Oat Bran Broom Bread

As part of the Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge, I've baked many of Peter Reinhart's bread recipes. As much as I enjoy the bread from that book, I really love the opportunity to bake from one of his other, later, books too. In fact, I bought Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads book first, and it was my companion for many of my early forays into bread-baking.

One of the loaves from the whole grains book is called Oat Bran Broom Bread, an unusual bread name, to be sure. Reinhart calls this "broom bread" because it has a ton of soluble and insoluble fiber, and, although he gets a bit more specific in his explanation, that's all I'm going to say on that subject! The recipe was appealing to me because of its inclusion of whole wheat flour and oat bran with some whole flaxseeds thrown into the mix.

n.o.e.'s notes:

- You can find the recipe, along with some stunning pictures of finished loaves, here.

- The bread uses the indirect method, whereby two different pre-fermented doughs are prepared, and then held for minimum time periods of 8 and 12 hours. The long rest time helps to break down the whole ingredients; in this way the nutrients from the grains and seeds are accessible in the finished product.

- My daughter J.D.E. did all of the hands-on work for this loaf - measuring, mixing, kneading and shaping - entirely by herself.


- I set the oven up to use Peter Reinhart's steam method: put hot water in a metal pan, then place in an oven preheated to 425 - hotter than the baking temperature - and reduce the temperature when you put the loaf in the oven. That's how we started, at any rate. When we put the bread into the oven I forgot to reduce the temperature to 350 degrees, so it baked for 20 minutes at 425 until I remembered my mistake. The bread got very dark on top, but we immediately tented it with foil to forestall further browning.

- Thank goodness bread baking is a forgiving process; the bread survived the excess oven temps with just the dark top to show for it.


the verdict:

This bread was good sliced straight from the loaf! It also made very good toast. Great job on this loaf, J.D.E.!!

I'm submitting this bread to Yeastspotting, a fabulously inspiring round-up of yeasty goodness that is posted each Friday. Click on over to see some wonderful breads.

Spiced Stout Hot Cross Buns

Hot-cross buns! Hot-cross buns!
One a penny, two a penny,
Hot-cross buns!
If you have no daughters,
Give them to your sons,
One a penny, two a penny,
Hot-cross buns!
But if you have none of these little elves,
Then you may eat them all yourselves.

So goes the nursery song, describing the traditional English spiced buns that were eaten on Good Friday. (For a bit more history, check out my last year's hot cross buns post here.) Reading between the lines, it appears that if you have any hot cross buns, you are supposed to give them away. The preferred recipients appear to be any daughters that you might have. Failing that, hand the buns over to your sons. No children? You get to eat the buns yourself!

I baked a big batch of buns this year, and by chance my daughters were visting home this week! I sent most of the buns home with my older daughter to share with her Easter weekend guests.


n.o.e.'s notes:

- Hot cross buns are a kind of celebration bread, filled with fruit and spices. The smell of this dough reminded me of some of the celebration breads that I've baked in from The Bread Baker's Apprentice.

- The recipe for these hot cross buns is from Dan Lepard, part of his "How To Bake" weekly series for The Guardian. I love to check the site each Satuday to see what Dan is baking up. Ingredients for these buns include stout, tea, raisins, spices, and candied citrus peel. It sounded like an intriguing combination of ingredients, so I was very eager to see how the buns would turn out.

- This is the first time that I've followed a Dan Lepard recipe that employs an overnight pre-ferment; in this case stout, yeast, some of the flour, and the spices are mixed together, covered and put aside overnight.

- In a separate bowl, the raisins and peel soak in black tea for the same length of time. I ran out of regular raisins, so I measured out a combination of raisins, golden raisins, and currants.

- A big bag of homemade candied citrus peel (lemon,lime, tangerine, orange) was resting in my freezer and I was very excited to find a great use for it. (I posted about the candied peel recipe that I use here)

- The next day, the dough is mixed in typical Dan Lepard style: combine all ingredients, rest briefly, knead for 10 seconds every 10 minutes (3 cycles) then shape, rise, bake.

- I had run out of bread flour (it happens, even to bread bakers!), so I combined 2/3 all purpose flour with 1/3 high gluten flour (approximately).

- I measured out 100g for each bun, and ended up with 20 1/2. If I'd been a little more thoughtful when I was working, I could have avoided that half roll, but warm from the oven the little bun made for a great taste test for my daughter.

- Last year's buns featured a piped cross made from icing, but the crosses on these buns are a flour and water paste. After the buns come out of the oven they are brushed with a sugar glaze.

- I'm submitting these buns for Bread Baking Day #28. The theme this month is "Bread Buns" and is hosted by Rachel of Tangerine's Kitchen. Rachel will be posting a roundup, so be sure to check back to see the wonderful bun-ny bread!

The happy little half-bun, in bad artificial light!

the verdict:

After the rolls had mostly cooled, my daughter ALE tasted the little half roll. Here's her reaction: "yum. That's good. (pause) That's really good." After a few more bites, she gave a more complete assessment: "I like the glaze. I can taste the stout. I usually don't like fruit in breads, but I'm dealing with it. That candied peel is good."

She shared the buns with her friends, and reported that they made a big hit. Her boyfriend loved the peel and the complex variety of flavors.


Wishing a blessed Easter to all who observe the holy day.

French Bread {bba}

Peter Reinhart's book The Bread Baker's Apprentice is organized alphabetically, although it seems as though suddenly we are getting to a section of the book with serious breads: lean doughs where the flavor comes from how the flour water yeast and salt are handled, how long the dough ferments and rests, how the loaves are shaped and baked. There are few enriching ingredients such as milk, eggs, fruit, nuts or sweeteners to cover any baker deficiencies. No, these breads are veritable proving grounds, or so it seemed to me when I surveyed the upcoming breads: French, then Italian, and a bit later Pain a l'Ancienne, Pain de Campagne, and Pane Siciliano. Whew, these are the real deal!

Just the thought that I was going to bake French Bread was enough to produce trepidation, if not outright fear. It seemed so, well, French, and so perfect. We're talking baguettes here! Just as I was getting ready to tackle this bread I was browsing in a fancy kitchen store and saw some baguette forms. I bought one on impulse, hoping that would help me prevail in the challenge of baguette-baking.


n.o.e.'s notes:

- My new baguette mold is made to hold two, loaves, and Reinhart's recipe makes 3 loaves, so I scaled the recipe to 60%.

- The French bread formula is a two step process, with at least a day between making the pre-ferment dough and making the final dough. In this case the pre-ferment dough is a pate fermentee, which has the exact same ingredients and proportions as are added the second day to make the final dough. Making the first half of the dough in advance allows for the flavors to fully develop from enzymes breaking down the starches in the flour over time.

- In the pate fermentee I used instant yeast, bread flour and all-purpose flour, and I mixed it in the food processor. It was pliable and perfect in a matter of minutes. The dough rose a bit on the counter, then I deflated it and popped it in the fridge. What followed next was a series of fridge and freezer sessions for the pate fermentee. I was trying to get this bread baked over Thanksgiving, but there just wasn't time.

- Finally the day dawned for baking French bread! For the final dough, all of the pate fermentee is used, and additional flour, water, salt and yeast (in the same amounts and proportions as had been used in the pre-ferment dough) are mixed in. I had ordered a bunch of specialty flour when King Arthur Flour had a free-shipping special, and for the final dough I used French Style Flour rather than all-purpose. (King Arthur's description: "This high-ash, medium-protein flour makes extra-flavorful baguettes and boules.") Additionally, I used fresh yeast, stirring it into the water before adding it to the dough. I mixed my dough in the food processor.

- Once the dough has risen, it is important to handle it lightly when shaping the loaf into loaves, so that the final bread will have lovely holes inside. I formed the loaves and let them rise on the baguette forms, then baked them right on the forms.

- I had a few missteps in shaping the dough (I'll spare you those details!) and my baguettes were a pair of ugly ducklings when they came out of the oven. They had cracked sides, and were a bit pale, not at all like the perfect crusty baguettes from a bakery. But they smelled wonderful!


the verdict:

My baguettes weren't very pretty, and didn't get very crusty in the oven, but oh! the taste of this bread was out of this world! Luckily, I found - yet again - that bread is forgiving.

The Quest for a Perfect Cinnamon Raisin Bread {bba}

I've never been that kind of person who is always winning things like lotteries and drawings. But back in 1988 we won a trip to Aspen, Colorado in an American Express promotion. (Actually it turned out to be quite a lucky year for us; we also won a trip to Palm Beach, complete with a set of luggage!)

We chose to take the Aspen trip in the summer when we could hike in the Rockies. So in July 1989 our family had a lovely week in a condo on the mountain at Snowmass. My parents and brother decided to join us and rented a nearby unit. Five adults to watch 2 children (ages 1 and 3) made for a very relaxing trip indeed.

On a grocery run to stock the condo with breakfast food my husband picked up some bread and thus we discovered the Holy Grail of cinnamon raisin bread. Rudi's Bakery made the best we'd ever tasted. We bought loaf after loaf that week, and brought some home in our luggage, but all too soon we reached the end of our supply.


For Christmas that year I called Rudi's Bakery on the telephone. No, they didn't distribute their bread outside of Colorado, nor did they take orders - usually. As a special exception the fellow at the bakery actually agreed to sell me 5 loafs of the raisin bread and personally went to the post office to mail it to me! I still count that as the best Christmas gift I ever gave my husband!

Fast forward to about 5 years ago: Whole Foods opened a location just a few miles from us. My first time in the store I wandered the aisles and browsed all the departments to see what kinds of things the store carried. When I came to the bread shelf I could hardly believe my eyes: Our old friend Rudi's Cinnamon Raisin Bread was right there in front of me. I scooped up a few loaves and we were delighted to find that the bread tasted just as good as we remembered. Seems that in the intervening 15 years, Rudi's Bakery had gone national. So we've had a ready source for what we'd come to believe is the best cinnamon raisin bread on the planet.

Rudi's bread is the standard by which I judge every other cinnamon raisin loaf I've ever tasted. So far, none has come close. I'm not sure when I'd have ever dared to undertake homemade cinnamon raisin bread but BBA Challenge gave me the push; Cinnamon Raisin Bread happens to be the next bread in Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice. (And, yes, there has been a lot of cinnamon goodness lately here on Corner Loaf)

Rather than make the bread exactly as written, I decided to make a run at Rudi's! This meant making a few changes to transform a white cinnamon bread to one that was about a third whole grain.

A week later I baked the Transitional Cinnamon Raisin bread, from Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads, which is about half whole grain and half white flour. I've included both baking sessions in this post, starting with the BBA bread.

Cinnamon Raisin Bread - The Bread Baker's Apprentice

n.o.e.'s notes:

- You can find the recipe on the Google Books preview, here.

- This bread is made with the direct method, which means that it is mixed and proofed in one day, with only a short wait for the dough to "ferment" on the counter.

- Instead of the 16 ounces of bread flour of the recipe, I used 10 ounces of bread flour, 2.5 ounces of oat flour, 2.5 ounces of white whole wheat flour, and 1 ounce of high-gluten flour.

- I mixed golden and dark raisins.

- For some added depth of sweetness (and because Rudi's has it) I added 2 tsp molasses.

- I divided my dough into three portions:

-- The first loaf was cinnamon and raisins only
-- The second loaf was cinnamon, raisins, and walnuts kneaded together into the dough
--The third loaf had the raisins kneaded into the dough, and walnuts swirled into the loaf along with brown sugar + (more) cinnamon. I've become a big fan of making my cinnamon sugar with brown sugar.

homemade on the left, Rudi's on the right

the verdict:
I gave away the cinnamon + raisin loaf. We toasted up slices of the other two loaves and Rudi's. The non-swirled bread was the closest to Rudi's, so we compared it in taste-test fashion. They were all seriously delicious pieces of toast. Rudi's is closer grained, and I thought it was chewier, more cinnamon-y, and a bit sweeter. But we thought the BBA bread tasted just as delicious as Rudi's! In fact, my husband said he preferred my bread, but I think he was just being sweet. When it comes to the swirled bread, though, even I agreed that it was better than Rudi's. It's hard to beat swirled cinnamon sugar!!

Peter Reinhart Transitional Cinnamon Raisin Bread

There are a lot of raisins in this bread, but the food processor chopped them into bits!

I've been wanting to make the Transitional Cinnamon Raisin Bread ever since I got Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads book. I figured I'd bake it right after his regular Cinnamon Raisin Bread, and while it wouldn't be a true head-to-head comparison, it would be close.

n.o.e.'s notes:

- You can find the recipe on the Google Books preview, here.

-This bread is made with the indirect method, spread over 2 days, with both a biga and a soaker (two different types of mixtures that sit, or ferment, for a day; one in the fridge and the other on the counter)

- The raisins are added to the soaker so they get nice and tender. The biggest problem with that for me is that I used my food processor to mix the dough, so the raisins got chopped up rather than remaining whole in the finished bread. If you use a stand mixer, or mix by hand, your raisins will stay whole.

- Also, the food processor stopped mixing slightly before the biga and soaker were fully incorporated, so there are light and dark steaks in the bread's crumb (as you can see in the picture, above).

- Again I added a bit of molasses.

- I split the dough into two loaves, and made both with a swirl of walnuts, brown sugar + cinnamon. I'm not sure why my swirl almost disappeared this time around, but it added some delicious flavor.

verdict:

This was a wonderful, hearty, chewy, cinnamon raisin bread. As with all of the breads I've baked from Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads, the bread was not tough or dry at all - the pre-fermenting method brings out the flavor of the grain and keeps the bread nice and moist. It tasted a bit fuller and nuttier because of the whole grain. We thought it was perfect toasted and spread with butter, and, believe it or not we actually preferred this one to the other cinnamon raisin bread. It is a close grained bread and the whole grain flavor pairs beautifully with the spice and sweetness of the (chopped) raisins. The few extra steps are definitely worth the end result: cinnamon bread perfection!

[Edit to add: Sending this wonderful bread to Yeastspotting, a weekly roundup of all things yeasty]

Garden Tomato Bread

When I received a Tweet from @SunsetMag linking to a page of tomato recipes I immediately fell in love with the picture of Garden Tomato Bread (whole wheat, herbs, and garlic along with a healthy quantity of ripe tomatoes and their juice - recipe here) so I earmarked some ripening tomatoes on my counter just for the bread and baked it this week; I had a few mishaps in baking a half recipe of the bread (in the excitement of converting to fresh yeast, I forgot to halve the water), but thankfully "bread is forgiving" and I was rewarded with two small hearth loaves of savory bread that was delicious with seasoned olive oil and even better as a grilled cheese (with aged cheddar) and my husband, who had earlier pronounced that "tomatoes belong in sandwiches, not bread" found the bread "surprisingly, good," although to him "good" does not mean "very good" or "fantastic" or, apparently, "I'd like some more," so I gave one loaf away and will be finishing the other loaf - happily - all by myself!

[This post is part of the One-Sentence-Blog-Post-Week Challenge! Also, the bread is going to Yeastspotting hosted this week by Macheesmo, look for the roundup on Friday. Some of my Twitter buddies baked this bread at the same time, see their posts here and here]

Multigrain Struan [#17]

Learning to bake bread is one of the most satisfying things I've ever done. Every loaf is a new creation, and yet the very process of bread-baking is nearly as ancient as civilization itself. I've gathered recipes from sources old and new, from dusty books and from digital files. I've crafted loaves entirely with my own hands, and I've taken advantage of mixers and food processors. And in every case, the magic of the yeast, the ingredients, and the oven combine to create something warm, fragrant and inviting. Maybe some day I'll be blase, but for now I still experience a thrill, as a miracle observed, when I see the dough double.

There's also the social aspect: I've baked alone, I've had family members and friends stand beside me in my kitchen, and I've had virtual friends baking the same recipe at the same time and comparing notes on our computers via Twitter! And when the bread is baked? I love the smile when people bite into a fresh slice of bread, and I love posting pictures of my breads and viewing those of other bakers. There's a special connectedness in seeing that bakers all around the globe are baking around the same theme each month. Such is the special charm of Bread Baking Day - a monthly online event where bakers are invited to bake and share their bread.

The theme for this month's Bread Baking Day #20, hosted by Rachel of Tangerine's Kitchen, is "Multigrain Breads". While I've cooked many loaves in recent weeks that have more than one grain, the bread I really wanted to share this month is Peter Reinhart's Multigrain Struan, from his book, Whole Grain Breads: New Techniques, Extraordinary Flavor.

Reinhart has included a version of his struan bread in most of his bread books. The theory of the struan bread is that it is composed of what happens to be on hand, or in the current harvest. I feel quite blessed that my pantry is well-stocked, and I had all manner of delicious grains to choose for this bread. The version of struan in the Whole Grain Breads book is completely whole grain, and Reinhart's directions are quite detailed and thorough. Although you can find the recipe online, I'd advise getting the book if you are at all interested in baking with whole grains. The amount of information dispensed in the book is nothing short of astonishing.


n.o.e.'s notes:

- Reinhart advises that the bread is particularly good if a mixture of cooked and uncooked grains are in the dough, and he gives advice on cooking times and methods for the various grains.

- For my 6 oz of grain, I used:
1 oz steel cut oats (cooked 4 parts water to 1 part grain, as oatmeal)
1 oz barley (cooked 2.5 to 1)
1 oz quinoa (cooked 1 to 1)
3 oz Bob's 10 grain cereal (uncooked)

- I froze the extra barley and quinoa in 1 oz packets for future use.

- All of the flour in the bread is whole wheat flour. I used half white whole wheat and half regular whole wheat (both King Arthur) for the biga, starter, and final dough.

- My sweetener was agave nectar.

- In the proofing stage, the bread rose 1.5 inches above rim of 8.5 x 4.5 pan

- I did not use the steam option for baking. My bread was done after 50 minutes in the oven.

- We waited just over an hour before cutting.

the verdict:

When the bread was still slightly warm, we sliced into it and sampled it plain.
this was GOOD. We enjoyed the very subtle and complex flavors. The texture was moist and the taste just a touch sweet. The bread was versatile, too, and was delicious toasted with butter.

Note: I'm sending this bread to Yeastspotting, a weekly compendium of all things yeasty. Congratulations to Susan on her 1 year Yeastspotting anniversary!

Multigrain Bread Extraordinaire [#12]

First of all, let me apologize for anyone who follows this blog in a reader, as last night I mistakenly published (for all of 5 seconds) a very rough draft of this post - sorry you had to wade through all my notes!

Back in March, pinkstripes posted some amazing rolls,made from Peter Reinhart's formula for Multigrain Bread Extraordinaire (adapted recipe, as I make it is at the end of this post). I had a huge queue of yeast bread recipes to try, but this one got to jump the line because of its promise to be "the best toast in the world." If anything, we are all about The Toast in this house.

The first time I made this bread, I cobbled the recipe together from the Google book preview (partial recipe online) and the posts of pinkstripes and various other food bloggers. While the loaf was rising I got on my computer and ordered a copy of the book for myself - I loved what I saw in the preview! (And now that I have the book I can say it is well worth the purchase)

This is the soaker after a day on the counter. See how the quinoa has unwound?

n.o.e.’s notes:

- The formula for this bread gives lots of options of various grains to use, and also gives a choice of liquid. It truly can be customized to your taste preferences. The first time I quinoa + oats + buttermilk. For subsequent loaves, I’ve settled on Bob's 10 grain cereal + oats + buttermilk

- The brown rice is important to this bread. I made half a recipe's worth of brown rice, separated it into 1 oz packets and put them in the freezer for future loaves.

- I use the food processor for mixing the dough. First pulse the dry ingredients to mix them. Initially I added the liquid too slowly, and the dough went past the internal temp range (mine was 84 degrees) and passed the windowpane test before I got all the liquid in. To keep it from getting overheated, I incorporated the rest of the honey by hand. I've now learned to add the liquid ingredients while they are cool to cold, and to pour them steadily. The food processor only needs a minute or so to mix the ingredients.

- The dough is very sticky, so I usually incorporate more flour to get it to a good workable consistency.


- This bread rises like a fiend.

- I don't brush anything on the crust. We're not big seeds-on-bread folks. Figured I'd just brush it with some butter when it was done.


- My only 9x5 loaf pan is pyrex. My first loaf stuck to the sides and bottom of the pan and I had to manhandle the loaf with a spatula to get it out. Luckily the bread is springy - it held together despite lots and lots of prying and it got back in shape fairly well. Now I routinely sprinkle cornmeal or rolled oats in the bottom of the pyrex pan before putting in the dough.

see the "forceps" mark where I had to pry the bread out of the pan?

the verdict:

The bread is surprisingly soft inside. Even though I'd read other bakers' reactions and knew it would be tender I was still startled by the light but not dry texture. This bread is so soft that the bread knife almost tears the bread rather than cutting it. It's nearly fluffy, and quite moist inside. And the taste - a little chewy, a little tender, a little sweet, with a nice complexity from the whole grains.
Although I enjoyed the first version of this bread, my husband found the quinoa to be quite a bitter taste. So I now use a multigrain cereal mixture and everyone is happy!

the toast test:

Is it even possible for toast to taste this good? I literally didn't want to finish my piece of toast; I just wanted to savor every last bit. Peter Reinhart was right: toasted until golden, and spread liberally with butter, this was the perfect toast experience.

Multigrain Bread Extraordinaire

Adapted from The Bread Baker’s Apprentice- this is the way that I make the loaves. See Reinhart's book for more complete instructions and the variety of choices for each ingredient

The formula is for one 2-lb loaf in a 9" x 5" pan.

Soaker:

• 3 tablespoons (1 ounce) 10-grain cereal mix
• 3 tablespoons (.75 ounce) rolled oats
  
• 2 tablespoons (.25 ounces) wheat bran
• 1/4 cup (2 ounces) water at room temperature
  

Combine the above ingredients in a small bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature overnight to initiate enzyme action.

Dough

• 3 cups (13.5 ounces) unbleached bread flour
• 3 tablespoons (1.5 ounces) dark brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 tablespoon instant yeast
• 3 tablespoons (1 ounce) cooked brown rice, cool or cold
  
• 1 1/2 tablespoons (1 ounce) honey
• 1/2 cup (4 ounces) cool buttermilk
• 3/4 cup (6 ounces) cool water

Pulse the flour, sugar, salt and yeast in bowl of food processor. Add the soaker and rice, and pulse until incorporated. With the food processor running, pour the honey, milk and water in a stream.

Process a minute or two, then knead by hand briefly to make a dough that is soft and pliable, tacky but not sticky, and until internal temperature reaches 77 F to 81 F on an instant read thermometer and can pass the window pane test. (This often happens while the dough is still in the food processor. I knead for a minute or two by hand to get a feel for the dough and to adjust the flour and water as necessary)

Lightly oil a bowl and transfer dough to the bowl, rolling it around to coat with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for about 90 minutes or until double in size.

Place dough into a lightly oiled bowl, spray top with oil, cover, and let rest for 90 minutes or until doubled.

Turn dough onto counter and press it to rectangle about 3/4 inch thick. Form into loaf by rolling the dough, then place into oiled 9x5 loaf pan. Mist with oil and cover dough loosely with plastic wrap or a clean towel.

Proof dough for another 90 minutes or so, until dough doubles and crests the pan about 1 inch in the center.

Preheat oven to 350F. Bake 20 minutes, rotating 180 degrees and then bake an additional 20-40 minutes until the bread temperature registers at least 190F in the center on instant read thermometer, and the loaf is golden brown and makes a hollow sound when tapped at the bottom.

Remove immediately from pan when done and cool on rack for at least an hour before eating. Enjoy, especially toasted!