Moist and Tasty Cornbread
It’s been a couple of weeks since I baked up any bread so I decided to dig into the depth of my fridge for the sourdough starter that I’ve neglected for months. When I took the plastic wrap off the bowl I was blown away by the intense alcohol smell. I considered trying to refresh a small portion of the starter, which I can usually do even if it’s been dormant in the fridge for a while, but from its pungency (yes, I made the mistake of tasting it) and soupy consistency I wasn’t confident that it would come back to life.
So I pitched the whole thing.
I’m contemplating making a new starter this weekend, but I’m uncertain of my abilities to keep it alive. Living things always seem to be at risk on my watch– my sourdough starter, the succulent planter I bought for my desk when I first started my job, the geraniums my mother-in-law planted at my house. Funny how all those things– sourdough, succulents, geraniums– have a reputation for heartiness. They’re not easy to kill. And yet through neglect and mistreatment and disregard I’ve managed to kill them all.
Luckily my dog is still alive; though I probably deserve little credit for this. It’s entirely because of my husband’s care and attention. He notices when she wants food and when she’s scratching too much and when she seems sad and when she needs to take her flea medication while I sit back and watch her thinking that she’s entirely normal. “No Sam,” he’ll disagree, “I think she needs to go to the vet.” And she usually does.
I can’t keep anything alive.
So after pitching my sourdough starter I decided to make a ciabatta bread but realized that I had no yeast. So that idea was scrapped too and since I didn’t have bananas I couldn’t make a banana bread either. So I ended up making cornbread the only other chemically leavened bread that I could think. I didn’t really want it but I was bored and wanted to bake. In the end it turned out so moist and delicious that I couldn’t stop eating it.
This would be really good to make on Super Bowl Sunday with some whisky baked beans.
Moist and Tasty Cornbread
makes one 10″ round loaf
Ingredients
1 cup (6 ounces) coarse cornmeal or polenta
2 cups milk (I used soy)
1 3/4 cups (8 ounces) all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 large eggs
2 tablespoons molasses
2 tablespoons butter, melted
Directions
Soak the cornmeal in the milk. Cover and leave at room temperature for 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
In a large bowl stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugars.
In a separate bowl, lightly beat the eggs with the molasses and melted butter. Add the egg mixture and soaked cornmeal mixture to the flour mixture and stir with a large spoon or whisk until all the ingredients are evenly distributed and the batter is blended and smooth to the consistency of pancake batter.
Line a 10-inch round cake pan with parchment and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Pour in the cornbread batter. Bake the cornbread for about 35-40 minutes, or until the bread is firm and springy and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The top will be a deep golden brown.
Allow the cornbread to cool in the pan for at least 15 minutes before slicing it into squares or wedges.
flour girl: homemade croissants for the win!
I’ve been baking yeast bread on a weekly basis for at least three years now and yet I hadn’t even thought of making croissants before.
It’s not because Matt doesn’t like croissants (a fact that I didn’t discover until after I made them). It’s not because they’re loaded with butter either (that never stopped me from making pie crust or a million different types of cookies).
I think it’s because they’re so hard to make. Or at least that’s the widespread belief. But there’s also widespread belief that artisan breads are hard to make, and I make them all the time.
Who is spreading this propaganda anyway? I should start my own “Breadmaking is Easy!” campaign. I’ll design wartime propaganda-style art deco posters and they’ll be famous. People the world over will frame them and put them in their kitchens. They’ll be like the “keep calm and carry on” posters but obviously cooler and more upbeat because we’re talking about bread here.
Where was I going with this?
Oh yes, “Breadmaking is Easy!” and you should try making your own croissants.
I spent Saturday morning watching this old time The French Chef video, giggling at Julia Child’s loveable awkwardness, and following her process for making croissants. (side note: Julia Child would have totally put a “Breadmaking is Easy!” poster in her kitchen.)
It’s quite a bit easier than you might expect. It takes a long time to make the croissants and they require a bit more hands-on work than regular yeast bread but they’re doable and definitely worth making. I started the inital dough on Friday night, proofed it in the fridge overnight, and by Saturday afternoon I had fresh delicious croissants.
I liked Julia’s recipe because the croissants:
-weren’t too flaky. I like flaky, but it’s still bread, not pastry and I want to be able to eat it without a huge crumbly mess all around me
-weren’t too buttery. The butter adds great flavour and of course creates the flakiness, but I find a lot of croissants are greasy and way too buttery for my preference.
-were a reasonable size. They’re about 5″ in length which is perfect for breakfast or a light snack. Think Pilsbury Crescent Roll sized, not Costco sized.
I’m not going to write out the whole recipe and the process. I think it’s easier to get the idea of what to do by just watching the video.
But I will give you some tips that I learned in the process:
-roll out your dough on floured parchment instead of the counter. It’s less messy and sticky that way. When the dough required refrigerating I just wrapped it in the parchment that I rolled it on and put it in the fridge. I used the same parchment to roll it out on the next time around.
-do this on a cold day in a cold house. The butter will stay cold and you don’t have to worry about overworking the dough with your warm hands. And it’s always fun to be able to see your breath indoors, isn’t it?
-let the dough rest. When the dough feels elastic and shrinks back as you try to roll it out, walk away for 10 minutes and let it relax on the counter. It’s not ready for you to roll it, why you gotta pressure it like that?
- don’t put chocolate chips in it. If you want a pain au chocolat, fill the croissant with shavings of baker’s chocolate instead. Chocolate chips won’t get hot enough to melt inside the croissant. You’ll just end up biting into the thing and having a bunch of whole chocolate chips tumble out and you’ll be like, “…the fuck?”
Anyway, chances are good that you are saying to yourself “Oooh I should make these croissants!” or maybe you’re actually saying “Who the fuck makes their own croissants?”. Either way, you probably won’t end up baking them because you still think they’re too hard/too time consuming/too insert-excuse-here.
But if you do happen to be inspired by a half-pound of butter, a desire to nibble like a French woman, and a poster that says “Breadmaking is easy!” then let me know how your baking experience goes. These croissants do not disappoint.
P.S. My husband, the self-proclaimed croissant hater, actually liked these. Homemade Croissants for the WIN!
This post was submitted to Yeastspotting.
Triticale Seed Bread
Every time I go to my favourite place in the world, Bulk Barn, I scan the flour section. They have the most diverse variety of flour there that can be purchased in bulk and they carry all the flour that I can’t find at the grocery store: light and whole rye, whole wheat bread flour, and high protein flour just to name a few.
On my last venture to the Bulk Barn I found a new kind of flour: triticale. I had read about triticale before but never tried baking with it until this week.
What is Triticale?
(source)
Triticale is a hybrid of the grains wheat and rye. It has a higher protein content than wheat but because of the lower ratio of glutenin to gliadin proteins it has less gluten strength than wheat and, therefore, a denser crumb, like a rye bread. It also imparts a bit of a nutty flavour to bread.
How to use Triticale?
Triticale is used in bread, cookies, pasta, and cereals. It is often mixed with wheat and used in international flat breads such as chapatti or paratha along with other Indian dishes such as samosas.
Making German-Style Bread with Triticale
German-style bread traditionally is made with rye flour. It has a dense crumb, a rich flavour, and is sliced very thin.
With triticale’s protein and flavour properties, I figured that the best type of bread to make with it was a dense German-style bread with lots of seeds to complement the flour’s nutty flavour and the high protein content.
I used an overnight soaker and starter for this bread to create even more depth of flavour.
Triticale Seed Bread
Adapted from Peter Reinhart
(makes one large loaf)
Soaker
6 ounces hard whole wheat bread flour
2 ounces triticale flour
1/4 ounce chia seeds
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
6 ounces water
Combine until the ingredients form a ball. Transfer to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Leave at room temperature for 24 hours.
Starter
8 ounces triticale flour
1/4 teaspoon yeast
6 ounces water
Combine until the ingredients form a ball. Transfer to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 24 hours. Remove from the fridge a couple hours before making the final bread to bring it to room temperature.
Final Dough
soaker
starter
2 ounces triticale flour
2 ounces sesame seeds
2 ounces toasted unsalted sunflower seeds
2 ounces toasted pepitas
3/4 t salt
2 1/4 teaspoons (one packet) instant yeast
3 ounces date molasses
Chop the soaker and starter into several pieces. Combine the pieces in a bowl with all the final dough ingredients in a stand mixer on low speed with the dough hook to form a ball.
Increase the speed to medium-low speed, for 8-10 minutes, adding flour or water to get a soft dough that clears the sides of the bowl. (Alternately you can need by hand for about 15 minutes)
Form the dough into a ball and place it in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover and let proof at room temperature for about 60 minutes or until one and a half times it’s original size.
Form the dough into a boule and transfer the proofed dough to a cloth-lined and floured bannetton (or form into a loaf and transfer into an oiled 8-1/4” x 4” loaf pan). Cover and let proof again for 60 minutes or until one and a half times it’s original size.
For the free-standing loaf, preheat the oven with a baking stone and a steam pan to 425 degrees. Score the bread and place it in on the hot stone. Pour 1 cup of water into the steam pan, lower the temperature to 375 degrees and bake for 15 minutes. Rotate the bread and bake another 20 to 30 minutes (the dough should sound hollow when thumped on the bottom).
(If you are baking it in a loaf pan, heat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake the loaf on the middle rack for 45 minutes)
flour girl: Whole Wheat Santa Lucia Buns
I’d prefer to call these `S` buns. I’m ‘S’; they’re ‘S’. They’re my buns.
Kinda like ‘S’ cookies that I loved as a kid (and that I still love now because they are amazing with coffee or tea). I deemed them mine and mine alone because they bore my initial.
These buns have a soft crust and crumb that makes them great for sandwiches and they`re good toasted after a few days as well. The flavour is hearty and slightly sweet, but more subdued than sprouted grain bread.
Whole Wheat Santa Lucia Buns
From the book Whole Grain Breads
Soaker
1 3/4c. whole wheat flour
1/2 t. salt
3/4 c. soy milk
Day 1:
In a bowl stir together the soaker ingredients until they form a ball of dough. Cover and leave at room temperature overnight.
Starter
1 3/4 c. whole wheat flour
1/4 t. quick rise yeast
1/2 c. water
1 egg, beaten
Day 1:
Combine all the starter ingredients together in a bowl. Knead the starter dough by hand for a few minutes. Place the dough to a clean bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight. Remove from the fridge a few hours before needed for the final dough.
Final Dough
starter
soaker
3/4 c. whole wheat flour
1/2 t. salt
2 1/4 t. (one packet) instant yeast
1/4 c. honey
1/4 c. vegetable oil
1 egg white, beaten with 1 T. water (for egg wash) and 1 t. honey
raisins for topping
Day 2:
Chop the starter up into 8-10 pieces and place in a large mixing bowl. Add all the remaining dough ingredients to the bowl.
Stir the ingredients together with a spoon until the mixture begins to form a ball.
Transfer the dough to a floured surface and knead for 5-10 minutes. Add extra flour as needed so the dough is firm and a bit tacky.
Let the dough rest for 5 minutes, then continue kneading for another few minutes until the dough passes the windowpane test so you know the gluten is developed.
Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise at warm room temperature until almost doubled in size (about 1 hour).
Punch down the dough. Divide it into 12 pieces and roll each piece into a ball. Let the dough balls rest for 10 minutes. Roll each ball out into a 10” long snake.
Shape each snake into an ‘S’ by rolling the ends in toward each other on the same side, then flip one spiral over to get an ‘S’.
Place the shaped buns on a foiled lined baking sheet. Cover again with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature again until 1.5x original size (~1 hour).
Brush the buns with the egg wash and place a raisin in the centre of each coil.
Bake in a 350F oven for 30 minutes rotating the pan 180 degrees after 15 minutes until it sounds hollow when thumped on the bottom and/or has an internal temperature of 195 degrees fahrenheit.
Cool on a rack before serving.
Submitted to Yeastspotting
flour girl: Powerhouse Sprouted Grain Bread
You probably saw this bread on the blog last week and I promised a recipe for it, so here it is. I took the recipe for Power Bread from the book Whole Grain Breads and adapted it to be even more nutritious.
This bread is a total powerhouse. It is high in protein which makes it a good pre-workout snack. It’s also full of nutrition with the benefits of the enzymes from sprouted wheat kernels, the omega-3s from the walnut flour and flax seeds, and just one slice has 30% of your daily recommended intake of fibre. It’s pretty hardcore.
Make it. It’s good for you.
Nutrition per slice : 126 calories
Fat : 3.6g / 32.4 cals (24.4%), Carbs : 20.9g / 83.8 cals (63%), Protein : 4.2g / 16.9 cals (12.7%)
Powerhouse Sprouted Grain Bread
Soaker
1/3 c. raisins
5 t. flax seeds
3/4 c. water
6 oz sprouted wheatberries food-processed into a paste (how to sprout wheat)
1 1/3 c. whole wheat flour
2 T. oat bran
1/2 t. sea salt
Day 1:
Combine the raisins, flax, and water in a bowl and leave at room temperature overnight.
Day 2:
Puree the raisin mixture in a food processor.
In a bowl stir together the puree and the remaining soaker ingredients to get a wet batter. Cover and leave at room temperature overnight.
Starter
1 1/3 c. whole wheat flour
1/4 t. quick rise yeast
1/2 c. soy milk
Day 2:
Combine all the starter ingredients together in a bowl. Knead the starter dough by hand for a few minutes. Place the dough to a clean bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight.
Dough
starter
soaker
2/3 c. walnut flour
1 1/3 c. whole wheat flour
3 T. sesame seeds
1/2 t. salt
2 1/4 t. (one packet) instant yeast
3 1/2 t. honey
1 T. date molasses
Day 3:
Chop the starter up into 8-10 pieces and place in a large mixing bowl. Add all the remaining dough ingredients to the bowl.
Stir the ingredients together with a spoon until the mixture begins to form a ball.
Transfer the dough to a floured surface and knead with wet hands for 5-10 minutes. Add extra flour as needed so the dough is firm and a bit tacky. The dough should pass the windowpane test so you know the gluten is developed.
Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise at warm room temperature until doubled in size (about 1 hour).
When the dough has doubled in size, form the dough into a loaf pan shape and place into an oiled 8×4” loaf pan. Cover again with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature again until 1.5x it’s original size (~45minutes).
Bake in a 350F oven for 40 minutes rotating the pan 180 degrees after 20 minutes until it sounds hollow when thumped on the bottom and/or has an internal temperature of 195 degrees fahrenheit.
Cool on a rack before serving.
Submitted to Yeastspotting
food journal 13/06/11
I’m food journalling again this week.
Breakfast
Scrambled Egg whites (1/4c) with 2 slices of high protein sprouted wheat bread (homemade! recipe to come) and dijon mustard.
Lunch
- Mishmish! (aka as apricots) This is probably the only fruit that I consistently call by it’s Arabic name because I really like to say mishmish.
- 1 chicken thigh cooked in white wine with garlic, capers, and lemon juice.
Pre Weightlifting
Cottage cheese with strawberries.
Post Weightlifting
Smoothie – 1 banana, 1c. unsweetened soy milk, 1 t all natural peanut butter, 1 scoop vegan protein powder
Dinner
-Barley risotto with kale and romano beans
Dessert
Fitness
I did my superset routine and intended to run afterwards. That didn’t happen. My legs were jell-o. I could hardly use the gas and brake pedals on my car when I drove home. THAT’s a good workout.
Since I skipped the run, Matt and I headed to the park to play a little catch instead.
I’m working on making PDFs for all my weight training routines so you can print them out and bring them to the gym with you if you’re interested. I’ll keep you all posted 
Randomness
Matt and I picked up a new food dish for Bagigis since her plastic one was chewed up and basically disgusting.
Bagig’ is terrified of the thing and keeps barking at it!
I’ve had to try to make a trail of kibble Hansel & Gretel style to get her close to the thing.
Eventually I had to bribe her to eat from the bowl by putting peanut butter in it!
Success!
food journal–25/05/11
Breakfast
- 2 little spelt buns that I proofed on Monday and baked last night; I wasn’t happy with the flavour of these guys. 1 bun was eaten with with jam (unphotographed) and the other with Norwegian brown cheese
- banana—nice and brown, just like it’s meant to be
Lunch
-leftover vegan corn and black bean chili
-2 spinach fatayer (it was supposed to be 3 but one accidentally got stuck in the toaster at the office and burned to a char)
Snack
-stress at work drove me to the candy dispenser for Skittles. 20 minutes later I sugar-crashed and fell asleep at my desk. (I only got 1 red skittle?! Damn you, candy dispenser)
- once I got home I ate another one of those little spelt buns, plain. They’re really small I swear.
Dinner
Doesn’t this look amazing?
It’s supposed to be a Grenadian Oil Down but I took liberties with the recipe. In the end it came out phenomenal—a very tasty, stick to your ribs, West Indian flavoured stew.
I took the recipe from Sasha at Global Table Adventures one of my favourite blogs. She’s cooking dishes from every country in the world in alphabetical order (she’s at the G’s). How awesome is that?
I had already started the prep work for the recipe when I cut into the yucca that I just happened to have lying around (what can I say, I’m impulsive in the produce section!) and found that it had gone bad. I subbed parsnips for the yucca (the only other root veggie I had lying around) and it turned out fabulous!
In the mix is carrots, parsnips, celery, onion, spinach, coconut milk, curry, and dumplings (aka spinners and sinkers).
Workout
Yesterday I went out for a 5 mile run which felt super quick compared to the distances that I’ve been doing lately but it also felt really tough on my legs. My legs felt like lead and then I started to develop pain in my right knee and my left heel/ankle.
Considering the discomfort of the run I was pretty surprised to see that I ran it in 50 minutes which about a minute/mile faster than I have been running lately.
Today I came home and did an Eoin Finn yoga podcast and followed that up with Jackie Warner’s 20 minute core workout. I still suck terribly at that core workout—I’m always doing the easy modifications! I’d like to make it my goal to have Jackie’s 6 pack but I think that would be highly unattainable.
food blog friday: Finnish Cinnamon Buns
It is Food Blog Friday!
I’m on a mission to make the perfect cinnamon bun. The holy grail is, in my opinion, a tender, sweet roll with the perfect amount of cinnamon. A bun that holds it’s own and doesn’t need to be doused in frosting.
Don’t get me wrong, I have an unhealthy love of all things frosted. The kind of love that would make me fist fight for the corner piece of slab cake or accept a cupcake only to lick off the frosting and eschew the rest.
But when it comes to a cinnamon bun, I like a little frosting for extra sweetness, but too much and I feel like I’m eating a decadent dessert when what I really want is a breakfast pastry.
So when I saw Rosa’s Yummy Yums recipe for Korvapuustit (Finnish Cinnamon Buns), A few thoughts ran through my head: 1) Those are the most adorable cinnamon buns I’ve ever seen, 2) Finland borders Norway and I was just in Norway, so, cool. 3)This looks like my cinnamon bun holy grail, but cuter.
According to Rosa:
In Finland, you’ll find [korvapuustit] in every café or bakery. They are very popular with both Finns and foreigners alike. Those rolls are similar to Sweden’s “Kanelbullar” and to the American “Cinnamon Rolls”, yet they differ a little from both. The differences lie within their ear-like shape, flavor (cardamom in the dough and a lot less sweet than their US counterpart), texture (less gooey than “Cinnamon Rolls”) and size (relatively small compared to the oversized American rolls).
Sounds perfect! So I set out to make the rolls.
The result wasn’t exactly what I was going for. I liked that they weren’t super sweet (although Matt had other opinions on that), I loved the cardamom flavour in the dough, and I thought they really were a perfect size and shape (the shape is my favourite thing about them!) but the dough itself wasn’t quite tender enough for my liking.
I liked them for what they were, but what they’re not is the perfect cinnamon bun.
I think I will use some ideas that I took away from this recipe as the quest for the perfect cinnamon bun continues…
So I give this recipe…
2 Spoons!
Finnish Cinnamon Buns (Korvapuustit)
Recipe adapted from Rosa’s Yummy Yums and “The Great Scandinavian Book Of Baking“
Makes 10-12 rolls.
Ingredients
“Dough”:
1 Package (7g) Active dry yeast
1/2 Cup (120ml) Lukewarm water
1/4 Cup (60g) Unsalted butter, melted
1/4 Cup (50g) Castor sugar
1 Big egg, slightly beaten
1 Egg yolk
1/2 Tsp Fine sea salt
3/4 Tsp ground cardamom (optional)
2 1/4 -2 1/2 Cups (~ 300g) All-purpose flour
“Filling”:
1/4 Cup (60g) Unsalted butter, softened
1/4 Cup (50g) Castor sugar
1 Tbs Ground cinnamon
“Glaze”:
1 Egg, slightly beaten
1 Tbs Milk
Directions:
“Dough”:
1. In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in the warm water and let stand 5 minutes.
2. Stir in the butter, sugar, egg, yolk, salt, cardamom and 2 1/4-1/2 cups flour, then knead until dough is smooth.
3. Cover and refrigerate 2 to 24 hours.
4. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll out to a rectangle of 30x60cm (12 inches by 24 inches).
“Filling”:
5. Spread with the butter, then sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon.
6. Roll up, starting from one of the 60cm (24-inch) side.
7. Cut the roll diagonally into 12 pieces (each piece will be about 1.3cm/½ inch on one side and 7.6/3 inches thick on the other side).
8. With two thumbs or the handle of a big wooden spoon, press down the middle of the side of each roll (by doing that the two cut edges will be forced upward/the rolls will resemble two “ears”).
9. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper or lightly grease it.
10. Place the cinnamon ears on prepared baking sheets. Cover them with a humid towel.
11. Let rise for about 40 minutes, until the rolls are puffy and have doubled in size.
12. Preheat the oven to 200° C (400° F) after 20 minutes of rising.
“Glaze”:
13. Once the rolls have risen, mix the egg and milk together.
14. Brush each roll with this mixture and sprinkle with the pearl sugar.
15. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly golden.
Note: I frosted these cinnamon buns with a drizzle of icing that I made by combining icing sugar, cardamom, cinnamon, and a touch of soy milk to bring it all together.
Food Blog Friday recipes are ranked on the scale of 0-3 spoons
0 spoons – That was fucking horrendous
1 spoon – I doubt I’ll be making that again
2 spoons – I’ll probably make that again with some tweaks
3 spoons – That was perfect
bread and books
After last week’s foray into the exciting world of homemade nut butters, I decided to give peanut butter making a try since peanut butter is my favourite of them all.
I bought Virginia roasted unsalted peanuts and whirred them in the food processor for about 8 minutes with a pinch of salt, and a dash of cinnamon, clove, and cardamom (just because I was feeling whimsical*) and voila, peanut butter.
*Does anyone else feel annoyed by the overuse of the term “whimsy” in relation to culinary arts?
(nataliedee.com)
This would be the point of the post where I show you a picture… unfortunately I ate all the peanut butter. In 3 days. It was so perfect that I couldn’t stop myself.
I also made bread this week…of the multigrain variety. I know, it’s not big news since I bake bread most weeks. Sometimes two different types (you’re jealous, I can tell).
The thing I love about multigrain bread is you can literally put any grain into it and it ends up tasting amazing. I’ve never even come across a combination I found mediocre. They’re all awesome.
I actually took a picture before I devoured the whole loaf. Also, in 3 days. This is no coincidence.
My bread and pb binge also coincides with my excitement over this:
ROOM by Emma Donoghue
Jack and Ma live in a locked room that measures eleven foot by eleven. When he turns five, he starts to ask questions, and his mother reveals to him that there is a world outside. Told entirely in Jack’s voice, ROOM is no horror story or tearjerker, but a celebration of resilience and the love between parent and child. (source)
I’ve been excited about this book since it came out last August and I’ve been patiently waiting for the paperback. I found it in Norway of all places. CanLit in paperback in Norway before Canada? I thought it was weird, but I scooped up the book at first chance.
I haven’t been able to put it down in the last 3 days and so I haven’t been making myself square meals. Just eating bread and peanut butter and curling up to an amazing book. I had been feeling guilty about it up until this moment when I re-read that last sentence and thought: “Hmm. That sounds like the perfect afternoon.”
Any good reads lately that you can recommend?
flour girl: Best Chewy Bagels
Remember back in the summer when I went to Montreal and had those overrated bagels from Fairmount bakery?
Well these aren’t them.
I don’t get Montreal bagels and if that’s sacrilegious to admit then have me excommunicated.
Sure, they are a bit sweeter (thumbs up!) but they are too dense (thumbs down) and too dry (thumbs down) and the centre is too big (thumbs way down—I want more bread, not more air, thank you very much).
So, no, these aren’t Montreal style bagels.These are MY bagels: ever so slightly crispy crust, chewy crumb, and a hint of sweetness. They’re perfect.
At least I think so.
The Best Chewy Bagels
Yields 10
Ingredients:
Dough
18 oz bread flour
4-1/2 tsp yeast
3 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp salt
12 oz warm water
Water Bath
3 L water
2 Tbsp sugar
Topping
1 egg white
1/4 poppy or sesame seeds
Directions:
In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients then slowly add in the 12 oz water. Mix until the ingredients come together.
Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead by hand for 10 minutes, adding flour as needed to created a firm, dense dough. The dough should pass the windowpane test for gluten development… if not, keep kneading!
Place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let sit in a warm place until the dough doubles in volume (~1hour)
Divide the dough into 10 equal pieces. Roll them into snakes about 25 cm long. If the dough wont roll out easily just let it rest for 5 minutes and try again.
Wrap the snake around your palm to form a bagel shape and with your palm still in the centre, roll the bagel on the counter to seal the seams.
Cover the bagels and let them rise for 10 – 15 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400F, prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper, and bring the 3L of water to a boil on the stove. Once the water is boiling, add in the 2 Tbsp sugar.
Add the bagels to the water bath 3-4 at a time being careful not the overcrowd the pot. Keep them in the water for 30 seconds on one side and then 30 seconds on the other. Remove them with a large slotted spoon and place them on the baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining bagels.
Brush the bagels with the egg white and sprinkle with seeds of choice.
Bake at 400F for 25-30 minutes or until the bagels are golden brown. They will still be soft when you take them out of the oven but once they cool the the crust will firm up a bit.
This post was submitted to Yeastspotting.
Previous Posts in the Flour Girl Series:
How to Fix an Over-Risen Dough
Multigrain Wheat and Barley Bread
P.S. Vote for my Norway Picture in the “oh the places I’d e-read” contest so I can stop killing trees and start reading e-books. (Vote Here)
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