Monkey Bread

The recipe is from Beard on Bread.  It calls for pre-soaked dried currants, but I didn't have any, and opted to use pomegranate "craisins" instead.  I'm sure it would work with raisins, dried cranberries, or even dried blueberries.  My bag of dried pomegranate seeds was brand new, so they seemed moist enough that I didn't bother to soak them, but did give them a rough chop to be closer to the size of dried currants.

I've made this recipe by the book before.  Today's improvisation worked extremely well.  Monkey bread is a sweet yeast bread that requires two risings, plucking off balls of dough to roll in a butter/brown sugar/dried fruit mix, and uses a tube or angel food pan.  The texture and moisture is a bit like a sticky bun.

Pita Bread

This is the first time I tried this James Beard recipe from Beard on Bread.  What I love about that book is that Beard gives a little background about the recipes, and the ones that can be a bit hit-or-miss, he identifies as such.  Most of them work beautifully, although I probably wouldn't want to try making monkey bread on a sticky hot summer day, any more than I would, say, meringue.

I only made half a batch, because I really didn't want to use 6 cups worth of flour on a full batch, in case it came out like something best fed to squirrels.  As it turned out, the recipe worked like a charm, and I'll be making it again.  It's probably a little more expensive to make than store bought, but it's fresher, and tastier.

Recipe: Feather Bread

This is a fairly quick yeast bread to make, as it only requires one rising before baking. Crunchy on the outside, with a chewy inside, it makes great garlic toast, as well as anything else you might use a baguette for.

Yield: 1 loaf
Time: 10 minutes prep; about an hour to rise; 40 minutes to bake at 425F

Ingredients:

• 1 packet of yeast
• 1/2 c. warm water
• 1-1/2 tsp. sugar
• 3 oz. hot water
• 1 tsp. salt
  
• 3 Tbs. butter, cubed
• 2-1/2 to 3 c. flour
• egg wash (optional)

Method:

1. proof the yeast with the sugar in the warm water
2. melt the butter into the hot water with the salt, and let cool
3. combine the butter and yeast mixtures
4. stir in flour, one cup at a time, until it pulls away from the sides of the bowl (it'll be a bit sticky, but that's alright)
5. turn out the dough onto a floured board, and knead it for a few minutes, working in more flour as needed, until it's soft, elastic, and no longer sticky
6. roll it out into a rectangle, approx. 8" x 12"
7. roll it up along the wide side like a jelly roll, pinching the ends together as you go
8. place the formed loaf on a greased baking sheet, cover with a towel, and let rise until doubled in bulk (approx. an hour, or faster, if you use rapid-rise yeast)
9. optional: brush with egg wash
   
10. bake at 425F for 40 minutes, until it looks done, and sounds hollow when you flip it over and rap the bottom with your knuckles

Note: I did not bother to use egg wash on this particular loaf.

Recipe: Raw Apple Bread

Yield: 1 loaf
Time: 20 minutes prep; 50-60 minutes at 350F
Source: Beard on Bread, Ballantine paperback edition, 1981, pg. 153

Ingredients:

• 1/2 c. butter or margarine (1 stick)
• 1 c. of granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 c. of flour
• 1/2 tsp. of baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. of salt
• 1 tsp. of baking powder
• 1 tsp. of vanilla extract
• 2 Tbs. of buttermilk, or soured milk
• 1 c. coarsly chopped unpeeled apples
• 1/2 c. of chopped walnuts

Method:

1. cream the butter
2. mix in the sugar, a little at a time, creaming it into the butter thoroughly between additions
3. beat in the eggs, milk, and vanilla
4. sift together the dry ingredients
5. mix them into the wet ingredients, a little at a time
   
6. stir in the chopped apple and walnuts
7. spoon it into a greased loaf tin
8. bake at 350F for 50-60 minutes

Notes:

1. this makes a pretty sticky batter
2. I used approx. 2 cups of chopped apple, and 3/4 c. of chopped walnuts; everything else I measured pretty accurately, as per the recipe
   
3. according to James Beard, this tastes better left to sit for a day (it tastes pretty good still slightly warm from the oven, though, IMHO)
4. it supposedly stores really well

Sourdough Loaf

This is the way it came out of the oven after 375F for around 45 minutes, and cooling. The starter we have is a good 30 years old. Personally, I'd like it less dense, but it has a good flavor, a good crumb, and makes really good toast. It also makes an excellent base for eggs benedict, if you have no english muffins on hand.

The next picture shows an inside shot, to give you an idea of the crumb, and denseness. It's sourdough, so it's not really supposed to look like a baguette, inside, but I'd prefer bigger holes in it.

As James Beard said in Beard on Bread, to paraphrase . . . sourdough is really unpredictable. Indeed, it is.

In the end, it's no denser than your average loaf of Russian rye. I keep thinking I could have cooked it another 10 minutes, but the bottom really is cooked. It's not gooey.

I'd love to post a recipe for it but, sourdough is just one of those things you make, without any exact proportions. The following paragraph gives you my best shot at it.

Take out the starter, dump in a cup of milk and a cup of flour, mix it together really well, and let it sit around all day until it gets really bubbly. Then toss half the mix back into the fridge to be starter for next time. Work the rest into a soft (but not sticky) dough, form it into a loaf, plop it into a loaf tin, cover it with plastic wrap, and let it rise until it tops the pan. Bake it at 375F until it smells done -- around 45 minutes.

Foccacia

Yield: One 9" x 13" loaf
Time and Temp: 35 minutes at 375F

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 cups of warm water (110 - 115F)
• 1 packet of yeast (1/4 oz.)
• 1 Tbs. sugar
• 2 tsp. salt
• 3 - 3 1/2 cups of flour (all-purpose is fine)
• olive oil
• rosemary, about a teaspoon (freshly chopped is better, but dried is okay, if you crush it up a bit)

Method:

1. Mix the first three ingredients in a small bowl, and leave it until it gets foamy
2. Mix 3 cups of the flour and the salt in a large bowl
3. Stir the foamy yeast mix into the dry ingredients, and mix well (it will be sticky)
4. Turn out the dough onto a floured surface, and knead it for a few minutes, working in more flour until it's still soft, but no longer sticky, and has a nice elasticity (3 - 4 minutes or so)
   
5. Coat a large bowl with olive oil, form the dough into a ball, and place it in the bowl, turning it to coat it thoroughly with the oil
6. Cover with plastic wrap, and let rise until double in size
7. Punch down the dough
8. Coat a 9" x 13" baking pan with olive oil, and press out your dough into it, working it all the way into the corners the best you can
9. Drizzle olive oil all over the top of the dough, spread it out, and poke dimples in the dough with your fingertips (it's fine if they fill in with olive oil)
10. Sprinkle the rosemary on top of the bread
11. Bake at 375F for 35 minutes
12. Let cool on a wire rack or a stovetop burner

Notes:

1. This bread makes great sandwiches, toasted or untoasted, if split in half horizontally.
2. Although I simply used rosemary in this case, it's like pizza dough, and you can top it with practically anything you like.
3. The basic dough itself, w/o the oilve oil and rosemary topping, makes good pizza dough.
4. If you make this in a chilly winter house, you may want to use rapid-rise or instant yeast, instead of regular, just to speed up the rising process.