Bake 2.9 Part 1: Bread Basket

This is a large showstopper so I will post it in three parts. The showstopper challenge was to bake a bread basket, 12 sweet rolls, and 12 savory rolls. I have delicious plans for those rolls but decided to start with the basket. 

I learned some valuable lessons about weaving and braiding bread though I will readily admit that I will probably not make a basket again in the near future! I will make the bread recipe again (I am looking at you sweet rolls) so there is a win out of this bake.

Ingredients
1 3/4 cup warm water (between 100-110 degrees)
1 packet instant yeast
1/4 cup honey
2 3/4 cup all purpose flour
2 tablespoons nonfat dry milk
1/2 tablespoon salt

You are most welcome to double to make two loaves or a very large basket. I don't know why you would need a very large basket but I won't judge.

First, put your water and yeast in the mixing bowl with a dough hook. Add the honey and allow to sit for 3-5 minutes for the yeast to activate. Once all foamy add the remaining ingredients and mix until the dough forms. Knead for 5 minutes (longer if by hand). Put into a greased bowl to prove until doubled. When doubled decide what shape to bake the dough. It makes a fabulous loaf in a regular loaf tin, or you can use a dutch oven. I have not tested it freeform but perhaps that would work too! 

Form for baking and allow to rise until doubled in size If you are making a basket, punch down the first rise and allow to rise again before shaping. My basket technique was to cover an oven safe bowl with foil, laying the cross wise pieces, flattening the very bottom, and then weaving the pieces around. I would suggest a rolling pin to ensure your pieces are the same thickness and then will wish you luck about cutting the strips even, clearly I struggled with that! I also made small handles, though a large handle may have been more fitting? My handles were ... awkward. 

Bake at 375 until 190 degrees inside, about 25 minutes for a loaf. Yum!

Bonus: Key Lime Pie Cake

The wife's birthday this year is on Thanksgiving, this is not ideal. We decided to celebrate the day prior and she (as always) gets to choose her dinner and dessert. She opted for a cake from Milk Bar All About Cake by Christina Tosi that features her favorite pie! 

I am happy to share, we have two of her books and they are just so pretty and delicious.

One day I would like to meet Christina Tosi, I think we would be great friends, and perhaps I would be more encouraged to run. Yeah, that is a long shot but it could happen!

This gem features a graham cracker cake, a key lime soak, key lime curd, sour cream frosting, graham buttercream, and graham crumbs. While that seems like a lot of items, you can make them in advance, you can even assemble the cake in advance and pop it in the freezer. It is well worth planning ahead. 

Bake 2.8: Foccacia

Paul Hollywood graced the technical challenge with a yummy bake Focaccia! I fell down a rabbit hole of Paul Hollywood baking videos which is highly suggested if you have a few spare moments. I am not sure my kneading is up to snuff but it turned out great. 

Ingredients
40 ml olive oil + some for the counter and proving/baking tin
500 g white bread flour
360 ml cool water
10 g salt
10 g instant yeast
Dried oregano or rosemary and flaked sea salt to finish

Lightly oil a square container or pan to use for proving. 

Tip the flour into a large mixing bowl, add the yeast to one side of the bowl, and the salt to the other side. 

Add 3/4 of the water and 40 ml of the olive oil, turning the mixture around with your fingers. Continue to slowly add the water, you may not need all of it. The dough is very soft, and wetter than a standard bread dough. 

Coat the work surface with some  olive oil, tip the dough onto it and begin to knead. Knead 5-10 minutes, work through the initial stage of it being wet, try to avoid adding more flour as it should be wet and sticky, use a bench scraper if needed Eventually it will form a soft, smooth skin. 

When the dough feels soft and elastic, put it in the oiled container. Cover and allow to rise until doubled. 

Line a baking tray with parchment and drizzle with olive oil. I used a pastry brush to spread it evenly. You can use a quarter sheet pan or a 9x13 if that is what you have. I used a dark colored non-stick 9x13 pan.

Tip the dough out onto the baking tray/pan and gently stretch to fit the tray. Cover and allow to prove until doubled in size and the dough springs back when poked (gently of course). 

Heat the oven to 425 degrees. Using your fingers to make deep dimples in the dough, pushing all the way to the bottom. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with oregano and sea salt. Bake for 15 minutes. When tapping the bottom of the focaccia you will hear a hollow sound. The top of mine was not browning so I popped the grill on for 2 minutes once we hit the 15 minutes to get a nice golden brown. Drizzle the top with additional olive oil if desired and cool on a wire rack. 

Bake 2.7 Sausage Bread

For their signature bake, the bakers were asked to bake a free formed flavored loaf (not using a tin) in 3 ¼ hours. Okay swell. Now we have been eating more keto recently which means low carb. No, this doesn't make sense when carbs are my primary source of self care, however, this makes for a logical bread choice, MEAT BREAD. So I called up my mom and asked her for the recipe for Sausage Bread. I realize this may not be something you all remember from your childhood years but I do. 

Here is the recipe for posterity: 

I am going to suggest a couple of alterations to the recipe for greater bread baking success. First, cut the flour down to 2 1/2 cups all purpose and 1/2 cup whole wheat. When adding the flour, put it all in, none of this 'add the whole wheat after' business...  it needs to hydrate and getting it in there will help with the hydration. 

You can take or leave the onion, in our house we are minimal on the onion so I left it out. 

If you are keen on cheese, a healthy handful of parmesan in with the sausage brings a lovely salt forward without being too cheese heavy. 

Lastly, his folding method is a no-go. Growing up, my mom would roll it like cinnamon bread and bake it in a loaf tin. This is not how the recipe called for it to be baked. The recipe is wrong. Due to the stiffness of the dough, 'gently folding' in the sausage is a no-go. If baking free form, roll it up in there and tuck the ends under and call it good. Or do the loaf pan method. I didn't do either and while delicious, the outside sausage was over cooked to my liking, and the inside was right. 

Enjoy! 

I am telling you, great with a slather of butter, very great to make the classic egg in a hole, and very very great to make french toast. This bread is perfect for the french toast at my bakery that we fondly call Le Porc Toast.

Bonus: Apple Cider Cake Donuts

This is serious. This is the first donut making of my baking career. I purchased a donut pan. Someone should tell the donut pan label makers that the image of a yeasted donut on a pan specifically for non yeasted cake donuts is silly at best. A few tweaks to the recipe I found and clearly I overfilled so there is no discernable hole, but no one complained about that! I will aim for a hole next time... maybe. 

Ingredients 
1 1/2 cups apple cider
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon cardamom 
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
1 large egg
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup milk, scalded, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Topping

1 cup sugar

3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

5 tablespoons melted butter

1 tablespoon of reserved reduced apple cider

First, reduce that apple cider. Put it in a saucepan and simmer on low heat until it is 1/2 cup. I checked every 5 minutes after the first 10 minutes. I poured it into a pyrex to measure and then back into the saucepan to keep going. It was about 25 minutes to reach the 1/2 cup. Reserve 1 tablespoon to use in the topping and set the remainder aside to cool.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prep your donut pan(s) with baking spray. This recipe makes 12 donuts, if you only have 1 pan, bake the first 6, then rinse the pan, dry the pan, respray the pan and bake the second round. 

Whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder, spices and salt together and set aside. 

Whisk the melted butter, egg, brown sugar, milk, and vanilla extract together. Pour into the dry ingredients, add the reduced apple cider, and whisk everything together until smooth and combined. Batter is slightly thicker than a muffin batter would be. 

Fill your donut pan 1/2 full. As you can see in the pictures below, I overfilled :-) If you run into the wife, ask her about how I overfilled the eclairs in baking class on our honeymoon. You can spoon the batter in, but it is much easier to put the batter in a pastry bag or plastic bag and pipe it in. 

Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the edges and tops are lightly browned. Test by poking with your finger, they should bounce back. Cool for 2-3 minutes in pan before transferring to the cooling rack.

To coat, dunk both sides of the donut in the melted butter mixed with the reserved cider, then dunk in the cinnamon sugar mixture. Best warm, so good. Enjoy! 

I used hard cider but any cider of your preference works.

Bonus: The Last Pumpkin Muffin Recipe You Will Ever Need

I love pumpkin, not just the pumpkin spice, but the actual pumpkin. I enjoy the spices too but so much of the craze for pumpkin spice has no actual pumpkin involved. Pumpkin beer? Mostly just about the spices. Pumpkin Spice Latte? No pumpkin in sight! 

So when the pumpkins roll into town I get a bunch of sugar pie pumpkins (best type for baking), roast them, puree their lovely insides, and bake! If you would like to roast your own, cut them in half and clean them out, put them cut side down on a baking tray lined with parchment, roast in a 375 degree oven for about 40-50 minutes. It really depends on their size. The outside will get very dark and when you poke it, it will indent and be very soft. Alternatively, canned pumpkin works too. 

The toddler loves these muffins, we made them mini for optimal popping goodness.

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp allspice

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp ginger

2 eggs

1 3/4 cups pureed pumpkin (or a 15 ounce can)

1/2 cup coconut oil - melt and cool to ensure mixability

1 tsp vanilla extract

Optional: 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and prep a muffin tin. If making 12 muffins, you can use paper liners, or coat with baking spray. If making minis, coat with baking spray. 

Whisk the flour, sugars, baking soda, salt, and spices together and set aside.

Whisk the eggs, pumpkin puree, coconut oil, and vanilla. Add the wet and dry until just mixed. If using, add mini chips now.

Fill your muffin tins, until they are nearly full. This recipe domes very nicely so while it will feel that they were overfilled, it really will be okay. I use a 1 tablespoon cookie scoop to make the minis and it is just the right amount. 

Bake the regular size for 20-22 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Bake the mini size for 10-12 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. 

Enjoy!

Yes, they look full, that is okay!

Toddler snack heaven is about to be served!