Chocolate Cranberry Rye

One of our gals in the kitchen kept talking about a chocolate rye they made in another bakery she worked. Every week she was bringing up this bread until it sunk like an earworm into my brain (Thanks, Sonia, Thanks A LOT). Finally, when Sharon bread goddess went on vacation and I covered some baking shifts I got my chance to exercise that little bugger out of there. It was a good thing too, cause this is the best bread ever!

Chocolate Cranberry Rye
yield 3- 1 1/4 pound loaves

1 1/2 teaspoon (1pkg) Active Dry Yeast

2 cups (1#) Active Sourdough Starter

2 cups Warm Water

2 1/4 cup (10 oz) Dark Rye Flour

Mix above together in a large bowl. Cover and let sit 2 hours.

Stir in:

2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar

1/4 cup Stout Beer

1/2 cup Cocoa Powder

3 cups (14 oz) Bread Flour

1 tablespoon soft butter - unsalted

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

Stir until well combined, cover with a clean cloth and let sit for 20 minutes.

Turn out onto floured board and knead until smooth. 5-10 minutes.

Cover again and let rise until doubled in bulk. 1-2 hours.

Punch down and carefully knead in 3/4 cup dried cranberries or cherries and 1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate chips. divide into 3 small or two large loaves and place on sheet pan lined with parchment paper or sprinkled with cornmeal. Cover and let rise 45 minutes or until a depression made with your finger in the side of a loaf does not readily bounce back.

Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for 45 minutes or until internal temperature reads 200 degrees.

Easy Rustic Style White Bread

One of my favorite memories from childhood at my grandparents house is that of bread baking day. The smell of hot bread wafting all through the house teased my nostrils, I could hardly wait for the loaves to come out of the oven. Grandma let them cool just enough to cut into thick slices then she would slather each slice with salty butter and homemade jam. My siblings and I sat on the back stoop with the butter melting and dripping through our fingers and down our arms. We could eat a whole loaf that way, so she made a point to make enough to save for lunches for the rest of the week. My grandmother kept a very set routine so she baked once a week, always on the same day. I think of her now when I punch down the dough, which is what she used to let me do. She was a sturdy farm women and watching her knead it into submission never ceased to amazed me...how could you do that so long without your arms falling off? After becoming a baker and owning a bakery, I have been ever grateful for the machines we have to help with that process. 

In the past few years I have been experimenting more with wetter doughs and after writing the ciabatta post for Michael Ruhlman's Blog which had me making like 5 different batches at home, I realized the same could be accomplished without the addition of the long starter. I use this method when I forget to bring bread home from work...which is surprisingly often. I like to bake this as a rustic loaf, but you could fit it into a loaf pan for more uniform slicing. You can also fiber it up by swapping in a cup of whole wheat flour to the mix or add a handful of cracked rye berries or even cheese or herbs or whatever. Think of it as a blank slate of deliciousness. With it's crispy crust and lacy interior, it also makes the most excellent toast!

For two approximately 1.5# loaves:

3 cups/ 24 oz/682 ml Warm Water

11/2 teaspoon/.25 oz/ 7 grams ACTIVE DRY Yeast (NOT instant, which you can use, but you won't get the same great interior texture)

1 1/2 teaspoon/ 3 oz/ 9 grams Sugar

2 Tablespoons/ 2.5 oz/ 10 ml Olive Oil

6 cups/ 1lb 14 oz / 853 grams Unbleached all purpose White flour

1 1/2 teaspoons/ 3 oz/ 9 grams Salt

In a large bowl dissolve the yeast and suger in the water, add the oil.

Mix in about 5 cups of the flour and let the mixture sit for 5-20 minutes.

Add the last bit of flour and the salt

Mix together until all the flour should be absorbed, it will look pretty rough. Don't be scared.

Cover and let sit 30 minutes. Fold dough in the bowl scraping the sides into the center as you turn the bowl. Cover and let sit another 30 minutes, Fold and rest 2 more times. 

By the last fold, it will be poofy and firmer, but still not like a dough you would actually knead. Turn it out onto a well floured surface.

 fold the sides into the center

And turn it over

Cut in half

Fold each half together into a rough loaf

place on a floured baking sheet or parchment paper

Preheat oven to 450-500 degrees

place a shallow pan of water in the oven 

(gas-right on the bottom, electric-top shelf)

Cover loaves and let rise 45 minutes

Dock lightly with fingers and bake 25 minutes or until loaves reach internal temp of 200 degrees F 

Cool well before slicing, or you could just rip it apart and eat still warm with butter and jam...be sure to hide a loaf for later!

'No Knead' Multigrain Bread

As people are starting to make more healthful food choices, this has become one of our most popular breads. It is completely whole grain, with a soft texture and enough structure to hold up to the biggest sandwich. We make focaccia out of it for our roasted vegetable sandwiches and even turn it into cardamom sweet rolls.
To begin:
Soak 2/3 cup (.25 lbs) 10 grain cereal. (I'm using Bob's Red Mill)
in a large bowl with 4 cups warm water for 1 1/2 hours.
Add 1 and 1/2 T (2pkgs or 1/2 oz.) Active Dry Yeast and let sit 30 minutes more...
Stir in:
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup canola oil
8 cups of Whole Wheat flour (2.25 lbs.)...one cup at a time, stirring well with each addition.
Before the last cup of flour add 1 more cup of water and 1 and 1/2 tablespoon salt.
Stir the mixture as though folding it into the center, spinning the bowl as you go.


Once it is pulled together, cover and let sit for 1 hour
Pull dough together in the bowl once again by running your spatula along the side of the bowl, pulling the dough into the center. cover and let rise 30 minutes more.

Turn out onto a well floured board and divide into 3rds. Briefly knead each portion into a ball. let sit 15 minutes.
pull rounds together into a loaf shape, being sure to get rid of the air bubbles and put into well oiled loaf pans. slash the tops and let rise 45 minutes or until a poke of your finger doesn't bounce back.


Spray the tops with water and sprinkle with a little of the dry cereal.
Bake for about 45 minutes in a 350 degree oven to an
interior temperature of 200 degrees.

Bread and Chocolate

This treat was born out of the stories we had heard of the favorite afterschool snack of children in France...Pan au Chocolat. There the bread is sliced warm and a little rod of chocolate is folded into it and handed to the lucky little one. Our version has it baked inside and topped with a little melted butter and cinnamon sugar. It has become a cult favorite here, with people ordering boxes at a time to take to family members from afar who just have to have their fix!
To begin:
Mix a batch of White Trash Dough let it rise in a warm place for an hour or so.
cut palm sized pieces using a bench scraper or knife...do not knead at this point just cut the squares and stretch them slightly:



Put a healthy handful of chocolate chips on each square,

and pull the edges up around the mound of chips

pinch togehter well and turn on to a parchment lined sheetpan with the seam on the bottom, brush with melted butter and sprinkle liberally with cinnamon sugar...while they rise, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Bake for 15 minutes and spin then 5-10 more minutes until nice and golden brown...let cool slightly before devouring!

'Starting' from scratch.

"If you truly want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe." - Carl Sagan
And if want to create a starter from scratch, all you need is some warm water, flour and wild yeast. We get ours off of cabbage leaves. (Thank You, Jim Lahey!)

Take a large leaf and wash it off in 1 cups of warm water (really get in there with clean hands and rub the white film off the leaf) mix in 8 oz (a scant 2 cups) of flour, beat well and let sit covered on your counter, 12 hours.

 Feed again equal weights of flour and water and let sit again 12 hours. You should have a bubbly happy little mess on your hands. if not try feeding it and letting it sit one more night. There are a couple of key points to remember: All utensils, anything that touches your starter must be clean! Starter loves routine, so once your used to using it the same way on a regular basis is when it will be happiest. To keep if you use everyday, it can sit on the counter in a container. Feed and use the starter and clean out container when the sides get yucky. To use weekly from the refrigerator, pull from fridge and let come to room temp. Feed and let activate (8-10 hours) and use, keep a little out (about a cup) and give it a small amount of water and flour, return it to the fridge to chill for the week.

Now THAT is a happy starter!

Time to make bread:

To make a flavorful, slightly dense baguette:
Mix equal weights of water and starter and double that for the weight of flour. salt should be used sparingly but is necessary for a fully flavored loaf... try using 1% of the total dough weight. (i.e. 1#water + 1# starter + 2# flour = 4#  4x16= 64 ounces divided by .01= .64 or a little more than a half an ounce...about 2 teaspoons)
In a large mixing bowl, pour water and starter and stir to blend. add flour a little at a time until a ball of dough begins to form. Saving out about a cup of the flour. Cover the bowl and let this dough sit for 20 minutes. This is called an autolyse. The resting of the dough without the salt added to it allows for maximum absorption of the water into the flour and will make the gluten easier to form. When ready, sprinkle on the salt and about 1/2 of the remaining flour. Pull the dough into the center from the edges all the way around to incorporate the salt.  Dump out onto a well floured surface and knead together into ball. Set a timer and knead for 10 minutes. I know it can seem like a long time, but it is very meditative. put on some good music or that podcast of 'This American Life ' you've been wanting to listen to, time will be up before you know it AND you will have performed your arm workout for the day...bonus!  The dough will become quite silky and smooth, like a baby's bottom. Cover it and let it rest to rise. 1-2 hours, depending on your room temp, starter vigor, etc. If your doing this ahead, this would be the time to put into the  fridge, tightly covered. It can sit in there 12 hours or so. When ready to work, just pull it out, ring to room temp. and portion into loaves. knead into a football shape and let sit, covered for 20 minutes. Starting at the center of each loaf, roll with both hands (a little like when you used to make snakes out of clay) outward until your loaf is the length of your pan. Lay on parchment lined sheet pan to rise. Cover with a cloth if it is cool or drafty. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. if you have a baking stone line them up on the middle rack. Place a shallow pan half filled with water on the bottom of the oven (if your oven is electric, put the pan on top.) This is meant to create steam. Once the loaves have doubled in size (a finger poked in the side should leave a mark that does not bounce back) slash the tops with a razor or very sharp serrated knife place in the oven...on the pan if you don't have a stone. If you do have a stone, slide the loaves off the pan, parchment and all and right on to the stone. You may want to cut the paper so that each loaf is on it's own sheet for this to make for easier transport. Bake for approximately 20 minutes or until quite golden. Interior temperature should be 200 degrees.

White trash...it's not social commentary, it's just bread!

White Trash Bread...the story is, when the bakery first opened way back in 1993, we took on one wholesale customer... a local restaurant that was also revamping an old space. We made their desserts and developed a bread for them. In the process of finding out what it was they were exactly looking for in a bread,one of them said, "you know, like that trashy white bread you get in Texas." We thought," OK, we get it"...and when he picked it up we told him," Here's your white trash bread!"...and that was it, no judgements or social commentary...just soft, flavorful, slightly chewy white bread...silky in texture and a little bit sweet (just like the Texans we know!). It is by far our most asked for recipe...

White Trash dough

mix together in a measuring cup and 'proof' to test the liveliness of the yeast
2 pkg active dry yeast (1/2 oz)
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 cup very warm water (not hot)

when this bubbles and looks healthy...hopefully in a few minutes, transfer to a mixing bowl.
and add:
1 1/2 cups of warm water
1/2 cup milk-whole fat
1 T olive oil (melted butter would be great, also)
1T Honey
5 cups (1.4 lbs.) unbleached white flour
mix this by hand or in a mixer until it just barely comes together..
.then cover and let rest for 20 minutes or so...this is referred to
as an 'autolyse' and it allows the flour to absorb the moisture without
the salt hampering the process. After time is up, stir in...
1 T salt and another cup (4.5 oz) of flour
the dough will come together into a medium soft dough that
stands up to kneading but is not too firm. Work until silky in texture
and thin bands form when pulling it apart.
.
Let rise, covered, until double in bulk.
You may now either form it into loaves to rise again and slash and
bake at 350 degrees for about an hour or until internal temp is 195.
OR you can make dinner rolls or bread sticks...
this is also the perfect dough for STICKY BUNS!