide the dough to your baking stone or place the baking sheets directly in the oven. pour 1 cup of hot water into the steam pan and close the oven door. after 30 seconds, spray the oven walls with water and close the door. repeat twice more at 30-second intervals. after the final spray, lower the oven setting to 450F and continue baking for 10 minutes. if necessary, rotate the loaves 180 degrees for even baking. continue to bake for 10-15 more minutes. they should be a rich golden brown all around. the bread should sound hollow when thumped on the bottom.

7. transfer the bread to a cooling rack. allow the bread to cool for at least 40 minutes before slicing or serving.

whew, if feels like it’s been forever! how are you? i’ve been better. actually, right now i’m feeling pretty healthy, but for the past week i was feeling particularly unhealthy – the kind of unhealthy that makes you not want to go anywhere near the kitchen. the kind of unhealthy that makes you wish you had bought stock in the kleenex corporation a week ago (not to mention nyquil inc). but i have returned, and i did miss you all. i bring you wishes of good health this spring, and this recipe for bialys, because why not have breakfast all day long?

i had never even heard of bialys before (which explains why when i asked the girl about them, i kept calling them “bilays”), but the way she described them – lots of onion and lots of poppy seeds – i had to have one. i love onion bagels, and i love poppy seed bagels, so combining them and getting rid of the hole – essentially adding more bagel – is genius.

i’ve read extensively about this, but i’m pretty sure there is no fool-proof way to keep from crying when cutting onions. i’ve tried cutting next to an open flame and cutting next to a running faucet, which both work for a brief amount of time, but sure enough, 3 minutes later, i’m bawling like i’m watching that aspca commercial with sarah mclaughlin. my method has pretty much become cut, stick head in freezer to stop from tearing up, cut for another few seconds, stick head back in freezer, repeat. oddly enough, it takes me a long time to cut an onion and i always end up with a wicked brain freeze.

since the recipe is from Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day, it’s a cinch to make. the drawback is that the finished bialys are missing that “something” that you get from a good new york bagel dough. this can be traced back, most likely, to the absence of malt syrup, but sometimes the benefits of an easy dough can simply be too great. plus, the sauteed onions and poppy seeds give the bialys a sweet richness that makes you wish the whole thing was coated in the filling (maybe next time…).

this will definitely not be my last experience with bialys. for some reason, when it stays lighter later at night, i’m inspired to have breakfast for dinner, and bialys are a food that just begs to be experimented on and tried with different fillings. what if i cracked an egg in the middle? added bacon? sausage? bacon and sausage? and cheese? this is going to be good.

bialys
from Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. makes 15-20 bialys.

dough
3 cups lukewarm water
1 1/2 Tbsp yeast
1 1/2 Tbsp salt
1 1/2 Tbsp sugar
6 1/4 cups four

topping
3 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 onions, finely chopped
2 tsp poppy seeds
salt and pepper
whole wheat flour for pizza peel

1. mix the yeast, salt and sugar with the water in a large bowl. mix in the flour without kneading, using a spoon or a standing mixer. cover the bowl with a towl and allow to rest at room temperature for 2 hours. it can then be used immediately or refrigerated in a lidded container for the next 2 weeks.

2. dust the surface of the dough with flour and cut off a 3 oz piece of dough (about the size of a peach). dust the surface of the piece with more flour and quickly shape it into a ball by streching the surface of the dough around the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go. press the ball into a 3-inch disk and let rest on floured surface for 30 minutes. repeat with as many bialys as you want to bake.

3. about 20 minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 450F with a baking stone on the middle rack and a broiler tray on the bottom rack.

4. while the dough is resting, saute the onions in the oil over medium heat until they are transluscent and slightly golden. remove from the heat and add the poppy seeds and salt and pepper to taste.

5. press the center of each bialy to flatten it, working your way out until there is a 1/2-inch rim of dough that is not pressed flat and the bialy is about 4 inches wide. fill the center with 1 Tbsp of the onion mixture and press it securely into the dough.

6. dust a pizza peel with whole wheat flour and put the finished bilays on it. slide the bilays directly onto the hot stone, making sure they are spaced out so they have room to expand. pour 1 cup of hot tap water into the broiler tray and quickly close the oven door. bake for about 12 minutes, until just golden brown. cool on a wire rack before serving or eating.

in these uncertain economic times, there are few things you can count on, but it’s comforting to know that some things will never change. pepperoni bread: so good you can use it as currency.

i’m always amazed to find people that haven’t tried pepperoni bread before. there are tons of variations, some featuring other meats – pushing it dangerously into stromboli territory – and some with a combination of italian spices. i’m a pepperoni bread purist, so this one is straight up bread, pepperoni and mozzarella. trust me, it’s all you need.

it’s a deceptively simple recipe that will make you some new friends – it’s one of those dishes that never actually makes it out of the kitchen to the party. you’ll have guests hovering over the oven like vultures – so make sure you keep a few loaves for yourself.

pepperoni bread
makes 2 loaves. keep one for yourself.

1 loaf frozen bread dough (i used bridgford frozen white bread)
8oz sliced pepperoni
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 egg (for egg wash)
1 Tbsp water

1. thaw 1 loaf of frozen bread dough. divide in half and roll out into 2 rectangles, about 1/3 inch thick. layer with half of the pepperoni and cheese.

2. roll the loaves like jelly rolls (from the long side) and pinch to seal. combine the water and egg, whisk, and brush on the loaves.

3. bake at 350F for 25-30 minutes, until golden brown. cut into slices and serve immediately.

i’ll be blunt: it’s freezing outside, and my kitchen doesn’t have heat. suffice to say, it’s not fun. so last sunday afternoon  i was looking for any excuse to turn on the oven, but wanted something quick so i could start preheating immediately. my favorite standby is chocolate chip banana bread, but i had zero bananas. rumaging through the fridge, i discovered 2 granny smith apples in the fruit crisper (yes i have one of those). would it work? maybe, just maybe…

this recipe is so simple and perfect, i can’t believe i haven’t made it before.

remember the apple muffin recipe? and i’ve ready mentioned the banana bread recipe. take those two, subtract 3 bananas, and you can imagine how incredible the house will smell when you take this bread out of the oven, and how satisfying it is to devour with a mug of hot coffee.

i’m all about recipes that take little time and effort but still taste like your mom slaved over a hot stove in the kitchen all day. and honestly, at about 10 minutes from peeling and cutting apples to putting this bread in the oven, you have no excuse not to make a loaf or two tonight and give one to someone you love (or even just like). what are you waiting for? go now!

apple bread
adapted from my favorite banana bread recipe…

8 Tbsp butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 apples (granny smith work very well)
2 Tbsp milk
1 tsp cinnamon
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
4-6 oz chopped walnuts (optional)

1. peel and core the apples. dice into small cubes.

2. soften the butter and mix in the sugar. add in the eggs and and milk and mix completely.

3. combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a large bowl and add to the wet ingredients. mix in the apples. don’t overmix; just break up any large clumps of flour and get everything moist. lightly mix in the optional walnuts.

4. carefully pour into a greased and floured loaf pan and bake at 350 F for one hour. remove from oven and let rest in the loaf pan for 10 minutes before turning it out onto a wire rack to cool.

i present to you, the readers: your quiet sunday morning.

keep in mind, your quiet sunday morning will start with the sound of sizzling bacon, but who doesn’t love that? and until you take the bread out of the oven, your morning will also be filled with the sounds of your friends and family asking “is it done yet? is it done yet?” but once you start divvying out pieces of this perfect,  moist and flavorful corn bread, simply put, everyone will shut up. forget dry, tasteless and crumbly corn bread – this is the real deal, complete with bacon fat. pair it up with brunch, or with a great big bowl of chili.

it’s sweet, but not too sweet, soft and delicate but still hearty, and of course, topped with delicious crumbled bacon. with a mix of fresh corn and coarse cornmeal (soaked in buttermilk), the flavors are so vibrant,  you can take a break from your new years diet to indulge.

there are hundreds of variations on corn bread, but all of them have one thing in common: when you eat corn bread, it just makes you just feel good inside.

corn bread
from Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice.

1 cup (6 oz) coarse cornmeal
2 cups (16 oz) buttermilk
8 oz bacon (approx. 10 slices)
1 3/4 cups (8 oz) flour
1 1/2 Tbsp (.05 oz) baking powder
1/4 tsp (.16 oz) baking soda
1 tsp (.25 oz) salt
1/4 cup (2 oz) white sugar
1/4 cup (2 oz) brown sugar
3 eggs
2 Tbsp (1.5 oz) honey
2 Tbsp (1 oz) butter, melted
2 1/2 cups (16 oz) corn kernels (fresh or frozen)
2 Tbsp (1 oz) bacon fat or vegetable oil)

1. the night before making the bread, soak the cornmeal in the buttermilk. cover and leave at room temperature overnight.

2. the next day, fry the bacon or cook it in the oven. drain off the fat into a can or bowl and save for greasing the pan. when the bacon has cooled, crumble it into coarse pieces.

3. preheat the oven to 350. sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a mixing bowl. stir in the sugar and brown sugar. in another bowl, lightly beat the eggs. dissolve the honey in the melted butter and then stir the warm honey-butter mixture into the eggs. add this to the soacked cornmeal mixture.

4. add the wet mixture to the flour mixture and stir with a large spoon until all the ingredients are evenly distributed and the batter is blended and smooth. stir in the corn kernels until they are even distributed.

4. place 2 Tbsp of the bacon fat in 10 inch cake pan or a 9×13 inch baking pan. place the pan in the oven for 5 to 7 minutes, or until the fat gets very hot. remove the pan, tilt the pan to coat the bottom and sides and pour in the batter. sprinkle the crumbled bacon on top, gently pressing them into the batter.

5. bake at 350 F for about 30 minutes, until the bread is firm and a tester comes out clean. allow the bread to cool in the pan for at least 15 minutes before slicing and serving. for muffins, fill muffin tins to the top and bake at 350 F for the same amount of time.

sometimes the payoff for a recipe truly is worth all the trouble.

there i was, saturday morning, 8 am, ready for a full day of baking. it’s been harder and harder to bake during the week, so i’ve taken to making 4 or 5 things on saturday and sunday to keep up. i had gone grocery shopping the night before so i wouldn’t have to run back out into the freezing cold for supplies and had even prepared the brioche dough the night before so it would be ready to work with in the morning. with a fresh cup of instant coffee (i know, i know, instant, ew) in hand, i set to work on the almond cream. and that’s when things went south.

almond paste can be really tough to work with – one second it’s rock solid, the next second it’s oily and crumbling apart in your hands. so after putting all the ingredients in a mixer, i ended up with a beautiful almond cream, full of small shards of rock-solid almond paste that just wouldn’t break up. i tossed that batch to gave it another shot, but had the bright idea of microwaving the almond paste for 30 seconds so it would break apart more easily. the result? burned funky smelling almond paste. i thought maybe i could salvage it, so i added the other ingredients, but adding cold ingredients to warm almond paste just made the almond paste’s resolve stronger. it became a burned mass of almond rock at the bottom of the mixer. failure.

at that point i had run out of almond paste and the thought of going out into the cold for an $8 tube of the stuff made me want to scratch the whole thing. but i bundled up, got to safeway, and after 20 minutes of searching (why do they keep rearranging the aisles?) found the almond paste, got back home and proceeded to make a wonderfully smooth delicious cream that worked perfectly. good thing too, i was ready to toss my mixer out the window.

then i realized i didn’t have enough flour to make all the other things i wanted to make that day and had to go back to the store AGAIN. but that’s another story.

the brioche was completely amazing and tasted better than i could have imagined. the combination of almond and orange gives it incredibly bright flavors and the bread itself is rich enough that it could be dessert. the instructions said to invert the brioche onto a plate after it came out of the oven but didn’t specify whether it should be served that way. in retrospect, it should have been pretty obvious to just flip it again onto another plate so the topping was, you know, on top, but the golden caramelized sugar coated bottom made me think twice.

one more thing: this is my 50th post! i know that’s hardly a milestone compared to the work so many other bloggers have accomplished, but as i began writing this post, i kept thinking about why i started pete bakes in the first place. when i launched the blog in april, it was a sort of test for myself to see if i could keep baking and writing on a regular basis. i wanted the experience to push me to try new techniques and recipes and still have it be fun. i never expected to get comments or responses aside from the friends and family who followed it.

i also could not have expected the level of talent, creativity and generosity of the food blogging community. if you’re reading this, you are the reason this blog exists – because what would all of these experiences mean without someone to share them with?

so if you’ve ever left a comment, or written an email (i try to respond to all!) or just tried a recipe, THANK YOU! it humbles me to find out that after being inspired by all of you who cook and bake and share it with the world that i could have some small impact as well. THANKS!

almond brioche bostock
from Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day.

brioche
3/4 cup lukewarm water
3/4 Tbsp yeast
3/4 Tbsp salt
4 eggs
1/4 cup honey
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, melted
3 3/4 cups flour

almond cream
1/2 cup almond paste
4 Tbsp butter (at room temperature)
1/4 cup flour
1 egg
1/4 tsp almond extract

topping
1/4 cup sugar
zest from half an orange
1/2 cup sliced almonds

1. make the brioche: mix the salt, yeast, eggs, honey and melted butter with the water in a large bowl. mix in the flour without kneading. the dough will be loose but will firm up when chilled. cover the dough and allow to rest a room temperature for 2 hours. cover the dough bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge before trying to work with it.

2. make the almond cream: cream together the butter, almond paste, flour, egg and almond extract in a food processor (or by hand if you are brave) until smooth and set aside.

3. dust the surface of the refrigerated dough with flour and cut off a 1 1/2 lbs (about the size of a cantaloupe). dust the piece with more flour and quickly shape into a ball. roll the dough out into a long rectangle (about 1/4 inch thick), using enough flour to prevent it from sticking to the counter. spread the almond cream evenly over the rectangle and roll the dough up like a jelly roll, starting at the long end. chill the log in the freezer for about 15 minutes. meanwhile,  grease an 8 inch round cake pan with butter and sprinkle liberally with sugar.

4. cut the chilled dough into 8 equal pieces. place them evenly in the cake pan so the swirled edge is facing upward. allow the dough to rest in the pan for an hour. twenty minutes before baking time, preheat the oven to 350 F. just before baking, combine the sugar, orange zest and almonds and sprinkle over the brioche. bake for about 40 minutes or until golden and well set in the center.

6. when you remove the brioche from the oven the run a knife around the inside of the pan to release the bread from the sides and invert it onto a large plate (it could stick to the pan otherwise). eat while warm.