Panettone Recipe: French Toast

Panettone is an Italian sweet bread from Milan. It is a staple at Christmas. While good by itself, it makes phenomenal French toast. I had the pleasure of eating some panettone French toast this morning with panettone I made myself. Here's how.

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup bread flour
1 cup warm water
1 tsp salt
1 package yeast
2 whole eggs
4 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup oil or melted butter
1 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup dark raisins
1/2 cup candied citron
1 tbsp orange or lemon zest

Mix water, yeast, salt, sugar, eggs, and oil. Add flour and other ingredients to form a wet sticky dough. In a stand mixer mix the dough for 5 minutes. Let dough rise in a greased bowl for 3 hrs. If you want a tall panettone you will need a special tall pan or clean coffee can lined with parchment. If not use a regular loaf pan or deep round casserole pan well greased and lined with parchment. After dough has risen transfer it to the pans filling them no more than half way. Let the dough rise however long it takes for it to reach the top of the pan. Bake at 375 until well browned about 30-40 min depending on the size of your pan.

After the panettone was cooled I cut it into 1/2 in slices and proceeded to make the French toast. I use a ratio of approximately 1 egg to 1/4 cup milk to 1 1/2 tbsp sugar for my French toast custard as well as some cinnamon and vanilla for flavoring.  

Let's Not do Fruit Cake This Christmas... Let's do Fruit Bread

2 1/2 cup bread flour
1/3 cup whole wheat flour (mixed with 1 tsp vital wheat gluten)
1 cup warm water
2 tbsp honey
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp yeast
1/2 cup dough starter
1 tsp salt
1- 1 1/2 cups of dried fruits (I used chopped dates and raisins)
1/2- 3/4 cup walnuts

Mix water, starter, yeast, honey, sugar, and salt. Add flours, fruit, and nuts. Mix until dough comes together. It should be soft and slightly sticky. Do not knead. Instead use the slow rise method. Let the dough rise for 8 hrs folding it over over itself every 2 hrs. After the last rise don't fold it. Gently form it into two round loafs and placed on a greased baking. Let them rise 1 1/2 hrs in a warm place. Score the top of each loaf and bake at 400 degrees for 35-40 min. Enjoy!

Experimental Loaf 1: Garlic Herb Bread with Lemon

Recently I have been experimenting with putting different flavors in bread. One such experiment is the pretty little loaf you see above. It contains chopped fresh herbs (thyme and rosemary), lemon zest, and crushed garlic. The base was my italian bread recipe. Here is a link to that recipe- Italian Bread . It was pretty tasty, though I would have loved more garlic. Also next time I'll remove the lemon and use that for a citrus flavored bread instead (the orange cranberry bread at Wegmans is great). Some more experimental loaves are on the way.

Book Review: 52 Loaves

"52 Loaves" by author William Alexander (author of "The $64 Tomato") is a fun read. If you are familiar with "The $64 Tomato" and enjoyed it, then you will most likely enjoy this one. It is written in the same style. Alexander is a great writer and he is able to make you smile and laugh at the simplest of situations. This is not a recipe book, though it does contain valuable baking information. Alexander takes you on his quest to make the best from scratch bread he can. He takes the term "from scratch" a bit seriously and even sets out to grow his own wheat! Through ups and downs he tastes through 52 loaves of bread. Does he make the perfect loaf? Read and find out if for no other reason than you could learn from his mistakes in seeking the perfect loaf and not repeat them.

Croissant Roll Recipe

Croissants are one of the best rolls ever invented. Layers of flaky pastry and butter. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. They are surprisingly simple to make. Don't let others fool you, and scare you into thinking they should only be attempted by professional bakers. If you can make plain rolls you can make croissants. They only require one extra step: folding butter into the dough, a process called lamination. Here is my recipe for croissants.

1 1/4 cup warm milk or water
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1 package active dry yeast
1/4 cup oil or 1/2 stick butter melted
1 egg

Mix the above ingredients then add 4 to 4 1/2 cups of all purpose flour to form a soft not sticky dough. Allow dough to rise 2 hrs. While dough is rising prepare butter you will fold into dough. Take three sticks of butter and lay them side by side touching. Roll them in flour and then place them between two pieces of plastic wrap. Using a rolling pin flatten the butter into a rectangle about 1/2 in thick and 7in by 10in. When the dough is risen roll it out to a rectangle about 22in by 16in. Lay the butter in dough to one side. fold the dough over and seal butter inside. Now for the fun part (or hard part depending on how you look at it). Roll dough out to its original size. Fold it over itself. roll it out again, and repeat 5 or 6 times. If butter starts to ooze at any point place dough in the refrigerator for 1 hr to firm it. After the last fold, roll dough out to 1/2 in thick. Cut it into triangles with wide bases. Roll the triangles up and fold them into crescent shapes. Place them onto parchment lined baking sheets and allow them to rise 1 1/2 hrs. Bake at 375 degrees until golden. Time to doneness will depend on how large yuo made them.

How to Make Sourdough Starter

Did you know you don't need store bought yeast to rise your bread. Their are many naturally occurring yeasts floating around in the air around us. It is possible to capture and grow these yeast in a starter. This process was used to rise bread for much of human history. The starter is called sourdough because lactic acid bacteria inhabit the starter and create a sour taste.

A simple way to make sour dough starter at home is to set a jar of organic whole wheat flour, all purpose flour, and plenty of sugar with enough pure water to make a thick pancake batter consistency. Cover this with a paper towel held on with a rubber band and let it sit at room temperature for a few days until it stars to bubble. Now remove half of it and replace it with fresh all purpose flour, sugar, and water mixture (keep it thick). Do this every 24 hrs for a week. After that the starter should be good and strong. It will not rise bread fast. It will take at least 12hrs, but the flavor will be phenomenal. Always save a little of the starter to keep it going and it can be stored in the refrigerator and cared for like the regular dough starter I wrote about in a much earlier post.

How to Make Simple Bruschetta

Over the past few weeks I've found myself baking a lot of Italian bread, both long and round loaves. First I made some for the family, then I made some for a bake sale (they are not just for sweet stuff), and then I made some for a friend to take to a family reunion. With all this bread being made it's no wonder I had plenty of left overs (despite how good it is). But that doesn't bother me. One of my favorite things to do with leftover Italian bread is make bruschetta.

To make it I take the bread and slice it into 1/2 in thick slices. I then place them on a baking sheet and drizzle them with plain olive oil or garlic infused oil. Bake them at 400 degrees until toasted. I let the toast cool and then top them with a mixture of chopped roma tomatoes, basil, and finely minced garlic. I season the mixture with salt, pepper, and olive oil. This is a cool, refreshing summer snack or hors d'oeuvre, and a tasty use for stale Italian or French bread.