Entries Tagged 'bread' ↓

This is my first month with the Daring Bakers. It took me a while to get up the courage to join. And I have been waiting with anticipation for my very first challenge. Finally, February came along and the challenge was announced. And wouldn’t you know it!?!… French BREAD!!

You see I am one of those very rare folks that hates bread. I mean really…. HATE!! It reminds me of that glue that you make in kindergarten out of flour and water - YUK! I wrap my hamburgers in lettuce…. and pick the croûtons out of my salad. Sorry, that is just me. What can I say; I am 1 in a million! But there was no way that I was going to sit out my very first challenge!!! NO WAY! Besides, my husband and daughter both LOVE fresh french bread. LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE it! So, I went full speed ahead!

This particular recipe for French Bread came from Julia Child’s and was a whopping 15 pages long! Pure craziness… and totally intimidating. I use to watch Julia when I was little. She was always so full of life, and funny. She had the “Oh Well” kind of personality that I loved. She was very down to earth and always stayed true to who she was. My favorite Julia Child’s moment was when I saw her on Oprah, and Oprah surprised Julia with her FAVORITE food. And I was SHOCKED to find out that it was McDonalds french fries! I LOVED that. She had tasted every gourmet food on the face of the planet, yet she preferred good old fashioned McDonalds!

The recipe itself could not have been more simple. Flour, salt, yeast, and water. That is it. Nothing more. I started kneading dough at around 7:30 am and finally put it in the oven at 8:00 pm. Lots and lots of kneading was envolved… and then lots and lots of waiting for it to rise. Then you deflate… and then you let it rise again. Then you shape, and let it rise again. Basically a whole lot of risein’ goin’ on! I was able to follow the instructions perfectly all until I got to the shaping part of the instructions. I really wish that it would have come with a diagram. I found comfort in the memory of Julia and how she herself wasn’t perfect, and would just make due. So that is exactly what I did.

Once my dough finally made it into the oven. I sat right next to it the entire time with a spray bottle and gave the dough a little spritz every 3 minutes. I also had a broiling pan with about 1/4″ of water sitting in it to create steam. When my bread was done it was a beautiful golden brown color. I could not have been more proud. I had made 2 loaves 1 for my family to dig into right away (I knew there was no way to keep them away), and another to actually allow to sit the full 2 hours as instructed. When the bread first came out of the oven the crust was very hard, yet the inside was very soft. I thought for sure that I had messed it up. As it turns out that after 2 hours the crust softens! It was the wierdest thing ever.

I roasted some garlic and preparred some olive oil with rosemary, thyme, basil, and chili peppers to dip the bread in. I liked the garlic and oil part of the deal… the bread I thought was OK. My husband and daughter LOVED it! So, I am going to declare this mission a complete success!

For those of you who have a day to kill and are interested in making this bread here you can get it here

For X-mas my mom suggested that I bake my dad a loaf of banana bread - his favorite. My dad is kind of a strange guy and when he gets an idea in his head it is “the best”. He has ALWAYS had me make him this recipe by Paul Prudhomme. Dad is a HUGE fan of the fat one himself and anything that Paul suggests is the gospel truth. I have never really thought that it was what I would consider a GREAT recipe. It was ok. But, it had been a few years since I had made it - so I whipped out the book and began . I remember I kept thinking to myself.. “why so much baking soda” …. “oh well, if Paul says so I guess so”. Let me tell you, my husband doesn’t have the sharpest pallet out there. He thinks just about anything that he puts in his mouth is “divine”. I have to admit this sometimes causes jealousy when he goes on and on about other peoples CRAP food…. but that is a different story for a different day. With this banana bread he said “it’s ok”…”your dad will like it”. OH NO!! I so then I tasted it…yup, too much baking soda!!!!So, by this time it was 8 o’clock on X-mas eve. Not one single grocery store open to buy more bananas . So, long story short no banana bread for dad on X-mas. A few days later when the stores were all open and the mad rush had subsided. I went and got some bananas and let them sit out to try this whole thing all over again.Paul used in his recipe melted butter, and that just never sounded right to me to begin with. So, I decided that instead of trying to fix his very broken recipe that I would go out on the hunt for a new one. I thought maybe Paula Deene would have a really good one because she loves butter and she is Southern…. but, I did not think that her recipe was all that. I tried a plethora of blog sites and nothing seemed appealing. Even tried Martha Stewarts website - NOTHING!!!! AAARRRGGGGGHHHHHH!!!! I was getting so frustrated. Then one last stitch effort Emeril Lagasse, he claims to be Southern so why not!?! Well, his recipe seemed OK. I liked that he used sour cream; I put sour cream in just about everything. He also used a TON of butter…. but it seemed like he forgot the “BAM” on this one. So ok, it is a good “starter” recipe.

I added 1/2 cup of apple sauce, buttermilk, cinnamon, changed the walnuts to pecans (I’m a Texan that is how we roll) and allspice. Also, I mashed my bananas instead of pureeing them in the food processor. For items such as this I like it to feel home made as well as taste homemade. The batter tasted pretty good… and smelled much much better then Paul’s recipe. I made 2 loafs, 1 for my dad and another that I took to Grandma’s house. It was a big hit at Grandma’s even the kids liked it - and they usually don’t like anything that doesn’t involve chocolate. I myself like banana bread OK, not my favorite. This was definitely one of the better ones that I have had. All of the flavors blended together beautifully. And it had that extra little something that I was looking for. So here it is:

• 1 cup mashed ripe bananas
• ½ cup applesauce
• ½ cup sourcream
• 3 tablespoons buttermilk
• 1½ sticks unsalted butter (softened)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon allspice
• ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ¾ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup pecan pieces

Lightly grease a 9 ¼” by 5 ¼” by 2 ½” loaf baking spray.

Mash the bananas, and mix with sour cream, eggs, buttermilk, applesauce, and vanilla by hand.

Sift the cake flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, allspice, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fixed with a whisk attachment. Add butter and mix on medium-low speed until blended, about 30 seconds. Add the banana mixture in 3 batches, scraping the sides of the bowl and mixing on medium speed between each addition. Fold in the nuts.

Pour into the loaf pan. Bake until lightly browned and bread bounces back to the touch, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool for 15 minutes before turning out onto wire rack to cool completely.

Bake at 350° F for 30 minutes, then lower to 320° F for 30 minutes or until a knife comes clean and the bread pops back up after being pressed. Allow to cool for 15 minutes while still in the pan and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool.