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Sunday I finally got a real baking day in. It was the first time in... 2 months? 3 months? A very long time.

I started with the Sourdough English Muffin recipe that Kjknits posted a month or so ago.

They were *amazing*. There wasn't a terribly interesting smell or anything, but when I bit into one it was just one of those "Oh, wow" moments. I will definitely be baking them again.

Pretty nice crumb inside.

I don't have cutter or tins, I just used a mason jar lid. The ones I was happiest with I left about 1/3 inch tall when cutting and then squashed a bit wider and thinner before cooking.

I also make something like a cross between my standard pain sur poolish and the famous no knead bread.

The hydration on this was quite high, probably in the 70-75% range. It spread a little more than I would have liked, but the crumb was very nice (though slightly underbaked). Particularly nice since I'd run out of bread flour and was just baking with store brand AP flour.

I also made three sourdough loaves...

...and experimented a little with the scoring.

I thought it looked like a yin-yang, but my wife says it looks more like the Safeway Logo.

This recipe from the Middle East, we eat it especially in Ramadan or any time of the year, cause it's so tasty.

For the dough:

2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1 1/2 teaspoon yeast

1 1/2 teaspoon sugar

1 1/2 cup fat free milk

1 1/2 cup water

For the filling (ashta):

2 cups fat free milk

7 1/2 tablespoons corn starch

1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon sugar

2 to 3 tablespoons thick cream (qaimar which is an Iraqi cream) but you can use the regular thick cream 

2 tablespoons rose water

1 teaspoon vanilla

Chopped pistachio

To make the dough:

1-Mix the entire ingredient and let it rest about 40 minutes.

2- Cook about 2 tablespoon of the dough mixture in a hot pan until it bubble (just cook one side).

After finishing let them cool then fold half round then fill them with the filling (Using pastry bag) then dip them in the chopped pistachios.

To make the filling:

Mix corn starch with milk and sugar then bring it to boil in a medium pan, stir until thickens, then add the rest of the ingredient.

Spoon mixture into a bowel, refrigerate until cold.

Pastry bag:

Qaimar (Iraqi cream):

Serve with honey or syrup:

Visit my blog: 

 http://arabicbites.blogspot.com/

meedo

We picked gallons of currant this year growing in the wild, red ones, black ones, orange ones....

We made tons of fresh-currant ice-cream to start with.

Then I made banbury cakes:

Whole Wheat pastry flour- Banbury cakes

Banbury 2

They were ummmmmm.... so goood

Today I made some 100% whole-wheat sourdough Currant & seed bread:

currant bread

currant bread 2

the bread is not sweetened. It's just a lean bread recipe to which I added pumpkin & sunflower seeds and lots of currants :)

Really good and tart :P

Today's Vermont Sourdough came out better than the last. I tried to be brave and really work the slashes and I think they're better but need work. It made me a wreck because I thought the whole thing would collapse. They didn't and next time I will cut deeper. I was really happy with the crumb this time.Vermont SourdoughVermont  The bread did not get a dark crust like last time probably because I put it in a cooler oven this time. 460º then down to 450º. Also I let the loaves rise 2 1/2 hrs. till they were light and puffy but still (I hoped) had more room to grow and they did once they hit the oven. I thank zolablue for that. This bread is so delicious it's my new favorite. I'm going to make it again for friends on Tuesday. I made today's bread to give away and as you can see I cut them in two but the breads going to my sister and she doesn't care. I had to see inside, right?

I hope many of you try this, it's an easy one. Also, like I said I added the salt along with the other ingredients in the final dough and there's no problem that I can detect.

Hello,

This is my first posting (although not my first bread). I've been researching an easy campfire bread recipe, and I ended up with a recipe for Australian Damper bread (actually there were several). I tried baking the bread at home, but because it used chemical leveners, I thought it tasted more like a biscuit rather than a bread (it was still good however). I did a little more research and found a recipe for a damper made with yeast (which is not the traditional way to make it). I had planned on baking it the traditional way in campfire ashes this weekend but I ended up baking it in my oven using baking tiles. So here's the recipe:

Australian Damper with Yeast

2 1/4 tsp yeast

2 Tbsp sugar

3 cups bread flour

1 Tbsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

1 1/4 cup warm water

1/4 cup melted butter

Mix the dry ingredient in a bowl. Add the melted butter and mix it in the flour mixture. Slowly add the water, knead lightly (about 1 minute), adding more flour as necessary. Let the dough rest in a bowl for 10 minutes. On a lightly floured surface, knead and shape the dough into a boule. Place it in a floured linen-lined proofing bowl and let it rise for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile preheat the oven to 375 degrees F with a baking stone on the middle rack and an old pan on the bottom rack. When the dough is risen, transfer it to parchement paper on an upside down cookie sheet (it helps slidding the dough onto the baking stone). Slash the dough.

Add ~1 cup boiling water to the old pan in the oven and let it steam for 1 minute before slidding the dough onto the baking stone. Bake for 35 minutes then cool on a baking rack. Enjoy!

Next time I'll try the bread on a campfire.

This Bread is quick ,easy and tasty.it is good for breakfast or for afternoon snack with tea.

*2 cups white self-raising flour.

*1 cup whole wheat self-raising flour.

1 teaspoon dry yeast.

1/2 teaspoon baking powder.

1/4 teaspoon salt.

4 tablespoons oil.

4 Tablespoons rose water.

2 Tablespoons sugar.

3 Tablespoons evaporated milk (low fat).

1 1/2 cups warm water .

1/4 cup dried dates,chopped.(optional)

*Home made white self-raising flour:1 cup white flour + 2 teaspoon baking powder.

1)Beat eggs and sugar in small bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy.

2)Stir in dry ingredients,milk,oil,warm water and rose water.

3)Spread mixture into prepared pan,sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds and Saffron.

4)or you can grease the pan ,sprinkle it with toasted sesame seeds and Saffron than Spread the mixture over.

5)Bake at 350 for 35 minutes.

zainab

http://arabicbites.blogspot.com/

Hi Bill,

 The results were not great! LOL, I forgot the salt. And my mind is having trouble focusing right now due to health. I flipped the amount of flour and water so had to try to fly by the seat of my pant and increase the flour. I knew I had more than enough of the preferment and more than enough starter was added. I made batards and they eat ok enough but I prefer your true pagnotta recipe.

Will write more later.

Bread Fix: Not the best picture, blurrrry! Having been on vacation, I have gone without touching my sourdough starter for more than a month. Amazingly to me, with a few feedings we were back in business. I just went crazy,  sourdough bagels with the help of  Susan & Bill, sourdough waffles with  fresh strawberries & raspberries for Father’s Day breakfast with the kids, yeasted BBA’s Vienna bread and Multigrain Extraordinaire. I also made 2 carrot cakes..the first one I neglected to put the sugar in..can you imagine that?!  The sourdough bagel formula is awesome. Thank you susanfnp and  bwraith. Finally, a bagel that tastes like home. My attempt at a garlic bagel needs some work, but the cheese bagel was to die for. I was a little hesitant at caraway and fennel, but OMG I think that is my new fav. My husband looked a little skeptical at the sound of the combo, but he really liked it too! I always feel  like the seeded varieties are a waste of money, since most of the goods end up on the floor, counter, table, down your shirt, you know what I mean! And they are pricey! the seeds that is..  The kids had never had sourdough waffles and loved them. They had 2 belgian waffles each! They are so light..ethereal comes to mind as a descriptive word.  Vienna bread is a lovely soft creamy bread and the Multigrain, just darn good. It has that Mt. St. Helen's look, don't ya think?

Wonderfully Soft White Bread
Original Recipe was from recipezaar.com, but I've tweaked it quite a bit as far as prep/rising/baking. I've been searching endlessly for the "perfect" wonder bread type texture/crumb, and this one is the BOMB. ;)

1 cup tepid water
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons margarine
1 tablespoon honey ( I used buckwheat honey)
3 cups all purpose flour (I used Robin Hood-Best for Bread-Homestyle White) This made a BIG difference in the texture of the bread.
1/4 cup powdered whole milk
2 teaspoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons SAF Gold Instant Yeast

1. Sprinkle yeast on water. Blend till yeast dissolves.
2. In this order add: honey, sugar, powdered milk, salt and stir well till blended
3. Add margarine and stir well again.
4. Add 1 cup of the flour and mix till fully blended (mixture will be like batter) Add remaining two cups of flour and blend with a fork till completely blended. Take dough out of mixing bowl and fold till smooth. Do NOT over work or knead! Just fold and press, fold and press.
5. Shape into boule and place in lightly oiled bowl for approx. 1 1/2 hours or till doubled.
6. When risen, take out dough and on a floured surface, shape into loaf and place in loaf pan. (again, DO NOT overwork).
7. Let rise in a warm place for approximately 40 minutes until doubled in size.
8. Bake on centre rack of preheated 350 degree oven for 25-30 minutes.
9. Cool on wire rack before slicing.

Here is a picture of the "attacked" loaf. DH LOVES Wonder Bread, and now he's a convert! LOL

I wrote recently about being disappointed with my loaves and several kind people suggested overproofing was the problem. Katie urged me to keep trying, so today was the day - I used my starter instead of barm and spiked the final dough with instant yeast as suggested by PR. My firm starter rose nicely and stayed over night in the frig and this morning I chopped it up and left it to warm up. I think I added too much water as the final dough was a little softer than I expected - PR says you can adjust that with flour for kneading but I was planning on using Dan Lepard's method, oil on the counter and no flour. I ended up doing the stretch and fold 3 times and the dough was "abundant", really springy and beginning to rise. It had doubled in just over 60 minutes in my cool kitchen. I shaped one half into a boule and the other into a long batard. The boule went into the rice flour coated banneton and the long loaf onto parchment paper on a baking sheet. Just for fun I baked it from cold, up to 450*, and it rose beautifully - and I used my brand new instant read thermometer to be sure it was cooked properly. The boule had a nice firm skin which was easy to slash, and that went into the heated oven (both with steam) and the oven spring was terrific. Both loaves had nice holey crumb, and I took pictures in case I ever learn how to post them. So thank you all for telling me to persist! I can't believe how much my bread has improved since I have been absorbing so much good information from this wonderful site, A