English Muffins - No Eggs!

I've made English Muffins before, but not in nearly two years. So I dug out the recipe, tweaked it a bit and left off the dusting of cornmeal.

These are not traditional English muffins but still produce the desired nooks and crannies and freeze better than the original recipe.



1/4 tsp yeast
3 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
2 tbls butter
1 1/4 cup room temp water






Stir the yeast in 1/4 cup of water until creamy. Set aside for five minutes. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, salt, and sugar. Create a small well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the creamy yeast. Slowly add in the additional cup of water and using either a wooden spoon or your lightly oiled hands, mix the dough together until a smooth, rubber ball like dough is formed. Knead for about five minutes to allow the gluten to form.

Place in a lightly oiled or buttered bowl and cover with a clean damp kitchen towel for at least five hours.

Pre-heat the oven to 500*. Knead the dough three times and roll out to 1/2 inch thickness. Lightly butter a large jelly roll pan or cookie sheet and place the cut outs close to one another, but not touching. Turn the oven temp down to 400*. Cover with the damp towel for 20 minutes.


Brush the tops with butter and bake for 10 to 15 minutes, depending on how golden you'd like your muffins. Set them out to cool on a wire rack and use a fork to split them, not a knife or you'l wreck the crannies. You can freeze them for up to three months. Great toasted and smothered in butter and marmalade!

Baby Hedgehog Buns

I looked and looked and looked for the recipe for these precious bunnies and couldn't find anything. I didn't even know they were made from Japanese manju until I found a reference for it in the middle of another blogger's article on why you can't make these outside of a sweetshop. Manju is the reason why these are so perfectly molded.

Manju is a popular traditional Japanese confection. There are many varieties of manju, but most have an outside made from flour, rice powder and buckwheat and a filling, usually a red bean paste made from boiled azuki beans and sugar. They are boiled together again and kneaded.

Manju is a type of mochi, or pounded rice cake, that has existed in China for a thousand years. It was originally called mantou in Chinese, but became known as manju when it came to Japan. In 1341, a Japanese envoy that came back from China brought back manju with him and started to sell it as Nara-manju. Since then, it has been eaten for nearly 700 years by the Japanese people. Now it can be found in many Japanese sweet shops.

You know, I've made a LOT of food in my life. A lot of very good tasting, beautiful to look at food. Someone made an attempt at making these manju bunnies using regular bread dough and....well.... the reality is not all yummy food looks pretty and not all pretty food tastes yummy. My advice, keep trying, even when your food looks like it's ready to devour your soul. I was inspired by the spiky burnt ears in creating hedgehogs using a conditioned triple raised bread dough. The results were fantastic!

1 tbls salt

1 tbls yeast

1 tbls ginger powder

3 cups warm water, 115*

Stir very well in a 2 gallon lidded container and let sit for fifteen minutes. Ginger is a great natural bread dough conditioner, yeast just loves it, eats it right up. Then add 5 1/2 cups of bread or pastry flour, stirring it in 1 cup at a time. The gluten is what controls the fluffiness, helping to create all of those glorious nooks and crannies. 

Most flour does not have enough gluten to make good quality bread. So don't go for the cheap stuff, spend the extra two dollars. Cover it and let sit to rise for three hours. Uncover and gently with a lightly oiled hand, scrape the dough away from the sides of the container, rolling it into a tighter ball. Reset it in the center of the bottom of the bowl, cover and let rise again over 2 hours. Uncover and repeat the previous step. Let sit over night and then repeat the scrapping down step one more time. Roll out the baby bottom soft dough onto a lightly floured surface. 

Separate the dough into 34 pieces. Roll them in your hands and let them sit on a lightly oiled bake sheet, like this stoneware. Let rise for 20 minutes and then begin to make the multiple cuts on the hedgehogs. Using the tips of the cutlery shears dab in eyes and a nose. Use a toothpick to tuck the currants in place.

Spray the hedgies with olive oil. Bake at 400* for 25 to 30 minutes.

Let sit to cool for at least 10 minutes. Feel free to smack grabby or under-appreciative people.

Bistro Bread

This recipe came from Jeff Hertzberg, M.D. and Zoë François's Artisan Bread in Five website. Which is stretching it a bit, as it really takes what seems forever for this to produce it's perfect crumb and crust...but perhaps the 5 minutes isn't for how it takes to make it, but rather, how long it takes to eat the whole loaf.

You start with a 6 quart container with a lid, into which you pour 3 cups of lukewarm water (105/110*).

Add 1 tablespoon of yeast. Make certain to use fresh! Then add 1 1/2 tablespoons flake salt. Let rest for 20 minutes.

 Add in 6 cups of sifted white flour. Stir with a large wooden spoon. Cover but not snugly, leave just enough space to allow some gases to escape, or you can pop a hole in the middle of the lid and snap it onto the container. Leave the dough in the bottom of the container undisturbed for 2 to 4 hours (depends on room temperature, cold rooms take longer than warmer ones).

At first it's flat and dense...

...and after a while it fills the whole container with it's pale air-filled loveliness.




The dough will eventually flatten out and shrink slightly. Remove the lid, sprinkle several tablespoons of flour, cover and refrigerate for an hour.

Set the oven to 450*. Measure out one pound (16oz) of dough. Gently form and set on waxed or parchment paper for 40 minutes. Heat a glass lidded crockpot, pizza stone, or cast iron pan in the oven while the dough rests.

If you use the pizza stone, sprinkle it with coarse meal before setting the dough on it. If the cast iron pan, add a bit of olive oil to prevent sticking. Set a metal pot with one cup of hot water 5 inches under the stone or cast iron.

The crockpot will not need anything. See this link for the crockpot bread directions.

Make five slashes with a serrated knife 1/4 to 1/2 inch in depth to prevent the bread from splitting or cracking on top or the bottom.

Bake for 35 minutes, do not open that oven door until the time is up!


Cool on a rack for at least 20 minutes before cutting into the loaf.

The remaining dough can be covered and refrigerated. Over time the dough mellows, making for even more lovely bread.

Here is another loaf. This one is 50% hard red berry wheat, locally grown and ground.

Sweet Sponge Bread

2 tsp yeast in 1/4 cup warm water and 1 tbls sugar
3 1/4 cups white flour, sifted very fine
1 tbls salt
1 tbls sugar
3 tbls sunflower seed oil

Proof the yeast with the sugar for 20 minutes until a thick foam forms. Add the all of the other ingredients in a large metal bowl. Form dough, mixing by hand.

Once a ball forms, roll it out onto the counter and then scrub the bowl very well until the bowl is clean and hot. Butter the bottom half of the bowl and roll the dough ball around inside until coated. Cover with a towel and set near the oven. Pre-heat to oven to 400 degrees. Let rise for one hour. Divide and roll each ball out to 1/4" and brush on a thin layer of melted butter and roll up very tight.



Set on a greased cookie sheet and cover for 30 more minutes and then bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown and it knocks hollow on the bottom of the loaf. Serve warm with whipped butter. The sponge from this recipe is amazing. Fluffy like an angel cake.

Pita Bread

1 package of yeast, 2 1/4 tsps
1/2 cup warm water
3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 cup lukewarm water

Dissolve the yeast in 1/2 cup of warm water. Add the sugar and stir until dissolved. Let sit for ten minutes until the water is creamy.

Combine the flour and salt in a large bowl. Make a small depression in the middle of the flour and pour the yeast water into the center. Slowly add 1 cup of warm water and stir with a spatula until well blended and elastic.

Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and knead for four minutes. When the dough is no longer sticky and is smooth and elastic, set the ball aside to rest and clean the flour off the kneading surface.

Wash the bowl you created the dough in and then coat lightly with olive oil. Place the dough in the bowl. Turn the dough thoroughly until coated, then cover with a clean dish towel. Set near the oven for about 1 1/2 hours, or until it has doubled in size.

Once doubled, roll out into a rope, then pinch off 10 pieces. Place the pieces on a lightly floured surface. Let them sit covered for ten minutes. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and make sure the rack is at the very bottom of the oven. Place your baking sheet in the oven at this time.

Roll out each piece of dough with a rolling pin into rounds, about five inches across and 1/4 inch thick. Bake each round for four minutes until the bread puffs up, flip and bake for two more minutes.


Remove each pita with the spatula from the baking sheet and add additional pitas for baking.

Take the spatula and gently push down the center of the puff. Set out to cool, then stack and store in storage bag. They can be stored for up to a week in a pantry or bread box, and up to a month in the freezer. Be sure to specifically use freezer bags to prevent freezer burn.

Semla - Workshop and Swedish International Dinner

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 cup and 2 tablespoons warm milk (70 to 80 degrees F)

3/4 (.25 ounce) envelope active dry yeast

3-3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons white sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons milk, or as needed

1/4 pound almond paste

1-1/2 cups whipping cream

1 tablespoon and 1-1/2 teaspoons white sugar

confectioners' sugar for dusting

1. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs with butter and milk. Sprinkle yeast overtop and allow to soften for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, sift together flour with sugar, salt, and ground cardamom. Once yeast has softened, stir flour mixture into milk mixture until a soft dough forms. Cover bowl with a towel, and allow to rise in a warm spot for 30 minutes.

2. Add in second measurement of flour and baking powder. Form into 12 balls (or 24 if you'd like smaller semlor) and place onto greased baking sheets. Cover with a towel, and allow to rise until doubled in bulk, 35 to 40 minutes.

3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

4. Bake in preheated oven 10 to 15 minutes until golden brown and the center has firmed. Cool buns on a wire rack to room temperature.

5. Once cool, cut a slice about 1/2 inch thick off of the top of the bun and set aside. Scoop or cut out the center of the buns, leaving a shell about 1/2 inch thick. Tear the removed bread into small pieces and place into a bowl.


Moisten the bread with milk, then mix in almond paste until smooth. Add additional milk if needed until the almond paste filling is nearly as soft as pudding.

6. Fill each shell with a spoonful of almond paste filling. Pipe whipped cream on top of the filling to 1/2 inch over the top of the bun. Replace the tops onto the buns, and dust with confectioner's sugar before serving.

The ones made in class had cocoa added to the dry ingredients. The ones served at the dinner had a rose hip tea added to the almond paste.

Taralli

On Saturday I had the first International Dinner of the year, our second year at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Buffalo. We celebrated Italy, Sicily and Sardinia with food, music and excellent conversation.

One of the dishes I prepared was Taralli, a heavenly umami flavored pretzel. With freshly ground and whole fennel seeds, it had a delightful earthiness.

 One cup of warm water, 3 tsp. of yeast, a sprinkle of sugar, 10 minutes to do it's magic!

 2 1/2 cups of white whole wheat flour, salt, freshly ground and whole fennel seeds, 3 tbls olive oil, and 3 tbls of sugar.

Knead gently until a shaggy loaf forms. Let rise in a bowl covered with a towel for one hour.

 The loaf will have an elastic rubbery feel when it's time to make the Taralli.

Separate into small balls, roughly 2 inches in diameter.

Roll each out to about 4 inches in length and bring the ends to meet, overlapping slightly.

 Lay out on a well greased pan and bake for about 20 minutes in a pre-heated oven set at 375 degrees. Let cool and serve with highly flavored foods, coffee, or a bottle of wine.