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What is the weather where you are? Here is what is going on in the south. We can't seem to get ripe tomatoes because we enjoy them green . Early in the morning it is already 84 with high humidity. I start my bread and sit it out to rise. Then we pick and prepare for canning. Go knead. Start canning before it gets any hotter. Go shape for final rise. Take hot jars out and sit aside to be undisturbed. Bake and cook.  The days are busy, long, and hot but I wouldn't trade it for anything. I wish you all good food and happy baking. Anybody else have that first ripe tomato yet? Luckily my friend has a greenhouse and we have really had them all winter.

The rolls I made with the Sourdough Italian Bread  dough were so good, I made a bigger batch today. I thought about making them larger than last time, but my wife said she wanted hers smaller. So, I made half of them 4 oz and half 3 oz. I guess you could call them "His and Hers Sourdough Italian Rolls."

One of our favorite breads is the Cinnamon-Raisin-Walnut Bread from Reinhart's "The Bread Baker's Apprentice." I don't know why I don't bake it more often. Just "so many breads, so little time," I guess. Anyway, my wife has been lobbying for me to make it for a few weeks. So ...

David

When I saw Sylvia's sandwiches I immediately knew what we were having for Father's Day! I made BBA's Italian Bread. Thanks to information gleaned from David's posts I knew to increase the mixing time. I think it took about 10 minutes on medium speed in my KA to pass the window pane test.

I used a regular biga (is there really any such animal?) that I made the day before and held overnight in the refrigerator. I made one loaf and 4 hoagie-style rolls (each roll weighed about 5 ounces).

Note to self: whenever putting sesame seeds on the outside of loaves, rolls, etc., brush the target with egg white wash or most of them will be on the floor and not in your mouth. I can't tell you how many times I swept the kitchen floor yesterday! Before bagging the breads, Jim said, "Why don't we just scrape the seeds off!" I agreed whole-heartedly!

My meatball recipe is oddly (just kidding) similar to Sylvia's. It comes come foodtv's Ina Garten. You can read it here if you are interested.

I, like Sylvia, really think San Marzano tomatoes are the best and use them in all my special dishes.

The meal was a winner and the bread held up very well to the meatballs and sauce. I dressed the meatball with a semi-firm whole-milk mozzarella and popped them under the broiler for a few minutes.

I wanted my picture to look like just like Sylvia's but was out of parsley, so I had to substitute a sprig of cilantro :-) which I threw away after taking the photo.

Happy Father's Day to all,

--Pamela

I TOLD myself to be ready for the change in weather, but it tripped me up once again.  I wasn't taking the warmer weather into account when refreshing my starter.  So lately it was way on the downhill side before I was using it.  Big mistake, as my loaves have been somewhat flatter and somewhat more dense, though certainly edible.  But I'm back on track now, as evidenced below.  Thought I'd better document this here so others can learn from my errors.

 80g firm starter, 200g water, 275g HG flour, 25g WWW, 7g salt

Your somewhat slow bread buddy,

Susan

This recipe is from page 130 of Eric Kayser's Beyond The Bread Basket.  It is part of a dessert called Strawberries in Wine with Pink Caramelized Almond Bread.  As winter is now in full swing down under, strawberries are everywhere in fruit & vege stores and supermarkets; I thought it would make a relatively healthy dessert for after dinner.  

Formula for Pink Caramelized Almond Bread 

250g bread flour

a pinch of salt

2.5 g active dry yeast (or 5 g fresh yeast) dissolved in 4 tsp lukewarm water

20 g granulated sugar

45 g butter 10 g powdered milk

20 g whipping cream

125 g water

75 g pink caramelized almonds*  

* I belive this is pink pralines, the same ingredient in Eric Kayser's other recipe, Brioche with Pink Pralines in his book, Eric Kayser's New French Cuisine.  When I spoke to G. Detou, they did tell me there are two types of pink pralines, one with whole almonds (20%, 30% or 50% to sugar content) and the other with pre-crushed almonds (only 20%).  I find it odd that the sugar content could be so high but it is really not easy talking to a French man over the phone.  Maybe I misunderstood him somewhere, typical me.  As I have a bag of raw almonds in my pantry, I thought I could try to make my own pink almonds (like pink almond candy).  Into a large bowl, I put 122 g icing sugar and started adding pink and red food coloring and a little bit of water until I got a sticky paste.  I chopped up 215 g almonds into small pieces and add them into the paste.  They were baked in 160 C oven for about 25 min.  The ratio of my almonds to sugar is 176%, way higher than the information I got from talking to G. Detou, but it will do for now.  Here is a picture of my my homemade pink pralines look-alike:    

                                                  home-made pink almonds  

This is a very easy bread to make.  Place all ingredients except pink almonds in the mixer, knead for 5 min at low speed and 8 min at high speed.  Add the pink almonds, kneading them in by hand.  Set aside the dough to rest for 30 min, covered with a damp cloth.   Shape, then leave to rest at room temp for 2 hours.  Preheat oven to 210 C and bake for 25 min.  (The book says to bake at 160 C for 25 min, but I wonder how the crust gets brown at this temp.)

Pink Caramelized Almond Bread                                                                  

                                                                     The crumb  

The recipe for the Strawberries in Wine follows:  

300 g strawberries*

75 g red wine*

75 g granulated sugar*

2 black peppercorns

2 cloves

1 cinnamon stick

1 vanilla pod, slit lengthways  

* Note: These three are the key ingredients; the rest are there for more depth in flavors and are not essential.   

Bring the red wine to the boil and flambe it.  Add all the other ingredients except strawberries to the wine and simmer.  Cut strawberries into quarters and add them to the liquid and simmer for a further 2 - 3 min.  Remove from heat and allow the flavors to blend.   

To serve:  Cut the bread into cubes.  Spoon the strawberries with wine into a desert bowl and add the bread cubes.

                               Strawberries in Wine with Pink Caramelized Almond Bread (page 131 of Beyond Bread Basket)  

This dessert is simply divine.  My son loves the bread on its own too.   For a slightly different texture in mouthfeel, lightly toast the pink bread before cutting it into cubes to go with the strawberries. The Strawberries in Wine would also be wonderful with a scoop of home-made vanilla ice cream:  

300 g milk

300 g cream

1 vanilla pod, slit lengthways and scrape the seeds out   

5 egg yolks

1/2 cup sugar

300 g mascapone  

Heat up the milk, the cream and vanilla seeds to almost boiling.  Whisk the egg yolk and sugar.  Pour the hot milk/cream over egg yolk and sugar, whisking vigorously, so the lumps don't develop.  Return to heat until a custard is formed.  Remove from heat, stirring to let custard cool down then place in freezer for 30 min.  Mix in mascapone, and freeze for 4 hours or overnight.  (Note: Dip your scoop in hot water before using it to scoop the ice cream out; alternatively, let ice cream stand in room temp for 15 - 20 min.)  

                                                                                                                         Pink almond candy

                                                                                                                         my trick to lure kids to drink tea

Enjoy!  

Shiao-Ping  

Having migrated to Singapore five years ago (that long already?), I miss comfort food I grew up with back in Manila. The food which evokes the most memories is this Filipino breakfast bread. It's named Pandesal, or Bread of Salt. The name itself is a misnomer as over the decades it has become sweet than salty to suite the Filipino palate. They say that this breakfast roll is a barometer of the economy as it is common breakfast fare among the lower-income masses. You would know that the economy is bad if the roll gets smaller and sweeter (as the there would be no need to purchase filling and it will be a meal by itself). This breakfast roll is normally taken plain and dunked in coffee. It also serves as a sandwich carrier for everything from butter, cheese, sardines, corned beef, etc. It has also evolved into some gourmet variations baked with traditional Philippine meat fillings.

I had been craving for this the past few days and had been planning to bake it. Unfortunately, I never really found a good recipe until a few days ago. I read through a dinner roll recipe on a flour pack and thought I could modify it. And let me share this with you.

Pandesal

Makes 16 rolls

500g strong bread flour

50g barm starter

7g sachet Rapidrise Yeast

1 1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 1/2 tablespoons sugar

175 ml tepid milk

150 ml tepid water 

50g bread crumbs

Mix together the flour, yeast, salt,sugar and the starter until it just gets mixed well, Then add the milk and water. It is best to hold back on a little water and just add as needed. Knead in a mixer using a dough hook for 8 minutes until the dough is smooth and leastic.

Shape into a ball and let rest on a lightly floured counter for about 10 minutes.

Shape into a rope (like a baguette in diameter). Roll the dough on a bed of bread crumbs. This addition of bread crumb coating is a signature finish of the roll. Once the rope is evenly but lightly(!) coated in crumbs, use a plastic bench scraper to cut the into 16 equal pieces.

Place on lightly-greased baking sheet with the cut-side up. If you examine the picture closely, you will see an oval rim on the top of the roll due to the cut. the top part will have little or no bread crumbs on it.

Cover the rolls with a damp tea towel for 15 minutes or until doubled in size.

Bake in a pre-heated oven at 220C for 12-15 minutes, spraying oven with water to create steam for the first 3 minutes. Bake until golden brown. Cool for 15 minutes and enjoy with butter, scrambled eggs or just with strong plain black coffee.

Brings back many memories...

Today, I baked a couple of boules of San Joaquin Sourdough. The dough was 75% hydration. I used Guisto's Baker's Choice flour and 10% KAF White Whole Wheat. 

I baked the boules on a stone with my usual steaming setup. However, I poured more boiling water than usual over the hot lava rocks, because I wanted to see the effect of heavier steaming. As I had suspected from previous bakes, the effect was good oven spring and bloom but reduced grigne and a shinier crust.

The flavor is good, but I do think I prefer the rye over white whole wheat in this bread.

By the way, this dough makes very satisfactory pizza too.

Pizza made from a previous batch of dough, frozen for about a month.

David

Put it in your Meatballs!  Roll your Meatballs in your homemade bread crumbs!  Make Rolls!

I was asked for the meatball recipe and for photos on yesterday's blog for Italian Sandwich Rolls I made useing Dan DiMuzio's recipe for Sicilian Semolina Bread...which I snuck in a cup of Organic White Wheat in enchange for the cup of Bread flour...forgive me Dan!!  It was my ADD..I think that's what you call it!

This is a recipe given to me by my 50+yrs. Italian girlfriend.  This is the way her mother made meatballs and was probably taught by her two 98yr. old aunts still living in the house where she was born in Cleveland, OH...it has the old orginal wood fired oven out back..and Gayle always tells me how there is a cemetary next door!  I just had to put that in...I've heard it so many times!  The Aunts did all their canning, making and wine making down in the basement in this 3 story old home. 

This is not exact measurements but pretty close..you can adjust for your own taste...I like lots of garlic!  The clear bowls hold a cup and half when full with water...just to give you an idea of the preportions I used today. I also used 2 1/4 lbs. of lean ground chuck.  It made a lot of large meatballs.

Meatballs-  The Measurements I have pictured are for a larger batch, what I made today. 2 1/3lbs of meat.  All the ingredients pictured are the porportions I used today.  The clear glass bowls hold 1 1/2 cups of ingredients.

Meat can be a combination of Beef - Veal - Pork

I used only Beef   -  I do not use any salt  -  I think the garlic replaces the need for it!  Taste before adding any..you can always put it on your sandwich later!

Recipe for a smaller portion of meat balls:

1- 1 1/2 lbs. Ground Meat

1/2 cup bread crumbs    I make fresh in my food processor, using my homemade bread, fresh italian parsley, finely chopped garlic, fresh ground pepper, grated parmesan cheese to taste.  Place breadcrumbs onto a plate for rolling the meatballs.

3 regular slices of bread soaked in 1/4 cup water- Do not use bread Crumbs in your meatballs..it makes them tough.

1 - 2 eggs

1/2 cup of Grated Romono Cheese

1 large clove garlic finely chopped

Chopped fresh Italian Parsley

Chopped fresh Basil  - you can use dried

Little salt and pepper.   I don't use any salt for the whole recipe...just fresh grated pepper

In a small bowl mix Eggs, Cheese, Garlic, Italian Parsley, Basil, salt and pepper

Pour egg mixture over meat add dampened broken up bread with most of the crust removed.  With wet hands, gently mix the meat until all is incorporated.  Keeping your hands wet shape into round meatballs.

Roll the meatballs over the bread crumbs.

Fry in canola or I use regular Olive Oil.  I fry at a medium to medium low heat turning until evenly browned.

Add to your pot of tomato sauce...and finish cooking if still a little pink in center of meatballs!

This is the portions I used today!

This is how many large meatballs I got...you can count them ; )

This many plus 5 more!

Sprinkel with Mozzarella and Parmesan Cheese

Crumb Shot for David and Pamela ; )

You could pick these up and easily take a big tender bite...Mike ate 2!

Sylvia

upon multiple requests, here is a picture overview of my lazy bread (slowrising). It takes 20 minutes 'work', excluding oven and wait time, incl cleaning up. I don't remember where I once started out, I guess it was BBA.

Ingredients: 500 grams water (half a liter), 5 grams instant yeast, 440 grams white flour, 220 grams five grain flour (or rye), 2 tsp salt, 50 grams of seeds.

Stir the luke warm water and put in the yeast and let is rest for 5 minutes (while you mix the flour)



Add the salt to the flour, mix it to the water with the yeast. Mix it for about 1 minute. Left it up a bit and add some oil (this is walnut oil).



Cover it up with plastic seal, let it rest for 30 minutes before you put it in the refridgerator.



After 8-16 hours (usually just overnight, a few days should still be ok) take it out of the fridge. I use the tool to remove the dough from the side of the bowl and then turn the bowl completely over. 



Put some flour on the surface, do not knead (...). Shape it roughly, try to build some tension in the surface .

After 45 minutes, the dough will have spread a bit more. Turn on the oven (preheat at 250 celsius) and score if you will. I add a bit of water to the surface to the bread, add some rye flour and seeds. Moisterize which ever way you like best.



Here we go. 15 minutes at 230 celsius (450F) , 15 minutes at 200 (390F), then minutes with 'temp off'.  Then take the bread out so it can cool off.



And here is the crumb. Just today I saw an add selling these breads for 4 euro (5.5 USD), all my ingredients costs me 70 eurocents (1 dollar), excl the energy for the oven (plus I know what I eat, plus the taste is great, plus it's a great smell in the house, plus it only takes 20 minutes, plus I can take care of my own family, it is great to share bread with friends and family).

The disadvantage: there is no zen of breadbaking in this type anymore (for me).

Happy baking! 

Cheers,
Jw.

My first pass at the Portuguese Sweet Bread turned out pretty well.  I followed the BBA recipe exactly, and I found that I only needed 24g of water per loaf of the 42g maximum Reinhart allotted.

And now that is has cooled, the crumb shot . . .