One of my 2009 goals is to spend time learning how to bake bread. And this giveaway, a free 8-inch J.A. Henckels scalloped bread knife (full retail value ~$100), donated by the good people at CSN Stores, ties into my breadbaking plans perfectly (CSN Stores is a Boston-based internet retailer that sells an enormous range of products--everything from kitchen items, to furniture, to mattresses).
Here are the rules: Leave a comment on this post with a favorite bread recipe from your recipe collection or your own blog, and make sure your comment contains your email address or a link to your site so I can reach you. If you don't have any bread recipes of your own, spread some good karma and name a favorite bread recipe from a favorite blog you follow.
I will pick the winner at random. And, I'll choose the most intriguing bread recipes--and then proceed to bake them over the coming weeks.
Good luck! This contest will close at 11:59pm Eastern Time on Friday, August 7th, and I'll announce the winner on Saturday, August 8th.
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22 comments:
I love baking bread, something that my dad taught me. I can suggest visiting www.kingarthurflour.com (don't forget the flour part, believe me *ahem*) and any of the other flour or yeast people. Two other recipes I like are WHO bread (she also has a by hand recipe later) http://soulemama.typepad.com/soulemama/2008/02/who-bread.html and English Muffin bread: http://www.breadworld.com/Recipe.aspx?id=140 I have quite a few bread recipes, but I guess the one I make the most is this one (even giving it as Christmas gifts one year). I've made it with all white and with 1/2 whole wheat and it works fine everytime. I've cut it in half and done it in the bread machine too. If there's anything in particular you're looking for, let me know.
Split-Top Butter Loaf
From: Family Circle Magazine 2/1/00
Makes: 2 loaves (12 slices each)
1 teaspoon sugar
3/4 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees F)
1 envelope active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 egg
1 tablespoon salt
1/4 cup honey
3 tablespoons butter, in pieces
6 cups bread flour
Topping:
2 tablespoons butter, melted
Stir sugar into warm water in small cup. Sprinkle yeast over top. Let stand until foamy, 5 to 10 minutes.
Heat buttermilk, egg, salt, honey and butter in saucepan until butter melts and mixture registers 110 to 120 degrees F on instant-read thermometer. Transfer to large bowl.
Add 2 cups bread flour; beat until smooth. Stir in yeast mixture. Add remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time until dough holds together and pulls away from sides of bowl.
Transfer dough to lightly floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer to large greased bowl, turning to coat. Cover with clean kitchen towel or plastic wrap. Let rise in warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
Punch dough down. Let rest for 5 minutes. Grease two 9 1/4 x 5 1/4 x 2 3/4-inch loaf pans. Divide dough in half; lightly coat halves with flour. Gently pat each half into 7 x 5-inch rectangle. Transfer to the 2 prepared loaf pans. Cover with clean kitchen towel. Let rise in warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 1/4 hours.
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. With a razor blade or very sharp knife, make a slash down length of each loaf.
Bake in 350 degrees F oven for 15 minutes. Open oven; pull rack with breads out slightly. Brush loaves with some of the melted butter. Bake another 15 minutes. Brush again with butter. Bake another 5 minutes or until loaves sound hollow when tapped. Remove loaves from pans to wire rack to cool.
My favorite no-knead bread. Good with...well, anything.
2 cups bread flour
1 cup semolina flour
1/4 ounce instant yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
@1 cup Cornmeal
1 1/2 c lukewarm water
1. Combine flour, yeast and salt in a large bowl. Add 1 1/2 cups water and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest about 4 hours at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.
2. Dust work surface with flour and place dough on it; fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest 30 minutes more.
3. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6-to-8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Add cornmeal to pot to cover the bottom. (This will prevent the dough from sticking, as well as add a little character to the bottom of the bread.)
Flour hands well. Pick up dough and tuck edges under itself, creating a ball with the seam/gathering point on the bottom. Place gently into the pot, seam down. Slash the top of the bread once or twice with a wet serrated knife. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes.
4. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.
Yield: 1 big loaf.
A good knife is a gift! Here's my fave recipe, from Mark Bittman via Steamy Kitchen. I changed it only the teeniest bit:
http://www.owlhaven.net/2009/04/15/easiest-homemade-bread-ever/
My little kids help me make this recipe.
Mary, mom to 10
I love beer breads. They are almost no effort and taste all kinds of delicious. The basic ratio is 1 beer/3C Flour/1t salt/3T sugar + flavorings. Below is a bread I don't make anymore, because it's too damn delicious to have around and be entirely healthy.
Chocolate Beer Bread
3 Cups Flour
1 T Baking Powder
3 T + 1 T Sugar
1 t Salt
1 Dark Beer (Guinness, Young's Double Chocolate Stout, or anything that is heavy on the coffee/chocolate)
1/2 Cup Melted Butter
8 oz Dark Chocolate Chips
Cinnamon for dusting
1. Preheat Oven to 375
2. Sift together flour, salt, 3T sugar and baking powder in a bowl.
3. Mix in butter, beer, and chocolate.
4. Pour into bread pan, dust top with Cinnamon and remaining sugar.
5. Bake 50 minutes.
Not my recipe, but this is fabulous and works in the bread machine:
http://havecakewilltravel.com/2007/06/14/potato-walnut-bread/
I dont have a favorite bread recipe yet, because I am just starting my experiments :)
However, since my blog is about my attempts at cooking and how they utterly fail, my current bread experiment is Monkey Bread.
http://attemptedcooking.com/2009/08/monkey-bread/
I used the artisan bread in Five Brioche recipe, but then burned the results with my modifications. Will try again shortly!
I love this delicious and healthy white whole wheat and flax bread
http://foodallaputtanesca.blogspot.com/2009/02/flax-and-sunflower-seed-bread.html
I just posted a recipe on my blog, complete with pictures, so take a look, it's my whole wheat, flax and oatmeal bread. Delicious!
http://thesassychronicles.blogspot.com/2009/07/whole-wheat-flax-oatmeal-bread.html
It's a good thing that I already have the exact same knife that you are giving away because I'm still working on my bread recipe and still have a few more experiments to run.
Awesome givaway. Sadly, I'm not much of a breadmaker outside of my breadmachine, if I ever use it. It's been 2 years since I've tried making a loaf. I hope to start eventually cooking again soon.
Good luck guys!
I love making beer bread with Shipyard Brewing Co's Pumpkinhead fall seasonal beer. I am itching to try this (semi-famous) NYT No Knead Bread recipe when I have the funds for a dutch oven though: http://steamykitchen.com/168-no-knead-bread-revisited.html
Here's my everyday bread recipe -- made 2x/week for the past 3 years. It makes a dense, but not heavy bread, fab for toasting and good (but a little crumbly) for sandwiches:
Drys:
1 C old-fashioned oats
2-1/2C bread flour (King Arthur)
1 C ww flour (King Arthur)
1/3 C dry milk
1-1/2 t salt
1/4 C flaxseed
Wets:
1-1/4 C warm water
2 T oil (light olive or vegetable)
2 T honey
Leavening:
1 T yeast
Mix Dry ingreds in standmixer bowl; add kneading paddle.
Heat water, dissolve oil and honey in water, sprinkle yeast on top.
When yeast develops, turn on standmixer to "2", add wet ingreds and process for 6 minutes.
Oil loaf pan; let rise for approx 1-1/2 hours, depending on temp.
Bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes. Turn out immediately onto rack to cool. Freezes well.
Here's my favourite bread recipe, and on one of my favourite cooking sites, too. I use all whole wheat flour (King Arthur white whole wheat) and usually add an egg:
http://www.tammysrecipes.com/homemade_wheat_bread
1 cup warm water (110-115 degrees F)
1 tablespoon milk
2 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (see additional notes for a 100% whole wheat version)
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons instant active dry yeast
Instructions:
1. *Combine first 6 ingredients in a large mixing bowl; stir.
2. Add flours and yeast, and knead until dough is smooth and elastic, about 10-15 minutes. Place dough in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover with a clean towel and let rise until doubled, about 40 minutes.
3. Punch dough down; knead for a few minutes until smooth and then form into a loaf. Place in greased loaf pan and cover. Let rise in a warm place until almost doubled in size, about 30 minutes.
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. If loaf starts browning too soon, lightly lay a piece of foil on top of the loaf to prevent too much darkening.
5. Remove bread from oven and allow to rest in pan for a few minutes. Remove to a wire rack and cover with a cloth. Slice and enjoy while still warm! Leftover bread can be stored in an airtight bag or frozen until needed.
i recently made these cute little chocolate breakfast brioches from a blog post on apartment therapy - even made them on a sunday morning as suggested. the recipe is fairly simple and they turned out exactly like the photos. gotta love a successful recipe:
http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/guest-post/-guest-post-from--085769
Does it have to be a sandwich bread? My favorite bread is the cooking light marbled chocolate banana bread. Except I use real eggs. http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=549763
It's great and always a hit
I make 2 sandwich breads for my family: King Arthur Whole Wheat (from the back of the flour bag), and Granny's Oatmeal Bread. I'm hoping you can see my email address!
I love the pita recipe on The Fresh Loaf. I love the chatty tone, all the possible variations, and the pita turned out great. Granted, the first few were not puffy enough but I caught on and they got better. http://www.thefreshloaf.com/recipes/pitabread
Lady Di is right...the king arthur site is great! It's my favorite for learning new recipes and tips for bread & pastry baking! I've been baking bread since I made up my first recipe at age 10, called "Jungle Top Hop". Yikes, it didn't turn out so good. Anyhow, I've loved mixing up yeast and flour ever since :) I've become really interested with the macrocbiotic style of eating...but in many ways it is often a bit strict for my family. So, I alter many of my current recipes to become more macro-like :) This one doesn't have yeast, but is super easy...my children even make it :) And it's so much better than Jungle Top Hop.
Irish Soda Bread (pseudo-macro)-
makes 1 loaf
3 T. olive oil
1 1/2 c. wh.wheat flour
1 c. unbleached white flour
1 or 2 T. flax meal
2 T. brown rice syrup (you can use
sugar,if you don't have it)
1 t. baking soda (aluminum free is
best)
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt (good sea salt is best)
3/4 c. buttermilk (just put about
1 t. of vinegar in plain milk,
or rice milk to make your own)
Heat oven to 375. Blend flour, oil, syrup (sugar), baking soda, baking powder, flax meal, and salt. Use fork or pastry blender until crumbly. Stir in just enough of the buttermilk so dough leaves the sides of the bowl.
Turn dough onto lightly floured surface. Knead until smooth; 1 or 2 minutes. Shape into a round loaf (about 6 or 7 " in diameter). Place on an oiled cookie sheet or baking stone (I use olive oil). Cut an "X" about a 1/2" deep through the loaf with a floured knife.
Bake until golden; 35 to 45 min. Brush lightly with oil.
Here is a link to my fave bread recipe in the bread machine. Very good, all-purpose healthy loaf.
http://kimsstateoffood.blogspot.com/2009/01/snow-day-whole-grain-bread.html
kimddavidson@yahoo.com
This isn't my own recipe (I'm not one for baking and have to follow directions EXACTLY), but I love this zucchini pineapple bread recipe:
http://dietdessertndogs.wordpress.com/2008/07/11/zucchini-and-pineapple-mini-loaves/
There are some exceptional recipes here, thanks for all of the entries!
Just about a day and a half left until the giveaway closes, keep 'em coming!
DK
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