Sunday Bread - Bee-Sting Cake

by: Something The Dog Said

Sun Feb 05, 2012 at 07:18:39 AM PST

Happy Sunday Bread Heads!

This week I have a little celebrate (new wage slave job, but it is a hell of a lot better than zero income!) so I thought I'd share with you a really excellent brunch cake.

This particular recipe is not really a cake, it is made from brioche dough, so it is not as blindingly sweet, but it is topped with a honey almond toffee and filled with pastry cream, so it is not like it is really diet friendly either.

It is called different things in different countries, but I like the translated German, which names this fabulous desert "Bee Sting Cake".

Many of my brioche recipes use a large batch of brioche dough, in part this is because I feel like most the time you are making a brioche you are doing a feast food for a lot of folks, but there are times when you want a lot less dough hanging around. So this recipe makes just enough dough and just enough pastry cream for a single cake.

There are a lot of steps in this recipe, but there is also a lot of waiting time, for dough to rise, to chill, for pastry cream to chill, etcetera. If you want to serve this for a Sunday brunch you really should make everything the day before and assemble it right before you serve it. That way you'll have plenty of time.

Please don't let the time this recipe takes dissuade you from making it! It is so good that anyone you serve it to will be singing your praises as a master baker for years to come!

But enough chitchat, let's bake!  

Sunday Bread - Raisin Rye

by: Something The Dog Said

Sun Jan 29, 2012 at 06:54:40 AM PST

Happy Sunday Bread Heads!

Rye is an acquired taste.  Mrs. Dog hates it with a burning flame that is really something to see. I blame this on the fact that she had never had a slice of it until she had been living with me for more than 4 years. That late in life, it is really hard to come to the joy that is rye.

But even if you start your kids off early, it is still not a good idea to throw them in the deep end of a pool with a rye like the New York Style Rye I make, which is packed with onion flavors, caraways seeds and other complex and strong tastes. You'll just wind up with a pouting child and maybe a life long aversion to rye bread.

Which brings us to this weeks bread Raising Rye. This bread not only has a nice little treat in the form of white and dark raisins, but it allows the baker to control the strength of the rye taste by varying how long the sponge ferments. It can be as short as 2 hours or as long as 36.

The short fermentation gives only a light touch of rye flavor, while the long one will bring the yeasty, fermented flavor of rye right to front. For anyone who wants to introduce rye this control means that you can gentle the intended change management target along with a series of increasingly flavorful pieces of toast on Sunday mornings.

The fact that it is a mixed grain bread with some lovely raisins not only makes this bread a great accompaniment to any meal, it makes it a fairly healthy one, when enjoyed in moderation.

So, let's get baking! Time and yeast wait for no man!  

Sunday Bread - Pepperoni Basil Bread

by: Something The Dog Said

Sun Jan 22, 2012 at 07:04:23 AM PST

Happy Sunday Bread Heads!

I love pepperoni; it is a great snack on its own but really needs some bread with it. The usual place to find it is on a pizza, but that is not the only way that it can be eaten with bread.

Which brings us to this week's recipe, Pepperoni Basil Bread! This bread combines a nicely rich bread with a whole pound of pepperoni and sets the whole thing off with just a hint enough basil to stand up to the bite of the sausage.

It is also baked in a cake pan which gives it a distinct shape to go with its distinct set of flavors.

But enough chit chat! Let's bake!  

Sunday Bread, Black Pepper Olive Bread

by: Something The Dog Said

Sun Jan 15, 2012 at 06:59:23 AM PST

Happy Sunday Bread Heads!

This week we are going to make a Black Pepper Olive Bread. I've been playing with this recipe for several years. It starts with a very rich bread that includes eggs and butter. Added to that is a good portion of freshly cracked black pepper, then an assortment of olives are rolled into the bread.

The final loaf is the prefect combination of saltiness from the olives, offset by the pepper and the lovely bread. It is makes a accompaniment to soft cheeses or  the bed for a honey-cured ham sandwich.

Best of all it is supper easy to make!

Before we get started lets talk about olives a little bit. Depending on where you live your local mega-mart might have an olive bar in their deli section. This is a good place to get a wide variety of olives, but for this recipe we have to be a little picky.

For reasons of appearance you will want to have both black and green olives. What kind does not really matter, but it is the size that is important. Do not buy the huge olives, even with the medium sized olives we are going to have to cut most of them in half lengthwise so there is no point in buying the giant ones, it will make more work and make the bread come out less appealing.

Also you need to be sure that you buy pitted olives. Trying to cut through a pit with a bread knife is a losing proposition, but unexpectedly biting down on one is even worse. Be sure that you have olives with the pits removed.

If you don't have an olive bar at your local store, no worries. Most stores will have, at the very least, canned pitted black and green olives. These can be used quite nicely. But before you buy those, check out what passes for their gourmet food aisle. You are likely to find jars of mixed olives like Kalamata, Prune and Green olives. In fact that is exactly what I used for this recipe. An 5 oz jar will be plenty for this recipe and it should not cost more than $5.

Now that we have the details about olives out of the way, let's bake!  

Sunday Bread - Tabasco Herb Bread

by: Something The Dog Said

Sun Jan 08, 2012 at 07:31:59 AM PST

Happy Sunday  Bread Heads!

This week we're going to be making a herb and pepper bread.

It is sometimes difficult to get all the flavors one would like into a bread, but the technique of putting it in butter and then spreading the butter over the dough, and rolling the dough up is a great way to assure that you have your flavors all through the bread.

This bread features garlic, sage, onion, thyme, black pepper and Tabasco sauce. These powerhouse flavors need a solid base so the bread itself is made with butter, eggs and milk. When the whole thing comes together you wind up with loaf that goes great with stews and soups and makes a killer slice of toast as well!

But enough chit-chat, let's bake!  

Sunday Bread - Almond Christmas Pudding, with Grand Marnier Butter

by: Something The Dog Said

Sun Dec 18, 2011 at 07:40:54 AM PST

Happy Sunday Bread Heads!

I have a bit of a problem, since I have promised two things for this week, Gingerbread Men and Christmas pudding. Since the pudding recipe is a little more rare than the Gingerbread Men, I am going to go with that one, sorry for those looking of the cookies, I promise that next year I'll do them early and thoroughly.

Now, let's talk Christmas pudding. This is a really traditional English dish. It is a cake made of bread crumbs, and studded with dried or candied fruit that is cooked in a mold surrounded by boiling water over several hours.

The real deal Plumb Pudding is made with suet, which is the beef version of lard. You can make this recipe with suet, which is really good and tasty no matter how much you squirmed reading about it, but it is not always easy to find, so I am going with butter instead.

The recipe I am giving you today is my own take on Christmas pudding. I come from a family that inexplicably does not like rum nor brandy which are the traditional flavors for the cake and the hard sauce that go with it. So I have changed things around to us Amaretto and Grand Marnier.

This gives a wonderful almond and orange flavors to the dish that contrast nicely with the fruit which is raisins (white and regular), candied cherries and the special twist ingredient of candied pineapple.  

This recipe, like all traditional feast foods takes some advanced preparation, it is going to take a couple of days to candy the fruit (unless you want to commit the heresy of using the candied fruit from the store, in which case you may be cursed onto the seventh generation. Just sayin') and you will need to make a loaf of bread for the bread crumbs, and there is a need for part of the recipe to sit overnight in the Amaretto.

So, all told if you want to have a pudding for Solstice or for Christmas Eve or Day you have to get started today!

For the bread I use either French Bread or English Oatmeal Bread. By clicking on the links you can find the recipe for each.

Before we start, I have to warn you, this is an unlovely if tasty dish. It is not going to have the pristine look of a cake that is iced or even the smooth texture of bread, it is going to look more like what it is, a bread pudding. But if you can get around that it is delightfully tasty!

But enough cautions and warnings, let's make a Almond Christmas Pudding with Grand Marnier Butter!  

Sunday Bread - Lemon Cutout Cookies

by: Something The Dog Said

Sun Dec 11, 2011 at 07:30:33 AM PST

Happy Sunday Bread Heads!

"It's the Hap-Hap-Happiest Time of the Year" - Okay, enough of that. For the bakers and candy makers it is the busiest time of the year, what with all the special things that folks make only at this time of year.

But even if you are not a designated baker it is often the time of year when people feel like they want to make some cookies, and I have just the recipe for you!

This week we'll be making Lemon Cutout Cookies. While mint is really the de rigor flavor of the season, I think that there is nothing better than a bright citrus flavored cookie as the perfect complement.

This particular recipe is based on a standard refrigerator cookie recipe but adds brown sugar for an extra richness of flavor. This means that the cookies are a lot browner than the normal white of a 'fridge cookies, but I think they have a rustic look that offsets that concern.

Let's talk about that icing for a minute. The classic icing for this time of year is Royal Icing. Personally I'd rather eat cardboard than anything topped with this icing. Sure it looks great but sacrifices flavor for appearance.

Frankly it does not have to be that way. The icing we'll be using it one of Mrs. Dog's invention. It gives you a lovely shiny and hard crust without giving up anything in the flavor department.

But enough teasing, let's make some cookies!  

Sunday Bread - Guinness Soft Pretzels

by: Something The Dog Said

Sun Dec 04, 2011 at 07:00:03 AM PST

Happy Sunday Bread Heads!

If you have been making even a few of the breads in this series, then you have the chops to make great soft pretzels at home. One of the things that you hear from other on-line recipes is that you need special pretzel salt to really make a true soft pretzel. This is hogwash! A nice Kosher salt will still give you the salty counterpoint to the slightly sweet dough of the pretzel and you don't have to search for it.

This recipe was originally from Alton Brown of the Food Network. I like the recipe he offered, especially the technique for giving the crust a nice shine and browning just right. However it was not quite what I was looking for. After a couple of years of trying this and that change, I decided that the pretzels needed a little darker flavor note.

Being of Irish descent, I of course turned to one of the most famous of the Emerald Isle's export Guinness Stout. The beer gives a very slightly bitter overtone and makes the pretzels a wonderful dark brown when they are done.

So, let's bake!  

Sunday Bread - Chocolate Covered Butter Creams, and Cook Book Announcement!

by: Something The Dog Said

Sun Nov 27, 2011 at 05:55:06 AM PST

So, let's get the housekeeping out of the way, then we'll dive in to candy making. The long over due and long awaited Sunday Bread Cookbook "A Liberal Sprinkle of Flour" is now available for sale!

It has sixty recipes in it from the Oxford Fruit Cake to Scones to French bread to Rye bread and more! It makes a great gift for anyone who wants to bake but could use some very specific directions.

You can order it from Amazon Create Space at this link (I get a couple of shekels  more that way) or just go to Amazon.com and search either A Liberal Sprinkle of Flour or Bill Egnor, either way you'll find it there.

There is some formatting issues for Kindle versions of the book but they should be available late Monday afternoon. I hope you'll all enjoy the book as much as I enjoyed putting it together!  

Sunday Bread - The Oxford Fruit Cake

by: Something The Dog Said

Sun Nov 20, 2011 at 06:43:48 AM PST

Happy Sunday Bread Heads!

When people tell me that they don't like fruit cake, I completely understand. They have never had a real fruit cake, instead they have had some gloppy over processed thing with one of the greatest sins against nature, the commercially candied green maraschino cherry. Who could like such a thing?  

Sunday Bread - Zucchini Bread for Occupy DC

by: Something The Dog Said

Sun Nov 13, 2011 at 06:55:50 AM PST

Happy Sunday Bread Heads!

This week we're still doing recipes that I have been carting down to the Occupy DC folks. Things have changed for the better in the camp's kitchen this week. They totally reorganized it, putting all of the food prep area in the back, segregating the storage areas for donated food and generally making it a more professional style operation.

All of this is good news for the folks who are feeding the occupiers and the occupiers themselves. They are also starting a news letter and you're donations will be highlighted. Just so you know here is what has been delivered to Occupy DC through your donations:

40 loaves French bread
200 Peanut butter cookies
200 Oatmeal Cookies
120 Chocolate Chip Scones
120 Oatmeal Raisin Scones
30 loaves Pumpkin bread
230 Peanut butter cookies
30 loaves Zucchini bread

We are down the 100 dollars in the fund, which should cover another three deliveries. If anyone would like to donate or donate again, you can do say at Paypal using the egnorbill@gmail.com address.

This weeks recipe is going to be the Zucchini bread that was delivered yesterday. Though this is still a quick bread is not as cakelike as many of the recipes you'll find out there. It comes to me via one of my Mom's friends and has been a staple of our holiday baking and giving for years. It also is more nutritional than a cookie but still has a good sugar hit which is the request that I got from the folks in the Occupy DC kitchen.

So, let's bake!  

Sunday Bread - Oatmeal Raisin Scones for Occupy DC

by: Something The Dog Said

Sun Nov 06, 2011 at 06:50:13 AM PST

Happy Sunday Bread Heads!

This week we'll be continuing with recipes that I have been baking for the Occupy DC folks. This is my little grass roots effort to do what I can to support the protesters. The way it works is that Kossaks (and others) donate some money for ingredients and transport and I donate my know how, time and electricity to getting gobs of high quality baked goods down the folks in McPherson Square.

So far we've delivered 40 loaves of French Bread, 200 Peanut Butter Cookies, 200 Oatmeal Cookies, 120 Chocolate Chip Scones and yesterday 120 Oatmeal Raisin Scones, which happen to be today's recipe.

If you would like to help out in this effort it is pretty easy. Just go to Paypal and use the e-mail address egnorbill@gmail.com to send whatever you can. I will keep doing this as long as there are people willing to pay for the cost of ingredients and transport (the Metro in this case).

So, let's bake!  

Sunday Bread - Peanut Butter Cookies for Occupy DC

by: Something The Dog Said

Sun Oct 30, 2011 at 07:04:25 AM PDT

Happy Sunday, Bread Heads!

This week and probably for the next few weeks we are going to be doing recipes that I am baking for the Occupy DC folks.

Last week I asked if anyone would like to donate some money for ingredients and transport of baked goods to the protestors. Little did I know that we'd get such a big response! As of today there has been $425 donated!

I originally thought that I would just bake French bread, because it is just flour, water, yeast and salt, and could deliver a few hundred loaves. But when I brought the first 40 (two 8 hour days of baking will net you 40 lovely French bread loaves) the ODC folks told me they had a lot of bread already (they did).

They asked if I might bake something else for them, suggesting cookies. So, thinking about a cookie with a good sugar hit and some kind of nutrition led me to Peanut Butter Cookies, which is this week's recipe.

I am going to continue to bake what the protesters ask for, figuring that they know what they want and it really is all about them not what I think is the better food. If you would like to donate to this effort, you can message me and I'll give you the account to use for Paypal. I'll also be providing updates on the deliveries either here or my nightly Water Cooler post.

Now, on to the cookies! As with everything that is baked I have particular and strong opinions about cookies. They should not be really small nor large. They should always be al dente, a mushy cookie is under cooked and crispy cookies tend to be too dry. They should also be able to last (in terms of being edible, not necessarily in terms of being around uneaten) for at least a week in a reasonably air tight box or tin.

This Peanut Butter cookie recipe is one that fits the bill all the way around. The cookies come out delectably chew with a great peanut butter flavor. Best of all the recipe makes between 60-70 two to three bite cookies!

Now that your mouth is watering, let's bake!  

Sunday Bread - White Flour Sandwich Bread

by: Something The Dog Said

Sun Oct 23, 2011 at 06:59:19 AM PDT

Happy Sunday, Bread Heads!

This week I got asked by a frequent reader why it was I had never given just a plain old white sandwich bread recipe. This kind of startled me, because I think that all kinds of breads I have shared with you are sandwich breads and are made from white flour.

Still looking back over this series I realized that I really had not shared a bake-in-loaf-pans white bread. So, I'm going to remedy that right now!

When it comes to sandwich breads I am more than a little particular. I want a loaf that is a bit airy but also has a firm enough crumb to hold up to mayo or mustard or any other condiment that I might want on my Dagwood.

For this reason I like this rich white bread. It has milk, butter and eggs in it, so it stands up well and keeps better on the counter while waiting to be turned into gastronomic delights.

Now that you know what the end result will be, let's bake!  

Sunday Bread - Perfect Brownies

by: Something The Dog Said

Sun Oct 09, 2011 at 06:43:24 AM PDT

Happy Sunday Bread Heads!

This week we are going to make the prefect brownie. Now I know that just about everyone makes brownies and they pretty much all think that they make them prefect, but it is just not true.

Brownies are supposed to be chewy and moist, but far too often bakers (even some professional bakers) will mistake under-cooked for moist and gooey for chewy. Under-cooked dough is never a good treat, no matter how much chocolate is in them.

So in an effort to save this venerable treat from gaining a reputation for inedibility, I will walk you through the factors that make for a prefect brownie.

One of the elements that is most often overlooked is the baking pan. Nearly every home in America has a 9" x 13" Pyrex baking pan. It is a very nice dish and has a lot of uses, but fully baking brownies is not one of them. While glass can be a reasonable conductor of heat, it is not the same as an aluminum pan.

Glass just does not do the same job of heat transference and as a result the brownies baked in glassware are almost always undercooked in the middle. Blech! If you don't want to buy a new baking pan, you can do what I do, bake them on a sheet pan, that has a raised edge and is 12" x 18" (you do get a thinner brownie and have to reduce the baking time to 15 minutes).

Or you can go to a local restaurant supply store and pick up an aluminum pan for about $10, if you really must have the thicker brownies. In any case you must have a metal baking pan for this to work right.

The next thing that people do that ruins brownies is to rush. Brownies, if you look at the recipe, are basically a soufflé. They have a lot of sugar and eggs, but not a lot of flour. This means that you must get the lift for the pastry out of the structure of the eggs and the means a lot of beating, 10 minutes worth to be precise.

By betting the eggs and sugar together for this amount of time will give you a very nice fluffy base for your brownies. They will cook through but still be tender, chewy and moist.

Another step that seems to be lost on most recipes is the buttering and flouring of the baking pan. This is really important as it allows the cooled brownies to release from the pan.

Finally, the mistake that nearly everyone makes; cutting them too soon! Brownies need at least, at the very least, 2 full hours to cool and settle. By waiting this time you will have a much easier time cutting them and they will hold together when lifted from the pan much better.

Okay, now that we have that out of the way, let's bake some brownies!