Thanksgiving Bread

Traditions abound here at Mimi's Kitchen throughout the year, but some of our favorites come during the fall holidays, and this beautiful braided bread is one of them. Years ago I went to a bread baking class just for fun at a local adult school and the teacher gave us her Thanksgiving bread recipe. It's a lovely golden color, which it gets from either winter squash or pumpkin. The pumpkin/squash keeps it moist, but doesn't impart too much flavor. What I like about the recipe is that it makes one very large loaf for a crowd, or you can make 2 smaller loaves, which would be perfect for sharing with friends or neighbors for their Thanksgiving table.

If you have leftovers this makes excellent french toast, turkey sandwiches or even bread pudding. It is a perfect way to infuse some fall flavor and color into your meal throughout the season.

Squash Bread

makes 2 loaves

2 tablespoons yeast

3/4 cup warm water

1 1/4 cup pumpkin or orange squash puree

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 cup milk

1/3 cup soft butter

1 egg

5 1/2 cups flour

1. Dissolve yeast in warm water. Add a pinch of sugar and let stand until bubbly.

2. Combine pumpkin, milk, sugar, butter, egg and salt in a large bowl.  Add the yeast mixture and stir to incorporate.You can use your stand mixer for this.

3. Add add 4 3/4 cup flour and stir to make a smooth dough.

4.  Turn dough on a lightly floured surface and knead(about 10 minutes by hand or 5-7 minutes in mixer with a dough hook), adding remaining flour as necessary to create a dough that is smooth and silky. Dough should not be tacky. 

 5. Place dough in a greased bowl (I spray them with PAM) cover with plastic wrap and let rise until double in size about 1  1/2 hours.

6. Punch dough down and shape.

If making two loaves divide the dough in half. Each half is then divided into thirds. Shape each third into a 14 inch rope.  On a baking sheet lined with a silpat braid your 3 ropes into one loaf (I cross them in the center of the ropes and braid to the ends)
Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until double in size.
Bake in a 375 degree oven until golden (about 20-30 minutes depending on the size of your loaf.
When bread comes out of the oven and is still warm, brush the crust with soft butter. 
Cool completely on a wire rack.
printable recipe

links: Foodie Fridays at Designs by Gollum

DB: Filled Meringue Coffee Cake

The March 2011 Daring Baker’s Challenge was hosted by Ria of Ria’s Collection and Jamie of Life’s a Feast. Ria and Jamie challenged The Daring Bakers to bake a yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake.

We had a choice of two version of the recipe- Jamie's or Ria's. We chose Jamie's version filled with cinnamon sugar, chopped nuts, and chopped chocolate. This soft, moist, slightly sweet coffee cake was really more of a bread than a cake. As with most yeast breads, they are best the day they are baked, so we made half the recipe that is below.

Mr. Mimi declared that he doesn't like chocolate in his breakfast foods and suggested that next time we fill the bread with raspberry jam instead of the chocolate and nuts. I think he may be on to something.

FILLED MERINGUE COFFEE CAKE
Makes 2 round coffee cakes, each approximately 10 inches in diameter

The recipe can easily be halved to make one round coffee cake

For the yeast coffee cake dough:

4 cups (600 g / 1.5 lbs.) flour

¼ cup (55 g / 2 oz.) sugar

¾ teaspoon (5 g / ¼ oz.) salt

1 package (2 ¼ teaspoons / 7 g / less than an ounce) active dried yeast

¾ cup (180 ml / 6 fl. oz.) whole milk

¼ cup (60 ml / 2 fl. oz. water (doesn't matter what temperature)

½ cup (135 g / 4.75 oz.) unsalted butter at room temperature

2 large eggs at room temperature

For the meringue:

3 large egg whites at room temperature

¼ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon vanilla

½ cup (110 g / 4 oz.) sugar

For the filling:

1 cup (110 g / 4 oz.) chopped pecans or walnuts

2 Tablespoons (30 g / 1 oz.) granulated sugar

¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 cup (170 g / 6 oz.) semisweet chocolate chips or coarsely chopped chocolate

Prepare the dough:

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine 1 ½ cups (230 g) of the flour, the sugar, salt and yeast.

2. In a saucepan, combine the milk, water and butter and heat over medium heat until warm and the butter is just melted.

3. With an electric mixer on low speed, gradually add the warm liquid to the flour/yeast mixture, beating until well blended. Increase mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes. Add the eggs and 1 cup (150 g) flour and beat for 2 more minutes. Using a wooden spoon, stir in enough of the remaining flour to make a dough that holds together. Turn out onto a floured surface (use any of the 1 ½ cups of flour remaining) and knead the dough for 8 to 10 minutes until the dough is soft, smooth, sexy and elastic, keeping the work surface floured and adding extra flour as needed.

4.Place the dough in a lightly greased  bowl, turning to coat all sides. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and let rise until double in bulk, 45 – 60 minutes.

Once the dough has doubled, make the meringue:

In a clean mixing bowl  beat the egg whites with the salt, first on low speed for 30 seconds, then increase to high and continue beating until foamy and opaque. Add the vanilla then start adding the ½ cup sugar, a tablespoon at a time as you beat, until very stiff, glossy peaks form.

Assemble the Coffee Cakes:

Line 2 baking/cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Punch down the dough and divide in half. On a lightly floured surface, working one piece of the dough at a time (keep the other half of the dough wrapped in plastic), roll out the dough into a 20 x 10-inch (about 51 x 25 ½ cm) rectangle. Spread half of the meringue evenly over the rectangle up to about 1/2-inch (3/4 cm) from the edges. Sprinkle half of your filling ingredients  evenly over the meringue (ex: half of the cinnamon-sugar followed by half the chopped nuts and half of the chocolate chips/chopped chocolate).

Now, roll up the dough jellyroll style, from the long side. Pinch the seam closed to seal. Very carefully transfer the filled log to one of the lined cookie sheets, seam side down. Bring the ends of the log around and seal the ends together, forming a ring, tucking one end into the other and pinching to seal.

Using kitchen scissors or a sharp knife (although scissors are easier), make cuts along the outside edge at 1-inch (2 ½ cm) intervals. Make them as shallow or as deep as desired but don’t be afraid to cut deep into the ring.  Repeat with the remaining dough, meringue and fillings.

Cover the 2 coffee cakes with plastic wrap and allow them to rise again for 45 to 60 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).

Brush the tops of the coffee cakes with the egg wash. I have a convection oven so I skipped this step. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes until risen and golden brown. The dough should sound hollow when tapped.

Remove from the oven and slide the parchment paper off the cookie sheets onto the table. Very gently loosen the coffee cakes from the paper with a large spatula and carefully slide the cakes off onto cooling racks. For a soft crust rub the crust with butter before cooling. Allow to cool.

Just before serving, dust the tops of the coffee cakes with confectioner’s sugar as well as cocoa powder if using chocolate in the filling. These are best eaten fresh, the same day or the next day.

printable recipe

For Ria's version, using saffron and garam marsala visit the Daring Baker's web site

Rustic Dinner Rolls

I really don't know where the time goes. It's not that I haven't been working in the kitchen, I have, but getting the recipes to the blog is another matter entirely. 
 If you are a bread lover you are in for a treat. This recipe comes from the Cook's Illustrated Holiday baking issue and has fast become a family favorite.  It's basically an an easy recipe since all the kneading is done with your mixer, but there are a few steps involved. When you need that perfect crusty dinner roll, give these a try- you won't be sorry!

Rustic Dinner Rolls
I find it best to weigh the ingredients.

12 1/2 ounces (1 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon) warm water
1 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
2 teaspoons honey
16 1/2 ounces  (3 cups plus 1 tablespoon) bread flour
1 ounce (3 tablespoons) whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoon table salt.


1. In you mixer bowl whisk water, honey and yeast until combined. Add flours and mix on low speed with dough hook until dough is formed, about 3 minutes.  Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature 30 minutes. 


2. Remove plastic wrap and sprinkle the salt over the dough. Knead on low speed (KitchenAid speed 2) for 5 minutes.  Increase the speed to medium and continue to knead until dough is smooth and slightly tacky, about 1 minute.  If your dough is too sticky, add an additional 1 -2 tablespoons flour and mix 1 more minute.  Turn dough into a 2 qt bowl that has been sprayed with cooking spray or lightly oiled.  Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm, draft free, place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.


3. When the dough has doubled, remove plastic wrap and starting at the 12 o'clock position, fold the dough over on it's self. Rotate the bowl a quarter turn and fold again. Rotate bowl and fold again. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise  30 minutes.  Repeat folding, replace plastic wrap and let dough rise until doubled in volume, about 30 minutes. Because the dough is sticky make sure that your hands are well floured.


4.Pre heat oven to 500 degrees. Spray with non-stick cooking spray  (or oil)  2  - 9 inch cake pans. Transfer the dough to a floured work surface, divide in half.  Stretch each half into a 16 inch long log, cut each log into 8 pieces.  With floured hands put each piece, cut side up in the cake pan  with 1 in the center and the others  around it with the long side of the roll going from the center to the edge of the pan.  Cover with plastic wrap and let rolls rise until doubled in size about 30 minutes.  Dough is ready when it springs back slowly when pressed lightly with finger.

5. Spray rolls lightly with water, I use my Misto, and bake for 10 minutes, the tops of the rolls will be light brown.  Remove from the oven and reduce the temperature to 400 degrees. Turn the rolls out on to a rimmed baking sheet, turn right side up and separate into individual rolls, space rolls evenly on the pan and return to the oven,  bake until a brown crust develops on all sides, about 10 to 15 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and cool to room temperature.


Notes: I have used both unbleached flour with white whole wheat flour, and bread flour with white whole wheat flour with excellent results.  Additionally, when pinched for time I have shaped the rolls after the first rotate/fold/rise and still got fabulous rolls.
printable recipe

Stollen: Daring Bakers December Recipe

With a dusting of powdered sugar and looking like a snow capped landscape, stollen is a wonderful holiday treat.  Stollen is a rich yeast bread loaded with candied orange peel, cherries, raisins and a thin layer of marzipan is tucked inside. When I was a child, a family friend made stollen for us every Christmas season. My mother tucked it into the freezer, so that we could have it on Christmas morning. Then as an adult, before I had children, I made stollen every Christmas for friends and family, but I haven't made it in years, so this was a fun challenge to do with the kids. Rather than making a stollen wreath, we chose to make the traditional loaf shape.  

The 2010 December Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Penny of Sweet Sadie’s Baking. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make Stollen. She adapted a friend’s family recipe and combined it with information from friends, techniques from Peter Reinhart’s book.........and Martha Stewart’s demonstration. .
Since the recipe is long and detailed, this is the link to the printable Daring Bakers Stollen Recipe.

We decide to make our own candied orange peel for the bread and it really was the highlight of this recipe. We have a large tree in the backyard, and the winter season brings baskets full of the fresh fruit, so we were excited to try these out. The fresh candied peel was soft, sweet and delcious in the bread, a pleasant change from the store bought variety which can be hard and chewy.

Candied Citrus Peel
Ingredients:
Citrus Fruit
Sugar
Water

Remove the peel from 3 or 4 oranges (or lemons,limes or grapefruits) and cut in strips.

Blanch the peel 3 times. Place peel in a pot, cover with cold water and bring to a boil. When the water boils, drain and repeat twice more, for a total of three times.

Make a simple syrup: Put water and sugar in a medium pot stir to dissolve sugar and bring to boil. I used equal parts water and sugar, but I have seen recipes that use 3 parts sugar to 1 part water. You need enough syrup to cover the citrus peel. For 3 oranges I used 2 cups water and 2 cups sugar.

Add citrus peel to the simple syrup and simmer until translucent. This took me about an hour. The time will vary depending on how thick your citrus peel is. When translucent remove from the syrup, drain and place on a wire rack to dry. Once drained,you can roll the peel in additional sugar before drying, but I thought this was just to sugary and we ended up knocking the sugar coating off our peels.

Store in an air tight jar in the refrigerator or freeze.
printable recipe

TWD: Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Bread

Cinnamon Swirl Raisin Bread

This week Susan of Food.Baby picked Raisin Swirl Bread. What's not to like about homemade bread? We really enjoy fresh bread and this buttery loaf was no exception. I made this easy dough on Friday evening and let it rise once, before stashing it in the fridge over night. In the morning the dough was thoroughly chilled and had had the opportunity to rise a second time. I just rolled it out, covered it with the cinnamon and cocoa mixture, sprinkled a few raisins over the dough, and placed it in the loaf pan and let it rise before baking

By the time the kids rolled out of bed there was a loaf of warm cinnamon bread waiting for them. It was great on its own, but a little sweet butter spread over it really made it the perfect breakfast. I was planning on making French toast with any leftovers, but it was gone way to quickly for that. I do think it would make a great French toast or a bread pudding, so next time I'll make two loaves, one for eating and one for experimenting.

Raisin Swirl Bread
Adapted form Baking: from my home to yours by Dorie Greenspan

One package active dry yeast (about 2 1/2 teaspoons)
1/4 cup sugar, plus a pinch
11/4 cup whole milk , warmed to about 90 degrees F.
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 teaspoon salt
one large egg
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
grated zest of one half orange
pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
3 3/4 to 4 cups all-purpose flour

For the Swirl
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder
One cup moist plump raisins
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

To make the bread
Put yeast in a small bowl toss in a pinch of sugar and stir in 1/4 cup of warm milk. Let rest for three minutes then stir the yeast. It may not have dissolved completely and may not have bubble but it should be soft.

Working with a stand mixer preferably fitted with a paddle attachment combine remaining milk,the butter and remaining 1/4 cup sugar and mix on low speed for a minute or two. At the salt, egg and vanilla, zest and nutmeg,and mix for one minute. Add the yeast mixture and beat on medium low speed for one minute more.Turn the mixer off and 2 3/4 cups of the flour. Mix on low speed just until you work the flour into the liquids, you will have a sticky mix. If you got a dough hook switched to it now. Add another one cup of flour increases mixes speed to medium and beat The dough for a couple of minutes. The dough should  come together and clean the sides of the bowl,  if not add up to 1/4 cup more flour 1 tablespoon at a time. Keep the mixer speed at media and knead the dough for about three minutes or until it is smooth and has a lovely buttery sheen. It will be very soft much too soft you need by hand.

Butter a large bowl, turn the dough into the bowl and cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap. Put the bowl in a warm place and let the Dough rise until it is double in size, about 1 1/2 hours. Scrape Dough onto a large sheet of plastic wrap and wrap it and put it in the freezer for 30 minutes. At this point, you can instead refrigerate the dough overnight if that is more convenient.

To make the swirl and shape the loaf:

butter a 9 x 5" loaf pan.
Whisk together cinnamon, sugar and coco .
Put the dough on a large work surface lightly dusted with flour, lightly dust the top of the Dough and roll the dough into a rectangle about 12 x 18". Gently spread 2 tablespoons of the butter over the surface of the doubt sprinkle the sugar mixture over the butter and scatter the raisins over the top.
Starting from the short side of the Dough roll the dough up jellyroll fashion, making sure to roll the dough snuggly. Fit into the buttered pan, seam side down, and tuck the end under the loaf. Cover the pan and loosely with wax paper and sent in a warm place; let the dough rise until it comes just a little above the edge of the pan, about 45 minutes.
When the dough has almost fully risen, Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375°. Line baking sheet with parchment or silicone mat. Melt the remaining tablespoon of butter and brush the top of the loaf with the butter. Put the pan on the baking sheet and bake the bread for about 20 minutes. Cover loosely with a foil tent and bake for another 25 minutes or so, until the bread is golden and sounds hollow when the bottom of the pan is tapped. Transfer pan to rack and cool for five minutes, then unmold invert the bread and cool to room temperature right side up on the rack.