“Better than the focaccia from a restaurant.” That’s what Adam said when he took his first bite of this bread. And he’s totally right! When I took this out of the oven I could hardly believe I’d made it myself . . . it looks beyond professional! And it really wasn’t very difficult at all.

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Read the rest of BBA Challenge #13 – Focaccia (201 words)

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Do you have some food items that you’ve not only never considered making from scratch but that you don’t even think of as something that gets made at all? As in, “this food item just exists”? Like take Eggo’s for example. Or better yet: Twinkies. Same with English Muffins. I’m pretty sure I’d never before seen an “english muffin” that didn’t come out of a package with an orange logo on it. And I’d certainly never heard of anyone making them, let alone considered making them myself! I’m reasonably sure that I’m not alone in this belief given how surprised Adam was when I told him what the next BBA bread was: he’d never thought of them being homemade before, either!

But let me tell you, these are so worth making. The really-flat things full of holes that come from that orange-labeled package? They don’t even come close. When you compare them to these scrumptious little bread cakes, the packaged kind seem rubbery and just plain sad. I wish my word association weren’t so strong for the term “English Muffin,” because what I made really doesn’t seem to fit that term at all. In fact, I’m struggling not to rename them every time I write it out! I like the name “scrumptious little bread cakes” maybe . . . although that doesn’t roll off the tongue quite as well.

In any case, hangups over names aside, read on for step-by-step photos of my first (but certainly not last!) attempt at making scrumptious little bread cakes English Muffins from scratch.

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Read the rest of BBA Challenge #12 – English Muffins (636 words)

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Doesn’t this picture just take your breath away?

The 11th bread in Bread Baker’s Apprentice is the Cranberry Walnut Celebration Bread. When I read “celebration bread” I expected it to be another foreign recipe, but then Peter Reinhart mentions that it’s perfect for Thanksgiving and I got so excited to learn of an American celebration bread! I had no idea this bread even existed (I suspect it’s not a widespread tradition to make this bread for Thanksgiving) but I am definitely introducing it to my family’s Thanksgiving celebrations. Last year I baked 2 loaves of plain, no-name bread to bring to Thanksgiving . . . this year, armed with the BBA Challenge, I’ll be bringing some way fancier bread, including this one!

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Read the rest of BBA Challenge #11 – Cranberry Walnut Celebration Bread (957 words)

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When I saw that this week’s bread was another sweet one, and one with raisins in it (raisins are #2 on Adam’s most-hated list, #1 being licorice), I knew immediately that my coworkers or neighbors were going to be enjoying the fruits of this week’s labor. Luckily it turned out that my dad is in town for the week and he loves raisins, so he got a whole loaf for himself! He said it was good, but I tried a slice or two and didn’t think much of the texture. I probably should have let the bread rise more, it looked like it still needed time but I ignored that and popped it into the oven after the prescribed rising time . . .

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Read the rest of BBA Challenge Bread #9 – Cinnamon Raisin Walnut Bread (1,037 words)

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It’s really random that Elissa ended up making cinnamon rolls when I was supposed to be making them for the BBA Challenge . . . but it means two posts about almost the same thing, very close to eachother! I thought we could do a compare and contrast between the two recipes, but it turns out they barely resemble each other at all. Who knew you could make cinnamon rolls in so many different ways?

As far as I know/remember, I’ve never actually eaten homemade cinnamon rolls before I made these. Growing up, cinnamon rolls were a too-sweet thing you purchased at Cinnabon in a mall food court (hey I grew up in Jersey, where malls are king!), and which my sister and mother loved but that my dad and I couldn’t eat more than a few bites of before feeling nauseous. Fast-forward to this crazy challenge of ours and I found myself wondering just what a homemade version of those things would be like. I’m happy to say there were delicious, not too hard to make, and wonderfully received by my coworkers!

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Read the rest of BBA Challenge Bread #8: Cinnamon Rolls! (920 words)

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Moving right along in my apparent quest to bake all breads at least twice, I tackled Casatiello for the second time this weekend. You may remember that I pretty much hated this bread the first time, but this time, done right? It was amazing. The texture was exactly what you’d expect after reading the description “savory panettone,” and the melted cheese throughout, plus the salty bits of great salami, well . . . what’s not to like!?!?

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Read the rest of Casatiello Bread Done Right: DE-licious! (438 words)

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Success! Holey Ciabatta!

For the “officially-scheduled” Ciabatta week for the Bread Baker’s Apprentice Challenge (I just squeaked in under the wire by making this yesterday!), I decided to go with the mushroom variation. I’d actually already made the regular Ciabatta recipe during the Artos week because Artos required the same poolish starter but didn’t use it all, and I didn’t want to waste the leftover. Considering that was what, week 2 of this bread journey? It’s no wonder the holes in my first try left a lot to be desired! There’s no comparing this:

To THIS:

Wouldn’t you agree? Read on to see what I changed!

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Read the rest of BBA Challenge Week #7: Ciabatta (1,099 words)

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SUCCESS!

I’m sure you all remember (you do hang on my ever word, right?!) that my first try at the Anadama bread for week 1 of the BBA Challenge was a complete failure. What I haven’t told you yet is that I actually tried again only a week later and on the second try, it came out wonderful! I don’t know why it took me so long to post about it, but here it is a month later, time to document for posterity! Looking at these pictures makes me want to make this bread again, it was really delicious!

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Read the rest of BBA Challenge: Anadama Bread Redo (593 words)

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I’ve been tweaking things all over the blog during the last few days, trying to get everything set up and all the cooking posts trasfered over from Chiagu. I think everything’s going pretty well, but please let me know if you see something weird or broken!

I’ve also been gearing up to start on the BBA Challenge that Pinch My Salt has organized. There are 200 of us participating, and we’ll be working our way through every bread recipe in the inspirational Bread Baker’s Apprentice book. I just got the book today and realized I have a LOT of reading ahead of me! I’m really looking forward to reading all the non-recipe content in this book, I think it’s going to completely revolutionize my bread-baking, and maybe even allow me to come up with my own bread recipes. I’ve been playing with a garlic and herb bread recipe that isn’t quite ready for public use, but I’m sure with this book I’ll be able to finish it!

The first recipe we’re doing in this book is called Anadama and I have the dough rising right now . . . will be sticking it in the fridge to actually bake tomorrow, otherwise I’d be up until 1am making bread!

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