Category: Bread

Fresh Herb Focaccia Bread

5/22/2020

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My son baked some focaccia Bread, and then his SIL did as well. The pictures looked so delicious. I had never made focaccia bread myself and decided to give it a try. I have a number of herbs that I have been growing and this was the perfect opportunity to use them in a new way.

Focaccia Bread is very easy to make and is a lot of fun! You really get to put your hands in the dough. The outcome is so delicious because the olive oil is definitely the star of the show. In addition, there are so many topping choices that a variety of flavors are possible if you are making more than one loaf. Wouldn’t that be nice on a luncheon table? Many people use focaccia for sandwiches or for pizza, and of course, just to eat all by itself.

As I mentioned, focaccia bread is very easy to make. My first attempt came out so good! I was nervous because there was so much olive oil! But, when it came out of the oven that was all incorporated into a bread that was crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. The olive oil and the herbs with that sprinkle of salt were an explosion of flavor in my mouth.

One tip to get the most flavor from the herbs is to make sure that they are coated with the olive oil. I watched some Italian You Tubers who gave that suggestion. I guess the oil helps to bring out the flavor and convey it to the bread dough. So, you will notice in the recipe that I soaked my herbs in the olive oil that I used in the bread dough and also drizzled over the bread.

Another tip is about the kneading technique for this bread. Not everyone does this method, but a number of bakers do and I decided to try it. It is the stretching and pulling method. I like it because the dough is pretty sticky and needs to be in order to get the texture that you want in focaccia bread. With the stretch and pull method of kneading, you are elongating the gluten without adding too much flour to the mix as you would with a regular kneading method. Here is how you do it:

Put your ball of dough onto a medium floured board.
Think of the dough as being in 4 sections, or quarters like this:

Starting at one of the quarters, take the edge in your hand and stretch it out away from the ball of dough, then fold it over the top of the ball. Then, move to the next quarter and do that stretch and pull all of the way around the ball until you have done all 4 quarters.
Flip the ball of dough over and repeat the process. Flour your fingers and under the dough as needed. I did this process 4 times, twice on each side of the ball.

After 4 or 5 times, your ball of dough should be looking nice and smooth. Now you will place it in a well oiled bowl and allow it to rise.

My final tip pertains to dimpling the top of the bread. Focaccia is supposed to have lots of lumps, bumps and crannies where the oil and toppings can gather. Adding the dimples also keeps the bread from rising too quickly. Focaccia is a flat bread and this is a way of keeping it that way! Putting water on your fingers helps them not to stick in the dough. Then, use those fingers to push into the dough to form the dimples. It is the fun part of making this bread! Don’t be afraid to push in until you feel the bottom of the pan.

My recipe is a conglomeration of various recipes and videos that I watched as I tried to glean information about making focaccia. Some of the videos weren’t even in English! But, my main source was probably from Immaculate Bites who also gave me the instruction to infuse the oil with the herb flavor, although she did it differently than I did. You may want to go to her site to see how she did it. She used her machine to do the kneading and didn’t do the stretching and pulling method, so you can choose to do it whichever way you prefer. Focaccia seems to be a hands on bread though. Many people mixed all of it by hand from start to finish! But, here is the recipe that I ended up adapting to my preferences. I hope you enjoy it!

Fresh Herbed Focaccia Bread

One last tip! Focaccia Bread tastes the very best when it is still warm on the first day it is made, so have some friends over or get all of your kids to the table and eat it all up! You can warm up the leftovers in the microwave, but I still think the first moments after it cools slightly out of the oven is the best time to gobble it down!

Other Bread Recipes you may enjoy!

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My Experiment: Catching Yeast with Potato Water

4/7/2020

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One of the things that I have noticed during this pandemic is that yeast has been in short supply on store shelves. Fortunately, I have plenty of yeast to see us through the next few months if bread should become harder to get in the stores. The question is, what if I were to run out of yeast, what would I do? This pandemic is certainly making me rethink my state of preparedness. One family member, (Anita), sent me a link about how to make yeast with potato water and suggested I give it a try. Since I had already been thinking about it, and because I had just sprouted wheat and ground some new flour, I decided to try to catch some wild yeast with potato water and bake some potato, sprouted wheat bread.
The recipe Anita’s friend had given her, and she passed onto me looked something like this:

1-1/2 c potato water
1 c flour
1 Tbsp sugar
Mix together and leave over night in a warm spot. The next morning it will be bubbly and smell like yeast.

Simple, right!? So, I boiled some potatoes and reserved the water. I also reserved the mashed potatoes for the bread itself. I mixed it all together (I used sprouted wheat flour) and lightly covered it and set it out over night. Next morning, no bubbles, no smell.
I decided to Google it and see what I was missing. Some of the things I found used the potato as well as the water. (People making Vodka said this worked great…) I did find methods using only the water, but the result looked thicker than mine. Hmmm. I decided that I needed more flour and sugar, so I fed my first mixture. I added about ½ of a cup of flour and another Tablespoon of sugar. Success! The next morning I had bubbles!

It still didn’t look as bubbly as the ones I saw on YouTube though, so I decided to let it sit and catch more yeast for another day. I fed it a little more, adding some warm water, too, so that it wouldn’t get too thick. The next day, the bubbles were back, but they seemed about the same as before. Maybe a few more, but less bubble than the ones I had seen on other sites.

I must interject here that it appears that I am not a very patient person. I didn’t think that I was going to have to wait 3 days to be able to bake bread with this method. So, at this point, I decided to go for it and try a small batch of bread. I am not giving you a printable recipe like I usually do because it is by no means perfected. But, I will give you what I have done so far. If you see where I need to improve to make this bread better, please let me know in the comments.

Sprouted Wheat Potato Bread made with Wild Yeast
(That is the best title I can come up with)

In a mixing bowl, put together:
1 cup potato yeast starter
¾ c warm water
1 c sprouted wheat flour
1 c mashed potatoes
Mix these ingredients together and let them sit for about 4 hours or overnight. (Overnight would be best, but I couldn’t wait any longer.)
Stir down the sponge and add:
1/3 c warm water
1 tsp salt
¼ c coconut oil
2 Tbsp honey
4 c sprouted wheat flour
Mix with the dough hook for about 10 minutes. If the dough is too sticky add more flour. I also turned the dough out onto a floured board and kneaded it for 10 minutes more by hand. I added about 1 c more flour throughout this process making the total amount of flour about 5 cups.
Place the dough in the bowl and allow to rise for about 2-3 hours.
(Mine didn’t rise very much, but I pressed on. Hopefully yours will double!)
Divide the dough into 2 well greased loaf pans and allow to rise again. This time I let them rise overnight!
In the morning, they had actually risen quite a bit! Not as much as I would have liked, but an acceptable amount.
Bake the bread in a 375 degree oven for about 45 min. I baked mine for 40 at first. They weren’t quite done. I put one back in for 10 min. The crust was crunchy, but the inside was soft and dense.

I had read one baker who said not to use sprouted wheat in this type of bread because it would likely be doughy. Mine was a little too doughy, but I think if I had put a slice in the top of each loaf like you do sourdough, it would have help with that, letting steam out and perhaps getting a better rise while baking. Any thoughts on that?

Doughy bread like this is best toasted or made into french toast.

The bread does have a little sour sharpness to it. I toasted it because it seemed too doughy. Then with butter and Blackberry Lemon Marmalade, it tasted really good.

Here are my notes of ideas for improvement:

Patience, let the bubbles happen
Patience, let the sponge rise overnight
Cut a slice in the top because this is basically a sourdough type yeast.

When I bake this bread again, I will let you know how I did using these ideas. I do have some starter left which I have fed and stored in my fridge.

Here are things I learned:

Wild Yeast can easily be caught! This would be a great science experiment for the kids as well as being useful!
I need more patience.
I need to make more Blackberry Lemon Marmalade. It is delicious and that was my last jar.

Please, I would love any tips! I hope you will give this a try and learn something new while you are stuck at home. The smell of bread baking is so comforting.
Stay healthy!

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Dilly Onion Casserole Bread

1/14/2020

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A few different things inspired this bread. First of all, I was watching a BBC show called Britain's Best Bakery, and there are some amazingly beautiful loaves of bread on that show. One particular loaf was made by a British Bakery called Thankful Bakery, and they used nettles and chives in their bread. They put a nettle leaf on the top to make it pretty. It was so simple and I loved it. I have no idea what nettles are, but I started thinking about that idea for an herb filled savory bread. Then, I remembered that my mother used to make a Dilly Bread, only rather than fresh herbs, she used dried. But, I figured I could adapt that idea to fresh. Also, I remembered that her recipe used cottage cheese. I had some ricotta cheese in my fridge and I wondered if I could make that work instead. Guess what! You can!

I started with some green onions, parsley and dill.

The beauty of this recipe is that it only takes 2 cups of flour to make a nice loaf to go with a soup or a stew, or just to eat all by itself! Also, It is almost like a batter bread because there is no kneading and you bake it in a 2 quart Pyrex dish! It is a super simple loaf to whip up.

You just mix it up, put the ball of dough into a well greased bowl and let it rise.

After it had risen, I spread some butter on it, dusted it with a little flour and couldn't resist decorating it with a leaf of parsley and a sprig of dill.

I was pleased with the pretty results!

After 40 minutes of baking it came out nice and brown on the bottom and soft and tender on the inside.

Trust me, you are going to want to give this simple, savory bread a try!
Below the recipe you will see tools and utensils similar to what I have used. Not exactly, my bread board was handmade for me, but I found one similar for you to see.
Happy Baking!

Dilly Onion Casserole Bread

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Favorite Breads to Bake for Easter

3/29/2019

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Do you have a big family dinner at your house for Easter? Or, do you keep things simple and avoid going to too much trouble when it comes to food on that day? Either way, a nice fluffy loaf of bread, or rolls and maybe some cinnamon rolls to eat with all of those eggs in the morning is something that is always welcome. The nice thing about baking bread is that you can bake it in advance of the day that you need it and then have it for dinner or a light meal.
Over time, on our blog, we have posted some pretty delicious recipes for bread that would be perfect for an Easter meal. On today's Friday Faves #96, we thought we would share some of our favorite loaves with you. We will supply the buttons that lead to those recipes so that you can have them at your fingertips when you are ready to start baking. You're welcome! These loaves of Easter Bread would make awesome gifts to share with friends this Easter season, too!

This Braided Bread is one of the favorite loaves that I learned to bake early in my marriage. It is easy and quick as far as breads go and very good.

You can read about the story behind this bread on this post. Click the button to go straight to the recipe.

Braided Bread

This Portuguese Easter Bread is a recipe adapted from my Sister-in-Law's family recipe. It is a big part of my memories of her.

Read about the traditions behind this Portuguese Braided Bread as related by my sister-in-law on this link. I think I could also form this bread like the braided loaf and tuck the eggs in the braid. That would look pretty!

Sweet Portuguese Easter Bread

This is the best and easiest free form baguette type loaf that you will find. We shared it awhile back and it definitely deserves another look just in case you missed it!

I shared this recipe a couple of years ago. It was given to me by my friend, Anita who got it from a friend of her's named Julie. It is so simple and delicious to make. I feel like many of you may have missed this amazing recipe. Check out the original post here.

Julie's Simple Free-Form Bread

I fell in love with these rolls the first time I made them. Light and delicious rolls like these are perfect for Easter.

I made cinnamon rolls out of part of this roll recipe that came out really good as well! www.3winksdesign.com/home/fluffy-and-delicious-potato-rollsThis post will show you how to do both. The recipe is on there, too.

Fluffy and Delicious Potato Rolls

If you like to eat cinnamon rolls, but you also like to eat vegan, here are some quick vegan cinnamon rolls that Maddy shared.

These rolls were shared on a Friday Fave over 2 years ago! You can see what the other favorite things were by going to this post. Or, click the button to go to the recipe.

Instant Vegan Cinnamon Rolls

Now I have to decide which bread I will make for this year! Let me know if you are baking bread this Easter. We hope you might give one of our loaves a try! Happy Baking!