Bread baking is perceived as being a very time-consuming and tricky process, with yeast, flour, proofing and shaping to contend with. This is why the concept of low-maintenance “no-knead” bread is so appealing. I tend to think that bread making only seems time consuming because of the long rises, not the few minutes of kneading dough, but I’m always up for a recipe that is easy and produces a great-tasting result and “no-knead” bread fits that bill perfectly.

To make no-knead bread, you basically only need to mix up the dough, give it a long, slow rise, and bake it without any kneading or shaping necessary. The long slow rise allows both gluten and flavor to develop, so that you end up with a bread that tastes good and also rises up well. The dough can be wetter than a dough that needs to be handled, which means that you’re also able to get a loaf that has a thick, crunchy crust and a moist, chewy interior. No-knead breads are usually baked in some sort of lidded pot or dutch oven (and are sometimes called “Pot Bread” as a result). This enclosed space helps the crust to develop and shapes the bread so you don’t have to.

This loaf is based on a Nancy Baggett recipe and is definitely as easy as promised. It had a great flavor, with a nice butteriness and a very subtle tang from the long first rise. It also had a wonderfully chewy interior and an excellent crust. My bread rose well and had a nice, open texture. You can substitute bread flour for the all purpose in this recipe, but you will still get very good results with the all purpose (all purpose is what I buy in bulk - and what most people keep in their kitchens - so it is definitely a little more convenient).

The shape of your bread will vary slightly depending on the size pot you use to bake it in. I used my Dutch oven, but if you don’t have a suitable pot already, you might want to check out Nancy’s advice on picking a good one for bread baking.

(more…)

Hot cross buns are slightly sweet, spiced rolls that are marked with a cross on top. They’re typically served on Good Friday, before Easter, but the origins of this tradition are somewhat murky, as some stories state that the cross-topped buns were around before they became one of the traditions of this particular holiday, made by Greeks and Saxons long before they became a staple of the Easter holiday. As with so many holiday-related foods, you don’t necessarily need to observe a holiday (at least not in its religious sense) to use it as an excuse to try the dishes associated with it.

Hot cross buns are - at least in my experience - a lot more popular in the UK than in the US. I rarely see them here unless I’ve baked a batch, although I’m sure there are plenty of bakeries that get them out this time of year. The buns are pretty simple and are kind of a variation on a dinner roll, in terms of their overall look and their soft texture. The dough is enriched with butter, eggs and milk (I like to use buttermilk in these to enhance the buttery flavor) and dotted with dried fruits. British recipes will usually call for “mixed spice” and “mixed peel” (candied citrus peel) as additions, but since those two items aren’t readily available to me, I substituted my own spice mix and stuck to raisins and currants as add-ins.

The cross on top of the bun is the most interesting part. I’ve seen some sweetened up hot cross buns that use frosting to form the cross on top. This recipe is a little more traditional and uses a paste of flour and water that is piped across the buns to form the cross. The flour mixture holds its white color in the oven, allowing the cross to really stand out. The finished buns are often brushed with hot apricot jam to glaze and sweeten them, but this can be omitted to simplify the recipe and you won’t miss out on much.

Serve these with butter and jam, or butter and honey, for a breakfast side on Easter - or any other holiday. Play around with the fruit mix ins and the spices, too, if you like. Raisins/sultanas and currants are pretty standard. Mixed spice usually includes cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, cloves and/or allspice, so I would use a blend of these flavors to spice these up. I used 1 tsp ground cinnamon and 1/4 tsp each nutmeg, cloves, mace and allspice in my batch, although I simplified this to “mixed spice” in the recipe below.

(more…)

Focaccia, like pizza, is a bread that has almost and unlimited number of topping possibilities. In it’s most basic form, the flatbread can be topped with just olive oil, salt and herbs. If you want to move away from the very traditional type, it’s easy to dress it up with any kind of vegetable or cheese, and you can even use fruit if you want to try a sweet (non-traditional) variation. I tend to think that meat and non-olive oil sauces move the bread a little too close to pizza, so I stay away from those.

This version of focaccia has a topping made with several different kinds of peppers - including red and yellow bell peppers, diced green chilies and a few jalapenos - that give it a bold flavor. There is also cheddar cheese inside the dough. The cheese doesn’t affect the open, slightly chewy crumb of the bread, but it does give it a good flavor and is an excellent match for the fresh peppers.

I made this dough with an overnight rise, leaving it in the refrigerator overnight and baking it the next day. The slow rise in the fridge helps the bread to develop a nice, airy crumb and it also means that you don’t have to do too much work in one day to turn out the finished product. That said, you can certainly let it rise on the countertop until doubled in size if you want to bake it the same day. The bread requires no kneading and can be made entirely in a stand mixer, although you will have to press it down into the baking pan with your fingers once it has risen.

This bread makes a great side dish and is an great way to soak up both soups (like chili!) and sauces. It is especially good when warm, with a crispy bottom. If you’re not eating it fresh, or have leftovers, reheat the focaccia by placing it directly on the oven rack for about 5 minutes at 350F. It also makes excellent sandwiches, both untoasted and toasted (panini-style). I used sweet bell peppers and spicier chilies in combination on my bread, but you can use any peppers that you like - all jalepenos if you like it very spicy, or all bell peppers if you prefer to keep things on the sweeter side.

(more…)

King Cake is a traditional pastry served for the celebration of Mardi Gras in New Orleans. It is made with a rich bread dough that is filled with a cinnamon mixture and braided into a ring. It is typically frosted, and adorned with purple, yellow and green (purple to represent justice, green to represent faith, and gold to represent power). These days, there are a lot of variations out there and you can find King Cakes that are also filled with cream cheese, praline and jam - a lot like danishes. Traditional king cake is not all that simple to make, just because it involves a lot of active time working with the dough. I wanted to streamline the process a little and made a non-traditional King Cake that involves no kneading of the dough.

My king cake starts off as a challah-like bread, enriched with vegetable oil and eggs. I added some sugar into my bread to sweeten it, and a bit of vanilla to give it a little more flavor. This bread only has one rise, so once it is mixed up, it can go directly into the baking pan. Again, I simplified the step of producing a ring-shaped cake by using a bundt pan. The dough rises right in the pan and goes into the oven without ever having to get flour on your hands. The cream cheese filling is one that I modified from a filling Cookie Madness used to make a cream cheese filling for a bundt cake. The filling is mixed up and spread into the unrisen dough. The cake rises and bakes right around it!

The bread/cake of the king cake is soft and sweet, with a tight crumb that looks almost like that of a pound cake, although it is much more like a sweet bread than your typical cake. The flavor of the filling is wonderful; the white chocolate and cream cheese combine to taste just like a little bit of cheesecake. It matches really well with the bread and keeps everything moist. The colored icing on top of the cake is an ultra-simple mixture of confectioners’ sugar, water and food coloring. It does add a bit of sweetness to the outside of the bread, which is nice, and gives the cake its unmistakable King Cake look.

Mardi Gras starts on Fat Tuesday (tomorrow!) and, if you’ve never had or baked a King Cake before, there is no time like the present to start. Traditionalists will note that I left the baby out of my king cake. Feel free to stick it in when you’re done baking.

(more…)

I have always assumed that monkey bread gets its name from the fact that you need to pull it apart with your fingers to eat it, getting all sticky from cinnamon and caramel as you indulge in bite after bite of warm, sweet bread. The bread is nothing more than a big pile of dough balls that have been dunked in butter and sugar before baking. If you like gooey, sweet cinnamon rolls and warm, sugary donuts, you will love monkey bread.

There are a lot of recipes for monkey bread that use refrigerated biscuit dough. This bread is made entirely from scratch, starting with a simple, yeasted bread dough. The dough only has a little bit of butter and sugar in it to give it some flavor; the vast majority of the flavor of monkey bread comes from the butter, cinnamon and sugar  coating that the dough is dipped into. I did give in and add a tiny bit of vanilla to the dough - although you could certainly leave it out - for a little bit more flavor.

It’s helpful if you have an assistant (or child) for making this recipe, as your fingers tend to get a bit messy when working with the dough. The balls are formed by hand, loosely rolled from small pieces of dough. Each one needs to be dipped in butter and rolled in sugar before it goes into the bundt pan for baking. The process doesn’t take too long and certainly isn’t difficult, but it’s nice to have two sets of hands moving things along (plus, the dough is easier to handle if your fingers aren’t covered in butter and sugar).

Monkey bread can really be made in any size or shape of pan, but it is most often found in a ring shape, like that of a bundt or kugelhopf pan. This large ring makes for a great presentation, and it also makes the hands-on food easily accessible to a big group - making it perfect for a family brunch or other get together.

(more…)

Plain, salt-topped soft pretzels are one of the best snacks out there. They’re a great combination of chewy, crispy and salty - and they’re actually very easy to make at home. As good as they are when plain, however, it’s also easy to see them as a blank canvas for all kinds of other toppings. Much like a plain pizza, it can really be customized to suit individual tastes with the addition of extra toppings.

I used garlic salt to top off these pretzels and really give them a lot of flavor. This is one of those instances were garlic powder - or even already made garlic salt - is a great ingredient to have on hand. It’s perfect for sprinkling on top of the pretzel to give it an even coating and keep the outside of the pretzel crisp. While a clove of fresh garlic could be rubbed onto the dough to give it some flavor (as is often done with garlic bread), using dried spice really works out much better as a topping.

Getting back to pizza for a minute, the dough for these pretzels is one that I’ve used for pizza in the past. It’s made in the food processor and has a nice elasticity to it that makes for a chewy pretzel. The dough can also be mixed by hand, if you prefer or don’t have access to a food processor. The dough is dipped into a baking soda and water mixture before baking. Not only does this help the salt adhere, but it gives the outside of the pretzels an extra bit of tangy flavor that really makes them pretzels and not just breadsticks.

(more…)