Ricotta Loaf

Ricotta Loaf
Photo courtesy of Elle from Pancakecroissants

This month the Bread Bible Alpha Bakers tackled the Ricotta Loaf. A simple and sort of quick bread to make. The ricotta gives the bread a different texture and taste which some of the bakers liked and some didn't. I was one of those who didn't quite care for it but it did smell amazing while it was baking.

Let's start off with Elle who took that awesome picture you see. I don't think it's quite fair that she has such a great little helper in the kitchen. Elle chose to do the free form version of the bread and I think it looks great. She also had a little help from her Mom, Vicki, who suggested making an aluminum boat to hold the ice cubes. Genius! Elle thought the bread was decadent and dipped it in Earl Gray tea with cream & sugar, of course.

Vicki, Elle's Mom described the loaf as not a fluffy yeast bread, not a dense tea bread but somewhere in the middle with a flavor all its own. She tried it with some lemon curd she just happened to have in the freezer. (Don't we all?) The bread was good, it's very good, too good with jam and even better with lemon curd.

The person who had the most help with the loaf had to be Patricia. Her daughter actually made the dough since Patricia had to teach a cooking class. After much struggling with the food processor, her daughter wound up kneading the dough by hand. She forgot the salt but they figured they could just knead it in when it had risen. The poor dough was tossed in and out of the refrigerator for 3 days just waiting to be baked. When it finally came out of the oven, it was beautiful. Also very tasty because it didn't last long.

My favorite post came from Marie. Remember, she's baked all these recipes once before. The second time around for this one was just as good as the first time. Unfortunately her food processor died but as Marie put it, for a good cause. The first time making it, Marie opted to not slather the bread with the melted butter, being health conscious and all. This time, butter! Her new motto - "When you're 70, you can do whatever you want to." The caveat to this is you have to actually be 70.

Our over-achiever of the group, Kim did some experimenting and actually made 2 loaves. Not really on purpose but rather because she started with the wrong flour. I've never done that before :( Anyway, she used both unbleached bread flour and unbleached AP flour. The recipe called for AP flour. I thought her experiment was cool and it seemed that the bread flour loaf rose higher, was heavier but had a more open crumb. Unfortunately, Kim didn't like it enough to make it again but the experiment was awesome!

Nancy decided to add a little extra butter but the food processor wouldn't have any of that. So Nancy had to knead the dough by hand. She thought the loaf had a lovely even crumb and wonderful flavor. I want to go to her house for breakfast because she had the best breakfast. Sliced ricotta loaf with leftover ricotta, arugula and a fried egg. Nom, nom!

Dense and delicious! Handsome? Why yes! That's what Catherine thought of the bread especially after the coat of melted butter. In my mind, butter makes everything handsome!

Kristina had my thoughts exactly. There are not a lot of photo opportunities when all the ingredients are white, more white and brown. Unless there is a pop of color - eggs! She thought the bread had good flavor and served it with butternut squash soup. That sounds mighty tasty.

Finally, Faithy thought the dough had moon craters in it. What a fun description. She thought it was a cross between a scone and bread. It tasted good but Faithy prefers a more fluffy, cottony bread that will last at least 2 days. Precisely!

So another month in the books. Next month it will be the Prosciutto Ring. A "meat loaf", hehe!

Glori

A Touch of Grace Biscuits

Touch of Grace Biscuits
Photo by Patricia at ButterYum

Is it a biscuit? Is it a scone? Should it be sweet? Is it too tender? These were some of the questions asked by the Alpha Bakers this month concerning the Touch of Grace Biscuits. Rose's biscuits were inspired by Shirley Corriher whom she calls the Queen of Southern Biscuits. Heavy cream or buttermilk? Butter or shortening? More questions. I think it's safe to say that with all the questions about these biscuits that most of the Bakers liked them.

Of course they weren't without their problems though. Vicki liked the light texture and even made them into strawberry shortcakes. A little dark on the top but that adds texture, right?

Nancy wrote an awesome post comparing Shirley Corriher's recipe to Rose's recipe. No problems in Nancy's kitchen and she even made Cherry-Chambord butter to go with them.

This was the second time around making these for Marie. The last time was in 2006. How do I know this? She has a picture of the 10 year old bag of flour that she probably used the first time. I'm glad I'm not the only one who has out dated ingredients in my pantry. For Marie, the biscuits were hard to describe. Were they soft, fluffy, tender, too tender? All in all, she prefers the more traditional biscuits.

Patricia's came out just beautiful. That's why I chose her picture for the post. She described them as a little sweet but she opted for the cream instead of the buttermilk. Her final verdict? Pretty good!

A couple of the Alpha Bakers went a little above and beyond. Kristina made her own self rising flour. Rose gives a variation in the book for doing that. Although Kristina thought the biscuits were weird looking, they were tasty and didn't even need any butter. Catherine was one that was questioning whether it was a scone or a biscuit. She also made her own sour milk. I've always wanted to try that. She also liked them and served them as part of a (loosely) Middle Eastern spread. I want to have dinner at her little house on the prairie!

Faithy decided to cut the recipe in half and thought they were pretty good biscuits. She preferred them when they were cooled calling them "just right".

My favorite post was from Michele. She literally has a lot of grace in her life. Not just biscuits. Her grandmother, her aunt, her cousin, and her good friend are all named Grace. Wow! She described the biscuits like her cousin, Grace - tender, sweet without being sugary, a pleasure, and leave you wanting more. Great description.

I would also like to have dinner at Kim's house. BBQ chicken and biscuits - my mouth is watering right now. Kim appreciated the simplicity of the recipe and was able to use a very old ice cream scoop that was her grandfather's. She thought they were delicious!

If there were an award for baking not matter what, it would go to Elle. She just had a baby in April, an adorable baby girl. Having a baby wasn't going to stop Elle from making the biscuits. She might have had to concentrate a little more but had no problems with the recipe. Although the dough might have rested a bit longer than it needed to since there was an interruption called baby done with nap time. Elle thought the biscuits were scrumptious and her eldest daughter wants them again - tomorrow!

Another month in the books and I think it was a successful bake. Unfortunately I didn't have a chance to make them since I was recovering from cataract surgery but they are definitely on my to do list. Next month we will be baking the Ricotta Loaf.

Glori

Pita Bread - The Art of the Puff

Pita Bread
Courtesy of The Knitty Baker

This month the Alpha Bakers tackled Pita Bread. It just amazes me how a few simple ingredients can turn into something as wonderful as pita bread. Rose's recipe is basically the same as her pizza dough except the flour. It seems the biggest challenge for most of the bakers was getting that "puff". Myself included.

There were a few that couldn't get the pita to puff at all like Vicki. She thought the flavor was amazing though and if she can master the puffing part, she'd have a pita party with a buffet of different toppings. I want to come to that! Patricia also struggled with the puff and used her antique cast-iron griddle. But she would not be deterred and instead turned her pitas into pizza. Brilliant! Fresh "mootz", basil and tomatoes. Can't go wrong with that.

What seemed to be a common thread among everybody was what to have with the pita. They are not just for sandwiches, oh no, pita is very versatile. Marie created a fantastic dinner sandwich using cheddar, thinly sliced apples, toasted walnuts, thyme, bacon and parmesan cheese. Okay, she used bacon, doesn't that make everything better?

Kristina referred to one of my favorite things, the "yeast" sock puppets on Alton Brown's show "Good Eats". I love those sock puppets and how they burp. Her pita puffed nicely and used them for tuna melts.

And then there's Elle. She amazes me with her Now Fully Armed & Operational Proofing box and the fact that she's 36 weeks pregnant and baking away. She also is wondering if Captain Hook was secretly a bread-making whiz. Her pita puffed nicely and made nut burgers.

Catherine went a little outside the box and used bread flour instead of the all purpose flour but they turned out beautifully. She had her pita for breakfast  - toasted and filled with ricotta and tomato. Stealing that idea :)

For some reason, I don't think of bread not being vegan. Maybe because I'm not vegan but Jenn's husband is so being the clever Alpha Baker that she is, Jenn omitted the oil. By looking at her pita, you couldn't tell at all. Just look at the great picture at the top of the post!

Pita with sambal egg, sotong and curry chicken can be from none other than Faithy. Her pita puffed up perfectly. Unfortunately it wasn't her favorite bread. She prefers Naan or Roti Prata/Roti Canai. She did think that the pita was better than store bought though.

Nancy had no problems making the pita after rolling them a bit thinner. She got a nice puff and filled them with sausage with pear and mustard greens. Wow, that sounds really healthy.

Michele loved them so much that she made a second batch only this time they were whole wheat and served them with hummus (my personal favorite). In fact, the pita's didn't sit around long at all. Good thing she made a second batch.

So that just leaves Kim. You have to go to her website to see the crazy beauty shot she did. Brilliant! She was hooked on watching the pita puff in the oven so much so that she wanted to drag people off the street to watch the process. Her and Captain Canada (her husband) had the pita with hummus while watching movies. Better than popcorn for sure!

So another month in the books. I'd say that the Pita Bread was a success on almost every count.

Glori

Rosemary Focaccia Recap

Kim's Rosemary Focaccia
Courtesy of The Finer Cookie

Our first month is in the books! I think it would be safe to say that everyone really liked the focaccia although it did give some a little bit of trouble but not too much. I also think it's safe to say that most everyone ate too much of it, myself included. It was just so darn good it was really hard to stop eating it.

Faithy nibbled off all the crusty sides first and just couldn't stop eating it. She also had to keep an eye on her mixer while it was mixing the dough so it wouldn't walk off the counter. Nancy thought it was wonderful and it was hard not to eat half the pan. Although she did call her dough ball a "gluten sort of glom" - LOL. Speaking of dough, Kim said that the feel of the dough gave her the "willies" but it was so, so tender. Her and her husband would rather eat it than get the wonderful picture of it, which is shown above.

One of the best posts was from Marie. She has already baked through The Bread Bible and decided to join us and do it again. The focaccia was the first bread she made and she definitely had her problems with it but out of those problems came a wonderful friendship with Rose. "It's hard to understand how I could have such fond memories of the biggest baking disaster of my life--this very same beautiful rosemary focaccia, the first bread I made from The Bread Bible, and one that almost led to the death of my nascent bread-baking hobby." I'm glad that didn't happen! My favorite quote from her post - "Don't you sometimes marvel at all the food that you use routinely now and had never heard of 20 or 30 years ago?  Maldon sea salt is one; actually, focaccia is another. Probably some of you young people never had to undergo a life without focaccia, but I did.  And I also walked 5 miles to school." I'm wondering about that 5 mile walk to school.

Vicki takes us way back to 1980 when she first tasted focaccia in San Francisco. A delightful post for sure. She also went the extra step and made the poached garlic, some pesto and some garlic oil. Speaking of overachievers, Mendy wins that award this month. Not only did he make a double batch of dough but he mixed it BY HAND! This dough is runny and soupy enough but to mix it like he did - oh my.

Michele also used the poached garlic but she just happened to have some already made in the fridge. Don't we all? She also said it was the "best focaccia ever!" Kristina didn't have to buy rosemary at the store, oh no, she had hers growing on her windowsill. Don't we all? Even though she accidentally used the dough hook, her focaccia came out great, good enough to serve to her friends around a winter campfire. She's braver than I am :)

Jenn was quite the trooper. She made the recipe twice! After figuring out that she needed to use the flour Rose suggested, her focaccia turned out wonderful although she isn't a huge fan of focaccia, Jenn thought it was much better than what you can get in a restaurant. 

Catherine swore it was beginners luck that hers came together just like it was supposed to but after looking at the pictures of her dough, I'd say she knew what she was doing. She also baked it in her convection microwave. She was another one who couldn't stop eating it.

And then there's Elle. She is the newest member of our Bake Along and her Mom is none other than Vicki. I laughed the whole time reading her post and the best part was when she introduced her Magical Proofing Box of the Future. Her poor husband had to go shopping with her to get what she needed for the recipe. Lucky for her dog DJ, he was the recipient of a new squeaky toy from the shopping trip! Unfortunately she used the wrong yeast but her bread still turned out good. I'm glad to hear that she would definitely make it again - but this time with the correct yeast :)

I didn't have too many problems making the focaccia either. I used too big of a pan so it came out a little thin but still oh so good.

Next month we will be making Pita Bread. Something I've always wanted to make but just never have. No excuses now!

Glori