Category: Breads

Breads

Brioche

Lynnae

I love the smell of freshly baked bread in the house. One of the most complicated and delicious breads that I’ve made is brioche. The magical ingredient in brioche is BUTTER!!!! And, the key to a good loaf of brioche is a strong gluten development, which means A LOT of time in the mixer kneading.

The ingredients are simple: all-purpose flour, butter, eggs, salt, yeast, sugar, and water. And you start by making a sponge, which is a way to give the yeast a head start. Put 3 cups of flour, yeast, water, and eggs in a mixing bowl.   Beat on medium speed with the paddle attachment until the batter is smooth. Cover it and let it sit for 45 minutes.  The mixture will develop a few bubbles.

Add the remaining 2 cups of flour, the sugar, and salt.  Beat until the dough cleans the side of the bowl and becomes shiny and elastic.  It will take 8 to 10 minutes. 

Now comes the unusual part. While the dough is mixing, flour the countertop and put the butter on top of the flour.  Generously sprinkle the top of the butter with flour.  Using a rolling pin, pound the butter until it becomes a flat rectangle. Folding it over several times until the butter becomes pliable.  It should still be cold. This will make it easier to incorporate the butter into the dough.

After the dough has been kneading for 8-10 minutes, it’s time to test the dough’s gluten development. Pull up a thin piece of dough and stretch it as far as you can before it tears.  It should stretch thin enough to see through.  This is the window-pane test.   If it tears too quickly, knead it for a couple more minutes and repeat the test.

Once the dough passes the window pane test, it’s time to add the butter. While the mixer is on, add the butter to the dough a little at time and beat it until it’s fully incorporated.

Cover the dough and let it rise for one hour.  It should be soft and should have risen by a third.  Dust the countertop with flour and turn the dough onto it.  Fold it over several times.  Use a bench knife to scrape up any dough bits that stick to the surface.  Place in a greased bowl, cover and refrigerate for 4 to 16 hours.

Remove from the refrigerator, divide the loaf into two pieces, and form it into two loafs.  You can roll it out flat and then roll it into a loaf shape. This will give you nice long strands for the dough structure. You can also divide each loaf into 3 more pieces, roll them into a long snake-like ribbon, and braid the pieces into a loaf.

Cover the dough lightly and allow it double in size, about 2 ½ to 3 hours.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Beat the egg yolk with 1 tablespoon of water and brush the exposed surfaces.  Bake the brioche for 45-50 minutes or until it’s internal temperature reaches 190 degrees and is golden brown.  After 10 minutes, remove the bread from the pan and allow it cool completely.

Brioche

From the Kitchen of Lynnae Hymas

Recipe by King Arthur Flour

Serves: 2 loavesPrep Time: 30-60 minutes active, 24 hours passiveCook Time: 45-50 minutes

INGREDIENTS:

  • 5 cups or 21 ounces of all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoons yeast
  • ½ cup or 4 ounces of cool water
  • 8 large eggs, plus 1 egg yolk for glaze
  • 4 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 ½ teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups cold unsalted water

INSTRUCTIONS:

Put 3 cups of flour, yeast, water, and eggs in a mixing bowl.   Beat on medium speed with the paddle attachment until the batter is smooth.  This is a sponge that will give the yeast a head start.  Cover it and let it sit for 45 minutes.  The mixture will develop a few bubbles.

Add the remaining 2 cups of flour, the sugar, and salt.  Beat until the dough cleans the side of the bowl and becomes shiny and elastic.  It will take 8 to 10 minutes. 

In the meantime, flour the countertop and put the butter down.  Sprinkle the top of the butter with flour.  Using a rolling pin, pound the butter until it becomes a flat rectangle, folding it over several times until the butter becomes pliable.  It should still be cold. 

Test the dough’s gluten development by pulling up a thin layer and stretch it as far as you can before it tears.  It should stretch thin enough to see through.  This is the window-pane test.   Add the butter to the dough a little at time and beat it until it’s fully incorporated.

Cover the dough and let it rise for one hour.  It should be soft and should have risen by a third.  Dust the countertop with flour and turn the dough onto it.  Fold it over several times.  Use a bench knife to scrape up any dough bits that stick to the surface.  Place in a greased bowl, cover and refrigerate for 4 to 16 hours.

Remove from the refrigerator, divide the loaf into two pieces, and form it into two loafs.  Cover the dough lightly and allow it double in size, about 2 ½ to 3 hours.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Beat the egg yolk with 1 tablespoon of water and brush the exposed surfaces.  Bake the brioche for 45-50 minutes or until it’s internal temperature reaches 190 degrees and is golden brown.  After 10 minutes, remove the bread from the pan and allow it cool completely.

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Breads, Breakfast

Buttermilk Biscuits

Lynnae

Nothing goes better with homemade jam than buttermilk biscuits. In this video, I teach my daughter Kate how to make biscuits.

The ingredients are simple–flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, buttermilk, and butter.

Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl. Add the cold butter and cut it into the flour until it is is in small pieces. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add the liquid.

Combine just until all the ingredients are wet. Roll out into a 3/4″ thick dough, then, using a cup or a round cookie cutter, cut out your biscuits. Continue to use the scraps to re-roll out a sheet of dough until it is all used up.

Bake at 450 degrees for 12-15 minutes.

Buttermilk Biscuits

From the Kitchen of Lynnae Hymas

Serves: 4-6Prep Time: 15 minCook Time: 15 min

INGREDIENTS:

  • 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for kneading and rolling
  • 3 ½ teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 1 ½ teaspoons salt
  • ½ cup unsalted butter
  • 1 ¼ cups buttermilk (can substitute milk using a ratio of 1 cup milk + 1 tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice or the whey from clotted cream)

INSTRUCTIONS:

Heat the oven to 450°F. Combine the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl.  Add the butter and blend with a pastry cutter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Add the buttermilk and stir just until combined, then transfer dough to a floured surface and knead 5-6 times.  With a rolling pin, roll out the dough until is ¾ inch thick.  Cut into rounds with a biscuit cutter or glass and transfer to an ungreased baking sheet with the edges of the rounds touching.  Gather up the scrapes of the dough, roll them out, and repeat.  Bake until the biscuits are golden brown, 12-15 minutes.  Serve hot or warm.

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Breads

Sourdough Ciabatta Bread

Lynnae

Nothing beats the smell of fresh bread baking in the house. This surprisingly simple sourdough ciabatta bread recipe makes a deliciously crusty loaf on the outside and a soft and tasty inside. Yes, please!

First, mix the dry ingredients together–flour, yeast, and salt. Weighing your flour will give you a much more consistent result. How tightly packed your flour is can really change the actual amount that you are using in a recipe.

Next, add the water and the sour dough starter. Again, weighing these ingredients will give you a much more consistent result.

Knead the dough for 10 minutes. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl a couple of times to make sure all the flour gets incorporated.

The dough will be very soft and sticky. Store overnight in the refrigerator in an air tight container. The next day, remove the dough from the refrigerator and let it rise on the countertop for at least 4 hours.

When you are ready to cook, sprinkle your countertop with a thick mixture of corn meal and flour, about a 2 to 1 ratio. Divide your dough in half, pulling it into a long baguette loaf, and coat it with the corn meal mixture. Spray a baguette loaf pan with non-stick spray and put your dough in the pan. Allow it to rise and proof for another 60-90 min.

Now the fun part—baking. You need a HOT oven (450 degrees). Unless you are lucky enough to have a steam oven, you’ll also need a spray bottle. Spray the back of the oven with the spray bottle to get some steam going in the oven just before you put the dough in. Continue to spray the back of the oven every 5 minutes or so while the bread bakes. This will give you that hard crusty bread on the outside. The bread should bake for 25-30 minutes.

Allow the bread to cool for a minute and enjoy!

Serving ideas: You can dip it olive oil and vinegar. You could also try toasting the bread and serving it with homemade ricotta cheese and berries.

Sourdough Ciabatta Bread

From the Kitchen of Lynnae Hymas

Makes: 2 loavesPrep Time: 60 min active; 16-20 hours totalCook Time: 25-30 min

INGREDIENTS:

  • 21 ounces or 3 ¾ cups bread flour
  • 1 ¼ teaspoons yeast
  • 1 ½ teaspoons salt
  • 10 ounces sourdough starter
  • 13 ½ ounces water

For the outside coating:

  • 1/3 cup flour
  • 2/3 cup corn meal

INSTRUCTIONS:

Add the flour, salt, and yeast to the bowl of a stand mixer, and combine.  Add sour dough starter and water to the bowl and mix on low speed with the dough hook for 10 min.  The dough should be very soft and sticky.  Refrigerate overnight in an airtight container.  Set the dough out on the counter and allow to rise for 4 hours at room temperature.  Spray a baguette pan with non-stick cooking spray and set aside. Combine 1/3 cup of flour and 2/3 cup corn meal in a bowl and sprinkle onto a clean countertop.  Partition the dough into 2 loaves, and coat with mixture of flour and cornmeal.  Let the dough rest and rise, or proof, for 60-90 minutes.  Bake at 450° F for 25-30 minutes.  Using a spray bottle, spray a stream of water into the back of the oven at 0, 5, and 10 minutes.  This will help the bread develop its characteristic beautiful hard crust. 

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