January 24, 2011

Simple Challah Loaf

Challah is the bread served traditionally in Jewish cultures. It is very fragrant thanks to the addition of butter and eggs, and is also mildly sweet from the added honey. Challah is versatile enough to be substituted in most recipes requiring brioche dough and it contains half the amount of eggs so why not try baking some?

The recipe below is adapted from one of my favourite bread books – Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. I think the brilliant part about their recipes is that one does not need to knead the dough nor punch it down after it rises. Also, a larger batch of dough can be made and stored in the fridge, ready to use whenever you want. How convenient!

Challah Dough
Makes about 4 pounds of dough

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups lukewarm water (105ºF to 115ºF)
1 1/2 tbsp granulated yeast
1 1/2 tbsp salt
4 large eggs, beaten
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
7 cups of unbleached all-purpose flour

Method for mixing dough:

  1. Mix yeast and warm water in the bowl of a standing mixer and leave it for 5 minutes.
  2. Once yeast starts to foam, add in salt, beaten eggs, honey and butter and mix well.
  3. Mix in the flour without kneading using a dough hook.
  4. Transfer dough to a container with a non air-tight lid and leave in a warm place to rise for approximately 1 hour 30 minutes to 2 hours.
  5. Dough can be used immediately or stored in the refrigerator for 5 days. After 5 days, freeze the remaining dough.

Method for making challah loaf:

  1. Dust the surface of the refrigerated dough with flour and cut off a 1-pound piece.
  2. Dust the surface of the piece of dough with more flour and quickly shape it into a ball by stretching the four sides of the dough.
  3. Elongate it to an oval and drop in into a greased loaf pan.
  4. Allow it to rest and rise for 1 hour 20 minutes (for refrigerated dough) or 40 minutes (for fresh dough)
  5. 10 minutes before baking, preheat oven to 350ºF.
  6. Brush the top of the loaf with egg wash made from one egg and one tablespoon of cream.
  7. Place the bread on a rack in the centre of the oven and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until the top is a nice golden brown.
  8. Allow to cool before slicing.
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December 12, 2010

Christmas Kugelhopf

I really wanted to try to bake one of the popular Christmas breads this year. After flipping through a few recipe books, I initially settled on the one from Joy of Cooking. Something went wrong however, during the mixing process. The dough just didn’t seem to come together sufficiently for me to shape it (or knead the raisins) into it. It just felt wrong. Not wanting to waste any more time or raisins, I decided to dump that batter and try again with another recipe. This time, it worked perfectly. The result? A lovely sweet bread filled with raisins and a wonderful reminder of Christmas. The icing sugar on the top of the bread is optional but it looks so Christmasy so why not?

I didn’t have a kugelhopf pan but figured this star bundt would work as well. Nordic Ware makes such great bundt pans. They only need slight greasing and they hardly ever stick. Not to mention they ensure that your cakes/breads bake evenly. And no, I’m not paid to do a promotion for them here. It’s just that good things are worth sharing.

Kugelhopf
Fills a 11-12 cup bundt pan
Recipe adapted from Gourmet, 2002

Ingredients:
1 1/2 tsp instant yeast
2 tbsp warm water (105–115°F)
1 cup whole milk
7 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon pieces and softened
6 tbsp granulated sugar
3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1 cup golden raisins
1 cup dark raisins
4 tbsp rum
1 teaspoon finely grated fresh lemon zest
1/2 oz almond slivers (for decoration)
1 tablespoon confectioners sugar (for dusting)

Method:

  1. Cover 1 cup dark raisins with just enough water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Drain raisins and place them in a small bowl. Add 4 tbsp of rum and let them sit for at least 4 hours or overnight.
  2. Stir together yeast and water in a small bowl and let stand until foamy, 5 to 10 minutes.
  3. Heat milk with 6 tablespoons butter and granulated sugar over low heat, stirring, until mixture is warm (105 to 115°F), butter is melted, and sugar is dissolved.
  4. Sift together flour and salt into bowl of standing mixer. Make a well in flour and add yeast mixture. Add warm milk in a slow stream, mixing at low speed with paddle attachment. Increase speed to medium and beat in eggs 1 at a time, then beat in golden raisins, dark raisins with remaining rum and zest. Continue to beat until dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes.
  5. Butter kugelhopf mold or bundt pan with remaining tablespoon butter. Put 3-4 almond slivers in each depression in bottom of mold (the almonds are only decorative; you can skip them altogether if your mold has no depressions), then scrape spoonfuls of dough evenly into mold (dough will be very elastic). Cover top of mold with oiled plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and let dough rise in a warm place until it fills pan, about 2 hours.
  6. Preheat oven to 400°F.
  7. Remove towel from kugelhopf and gently peel off plastic wrap. Bake kugelhopf in middle of oven 15 minutes, then loosely cover mold with foil and continue to bake until golden and a tester inserted in center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes more. Cool in pan 2 minutes, then invert cake onto a rack to cool completely, about 1 hour. Dust with confectioners sugar.

 

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November 29, 2010

Banana Walnut Bread

Hubby bought a huge bunch of bananas some time back, and since it’s just the two of us, most of the bananas ripened (or over ripened) before we could eat them. We froze about 8 of them in a box – over ripe bananas freeze well, without their skins of course, and are delicious in all kinds of baked goods.

Seeing that I had some leftover walnuts from the not so recent mooncake making attempts, I decided to try a recipe from the book “The new best recipe“. The recipe is really simple because it does not require the use of a mixer. All the mixing can be done just with a wooden spoon and spatula. The results, as you can see from the picture above, is a moist, fragrant and very flavourful banana walnut bread. One of the best I’ve tasted, if I say so myself. Below is the slightly modified recipe that I used from the book.

Banana Walnut Bread
(Makes one 9-inch loaf)

Ingredients:
2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 cup of walnuts, chopped coarse
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
4 very ripe medium sized bananas (mashed)
1/4 whipping cream
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
6 tbsp melted and cooled unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and place an oven rack in the middle position. Grease and flour the bottom and sides of a 9 by 5 inch loaf pan.
  2. Lightly toast chopped walnuts on a baking sheet till fragrant.
  3. Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and walnuts together in a large bowl. Set aside.
  4. Mix mashed bananas, cream, eggs, butter and vanilla with a wooden spoon in a medium bowl.
  5. Lightly fold the banana mixture into the dry ingredients with a rubber spatula until just combined. Do not overmix.
  6. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake till loaf is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean, about 55 minutes.
  7. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.
  8. The bread can be wrapped with plastic wrap and stored at room temperature for up to 3 days. It is best consumed on the day it is baked though.
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April 1, 2010

Hot Cross Buns

I will confess that I’ve never baked bread before. Yes. Me, an avid baker (well, sort of), not baked bread before? Well, that’s because I’ve always been intimidated by the one million steps required to bake bread. The activating of the yeast, the proofing, the punching, the re-proofing. It all seems to tedious. Nevertheless, I really wanted to do something for Easter and so I decided to take the plunge.

I found a basic recipe online and changed a couple of things. It all turned out rather well I would say. The only silly thing I did was that I killed the yeast on the first try – my milk was a tat bit too hot. I had to pour away the yeasty milk and start over. Thank goodness I had enough yeast left. The proofing took less time than expected; the punching down of the dough was fun. All in all, I might try this again.

Like I posted on facebook, I never quite understood the link between Good Friday, Easter, Bunnies and perhaps even the buns. But I liked how hot cross buns are decorated with the icing cross. It reminds me of my Saviour’s sacrifice for me on the cross many many years ago. And how I’m only here because He gave. Happy Easter everyone.

Hot Cross Buns (makes 12 buns)

180 ml milk
7 g instant dry yeast
1/2 tsp caster sugar
500g plain white flour
55g light brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp mixed spice
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
55 g unsalted butter (slightly soft at room temperature)
2 large eggs
85g mixed fruit and peel (cherries, sultanas and fruit peel)
25g dried cranberries

Egg wash:
1 large egg
1 tbsp milk

Glaze (for cross):
70g icing sugar (sifted)
1 tbsp milk

Instructions:

  1. Gently warm milk to about 38 degrees C. Add yeast and caster sugar and stir. Set aside till yeast is foamy (about 5-10 min).
  2. Combine flour, brown sugar, spices and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add foamy yeast mixture to the dry ingredients and blend to combine using an electric mixer.
  3. Add eggs, one at a time, and mix well after each addition.
  4. Turn the mixer speed down, and add in the butter. Mix till butter is well combined and the dough comes together.
  5. Attach the dough attachment to the mixer, and knead the dough until it is elastic (about 5-7 min).
  6. Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface, and knead in the dried fruit.
  7. Place dough in a large, lightly greased bowl. Flip the ball of dough once so that the surface of the dough is lightly greased.
  8. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise in a warm place until it has doubled in size. (About 1 hour plus)
  9. When dough has doubled, punch it down, and cut it into 12 equal pieces.
  10. Shape each piece into a ball and place it on a baking sheet lined with baking paper. Ensure that they are spaced out to allow space for further rising.
  11. Combine one egg with one tablespoon of milk to make an eggwash.
  12. Brush eggwash over the top of each ball of dough.
  13. Cover with a clean towel/plastic wrap and allow them to double in size (about 30 minutes)
  14. Preheat oven to 205 degrees celsius.
  15. Brush top of buns with eggwash again and using a sharp, greased knife, make a cross at the top of each bun.
  16. Bake for 15 minutes, or until buns are nicely browned.
  17. Cool them on a wire rack.
  18. Meanwhile, combine icing sugar with milk to form a glaze.
  19. Fill a piping bag with glaze and pipe crosses on the top of each bun when bun has cooled.
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September 5, 2009

Almost Perfect Blueberry Muffins

Blueberry muffins may seem simple to bake, but it is not easy to get a really tasty one. They sometimes end up too dense, too floury, or just…. not right. After trying and adapting a couple of recipes from books, I finally stumbled upon what I think, is the best blueberry muffin recipe I’ve come across to date. The muffins are slightly crumbly, just the right density, crisp top, buttery flavour and chock full of blueberries. Perfect for breakfast and tea.

blueberr

Almost Perfect Blueberry Muffins
 
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Author:
Serves: 12
Ingredients
  • 10 ounces all purpose flour
  • 1 tbsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 1 large egg
  • 7 ounces sugar
  • 2 ounces butter, melted
  • 10 ounces sour cream
  • 8 ounces fresh blueberries
Instructions
  1. Preheat an oven to 275 degrees celsius. Grease a muffin tray or use muffin paper cups.
  2. Sift flour with baking powder. Mix flour, baking powder and salt in medium bowl till combined.
  3. Whisk egg in a second bowl till light coloured, about 20 seconds. Add sugar and whisk vigorously till thick and homogenous, about 30 sec.
  4. Add melted butter in two additions, whisking to combine after each addition.
  5. Add sour cream in two additions, whisking just to combine.
  6. Add blueberries to the flour mixture and toss to combine.
  7. Add sour cream mixture to flour mixture and fold with a spatula till the batter comes together.
  8. Make sure blueberries are evenly distributed. Do not overmix. The batter will be thick.
  9. /4 fill each muffin cup with batter.
  10. Bake for 30 minutes or until tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.
Notes
Adapted from "The New Best Recipe"

 

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