Sourdough Sandwich Loaf for #TwelveLoaves

When this month's Twelve Loaves theme was announced, I will admit that I was a little... confused. The theme was "Clean Slate." The idea of that theme was that, after all of the indulgences of the holidays and the end of the year, this would be a month to bake fresh and simple.

Sounds straightforward, right? Then I saw some of the submissions prepared by the hosting crew. And while they all look delicious, several of them were not what I consider simple. And I bake a lot of bread products.

But I suppose that simple and fresh and starting with a clean slate can mean different things to different people, and, to be honest, that is the good thing about a challenge like this - that it is open to interpretation and that each baker is free to choose something that inspires them.

For me, hearing clean slate, fresh, simple... I was thinking as few ingredients as possible. Back to the traditional methods of bread baking.  Which automatically made me think of sourdough. But I was also thinking of expanding simple to the uses of the bread - and what better, simple meal, incorporating bread, than a sandwich?

So I decided to try my hand at this sourdough sandwich bread.

The dough came together relatively easily, but was very, very stiff. I had intended to knead this loaf entirely by hand, but wound up needing my KitchenAid to help me out.

On a side note - little miss had a friend over while I was preparing this dough, and this friend had never made homemade bread. She was so excited to watch, and even more excited when I told her that (if she washed her hands...) she could help me knead it. Talk about back to basics - nothing more fun than passing on an appreciation of fresh, homemade goodness to kids!

Anyway, once the dough was fully kneaded, it was time to let it rest and rise. Overnight. Again - back to basics, one of which is time.

In the morning, the dough is deflated, shaped, and placed into a loaf pan, where it rises yet again.

And then, almost 24 hours after beginning, it is time to bake.

The finished loaf smelled delicious but was much heavier than I'd expected! But the fully developed sourdough flavor is really great, and makes for a fun change from my usual sandwich loaf.

And it made for some super delicious sandwiches.

I will say, it worked best with the delicious turkey and cheese sandwich you see above. It does not make good PB&J bread. But it was decent for grilled cheese, so not too shabby.

And feel free to check out all of this month's submissions here.


Sourdough Sandwich Loaf
(from Sour Salty Bitter Sweet)

(makes one loaf)

2 cups 100% hydration sourdough starter, refreshed
3 cups flour (all purpose, bread, wheat or any combination you choose) (I used bread flour)
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 tablespoons oil (I used canola - any liquid fat will work(
2 teaspoons sugar (or other sweetener of your choice)


Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and stir until most of the flour is moistened and it begins to form a dough that pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
Scrape the dough onto a rolling mat or lightly-floured surface and knead, adding more flour if necessary to prevent it from sticking to you too much. If it’s very sticky, let it rest for 10-15 minutes, which allows the flour to absorb more moisture, and then continue kneading. Knead for 10-15 minutes total, or until the dough forms a smooth ball with a taut surface and a small piece of dough stretched between your fingers forms a membrane that you can see light through(i.e. a “baker’s windowpane”).
My dough was very stiff and I needed my stand mixer to help me out - just use your dough hook attachment.
Place the kneaded dough in lightly-oiled bowl, turn to coat, cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 3+ hours, or until doubled in volume. Rising time will vary based on your sourdough starter. I let it rise overnight, although if you don’t want any sourdough flavor, you might want to limit it to 5-6 hrs. One way to test if it’s risen enough: if you make an indentation in the risen dough with your finger, it should take more than a minute to “heal.”
Punch the dough down to gently deflate it, then turn it onto a clean surface and knead a few times. Shape your loaf and place into a greased loaf pans. Let rise another 2-3 hours, or until doubled again - it should be rise above the rim of the pan.
Preheat the oven at 350F for 15-20 min before baking. Slash the risen loaf down the middle with a sharp knife, if desired (I didn't). Bake 35 min or until crust is golden brown and the loaf sounds hollow when knocked on the bottom.
Cool on wire racks, allowing the loaf to cool completely before slicing.

Enjoy!

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Lightly Boozy Pina Colada Bread for #TwelveLoaves

Seeing that this is a month of celebration, it was not a huge surprise to learn that the theme for this month's Twelve Loaves challenge was... booze.

Yup - the idea was to bake a bread, yeasted, sourdough, quick or other, somehow incorporating wine, spirits or some other alcohol product.

Fun!

Except that we don't really drink much in our house, so I was totally not quite sure where to start with this one. So I waited. And waited. And almost missed out. Until pineapples went on sale at the food store. And as I was cutting one up for a snack, inspiration finally hit.

On a cold, snowy, day-after-Christmas afternoon, what could be better than a tropical vacation? And what is more tropical than a pina colada?

Boom.

Pina colada quick bread. Don't hold the rum. Or the fun paper drink umbrella.

A few google searches later and I settled on this recipe, but made a couple of changes. For starters, instead of all of those extracts, I used a quarter cup of vanilla rum. And secondly, I chopped up my fresh pineapple rather than using the canned, crushed variety. And finally, rather than using all white sugar, I mixed it up and used some brown sugar, too. Oh, and I omitted the maraschino cherries because I am not a fan.

And it worked out deliciously.

The breads stuck to the pans way more than I'd have liked, which made them a little less presentable than I'd have liked, but what it lacked in beauty it made up for in flavor. Each bite was a little taste of the tropics and everyone in the house loved it.

Pina Colada Bread
(slightly adapted from Quick Bread Recipes)

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
4 eggs
1 1/4 cups oil
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup vanilla rum
1/4 cup pineapple juice
1 cup fresh pineapple, chopped small
1/2 cup flaked coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Grease and flour well two 7 x 4-inch loaf pans.
In a large bowl, sift together flour, salt, baking soda and cinnamon and set aside.
In a separate bowl, lightly beat the eggs. Stir in oil and sugars. Add rum and pineapple juice.
Add egg mixture to dry ingredients and mix just until ingredients are moistened.
Gently fold in the chopped pineapple and coconut. Do not stir too much or bread will be heavy.
Pour into prepared loaf pans.
Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted comes out clean.
Let cool in pan for 10 minutes before removing from pans.

Enjoy!

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Apple Buns for #TwelveLoaves

With all of the crazy busy-ness going on last month, I didn't have a chance to participate in the October #TwelveLoaves challenge. Total bummer.  And I knew I couldn't let it happen twice, no matter how crazy November got.

And then the theme for November was announced. Apples or pears.

Yum.

No way was I going to miss this one.

And I had so many ideas - apple cinnamon buns, apple braids, apple monkey bread, apple quickbreads or muffins, apple coffee cake... the possibilities were deliciously endless. 

And then inspiration hit me. For the longest time, I've wanted to try a dessert version of the pork buns (bao) that I made for last years Daring Cooks' Challenge (that I recreated as cheesesteak buns once, too).

What better time than now??

The dough came together as previously (quickly and easily!), and I made a simple caramelized apple filling.

Some butter and brown sugar is all it takes...

And then, of course, some apples. And I added a sprinkling of cinnamon for good measure, too.

I wanted my buns to be nice and apple-y, but not bursting, so I used a generous tablespoon of filling for each bun.

I still need work on sealing these little beauties, but I soon had a full tray, all ready to go into the oven.

The best part about these is how quickly they cook up. A quick 15 minutes, and you we had golden delicious apple-y goodness.

And, yes, I really do need practice sealing these...

Bursting with flavor, packed with apples, these were absolutely delicious.

I ate three that afternoon. And I just might have let little miss have one for breakfast the next morning... And little man enjoyed them, too.

I can't wait to see what December brings!


Apple Buns


for the dough:
1 cup milk, scalded
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon oil (I used canola, but the recipe didn't specify)
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons dried yeast (I used active dry)
3 cups plain flour (I used all purpose)

Scald the milk, then stir in the sugar, oil and salt. Leave this mixture to cool until it is lukewarm. Once the temperature is right (around 105-110 degrees), add the yeast, then let it sit until the yeast is activated and the mixture becomes frothy, about 10-15 minutes.
Sift the flour into a large bowl.
Add the milk/yeast mixture to the flour. Bring the flour mixture together with your hands, then knead on a lightly floured surface for approximately ten minutes. (I sifted the flour into the bowl of my KitchenAid mixer, then used the dough hook and incorporated the milk/yeast and did the kneading all in the machine, which worked out great.)
Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl (I kept it in the KitchenAid's bowl, just gave it a little spray of oil on top) and cover with a damp cloth. Leave it to rise until it doubles in size, 1 - 2 hours, depending on the temperature of your kitchen.


for the filling:
2 apples (any variety you'd like), diced pretty fine
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup light brown sugar
a sprinkle of ground cinnamon (to taste)

Heat a skillet over medium/medium-high heat. Add butter to pan. As it starts to melt, add the brown sugar to the pan and mix gently to combine. The idea is to combine the sugar and butter and melt the whole mixture until it becomes a simple caramel. You don't want to stir too much, but you do want to make sure that the edges (or any part, really!) don't burn. Once the mixture is golden and caramel-y, add the apples and stir to coat them. Sprinkle with cinnamon and continue to cook until the apples have softened and the caramel sauce has thickend a bit.
Remove from heat and cool completely.
The sauce will thicken more as it cools.


to prepare the buns:
Once the dough has doubled in size, gently deflate it and divide it into 16 portions. Roll each portion into a round ball.
Use a rolling pin to roll each ball into a circle approximately two inches in diameter. Using your hands, gently pull the edges out to enlarge the circle to about three inches in diameter (mine were a little bigger) (this makes the edges thinner than the center, keeping the center of the bun stronger for the filling, and keeping it from cracking).
Place a good sized tablespoon of cooled filling into the middle of the circle of dough.
Gather the edges of the dough and seal the bun.
Place the bun on a parchment covered baking sheet, seam side down.
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.
Brush the top of each bun with egg wash (if desired).
Bake for 15 minutes, until golden brown.
Cool buns on a wire rack.

Enjoy!

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Cheese-Filled Garlic Focaccia for Twelve Loaves

Are you on Twitter?

I recently joined, and am still figuring it out. 

At this point, I am following a bunch of fellow food-bloggers, but I'm starting really slowly.

But I'm glad I joined, because that is how I learned the theme for this months Twelve Loaves (#TwelveLoaves) bread baking group - cheese!

At first, all of my thoughts were of the sweet variety - danishes and other breakfast or dessert treats using sweet cheese fillings.

And then I changed my mind. While it might not be the most original thought, I suddenly had the desire to make a focaccia. And to try to stuff it with cheese.

I started by making the most basic dough that I make - the one that I used when making my French Fougasse. I know, "French" focaccia... but I was looking for a basic lean dough, and that one does it.

Once the dough was done rising, I gathered the rest of my ingredients - oil, garlic salt, sliced provolone and grated Parmesan.

And then it was time to work on the dough.

I started by covering a cookie sheet with parchment, then rolling out my dough as large as I could.

I transferred the dough to the baking sheet, where it hung off of both sides, and then placed slices of provolone over the middle.

I then folded the dough back over itself and did my best to seal all the seams.

And then I did my best to turn it into a focaccia by using my fingers to dimple the surface. I then brushed lots of olive oil over the top and gave it a healthy coating of garlic salt and grated Parmesan.

I let the prepared bread to rest for half an hour, and then baked it in a 425 degree oven for about 25 minutes. And when it came out, it smelled amazing and looked beautiful.

And it was BIG! It was the size of my biggest cutting board.

But most importantly, it was DELICIOUS.

I shared some with my neighbor, and between me, daddy, little miss and that neighbor, we ate the whole thing by the end of the day.

I want to give a big thanks to this months hosts, Cake Duchess, Creative Culinary and Life's A Feast for this fun challenge. I still may make a sweet cheese bread, but this is something I wouldn't have thought of if not for the cheese theme.

And don't forget to check out gallery at the bottom of Lora's post to see the other cheese breads baked up for Twelve Loaves this month!


Cheese-Filled Garlic Focaccia
(my own adaptation, based on my previous bread)


500 grams bread flour
5 grams active dry yeast
10 grams salt
375 ml water
5-8 slices of provolone cheese
extra virgin olive oil
garlic salt (to taste)
grated Parmesan cheese (to taste)

Stir yeast into the flour until evenly distributed. Stir in salt, then water, and mix until the dough begins to form.
Transfer the dough to a clean work surface. Continue mixing/kneading the dough by stretching it out and folding it over onto itself repeatedly and from each direction. Continue working the dough until it comes away cleanly from the work surface and is not (or, for me, is less...) sticky.
Move the dough to a floured area of your work surface, and shape the dough into a ball (as best as you can - it is still a wet dough). Transfer the dough into a lightly oiled (large!) bowl, cover it with a tea towel (or plastic wrap) and allow it to rest for at least one hour.
After the dough has rested, turn it out (carefully) onto a floured work surface. Generously flour the top of the dough, then cover with a tea towel and allow it to rest for another five minutes or so.
Cover an 11" x 17" cookie sheet with parchment paper and spray it with cooking spray.
Roll out the dough until it is a rectangle about double the size you want it and transfer it to the prepared cookie sheet.
Place the slices of provolone on the dough and then fold the ends over itself to cover all the cheese, fully enclosing the bread. Pinch all of the seams and then use your fingers to spread the dough evenly over the surface and dimple the top.
Brush the top liberally with olive oil and sprinkle (to taste) with garlic salt and grated Parmesan cheese.
Allow prepared bread to rest for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Bake bread for about 25 minutes until the top is golden brown.

Enjoy!

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Strawberry Monkey Bread

I have been looking for an excuse to make another batch of sweet bread dough. You know, the dough that I used to make roasted banana cinnamon rolls a few months ago... I mean, not that I need a real excuse... But with everything else we make around here, it's good to at least have some kind of reason to make something else...

Then this morning I found my excuse. In reading through the most recent blog post by Lisa over at Parsley, Sage & Sweet, I learned that there's a new monthly bread baking challenge in the blogosphere. It's called Twelve Loaves and it was started by Lora over at the beautiful Cake Duchess blog. Lisa and Lora, along with Jamie from Life's A Feast and Lora's mom Lizzie from food and thrift have come together to host a delicious bread baking challenge that inspired me immediately. 

The theme for this inaugural Twelve Loaves challenge, combined with my desire to try something new with my sweet dough, came together deliciously today. The theme that they chose was Summer Fruit. Yup - all of that delicious fruit that is extra sweet and perfectly fresh this time of the year, baked into any kind of bread (quick or yeasted) was fair game.

And guess what I just bought yesterday?

Two pounds of bright, beautiful and perfectly sweet strawberries.

So the only thing left to figure out was the best way to combine these beautiful berries with the sweet dough I'd been itching to make. I didn't want to to cinnamon rolls again, so my next thought was the keeper - monkey bread.

(note - I thought I was being kind of original with this idea. Then, during one of the dough's rise times, I googled "strawberry monkey bread" and learned that I wasn't all that original after all... that being said, while I pretty much followed my own thoughts as far as creating this bread, I did see this beautiful post, which only served to confirm my decision to proceed as I'd wanted to...!)

While I cut the strawberries, little miss mixed up some cinnamon sugar for me.

We then worked together to roll small balls of the dough in the beautifully mixed cinnamon sugar.

As we layered the sugared balls of dough into the greased Bundt pan, I also threw in lots of little pieces of the strawberries.

At the same time that we were doing that, I also had our other component going. You see, monkey bread is more than just balls of cinnamony, sugary dough - it's cinnamony, sugary dough drenched in a caramel-y sauce.  

In this case, strawberry, caramel-y sauce.

Once the sauce comes to a boil, simply pour it over the completed pan of dough.

Then the whole thing bakes.

And smells delicious.

And comes out looking golden and beautiful.

Unsure as to how to serve this, I turned it out onto a plate.

Showed the delicious, caramel-y goodness, but didn't help me figure out how to serve it...

So I actually put it back in the Bundt pan and we just, well, scooped it out...

But oh. My. Gosh. This was amazing.  Seriously delicious. Like, wanted to dive in and eat the whole pan good.

I can't wait to try this with other fruits.

If you'd like to participate in this month's Twelve Loaves, check out Lora's or Lisa's (absolutely delicious) posts for the full rules.

Then bake, post, and add yourself to this linky! (which you can also find on Lora or Lisa's posts).

This bread has also been submitted to Yeastspotting, on the Wild Yeast blog.

Strawberry Monkey Bread

(mostly my own, though reinforced by Double Portion Inspiration)

For the Dough:

(from allrecipes)

1 cup milk

1/3 cup white sugar

1/3 cup butter

1 tablespoon active dry yeast

4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the milk, sugar and butter. Heat until slightly warm to the touch then remove from heat and stir in the yeast. I found that I had to let the milk mixture cool a bit before adding the yeast, as the milk got pretty hot in order to dissolve the sugar. Once the yeast has been added, let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes.

In a large bowl, stir together the flour and salt. Mix in the eggs, oil and the yeast mixture. Mix until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and continue to knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Grease a large bowl with 1 tablespoon of oil. Place the dough into the bowl and turn once to coat. Cover and let stand in a warm place until double in size, about 1 hour.

For the Syrup:

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick)

1 cup diced strawberries

Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium high heat, stirring occasionally.

To build the Monkey Bread:

prepared dough

about 1/2 cup of cinnamon sugar (1/2 cup sugar + 1 teaspoon cinnamon, well combined)

1 cup diced strawberries

prepared syrup

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and generously spray a Bundt (or tube) pan with non-stick cooking spray.

Once the dough has rested, gently deflate it. Take small portions of the dough and roll them into ball. Roll each ball of dough in the cinnamon sugar, then place it in the prepared pan. Interspersed through the balls, toss some of the diced strawberries so that they are evenly layered throughout the pan. Once all of the dough and berries have been added to the pan, pour the prepared syrup evenly over the top.

Place the Bundt pan on a cookie sheet and place the bread in the preheated oven.

Bake for 40 - 50 minutes. Check on the bread periodically to make sure that the top is not over-browning. If the top starts getting too dark, simply cover it loosely with foil as it continues to bake.

Allow to cool at least 10 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

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