BBA Challenge #38 Tuscan Bread, #39 Vienna Bread, #40 White Bread, #41 Whole-Wheat Bread

The next installment about my journey baking my way through The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread by Peter Reinhart. I started the project in August of 2011 (pre-blogging days) and finished in August of 2012.

BBA Challenge #38 Tuscan Bread

So here's the deal about this bread. It does not contain salt. I once accidentally left salt out of a bread recipe before. Taste? Cardboard.

Sauteed Carrots

According to Ina Garten in Barefoot Contessa: Family Style, "These sauteed carrots are the essence of 'carrot-ness.'" Truly they are.

Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes with a Gingersnap Crust

These mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes are the perfect little holiday treat. The crust is so simple, just a gingersnap dropped into the bottom of a muffin tin, and, because these are muffin-sized, they're pretty foolproof.

Even if the tops of your cheesecakes sink too much, or even crack, you can hide any flaws with a spritz of whipped cream. These little cheesecakes are also wonderful for using up any leftover pumpkin puree you might have.

Pocketbook Rolls | Feathery Buttery Rolls

I decided to attempt a couple of new recipes for Thanksgiving (I like adding a little suspense). One of them was this recipe for yeasted rolls. Yeasted you say? Correct. Yeasted rolls that must be baked and then served hot.

{Attendees were my husband, kids, and grandkids, so I figured I could toss them (the rolls, not my family) if they (the rolls, not my family) didn't work out. They (my family, not the rolls) are a very forgiving group of guests.}

The big trick was to make sure I got the timing right. These rolls worked out beautifully!!!!

The recipe calls for the dough to be mixed at least one day, and up to one week, in advance. The dough is unusual in that it is almost batter like when you mix it, but it emerges from the refrigerator like biscuit dough or cookie dough. It's pretty amazing how this recipe works out.

The rolls are like a cross between light and airy rolls with the flavor of biscuits... plus butter.... it's really hard to explain. You must try these. I've been using the leftovers to make "turkey and stuffing sliders." Soooo good.

Pocketbook Rolls

Yield, approximately 24 rolls. Adapted from Paulchen's Kitchen, adapted from The Glory of Southern Cooking by James Villas.

Ingredients

2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast

1/4 C lukewarm whole milk

1/4 C shortening

4 T room temperature butter

1/4 C sugar 1/2 C boiling water

1 large egg, beaten

13 ounces unbleached all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp salt

8 T melted butter

Mix the dough

1. Place the yeast in the lukewarm milk and let it sit for five minutes or so. 
2. Cream the shortening, butter, and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer using the paddle attachment. Slowly add in the boiling water. 
3. Add the yeast and milk mixture, continuing to mix.
4. Beat in the egg
5. Beat in the flour and salt and mix until all ingredients are well blended
6. Place the dough into a bowl that is at least double the dough's size, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 1 to 7 days

Assemble the rolls  (about 3 hours before serving)

1. Grease a half sheet pan.
2. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured counter, lightly sprinkle the dough with flour, and lightly coat a rolling pin with flour. 
3. Roll the dough out to a scan 1/2 inch thick.
4. Using a 2 1/2 inch round biscuit or cookie cutter, cut the dough into rounds and fold each round in half. 
5. Place each roll onto the baking sheet. 
6. Generously brush the rolls with butter. 
7. Cover the baking sheet loosely with plastic wrap and a towel. 
8. Set aside to rise for about 2 1/2 hours. 
9. Bake in a 400 degree F oven for about 10 to 12 minutes. Serve immediately.

Back story: This recipe is part of the Bread Baking Babes monthly bread baking extravaganza. Well, maybe not an extravaganza, but... well, click the link and read more. Once the Babes post the recipe, the buddies (that includes me!) can bake along with the Babes. Here is a round up of the Buddies' posts.

Many of the Babes think that these rolls look like lips. What do you think?

Semolina Sourdough Bread

See how the edges of the slash stick up and are all toasty? Those are bread ears. It's what we bread bakers all strive for. These are my best ever. It's amazing what gets us excited.

Homemade Oreo Cookies | Fauxreos

Doesn't this make you want a big glass of ice cold milk? 

Me too.

Homemade Oreos

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen, adapted from Retro Desserts by Wayne Brachman. Makes about 26 cookies.

Ingredients

Cookies:

1 1/4 C all purpose flour

1/2 C unsweetened Dutch process cocoa. While it's not necessary, I used 1/2 regular Dutch process cocoa and 1/2 King Arthur Flour's black cocoa because it makes the cookies extra dark. 

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/4 C sugar

1 1/4 sticks of softened unsalted butter

1 large egg

Icing:

1/2 stick softened unsalted butter

1/4 C vegetable shortening

2 C sifted confectioners sugar

2 tsp vanilla

Instructions

• Space two oven racks near the middle of your oven and reheat it to 375 degrees F
• In a food processor, mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and sugar. 
• Pulse while adding first the butter, and then the egg. Pulse until the dough forms a mass. 
• Form rounded teaspoons of batter and place them about 2 inches apart on parchment lined baking sheets. I used this small cookie scoop. It really helps to keep the cookies evenly sized. 
• Flatten the dough with a dampened hand or the bottom of a glass. I used the pusher from my food processor to get those cool circles on top of each wafer. 
• Bake, two sheets at a time for 9 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through.
• Smack the cookie sheets on the counter once when you remove them from the oven to let some of the air out of the cookies, and set them on a rack to cool. 
• While the cookies are cooling, make the filling. 
• Using a hand or stand mixer, blend the butter and shortening.
• On low speed, slowly add in the powdered sugar and vanilla. 
• Beat the filling on high speed for about 3 minutes, until it is very fluffy.
• Place the icing in a pastry bag with a 1/2 inch round tip. Alternatively, place it in a plastic storage bag and cut off the corner to pipe the icing. 
• Pipe a scant tablespoon sized dollop of icing onto half of the cookies. 
• Top each with another cookie and press lightly to evenly nudge the filling to the edges of each sandwich. 

Best-Ever Brownies | Tuesdays with Dorie

This week, the Tuesdays with Dorie group is baking a brownie recipe titled "Best-Ever Brownies" from the book Baking with Julia. 

This recipe involves melting chocolate and lots of butter, adding some sugar to the chocolate butter mixture, slowly adding half of the four eggs and sugar to the chocolate, whipping the other half of the eggs and sugar into a frothy concoction, folding it into the chocolate, and then folding in the flour and salt. Phew! I had to read the recipe several times just to make sure I was doing it right. Not your typical brownie recipe. 

The recipe calls for a 9 inch square pan, preferably ceramic or glass. Really? Another piece of cookware this cookware junkie with a pan habit does not have? 

I do have an enameled cast iron 9 inch square pan, so I went for it even though cast iron stays hot for quite awhile, and the brownies are supposed to cool in the pan.

I really couldn’t tell by the instructions how to determine if the brownies were done, so I pulled the brownies out at 28 minutes (the max amount of time according to the recipe) even though they were kind of liquid in the middle but set on top. I figured that the pan would stay hot and continue to cook. 

So.. are these the Best-Ever Brownies? 

They are really good actually. They are super fudgy, not at all cakey, but not necessarily chewy. A little goes a long way. While the knife inserted into them to test for doneness came out coated in batter, once the brownies cooled, they came together. I'm not sure if it was the pan or the 6 ounces of chocolate bar in the recipe. If you make this recipe, definitely allow the brownies to cool completely before cutting them.

Would I make them again? Yes!

You can find the recipe on Monica's A Beautiful Mess blog. It's a really sweet blog by the way. For more information about Tuesdays with Dorie, click here.