Caraway Rye Bread

Game of Thrones, Season 4 Event 

Well it was our usual get together last Saturday and the bread was a hit as usual! But we should never have watched 5 straight episodes. Way too traumatic!

Caraway Rye Bread

• 1 tsp packed brown sugar
• 1 cup warm water (115 F)
• 4 tsp active dry yeast
• 1 cup warm milk
• 1/4 cup fancy molasses
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 tbsp cider vinegar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 tbsp caraway seeds, crushed*
• 2 cups rye flour
• 4 cups (approx) all purpose flour
• 1 egg, slightly beaten

1. Add warm water to the bowl of your stand mixer to warm. Discard water.
2. In stand mixer bowl, dissolve brown sugar in 1 cup of warm water. Sprinkle yeast; let stand for 10 minutes or until frothy.
3. On speed 2 and using dough hook, add milk, molasses, butter, vinegar and salt and mix for about 1 minute.
4. Continue mixing and gradually add cocoa, caraway seeds, 2 cups of rye flour, 2 1/2 cups of the all-purpose flour to form a sticky dough, about 2-5 minutes.
5. Continuing on speed 2, add remaining flour, ½ cup at at time until dough starts to clean sides of bowl. Knead on speed 2 about 2 minutes longer. Never add more than the maximum amount of flour. (1 1/2 cups)
6. Place dough in greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover. Let rise in warm place, free from draft, about 1 hour, or until doubled in bulk.**
7. Punch dough down and divide in half. Shape each half into a loaf. 
8. Place each loaf in greased 8 ½ x 4½ x 2½ inch baking pan. Cover. Let rise in warm place, free from draft, about 1 hour, or until doubled in bulk.
9. Brush the top of loaves with egg.***
10. Bake at 350°F for 35-45 minutes or until golden brown.  
11. Remove from pans and cool on wire racks.****

Sorry there's not much left of it because it was delicious and we ate most of it! but you can see the gorgeous shiny top from the egg wash!

Notes: 

• *Crushed caraway seeds: This was a challenge! I tried my mortar and pestle-no luck at all. Then I tried my mini food processor-the seeds seemed to stay whole and then I couldn't get the smell out of the food processor. I've seen posts that suggest you crush them with a pot or with the edge of a knife-good luck with that. The darn seeds seem to be coated in titanium. In the end, it made no difference as the bread was delicious, even with the not-so-crushed seeds.
• **until doubled in bulk: Well, how do you know if it's doubled? They never tell you in the recipe! To test, poke the dough gently to make an indentation. If the indent stays, it is doubled. If it disappears, then the bread is still wanting to rise some more.
• ***Brush the top of loaves with egg: You do this to put a shine on the top of your loaf and it makes them look amazing. Kind of the equivalent of bread bling!
• ****Remove from pans and cool on wire racks: Do it! If you don't do this fairly soon after the bread comes out of the oven, it gets kind of wet and soggy on the bottom. 

Traditional Challah

Happy New Year!

What better way to celebrate the New Year than to make a challah. At the Jewish New Year, the loaf is shaped as a crown. 

Traditional Challah (from Canadian Living's Best Breads and Pizzas)

• 2 tsp granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup warm water (110°F)
• 1 pkg active dry yeast (1 Tablespoon)
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (approx)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 liquid honey
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 egg yolks
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 3/4 cup golden raisins

Topping

• 1 egg yolk, lightly beaten
• 1 T sesame seeds

1. In bowl of KitchenAid stand mixer, dissolve sugar in warm water. (I warm the bowl first with hot water.) Sprinkle in yeast; let stand for 10 minutes or until frothy. 
2. Add 3 cups of flour and salt and mix. (Speed 2) 
3. Add honey, eggs, egg yolks and butter. Continue mixing until dough forms.
4. Mix dough for about 10 minutes, until smooth and elastic, adding enough of the remaining flour as necessary. (dough will start to clean bowl)
5. Place in greased bowl, turning to grease all over.
6. Cover with plastic wrap; let rise in warm draft-free place until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour. (I turn on the oven for about 40 seconds to warm it up and put the dough there to rise.)
7. Punch down dough; knead in raisins (floured hands and counter). Let rest for 5 minutes.
8. Roll dough into a 30 inch long rope. Holding one end in place, wind remaining rope around end to form fairly tight spiral that is slightly higher in center. Transfer to lightly greased baking sheet. (don't leave raisins on the outside as they will burn.)
9. Cover crown loaf with plastic wrap and let rise in warm draft-free place until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
10. Topping: Stir egg yolk with 1 tsp water; brush over loaf. Spring with sesame seeds. 
11. Bake in center of 350°F oven for 35 to 45 minutes or until golden brown and loaf sounds hollow when tapped on bottom. 
12. Let cool. Makes one loaf, 16 slices. (We had more fun picking the rope apart, than slicing it!)

This was my first time making this bread. It was delicious and magnificently beautiful! You can see that the raisins on the outside were a bit crisp, so I would remove any that are on the outside before the last proof.

Potato Bread

A Not so Favourite Bread

Paula and Dave came for another Game of Thrones evening this week so I had to find a new bread to make. I tried a potato bread from Canadian Living's Best Breads and Pizzas. It looked fine and tasted just OK. I certainly can't say that it was yummy and I'm sure not making it again. And then it turns out that we forgot that we'd already watched the entire last season of Game of Thrones...so we just watched the last episode again to refresh our memories. We did wind up watching "The King's Speech". What an amazing movie!

It looked like the one in the book, but the taste was very so-so. This leads me to believe that the ones in the book might not taste that good either. 

Christmas Baking

My Best Mincemeat Tarts

This is going to be quite short! I just made my usual TenderFlake lard pastry recipe and then used the mincemeat from the Bulk Barn. They were amazing! Best mincemeat tarts ever. One secret-don't put too much filling in each...
I made a point of noticing how long it took my KitchenAid before the dough was ready to add the liquid this time, and it was about 3 minutes. You do have to scrape down the dough a few times during the mixing-make sure you stop the mixer first! Here's what the dough looks like when it is ready to add the liquid.

When the bits in the dough are all small, pour the 1 cup of liquid in. I swear the dough changes colour and becomes a bit creamy-coloured when it's ready for the liquid. I always use the whole cup and haven't had any problems in the last 30+ years of doing that. I mix it a bit and then...

...plop the entire thing out on the counter and knead it with my hands. Use flour on your hands and tools to stop dough from sticking. When it is smooth, it's ready to roll out and then cut in circles.

These tarts are things of beauty! I brushed the tops with a beaten egg-well Jim did that, but I told him to. Bake at 425° for 12-15 minutes. 

I use these little pans that my mother-in-law gave me. They come from England and the metal is a bit soft. I love them, but always worry that they're made of some kind of bad metal like lead that will kill me. Jim says they're tin and harmless, and insists because we only use the pans once a year, so they probably won't totally kill us or give us dementia.
Because this is a once a year thing, we also have a little "discussion" about whether to oil the pans or not. Jim won this year and oiled them. They did come out very nicely...

When I was little, I loved to eat the raw dough-I still sometimes sneak a bit of it. Now if I have any leftover dough, I roll it out in a circle and put a filling in the middle. Then I just fold the dough over, wet it slightly to make it stick together like a little package. Fillings can be fruit with sugar, jam or even something savory. My mother always beat an egg with sugar and made a little pie with an open top, not a folded one. Merci Maman, pour la tarte aux oeufs! 

Butter Pecan Shortbread

1 cup butter at room temperature

2/3 cup brown sugar (sifted to remove lumps)

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

1/4 cup chopped pecans

1. Using a KitchenAid mixer with the cake attachment, cream the butter until it is light and fluffy. 
2. Cream in the brown sugar and then the vanilla.
3. Add the flour and mix until smooth.
4. Add the pecans and mix.
5. Place in a greased square cake pan. Smooth down lightly and make holes in the top with a fork.
6. Bake in 325° for about 30-35 minutes or until lightly brown on edges.
7. Let cool for a few minutes before turning out on a board and cutting.

   

   This shortbread is super yummy!
   
   
   

Rhubarb Custard Pie

Rhubarb Custard Pie and Rita Martin

This is my absolutely favourite pie! I don't like the ones that mix strawberries with the rhubarb because all you can taste is the strawberries. Which is great for strawberry pie, but this is rhubarb! This recipe lets the rhubarb shine through in all it's ruby glory! 

The recipe comes from this little book published in the 1950's. My mother-in-law gave it to me over 40 years ago.

Check out the awesome inside cover. "No-sift" must have been a big deal back then.

So the thing is, good old "Rita Martin" pictured in the upper left, never existed as such. Her name is a pseudonym chosen because it worked in French and in English! From about 1938, "Rita" was the person who presided over the Canadian Rita Martin Test Kitchen in Montréal, while another "Rita" was the home service director of the American Rita Martin Test Kitchen in Minneapolis. Regardless of which Rita wrote this recipe, I commend her on not putting strawberries in it!

My notes:

• For the rhubarb, I prefer fresh, but have used frozen (still home picked, not purchased) or a mix of the two. I have found that if I use just frozen, the pie can be runny. That never happens when I use the fresh. The recipe also says to use only 3/4 cup of sugar if using frozen. I wonder if that's because commercial frozen has sweetener in it? I'll have to check that out. I've also been known to heap much more rhubarb in this pie than is called for. If you pick your own rhubarb and you wind up with 4 ½ cups instead of 4, just pile it in! 
• I pretty well use all purpose flour for everything. I don't even own cake flour...
• I use a titch less sugar than called for in any fruit pie, as I prefer to taste the fruit. So use about 1 ¼ cups sugar if you feel the same. 
• I've tried different pasty recipes but my very favourite is the 6 crust one using vinegar on the Tenderflake lard box. 
• I have a tendency to roll my pastry super thin, which means that I always have pastry left over. Which also means that I can make a 2nd smaller pie with the leftover pastry. I just halve the ingredients below and it works fine. Small pies freeze easily to serve at an intimate lunch or make a lovely gift for guests. :-)
• I use a large glass PYREX pie plate for company pies. And an ancient glass one that is much smaller for any leftover-pastry pie. 

Rhubarb Custard Pie 

4 cups rhubarb cut in ½" pieces 
2 eggs
1 tablespoon milk
1/3 cup Velvet "Pre-Sifted" Cake and Pastry Flour (or all generic purpose!)
1 ½ cups sugar 
1 tablespoon butter

1. Preheat oven to 425°F.
2. Prepare pastry for 9" double-crust pie.
3. Fill with rhubarb.
4. Mix eggs, flour, mile and sugar together and pour over rhubarb. 
5. Dot with butter.
6. Cover with top crust.
7. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes. 

Whole Grain Wheat Bread

July 4th

David and Paula came for supper again and our usual Game of Thrones evening. Bread #2 was whole grain wheat loaf and it turned out absolutely gorgeous. Amazing texture and so light! There was also blueberry pie tonight-one large and one boat-sized! Best blueberry pie ever! Recipe for pie to follow soon. :-)

Bread #2

Whole Grain Wheat Bread

1/3 cup, plus 1 tablespoon brown sugar

2 cups warm water (105°F to 115°F)

2 packages active dry yeast

5-6 cups whole wheat flour

¾ cup powdered milk

2 teaspoons salt

1/3 cup oil

1. Dissolve 1 tablespoon brown sugar in warm water in small measuring cup. Add yeast and let mixture stand.
2. Place 4 cups flour, powdered milk, 1/3 cup brown sugar, and salt in mixer bowl. Attach bowl and dough hook to mixer. Turn to speed 2 and mix about 15 seconds. Continuing on speed 2, gradually add yeast mixture and oil to flour mixture and mix about 1 ½ minutes longer. Stop and scrape bowl, if necessary.
3. Continuing on speed 2 add remaining flour, ½ cup at at time until dough starts to clean sides of bowl. Knead on speed 2 about 2 minutes longer. Never add more than the maximum amount of flour.
4. Place dough in greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover. Let rise in warm place, free from draft, about 1 hour, or until doubled in bulk.
5. Punch dough down and divide in half. Shape each half into a loaf. 
6. Place in greased 8 ½ x 4½ x 2½ inch baking pan. Cover. Let rise in warm place, free from draft, about 1 hour, or until doubled in bulk.
7. Bake at 400°F for 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F and bake 20 to 30 minutes longer. Remove from pans and cool on wire racks.

Yield: 2 loaves

Note to self: Take photo of bread before it goes on table, so there's something left to photograph.

As promised, here are the directions for forming a loaf from my KitchenAid manual. Once you've done this you'll understand why some loaves at the bakery have a jelly roll swirl in them!

Honey Oatmeal Bread

How it all Started

Dilemma A: My friend David was planning his retirement June 27th. He is a wonderful friend and you buy wonderful friends thoughtful gifts to mark their retirement. Retirement is a big deal. I agonized more about retirement than anything else in my life. Get married? Of course! Have kids? Absolutely! Retire? Yikes, not sure I'm ready yet...who will I be if I'm not a teacher? What will I do with my time? How will this affect me financially? Sorry, off topic... Back to David....What do you buy for a guy who pretty well has everything? He has a boat for gosh sakes. You know, a crossing-the-ocean kind of boat. The guy doesn't need more stuff...

Dilemma B: I love bread. I love reading my bread cook book, gazing at the photos of bread. I love making bread. I love the yeast getting all frothy in the warm water. I love watching the bread rise, the feel of the living dough in my hands.The smell of the bread baking, the first cut of the loaf revealing the gorgeous texture of the bread.  But eating bread = gaining weight, ergo bread making is problematic. You can't make bread and then not eat it. That's just wrong...

Solution: Make bread as a David retirement gift. Perhaps a loaf every month or so? Perhaps a different kind of bread each month! For a year? Surely no one will get fat from just one bread per month?

June 27th

David came for supper at our place to mark his retirement. I could talk about the supper but really the only important part is the bread. My absolute favourite-honey oatmeal. Gorgeous, yummy, fluffy, delicious... Well perhaps I could mention the pie-rhubarb custard. Actually 2 rhubarb custard pies-one for the four of us to eat and one boat-sized pie. You know, a smallish individual one for David to snack on his boat the next day. David left with a silly smile on his face, hugging his boat-sized pie and honey oatmeal loaf! 


When I was rolling out the pastry for the rhubarb custard pie, I suddenly was inspired to fancify the top with a sailboat and cut out "Sail Away" on the boat-sized pie!

Bread Making Disclaimer / Admission of Guilt 

When you're raised as a Catholic, it's hard to shed that guilt thing. So even though I'm only a Catholic Atheist now-that's the morals of a Catholic without the actual faith part- I have to make a confession. I have a fancy KitchenAid stand mixer to make bread. I've made bread by hand, but this baby makes the whole thing super easy. And sorry, but bread machines are so 80's! I loved mine when I first got it, but not so much any more.

Bread #1

Honey Oatmeal Bread

1 ½ cups water

½ cup honey

1/3 cup butter

5 ½ - 6 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 cup quick cooking oats 

2 teaspoons salt

2 packages active dry yeast

2 eggs

1 egg white

1 tablespoon water

Oatmeal for top of bread-I like the large flakes for this.

1. Take the eggs out before starting so they're not too cold when you use them.
2. I use a 4 cup measure and start with the 1/2 cup of honey. Then I add the water to the 2 cup level and then the butter to make the liquid rise to 2 1/3 cups. Heat in microwave with a thermometer or on low heat to very warm-120°F to 130°F. 
3. Place oats, then 5 cups flour, salt, and yeast in mixer bowl. Attach bowl and dough hook to mixer. Mix on speed 2 for 15 seconds. Continue on speed 2 and gradually add warm mixture to flour mixture. Add eggs and mix about 1 minutes longer. (I set the microwave timer for all mixing times.)
4. Continuing on speed 2, add remaining flour ½ cup at at time, and mix about 2 minutes, or until dough starts to clean sides of bowl. Knead on speed 2 for about 2 minutes longer.
5. Place dough in greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover. Let rise in warm place, free from draft, about 1 hour or until doubled in bulk.
6. Punch dough down and divide in half. Shape each half into a loaf. (I'll explain how to do this some other time.)
7. Place in greased 8 ½ x 4½ x 2½ inch baking pan. Cover. Let rise in warm place, free from draft, about 1 hour, or until doubled in bulk.
8. Beat egg white and water together with a fork. Brush tops of loaves with mixture. Sprinkle with oatmeal. Bake at 375°F for 30 to 40 minutes. Remove from pans and cool on wire racks.

Yield: 2 loaves

Is there anything as beautiful as homemade bread just out of the oven? Keeps for at least a week-if it lasts that long...