Salt and Serenity's Blog

In week #25 of the Bread Baker’s Apprentice Challenge we make pizza. When I first bought this book, in May, I was flipping through it, looking at the pictures.  My heart skipped a beat when I got to page 208 and saw our bread guru, Peter Reinhart, tossing pizza dough in the air.  I have always wanted to do this and was so excited to learn how. 

I frequently make pizza and my go-to dough recipe comes from a little book titled, “Pizza” by James McNair.  The ingredients are fairly similar to Peter Reinhart’s recipe.  The main difference between the two recipes is that James McNair’s recipe follows the traditional route of dissolving the yeast in warm water, whereas Peter Reinhart has us using ice-cold water.  James’ dough rises for 1 1/2 hours and then you are ready to make pizza.  Peter has us refrigerate the dough overnight.  This supposedly gives the dough better flavour as well as relaxing the gluten in the dough so that it is not too elastic to work with.

After my resounding success  using ice water and an overnight fridge rest with Peter’s Pain a l’Ancienne, I was sold on the concept of “cold” as a method to develop flavour.  Peter describes the process as “delayed fermentation.”  So even though this pizza would take 2 days to make, I was excited to discover a new flavourful dough.  Most people think that pizza is all about the toppings.  In fact, the reverse is true.  If you have a cardboard crust,  even the most wonderful toppings in the world won’t save it.

This pizza dough can be made with either unbleached all-purpose flour or unbleached bread flour. The bread flour has a higher gluten content, thus making the dough a little tougher and more elastic.  Peter recommends adding a bit of olive oil if you opt for the higher gluten bread flour.  He says it helps to tenderize the dough.  Never one to pass up the opportunity to add more fat to my diet, I opted for bread flour with olive oil!

The dough came together very quickly.  The texture is silky and supple.  I refrigerated it overnight and took it out the next day, about 2 hours before we were planning to have dinner. Once the dough came to room temperature I got my camera all set up on the tripod and set it to the timer mode.  I was planing to have a shot of me flipping the dough into the air.  The timer was set to catch the flip in the air at just the right moment.  I was so excited to capture this moment on film.

I dipped both hands in flour to coat them so the dough would not stick.

I got ready to toss.  I placed the  disc of dough over my fists, not my fingertips, as instructed in the book.  It became clear, immediately, that this dough was not going to be airborne.  It was such a soft dough that it slumped over my wrists and continued to make a downward slide over my arms.

I quickly transferred the dough to my pizza peel, which I had coated with semolina flour, to facilitate sliding the pizza off the peel and onto the baking stone which I had heating in a 550 degree oven.

Using my hands, as gently as I could, I managed to spread it out into a very rustic circle.

Then I added the toppings.  I decided to forgo tomato sauce.  I sprinkled it with Monterey Jack, Asiago and Parmesan cheese.

Next came slices of fresh tomato.

Finally I topped it off with chunks of fresh buffalo mozzarella.

I planned to top it off with fresh basil once it came out of the oven.

It slid quite easily into the oven.

I snapped a quick picture after it had been baking for 5 minutes.  Almost ready!

And then it all began to go horribly wrong.  I ran into a problem when I tried to remove the pizza from the oven.  I guess the dough had stretched a bit too thin in some spots, because when I tried to slide my pizza peel under it, to remove it from the oven, it wouldn’t budge.  The cheese had melted through a hole in the crust and was now stuck to the baking stone.  I finally wrestled it from the stone and here is what we ate for dinner.

The crust was light and crispy.  It was delicious.  I may try this one again as I am determined to get my dough airborne.  To be honest, I didn’t notice that much difference between my usual crust and this cold fermented one.  Maybe I should do a side by side comparison to see if it’s really worth the extra fermenting time for this dough.

In week 24 of the Bread Baker’s Apprentice Challenge, we prepare the Italian Christmas bread known as panettone.  I have never made or eaten panettone before so I really had no frame of reference on this one.  As I read through the ingredient list I told myself to keep an open mind.  However, I had my doubts about this one.  I hate brandy, rum and whiskey (I’m a wine girl), intensely dislike orange and lemon extract (they smell like furniture polish to me).  I believe that candied fruits have no place in the culinary world. 

 There was one ingredient that was unfamiliar to me, “Fiori di Siclia”.  Peter Reinhart describes it as a wonderful blend of extracts and floral oils.  I decided to hunt some down, as I wanted my panettone to be as authentic as possible, a lesson I  learned from my brother-in-law Brandon.  Whenever he visits a new city, he insists on eating whatever that city is famous for and only from the original source.  When he visited Philadelphia, he almost missed his flight waiting in line for a Pat’s Cheesesteak.  When he came to Ottawa, he strapped on his skates and a fur trapper hat and skated down the longest skating rink in the world to sample “Beavertails” (fried dough dipped in sugar and cinnamon).  President Obama ate one too when he visited Ottawa!

I had the option of ordering fiore di sicilia from King Arthur for $7.95 plus $25.00 delivery (why do they charge so much for Canadian deliveries???), or from  Golda’s Kitchen (a Canadian web site) for $30.00 plus $7.00 for shipping.  Both admittedly were ridiculous options, but I was convinced that without it my panettone would not be authentic.  Since the Canadian economy needs a bit of a boost, I did my part and ordered from the Canadian web site.  The parcel arrived the next day (that never happens with US web sites shipping to Canada).  It arrived in a huge box.  I was a bit confused as I only ordered a 4 ounce bottle.  It was so carefully wrapped in bubble wrap and styrofoam peanuts.  I finally managed to unearth the bottle and opened it up preparing myself for a heavenly aroma.  Feh… furniture polish.  After spending such an outrageous amount of money for this essence, I tried to convince myself that the aroma would transform into something sublime during the baking process.  Okay, so I’m an optomist.

I decided to use dried sour cherries, cranberries, apricots instead of the candied fruit. Here they are soaked in rum.  They glistened,  just like little jewels.

In addition to the dried fruits, soft butter and toasted almonds get added to the dough.

It was almost impossible to mix in all these ingredients with the mixer.  The dough hook just kept going round and round and the dried fruit and nuts sat on top.

Time for hand kneading!

After mixing the dough is set aside to rise for about 2 hours.  Then the dough is formed into little round balls and placed into special paper Panettone moulds.  I decided to do one large one and lots of mini ones.  They just looked adorable in their little paper cups.

Two hours later they had risen to the top of the moulds. 

I had to go out so I left my husband in charge of the baking.  Armed with a timer and instant read thermometer, he did a wonderful job.  Here they are fresh from the oven.

I let them cool and then we took a bite.  They looked so pretty and I wanted to love them, but it wasn’t to be.

The texture was dry, the aroma was overpowering and all I could taste was the rum and extracts.  I suppose if you were a rum lover, this would be a good thing.  My husband didn’t mind them and our babysitter loved them so she and her girlfriend took all 15 of the mini ones home.

The next day I got an e-mail from chefshop.com.  They are selling panettone in about 20 assorted flavours.  There is a Caffe Panettone with coffee, chocolate, hazelnuts and almond icing.  Now that’s my kind of Panettone!

You would think that after baking bread for the past 22 weeks, I would have learned a thing or two about the properties of yeast.  Specifically, that yeast causes bread dough to rise and expand.  Somehow I forgot this lesson when making Pane Siciliano, the 23rd bread in the Bread Baker’s Apprentice Challenge.

Pane Siciliano is an Italian bread made with both bread flour and semolina flour.  Semolina flour is milled from Durham wheat and is traditionally used to make pasta.  Peter Reinhart promises “a finished loaf with a beautiful blistered crust… and a crumb with large irregular holes.”  Ok, looks like we’re obsessing about bread holes again.

The bread begins with starter, made from  flour, water,  yeast and salt, prepared and refrigerated the day before.  The starter is then mixed with bread flour, semolina flour, water, yeast, olive oil, salt and honey to form a soft and pliable dough.  Then the dough is set aside to ferment for about 2 hours, until it doubles in size. 

It still amazes me that when you first start mixing you have a shaggy mass.  And after a mere 10 minutes of kneading the dough is transformed into a smooth supple ball.

Then the dough is divided into 3 pieces and each is shaped into a baguette, and then extended until they are all about 24 inches long.  I appreciated the baguette shaping practice and my skill level is almost at the mediocre level.   Still a long way to go before I am good at this, but so much better than my first pathetic shaping experience.

Then the fun begins.  Working from both ends of the rope at the same time, coil the rope (in opposite directions) until it meets in the middle, forming an “S” shape.  I think that the bread shaping is one of the most fun parts of this challenge, (well aside from eating the breads, of course!)  The coiled loaves reminded me of snails with overgrown heads. 

The loaves are placed on a parchment lined baking sheet that has been sprinkled with semolina flour.  And here is where it all started to go wrong.  I placed all 3 loaves on the same baking sheet.

Clearly the past 22 weeks of bread baking had taught me nothing!  I misted the loaves with water, sprinkled sesame seeds on them, sprayed them again with vegetable spray oil, covered them with plastic wrap and put them to bed in the fridge for an overnight rest.

I’m not sure why I was so surprised with the scene that greeted me the next morning when I opened the fridge.  The 3 loaves had swelled and had grown together into one large snail monster. It looked like a genetic experiment gone horribly wrong.  Clearly, each loaf should have gone on it’s own baking sheet.

  I tried to pry the loaves apart as gently as possible but unfortunately, in trying to separate the siblings, I squished them and they lost any gas they had.  After separation,they looked a little worse for the wear. 

The test to see if the loaves are ready for baking is to poke the dough  gently.  If the dough springs back quickly, they need more proofing time.  If the dough stays dimpled, they’re ready for baking.  After a gentle poke, it was clear there was no spring left in my loaves.  Into a hot oven they went for about 30 minutes.  They seemed to come back to life a bit during the baking process. 

I let them cool for about an hour and sliced into them.  I had one nice large hole but the rest of the dough had a very tight crumb. 

The taste was slightly sweet and nutty and the texture quite tender.  I was hoping for a crisper crust and chewier inside.  We managed to eat about half of one of the loaves for dinner that night but unlike some of the other breads on this challenge, this one did not continue calling me into the kitchen all night for “just one more slice.”

Next week we tackle the Italian classic Christmas bread, Panettone.

Anyone of a certain age may remember that old TV commercial for Jiffy Pop popcorn, with the tag line, “As much fun to make as it is to eat!”  This week’s bread in the Bread Baker’s Apprentice Challenge, Pain de Campagne, reminded me of that tag line.  Peter Reinhart says that this is the perfect dough for creative shaping.  This is the play-doh of bread doughs! 

The literal translation for Pain de Campagne is Country Bread.  The dough is similar to a regular french baguette, but has the addition of a small amount of whole grain.  You could add rye flour, whole wheat flour, pumpernickle flour or even cornmeal.   I opted for rye flour.  The whole grain gives the finished loaf a golden brown crust. 

I decided to shape my dough into an épi (wheat sheaf) because the shaping technique uses scissors and as a frustrated crafter, I couldn’t resist .  This was a simple dough to put together.  The day before making it you prepare a paté fermentée (starter dough) using all-purpose and bread flour, water, salt and yeast.  The dough is refrigerated overnight and then the next day it is incorporated into the dough for the final bread.  The purpose of the paté fermentée is to improve the flavour and texture of the finished bread.  It’s like giving the dough a head start.

The paté fermentée is cut into 10 pieces and left out at room temperature for about an hour to allow it to come to room temperature after spending the night in the fridge.

Then the paté fermentée is mixed with bread flour, rye flour, salt, yeast and water.  The dough is kneaded for about 10 minutes until it is soft and pliable.

After a 2 hour rest, the dough has doubled and then you carefully cut the dough into 3 pieces.  A pastry scraper is perfect for this job.  You must be gentle here as you do not want to degas the dough.

Then the dough is formed into batards.

The batards are then stretched into baguettes and left to proof for about an hour.

Then comes the fun part!  Using a scissors, you cut into the dough at an angle, almost parallel to the loaf, cutting not quite through to the bottom of the loaf. Then gently swing the cut section to one side.  You continue down the length of the dough, cutting and swinging every 3 inches. 

My picture of the scissor work sucks.  For a really great tutorial on how to do this, check out Kitchen Mage’s blog  for her wonderful photo essay on shaping the épi.

I was quite proud of my scissor skills.  Not too bad for my first time.

After about 12 minutes in the oven they were done. I did not achieve the rich golden brown colour as described in the book, and so my crust lacked the crispy crunchy texture I had hoped for.  The inside was a little bit chewy, just the way I like it.  I gave away 2 of the loaves and devoured the third all by myself with salted butter.  Yum!

Here are some of the beautiful shapes my fellow challengers created.

Oggi of “I can do that”, turned this dough into a  Couronne Bordelaise (Crown of Bordeaux).

Carolyn of “Two Shinny Jenkins” made an Epi (wheat sheaf): 

Phyl, from “Of Cabbages and Kings” was busy creating an Auvergnat (cap),a Couronne (crown) and and Epi (wheat sheaf).

There is a wonderful Italian meringue-type cookie called, “Brutti Ma Buoni.”  The literal English translation is “Ugly but Good.”  This week’s bread, in the Bread Baker’s Apprentice Challenge, Pain a l’ancienne, reminded me of those cookies.  It also brought back memories of my dating days, before I was married, when I would go on blind dates.  I would ask my friend who was fixing me up to tell me a little bit about the guy.  She would say, “Well, he has a great personality.”  Everybody knows that’s just code for not so good looking!  That in a nutshell is Pain l”ancienne!  This was not the most attractive bread we have made, but the taste and texture more than made up for it!

The procedure for making this dough is a little unusual and different from what we have done in the past.  Instead of using warm or room temperature water, so that the yeast is activated right away, we used ice cold water in this recipe.

Then the dough is refrigerated overnight.  It is not until the next day, that the dough is removed from the fridge and allowed to come to room temperature, that the yeast begins to wake up and do it’s thing. While the yeast was sleeping in the fridge overnight, the enzymes had a chance to break out more sugar from the starch in the dough. All this excess sugar that was created by delaying the yeast’s work, helps to produce a more flavourful dough and a more deeply caramelized crust.

The ice cold water is mixed with bread flour, salt and yeast. The dough should be very sticky and only release from the sides of the mixing bowl, and not the bottom.  My dough released from both the sides and the bottom, so I dribbled in more water, and continued mixing.  I really had no clue as to when I had mixed enough.  The recipe said only to mix for 6 minutes, but after 6 minutes my dough looked like cottage cheese, with tons of little lumps.  This had me very worried.  I was convinced I had missed some crucial step or ingredient.  I read the recipe again and could not find any errors, so I stopped mixing, transferred the dough to a bowl, covered it with plastic wrap and refrigerated it overnight. 

When I took it out of the fridge the next morning, it had barely risen at all.  It took almost 4 hours at room temperature for the dough to double.

Next, I dumped the dough out onto a heavily floured counter and gently patted into a rectangle, 6 x 8 inches.

Using a wet metal bench scraper, I divided the dough in half, and then cut each half into 3 strips, ending  up with 6 skinny lengths of dough. 

I gently stretched each piece of dough to the length of my baking stone, (about 16 inches) and then placed them on an upside down baking sheet, covered with parchment paper and cornmeal.  Each baking sheet held 3 loaves.  We had the option not scoring the dough, but I was excited to practice my slashing skills.  The dough did not have great surface tension, so the lame sort of dragged, rather than making a clean slash. 

I carefully slid the parchment with the loaves off the baking sheet and onto the stone I had heating in the oven.  The slide was smooth and no disaster ensued!  I added hot water to the pan in the oven and sprayed the oven walls, all without shattering any glass.  Wow, this was going way too well.  After 8 minutes, I turned the parchment and loaves 90 degreees for more even browning.  After an additional 10 minutes, the loaves were done.

After 30 minutes I sliced into the dough.  I was rewarded with the biggest holes I have produced to date.  I was so excited. 

Although the shape of the loaves looked like fat squiggly worms, the taste was amazing.  The crust had a hefty chew, which I love, and the flavour was kind of sweet and nutty.  This bread was one of my favourites so far and I will definately be making it again.

In week # 20 of the Bread Baker’s Apprentice Challenge we encounter Peter Reinhart’s  “Multigrain Bread Extraordinaire.”  He claims that “this bread makes the best toast in the world.”  That’s a pretty bold claim.  Toast boasting is not something I take lightly.  I was looking forward to testing and toasting this bread.

This is a 2 day bread.  On day 1 you place coarse cornmeal, wheat bran and rolled oats in a bowl.

Moisten the grains with a bit of water and cover with plastic wrap and let it sit out on the counter overnight.  Next, plan a dinner that includes brown rice and after cooking the rice, set aside 3 tablespoons  to use in the bread the next day.

The next morning, when I checked on the grains, they had absorbed all the water and looked like mush.

Then the “soaker” is mixed with bread flour, brown sugar, honey, buttermilk, salt, yeast brown rice and water to form a dough.  I mixed the dough in the Kitchen Aid mixer for about 10 minutes.  I found that I had to add an additional 1/2 cup of flour to get the right consistency.   I finished  kneading the dough by hand for an additional 5 minutes.  The final dough was supple and tacky but not sticky. 

The dough is then set into an oiled container and set aside for about 90 minutes to double in size.

To form the loaf, the dough is flattened out into a rectangle, about 6 x 8 inches.  Then it is rolled up, from the short side and the seam is pinched shut. 

The bread goes into a loaf pan, is sprayed with water and sprinkled with poppy seeds.  Then the loaf is set aside to proof, for about 90 minutes, or until the dough is about 1 inch above the rim of the pan.

Into the oven the bread went.  After about 20 minutes, I noticed the top was getting too brown so I covered it with foil and continued baking for another 15 minutes until it was done.

After about 2 hours I sliced and tasted.  Some multigrain breads can taste like cardboard.  Not this one!  The different grains gave this bread a wonderful texture.  It was chewy without being tough and the honey and brown sugar added a fantastic sweetness. 

The next morning I gave the bread the final test – I toasted it.  Peter Reinhart’s boast was valid.  This was the best toasted bread I have ever had.  I loved this bread so much I made a second loaf the next day, to slice up and freeze so I could have it toasted for breakfast for the next few days.  I decided to incorporate some whole wheat flour into my second loaf.  The original recipe calls for 3 cups of white bread flour.  I used 1 cup of whole wheat flour and 2 cups of white bread flour.  The results were subtle but the final loaf was slightly chewier in texture and nuttier in flavour.  This loaf is a keeper!!

I would never consider eating the same thing for dinner every night for two years straight, yet I went through a phase where I ate 2 slices of rye bread, toasted with salted butter and sour cherry jam every morning for breakfast for about 2 years.  Every morning, the same breakfast!  I have since moved on, to oat squares cereal with bananas in the winter and blueberries in the summer.  But I still fondly remember my rye bread mornings.

The rye bread came from the Rideau Bakery, in Ottawa, where I live.  Their rye bread is my standard for excellence. They use a sourdough base that some say has been going for decades.  So, it was with some trepidation that I began this week’s Bread Baker’s Apprentice Challenge bread,  Marbled Rye.

I had to order some special supplies from King Arthur Flour to create this bread.  Professional bakers use a type of flour, called clear flour, in their rye bread.  This is the flour that clears the first sifting (to separate out the bran and germ), still retains some of the finer bran fiber from the outer endosperm of the wheat berry and is thus coarser and contains higher levels of ash. This is the flour New York City bakers have always used for their signature Jewish-style rye breads. 

The second item I ordered was caramel powder. This is basically powdered all-natural caramelized corn syrup.  It’s used to give the dark rye it’s deep brown colour.  We had the option of using coffee powder, but according to other BBA challengers, coffee powder did not stain the dough enough to produce that deep brown colour I was after. I was seduced by the photo of the marble swirl in the book, and I wanted to reproduce it.

In addition to the clear flour and caramel powder, the remaining ingredients include rye flour, salt, yeast, caraway seeds, molasses shortening and water.

The process involves making 2 batches of dough, exactly the same, except for the addition of the caramel powder for the dark rye batch.  We are warned not to overmix the bread as rye flour contains “pentosan gums” which interfere with the gluten development.  In short, overmixing can lead to a very gummy dough.  I was very careful to knead only for a short 4 minutes.  The caramel powder added a beautiful rich brown colour to the dough.

The dough is left to ferment at room temperature for about an hour and a half, or until it doubles in size.

In order to create the marbled effect, we had several oprions.  We could make a spiral or a bull’s eye ( a perfect circle of dark rye, encased by light rye).  The other 2 options were to braid the 2 doughs or to create a marbled effect by making small balls of dough of the 2 different colours and then smooshing them together to create a marbled effect.  I had visions of my play-doh days and the marbled creations I crafted then, were not something I wanted to repeat here.  As an aside, I have to say that my mom never minded if we mixed the play-doh colours.  She just bought us fresh new play-doh so we could create anew.

Since this recipe made 2 loaves I decided to attempt the spiral and the braid.  For the spiral, you roll out 2 dark ovals and 2 light ovals and then stack them up, alternating colours and roll them up to form a loaf.  This was so much fun to do. My creative spirit came alive.

Once rolled up, the bread can be put in a loaf pan or left on a sheet pan, to proof freestyle.  I really like the more rustic look of a free-form loaf so I did not use the loaf pan.

While the spiral loaf was proofing, I went on to create my braided marbled rye.  The remaining dark and light doughs were divided in half and rolled out into 4 strands, each about 12 inches long.  Then they were braided, using the 4 strand formula.  There is an excellent video on the web that demonstrates theis braiding technique.

 Both loaves were proofed until they had doubled in size.  That took about 75 minutes.  Then they were egg-washed and put into a 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes.  The marble one cooked a bit faster as it was a little thinner and longer than the spiral loaf.  Once out of the oven, it took all my willpower not to slice into them.  I was so excited to see how they looked on the inside.  After 2 hours, I sliced.  I was overwhelmed at how lovely these loaves were.  They were deliciious for dinner that night and even better as the week progressed, toasted for breakfast.

In week # 18 of the Bread Baker’s Apprentice Challenge, we encounter Light Wheat Bread.  I was not exactly excited to make this bread.  Frankly, it looked a little boring. Plus, every other bread we have baked from this book has been accompanied by a jaw dropping photo.  This bread had no photo.  Even Peter Reinhart’s description of this bread left me feeling blah.  “The result is a loaf similar to the soft wheat breads purchased off the shelves.” Hardly a ringing endorsement.

 However, other BBA challengers were effusive in their praise for this bread.  

 Mags of The Other Side of 50 said, “The whole grains geek in me loved this recipe! I made sandwich buns instead of a loaf.  Great tasting and such an easy recipe.” 

 Sally of Bewitching Kitchen said,  “I have made this bread many many times, it is a winner for sure!”  

Phyl of Cabbages and Kings said, “This was a delicious, light sandwich bread. And great for toast, too.”

So maybe I was judging this bread prematurely.  Is it possible that after only 18 weeks, I have become a bread snob?  So, I took a leap of faith and went into the challenge hoping for the best.  This light wheat bread contains about 1/3 whole wheat flour, and 2/3 white bread flour.  The remaining ingredients include honey, salt, powdered milk, yeast, butter and water.

The dough came together very easily.  I kneaded the dough by hand as I am still without my Kitchen Aid. 

After about 10 minutes of hand kneading the dough was ready for primary fermentation.  My kitchen was very warm and it doubled in size in about 90 minutes.

To shape the dough into a loaf, the dough is pressed into a rectangle about 6 inches wide and 8 inches long.

Then it is rolled into a loaf and the seams are pinched shut. 

The loaf gets placed in a lightly oiled 8 x 4 inch pan and is covered with plastic wrap and left to proof just until the dough crests above the lip of the pan.  Peter Reinhart estimates that will take about 90 minutes.  I went to work out and when I came back 60 minutes later my loaf had totally overproofed.

Whoops, a little more than just cresting over the lip of the pan.  I must keep reminding myself that baking is more art than science and these recipes are guidelines only.  So many variants can alter yeast!  I popped the loaf into the oven and baked it for about 40 minutes, until it registered 190 degrees in the center, using my instant read thermometer.  I love using the instant read thermometer to guage when bread is done.  I never could get the hang of telling if it was done by thumping on the loaf and listening for a hollow sound.

After about 2 hours I sliced into it and tasted.  The verdict….It was ok.  Light and fluffy with a slight chew to the crumb.  This bread was very similar to what I can buy from the in-store bakery at my local supermarket.  It is unlikely that I will make this loaf again as there are so many other exciting breads out there calling my name and so little time.  However, in it’s defence, I will say that this bread makes excellent grilled cheese sandwiches, which is how the majority of this loaf was used.

Last week was Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) and I was having 12 for dinner on Friday night.  In addition to preparing dinner I was also making  5 round sweet challahs. One was for my dinner, one was for my niece to take back to college to share with her friends and 3 were to take to my aunt’s house for Saturday lunch. 

Since it was still quite warm out, I thought I’d make an icy cocktail to get the New Year off to a proper start.  I made
Electric Lemonade.  I highly recommend this cocktail for any family gathering.  Family love and harmony will be flowing after everyone drinks one of these.  I was planning to serve a feta-mint dip (recipe below) and crackers with drinks.  Since I’m a little behind schedule in the Bread Bakers Apprentice Challenge, this was the perfect opportunity to start getting caught up, as Lavash Cackers were up next for me.  The recipe seemed fairly straight forward and no overnight fermenting was required.

The dough for these Armenian crackers uses bread flour, salt, yeast, honey, vegetable oil and water.  After 10 minutes of hand kneading I had a supple stretchy dough.  Into an oiled container it went for about 90 minutes until it doubled in size. Then it was time to roll the dough out.   I had already been warned by Carolyn of Two Skinny Jenkins  to roll the dough thinner than the recipe specifies, if you want really crisp crackers. 

 I divided the dough into 3 pieces and began rolling each into a large rectangle.  The dough is quite elastic and resisted being stretched out at the beginning, so I covered it with plastic wrap and let the gluten relax for about 10 minutes.  After that, it rolled out very easily, with no tearing at all.  I transferred the first piece to a parchment lined baking sheet.

Since I was serving these with a feta mint dip, I thought I’d season them with Dukkah, an Egyptian spice blend.  It contains finely ground hazelnuts, pistachios, sesame seeds, cumin, corriander and salt.  I order it on-line from www.crousset.com, a Quebec retailer.  You could also make it yourself.  I have posted the recipe below.  It is very versatile. 

Once the dukkah mixture went on, they looked a little bare, so I added sesame and poppy seeds and a touch of kosher salt.  After I finished  sprinkling the first piece with spices, I realized I had forgotten to spray the dough with water first.  I pressed the spices in with my fingers and hoped for the best.  I remembered the water on the next two pieces of dough.  I was really surprised at what a great glue water is.  Below is a picture of two finished crackers.  The one on the left had water sprayed onto it before adding the spice mixture and the one on the right has no water sprayed before adding the toppings.  The water really does help the toppings to stick.

The finished crackers were crisp and delicious.  I’m not sure how soon I’d make these again, since there are so many wonderful crackers available to buy, but they certainly had the wow factor.  My 11-year-old niece was very impressed that you could actually make crackers.  She thought crackers only came from a box.

Feta-Mint Dip with Yogurt 

This recipe comes from the September 2002 issue of Cook’s Magazine.  I always make a double recipe as it seems to disappear very quickly. 

1 cup plain yogurt (low fat is ok)
½ cup mayonnaise (light is ok, but DO NOT use fat-free)
2 ½ ounces feta cheese, crumbled (1/2 cup)
¼ cup chopped fresh mint leaves
2 medium green onions, roughly chopped
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

  1.  Place yogurt in a cheesecloth-lined colander set over a bowl.  If you have no cheesecloth, a flat bottomed paper coffee filter works equally well.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 8 to 24 hours.  After yogurt has drained, discard liquid in bowl.

  2.  Process all ingredients in food processor, fitted with chopping blade, until smooth and creamy, about 30 seconds.  Transfer dip to serving bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until flavours are blended, at least 1 hour.  Serve cold with crudités or pita chips or crackers.  This dip can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 2 days.

 Dukkah

 Warning:  Dukkah can easily become an obsession.  The more you eat, the more addictive it becomes.  Serve with warmed pita and extra-virgin olive oil.  Dip pita into olive oil, then into dukkah and eat.

 ½ cup hazelnuts
½ cup shelled pistachios
1 cup sesame seeds
2 tablespoons cumin seeds
2 tablespoons coriander seeds
1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt

1.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Place the hazelnuts on a baking sheet, and bake for about 5 minutes, or until fragrant. While the nuts are still hot, pour them onto a tea towel. Fold the towel over them to cover, and rub vigorously to remove the skins. Set aside to cool.

 2. Place pistachios on baking sheet and toast for about 5 minutes in   preheated oven.  Set aside to cool.

 3.  In a dry skillet over medium heat, toast the sesame seeds until light golden brown. Pour into a medium bowl as soon as they are done so they will not continue toasting. In the same skillet, toast the coriander and cumin seeds while shaking the pan or stirring occasionally until they begin to pop. Transfer to a food processor. Process until finely ground, and then pour into the bowl with the sesame seeds.

4.  Place the cooled hazelnuts and pistachios into the food processor, and process until mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.  Do not over process.  You do not want nut butter. Stir into the bowl with the spices. Season with salt and mix well.

I have been looking forward to making Kaiser Buns for quite a while now, ever since my Kaiser Roll Cutter arrived in the mail from King Arthur Flour last month. There’s something so old-fashioned and exiting about getting a package in the mail, even if I did send it to myself.  Usually there is a time lag of about a week between when I order it and when it comes, so I have forgotten all about it and still get that “Ooh, a package for me!” thrill. 

The kaiser buns are a two day affair, making a starter dough on day 1 and the final dough on day 2.  In this case the starter dough is a “Pâte Fermenté”, which is simply a mix of bread flour, all-purpose flour, salt, yeast and water.  This dough is left to ferment in the fridge overnight.  This slow overnight process creates certain enzymes that contribute to better flavour texture and colour in the final kaiser bun.  The next morning I took my Pâte Fermenté out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature.  Then I added it, along with the remaining dough ingredients (bread flour, salt, barley malt powder, yeast, egg, vegetable oil and water) to my Kitchen-Aid mixer and got to work.

I’m firmly convinced my Kitchen-Aid mixer read my mind.  As I started mixing the dough for the kaiser buns, I thought, “I really need to begin mixing my doughs by hand, to learn the feel of them better”.  Within about a minute of thinking this, my Kitchen-Aid took off at warp speed, then slowed down to a trot and then quit all together.  When I tried turning it on again, at low speed, it gasped, spun one or two revolutions and then shut down again.  It was dead.

Well as they say, ”Be careful what you wish for!”  The kaiser dough came out of the mixer and hand kneading commenced.  After about 8 minutes I had a supple dough that was still tacky but not sticky.

The dough went into an oiled container and was set aside for the first rise, approximately 2 hours or until it doubles.  I think it must have been quite warm in my kitchen because after 90 minutes, I had this:

We had the option of making 6 larger buns or 9 smaller ones.  In a never ending (Losing) battle to consume less bread I decied to make 9 smaller rolls, figuring I’d never just eat half of a large roll, but maybe I could stop after just one whole small roll.  The dough was rolled into little balls and then covered to rest for 10 minutes.

Next it was time to make the kaisers using my new cutter.  I pulled it out of the drawer and looked at it carefully.  Then I looked at my balls of dough.  I quickly realized that the cutter would not work for small rolls.  It was too big and would not make a proper cut on my small buns.  So, onto Plan B, forming my buns into little knots.  The instructions and photos in the book were very easy to follow.  First roll out the dough into an 8 inch strand.

Next tie it into a simple knot.

Then, take one tail and bring it and bring it up and over the loop and tuck it into the center hole.

Then take the other tail and bring it under the roll and poke the tail up through the center hole.

The knots are then placed on a cornmeal coated, parchment lined baking sheet.

The knots are sprayed lightly with oil, covered with plastic wrap and left to rise for 45 minutes.  Then we are instructed to turn the rolls over and let rise for a further 45 minutes.  When I picked up one of the rolls, I noticed there was cornmeal on the underside.  I did not want the top of my buns to have cornmeal on them, so I ignored this suggestion and let them continue rising, without turning them over, for a further 45 minutes.

After the second 45 minute rising period, they had doubled in size.  I decided to egg wash them instead of spraying water on them as suggested in the book, as I wanted them to have a shiny finish.

Then I sprinkled them with poppy seeds, sesame seeds and a touch of kosher salt.

Into a 425 degree oven they went and were done after 14 minutes.

For bottom crust freaks, here is a shot of the underside.

For crumb freaks, here is a shot of the inside.

They were tender, a little sweet and the perfect sandwich roll.  For dinner that night we hade grilled salmon and chipotle mayo sandwiches.  Sorry, no picture as they got gobbled up too quickly!