I holla for Challah

So, I was all set to make the Anadama bread today from the BBA, but to my surprise, that's a 2 day bread...okay...so I started sorting through the book, and, aha!  Challah!

I really need to buy instant yeast, which I could never find at the store, until I recently read online that it's the same as rapid rise yeast (someone correct me if I'm wrong), so I'll buy some when I go to the store tomorrow because this book calls for instant yeast in every recipe and my yeast just didn't do a good job of rising today.

No matter, the bread was pretty simple to make, although I messed up the braiding somehow, but I have a feeling it will make some amazing french toast!

Pizza!

It was an un-traditional Christmas this year, but the food was still good.  I tried another recipe from the BBA and once again, it did not disappoint.  This time it was pizza dough!

The recipe was the first one that I've made that takes 2 days.  You make the dough the first day, shape it into (6) 6-ounce (or as close to 6 ounce as you can, mine were 5.5 ounces) balls and refrigerate overnight.  The second day you want to flatten the dough and let it rest at room temperature for 2 hours.

 

The result?  A dough that was incredibly easy to work with, although I got a bit overzealous and stretched it out so much that it tore, so I had to let it rest for a bit and start over.  And it didn't make as large a pizza as I thought, but they are great for making individual ones, so everyone can put their own toppings on it.  I chose turkey pepperoni and canadian bacon.  Cooked on the pizza stone for about 5-8 minutes and it came out perfect.

The best part is that you can freeze any remaining dough for up to 3 months, so whenever I get a craving for pizza again, I've got some in the freezer.

English Muffins

Oh my goodness, I have found a new love, and it is from scratch English muffins.

Yep, another recipe from the BBA!

And, how simple it was! I had a little trouble with the dough rising the first time, so I just let it proof longer then the 60-90 minutes (I actually just went to work and let it sit, so ended up being closer to 4 hours). Came back and it had risen to a nice consistency.

Shaping the balls was super simple as well. I measured it out to about 2.5 ounces each and this is how they looked after about 2 hours of rising. I didn't have cornmeal to dust over the top and bottom, so I had to settle for flour.
The interesting thing about these is that you cook them on the stove! Very strange concept but it was cool to see everything coming together. After a few minutes I flipped them over and another few minutes after that, I finished baking them in the oven. I probably could have left them in there another couple of minutes but I like my bread a little doughy so I was very happy with the results. If you separate them with a fork you'll get the little nooks and crannies you are used to seeing :)

This morning I toasted one and threw some butter and cherry preserves on and holy cow, it was a party in my mouth! I'm not going to be buying English muffins from the store anytime soon. This was such a simple recipe to make, although I wish the recipe yielded more than 6, but I'll just double the batch and freeze the extras next time!

Cinnamon Raisin Walnut Bread

It was a rainy day today. I woke up at 7:30am and it was raining and it finally tapered off around 5pm. So, what's a girl to do?

Get out her Bread Baker's Apprentice book and bake some bread.

Today I made cinnamon raisin walnut bread, and even though I'm not a huge fan of either raisins or walnuts, this bread is AMAZING. My neighbors love me because I am always bringing them fresh baked goodies :)

The recipe was super easy too, although I had a couple of hiccups along the way. I don't have shortening, so I substituted butter, and I was just an ounce or two shy of 1/2 cup of buttermilk, so I added enough soymilk (since that's all I drink) to get to the right amount. Oh, and after I let the dough rise for 2 hours I realized...

I FORGOT TO ADD THE CINNAMON!

Seriously!!! But, all was not lost, I just added it in then and punched the dough down and kneaded it by hand for a few minutes and well, you really can't tell that it was added way later.

Ready to rise
After rising for about 90 minutes

Following the directions I rolled it out and added the cinnamon sugar and rolled it up and baked it for 40 minutes (turning halfway through), but I didn't get the crusty cinnamon sugar top I had hoped for that the book talks about, but that's no problem as the bread is still absolutely delicious. Even Charlie loved it! I busted him taking a bite out of the edge of the loaf...bad dog!!!

Fresh out of the oven

I'm seeing friends for lunch tomorrow so I'll be taking them a few slices but this is definitely one I'll be making again and again.