Archive for the ‘Breads – Yeast Breads’ Category
Everyone likes a dinner roll with dinner. Everyone except people who eat only low carb, I guess, and you might even be able to convince them to eat these because of the cheese inside. Each of these dinner rolls has a lump of warm, melted mozzarella inside. They go well with salad and soups, but are the best with a bowl of pasta topped with marinara, where they can be used to soak up all that delicious extra sauce.
I used those neat little balls of fresh mozzarella that are packed in tubs of water at the grocery store. Simply cut them in half and stick them into the rolls. It’s actually important not to use too much cheese, since it will just run out of the dough. Rolls are a much better shape option than breadsticks, which you can see I tried in the photo above. The round rolls held the cheese much better than the sticks did.
I topped all of the rolls with either coarse sea salt or garlic salt. Personally, I preferred the plain sea salt to top them over the garlic salt, but it’s a matter of individual preference. The salt really brought out the flavor of the cheese and I think it’s necessary to a good roll.
These are really quick to make. you can do start them at 4:30 and pull them out of the oven in time for dinner. Of course, you’ll have to watch that you don’t burn your tongue on the cheese, but it’s a small price to pay for warm, fresh dinner rolls .
+Continue Reading
I went back to a Paul Hollywood recipe for this week’s Cooking School. I’ve mentioned before how much I admire him and love his recipes, so often I’ll turn to his book, 100 Great Breads, when I’m looking for inspiration. This week I chose to make a favorite flatbread of mine: naan.
Naan is a traditional Central and south-East Asian bread that is baked in a special oven, called a tandoor. It is typically made with flour, water, yeast and yogurt, which gives it its traditionally soft texture. It is a bit similar to pita bread, if you have never had naan and are looking for something to compare it to.
Paul Hollywood’s recipe is different from most because he calls for pan frying the bread instead of baking it. He also doesn’t specify the exact amount of water needed for the recipe, so I made sure to measure as I went along to help any of you (readers) along. Paul includes cumin and carraway for seasoning, which contribute a hint of flavor that makes this bread perfect for pairing with savory dishes. Normally, I would recommend some sort of curry or saucy dish to dip the bread in, but it also functions as an excellent dipper for soups. This naan is fluffy on the inside wiith a nice chew to the outside.
hough it was not quite as light as some oven-baked naan I’ve had, it was still excellent. The fact that it was incredibly easy is just an added bonus.
+Continue Reading
Hawaiian sweet bread was my favorite sandwich bread growing up, though I did not have it often. Even better was the fact that not only could I use it to make my peanut butter and jelly before school, but when there was a loaf of it in the house I could have really delicious toast for breakfast, too.
Hawaiian sweet bread seems to be the same thing as Portuguese sweet bread, a name which is slightly more common. The brand that I always bought was King’s Hawaiian Sweet Bread, which was soft, buttery and, of course, sweet. Hawaiian sweet bread is similar to breads like challah and brioche in that it is enriched with both egg and butter. Unlike those two, however, it has a tiny bit less added fat and a lot more sugar. Because it is also found in the Philippines, it seems likely that the recipe for the bread was spread by Portuguese sailors and settlers, traveling through the East Indies and other parts of the south Pacific.
Working with the ingredients of King’s Hawaiian as a guide, I tracked down a recipe that seemed as though it would be a reasonable facsimile. The ingredients list flour, water, milk, sugar, margerine, eggs, butter, yeast and potato flour. A few ingredients, like high fructose corn syrup, I chose to disregard. The inclusion of potato flour is what keeps the bread moist and soft for several days after it is baked. I almost never use potato flour, preferring instant mashed potato flakes instead (potato flour is essentially the same thing, but approximately five times the price). This recipe, and slightly variations thereof, can be found all over the web and it is the one I decided to base my own recipe on.
The best way to mix this bread is using an electric or stand mixer, as it takes some time for the dough to come together. You can work the butter and extra flour in by hand, of course, but it really is much easier if you have a mixer. The dough is soft and heavy, with a lovely yellow tinge from the egg yolks. I chose to make free form loaves, but this dough can be put into two loaf pans, as well, for more traditional sandwich sized bread. It is sweet, buttery and everything that I hoped it would be – minus the high fructose corn syrup.
+Continue Reading
When I think of a rustic bread, I picture long, slow rises and large holes punctuating the chewy interior of a dark, crispy loaf. It has to be hand-shaped, too. I don’t generally think of short rises and a fine crumb or texture. I chose to call this bread semi-rustic because it seems to have properties of both categories.Both the feel and flavor of the bread give it a sense of rusticity. There are no large, chewy holes here, but the bread does have a medium, fairly open crumb. It is a darker loaf with a crisp crust, and cutting it into wedges gives it a very casual edge when it comes time to serve it. Of course, it is still fairly quick to put together, with no overnight rises and the use of active dry yeast.
The secret to the bread is that I added some masa harina – the finer, lime-treated type of cornmeal used in tortilla making – which gave the bread a slightly coarser texture than most breads and a hint of corn tortilla flavor. The hint of lime (as in limestone, not the citrus) is what really makes the bread different.
Rustic or not, this bread is unusually tasty. It is particularly good with butter or used to sop up soup (try a spicy soup with it). You will get the best results with bread flour, as the higher protein content will help the bread to rise .
+Continue Reading
I love yum cha/dim sum (and have always heard the terms used fairly interchangeably). I love how the food arrives so fresh and piping hot at your tableside, where you can pick and cheese what you want to eat. My favorite is definately the steamed buns (bau) filled with barbeque pork . I have not had any sort of yum cha in some time and, in fact, have had great difficulty even finding a dim sum restaurant that I like, so it seemed as though my only altlernative was to try making these at home.
Before anyone tells me that these aren’t traditional, something which is immediately apparent because my buns are gathered at the bottom and not the top, I already know. Frankly, I don’t even think it is important that a dish be called “tratitional” at all; the taste is the most important part of any dish, whether traditional, original or inspired by something else. I used Maki’s recipe, from i was really just very hungry, and she mentioned that these are the Japanese style of the traditional pork bun. They were absolutely fantastic. Not only was I surprised that I was able to steam them so successfully myself, they were some of the best buns I’ve had in a very long time. The dough was easy to make and a dream to handle. I used bleached all purpose flour to ensure that my buns were really white, but unbleached will give you the same textural results. They were light, soft and fluffy, with a nice bit of chew. You can see in the photo above that I left one unfilled to give you a better idea of the crumb/texture of the bun. This project also gave me a chance to use my bamboo steamer, which has been sitting unused in my cupboard for some time now, too.
For the filling, I made two types: one with pork and one using a vegetarian meat. Instead of going to all the trouble of making some sort of barbeque, I just used a favorite bottled sauce with a few additions and stirred it into my meat. Whether you do or do not like bottled sauce, you certainly can’t beat it for convenience. I am looking forward to trying these buns with other fillings, like chicken and perhaps a sweet custard. The leftovers make a great lunch. You can either freeze them or store them in plastic wrap in the refrigerator for a day. Leave the plastic on and “steam” them for a 30-60 seconds in the microwave for a quick meal.
+Continue Reading
