Pumpkin Swirl Bread

This weekend the air finally changed. You know when that time of year comes and even if it’s above 70 degrees it just feels different? That happened over the weekend. Our lows at night have gotten lower and there’s a crispness to the air.

To celebrate I made bread. Something that hasn’t happened in 14 months. And if I do say so myself, this bread is amazing. One of my favorite treats in the fall is the pumpkin swirl bread from Great Harvest. And this, well this is almost the same. It’s a tiny bit spicy, soft, heavenly toasted with butter,and tastes like fall.

And I happened upon the end result by mistake. Somehow in the rush at the grocery store I ended up grabbing pumpkin pie filling INSTEAD of canned pumpkin and I didn’t realize my mistake until both loaves were in the oven. Oops.

Well luckily for me the end result was better for it and from now on my newly altered recipe will be my go-to.

Pumpkin Swirl Bread

(adapted from this Pumpkin Yeast Bread recipe)

1/2 cup warm water
2 tablespoons instant yeast
2/3 cup warm milk
2 large eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups Pumpkin Pie filling
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
6 1/2 cups (approximately) All-Purpose Flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Filling (mix all together in small bowl):

1/2 cup granulated sugar                                                                                      1/2 cup pumpkin pie filling                                                                                      2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

 

In a large bowl, stir yeast into water to soften. Add milk, eggs, pumpkin, oil, 4 cups flour, brown sugar, salt, ginger and cardamom to yeast mixture. Beat vigorously for a few minutes.

Gradually add remaining flour until you have a dough stiff enough to knead. Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Knead, adding flour as necessary, until you have a smooth, elastic dough.  (I used my stand mixer to mix up the dough)

Put dough into an oiled bowl. Turn once to coat entire ball of dough with oil. Cover with a towel and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour. Turn dough out onto a lightly oiled work surface. Divide dough in half. Press dough into rectangles and spread filling over rectangle. Roll up, pulling dough up to cover the ends and pressing lightly along the seam to close. Let rise again, covered gently with a dish towel for 30-40 minutes. Place on a silpat or parchment paper atop a jelly roll pan.

Bake in a preheated 375°F oven. Loaves bake about 30 minutes, rolls about 20. Check the internal temperature of each with an instant-read thermometer.

Immediately remove bread from pans and cool on a wire rack to prevent crust from becoming soggy. For a shiny crust, brush tops of bread or rolls lightly with vegetable oil. Makes 2 large loaves, or 1 large loaf and 12 dinner rolls.

Homemade Pita Bread

Some things are just worth making at home and I’ve found that pita bread is one of them.  You’ll never know just how delicious homemade pita is until you put in the effort.  By the way, it’s not a lot of effort to make pita, in fact in might be the easiest bread I’ve made.

But one thing that I am certain of, is that homemade pita is the best when served with Chicken Souvlaki and Tzatziki sauce.  So delicious and a very healthy meal to boot!  Try it and see…homemade pita is SO delicious!

Homemade Pita Bread
(adapted from Annie’s Eats)

Ingredients:

3 cups flour, plus 1/2-3/4 cup more as needed
1 ½ tsp. salt
1 tbsp. sugar or honey
1 packet instant yeast
1 ¼ to 1 ½ cups water, roughly at room temperature
2 tbsp. olive oil, vegetable oil, butter or shortening

Directions:

Mix the yeast in with the flour, salt, and sugar. 

Add the olive oil and 1 ¼ cup water and stir together with a wooden spoon.  All of the ingredients should form a ball.  If some of the flour will not stick to the ball, add more water.

Once all of the ingredients form a ball, place the ball on a work surface, and knead the dough for approximately 10 minutes. If you are using an electric mixer, mix it at low speed for 10 minutes.  

As the dough is mixing, continue to add flour, a tablespoon or two at a time, until the dough clears the sides of the bowl and is tacky but not sticky. 

When you are done kneading the dough, place it in a bowl that has been lightly coated with oil. Form a ball out of the dough and place it into the bowl, rolling the dough around so that it has a light coat of oil on all sides. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a damp towel and set aside to rise until it has doubled in size, approximately 90 minutes.

When it has doubled in size, punch the dough down to release some of the trapped gases and divide it into 8 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a ball, cover the balls with a damp kitchen towel, and let them rest for 20 minutes. This step allows the dough to relax so that it will be easier to shape.

While the dough is resting, preheat the oven to 450°. If you have a baking stone, put it in the oven to preheat as well. If you do not have a baking stone, turn a cookie sheet upside down and place it on the middle rack of the oven while it is preheating. This will be the surface on which you bake your pitas.

After the dough has relaxed for 20 minutes, spread a light coating of flour on a work surface and place one of the balls of dough there. Sprinkle a little bit of flour on top of the dough and use a rolling pin or your hands to stretch and flatten the dough. You should be able to roll it out to between ¼ – 1/8” thick – 6 inches in diameter. If the dough does not stretch sufficiently, you can cover it with the damp towel and let it rest 5-10 minutes before trying again.

Place discs on a lightly greased baking sheet or parchment paper and let rise, uncovered, until barely doubled in thickness, about 30-45 minutes. 

Open the oven and place as many pitas as you can fit on the hot baking surface. They should be baked through and puffy after 3 minutes. If you want your pitas to be crispy and brown you can bake them for an additional 3 to 5 minutes, but it isn’t necessary.

Yield: 8-10 Pitas

Source: Brown Eyed Baker

Herbed Focaccia Bread

Back four and half years ago I had one goal in the kitchen when we got married.  I desperately wanted to master yeast bread.  I had visions of going back in time, living off the land, using the resources of good, wholesome ingredients to create yummy, delicious and nutritious food, like homemade bread.  I think I was trying to summon my inner Laura Ingalls.  But what did I know. Lo and behold, four years later yeast breads are some of my favorite things to make, hence it’s own tag (BREAD).

Yeast is daunting. It shouldn’t be. It’s not that hard and you do not need a bread maker to make yummy bread. I have a post coming on my tips for making yeast work for you. You to can conquer yeast if you so desire. I hope you will try, there is no comparison to the taste of homemade versions and store bought bread. Homemade is so much better it just takes a little patience and time.

This week I was lucky enough to have my blog friend Jackie visiting. I had her over for dinner with her friend Emily, whom I’ve met a couple of times and love, and what else to do but woo them with homemade bread.  Seriously this is one of my favorites and for all you recipe followers out there…I didn’t follow this to a T and it still turned out so delicious.  I’ll note my changes below.  It was the perfect accompaniment to our yummy Cheese Manicotti and spinach salad, especially when served with the leftover herb oil. Bread and oil, yes please!

Herbed Focaccia Bread

(adapted from Annie’s Eats)

 

Ingredients:
5 cups unbleached high-gluten or bread flour
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. instant yeast
6 tbsp. olive oil
2 cups water, at room temperature
¼ to ½ cup herb oil (recipe below)

Directions:
Stir together the flour, salt and yeast in the bowl of an electric mixer. Add the oil and water and mix on low speed with the paddle attachment until the ingredients form a wet, sticky ball. Switch to the dough hook and mix on medium speed for 5-7 minutes, or as long as it takes to create a smooth, sticky dough. The dough should clear the sides of the bowl but stick to the bottom of the bowl. (You may need to add additional flour to firm up the dough enough to clear the sides of the bowl, but the dough should still be quite soft and sticky.) I didn’t need any additional flour.

Sprinkle enough flour on the counter to make a bed about 6 inches square. Using a scraper or spatula dipped in water (I used my hands), transfer the sticky dough to the bed of flour and dust liberally with flour, patting the dough into a rectangle. Wait 5 minutes for the dough to relax.

Coat your hands with flour and stretch the dough from each end to twice its size. Fold it, letter style, over itself to return it to a rectangular shape. Mist the top of the dough with spray oil (I used olive oil Pam), again dust with flour and cover loosely with plastic wrap.

Let rest for 30 minutes. Stretch and fold the dough again; mist with spray oil, dust with flour and cover. After 30 minutes, repeat this one more time. (Now is a good time to make the herb oil)

Allow the covered dough to ferment on the counter for 1 hour. It should swell but not necessarily double in size.

Line a 17×12” sheet pan with baking parchment (I DID NOT line my paper and was fine b/c you put oil down) and proceed with the shaping and panning (instructions below).

This is where I really deviated from the plan.  I didn’t read through the recipe first so I didn’t have the time to proof the dough overnight (basically that stops the rising process) and I didn’t have time for it to sit for 3 hours on the counter after it proofed in the fridge.  Instead I had 2 hours until dinner time so I just left it covered on the counter, said a prayer, and went on with my day. I resumed with the recipe as follows below with the shaping instructions.

Loosely cover the pan with plastic wrap and refrigerate the dough overnight (or for up to 3 days).

Remove the pan from the refrigerator 3 hours before baking.

Drizzle additional herb oil over the surface and dimple it in. (I used half and then served the bread with the other half..YUM!)(You can use all of it if you want; the dough will absorb it even though it looks like a lot.) This should allow you to fill the pan completely with the dough a thickness of about ½-inch. 

Again, cover the pan with plastic and proof the dough at room temperature for 3 hours, or until the dough doubles in size, rising to a thickness of nearly 1-inch.

Preheat the oven to 500° with the oven rack on the middle shelf.

Place the pan in the oven. Lower the oven setting to 450° and bake for 10 minutes. Rotate the pan 180 degrees and continue baking the focaccia for 5-10 minutes, or until it begins to turn a light golden brown.  The internal temperature of the dough should register 200° (measured in the center).

Remove the pan from the oven and immediately transfer the focaccia out of the pan onto a cooling rack. (I left it in and let it cool. ONLY because I tested it and I was able to lift it up.  Taking it off the pan is probably a good idea) If the parchment is stuck on the bottom, carefully remove it by lifting the corner of the focaccia and peeling it off the bottom with a gentle tug.

Allow the focaccia to cool for at least 20 minutes before slicing and serving.  I CUT it RIGHT away…who can resist!

Shaping Focaccia:
Drizzle ¼ cup of olive oil over the paper and spread it with your hands or a brush to cover the entire surface. Lightly oil your hands and using a plastic or metal pastry scraper, lift the dough off the counter and transfer it to the sheet pan, maintaining the rectangular shape as much as possible.

Spoon half of the herb oil over the dough. Use your fingertips to dimple the dough and spread it simultaneously. Do not use the flat of your hands – only the fingertips – to avoid tearing or ripping the dough. Try to keep the thickness as uniform as possible across the surface. Dimpling allows you to de-gas only part of the dough while preserving gas in the non-dimpled sections. If the dough becomes too springy, let it rest for about 15 minutes and then continue dimpling. Don’t worry if you are unable to fill the pan 100 percent, especially the corners. As the dough relaxes and proofs, it will spread out naturally. Use more herb oil as needed to ensure that the entire surface is coated in oil.

Herb Oil:
Warm ½ cup olive oil over low heat in a small saucepan. Add about 4 tsp. of dried herbs, such as basil, parsley, oregano, thyme, rosemary, or sage. Add about ¾ tsp. of kosher salt, ¼ tsp. black pepper, and 1-2 finely minced cloves garlic. You may also add paprika, ground cayenne pepper, fennel seeds or onion powder to taste. Allow to remain on low heat for about 1-1 ½ hours to allow the oil to become infused with the flavors.

Store any leftover herb oil in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

Cinnamon Pull-Apart Bread

Over a month ago I found myself drooling while gazing at my computer screen.  It was an onslaught of cinnamon sugar.  Cinnamon toast is a favorite of mine and this bread looked even better than plain old cinnamon toast.  So my fingers quickly moved the mouse over the star button on my google reader page.  Then Annie from Annie’s Eats made it a few weeks later.  Seeing it a second time with the same reaction and I knew I needed to make it soon.  So I did.  Did it live up to the picture? 

It’s definitely a showstopper bread.  It’s as beautiful in person as it is in the pictures.  And it’s yummy too.  The only thing I would change is that I would omit the nutmeg.  I’m not sure why I even tried it.  A few years ago I made cinnamon rolls with some nutmeg and ever since I keep it out.  I’m sure if I would have omitted it we would have loved it even more.  That being said, it’s even more delicious the days after you make it.  Which is great if you are like us and can’t finish the loaf in one sitting!  Do NOT be intimidated it looks harder than it really is.  Trust me.

Cinnamon Sugar Pull-Apart Bread

Yield: one 9 x 5″ loaf
Ingredients:
For the dough:
2¾ cups all-purpose flour, plus more as needed
¼ cup granulated sugar
2¼ tsp. instant yeast
½ tsp. salt
4 tbsp. unsalted butter
1/3 cup whole milk
¼ cup water
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 large eggs

For the filling:
4 tbsp. unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. freshly grated nutmeg

Directions:
To make the dough, combine the flour, sugar, yeast and salt in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a dough hook.  Combine the butter and milk in a small saucepan and heat just until the butter is melted.  Set aside and let cool briefly, until the mixture registers 115-125˚ F on an instant-read thermometer.  Add the milk mixture, water, vanilla and eggs to the mixer bowl.  Mix on low speed until a cohesive dough forms.  Continue to knead until smooth and elastic, adding additional flour as needed 1 tablespoon at a time until the dough clears the sides of the bowl and is tacky but not sticky.  Knead about 3-5 minutes.  Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, turning once to coat, and cover.

Let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

While the dough rises, add the butter to a small saucepan and melt until browned.  Set aside.  Combine the sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg in a small bowl and mix well.

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and gently deflate. 

Roll into a ball, cover with a clean towel and let rest for 5 minutes.

Roll the dough out into an approximately 12 x 20-inch rectangle. 

Brush the dough with the browned butter.  Sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar mixture over the dough in an even layer.

Lightly grease a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan.  Slice the dough vertically into 6 even strips.  Stack the strips on top of each other and again cut again into 6 equal slices.

Stack all the squares on top of each other and set into the prepared loaf pan.  Cover loosely with a kitchen towel and let rise in a warm place, 30-45 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350˚ F.  Transfer the loaf to the oven and bake 30-35 minutes, until the top is golden brown.  (If the top seems to be browning too quickly, cover loosely with foil at the end of baking.)  Remove from the oven and let rest in the pan 20-30 minutes.  Run a knife around the edges of the pan to loosen and carefully turn the loaf out, transferring to a serving plate.  Serve warm.

Source: Annies Eats and Joy the Baker, adapted from Hungry Girl por vida

cinnamon swirl bread

A couple of years ago I had much more of a defined schedule as far as work was concerned so Mondays were my day off.  I started a tradition that year of making bread every Monday.  Quite the undertaking but it was so much fun.  These days Mondays are filled with organizational tasks, South Face, and a million other things but hopefully this year I will make time once again for bread.

I always used to think that bread making must be difficult. But now that I have gotten the hang of letting the yeast bubble and utilizing my handy stand mixer, I think it may be one of the easier things I make

Here's a throwback from the days I kept up my food blog...a delicious recipe for either a cinnamon swirl loaf or a garlic swirl loaf.  Both were so delicious.  I used the same base for both but chose to fill and shape them differently. They are so, so good and so easy!

Cinnamon Swirl Bread (adapted from Williams-Sonoma)

see adaptations at end for garlic swirl

Ingredients:

1 Tbs. active dry yeast
3 Tbs. granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups warm water (105° to 115°F)
1 cup warm milk (105° to 115°F)
3 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted
1 Tbs. salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
6 to 6 1/4 cups bread flour, plus more as needed
3/4 cup golden raisins (i omitted we don't care for raisins)
3/4 cup dark raisins (i omitted)

For the filling:

2/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar mixed with 4 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
(i cut in half b/c only one loaf was cinnamon- 1/3 C with 2 1/4 t)

Directions:

In a bowl, sprinkle the yeast and a pinch of the granulated sugar over 1⁄2 cup of the water and stir to dissolve. Let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, combine the remaining 3/4 cup water, the milk, butter, the remaining granulated sugar, salt, egg and 2 cups of the flour. Beat on medium speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Add the yeast mixture and 1⁄2 cup of the flour and beat for 1 minute. Add the raisins, then beat in the remaining flour, 1⁄2 cup at a time, until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

Switch to the dough hook. Knead on medium-low speed, adding flour 1 Tbs. at a time if the dough sticks, until smooth and elastic, about 4 minutes. Transfer the dough to a greased deep bowl and turn to coat it.

Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until doubled in bulk, 1 to 1 1⁄2 hours. Lightly grease two 9-by-5-inch loaf pans.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board. Divide the dough in half and roll or pat each half into an 8-by-12-inch rectangle. Lightly sprinkle each rectangle with half of the filling, leaving a 1-inch border on all sides. Beginning at a narrow end, tightly roll up each rectangle into a compact log. Pinch the ends and the long seam to seal in the filling. Place each log, seam side down, in a prepared pan.

Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until the dough is about 1 inch above the rim of each pan, 1 to 1 1⁄2 hours. Preheat an oven to 350°F. Bake until the loaves are golden brown and pull away from the sides of the pan, 35 to 40 minutes. Turn the loaves out onto wire racks and let cool completely. Makes two 9-by-5-inch loaves.

For one garlic swirl loaf:

Swirl Ingredients:

4 T butter, softened

1 T garlic, minced

2 tsp parsley

1/2 tsp oregano

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

Combine butter, garlic, parsley and oregano and spread evenly over top of dough, leaving 1/2" at end to help seal loaf. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over top of butter mixture. Tightly roll dough up into cylinder shape, pinching and tucking ends to form a tight seal and pinching seam to seal.

Bake as directed above.

american sandwich bread

I've been trying my hand at bread making for the past four years.  Most of the recipes come out okay; that is, as long as they are toasted they seem edible.  There has yet to be a bread that I will eat out of hand, as a sandwich.

That is, until last year.  This is the.most.amazing.bread you will ever make.  So yummy I sampled a piece or two while I was cutting it for future use.  The hubby even texted me on his way to work: "this is the best bread."  In my book, that designates a winner.  Simple ingredients, quick assembly, and out of this world taste equal a bread I'm happy to make weekly or even, daily:)  For great pics of the finished product, head here!

American Sandwich Bread

(The New Best Recipe, pg. 725)

Time: About 2 hours (lots of inactive time)

Yield: One 9-inch loaf

ingredients

3 1/2 to 3 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the work surface
2 teaspoons salt
1 cup warm whole milk (about 110 degrees)
1/3 cup warm water (about 110 degrees)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
3 tablespoons honey
1 envelope (about 2 1/4 teaspoons) instant yeast (also called rapid rise)

preparation

Adjust an oven rack to the lowest position and heat the oven to 200 degrees. Once the oven temperature reaches 200 degrees, maintain the heat for 10 minutes, then turn off the oven.

Mix 3 1/2 cups of the flour and the salt in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the dough hook. Mix the milk, water, butter, honey, and yeast in a 2-cup liquid measuring cup. Turn the machine to low and slowly add the liquid.

When the dough comes together, increase the speed to medium and mix until the dough is smooth and satiny, stopping the machine two or three times to scrape dough from the hook, if necessary, about ten minutes. (After five minutes of kneading, if the dough is still sticking to the sides of the bowl, add the remaining flour, 1 tablespoon at a time and up to 1/4 cup total, until the dough is no longer sticky.) Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface; knead to form a smooth, round ball, about 15 seconds.

Place the dough in a very lightly oiled large bowl, rubbing the dough around the bowl to coat lightly. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the warmed oven until the dough doubles in size, 40 to 50 minutes.

Gently press the dough into an 8-inch square that measures 1 inch thick. Starting with the side farthest away from you, roll the dough firmly into a cylinder, pressing with your fingers to make sure the dough sticks to itself. Turn the dough seam-side up and pinch it closed. Place the dough seam-side down in a greased 9 by 5-inch loaf pan and press it gently so it touches all four sides of the pan. Cover with plastic wrap; set aside in a warm spot until the dough almost doubles in size, 20 to 30 minutes.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Boil 2 cups of water and pour into a baking pan, and place it on the bottom rack. If possible, put the loaf on a rack above the baking pan of water (my oven is much too small to have a loaf of bread on anything but the bottom rack) otherwise put the two pans side by side. Bake until an instant-read thermometer inserted at an angle from the short end just above the pan rim into the center of the loaf reads 195 degrees, 40 to 50 minutes. Remove the bread from the pan, transfer to a wire rack, and cool to room temperature. Slice and serve.

zucchini parmesan loaf

When I was back visiting my mother, I spent hours paging through all of her old Everyday Food magazines...I mean it was really bad, they kept my attention for far longer than I would like to admit.  But considering she still has the first magazine ever, that was um...about 7 years ago, I figure it was time well spent.

But the best thing about all that time perusing is that I now have a list of over 100 recipes that I would love to make and looked delicious. One in particular that looked good was this zucchini parmesan quick bread. I know it sounds a little odd, but the result is a tangy, savory, and delicious quick bread that pairs perfectly with soup, stew, and anything in which dipping is allowed!

I didn't need to change anything in the recipe, but feel free to add and subtract as you see fit~

Zucchini Parmesan Loaf

Serves 8

• 1/3 cup olive oil, plus more for pan
• 2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for pan
• 1/3 cup milk
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese (about 4 ounces)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1/2 pound (about 1 medium) zucchini, coarsely grated

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Brush a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan (6-cup capacity) with oil; dust with flour, and tap out excess.
2. In a small bowl, whisk oil, milk, and eggs. In a large bowl, whisk flour, Parmesan, baking powder, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper; mix in zucchini, then egg mixture until just moistened (batter will be very thick, like biscuit dough).
3. Transfer batter to prepared pan; press in gently. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 60 to 70 minutes (tent with foil if loaf starts to brown too quickly). Cool 15 minutes in pan; turn out loaf onto a rack to cool completely.

(courtesy of Everyday Food)