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5 "bread" Posts

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Oatmeal Buttermilk Bread with Flax and Walnut Oil
by: Renée via Baking Experiments on Tue, 01 Sep 2009 21:32:00 -0500

Keywords: Flax , Bread , Baking , Oatmeal

This is a variation on the Oatmeal Buttermilk Bread recipe from the Macrina Bakery and Cafe Cookbook. I used walnut oil instead of canola oil and I exchanged one half cup of AP flour for one half cup of ground flax.

The dough was a little stickier than last time. I think I may need to only remove 1/4c of AP flour and add the 1/2c of flax. Also, the bread didn't rise as much as I thought it would. I think I need to let my oats cool down more before adding them to the yeast. I think I may have killed some of the yeast.

As you can see the bread came out of the oven with a beautiful golden crust. I remembered to put the oats on the top this time :P If you look closely you can see the bits of flax in there.

The bread came out sooooo good! Chris and I picked up a pyrex loaf pan at the goodwill store ($5 and a little elbow grease with a magic eraser and its as good as new!) so I made two loaves this time instead of the one huge one that I had last time. I lowered the oven temp to 375° this time (I think my oven is off ten degrees or so though) and reduced the baking time by 5 minutes.

I love the nuttiness that the walnut oil and flax give, it's subtle but there. The crust has just the right amount of crustiness to it and the inside is soft and fluffy.

I ate about half of one of the loaves by myself today... I had it toasted with apricot jam this morning, with my chicken salad at lunch and had a ham and cheese sandwich for dinner. Seriously, I can't resist it!
Sundays with Macrina: Brioche
by: Renée via Baking Experiments on Sun, 23 Aug 2009 22:48:00 -0500

Keywords: Brioche , Macrina , Bread

Chris wanted to make Brioche, so we used the recipe in Macrina... all I can say is WOW! So buttery, so light, so..... mmmmmmmmm.
Sundays With Macrina: Oatmeal Buttermilk Bread
by: Renée via Baking Experiments on Tue, 24 Mar 2009 10:02:00 -0500

Keywords: Macrina , Bread , Baking , Oatmeal

This week I wanted to try my hand at another bread from the Macrina book. There are a ton of recipes for stuff other than bread but you can really tell that bread is Leslie Mackie's passion.

I didn't get to take any pictures of the actual making of the bread, but it was really easy. I wanted to try a starter bread but I do not have a food scale and I think starter breads are really one instance where you have to use one. So I opted for this loaf instead.
And like everything else I've made from the Macrina Bakery & Cafe Cookbook, it was excellent. It came out really crusty on the outside (actually I think I may have baked it just a few minutes too long) and soft and fluffy on the inside. The only problem I had was with slicing it and that's just because I don't have a lot of experience slicing bread so my slices were THICK. I used this loaf all week for toast and to make sandwiches for lunch. It has a wonderful nutty flavor but its mild enough that it doesn't over power your sandwich. I don't know if you can tell but it also came out HUGE! Each slice was bigger than my whole hand with my fingers spread out. I think my stoneware pan, even though it says is 5x9, is not. I might try getting a metal pan but I really love the way the stoneware bakes.

I will definitely be making this bread again. It was SO delicious. I did leave off the oats that were supposed to be sprinkled on top... I really just forgot but also Chris doesn't like bread with 'stuff on it'.
Handmade Challah Bread
by: Renée via Baking Experiments on Fri, 07 Nov 2008 15:24:00 -0600

Keywords: Challah , Bread

We were having my uncle and his girlfriend over for dinner last night and I decided to make some homemade Challah. I got this recipe from the Macrina Bakery and Cafe Cookbook. I don't have a stand mixer so I made this by hand. 15 minutes of kneading dough is very good therapy!

After its first proof (2 hours) you form the loaf and then let it proof for another 45 minutes. I don't know if you can really tell but the loaf in the above picture is much smaller than the one below (after proof).

It only bakes for 30 minutes and comes out so beautiful!

I have to say that this has been my proudest moment baking. I made a delicious loaf of bread, by hand, for the first time. I really just want to run back to the kitchen and make more!!
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread
by: Renée via Baking Experiments on Sat, 04 Oct 2008 20:22:00 -0500

Keywords: Fall , Bread , Pumpkin

Saturday seemed to be the first day of fall that I could really enjoy. I opened up the windows and let the cool air in. I sat in the recliner and had a cup of hot tea. I was just thinking of the season, the leaves, the crisp air. It got me started on all things fall.

My favorite fall icon is the pumpkin. I love everything about it. It's shape, the warm orange color, the flavor, the smell. I especially love pumpkin when used in baked goods. So as soon as I realized that I had some pumpkin purée in the pantry, I went in search of a recipe. Now this took quite some time. I own a pumpkin cookbook. There are many websites dedicated to pumpkins. Many people seem to think they have the best recipe for pumpkin x. I settled finally on this recipe (second one down on the page) from the Pumpkin Patch website.

This recipe had promise. The ingredient list looked great and contained things that were already in my kitchen. It was easy to make. It smelled wonderful baking. It tasted....meh. There was definitely too much nutmeg going on here. I would cut it down to a scant teaspoon instead of the tablespoon requested. It was so over powering. There is no pumpkin, no chocolate, no pecans... just nutmeg. Its a beautiful bread. Golden. Moist. Just too much nutmeg.

Changes I made to the recipe:
1) I used pecans instead of walnuts
2) I used apple cider instead of water
3) I didn't have enough veg. oil so I used 3/4 c oil and 1/4 c melted butter.
4) I probably used a little more than 1c of choco chips because I wanted to finish off the last bit I had. I used a mix of Hershey's Special Dark chips and Ghirardelli Bittersweet chips.
5) I do not own three loaf pans. I have one. So I used one loaf pan and one Bundt pan. Came out great. I did lower the oven temp because my pans are dark. (325° for the first 45 min then to 300° for the last 15 min)

I will definately be making this again, but with the change to the nutmeg. I was thinking of using pumpkin pie spice mix instead of the nutmeg and cinnamon. I'll have to play with it a little to see how it comes out.