I had a friend suggest strawberry bread. I initially thought of doing a swirl bread. But I'm not really sure what to substitute the strawberry for as extra liquid...maybe oil? I received another suggestion that I use the basic recipe for cinnimon raisin swirl but use strawberries instead of the cinnimon goo. During my pondering, the same friend who suggested using the swirl recipe, gave me a recipe she found somewhere for strawberry bread, made similar to banana bread. I looked over the recipe and made some of my own changes.
I don't think nuts go with strawberries so I 86'd them. Also, it called for 2 cups of sugar which is kind of rediculous, so I halved that but added a teaspoon of vanilla. I also cut back on the oil, from 1 and 1/4 cups to 1 cup. In most cases, you should mix the dry ingredients seperately from the wet ingredients and then fold wet into the dry. I did this and then added the chopped strawberries. I beat it a few extra minutes to sort of "mush" the berries into the batter. I greased 2 loaf pans and baked the bread for an hour at 350.
In 50 minutes they looked beautiful, slightly cracked on the top (much like banana bread). I let them cool on a wire rack and then cut a few slices and served them warm to Ian and his parents, who happened to be visiting for dinner. Ian said - and I quote - "It's almost just like my grandma's banana bread, as far as how good it is..." This makes me smile.
My personal critique - it was a little dry, perhaps because I skimped on the oil. But I think next time I will add some applesauce and bake it maybe 10 minutes less. The berries were very tasty and not bitter at all. The sweetness was right on the money, so I think I made a good call by halfing the sugar content.
P.S. I made a personal delivery of a big slice of the strawberry bread to the friend who suggested it :)
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Monday, April 18, 2011
Tools of the Trade
I baked a lot of sourdough bread this weekend. Six loaves to be exact - which is really only two recipes and gave most of it away (so don't judge). I made regular sourdough Saturday morning and took a loaf to my boss and his family, a loaf to my parents and kept one at the house. Sunday morning I made a batch of wheat sourdough. I gave a loaf to my in-laws and another to my parents. I made so much because I feed the starter in my fridge every 5-8 days with 2 cups of ingredients so if I don't use it every few weeks, it's just too much.
What I love about making bread, aside from the stress relief of the kneading process, the smell of my house when it bakes and the bread itself, is the warm feeling I get when I think of my loved ones who have given me the tools I use to bake. For example, a year and a half ago, long before I became obsessed with bread, my dad bought me the red Kitchen Aid mixer I had been lusting for (not to make bread though) as a gift for my bridal shower. I now use this machine at least once a week, and think of how great and loving my dad is - what a great provider he has always been.
Most of my mixing bowls and measuring cups were gifts from my mother. She loves to buy me "kitcheny" things. She has given me countless fun utensils; a cookie punch, cake pans with squares you arrange to form things in cake batter, a giant cupcake mold, a cupcake kit used for designing cupcakes into various cake shapes, tiny jelly spoons and wisks, holiday-themed dish rags and hot pads, the list goes on. Anyway, I think of her when I use my measuring cups and bowls and how she puts the fun in everything. I get my "fun side" from her. I usually wear an apron when I bake and most of them came from her as well.
Again, before I expressed my desire to make bread, my husband Ian got me a pastry mat for Christmas. I loved it! I wondered what I could use it for....and months later, it's one of those tools I use weekly. (He also got me the double boiler I asked Santa for) Highlighted in a previous blog, my husband bought me my Bread Bible, the baking stone I use for crispy crusts, my wooden oven paddle and several other things I love to bake/cook with. He seems to understand the joy it brings me to work in the kitchen and so it brings him joy to give me the tools I need to do it. He humors the excitement that stirs in me when I find deals like a Paula Dean red cast iron dutch oven at Sam's Club for only $35. That thing is heavy!
Recently, my girlfriend Stephanie surprised me with a baked goods carrier, complete with a handle, snap sides and a monogram of our last name "LOWE" on the front surrounded in adorable polkadots. I also use this item weekly to take my bread treasures to work. It keeps the crumbs in one place and I can cover it up so passerbys don't wonder why my office looks like a bakery front.
Now that I think of it, hardly any of the tools and gadgets I use are things that I've bought for myself. I have acquired most from friends and loved ones. I love this! It brings fond memories of them into my thoughts often and makes the process that much more enjoyable.
What I love about making bread, aside from the stress relief of the kneading process, the smell of my house when it bakes and the bread itself, is the warm feeling I get when I think of my loved ones who have given me the tools I use to bake. For example, a year and a half ago, long before I became obsessed with bread, my dad bought me the red Kitchen Aid mixer I had been lusting for (not to make bread though) as a gift for my bridal shower. I now use this machine at least once a week, and think of how great and loving my dad is - what a great provider he has always been.
Most of my mixing bowls and measuring cups were gifts from my mother. She loves to buy me "kitcheny" things. She has given me countless fun utensils; a cookie punch, cake pans with squares you arrange to form things in cake batter, a giant cupcake mold, a cupcake kit used for designing cupcakes into various cake shapes, tiny jelly spoons and wisks, holiday-themed dish rags and hot pads, the list goes on. Anyway, I think of her when I use my measuring cups and bowls and how she puts the fun in everything. I get my "fun side" from her. I usually wear an apron when I bake and most of them came from her as well.
Again, before I expressed my desire to make bread, my husband Ian got me a pastry mat for Christmas. I loved it! I wondered what I could use it for....and months later, it's one of those tools I use weekly. (He also got me the double boiler I asked Santa for) Highlighted in a previous blog, my husband bought me my Bread Bible, the baking stone I use for crispy crusts, my wooden oven paddle and several other things I love to bake/cook with. He seems to understand the joy it brings me to work in the kitchen and so it brings him joy to give me the tools I need to do it. He humors the excitement that stirs in me when I find deals like a Paula Dean red cast iron dutch oven at Sam's Club for only $35. That thing is heavy!
Recently, my girlfriend Stephanie surprised me with a baked goods carrier, complete with a handle, snap sides and a monogram of our last name "LOWE" on the front surrounded in adorable polkadots. I also use this item weekly to take my bread treasures to work. It keeps the crumbs in one place and I can cover it up so passerbys don't wonder why my office looks like a bakery front.
Now that I think of it, hardly any of the tools and gadgets I use are things that I've bought for myself. I have acquired most from friends and loved ones. I love this! It brings fond memories of them into my thoughts often and makes the process that much more enjoyable.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Banana Rama
Last night we finally got our house back in order, unpacked the suitcases and cleaned the kitchen. I pulled out the Bread Bible and turned to a banana muffin recipe. I had been saving some over-ripe bananas in the freezer so I pulled two out for a double recipe. There was a variation in the muffin recipe for chocolate banana swirl loaf. Both sounded yummy so I made enough batter to make both.
It was a pretty quick recipe, much like a cake batter. Mix and bake. Bananas, sour cream, egg, vanilla, flour, sugar, baking soda and powder, salt and butter. Fold in the walnuts. My husband usually doesn't like to lick the spoon or bowl, but he really loves banana bread so he opted to taste this one :) I spooned some of the batter into a 12 count muffin pan and saved the rest for my chocolate swirl bread. I melted 2 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate and added it to half of the remaining batter. In a loaf pan, I layered the banana batter and chocolate batter. With a coffee stirring stick, I swirled them together in the pan.
The loaf needed 45 minutes to bake but the muffins only took about 25. When they were done, I gave a muffin to Ian to taste and stored the rest in a tupperware container to take to work. The loaf came out looking delicious and chocolatey with little cracks in the top of it. I transfered it to a wire rack to cool and then wrapped it in tinfoil. I was a little worried the tinfoil would keep it too warm and continue the cooking process and dry the bread out. I think I might have been right because when I cut the loaf this morning, it was a little dryer than I prefer for banana bread. The muffins were pretty much just right. The office loves them.
Friday, April 1, 2011
Mizza Pizza
Pizza dough is one thing I have never tried to make from scratch. There's a recipe in my book for "perfect pizza dough" so I decided to try it. I invited my parents over for homemade pizza and bought all the toppings possibly desirable. Peppers, onions, tomatoes, feta cheese, ricotta cheese, sausage, pepperoni, mushrooms, olives, you name it. The night before our pizza party, I combined the ingredients for the pizza dough. The recipe said not to mix or knead it too much, as the gluten would react and make the dough the wrong consistancy. I mixed the flour, yeast, sugar and water with the lukewarm water just until the flour was moist. The recipe actually said, "the dough will look rough" and it did. I set the rough-looking dough in a small bowl with a few tbsp of oil in the bottom. It sat at room temperature for an hour and then slept in the fridge overnight. When I got home from work and took it out of the fridge, it looked exactly the same. It had not risen at all and looked very clumpy. I was bummed. I called mom and dad and asked them to pick up a package of dough from the Publix bakery on their way over.
Before I cut my losses, I was curious to see what my dough would do if I kneaded it a little. So plucked it from the bowl and began to squish it in my hands. It was goeyer and more stretchy than I anticipated.....I wonder....hmmmm. I pulled out my baking stone and slapped the dough onto it. Stetching it into a quasi-circle, I covered the stone and pinched the edges to make a crust. It was coming along alright so I thought "what the heck" and prepared it to bake. My parents arrived with the store bought dough so I prepared their pizza with that incase mine bombed, they would still have something to eat. I put my dough in first for 5 minutes at 475 degrees. After is crisped for 5 minutes, I pulled it out to prepare the toppings. I baked both pizzas for 20 minutes at 425.
Mine came out okay. The bottom stuck to the baking stone and was very crumbly, like the crust of 3-day-old bread. My parents' pizza came out perfect - golden brown and chewy crust. I believe my recipe would have worked out better if I had kneaded it just a bit more before resting it in the fridge. In addition, I should have preheated the baking stone in the oven to 475 and then put the dough onto the piping hot stone. It would have sealed it better and kept it from sticking to the stone. Next time.
Before I cut my losses, I was curious to see what my dough would do if I kneaded it a little. So plucked it from the bowl and began to squish it in my hands. It was goeyer and more stretchy than I anticipated.....I wonder....hmmmm. I pulled out my baking stone and slapped the dough onto it. Stetching it into a quasi-circle, I covered the stone and pinched the edges to make a crust. It was coming along alright so I thought "what the heck" and prepared it to bake. My parents arrived with the store bought dough so I prepared their pizza with that incase mine bombed, they would still have something to eat. I put my dough in first for 5 minutes at 475 degrees. After is crisped for 5 minutes, I pulled it out to prepare the toppings. I baked both pizzas for 20 minutes at 425.
Mine came out okay. The bottom stuck to the baking stone and was very crumbly, like the crust of 3-day-old bread. My parents' pizza came out perfect - golden brown and chewy crust. I believe my recipe would have worked out better if I had kneaded it just a bit more before resting it in the fridge. In addition, I should have preheated the baking stone in the oven to 475 and then put the dough onto the piping hot stone. It would have sealed it better and kept it from sticking to the stone. Next time.
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