Honey White Challah and Cinnamon & Sugar Challah (DB)

May’s Daring Bakers' was pretty twisted – Ruth from The Crafts of Mommyhood challenged us to make challah! Using recipes from all over, and tips from “A Taste of Challah,” by Tamar Ansh, she encouraged us to bake beautifully braided breads.

I was eager to try this recipe, and made one honey white loaf and one cinnamon & sugar loaf.  The honey white was good, but the cinnamon & sugar loaf was to die for! The recipe was easy to follow, though I had to add about 1 extra cup of flour before the dough wasn't too sticky to work with.  I was rather concerned as I was adding so much extra flour, but in the end I still had fluffy loaves with a nice crumb.

To create the cinnamon and sugar filling, I used 2/3 cup brown sugar (packed) mixed with 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon.  After separating the dough into three equal pieces, I simply rolled each piece into a rectangle and then spread 1.5 tablespoons of softened butter on to each rectangle.  I then spread one-third of the cinnamon and sugar mixture on to each one and then rolled the rectangles up lengthwise. Then I simply braided the three rolls like I did with the regular honey white loaf.

The result was a bread that basically tasted like a delicious cinnamon roll, sans icing.  I realized as I was getting ready to put the bread in the oven that I was out of eggs, so my loaves were without egg washes, but I brushed them with a little bit of milk to add just a little more color to them.  The cinnamon & sugar loaf didn't last very long in our household, and I will definitely be making it again.

Thanks, Ruth, for hosting this month.  If you'd like the recipe, you'll find it posted below, and on Ruth's blog.

Honey White Challah
from Tammy's Recipes

Ingredients

1 ½ cups (360 ml) warm water, separated

1 Tbsp. (15 ml) (15 gm/½ oz sugar

2 Tbsp. (2-2/3 packets) (30 ml) (18 gm) (2/3 oz) dry active yeast

½ cup (120 ml) honey

1 Tbsp. (15 ml) oil (light colored vegetable oil, or olive oil if you prefer)

4 large eggs

1 ½ tsp. 7½ ml) (9 gm) (1/3 oz) salt

5 cups (1200 ml) (700 gm/25 oz) all-purpose (plain) flour, plus more as needed (up to 8 or 9 cups total)

1 egg beaten with 1 tsp. water

Directions:

1. In mixer bowl/large mixing bowl combine ½ cup warm water, 1 Tbsp. sugar and 2 Tbsp. yeast.  Allow to proof approximately 5 minutes until foamy.
2. To the yeast mixture add the remaining water, honey, oil, eggs, salt and 5 cups of flour. Knead (by hand or with your mixer’s dough hook) until smooth, adding flour as needed.  Knead for approximately 10 minutes.
3. Transfer dough to a clean, oiled bowl, turn to coat or add a bit more oil on top.  Cover bowl with a kitchen/tea towel.  Leave to rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 ½ hours. 
4. Punch down the dough, divide it into two sections.  Use one half to make each loaf (shaped or braided as desired).
5. Place loaves on parchment lined or greased baking sheets, cover with a towel, allow to rise 30 minutes.
6. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
7. Brush tops loaves with egg wash.  (Sprinkle with seeds or toppings here if wanted.)
8. Bake loaves 30-40 minutes until done.
9. Cool on wire racks.

Dutch Crunch Bread (DB)

Sara and Erica of Baking JDs were our March 2012 Daring Bakers' hostesses! Sara & Erica challenged us to make Dutch Crunch bread, a delicious sandwich bread with a unique, crunchy topping. Sara and Erica also challenged us to create a one of a kind sandwich with our bread!

Technically, Dutch Crunch doesn’t refer to the type of bread, but rather the topping that is spread over the bread before baking. In Dutch it’s called Tijgerbrood or “tiger bread” after the tiger-like shell on the bread when it comes out of the oven. The final product has a delightful sweet crunch to it that makes it perfect for a sandwich roll. It’s a common option at sandwich shops all over the Bay Area and is often one of the first breads to run out.

I've never had Dutch Crunch bread before, so I was curious to try this one out.  It was a pretty straightforward recipe, and I did not come across any issues making this bread.  It was actually kind of fun schmearing the topping all over the bread prior to baking :) (would be fun for the kids to get involved too!)

I wasn't too creative with my sandwich making.  I just went with a classic BLT.  I'm a bacon lover, so the lettuce and tomato are basically just there to make me feel less guilty (otherwise I'd just be eating plain bacon!).  The dutch crunch topping was a nice textural change to plain bread, but I think this type of soft white roll would have lent itself better to another type of sandwich.  The BLT seems to work better with traditional toasted bread.  Still, I had fun with this challenge and I am glad I tried it.

Thanks Sara and Erica, for hosting this month's challenge.  You'll find the recipe below - be sure to read the note at the bottom about rice flour if you are not familiar with this ingredient. Also be sure to check out the Daring Bakers' Blogroll to see what kind of sandwiches everyone else came up with.

Soft White Roll

Servings: Six sandwich rolls
This recipe approximates the quintessential white sandwich roll found throughout the Bay Area. The recipe is simple, quick, and addictive.

Ingredients
1 tablespoon (1 packet) (15 ml) (7 gm/ ¼ oz) active dry yeast
¼ cup (60 ml) warm water (105-110º F) (41-43°C) (No need to use a thermometer – it should feel between lukewarm and hot to the touch).
1 cup (240 ml) warm milk (105-110º F) (41-43°C) (We’ve tried both nonfat and 2%, with no noticeable difference)
1½ tablespoons (22½ ml) (20 gm/ ⅔ oz) sugar
2 tablespoons (30 ml) vegetable oil (plus additional olive or vegetable oil for greasing bowl during rising)
1½ teaspoons (7½ ml) (9 gm/⅓ oz) salt
Up to 4 cups (960 ml) (600 gm/21oz) all purpose flour

Directions:
1. In the bowl of an electric mixer or large mixing bowl, combine yeast, water, milk and sugar. Stir to dissolve and let sit for about 5 minutes (The mixture should start to bubble or foam a bit and smell yeasty).
2. Add in vegetable oil, salt and 2 cups of flour. Using the dough hook attachment or a wooden spoon, mix at medium speed until the dough comes together. (The photo to below is with the first 2 cups of flour added).

3. Add remaining flour a quarter cup at time until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl, as shown in the photo below (For us, this usually required an additional 1½ to 2 cups of flour).

4. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 4 minutes, until smooth and elastic.
5. Place in a lightly greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise for 1 hour, or until doubled (or more) in size (see photo comparison).
6. Once the dough has risen, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and divide it into 6 equal portions (if you’d like to make rolls) or 2 equal portions (if you’d like to make a loaf) (using a sharp knife or a dough scraper works well). Shape each into a ball or loaf and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet (try not to handle the dough too much at this point).
7. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 15 minutes while you prepare the topping.
8. Coat the top of each roll or loaf with the topping as described above. While the original recipe recommends letting them stand for 20 minutes after applying the topping, I got better results by putting them directly into the oven.
9. Once you’ve applied the topping, bake in a preheated moderately hot 380ºF/190°C/gas mark 5 for 25-30 minutes, until well browned. Let cool completely on a wire rack before eating.
Our finished products: Note the roll in the foreground on the left. This is what happens if you don’t put enough topping on the bread – no cracking! So be sure to load on the topping.

Dutch Crunch Topping

Servings: This recipe should make sufficient topping for two 9x5 loaves (23cmx13cm) or 12 rolls. If you make only 6 rolls in the first soft white roll recipe, you can cut the topping recipe in half.

You should not prepare the topping until the bread you’ve selected to bake is almost finished rising (~15 minutes from baking). 

Ingredients
2 tablespoons (2 packets) (30 ml) (15 gm/½ oz) active dry yeast
1 cup (240 ml) warm water (105-115º F) (41-46°C)
2 tablespoons (30 ml) (30 gm/1 oz) sugar
2 tablespoons (30 ml) vegetable oil
½ teaspoon (2½ ml) (3 gm) salt
1½ cups (360 ml) (240 gm/8½ oz) rice flour (white or brown; NOT sweet or glutinous rice flour) (increase by 1 cup or more for home-made rice flour)

Directions:
1. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and beat with a whisk; beat hard to combine. The consistency should be like stiff royal icing – spreadable, but not too runny. If you pull some up with your whisk, as shown below, it should drip off slowly. Add more water or rice flour as necessary. Let stand 15 minutes.
2. Coat the top of each loaf or roll with a thick layer of topping. We tried coating it with a brush but it worked better just to use fingers or a spoon and kind of spread it around. You should err on the side of applying too much topping – a thin layer will not crack properly.
3. Let stand, uncovered, for any additional time your recipe recommends. With the Soft White Roll, you can place the rolls directly into the oven after applying the topping. With the Brown Rice Bread, the loaves should stand for 20 minutes with the topping before baking.
4. When baking, place pans on a rack in the center of the oven and bake your bread as you ordinarily would. The Dutch Cruch topping should crack and turn a nice golden-brown color.

A Note about Rice Flour: If it’s not in your local grocery store, check in a specialty shop (somewhere that would sell gluten-free foods) or online (e.g., amazon.com). Be sure not to buy the sweet or glutinous variety, though either white or brown rice flour works just fine.

If you are unable to find it, or if you’re just curious about how to make it yourself, it’s not very hard to do at all. There are a number of tutorials online, but the basic idea is to put rice in a spice grinder or something else that can break grains, and grind it until it is a fine flour-like powder. You will likely need to sift the final product through a sieve.

Home-made rice flour alters the balance of ingredients in the topping recipe, specifically requiring more rice flour to make it the appropriate paste-like consistency.  You want the topping to form a thick layer on the bread. If it’s too watery or drippy, it will not stay on top of the bread and crack like it’s supposed to.

Basic White Loaves (TWD)

This is our inaugural post for the new group, Tuesdays with Dorie: Baking with Julia.  After four years, we are finally done baking our way through Baking: From My Home to Yours, and now we're diving head first into Baking with Julia. If you would like to join us, just grab a copy of the book Baking with Julia and sign up here.

Our hosts this week were Laurie and Jules.  They chose the basic white loaves.  Without actually looking at the recipe, I was a bit concerned that this would be a time consuming or difficult recipe because, of course, anything to do with Julia and yeast dough must be difficult, right?!

Well, I was pleasantly surprised to find that this recipe was pretty simple.  There are two 1-hour rest periods, but the actual prep time is about 15-20 minutes.  I started this recipe in the morning, and as Dorie notes, my loaves were done by lunch time.




I actually didn't make the basic white loaves. I decided to kick them up a notch.  To my first loaf I added a generous smear of butter and then some Brady Street Cheese Sprinkle from Penzey's.  To my second loaf I added a generous smear of butter and then cinnamon and sugar.  I didn't really measure anything out, just eye balled it, and in retrospect, probably need to add a lot more cinnamon and sugar next time to get the flavors to really come out.  That said, my loaves turned out perfectly! They were golden on the outside and so soft and tender on the inside.  I will definitely be making this one again!

If you would like the recipe, you can find visit Laurie and Jules' blogs, Slush and Someone's in the Kitchen.  You can also go here, to see who else participated in this week's Tuesdays with Dorie.

* Recipe notes:

- I actually made this twice because the first time I used almost dead yeast.  So the second time around I was out of bread flour.  I made it with regular bleached all purpose flour and the bread still turned out fantastic! I am sure it is better with bread flour but if you don't have bread flour that's ok too.

- Another filling I would love to try the next time I make this: pesto or nutella!

French Country Bread (DB)

Our Daring Bakers' Host for December 2011 was Jessica of My Recipe Project and she showed us how fun it is to create Sour Dough bread in our own kitchens! She provided us with Sour Dough recipes from Bread Matters by Andrew Whitley as well as delicious recipes to use our Sour Dough bread in from Tonia George’s Things on Toast and Canteen’s Great British Food!

Sourdough is made without adding any yeast or leavening, by fermenting your own sourdough ‘starter’. The natural yeasts in the flour do the work of making a lovely loaf of bread – we just facilitate that process. Sourdough is basically bread as your great-, great- grandmother knew it, before the days of Chorleywood (i.e. factory-made, steamed, sliced, additive-filled) bread and packaged yeast. It takes time, but not too much active work. 

I have to say that while I had a lot of fun with this recipe, it was a colossal fail!  I've never made a starter before, and watching this one develop and bubble up was really cool.  Unfortunately, I let my dough proof too long (didn't realize that would be an issue), and while I ended up with what looks like a beautiful loaf, it was extremely dense and didn't quite develop the crumb I was hoping it would.  I was hoping to get a good picture of the cut loaf, but since I failed to successfully get a good crumb, I didn't photograph the inside of the loaf :(

The great thing about this recipe, though, is that you're left with a starter that you can keep on using... so I look forward to trying this recipe again! :) Thanks Jessica, for hosting this month's challenge.  Make sure you check out the Daring Bakers' Blogroll to see how everyone else rose to the challenge.

French Country Bread
Servings: 1 large loaf plus extra wheat starter for further baking
Wheat Starter - Day 1:

Ingredients
4 1/2 tablespoons (70 ml) (40 gm/1 ½ oz) stoneground breadmaking whole-wheat or graham flour
3 tablespoons (45 ml) water
Total scant ½ cup (115 ml) (3 oz/85 gm)

Directions:
1. In a Tupperware or plastic container, mix the flour and water into a paste.
2. Set the lid on top gently, cover with a plastic bag, to prevent messes in case it grows more than expected!
3. Set somewhere warm (around 86 F if possible). I sometimes put mine on a windowsill near a radiator, but even if it’s not that warm, you’ll still get a starter going – it might just take longer.

Wheat Starter - Day 2:

Ingredients
4 1/2 tablespoons (70 ml) (40 gm/1 ½ oz) stoneground breadmaking whole-wheat or graham flour
3 tablespoons (45 ml) water
scant 1/2 cup (115 ml) (3 oz/85 gm) starter from Day 1
Total scant cup (230 ml) (6 oz/170 gm)

Directions:
1. Stir the flour and water into the mixture from Day 1, cover, and return to its warm place.
Wheat Starter - Day 3:

Ingredients
4 1/2 tablespoons (70 ml) (40 gm/1 ½ oz) stoneground breadmaking whole-wheat or graham flour
4 teaspoons (20 ml) water
scant 1 cup (230 ml) (6 oz/170 gm) starter from Day 2
Total 1⅓ cup (320 ml) (230 gm/8-1/10 oz)

Directions:
1. Stir the flour and water into the mixture from Day 2, cover, and return to its warm place.
Wheat Starter - Day 4:

Ingredients
3/4 cup plus 1½ tablespoons (205 ml) (120 gm/4 ¼ oz) unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup less 4 teaspoons (100 ml) water
1⅓ cup (320 ml) (230 gm/8 oz) starter from Day 3
Total scant 2⅔ cup (625 ml) (440 gm/15½ oz)

Directions:
1. Stir the flour and water into the mixture from Day 3, cover, and return to its warm place. At this point it should be bubbling and smell yeasty. If not, repeat this process for a further day or so until it is!

French Country Bread
Stage 1: Refreshing the leaven

Ingredients
1 cup less 1 tablespoon (225 ml) (160 gm/5 ⅔ oz) wheat Leaven Starter
6 tablespoons less 1 teaspoon (85 ml) (50 gm/1¾ oz) stoneground bread making whole-wheat or graham flour
1 cup plus 2 teaspoons (250 ml) (150 gm/5 ⅓ oz) unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 cup (120 ml) water
Production Leaven Total 2¾ cups plus 4 teaspoons (680 ml) (480 gm /1 lb 1 oz)

Directions:
1. Mix everything into a sloppy dough. It may be fairly stiff at this stage. Cover and set aside for 4 hours, until bubbling and expanded slightly.

French Country Bread
Stage 2: Making the final dough

Ingredients
3/4 cup less 1 teaspoon (175 ml) (100 gm/3 ½ oz) stoneground breadmaking whole-wheat or graham flour, plus more for dusting
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons (510 ml) (300gm/10 ½ oz) unbleached all-purpose flour
1¼ teaspoons (7½ ml) (7 gm/¼ oz) sea salt or ⅔ teaspoon (3⅓ ml) (3 gm/⅛ oz) table salt
1 ¼ cups (300 ml) water
1 ¾ cups (425 ml) (300 gm/10 ½ oz) production leaven – this should leave some (1 cup) for your next loaf.
Total 6 cups less 2 tablespoons 1415 ml (1007 gm/35 ½ oz/2 lb 3½ oz)

Directions:
1. Mix the dough with all the ingredients except the production leaven. It will be a soft dough.
2. Knead on an UNFLOURED surface for about 8-10 minutes, getting the tips of your fingers wet if you need to. You can use dough scrapers to stretch and fold the dough at this stage, or air knead if you prefer. Basically, you want to stretch the dough and fold it over itself repeatedly until you have a smoother, more elastic dough.
See my demonstration here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqS3raEGdwk
3. Smooth your dough into a circle, then scoop your production leaven into the centre. You want to fold the edges of the dough up to incorporate the leaven, but this might be a messy process. Knead for a couple minutes until the leaven is fully incorporated in the dough. See my demonstration here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPO97R4iO4U
4. Spread some water on a clean bit of your work surface and lay the dough on top. Cover with an upturned bowl, lining the rim of the bowl with a bit of water. Leave for an hour, so that the gluten can develop and the yeasts can begin to aerate the dough.
5. Once your dough has rested, you can begin to stretch and fold it. Using wet hands and a dough scraper, stretch the dough away from you as far as you can without breaking it and fold it back in on itself. Repeat this in each direction, to the right, towards you, and to the left. This will help create a more ‘vertical’ dough, ready for proofing. See my demonstration here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDoJRCMfclE
6. Heavily flour a banneton/proofing basket with whole wheat flour and rest your dough, seam side up, in the basket. Put the basket in a large plastic bag, inflate it, and seal it. Set aside somewhere warm for 3-5 hours, or until it has expanded a fair bit. It is ready to bake when the dough responds to a gently poke by slowly pressing back to shape.
7. Preheat the oven to hot 425°F/220°C/gas mark 7. Line a baking sheet with parchment, then carefully invert the dough onto the sheet. I like to put the baking sheet on top of the basket, then gently flip it over so as to disturb the dough as little as possible. Make 2-3 cuts on top of the loaf and bake for 40-50 minutes, reducing the temperature to moderately hot 400°F/200°C/gas mark 6 after 10 minutes.
8. Cool on a cooling rack.

Notes:
• Good bread starts with good flour. Beyond trying to find good quality, local (organic if possible) flour, Whitley recommends finding out three things: how was it milled? (stoneground ideally, to retain more nutrients); how much of the original grain is left in the flour (ideally 95-100 % for bread making); and lastly, how much protein is in the flour? (the more protein, the more gluten, leading to a more stretchy dough – ‘strong’ or ‘bread’ flour indicates a higher level of protein).
• Normal tap water is fine in most cases, unless you live in a municipality that heavily chlorinates the water. Chlorine will kill almost all bacteria, including your yeast, so you’ll want to use filtered water if you can. Whitley says that leaving water in a pitcher overnight can rid most of the chlorine.
• If you clean your kitchen with anti-bacterial products or harsh cleaners, try not to do it before baking and make sure your bowls are clean but have no chemical residue left on them! Many a bread has been deflated by an overly-sterilised kitchen.
• All of these recipes call for sea salt because it retains a higher level of minerals and has a stronger salt taste, meaning you can use less of it. Never add salt directly to your starter – it will kill the yeast, so use the following method: dissolve your starter in water, stir your salt through your flour, then mix the wet with the dry ingredients.
• When greasing pans for baking, try to use hard fats like butter because oil can drip down the pans and lead to a fried bottom on your loaf!
• When working with the dough, you might feel inclined to heavily flour your work surface or your hands. Resist this urge! Sourdough is meant to be wet and sticky – this helps to give the bread a nice crumb once it has baked. I work most doughs with my hands, but sometimes use a dough scraper to help lift and fold the dough. When I need to pick up or shape a loaf, I find damp hands work better than floured ones!
• If you don’t have dough scrapers, old bank cards/credit cards work just as well! But wash them thoroughly first.
• Try to work with your hands to make these recipes – mixing and kneading the dough by hand means you’ll get a better sense of how your dough should feel! We learn by doing!
• Remember, a lot of these timings are guidelines – pay attention as, depending on temperature and your starter, you may need more or less time to proof your dough. You want a dough that resists poking a bit (if you poke it, the hole will disappear) but not one that quivers all over and seems really fragile.
• Cutting the top of your loaf before it goes in the oven helps it to expand or split at those points. This means you don’t end up with funny outgrowths from your bread! You want to be quick, gentle, and use a very sharp blade – see the video at the end for tips.
• Notes on scheduling: For the Rye loaf, and all the other starters, I find it helpful to start the process on a Monday, so that come Friday/Saturday you are ready to bake. I refresh my starter (Stage 1) the night before baking, then do Stage 2 in the morning. For the French Country Bread, I refresh the starter in the morning, make the final dough at lunchtime, and bake at dinner time. For the Rice Sourdough, I soak the flaxseeds on a Friday morning, refresh my starter on Saturday morning, the prep the final dough at lunchtime, ready to bake at dinner.
• I would set the difficulty level of these recipes as: Rye – Easy!, French Country Bread – Med-Hard!, Rice Sourdough – Easy!
• Once you’ve finished baking, you’ll have some leftover starter. Keep this in a Tupperware container, as this is what you will use to start your next loaf (and so on…)! Some of the best starters are hundreds of years old – and they get better with time. If you bake daily, you can keep your starter at room temperature. If you bake weekly, I’d keep it in the fridge. You can also freeze starter if you bake very infrequently, but I find it does fine in the fridge so long as you feed it at least once a month. Simply refresh your starter according to the recipe – or with equal parts by weight of flour and water – and let it come back to life at room temperature.
• You might notice that your starter starts to smell a bit like acetone – this is completely normal. It may develop a grey liquid on top, which you can either pour off or stir back into the starter. When I refresh mine, I discard half of the original starter and add in fresh flour and water for the yeast to feed on.
• Sometimes, very rarely, a starter might get moldy. This is often due to being left at room temperature without feeding. If there is a lot of mold throughout the starter, I would discard it. But the odd bit is not always a problem. It is nearly impossible to kill a starter, unless you get salt or chemical products in it – so don’t fret! Often it is just a matter of feeding it over a few days and nursing it back to life.

Croissants (DB)

 

The Daring Bakers’ go retro this month! Thanks to one of our very talented non-blogging members, Sarah, the Daring Bakers were challenged to make Croissants using a recipe from the Queen of French Cooking, none other than Julia Child!

I don't typically complete the DB challenge until the last minute, but still get it posted in time.  Ironically, this month I actually completed it by mid-September, but couldn't get it posted in time.  I was supposed to get this post up on September 27th, but I've been sick, working, chasing around a toddler, and getting ready for a trip.  So you'll have to forgive me if this post is short and sweet.

Making croissants really isn't as hard as it might sound (time consuming, yes, but not very difficult).  It simply involves rolling out some dough, adding a layer of butter, and then folding it over several times until you've got layers of alternating dough and butter.  As it bakes up in the oven, it puffs up into wonderful, buttery, flaky layers. 

I filled my croissants with nutella and they were delicious.  I baked up a few and then put the rest in the freezer so that I can enjoy more at a later date.

Thanks Sarah, for hosting this month's challenge.  Nothing beats a fresh, homemade croissant and these were no exception! Make sure you check out the Daring Bakers' Blogroll to see how everyone else enjoyed these flaky, buttery, treats.

Croissants
Recipe Source: Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume Two. Julia Child and Simone Beck.
Download printable recipe here

Ingredients
¼ oz (7 gm) of fresh yeast, or 1¼ teaspoon (6¼ ml/4 gm) of dry-active yeast (about ½ sachet)
3 tablespoons (45 ml) warm water (less than 100°F/38°C)
1 teaspoon (5 ml/4½ gm) sugar
1 3/4 cups (225 gm/½ lb) of strong plain flour (I used Polish all-purpose flour, which is 13% protein)
2 teaspoons (10 ml/9 gm) sugar
1½ teaspoon (7½ ml/9 gm) salt
½ cup (120 ml/¼ pint) milk (I am not sure if the fat content matters. I used 2%)
2 tablespoons (30 ml) tasteless oil (I used generic vegetable oil)
½ cup (120 ml/1 stick/115 gm/¼ lb) chilled, unsalted butter
1 egg, for egg wash

Directions:

1. Mix the yeast, warm water, and first teaspoon of sugar in a small bowl. Leave aside for the yeast and sugar to dissolve and the yeast to foam up a little.
2. Measure out the other ingredients
3. Heat the milk until tepid (either in the microwave or a saucepan), and dissolve in the salt and remaining sugar
4. Place the flour in a large bowl.
5. Add the oil, yeast mixture, and milk mixture to the flour
6. Mix all the ingredients together using the rubber spatula, just until all the flour is incorporated
7. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, and let it rest a minute while you wash out the bowl
8. Knead the dough eight to ten times only. The best way is as Julia Child does it in this video.  It’s a little difficult to explain, but essentially involves smacking the dough on the counter (lots of fun if you are mad at someone) and removing it from the counter using the pastry scraper.
9. Place the dough back in the bowl, and place the bowl in the plastic bag.
10. Leave the bowl at approximately 75°F/24°C for three hours, or until the dough has tripled in size.
11. After the dough has tripled in size, remove it gently from the bowl, pulling it away from the sides of the bowl with your fingertips.
12. Place the dough on a lightly floured board or countertop, and use your hands to press it out into a rectangle about 8 by 12 inches (20cm by 30cm).
13. Fold the dough rectangle in three, like a letter (fold the top third down, and then the bottom third up)
14. Place the dough letter back in the bowl, and the bowl back in the plastic bag.
15. Leave the dough to rise for another 1.5 hours, or until it has doubled in size. This second rise can be done overnight in the fridge
16. Place the double-risen dough onto a plate and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Place the plate in the fridge while you prepare the butter.
17. Once the dough has doubled, it’s time to incorporate the butter
18. Place the block of chilled butter on a chopping board.
19. Using the rolling pin, beat the butter down a little, till it is quite flat.
20. Use the heel of your hand to continue to spread the butter until it is smooth. You want the butter to stay cool, but spread easily.
21. Remove the dough from the fridge and place it on a lightly floured board or counter. Let it rest for a minute or two.
22. Spread the dough using your hands into a rectangle about 14 by 8 inches (35 cm by 20 cm).
23. Remove the butter from the board, and place it on the top half of the dough rectangle
24. Spread the butter all across the top two-thirds of the dough rectangle, but keep it ¼ inch (6 mm) across from all the edges.
25. Fold the top third of the dough down, and the bottom third of the dough up.
26. Turn the dough package 90 degrees, so that the top flap is to your right (like a book).
27. Roll out the dough package (gently, so you don’t push the butter out of the dough) until it is again about 14 by 8 inches (35 cm by 20 cm).
28. Again, fold the top third down and the bottom third up.
29. Wrap the dough package in plastic wrap, and place it in the fridge for 2 hours.
30. After two hours have passed, take the dough out of the fridge and place it again on the lightly floured board or counter.
31. Tap the dough with the rolling pin, to deflate it a little
32. Let the dough rest for 8 to 10 minutes
33. Roll the dough package out till it is 14 by 8 inches (35 cm by 20 cm).
34. Fold in three, as before
35. Turn 90 degrees, and roll out again to 14 by 8 inches (35 cm by 20 cm).
36. Fold in three for the last time, wrap in plastic, and return the dough package to the fridge for two more hours (or overnight, with something heavy on top to stop it from rising)
37. It’s now time to cut the dough and shape the croissants
38. First, lightly butter your baking sheet so that it is ready
39. Take the dough out of the fridge and let it rest for ten minutes on the lightly floured board or counter
40. Roll the dough out into a 20 by 5 inch rectangle (51 cm by 12½ cm). (Photo 24)
41. Cut the dough into two rectangles (each 10 by 5 inches (25½ cm by 12½ cm)) (Photo 24)
42. Place one of the rectangles in the fridge, to keep the butter cold
43. Roll the second rectangle out until it is 15 by 5 inches (38 cm by 12½ cm).
44. Cut the rectangle into three squares (each 5 by 5 inches (12½ cm by 12½ cm))
45. Place two of the squares in the fridge
46. The remaining square may have shrunk up a little bit in the meantime. Roll it out again till it is nearly square
47. Cut the square diagonally into two triangles.
48. Stretch the triangle out a little, so it is not a right-angle triangle, but more of an isosceles.
49. Starting at the wide end, roll the triangle up towards the point, and curve into a crescent shape.
50. Place the unbaked croissant on the baking sheet
51. Repeat the process with the remaining squares of dough, creating 12 croissants in total.
52. Leave the tray of croissants, covered lightly with plastic wrap, to rise for 1 hour
53. Preheat the oven to very hot 475°F/240°C/gas mark 9.
54. Mix the egg with a teaspoon of water
55. Spread the egg wash across the tops of the croissants
56. Put the croissants in the oven for 12 to 15 minutes, until the tops are browned nicely
57. Take the croissants out of the oven, and place them on a rack to cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Servings: 12 croissants

Yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake (DB)

The March 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Ria of Ria’s Collection and Jamie of Life’s a Feast. Ria and Jamie challenged The Daring Bakers to bake a yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake. Jamie found this recipe on a piece of yellowed paper in her dad’s collection of clipped out and hand-written recipes from the 1970’s, no source, no date, and she tried the recipe and loved it! It's a gorgeous brioche-like dough rolled jellyroll style around a layer of whipped meringue, cinnamon, sugar, and chocolate chips, then shaped into a wreath and baked.

I halved this recipe because I didn't really see the need to have two coffee cakes around the house tempting me! The recipe was easy to follow, and instead of kneading the dough by hand I let my KitchenAid dough hook do the work for me.  I did have to add a little extra flour until the dough was ready and was no longer sticking to the sides of the bowl, but otherwise the recipe was really straightforward.  I used the filling recommended by Jamie, sans nuts, and simply doubled the amount of cinnamon in the mixture.  It came out just right!

I wasn't sure what to expect from the meringue layer that is rolled into this cake, but as Ria and Jamie describe, the meringue "miraculously melts into the dough as it bakes leaving behind just a hint of sweetness and adding to the perfect moistness of the cake."  Some of it does ooze out between the slits cut into the cake, and that part of the meringue bakes up into slightly crisp, ooey gooey goodness!


Thanks Ria and Jamie, for hosting this month's challenge.  It was delicious and I'll definitely be making it again. Make sure you check out the Daring Bakers' Blogroll to see how everyone else enjoyed this wonderful breakfast treat.

And don't forget - I'm giving you two chances right now to enter to win a $100 Visa gift card.  There are just a few days left to enter the giveaway that ends on March 31st.  You have until April 11th to enter my second giveaway here.

FILLED MERINGUE COFFEE CAKE
Makes 2 round coffee cakes, each approximately 10 inches in diameter
The recipe can easily be halved to make one round coffee cake

Ingredients
For the yeast coffee cake dough:
4 cups (600 g / 1.5 lbs.) flour
¼ cup (55 g / 2 oz.) sugar
¾ teaspoon (5 g / ¼ oz.) salt
1 package (2 ¼ teaspoons / 7 g / less than an ounce) active dried yeast
¾ cup (180 ml / 6 fl. oz.) whole milk
¼ cup (60 ml / 2 fl. oz. water (doesn’t matter what temperature)
½ cup (135 g / 4.75 oz.) unsalted butter at room temperature
2 large eggs at room temperature
10 strands saffron for Ria’s version (Saffron might be hard to find and it’s expensive, so you can substitute with ½ - 1 teaspoon of ground cardamom or ground nutmeg. Or simply leave it plain like Jamie’s version)

For the meringue:
3 large egg whites at room temperature
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon vanilla
½ cup (110 g / 4 oz.) sugar

For the filling:
Jamie’s version: (this recipe is for 1 coffee cake)
1 cup (110 g / 4 oz.) chopped pecans or walnuts
2 Tablespoons (30 g / 1 oz.) granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup (170 g / 6 oz.) semisweet chocolate chips or coarsely chopped chocolate

Ria’s version:
1 cup (130 g / 5 oz.) chopped cashew nuts
2 Tablespoons (30 g / 1 oz.) granulated sugar
½ teaspoon garam masala (You can make it at home – recipe below - or buy from any Asian/Indian grocery store)
1 cup (170g / 6 oz.) semisweet chocolate chips ( I used Ghirardelli)
Egg wash: 1 beaten egg
Cocoa powder (optional) and confectioner’s sugar (powdered/icing sugar) for dusting cakes

**Garam (means “hot”) masala (means “mixture”) is a blend of ground spices and is used in most Indian savory dishes. It is used in limited quantities while cooking vegetables, meats & eggs. There is no “one” recipe for it as every household has a recipe of their own. Below, I am going to share the recipe which I follow.
4 or 5 sticks (25 g) Cinnamon Sticks (break a stick and open the scroll)
3 ½ tablespoons (25 g / less than an ounce) Cloves, whole
100 g. (3.5 oz.) Fennel seeds
4 tablespoons (25 g / less than an ounce) Cumin seeds
1 ½ tablespoons (10 g / less than half an ounce) Peppercorns
25 g (less than half an ounce) Green Cardamom pods

In a small pan on medium heat, roast each spice individually (it hardly takes a minute) until you get a nice aroma. Make sure you stir it throughout so that it doesn’t burn. As soon as each spice is roasted, transfer it to a bowl to cool slightly. Once they are all roasted, grind into a fine powder by using a coffee grinder, or pestle & mortar. Store in an airtight container and use as needed.

Directions:
Prepare the dough:
In a large mixing bowl, combine 1 ½ cups (230 g) of the flour, the sugar, salt and yeast.
In a saucepan, combine the milk, water and butter and heat over medium heat until warm and the butter is just melted. Ria’s version: add the 10 saffron threads to the warmed liquid and allow to steep off of the heat for 10 minutes. This will give the mixture a distinct aroma and flavor and a yellowish-orange hue.

With an electric mixer on low speed, gradually add the warm liquid to the flour/yeast mixture, beating until well blended. Increase mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes. Add the eggs and 1 cup (150 g) flour and beat for 2 more minutes.

Using a wooden spoon, stir in enough of the remaining flour to make a dough that holds together. Turn out onto a floured surface (use any of the 1 ½ cups of flour remaining) and knead the dough for 8 to 10 minutes until the dough is soft, smooth, sexy and elastic, keeping the work surface floured and adding extra flour as needed.

Place the dough in a lightly greased (I use vegetable oil) bowl, turning to coat all sides. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and let rise until double in bulk, 45 – 60 minutes. The rising time will depend on the type of yeast you use.

Prepare your filling:In a small bowl, combine the cinnamon and sugar for the filling if using. You can add the chopped nuts to this if you like, but I find it easier to sprinkle on both the nuts and the chocolate separately.

Once the dough has doubled, make the meringue:
In a clean mixing bowl – ideally a plastic or metal bowl so the egg whites adhere to the side (they slip on glass) and you don’t end up with liquid remaining in the bottom – beat the egg whites with the salt, first on low speed for 30 seconds, then increase to high and continue beating until foamy and opaque. Add the vanilla then start adding the ½ cup sugar, a tablespoon at a time as you beat, until very stiff, glossy peaks form.

Assemble the Coffee Cakes:
Line 2 baking/cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Punch down the dough and divide in half. On a lightly floured surface, working one piece of the dough at a time (keep the other half of the dough wrapped in plastic), roll out the dough into a 20 x 10-inch (about 51 x 25 ½ cm) rectangle. Spread half of the meringue evenly over the rectangle up to about 1/2-inch (3/4 cm) from the edges. Sprinkle half of your filling of choice evenly over the meringue (ex: half of the cinnamon-sugar followed by half the chopped nuts and half of the chocolate chips/chopped chocolate).

Now, roll up the dough jellyroll style, from the long side. Pinch the seam closed to seal. Very carefully transfer the filled log to one of the lined cookie sheets, seam side down. Bring the ends of the log around and seal the ends together, forming a ring, tucking one end into the other and pinching to seal.
Using kitchen scissors or a sharp knife (although scissors are easier), make cuts along the outside edge at 1-inch (2 ½ cm) intervals. Make them as shallow or as deep as desired but don’t be afraid to cut deep into the ring.

Repeat with the remaining dough, meringue and fillings.

Cover the 2 coffee cakes with plastic wrap and allow them to rise again for 45 to 60 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).

Brush the tops of the coffee cakes with the egg wash. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes until risen and golden brown. The dough should sound hollow when tapped.

 

Remove from the oven and slide the parchment paper off the cookie sheets onto the table. Very gently loosen the coffee cakes from the paper with a large spatula and carefully slide the cakes off onto cooling racks. Allow to cool.

Just before serving, dust the tops of the coffee cakes with confectioner’s sugar as well as cocoa powder if using chocolate in the filling. These are best eaten fresh, the same day or the next day.

Stollen (DB)

"You stole what?" Yes, that is the response I got when I told my husband that I was making stollen!

The 2010 December Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Penny of Sweet Sadie’s Baking. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make Stollen. She adapted a friend’s family recipe and combined it with information from friends, techniques from Peter Reinhart’s book.........and Martha Stewart’s demonstration.

I had actually never heard of or tried stollen before, so I had no idea what to expect.  Stollen is a very traditional German Christmas bread.  It is made with yeast, water and flour, and usually with zest added to the dough. Candied orange peel and candied citrus is often also added.  What you end up with is a bread-like fruitcake.


I was pleasantly surprised by this recipe.  When you bake something until it is a "dark mahogany color,"and sounds "hollow when thumped on the bottom" you kind of expect something dry and hard.  This was quite the opposite, actually.  It was moist and had a nice, tender crumb.  The citrus zest and candied orange peels really gave the bread an interesting flavor that reminded me of the Italian sweet bread panettone.  I have to admit that the sugared butter coating was my favorite part of this bread (the finished bread is coated with three layers of melted butter and sprinkled with powdered sugar).  Without it, the bread wouldn't have been nearly as good. 

Thanks Penny, for hosting this month's challenge.  I actually made this weeks ago but my post is a few days late because we just got back from a trip to (rainy) California and I completely forgot about this until now! Make sure you check out the Daring Bakers' Blogroll to see how everyone else enjoyed this sweet German holiday treat.

Wishing everyone a safe and Happy New Year's!


Stollen Wreath

Makes one large wreath or two traditional shaped Stollen loaves. Serves 10-12 people

Ingredients

¼ cup (60ml) lukewarm water (110º F / 43º C)
2 packages (4 1/2 teaspoons) (22 ml) (14 grams) (1/2 oz) active dry yeast
1 cup (240 ml) milk
10 tablespoons (150 ml) (140 grams) unsalted butter (can use salted butter)
5½ cups (1320 ml) (27 ozs) (770 grams) all-purpose (plain) flour (Measure flour first - then sift- plus extra for dusting)
½ cup (120 ml) (115 gms) sugar
¾ teaspoon (3 ¾ ml) (4 ½ grams) salt (if using salted butter there is no need to alter this salt measurement)
1 teaspoon (5 ml) (6 grams) cinnamon
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
Grated zest of 1 lemon and 1 orange
2 teaspoons (10 ml) (very good) vanilla extract
1 teaspoon (5 ml) lemon extract or orange extract
¾ cup (180 ml) (4 ¾ ozs) (135 grams) mixed peel
1 cup (240 ml) (6 ozs) (170 gms) firmly packed raisins
3 tablespoons (45ml) rum
12 red glacé cherries (roughly chopped) for the color and the taste. (optional)
1 cup (240 ml) (3 ½ ozs) (100 grams) flaked almonds
Melted unsalted butter for coating the wreath
Confectioners’ (icing) (powdered) sugar for dusting wreath

Note: If you don’t want to use alcohol, double the lemon or orange extract or you could use the juice from the zested orange.

Directions:

Soak the raisins
In a small bowl, soak the raisins in the rum (or in the orange juice from the zested orange) and set aside.


To make the dough

Pour ¼ cup (60 ml) warm water into a small bowl, sprinkle with yeast and let stand 5 minutes. Stir to dissolve yeast completely.

In a small saucepan, combine 1 cup (240 ml) milk and 10 tablespoons (150 ml) butter over medium - low heat until butter is melted. Let stand until lukewarm, about 5 minutes.

Lightly beat eggs in a small bowl and add lemon and vanilla extracts.

In a large mixing bowl (4 qt) (4 liters) (or in the bowl of an electric mixer with paddle attachment), stir together the flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon, orange and lemon zests.

Then stir in (or mix on low speed with the paddle attachment) the yeast/water mixture, eggs and the lukewarm milk/butter mixture. This should take about 2 minutes. It should be a soft, but not sticky ball. When the dough comes together, cover the bowl with either plastic or a tea cloth and let rest for 10 minutes.

Add in the mixed peel, soaked fruit and almonds and mix with your hands or on low speed to incorporate. Here is where you can add the cherries if you would like. Be delicate with the cherries or all your dough will turn red!

Sprinkle flour on the counter, transfer the dough to the counter, and begin kneading (or mixing with the dough hook) to distribute the fruit evenly, adding additional flour if needed. The dough should be soft and satiny, tacky but not sticky. Knead for approximately 8 minutes (6 minutes by machine). The full six minutes of kneading is needed to distribute the dried fruit and other ingredients and to make the dough have a reasonable bread-dough consistency. You can tell when the dough is kneaded enough – a few raisins will start to fall off the dough onto the counter because at the beginning of the kneading process the dough is very sticky and the raisins will be held into the dough but when the dough is done it is tacky which isn't enough to bind the outside raisins onto the dough ball.

Lightly oil a large bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling around to coat it with the oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.
Put it in the fridge overnight. The dough becomes very firm in the fridge (since the butter goes firm) but it does rise slowly… the raw dough can be kept in the refrigerator up to a week and then baked on the day you want.


Shaping the Dough and Baking the Wreath

1. Let the dough rest for 2 hours after taking out of the fridge in order to warm slightly.
2. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
3. Preheat oven to moderate 350°F/180°C/gas mark 4 with the oven rack on the middle shelf.
4. Punch dough down, roll into a rectangle about 16 x 24 inches (40 x 61 cms) and ¼ inch (6 mm) thick.


Starting with a long side, roll up tightly, forming a long, thin cylinder.

Transfer the cylinder roll to the sheet pan. Join the ends together, trying to overlap the layers to make the seam stronger and pinch with your fingers to make it stick, forming a large circle. You can form it around a bowl to keep the shape.

Using kitchen scissors, make cuts along outside of circle, in 2-inch (5 cm) intervals, cutting 2/3 of the way through the dough.

Twist each segment outward, forming a wreath shape. Mist the dough with spray oil and cover loosely with plastic wrap.

Proof for approximately 2 hours at room temperature, or until about 1½ times its original size.Bake the stollen for 20 minutes, then rotate the pan 180 degrees for even baking and continue to bake for 20 to 30 minutes. The bread will bake to a dark mahogany color, should register 190°F/88°C in the center of the loaf, and should sound hollow when thumped on the bottom.

Transfer to a cooling rack and brush the top with melted butter while still hot.
Immediately tap a layer of powdered sugar over the top through a sieve or sifter.
Wait for 1 minute, then tap another layer over the first.
The bread should be coated generously with the powdered sugar.
Let cool at least an hour before serving. Coat the stollen in butter and icing sugar three times, since this many coatings helps keeps the stollen fresh - especially if you intend on sending it in the mail as Christmas presents!

When completely cool, store in a plastic bag. Or leave it out uncovered overnight to dry out slightly, German style. The stollen tastes even better in a couple of days and it toasts superbly…. so delicious with butter and a cup of tea

Storage
The more rum and the more coatings of butter and sugar you use the longer it will store.
The following is for the recipe as written and uses the 45 mls of rum and two coatings of butter and icing sugar
1. Stollen freezes beautifully about 4 months
2. The baked stollen stores well for 2 weeks covered in foil and plastic wrap on the counter at room temperature and
3. One month in the refrigerator well covered with foil and plastic wrap.

Baked Yeast "Doughnuts" with Caramel Glaze (DB)

The October 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lori of Butter Me Up. Lori chose to challenge DBers to make doughnuts. She used several sources for her recipes including Alton Brown, Nancy Silverton, Kate Neumann and Epicurious.

We were actually supposed to post these doughnuts yesterday, but somehow the entire month got away from me and I did not get around to making these until today! I am so glad I checked the Daring Bakers' forums before embarking on this challenge because Audax had posted the most helpful information/tips! I was especially glad to see that Alton's yeast doughnut recipe could be adapted to the oven instead of the fryer.  Not that I am afraid of frying things, but rather because we try to avoid eating fried foods as much as possible.


This recipe was simple and not very time consuming at all (if you don't count the time it takes for the dough to rise). I always use my oven as a proofing box (by turning it on to preheat for a few seconds and then turning it off), so my dough easily doubled in size in one hour.  I halved the recipe and ended up with plenty of doughnuts! Since I was baking these and not frying them, I didn't cut holes in the middle.  I made smaller doughnuts, so they were done baking in only 8 minutes (at 425F).  One of my favorite kinds of doughnuts is a maple glazed doughnut, but I did not have any maple syrup so I decided to glaze my doughnuts with a caramel icing.

Thanks Lori, for hosting this month's challenge.  These doughnuts were delicious and I had fun making them.  You'll find the recipe for the doughnuts, as well as Audax's tips, and the caramel glaze recipe below.

Make sure you check out the Daring Bakers' Blogroll to see how everyone else enjoyed these deep fried (or in my case - baked) treats.

Yeast Doughnuts
from Alton Brown

Preparation time:
Hands on prep time - 25 minutes
Rising time - 1.5 hours total
Cooking time - 12 minutes

Yield: 20 to 25 doughnuts; 20 to 25 doughnut holes, depending on size

Ingredients
Milk 1.5 cup / 360 ml
Vegetable Shortening 1/3 cup / 80 ml / 70 gm / 2.5 oz (can substitute butter, margarine or lard)
Active Dry Yeast 4.5 teaspoon (2 pkgs.) / 22.5 ml / 14 gm / ½ oz
Warm Water 1/3 cup / 80 ml (95°F to 105°F / 35°C to 41°C)
Eggs, Large, beaten 2
White Granulated Sugar ¼ cup / 60 ml / 55 gm / 2 oz
Table Salt 1.5 teaspoon / 7.5 ml / 9 gm / 1/3 oz
Nutmeg, grated 1 tsp. / 5 ml / 6 gm / ¼ oz
All Purpose Flour 4 2/3 cup / 1,120 ml / 650 gm / 23 oz + extra for dusting surface
Canola Oil DEPENDS on size of vessel you are frying in – you want THREE (3) inches of oil (can substitute any flavorless oil used for frying)

Directions:

1. Place the milk in a medium saucepan and heat over medium heat just until warm enough to melt the shortening. (Make sure the shortening is melted so that it incorporates well into the batter.)
2. Place the shortening in a bowl and pour warmed milk over. Set aside.
3. In a small bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the warm water and let dissolve for 5 minutes. It should get foamy. After 5 minutes, pour the yeast mixture into the large bowl of a stand mixer and add the milk and shortening mixture, first making sure the milk and shortening mixture has cooled to lukewarm.
4. Add the eggs, sugar, salt, nutmeg, and half of the flour. Using the paddle attachment of your mixer (if you have one), combine the ingredients on low speed until flour is incorporated and then turn the speed up to medium and beat until well combined.
5. Add the remaining flour, combining on low speed at first, and then increase the speed to medium and beat well.
6. Change to the dough hook attachment of the mixer and beat on medium speed until the dough pulls away from the bowl and becomes smooth, approximately 3 to 4 minutes (for me this only took about two minutes). If you do not have a dough hook/stand mixer – knead until the dough is smooth and not sticky.
7. Transfer to a well-oiled bowl, cover, and let rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
8. On a well-floured surface, roll out dough to 3/8-inch (9 mm)thick. (Make sure the surface really is well-floured otherwise your doughnuts will stick to the counter).
9. Cut out dough using a 2 1/2-inch (65 mm) doughnut cutter or pastry ring or drinking glass and using a 7/8-inch (22 mm) ring for the center whole. Set on floured baking sheet, cover lightly with a tea towel, and let rise for 30 minutes.
10. Preheat the oil in a deep fryer or Dutch oven to 365 °F/185°C.
11. Gently place the doughnuts into the oil, 3 to 4 at a time. Cook for 1 minute per side or until golden brown (my doughnuts only took about 30 seconds on each side at this temperature).
12. Transfer to a cooling rack placed in baking pan. Allow to cool for 15 to 20 minutes prior to glazing, if desired.

Tips from Audax:
This recipe (the first challenge recipe) produces absolutely and utterly the best doughnuts I have ever had; the interiors of the doughnuts are soft, fluffy and airy (light as a feather) and the crusts are thin and crisp. The doughnuts are mildly sweet and with a coating of icing (powdered) sugar they are perfect. An absolutely marvellous recipe! It is best to think of the dough as an artisan (high-hydration) bread dough i.e. very soft and sticky. Work it gently and try to keep as much air in the dough when you are handling it. I have a lot of experience working with high-hydration (high ratio of water to flour) soft and sticky doughs so I had no problems with this recipe. If you feel the initial dough mixture is too sticky and soft don't add flour just let the dough rise; during this time the water will hydrate (wet) the flour and the dough will become less sticky and firmer (it will always be a soft dough) and the gluten will develop. Only add flour after the first rising (and only on the counter and the cutting tools you are using).

A few comments on this recipe
1. I used butter since I hate the fat-sticking-to-the-roof-of-my-mouth-feel that shortening produces and also vegetable shortening is impossible to find in Australia.
2. It is best to weigh the flour if possible 23 oz or 650 gm or 4⅔ cups (of settled flour straight from the bag do not fluff up the flour first just measure the cup volume straight from the bag I checked 4⅔ cups of flour does equal 650 grams/23 oz) this amount produces a sticky batter-like cake-dough, very unlike normal bread-dough, this is how it is meant to be. Resist the temptation of adding more flour to make the dough like normal-bread-dough it is meant to be very sticky and like a very thick cake-batter the dough will become less sticky during the first rising. So please resist the urge to "correct" the recipe’s measurements. Just do what the recipe says and you won't be disappointed. As the dough (sticky batter) rises, the water absorbs into the flour and the final mixture will become more like a normal soft dough.
3. The dough is very yellow (as compared to normal bread dough) mainly due to the use of butter and eggs.
4. You should “pour” the soft dough into the rising bowl. And let it rise the dough will become less sticky and more firm but it will be soft dough. And it rises a lot so use a large bowl. The dough might take up to 2 hours (even longer) to double in size; rising time depends on: how much kneading you did, temperature and humidity:- so don't worry too much if nothing happens after an hour just wait it will happen.
5. You can keep the (first-rise) dough in the refrigerator up to four days before you roll it out and second-rise and deep-fry it.
6. I only needed a tiny amount of flour (about 1 tablespoon) on the counter to 'pat' out the soft dough to 3/8 inch (9mm) thick to do the cutting of the doughnut shapes. I lightly floured the cutting tools so they wouldn't stick to the soft dough.
7. I used a small piping connector to cut out the inner 'hole' of the doughnut.
8. I had no trouble lifting the cut-out and risen doughnuts from the counter into the hot oil. I used my lightly-floured fingers and hands to lift the risen doughnuts no problems.
9. Cooking the doughnuts only took about 30 seconds each side I used a thermometer to check the oil temperature. If you do not have a thermometer you can test the temperature by placing a small piece of white bread in the oil it should brown in about 60 seconds. If the oil is too cold the doughnuts will absorb the cooking oil and will became very greasy and if the oil is too hot the outside of the doughnut will cook too quickly while the inside will still be doughy.
10. I used rice bran oil which has a very high smoke point 490°F/254°C and has a very mild (almost flavourless) taste, I particularly dislike canola oil for deep-frying since it has a fishy/strange taste and odour to it, though I do use a combination of canola oil and olive oil for most of my shallow frying.
11. If you like your doughnuts sweet increase the sugar to ½ cup.
Special notes if you are making the dough by hand (not using a machine to mix the dough)
1. I have made high-hydration doughs many hundred's of times so I have a lot of experience with them.
2. The dough will be to sticky to knead by hand without adding a lot of extra flour and it will be very messy so if you are making the dough by hand, just roughly combine the dough ingredients using a plastic scraper (see first picture below) or wooden spoon. No need to knead too much; a longer resting/rising time is equivalent to kneading that is if you only roughly knead for one minute or so and let the dough rise for a longer time this is equivalent to kneading for a longer time. I only roughly combined the dough ingredients for a minute with a plastic scraper and let the dough rise for about 1½ hour (½ hour longer than the stated time in the recipe) which made the final dough silky and allowed the gluten to develop to maximum hydration.
3. The initial dough will look wet, very soft, sticky and not-combined but after rising/resting it will combine into a fully-hydrated (i.e. the gluten well-developed) mass.
4. Don't worry too much about the look and feel of the dough on initial mixing, only really look and feel the dough after the first rising (if you only roughly mixed the dough at the beginning the rising time will be longer than the stated time in the given recipe but the dough will come together with full gluten development) then flour the counter and cutting tools use the minimum extra flour to help you cut, shape and re-rise the doughnuts so they can be deep-fried.


If you're using a mixing machine just follow the instructions given in the recipe. 

Caramel Glaze
from Good Eats 'n Sweet Treats

1 cup confectioner's sugar
1 tbsp homemade caramel sauce
1 tbsp milk + a few extra drops

Add all of the ingredients together in a small bowl and stir to combine.  If you need your glaze to be slightly thicker, add a little more confectioner's sugar.  If you'd like it to be thinner, add a little more milk until you reach your desired consistency.

Raisin Swirl Bread & Sugar-Crusted French Toast (TWD)

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie (TWD) recipe was chosen by Susan of Food.Baby: Raisin Swirl Bread.  I love cinnamon raisin bread! In fact, my go-to recipe is this brown sugar raisin bread recipe.  So, I was excited to try this recipe out and see how it compared.

I'm no stranger to yeast breads (though I used to be terrified of them!) so this recipe was fairly straightforward for me.  I did split the recipe into two days, just to simplify my life a little.  It's hard to find a huge stretch of time to bake these days (even though a lot of this recipe is waiting for the dough to rise) when my little monkey wants all my attention! :)


Unfortunately I let my dough warm up too much after taking it out of the refrigerator so I had a terribly hard time rolling up my dough.  Thankfully this did not affect the taste, but it did make for a not-so-pretty swirl.  If you want to see a perfectly swirled loaf, you'll have to visit Susan's blog (the host for this week).


The only optional spice that I added was the cocoa, at the recommendation of another baker.  I was truly surprised that I could not taste the cocoa at all, it simply enhanced the cinnamon flavor. Despite this, I think this recipe was lacking in the cinnamon department. If you're going to make a raisin bread, it's got to have a nice strong cinnamon flavor to it! Even though I could probably double (or triple) the amount of cinnamon in this recipe next time, I think my go-to recipe is still going to be the brown sugar raisin bread I've made in the past.  That bread is so good!


I do have to say, however, that I made the sugar-crusted french toast recipe that Dorie includes with this, and it was fantastic! It will probably be my go-to french toast recipe from now on :) Just make sure you let your french toast brown long enough on each side in order to allow the sugar to caramelize properly.  I'd recommend maybe 4-5 minutes on each side instead of 3 minutes like Dorie suggests.

Thanks Susan, for hosting this week.  I've included Dorie's french toast recipe below, but if you would like the recipe for the raisin swirl bread, you can find it here. Make sure you check out the TWD Blogroll, to see how everyone else enjoyed this sweet, cinnamon-y treat!

* Recipes notes:
- I would recommend doubling or even tripling the amount of cinnamon in this recipe.
- This bread is definitely much better the next day, and even better as french toast!
- Wrapped airtight, this loaf will keep in the freezer for up to 2 months.
- For tips from other TWD bakers, click here.

Sugar-Crusted French Toast
from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

6 slices of raisin swirl bread (each 3/4 to 1-inch thick)
6 large eggs
3 large egg yolks
3-1/2 cups whole milk
2/3 cup sugar, plus 8 tbsp more for sprinkling
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
6 tbsp unsalted butter

Mix the eggs, egg yolks, whole milk, 2/3 cup sugar, vanilla extract and salt in a large bowl. Soak the slices of bread in this mixture for 3 minutes.  (Make sure you don't leave them in too long or else your bread will get too soft and difficult to handle!)

When the bread is ready, put two large nonstick skillets over medium heat, add 3 tablespoons butter to each one and melt the butter. Sprinkle each skillet with 2 tablespoons of sugar and put 3 slices of soaked bread in each one.

Cook until the bread is golden brown on the bottom, about 3 minutes (I'd recommend leaving them for 4-5 minutes). Sprinkle the tops of the bread with sugar--again, using 2 tablespoons sugar for each skillet--and carefully flip the slices over.

Add more butter to the pans if needed, and cook for another 3 minutes, or until the undersides are also golden brown.

Serve the toast immediately with fruit, syrup, creme fraiche or jam, or with all of them.

Yield: 3-6 servings

Sticky Buns (SMS)

This week's Sweet Melissa Sundays (SMS) recipe was chosen by Jen of Not Microwave Safe: Sticky Buns with Toasted Almonds. I love cinnamon rolls and sticky buns and almost chose this recipe when it was my turn to pick, but in the end I chose the Bee Stings instead. So I was delighted to see that someone finally picked this recipe!

Working with yeast really isn't that bad. I remember when I used to be so intimidated by it. This recipe is a bit time consuming, but is not difficult at all. It is split into two days with an overnight refrigeration so you don't feel like you are baking all day. One thing I always do when baking with yeast is I use my oven as a proofing box. I'll preheat the oven for about a minute, just long enough for it to warm up but not to where it starts to get hot. Then I turn the oven off and stick my dough in and let it rise. This ensures that it is always warm enough for my dough to rise regardless of what time of year it is.

I omitted the orange zest from this recipe, just because I didn't have any on hand and didn't want to make a grocery store run just for orange zest... I am sure that the zest would probably add a great subtle flavor to the dough but it also tasted just fine without it.


I also omitted the toasted almonds because I don't like nuts, but you can also cover these with cream cheese frosting if you don't want to top them with sticky sauce. These smelled so good while they were baking in the oven... in fact, that was how I knew to check on them early. The smell of sugar and cinnamon was so strong that I though I'd better check on them - and it was a good thing I did because they were done in HALF the time indicated on the recipe! If I had waited for my timer to go off, these would have been burnt to a crisp!


I would love to try these with cream cheese frosting some time. The dough was really soft and sweet and it's probably just as good as my favorite Cinnabon recipe - though I'll have to try these with the cream cheese frosting before I declare them better than the other recipe :)

Thanks Jen, for choosing this recipe. I will definitely be making this one again. If you would like the recipe, you can find it here. Make sure you visit the SMS Blogroll to see how everyone else enjoyed this sweet, sticky treat!

* Recipe Notes:
- I added room temperature milk instead of cold milk to make sure that my dough would rise.

- I had to add a little over 1/2 cup of extra flour to get my dough to be not so sticky. So I used the full 2-3/4 cup, and then continued adding 1 tbsp of flour at a time until the dough no longer stuck to the edges of the mixing bowl.

- I did not have pure maple syrup so I used pancake syrup instead (Aunt Jemima's).

- I used salted butter in my sticky sauce and could taste a little bit of the salt in it - this was great because salty and sweet flavors go together very well.
- Use your oven as a proofing box. Preheat the oven for about a minute, just long enough for it to warm up but not to where it starts to get hot. Then turn the oven off and stick your dough in and let it rise. This ensures that it is always warm enough for your dough to rise regardless of what time of year it is.- Start checking on your buns around 20 minutes. They will probably be golden brown and done around 25 to 30 minutes, depending on your oven.
- You can easily freeze these. Prepare the recipe as directed up until the overnight refrigeration step. Then, instead of refrigerating it, wrap it tight and freeze it. When you are ready to bake, remove it from the freezer for the second rise until the dough has doubled in size and then bake.
- For more recipe tips, click here.

Brioche Peach Tart (TWD)

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie (TWD) recipe was chosen by Denise of Chez Us: Brioche Plum Tart. I love anything with fruit in it, so I was looking forward to trying this recipe. It's not your traditional "tart" in that the shell is made of brioche.

The brioche was simple to make, though a bit sticky to work with. It was easier to work with after being refrigerated overnight, but it was still a bit sticky (though manageable) when I was molding it into my tart pans. I made two smaller tarts instead of one large one. If you don't have a tart pan, I think a regular pie pan or springform pan would work well (it just won't have the beautiful fluted edges).


There weren't a lot of plums available at my grocery store (and they were expensive), so I decided to go with peaches instead. I made one tart with the peaches sliced and fanned out, and the other one with peach halves placed cut side down. I sprinkled sugar on top, but omitted the nuts from the topping.


The brioche browned much quicker than I anticipated, so the edges of my tart are a bit darker than I would have liked. I had some juices from peaches drip over the sides of the tart, leading to some messy clean up in the oven, so I would recommend placing some foil under your tart to catch the drippings. Otherwise, everything went rather smoothly.


I wasn't quite sure what to expect with this tart. It was actually not very sweet at all. It was more like a slightly sweetened bread with fruit and jam. I thought it was just ok, but my husband liked it a lot. It would be great for breakfast or an afternoon tea, but I wouldn't serve it for dessert since it is not very sweet.


Thanks Denise, for picking this recipe. If you would like the recipe, you can find it here. If you visit the TWD Blogroll, you'll see how much everyone else enjoyed this great afternoon treat!

* Recipes notes:
- Cover your tart with a foil tent early, as this one tends to brown very quickly in the oven!
- If you don't have the same kind of jam as you do fruit for this recipe, don't worry about it. The jam flavor is subtle and any complementary jam would work.
- Don't forget to place some foil under your tarts to catch any juices that bubble over!
- For more tips, click here.

Bee Stings (SMS)

This week's Sweet Melissa Sundays (SMS) recipe was my pick! After pouring through the pages of this cookbook, I finally decided that I wanted to make the Bee Stings. These are Melissa's version of baked doughnuts - they're "sweet and tender brioche-style buns filled with pastry cream and then dipped in honey caramel and sprinkled with toasted almonds."


This is definitely a recipe that you'll have to plan ahead for. The dough needs 2-3 hours to rise after being kneaded, then it needs to be refrigerated overnight. When I read through the recipe, I was concerned because I have never seen a yeast dough recipe where there is only an exact amount of flour. Typically, the amount of flour you need to add will vary based on how much moisture is present in your kitchen, the flour, etc. I found that I had to add quite a bit more flour before my dough was no longer sticking to the sides of the bowl. I lost track of how much I added, but it was at least 1/4 cup more. The amount you'll need to add will be different, but in general if you add one tablespoon at a time, you won't over do it. As with most brioche doughs, it helps if you have a stand mixer, but it's not absolutely required. You just have to be ready to get a really good workout if you don't have one.


Aside from requiring extra flour, I had no problems with the dough. My dough took about 3 hours to double in volume, but that's partly because I didn't use "rapid rise" yeast. I also use my oven as a proofing box. I'll preheat it for a minute or two to get it warm, then turn the oven off and place my dough inside to rise. This guarantees that whether it's summer or winter, my dough will always rise nicely.

I found that my buns were golden brown after a short 19 minutes in the oven (11 minutes early) - so be sure to keep an eye on your buns to prevent them from burning!


While the dough was simple enough, I had major issues with the pastry cream. It's not that I've never made pastry cream before. I am used to making Dorie’s pastry cream and this one took forever to thicken up. At first, I thought it was because the water in my double boiler was just at a simmer (the recipe says not to boil it). After patiently whisking for over 20 minutes, however, I increased the heat to get the water to a boil… I then whisked for probably another 40 minutes until it started to thicken just slightly. It never got extremely thick like Dorie’s, but I gave up and stuck it in the fridge. After chilling overnight, it was thicker, but not nearly as thick as most pastry creams – not sure if this is Melissa’s intention. It reminds me of the cream you would find in a cream-filled doughnut, so perhaps this was her intention.

The honey caramel glaze is very simple to make. The honey adds a very nice flavor to the traditional flavor of caramel.


So how did these taste? They were good, but not quite what I had imagined when reading the recipe. The dough was sweet but wasn't quite as delicate as I had imagined. (This may have been my fault because I kneaded the dough much longer than the recipe indicated, while adding all the additional flour.) The pastry cream, in my opinion, was just okay. I much prefer Dorie’s pastry cream and will probably use that recipe instead the next time I make these. The honey caramel glaze was my favorite component of this recipe and tasted better than I had anticipated. Overall, I was glad I tried these, and while they're not my new favorite pastry, I could see myself making these again if I had a free weekend.

Make sure you visit the SMS Blogroll to see what everyone else thought about these sticky little treats!

Bee Stings
from The Sweet Melissa Baking Book

1/3 cup whole milk
1 large egg, at room temperature
1/3 cup sour cream, at room temperature
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 ¼ cups + 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
2 ¼ tsp (1 package) active dry yeast
1 tsp kosher salt
½ cup sugar
5 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup sliced blanched almonds, toasted, for garnish (Mine were not blanched, and then I forgot to toast them)

Vanilla Bean Pastry Cream, recipe follows
Honey Caramel Glaze, recipe follows



Line two cookie sheets with parchment or aluminum foil.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whip attachment, combine the milk, egg, sour cream, vanilla and half of the flour. Mix on medium speed until it is a sticky paste.

Change the mixer attachment to the dough hook. Add the remaining flour, yeast, salt and sugar and mix on low speed to combine. Add the butter in pieces and beat on medium speed for 10-15 minutes until the dough forms a ball and is no longer sticking to the sides of the bowl. (If your dough is still very sticky, add more flour, one tablespoon at a time, until it is no longer sticking to the sides of the bowl. I had to add at least an extra 1/4 cup.)

*Edit: Please check out the tips at Pink Stripes - Wendy figured out how to make these without adding the extra flour, resulting is a lighter, not so dense bee sting!

Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl and cover is with plastic wrap. Set aside in a warm place to rise until doubled in volume, 2 to 3 hours.

When the dough has doubled, punch it down and turn it out onto a work surface. Divide it into 12 even pieces, each weighing about 2 ounces. (Due to the extra flour I added, mine were about 2.5 ounces each.)

Roll the dough into balls and place them 2 ½ inches apart on the prepared sheets (6 on each pan). Spray lightly with nonstick vegetable cooking spray and cover with plastic wrap (or lightly butter one side of the plastic wrap). Refrigerate overnight.

When you are ready for the final rise, remove the buns from the refrigerator. Bring about 3 quarts of water to a boil. Place an empty roasting pan large enough to hold the water on the bottom of your cold oven. Pour the boiling water into the pan.

Remove the plastic wrap from the buns. Position a rack in the top and bottom thirds of your oven. Place the cookie sheets on the racks in the oven (do not turn the oven on!)and shut the oven door. The steam of the water will help the buns in their final rise. The buns will just about double in size in about 40 minutes. (If your fridge is on a super-cold setting, your buns may take a little longer to rise. If they need more time, just boil some more water and refill the roasting pan.) When the buns have doubled in volume, remove them (and the roasting pan filled with water) from the oven.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Bake for 30 minutes, or until golden brown. (Watch them carefully - mine were done at just 19 minutes!)

Remove to a wire rack to cool completely before filling.

Honey Caramel Glaze:

1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
3 tbsp heavy cream
3 tbsp clover honey
2 tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/4 tsp fresh lemon juice

In a small saucepan over medium heat, bring the brown sugar, cream, honey and butter to a boil. Cook for 30 seconds more, then remove the pan from the heat.

Stir in the lemon juice and let cool slightly.

Vanilla Bean Pastry Cream:

1 cup whole milk
¼ cup sugar
1/2 vanilla bean, split, or ¾ tsp pure vanilla extract
3 large egg yolks
2 tbsp cornstarch
2 tbsp cold unsalted butter

Fill a medium saucepan with 3 inches of water and bring to a simmer. Set a bowl over the top, but make sure that the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water. (Remove the bowl and use it for the egg yolk mixture.)

In a separate saucepan, stir together the milk, half of the sugar, and the vanilla seeds and pod and heat to scalding, or until the milk is steaming and tiny bubbles are forming around the edges. Do not boil. (At this point you'll also want to strain the hot milk to remove the vanilla bean.) If using vanilla extract, add it at the end of the recipe after the butter.

In the reserved bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and the remaining half of sugar until pale yellow. Whisk in the cornstarch. Little by little, whisk the hot milk into the egg mixture.

Place the bowl in the top of the double boiler, over simmering, not boiling, water. Cook, constantly whisking, until thick, about 5 minutes. (I had to increase the heat and whisk for much longer than 5 minutes.)

Remove from the heat and whisk in the butter and vanilla extract, if using. Lay a piece of plastic wrap on the surface of the custard (to prevent a skin from forming) and refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 4 days. Whisk until smooth before using.

To Complete the Buns:

Poke a hole through the side of each bun, and hollow it out a bit. I find it easiest to do this with the pointy end of a stick thermometer or a metal skewer (a chopstick works great too!). Poke a hole large enough for an Ateco #801 1/4-inch round pastry tip to fit into. Once the stick is inside the bun, wiggle it from side to side, making room for the cream. Be careful not to poke through the other side - you don't want any of that cream coming out!

Whisk the pastry cream until smooth. Put it into the pastry bag fitted with the tip. Fill each bun with as much cream as you can without it spilling out. You should be able to fit at least 2 tablespoons into each bun.

Holding the filled bun upside down, dip the top of each bun into the honey caramel, (flip them back over) and then sprinkle with the almonds. Repeat with the remaining buns. Bee Stings are best eaten as soon a they are made, but stay yummy all day.


Tip: Freeze the buns! Once you form the dough into buns, you can place them in the freezer uncovered on the sheet before they start to rise again. Once they are frozen, cover with plastic wrap. They will keep frozen for up to 1 week. When you are ready to bake, take them from the freezer, and let them thaw unwrapped at room temperature. Proceed with the final rising before baking.

Yield: 12 Buns