I’ve been doing a lot of sourdough baking lately, but every once in a while, I want to make something simple that doesn’t require expanding my collection of bubbling cultures in the laboratory that I call my kitchen. So, I turned to a wonderful book, Beth Hensperger’s The Bread Bible: 300 Favorite Recipes. It may not be the most comprehensive book out there, and it list amounts by volume alone (in cups, not metric or baker’s percentages), but by gum, just about everything I make out of this book works.

There was some buttermilk in the refrigerator, left over from apple cheddar scones that I made for Tuesdays with Dorie. I wanted to use it up (I had already frozen it once, and did not want to refreeze it), so I decided to make a buttermilk honey loaf (pp. 54-5 in the book).

It was easy to make, and turned out to be a great toasting bread. I eliminated the glaze (I go through enough eggs as it is). Spread with a bit of butter or Smart Balance, and a wee bit of homemade marmalade, it’s tangy and sweet, and is comforting with a cup of tea.

A couple of baking notes: (1) Grease your baking pans thoroughly – I missed spots in one baking pan, and the loaf stuck; (2) If you want darker loaves than mine, bake the bread in a metal pan (I used Pyrex for these), and (3) the tang of the buttermilk really comes through, so if you don’t like that, you might want to increase the honey a bit.

And every Friday, be sure to check out Susan’s weekly roundup of food blogger’s bread baking creations, called YeastSpotting! Recipe after the jump . . . .
continue reading "A Tangy Buttermilk Bread"

I had wanted to make challah for years, but did not get around to it until recently, inspired by some of you food bloggers out there! While I am not a big fan of plain challah for eating (then again, I’m not a connoisseur), it is one of the best breads you can use for french toast or bread pudding.

As I’ve mentioned before, the Daring Bakers potato bread challenge inspired me to return to bread-baking after a hiatus of many years. What was I waiting for? Why not tackle a bread that has few equals in beauty, and that has such a rich history?

So, on a recent lazy afternoon, the kind where you just want to curl up with a good book and take a nap, I wandered into the kitchen with my two sous chefs, and made Sweet Vanilla Challah from Beth Hensperger’s book,The Bread Bible: 300 Favorite Recipes. I’m not going to write out the recipe here because I did not adapt it in any way, but you can find a comparable recipe over at Ari’s blog, one of my favorites, Baking and Books. In fact, Ari says that Hensperger’s recipe was a source of inspiration for her Honey-Vanilla Challah.

This had to be the easiest, most peaceful bread baking experience I’ve ever had. Everything went smoothly. Shaping the dough was a breeze, and it puffed up – magically- in the oven, resulting in two gorgeous bronzed loaves of bread. We ate one (it tasted like . . . challah!), and I froze the other one to make Amaretto Bread Pudding in the near future.

This was so much fun, I’m diving into challah research, to see what other recipes and shapes I can play with. For me, the whole experience typified what I love best about baking: the peace, the challenge, and the feast for all the senses. Note: for more on making challah, and braiding instructions, see here and here.

Behold, my lopsided cranberry orange bread, another winning recipe from Beth Hensperger, this time from her classic tome,The Bread Bible: 300 Favorite Recipes. I confused the cooling instructions with another one for a different bread, which said to cool the bread on its side. This resulted in my tasty but deformed loaf.

This is a wonderful little bread that takes advantage of the cranberries, oranges, and walnuts that are filling our markets this time of year. It is not too sweet, and the flavor of the cranberries really comes through, despite the presence of the zest of two whole oranges in the batter. The bread freezes very well, if you wrap it carefully. I wrapped it in plastic wrap, then foil, and then put the whole packet in a freezer-safe plastic storage bag.

I was out of ground ginger, so I substituted very finely minced crystallized ginger, which dissolved in the batter. This bread is definitely on my repeat list. And take a look at the batter – isn’t that a beautiful pink color?

Cranberry Orange Bread

Adapted from The Bread Bible: 300 Favorite Recipes by Beth Hensperger
Makes one 8 1/2 inch-by-4 1/2 inch loaf

1 1/2 cups cranberries, fresh or frozen (if frozen, do not thaw)

1 cup sugar

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 T baking powder

1/4 t salt

1/2 t freshly grated nutmeg

1/2 t finely minced crystallized ginger

grated zest of 2 oranges

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

3/4 cup fresh orange juice

2 large eggs

1 t pure vanilla extract

4 T unsalted butter, melted

Position rack in the center of the oven, and preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and flour a 8 1/2 inch-by-4 1/2 inch loaf pan.

In a food processor, coarsely chop the cranberries and set aside.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, and ginger, and mix well. Add the orange zest and walnuts, and toss to mix well.

In another bowl, combine the orange juice and eggs, and mix until frothy. Add the vanilla and cranberries. Pour over the dry ingredients, and then drizzle with the butter. Stir until just moistened (do NOT over mix) and the cranberries are evenly distributed.

Pour batter into the loaf pan. Place pan on a rack in the center of the oven. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes. The top should be crusty and golden, and a skewer inserted into the center of the loaf should come out clean.

Transfer to rack to cool. Wrap in plastic wrap and let bread sit overnight before serving. Believe it or not, I actually was able to do this last step!

Recently, Ivonne, of Cream Puffs in Venice, had a thoughtful post on the comforts of baking. I have to agree – my life has been so hectic the last few months, I’ve barely had a chance to catch my breath. The weather has cooled a bit, and the leaves are finally changing colors. And I find myself wanting to spend my free time cooking and taking care of my family as much as possible.

So, a few days ago, I passed several happy hours in the kitchen, baking up a batch of cornbread and Tomato and Goat Cheese Muffins from Beth Hensperger’s, Muffins. Master Chow loved the cornbread, and I thought the muffins, which included garbanzo flour (!), were wonderful. A tossed green salad, some sauteed broccoli rabe, and a bowl of soup made a wonderful meal. As I write this, I have a batch of Hensperger’s Cranberry-Orange Bread baking in the oven (more on that in a future post). And I have a faithful companion on my lap:

Life doesn’t get much better than this.

Like many out there in the culinary blogosphere, I have an overburdened bookshelf, creaking under the weight of all the cookbooks I fully intend to use, but rarely get around to doing so. One of my reasons for starting this blog was to pull some of these tomes down and take them for a test drive.

The winner this month? The Williams-Sonoma Collection: Muffins (Williams Sonoma Collection), by the wonderful and prolific author, Beth Hensperger. It’s a little book, but the recipes are clear, easy to follow, and obviously thoroughly tested because they work. There’s a picture for every recipe, which makes it even more fun to read the book. I always wonder why publishing houses skimp on food photography, when a little more effort in that direction would help the book fly off the shelves!

The book is divided into six categories: Classics, Fruit Muffins, Vegetable Muffins, Savory Muffins, Coffee Cakes, and Quick Loaf Breads. I made the Spiced Apple Coffee Cake you see at the top of this post, as well as the Blackberry Muffins (for which I substituted blueberries and orange zest, and they turned out fantastically well).

I didn’t have cream cheese on hand for the coffee cake, so I substituted Neufchatel with no problems. When I put the batter together, it appeared to be a mass of apples, and I wondered where the “cake” part would come in. I shouldn’t have worried! Here is the golden goodness:

The cake was intensely flavorful, and so moist that I could eat it frozen (and I did), and it still had a soft texture. It froze very well, retaining all its flavor and a pudding-like texture. Dang, I just made myself hungry again. To freeze, I recommend wrapping in plastic wrap, then foil, then placing in a freezer storage bag. The original recipe includes a vanilla glaze, which I eliminated because the finished product was sweet enough.

I also tried the luscious blackberry muffin recipe, but substituted blueberries, and orange zest for the lemon zest. Master Chow loved these. They didn’t hold up quite as well in the freezer, but I suspect that may because I didn’t wrap them in foil, a mistake that I won’t repeat.

The recipe called for a whopping 2 cups of blueberries, but there was enough batter to hold them together well. The orange was a wonderful complement to the berries, and each muffin was topped with a walnut crumb mixture. Delicious! Tonight, I’m going to try either the Polenta Muffins with Fresh Herbs, or the Tomato and Goat Cheese Muffins. Hhhm. Decisions, decisions!

One final note: if your spices are old, do yourself a favor and treat yourself to some new ones. It will make a world of difference in your baking!

Spiced Apple Coffee Cake
Adapted from The Williams-Sonoma Collection: Muffins (Williams Sonoma Collection)

Makes one 9-inch cake

1-3/4 cups all purpose flour
1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
3 tart cooking apples, such as Granny Smith, about 1 lb., peeled and cored
2 Tbsp. strained fresh orange, lemon, or apple juice (I used orange)
1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1-1/2 tsp. ground cardamom
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
8 oz. Neufchatel cheese, room temperature
1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs, room temperature

Preheat oven to 350 F (180 C). Thoroughly grease and flour a 9-inch square baking pan, or a 9-inch round spring form pan. This is a very wet batter, and if you slack off on this step, a lot of your cake will end up sticking to the bottom of the pan!

In a bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

In another bowl, toss the apples with the juice. In a third bowl, stir together the brown sugar, cardamom, and cinnamon. Add to the apples, toss to coat, and set aside.

In another bowl, using an electric mixer set on medium, cream the butter, Neufchatel cheese, granulated sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Add the dry ingredients in two or three increments, beating well until just smooth. Don’t over beat the batter. Using a spatula, gently mix in the apples, just until they are incorporated. You want things to be mixed, but not over mixed, or you will have a tough cake.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, and bake for 60-70 minutes. A toothpick inserted into the center of the cake should come out clean. Cool on a cooling rack for about 5 minutes, then carefully remove the cake from the pan.

Enjoy!

Last Christmas, we bought some Sam Adams Light beer for dinner guests. Because Master Chow and I do not like beer, five bottles have been sitting in our basement since December. What to do?

Beth Hensperger and Beer Batter Bread, to the rescue. Master Chow loved this! The taste of the beer that you use really comes through, so pick one that you like. I added 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne to the batter, and even for me (I don’t like a lot of heat in food) that wasn’t quite enough, so you may want to eliminate it, increase it, or substitute other herbs. Dill and caraway might be a nice combination, or rosemary.

The bread is best the day it is baked, but I froze some and it was wonderful, toasted with butter, a few days later.

Beer Batter Bread

Adapted from Williams-Sonoma Collection: Bread

• 3 cups (15 oz./470 g) unbleached all-purpose flour

• 3 Tablespoons firmly packed light brown sugar

• 1 Tablespoon baking powder

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1/4 teaspoon powdered cayenne pepper

• 1 bottle (12 fl. oz./ 375 ml) beer, unopened and at room temperature

• 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus extra for greasing the pan

Preheat the oven to 375 F, and grease a 9-by-5 inch loaf pan. Place a rimmed baking sheet in the oven, on the middle rack, while you prepare the batter.

In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients. Open the beer and add it all at once – it will foam up, so be sure to use a large bowl. Stir briskly just until ingredients are combined, about 2o strokes. The batter should be slightly lumpy and thick. Pour into loaf pan, and drizzle with the melted butter.

Place the loaf pan on the baking sheet in the oven. Bake about 35-40 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and crusty, and a cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let loaf rest about 5 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack.

Enjoy with plenty of butter, or plain.