BREAD baking

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I have a question to those of you who have made the olive bread. I made it the other day with the olive oil dough and it was fantastic! However, I feel like I need to double the amount of olives they call for, and all of my olives ended up at the top of the loaf. How do you get them to spread more evenly throughout the dough?

Best done fresh mixed dough, not from fridge-stored (too cold):
After the dough has been mixed and risen for two hours, then pull of your usual amount of dough to make a loaf with.
Put it on the floured counter, and pull-pat it into a rectangle about 1/4" to 3/8" thick. Sprinkle the olive ingredients (i use sliced calamata olives, some pre-soked sundried tom., and some browned garlic or onions) evenly over the rectangle of dough.
Roll the rectangle up from one end, then pull the surface over it to make a ball with a skin of dough that has a bit if tension, careful not to tear holes as you pull the skin. Tuck the edges under the ball, then lay the ball as usual on your corn-meal sprinkled parchment paper. Let rest as usual, then dust top with flour (I use a little strainer to sprinkle the flour dusting), slash with at least 4 or 5 slashes 1/4" deep, and bake. This is how I do it and it comes out pretty well.

[NoNo]

Roll the rectangle up from one end, then pull the surface over it to make a ball with a skin of dough that has a bit if tension, careful not to tear holes as you pull the skin.

Are you rolling along the long or short end of the rectangle, or does it not matter? That sounds similar to the technique they describe for the sun-dried tomato bread, where you get more of a stuffed bread look, not what I'm trying to do with this.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Are you rolling along the long or short end of the rectangle, or does it not matter? That sounds similar to the technique they describe for the sun-dried tomato bread, where you get more of a stuffed bread look, not what I'm trying to do with this.

It's just a way of distributing the olives etc. more evenly through the loaf. I start rolling the short side. I pull edges under in the end to form a ball-like loaf. here's how it comes out:
http://strumelia.blogspot.com/2009/05/olive-bread.html

Is that what you call a 'stuffed bread look"? I'm not quite sure what your goal is.

[NoNo]

No, that looks just like what I want. I'll give that a try tonight, thanks!

[ccnyc]

I've been reading this thread with much envy because I wanted to bake these beautiful breads, too. But I am gluten intolerant so must avoid wheat, etc. The gluten-free bread recipes I've tried all turned out terrible... until... Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day, the second book from the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day authors. There's a whole chapter on gluten-free breads.

Here is my first boule. Of course it doesn't taste like wheat bread, but it's actually very good and the sourdough taste of the bread is far superior to any GF bread I have baked or purchased. And it was super easy. The hard part was waiting for it to cool for two hours before slicing into it and tasting it. Gooooood!

Carol

[Susan Otcenas]

The hard part was waiting for it to cool for two hours before slicing into it and tasting it.

It never lasts 2 hours in my house. Fresh bread hot out of the oven is irresistible!

[Tuckervill]

I had leftover olive oil dough from the weekend, it was supper time, and I had just got finished watching some chef show on Bravo where they did something similar. I knew I had a huge hunk of Havarti in the fridge, and I figured it would be mild enough. There's a coffee shop nearby that serves a baked brie in pastry with apples and cinnamon inside, and I LOVE it. So, I decided to try it.

I used about 6 ounces of cheese at full depth of the chunk. It probably should have been thinner cheese, or cooked longer, because the cheese didn't get hot all the way through. I used one apple, sliced thin, a couple tablespoons of melted butter, a couple teaspoons of cinnamon, a couple tablespoons of suger, all mixed together. I layered a few of the apple slices on the rolled out dough, put on the chunk of cheese, the rest of the apples, and then wrapped the dough around it all. Sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon on top. In the oven at 450, about 20 minutes. Since it was the olive oil dough, I went ahead and put some water in the pan for a harder crust. Probably a puff pastry dough would be better for this, but I couldn't tell it was an olive oil dough at all.

It was delicious, though I could have left out the butter, which leaked most of the cinnamon out of the dough onto the stone.

I was thinking this would be fun to make in individual sizes for a party--not appetizer size, but individual sizes, maybe big enough to share. And the Havarti was good with the apples, but brie would be nicer, I think.

Karen

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Oooh Tucker that looks really good. I'm a sucker for cheese...and baked cheese!

[Susan Otcenas]

Karen - that looks yummy!

I mixed up a double batch of the peasant dough (with rye & whole wheat) on Saturday but haven't had time to bake any loaves yet. I think I'll go home and do that tonight!

[Tuckervill]

I forgot that I made Naan this weekend, too. That's why I'd made the Olive Oil dough. I didn't have any ghee and didn't have time to try and find some (unlikely anyway). I cooked them in a cast iron skillet on the stove top (as suggested in the AB5D). They said use a neutral flavored oil, and I started with canola oil, but they turned out better in my opinion without any oil at all. You want to cook them fast and high, and that browned the oil too much (and made the house smell like fried food). I served them at lunch with some extended family and they all LOVED it. Very quick to make. I shall try to find some ghee before I make any more.

Karen

[Tuckervill]

Tonight I'm making the Almond Brioche to give away tomorrow. Anyone tried it?

I had to make my own almond paste for the inside. I forgot to put the egg in the filling for the first loaf! Doh! (Dough!) I'm guessing it's going to make it less fluffy in the inside. The second loaf looked better from the beginning with the better filling. I made a brioche a tete with the rest of the dough. I'll post pics if they turn out.

Oh wait...I had the instructions mixed up in my mind and didn't realize I would have to slice the Almond Brioche and cook it like cinnamon rolls (believe it or not, I don't have any good round cake pans). So, I'm using the Chocolate Ganache Brioche recipe but with the almond filling instead. Hope it works out.

Karen

[Tuckervill]

Even though I didn't have any brioche pans, this turned out delicious!

[NoNo]

I made 8 breads for Christmas Eve/Day, and everyone enjoyed them. I've taken to just mixing the olives in from the onset with the olive dough, it's the only way I can get them to disperse evenly. I also got two cast iron pots, so I'm excited to try baking in them. My brother got me a pizza peel so I don't have to tie up my cookie tray anymore, and I also got the "My Bread" book. It's a no-knead process, but the initial rise is 12-18 hours. It will require a bit more planning to try that. I'll let you know how it compares.

To top off my food-related gifts, I got a giant steel sauce pot (it doesn't say how large it is, but it has to be at least 20qts), and the food grinder attachment for my mixer. I'm pumped!

[sgtiger]

I made a loaf of Challah for Christmas (I know, I know) since my dad likes sweet breads and it turned out picture perfect and delicious. Unfortunately I forgot to take after pics. Here's the before, right after I braided it:

[NbyNW]

We used the olive oil dough recipe and made pizza last night. Sooo much better than frozen pizza!