Wednesday Food Blogging

Best. Bread recipe. Ever.

Bread recipe, courtesy King Arthur Flour. Photo, courtesy Daughter Number One. 

Someone posted this bread recipe in my Twitter feed a while back, and fortunately I bookmarked it. Because it turned out to be the best bread recipe ever. Just look at the photo if you need proof. Isn't that gorgeous? My daughter took the photo; I'd made the bread to celebrate her homecoming in December. Since then, I've made a couple more batches of the bread. Each batch makes 3 small loaves of bread, just enough for 3 or 4 people. 

Here's the link to the bread recipe. I haven't changed it, but I will warn you, it's long and complicated. Except it really isn't. All the detailed instructions are really not necessary. All you need is 4 ingredients: flour, salt yeast, and warm water. (The recipe calls for instant yeast; I didn't have it, and used plain yeast instead.) You don't need to knead the dough; just mix it until it comes together. Then you set the bowl aside, for a few hours or a few days. You should place the bowl in a fridge, but we have a cold room (our living room) that is unheated. It stays cold enough to store the bowl in, especially during our cold snap. You can store the dough for up to 7 days. Like sourdough, it gets better with age. 

A couple of tips: Yes, it really needs 1 tablespoon of salt, not 1 teaspoon. The first batch I made wasn't salty enough, as I'd misread the recipe. Second, this bread doesn't rise much after you form it into a loaf. In fact it just kind of spreads a little bit. But don't worry; it's still good. It reminds me of Italian ciabatta bread. 

Don't forget to make a cut or two in the top before baking (use a serrated bread knife, and cut about a half inch into the top), and remember to put a pan of hot water in the oven while the bread is baking. It really does make a difference, and of course you should have your oven as hot as possible. So, after I put the pan with the hot water in, I wait until the temperature has risen again to place the loaf inside.

The good part is, once you make the bread a time or two, you'll remember how to make it again, and again. It's really that simple. And it's nice having bread dough on hand, ready to bake after an hour of rising. 

And it's so pretty too! 

Here's another shot, from the top: 

Isn't that the most beautiful loaf of bread you've ever seen?

Spelt Banana Bread

A perfectly baked loaf of banana bread.

You might have noticed I haven't posted too many recipes here lately for baked goods. There's a reason for that: everything I baked burned. I tried focaccia a couple of times, and each time I got crisp, dark brown bread that was barely edible. I made cupcakes, Irish soda bread, and other bakey things, most of which got thrown away.

I figured I'd lost my touch. Okay, I never had a touch—baking was never as good to me as straight out cooking. But then Daughter Number Two came home, and tried her hand at cupcakes. She's an excellent baker—I blame it on the fact she's studying engineering. But even though she carefully set the temperature, converting Fahrenheit to Celsius, and subtracting a few minutes for the fan assist (convection), her cupcakes still burned in record time.

So I deduced it must be the oven. Today the repairman came over and replaced the thermostat. As a test, I baked a loaf of banana bread, substituting spelt flour for the whole wheat I normally used.

I couldn't believe how perfectly baked the bread was, after 45 minutes at 180C. I kept poking a toothpick in, sure I'd find it gooey, since the top wasn't even burnt. It's been so long since I've seen a loaf with a perfectly browned top I had to set it by the window just to admire it for a while.

Lesson: If you're experiencing difficulty baking, maybe it isn't you. Maybe it's your oven. 

Tropical Scones

Beyond banana bread: Tropical Scones.

Situation: Hunger pains commence mid-morning.

Solution: Bake something.

What better to cure mid-morning hunger pains than a nice hot pair of scones? I wanted something vaguely healthy, however, and usually scones are not that at all. So I made some additions, subtractions, and finally had something approaching a half healthy mid-morning snack.

Well, they were good anyway. And it made four good-sized scones, enough for my husband and me to each have two.

For easy instructions, continue reading.

Sun-Dried Tomato Focaccia

Is it dinner time yet?

Just looking at this photo of Sun-Dried Tomato Focaccia makes me want to go bake another batch. The sweet tomatoes, the crunchy salt, the spongy warm bread...oh, how my mouth does water! But then it is dinner time. Too bad I ate the last piece.

It's so easy to make focaccia—easier to make than to spell. I used oil-packed tomatoes; if you use dried, you'll need to rehydrate them in boiling water first.

One C, then two.

Keep reading for directions...

Chocolate Chip and Pecan Cinnamon Rolls

Hot, gooey cinnamon rolls.

One more moment of decadence before the new year, I told myself this morning, tossing everything but the kitchen sink in these cinnamon rolls. Chocolate chips, brown sugar, pecans, cinnamon...all the good things in life. Plus a little whole wheat, just so you don't turn into a pillar of salt or anything.

With one extra girl in the house (Daughter Number Two's friend from the States) we had plenty of takers for these hot rolls. You could serve them with frosting drizzled over them, as pictured, or try maple syrup. Either way, they'll be gone before you can pour yourself a second cup of tea.

For directions, see below.

Lemony Poppy Seed Quick Bread

Thank goodness: Lemony Poppy Seed Bread

Thank goodness for Americans. They invented quick breads, after inventing baking powder, back in the nineteenth century. I guess they knew our twenty-first century lives would be too busy with our computers, phones, and other time-saving devices to make traditional slow breads.

However, before the Americans got around to inventing baking powder, a British man, Henry Jones, invented self-rising flour, except he called it self-raising flour. (He probably invented it in a laBORatry too.)

So, thank goodness for Henry Jones, whose self-raising flour is perfect for eggless quick breads. You can also use regular flour (plain, or all-purpose) with 2 teaspoons of baking powder plus another pinch of salt. Unless you have lots of self-rising flour to use up from the last thing you made.

In another lesson we'll discuss the history of lemons and poppy seeds. For now, here's a recipe for Lemon and Poppy Seed Quick Bread.