Dough: Spent Grain Sourdough Bread

I have been playing with homebrew as of late and by 'playing' I mean failing at making beer! It's because I started with an all grain invented recipe but, I swear, the next time it will work out. I am learning a ton about beer though so that's a plus. Another plus is that I have had a lot of spent grains to deal with as of late. I made my standard multigrain sourdough bread but used spent grains exclusivly. It worked fantastically! 

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Dough: Oatmeal Sourdough Raisin

I seem to enjoying eating and cooking seasonally inappropriate food. I drink light beers in the winter and dark ones in the summer. I started my sourdough starter last summer and baked bread through the height of the summer heat. Then I did not bake bread all winter. And now? Since it's summer again - I BAKE!

This is a sourdough raisin oatmeal sourdough loaf. My starter is almost a year old and is getting stronger all the time. I love the raisins in this loaf! You soak the raisins in the sourdough sponge overnight and it makes them all nice and plump. I used really old dried up raisins this time and they still came out nice and soft. The bakery I used to work at soaked them in water overnight but I really think that putting them in the sponge is the way to go.

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Dough: Raisin Rye

This is a hearty but sweet rye bread. I am really enjoying Bernard Clayton's 'New Complete Book of Breads'. I think it was the best $3.99 that I've spent lately!

Raisin Rye Bread
Sponge:
2 cup rye flour
2 teaspoons yeast
1 1/2 cup hot water
 Mix and let sit overnight.

Mix:
1/2 cup sultana raisins
1/2 cup dark raisins
1/3 cup brandy
Let sit for 30 minutes

Mix:
1 tablespoon molasses
1 tablespoon oil
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup warm water
add drained raisins

Add to sponge. Knead in 1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour and 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour. Knead until smooth. Rise one hour. Shape. Bake one hour.

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Dough: Rye Bread with Sauerkraut

While the idea of rye and sauerkraut bread may seem odd, it is a lovely combination. I feel extra accomplished because this bread was made with homemade sauerkraut! The kraut adds moisture to this bread. It's reminiscent of my Onion Bread. This bread is adopted from the New Complete Book of Bread.

It is a quicker bread than most as there is a single rise - directly in the pans the bread will be baked in.

Rye Bread with Sauerkraut

Mix

1 cup All Purpose Flour

1/4 cup rye flour

4 teaspoons yeast

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon caraway seeds

1/4 teaspoon ginger

Beat in

1 1/4 cup hot water

2 tablespoons oil

Knead

1 cup sauerkraut (and juice)

1 3/4 cup rye flour

1 1/2 to 2 cups flour

Shape in loaf and place directly in pan. Rise 30 minutes. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes.

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Dough: Sourdough Onion Bread

Homemade Sourdough Onion Bread, otherwise known as the first 100% sourdough from my starter that has a decent burst!

Making the Sponge:

Mix together 2 cups starter, 1 cup water, and 1 cup flour. Cover with clean dry towel and let sit overnight. The next day, thinly slice 1 1/2 cup red onion and soften, with oil, in a skillet. Dry toast 1 tablespoon caraway seeds. Add the room temperature onions, caraway, 3 cups flour, 2 tablespoons oil, 4 teaspoons sugar and 1 teaspoon salt to the overnight sponge. Add 2-3 cups more flour to make a firm, smooth dough. Knead. Rise 3 hours. Shape. Rise 1 hour. Bake at 350 for 1 hr.

Prep notes:

I've yet to do the ice/preheated pan to achieve a really crusty crust. I'm just paranoid - I think that the glass on the oven door will explode with the heat change or that somehow I'll light the apartment on fire. I really should get over this....

Tasting notes:

The final dough is quite soft. The baked loaf smells really good when baking and the end result is a nice, soft crumb. The bread smells of onion, but the end result is not very strong. I think that increasing the spices or crushing them before baking may lead to a nice end result.

If you are enjoying my bread recipes stay tuned for Vegan Month of Food (Vegan MoFo). The site has not uploaded the new information for this year but I will be blogging about bread everyday in the month of October! Stay tuned!

I am submitting this post to Bread Baking Day and Yeastspotting.

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Dough: Red Bean Paste Pancakes

I picked up some sweetened red bean paste last week. After a couple of hours (yes hours - I like the Internet and I like food) I found a couple of recipes to try with the red bean paste. The recipe that I used as the jumping off point is here. The technique used to make the pancakes is actually really fun to do - plus they taste pretty good.

Pancakes:
Knead two cups flour and 1 cup boiling water together until smooth. Cover and let rest for 30 minutes. Roll out dough to 1/4" thickness and cut into 3 inch circles. Brush circles with a tiny amount of oil. Stick two circles together and roll out to one 6" circle. Cook in a dry cast iron skillet until browned. Flip and cook the other side until browned. Remove from pan and peel the two circles away from each other - the inside will be hot with steam so be careful. Cool. Then consume with sweetened red bean paste.

It is important to use a tiny amount of oil. If you use too much oil, the cooled pancakes will not be pliable but will be crusty. Also, the steam is really hot!

Generally, the pancakes can be used in the same manner as crepes. Also, they have a naan like consistency as well.

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Dough: Cranberry bread pudding

In all honesty, I've never made, or eaten bread pudding. So bread pudding lovers beware when making this recipe! However, I enjoyed consuming this concoction. It is sweet, cinnamony, and tart. I think a rum and/or citrus sauce would make this just divine.

Cranberry Bread Pudding

4 cups cubed 'Perfect White Bread'

2 cups soy milk

zest and juice of one lime

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup frozen cranberries

1/4 cup agave nectar

Preheat oven to 350. Combine milk, spices, berries, and agave. Pour over cubed bread in a loaf pan. Bake for 30 minutes. Allow to cool before consuming.

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Dough: Basic Bread

After an almost year long hiatus from bread baking, I pulled out Reinhart's book The Bread Baker's Apprentice. This book usually gets good reviews but I have difficulty with the recipes. This was supposed to be the Ciabbatta (page 136) but it did not work out correctly. This was also the 2nd time I tried this recipe. I'm not sure what I am doing wrong - but does it matter when you still make yummy bread? NO!

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