Dark German Rye Bread

Dark German rye bread with cocoa, molasses, and caraway seeds. A light rub of flour prior to baking and a couple minutes under the broiler just before removing adds a rustic touch to this loaf.

I am a big fan of retarding yeast doughs. I think it's wonderful to spend maybe ten minutes in the kitchen the night before, throw the dough in the fridge, and wake up the next day to begin punching things down and shaping. For all of you that are not fans of letting dough sit around forever, this could be the recipe for you. According to the dark German rye bread recipe at recipezaar.com, this only takes about two hours, start to finish (10 minutes to pull it together, 20 minutes rest, punch down + shaping + rest for about 60 minutes, then into the oven for about 30 minutes).

The dough after an optional four hour retard in the fridge.

Being somewhat of a traditionalist, I threw the dough in the fridge for a four hour retard. I would have left it there overnight, but I had started it in the morning and wanted it with dinner. I think four hours is a reasonable compromise.

This dough holds imprints extremely well; feel free to play a bit when punching it down.

Dark German Rye Bread

Adapted from recipezaar.com

Yields 1 loaf

3/4 C (74g)  bread flour

3/4 C (98g)  whole wheat flour

2 T  cocoa powder (unsweetened)

1 1/4 tsp yeast

1/2 T  caraway seed

1/2 T  salt

2 1/2 T  molasses

1 T (15g)  unsalted butter

1/2 T  sugar

1 C  water

1 T  olive oil
1 3/4 C (160g)  rye flour

1. Combine bread flour, whole wheat flour, cocoa, salt, and seeds in a large bowl and set aside.
2. Heat the molasses, butter, sugar, water, and oil until lukewarm (microwave or stove is fine).
3. Add yeast to the warm liquid mix and stir well.
4. Make a well in the dry ingredients, pour the wet mix in, and mix on low for 30 seconds, then 3 minutes on high.
5. Knead in the rye flour (about 8 minutes).
6. Cover with lightly greased plastic wrap and rest 20 minutes OR retard 4 hours to overnight in the fridge (long retards develop flavor).
7. Punch down the dough and shape into a loaf (I like a round, tubby looking loaf) and cut an X or # in the top with a sharp knife.
8. Cover with lightly greased plastic wrap and let rise 1 hour or until nearly doubled in size.
9. Optional: Rub with a little flour to get a rustic looking loaf and/or sprinkle with a little water just prior to baking to get a crispier crust.
10. Bake at 400F (205C) for 25-30 minutes, until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.
11. Optional: Place loaf on the top rack and bake 2 minutes longer to get a darker crust.
12. Cool at least 20 minutes before slicing.
13. Enjoy!

Dark German Rye Bread Reflections

Just 20 minutes out of the oven, with steam rising up during.

This bread is dense. And smells like chocolate when you bake it. Both of these things are not cause for alarm. The bread doesn't taste sweet or chocolatey. Plus a good, dense rye bread was what I was going for. You get a decent crust on it without any crazed water bottle spritzing in the first fifteen minutes of baking and the bread keeps pretty well. I think this would be excellent with peppered salami and seedy mustard.

The texture of this loaf is dense and soft with a thick, slightly crunchy crust.

I think this bread has a nice texture; a small crumb with a crust you have to saw a bit to get through. I'm fairly certain if you tied a rope around it and gave it a good swing, it would double as a medieval weapon. Just because you can physically assault someone with it doesn't mean it's not a good bread - it is! (And just because you can physically assault someone with it doesn't mean you should - you shouldn't go beyond a playful thud to the arm.) Please enjoy this bread responsibly, possibly with mustard, salted butter, and/or an array of cold cuts and cheeses.

Pretzels: Parmesan & Rosemary

Parmesan and rosemary pretzels, fresh from the oven and ready to party.

Basic pretzels are made with all same things as baguettes (flour, salt, yeast, and water) plus brown sugar. Toppings or roll-ins can take you in any direction, sweet or savory, simple or complex.

Rosemary pretzels, covered with chopped fresh rosemary and coarse salt, just before baking.

As some of you recall, the runner-up for the readers' choice poll was parmesan pretzels. I still had some fresh rosemary when I made these, and like all good little cooks, I decided not to let precious fresh herbs go to waste.

Parmesan pretzel, with as much parmesan sticking to it as possible.

The pretzel recipe I followed is from The Kitchen Project, a sweet, how-to website (specializing in German cuisine) that could use some layout updates. Check them out and don't giggle too much at the visual presentation, they have some good things going on in the kitchen.

Inside view of the baked rosemary pretzel.

Parmesan and Rosemary Pretzels
Adapted from The Kitchen Project


Yields 12 medium pretzels

1 C (99 g)  all-purpose flour
3/4 C (98 g)  whole wheat flour
2 T  brown sugar
1 tsp  salt
1/2 T  yeast
1/2 C + 1 T  lukewarm water
2 T  baking soda
4 C  water
coarse salt
parmesan, grated (optional)
rosemary, chopped (optional)

1. Mix the lukewarm water and yeast, then combine with the flours, sugar, and salt, mixing thoroughly.
2. Knead the dough for 2 minutes, place in a bowl, and cover with lightly oiled plastic wrap.
3. Refrigerate the dough overnight.
4. Remove from the fridge and punch down the dough.
5. Divide into 12 (or 6 for large pretzels) even pieces.
6. Roll one piece into a rope about two feet (61 cm) long, leaving the middle third slightly thicker.
7. Form the pretzel shape (see the original recipe for visuals), pressing ends into the pretzel to secure.
8. Place on a lined baking sheet (I use silicone mats), cover with a towel, and allow to rise until doubled (about an hour).
9. Preheat the oven to 440 F (225 C) and bring the 4 cups water and baking soda to a simmer in a pot.
10. Drop pretzels into the water (do not crowd) to a count of 10, basting with a ladle or turning for another count of 10.
11. Cover the tops of the pretzels with toppings of your choice (the rosemary is very nice with coarse salt, the parmesan is lovely solo).
12. Bake 12-15 minutes, until the pretzels are nicely brown (not golden, but brown).
13. Remove to a rack to cool (they're yummy warm and fresh, just, you know, don't burn your mouth).
14. Enjoy!

Pretzel Reflections

The extra parmesan hanging off the pretzel is crisp and wonderful to eat.

I don't think I'd ever had a rosemary pretzel before I made them and by golly, they're delicious. Don't get me wrong, parmesan pretzels are scrumptious too, they're just not novel to me. They have this amazing butter flavor when fresh from the oven; mysterious, but completely welcome. Pretzels are great with sweet mustard, butter, cold cuts, and cheese. Feel free to get crazy with toppings and use whatever appeals to you.

I think they could be chewier; I've read bagel recipes that suggest leaving dough in the pot of water for 1-2 minutes on both sides. Still, the texture is quite nice as written.

I feel like I should be trying more savory recipes. I love sweets, but I think there are flavors and textures to be explored and there is so much to gain practicing different breads. Plus, breads add to meals, making home feel really nice (especially when it's timed just right so bread is coming out of the oven when the Resident Taste Tester walks in the door). We had these with brinner, a spread which included cheese, cold cuts, grapes, strawberries, baked beans, scrambled and sunny side up eggs, bacon, toast with butter and kaya jam, extra pulpy orange juice, canned coffee (trashy and just right), and a crepe cake to top it all off. Yum.

Note to self: keep baking.

Rosemary Bread and the Plain Baguette

Two loaves of rosemary bread and one plain baguette.

There comes a time in every baker's life when (s)he breathes in the air wafting from the oven and just knows that something has gone right. Hopefully this happens nearly every time, but I have to admit that bread is the best. 


No, it's really not the same as when you toast something (especially when the toaster sets a flame). There's an olfactory warmth flooding every kitchen-connected corridor that can make even the least spiritual person have visions of heaven. Baking rosemary bread, my friends, is nasal ambrosia.


I bought fresh rosemary from two different vendors at the farmers' market last Saturday. One was hydroponically grown, sold by The Pantry. The other was organically grown in Nepal and sold by Organic Himalaya Produce. Of course I compulsively sniffed the herb bouquets while wandering the market, dazzled by how the little bunch from OHP was far more fragrant than the sapling-esque hydroponically grown variety.

Top: Hydroponically grown rosemary, no pesticides used, sold by The Pantry. The bunch was approximately 10" long, with leaves nearly twice the size of any rosemary I'd seen before. The Organic Himalaya Produce vendors took one look and said, "Fertilizers."


Bottom: Organic rosemary from Nepal, grown and sold by Organic Himalayan Produce. The bunch was about 3" long and had normal-sized leaves. The organic was far more fragrant than the hydroponic when purchased.


Just the day before, I had been day dreaming about rosemary bread from the Corina Bakery in Tacoma, WA. This had to be fate.


The Corina Bakery site doesn't hint at how their rosemary bread is made, though a casual comment on yelp.com let me to believe the recipe was baguette-based. Those of you that have done your reading know that real baguettes consist of only yeast, water, flour, and salt. That is why my rosemary bread is just rosemary bread and not a rosemary baguette.


I did make a regular baguette along with the two rosemary loaves (does it still count as a baguette if you mix in whole wheat flour?). Apparently a lot of bakers spend a significant amount of time perfecting baguettes, and I can tell that this will invade my life as well. The baguette recipe I used can be found at kingarthurflour.com and some helpful shaping instructions can be found at artisanbreadinfive.com.

This looks a bit too much like stock photography to me, but I wanted to show you how all three loaves look in entirety rather than just texture-ific close-ups.

Rosemary Bread and Plain Baguettes
Adapted from the Baker's Catalogue 2001, posted at kingartherflour.com
Yields 3 loaves


starter:
1/2 C  water
1 C (100g)  bread flour
1/16 tsp  yeast


dough:
starter
1 tsp  yeast
1 C  lukewarm water*
2 C  (200g) bread flour
1 1/2 C (195g)  whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp  salt
1 bunch  fresh rosemary (about 5 T per loaf), optional**
coarse salt (to sprinkle on top), optional


*in the original recipe, it says to add 2 T water if you use bread flour, but I found that to be too wet
**I used half as much when I made my bread and it didn't read as well when tasted, so pump it up!

This is what starter looks like after a good sleep.

1. Mix up your starter, cover, and let it sit at room temperature over night. (It'll have a texture similar to that glue-paste you used in kindergarten. Do not be alarmed.)
2. After your starter has had a good sleep, mix the yeast and lukewarm water together. (It won't bubble and froth up like when you give it sugar; totally normal.)
3. Now mix everything, including your swampy-looking starter, and begin kneading on a floured surface. Knead for about 5 minutes, until it's soft and decently smooth.
4. Cover dough with greased plastic wrap and let it rise 1 hour, punch it down and turn it over (picture above right: dough after first rise).
5. Cover it again, let it rise for 2 hours, punch it down and turn it over.
6. On a lightly floured surface, divide your dough into three equal portions and shape into ovals.
7. Cover dough and rest 15 minutes.
8. Take one oval, flatten a bit, sprinkle with 4 T rosemary (optional), and do a three-fold like a business letter or wallet; pinch the first fold into the center and pinch the final flap to seal your roll (click here for shaping help).
9. Gently stretch your roll out to about 12-15", allowing it to rest a few minutes between stretches if it's not compliant. Don't fight the gluten!
10. Repeat this for your other two pieces of dough and set about 2" apart on a lined baking sheet.
11. Cut three long diagonal slashes on the tops, cover with greased plastic wrap, and let rise for an hour or so (you want the loaves puffy but not quite doubled).
12. Preheat the oven to 450F (232C).
13. Brush or sprinkle plain loaves with warm water and brush rosemary loaves with olive oil, sprinkling with 1 T rosemary each and some coarse salt (leave your plain baguettes alone, just the warm water!).
14. Bake about 25 minutes, until the loaves are nice and brown. Remove to racks to cool or just turn off the heat and crack the oven door a couple inches to cool slowly (the slow cooling makes for the crunchiest crust).
15. Enjoy!

Shaped dough before entering the oven.

Rosemary Bread and Plain Baguette Reflections

Rosemary bread with coarse salt, the crispiest and crustiest bread I've made to date. Just look at that torn crust and the assortment of air pockets inside.

As always, bread takes some time and planning. Then again, you're only touching it for a little bit between rising/resting periods, during which you could nap or watch a movie or obsessively search for new recipes. The result, granted nothing goes epically wrong, is lovely.

The smell in the kitchen! In the living room! Everywhere in the apartment that wasn't sealed off from the oven was heaven scent (LOL? A giggle? Anyone?). I have to say that I have never experienced any smell in my life as delicious and heady as fresh baking rosemary bread.

As noted in the recipe, 2 T fresh rosemary worked into the dough and 1 T on top were simply not enough to make the rosemary flavor really read in the bread. Doubling the in-bread rosemary seems like it'll do the trick, and perhaps a quick crush to release the oils a bit more wouldn't hurt.

Organic versus hydroponic rosemary? Surprisingly, our hulky hydroponic rosemary read in the bread a bit better than the organic variety. Strange. I'll let you know how things go with the doubled herbs soon. Also, if anyone sees anything about scratch and sniff pictures via the interweb, let me know, because you would reap the benefits on this one.

One more texture picture to tease you.

Update: Buttermilk Seed Bread, Available for Order!

NEWS We5Apr: Buttermilk seed bread is now available for order! Please place orders 5 days in advance to ensure availability. Email me here.

1 loaf $18, 2 loaves $30

prices shown in SGD

Freshly baked buttermilk seed bread waiting for friends to arrive.

Some people think making bread is a ridiculous, arduous task. "Why don't you just buy it from the store?" This pains me. Why wouldn't I just buy every baked good from the store?


Some nerds tear electronics apart and put them back together because they like knowing how things work. This nerd likes knowing what goes into her food, how to make it better, and derives pleasure not only from the end result but from the process as well. I also like the challenge of throwing things in the oven I've never tried and seeing what comes out. That is why.


I wanted a hearty bread that was sort of healthy, and since I'd already drenched my life in butter with my last bread effort, I thought I'd give buttermilk seed bread from allrecipes.com a try.


Buttermilk Seed Bread
Submitted by Kathleen Loyd to allrecipes.com and loosely interpreted by me


Yields 2 loafy sized loaves


1 (1/4 ounce) packet  active dry yeast
1 tsp  sugar
3/4 C  warm water (110 F or 45 C)*
scant 1 1/2 C  whole milk (+ lemon juice = buttermilk substitute)
1 1/2 T  lemon juice
2 T  butter, melted
3 T  honey
2 tsp  salt
2 T  sesame seeds
2 T  flax seeds
2 T  sunflower seeds
2 T  pumpkin seeds**
2 C  whole wheat flour
4 C  bread flour
olive oil

Clockwise from the top right: flax seeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds.

*warm to the touch but not too warm for a baby I'd say
**the original recipe calls for poppy seeds, but the store didn't have any, so I used what I had on hand

Buttermilk seed dough after a good night's rest.

1. Place warm water in a tall mug and stir in the yeast and sugar. Let stand 10 minutes (it gets super frothy and foamy!).
2. Mix milk and lemon juice and let stand 10 minutes (it curdles a bit, totally normal, don't you worry).
3. Mix curdled milk, butter, honey, and yeast mix in a large bowl.
4. Add salt and whole wheat flour and mix well.
5. Add bread flour a 1/2 C at a time and mix well with a large spoon after each addition. Sprinkle about half the seeds with the first 1/2 C of bread flour and the rest with the second 1/2 C to ensure even distribution.
6. Once it becomes difficult to mix with a spoon, knead the remaining bread flour into the dough.
7. Knead about 5-10 minutes until the dough is elastic and homogeneous.
8. Form the dough into a ball and lightly coat it with olive oil before placing it in a bowl.
9. Seal the dough with plastic wrap (make sure there are no gaps, otherwise you'll get a dry skin on it) and let it sleep in the fridge through the night.
10. Uncover the dough and punch it down so no fluffy air remains.
11. Divide into two pieces and shape into loaves as desired (you can throw them in greased loaf tins or on baking sheets lined with silicone mats) and let rise until they've doubled in volume (about 1 hour).
12. Bake at 375 F (190 C) for approximately 30 minutes. Check for doneness by tapping the bottom of the loaves; if it sounds hollow and the tops are nicely browned, you have just made bread!
13. Allow to cool at least 20 minutes (preferably an hour) before slicing.

Buttermilk Seed Bread Reflections

I took a chunk of the bread fresh from the oven and gave it a taste test; to my horror, it was BITTER. No! Where did I go wrong?! Well, friends, don't worry about a thing; once the bread had cooled and had a nice rest, it tasted lovely.

The bread wasn't as dense as I thought it would be, but it was no fluffy affair either. It was this happy medium of soft, slightly chewy bread rife with seeds. The crust wasn't very... crusty as they say; this loaf was a far cry from your fresh baguette you merrily squeeze on the way home from the bakery. This could be remedied, perhaps, with an egg wash, but I think it was fine just the way it was.

Make sure you own a proper bread knife before making bread; any other knife pretty much fails. The serrated edge of the bread knife allows you to saw through both the thicker crust and the soft insides without ripping everything to pieces.

I think I'll add about 50% more salt next time; the bread could use a little more punch. Really though, all that effort is completely worth it. The Resident Taste Tester, a pack of friends over for Saturday dinner, a car design intern, a DJ/teacher, and myself can all attest to the wonders of homemade bread. It is an absolute dream when topped with butter, cream cheese, cold cuts and such and is excellent toasted. I even have an order for it! My very first order!!! That's how good homemade bread can be.

A happy loaf with even slices. Get a bread knife, folks.

Croissants: A Two Day Affair

My first attempt at making croissants. Not too shabby.

I have read in numerous blogs and recipe websites that croissants are the bane of any amateur baker's existence. A recipe that takes two days, several rounds of touching, rolling, and resting, and could possibly end in disaster for any number of missteps would have anyone shaking in their apron. Naturally I decided to throw myself in the deep end.

Sure, I've made a couple of yeast breads before, but never anything as unanimously daunting as croissants. Knowing I wasn't alone in my fear, I went to the blogs to consult my colleagues in the oven. I settled on the recipe at Not So Humble Pie and advice from Gabi on Mamaliga.com.

It wasn't as heart-breaking a process as I thought it would be. The only minor oops was nearly forgetting to feed the yeast. Woooow. I used to make cinnamon rolls at my university every Saturday morning for nearly a year; how could I forget something as basic as giving the yeast sugar to feed on? Well, I didn't really forget to, I just added it later than the recipe said to. I had mixed the dough and thrown it in the fridge when I realized I hadn't added any sugar. "Odd recipe," I thought. I mused over how there could be anything to fuel the yeast for a moment and then reread the recipe. I simply glazed over the word sugar and went about making a yeast dough without it. Silly. I took the dough out, sprinkled sugar on it, and spun it in the mixer for another minute before sending it back to the fridge for a good sleep.

The croissants actually came out nicely! I halved the recipe because I know the Resident Taste Tester and I do not need eleven full size croissants lurking in the kitchen.

When I took half the dough and made four croissants, I thought they seemed rather large even before they had gone through the last rising phase. They were absolutely  massive by the time they came out of the oven. Unfortunately, the insides were a bit too moist (cooked, no doubt, but heavy with butter) while the outsides were beautiful. I decided to make eight croissants with the remaining dough and these proportions came out so wonderfully crisp and flaky on the outside while soft, fluffy, and buttery on the inside that several were consumed within minutes of hitting the rack to cool.

Croissants

Originally from the CIA, adapted by Not So Humble Pie, and loosely interpreted by me*

Yields 16 croissants

358g (1.5 C)  whole milk, room temperature

14g (1/2oz or 4 1/2 tsp)  yeast

453g (4 C)  bread flour

56g (heaping 1/2 C)  sugar

10g (1 1/2 tsp)  salt (not in the original recipe, but I think it improves it)

40mL (2 T)  molasses (substituted for malt syrup)

71g (heaping 1/2 C) butter, cold but pliable

Roll in:

226g (2/3 C) butter, cold but pliable

Egg wash:

1 egg + 3 T whole milk, beaten

Flour, for rolling out dough

* Volume measurements in parentheses are approximate

1.  Mix the yeast and room temperature milk; set aside for 10 minutes.

2.  Pound the cold butter in a plastic bag (or between sheets of wax paper, etc.) with a rolling pin until pliable (you'll end up with a sheet of butter about a quarter inch thick). If butter becomes too warm, place in freezer until cold again.

3.  Mix flour, salt, and sugar in a large bowl (sift it if you like, but it's not necessary).

4.  Add molasses to the flour mix and cut in the cold but pliable butter coarsely by giving it a quick spin on low with the electric mixer.

5.  Pour the yeast-milk mix over everything and mix on low until the dough becomes unwieldy and begins to reach for the sky (it took about 30 seconds for my dough to start creeping up the beaters).

6.  Replace beaters with dough hooks and continue to mix on low for 3 minutes, then turn up to high and mix for 2 minutes.

7.  Line a baking sheet (that fits in your fridge comfortably) and spread out dough evenly.

8.  Cover with plastic wrap and press out all air bubbles (to prevent strange crusting) before placing it in the fridge for 5+ hours (over night is perfectly acceptable).

9.  Place the cold butter for the roll in between sheets of wax paper or in a plastic bag and beat with the rolling pin until it is a pliable sheet about 9"x13" (slightly larger or smaller is fine). Return it to the fridge to keep cold until you're dough has finished it's 5+ hours in the fridge (you can do this just before you roll out your dough in the next step, but make sure it's cold).

10.  Remove dough from the fridge (it will be less sticky and a bit more puffy than it was 5+ hours ago) and roll out with a pin to about 13"x18" on a well-floured surface (always have flour handy when rolling out the dough to prevent sticking).

11. Now begins the three-part folds and short rests section. Place your cold but pliable roll in butter on your dough and fold the sides of the dough over to cover the butter.

This is sort of what a four-fold looks like. Not perfect, but it will do.

This is a three-fold, and the Resident Taste Tester in the background.

11a.  Roll the dough out to about 13"x18" and fold the ends to the middle and fold again like you are closing a book (see four-fold above). Cover and seal with plastic wrap and return to fridge for 30 minutes.

11b.  Roll out dough again to about 13"x18" and do a three-fold like a business letter or men's wallet (see three-fold above). Cover and seal with plastic wrap and return to fridge for another 30 minutes.

11c.  Roll out dough yet again to about 13"x18", repeat the three-fold, and place in the fridge for the final time for two hours.

12.  Now you can begin to make pretty little crescent shapes. Roll out dough to about 9"x20" and cut into four equal size rectangles. Set three in the fridge (wrapped in plastic of course).

If Bob Ross was baking these, he would call them happy little triangles.

You can see all the layers we folded and rolled in. Happy little triangles indeed.

12a.  Roll out one rectangle to a square (a bit larger than 9"x9") and cut in half to make two rectangles. Cut diagonally across both rectangles to make four triangles.

12b.  Cut a 1" slit at the base of each triangle (the shorter side of the right angle) and roll tightly towards the far tip, stretching the dough as you roll.

12c.  Place rolled dough on a baking sheet (I always line with silicone baking mats), turn in corners slightly to make a crescent shape, and brush with an egg wash. Repeat 12a-c for the rest of the dough, placing 8 or so croissants on each baking sheet and allow to rest for 1 hour at room temperature (until nearly doubled in size).

13.  Preheat oven to 375 F (191 C), do one more egg wash, and bake for 16-20 minutes until nicely brown.

14. Remove to rack and cool (five minutes is generally enough time to cool them so you don't burn your tongue, but use your best judgement).

14. Enjoy!

Croissant Reflections

Croissants basking in the Singapore sun.

I found that the amount of butter originally to roll in was waaay too much for me; the croissants bled butter in the oven partway through and swam in it until they finished baking. Not a terrible thing, just sort of horrifying. The amount of roll in butter I list is reduced by one third.

The original recipe also didn't have any salt in it; I used about half salted and half unsalted butter when I made them and I think they could use a teaspoon or two of salt (while using unsalted butter) to punch things up a bit.

You really have to get the portions and timing right to get perfectly crisp, flaky, brown croissants on the outside and fluffy, soft, layers upon layers of yum on the inside. Experiment a bit and granted yours don't burn, you'll have delectable, rich croissants and an air of buttery bread throughout your home for a couple of days.

Lovely flaky layers glistening in the early afternoon light. Perhaps all the butter will deepen that tan.