It's been a busy baking week around here. There were plenty of other things I probably should have been doing with my time off, but I mostly took advantage of the opportunity to relax. And baking is relaxing for me. =)
One of the blogs that I enjoy reading is the King Arthur Flour Baker's Banter. They invariably have really tasty-looking things on there. Earlier in the week I was getting caught up on a few posts that I hadn't read, and one immediately caught my eye--garlic knots. I've had some form of garlic rolls at a number of Italian restaurants, but I haven't really tried my hand at re-creating any of them. These looked really good, though, and I decided that they would go nicely with pasta for dinner.
The dough was pretty quick and easy to pull together. I didn't have any potato flour at the time, so I left it out. I also didn't have dry milk handy, so I substituted 1/3 cup of milk for an equal amount of the water. No dough improver or pizza dough flavoring, either--one of these days I'm going to have to see about ordering some of these interesting things from KAF. Anyway, the dough turned out just fine even with my changes. And making the knots was fun. My rolls definitely improved in shape the more I did.
The verdict? Really good, although I probably should have let them brown a bit more. And I went a bit overboard with the garlic. I think next time I'll do something to cook the garlic a bit to take the raw edge off. I still have half the dough in the freezer, so I'll have a chance to experiment in the near future. If you want to give these a try, check out the recipe here, and check out the blog for some nice step-by-step instructions.
Those look yummy - I just made some bread this afternoon - baking is relaxing for me, too.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking if you wanted to mellow out the flavor of the garlic, you could roast the garlic first, maybe, and then add that in to the recipe. The roasting would take that edge off... :)
I can totally relate to the way you find baking relaxing. I love being in my kitchen, doing my thing. And I love it even more when it's quiet and I'm alone. A little selfish, I guess, but we all need that time, right?
ReplyDeleteThe garlic knots look GOOD!! Never thought about making them at home before. You have planted the seed. :)
I saw those too, They are totally in my future. Did you try the hot cheese bread? http://www.kingarthurflour.com/blog/2008/03/28/hot-cheese-bread-grip-it-and-rip-it/
ReplyDeleteI saw it and had to make it. Fabulous!
This recipe caught my eye this week too, as I get the weekly mails from KAF. Most often I end up printing out the recipe of the week, but have as of yet never actually made one of their recipes. Time to change that I think!
ReplyDeleteJayne - Yeah, I was thinking that roasting the garlic might be one way to go.
ReplyDeleteJules - I just made the cheese bread last night. Wow, is it good! I'm uploading pictures now so I can blog about it.
Mari - I was surprised how quick the knots were to make. A bit long for a weeknight, but since I froze half the dough, that makes it a bit more feasible as long as I remember to move the dough to the fridge in the morning so it'll have time to thaw.