Rustic Country Bread

A simple and easy loaf to make. Just as the author describes, not only it is a straightforward recipe, it is satisfying and delicious. I started to prepare the dough in the morning, and by evening I have a lovely loaf for dinner.

The recipe uses a mixture of bread flour and all purpose flour, but I have used all bread flour, and reduced the salt to just 3/4 teaspoon. I did not have a pizza stone, so I've used an upturned baking sheet instead.  I baked the bread five minutes longer to get that darker crust.

The bread has chewy crust and soft tasty crumbs. I was glad that I have reduced the salt, as using the full amount would have been too salty for us. We enjoyed slices of this rustic bread for dinner, with some stew, lovely.

Rustic Country Bread
(The Everyday Baker, Abigail Johnson Dodge)
makes 1 loaf (1-1/4 lb/567 gm)
2 cups (9oz/255gm) bread flour
1 cup (4-1/2 oz/128gm) unbleached all purpose flour + more for dusting
1-1/2 tsp quick-rise (instant) yeast
1 tsp granulated sugar
1-1/2 tsp table salt (I use 3/4 tsp salt)
1 cup to 2 tbsp (270ml) water, warmed to between 115° and 125°F (45° and 52°C)
Nonstick cooking spray or neutral oil (safflower, canola, vegetable, or corn), for greasing the bowl
Fine or coarse cornmeal, for dusting

Make the dough

1. Put the flours, yeast, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk until well blended, and fit the mixer with a dough hook. Mix on medium speed while pouring the warm water into the flour mixture. Increase the speed to medium high and beat until the dough is smooth and elastic, 4 to 6 minutes. If the dough climbs up the hook, stop the mixer and scrape the dough into the bowl. The dough will be soft and sticky to the touch.
2. Remove the dough hook, scrape the dough onto the counter, knead once or twice until it no longer sticks to the counter and passes the "window-pane" test, and shape into a ball. Lightly grease the sides of the bowl and put the dough, rounded side up, back in. Cover the bowl with a plate or plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, 2 to 3 hours.

Shape the dough

Generously dust a pizza peel or cookie sheet with cornmeal. Scrape the dough onto an unfloured work surface and press down on the dough to deflate it. Shape the dough into a round ball about 6 inches (15cm) wide, making sure the top is smooth and there is no seam on the bottom. Arrange on the peel and cover with a large overturned bowl or cake cover. Let the dough rise until puffed and almost doubled in size, 2 to 2-1/2 hours.

Bake the bread

1. Position a rack in the bottom third of the oven and set a pizza stone on the rack. Heat the oven to 450°F (230°C/gas 8) for at least 20 minutes. Fill a spray bottle with water.
2. Dust the top of the loaf with 2 or 3 tbsp flour and, using a razor or long, very sharp knife, cut 4 slits across the top of the dough, about 1/2 inch (12mm) deep, in a tic-tac-toe design. Slide the bread from the peel onto the stone, and using the spray bottle, spritz the inside the of the oven several times.
3. Bake until the loaf is deep golden brown and an instant-read thermometer inserted in the centre reads 190° to 200°F (88° to 95°C), 32 to 35 minutes. Slide the bread onto the peel or cookie sheet and move to a rack. Let cool for at least 1 hour before slicing with a serrated knife.

I'm linking this post with Cookbook Countdown #19 hosted by 

Kitchen Flavours and Emily's Cooking (Makan2) Foray

Rich and Delicious Dinner Rolls

The recipe for these fabulous rolls is from, The Everyday Baker by Abigail Johnson Dodge, a thick (617 pages) lovely book, with tons of recipes, with detailed instructions, tips and techniques. Recipes Chapters are divided as Morning Food, Quick To Make, Cookies, Cakes, Pies and Tarts, Puddings and Custards, Yeast Breads, Pastry, Flatbread and Fruit Desserts. 

I'm a big fan of Abby Dodge and especially love her yeasted bread recipes, and as soon as I saw the name of these rolls, Rich and Delicious Dinner Rolls, I just had to make them.

She has given a few methods of shaping ; round rolls, single-knot rolls, twist rolls, cloverleaf rolls. I've chosen to make them as round pull-apart rolls. The dough is kneaded in the stand mixer, and it was a beautiful smooth, satiny shiny dough. Enriched with butter and eggs, the dough is similar to a brioche dough. 

I've baked the rolls in a 10" square baking pan, instead of the 13 x 9-inch pan as indicated in the recipe. There's four rows of four rolls each, making a total of 16 pull-apart rolls.

Rose beautifully and baked to a lovely golden brown.

So soft with airy texture! 

Wonderful when eaten warm, spread with cold salty butter, and a mug of hot black coffee. And we even ate the rolls, split, sandwiched with onion omelette on a bed of green salad leaves, with our favourite mayo-chilli sauce. A keeper recipe.

Rich and Delicious Dinner Rolls
(The Everyday Baker, Abigail Johnson Dodge)
makes 16 rolls
3-3/4 cups (479gm) unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (50gm) granulated sugar
2-1/4 tsp quick-rise (instant) yeast
1-1/2 tsp table salt (I use scant 1/2 tsp, as the butter is salted)
1 cup (240ml) whole milk
8 tbsp (4oz/113gm) unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces (I use salted butter)
4 yolks from large egg
1 whole large egg
1 tbsp water
nonstick cooking spray or neutral oil (safflower, canola, vegetable, or corn), for greasing the dough and bowl

1. Put the flour, sugar, yeast and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and whisk until well blended. Heat the milk until very hot but not boiling. Add the butter and stir until melted. Check the temperature using an instant-read thermometer. For the yeast to activate, the liquid needs to be between 115℉ and 125℉ (45℃ to 52℃). Fit the mixer with the dough hook, turn the mixer on medium-low speed, and pour the warm milk mixture into the flour mixture along with the egg yolks, mixing until the flour is completely incorporated. Increase the speed to medium and beat until the dough is smooth and shiny, 8 to 10 minutes. If the dough climbs up the hook, stop the mixer and scrape the dough into the bowl as necessary. The dough will not pull away completely from the sides and bottom of the bowl, and it will be soft and slightly sticky to the touch.
2. Remove the dough hook, scrape the dough onto the counter, and knead once or twice until it no longer sticks to the counter and passes the windowpane test, about 1 minute. Shape the dough into a ball. Lightly grease the sides of the bowl and put the dough, rounded side up, back in. Cover the bowl with a plate or plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, about 60 minutes.
3. Lightly grease a 9x13x2-inch (23x33x5cm) baking dish (metal or Pyrex). Scrape the dough onto an unfloured work surface and press down on the dough to deflate it. Using a bench scraper or knife, portion the dough into 16 equal pieces, about 2 oz (57gm) each. To ensure even rolls, use a scale to weigh the portions. Working with one piece at a time and keeping the others covered, arrange the dough toward the back of your flattened palm near the thumb joint. With the edge of your other palm (curved slightly), press gently but firmly on the bottom of the dough, moving your top hand from the front to the back. This will rotate or spin the dough while keeping the top side up, Repeat until it forms a smooth-skinned ball with a sealed bottom. The goal is to stretch the top of the dough from opening up as it expands during baking.
4. Put the ball, round side up, in the prepared baking dish, cover loosely with plastic wrap, and repeat with the remaining dough. (The dough balls can be arranged in four rows of four or just randomly yet evenly placed). Lightly spray the tops of the dough and cover loosely but completely with plastic. Let the dough rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, 25 to 40 minutes.
5. Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 375℉ (190℃/Gas 5). Put the egg and water in a small bowl and mix with a fork until well blended. When the rolls have risen to about 1/2 inch (12mm) above the pan, remove the plastic and brush with the egg wash. Bake until the rolls are puffed and deep golden brown, 17 to 21 minutes. Move the pan to a rack. Serve warm or let cool completely, cover, and stow at room temperature for up to 2 days.

I'm linking this post with Cookbook Countdown #19 hosted by 

Kitchen Flavours and Emily's Cooking (Makan2) Foray

Pecan-Crusted Pumpkin Squares

Clearing my freezer : Homemade pumpkin puree.  I'm clearing my freezer ever so slowly! I have about slightly more than half a cup of homemade pumpkin puree in my freezer that I really needed to clear (and a lot of other stuffs too!). Browse my cookbooks collection for some simple recipe using pumpkin and found it from the book "The Weekend Baker", by Abigail Johnson Dodge. Another keeper recipe from this lovely book.

When I read through the recipe, it sounds like making muffins to me. The dry ingredients and wet ingredients are mixed until just blended and bake. The only difference is, this is baked in a 8" square pan. But I have made only half of the recipe, and have used a 6" round cake pan instead. I think that even a 7" square pan would be alright. The recipes calls for the pan to be greased generously at the bottom and sides, and scatter with the finely chopped pecan nuts. But I have  scattered the bottom of the pan only, with the nuts, leaving the sides free.

As usual, I have reduced the amount of brown sugar, for half a recipe I have used only 80gm (original amount for half a recipe is 115gm), and I find it still a little too sweet for me. Since I have about 170gm of pumpkin puree, I have used all of it.

This is one lovely cake. The texture is moist, soft with tender crumbs. The addition of the pecan nuts at the bottom and the top of the cake is really nice. A delicious cake with nice pumpkin and spice flavour. Though, if I make this again, I would further reduce the amount of sugar. If you have some pumpkin puree stash away in your freezer, you might want to give this a  try. I'm sure that you will like this cake.

I'm linking this post to :

My Meatless Mondays hosted by My Sweet and Savory

Full Plate Thursday hosted by Miz Helen's Country Cottage

Cook-Your-Books #1 hosted by Kitchen Flavours

Pecan-Crusted Pumpkin Squares
(adapted from "The Weekend Baker", Abigail Johnson Dodge)
3/4 cup (3 ounces/85 gms) finely chopped pecans (no need to toast)
1-3/4 cups (8 ounces/227 gms) all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1-1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup (8 ounces/227 gms) firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 cup (8 ounces/227 gms) canned solid-pack pumpkin (not seasoned pumpkin pie filling)
1/2 cup (4 fl ounces/117 ml) canola or corn oil
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Position an oven rack on the middle rung. Heat the oven to 350F (180C). Generously butter - be generous or the nuts won't stick - the bottom and sides of an 8-inch (20cm) square baking dish. Add the nuts and tilt the pan to coat the bottom and sides evenly. Carefully spill out and save the excess nuts for the top.
2. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and cloves. Whisk until well blended. In a large bowl, combine the sugar, pumpkin, oil, eggs, and vanilla. Whisk until smooth. (You can prepare the dry ingredients and wet ingredients up to 1 day ahead. Cover the dry ingredients and keep at room temperature, and cover the wet ingredients and keep in the fridge). Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and gently stir just until blended.
3. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Scatter the reserved nuts evenly over the batter. Bake until a toothpick or cake tester inserted in the centre comes out with moist crumbs clinging to it, about 30 minutes. Transfer the pan to a rack to cool for about 15 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature, cut into 2-inch (5cm) squares.

Storage : Wrap the uncut, cooled square in plastic wrap and store at room temperature for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 1 month.

#59/100

Warm Cinnamon-Spiced Blueberry Cake

Clearing my pantry : From my freezer, frozen blueberries. This cake was bookmarked ever since I started baking from this wonderful cookbook "The Weekend Baker" by Abigail Johnson Dodge together with my baking friends at Avid Baker's Challenge (ABC). Our baking group are no longer baking from this book, but I will be trying out most of the recipes from this book.

Warm Cinnamon-Spiced Blueberry Cake, fresh from the oven.

The blueberries are not mixed in together with the batter before baking as with most cakes, but are scattered over the top of the batter after the first 10 minutes of baking. The blueberries are first mixed with some sugar, flour and cinnamon, and crush lightly with a fork.

This cake has a lovely brown soft crust and the blueberries are scattered all over. Some of the berries sunk to the bottom, while some are in the centre and some are right on the surface of the cake. The cake looks very nice with the scattering of blueberries on top. As usual, I have reduced the sugar and I'm so glad I did, it turned out with just the right amount of sweetness. And I have replaced the sour cream with homemade yoghurt.

The cake itself has a very moist and soft texture with tender crumbs. A lovely cake with cinnamon fragrance bursting with juicy blueberries. If you have some frozen blueberries in your freezer, give this cake a try. Simply delightful with a cup of warm tea.

I'm sharing this with :

See Ya In The Gumbo hosted by Ms. enPlace

Recipe Box hosted by Bizzy Bakes

Warm Cinnamon-Spiced Blueberry Cake
(adapted from "The Weekend Baker" by Abigail Johnson Dodge)
1-1/3 cups (170gm) all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon table salt
6 tablespoons (85gm) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup (227gm) granulated sugar (I use 140gm)
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2/3 cup (156gm) sour cream (I use homemade yoghurt)

For the topping :
3/4 cup (85gm) blueberries, rinsed and well dried
3 tablespoons granulated sugar (I use 1 tablespoon)
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1. Position an oven rack on the middle rung. Heat the oven to 350 degrees (180C). Lightly grease and flour the bottom and sides of a 9-by-2-inch round cake pan, tapping out the excess flour. (I line the bottom with parchment paper).
2. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Whisk until well blended. In a large bowl, combine the butter and sugar. Beat with an electric mixer (stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or handheld mixer) on medium speed until well blended. Add the eggs one at a time and beat just until blended. Add the vanilla with the second egg. Using a rubber spatula, fold the dry ingredients into the butter mixture in 3 batches alternately with the sour cream, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Bake for 10 minutes.
3. As soon as you put the cake in the oven, make the topping. In a small bowl, combine the blueberries, sugar, flour and cinnamon. Mix the ingredients together with a fork, lightly crushing the blueberries.
4. After the cake has baked for 10 minutes, sprinkle the topping evenly over the top of the cake. Continue baking until a toothpick or cake tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, about 30 minutes longer.
5. Transfer the cake to a rack to cool for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the inside edge of the pan to loosen the cake. Using a thick, dry dish towel to protect your hands, invert a large, flat plate on top of the cake pan and, holding both the pan and the plate, invert them together. Lift the pan off the cake. Invert a flat serving plate on the bottom of the cake and invert the cake one more time so that the blueberries are on top. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Storage : Cover the cooled cake in plastic wrap and store at room temperature for up to 5 days.

#18/100

What's In My Cookie Jar? : Ginger Crackles - ABC Dec 2012

I have not made any cookies in ages! I wanted to, many times, but some other bakes always takes precedence over cookies. Avid Baker's Challenge bake for December 2012 is just perfect, cookies! We are baking Ginger Crackles, from this fabulous book, it is now one of my favourite baking book, The Weekend Baker by Abigail Johnson Dodge. And this is the last bake from this book, at ABC. For the past 12 months we have baked 12 recipes from The Weekend Baker, ranging from breads, cakes, pies and tarts to cookies, and each one has been fantastic! I really like Abby Dodge's recipes, though I find that she uses lots of sugar in all of her bakes. And I have always reduced the sugar in her recipes and all have turned out great. Even though this is the last bake for this year from this book over at ABC, it would not be the last one for me, there are lots of other recipes that I am looking forward to try.

What's In My Cookie Jar?
Ginger Crackles !!

These Ginger Crackles are rather chewy, with cake-like moist texture on the inside with a light crisp crust. According to Abby and from the picture cover of the book (my book is of a different picture cover), these cookies have tops that are ridged with beautiful cracks. As you can see from my cookies above, they do not really crack.

There are a few cracked lines on top, but only just a few. These cookies are packed with spice flavours. The spices used are ground ginger, ground cloves and ground cinnamon. Light molasses is one of the ingredients, but I have used dark molasses as that was what I had.  Of course, as usual, I have reduced the amount of sugar, by cutting it to half a cup, from the original 1 cup. The sweetnesss turns out just right for us. Could it be, this is the reason that these cookies are not cracking up well enough? 

How did these cookies fare with the family? Both my kids love it while these are still slightly warm, when the texture is still soft, chewy and moist with a crispy crust, and they had it with a glass of cold milk. These cookies are full of  wonderful spice flavour. I rather enjoyed these too while the cookies are still warm, but overall, I'm a "crispy cookie" person! 

Please do visit Avid Baker's Challenge (ABC) to see my friends Ginger Crackles, their cookies have beautiful lovely cracks.

Here's a recap, of the bakes that I've baked from "The Weekend Baker" by Abigail Johnson Dodge, together with my baking friends at ABC :

Dec : Ginger Crackles

 Nov : Velvety Pumpkin Tart

Oct : Honey Oatmeal Bread

Sept : Mile-High Vanilla Sponge Cake

Aug : Glazed Mango-Mulberry Galette

Jul : Classic Fruit Tart

June : Brioche

May : Choc Chip Scones

Apr : Buttery Pull-Apart Dinner Rolls

Mar : Emergency Blender Cupcakes

Feb : Glazed Cinnamon Rolls

Jan : Chocolate Banana Swirl Cake

Which is my favourite? I like them all, but the one that stands out the most is definitely the Brioche for me! 

Starting in January 2013, Avid Baker's Challenge will be baking from King Arthur Flour's website. ABC will bake once a month, you are most welcome to join us, please do contact Hanaa for the full details.

Velvety Pumpkin Tart : ABC November 2012

The bake at Avid Baker's Challenge (ABC) for this month is Velvety Pumpkin Tart, taken from "The Weekend Baker" by Abigail Johnson Dodge. We have one more month to go baking with Abby Dodge before we start with another new cookbook in January 2013.

This pumpkin tart looks perfect except for the little hole somewhere in the centre. I acccidently poked it with a fork when I remove it from the oven, I used a fork to lift the bottom of the pan when taking it out, and careless me poked the tart before I could put the fork down!

Just pretend the hole is not there! 

Like Abby says, this tart is velvety smooth, thanks to the cream cheese in the filling, all 250gm of it! I did a couple of changes to the recipe. This recipe calls for ginger snaps crumbs for the crust, but since I could not find any ginger snap biscuits, I used digestive biscuits, processed them to fine crumbs and added in 1/4 teaspoon of ground ginger, could not taste the ginger at all, should have added more. And I have used two additional tablespoons of melted butter, as I find the original 3 tablespoons is not enough, when mixed with the crumbs, they are still very sandy and dry. The other changes I made is to reduce the sugar from 170gms to 120gms for the filling, which turns out just right.

To make the filling, beat the cream cheese and sugar until creamy and add in the rest of the ingredients, pumpkin puree, eggs, vanilla extract, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, ground cloves and salt until well mixed. The crust is baked for 10 minutes to brown it a little, the filling is then poured on top and bake for a further 30 minutes. Leave to cool and refrigerate for at least 3 hours before serving.

Another lovely recipe from Abby. 

Please do visit ABC to see the other fellow bakers take on this lovely bread. If you would like to join ABC, please contact Hanaa.

Honey Oatmeal Bread : ABC October 2012

The bake at Avid Baker's Challenge (ABC) for this month is Honey Oatmeal Bread, taken from "The Weekend Baker" by Abigail Johnson Dodge.  I was looking forward to bake another one of Abby's bread, as I love the Brioche Bread and Buttery Pull-Apart Dinner Rolls a couple of months back. Just like the previous two breads, this Honey Oatmeal Bread is another winner.

It is soft, moist and smells of honey, really nice, while baking. Abby has, like all recipes in this book, provides the "do aheads". If you are planning to bake this the next morning, the dough can be prepared and refrigerate for up to 24 hours before proceeding with the rest of the recipe. She has given the option of making this bread either my hand or to mix in a stand mixer. I chose to mix the dough in my bread machine instead.

1. The ingredients : rolled oats, butter and salt, (reduced salt to 1 scant teaspoon).

2. Bring the milk to a boil, remove from heat and add the rolled oats, butter and salt. Stir to combine. Cover and let stand for 20 minutes, stirring frequently. (I only stirred twice).
3. Honey is added in, stirring till well combined.
4.Transfer the mixture into the bread pan.
5. Scatter flour (I use bread flour instead of all-purpose flour) on mixture and place the yeast on top. Select Dough Cycle.
6. The risen dough at the end of the Cycle. 

The dough is rolled out, and rolled up like a jelly roll, shaped and placed in the loaf pan.

Smooth out and press gently to flatten the dough in an even layer. Cover with greased plastic wrap and left to rise for about 45 minutes until centre of dough has risen about 1-1/2 inches above the rim of pan.

The risen dough.

Make a cut down the centre along the length of the risen dough. Bake in a preheated oven until puff and browned, about 40 minutes.

Mine was done at 35 minutes. Brush some melted butter over the top crust. Position bread on its side on a wire rack to cool completely.

Oops.... mine was a little too browned! Should have tent the top of the bread with foil but could not view the inside of my oven, (as the bulb connection in my oven was faulty for quite a number of years!). It did not burnt, the crust was good, there's no bitter taste, phew!

This is a lovely bread, it is soft, moist and stays soft too the next day. I enjoyed the bread with a generous spread of my homemade strawberry jam, lovely with a cup of coffee for breakfast. Another keeper recipe!

Please do visit ABC to see the other fellow bakers take on this lovely bread. If you would like to join ABC, please contact Hanaa.