The Most Delicious Cinnamon Raisin Bread

Many years ago I made cinnamon raisin bread. I tried forming it in various ways. Truly, the complexity got out of hand. Ultimately, the bread didn't present well. It was delicious, but that's not enough. And so it happened that as I was writing that recipe into my bread cookbook that I've been creating for myself, I thought it needed revising. I wrote down how I thought the best way to make the bread might be, and wrote all that into the pages of my book in progress. The difficulty lies in photos. If I want to present photos of how the bread should look, and I have none, well. You see the problem here?

Cinnamon Raisin Bread

With that in mind, I opted to give my new and revised recipe a try. Thank heaven I did, because this version not only looks wonderful, it tastes like a slice of heaven, to boot. 

Cinnamon Raisin Bread

Cinnamon Raisin Bread

Makes 3 loaves

SPONGE:
1 cup milk
1 cup water
1/3 cup honey
- pinch salt
2 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon instant yeast

Warm the milk, water and honey to 105 - 115 degrees F. If it heats too much, allow the mixture to cool slightly. Pour this mixture into a large bowl, or the bowl of a heavy duty stand mixer with dough hook attachment. Whisk in the salt and bread flour and instant yeast and cover. Set aside for 45 to 50 minutes, or until the mixture has grown markedly and is covered in foamy bubbles.

FOR THE DOUGH:
1 stick unsalted butter (4 ounces), very soft
3 large eggs
2½ teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon instant yeast
2 - 3 tablespoons cinnamon
3½ to 4 cups more bread flour
--------
1 - 1½ cups raisins

DOUGH: Add the butter to the sponge and begin beating in with the dough hook or by hand with a wooden spoon. Add in the eggs and mix well, then the salt and cinnamon, yeast and 2 cups of the bread flour. Mix until well combined, with machine or by hand (turning out onto a floured surface when the dough becomes too stiff to beat by hand). Add in the remaining flour, ½-cup at a time, until the dough becomes a soft mass. Do not add more flour than needed to bring the dough together. Knead for 5 minutes more, by machine or by hand, then add in the raisins and knead a further minute or two to fully incorporate. Remove the dough hook and cover the bowl, or if kneading by hand, grease a bowl and set the dough in the bowl, turning once to grease both sides and cover the bowl. Let proof until doubled, about 60 to 90 minutes.

Grease three 8 x 4-inch loaf pans. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and lightly degas. Divide the dough into 3 equal portions. Flatten a portion into an approximate rectangle (see sidebar, left) and roll up tightly from the narrow end, tucking in edges as you roll to keep a neat roll. Set into a greased loaf pan. Repeat with the remaining 2 portions of dough. Cover and let rise until 1-inch above the pan rims. If desired brush with an egg wash. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake the loaves for 30 - 35 minutes, or to an internal temperature of between 195 and 200 degrees F. Turn out onto racks to cool completely before slicing.

NOTE: If desired, when flattening out the dough in preparation for rolling into loaves, you can mix 1/3 cup of granulated sugar with a half-teaspoon cinnamon and sprinkle a third of this mixture over each rectangle before rolling up into log shape. Proceed with rolling and set into pans, and proceed with rising and baking.

My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

My Bread Odyssey and Tribute to Mom

I love making bread. I've been making all our family's bread since back in the early 1970s, living in Guatemala. The only bread recipe I had at that time was my Mom's (and before her, Grandma's) bread that she made for Easter, Thanksgiving or Christmas, and sometimes, if we were lucky, other times as well. It was something I watched her make all through my young life, before marrying and moving to Guatemala. I don't believe she knew any other recipe for bread, but it was so exceptionally good that it made no difference. I adopted it as our daily bread, and we just never get tired of it - it's just that good. An enriched dough, with milk, butter, eggs and sugar, it rises beautifully, makes fabulous sandwiches, toast or French Toast.

My Kitchen Aid Mixer Bread

The late '80s and '90s

When we moved back to the States, I continued making Mom's bread, and over the years, made small changes; things that didn't change the great taste or texture. I used powdered milk, instead of scalding 3 cups of milk and waiting for it to cool. I used honey instead of sugar. I used whole eggs instead of just the yolks. And as bread flour became available, started using that. Then my new husband bought me a bread machine from DAK. I managed to halve Mom's recipe to use in the machine, but never liked how it baked in there, so after the machine's kneading and proofing, I'd form it and bake in the oven. Despite all that, the poor bread machine was so overworked that it died after 2 years! DAK's machine came with a little recipe booklet, and I adopted and adapted some of those recipes, changing them to suit and also baking in the oven. My Double Chocolate Bread and Herbed Onion Bread are results of my tinkering. And eventually, the gift of a Kitchen Aid Mixer had me revamping Mom's bread to using the mixer.

Herbed Onion Loaf

Then somewhere along the way, I found a book with some interesting bread recipes, and started trying some of them out. There were lots of them with additions like dried fruits, nuts, other flavorings and such. While they were delicious, most times the bread took forever to rise and often resulted in under baked loaves, despite following the recipes assiduously. I didn't know what was the problem.

The 2000s

Then in early 2014, my sister-in-law, Curator of Education at the Dacotah Prairie Museum in Aberdeen, SD, brought me a stack of cookbooks someone had donated to the museum. I started out with one of them and haven't looked back: The Bread Baker's Apprentice, by Peter Reinhart. I have come a very long way in my knowledge and understanding of bread, dough and how they work since then. My entire focus has shifted. Over the years, I have become so enamored with the different whole grain breads, finding out about long, slow rising periods and resulting enhanced flavor. I love anything that helps with eating more naturally, and using whole grains in bread is certainly better, in that sense. I have never entirely converted my husband. He loves white bread. 

During the next phase, and Reinhart's book, "Bread Revolution," while visiting the local health food store searching for malted grains, I got chatting with the store manager and he told me about a bread he was experimenting with, using a Tangzhong starter, and even printed his recipe for me. Finding that it was a white bread, I opted to set the recipe aside and finally, forgot about it.

Poilane Style Miche, from "The Bread Baker's Apprentice"

Since watching The Great British Baking Show/Bake Off, I have also learned a lot about bread making from Paul Hollywood's comments on the show, and also discovered that kneading "for 10 to 12 minutes" is not necessarily enough to got the dough to pass the "windowpane" test. For me, kneading a whole grained loaf requires up to 20 minutes of kneading time to pass the test. I discovered that this was truly the biggest difference to getting my breads to rise properly.

This past year, though I had gotten my husband to eat my whole grain breads, he has been suffering tooth problems and wasn't able to chew well. As thing deteriorated, and with his fear of COVID while going to a dentist, it got to a point where he truly couldn't chew. My hearty whole grain breads were inedible for him. I went back to a modified version of my Mom's bread, adding just a little whole wheat, slightly less butter and sugar. It worked.

2021 - Full Circle

My husband and I were watching Paul Hollywood's program, City Bakes, and we came to where he spends some time in Japan. After lamenting that Japan really isn't known for bread, he comes across some bakeries, and discovers Japan's Shokupan, or Milk Loaf. Hearing Paul describe the method of making this bread, I exclaimed, "That's the kind of bread that guy in the health food store in Aberdeen gave me the recipe for!"

The whole thing about this type of bread is the "starter," for want of a better word. It is not a sourdough, but it is a pre-mix that helps the dough retain moisture and gives this bread a pillowy soft texture. I decided to try it out, mainly for my husband (who had the offending teeth pulled and is still needing soft food). I went online and searched. Surprisingly, while there were quite a few recipes for Japanese Milk Bread, not many of them actually used the pre-starter, opting to omit that step. This made me wonder why one would even call it by that name? 

Apparently there are two methods to this bread's starter. According to Chopstick Chronicles, The Tangzhong method uses a starter that is 5 parts liquid to one part flour. This is cooked to 150 degrees F, cooled and the dough is made and baked as usual. The Yudaine method, uses a 1:1 ratio of flour to water, simply pouring boiling water over the flour and mixing to a dough-like consistency and refrigerating overnight. The bread is made the following day (though she does say it is possibly to make the bread after only a couple of hours of resting the starter.

Yudaine Shokupan from Chopstick Chronicles

I actually made this recipe from Chopstick Chronicles as my second attempt (since it called for an overnight rest for the starter and I wanted one to make right away!) and it also came out beautifully, though I also had to add a little more water (10 grams) to the starter (to counteract this Arizona dry climate). The actual recipe, for just one loaf, is a far smaller recipe, but comes out equally well.

I wanted to make a batch right away, so I opted first to try a recipe by Julia Moskin in the Cooking section of the New York Times. She makes the Tangzhong starter, but then divides the starter in half, using only one half of it, leaving the rest for another loaf. I opted to just double the bread recipe and use all the starter. She also uses a fair amount of sugar and yeast, so I lowered those amounts. Adjustments were needed in her recipe: the dough is described as very wet and too difficult to be kneaded by hand. Mine came out so stiff there was no way it was going to be a soft bread. I added a full 1/2 cup more of both water and milk to proceed; this could be that I live in Arizona - most recipes require more liquid. This is what I did:

Tangzhong Milk Bread

Tangzhong Milk Bread

Makes 2 loaves

STARTER:
120 grams water: 1/2 cup
120 grams milk: 1/2 cup
45 grams bread flour: about 1/3 cup

In a small saucepan, whisk these ingredients until smooth, then over medium heat, cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens slightly and is still pourable. Pour the starter into a bowl and place cling film directly onto the surface to prevent it forming a skin as it cools. Cool to room temperature before proceeding. 

CAVEAT: If the mixture is too stiff, add in a second 120 grams of liquid.

For the DOUGH:
1 large egg
650 grams bread flour (about 5 cups)
30 grams granulated sugar (about 3 tablespoons
10 grams instant / quick-rise yeast (1 tablespoon)
8 grams salt (about 1 teaspoon)
60 grams unsalted butter, at room temperature, soft (4 tablespoons)
-------
(1/2 cup milk - if the dough is too stiff)

Dough like stiff batter

Pour the starter mixture into the bowl of a heavy duty stand mixer and add in the remaining ingredients, except the last half cup of milk. Start the mixer on lowest speed until mixture is combined, stopping to scrape down if needed. At this point the dough should be quite loose. If it is not, add in the half cup of extra milk and again mix slowly until combined. Now, raise the mixer speed to 4 or 5 and mix for 20 minutes. The very loose dough should instead be nearly a stiff batter (see photo). Scrape the dough into a greased bowl, then lightly oil the top. Cover well and set aside to rise until doubled, 40 to 60 minutes.

Grease two loaf pans, approximately 9 x 5 inches. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and punch down well. The dough will be very springy and yet easy to handle. Divide into two equal pieces, by weight. Cover them well and let rest for 15 to 20 minutes. This helps to relax the dough, slightly.

Further divide one piece of the dough into two equal pieces, by weight. Roll out one piece into a rough rectangle about 6 x 10 inches. With the shorter edge towards you, fold in each side to the center, slightly overlapping. Start rolling up the dough tightly, keeping edges neat as possible. Pinch the last edge to seal and set into one end of one of the greased loaf pans, seam side down.

Repeat with the other half of this section of the dough and set into the opposite end of the same loaf pan, seam side down. 

Do the same thing with the other half of the dough, dividing into two equal pieces, rolling out, tucking in sides, rolling and setting into each end of the second loaf pan. Lightly oil the tops of the dough, then cover with cling film and set aside to rise. The dough will be ready to bake once it reaches the top of the pans, about 45 minutes. If desired, and for a very deep colored and shiny top, brush the tops of the loaves with an egg wash made of 1 yolk and 1 tablespoon water.

Have oven preheated to 350 degrees F. Bake the loaves for about 30 to 40 minutes. If you have an instant-read thermometer, internal temperature should be between 95 to 105 degrees F. Turn out and allow to cool completely before slicing. Bread will be exceedingly soft. Unless you have a very sharp bread knife, do not try to cut the bread on the same day. With a good, sharp bread knife, use a back and forth sawing motion, very gently, with no pressure, to cut without crushing the bread.

My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Another Variation of the Soda Bread Theme

Just in time to experiment for St. Patrick's Day, coming up in a couple of weeks, I have tried out yet another Soda Bread.

Oat & Whole Wheat Soda Bread

Before ever trying to make soda bread, I had only ever heard negative comments on it. That it was very dry, or too heavy, or flat, or any number of other unfavorable comments. With that as its recommendation, why would anyone choose to make it?

And then, I got interested. I am ever curious about how things originated. What was the reasoning for making this kind of bread? Some years back, I decided to make soda bread, so I went online to search for information. In most places one sees soda bread recipes, either on TV or online, it is made with pure white, all-purpose flour, has eggs, sugar, butter, raisins and who knows how many other things in it. And I wondered . . .  Because Ireland had been a poor country, and sometimes subject to famine, why would this enriched type of "soda bread" be touted as their bread? I went searching online again, delving further, and was enlightened in oh, so many ways! Rather than go into all this again, and spend time up on my soapbox again, please refer to my first soda bread recipe, here, where I went into more detail on the whys behind the bread.

But in the meantime, over the past many years, I have been more and more interested in whole grains, nuts and seeds, and using them in breads of all description. I have always preferred whole, heavier and denser breads, though some of my tries and experiments nearly exceeded my own tolerances. There has been a learning curve in both making and eating. Also, I have learned that in many countries, where ovens were not at all common, barring a communal oven sometimes only fired up once a month, a yeasted bread was only made at that one time and had to last. Meaning, of course, that the bread dried out completely, and a saw was needed to cut off chunks, which were used as a thickening for soups and stews, as there was no way to have it safely eaten, hard as a rock as it was. With that knowledge, I wondered if something similar was done in Ireland? I got no real answer to that. But I did learn a lot more about soda bread.

Oat & Whole Wheat Soda Bread

Since that foray into all things to do with Irish Brown Bread, I have altered the recipe myriad times and in myriad ways. I have used freshly ground whole grain wheat, oats (whether old fashioned oats, minute oats or steel cut oats), whole grain barley flour, sprouted grain flour, rye flour and possibly others. Through all these recipes and experiments I have kept one constant: I use some all-purpose flour and some cake flour. Why, you might ask?

Oat & Whole Wheat Soda Bread

The reason the Irish went to a soda bread rather than a yeast-risen bread is that their flour was too "soft." Meaning their whole grain flour did not have sufficient gluten in the grains to allow the yeast to work. In this sense, cake flour is perhaps one of the "softest" of flours. Making bread with cake flour would likely be a catastrophe, though I have not tried it. My reasoning was that these flours would make the resultant mixture less suitable for yeast rising; conversely, more apt to work well with baking soda. I have no scientific basis for these statements, only my own experiences.

To date, my only concession to using eggs or butter in a supposed "soda bread," was when I tried to approximate the bread we ate at an Irish restaurant in Las Vegas, which was exceptionally good. I am happy to say I did make that one a few times, it is that good. I called it Whole Wheat Oatmeal Soda Bread. It is also the only soda bread I have made in a loaf pan, rather than as a freestanding loaf. Otherwise, any upstanding Irish person would likely have said, why waste butter IN the bread, when it was going to be used to put ON the bread when they ate it. Ever frugal, and the notion of wasting eggs in the bread or, horror or horrors, making the bread with beer, when it could have been used to drink, was unthinkable!

In an attempt to increase the use of oats, being one of my favorite of grains, I tried out another new recipe yesterday and it was delicious as well. And without any further ado, this is that recipe:

Oat & Wheat Soda Bread

Makes one loaf

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Have ready a heavy baking sheet lined with parchment.

Grind the steel cut oats (regular, long cooking variety) lightly in a blender or food processor.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the first 7 dry ingredients and whisk briefly to distribute the ingredients. Pour in most of the buttermilk and the molasses and stir, until it is no longer possible. Turn the mass out onto a greased surface and lightly "knead" (flatten, fold, turn, flatten, fold) two or three times to bring the mixture together. If the dough needs more liquid, add in the remaining buttermilk. If it is too wet, add in up to ¼-cup more of flour to firm up. Form the dough into a tight, high-domed ball and set onto the prepared parchment lined baking sheet. With a very sharp knife, cut an "X" across the top, at least 1-inch deep. This will flatten the loaf considerably from the little ball shape. Place in the oven and time for 50 to 55 minutes. Internal temperature should be at least 200 degrees. Allow to cool completely before cutting.



My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Making Bread is So Satisfying

I was testing bread recipes a couple of weeks ago, wanting to have some breads on hand over the holidays. One of these was the result of an accident. I made the wrong kind of starter for a recipe I intended to make. Then I was stuck with the starter and wondering what to do, and a though occurred, so I pursued this thought and it came out lovely and delicious!

Italian Style Bread as loaves

The accidental starter was a Poolish Starter, which is rather thin and runny in comparison to some others like Biga or Pâte Fermentée, both of which are more like a bread dough themselves. A Poolish is like some sourdough starters in consistency, which starts out like thick pancake batter and after fermentation turns out in long sticky strands. It generally uses an almost equal amount by weight of flour and water, with a little yeast to get the process going. The difference between a Sourdough starter and a Poolish is that the Sourdough is truly fermented and over time becomes soured. How sour it stays will depend on how much flour and water is added to refresh the starter. The Poolish on the other hand, is only just allowed to rise once, refrigerated, then used within 3 days. Its souring effect is mostly nil, but the pre-fermentation and then the cold storage unlocks a lot of flavors that would not be available to the bread if just made in a one day process.

Okay, so that is an explanation of what a Poolish does. Here is the recipe for a Poolish, enough for the Italian Style Bread recipe, below:

Poolish Starter

Makes about 23 ounces 

Make at least one day ahead

11.25 ounces unbleached bread flour
12 ounces water, room temperature
¼ teaspoon instant / rapid rise yeast

Stir the three ingredients together until all the flour is moistened. Cover the bowl with plastic film and set aside at room temperature until it is bubbly and about doubled, about 3 or 4 hours. Refrigerate the Poolish overnight or for up to three days.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Italian Style Bread as Rolls

To make the Italian style bread out of this Poolish simply requires bringing the Poolish to room temperature on the day of making the bread, and then adding in the ingredients to make the final dough. Quite simple. Truly delicious. I have been mostly making whole grain breads for our general consumption, but some of our guests over the holidays do not care for the whole grain breads. From this bread recipe it is possible to get two long, freestanding loaves or 16 individual rolls of about 2.5 ounces each.

Italian Style Bread

Makes 2 long loaves or 16 rolls


All the Poolish starter
11.65 ounces / 330 grams / 2½ cups bread flour
0.20 ounces / 5 grams / 1½ teaspoons salt
0.15 ounces / 3 grams / 1 teaspoon instant yeast
0.5 ounces / 1 tablespoon olive oil
4 ounces <2 tablespoons / 3.5 ounces water

Windowpane Test

The day of making the bread, remove the Poolish from the refrigerator at least an hour ahead, or more, to take off the chill. Pour all the Poolish into a large bowl, then add in the flour, then add the salt to one side and the yeast to the other side. Pour in the olive oil and begin stirring, adding in the water to bring together. Use a wooden spoon at first, switching to hands once it becomes too difficult to stir. It may help to moisten hands while working with the dough. Once the mixture begins to come together in one mass, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and begin kneading for about 12 minutes, or until the dough passes the windowpane test as shown here. Taking a small piece of dough, stretch it gently until light can be seen through the thinned dough, without breaking or tearing. If it tears easily, knead some more, until this is achieved.

Oil a clean bowl and set the kneaded bread into the bowl, turning over once to leave both sides of the dough greased. Cover with plastic film and set aside to rise until just about doubled in size, about 2 hours, depending on ambient temperature. A finger lightly pressed into the risen dough should leave a small indent that still springs back - not completely, but mostly.

FOR LOAVES: Turn the risen dough out and lightly degas. If making two long loaves, divide the dough evenly into two pieces using a dough cutter. Flatten one half into a rectangle, then begin rolling up tightly, tucking either end in slightly as you roll. Once you reach the other edge, pinch the seam together, then set onto a large parchment lined baking sheet, on one side. Roll the second piece of dough and set at least 4 inches apart from the first loaf on the baking sheet. Mist with oil and cover with plastic film. Allow to rise again until almost doubled in size.

Have the oven preheated to 500 degrees. Have a heavy oven safe pan set on the broiler rack, and the other rack set so the bread is at about the center of the oven. Have 1 cup of hot water ready. When bread is ready to bake, slash the loaves twice lengthwise. Set the pan on the lower rack in the oven and pour the cup of hot water in the pan on the broiler rack. Immediately lower the oven temperature to 400 degrees and bake for 25 to 30 minutes. The bread should be nicely browned and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom. Internal temperature should be at least 200 degrees F.

Italian Style Bread in Knots

FOR ROLLS: Degas the dough slightly, then begin measuring out pieces of dough of about 2.5 ounces apiece, or if gauging by eye, cut into 16 equal pieces. Form into taught balls for round rolls or form into taught torpedo shapes, setting the rolls onto a large, greased baking sheet or two as needed (or line the sheets with parchment). I formed my rolls into "knots."

To make "knots," roll each piece of dough into a long, 10 or 11-inch length rope. Begin to tie a regular knot by looping the ends round each other. There should be room in the center of the loop created. Take the two ends and loop each around the circle once more, so one end sticks out the bottom and one loop sticks out of the top. Set each finished knot onto the prepared baking sheet, leaving at least 2 inches between rolls. Allow the rolls to rise until nearly doubled.

Have the oven heated to 375 degrees with a rack towards the center of the oven. If desired use an egg wash to make the surfaced shiny. Combine one egg with a tablespoon of water and whisk briefly to combine. Using a pastry brush, carefully paint the tops of the rolls with the egg wash, being careful the wash does not run underneath the roll or it will glue itself to the pan.

Bake the rolls for approximately 15 minutes, or until golden and sounding hollow when tapped on the bottoms.



My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Guatemalan Pan Dulce

I spent 12 years in Guatemala, from age 20 to 32. It has been 38 years since I returned to the U.S. In all that time, I have wished for the knowledge of how to make the Pan Dulce (also called Pan de Manteca) that was available down there fresh daily, usually delivered door to door by a guy on a bicycle with a huge basket of these breads attached to his handlebars.

Pan Dulce

For those who do not know anything of pan dulce, it directly translates as "sweet bread." In reality, the term more aptly applies to enriched breads, or ones whose recipes call for using lard / shortening / butter, eggs, sugar and sometimes vanilla - not all together. These are also sometimes referred to as "Pan de Manteca," manteca meaning shortening (or lard or butter). This descriptor of "pan dulce" is to mark the difference from pan frances. "Pan Frances" is translated to French Bread, which, of course, is simply a mix of flour, water, salt and yeast. Bread at its most basic, and no less delicious, for the lack of the enriching ingredients.

These enriched breads are all made as individual serving breads, all smaller, not much more than 2 ounce bits of goodness. As the vendors would ride up to the house, honking their little bicycle horns to announce themselves, we would rush out and select the bread assortment for the day. The assortment could consist of 10 different varieties of bread or more. What fantastic variety. 
 

Finding Recipes

So it has been that over the years I have occasionally looked through the internet in hopes of an inkling into what, exactly, constituted a recipe for some of these sweetened, enriched breads. I had a recipe for a roll dough that seemed like it could easily be used to make molletes. The only thing lacking was the little sugary topping part. I finally found, after a lot of searching, a mixture that worked for that sugary topping, and I made what, for all intents and purposes, were molletes, and I was ecstatic.  

Champurradas

Somewhat earlier, I had found a recipe for some cookie-like "breads" called Champurradas, and I measured out and recorded ingredients for what I had done. These "breads" were never very sweet, at least not in Guatemala. They are not a cookie, as we know cookies. Yet nowadays, as I was looking through all the (now available) recipes for champurradas, they are always termed "cookies" and always have a LOT of sugar in them, very unlike what I knew in Guatemala. Still, I wasn't completely happy with my previous champurradas recipe. They didn't taste exactly right. And so, I went about changing the recipe to one which, now, I am totally happy with. Great for dunking into coffee or hot chocolate. Yummy.

Another one of the breads that was a personal favorite out of all the amazing variety, were called Shecas (also spelled Xecas, with the "x" making the same "sh" sound, and also known as Semitas or Cemitas). Even 5 years ago, I was completely unable to find even a mention of these breads on the internet, much less a recipe (or two for comparison). Over the intervening years the availability of all things on the internet has bloomed and now there is so very much available that it is hard to even recall a time when all this was only a distant dream. And as small a country as Guatemala may be (about the size of Tennessee, and most of it rural - REALLY, REALLY rural), suddenly it is being overrun with tourists and so much has become available, be it just photos, travel blogs or recipes and videos, even from outlying places as far off as Coban. Truly amazing. 

Shecas

Shecas

And with all this, I have finally gotten a recipe for the Shecas I craved all these years, along with so many others. I have been baking daily for over a week now, and to date have made Shecas, Pan Tostada (made into different shapes: Pan de Churro, Hojaldras and Rosquitas), Campechanas and Lenguas (these last two from the same dough, but different styles), Pan de Yemas (aka Pan de Fiesta). I remade the molletes and champurradas to a better, more authentic style (and updated the recipes in those blogs to reflect the changes that made them far tastier). For today, I am setting out my own recipe for Shecas, at long last. Shecas call for "rapadura", or "piloncillo," as the sugar, these being a solid version of sugar before it has gone on to be refined into white sugar. It is usually grated. I had none of this available, and for the sake of ease for others making these, used a mix of brown sugar and molasses.

There are not a lot of recipes for Shecas out there available, and most are similar. But. The recipes are very poorly written, often omitting amounts, or giving amounts some in grams, some in cups, with no happy medium to follow. One called for 3 TABLESPOONS of baking powder! I don't think so!!! A lot of the work this past week was determining the exact amounts to make these breads turn out well. Any of the yeast breads can be made into bun-like breads, fit for any meal or occasion. Thanksgiving is coming up shortly, and whether you have Guatemalan memories, or just want something new, I hope you may give some of these recipes a try.

Shecas / Xecas

Makes 20 individual breads

In a bowl combine the first 6 dry ingredients, whisking together; set aside. In a large mixing bowl, combine the lard and molasses, then slowly stir in the water. Stir in about half the dry mixture, stirring well, then add in the remaining dry ingredients and mix well, converting to hands once mixture is too thick for a spoon.

Dough passes windowpane test

The mixing can be done in a heavy duty stand mixer, if preferred. If kneading by hand, turn out to a greased surface, and with hands also well greased, knead the dough for 15 to 20 minutes or until it passes the windowpane test, shown here. The gluten should have developed sufficiently so that when a small piece of dough is pulled out between two hands, the dough stretches enough to see light through, without tearing. 

Grease a clean bowl and set the dough in, turning once to grease both sides. Cover with a towel or plastic film and set aside to rise until nearly doubled, about an hour.

Forming Shecas with topknot

Turn the dough out onto a clean, greased surface and divide the dough into 20 equal balls of about 1.5 ounces or 44 grams each. Set a bowl out with flour in it for dusting and rolling. With each of the little balls of dough, roll each piece of dough into a nice, tight ball, then follow the sequence pictured above:

1. Using the side of your hand, roll one side of the dough into two distinct areas, rather like a bowling pin. The larger end will be the body of the roll and the smaller end will be the topknot, just like as for brioche. 
2. Lift the dough by the smaller ball end and stand upright.
3. Pinch around the "neck" of the smaller ball and begin pressing the small ball downwards, setting it deeply into the larger ball.
4. Finished and formed "Sheca."

Formed dough dredged in flour and set to rise

As each roll is formed with its topknot, dredge it in the bowl with plain flour to coat well. Set the rolls, well apart, onto a greased baking sheet.  Cover lightly with a sheet of plastic film and allow to proof for about 30 minutes.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Once rolls have grown to not quite twice their size. Bake them on a middle rack for 25 minutes, until nicely browned.





My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Revisiting an Old Bread Recipe

Sometimes, I go back and take a look at an old recipe, seeing it with more current eyes. In this case, a Multi-Grain and Seed Bread recipe I created in 2013, that, outside of the grains and seeds, was all white flour. Since these past years I have been grinding my own grains for bread and other recipes, I have looked at substituting whole grains here and there, whenever possible.

So it came about that I decided yesterday to update this old recipe, one that I have wanted to post here in my blog for some time. For one thing, I have been trying to get very comfortable with weighing my ingredients instead of only measuring by volume. It gives consistently better results, and is easier for others to get the same results. 

Multi Grain and Seed Bread

I was already planning to make another bread recipe (which I did today) from another of Peter Rheinart's books, "Whole Grain Breads." Most of the recipes in this book (if not all) require at least 2 days to make, first making a pre-ferment such as a Biga, or refreshing my old starter and getting that going to be ready a day ahead. Other things, such as soakers (soaking the grain, or crushed grain, flour, seeds, etc) also require an overnight time period. The actual bread is made the following day. The pre-ferment and pre-soak are what unlock the flavors inside the grain, giving the final bread a tremendous boost in flavor. I started the Biga and Soaker yesterday and made that whole grain bread today, and it's still cooling so I have yet to taste it.

Yesterday though, while I already had the whole wheat freshly ground (and sifted to remove some of the coarser bran flakes for Rheinart's recipe), I opted to use only half the white bread flour called for in my old multi-grain recipe, substituting the freshly milled whole grain flour for the rest. The bread came out amazingly good. Just as soft and delicious as the all white flour version of old. I also measured everything out in grams, to have those measurements at hand. Here is my result:

Multi Grain and Seed Bread

Makes 2 or 3 loaves 

Multi Grain and Seed Bread

280 grams sifted whole wheat flour (about 2 cups)
325 grams bread flour (about 2¼ cups)
120 grams Bob's Red Mill 7-grain hot cereal, uncooked (¾ cup)
1 packet instant yeast, 7 grams
120 ml olive oil (½ cup)
7 grams salt (1½ teaspoons)
595 ml warm water (2½ cups)
30 ml honey (2 tablespoons)
68 grams raw sunflower seeds (½ cup)
55 grams unhulled "brown" sesame seeds (6 tablespoons)
4 grams gluten (2 teaspoons)

Heat the water to just warm and add in the multi-grain cereal, the oil and the honey and set aside to soak while gathering the dry ingredients.

If using a heavy duty stand mixer, place all dry ingredients into the bowl of the mixer, attach the dough hook, pour in the liquid mixture and start on very low speed to combine ingredients, then increase speed to 2 or whichever speed will knead the dough properly for 10 to 12 minutes. Remove dough hook and allow to rise until about doubled in bulk, about 1½ hours.

If mixing by hand, place all dry ingredients into a large bowl and add in the liquid mixture, stirring at first to bring together. Turn out onto a clean, greased surface and knead for 12 minutes until the dough is elastic and smooth. Set into a large greased bowl to rise as above.

Once risen, turn the dough out of the bowl onto a very lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into two or three equal parts. 

For two loaves: Prepare either a long French bread pan with room for two loaves or a large baking sheet by spraying with cooking spray and sprinkling with cornmeal, or wheat or oat bran. Form the dough halves into long, thin loaves and set onto prepared pan. If using a baking sheet, place the loaves lengthwise, and well separated. Allow to rise again for about 45 minutes in a warm place, until nearly doubled in bulk. Heat oven to 375 degrees (350 on Convection). If desired, using a very sharp knife or a baker's lame, make diagonal slashes on top of the loaves. Bake the loaves for about 25 - 30 minutes, or until golden and have reached an internal temperature of at least 195 degrees F.

For three loaves: Prepare either a baking sheet to accommodate three very narrow, thin baguette loaves, or three loaf pans by greasing and sprinkling with wheat bran or cornmeal. Set the narrow baguette shapes at least 3-inches apart on a baking sheet. Or, make loaf shapes and set into the pans. Let rise until just about doubled in size. Slash the loaves if desired, using a bakers' lame or a very sharp knife, then set into the preheated oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, checking the internal temperature for doneness. 


My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

A Love of Whole Grain Bread

Over the years, I have come to love whole grain breads more and more. I am even beginning to get my husband to at least tolerate or like them. So, when we were recently in Las Vegas, we happened upon an Irish Pub called "Ri Ra" and they served us a soda bread that was just so good I could hardly credit its flavor or moistness. My husband was quite taken with the bread also, and I asked about the recipe. The server said the chef would not divulge the recipe, but he said he knew for sure that they used whole grain wheat, rolled oats, honey and eggs.
 

Whole Wheat Oatmeal Soda Bread

I took this as a personal challenge.

As soon as I got home, I attempted a loaf. It came out quite well, but we both felt it needed to be just a little sweeter, and from the photos I took of the bread at the Pub, mine definitely needed more oats. Back to the drawing board. 

Whole Wheat Oatmeal Soda Bread

My second attempt, only a couple of days after making the first (if the first loaf wasn't perfect, neither was it inedible 😉), came out quite a bit better. I may, or may not do any more tweaking of the recipe, because this second loaf was quite lovely and very, very good. 

You have to like whole grains, for sure, but I do feel this is a loaf worth trying, most particularly if you have the ability to grind your own wheat. I am not sure it would be remotely as good if you bought pre-ground "whole wheat" flour. I have repeatedly found what a difference it makes to be able to grind my own wheat (or rye, or Kamut, or buckwheat, or anything else), versus buying pre-ground "whole-grain" flours. I put those words in quotes, because I have read that factories grind wheat into white flour, separating out all bran and germ, then only add back in what they estimate is needed to recreate a "whole-grain" flour for commercial sale. That really gripes me. While grinding my own grains at home means I will have a more "grainy" (pardon the pun) loaf, then so be it, but the flavor factor goes up by miles. 

Whole Wheat Oatmeal Soda Bread

Whole Wheat Oatmeal Soda Bread

Makes one loaf 

1 cup old fashioned rolled oats (85 grams)
1½ cups buttermilk (350 ml) 
2¼ cups whole wheat flour (300 grams)*
¼ cup all-purpose flour (33 grams)
2 teaspoons baking soda (15 grams)
½ teaspoon salt (3 grams)
2 large eggs
4 tablespoons honey (60 grams)
3 tablespoons melted unsalted butter (42 grams)
1½ tablespoons flax seeds (18 g), optional
1½ tablespoons raw, hulled sunflower seeds (15 g), optional

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a 9 x 5 x 2½-inch loaf pan.

Stir together the buttermilk and oats and set aside for about 15 minutes or so, while preparing the other ingredients. 

In a large bowl, whisk together the whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking soda and salt. Combine the melted butter and honey and add to the bowl, along with the buttermilk-oatmeal mixture and eggs. Stir until all dry ingredients are moistened. Pour into the prepared loaf pan and bake the loaf for approximately one hour, or until the internal temperature reaches 200 degrees, using an instant-read thermometer. Set the pan to cool for 10 minutes before turning the loaf out onto a rack to cool completely before slicing.

*Note: If desired, substitute ⅔ cup (50 g) white rye or plain all-purpose flour for part of the whole wheat flour. This would make the amount of whole wheat flour to be 250 grams.


My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Pain de Campagne

Pain de Campagne is French for a "Country Loaf." It was made in days past with sourdough or other type of starter, lacking commercial yeast, but these days can be made any which way you prefer. Often, this bread is made with a Pâte Fermentée, or pre-ferment (a dough stirred up and pre-fermented before actually making up the final dough). A sourdough starter could also be used, though sourdough starters, at least in home use, are often much thinner mixtures. This would require that the sourdough be mixed up into a dough-like consistency as the pre-ferment.

The other defining characteristic of a Pain de Campagne is that it uses at least a small amount of whole wheat and/or rye flour along with the white flour. I chose to use rye.
 

My Pain de Campagne, in loaf form

What is Pâte Fermentée?

Pâte Fermentée is nothing more than a bread dough, usually a French Bread dough using simply flour, yeast, water and sometimes salt. The mixture can be fermented, then used whole or in part. Part can be made into French bread, and some held back to use as the Pâte Fermentée for another batch of bread, as its starter, or pre-ferment. This can be continued for future loaves, keeping back a piece to be used in the next batch of bread, and so on.

Active Sourdough Starter

Since I have a sourdough starter that I fermented naturally some years back, I thought that I would try making my Pain de Campagne using my sourdough starter, rather than using a Pâte Fermentée. I had just re-activated my sourdough starter, which had been idle and dormant for a few months in the fridge. I wanted to make a sourdough rye bread from Peter Reinhart's "The Baker's Apprentice." We had guests arriving, so I wanted to stock up on breads, and one of the guests is hugely partial to rye breads with plenty of caraway. Once that bread was made with the newly refreshed starter, I had some pretty fantastically active starter going, and started thinking about what else I could make with it. 

Paul Hollywood Pain de Campagne, crust white

The recipes I was reading were from Paul Hollywood and from Peter Reinhart. I am not totally positive what goes wrong in some recipes, but I believe it is possible I am over proofing the dough, particularly after the shaping of the loaves. Whatever it is, they often start out looking great, then once in the oven, shrink and tighten. While the flavor is great, the look and texture is not. Another problem I have been having with Paul Hollywood's breads is that many of them come out of the oven nearly white in color, even after 40 or more minutes in a very hot oven. This is what happened with his Pain de Campagne. Having made Peter Reinhart's version previously, this was not the case, so I'm not sure why this occurs.

A possibility, something I just read today in a new book (for me) by Peter Reinhart, called "Whole Grain Breads," is the use of a small amount of ascorbic acid in the problems of no rise at the end of the cycle, or using a bit of diastatic malt powder to help with the not-browning dilemma.

Peter Reinhart Pain de Campagne made as Epi

In Paul Hollywood's Pain de Campagne recipe, he uses sourdough starter, without making it into a firm starter consistency, so while the starter is active, it is not enough to give the finished bread the complexity looked for in a bread that uses a pre-ferment. Instead, what Hollywood does is make the final rise into a very long and slow one, about 13 hours. Either way, the final result gives a wonderful complexity of flavors.

Back to my sourdough. Peter Reinhart uses a Pâte Fermentée to make his Pain de Campagne. The issue at hand was to make my sourdough similar in texture to the Pâte Fermentée, which is like an already formed French Bread Dough. It took me a while to calculate what I would do with my starter, as I am not at all conversant with the "Baker's Percentage Formula" Reinhart uses. I do know, however, what a French Bread Dough feels and looks like, so I proceeded. 

All in all, my version of a nice, firm starter (simulating a French bread dough) worked perfectly. Once the starter rises, it is placed in the fridge overnight before proceeding, despite having grown. This is so that the starter has a long, chilled rest to develop flavors, which will give the final bread its wonderful flavor. The following day, the firm starter is cut into pieces and set on a surface, covered, to come to room temperature before proceeding with the recipe. 

I chose to make half the final dough into a loaf and the other half into the shape of an Épi, which is cut and pulled in opposite directions to simulate wheat. Both the loaf and the Épi came out perfectly, and the flavors are most excellent. 

Pain de Campagne

Pain de Campagne as Epi

Makes 2 loaves

FIRM STARTER:
6 ounces / 171 grams active sourdough starter
4 ounces / 113.5 grams bread flour
4 ounces / 113.5 grams all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon / 0.15 gram salt
3 ounces / 89 grams water

BREAD DOUGH:
Firm Starter, above - use all
8 ounces / 227 grams bread flour
1.5 ounces / 42 grams whole wheat or rye flour
¾ teaspoon / 0.15 gram salt
¾ teaspoon / 0.11 grams instant yeast
6 ounces / 178 grams water

FIRM STARTER: Make one day ahead. Stir together the active starter and water, then add in the bread flour, all-purpose flour and salt. Stir, then turn out onto a clean surface, oiled with olive oil or cooking spray. Knead the mixture for about 6 minutes, adding more water by very small amounts only if needed to make a firm dough, tacky but not sticky. Place the starter into a greased container, cover and let rise to double, then refrigerate until next day.

BREAD DOUGH: Remove the firm starter from the refrigerator at least one hour before using. Oil a surface and cut the starter into about 10 to 12 pieces, setting on the oiled surface. Cover with plastic film and allow to come to room temperature.

In a large bowl, combine the starter pieces with the flours, salt and yeast. Add in the water, mixing with a spoon or with a heavy duty mixer to bring together. Add a few more drops of water only if needed to make the dough firm but not hard. If kneading by machine, do so for about 8 minutes. If kneading by hand, do this for 8 to 10 minutes, until the dough is smooth and pliable, firm but not hard, and just tacky to the touch.

Place the dough into an oiled bowl, turning once to coat all sides. Cover with plastic film or a towel and proof at room temperature for about 2 hours, or until doubled. Briefly knead the dough right in the bowl, cover and let rise once more until doubled.

Turn the dough out onto a clean, oiled surface and gently cut into two pieces, disturbing as little as possible. Form the pieces into any shape you prefer: a round boule (round loaf) or a bâtard (long loaf), a couronne (crown shape), an épi (sheaf of wheat: see below), or baguette, as desired. Set each loaf onto a baking sheet lined with parchment and strewn with cornmeal.

To make the épi, form the dough into a long and narrow loaf similar to a baguette. Set the loaf onto a baking sheet lined with parchment, then strewn with cornmeal. Using kitchen scissors, snip in at one end, about 2 - 4 inches from the end of the loaf, at an angle, almost, but not quite all the way through. Twist this nearly severed piece to one side. Another 2 to 4 inches along the loaf, snip again at an angle, almost, but not quite all the way through. Twist this piece outwards in the opposite direction. Continue to snip and twist in opposite directions all the length of the loaf.

How to Make an Épi

Mist the tops of the loaves with spray oil, then cover and let rise for about an hour, just to about half again their size, or 1½ times.

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees. Have a rack on the highest shelf with an oven safe low pan in place (for hot water). Have the other rack at the second level up from bottom. Have ready one cup of boiling water and a spray bottle of water. Wrap a towel around the spray bottle in case of drips. Cold water dripped onto a screaming hot oven door could possibly crack the glass.

Once the oven is heated, place one of the loaves on its baking sheet on the lower rack, then immediately pour the cup of boiling water into the pan on the top shelf. Close the door quickly, then count 30 seconds. Quickly open the oven door and spritz the inside sides of the oven with the spray bottle. Close the door, time for 30 seconds and again spritz the inside of the oven with water. Repeat a third time and once the door is closed, reduce the heat to 450 degrees.

Bake the loaves for 10 minutes, then turn the pan 180 degrees and time for 5 to 15 minutes more, as needed, or until the internal temperature reaches 200 to 205 degrees on an instant read thermometer. The loaves should be browned and have a hollow sound when thumped on the bottom.

Allow the loaves to cool completely before slicing. The baking process continues for a time beyond the final baking time in the oven. Be patient; let the bread cool.

My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.