BBA Challenge: Bagels and Brioche

I'm doing a double post for the BBA Challenge this week since I managed to delay so long on posting my bagels! I've had them made but have been busy setting up my new computer, which finally came! Yay. So, on to bagels!

These bagels were delicious. I made two batches, one a mini test-batch with all-purpose flour and brown sugar, and one with hi-gluten flour and diastatic malt powder. The test batch actually came out better because I under-baked the final batch by a few minutes (darn!). They looked done on top, but...not quite. They were still really yummy with salami and soft cheese, or with lox and capers. Here are some photos of how I made the bagels:

Here's the sponge before (above) and after (below) rising.

And here I've added the flour...

...Only to have it explode all over my kitchen when I accidentally turned my mixer up too high!

Here are some balls of dough kneaded and ready to be shaped into rings:

And here they are as bagels!
Boiling bagels...
Here are some shots of the final product! Mmmmm, bagels...

Overall, I enjoyed making the bagels but I don't know if I'd make them again because they were an awful lot of work. The mini-batch was more manageable, so maybe I'd make a half recipe for a special occasion sometime...my mixer seemed to be able to better handle a smaller amount of dough anyway.

I also made brioche. For this recipe, PR offers three options, all with different amounts of butter. Since we had another rich bread coming up (Casatiello, which I'll post about next week), I decided to go for the Poor Man's Brioche, which has the least amount of butter (thought it's still pretty rich!). I thought the bread was buttery enough to eat plain, and it was also delicious with jam or Nutella. We gobbled up both loaves in no time, and I will definitely be making this one again sometime! I would also like to see what it's like as a pie/tart crust, as PR says this is a possible use for the recipe. I didn't get any shots of the "process" for this one, but here's a photo of the finished product (the slice of bread is spread with Nutella).

I'm sending this post off to this week's YeastSpotting, a weekly round-up of yeast-y goodies. I've gotten so many great ideas from this round up...I definitely recommend checking it out! New round ups go up on Fridays.

Berry-Peach Cornmeal Muffins

Coconut & Lime is holding a 5 year blogiversary contest--wow, 5 years! Very cool, and even more so because this is one of my favorite blogs. To enter, you just need to make a recipe from her blog and post it to yours! I chose her blackberry-cornmeal cake because we had some berries in the fridge that really needed to be eaten. I didn't end up having quite enough blackberries, so I added some raspberries and a diced peach. I also baked the cake in muffin cups, just 'cause. :)

These fruity muffins were really delicious! I love cornmeal in muffins because it adds such a nice sweetness and texture. The muffins are on the sweet side (since the recipe was originally a cake), but still appropriate for breakfast (in my sweet tooth opinion). They're excellent plain, but also spread with a tangy fruit curd.

Berry-Peach Cornmeal Muffins (adapted from Coconut & Lime, original recipe here)
Makes 12

1 cup flour, plus more for berries
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup cornmeal
2 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
5 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
8 oz mixed fruits (I used blackberries, raspberries, and a peeled, diced peach)

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and grease a muffin tin.
2. Whisk together the flour, sugar, cornmeal, and baking powder in a large bowl. Whisk together the eggs, buttermilk, and butter in a small bowl, and then very gently fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, mixing no more than necessary to combine.
3. Toss the fruits with flour to coat them lightly. Gently fold them into the batter, and then divide it among the muffin cups.
4. Bake the muffins until a tester comes out clean, about 20 minutes.

Pizza Night: Potato-Asparagus-Goat Cheese and Broccoli-Pepperoni

We had a great pizza night recently featuring two really interesting toppings. Above is pictured the broccoli-pepperoni variation. We had fresh broccoli from the garden, and it was amazing. You might want to use broccolini if you don't have it from the garden since it's a little more delicate. I steamed the broccoli briefly until just tender before topping the pizza.

Below is a really tasty potato-asparagus-goat cheese version. For this one, I didn't use tomato sauce and just spread a little olive oil on the crust. The pizza had excellent contrast between the creamy cheese, slightly crunchy but tender roasted asparagus, soft potatoes, and lemon juice for a little kick. Next time I think I would also roast the potatoes since I think roasting tends to lend a better flavor than steaming.

Potato-Asparagus-Goat Cheese Pizza (adapted from Bon Appetit)

1 recipe pizza dough (here are a few to choose from: Martha Stewart, Peter Reinhart, PR's Sourdough) Make enough dough for 2 medium or 1 extra large thin-crust pizza.
5 ounces Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into small cubes
1 bunch skinny asparagus (about 8 ounces), cut into 1 inch pieces
1 garlic clove, minced
3 T extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 ounces fresh goat cheese, crumbled
4 ounces mozzarella, grated
2 Meyer (or 1 regular) lemons

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Toss the potatoes and 1 T olive oil in a bowl. Season lightly with salt and pepper, and then spread on a baking sheet. Toss the asparagus and garlic with an additional 1 T olive oil, and season lightly with salt and pepper. Place the asparagus on another baking sheet. Roast both vegetables in the oven until tender and browned.
2. After you remove the veggies from the oven, turn it up to 500 degrees. Stretch out your pizza crust. Spread the remaining 1 T olive oil over the crust. Top with the veggies, goat cheese, mozzarella, and a generous squeeze of Meyer lemon juice.
3. Bake the pizza until the bottom crust is browned and the cheese is melted and bubbling. Serve with more lemon wedges to squeeze over the pizza.

Contest Winner

Thanks to all who entered my contest to win Desserts by the Yard by Sherry Yard. The winner is Jill of Jillicious Discoveries! Congrats, Jill! :) Please get in touch with me to let me know your address and I will mail the book to you.

Sourdough Potato Bread

I was really craving potato bread a couple of weeks ago, but let me tell you--it's really hard to find a recipe for soft potato bread that also uses sourdough starter! I wanted that sort of soft sandwich-y bread, but also wanted to use some of my starter. I ended up adapting a recipe for Discovering Sourdough, and it really hit the spot! The bread was easy to make and it had exactly the tender texture I was looking for, along with really excellent flavor and a wonderful crunchy crust. I added some instant yeast so I could make the bread fairly quickly and some vital wheat gluten to make sure everything was perfectly soft and fluffy even with some white whole wheat flour. Yum! I will definitely be making this bread again. I'm also sending it off to the one-year anniversary edition of YeastSpotting!

Sourdough Potato Bread (adapted from Discovering Sourdough)

1 cup (9 ounces) sourdough starter
11 ounces bread flour, more as needed
5 ounces white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup (4 ounces) mashed Yukon Gold potatoes
1/4 cup (2 ounces) potato water, more as needed
1/4 cup (2 ounces) milk
2 T vital wheat gluten
1 1/2 T brown sugar
1 1/2 T butter, melted and cooled
2 tsp instant yeast
2 tsp salt

1. Combine all of the ingredients except the salt in the bowl of your stand mixer. Stir until just incorporated. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and let rest for 20 minutes.
2. Add the salt and knead the dough with the dough hook until smooth and supple. Add more water or flour as needed so the dough just clears the bottom and sides of the bowl. Place in an oiled bowl and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk.
3. Punch down the dough and shape into a round or oval shape. Place on a parchment or foil lined baking sheet, cover, and let rise until again doubled in bulk.
4. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 450 degrees. When the dough is ready, slash the top and place in the oven. Bake at 450 degrees for 20 minutes, and then reduce heat to 400 degrees and bake for 10-15 minutes more until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.

Strawberry Frozen Yogurt

What to do with a big container of strawberries? Make ice cream, of course! Actually, this is a frozen yogurt from David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop. As you can see, it freezes up pretty perfectly after a couple of hours in the freezer, and it is really delicious. The yogurt adds a nice tang, and the strawberry flavor comes through very well. Summer in a bowl!

Although David recommends whole-milk French or Greek yogurt, I used a low fat Greek yogurt with no troubles. The frozen yogurt is great on its own, but I think it would also be really tasty with some shortbread cookies.

Strawberry Frozen Yogurt (adapted from David Lebovitz)
Makes 1 pint

8 ounces strawberries, rinsed, hulled, and sliced
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp vodka (I used grapefruit vodka as it's what I had on hand)
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
1/2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1. Put the strawberries in a bowl with sugar and vodka and gently stir to combine. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit for about 2 hours at room temperature. Stir the mixture every 30 minutes or so.
2. Pour the strawberry mixture into a food processor. Add the yogurt and lemon juice and pulse until smooth.
3. Pour the ice cream mixture into a 2-cup measuring cup, cover with plastic wrap, and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour. Freeze in your ice cream maker.

Artos: Greek Celebration Bread

Week 2 of the BBA Challenge brings Greek Celebration bread, an enriched bread with fruits and nuts. The original recipe added a bunch of spices, but I left them out since I'm not a huge fan of spiced breads (unless, of course, it's cinnamon raisin!). Instead, I added lemon zest (from 1 Meyer lemon--next time I'd add more), 2 ounces ground almonds, chopped dried pluots (a delicious gift from my Aunt Jane), and chopped whole almonds.

Overall, the bread was tasty but not my favorite style of bread. It definitely made a huge loaf, so I gave some away to friends. My favorite way to eat the bread was spread with Fromager d'Affinois, a soft French cheese similar to Brie, but with a more interesting flavor (in my opinion). It was also tasty with strawberry jam.