“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)

© Ivete for A Chef's Daughter, 2009. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: BBA Challenge, bread, bread baking, english muffins

I’ve had a crazy week at work getting ready for next week, which is full of even more craziness . . . so something had to be sacrificed, and frankly I’d still rather cook (and eat!) than blog. I did make these fabulous buttermilk drop biscuits this week when we realized we were all out of bread, and thought they were too good not to share. Hope you enjoy the recipe, and I’ll see you after I get all caught up!

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Read the rest of Peppered Buttermilk Drop Biscuits (218 words)

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Post tags: biscuits, bread baking, drop biscuits, pepper

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)

© Ivete for A Chef's Daughter, 2009. | Permalink | 6 comments | Add to del.icio.us
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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)

© Ivete for A Chef's Daughter, 2009. | Permalink | 8 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: BBA Challenge, bread, bread baking, ciabatta, mushroom ciabatta

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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Before I go into my usual rambling description of the bread, let me first summarize: WOW!

This week’s BBA bread was Challah and my husband was so excited when he found out! I, on the other hand, was nervous. My previous attempts at making challah left a lot to be desired, especially in terms of texture. My crumb never seemed to have that sort of squishy-moist interior, and the outer texture was never as smooth as commercial challah. I tried several recipes and was never sure what exactly was wrong. Enter the BBA Challenge and everything I’ve already learned about making bread in these six weeks (wow has it really been that long!?), and I am proud to say that this challah was not only a huge success, it was also my absolute favorite challah EVER!

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Read the rest of BBA Challenge Bread #6: Challah! (1,644 words)

© Ivete for A Chef's Daughter, 2009. | Permalink | 7 comments | Add to del.icio.us
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When I signed up for the BBA Challenge I expected that there would be some recipes I liked better than others, but I love pretty much all bread so I thought that the “bad” weeks would be few and far between. This week’s Casatiello bread seemed to be doomed from the start, and although it turned out mostly good enough to eat, I was seriously underwhelmed by the whole process.

This bread is quite interesting and reminds me of a breakfast scone or biscuit because it contains meat and cheese. It’s described in the book as a “savory panettone” and that really gives the perfect mental image for what you’re going to get. When I first read the recipe, weeks and weeks ago, I was excited to try it and thought it was going to be delicious. I planned to make it with pancetta and strong provolone, and thought about eating it for breakfast with some scrambled eggs . . . fast forward to the day I actually went to make it, and you will see the decks were stacked against it from the beginning.

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Read the rest of BBA Challenge Bread #5: Casatiello (866 words)

© Ivete for A Chef's Daughter, 2009. | Permalink | 6 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: BBA Challenge, bread, bread baking, casatiello