Big Banana Muffins

If you have an over ripe banana 

lurking about or a stash 

of frozen ones, 

Rose's Big Banana Muffins

maybe the answer.

With a few simple pantry ingredients,

a batch of lovely muffins 

are ready in no time at all.

I added a dash of cinnamon and Rose's

option of chocolate chips plus

white chocolate chips.

The interior crumb is light, not dense.

Perfect with a warm cup of coffee

on a cold winter day.

~

The Bread Bible

by

Rose Levy Beranbaum

The Bread Bible Crumpets

Crumpets!

If DNA has anything to do with it,

these should be a breeze to make

thanks to all my English, Irish and Scottish genes.

The Alpha Bakers 

made them while baking through

The Baking Bible.

Here

was that attempt.

Oddly, I had a great deal of trouble getting

the crucial amount of bubbles on that go 'round.

This try,

 out of The Bread Bible,

there were plenty of bubbles.

Such a funny dough,

very stiff and sticky 

before the first rise.

An absolute snap to mix the few

ingredients together.

After an hour rise, the bubbles began to appear

and the dough completely changed texture.

Stirred in the baking soda and water,

left it for a short second rise

and the bubbles made themselves known.

Success!

or so I thought.

Poured into rings on an electric frying pan

I was so hopeful.

I think they needed to cook longer.

The interior crumb wasn't right.

Not giving up though!

They might not look 

like Trader Joe's crumpets

but the flavor is far superior.

~

The Bread Bible

by

Rose Levy Beranbaum

Carrot Bread

I was not expecting Rose's 

Carrot Bread

to be a tea loaf.

I had visions of a fluffy, yeasty,

kneaded bread.

It couldn't have been easier to make.

In fact the entire batter can be mixed

in a bowl with a spoon if one is so inclined.

I was not.

I hemmed and hawed making this 

easy peasy bread

because I dreaded shredding carrots.

My Cuisinart had gone back home with Elle

as the thing terrified me.

It was a super deluxe Christmas present

from her and I never overcame my fear.

The blades looked like lethal weapons in a Ninja warrior movie.

 I bought the simplest one I could find

and shredded these carrots!

The raisins soaked in rum

for a week.  This is destined

for my brother who doesn't like raisins.

As long as they are golden

and soaked in rum

he doesn't mind.

Flour, sugar, eggs, oil, baking powder, baking soda,

salt and cinnamon

with the carrots and raisins.

I wish I had noticed there was no vanilla

and poured some in.

I love vanilla,

expensive though it may be these days.

top

I made a foil tent for the top.

It needed a few extra minutes baking

in my cranky oven.

side

The kitchen smelled amazing

and letting this thing cool, 

then wrapped for overnight

was too much.

I sliced off the end 

for a taste.

It's good now

so can only imagine

how it will be tomorrow.

I have visions of slathering

a slice with apricot jam.

It's a denser tea bread

with nice texture 

which I like.

~

The Bread Bible

by

Rose Levy Beranbaum

Perfect Pizza Dough

Making this pizza dough could not 

have been simpler.

Such minimal effort for

a delicious crust.

Flour, water, salt, yeast, sugar

stirred together

then coated in olive oil.

Rose gives the option of a cool overnight

rise in the refrigerator

to develop the flavor further.

The dough is warmed up to room 

temperature for one hour

then pressed into a pan.

She uses a great step of first baking the dough

plain before adding the toppings.

As per usual, I missed this bit

and piled on the toppings.

For the marinara,

I drained San Marzano canned tomatoes,

added minced garlic, pinch of sugar 

and then pulverized with an immersion blender.

The result was a less watery sauce.

Covered in mozzarella, basil and parmesan,

it baked in about twenty minutes.

I've wrestled with pizza dough before

but this was easy to work with.

The aroma in the kitchen was amazing.

Next time it will be with pesto topping.

What a fun recipe!

~

The Bread Bible

by

Rose Levy Beranbaum

Walnut Fougasse

Making Rose's Walnut Fougasse

was certainly a learning experience.

I had no idea what this should be.

After reading the instructions 

a few times,

I played it safe and made a list.

Dough after the first rise

There are so few ingredients;

unbleached flour, yeast, salt,

milk, walnuts and walnut oil.

The texture of the dough is very stiff

compared to other breads we have made.

After each rising, and there are three with

additional rest times,

the dough becomes fluffier.

It was a bit tricky kneading in the walnuts.

They kept wanting to pop out.

Didn't open the slits wide enough

With so much oil added in between risings,

I had difficulty getting the bread to knead

back together.

I would really like to see a video of

Rose making this bread.

I did tent the bread with foil

for the last few minutes

until the internal temperature was reached.

When I pulled it out,

all I could think of was 

the Disney song from Peter Pan

"Never smile at a crocodile"

I will say this is an amazingly

textured bread.

It reminds me of our family's

very favorite pizza crust

from an authentic Italian pizzeria,

minus the walnuts.

This bread peaked my curiosity

and I've spent a fair amount of 

time watching different bakers

making it on youtube.

I'll definitely have another go at Fougasse.

Oh, and the house smells wonderful!

~

The Bread Bible

by

Rose Levy Beranbaum

Flaxseed Bread

This is wonderful bread toasted,

just like Rose says in her recipe

for Flaxseed Bread.

A truly simple bread to make

with very few risings,

it came together quickly 

and easily.

So easily,

in fact,

this little lady 

made it entirely on her own!

She's ten years old now and loves 

baking and cooking; it's at the top of her list

of fun things to do.

  This is the first start

to finish loaf of bread she's made.

My only interference was 

wrestling the dough into the 

too small loaf pan.

I stood with her as she weighed

out the ingredients and promised

the craggy dough would magically

turn into lovely dough with those 

two little teaspoons of yeast.

The dough was a little too dry

so more water was added.

Not sure if it was because we used

ground flaxseed or due to an

unexpected cold snap that

left us with very dry air.

I kept telling her that my fellow

bakers always say bread dough

is very forgiving.

Dough coming out from the microwave proofing sauna

Definitely need to invest in a slightly bigger bread pan.

My other one was way too large for this recipe.

The poor child was in agony waiting the recommended 

two hours for the bread to cool.

Wrapped up she took it home where it was 

very much enjoyed toasted with Irish butter

and Irish cheddar cheese.

So this is the second generation of 

Rose's bakers.

I'm happy to have gotten over my yeast phobia

through The Bread Bible baking group

and very happy to be passing on the love 

of baking bread to my granddaughter.

~

The Bread Bible

by

Rose Levy Beranbaum 

Olive Bread

Rose's Olive Bread 

is a nice easy recipe.

It turned out to be one of those

breads that puts me in 

a good mood to make;

not too much fiddling,

straight forward with minimal rising times

resulting in a great bread

for minimal effort.

The biga is simply mixed

in a bowl with a spoon.

Set over night to bubble away,

mine was left in the frig for 

another twenty four hours.

This was the first time I proofed a bread

in a towel lined strainer.

The dough is lighter than air.

Flipping it over onto the pan

took a gentle hand so as not to deflate.

The baking temperature is decreased

by increments.

I made a foil tent for the last few minutes.

Honestly,

this bread is one

I'd gladly pay for in a restaurant.

Definitely on the 

make again list.

~

The Bread Bible

by

Rose Levy Beranbaum

"Levy's" Real Jewish Rye Bread

This bread is a fantastic surprise!

It is better than any rye bread

I have ever tried.

The caraway seeds

give it a wonderfully delicate flavor.

It was an easy bread to make, too.

My oven must be running hot

because I baked it less than the times

indicated.

Even so, the crust has a great crackle.

Definitely 

one to make again and again.

~

The Bread Bible

by

Rose Levy Beranbaum

Triple Lemon Velvet Bundt Cake

This is a new unpublished

recipe from

Rose and Woody's

upcoming book

The name says it all.

The crumb is incredibly delicate

when fresh baked.

Rose advises flavor is better

the next day, which does

seem to be deeper and fuller.

The crumb feels heavier

but is still tender.

The only difficulty I had

was it baked too dark even

taking it out of the oven

earlier than the least amount

of recommended time

and 

turning down the oven twenty five degrees

for the last ten minutes.

Not sure if cake strips would have helped.

Next time I'll start checking for doneness

way earlier, when the kitchen is wafting

with delicious lemon scent.

~

Rose Levy Beranbaum

Perfect Christmas Stollen

This is the recipe for 

the Avid Baker's Challenge.

It was a real learning experience.

Growing up Stollen was not on 

our Christmas table.

I have been intrigued since eyeing Stollen

in a delightful bakery years ago.

The few store bought ones

I purchased

were disappointing.

Very hard, dry and tasteless.

The recipe calls for soaked dried fruit.

This fruit has been soaking

in rum for so many years

I've actually forgotten the exact number.

It was intended for fruitcake.

I'm not sure why,

 other than making two mistakes,

why the dough was so wet.

I poured all the flour into the sponge

instead just one half cup.

Also I had to pull it out of the "proofing" microwave box

and add a forgotten egg yolk.

I used White Lily flour and am

not sure if that affected the dough.

It was more of a thick cake consistency.

It is tasty though!

Very tender crumb.

The almond paste center is amazing.

~

Kouigns Amann

Final curtain call 

for Rose's Alpha Bakers.

Our fearless leader,

Marie,

thought it would be great fun

to once again make

the first recipe we

tackled 

upon commencing 

baking through

The Baking Bible,

namely this Kouigns Aman.

I did not share that sentiment

because the first time around was daunting,

but I understood the reasoning.

We've weighed

flour, sugar, butter

in all their various 

percentages and incarnations,

slogging along 

through recipes

that would fell many a baker

for two years and eleven days.

If memory serves correctly,

and that's a big if,

we only took one or two weeks 

worth of breaks.

Baking at this pace is grueling.

Missing a week, 

or weeks at a time,

is like falling off a horse;

best be pulling up those boot straps

and climbing right back into the saddle.

Marie never missed a beat

even when she traveled the world

with her personal photographer/husband

Jim.

He gets credit for sifting through our photos

when there were many superb

ones to choose from for the weekly roundup. 

I have loved seeing not only

my fellow Alpha's bakes

but photographs, as well.

Seriously,

many are magazine worthy.

So with

two years of baking under our belts

these should have been a snap,

right?

The dough is easy peasy

to mix up.

How such few ingredients

transform into 

KA's

is nothing short of alchemy.

After that it's a lot of 

folding and rolling and waiting.

The dough texture is 

fun to work with.

The butter behaved.

It's only when sugar

gets involved in the last steps

that rolling is a bit dicey.

And that's where swearing doubts

make themselves known.

Still,

with Rose's recipes,

it's often blind faith,

 keep calm and carry on.

There have been many

a time I could 

easily have cracked a bottle

of rum, brandy, whiskey, bourbon, Kahlua,

chambord, Grand Marnier

and whatever 

leftover  Baking Bible 

spirits are in the cupboard

when I was on the verge of baking implosion

but 

I'm not a big fan of alcohol

other than Amaretto

and oddly

Rose never called for Amartto.

If she did,

I drank the last of it and can't remember.

My six and half year old granddaughter

made good on her

promise to be here for the last bake.

Only she declared Blueberry muffins

needed to be made

because evidently,

as grandmother,

I set some sort of precedent 

without realizing it.

Grandma, remember how you always

made us blueberry muffins when we spent the night?

Next thing I knew it was tea party time.

Kouigns Amann had been demoted.

If I tackle these again,

it will be at the crack of dawn 

for this all day venture.

I will make a note to pull them out

at the least amount of baking time

and throw a foil tent over for the last

ten minutes.

Rose lists turning these into

French Toast

as a variation.

That seemed crazy to me

after all this effort

but

curiosity won out

And let me say,

Rose knows of which she speaks,

spectacular.

~

The Baking Bible

by

Rose Levy Beranbaum