Yeast Breads ~ Bagels

Event: Blogging marathon #40
Theme: Yeast based breads

I came across these bagels at Kingarthurflour website and was influenced to try going by the good reviews the recipe got. This was my first attempt at making bagels and they turned out great. The instructions were simple to follow and this recipe yields eight big sized, beautiful bagels. I topped some of them with sesame seeds and some with the leftover mozzarella cheese I had. Everyone at home were impressed with the texture and flavor of the bagels. I particularly loved the bagels topped with cheese. The bagels were chewy but the helpline was suggesting that if one is expecting an ideal chewy Newyork style bagel, they should go with high gluten flour.

Ingredients for the dough:

4 cups unbleached bread flour

1 tbsp instant yeast

2 tsp salt

1 tbsp non-diastatic malt powder or brown sugar or barley malt syrup (I substituted it with honey.)

1 & 1/2 cups / 12 oz lukewarm water

Ingredients for the water bath:

2 quarts / 64 oz water

1 tbsp granulated sugar

2 tbsp non-diastatic malt powder or brown sugar or barley malt syrup (I substituted it with honey.) 

Dough preparation: 

The dough can be prepared using a bread machine, mixer or manually and I have provided all the methods below. I manually made the dough to prevent the after clean up mess. 

Mixer method:

Combine all the dough ingredients and knead by machine on medium-low speed for 10 minutes. It takes relatively more effort and time to develop the gluten because of the high protein bread flour used in the recipe. The resulting dough should have been quite stiff according to the recipe but mine was not as you notice in the below image. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl and set it aside to rise for about 1 to 1 & 1/2 hours.  

Bread machine method:

Place the dough ingredients in the bowl of the machine. Program the machine for dough / manual and press the start button. Check the dough after about 10 minutes. It should be quite stiff and won't have formed a smooth ball. The dough would feel quite firm if you poke it with your finger. Allow the machine to complete it's cycle.

Manual method:

* Combine all the dough ingredients and knead vigorously by hand for 10 - 15 minutes. 

* Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl and set it aside to rise for about 1 to 1 & 1/2 hours.

* After the resting period, the dough need not double in volume but noticeably rise to puffy.

* Divide the dough into eight portions. Work with one portion at a time and roll it into a smooth, round ball.

* Cover the balls and let them rest for about 30 minutes. 

* They will again puff up slightly. 

* Add water, sugar and malt to a wide mouthed pan and bring them to a gentle boil. 

* Preheat the oven to 425 deg F. 

* Poke a hole through the center of each ball with your index finger. Then twirl the dough on your finger to stretch the hole until it's about 2 inches in diameter and the entire bagel is about 4 inches in diameter. It got a little tricky for me here since I overlooked the twirling part and by the time I got the hang of it, there were no dough balls to try. Place the bagels on a greased baking sheet.

* Transfer 3 - 4 bagels to the simmering water. Cook the bagels for 2 minutes.    

* Flip them and cook for one more minute. Remove the bagels using a skimmer. 

* Place them on the baking sheet. Add toppings of your choice now. There are plenty of choices when it comes to toppings. I topped some with sesame seeds. And some with mozzarella cheese since I had to finish off the cheese. One can top it off with poppy seeds or can add add raisins before the final kneading or go with other choices. Repeat the process with the remaining bagels.

* Bake the bagels for 20 to 25 minutes, or until they're as deep brown as you like, turning them over about 15 minutes into the baking time. Remove the bagels from the oven, and cool completely on a wire rack.
 

Warm and yum ~ Fresh from the oven

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Yeast Breads ~ Sweet Pull-Apart Bread

Event: Blogging marathon #40
Theme: Yeast based breads

I saw a monkey bread for the first time on American TV, about 15 years ago. The idea of pulling apart the chunks of bread seemed fascinating at that time. I have been planning  a pull apart bread since then and somehow the opportunity never came until now. In my quest, I landed at this recipe which was on the similar lines of a monkey bread. This recipe doesn't need the biscuits and the added bonus was my kids love cinnamon flavored bakes. The recipe uses bread machine and is easy, no fuss kind recipe. Recently I had stowed away my bread machine in the basement and was lazy to bring it up and so I hand kneaded the dough and baked in the convection oven instead. 
This recipe is very simple and reliable. There are no surprises springing up at you during any steps of the bread making and so even for novice bakers, it is good recipe to try. The dough balls are usually arranged in a bundt pan or cake pan but I layered them in a loaf pan. The shape wouldn't matter if you ask me since you are going to pull apart the pieces anyway to devour them. As expected, my kitchen was filled with cinnamon flavor while baking and the kids' who stepped into home a little later were inquiring whether I was baking any cinnamon buns. The texture of the bread pieces is somewhere between a cake and a bread. I have considerably reduced the brown sugar quantity when I made this bread and probably that's why it was not very gooey. That's a good thing if you ask me. The pieces were not sticking to your fingers and yet the bread was not bland. When you first bite into a bread piece, you encounter the sweetness but as you take more bites, the sweetness subsides because only a small quantity of sweetener went into the dough making. This was more than a super hit at my home and the bread was gone in about a day. 

Ingredients for the dough:
3 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp instant yeast
4 tbsp butter
1& 1/4 tsp salt
1 cup milk
1 & 1/2 tsp vanilla

Ingredients for topping:
1/4 cup melted butter
2/3 cup light brown sugar mixed with 1 tbsp cinnamon

Bread machine method:
* Place all the dough ingredients into the bucket of a bread machine. Program the machine for dough and press start. After about 10 minutes of kneading, check the dough's consistency. It should be soft and smooth; though it should form a ball and clean the bottom and sides of the bucket. If necessary, adjust the consistency with additional flour and water and allow the machine to complete it's cycle.
* Lightly flour the work surface if needed. Divide the dough into 32 small pieces and shape them into balls. Dip the balls in the melted butter and roll them in the cinnamon - sugar mixture. Layer them in the bucket.
* Place them in the bucket, close the lid and allow the bread to rise until doubled, for about an hour. 
Program the machine for bake only, 65 minutes, light crust and press start.
* Let the bread stand for a few minutes when the baking cycle is complete. Remove the bucket from the machine and turn the bread out onto a serving platter.

Manual method:
* If preparing the dough manually, combine the ingredients in a mixing bowl and knead by hand for about 8 - 10 minutes. The final dough would be smooth and pliable, leaving not any residue on your fingers.

 * Lightly flour the work surface if needed. Divide the dough into 32 small pieces and shape them into balls.

* Dip the balls in the melted butter and roll them in the cinnamon - sugar mixture. 

*  I had lined the pan with foil as I didn't want to ruin the pan with those sugar stains.

* Place them in a loaf pan, cover it and allow to rise until doubled, for about an hour.

* Preheat the oven to 350 deg F / 175 deg C. Bake the bread for about 40 to 45 minutes.

* Let the bread stand for about 5 minutes and flip it on the serving platter. Serve warm.
* If serving on the next day, just zap them in microwave for few seconds before serving.

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Soft Pretzel Rolls

Another week of blogging marathon starts from today and I had picked "rolled and baked dishes" for this week, during the theme selection. Honestly speaking, I had a very wrong notion about this particular theme. I thought it was literally using a rolling pin in the baking recipes and even selected my recipes. Just to confirm, I had mailed Srivalli. She must have laughed at my goofiness but the ever understanding lady returned back to me saying that she was looking for the "rolls" and not the ones using "rolling pin".
After knowing about what is expected, I decided on two of the recipes quickly. I was planning on sandwich rolls for the third one and had to do a lot of prep work just to decide which one. I was looking for some eggless soft rolls and definitely not the stone hard nightmares I get on those European international carriers whenever I travel.  
Croissants are something my kids love and I buy regularly and so the first thing that came to mind was these yummy rolls. However, after pondering a while, the amount of butter that goes into them started giving me jitters. I know it sounds lame but when you don't see with your own eyes what went into them, you can just pretend that it is not that bad for you and just buy. :) I gave up on the croissants' idea and started looking for something easily doable stuff. After searching over the internet for hours, I ended up staring at these soft, chewy pretzel rolls found here.
Honestly, I hadn't even heard about these rolls until I saw them at this blog. I know about the pretzels but definitely not the rolls. Usually I don't pay much attention to the bakery section at my local grocery stores, especially the rolls / buns. I buy whole wheat bread, pitas, croissants and sandwich buns without much thinking and so I must have missed these soft rolls so far.
A little wiki search tells me that these are baked specialty in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. They are also called as laugenbrötchen or lye rolls in Germany since they are glazed with lye solution before baking as in the case of pretzels. A baking soda wash will also provide the same effect and that's what has been used in this recipe. These rolls are used in sandwiches but we have enjoyed them with soup and salad. These rolls are on the dark brown side, going by the images in the virtual world but I ended up with a lighter version, I guess. Either I didn't bake them to the point where they attain that color or I could have gone with a little extra baking soda in the recipe. However it doesn't make any difference to the taste or texture of the bread. I halved the original recipe to make 10 rolls.
They taste best, fresh out of the oven. However 1 or 2 days old ones, warmed for a few seconds in a microwave taste just as good. And finally, I would like to mention that it is a very easy recipe that doesn't demand much time / attention from you. If I can do it, you can do it too.

Ingredients: (Yield 10 rolls)
1 & 1/2 tsp. instant yeast (rapid rise yeast)
1 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. oil
1 cup warm milk
3/4 cup warm water
3 & 1/2 to 4 cups all purpose flour (Use flour as needed. I had to use about 4 cups minus 2 tbsp. flour.)

For the soda bath:
6 cups water
1 & 1/2 tsp. sugar
2 tbsp. baking soda

Method:
The dough can be prepared in an electric mixer or a food processor or by hand in a big bowl. I chose to go manually since the daily roti making ritual at home has made me enough skillful to prepare a dough under 5 minutes using just one bowl.
* Stir yeast, salt, oil, milk and water in a mixing bowl. Add initially about 3 cups of the flour to the milk mixture and bring it together working with your right hand. Scrape any dough sticking to the sides of the bowl. Then go on adding extra flour gradually as needed to form a soft dough that is not sticky to touch anymore. Do knead well for about 3- 4 minutes.
* Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl, cover with a plastic wrap or a lid. Leave it to rise in a warm place until it doubles in size, about 1 to 2 hours.

* Mine was done in an hour.

 

 * Divide the dough into 10 portions (or more if you want it to be small sized rolls).

 * Shape each portion into a roll. Mel has even posted a tutorial on how to shape the rolls. I followed her method. If interested, check it out.

* Slightly flatten them at the bottom and place them on a lightly greased baking sheet with some space in between. Cover them with a kitchen towel or a plastic wrap. Leave them aside again to rest for 15 - 20 minutes.

 

* Preheat the oven to 425 deg F / 220 deg C.

* In the meanwhile, add water, baking soda and sugar to a large sauce pan and bring it to a boil.
* Before dropping them into water, the recipe suggests to carefully pinch the bottom seam of each the dough ball without deflating it. This helps the dough ball to keep the shape. I skipped this step and just flattened lightly after rolling, just before the 15 - 20 minute resting step.
* When the water is boiling, gently drop 3 or 4 dough balls into it. The balls come to the surface immediately. Boil for 30 - 60 seconds on each side. The longer you boil, the chewier your rolls would be. I did for around 35 seconds on each side.

* Gently remove each bun with a slotted spatula and drain. Transfer the boiled dough balls onto a lined baking sheet. Repeat the steps with the remaining dough balls. Don't worry if the dough balls look wrinkly at this stage. 

* Using a sharp knife, slash 2 to 3 , 1/4 inch deep cuts into the top of the unbaked rolls. If you are using coarse salt, you can sprinkle a little on each of the buns at this point. I hate the salt even on the pretzels and chose to leave it out.

* Bake them for about 20 - 22 minutes or until the rolls are deep golden brown.

 

This is going to be a part of BM # 37 under the theme of "Rolled and Baked Recipes".

 

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Savory Carrot Buns / Rolls

When I came to know that the theme "Magic Mingle #6" is all purpose flour and cilantro combo, I immediately decided to try a savory bake. I landed at Champa's blog when looking for low fat recipes and ended trying these savory carrot buns. Fresh from the oven, these spicy, delicious buns were a treat with our evening beverage.


Ingredients: (yield 12 rolls)
2&1/2 cups flour / whole wheat flour (I used 1&1/4 cup each of all purpose flour and wheat flour.)
3/4 cup warm water
1 Tbsp sugar
2&1/4 tsp rapid rise yeast
1&1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp oil
1 cup peeled and grated carrot
1/4 cup minced cilantro
Finely minced green chillies as per taste (I used 2 large Serrano peppers.)
A mixture of oil and milk to brush the tops of buns

Preparation:
* Combine warm water, sugar and yeast in a bowl and leave it until the yeast foams. (Generally the foaming with rapid rise yeast is barely visible. Don't bother with the frothing part as long as your yeast is not a stale one.)
* Add flour, salt and oil to the bowl. Knead and form a dough. Don't be tempted to add any extra water at this point even if the dough appears to be dry. The moisture from the addition of carrots would be sufficient.
* Next add the grated carrots, green chillies and cilantro and knead the dough for about 10 minutes. (Actually I didn't knead as I overlooked that part. I just formed the dough and left it to rise.) After the kneading (or not), you will end up with a smooth dough.

* Grease a bowl and place the dough in it. Turn once to coat all over the dough. Cover and let rise for about 60 - 90 minutes. The original recipe mentions that the dough might not double, but will be puffy. Mine doubled.
* After the rising period, deflate the dough and divide it into 12 equal portions. Pat them into rolls and place on a lightly greased baking sheet at least 2 inches apart. Cover with a greased aluminum foil and let it rise for one more hour. After the waiting period, my rolls were again almost doubled. Brush them with oil and milk mixture before placing them in the oven.

Baking:
Preheat the oven to 375 deg F.
Place the rolls in the oven and bake for 25 - 28 minutes or until they turn golden brown.
Brush with melted butter if desired, before serving them warm.

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