I'd like to propose some toast

I usually pack my lunch to take to work.  It saves money, not to mention that it's usually nice not to have to go anywhere to get food.  That means more reading time. =)  Occasionally, I just have to get away from work for a bit, but I try to keep that to a minimum.  I get lots of comments from those who envy my lunches, even when it's just a sandwich.  "I bet you made that bread, didn't you?"  No, I don't always, but I definitely like to when I have the time.  I generally prefer hearty breads or rolls for my sandwiches, rather than traditional "sandwich bread."  I'd rather save those pan loaves for toast, or better yet, French toast.  They're also good for grilled cheese, but not what I prefer for cold sandwiches.  

White bread dough also makes good dinner rolls, or hot dog & hamburger rolls.  I almost never buy those anymore.  Homemade ones just taste better, as well as hold up better to juicy burgers or sauerkraut on dogs.  Another great thing is that white bread loaves or rolls are relatively quick to make--you use a straight dough that is done all in one day.  There's no need to remember to make a preferment the night before.  The butter and sugar in the dough can slow the rising times a bit, but you can remedy that with either some SAF Gold yeast or using a slightly warmed oven as a proofing box.  Either way, look out, since although the dough can get off to a slow start when proofing, once it gets going it can blow the lid off your container if you're not paying attention. =)

I've pretty much decided that there's no way I'm going to fully complete the BBA Challenge, but my friends Kayte and Margaret are still trying to get it done.  (Some of the recipes just don't appeal to me, and I don't feel like making them just to say that I did.)  Even though I've skipped a bunch of recipes they invited me to join in on the White Bread variations.  I don't actually make regular white bread very often--I usually can't help myself from substituting some white whole wheat flour for part of the bread flour.  In fact, I did just that with the second variation of the BBA white bread, which I posted quite a while back.  This time I decided to stay true to the recipe and make it with just bread flour.  The first variation uses dry milk powder and water rather than milk or buttermilk.  Fortunately I had some dry milk in my pantry, though I think it's almost time to replace it.  Unless it's pretty fresh, I find that it tends to clump up and make small lumps in the dough.  

I made the dough with the lesser amount of water, but still found it to be quite sticky.  I added some additional flour while it kneaded in the mixer.  I often start doughs in my stand mixer then finish kneading them by hand so I don't overheat the machine.  That's what I did for this recipe, and I ended up kneading in a bunch of bench flour by hand to get the dough to the point where it was just tacky rather than sticky.  I didn't keep track of the time, I just kneaded until I got a fairly decent windowpane.  It wasn't perfect, but I tend to be impatient when kneading. After the initial proofing (which took a couple hours), I formed the dough into one pan loaf and half a dozen oval rolls.  After letting them rise, I baked the rolls first--they got 15 minutes at 400ºF.  Then I turned the oven down to 350ºF and baked the loaf for about 30 minutes.

The verdict?  Whole grains and hearth breads are wonderful, but sometimes you just want some plain white sandwich bread.  This one is delicious.  The girls and I sampled some of it with jam for a snack, and it was a hit all around.  B is excited to have the rolls for her lunch, and I'm sure both girls will be happy to have bread stashed in the freezer so we can make toast for breakfast.   

If you'd like to make this bread for yourself, I highly recommend getting a copy of The Bread Baker's Apprentice.  There are still a lot of people out there trying to baking through the whole book--you can read about it on the BBA Challenge Facebook page.  You can read Kayte's post about this bread on her blog.  And check out Yeastspotting for lots of other delicious yeasted treats.

Handmade Loaves - The round-up

I was thrilled to see such a wonderful turnout for my Handmade Loaves event!  We got all kinds of loaves--yeast breads, quick breads and pounds cakes, as well as a few savory contributions (yes, including a meatloaf) and a no-bake dessert.  I hope these enticing pictures will lead you to check out the full posts from all of these great bakers.

First up is the one that I'm probably most eager to try.  Abby of Stir it! Scrape it! Mix it! Bake it! made this gorgeous Windsor knot loaf of Berne Brot.  I'm so glad that she included a link to a shaping tutorial, because I have got to try it for myself.  Read more about it here.  

Next is Phyl from Of Cabbages and King Cakes, lover of all things pumpkin.  He recently hosted a pumpkin blogging round-up, and in the process of deciding what to make himself he ran across this yummy pumpkin cornbread.  He discovered that it paired nicely with a bowl of chili.  Check it out!

Pamela of Cookies with Boys also went the pumpkin route.  She added some Biscoff Spread (I admit, I have a jar, but so far it's only made it as far as a spoon) and drizzled it with caramel.  Sounds good to me--go take a closer look!

If you're in a rush, try out this cake from Mike of Living Out West.  He freely admits that he used cake mix and box pudding.  But with the additions of lots of nutmeg and even more sherry, I don't think anyone will complain!  Just be sure to check the liquor cabinet before you head to the store for the other ingredients--3/4 cup will certainly put a dent in your sherry supply.  Read more here.  

My daughters are sure to approve of this loaf from Elaine of California Living.  She shared a loaf of pumpkin bread that's chock full of chocolate chips.  I was pretty skeptical about the combination of chocolate and pumpkin the first time I tried it, but I have to agree, it's pretty tasty.  Head over to her blog for the recipe!

Next we have a new participant, Carol of Bookcase Foodie.  I totally agree with the goal of her blog--trying to use all the cooking magazines and cookbooks that she already has.  I need to do the same.  At first glance, you might think that she's made us another quick bread.  But it's actually a kugel in loaf form.  Read more about her Carrot Kugel here.  

Yay!  I was very excited to see some savory entrees from our next baker, Chaya.  She sent me one for each of her blogs.  The first is a breakfast quick bread with cheese and veggies that you can find on Bizzy Bakes.  The second is, yes, a meatloaf!  I'm sure that my husband would love the Mexican flavors if I made it for him.  Read about it here on My Sweet and Savory.  

I love how Mary of Popsicles and Sandy Feet subtitled her blog post "A cautionary tale."  Apparently she missed the instruction in the recipe that said to lower the oven temperature after putting her loaf in the oven.  Hmmm, I wonder who else will admit to having similar baking mishaps?  (For me, it's not if I've done it, it's how many times...)  Read more here. 

Besides Abby's shaping, this is the loaf that I am most excited to try.  Margaret of The Irish Mother developed her own recipe for Multigrain Bread.  And it is absolutely gorgeous!  There are lots of helpful process pictures in her post, so go read it!

Now for my other friend Margaret.  You might think that she brought us another pumpkin quick bread. But she went with another winter squash to make this lovely Butternut Squash Bread.  I'm always looking for more ways to sneak veggies into my kids, so I'm going to have to try this.  (though I may have to add chocolate chips to get them to eat it)  Head over to Margaret's blog for more info, as well as a picture of her cute steamer.  

The list of things I want to try ASAP just keeps getting longer and longer.  As someone who never gets tired of pizza, I was so excited to see the pictures for Jeannette's bread.  She added pepperoni, but I might have to see what other "toppings" I can get in there.  (Mushrooms are my favorite.)  Go check out her blog post at The Whimsical Cupcake, for more photos to drool over.  

I may have a hard time finding space for all the bakeware I already have, but that doesn't stop me from wanting the cute 4-loaf pan that Peggy has in her post.  Head over to her post at Pantry Revisited to see the pan as well as all the cute Halloween decorations she has pictured with her Pumpkin Bread mini loaves.  

Gillian keeps bugging me to make raisin bread for her.  I'm still trying to work it into the baking schedule, but when I do, it's going to be this loaf from my friend Nancy.  She posted it on her bread blog, Corner Loaf.  Her daughter bakes with a bread collective, and they were kind enough to let Nancy share the recipe for this yummy cinnamon swirl loaf.  You can get the recipe here.  

Jessica of Cookbookhabit found out about our blogging event at the last minute.  She says that her loaf of Portugese Sweet Bread isn't handmade since it came out of her bread machine.  I say that it came out of her kitchen rather than from a store, so that's close enough. =)  Every time King Arthur has a blog post that uses a bread machine (mostly for mixing), I kind of want one.  You can read more about Jessica's loaf here.  

A couple friends were running a bit late, but I often have the same problem, so I understand.   Marthe of The Baking Bluefinger shared this easy no-bake dessert with us--Arretje's Cake.  I love reading about Dutch things on Marthe's blog--it's fun to see what's popular in other cultures.  Be sure to read about this recipe and others.

Tracey was also having a crazy week.  She got her loaf baked, but just took awhile to get it posted.  No problem--her Lemon Lemon Loaf was definitely worth waiting for!  I love anything lemon, so I can't wait to try this recipe.  Tracey always has gorgeous pictures, and this post is no exception.  Go take a look!

And last but not least, I made a pound cake, too.  Mine was flavored with nutmeg, one of my favorite spices, as well as a bit of bourbon.  I had to make a second loaf to get pictures, since the first loaf disappeared so quickly.  You can read more about it here.  

I hope you've enjoyed reading about all of these wonderful loaves.  (If I somehow missed your loaf in the round-up, please let me know!)  Check back in early December for our 2nd annual Virtual Cookie Exchange!  If you want to join in the fun but aren't already getting emails from me about the seasonal blogging events, send me an email at diskitchennotebook at gmail dot com.

Handmade Loaves - Bourbon & Nutmeg Pound Cake

The only problem with picking loaves as the theme for my autumn blogging event was that I had a really hard time deciding what to make myself!  My first thought was to make a yeast bread.  I usually do non-pan loaves when I bake bread, since I'm not that excited by typical sandwich loaves.  However, I seriously considered Dan Lepard's Simple Milk Loaf (posted here by my friend Nancy), since somehow I haven't blogged it even though I've made it many times.  This week ended up being kind of crazy, though, and I spent my day off on Thursday making a fancy birthday cake for a certain young lady who turned 5 on Friday.  Thursday evening I decided to try to throw something together quickly so I wouldn't end up baking at the very last minute.  The other thing I had been considering was pound cake.  I ended up turning to my copy of Alice Medrich's Pure Dessert.  I made several of the variations of her Kamut Pound Cake a couple years ago, but again, never got them posted.  I didn't have an kamut flour in my pantry, so I decided to go with one of the variations.

The version that caught my eye was the Bourbon and Nutmeg Pound Cake.  As I mentioned in another recent post, nutmeg is one of my favorite spices, and this recipe sounded like a good one for fall.  The kamut flour from the original recipe is replaced with either spelt flour (nope, out of that too) or whole wheat flour (yes! I have that!).  I actually used white whole wheat flour.  I also got to use some of my unbleached cake flour blend for the cake flour in the recipe.  

My favorite pound cake recipes are usually the ones that fold melted butter into the batter at the end.  I haven't had much luck with pound cakes using the creaming method.  This recipe doesn't really do either.  Medrich mentions that she adapted the recipe from The Cake Bible, so if you've made cakes from that book, the mixing method will be familiar.  First you whisk together the wet ingredients--milk, bourbon, eggs and vanilla, and set that mixture aside.  Next, you mix together the dry ingredients--flours, sugar, baking powder, salt and nutmeg.  Chunks of butter are added to the dry ingredients, along with a third of the liquids, and the mixture is beaten together for about a minute to develop the structure of the cake.  Then the remaining liquid is added in two additions, beating for about 20 seconds after each addition.  

The recipe calls for an 8" by 4" loaf pan lined with parchment paper, and a bake time of 55 to 65 minutes at 350ºF.  I decided to use the vintage loaf pan that I received from my friend Nancy, which is about 3.5" by 10" and only 2.5" deep.  For others who have similar pans, the bake time is about 40 minutes.  Once the cake was baked, I let it cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then lifted it out (I let the parchment overhang the sides a bit so I'd have handles) and let it cool completely on a rack.  The next morning I cut it into thick slices and took it to work.  (I did take a few pictures, but it was early in the morning and still dark outside, so they weren't very good.) 

The verdict?  Well, I had to bake a second loaf today to take decent pictures.  I thought I'd have some left from the first loaf that I took to work, but it was pretty well devoured.  I'll take that as a positive review. =)  I really liked it myself--the cake is delicious, with a subtle spice from the nutmeg.  I've made some dry pound cakes in the past, but this one definitely is not.  I really like the slight nuttiness from the whole wheat flour, too.  But don't take my word for it, try it for yourself!  

I highly recommend getting your hands on a copy of the book (maybe your local library will have it!)--there are lots of other enticing recipes besides this one.  I was also able to find the recipe on Google Books here.  (The link shows the variations page; the full recipe is on the previous page.)  For those who like to use metric weights, here are the ingredients I used:

30 grams(2 tablespoons) whole milk, at room temperature

15 grams (1 tablespoon) bourbon

3 extra large eggs (what I had--the recipe calls for large)

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

100 grams unbleached cake flour blend (KAF)

50 grams white whole wheat flour (KAF)

150 grams granulated sugar

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon table salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

185 grams (13 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened

For lots of other delicious loaves of many varieties (including some savory ones!), check back later this week for the round-up!

Handmade loaves (a seasonal blogging event)

Time for another blogging event!  I mentioned in my Sundae Sunday post back in July that I was going to start hosting this sort of round-up about once per season.  Today we have the Autumn event.  I had a few different ideas for the theme.  I thought about going with a specific fall ingredient (kind of like my friend Phyl's pumpkin round-up).  My only hesitation was that not everyone likes the same things, and I wanted a theme that would appeal to everyone.

Then it hit me--loaves!  Lots of things can be made in a loaf shape--yeast breads, quick breads, pound cake, terrines, even meat loaf. =)  Now that we're getting some cooler weather (even here in Texas), it's much more appealing to turn on the oven, so loaves seemed like a perfect idea.  Be on the lookout for a bunch of loaves this weekend, either from pans or freeform.  Don't worry about missing some--I'll have a round-up of all the posts later this week.

If you'd like to join us in future events, you can leave a comment on this post or email me at diskitchennotebook at gmail dot com.  Next up will be our 2nd annual Virtual Cookie Exchange, in early December!