Isn't it self explanatory?
I didn’t take many pictures of this bread (none of the baking process), but I love this picture of my favorite way of eating it: toasted and loaded with butter. Highly fattening, and highly delicious. Continue reading “Cinnamon Raisin Bread – BBA Challenge bread 9”
Last weekend, I was visiting my sister in Boston and thinking I probably wouldn’t get a chance to work on last week’s BBA challenge until I returned home. And then I remembered: my sister has a fantastic, spacious kitchen; and a very familiar mixer; and she loves sticky buns. To top it all off, it was 4th of July, and H and M would be joining us later in the weekend. Many mouths would make quick work of the rolls and buns so I wouldn’t feel forced to eat them all by myself. Did I need any more reasons to make cinnamon rolls and sticky buns? Continue reading “Cinnamon rolls/Sticky buns – BBA Challenge bread 8”
The challenge bread two weeks ago was ciabatta, and I was thrilled! After weeks of various enriched breads, I was longing for a basic, real loaf I could slice and butter or eat with cheese.
We had a choice of five variations of this bread (two different starter methods: poolish or biga; and three additional variations: with wild mushrooms, with cheese, or with caramelized onion and herbs).
I chose to use the biga version, and to make it plain. And it turned out pretty much the way I wanted. Continue reading “Ciabbata – BBA Challenge bread 7”
Since my last bread post, I’ve baked two more BBA challenge breads (ciabatta and cinnamon rolls/sticky buns), but haven’t had a chance to write about it. soon!
Challah’s the bread I know best. I’ve been making it longer than any other bread, and I’ve made it more often than any other. I’ve tried several recipes, but hadn’t yet tried the one in The Bread Baker’s Apprentice, so I was pretty excited for this particular challenge. What if I found a recipe that was even better than my old tried-and-true? That thought actually made me a little apprehensive. What if I’d had the ability to make an even better challah and I hadn’t known it?
For this recipe, I decided to put my old recipe to the challenge. I’d bake both recipes, on the same day. Continue reading “Challah – BBA Challenge bread 6”
Michael was backpacking on Mount Washington this week with five others, so I figured this bread (filled with fried Italian salami and grated, local aged cheddar) would make a perfect welcome home treat for tired, wet, hungry men.
Unfortunately, the weather was so bad, they came home a day early, so the bread wasn’t waiting for them on their return. But I did make it today and, I have to say, I like it much more than I thought I would.
I’m in the middle of packing for my own little trip (nothing quite so adventurous), so I won’t take the time to write up the whole process for this bread, but you can see pretty much everything in the pictures.
Next up is Challah, which is the bread I’ve made more than any other, so I’m interested to see how PR’s recipe compares with my old tried-and-true one.
Don’t let this picture fool you. I should have stuck with Gryfe’s Bagels.
This picture makes my bagels look like they came out semi-alright, but the fact is that the one in the front is the best-looking one (by far) of the bunch. Most of them turned out wide and flat. I’m not positive where things went wrong, but I have a few ideas. Continue reading “Bagels – BBA Challenge bread 3”
We’re now in full swing with the Bread Baker’s Apprentice Challenge and many of us have completed our second bread: Artos (Greek Celebration bread).
The group is now 200-strong (officially — there are many others around the world who are also baking along with us). The group includes every experience level, from those who have never tried baking a loaf before to several very experienced bread bakers who regularly blog their baking exploits. The group is baking around the world, hunting for ingredients in India and Sweden and Sri Lanka and Italy and, of course, right here in the United States.
Some people are steaming ahead with the recipes because they’re excited or fanatics (bread fanatics, that is), or because they’re trying to get a jump on the schedule because of summer vacation plans. So, far, though, I’m doing my best to stick to the once-a-week schedule, so I had to tread water a bit between the Anadama and the Artos. Last weekend was busy with guests and activity, so I had to wait until the middle of this past week to finally plunge in to recipe #2.Continue reading “Artos – BBA Challenge bread 2”
