Focaccia Caprese

This month, the “We Knead To Bake” group has some new members who have joined to bake with us for the next twelve months. Aparna had put this up as a poll, and by popular demand it was decided to to bake Focaccia. Put forward in a better way, this is another variation – a Focaccia Caprese.
Focaccia is a type of flatbread from Italy, thought to have originated in ancient Greece but now associated with the north eastern part of Italy. Today however, it is a flatbread that is found all over Italy and baked in a variety of ways. While most of us think (at least I do) think of Focaccia as a savoury flatbread, there is also a sweet variation called the Focaccia Veneta ( also called Focaccia Pasquale Veneta , Focaccia Dolce Veneta or the FugassaVeneta) that is baked in Venetia at Easter time and made with wheat, eggs, butter, sugar and flavours.

The name Focaccia originates from the ancient Roman “PanisFocacius” which was originally a flatbread that was baked on the hearth.
A lot of people feel that the Focaccia is not much different from the Pizza and even go as far thinking it is a kind of square shaped Pizza! However, the Focaccia is different from the Pizza in more than just shape.
Traditionally, Focaccia has the topping ingredients kneaded into the dough while Pizza has it on top of the dough. Traditionally, an Italian Pizza crust is on the thinner side, rarely more than 1/2" thick whereas a Focaccia is at least about 3/4" thick. Focaccia therefore, tends to be “spongier” and softer whereas a Pizza is crisper. A lot of oil into the Focaccia dough after which it is shaped and then more oil is brushed/ drizzled on whereas in a Pizza, oil is not kneaded into the dough and only used on top. Also, Focaccia maybe served warm or cold (at room temperature) but a Pizza is always served hot and never cold.
In the old days, Focaccia rarely had any toppings except oil and herbs (and garlic as well) for flavour though this has changed. Perhaps this is why there is this confusion between the Focaccia and the Pizza!

Focaccia Caprese is nothing but a basic Focaccia dough topped Caprese style. "Caprese" refers to something that comes from or is in the style of Capri, an island off the Italian coast near Naples. Capri is famous mostly for its villas, grottos and jutting limestone towers, and also for the salad named after it – “InsalataCaprese” whose signature is fresh tomatoes, basil and fresh buffalo mozzarella (Mozzarella di Buffala).
This means that the topping of the Focaccia Caprese is sliced tomatoes, mozzarella and basil, in addition to the usual olive oil and herbs that are typically used in this flatbread.
Though it is fresh mozzarella that is the best in this Focaccia, if one cannot find it like in my case, then one must use whatever one has on hand. I used regular mozzarella that I use on my Pizza, and you can also use any other “melty” cheese if you have no choice. Stick to traditional toppings used on Italian Focaccia for the best results and also to use as few as possible because less is always more.

The Focaccia is usually served either as a light snack, can be made into sandwiches or be served with a soup or salad to make a meal.

Focaccia Caprese
Adapted from The Kitchen Whisperer

I halved the recipe and made two not-so-small sized ones, which served me and my two teen children comfortably as an evening snack!

Ingredients:

For the Dough:

2 tsp instant yeast
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
3 1/2 cups bread flour*
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup oil (preferably olive oil)
1 to 1 1/2 cups warm water
A little more olive oil for brushing dough

For the Topping:

4-5 larg-ish tomatoes, sliced thin
1 6-7” round piece of fresh buffalo mozzarella, cut into1/4” slices**
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, cut into thin strips
For theHerbed Oil:
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tspdried oregano
1 tspdried basil
1/4 to 1/2 tsp red chilli flakes
1/2 tspfinely minced garlic/ paste
Salt to taste

Fresh basil leaves for garnishing


Method:

Before and After Rising

First make the herbed oil. Put all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk them together. Keep aside till required.

The dough can be mixed and kneaded by hand or machine. Put the yeast, sugar flour, salt and oil in the bowl of the processor and pulse a couple of times to mix well. Then add 1 cup of warm water (and as much more as you need) and knead until you have a soft elastic dough that is just short of sticky.
Remove the dough from the processor bowl, shape into a round and place in a well oiled bowl turning the dough around so it is coated. Cover and let it rise till almost double in volume. This should take about an hour.

Before and After Baking

You can make this as 2 medium sized Focaccia or 4 smaller ones. I made 2 smaller ones since I had halved the original recipe.
 For the rectangular Focaccia, take two rectangular pans/ jelly or Swiss roll pans (I used an 11" by 7" tins)and oil them well. Then divide the dough into two equal portions and lightly roll them (or press out) out into approximately 11” by 7”. If making 4 Focaccia, then divide the dough into 4 equal portions. Roll each portion out (or press out) evenly into approximately 5” by 7”. It alright if it’s an odd shape because Focaccia is really a “rustic” bread.
Transfer the dough to the baking tins. The dough will shrink a little. Use your fingers and push it out a bit making sure it’s evenly thick throughout. Let it rise for 20 minutes. Lightly oil your finger tips and press into the dough creating evenly spaced “dimples” in it. Generously brush the surface with oil.
Bake at 210C (410F) for about 18 to 20 minutes till it is almost done and is beginning to turn golden brown. Take the Focaccia out and turn up the heat of your oven to 230C (450F).

Topping ~ Before and After Baking

Lightly drizzle some of the Herbed Oil over the Focaccia and then evenly arrange some slices of mozzarella over the bread, leaving very little space between them. Arrange the tomato slices over this and a little sprinkle the chopped basil over this. The topping should cover most of the surface of the bread.
Drizzle some more Herbed Oil over the topping and return the bread to the oven. Bake the Focaccia for 5 to 8 minutes or until the cheese has just melted. Remove from the oven and garnish with fresh basil leaves.





Note:
* If you cannot find bread flour, you can add 1 tbsp of Vital Wheat Gluten to 3 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour and mix together well. Otherwise just use 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour. I used just APF.
**I don’t get fresh buffalo mozzarella here. So I used regular mozzarella instead, the kind we use on pizzas. Use any “melty/ stringy” kind of cheese you can find.

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Bienenstich Kuchen (German Bee Sting Cake)

This month marks 12 months of baking breads together and given that’s it’s also a season when there’s a lot of festive baking done in parts of the country and the world, Aparna thought we could bake something special this month. And the choice falls for Bienenstich Kuchen or what’s also known as the German Bee Sting Cake!
Bienenstich is not really a bread but a traditional German sweet yeasted cake that has a baked on topping of crunchy almond toffee-like layer and filled with a vanilla pastry cream. Bienenstich is traditionally eaten as dessert and also served with tea or coffee.
Bienenstich means “bee sting” in German and probably got its name from the honey flavoured topping that it typical of this yeasted cake. There are however some interesting stories connected to it. One story is that the German baker who was creating this recipe came across a bee (possibly attracted by the honey) and was stung by it and decided to name the cake after the incident!
Another story is that a group of German bakers stopped invaders from entering a neighbouring village, sometime in the 15th century, by throwing beehives at them. IN order to celebrate their victory, they created the original version of the Bienenstich.


The Bienenstich is made with enriched brioche-like dough that’s typical for yeasted cakes which means that it contains a lot of butter, some milk and eggs. I have reduced the egg to one in the recipe. If you do use eggs you can use one more (total of 2 eggs) but you might need to add one or two tbsps. more of flour to the dough. On the other hand if you don’t use eggs, please leave it out. It will make a slight difference to the texture but not too much.
This yeasted cake is typically filled with pastry cream which is a mix of custard and whipped cream. I have used an egg-free version that uses custard powder but feel free to use your preferred recipe for custard using eggs.
You may also like to use butter cream, Bavarian Cream or Diplomat Cream. Remember the cake is a bit heavy so your filling should not be runny or too soft or it will not be able to carry the weight of the upper cake layer. You can also add fruit (strawberry, kiwi, mango, etc) to your “cream” layer even though this is not traditional.

I have baked my Bienenstich in ramekins and served individually but you can also bake it in a round or a square tin and cut it out into squares like we do with brownies.

One of the problems of this yeasted cake is making sure the filling is strong enough to take the weight of the upper layer. The other problem is cutting the Bienenstich into slices or squares without the filling squishing out ad making a mess of everything.
The first problem can be taken care of by using a filling that will hold up and not using too much filling. The whipped cream can be stabilized with cornstarch (or agar or gelatin if you use it). You can always thing the remaining fillng and serve it with the Bienestich as a sauce.
The second problem can be taken care of by placing the lower layer of the cake on the serving plate and then makinge a collar around it with a double layer of parchment paper that should be a little taller than the height of your finished Bienenstich. Now spread the filling over the lower layer evenly.
Then pre-cut your upper almond toffee layer into slices or squares depending on the shape of your Bienenstich. Now place the slices/ squares on top of the filling so it looks like the top layer is whole. Refrigerate this for at least a couple of hours before serving. When ready to serve, remove the parchment collar, and use the slices/ squares as a guide and cut through the filling right to the bottom.

Note: If you cannot find sliced almonds where you live (as in my case), you can make them at home. They will not be as thin as the store-bough version but I personally prefer my home made variety.

Blanch almonds by dropping them in just boiled hot water (not in boiling water, but boiling water that has just been taken off the heat). If you boil them, they will cook and become soft. Let them sit in the water for about 5 minutes. Then drain the water off and rinse once in cold water. Strain well. The skins of the almonds should feel a little loose and look wrinkled now. Pinch each almond at the broad end with thumb and forefinger and the skin should slip off easily.
Let the almonds dry out on a kitchen towel in an airy place for about half an hour. Then lay each almond down on its flat side and, using a sharp knife, slice as thinly as you can. There you have your sliced almonds.

BienenstichKuchen (German Bee Sting Cake)
To serve 6-8
Recipe Source- Aparna 

Ingredients:

For the Pastry Cream Filling:
250ml milk (I used 3%)
3tbsp sugar
3 tbsp vanilla flavoured custard powder
200 ml cream (I used 40% fat)
1 tbsp corn-starch

For the Dough:

1/4 cup milk (I used 3%)
100gm butter, at room temperature
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tbsp sugar
1 egg
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 tsp instant yeast

For the Honey-Almond Topping:

50 gm butter
1/3 cup sugar
2 tbsp honey
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup almonds, sliced* (see Note above)

Method:



Make the custard for the filling first. This can be made the previous day and refrigerated till required.
Keep aside 1/4 cup of milk, and put the remaining milk and the sugar in pan. Over medium heat, bring this to a boil while stirring frequently to dissolve the sugar. In the meanwhile, dissolve the custard powder in the 1/4 cup of milk. Add this in a stream, to the boiling milk and keep whisking so that no lumps are formed.
Keep whisking until the custard becomes very thick. Take the pan off the heat and let the custard cool to room temperature. Whisk it on and off so it stays smooth. If it does become lumpy after cooling, use a hand blender to make it smooth. Transfer to a bowl, cover and refrigerate.
Once you are ready to fill the Bienenstich, whip 200ml of cream till soft peaks form. Then add the corn-starch and whip till it forms stiff peaks. Whisk the custard to make sure it is smooth. Gently fold the cream into the custard. If you feel it is too soft, refrigerate for a couple of hours and then use.




To make the dough, heat the milk until it is quite hot but not boiling. Cut the butter into pieces and add to the milk, stirring it until the better melts completely. Let it cool a little.
In the meanwhile, put the flour, sugar, salt and the yeast in the bowl of your processor. Run a couple of times to mix well and then add the egg (leave the egg out if you don’t use it). Run again till the egg has also mixed well. Now add the butter-milk mixture (it should be warm, not hot) and the then knead till it forms a smooth and soft (loose) brioche-like dough that’s just short of sticky. It should come way from the sides of the bowl and be easy to handle.
Shape the dough into a ball and place it in a bowl. Cover loosely and let it rise for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. This dough will rise quite well but not to double or as much as your regular bread dough.

Deflate the dough, and shape again to a smooth ball. Place it in a8”spring form cake tin lined with parchment. It is important to do this otherwise the topping will make the bread/ cake sticky and difficult to unmould. Flatten the dough a little, pressing down lightly so that the dough fits the cake tin. It doesn’t matter if its not touching the sides like batter does. Let it rise for about 30 to 45 minutes. It will not rise very much and look a little puffy.




Prepare the topping while the dough rises. Melt the butter, sugar, honey and vanilla in a small pan, over medium heat. Keep stirring frequently and it will start bubbling up. Let it cook for about 3 minutes or so until it turns to a light beige colour. Add the sliced almonds, and stir well till the almonds are well coated. Take the pan off the heat and let it cool a bit. The mixture will become quite thick.




Now get ready to bake the bread/ cake. Once the dough has risen, use a spoon take bits if the topping (it will be quite thick, like a sticky fudge) and distribute it uniformly over the surface. If there are small gaps they will get covered once the bread/ cake is baking.




Bake at 180C (350F) for about 25 to 35 minutes until the top is golden brown and bubbling. A cake tester through the centre should come out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan for abpout 15 minutes. Then gently loosen the sides with a spatula and unmould. Let it cool completely on a rack.




When it has cooled completely, slice the cake into two equal layers carefully, using a very sharp knife. Spread the pastry cream on the lower layer and top with the upper layer and refrigerate till ready to serve.

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KanelSnegle or Kanelbullar ~ Swedish Cinnamon Buns

KanelSnegle (Cinnamon Snails) or Kanelbullar (Cinnamon Buns) is the Swedish version of the popular American Cinnamon Rolls. The Swedish version are probably the original version and not sticky like their American counterparts and are also less sweet. These rolls are delightfully aromatic, soft and moist, and perfect with a cup of tea/ coffee whether for breakfast or in the evening. Yes, you guessed right, this is the bread the group has decided to bake for the month!

The Swedish KanelSnegle/ Kanelbullars less about sugar and more about the spices in it – cardamom in the dough and cinnamon inside the Snails/ Buns. Whether you call them Snails (coiled shape)or Buns (twisted and rolled up) depends on how you shape them. Scandinavian celebratory breads tend to be all about spices and warmth so you will find a lot of their breads scented with cardamom. Cinnamon, cloves, aniseed, etc.

These Cinnamon Snails/ Buns are found all over Europe with slight variations in recipe and the shapes as Franzbrotchen, Korvapuusti, Skillingsbollen, etc.
KanelSnegle/ Kanelbullar are traditionally made on the 4th of October every year in Sweden to celebrate “the Day of the Cinnamon Bun” but can be found in bakeries all through the year. There are different ways of shaping this confectionery and I have detailed two types here – the typical “snail” shape which much like that of the regular Cinnamon Roll, and the “twist”. You are free to explore different shapes and try them out if you’re feeling adventurous.
Typically the traditional filling in these buns is just butter, sugar and cinnamon, but there are versions that also use almonds with this filling and that’s what I have done here. Feel free to leave the almonds out if you want.They usually come baked in white paper cases, and the nice thing about this is that the filling stays in the buns and doesn’t get left behind on the baking sheets!

Shaping

Shaping cinnamon roll style. (I followed this method of shaping).
One way of shaping is to just roll up the dough with filling like jelly/ swiss roll style and cut them into pieces. This is the typical KanelSnegle.Watch the video here.

Shaping by stretching and twisting into buns.
The other way is to fold the dough over the filling and cut it into strips. Then slightly pull/ elongate strips and twist like a rope and then roll it up, tucking the end underneath the bun.Watch the video here.

Shaping into “trouser leg” and twisting into buns.
The third slightly more complicated and prettier bun is made by cutting the strips into half lengthwise leaving one end attached (see pictures and video for details) like “trousers/ pants”. Then each “leg is twisted and then rolled up to form a bun.Watch the video here.


This recipe involves the preparation of a starter which is refrigerated overnight.
These KanelSnegle freeze quite well, so you can make the full batch of twenty and freeze them for later use. Just warm them up in the microwave or the oven whenever you want one or two.

KanelSnegle / Kanelbullar (Swedish Cinnamon Snails / Rolls)
Makes 20 numbers
Source ~ Aparna, for Bread Baking Group.

Ingredients:

For the Starter:
1 cup warm milk
2tsp instant yeast
2 cups all-purpose flour

For the Dough:
All the Starter
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp salt (if using salted butter, otherwise 1 1/2 tsp)
6 to 8 pods cardamom, powdered
2 tsp lemon zest
1/3 cup caster sugar
60g butter, soft at room temperature

For the Filling:
75g butter, soft at room temperature
1/2 cup light brown sugar, loosely packed (or 1/3 cup caster sugar)
2 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup coarsely ground almonds

For the Topping:
1/4 cup milk (or egg wash if you eat eggs)
Pearl sugar or large sugar crystals ( I used Demerara)

Method:





















Mix together all the ingredients for the Starter into a sticky dough, in a large bowl. Place the Starter dough in an oiled bowl and loosely cover it and then refrigerate it. Remember the dough will rise quite a bit so use a container that has enough room for this.
The next day, about 30 minutes before you are ready to start on the dough, take the Starter out and leave it at room temperature. As always this can be kneaded by hand or in the processor. I’m giving instructions for using the processor.
Tear the Starter to large pieces and drop into the processor bowl. Now sift together the flour, cardamom and salt into a bowl. Add this, the lemon zest and sugar to the bowl and run the processor till well mixed.
Now add the soft butter and knead well until you have a smooth and elastic dough. If your dough feels dry, add a little milk or if it feels wet then add a little flour till you have the required consistency of dough.




Now turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and then roll it out into a approximately rectangle about 20” by 12” in size. Make the filling by mixing/ creaming together the soft butter, brown sugar and cinnamon with a fork or spoon into a spreadable paste. Depending on which shape you are going to make your Cinnamon Buns, spread the filling either all over your dough rectangle, or over half of it.
Sprinkle the coarse almond powder over this and then either tightly roll the dough jelly/ Swiss roll style and cut it into 20 equal pieces with a sharp knife. Place these, cut side down on a lightly greased baking sheet leaving space between them, or in white cupcake cases.
Otherwise fold the dough over in half and cut into 20 long strips with a sharp knife, twist and shape them as desired. Place these, cut side down on a lightly greased baking sheet leaving space between them, or in white cupcake cases.
Let them rise for about 10 to 15 minutes till they look a little puffy but not swollen up. Brush the Snails/ Buns with milk (or egg wash) and sprinkle with pearl sugar, large sugar crystals or brown sugar (whatever you have on hand). I used Demerara .



Bake them at 200C (400F) for about 15 minutes till they’re cooked, golden brown and sound hollow when tapped. If they’re browning too quickly, turn down the temperature by about 20C (65F) and bake them till done.




Let them cool on wire racks. You can serve them warm or at room temperature. You can freeze these KanelSnegle for whenever you feel like having one.

While on last year's trip to Scandinavia, I was fortunate enough to savour the best of Cinnamon rolls from Denmark and Sweden (the source points). They were flaky and light and the ones you see in the picture were the ultimate! Little did I know that I would venture baking the same within months, near to perfection! Thanks Aparna! :)

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Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread

If the start of the month got me busy with Navarathri, the rest of the days kept me occupied with travel, weddings,  house visits and condolences to attend. I had to keep myself free for two whole days as the bread needed some planning of time to undergo the 3 interesting phases of preparation.

We, the We Knead to Bake memebers, have been asked to adapt Peter Reinhart’s recipe for 100% Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread from his book “Whole Grain Breads”. Peter Reinhart’s recipe uses a soaking procedure and the Biga/ sponge and that is the secret to the softness and texture of this bread.

If whole grain flours are soaked overnight, especially whole wheat flour, it breaks down the phytates in them, aids mineral absorption and makes them softer and more digestible. Other than that, it is important to knead the dough well to develop whatever little gluten there is in the whole wheat flour. Also be careful while shaping the dough into a loaf and make sure that you do not tear the risen dough as this will tear the gluten “cloak” that would have developed. Do see this video which gives you an idea on how to shape bread loaves. (http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-shape-a-sandwich-loaf-o-108773 )
This bread is not really difficult to make though it requires a little bit of planning as the Soaker (at room temperature) and the Biga/ Sponge (refrigerated) have to be made and rested for at least 12 hours. After this they can be kept refrigerated for about 2 days before baking them into bread.
Aparna made a few changes to the original recipe and here a few reasons why she did it.

The first change was to use water to make the 'Soaker' instead of milk because she wasn’t comfortable leaving dough mixed with milk on the kitchen counter overnight because it might spoil in my tropical temperatures. However, milk contributes to the softness of bread, so she used milk instead of water in my Biga/ Sponge which would be refrigerated and so be safe.
Then she added a little vinegar to the Soaker and the Biga/ Sponge. Vinegar tends to increase the acidity of the dough which, within limits, helps gluten development and contributes to the “bready” texture. She also added a bit of Vital Wheat Gluten, but not too much (see further down in this post), and some oil. All these helped to make a 100% whole wheat loaf which she felt was better and softer in texture.

About which whole wheat flour to use, we don’t have much choice in this matter in India. If you can find it, use fine milled whole wheat flour, the real “Chakki” ground Atta and not the packaged stuff. Packaged Atta doesn’t give the best results for whole wheat bread but when one has to work with whatever is available, you can use it and bake a fairly decent whole wheat bread with it. I used the Pillsbury Gold whole wheat flour which I use to make chappathis, to make this bread.
You can make this bread without VWG as the soaking and the Biga/ Sponge and the honey and milk are all supposed to make it soft and give it a really good texture. (I comfortably avoided VWG :))

100% Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread
(Adapted from Peter Reinhart’s Whole Grain Breads)

Ingredients:
For The Soaker:
1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 to 1 cup water at room temperature
1 tbsp vinegar (apple cider or plain)

For The Biga/ Sponge:
1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 tsp instant yeast
3/4 cup milk (or a little more)
1 tbsp vinegar (apple cider or plain)

For The Final Dough:
All of the Soaker
All of the Biga/ Sponge
1 1/2 tsp Vital Wheat Gluten (optional)
1/2 to 3/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup whole wheat flour (and a few tbsp. more if required)
2 tsp instant yeast
1/8 cup oil (or melted butter if preferred)
2 tbsp honey

Method:

How to make Biga/Sponge
The recipe suggests to make the Soaker first, I did the other way round. I chose to knead the Biga/sponge, first as it keeps well for 3 days under refrigeration. The Soaker is left outside and once you prepare that, you need you work within 24 hours.

Mix all of the Biga/Sponge in a bowl and knead together well till a soft ball forms.Cover and refrigerate for at least 8 hours or overnight. This will keep for up to 3 days.





How to make the Soaker.
Mix all of the Soaker ingredients together in a bowl until all of the flour is hydrated.
Start using 3/4 cup water and then adding a little at a time, until you have the desired consistency. Cover the bowl loosely with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for 12-24 hours.




Two hours before you plan to mix your dough for the bread, remove the Biga from the refrigerator and allow it to come to room temperature. You might find your Biga rising a little during this time. Below is the Biga, resting in room temperature after 24 hours of refrigeration.




Both the dough, at a glance just before the final mixing up.




Divide the Biga and Soaker into small pieces (about 12 pieces each) using a sharp knife or scraper and put them in the food processor bowl (or stand mixer). You can knead this by hand too, but the dough will be tacky and a little difficult to manage. Do not be tempted to add more flour, when it is time to, than necessary.
Add the remaining ingredients for the dough, except the 1/3 cup flour and knead for about 3 minutes. I added the flour accidentally, but please don't do it :)




Let it rest for 5 minutes, then add as much flour as needed (if necessary) to the dough and knead for another 3-4 minutes. Your dough should now come away from the sides of the bowl but still be a little sticky but somewhat manageable. It’s really important to not add too much extra flour during this step.



Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and let rise until almost doubled (about 1 1/2 hours). I missed to click the picture of the first rise :(
Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and pat the dough out into a rectangle with a width that just a bit less than your loaf tin. See that you do not tear the dough. Roll it up and shape into a loaf.




Place your loaf in a greased and floured loaf tin (I used a 9” by 4” silicon bake ware. But I suggest to use a metal loaf tin)



and let it rise until it is just higher than your loaf tin. Bake the loaf at 180C (350F) for about 40 to 45 minutes until the top is a nice deep brown colour and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped.

If you are searching for those proper photos, I missed to capture both the risen dough in the bowl (first rise) and the well risen dough in the loaf pan (second rise) I clicked pictures in my mobile to send to my sis and drowned in the excitement I got confused and thought I clicked with my cam! Anyway, the above is an unedited, crude mobile shot :) as a proof to display the well risen dough. It rose quite fast and well!


How I served the bread!

Among all the bakes, I am an expert at and in the learning phases, whole wheat sandwich bread should be the one I should be regularly baking as it falls in our dinner menu. Toasted brown bread with white vegetable khurma and the red spicy khurma with an over load of whole spices and no vegetables. While children love the red dip and V vouches for the white one I enjoy the combination of the two! I left the slices un-toasted this time!

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Khaliat Nahal ~ Honeycomb Buns or Bees Hive Buns

This month, the We Knead to Bake Group got lucky to choose baking bread that can be made sweet or savoury. It is easy enough to make and what is unusual is that it is filled and then covered with a sugar syrup/ glaze which is typical of Middle Eastern confectionery.
Khaliat al Nahal (also known asKhaliat Nahal) translates as Bee’s Hive in Arabic. This is because the buns are baked close to each other in a round pan where they form a honeycomb like pattern. They’re traditionally made sweet and glazed with honey flavoured syrup, though savoury versions are also made.
This recipe makes 18 smallish buns, and if you want fewer you can halve the recipe to make about 9 or 10 buns. For half the recipe, use a 6” or 7” round cake tin to bake the Honeycomb Bread. You can also bake them individually in muffin tins if you prefer, except they would not have their characteristic “honeycomb” pattern.
Traditionally, the filling used in this bread is a small piece of plain cream cheese but here choice of filling is optional. You can make it sweet or savoury.

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Homemade Pretzels (Hard and Soft)

I wouldn't want to type this as the first liner. I dislike pretzels :). Hence I was down with some unusual laziness to lay my hands on them when Aparna announced for the "We Knead to Bake" group.
When it finally surpassed I decided to bake them. Both soft and hard.
Here I admit that I started loving them as any other breads of the year!
Homemade pretzels are simply great. The soft ones turned out perfect with the crispy outsides and the 'bready' insides while the hard pretzels stayed crunchy with a lovely burnt flavour!

The authentic German Pretzel, the Laugenbrezel, has a dark brown, crispy, salty crust, and inside a soft dough. It has a plump "body", and thin, crispy (not dry) crossed "arms." The Hard or Crunchy Pretzels are an American invention!

The story goes that one morning sometime in the late 1800s, a baker at the Munich Royal Café, was preparing some sweet pretzels for his guests. Instead of brushing them with sugar he accidentally brushed them with the sodium hydroxide solution being used to clean and disinfect the bakery countertops!Instead of binning his dough he went ahead and bake them anyway. The resulting pretzels came out of the oven with a unique brown crust, soft centre, and delicious taste.
There many stories about the shape too. A popular one is that the shape resembles a praying monk (back then the praying position was arms crossed with the hands on the shoulders).

The taste of the Pretzel comes from its dunking in the soda bath. Originally a solution of lye was used for this bath but lye is highly corrosive and needs to be handles with care. A baking soda solution works just as well, and once you’re done, pouring it down your sink will give help unclog the drain if necessary!
Pretzels are usually brushed with an egg wash after the soda bath and this is what gives them their characteristic shine. Then they’re sprinkled lightly with coarse/ sea salt crystals before baking them. I left out the egg wash and the salt sprinkle on my Pretzels, and you can do the same if you want to.
This is a good video to watch before starting on making the pretzels. It’s for making soft pretzels but the dough shaping and soda bath technique is the same.

Crunchy / Hard Pretzels
Adapted from Alton Brown’s recipe

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups warm water (about 40C or 110F)
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tsp active dry yeast
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (a little more if necessary)
2 tsp salt*
6 cups water
2 tbsp baking soda
Egg wash (1 yolk + 2 tbsp water whisked together) - optional
Pretzel salt or coarse salt crystals

*You might want to cut down on the salt a bit if you’re going to sprinkle salt on the pretzels while baking.

Method:



-->Put the warm ware, sugar and yeast in a bowl and mix. Keep aside for about 5 minutes or so until the yeast activates and becomes “frothy”.
-->Put this, the flour and the salt in the processor bowl and knead until you have a soft, smooth and elastic dough that is slightly sticky to touch, but pulls away from the sides of the bowl. If your dough feels too wet add a couple of tablespoons of flour to get the required consistency. I hand-kneaded the dough and it was extremely sticky that it was in high demand of flour :)
-->Shape the dough into a ball and place it in an oiled bowl, turning it to coat it well. Cover with a wet cloth of a cling film. I let it side in the 'pyrex' bowl used to froth yeast to save some washing time ;)
--> Let it double in volume. This should take about an hour or so.




Deflate the dough, so that almost all the air is removed. pinch out 1/4th of the dough placing the maximum 3/4th part in the chiller compartment of your refrigerator. If you are a beginner, it will take some time to shape the pretzels and this is to avoid fighting with the quick rising dough if kept inactive for minutes. Lightly flour your work surface and roll the dough out into a small cylinder. Then using a pizza cutter divide the dough into large marble sized balls.
Now lightly oil your palms and your work surface. If you add too much of oil you will not be able to roll out the dough into “ropes”. Flatten each square of dough and then roll it up as tightly as you can. Now place the “rolled” bit of dough on your work surface and using your hands, roll it out into a uniform “rope” of about 15” length. It will be thinner than a pencil.

  If the above pictorials don't do justice, please click here for the video that shows how to shape pretzels.

For 'sticks' and 'bites'
You can leave them as “sticks” instead of shaping them into pretzels. If you want them shorter, you can halve them. Remember baking time will differ depending on the shape of your pretzels. The baking temperature is the same whether you shape them into sticks or pretzels.
If you would prefer to make pretzel bites then do not roll the dough out into a square. Just divide it into 4 portions and then roll each portion into a “rope that is about 1” in diameter. Cut each rope into 1 1/2" bits. Roll each ball into a long rope about 1” in diameter. Cut each rope into 1 1/2" bits. Then proceed to boil them as given in the instructions below. Bake the pretzel bites at 210C (425F) for about 15 minutes.




Shape it into a pretzel and place it on a greased plate or sheet. Place the shaped dough on the greased plate/ sheet leaving about 1/2" space between them.
First prepare your baking sheets. It is a good idea to line them with parchment paper which is lightly brushed with oil. This makes them easy to remove after baking and also protects your baking sheets from the soda solution.
Now prepare the soda bath. Bring 6 cups of water to boil in a deep pan/ pot. Add the baking soda carefully. It will bubble up and froth a bit and then settle down. Using a slotted spoon or a spatula, gently slide about 5 to 6 pretzels, one at a time, into the bath. Let them cook on one side for 10 seconds. Flip them over and cook them for another 10 seconds. Do not cook them for more than 30 seconds in total, or your dough will become slimy. Remove the boiled pretzels with a slotted spoon and place them on the parchment lined baking sheets. If using the egg wash, brush it over the pretzels, and then sprinkle it with the salt.

Bake them at 180C (335F) for 40 to 50 minutes until they’re deep golden brown in colour and hard. Cool them on a rack and store them in airtight containers or they will become soft and chewy.

This recipe makes 36 hard pretzels.

 How does the soft pretzels differ from hard pretzels?

 I halved the original recipe and made soft and hard ones. The method is all the same for both. The soft pretzels demand a thicker rope and a bit of resting to rise while the harder ones are with thinner ropes and baked until browned a shade or two more. Thus the texture differs slighly in both. The recipe for soft pretzels or Laugenbrezels were adapted from here.

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