Soft White Bread (for fans of the bread at County Line BBQ)

I love bread.  In fact, I love it so much,  that, if the bread is good enough, I might just go out for barbecue in Austin, Texas and come home raving not about the succulent ribs or the moist brisket, but about the delicious fresh bread served with honey butter.  Yes.  I am that person.  And yes, that has actually happened.

About four or five years ago, I went to County Line for the first time.  I remember that I ordered ribs and that I enjoyed them, but the memory that really sticks with me until today is that of their fluffy warm white bread slathered with honey butter.  I loved that bread so much that whenever I found myself there, I always made sure to order it.  And now, after having been out of Texas for over a year, I still wistfully think about that bread every now and then.  It has been too long.  Or rather, it had been too long, that is, until last Sunday.

This past weekend,  I finally dug up a recipe for similar bread online and it turned out to be the best loaf of white bread I have ever made.  It was soft, with a nice chewy crust.  It also rose very nicely, producing a nice tall loaf.  As for its likeness to the bread at County Line?  Well, it is a winner.  This bread is very similar to the bread they serve.  It has that same soft texture and not-so-subtly sweet flavor.  So,  while I can't see using this bread as a sandwich bread, it is wonderful slathered in butter and I imagine that, once the loaf has had a little time to age, that it would make a wonderful French toast.   I am also certain that it would be delicious with nutella.  I haven't tried it, but I would place money on it.

Note:  This recipe contains shortening.  I usually don't make recipes containing shortening, but I happened to have some on hand and wanted to make this recipe as written.  I will try making this recipe with butter and will update this post to let you know whether or not the results are the same.  I might also see about reducing the sugar to make a slightly healthier version of this.


Soft White Bread
1 9 x 5 loaf
Instructional details added to recipe originally published by the Austin American Statesman

2 tbsp warm water
1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
1/2 tsp sugar
3 1/2 cups bread flour
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup warm water
1 tsp. salt

1. Whisk yeast, 2 tbsp of water, and 1/2 tsp sugar together and let it sit for 15 minutes.
2. Pour yeast mixture into a large bowl.  Add the rest of the water and sugar along with the shortening, flour, and salt.  Using a hand mixer, beat the ingredients together on low until thoroughly combined.
3. Put dough in a lightly greased bowl.  Flip it over so that both sides have oil on them.  Cover with a clean, slightly damp cloth and put it in a warm spot to rise for approximately two hours, or until the dough has doubled in size.
4. Grease a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan with shortening.  Punch the dough down to eliminate any bubbles.  Form it into a loaf and place it in the pan.  Cover it again with the same cloth and let it rise until the dough is taller than the pan (approximately 2 hours again).
5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Bake for approximately thirty minutes, or until the bread sounds hollow when you lightly tap it.

TWD: Bagels

So, the day has finally come.  I have made my own bagels.  This is something I have contemplated doing for a very long time.  I first got the idea about five years ago when I was desperately missing my Montreal-style bagels.  I remember looking up a recipe, reading the instructions, and then deciding that the process looked too involved for my baking ability.  The thought has come up a few times since then as well, but I never quite managed to convince myself to take the plunge.  However, now that I have done it once, I think it might be time to look into the recipe for Montreal style bagels and actually give it a try. 

I thought these bagels turned out pretty well for a first try.  Were they as good as the ones I had in a deli in NYC three weeks ago?  Nope.  Not even close.  But, they were warm and fresh, they had a doughy interior and crisp exterior, and I was able to have them in Washington, DC.  So, all in all, I really couldn't have asked for anything more.

By the way, in case anyone is interested in eliminating the shortening from this recipe, I used canola oil instead and they still turned out wonderfully.

For the recipe, please click here.

TWD: Cranberry Walnut Pumpkin Loaf

Okay, so I have to admit that I was skeptical about this recipe at first.  I loved the idea of a pumpkin cranberry yeast bread, but the P & Q board on the blog was discouraging.  There was talk of this recipe not rising, being labor-intensive, and resulting in a mediocre final product.  In consequence, I actually had to force myself to go to the grocery store to buy the ingredients to make this bread.  So, you can only imagine my surprise when, upon tasting this bread, I decided that it was actually my favorite recipe from this book so far.

I have to say that my bread turned out absolutely perfectly.  It is soft, moist, rich and slightly sweet.  It is wonderful with a little salted butter spread on it and I think it would also make a delicious French Toast.  I was initially concerned because I didn't have three small loaf pans, but it came together nicely in my 9 x 5 pan and gave me one golden loaf in about 40 minutes.  After 35 minutes I removed it from the pan and let it bake on the wire rack in order to darken the sides and bottom.

The one criticism I agree with is that it tastes more like a raisin bread than a pumpkin bread.  If I had not made the bread myself, and if not for the deep golden color of the bread, I am not certain that I would have been able to tell that there is squash in it.  In fact, its flavor kind of reminds me of Easter Bread.

As for the preparation time, this bread doesn't take a lot of work--most of the preparation time is passive.  However, it does require you to be at home in order to work with the dough at the various time intervals, so it wouldn't be a baking project to start on a Monday night.  It is much better saved for the weekend or for a snowy day spent indoors by the fire. 

Please visit This Bountiful Backyard for the recipe.

Italian Easter Bread

Some of my earliest memories are of being in my grandmother's basement, watching her while she prepared dough on her wooden work table.  Regardless of whether she was making fresh pasta, cookies, or bread, two things remained constant:  1) she wouldn't let me do any work because she was a perfectionist; and 2) she never used (and still doesn't use) recipes.

Needless to say, now that I have moved so far from home, the combination of these two things makes it very difficult to recreate the food from my childhood.  I oftentimes will call her up to ask her how to make something and I get a list of ingredients (without amounts), vague directions, and no cooking times.  So, I am basically left on my own to make the recipe over and over again until I finally get it to turn out the way I remember it. Luckily, I consider this a labor of love.

This Easter bread recipe was not an exception.  I asked her for this recipe when I was still in college.  I had rarely if ever worked with yeast, and I had never made bread.  While she knew how many eggs and how much yeast I needed to use, she said that I should add "enough" flour and "some" cinnamon and lemon zest.  When I asked what she meant by enough, she said, "as much as you need."  Feeling confused, but determined to have Easter bread that year, I set to work.  I also decided at that moment to start writing down what I did each time I made her recipes so that I would have them going forward.  After three attempts in a week, I not only had my Easter bread, but documentation of the recipe.

For as long as I can remember, and most certainly before that, my grandmother has made Easter Bread every year.  This bread isn't pretty to look at but its dense, almost cake-like crumb makes it an ideal candidate for dipping in coffee or milk.  Its slightly sweet taste also pairs well with some savory foods.  A family favorite: Easter bread served with dried sweet Italian sausage on Easter morning. 

Easter Bread (Pizza di Pasqua)

1 cup warm water
2 tsp yeast
1 tsp of sugar
3 eggs (at room temp)
3.5 oz canola oil
4 1/2-5 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
Zest of one large lemon
2 tsp cinnamon
pinch of salt
1 egg
1 tsp milk

1. Line a 9 X 13 pan with parchment paper so that it stands up over the edge of the pan.
2. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast and 1 tsp sugar in water.   Proof for about ten minutes.
3. Measure out 4 cups flour and place in very large bowl with all other dry ingredients.  Stir it together to combine.  Make well in center of dry ingredients.
4. Break 3 eggs into the water mixture and beat until combined.  Add oil.  Beat again.
5. Dump it into the well and bring the flour into the wet ingredients using a spoon.
6. Stir the dough with a wooden spoon, and add flour as needed.  The dough should be somewhat sticky.  It will not be a typical dry bread dough that is easily workable.  Coat your hands with flour and give the dough a quick knead.
7. Form your loaf and place it in the middle of the pan--it will grow to fill it.
8. Slash the top of the bread with a knife to help release gasses as it rises.  Cover loosely with oiled piece of plastic wrap,
9. Let rise in a warm place for four hours.
10. Preheat oven to 350.
11. Beat remaining egg with milk and brush it onto the top of the bread.
12. Bake for 35-45 minutes. It will be dark golden brown on top when it is done.  Personally, I like the bottom to have a slight crust, so after 35 minutes, I remove the bread from the pan, remove the parchment, and place the loaf to finish baking directly on the stove's rack.
13. After it is done baking, remove it from the oven and place the loaf on a cooling rack.  If you have not already removed it from the pan, then let it sit for ten minutes before doing so.  Wait until the bread has cooled to slice into it.

White Loaves: A Bread-baking Success

We all bake for our own reasons.  Some people bake because they enjoy the creativity involved in decorating cookies or cakes; others do it to help them stay within their grocery budget; still others (me included) simply derive joy out of the baking process itself.  I wish I had a knack for decorating cakes and cookies, but  I don't have an artistic bone in my body.  As for saving grocery money, I find that baking probably increases my weekly food expenditures rather than decreasing them.   Rather, I bake because I find it to be a great stress reliever and because, frankly, I have the world's biggest sweet tooth.

I first started baking when I got married.  As I was unemployed, I had plenty of time to experiment in my kitchen.  In that time, I developed a strong love of food.  I would try a new recipe every couple of days and, by the time I enrolled in law school, I had gone from not knowing how to cook or bake at all to having a firm grasp of the basics.  However, the time pressure of law school meant my skills stagnated and I never went beyond the basics.  So, while I can work wonders with quick breads, cookies, cobblers and crisps, I am not terribly comfortable with bread, pastry, or elaborate cakes.

This is where Tuesdays with Dorie comes in.  This Christmas, my mother gave me Around My French Table and Baking From My Home to Yours.  I immediately tried three recipes from the latter book and decided I had a new favorite cookbook.  I am not sure at what point I decided to run a google search on the book, but once I did, I learned about this online baking club that was not only starting a new book, but was also accepting new members.  Better yet, the book it was starting \featured recipes for those items that have always intimidated me and that I have been meaning to tackle for quite some time.    Clearly, I had to join.

This brings us to this first post.  This week's assignment was to make a basic white bread.  The recipe was simple and not at all complicated—the perfect recipe to ease me in to this new project.  Initially, despite the recipe's simplicity, I was certain that I would manage to mess it up somehow because of all the bread recipes I have tried, only one has turned out.   Most of the time, they have turned out too dry and too dense, causing me to simply leave bread to the experts.

This recipe, on the other hand, has changed my mind.  Much to my surprise, the white loaf I made this past weekend turned out wonderfully.  Since I don't have a stand mixer, I mixed and kneaded the dough entirely by hand.  I also only made half a batch because I only own on 9 x 5'' loaf pan (instead of the 2 smaller sized pans specified in the recipe's instructions).  The bigger pan meant that my bread was ready to come out of the oven after 36 minutes.  Wanting a browner crust all around, I removed the bread from the pan after thirty minutes and let it bake directly on the oven rack for the last few minutes.  What was the result?  A nice crisp crust with a toothsome interior.  In short, this bread has substance.  Its body is sturdy enough to hold sandwich fillings without becoming immediately soggy.

Here is the best part about the recipe:  the book doesn't lie.  You are told that you could whip up this bread in the morning and slice into it at lunch.  Sure enough, I put the dough together first thing in the morning and by lunch my husband and I were enjoying it with some brie and crudités.  It was even good enough to eat with salted butter and honey alongside a strong coffee for breakfast the next day and only a truly good fresh bread makes this combination come to life.

Finally, I would like to thank  Laurie and Jules for organizing Tuesdays with Dorie and I would like to thank Dorie Greenspan herself for keeping me busy with new recipes for the foreseeable future!

To see the recipe for White Loaves visit Jules's blog at http://someonekitchen.blogspot.com.