Greek Celebration Bread and Bagels

I have to say I am really enjoying this. There is something about making things from scratch that is so completely satisfying. It is almost addicting.

Greek Celebration Bread

This bread was quite fun to make and pretty darn easy. One of the best parts was how wonderful it smelled during the whole process. It was a good bread for the fall because it had wonderful ingredients like cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and all spice. I had no idea what is was going to look like because there was not a picture in the book. We all laughed pretty hard when we saw it.

Finished Loaf

I loved the delicious sweet glaze you put on it. It has lemon in it. We took the left over glaze and whipped it with some butter and slathered it on the bread.

It almost touched the roof of the oven!

     Just thought I would put it next to a sauce pan for comparison sake.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next week was bagels. Holy crap it was quite the job. I was surprised how labor intensive this one was. The main issue I had with this one was how tough the dough was. I always use my kitchen Aide to knead the dough but after smelling a burning smell from my machine I decided to do it by hand. I had to grab a small latter just so I could put more weight down on the dough by being higher.

  It took me quite sometime to get all the dry mixed into the dough. This is all my machine pretty much did. I seriously was sweating kneading this dough. It was a crazy workout.

Shaping the bagels was actually pretty fun. Thomas and Sam got to help and they did a great job. Sam made his pretty flat but it still turned out really good.

I notice the dough dried out really fast so I had to make sure I covered it with a damp cloth.

The next day I boiled and baked. I was really nervous they were not going to float like the are supposed to. But the did!

My favorite bagel at Einsteins is the everything bagel, so I decided to do some everything, some cinnamon, and some plain. On the everything I put sesame seeds, poppy seeds, garlic powder, salt and Parmesan cheese. Yummy!

The main problem I had with these is when I had to remove them from the wax paper. I don't know it anyone else had this problem. I think I needed to add more cornmeal because about half stuck!

  

So after I finished I said never again on bagels then we ate then and I thought well maybe:) They were delicious!

It Worked!!

I was so happy to see how well this dough rose! I actually was out talking to a neighbor and left it a little long I came back in and was shocked to see how big it got. I tried the whole window pane thing and it kept tearing. One day I will get it.

 Here is the loaf before it rose.

Here is my huge loaf! The other one was about the same size. I raised them in two different rooms to see if it made a difference. It is interesting because we don't have central air so our house says pretty warm. I think my dough raises faster then normal because of this.

Finished loaf! I LOVED the cornmeal dusted on it. I think it gave it an excellent texture. I like the taste best with it lightly toasted with some honey butter on it. I was worried the kids would not eat it because of the molasses flavor but I make them peanut butter and honey with it and they ate if fine. I was happy about that considering it made two loaves.

I think when I was making this loaf I wasn't as careful and got an air bubble in it. I will be more careful in the future.

Over all I am really happy with this loaf and am excited to do next weeks!
Happy Baking!
Heather

Anadama

Week One

Ok so I hope you all read the little story at the beginning of the Anadama Bread. Pretty Funny. So I started my soaker tonight. I am wondering if different brands of corn meal is going to make a difference. Here is the brand I got. Please share what you got so we can compare.

Here is the brand I got. Please share what you got so we can compare.  The recipe called for "preferably coarse" I really don't think the brand I got was all that coarse. Hopefully that won't make or break the bread. Probably just give it a small change in texture.

 Happy Baking!

     

      Heather

Here is the book the goal is to become master bread makers. We will cook one recipe a week and post our joys and frustrations of the process. Make sure to post pictures and most of all have fun. Don't forget to get your family involved on the process of baking and testing the deliciousness! We will start the first week of September. So order your book and do the reading at the beginning. If you do not want to purchase the book let me know I am MORE then happy to make copies or the reading and recipes and mail them to you! Enjoy