BBA Challenge: Whole Wheat and Rye Bagels
My first attempt at Reinhart’s bagels ended with flat wrinkled hockey pucks, so this weeks BBA Challenge was a welcomed opportunity to improve on my previous attempt. I made a whole wheat starter with one cup of rye flour in the final dough, and shaped my bagels in a small two-ounce size, perfect for little appetites. For the toppings, I used Alaea sea salt
For more bagel inspiration, check out the BBA Challenge photos in the BBA Challenge Flickr photo group.
BBA Challenge: Christopsomos (Greek Christmas Bread)
Even though it was originally intended for Christmas, this is a bread I would gladly bake any time of year. The BBA Challenge bread for this week was Artos, Greek celebration breads, and I chose the fruited Christmas version, Christopsomos. My family adored this orange and spice flavored bread, and I can easily imagine making a delicious bread pudding or French toast with this loaf.
For more bread inspiration, check out the BBA Challenge photos in the BBA Challenge Flickr photo group.
Honey Wheat English Muffin Bread
We’re continuing our quest to convert some of our favorite recipes to a whole grain version, and this family favorite turned out very well. I started with the Meyers family English muffin bread recipe and substituted whole wheat flour for part of the all-purpose flour, and honey for the sugar. The boys could hardly contain their excitement as I sliced it up for photos and their little hands reached out eagerly for a piece. Top Gun and Monkey Boy wanted jam on theirs and Builder Guy wanted butter, also my choice. For the rest of the afternoon they followed me from room to room, begging for more and to save my sanity I promised more slices with dinner. They finished off the first loaf for breakfast the following morning and enjoyed every bite.
It’s an easy yeast bread to start with if you haven’t made yeast breads before, just mix and plop the stiff batter into prepared loaf pans and let the loaves rise in the pan, no shaping or kneading required. You could say English muffin bread is the original no-knead bread. Read more
Yogurt Fantail Rolls
We’re on the last week of baking rolls from the February issue of Gourmet magazine, and my family thoroughly enjoyed these. The boys liked peeling them apart and Michael and I liked the flavor.
The dough was soft and easy to work with, though the rise was not great, likely due to the temperature of the yogurt. I brought the yogurt out of the refrigerator a few minutes early so it wouldn’t be too cold, but next time I will let it come to room temperature or even warm it slightly before mixing, though that’s not mentioned in the original recipe. I brushed on less butter than the recipe called for, and we thought they still had a nice buttery flavor.
The recipe below reflects my changes. I work exclusively with instant yeast and modified the instructions for that type, and I included the instructions for active dry yeast in the Variations. If you prefer to use buttermilk per the original recipe, I’ve included instructions on how to make an acceptable substitute in the Variations.
Be sure to visit my friends Kelly of Sass & Veracity, Judy of No Fear Entertaining, Claire of The Barefoot Kitchen, Courtney of Coco Cooks, and Sandy of At The Baker’s Bench to see what they whipped up for the last week of the Gourmet bread challenge.
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Crusty Cornstalk Rolls
We’re playing in flour again for our Gourmet bread challenge. This week I decided to make the crusty cornstalk rolls, which are reminiscent of an epi and only slightly different in shape. An epi resembles a stalk of wheat, and a cornstalk should suggest a stalk of corn with the ears hanging on it. With an epi, you cut on a diagonal from above the dough, but with a cornstalk you cut on a diagonal from the side. The cornstalk shape has a visible center stalk that the rolls stay attached to. No matter which shape I choose, I still find that mine don’t look like the perfectly formed versions I see at professional bakeries, but I keep going back and trying.
This cornstalk recipe has some stone ground cornmeal, giving the rolls an interesting twist of flavor and texture. We liked the crusty exterior and the chewy interior, and the whole thing was gone by the end of dinner. The boys enjoyed them with butter slathered on, but Michael topped them with some of my jalapeno jelly and said the combination was perfect.
I have to say I cheated a bit. I got carried away and cut the bread before realizing I had forgotten to move the log into the pan first, so I have to wiggle some parchment underneath it and transfer to the pan. It looked a bit like a snake laying there, but I managed to move the pieces around and get it almost back the way it started. Read more
Rye Onion Walnut Rolls
A good rye is one of my favorite kinds of bread, and I go head over heals for rye rolls. Put a basket of breads or rolls in front of me, and I’ll pick out the rye and whole grains first. I first started trying to make rye bread about 10 years ago, and let’s just say my first attempts resulted in heavy bricks capable of causing sufficient tooth damage to keep our dentist in business for a very long time.
Fortunately I’ve had a little practice since then and these rye walnut rolls flavored with olive oil, sauteed onions, and walnuts turned out delicious. The interior had a tender but slightly chewy texture, and the exterior had some crunch thanks to the egg wash and poppy seeds. Serve them warm and slathered with butter as a side for soups.
The recipe, which is part of our Gourmet February bread baking challenge and BYOB (Bake Your Own Bread) hosted by Sandy of At the Baker’s Bench, starts with sauteing onions in quite a bit of olive oil, then all of it goes into the dough. For a minute or so I had what I thought was the stiffest dough ever kneaded in the history of bread making, but then I realized I had forgotten to add the warm water and honey. It took a little work, but I managed to get it mixed in and then had something that actually felt like dough rather than near-dry cement. Even with that little misstep, the rolls turned out delicious and tender. Read more
