Cranberry-Walnut Celebration Bread

So I am running a little bit behind on the BBA challenge but I still feel pretty good with my progress.  This week I made the Cranberry-Walnut Celebration Bread.  Funny thing is I almost skipped this one.  But the girls went back to school this week and I found myself with a couple of free minutes and an empty house.  When I saw that it wasn’t a 2 bread I jumped right in.  I am so glad I did…

About the Bread Baker’s Apprentice Group: Nicole of Pinch my Salt sent out a twitter message saying “I need a challenge. Am thinking of baking my way through every single recipe in The Bread Baker's Apprentice. Anyone want to join me?” Well I jumped right in. Both feet, no thought at all. I think I was one of the first 5 that joined…did I even have the book? Nope but I ordered it that night!!!

The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread

We are now over 200 strong with members everywhere on the globe. It’s an incredibly enthusiastic group that wants to share like no group I have ever belonged to before. Awesome!

Our goal is to bake our way through Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread. An  intimidating book at anytime but to think that you are going to be baking one of these recipes a week is slightly overwhelming to say the least. But I love a challenge and feel a real need to get out of my comfort zone. Oh yah, I bake all of our bread but I never seem to have the time or the desire to try something new and different. This will change all that!!!

I really, like this bread.  I followed the recipe to a tee.  Right down to the huge amount of cranberries and walnuts that went into it. It did take a while to get them all incorporated but with some patient kneading they all fit in. Someone on twitter (so sorry that I forget who!!!) suggested that these would be an incredible addition to the Thanksgiving table made into muffins!!!

Will I be making this again?  I think so.  I liked it and the family liked it and I really think that it would make the best turkey sandwich with leftover roasted turkey from Thanksgiving!

Check out the Bread Baker’s Apprentice Blogroll to see some other really nice Celebration Bread!

Want to Bake Along With Us?

There are several ways for you to join in the fun! First of all, you need a copy of Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice. Then just start baking! Even if you are starting late, just begin with the first recipe and start working your way through. There are several ways to communicate with the group as you begin your journey:

Flickr: We have set up a BBA Challenge Flickr Group where you can upload photos, see photos from other members, and even post questions and comments in the group forum. It’s a private group, so you will need to click on the link that says ‘join this group’ if you want to be able to post photos. As long as you are willing to bake bread all of the bread from the book, you are welcome to join the Flickr group!

Twitter: If you use twitter, you can follow what the group is doing by searching for #BBA or #bba using Twitter’s search box. You can join in on the conversation by adding the #bba or #BBA tag to the end of your tweets when you are talking about anything related to the BBA Challenge. For me, following what people are doing on twitter has been the most fun!

Facebook: If you’re on Facebook, you can join the BBA Challenge Group there and share photos, ask questions, and talk about your bread baking experiences with other BBA members on Facebook.

Next up…English Muffins!!!!

I am submitting this to BYOB (Bake Your Own Bread) hosted by Sandy of At the Baker's Bench. This is a great challenge to get you baking more of your own baked goods. Better for you and cheaper in the process!

As Always…

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Read more »

Corn Bread for the Bread Baker’s Apprentice

This week (and I am pretty sure I am behind?) I made Corn Bread.  Was I eager to make this…no way.  I even put it off over and over again.  Once I finally got all of the ingredients together I could never remember to do the overnight cornmeal soak.  Then, get this, when I did remember I didn’t have time the next day to make it.  I placed the soaking cornmeal/buttermilk mixture in the fridge and kept hoping for a better day! 

About the Bread Baker’s Apprentice Group: Nicole of Pinch my Salt sent out a twitter message saying “I need a challenge. Am thinking of baking my way through every single recipe in The Bread Baker's Apprentice. Anyone want to join me?” Well I jumped right in. Both feet, no thought at all. I think I was one of the first 5 that joined…did I even have the book? Nope but I ordered it that night!!!

The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread

We are now over 200 strong with members everywhere on the globe. It’s an incredibly enthusiastic group that wants to share like no group I have ever belonged to before. Awesome!

Our goal is to bake our way through Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread. An  intimidating book at anytime but to think that you are going to be baking one of these recipes a week is slightly overwhelming to say the least. But I love a challenge and feel a real need to get out of my comfort zone. Oh yah, I bake all of our bread but I never seem to have the time or the desire to try something new and different. This will change all that!!!

Finally  the eve of the day that I would be able to bake this bread came.  I wanted to be fully prepared so I even cooked up the bacon ahead of time and crumbled it and placed it in the fridge. 

The next day I pulled out the cornmeal soak and let it come to room temperature and then prepared the batter.  I decided to cook this in my 10 cast iron skillet.  I like the flavor and the ease that it lends to corn bread.  The only thing I found was that it needed to be heated for a bit longer in the oven before the batter was added.  I had also ran out of honey (have been using it for one of my girls who has a cough) so I decided to completely omit it and not even add any more sugar as I had read previous comments about it being overly sweet.  I added one extra tablespoon of buttermilk to help make up for the missing liquid.

Will I be making these again?  Not so sure about that.  It was okay but my original corn bread recipe is really good.  I found this to be really cake like in texture and flavor.  Loved the amount of corn in it and the crunchy cornmeal but it was too sweet and the bacon was overpowering.

Check out the Bread Baker’s Apprentice Blogroll to see some other really nice Corn Bread!

Want to Bake Along With Us?

There are several ways for you to join in the fun! First of all, you need a copy of Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice. Then just start baking! Even if you are starting late, just begin with the first recipe and start working your way through. There are several ways to communicate with the group as you begin your journey:

Flickr: We have set up a BBA Challenge Flickr Group where you can upload photos, see photos from other members, and even post questions and comments in the group forum. It’s a private group, so you will need to click on the link that says ‘join this group’ if you want to be able to post photos. As long as you are willing to bake bread all of the bread from the book, you are welcome to join the Flickr group!

Twitter: If you use twitter, you can follow what the group is doing by searching for #BBA or #bba using Twitter’s search box. You can join in on the conversation by adding the #bba or #BBA tag to the end of your tweets when you are talking about anything related to the BBA Challenge. For me, following what people are doing on twitter has been the most fun!

Facebook: If you’re on Facebook, you can join the BBA Challenge Group there and share photos, ask questions, and talk about your bread baking experiences with other BBA members on Facebook.

Next up…Cranberry Walnut Celebration Bread!!!!

I am submitting this to BYOB (Bake Your Own Bread) hosted by Sandy of At the Baker's Bench. This is a great challenge to get you baking more of your own baked goods. Better for you and cheaper in the process!

As Always…

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Read more »

Cinnamon Raisin Walnut Bread

This week we made Cinnamon Raisin Walnut Bread and this is definitely a bread that I am going to be making again and again.  Everyone loved it.  We loved it toasted, we loved it fresh from the oven and we LOVED it as French Toast!!!  I was a little apprehensive when I went to make it as T. doesn’t like raisins and the kids don’t like walnuts but I forged ahead and added everything as it should be and they ended up loving everything about it!!!

About the Bread Baker’s Apprentice Group: Nicole of Pinch my Salt sent out a twitter message saying “I need a challenge. Am thinking of baking my way through every single recipe in The Bread Baker's Apprentice. Anyone want to join me?” Well I jumped right in. Both feet, no thought at all. I think I was one of the first 5 that joined…did I even have the book? Nope but I ordered it that night!!!

The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread

We are now over 200 strong with members everywhere on the globe. It’s an incredibly enthusiastic group that wants to share like no group I have ever belonged to before. Awesome!

Our goal is to bake our way through Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread. An  intimidating book at anytime but to think that you are going to be baking one of these recipes a week is slightly overwhelming to say the least. But I love a challenge and feel a real need to get out of my comfort zone. Oh yah, I bake all of our bread but I never seem to have the time or the desire to try something new and different. This will change all that!!!

Now my loaves were anything but perfect looking from the outside.  I could have maybe baked them a bit longer to brown them up more and spent a few more minutes shaping them but all in all the rise was perfect and the crumb is wonderful!!! 

I followed the directions on this one exactly (flour, sugar, salt, yeast, cinnamon, egg, shortening, buttermilk, water, raisins and nuts) the only thing I didn’t do was to add a swirl of cinnamon sugar that could be added during the final shaping.  I just thought it would be good the way it was and I was right.  Next time I may do one loaf with the swirl just to test it out!

Will I be making these again?  Oh yes I will!!!  These loaves turned out wonderfully and I will be making this bread again and again!!!

Check out the Bread Baker’s Apprentice Blogroll to see some other really nice Cinnamon Raisin Walnut Bread!

Want to Bake Along With Us?

There are several ways for you to join in the fun! First of all, you need a copy of Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice. Then just start baking! Even if you are starting late, just begin with the first recipe and start working your way through. There are several ways to communicate with the group as you begin your journey:

Flickr: We have set up a BBA Challenge Flickr Group where you can upload photos, see photos from other members, and even post questions and comments in the group forum. It’s a private group, so you will need to click on the link that says ‘join this group’ if you want to be able to post photos. As long as you are willing to bake bread all of the bread from the book, you are welcome to join the Flickr group!

Twitter: If you use twitter, you can follow what the group is doing by searching for #BBA or #bba using Twitter’s search box. You can join in on the conversation by adding the #bba or #BBA tag to the end of your tweets when you are talking about anything related to the BBA Challenge. For me, following what people are doing on twitter has been the most fun!

Facebook: If you’re on Facebook, you can join the BBA Challenge Group there and share photos, ask questions, and talk about your bread baking experiences with other BBA members on Facebook.

Next up…Cinnamon Raisin Walnut Bread!!!!

I am submitting this to BYOB (Bake Your Own Bread) hosted by Sandy of At the Baker's Bench. This is a great challenge to get you baking more of your own baked goods. Better for you and cheaper in the process!

As Always…

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Read more »

Cinnamon Rolls from the Bread Baker’s Apprentice

This week was a week I was totally looking forward to.  Not only from the BBA perspective – we were baking cinnamon rolls but also from a personal perspective.  My oldest daughter is a 4th of July baby so the 4th is one of those holidays that is near and dear to my heart.  To add the icing to the cake I was going to make Cinnamon Rolls for her birthday breakfast!!!

About the Bread Baker’s Apprentice Group: Nicole of Pinch my Salt sent out a twitter message saying “I need a challenge. Am thinking of baking my way through every single recipe in The Bread Baker's Apprentice. Anyone want to join me?” Well I jumped right in. Both feet, no thought at all. I think I was one of the first 5 that joined…did I even have the book? Nope but I ordered it that night!!!

The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread

We are now over 200 strong with members everywhere on the globe. It’s an incredibly enthusiastic group that wants to share like no group I have ever belonged to before. Awesome!

Our goal is to bake our way through Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread. An intimidating book at anytime but to think that you are going to be baking one of these recipes a week is slightly overwhelming to say the least. But I love a challenge and feel a real need to get out of my comfort zone. Oh yah, I bake all of our bread but I never seem to have the time or the desire to try something new and different. This will change all that!!!

Cinnamon Rolls

I LOVE cinnamon and these rolls were incredible.  I loved the dough and how it came together and felt. 

Peter Reinhart gives us several different options when making these.  We could also make cinnamon rolls or sticky buns.  I opted for the cinnamon rolls but will be trying the sticky buns in the near future! I decided to use buttermilk and lemon extract instead of whole milk and zest.  Also in the fondant icing I decided to use vanilla extract instead of the lemon that was called for.

This is after they have been pulled from the fridge and rested for about 3 or 4 hrs.  See how nice and puffy they look?

Seeing as I wanted to make them for breakfast and not a late brunch I made them the night before.  Shaped them and placed them on the baking sheet and then popped them into the fridge overnight to rest.  This is not a step called for and these wonderful rolls can be made in one day!!!  I pulled them out of the fridge at about 4:00 AM and then preheated the oven about 7:30.  Baked them and iced them and watched them get eaten up.

 Fresh out of the oven and iced!

Will I be making these again?  Oh yes I will!!!  They turned out wonderfully and I will be making these again and again!!!

Check out the Bread Baker’s Apprentice Blogroll to see some other really nice Cinnamon Rolls or Sticky Buns!

Want to Bake Along With Us?

There are several ways for you to join in the fun! First of all, you need a copy of Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice. Then just start baking! Even if you are starting late, just begin with the first recipe and start working your way through. There are several ways to communicate with the group as you begin your journey:

Flickr: We have set up a BBA Challenge Flickr Group where you can upload photos, see photos from other members, and even post questions and comments in the group forum. It’s a private group, so you will need to click on the link that says ‘join this group’ if you want to be able to post photos. As long as you are willing to bake bread all of the bread from the book, you are welcome to join the Flickr group!

Twitter: If you use twitter, you can follow what the group is doing by searching for #BBA or #bba using Twitter’s search box. You can join in on the conversation by adding the #bba or #BBA tag to the end of your tweets when you are talking about anything related to the BBA Challenge. For me, following what people are doing on twitter has been the most fun!

Facebook: If you’re on Facebook, you can join the BBA Challenge Group there and share photos, ask questions, and talk about your bread baking experiences with other BBA members on Facebook.

Next up…Raisin Walnut Cinnamon Bread!!!!

I am submitting this to BYOB (Bake Your Own Bread) hosted by Sandy of At the Baker's Bench. This is a great challenge to get you baking more of your own baked goods. Better for you and cheaper in the process!

As Always…

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Read more »

Ciabatta for the BBA Group

This is the 7th bread from the Bread Baker’s Apprentice Group.  I have to confess, I skipped number 6.  I was just kind of sick of egg breads and it was Challah.  The family doesn’t seem to be fans either so I waited the week and dove into the ciabatta.

About the Bread Baker’s Apprentice Group: Nicole of Pinch my Salt sent out a twitter message saying “I need a challenge. Am thinking of baking my way through every single recipe in The Bread Baker's Apprentice. Anyone want to join me?” Well I jumped right in. Both feet, no thought at all. I think I was one of the first 5 that joined…did I even have the book? Nope but I ordered it that night!!!

The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread

We are now over 200 strong with members everywhere on the globe. It’s an incredibly enthusiastic group that wants to share like no group I have ever belonged to before. Awesome!

Our goal is to bake our way through Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread. An intimidating book at anytime but to think that you are going to be baking one of these recipes a week is slightly overwhelming to say the least. But I love a challenge and feel a real need to get out of my comfort zone. Oh yah, I bake all of our bread but I never seem to have the time or the desire to try something new and different. This will change all that!!!

Ciabatta

I followed Peter Reinhart’s recipe for the ciabatta using a poolish.  I left the poolish in the fridge for about 2 days to help the flavor develop and when I was ready to bake the bread I took the poolish out and left it at room temperature for a couple of hours.  I learned my lesson well from my brioche fail and I wanted that sucker at room temp!!!

I added the poolish to the flour, salt, yeast, and water and mixed it all together.  The recipe called for 6 Tablespoons – 3/4 cup of warmish water.  I swear I added all of that and then some just trying to get my dough really wet!!!  The flour was just sucking it right up.  I finally got to the point where I was afraid to add any more and figured it was just time to let it rest. 

This bread is fairly labor intensive and there is not much time that you can be away from it.  It’s not simply a 1-1/2 hr to 2 hr rise.  There is lots of stretching and folding and shaping involved in this one.  You need to prepare your oven for hearth baking using water in a pan and spraying the inside as well.  With that said I ended up a little disappointed with the crumb.  I know that several others had the same problem and the crumb was tighter than expected.  I just would have loved for this one to have been perfect!!!  The outside was nice and crusty.  The color was beautiful and the smell and the flavor was the best!  But my loaves weren’t perfect…

Would I make this one again?  Maybe, but not using this recipe.  There are so many other recipes and techniques that I would like to try my hand at one that was slightly more successful.  I did love the flavor of this and the kids loved it with an Italian herb and oil dipping sauce and as toast for breakfast!!!  The girl’s loved this with olive oil and herbs for dipping! 

Check out the Bread Baker’s Apprentice Blogroll to see some other really nice loaves of Ciabatta!

Want to Bake Along With Us?

There are several ways for you to join in the fun! First of all, you need a copy of Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice. Then just start baking! Even if you are starting late, just begin with the first recipe and start working your way through. There are several ways to communicate with the group as you begin your journey:

Flickr: We have set up a BBA Challenge Flickr Group where you can upload photos, see photos from other members, and even post questions and comments in the group forum. It’s a private group, so you will need to click on the link that says ‘join this group’ if you want to be able to post photos. As long as you are willing to bake bread all of the bread from the book, you are welcome to join the Flickr group!

Twitter: If you use twitter, you can follow what the group is doing by searching for #BBA or #bba using Twitter’s search box. You can join in on the conversation by adding the #bba or #BBA tag to the end of your tweets when you are talking about anything related to the BBA Challenge. For me, following what people are doing on twitter has been the most fun!

Facebook: If you’re on Facebook, you can join the BBA Challenge Group there and share photos, ask questions, and talk about your bread baking experiences with other BBA members on Facebook.

Next up…Cinnamon Rolls or Sticky Buns!!!!

I am submitting this to BYOB (Bake Your Own Bread) hosted by Sandy of At the Baker's Bench. This is a great challenge to get you baking more of your own baked goods. Better for you and cheaper in the process!

As Always…

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Read more »

Casatiello

This is the 5th bread that I have baked along side the Bread Baker’s Apprentice Group.  Casatiello is a bread that I had never even heard of let alone tasted so I was eager to get it started.  It is described as an “Italian elaboration of brioche” filled with bits of meat and cheese.

Looks like a huge muffin doesn’t it?

About the Bread Baker’s Apprentice Group: Nicole of Pinch my Salt sent out a twitter message saying “I need a challenge. Am thinking of baking my way through every single recipe in The Bread Baker's Apprentice. Anyone want to join me?” Well I jumped right in. Both feet, no thought at all. I think I was one of the first 5 that joined…did I even have the book? Nope but I ordered it that night!!!

The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread

We are now over 200 strong with members everywhere on the globe. It’s an incredibly enthusiastic group that wants to share like no group I have ever belonged to before. Awesome!

Our goal is to bake our way through Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread. An intimidating book at anytime but to think that you are going to be baking one of these recipes a week is slightly overwhelming to say the least. But I love a challenge and feel a real need to get out of my comfort zone. Oh yah, I bake all of our bread but I never seem to have the time or the desire to try something new and different. This will change all that!!!

Casatiello

I took a trip to my local Italian Market and was able to come up with some cured Italian Salami and some provolone cheese.  My idea was to grate half of the cheese and then leave some in cubes.  Traditionally this bread is baked in paper bags or panettone molds but  after going back and forth and waiting for Nicole’s results I decided to use a 9 inch springform pan.  My bread turned out wonderfully and looked just like a giant muffin! 

Unfortunately this bread was not how I expected it to be.  I thought it would be a full flavored bread and I really found it pretty bland.  Maybe I should have used a stronger cheese or a cured sausage, not sure but I was not the hit I thought it would be in the house.  Beautiful?  Oh yes, but just not as tasty as I thought it could have been.

Any ideas on left over usage?

The crumb was beautiful and it rose perfectly but it just didn’t have as much flavor as I would have liked!

Check out the Bread Baker’s Apprentice Blogroll to see some really nice Brioches! Ones that did not fail!!!

Want to Bake Along With Us?

There are several ways for you to join in the fun! First of all, you need a copy of Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice. Then just start baking! Even if you are starting late, just begin with the first recipe and start working your way through. There are several ways to communicate with the group as you begin your journey:

Flickr: We have set up a BBA Challenge Flickr Group where you can upload photos, see photos from other members, and even post questions and comments in the group forum. It’s a private group, so you will need to click on the link that says ‘join this group’ if you want to be able to post photos. As long as you are willing to bake bread all of the bread from the book, you are welcome to join the Flickr group!

Twitter: If you use twitter, you can follow what the group is doing by searching for #BBA or #bba using Twitter’s search box. You can join in on the conversation by adding the #bba or #BBA tag to the end of your tweets when you are talking about anything related to the BBA Challenge. For me, following what people are doing on twitter has been the most fun!

Facebook: If you’re on Facebook, you can join the BBA Challenge Group there and share photos, ask questions, and talk about your bread baking experiences with other BBA members on Facebook.

Next up…Challah!!!!

I am submitting this to BYOB (Bake Your Own Bread) hosted by Sandy of At the Baker's Bench. This is a great challenge to get you baking more of your own baked goods. Better for you and cheaper in the process!

As Always…

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Read more »

Major Brioche Fail

Very sad, flat loaf of brioche!!!

I tossed around whether or not I should post a fail of an excellent recipe that so many others have had huge success with and in the end I obviously decided to post it. Why? To maybe help teach someone else what not to do and prevent an fail for them! I will also point you in the direction of some really nice ones that did not fail at all…

About the Bread Baker’s Apprentice Group: Nicole of Pinch my Salt sent out a twitter message saying “I need a challenge. Am thinking of baking my way through every single recipe in The Bread Baker's Apprentice. Anyone want to join me?” Well I jumped right in. Both feet, no thought at all. I think I was one of the first 5 that joined…did I even have the book? Nope but I ordered it that night!!!

The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread

We are now over 200 strong with members everywhere on the globe. It’s an incredibly enthusiastic group that wants to share like no group I have ever belonged to before. Awesome!

Our goal is to bake our way through Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread. An intimidating book at anytime but to think that you are going to be baking one of these recipes a week is slightly overwhelming to say the least. But I love a challenge and feel a real need to get out of my comfort zone. Oh yah, I bake all of our bread but I never seem to have the time or the desire to try something new and different. This will change all that!!!

Brioche

I was excited about making the Brioche. It looks like such a wonderful loaf of bread and I’ve had such wonderful luck with all of the recipes up until now that it didn’t even cross my mind that something would go wrong with this. I did not have any brioche molds but thanks to the Google group and PR’s great directions I knew that I would be able to form them and make them in loaf pans.

This started out fine. I had decided to make the Middle-Class Brioche. There are 3 recipes in this book. One is for the Rich Man’s Brioche (5 eggs and 2 cups of butter), Middle-Class Brioche (5 eggs and 1 cup of butter) and then Poor Man’s Brioche (4 eggs and 1/2 cup butter). As I was making the Middle-Class Brioche sponge I realized that I had accidently followed the yeast measurement for the Rich Man’s Brioche so my mind was changed and I continued on with those directions. That was when I realized that my butter was still cold. I pulled it out to soften to room temp.

My sponge performed perfectly and I was ready to make the brioche. Using my mixer I was able to mix the eggs with the sponge and add the flour and other ingredients. It was when I got to the butter I had some trouble…

My butter had not quite come to room temperature and was hard to mix in. Even after about 12 minutes of mixing and scraping I never really got that silky, smooth soft dough that people were talking about. I decided to stop it there and let it rest overnight in the fridge and would deal with it in the morning. I shaped it into the rectangle that was called for and placed it in the fridge.

In the morning I got started right away and prepared my pans. I was only going to bake 2 of the loaves right them and had planned on making rolls out of the remaining dough.

Shaping was tough. You had to work fast as shaping this dough was like shaping a blob of butter and it was melting fast. I formed it and set it out to proof for 1-1/2 to 2 hours. This is when I knew I was really in trouble. PR had said that larger shapes may take longer but after 3+ hours I was still not happy with the rise! Should I have let it go longer? I’m not sure. I plopped them in the oven and hoped for the best.

By now you know they didn’t turn out and I have one good theory as to why. My butter was too cold and my bread dough must not have ever reached the internal temp that it needed to get to during the first rise. :(

I was going to try and make this again. Now that I know what I did wrong but seeing as I have a different loaf of bread to make each week I am going to skip a remake of this and revisit it at the end!

The girl’s loved this bread and ate it toasted and for sandwiches for lunch. None of it was wasted but the unbaked dough that was in my fridge…

Check out the Bread Baker’s Apprentice Blogroll to see some really nice Brioches! Ones that did not fail!!!

Want to Bake Along With Us?

There are several ways for you to join in the fun! First of all, you need a copy of Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice. Then just start baking! Even if you are starting late, just begin with the first recipe and start working your way through. There are several ways to communicate with the group as you begin your journey:

Flickr: We have set up a BBA Challenge Flickr Group where you can upload photos, see photos from other members, and even post questions and comments in the group forum. It’s a private group, so you will need to click on the link that says ‘join this group’ if you want to be able to post photos. As long as you are willing to bake bread all of the bread from the book, you are welcome to join the Flickr group!

Twitter: If you use twitter, you can follow what the group is doing by searching for #BBA or #bba using Twitter’s search box. You can join in on the conversation by adding the #bba or #BBA tag to the end of your tweets when you are talking about anything related to the BBA Challenge. For me, following what people are doing on twitter has been the most fun!

Facebook: If you’re on Facebook, you can join the BBA Challenge Group there and share photos, ask questions, and talk about your bread baking experiences with other BBA members on Facebook.

Next up…Casatiello!!!!

As Always…

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Read more »

Home Baked Bagels

A yummy looking everything bagel!

Nicole of Pinch my Salt sent out a twitter message saying “I need a challenge. Am thinking of baking my way through every single recipe in The Bread Baker's Apprentice. Anyone want to join me?” Well I jumped right in. Both feet, no thought at all. I think I was one of the first 5 that joined…did I even have the book? Nope but I ordered it that night!!!

The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread

We are now over 200 strong with members everywhere on the globe. It’s an incredibly enthusiastic group that wants to share like no group I have ever belonged to before. Awesome!

Our goal is to bake our way through Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread. An intimidating book at anytime but to think that you are going to be baking one of these recipes a week is slightly overwhelming to say the least. But I love a challenge and feel a real need to get out of my comfort zone. Oh yah, I bake all of our bread but I never seem to have the time or the desire to try something new and different. This will change all that!!!

This is week 3 and we tackled Bagels this week!  I was so excited when I saw them and I loved making them.

I did not go out looking for malt in any shape or form.  Call me lazy or  what but I did find some really great local mangrove honey that was really strong in flavor and probably substituted perfectly!!!  None of us noticed any difference at all between our local bagel shop and these ones!

These were delicious fresh out of the oven with just some cream cheese or butter on them and they were delicious as part of my favorite sandwich: toasted bagel with tomato, lettuce and mayo!

I will definitely be making these again!!!

Want to Bake Along With Us?

There are several ways for you to join in the fun! First of all, you need a copy of Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice. Then just start baking! Even if you are starting late, just begin with the first recipe and start working your way through. There are several ways to communicate with the group as you begin your journey:

Flickr: We have set up a BBA Challenge Flickr Group where you can upload photos, see photos from other members, and even post questions and comments in the group forum. It’s a private group, so you will need to click on the link that says ‘join this group’ if you want to be able to post photos. As long as you are willing to bake bread all of the bread from the book, you are welcome to join the Flickr group!

Twitter: If you use twitter, you can follow what the group is doing by searching for #BBA or #bba using Twitter’s search box. You can join in on the conversation by adding the #bba or #BBA tag to the end of your tweets when you are talking about anything related to the BBA Challenge. For me, following what people are doing on twitter has been the most fun!

Facebook: If you’re on Facebook, you can join the BBA Challenge Group there and share photos, ask questions, and talk about your bread baking experiences with other BBA members on Facebook.

Next up…Brioche!!!!

As Always…

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

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Artos: Greek Celebration Breads

Nicole of Pinch my Salt sent out a twitter message saying “I need a challenge. Am thinking of baking my way through every single recipe in The Bread Baker's Apprentice. Anyone want to join me?” Well I jumped right in. Both feet, no thought at all. I think I was one of the first 5 that joined…did I even have the book? Nope but I ordered it that night!!!

The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread

We are now almost 200 strong with members everywhere on the globe. It’s an incredibly enthusiastic group that wants to share like no group I have ever belonged to before. Awesome!

Our goal is to bake our way through Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread. An intimidating book at anytime but to think that you are going to be baking one of these recipes a week is slightly overwhelming to say the least. But I love a challenge and feel a real need to get out of my comfort zone. Oh yah, I bake all of our bread but I never seem to have the time or the desire to try something new and different. This will change all that!!!

This week’s bread is Artos: Greek Celebration Breads and we were given several options for making this. The first one, and the one I choose to make, was the classic Greek Celebration Bread. We could also have chosen to make Christopsomos which is a Christmas Bread and Lambropsomos which is Easter Bread. I choose to make the basic recipe as no one in my family really likes nuts and dried fruit in their bread…yes even balking at raisin bread!!!

We were also given two options for a sponge. We could either do a poolish or a barm (I choose to do a poolish as I had no pineapple juice!!!). The only change I made to this was that I ran out of regular honey so I used some cinnamon honey I had and it blended perfectly with all of the other spices in the bread.

This is a wonderful bread that is full of spices and gives off such a wonderful aroma while baking but it also makes a HUGE loaf. Just imagine the smell of cinnamon, cloves allspice and nutmeg!!! I’m not too sure if mine rose too much but it definitely split while baking.

My absolute favorite thing about this bread though was the morning that we decided to make French Toast with it. The spices in this leant itself perfectly to French Toast and I would make it again just for that purpose!

Want to Bake Along With Us?

There are several ways for you to join in the fun! First of all, you need a copy of Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice. Then just start baking! Even if you are starting late, just begin with the first recipe and start working your way through. There are several ways to communicate with the group as you begin your journey:

Flickr: We have set up a BBA Challenge Flickr Group where you can upload photos, see photos from other members, and even post questions and comments in the group forum. It’s a private group, so you will need to click on the link that says ‘join this group’ if you want to be able to post photos. As long as you are willing to bake bread all of the bread from the book, you are welcome to join the Flickr group!

Twitter: If you use twitter, you can follow what the group is doing by searching for #BBA or #bba using Twitter’s search box. You can join in on the conversation by adding the #bba or #BBA tag to the end of your tweets when you are talking about anything related to the BBA Challenge. For me, following what people are doing on twitter has been the most fun!

Facebook: If you’re on Facebook, you can join the BBA Challenge Group there and share photos, ask questions, and talk about your bread baking experiences with other BBA members on Facebook.

Next up…Bagels!!!!

As Always…

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Read more »

My first loaves with the BBA and my love of Anadama Bread!

About a week ago Nicole of Pinch my Salt sent out a twitter message saying “I need a challenge. Am thinking of baking my way through every single recipe in The Bread Baker's Apprentice. Anyone want to join me?” Well I jumped right in. Both feet, no thought at all. I think I was one of the first 10 that joined…did I even have the book? Nope but I ordered it that night!!!

The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread

We are now almost 200 strong with members everywhere on the globe. It’s an incredibly enthusiastic group that wants to share like no group I have ever belonged to before. Awesome!

Our goal is to bake our way through Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread. An intimidating book at anytime but to think that you are going to be baking one of these recipes a week is slightly overwhelming to say the least. But I love a challenge and feel a real need to get out of my comfort zone. Oh yah, I bake all of our bread but I never seem to have the time or the desire to try something new and different. This will change all that!!!

Our first challenge was Anadama Bread. This is a delicious sandwich type loaf that is made with cornmeal and molasses. I did change a couple of things around with this recipe and it turned out absolutely perfect.

The recipe calls for 6 Tablespoons of light molasses. All I had was regular and it is pretty strong so I used 4 Tablespoons of molasses and 2 Tablespoons of honey. I used the coarse cornmeal that the recipe called. The only other thing I changed was using only 1 1/2 teaspoons of yeast. I used Rapid Rise as that’s what I have and the recipe called for Instant Yeast. Still not sure about the difference but mine turned out prefect. Light and fluffy. We enjoyed this bread over the weekend as sandwiches with black forest ham and muenster cheese. The sweet in the bread complimented the sandwiches perfectly!

Will I make this again? Most definitely!!!

As Always…

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Read more »