No-Knead Chocolate-Cherry Pecan Bread | ABC

This month, the Avid Bakers Challenge (ABC) is King Arthur Flour's No-Knead Chocolate-Cherry Pecan Bread.

No Knead bread is a wonderful thing. Mix up some flour, salt, a teeny bit of yeast, water, and maybe some add ins, let it sit at room temperature for at least 12 hours, and you have this amazing dough that makes an airy flavorful bread with a thin crispy crust that literally sings when you take it out of the oven.

 Second rise, seam side up. The dough eventually filled the bowl. 

I usually make it in a cast iron Dutch oven Combo Cooker but the KAF blog by PJ Hamel (love, love, love her... I'm a big fan) warned against doing this because the bottom would burn, so I rigged up my baking stone and an upside down metal bowl. The reason for baking the bread in an enclosed environment is to create steam and simulate a brick oven.

A self-portrait of me and a panoramic view of our kitchen. 

The bottom of the bread still charred, maybe because of all of the chocolate and cherries? Next time around, I will start the bread on the pizza stone to get that great blast of heat and oven spring, but once I uncover the loaf after 20 minutes, I'll add an oven rack and place the loaf on a baking sheet to finish baking.

Here's the deal. The dough is quite slack and wants to spread out like a pancake. The hot stone and cover seem to help the dough push upwards and become a taller loaf. I could try using a hot baking sheet with the bowl and compare results. Bread experiments. Just thinking out loud.

Verdict? I love this bread, charred bottom and all (I just have to give it a little "shave"). This bread does require some attention. I had a hard time keeping all of the add-ins inside the dough and half way through baking, I had to pick off burned cherries that had wormed their way out of the bread and were sticking out like the popping out eyes of one of those squeeze toys. One of the ABC Bakers describes it as whack-a-mole. I think that is appropriate.

See the spots where I had to pick off burnt cherries?

No Knead Chocolate Cherry Pecan Bread

Ingredients

6.75 ounces bread flour 

6 ounces unbleached all purpose flour

2 ounces rye flour, any type 

2 ounces whole wheat flour

2 1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp instant yeast

14 ounces water

3 1/4 ounces dried cherries

3 ounces chocolate chips (I used chocolate chunks because they were just beginning to bloom, and I didn't want to have to throw them away)

6 ounces of diced pecans, toasted (toast for about 6 to 8 minutes in a 350 degree F oven)

Instructions

•  Mix the flour, salt, and yeast in a large bowl. Spray the top of the dough with spray oil and cover with plastic wrap. Let the dough sit at room temperature overnight (I did a stretch and fold before I went to bed). The dough should have grown quite a bit by morning and be very bubbly. Mine quadrupled. 
• Lightly flour a work surface and scrape the dough out onto it. Using a wet dough scraper and wet hands (have a bowl of water nearby for dipping), stretch and pat the dough out into a large square.
• Spread the pecans, cherries, and chocolate chunks over the dough, and stretch and fold the dough over the add-ins. Make sure they are fully incorporated. 
• Spray a banneton or proofing basket with spray oil and sprinkle with flour (I used brown rice flour). 
• Form the dough into a ball and place it, seam side up, into the banneton. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to proof for 90 minutes to 5 hours, until puffy. Mine took 90 minutes in a my makeshift warm environment. 
• Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F with a pizza stone on the lower third of the oven and an inverted large metal bowl on top of the stone. (You could also use just a sheet pan or a cake pan on top of a sheet pan with a bowl over the dough.) 
• When the dough is ready, spray a sheet of parchment with spray oil, place it over the dough. place a pizza peel over the parchment, and flip the whole contraption over.
• Move the dough and parchment onto the pizza stone, spray the dough with water, and cover it with the heated bowl immediately.
• Bake, covered, for 20 minutes. 
• Removed the bowl and move the loaf to a sheet pan. Add an oven rack just above the pizza stone and place the sheet with the loaf on that rack.
• Bake for another 20 minutes, until the loaf reaches an internal temperature of about 205 degrees F. 
• Place the loaf on a rack and cool completely. Seriously. Leave it alone! You don't want gummy bread. 
• Enjoy!

To see other ABC versions of this recipe, visit the Avid Bakers Challenge page.

Note: Most of the flour I used for this bread is King Arthur Flour. It's a personal choice and King Arthur Flour has not asked me to promote their products. I'm just a big fan.

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Kontinentbrot | Continent Bread

My friend David of Hearth Baked Tunes contributed this recipe to the Artisan Bread Bakers Facebook page for the February Bread of the Month. David is currently on a quest to bake the perfect German breads (brots). His favorites include a rye starter, lots of rye flour, and lots of seeds. Hearty breads. It's been fun to see what comes out of his oven. Did I mention that he is a Dead Head?

I've had my challenges with breads with a high percentage of rye flour. Rye flour can get very sticky when kneaded.  Fortunately, Cathy of Bread Experience attempted this recipe first, so I was able to benefit from her recommendations.

One other thing.... this recipe calls for pumpkin seeds, which I love. A lot. But I couldn't find my pepitas. While rummaging through the bottom of my baking freezer (did I just admit I have a freezer for baking ingredients?), I came across some pine nuts and decided to substitute them. They worked out well, although next time I might toast them first and add a bit more salt to the dough to compensate.

Verdict: This is a very dense bread that lends itself to salty toppings and cheeses. It goes well with salty/savory toppings such as feta, Boursin, or tapenade. After the second day, I recommend slicing it thinly and then freezing the slices for toasting and topping.

Here is my version of this bread. To see David's version, click here. To see Cathy's version, click here. I don't know if mine turned out correctly, but it's pretty tasty.

Kontinentbrot

Ingredients

Sourdough Build

110 g whole rye flour

11 g sourdough starter

85 g water

Quellstuck (soaker)

77 g whole rye flour

22 g rolled oats

35 g pumpin seeds (or pine nuts)

20 g sunflower seeds

13 g flax seeds

15 g toasted sunflower seeds

127 g water

Final Dough

73 g whole rye flour

106 g bread flour

10 g salt (I would recommend a bit more)

All of the sourdough build

All of the Quellstuck

4 g yeast

138 g water

Instructions

Make the sourdough build

Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl, cover and let it rest for about 14 to 16 hours.

Make the Quellstuck

Mix all of the ingredients, cover, and let it soak overnight at the same time that the sourdough build is fermenting.

Make the dough

• Mix all of the ingredients (including the sourdough build and quellstuck) in the bowl of a stand mixer until mixed. Don't overmix.
• Cover and let the dough rest for about 30 minutes. 
• Form the dough into a ball and place it into a banneton/proofing basket, spray with spray oil, and cover with plastic wrap. Proof for for about an hour in a warm environment. I let it rise in a warmed microwave. (Don't microwave the dough, heat water in the microwave to warm the oven and then add the dough). 
• Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F with a cast iron Dutch oven in it. When it is time to bake the bread, remove the Dutch oven, turn out the dough into it (no need to slash the dough), cover, place the contraption into the oven, and bake for 15 minutes.
• Remove the cover from the Dutch oven, reduce the oven temperature to 425 degrees and bake for about 20 to 30 minutes more. The internal temperature of the bread should be 205 to 210 degrees F. 
• Allow the loaf to cool completely on a wire rack. 
• Wrap the bread with a towel and allow it to sit for about 24 hours before slicing. 
• Enjoy!

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Sharing with #bakeyourownbread

Buttermilk Cottage Dill Bread

This is a mild whole wheat bread with a lovely combination of fresh dill, onion, buttermilk, and believe it or not, cottage cheese. It's leavened with both yeast and a bit of baking soda. It's super soft, super moist, and is wonderful toasted with cheddar or butter.

Assyrian Spinach Pies | Syrian Sabanrhiyat

Assyrian Spinach Pies, or Syrian Sabanrhiyat, are little packets of yeasted dough filled with spinach, onions, dried cherries, feta, lemon zest and juice, pepper, toasted walnuts, and olive oil.

These Assyrian Spinach pies are about the size of a bagel, and are filled with a delicious filling.

A key ingredient to these Syrian Sabanrhiyat is mahlab, a powder made from the seed of the St. Lucy's cherry. I found it in my local Middle Eastern market.

General Tso's Chicken

This General Tso's Chicken is reminiscent of New York City Chinese take out from the 20th century. It's sweet, spicy, and crispy. It's completely delicious too.

Boca Negra Cake | Tuesdays with Dorie - Baking with Julia

This cake looks innocent enough sitting here on this plate. It's not.

Ovaltine Macarons

I've had my ups and downs with macarons. I had beginner's luck with my first and second batches, which gave me a sense of false confidence. Then my third batch cracked... baking sheet after baking sheet cracked.. and cracked... and cracked.

I am competitive (it runs in my family). This sort of thing becomes an obsession. I ended up taking a class at Sur la Table, which was both confidence building and a lot of fun. I highly recommend it.  I got to ask a billion questions as well as practice "macaronnage," the technique of mixing almond flour and meringue. I still approach baking macarons with a little bit of fear, but the class really helped.

I still park myself in front of the oven with the light on while the first batch bakes, just to see if I get "feet" (the crinkly part) and un-cracked shells.

I love the flavor of chocolate malt, so when I saw this recipe, I had to give these a try. These are filled with chocolate ganache, which goes nicely with the malt and almond flavor of the shells.

Ovaltine Macarons

Inspired by Daydreamer Desserts

Note: Using a scale is essential for making macarons. They are not very expensive. If you bake, get one. You won't regret it. And it will save you a lot of time in dishwashing. 

Second note: On a piece of parchment paper, draw 1 1/3 inch circles to use as a pattern template. Place this paper under the parchment paper that you will use to bake the shells. Slide it out from under the top piece of parchment prior to baking the shells. 

Ingredients

Shells

175 grams powdered sugar

25 grams Ovaltine

110 grams almond flour

90 grams egg whites (from three to four eggs)

Pinch of cream of tartar

25 grams granulated sugar

Filling

Your favorite chocolate frosting will work here. I used a ganache filling. 

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.
• In a food processor, pulse the powdered sugar, Ovaltine, and almond flour together. 
• Sift the dry ingredients through a sieve into a bowl. Discard any large pieces.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the wire whip attachment, whisk the egg whites and the cream of tartar on medium speed until foamy. Gradually add the granulated sugar. Once the sugar has been added, scrape the bowl, and increase the speed to high and whisk until the egg whites are stiff and form glossy peaks.
• Sift the almond flour mixture 1/3 at a time over the egg white mixture and fold it in using a rubber spatula until the mixture is smooth and shiny and drips slowly from the spatula. 
• Transfer the batter to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2 inch plain round pastry tip and pipe into 1 1/3 inch rounds onto parchment lined baking sheets. Slam the sheets onto the counter to release any trapped air. Let the rounds sit for 30 minutes, or until no longer sticky on the surface. 
• Stack the baking sheet on top of another baking sheet and bake, one sheet at a time, about 15 to 18 minutes, rotating half way through. 
• Let the macarons cool on the baking sheets for a couple of minutes. Transfer the shells to a wire rack and cool completely. 
• Pipe the filling onto one of the shells, and top with another shell. 
• Store in an air tight container in the refrigerator up to one week.