Bread Baking Babes 10th Anniversary - Royal Crown Tortano

From 2008 to 2012 I baked with a group of superstars called The Bread Baking Babes and it was super crazy that they included me  - this group was and is full of very talented bread wizards who make the most beautiful doughy creations.

I learned about shaping and fermenting and slashing.  Hydration and fillings and toppings and flours.

I had some interesting experiences and some flops, but I always had fun. I made breads and tried techniques that I know I never would have tried otherwise.

Dan's Garlic Bread was one of my favorites, and the Brunkans Langa is amazing.  The Injera was so much fun to make and eat.  This Challah made me very proud of myself.  And our first bread, Royal Crown Tortano, was so exciting for me.  That really cool looking bread?  I made that!

The group has been baking monthly breads for 10 years now, and Tanna very graciously invited me to bake with the group to celebrate.  The Babes chose to revisit the first bread, the Royal Crown Tortano.

This dough takes a long time - there is a preferment that you have to start the night before, and then the next day there is kneading and rising and turning and folding and on and on.  You need some time, I'm telling you.

But it is worth it.  So worth it.  The Tortano is huge and gorgeous and filled with air pockets and flavor.  

My slashing didn't turn out at all, and I missed the step about turning the dough, so my top isn't floured, but no cares here.  This bread is wonderful.

 A big, floury THANK YOU to the Bread Baking Babes for letting me join in celebrating the 10th (10!) Anniversary of the BBB.  Happy baking.  May your yeast always be fresh and your dough always rise.

Bread Baking Babes - Julia's Rose

This month's bread was chosen by Tanna from My Kitchen in Half Cups. She chose an absolutely stunning but amazingly simple bread for us. Julia's Rose. I must admit I was scratching my head a bit when I read the directions, but Tanna provided a video for us to watch which shows just how crazy easy it is to make the bread. Video here. (Note that the Chef makes small loaves and we made one big bread.)

I filled mine with butter, parmesan, oregano and garlic. Next time I will make a sweet version.

I accidentally overworked my dough so I didn't get a ton of rise, but it was delicious and beautiful. Please visit Tanna for instructions, and check out the participating Babes over on the right. Cheers!

Bread Baking Buddies - Easy Little Bread

Thanks to all the Babes and you out there who baked my choice for the Bread Baking Babes July bread - Easy Little Bread. There were some varying opinions but this truly is a favorite recipe of mine.

Thank you a million times over to Lien for the graphics.

I adore the shaping of this bread from Szeretetrehangoltan

A traditional shaped loaf from A Messy Kitchen

This loaf made the guild of knitting kninjas think of soup in the Fall

Beautiful bread from Gilad

Happy ready for jam bread from girlichef

Bread from my old stomping grounds, Calgary, from Crumbs of Love

Berry bread by Sweet and That's it

Bread from a familiar face, Judy's Gross Eats

I don't know why, but I always have trouble with photos from Soepkipje. My apologies, but please click to see her lovely bread.

I've been having some computer troubles lately, so if I've missed you, please send me an email.

Don't forget that the Babes are celebrating Julia Child this month - scroll down to the bottom of Tanna's post for all the details.

Thanks everyone! Happy Friday!

Bread Baking Babes - Easy Little Bread

It was my turn to choose the Bread Baking Babes bread for July.  I chose a bread that I fell in love with earlier this year - Easy Little Bread from 101 Cookbooks.

I love the simple ingredients - oats, whole wheat flour, honey - I love the texture, I love that it really is an easy bread, and most of all I love the taste.  If I could bake only one bread for the rest of my life (I think all the Babes are shuddering at the thought) it would be this bread.

This bread isn't going to win any beauty contests; it isn't elaborately shaped - it is pretty much just a really wet dough you scrape into a pan and let rise briefly before baking.  But the flavor and the quickness are divine.

Thanks to the Bread Baking Babes for allowing me to choose the bread this month!  I hope you all enjoyed it.

I hope you out there too will enjoy this bread! Want to be a Bread Baking Buddy? Bake the bread before July 29 and send me an email at iliketocookATshawDOTca. Include a photo and a link to your blog.

Cheers!

Easy Little Bread
from 101 Cookbooks

 1 1/4 cups / 300 ml warm water (105-115F)
2 teaspoons active dry yeast (one packet)
1 tablespoon runny honey
1 cup / 4.5 oz / 125 g unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup / 5 oz / 140 g whole wheat flour
1 cup / 3.5 oz / 100 g rolled oats (not instant oats)
1 1/2 teaspoons fine grain sea salt
2 tablespoons butter, melted, for brushing


In a medium bowl, sprinkle the yeast onto the warm water and stir until the yeast dissolves. Stir in the honey and set aside for a few minutes, until the yeast blooms and swells a bit - 5 - 10 minutes.
In the meantime, mix the flours, oats, and salt in a large bowl. Add the wet mixture to the dry and stir very well.
Brush a 8-cup loaf pan generously with some of the melted butter. Turn the dough into the tin, cover with a clean, slightly damp cloth, and set in a warm place for 30 minutes, to rise.
Preheat the oven to 350F / 180C, with a rack in the middle. When ready, bake the bread for 35-40 minutes, until golden and pulling away from the sides of the pan. I finish things up by leaving the bread under the broiler for just a heartbeat - to give the top a bit deeper color. Remove from oven, and turn the bread out of the pan quickly. Let it cool on a rack so it doesn't steam in the pan. Serve warm, slathered with butter.
Makes 1 loaf.
Adapted from Gran's Kitchen: Recipes from the Notebooks of Dulcie May Booker.
Prep time: 10 min - Cook time: 35 min

Bread Baking Babes - Oatmeal Twists

Nobody freak out - not only am I writing words on this blog, but I have also baked the monthly Bread Baking Babes bread!

This month's Oatmeal Twists is from Elle at Feeding My Enthusiasms, and they are so cute and fun to make.  I love the texture and taste of the bread and the shape is adorable.

Visit Elle's blog here to see the recipe.  

If you would like to be a Buddy this month, please email Elle a link to your post by June 29 at plachman(at)sonic(dot)net.

Check back next month - I am the host of July's BBB Bread!

Bread Baking Babes - Cuban Bread

Cuban Bread by Bernard Clayton from New Complete Book of Breads.

Delicious. Scrumptious. Amazing.

The bread so nice I made it twice.

Easy.

Want to be a Buddy? Bake the bread, recipe here, then send a link to Ilva at luculliandelights AT gmail DOT com by January 28. Use the subject "Bread Baking Buddy" in your email.

You will LOVE this bread.

Bread Baking Babes - Hamburger Buns

Good grief!  Can you believe it's already July 16th?  Not only does that mean that July is already more than half over (sob) but that also means it's time for the Bread o' the Month from the Bread Baking Babes.  And guess who got to choose the bread this time around?  Moi!

I chose Hamburger Buns from a recipe card I picked up in Williams Sonoma.

The recipe gives instructions for regular sized buns as well as sliders (aka the most adorable things ever).

Homemade Hamburger Buns

Williams-Sonoma

1 1/2 cups (375 ml) milk

8 Tbs (1stick/125 g) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces

4 1/2 tsp active dry yeast

4 cups (625 g) all purpose flour, plus more for dusting

5 Tbs sugar

1 Tbs kosher salt

1 egg beaten with 1 tsp water

sesame seeds for sprinkling (optional)

In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the milk and butter and heat until the butter is melted, about 7 minutes.  Remove from the heat and let cool to 105-155'F (40 to 46'C).  Add the yeast and stir until the yeast is dissolved.  Let stand for 10 minutes.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine the 4 cups of flour, the sugar and salt and beat on low speed until combined, about 30 seconds.  Add the milk mixture and knead until the dough forms a ball, about 1 minute.  Increase the speed to medium low and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, 4 to 5 minutes.  Remove the dough from the bowl, oil the inside of the bowl and return the dough to the bowl.  Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough into a 10 by 7 1/2 inch (25 by 19 cm) rectangle.  Using a ruler as a guide, cut the dough into 2 1/2 inch (6cm) squares.  Transfer to the prepared baking sheet, spacing the buns evenly apart, and cover tightly with plastic wrap.  Let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.  

Preheat oven to 400'F (200'C)

Remove the plastic wrap from the baking sheet.  Brush the tops of the buns with the egg mixture (I brushed the tops with milk) and sprinkle with sesame seeds if using.  Bake until the buns and golder and an instant read thermometer inserted into the center of a bun registers 190'F (88'C), 14 to 16 minutes.  Transfer the buns to a wire rack and let cool completely.  Cut in half and use as hamburger buns.  Makes 12 hamburger buns.

For slider buns: Follow the instructions above but roll out the dough into a 9 inch (23 cm) square.  Cut into 1 1/2 inch (4cm) squares and place on 2 parchment lined baking sheets.  Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.  Position one rack in the upper third of an over and one rack in the lower third and preheat to 400'F (200'C).  Brush the tops with the egg mixture and sprinkle with sesame seeds if using.  Bake for about 14 minutes, rotating the baking sheets from top to bottom and 180 degrees halfway through baking.  Makes 36 slider buns.

Time got away from me once again and I didn't have time to try to make slider buns before it was time to post.  But I hope to soon and will show off my results.

Please visit the participating Babes listed over on the left.  I've seen some preview pictures from some of them and they've got some amazing buns (hee!)

 If you'd like to be a Buddy,  please make the bread and post about it by July 29th.  Send mt a link at iliketocook AT shaw DOT ca.

Sorry I've been so absent and things are kind of not interesting around here.  I'm working hard on getting myself out of this funk.  Keep your fingers crossed for me please.

Peace!

Bread Baking Babes - Irish While Soda Bread with Herbs

Kitchen of the month - Ilva from Lucullian Delights.

Recipe - Irish White Soda Bread with Herbs

Result - Delicious and easy.

Delicious and easy are 2 of my favorite things!

Apologies for this brief post.

If you'd like to be a buddy, or just make the bread, visit Ilva's website here to see the recipe.

All the Babes are listed over on the left for your viewing pleasure.

Bread Baking Babes - Stromboli

Elle from Feeding My Enthusiasms was the lucky lady to choose our bread for May, and she chose the Stromboli.

The stromboli is a sandwich in every slice - meat and cheese layered on a lovely bread dough, rolled up and baked. The recipe is straightforward to make and the results are delicious.

Our stromboli was layered with proscuitto and salami and swiss cheese and basil.  I rolled it up as tight as I could, sprinkled it with salt and baked it.

Unfortunately I forgot the apparently critical step of piercing the bread before cooking, presumably so your bread doesn't bake up hollow like mine did.

Regardless of the big air pockets in the bread, it was delicious. As Elle mentioned in her post to us Babes, this is a perfect picnic food. If the warm weather decides to stick around, maybe we'll find out!

Please visit Elle for the recipe, and all the deets on being a Buddy with her delicious pick. And please visit the participating Babes (listed over on the left) to see their breads as well.

Cheers!

Bread Baking Babes - Dan's Garlic Bread

Miracles of miracles I managed to bake this months Bread Baking Babes Bread - Dan's Garlic Bread from Natashya at Living in the Kitchen with Puppies.

This is a FANTASTIC garlic bread. At first the recipe intimidated me, but it's not hard or complicated, it just takes a while.

You start by cooking some whole garlic cloves and making them fabulous. When you dough is ready they get kneaded in.

The dough is cut into 3 loaves for baking. I think I overworked the dough at the cutting and forming stage, but they came out very rustic and adorable.

If Scott hadn't been home when I made this, and knew that there were 3 loaves, I would have eaten a whole one myself. Can I say it again? Fabulous.

You guys will want to make this. Go and visit Natashya and get the recipe here.

Happy Saturday!

Bread Baking Babes 3 Year Babe-eversary!

3 years!

What lasts 3 years anymore? Not much.

What started for me 3 years ago with this baking group became something important and inspiring in my life. A group of ladies from different countries, different lives, different ages, different experience levels became Babes and friends and made a forum where we can talk and share both our triumphs and tragedies in bread and in life.

To celebrate our Third Anniversary of our group we decided to take a walk down memory lane. Bake a bread from our archives.

When we first made the decision, I thought I might made 3 breads, one from each year of Babe-hood, but man. I hate to say I don't have the time or energy right now. So I picked one I was most proud of the first time around.

I chose to make Gorel's Brunkans Langa bread again.

What I love about this bread is the color, the rustic shape of the loaf, the hearty and just slightly sour taste. I also love that although this is a bread that takes time (5 days), it is not a difficult bread. It's an easy bread when you want to bake but don't have a day or large chunk of a day to devote.

My beautiful Babes, past and present! I raise my glass to you. Thank you for the last 3 years. Thank you for your kindness and friendship and support and inspiration. I can't wait to see what we'll do next.

Cheers!

Bread Baking Babes 3 year Babe-eversary....coming soon

Us Babes are celebrating 3 years together.  3 years of bread, 3 years of friendship, 3 years of rude talk, scotch talk, helpful advice, shoulders to cry on. 

To celebrate, we are looking back at what we've accomplished together:

2008 (from left to right)  February: Karen Royal  Crown Tortano (in Dutch) and in English:

March: Lien Coccodrillo 

April: Tanna Sullivan  Street Pizza

May:  Sher  - Poilane-Style  Miche

June: Mary Breadchick's  Dark Onion Rye

July: - in memory of Sher who  passed away July 20 2008;  this month we made something from her blog,  something that reminded us of the warm and witty personality Sher was. The news  of her passing shocked us. She is our Angel Babe.

August: Ilva Whole  Wheat Pita

September : Monique Sûkerbôlle

October : Sara Challah

November: Görel The  Rosendal Crisp Bread

December: Lynn Yule  Wreath

In our second year, the loaves of 2009;

2009 (from left to right):  January Katie Croissants

February Tanna Pane  ai Cinque Cereali con Nod (Five-Grain Bread with Walnuts)

March Sara Pane  Francese

April Mary Ethiopian  Injera

May Ilva Pane  di Pasta Tenera Condita (Italian Knot Bread)

June Lien  Asparagus  Bread (in English and Dutch)

July Natashya Sukkar  bi Tahin (Beirut Tahini Swirls)

August Görel Russian  Black Bread

September Karen Chinese  Flower Steam Buns

October Gretchen Tanta  Wawa (Peruvian Bread Babies)

November Monique Brioche  Mousseline

December Katie Viennese  Striesel

And our third year 2010;

2010 (from left to right)  January Lynn Curried  Naan

February Karen Ensaimada

March Mary Gluten  Free No Knead Hearty Seeded Sandwich Bread

April Sara Potato  Bread with Chives

May Natashya Tunisian  Spicy Breads

June Lien Korni  (in English and Dutch)

July Lynn Yeasted  Sprouted Wheat Bread 

August Tanna Sweet  Portuguese Bread

September Görel Brunkans  Långa

October Elizabeth Broa: Portuguese Corn Bread

November Susan Cornucopia

December Ilva Taralli  Pugliesi

How gorgeous is that?

Come back and visit us on the 16th to see our celebration!  

Bread Baking Babe-aversary

The Bread Baking Babes anniversary is coming up in February and we'd like YOU to pick the Anniversary Bread recipe for February 2011.

* What's your favorite bread?
* What bread haven’t you ever been able to get to turn out the way you want?
* What bread scares you the most?
* What's the bread recipe you’ve baked the most?
* What bread do you dream about baking?
* What bread do you...?

Scour your bread-baking cookbooks, recipe boxes and bread-baking sites to make your choice. We’ll ask you to submit your desired recipe soon. And after we've narrowed the list down to a manageable number of choices, we’ll ask you to vote on one for us to bake and post for our anniversary in February.

Please email your bread recipe/link to me at iliketocook AT shaw DOT ca

Cheers!

bbb fail!

i can't believe i did it, but i did.  i totally forgot about the december bread baking buddies bread this month.

my apologies to all, especially to Ilva, the kitchen of the month.

please visit the babes, listed over there on the left to see their beautiful "Taralli Pugliesi".

Bread Baking Babes - Cornucopia

This will be a brief post as I have a sorta-sick little baby curled up in bed next to me, slowly worming his way on my side of the bed, pushing me off.

This months Bread Baking Babe hostess with the mostess is one of our new members, Susan, from Wild Yeast. Since it's American Thanksgiving soon, she chose a decorative bread, the Cornucopia.

I initially wasn't going to make the bread as we Canadians have already had Thanksgiving and if I put out any sort of decoration on the table, Pax will just throw his lunch at it, but I thought it might be sort of fun to try to make an edible version.

Now I am not in the least bit artistic. At all. I nearly failed Art when required to take it in school. So be warned, what is below is not pretty.

My initial idea was to make mini cornucopias and fill them with salad, but I realized when I was halfway through making the second one that they were too big to be individual servings.

Sunday when I made these was kind of a weird day and I ended up pulling out a bag of mixed nuts to try to dress up my sad little corni for a photo.

See?  So not pretty.

But other Babes have made some pretty spectacular ones.  So check them out, their sites are listed over on the right, and visit Susan for instructions if you'd like to make your own, here.

Bread Baking Babes - Portuguese Corn Bread

This month the bread for our Bread Baking Babes was chosen by Elizabeth from blog from OUR kitchen. She picked a Portuguese bread called "Broa". The bread is made with cornmeal and corn flour, with about a jillion, or maybe around 6 risings.

But it's a pretty straightforward bread. I was a little worried about how mine would turn out as my dough seemed a little more....solid than the recipe wrote. Elizabeth talked about sloppy dough, and having to use a scraper to move the dough, but mine was very.....doughy.

But it seemed to be behaving and rose well. I slashed the dough before I baked it, as I have become quite interested in slashing. The slashing came out not too bad, could have been worse, could have been better.  As for the bread itself - I liked it.  A nice crisp crust and a delicious, slightly corny interior. 

Wanna be a Bread Baking Buddy this month? Head over to Elizabeth's for the recipe and make the bread and send her a link by October 29.

Cheers!

Bread Baking Babes - Brunkans Langa

I will give you a direct quote from Gorel, our Babe of the Kitchen this month, on the bread she chose:
"Brunkan is a nickname for Brunkebergs bageri (the bakery of Brunkeberg, situated in Stockholm), and ”långa” means ”the long one”. When they bake this bread at the Brunkeberg bakery, it is more than two feet long – hence the name. The owner of this bakery is Heléne Johansson, an IT consultant who decided she needed a career change and thus started her own bakery in 2002. This proved to be very successful, and she has now started a second bakery and also taken on catering as a business. A true babe, isn’t she? This bread is from the book ”Bröd” (Bread) that Heléne published last year and which contains the most popular breads in her line."

Is that not a great and intriguing introduction to this months bread? Well then let me tell you more. Not only does the bread require a starter because it's a sourdough (yipee!), the starter is made with graham flour, which I've never used before. And shockingly, could actually get my hands on!

My story does not have a good beginning, however. I went to the 2 "largest" health/natural food stores here, which happen to be about a block away from each other. The first was closed, so we walked to the other. I scoured the flour aisle but could not see graham flour. A clerk asked me if I needed help and I told him what I was looking for. I followed him to a different aisle, where he waved his arm towards.....a bunch of cookies. No no, I said, I need graham flour. Just take the graham cookies and grind them up! he replied.

Even I knew that probably wasn't right.

The other store managed to open on a weekday and I found the flour there within seconds. Graham flour is actually a type of whole wheat flour, with both finely and coarsely ground components. And you thought I didn't know anything!

So, you make your starter, which takes at least 3 days. After which you can either store your starter and occasionally feed, or make the bread. But then when you mix the dough, it needs an overnight rise in the fridge. We had some last minute company who would be leaving the day the dough would be ready to bake, so I figured the day before I'd make the dough and then it could sit in the fridge until they left, at which time I'd bake it.

They decided that last morning that they'd stay another day if that was ok with us. It was, and I told myself that I was sure the dough would be ok in the fridge for another day. But then I opened the fridge.


The dough was massive! I was truly afraid that if I left it any longer it would end up stuck to the sides of the fridge. So I baked it that morning.


What a bread! The sourness was very light but lovely. If you wanted it stronger you could certainly leave the started longer before you bake, but I loved it just as it was. I gave one loaf to my parents and we motored thru that second loaf in less than 2 days. It was easy and lovely and very impressive.


A word of warning - this is a big dough. So unless you have a really big mixer (not a regular kitchenaid as that is what i have), mix this by hand!

Please visit Gorel for the recipe, and the rest of the Babes (listed over on the left) to see how their breads turned out. If you'd like to be a buddy, bake the bread and send a link to your post to Gorel by the 29th.