No Knead San Francisco Style Sourdough Bread

I've tried many sourdough bread recipes. In fact, great sourdough is my favorite kind of bread and the reason why I caught the bread baking bug.

With this one, you mix the dough and then don't touch it for about 30 hours so it can develop flavor. I've got to say, this bread, while not my prettiest, has the most developed sourdough flavor I have ever been able to bake at home. It's not too strong, but it is distinct, and the aroma, can I just tell you!

This dough was very wet, and I had a lot of trouble tightening it up even when using the stretch and fold method. It kind of stayed wet and sticky, and I was a little worried about adding too much flour. The loaf ended up being about 9 inches in diameter and 3 inches high. Kind of flat, right? And slashing it? Forget it.

The crumb is full of large airy holes, but it is also quite moist. I am definitely going to continue working with this recipe, because the sourdough flavor is amazing. Seriously. It's worth it.

I found this recipe on Farine, and it was inspired by Kneadlessly Simple by Nancy Baggett. I've just ordered the book based on the flavor of this bread (My name is Karen, I'm addicted to cookbooks).

Vanilla and Chocolate Rocks | My Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie

These are my favorite chocolate chip cookies. I know. Everyone has their favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe, but listen to me now and believe me later, if you want something that is different from any other chocolate chip cookie, make these.

BBA Challenge #31 New York Deli Rye, #32 100% Sourdough Rye Bread, #33 Poilane-Style Miche

A little over a year ago, I decided to bake my way through Peter Reinhart's award winning book, The Bread Baker's Apprentice. This is the next installment on this totally fun project.

And we enter the "rye zone."

BBA Challenge #31 New York Deli Rye

This bread is made from a sourdough starter, and is about 1/3 rye. Those little specks are onions. 

Russian Braided Rose Bread | World Bread Day

I am thrilled to be baking along with the Bread Baking Babes as a Buddy on World Bread Day.

This bread is all about shape. And it is beautiful.

Chocolate Sables

Chocolate sables are a lovely French shortbread cookie that has a "sandy" crumbly texture. Wonderful, pop-able chocolate cookies with a bit of salt. This is another wonderful recipe from the cookbook Miette featured in this past post.

These cookies are both easy and sophisticated. They rock as gifts.

Chocolate Sables

Adapted with permission from Meg Ray, owner of the bakery Miette, and author of the book with the same name. You can also find the recipe here written by Meg herself. 

Braeburn Apple and Almond Tart

It's fall. Apple season. While on a quest to find the ultimate apple pie recipe, I came across this French style tart.

I thought it would be the perfect sophisticated dessert.

Flaky phyllo pastry, butter, sugar, Braeburn apples, almond cream, and an apricot and cider reduction glaze.

I will admit that many sheets of phyllo dough were sacrificed to produce this tart (moment of silence in honor). It's been years since I have worked with phyllo. Thank goodness the package had way more sheets than I needed.

Oh, by the way, this recipe requires that you make the almond cream at least four hours in advance of assembling and baking this tart.

Braeburn Apple and Almond Tart

Adapted from Bon Appetit, serves 8 to 10

Apple Cider Pie

I made a pie. I've never made a pie before. Well, actually, I've made chicken pie with frozen puff pastry, and quiche with purchased crust, but I've never made a sweet pie with crusts that weren't made by Pillsbury. Top and bottom crusts.

I should have baked this pie in an actual pie pan, but what did I know? I think this is some sort of tart pan. I"ve had it forever. Anyone know what it's designed for? Deep dish pie? Regardless, I'm pretty proud of my first apple pie.

The crust for this pie is really forgiving. Mine ended up having little mini pea sized pieces of butter visible throughout the dough without a lot of effort. Coolness. That's what's supposed to make pastry flakey.

The filling consists of sliced apples, lemon juice, cinnamon, apple pie spice (cinnamon, mace, cassia, and nutmeg), sugar, flour, and an apple cider reduction. If you don't have apple pie spice, you can substitute any combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cardamom, or any other spice you think might work with the apple cider reduction.

What's really cool about this recipe is the apple cider reduction. You take apple cider and boil it down until it's really concentrated. It adds so much apple flavor.

Check out the reduction oozing from a piece of pie.

Pie Crust

I used Oh-So-Easy Pie Crust from Girlichef. Hop on over there to print the recipe and view the tutorials. Make a top and bottom crust from this recipe.

The only thing I did differently was to chill the shortening pieces well in advance of making the dough. 

Apple Cider Pie

Adapted from My Recipes and Girlichef

One recipe pie crust

2 C apple cider

6 C peeled and cored apple slices. Mine were about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. 

1 T fresh lemon juice

2/3 C sugar

2 T flour or cornstarch (I used flour)

1/2 t. cinnamon

1 t. apple pie spice or any combination of spices that you prefer

1 oz. melted butter

1 T. sanding sugar or granulated sugar

Remove one disk of the pie crust, roll it out on a lightly floured surface so that it will fit a 9 inch pie pan. Place it in the refrigerator. 

Bring the apple cider to a boil over high heat and reduce it to 1/2 Cup. This can take from 15 to 40 minutes depending on your pan. I prefer a shallow nonstick sauce pan. Set the cider aside to cool completely. 

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Whisk the flour and spices together. Toss the apple slices with the lemon juice, and then toss the slices with the sugar and spice mixture. 

Add the apples to the pie shell, making sure not to leave behind any of the sugar/spice mixture. Pour the apple cider reduction over the apple slices. 

Place the remaining crust over everything and press the two crusts together. Cut slits into the top crust, brush with butter, and sprinkle with sugar. 

Bake for 50 to 60 minutes until golden brown. 

Cranberry Walnut Pumpkin Loaf | Tuesdays with Dorie - Baking with Julia

This week, the Tuesdays with Dorie bakers are baking this Cranberry Walnut Pumpkin (or Butternut Squash) Loaf. This recipe is on page 108 of the book, Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan.

This is a yeast bread, not a quick bread, and the dough requires an overnight rest in the refrigerator to develop flavor.

The recipe also calls for baking the loaves in three 5 inch loaf pans. I just happen to have them. Yay. My bakeware collecting binge paid off. I feel so justified.

I wasn't all that excited about making this bread. I mean, I'm sure the orange color in a yeast bread can be weird for some people. Plus, it's blazing hot here in southern California right now. We're not exactly in the fall mood.

Guess what? I really liked this bread. The pumpkin/squash flavor is faint, and the bread tastes a lot like cinnamon raisin bread but with a nice added dimension. Plus, you get vitamins A and C. It's almost health food. And they're sooooo cute.

I made two changes to the recipe. Instead of fresh cranberries, I used dried cranberries, and instead of active dry yeast, I used SAF Gold. That yeast is an instant yeast that is supposed to hold up well to enriched doughs (doughs that contain eggs, butter, and sugar, all of which are in this bread). I was really pleased with how the dough performed.

This bread makes great toast for breakfast. See all those slices? Gone.

I am amazed at how happy I am with this bread..... and I got to use my mini loaf pans. Validation. Oh yeah.

To get the recipe, hop on over to Rebecca's beautiful blog, This Bountiful Backyard. Or better yet, buy the book! To find out more about Tuesdays with Dorie, click  >here<.