Country White Bread

I got a message from my son yesterday "you think I could bribe you into baking a loaf of your famous white bread sometime?" Well heck yeah! Anytime my kids want something of "Mommy's", I will deliver!

A few years ago I bought The Panera Bread Cookbook, and in spite of the fact that many of the reviewers claim the bread recipes are not Panera Bread recipes, the ones that are included are excellent. With the exception of the sourdough bread recipes, each bread recipe uses the same base. The method is a different one than my other bread recipes and involves creating a starter first. Since the starter only ferments for 30 minutes, it is not a lengthy process and always results in a delicious bread. Wheat Bread with Bacon and Onion (I added cheese too) is perfect for sandwiches, and Honey Wheat Bread is excellent toasted.

I used a standard 8x4 loaf pan for one, and it made a perfectly shaped loaf (pictured above). For the other I used a shallow glass baking pan, and the loaf is squatty; but my son doesn't care how they look!

I made one change in the recipe - I used vegetable oil instead of vegetable shortening.

Country White Bread
adapted from The Panera Bread Cookbook

Starter
1 cup warm water
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
1 cup unbleached flour

Dough
3/4 cup warm water
3 tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/4 cup plus 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
4-3/4 cups unbleached flour
1 tablespoon salt

To create starter, combine water and yeast in medium bowl. Stir to dissolve yeast fully. Add flour and stir until ingredients are fully incorporated. Cover with cloth and ferment at room temperature for 30 minutes.

For dough, combine water, honey, and yeast in bowl of stand mixer. Stir to dissolve yeast fully. Add oil, flour, salt, and fermented starter. Mix on low speed until dough is fully developed. (I switched to the dough hook for about 5 minutes.) Remove dough from mixing bowl.

Divide dough into two pieces weighing about 22 ounces each. Form each into smooth ball. Place dough pieces on counter or proofing basket and cover with warm, damp cloth. Rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Prepare 2 loaf pans by greasing with shortening. Form dough into loaf shapes and place in pans. Cover with warm, damp cloth. Let rest at room temperature 30 minutes.

In the meantime preheat oven to 400ºF. Bake loaves 30 - 40 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown. (I baked at 375ºF in my convection oven, and reduced to 350ºF after 20 minutes, but that's just me and my oven!)

Remove bread from oven, remove loaves from pan, place on cooling rack, and let cool about 30 minutes.

Helen's Danish Kringle

This post is a repeat of one I made on an old blog in 2008. I am re-posting it here because I love the story as well as the Kringle. The 7 year old photo is not the best, but if you try this I promise you will love not only the aroma white it is baking but also the tender goodness of this holiday treat.

I grew up in a small town in northeastern Oklahoma, and during the Christmas season neighbors that lived on our country road brought the best Christmas gifts to us. No one called before they came (and no one cared back in those days!), and there was much fuss and laughter when folks arrived (always at the back door) with their delicious pound cakes, old-fashioned fruitcake cookies, and divinity and fudge delivered on foil-lined box lids or doily-covered paper plates.

The back yard of the farm where I grew up

My home economics teacher Helen was one of our neighbors, and every year we looked forward to her unique Christmas offering - a slightly sweet yeast dough with a brown sugar and nut filling that she called Danish Kringle (a very exotic sounding name to us!). Helen's visit was the most anticipated of the year.

When Helen came, although we enjoyed her company we had to hide our impatience for her to leave, politely making small talk while trying not to drool from the enticing yeasty aroma emanating from her Kringle. Her car would barely be out of the driveway before we started cutting into the melt-in-your-mouth tenderness of the still-warm pastry.

After I got married, I tried in vain to duplicate her recipe. Finally I wrote her asking (begging) for the recipe, and she graciously sent it to me. From that handwritten recipe, I have recreated this warm culinary Christmas memory every year. Here is her recipe as she wrote it, with my notes in italics.

Helen's Danish Kringle
2 cups sifted flour
1-1/2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup soft shortening (part butter or margarine) (soft shortening is a mix of shortening and butter)
1/2 cup milk, scalded
1 egg, separated
1/4 cup warm water (110-115 F)
1 pkg active dry yeast

Measure flour, sugar, salt and shortening/butter into bowl; blend well (I use a pastry cutter to blend). Cool milk slightly, then stir in egg yolk. Pour into bowl with first ingredients. Add yeast to warm water and let stand a few minutes. Add to all other ingredients, mixing thoroughly. Scrape down dough from sides of bowl (it will be very soft). Cover tightly and chill 2 to not more than 48 hours in refrigerator.

Prepare fillings before shaping Kringles. Divide dough into two parts. Take out one and return other half to refrigerator. Beat egg white. On a floured surface, roll dough into a 6 inch X 18 inch rectangle. Spread 3" center stripe with half of beaten egg white, then carefully spread with half of filling. Fold over one side of dough and then the other with 1-1/2 inch lap to cover filling. Pinch dough to close the fold.

Pick up Kringle carefully (it is very tender) and arrange, seam-side down, on baking sheet (I use parchment paper on the baking sheets) in oval or horseshoe shape, pinching ends for the latter. Shape second Kringle as first. Cover and let rise in warm place 30-45 min, or until dent remains when finger is pressed gently on side of dough and dough is no longer cold. (Dough will not double.)

Bake in moderately hot oven (400 F) for 20-30 min or until golden brown. (There may be some seepage of the filling - when it comes out of the oven just scrape it back under the dough.)

Spread with powdered sugar icing while hot. (I blend powdered sugar with a tiny pinch of salt and thin it to pouring consistency with milk and vanilla.) Cut in wedges to serve. Makes about 2 dozen servings or 2 Kringles.

Fillings:
Pecan
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar (packed)
1 cup finely chopped or ground nuts
Cream butter and sugar until fluffy, then sprinkle with nuts.

Apple Pecan (I have never tried this one)
1/2 cup brown sugar (packed)
1 cup finely chopped apples
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
Sprinkle sugar, then apples and pecans

Homemade Buns and Belated Quilting

Yesterday I finished half the quilting on my current project, and today I gave in to cravings for homemade buns for our burgers.

I first blogged about these delicious buns on my older blog . This time I used sugar instead of honey - I'm not sure we can tell the difference - and I gave them an egg-white wash and sprinkle of sesame seeds.

This recipe is one of the best for flavor and sturdiness, and they smell so good while they are baking.

This is a quilt that was pieced by my niece's maternal grandmother, and I've "only" had it since 2012, which is when my very patient niece asked me to finish it. (This is a different niece than the one that has cancer.) You can read about it by scrolling down in this post.

I began quilting this week, and I'm doing simple wavy lines. I hope to have it ready to mail to her by next week. It will be a nice surprise for her - she has probably forgotten about it!

Asiago Cheese Bread

My husband recently stopped at HEB (local grocery)and brought home a delicious loaf of fresh-baked Asiago bread. We enjoyed it so much, but it was pricey at $4.50 for a small loaf. I decided to try my hand at it and found a promising recipe on Food.com. This one is made with milk, which I believe produces a softer middle.

I had to laugh at the title - the author of the recipe named it "Asiago Cheese Bread, Excellent!" But excellent it is! With a couple of minor changes I followed the recipe to a tee, and it produced two beautiful loaves of tender, fragrant, tangy bread. It made my kitchen smell like a restaurant - my husband was nearly driven crazy with the aroma while it was baking.

Asiago Cheese Bread
Very slightly adapted from Food.com

1 cup milk
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut in cubes
3-1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons dry yeast
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1-1/4 cups asiago cheese, shredded
1 large egg
1 tablespoon water

Melt butter in milk and water in small saucepan. Heat to 120 degrees and cool slightly. Whisk together one cup flour, yeast, salt, sugar, and pepper and add to mixing bowl. Slowly add warm liquid, mixing on low speed. Add 1 cup cheese and mix briefly. Switch to dough hook and add remaining 2 cups flour, kneading until soft dough forms. Place dough in greased mixing bowl, cover with dish towel, and let rise in warm place until doubled.

Remove dough and form into two loaves, place on pan lightly sprinkled with corn meal. Cover with towel and let rise in warm place until doubled.

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Slash dough lightly with serrated knife. Whisk egg and water and brush loaves lightly. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup cheese. Bake until nicely browned, about 20-25 minutes. Remove to wire rack to cool.

Macaroni Grill Rosemary Bread

We recently ate at Macaroni Grill and enjoyed their bread with our salad. It was one of the best restaurant breads we've had. The crust was crisp without being too crunchy and the interior was pillow soft.

I found a few versions online and tried this one from Food.com. To achieve a softer bread I added 2 tablespoons of milk and I ended up adding another 1/2 cup of flour to overcome stickiness. I picked fresh rosemary from my garden and snipped it right into the dough - so good.

The interior was just what I hoped it would be - tender and fluffy, but the surface was not crisp, probably because I set my convection oven a bit lower to keep the loaves from browning too fast. And after all the years I've been baking bread, I didn't pull the dough tight enough when I formed the loaves, so the crust "wrinkled" after I brushed it with butter. We didn't care and devoured one of the loaves for dinner.

Macaroni Grill Rosemary Bread

1 tablespoon yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
1 cup warm water
2 tablespoons milk
2-1/2 to 3 cups flour
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
1-2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, minced
2 tablespoons butter

Place yeast, sugar, and water in large bowl and allow mixture to become bubbly. Melt 1 tablespoon butter and add to mixture with salt and 2 cups flour. Add one tablespoon fresh chopped rosemary. Knead 10 minutes by hand or with dough hook 5 minutes until smooth and elastic, adding more flour if necessary.

Place dough in lightly greased bowl, cover, and let rise in one hour, or until doubled.

Punch dough down and divide in half, then let rest about 5 minutes. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper. Shape dough into 2 loaves. If desired, sprinkle another 1 tablespoon rosemary over loaves and press lightly into surface.

Let loaves rise again until doubled, about 45 minutes. Preheat oven to 375°F. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until lightly browned. Remove from oven and brush with remaining butter; sprinkle lightly with kosher salt if desired.

Shiner Bock Beer Bread Revisited

I blogged about this bread about a year ago on my old blog, The Katy Rose. Recently we had Shiner Bock in the cooler, so I decided to make it again, this time using all molasses (instead of honey and molasses) and a mix of white whole wheat and unbleached flour. It was even better this time!

There is a very slight and pleasant pungency from the beer that goes well with the slight sweetness from the molasses. I see no reason to tweak the recipe any further!

Shiner Bock Beer Bread

1-1/2 cups Shiner Bock beer
2 teaspoons yeast
1/4 cup warm water
3 cups unbleached flour
1 cup white whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Measure 1-1/2 cups beer, drink the rest, and let it sit on counter about 10 minutes. Dissolve yeast in water and pour into mixing bowl; let sit for 5 minutes. Add molasses and oil and mix on low. Whisk together flours, yeast, and salt, and add half of mixture slowly, still on low. Switch to dough hook and add remaining flour mixture and knead until well mixed, about 5 minutes. Add additional flour to keep dough from being too sticky. Place dough into greased bowl, cover, and let rise till doubled, about an hour. Remove from bowl, punch down, and cut into 2 pieces. Shape into rounds, place on parchment covered baking sheet, cover, and let rise until almost doubled, about 30 minutes. In the meantime preheat oven to 350 degrees. Uncover loaves and bake for about 30 minutes. Remove to wire rack and allow to cool before slicing.

rosemary parmesan focaccia

When my daughter was in middle school I made focaccia for the first time, and she loved it. Sadly I don't think I've made it for her since then, and she is 38! I served this bread with our spaghetti dinner tonight, and I plan to make it for my daughter next time she visits.

I looked at tons of recipes before I decided on this one from Flavor the Moments. That it was billed as "one hour" and was baked in a cast iron skillet pulled my attention from the other recipes I had considered. I adapted Marcie's recipe just a bit by adding a first rise and by slightly changing a couple of ingredients, which are listed below.

Flavored with olive oil and rosemary, this loaf was fragrant and delicious, with a light texture and butter-crispy crust.

Rosemary Parmesan Focaccia
adapted from Flavor the Moment

3/4 cup warm water
1 tablespoon honey
2-1/2 teaspoons yeast
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, divided use
1-1/4 cups unbleached flour
1/2 cup while whole wheat flour
1-1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, divided use
2 teaspoons minced fresh rosemary, divided use
1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons melted butter

Mix warm water and honey and place in mixing bowl; sprinkle yeast over water and mix on low until dissolved. Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes.

Add 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup unbleached flour, and 1 teaspoon salt; mix on low speed. Add 2 tablespoons olive oil and 1-1/2 teaspoons rosemary and mix until combined. Gradually add remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time, until dough pulls away from sides of bowl. Gradually add more flour if dough is sticky.

Place dough into lightly greased bowl, cover, and let rise 1 hour. Lightly oil 9 inch cast iron skillet.

Remove dough from bowl and place on lightly floured surface. Gently knead and press dough into shape of skillet. Place in skillet, cover, and allow to rise 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1/4 teaspoon salt, Parmesan cheese, and 1/2 teaspoon rosemary. Brush olive oil mixture over dough. Dimple top of the dough using fingers. Bake 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from oven and brush with melted butter. Cool slightly on wire rack and serve.

cranberry wild rice yeast bread

Amidst all the Christmas baking, I decided to give this bread recipe a try. There are several variations of wild rice bread on the internet, and this is my adapted version. I elected to soften the dried cranberries in orange juice - a good decision! Wild rice was very expensive at my local grocery, so I found a wild rice mix of wild rice and brown rice. Now that I know how good this bread is, I will spring for the pricy Minnesota wild rice!

Sweetened only with a bit of molasses and tangy cranberries, this bread is moist and wonderful. I can't wait to try it with grilled cheese and as French toast. Instructions are for rolls or loaf.

Cranberry Wild Rice Bread
2-1/2 cups unbleached flour
1/2 cup white whole wheat or rye flour
2-1/4 teaspoons dry yeast
2 teaspoons salt
1-1/4 cups water, room temperature
2 tablespoons molasses
1 tablespoon olive oil
3/4 cup wild rice, cooked and cooled
1/2 cup dried cranberries
Orange juice
Extra unbleached flour, if needed

Soak cranberries in orange juice 30 minutes; drain, and set aside. Mix water, molasses, and olive oil. Set aside.

Whisk together flours, yeast, and salt. Switch to dough hook; add water mixture. Mix on low speed until dough forms; increase speed to medium and knead until dough is smooth and elastic, about 7-8 minutes. Turn speed back to low; add cranberries and wild rice; Add another 2 tablespoons to 1/4 cup flour if dough seems excessively moist. Knead until evenly distributed throughout dough. Transfer dough to lightly oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap; let rise about 1-1/2 hours, or until doubled in size.

Line baking sheet with parchment paper for rolls or spray 9x5 loaf pan with baking spray and line bottom with parchment paper. Lightly deflate dough and turn out onto generously floured surface. Handling dough lightly and using floured hands, either shape into 12 rolls and place on baking sheet, or shape into loaf and place in loaf pan. Cover rolls or loaf with oiled piece of plastic wrap. Let rolls rise until almost doubled. Let loaf rise until about an inch above pan.

Meanwhile preheat oven to 400 degrees for rolls, 375 degrees for loaf. Bake until golden brown as follows: rolls - 15-20 minutes; loaf - 30-40 minutes. After removing from oven brush tops of rolls or loaf with melted salted butter. Place rolls on wire rack to cool. Cool loaf in pan 10 minutes before removing to wire rack.

Shredded Wheat Bread

I will use almost any excuse to make bread. I have often used bread-worthy lefovers as my bread base--pancake or waffle batter, the remaining bits of granola, bits of fruit, and of course potatoes--all can be successfully incorporated into one's favorite bread recipe. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't, but the process of invention is always fun. So yesterday, I had a few bite-sized frosted shredded wheats left in the bottom of the bag, and I got the brilliant idea to make bread from the crumbs.

First I pulverized the shredded wheat in the food processor, and then I added a cup of warm water to it, to soften it.


In the meantime, I added 2 teaspoons of yeast to a cup of warm water, then whisked in a cup of flour. After about 30 minutes, the yeast mixture was bubbly, and the shredded wheat had become a nice, fragrant "wheaty" mass.


Into the KitchenAid mixer bowl went the softened shredded wheat and the yeast mixture, along with 2 tablespoons of yogurt from Wagon Creek Creamery (an Oklahoma dairy), two teaspoons of salt, and enough flour (maybe another 3 cups) to make a slightly sticky dough. After a decent interval of mixing with the bread hook (God bless it), I let the dough rise for about an hour. I then turned it out onto a floured Silpat, gave a knead or two, and formed it into a Vienna-shaped loaf.

I had to run some errands, and when I returned, the loaf had risen to the size of a flattened whale; so I did not slash it for fear it would collapse. I baked it at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes, and while it did not make a pretty loaf (think buff-colored whale) the finished product was delicious.


The texture was nice and moist and chewy, the shredded wheat lent an addictive nuttiness, and the crust was especially tasty toasted.