Homemade Bread Recipe

I've been meaning to post this recipe for a while, it's now our go-to bread recipe that I use almost every week.  I usually have some dough in the fridge that can easily be made into a quick artisan loaf, pizza dough or naan depending on what we are having for dinner.  One our my (our) goals for 2012 was to bake our own bread so after successfully using the recipe for almost a year, I think it's time to share!

The technique for the recipe and my inspiration came from the book "Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day".  You can find a link here to the basic technique/original recipe.  I highly recommend reading the original technique before jumping in!  If you are expecting a loaf of bread, this is not it but it is a delicious  

 Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups warm water
3/4 T granulated yeast
3/4 T sea salt
1/2 cups spelt flour (if don't have spelt, just use whole wheat)
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups white flour
Cornmeal mixed with onion and garlic powder for shaping dough and pan

Mixing the Dough:
Add water, yeast and salt in 5 qt. mixing bowl and mix (I use my KitchenAid stand mixer with the regular flat paddle attachment)

Add in flour, 1/2 cup at a time until all combined

Cover loosely (NEVER put in airtight container-the gasses could cause an explosion).  Leave at room temperature for 2 hours or until dough rises and top flattens.

Leave loosely covered (I use an inverted plate) and refrigerate.  Dough is good up to 2 weeks.

To bake bread:
Preheat oven to 425F.  Place a broiler tray or pan full of water on bottom rack of oven.

Take out desired size ball of dough, use cornmeal mix to shape into a ball and continue to form ball by tucking under ends of dough.  Place dough on cornmeal coated baking surface (I use a baking stone or sheet pan with a SilPat mat).

Let rise 20 minutes and then slash top using cross or tick-tack-toe pattern.

Bake bread for about 30 minutes or until crust is browned and firm.  (I usually pick up my loaf and check out the bottom to make sure it's done and not doughy on the inside).

Refrigerate remaining dough until ready to use.

Lemon pull-apart bread

I've made this recipe twice (once to try and once for Easter morning) and it is delicious!  A perfect alternative to cinnamon rolls for special breakfasts....and the glaze is out of this world, I could eat it straight out of the bowl.  I've seen several versions of this bread on Pinerest but I based my recipe one I found at Two Tiny Kitchens.

Ingredients for Dough:

2 1/2 cups flour (I used 1 cup whole wheat and 1 1/2 cups white)+ extra for rolling and kneading

1/4 cup honey

2 1/4 tsp yeast (one packet)

1/2 tsp salt

5 TBSP milk

4 TBSP butter

1/8 cup water

2 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

Ingredients for Lemon Paste Filling:

1/2 cup honey

Zest from 2 lemons (just the yellow part on the outside)

1 TBSP butter, softened

Ingredients for Lemon Cream Cheese Glaze:

2 oz cream cheese, softened

2 TBSP butter, softened

1/2 cups powdered sugar

Juice of 1 lemon (watch for seeds)

1 tsp milk (or more, depending on preference of glaze thickness)

To make dough:

Place butter and milk in microwaveable bowl.  Microwave until butter melts, stirring occasionally.  Allow to cool (1 minute) and add water, honey and vanilla. 

In large bowl (I used the bowl for my KitchenAid mixer because I would be using it to knead), place 2 1/2 cups flour, yeast and salt.

Pour butter/milk mixture into dry ingredients and mix with paddle attachment.

Stir until combined and then add eggs, one at a time, until fully incorporated.

Change paddle to kneading hook and knead until smooth, 5-10 minutes.  Because of the honey, I found the dough to be sticky and added extra (about 1/4 cup) additional flour.

Place the kneaded dough in an oiled bowl (turning dough until covered in oil) and cover with a tea towel.

Set aside in a warm place until doubled in bulk (about 1 1/2 hours-the whole wheat flour leads to lengthened rising time)

While dough is rising grease bread pan and get started on Lemon Paste Filling:

Mix honey, zest and butter until well combined.  Set aside.

Once the dough has risen, roll out on a well-floured surface into a 20x12" rectangle (or something close).  Spread with lemon paste filling, pressing to adhere to the dough.  

Cut dough into strips, 4x12", and stack them onto each other.  

Cut the stack into smaller pieces, 2x4".  

Place cut stacks into prepared bread pan with cut sides up.  

Fan out the slices to fill the pan, using fingers.  

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cover loaf pan and allow bread to rise until double in size (about 1 1/2 hours).

Bake loaf for 25-35 minutes, until the top is golden brown.  Mine looked like this:

To prepare the glaze, cream together cream cheese and butter.

Then add powdered sugar, lemon juice and milk and mix until combined. 

Remove bread from oven and place on wire rack to cool.  After 10 minutes, remove from pan and cool completely.  Then top with lemon glaze and enjoy!

What are some of your favorite special occasion breakfasts?  

Bread baking mishaps

I'm getting closer to posting a recipe that I've been using for the past three months to make homemade bread. But I did run into a little issue over the weekend…broken baking stone!