Pull-Apart Dill Bread

You will love the flavor of this pull-apart dill bread.

With a 2/3 cup of chopped dill per loaf, this bread is loaded with dill flavor.

Sourdough Golden Beet Braided Bread

This Sourdough Golden Beet Braided Bread incorporates a puree of raw golden beets into the dough.

This Sourdough Golden Beet Braided Bread was chosen by Cathy of Bread Experience for the monthly Bread Baking Babes bake-along. Each month, one of us introduces a new recipe, and the rest of us make it our own.

Section Challah

What is "Section Challah" you ask?

It's actually just a way of taking a challah recipe and baking it in a loaf pan. I've actually taken challah braids and tucked them into loaf pans, but when I saw this method in Inside the Jewish Bakery: Recipes and Memories from the Golden Age of Jewish Baking, I thought it would be nice to actually give my family a challah disguised as a sandwich loaf.

They've been pretty patient with all of the bread shapes I've made and the precise slicing instructions I've given for boules, baguettes, and batards, so the least I could do was give them something with which they could make a chicken salad sandwich.

Besides, I've only mastered the three strand braid at this point.

Here's a shot of the dough prior to baking. It's amazing what happens when the dough hits the oven.

You can use any challah dough you like to make this bread. I used a dough that is enriched with 7 1/2 egg yolks and enough sugar to give it a faintly sweet taste. The bread is just amazing when it's toasted, and is excellent slathered with peanut butter and jam. It's also perfect for chicken salad sandwiches.

For more challah recipes, check out these posts:

Demerara Sugar Honey Challah, Italian Challah, and Whole Wheat Challah with Apricots.

Section Challah

Makes two 24 ounce loaves

Ingredients

795 g (5 2/3 C) bread flour

85 g (1/3 C plus 1 T) granulated sugar

2 1/4 tsp salt

2 1/2 tsp instant yeast (I used SAF Gold)

130 g (7 1/2 large) egg yolks

1/4 C vegetable oil

1 1/2 C warm (90 degrees F) water

1 beaten egg white for glazing

Poppy seeds for sprinkling

Instructions

1. Whisk the first four ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer.
2. In a large measuring cup, whisk the egg yolks and oil. Add the water and whisk again. Add to the dry ingredients. 
3. Stir with a dough whisk or mix with your hand in the bowl until you have a "shaggy dough." 
4. With the dough hook, knead for about 10 minutes on low. The dough should be smooth and shiny. You can also knead by hand for about 12 to 15 minutes. 
5. Place the dough into an oiled bowl or dough rising bucket, cover with plastic wrap, and allow to rise until doubled, about an hour. 
6. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and pat it into a rectangle. Cut the dough into two equal pieces, cover one piece with plastic wrap, and set it aside. 
7. Cut the dough piece into six equal pieces (about 4 ounces each) and form each piece into a ball. Flatten the balls and place them into a greased 9 x 5 inch loaf pan as shown in the photo. They will not fill up the pan at first, but will when the dough expands. 
8. Cover the loaf with oiled plastic wrap. Repeat with the second dough piece. Let the dough rise until it doesn't spring back when you poke it with your finger, about an hour. 
9. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. 
10. When the loaves are ready, brush with the egg white and sprinkle with the poppy seeds. 
11. Bake for about 30 to 40 minutes, until the loaves are browned and reach an internal temperature of about 190 degrees F. 
12. Remove from the pan and cool on a wire rack. 

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Water-Proofed Bread | A Sweet Brioche

This water proofed bread is enriched with eggs, milk, and sugar, and tastes amazing slathered in jam.

It's kind of a cross between brioche and challah, and the wild card is the amount of yeast that the recipe calls for. A lot.  And the water-proofing (which means proofing in water, not making the bread safe for taking out in the rain).

This month the Bread Baking Babes are baking a bread chosen by Elle of Feeding My Enthusiasms. I am baking along as a Buddy.

This recipe is from the 1973 edition of the book Beard on Bread by James Beard.

The dough is proofed by wrapping it in a tea towel and plunging it in a bowl of warm water and waiting for it to rise.

The dough when it is first submerged into the water.

The dough after it has risen to the top of the water bath.

I'm pretty sure that doing the bulk rise the traditional way would have worked out just fine, but trying this method was a lot of fun. The rising time was definitely fast, only 30 minutes.

There was a lot of discussion among the Babes about the amount of yeast called for in this recipe, and a lot of the Babes cut back. Back in the day, bread recipes called for much more yeast than we use today. In the end, I wanted to stay true to the original recipe quantities, just to see what would happen.

I am still amazed that only 3 1/2 C of flour produced two loaves of bread. I definitely had my doubts. The dough was very wet and difficult to shape, and seemed like it would barely fill the loaf pans. Oven spring is an amazing thing.

If you use the two packets of yeast called for in the recipe, pay close attention to the dough so you don't over proof it.

In the end, the bread is wonderful. I took a loaf to work with a jar of homemade blackberry jam and it disappeared.

Water-Proofed Bread

Ingredients

2 packages of active dry yeast

1/2 C warm (100 to 115 degrees F) water

1 tsp sugar

1/2 C milk

1 stick (1/2 C) unsalted butter

2 tsp salt

3 eggs

3 1/2 C bread flour, plus more for flouring the tea towel

Instructions

1. Place the yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer, pour in the water and sugar, and stir. Let sit for 5 minutes. 
2. Place the mild and butter into a heat proof bowl and microwave until the butter has just melted. 
3. Add the milk and butter mixture to the yeast and stir. Stir in the salt. 
4. Add the eggs and whisk.
5. Add the flour and knead with the dough hook for about 5 minutes. 
6. Generously flour a tea towel and scrape the dough onto it. Loosely wrap the dough with the flour and tie it with string.
7. Fill a large bowl with 115 degree water and plunge the package of dough into the water. 
8. Watch closely for the packet to rise to the top of the water (about 30 minutes). Remove the packet from the water, drain, and scrape the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Divide the dough in half and shape as best as you can into two loaves. Place the dough into two oiled 8 1/2 by 4 inch loaf pans and cover with plastic wrap.
9. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Allow the dough to rise until doubled, about 30 minutes. 
10. Brush the loaves with water and bake for about 30 minutes, until the dough reaches an internal temperature of about 190 to 200 degrees F. 
11. Remove the loaves from the pans onto a wire rack and cool on their sides. After about 10 minutes, flip the loaves to the other side for another 10 minutes. At this point, you can either slice and serve, or wrap it up for later.  

This bread will stay fresh for about a day. After the first day, it makes great toast or French toast. It also will freeze well for later. 

Whole Wheat Challah with Apricots

Challah is typically baked with white flour. As Daniel Leader says, "challah is the whitest of white breads." He also points out that observant Jews baked bread prior to the invention of white flour, so they must have baked challah with whole grains at some point.

This challah dough is about half whole wheat flour and half white flour. The addition of a small amount of finely chopped dried apricots add a touch of sweetness to balance the bite of the whole wheat flour.

The bread is pretty amazing, and going forward, it will be difficult for me to choose which challah recipe to bake. This bread is light and airy, and simply wonderful. The dough behaved and was super easy to braid.

More awesome challah recipes to check out: Italian challah and Demerara sugar honey challah.

Whole Wheat Challah with Apricots

Slightly adapted from Simply Great Breads: Sweet and Savory Yeasted Treats from America's Premier Artisan Baker.

Ingredients

240 grams stone ground whole wheat flour

219 grams unbleached all purpose flour

2 1/4 tsp. instant yeast (I used SAF Gold)

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/4 C water

3 large room temperature eggs

1/2 C olive oil

1/4 C honey

30 grams finely chopped dried apricots

Instructions

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the flours, yeast, salt, water, two of the eggs, olive oil, and honey. Stir with a large spoon or dough whisk to moisten. 
2. Knead the ingredients with the dough hook on medium-high speed for about 4 to 6 minutes, until the dough is smooth. The dough should clear the sides of the bowl. I had to add a couple of extra tablespoons of flour.
3. Add the apricots and knead/mix for an additional minute or so.
4. Move the dough to an oiled bowl or dough rising bucket and let it rise until doubled, about 90 to 120 minutes. 
5. Deflate the dough and cut it into three equal pieces. 
6. Roll the pieces into 15 inch long pieces.
7. On a parchment lined baking sheet, place the pieces next to each other and, at one end, press the pieces together and tucking them under the beginning of the braid.
8. Braid the strands and, when finished, tuck the other end under the loaf. 
9. Cover the braid with plastic wrap and allow it to rise until doubled, about 60 to 90 minutes. 
10. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
11. Beat the remaining egg and brush it over the loaf. 
12. Bake the loaf for about 40 minutes. 
13. Cool completely on a wire rack. 

Italian Challah

Back in January, 2012, Anthony, a member of the Artisan Bread Bakers Facebook page, posted this recipe for our Bread of the Month. He calls it Italian Challah because, while the recipe is his Italian grandmother's egg bread (Nana's egg bread), it is remarkably similar to a challah recipe he found in a 1960s cookbook. Anthony is a professional baker (and a cool guy) so who am I to question the name?

Italian Challah

Ingredients

500 g unbleached all-purpose flour

11 g kosher salt

10 g active dry yeast

15 g extra virgin olive oil

15 g sugar

215 g warm water (120 - 130 degree F range)

1 large egg

1large egg yolk

1 large egg for egg wash

Sesame or poppy seeds (optional)

Instructions

• Prepare a 9 inch by 5 inch loaf pan with spray oil.
• Add the flour, salt, yeast, olive oil, and sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer.
• Add the egg and the egg yolk.
• Add the water.
• Stir the mixture in the bowl with a large spoon or dough whisk just to moisten the dry ingredients.
• Using the dough hook attachment, mix the dough on the lowest settings for 2 to 3 minutes. 
• Knead the dough with the dough hook for 15 minutes at the speed you normally use for bread that doesn't strain your mixer. 
• Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic, and allow to rise until doubled.
• Divide the dough into three even pieces, shape into long strands, and braid the strands. 
• Tuck the ends of the braid under, if your braid is longer than the pan, and place the dough in the pan. 
• Cover with plastic wrap and allow to double. The dough should crest above the top of the pan. 
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and place a pan on the lowest rack. 
• Whisk the egg and brush over the dough. Sprinkle with the optional seeds. 
• Place the loaf on a rack above the empty pan, and toss some water into the empty pan to create steam. 
• Bake the loaf for 20 minutes, rotating the loaf at 10 minutes.
• De-pan the loaf and bake for 5 minutes more on a sheet pan to brown the lower crust. Loaf should reach an internal temperature of at least 195 degrees F. 
• Cool completely on a wire rack. 
• Enjoy! Thank you Anthony!

Demerara Sugar Honey Challah

This month, the Twelve Loaves (formerly Breaking Bread) fraternity is making challah. To participate, you can make any challah recipe you like, as long as you bake it in July 2012.

BBA Challenge - Poor Man's Brioche & Challah

Installment number two of my year baking my way through Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice.

Poor Man's Brioche 

I had tried another recipe for brioche before and wasn't all that happy with it. Brioche is a very rich bread. It includes eggs, a bit of sugar, and a ton of butter. It's not flaky like croissants, and it's not sweet. To me, the first recipe I tried just seemed greasy. I ended up making a very nice bread pudding with it, but it annoys me that I would have to take such an elaborate recipe and then create bread pudding. Seems like "bread pudding" and "French toast" are the catch-all excuses for what to do with bad bread.

Fortunately, Peter Reinhart provides three versions of his brioche recipe. Rich Man's Brioche, with a pound of butter to make three 1-pound loaves, Middle-Class Brioche, with 1/2 pound of butter to make two 1-pound loaves, or Poor Man's Brioche, with 1/4 pound of butter to make two 1-pound loaves.

I made the Poor Man's Brioche. It was perfect for me. And I think my loaves are quite pretty. Perhaps I'll try Peter's "richer" recipes someday.

I definitely would make this bread again.

Google BBA Challenge #4 to see other bakers' experiences.

Challah

This bread is excellent. I had already made Peter Reinhart's Challah from Artisan Breads Everyday. That recipe (which is very good) called for a very large amount of egg yolks (in fact, that's why I finally attempted macarons). This recipe called for two eggs and two egg yolks. And the leftover egg whites could be used as a bread wash before sprinkling the loaf with seeds.

I will definitely make this challah again. It's very good.

For this bread,  Google BBA Challenge #6 to see other bakers' experiences.