Red Beet Buns and Chocolate Espresso Whole Wheat Bread (3 of 42)

FIRST, I want to say how much I appreciate all the work and effort our fearless leader Michelle at Big Black Dog has put into organizing this Bread Braid.  She is the best.  BUT (with an intro like that you knew there had to be a BUT), when I read this assignment I had the same thought as everyone else —“WHAT WAS SHE THINKING?!?!?!?”  She specified that this assignment was to celebrate Valentine's Day!!  Really!!  I am not kidding!! 
I am sure that everyone else was as baffled as I was that she picked the least important of the four (4), count ‘em, four (4), major holidays that fell within the two-week span of this assignment. 
I can understand not choosing Groundhog Day, we all would have had to bake the same loaf of bread every day, over and over and over again.  But for the life of me I simply cannot understand how she could have chosen Valentine’s Day over the Super Bowl and the Daytona 500!  So, being a “better to light a single candle than curse the dark” kind of guy, I baked to celebrate those two holidays instead.
For the Super Bowl I used the Chocolate Espresso Whole Wheat dough to make the Chocolate Tangerine Bars.   The dough was a little harder to work with, as others have noted, but it rose OK for me and was tasty.  I really enjoyed the combination of flavors—the tart of the tangerine zest and craisins and the bittersweet chocolate chips--in these bars.

 

To go with them I made some Tangerine Fro-Yo, using the juice from the tangerine I zested for the bars, along with the juice and zest of another tangerine. 







With the left over Chocolate Espresso dough, I used my brand new dough presses for pocket pies (as soon as I saw Michelle's Pocket Apple Pies I had to order my own set of presses). 
I used the small press to make more of a cookie than a pie.  I filled some with jam and some with a few peanut butter chips.  They were OK, but a little dry.  I think they would have been better bigger, which would have allowed a better filling-to-dough ratio.  Michelle used the 5” press and 2 tablespoons of filling for her Chocolate Cherry Pocket Pies. 

I also made muffins, and worked  some raisins and peanut butter chips into the dough.  These rose well and were very good (how could they not be?).    

Finally, I treated the dough as I would to make a pita.  It did not puff up when it baked like a regular pita, but I was not really that surprised given the nature of the dough.  What I did get, though, was a nice flatbread, which I split, filled with some vanilla Fro-Yo, and made Fro-Yo sandwiches!

 

Then, on to the Beet Bread. 
But first a medical note, an homage to our Bread Braid doctor-to-be Joanne at Eats Well With Others:  it is probably not kidney failure, too many beets will just do that to you. 
I have only late in life come to a fondness for beets.  I attribute this to two things.  The first was a long ago stint on a diet that involved large doses of beets at what seemed to be every meal.  We used canned beets, and did not make it past the second day.  Which segues to the second factor, fresh beets make a huge difference. 
Not surprisingly, the dough for this bread was a surprising color.  With the shredded beets it was a little different consistency to work with, too.
We were tasked with using this dough to make buns.

In honor of The Daytona 500,  I gave mine numbers.  

You can see Mark Martin’s # 5 bun inside Bill Elliot’s #21, with the 77 of Sam Hornish and the 1 of Jamie McMurray pulled up tight in the draft.  As we all know, Jamie held off Junior to win the longest 500 in history.  

 A funny thing about beets.  It is surprisingly easy to overestimate the number you need to make half a batch of beet dough.  I roasted the extra beets at 400 degrees for about an hour, and with our beet buns, which I split and filled with crab salad, we also had borscht and warm beet and spinach salad.  (See medical note above.)

The buns were very good, with the flavor of the onion more noticeable than that of the beets.  They are also  good split and toasted for breakfast. 

And finally, for Michelle, here is a more or less heart-shaped beet bun for Valentine’s Day. 

HB in 5 Soft Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread (2 of 42)

Our mission this fortnight, should we choose to accept it, was to use the Soft Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread to make a sandwich loaf in a bread pan, some buns (hot dog or hamburger) and an Apple Strudel Bread.  I used egg substitute and canola oil to make my dough, and since this dough will only keep for 5 days I used my Bread Weight Converter Spreadsheet  to make half a recipe to start. 

First, I pulled off two four ounce pieces of dough to make 2 hamburger buns.  I formed them, let them rise.





Then I brushed them with egg wash  and topped them with a Kummelweck topping (equal parts salt and caraway seeds).  Then I baked them.





Once cool I sliced them and used them for blue cheese burgers.

 
I have made buns before with various AB in 5 dough in the past, but they were always a bit dense to my taste for a good hamburger bun.  These buns, however, were spectacular!  And Whole Wheat, too.
So, I made another batch of buns a couple of days later! 


I made these larger, and hence thinner, to accommodate my filling.  I suppose I could have used more dough per bun, but I wanted to stay within the quarter pound of dough range.    


I made blackened salmon fillets, based on Guy Fieri’s “Not Lackin' on the Blackenin' Catfish” recipe.  I blackened the fillets 2-3 minutes per side in a pretty hot cast iron skillet, then transferred the skillet to a 225 degree oven for 8-10 minutes to let the residual pan heat and carryover heat finish the cooking.  I topped the salmon with some guacamole, sliced red onion and  home grown sprouts and served it with green beans and green rice (brown basmati cooked in my rice cooker with some chopped cilantro and sautéed onion). 
My sandwich loaf baked in the loaf pan also turned out very well. 
 
My best-seller, however, was the Apple Strudel Bread. 
First, a word about hardware.  To grind the nuts I used “THE UNIFORM NUT MEAT GRINDER” that once belonged to my mother-in-law, Betty.  To core and slice the apples before chopping, I used the adjustable apple corer/slicer my daughter Katie gave me for Christmas. 









So, I used one of my oldest and one of my newest kitchen gadgets to make this bread.  


I spread the nuts and apples, along with the raw sugar, cinnamon and raisins on top of the rolled out dough (which, in the interest of full disclosure, was Whole Wheat Brioche rather than Soft Sandwich because I had Brioche dough that I needed to use).


I rolled it up, plopped it in a loaf pan,


and after rising and baking—voila!  It was wonderful. 

And that completes the second of the labors set for us in our pilgrimage through HB in 5.

New AB in 5 Baker (Bonus Feature)

Like many AB in 5/HB in 5 converts I constantly proselytize (some might say bore), encouraging  anyone who will listen, and some who would just as soon not listen, to try this great method of baking bread.  Although my efforts have met with some success, the one area I have failed utterly is with my three beautiful daughters, who have been more than happy to eat the fruits of my labors without having to labor themselves—UNTIL NOW!
My youngest, smartest, most beautiful, and now absolute favorite daughter Becca has become an AB in 5 baker.  Here is her first effort, a Rosemary Focaccia made from the AB in 5 Master Recipe.

Becca and her housemate Marissa are continuing to bake their way through their first batch of dough, and and plan to try the HB in 5 Master Recipe next. 
I am so proud.

HB in 5 Official Kick-off: Master Recipe (1 of 42)

First, the compulsory exercises.

For this Bread Braid we are making 1 Loaf of Bread, an Epi (wheat stalk) or Wreath shaped bread, and Spicy Whole Grain Snack Crackers using the Master Recipe.   I used a pound of dough to make a boule (ball) for my loaf.

I formed the dough in to a ball and let it rest and rise. Then I brushed it with water, sprinkled with mixed seeds, and baked it.  I always use parchment paper under the bread because I get too depressed and/or frustrated if the dough sticks to the peel.  I do sprinkle the parchment paper with cornmeal to give it a little more artisan feel, and if I remember I slide the bread  off the paper after 2/3 of the baking time so the bottom crisps a bit better on the stone. 

 

The loaf turned out very well, especially for a bread with so much whole grain.

I also used the dough to make a Wreath for Christmas Dinner.

I alternated the "leaves" in and out, but I think it would have looked better if I had only positioned them to the outside.

Finally, I made the Spicy Crackers.  I rolled the dough out directly on parchment paper, docked it with my trusty docking tool (which I got from a medieval torture supply store), and sprinkled it with chili powder and some mixed seeds.  Then I used a pizza cutter to cut the dough into crackers.  I baked these "as was" right on the parchment paper, rather than trying to move them to a cookie sheet as suggested in the recipe.  That process, to me, seemed a formula for extra stress and frustration. 

As the crackers baked they shrank away from  each other nicely. These were actually my second effort at the crackers, and I learned two things:  1) work with small portions of dough to more easily roll them thin enough, and 2) cut the crackers small, they crisp better. 

For the "freestyle" portion of the program I  used some of the dough to make pitas.

I always get a kick out of the way they puff up, and they are quick--no rising time and 5-7 minutes baking time. 

I used scissors to cut each pita in half around the equator, and then cut each half into 8 wedges.  I topped them with some crab salad (crabmeat, mayo, shredded Swiss cheese, finely chopped onion, roasted peppers and celery) and baked them for about 10-12 minutes at 350, until lightly browned.  My peeps ate these real good. 

On the subject of pitas, Jeff recently posted a recipe for pitas using a modified Master Recipe for Cornell Bread.  Although Jeff  uses the Cornell dough to make pitas, he also indicates that the Master Recipe works well for pitas, as I can attest, and that the Cornell Bread works well for loaves, just bake as for the Master Recipe.

Finally, I used the dough to make one other thing, but I am not quite sure what.  It was either a calzone or a stromboli.   According to Wikipedia, "[c]alzones are similar to stromboli but traditionally the two are distinct dishes. A common misconception is that the ingredients are the primary difference between the two. The ingredients are actually at the discretion of the chef. Although most strombolis are rolled [like a cinnamon roll], strombolis have also been known to be prepared like a calzone [folded], where the only difference is that a stromboli has the sauce inside of the folded crust, where the calzone is served with dipping sauce on the side."    In AB in 5 Jeff and Zoe cut slits in the top of their calzone but not in the top of their stromboli. 

Mine was folded like a calzone, with the sauce on the inside like a stromboli, so neither it nor I know what it was--but it was good.  I rolled out the dough in corn meal instead of flour.  I often do this with pizza crusts because it gives the crust a crunchy/chewy texture that is a nice change.  Then I docked it, though I would not do that again, at least not on the bottom.  It made the crust crisp, but allowed some leakage through the holes.  I layered it with ham, cranberry mustard (leftover homemade cranberry relish mixed with some Dijon and whole grain mustard) spinach, roasted red peppers and some Swiss cheese.

I baked it for about 25 minutes at 400.  

For other ideas on calzones (or stromboli) check out "Calzones for Lunch" at the AB in 5 website.   

And that, as they say, is all folks.  Please check out all the other things the rest of the group did with this dough by following the links at the Big Black Dog.  To me, the most amazing thing about these doughs is their versatility--there is almost no limit to what you can make with them.  So why not pick up a copy of HB in 5 and join us!