Susan: Holiday Breads - Italian Rosemary Raisin Bread

For more years than I like to admit, we've been slowly but surely working on a large metal building here on the farm that will one day house our wholesale artisan bread bakery and us. Since progress lately has been more along the lines of slowly rather than surely, we finally broke down and admitted to ourselves that this project was never going to be completed unless we hired some outside help. Besides, The Shack is literally falling down around us.

So for the past five weeks, our new contractor and his helper have been hard at work by 7:30 nearly every weekday morning. Great headway is being made, and we're both extremely excited. It looks like 2008 really will be The Year We Move Out Of The Shack. It's like a checkbook-draining dream come true.

Meanwhile I've been learning all kinds of stuff about amps and breaker boxes and electrical outlets, but I'd much rather be baking than taking Wiring 101, especially as I watch our bread bakery finally becoming a reality. It's a proven fact that workers are 50% more productive when they've been well fed (no, really), and our two builders informed me early on that they love baked goods of any sort. When I'm not stuffing them with molasses ginger spice snaps, Mexican monkey cake, or my decidedly different chocolate chip cookies (which they both declared were the best cookies they'd ever eaten), I've been experimenting with new bread recipes, including this one.

Italian Rosemary Raisin Bread (Pane di Ramerino)
Makes 2 small loaves - Adapted slightly from Bread

This is the second recipe I've made from a wonderful, bargain priced book called Bread: Artisan Breads from Baguettes and Bagels to Focaccia and Brioche by authors and cooking instructors Eric Treuille and Ursula Ferrigno (he's French, she's Italian). Pane di Ramerino has been baked daily throughout Tuscany since the early 16th century. As you can see, this is a beautiful bread, and it would not only be perfect to serve to guests, but would also make a lovely gift. Thankfully the recipe makes two small loaves so you can spread the yeasty joy and still have some left for yourself.

I never would have thought to combine raisins and rosemary in bread, but the result is delicious. The flavor of the rosemary is subtle; simply double the amount if you want to taste it more. This is a rich, easy-to-work-with dough made with milk, olive oil (which adds another layer of flavor) and eggs. The texture of the crumb is reminiscent of a cinnamon roll. This bread freezes beautifully and can even be sliced while still frozen.

The authors claim it is a superlative breakfast bread and "quite simply the best accompaniment to fresh goat cheese." My friend Amanda, who writes about Mediterranean food at the glorious Figs Olives Wine, suggested using it to make her cool weather bruschetta with ricotta salata and thyme. I'm thinking it would make extraordinary French toast — perhaps for brunch on New Year's Day.

bread flour 3-3/4 cups 1 lb 2-3/4 oz 533 g (plus a little more while kneading)
instant yeast 2 teaspoons
warm milk 1/2 cup 4 ounces
chopped fresh rosemary 1 Tablespoon
raisins 1-1/2 packed cups 4-1/2 oz 127 g
olive oil 4 Tablespoons
4 eggs, beaten
salt 1-1/2 teaspoons

1. Mix the flour and yeast in a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the center and add the milk, rosemary, raisins, olive oil, and eggs. Mix to form a soft, sticky dough, adding extra flour, 1 Tablespoon at a time, if the dough is too moist.

2. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead 6 minutes. Cover the dough and let it rest for 20 minutes.

3. Knead in the salt, and continue kneading until the dough is silky, springy, and elastic, about 5 to 8 minutes.

4. Put the dough in a plastic lidded container (or in a large bowl covered with a damp tea towel) and let it rise until double in size, about 1-1/2 to 2 hours.

5. Divide the dough into two pieces. Shape each into a round loaf and place on a well floured couche or work counter. If you won't be using a baking stone, place the rounds on a parchment-lined heavy baking sheet. Dust tops of loaves with flour and cover with a damp tea towel. Heat oven and baking stone to 400 degrees. Proof loaves until doubled in size, about 1 hour. (Note: the book says that the loaves will spread and look slightly flat after rising, but will rise up dramatically during the initial stages of baking. Mine didn't flatten out, but my dough was on the dense side.)

6. Cut a slash, 1/2 inch deep, across the top of the loaf, then another in the opposite direction to make an "X."

7. Bake in the preheated oven (directly on the baking stone if you have one) until golden brown and hollow sounding when tapped underneath, about 30 minutes with a baking stone and 45 minutes without. Cool on a wire rack.

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Kevin: Seasonal Breads — Cinnamon Rolls Recipe

Coffee and newspaper in hand, I stepped out onto my patio and into that strangely orange-gold light that suffuses a clear fall morning. Each season seems to have it's own special brand of light: the harsh, white clarity of a frozen winter morning; the sweet, yellow dance of spring; the somehow round color of summer; and, so, to the particular hue of fall.

Traffic is light at 8:00 on a Sunday morning and most people sleep late, so the sounds of bird calls and songs are clear and add a pleasant punctuation to the Telemann sonatas playing faintly on the radio inside. The newspaper rustles reassuringly.

The odor of fresh coffee mixes with dusty scents of the season's change and the fainter smell of paper and newsprint. And then I pick up the first hints of yeast and cinnamon. A promise growing more insistent as the minutes tick by until, mouth watering, the timer calls me back into the kitchen.

I return to the patio with fresh coffee and a cinnamon bun.

I'd made the buns the night before, letting the dough rise, then forming the buns and letting them rise partially again, before placing the pan in the refrigerator. When I got up Sunday morning I pulled the pan out of the fridge and let it warm for an hour before baking the rolls.

Just imagine how good fresh cinnamon rolls would be on Christmas morning.

Cinnamon Rolls
Makes 8 rolls.

Ingredient US Volume Metric Volume US Weight Metric Weight
Dough:
all-purpose flour 4 1/2 c 1060 ml 23 oz 630 g
quick yeast 2 1/4 tsp 12 ml 1/4 oz 7 g
milk 1 c 235 ml 8 oz 225 g
unsalted butter 1/3 cup 80 ml 2 3/4 oz 80 g
granulated sugar 1/3 cup 80 ml 2 3/4 oz 80 g
salt 1/2 tsp 2.5 ml -- --
eggs 3 large
Filling:
light brown sugar 3/4 c 175 ml 5 5/8 oz 160 g
all-purpose flour 1/4 c 60 ml 1 1/4 oz 3 g
ground cinnamon 1 tbsp 15 ml -- --
unsalted cold butter, cut into pieces 1/2 c 117 ml 4 oz 113 g
half & half 1 tbsp 15 ml -- --
Glaze:
powdered sugar 1/2 cup 117 ml 2 oz 58 g
half & half 1 tbsp 15 ml -- --

Dough:
Heat milk, butter, sugar, and salt in a small saucepan to about 120F (50C), stirring steadily.

Combine half the flour (2 1/4 cups 530 ml 11.5 oz 315 g) and all of the yeast in a bowl. Gradually stir in the milk mixture then beat in the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl. Make sure all these ingredients are thoroughly mixed.

Mix and then knead in remaining flour. You’re shooting for a soft, smooth, and elastic dough but it shouldn't be sticky, you may need to add some additional flour.

Shape into a ball and place seam-side down in a greased bowl. Spritz the top of the ball with cooking spray and cover bowl with plastic. Let rise until doubled in bulk — 1 - 1 1/2 hours.

Deflate the dough and place it on a lightly floured surface, cover with a clean towel, and let rest for 10 minutes.

Filling:
Mix together the brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon in a bowl and cut in the butter with a pastry knife

Roll the dough out into a 12 inch (30 cm) square. Sprinkle the filling evenly over the rolled out dough and roll the dough into a log, pinching the edges to seal. Slice the log into eight equal-sized pieces and arrange in a greased 13 x 9 x 2 inch (33 x 23 x 5 cm) baking pan.

Cover dough loosely with clear plastic wrap, leaving room for rolls to rise.

At this point you can refrigerate the dough for anywhere from 2 to 24 hours. If overnight, allow the rolls to sit out for 20 minutes, then refrigerate. The next morning remove the rolls from the refrigerator, take off the plastic wrap, and let stand at room temperature for 1 hour.

If you are making the cinnamon rolls immediately, don’t chill dough. Instead, cover loosely with plastic wrap, and let dough rise in a warm place till nearly double, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Heat the oven to 375F (190C) and brush rolls with half & half. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes until golden brown.

Glaze:
In a medium-sized bowl stir together the powdered sugar and half & half. The glaze should be thin enough to drizzle over the rolls.

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Ever wondered how to cut an epi?

Just in time to impress your friends and family with a lovely epi, or sheaf of wheat, loaf at a holiday dinner, I posted a step-by-step lesson in how to cut an epi. It is actually simple once you have seen it done and it offers a less common alternative to the dinner rolls we have been baking here this month.

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Kevin: Holiday Rolls - Yeast Beer Rolls Recipe

No one in my family is a big bread eater. I probably eat far more bread than anyone else and that's mostly in the form of sandwiches (which I love — shut-up Beth). But the holidays seem to call for bread and, in particular, those soft dinner rolls your mother used to buy and finish baking.

I've made these slightly sweet, tender, and buttery rolls in the past. Unfortunately I had no idea what recipe I've used in the past, so I decided to use Rose Berenbaum's recipe from The Bread Bible. Rose let me down. Alternatively, I screwed up. At any rate, the dough was so soft I couldn't get any loft, it simply spread out like a pancake. The rolls tasted fine, but looked terrible. Not something I wanted on a holiday table.

Because I had other commitments I didn't have time to experiment, so I decided to fall back on a recipe I developed a couple of years ago. I knew these would look great and taste great — and besides, I hadn't made them in a while. Besides, they make great little turkey sandwiches.

I was trying to make a beer bread. I thought whole wheat would play well with the beer, but I didn't really want a whole wheat bread. I wanted the flavor as an ingredient. Besides it's sometimes tricky to get a good rise out of whole wheat (the fragments of bran tend to cut the gluten strands) and I certainly didn't want to repeat the pancake experience. I added honey because beer and whole wheat tend to be a somewhat bitter and I chose a dark porter to get a strong beer flavor.

Whole Wheat Beer Rolls
Makes 16 rolls.

Ingredient US Volume Metric Volume US Weight Metric Weight
instant yeast 1 1/2 tsp 7 ml -- --
honey 2 tbsp 30 ml -- --
porter beer warm, flat 1 1/2 c 255 ml 12 oz 337 g
bread flour 1 1/2 c 350 ml 7 1/2 oz 220 g
whole wheat flour 2 1/4 c 530 ml 11 oz 330 g
butter melted and cooled 1 1/2 tbsp 22.5 ml -- --
salt 2 tsp 10 ml -- --
egg 1 each
water 1 tbsp 15 ml -- --

Using the paddle attachment on a stand mixer, combine 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml) yeast and bread flour. Whisk the honey into the beer, then, with the motor running on low, add the beer. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to sit for 1 hour. This is called a poolish.

Combine 2 cups whole wheat flour and remaining 1 teaspoon of yeast. Sprinkle flour over over poolish, sprinkle salt over flour, and recover bowl with plastic. Allow to ferment for 4 hours. The poolish will break through the flour cover — not a problem.

Using the dough hook. Mix together the flour into the poolish then add melted butter.
Knead for four minutes at medium speed. The dough should be slightly sticky but should clear the bowl. Add additional flour if needed and knead for another 2 - 3 minutes. Dump dough onto a floured board and knead another minute or two until dough is fairly smooth and resilient. Allow to rest 5 to 10 minutes.

Clean and dry mixing bowl and spray with a nonstick spray. Shape dough into a ball and place seam-side down in bowl. Spritz top lightly with cooking spray and cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let rise until doubled in bulk — 60 to 90 minutes.

Punch down dough and turn out onto floured board. Lightly knead dough and form into a flattened ball. Allow to rest 10 minutes.

Using a dough scraper cut dough in four equal quarters. Set three quarters aside and cover. Shape remaining quarter into a flattened ball and divide into four quarters. Shape each quarter into a ball and place on a parchment-covered baking sheet. Repeat for remaining dough, cover, and allow to rise until rolls double in bulk.

Heat oven to 400F/205C.

In small bowl, beat together egg and water. Brush rolls with egg mixture and bake on middle oven rack for about 25 minutes. Watch closely to avoid overcooking.

Cool on a wire rack.

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Susan: Holiday Rolls - Carrot Herb Rolls Recipe

When we were first creating A Year in Bread last January, I came up with a list of personal goals that I hoped to accomplish while being a part of this project. These included delving into the numerous unused bread books on my shelves, baking new breads I probably wouldn't have ventured to try on my own, and making much better use of all the beautiful herbs in my kitchen garden.

This month we decided to each bake some sort of rolls that would be appropriate for the holiday table, and I hit the personal goal jackpot with my recipe. It's a variation of the carrot bread in Bread:Artisan Breads from Baguettes and Bagels to Focaccia and Brioche by authors and cooking instructors Eric Treuille and Ursula Ferrigno (he's French, she's Italian). I've been reviewing this book, and my opinion of it can be summed up in one word: wonderful. Wait, make that two words: wonderful and inspiring. This is the second bread I've made from it, and the first one was as pretty as it was delicious.

Here's a little blurb from the book jacket, and it's all true:

Bread mixes delicious recipes with essential techniques to provide the home cook with practical reference and inspiration. From mixing and shaping to proofing and glazing--each stage of the bread-making process is clearly explained, with problem-solving tips and a complete illustrated guide to key ingredients and equipment to help you succeed. Bread's step-by-step demonstrations of the principles and practices of bread-making will give you the confidence and skills to try its tantalizing range of over 100 breads.

If you learn best by looking at pictures, then this is definitely the book for you because it's packed with gorgeous, full-color photos. While it's a perfect book for beginners (I already know at least one budding bread baker who will be receiving a copy for Christmas), I think most experienced bakers would enjoy it. I've already discovered all sorts of handy tips and useful nuggets of information, and there are several more breads I'd like to make, such as the Hungarian Potato Bread, Dark Chocolate Bread (1 1/4 cups of cocoa powder!), Swedish Dill Bread (made with cream cheese), and the Prune and Chocolate Bread ("a deeply indulgent loaf, chock-a-block with juicy prunes and melted chocolate"). There's also an intriguing recipe for a straight dough (as opposed to sourdough) Pane con Pomodori e Cipolle Rosse (Tomato and Red Onion Bread) which looks similar to the Fresh Tomato & Basil Whole-wheat Sourdough Bread I wrote about recently on Farmgirl Fare.

One of the nice things about it is that many of the recipes start with the same basic recipe and build on it, which means trying all sorts of different breads suddenly becomes much less daunting. Variations on the same recipe are also often given. For example, the pita bread recipe includes a whole-wheat version as well as instructions on how to make Lavash (Armenian Flat Bread).

The Carrot Bread I made is in the chapter called Flavored Breads, and I was intrigued by its use of raw shredded carrots. Other recipe variations included are: spinach bread, beet bread, chili bread, onion and caraway bread, and herb bread (which didn't include the carrots). First I made the plain carrot dough, shaping half into a round loaf and the rest into rolls. The second time around I dove into the herb garden first, emerging with fist fulls of fresh parsley, rosemary, and thyme, which I (hesitantly) tossed into the mix. I also substituted 1 cup of whole-wheat white flour for 1 cup of the bread flour.

The result? Flavorful, healthy, autumn-colored rolls that I think would be a welcome and interesting addition to any holiday table. They have a soft but substantial crumb and a chewy crust that crisps up nicely when reheated. They also freeze beautifully. As always, I urge you to use local and organic ingredients whenever possible. At around a dollar a pound, organic carrots are one of the world's best bargains.

Susan's Carrot & Herb Rolls
Adapted from Bread by Eric Treuille & Ursula Ferrigno
Makes 16 3-inch rolls

Ingredient US volume Metric Volume US weight Metric weight
whole-wheat white flour 1 c 235 ml 4-3/8 oz 125 g
bread flour 3 c 700 ml 15 3/8 oz 437 g
instant yeast 2 tsp 10 ml -- --
warm water 1 1/2 c 350 ml 12 oz 335 g
butter melted 2 tbsp 30 ml 1 oz 28 g
carrots finely shredded 2 1/4 c 530 ml 13 7/8 oz 380 g
parsley chopped 1/4 c 60 ml 3/8 oz 10g
fresh rosemary chopped 2 tbsp 30 ml -- --
fresh thyme chopped 1 tbsp 15 ml -- --
salt 2 1/2 tsp 12 ml -- --

Mix the whole-wheat white flour, bread flour, and yeast in a large bowl. Make a well in the center and pour in the water and melted butter. Stir until combined. Mix in the carrots, parsley, rosemary, and thyme and stir until a soft sticky dough forms.

Turn dough out onto a well-floured surface and knead 5 minutes, sprinkling on a little more bread flour if necessary to keep dough from sticking to your hands and the work surface.

Cover dough with bowl and let rest 20 minutes (this is the autolyse).

Sprinkle the salt over the dough and knead for 5 minutes, until salt is fully incorporated and the dough is smooth and still slightly sticky, adding more flour if necessary.

Put the dough in a clear, straight-sided plastic container with a snap-on lid and let rise until doubled in size, about 1 to 1-1/2 hours. Punch down, then let rest for 10 minutes.

Divide the dough into 16 pieces, about 3 ounces (84 grams) each. Shape into balls and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Sprinkle rolls lightly with flour and cover with a tea towel. Proof until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.

About 20 minutes before baking, heat oven to 400F/205C.

If desired, brush rolls with salt water. Bake in preheated oven until the tops are golden brown and the bottoms sound hollow when tapped, about 25 to 30 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container or freeze. If desired, reheat at 350F/175C for 5 to 10 minutes before serving.

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Beth: Holiday Rolls - Rosemary Fans

Due to a recent move, I have found myself without my usual bounteous herb garden, which is a truly sad thing. While the place we are renting in theOtherCity has a couple of tiny beds with a few herbs in them, it is pretty thin pickin's around here at the moment.

This, as you might imagine, throws a huge wrench in all of my plans for recipes that I was going to write about:

• Lovage? Nope.


• Thyme? Not really.


• Sage? Yes! But sadly, while aromatic, it's got thick leaves and isn't so tasty. (infusions perhaps...?)


• Basil? Laughter echoes from a back room.


• Bay? Amusingly enough, yes. There is a sweet bay 'tree' that has a dozen leaves on it. Maybe I can use one this winter.


• Mint? How can there be no mint?


• Rosemary? As I have said elsewhere, the three small rosemary plants are a saving grace.

Luckily for me (and Kevin and Susan who don't have to fill in my spot this week), my chosen recipe for this week uses rosemary, which available pretty much year round here - even in my tiny little herb garden. The bread dough is simple, another derivation of Peter Reinhart's polish baguettes from Bread Baker's Apprentice, and shaping the rolls is quick, easy and (as you can see in the photos) not an exact science. Grab the kids and let them help.

kitchenMage's Rosemary Fans
Ingredients | US volume | Metric volume | US weight | metric weight
Starter:
water 1/2 cup | 115 ml | 4 ounces | 112 grams
bread flour 7/8 cup | 205 ml | 3 3/4 ounces | 105 grams
whole wheat flour 1/2 cup | 112 ml | 2 1/4 ounces | 62 grams
instant yeast 1/8 teaspoon | <1 ml | a pinch | seriously
Dough:
water 1 cup | 235 ml | 8 ounces | 224 grams
whole wheat flour 1/2 cup | 115 ml | 2 1/4 ounces | 63 grams
bread flour 3 1/4 cup |765 ml | 14 1/2 ounces | 466 grams
instant yeast 1 teaspoon | 5 ml | 1/8 ounce | ~3 grams
olive oil 1/8 cup | 30 ml | 1 ounces | 28 grams
salt 1 tablespoon | 15 ml | 1/2 ounce | 15 grams
Filling:
olive oil 3 tablespoons | 45 ml | 1 1/2 ounces | 42 grams
rosemary fresh, chopped 1 tablespoon | 15 ml

Notes: You can substitute almost any other savory herb for rosemary, although fresh herbs really do work best for this.

Mixing the starter
In mixing bowl, combine starter ingredients and mix until well combined. Cover and let rest on the counter for about two hours until it is very bubbly. (You can shorten this to ~20 minutes or wait as long as 4-5 hours. You can also refrigerate the starter for 24-48 hours after it bubbles.)

Mixing the dough
Add the water and whole wheat flour to the starter and stir to combine. Let the mixture rest for a few minutes so the flour can hydrate. Add the rest the dough ingredients except the salt and mix until everything is integrated. Cover and let rest for 20 minutes.

Sprinkle the salt on the dough and continue mixing (or kneading) until it is firm yet supple and smooth. (about 6-8 minutes by mixer, 10-12 by hand) As always, remember that you may need to add a bit more flour.

Same recipes, different bread

I think every baker needs a few never-fail recipes in their back pocket. Recipes that they can play with endlessly with a fair degree of certainty of success. This recipe is a variation of one of my standby recipes: a polish baguette from Peter Reinhart's Bread Baker's Apprentice. If I had to pick just a few breads to bake all the time, this would be one of them. In its original form, it makes wonderful baguettes and is well suited to being shaped for specialty breads like epis. and I have been able to corrupt... err, vary it pretty endlessly over the years.

I have had success with up to ~60 percent whole wheat flour; I haven't tried more but my guess is that, with a bit of extra yeast and a pinch of gluten, this would work with almost (or entirely) whole wheat. 75 percent white whole wheat should be a breeze — and if I could find mine in the boxes stacked in the pantry, I'd have tried it. (Someone should do it and report back.)

If I want my bread to have a slightly more open crumb, I add a bit of additional water, but just a few teaspoons. The dough is forgiving and, once you have made it a few times, you can easily feel when its tolerances are being stretched.

In fact — confession time — I once made a double batch of this bread. Except I didn't double the yeast. And I tripled the oil. (don't ask, it was late, I was rushed and had no business driving a KitchenAid...) As I kneaded the dough, stumbling my way through a series of "this feels all wrong" corrections, I slowly figured out how badly I had screwed up. Ever the good food writer, I trudged on, determined to take photos for an article titled "How to waste two pounds of flour" that I would write someday. Except for one problem: the bread was fine. It wasn't great, but it was good. This recipe earned its place in my back pocket that day.

Roll the dough in flour and place it in a clean bowl. Cover the dough and let rise until doubled in bulk (about an hour).

When the dough has doubled, turn it out on a lightly floured counter and flatten into a rectangle with your hands. Let the dough relax for a minute while you prepare a muffin tin by lightly rubbing each cup with olive oil.

Using a rolling pin, roll the dough into a 12x18 rectangle. If the dough starts resisting and springing back, let it rest for 5 minutes and then finish rolling.

Brush the dough with olive oil and sprinkle liberally with chopped rosemary.

Cut dough in half and lay one piece of dough on top of the other. Repeat this process once so that you have a single four-layer stack that's about 6x9 inches in size.

The shape of the stack of dough determines exactly how you cut the individual rolls. I usually cut the stack into thirds and then each of those pieces into four rolls. Like this. (It doesn't matters if one side is all uneven, like these outside edges, as long as you put a cut edge facing up in the muffin tin, this will work just fine.)

Cover and let rise until doubled in bulk, about an hour. Bake in a preheated 425F/220C. Bake bread for 25 minutes or until golden brown (~195F/90C internal temperature). Cool rolls in pans for 10 minutes and then place on rack to finish cooling.

Flickr set with additional pictures of shaping.

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