Category: Special techniques

Apple-Peach Braided Brioche Cake

jeff 10 Comments

apple-peach brioche cake

‘At no other time (than autumn) does the earth let itself be inhaled in one smell, the ripe earth; in a smell that is in no way inferior to the smell of the sea, bitter where it borders on taste, and more honeysweet where you feel it touching the first sounds. Containing depth within itself, darkness, something of the grave almost.’ – Rainer Maria Rilke

I’ve got peaches and apples in my kitchen. Summer is gently fading, and autumn is slipping in with an occasional cool breeze, a golden leaf here and there. I don’t know how August is already over, but here is September with its crisp ciders and juicy pears. I’m ready for bread-making again, and am starting the cooler months off with this brioche cake.The juicy peaches and the apple-cinnamon flavor are a good combination; a perfect intermingling of the seasons.

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Blueberry Morning Buns

BreadIn5 58 Comments

blueberry morning buns

Summer months means fresh fruit aplenty. I love going to the market and finding rows and rows of peaches, plums, and several varieties of berries as far as the eye can see. I always look for ways to incorporate them into everything: pies, tarts, scones, and our no-knead bread dough. Swirling fresh blueberries in brioche dough (with just a little bit of sugar and cinnamon) was my latest experiment, and the result? Delicious morning buns I’m happy to wake up to. Read More

Nutella Swirl Bread

BreadIn5 35 Comments

Nutella Swirl Bread - a Babka Cheat | Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

This is a babka cheat, but no one will complain that it just took a few minutes to put this Nutella Swirl Bread together. I just used a piece of whole wheat brioche dough, slathered it with Nutella, rolled it up, tucked it into a loaf pan, let it rest and baked it. That’s it. Super Easy. Super Tasty. Super Fast. And Beautiful.

Check out the Swirly Crock Pot version as well. It is perfect for hot summer days or when your oven is occupied with other goodies.

Sliced Nutella Swirl Bread - a Babka Cheat | Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

I went pretty light on the Nutella, so the bread would have a bit of chocolatey sweetness, but wouldn’t be over-the-top. You can use more and go with our brioche dough from New ABin5, for a more decadent treat. Read More

Valentine’s Day Swirled Bread

BreadIn5 3 Comments

Valentine Bread | Breadin5 (25 of 28)

I’ve just returned from an incredible week in Denver. I was there working with Craftsy to create another class, this time on show stopping cheesecakes (it will be out in a few weeks). I love working the with the Craftsy team. They work hard and laugh harder. We spent months developing the class concept, all the materials/recipes and then got together for 4 days of non-stop baking and filming. I like to think I’m a hard worker, but then I see the folks at Craftsy and I realize how much more a human can do in a single day when they work as a team. I loved it. Not only the work, but also the people. Writing books and blogging are two pretty solitary jobs, so having 5 days in the kitchen with their crew was a blast. It’s fun to watch other people create beautiful food. It is also fun to see my recipes come to life.

Valentine Bread | Breadin5 (26 of 28)

As we were prepping all the cheesecakes for my class, Victoria, the kitchen assistant extraordinaire, told me about a bread she bakes for her young daughter. Victoria helped me on my Craftsy bread class* and played with the recipe to create a rainbow of colors with it. Brilliant. I immediately thought of a Valentine’s Day Bread with swirls of pink and red.

Valentine Bread | Breadin5 (28 of 28)

*If you haven’t checked out our Artisan Bread in Minutes class on Craftsy, I am always so happy to have new bakers join the class. If you’re interested be sure to use this link to sign up, you’ll get $20 off. It makes a lovely Valentine’s Day Gift for the baker in your life.

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Caramel Cinnamon Bun Bread Pudding

BreadIn5 1 Comment

Caramel Cinnamon Bun Bread Pudding | Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

Sometimes the best discoveries come from happy accidents. I made a pan of caramel cinnamon buns and I was the only one home to eat them. That in itself is no great tragedy, I took great pleasure in sitting down with a cup of coffee and a warm sticky bun in the perfection of solitude. But, the day went by and the kids were busy with sports, finals and all that kids are busy with, so I found myself with a pan of lovely, albeit slightly stale rolls. My boys would have happily devoured them as a midnight snack, but for my taste they were a bit stiff, after 12 hours on the counter. We talk about using stale bread for pudding in our books, that’s not news, but this recipe elevates a rather humble dessert to a special occasion by using sticky buns. I just put the sticky buns right back in the cake pan, with the caramel and all, then covered it with custard. I baked them and a new classic was born in my house. I served the pudding as dessert, but they are also perfect for breakfast or brunch.  Read More

Ghoulish Breadsticks for Halloween!

jeff 22 Comments

halloween breadsticks

This week is the one time a year when we purposefully make our food look creepy. Halloween is great fun for the kids, but we adults love to play with our food too, and its great fun to watch people squirm just a bit. Even though these breadsticks are ghoulish, they are crunchy and delicious as well. Stick a few in the lunch box to give your kids a little Halloween thrill at school. Read More

Fresh Bread made with Older Dough

BreadIn5 34 Comments

Old dough boule | Breadin5 04

You may open a bucket of dough that’s been untouched for several days or more and find it’s gray, leathery and has some liquid on it (pictures below), with a strong “sourdough” smell to it, since it had been fermenting for a very long time. For those of us who like that kind of character in our bread, it’s great. The best thing to do with this older dough is to incorporate it into a new batch. It jump starts the flavor in your new dough, without having to wait days for the fermentation. It is like having a sourdough starter, that you never had to feed.

Old dough boule | Breadin5 07 Read More

Weighing The Ingredients: Whole Grain Baguette Buns With Extra Sourdough Kick

jeff 225 Comments

Whole Grain Baguette Buns | Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

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In this post, I’ll go through the method for using a kitchen scale to measure in flour and other ingredients, which some readers, especially outside the U.S., have said they prefer. In this recipe for whole grain baguette buns, I used these weight equivalents for scoop-and-swept cup measures:

1 cup white all-purpose flour:  5 ounces / 140 grams (or 141.7, to be more precise)

1 cup whole wheat flour:  4.5 ounces / 130 grams (127.6)

1 cup water:  8 ounces / 225 grams (226.8)

Most home scales aren’t accurate enough to weigh small quantities of yeast and salt for single recipes.

These whole grain baguette buns are from The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, being cut from a baguette-shaped cylinder, which gives the buns crusty little edges that will impress your guests. They’re incredibly easy to make from any of the lean stored doughs that you already have in your fridge, mixed up from our book. Read More