Vermont Cheddar Cheese Bread

It’s been about 6-12 months ago that I first read about the No-Knead Bread. It’s made the rounds of bloggers around the world. Not too long after I read about it I tried it. And was positively amazed how good it was. And how easy it was. It’s just that it requires about 18-24 hours of time (very little of it with any work, though) to make. The dough develops a sourdough kind of flavor, and is baked in a heavy Le Crueset-type pan, with a lid. The pan creates its own hotter-than-heck oven, within the oven. Gives the bread a great crispy crust like the artisan loaves you may buy at your local bakery.

Some other blogger mentioned a book out there – Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois. I ordered the book, have read parts of it, and decided I’d have to try this recipe last weekend. The prep and baking method is very similar to the no-knead bread, although maybe easier since this one requires only a two-hour rise to start the batter.

The bread is a cinch to make, i.e., don’t be intimidated by the long list of instructions . . . they’re just wordy and very thorough. You can do everything by hand if you choose, but I utilized my stand mixer (with dough hook) to perform the harder work for me. This dough does not require kneading at all. In fact the recipe indicates you do not knead it. The less you mix it, the more of those wonderfully big holey holes you’ll get in the loaf.

The steps include:
(1) mixing up the dry stuff, the wet stuff and combining the two
(2) letting the dough rest for 2 hours
(3) refrigerating the dough to bake at a later time (up to 7 days later)
(4) shaping the loaves (takes about 3-4 minutes) and allowing them to rise
(5) baking in a 450 oven, on a pizza stone

I’ve only made one recipe so far, from this new book. But if this bread is any indication of the others, I’ll be making more of them in the future. Next time I am going to try using hard wheat flour too, and do my best to do less kneading. This version doesn't have quite the sourdough flavor the no-knead (18-24 hour) bread does, but it's certainly a worthy competitor.

Cook’s Notes: be sure to use ample cornmeal under the formed loaves so they don’t stick to the pizza peel. A pizza peel is ideal. Most peels are made of wood, but mine is a lightweight metal with a plastic edge (the peel is a big, wide, flat kind of spatula the pizza makers use to slide pizza off of onto the hot oven floor), but you could also use a cookie sheet that has no lip.

Vermont Cheddar Cheese Bread
Recipe By: Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day -- Hertzberg & Francois
Serving Size: 24
3 cups lukewarm water
1 1/2 tablespoons yeast -- granulated type
1 1/2 tablespoons salt
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
6 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup grated cheddar cheese -- sharp, or New York
1. Mixing and storing the dough: Mix the yeast, salt and sugar with the water in a 5-quart bowl, or a lidded (not airtight) food container.
2. Mix the dry ingredients and the cheese, without kneading, using a spoon, a 14-cup capacity food processor (with dough attachment) or a heavy-duty stand mixer (with dough hook). If you're using a machine, you may need to use wet hands to incorporate the last bit of flour.
3. Cover (not airtight), and allow to rest at room temperature until the dough rises and collapses (or flattens on top), approximately two hours.
4. The dough can be used immediately after the initial rise, though it is easier to handle when cold. Refrigerate in a lidded (not airtight) container and use over the next seven days.
5. On baking day, dust the surface of the refrigerated dough with flour and cut off a grapefruit-sized piece (if baking one loaf). Alternately, weigh the entire amount and divide into 4 equal portions, about 1 3/4 pounds each. Dust the pieces with more flour and quickly shape it into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go. Allow to rest and rise uncovered on a cornmeal-covered pizza peel for one hour (or just 40 minutes if you're using fresh, unrefrigerated dough).
6. Twenty minutes before baking time, preheat the oven to 450 degrees, with a baking stone placed on the lowest rack. Place an empty broiler tray on any other shelf that won't interfere with the rising bread.
7. Sprinkle the loaf liberally with flour and slash a cross, a scallop, or tic-tac-toe pattern into the top, using a serrated bread knife. Leave the flour in place for baking; tap some of it off before eating.
8. Slide the loaf directly onto the hot stone. If it sticks, gently coax it off the pizza peel. Pour one cup of hot tap water into the broiler tray, and quickly close the oven door. Bake for about 25 minutes, or until deeply browned and firm. Smaller or larger loaves will require adjustments to baking time.
9. Allow to cool on a rack before slicing or eating. Makes 4 approximately one pound loaves.
Per Serving: 147 Calories; 2g Fat (12.0% calories from fat); 5g Protein; 27g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 5mg Cholesterol; 430mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1 1/2 Grain (Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 0 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates.
Printer-friendly PDF recipe.

Whole Wheat Pizza Crust

This is the tried and true recipe I've used for years in my bread machine. I'm posting it here to accompany the above pizza recipe itself. Look at your own bread machine cookbook to verify amounts of yeast and water. They may vary according to the manufacturer's directions. In my machine it takes about 55 minutes to mix, knead and rise once.

Whole Wheat Pizza Crust
Recipe: from "Pizza, California Style"
Servings: 4
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons honey
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 1/2 cups water
1 tablespoon yeast In bread machine: place all dry ingredients in pan, then add water last. Set for dough. Watch during the initial kneading to make sure the dough has the right consistency - too wet or too dry.
Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 409 Calories; 8g Fat (17.6% calories from fat); 12g Protein; 74g Carbohydrate; 6g Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; 540mg Sodium. Exchanges: 4 1/2 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 1 1/2 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates.
To print a PDF recipe, click title at top.

Portuguese Sweet Bread

Today's posting is going to involve a bit of history trivia about me. This is a traditional yeast bread recipe. To date I haven't posted any of those to my blog yet. Eventually I'll probably post several yeast breads, but here's the first regular type. I wrote up the No-Knead bread recently, but that hardly counts.

Some cooks get stage fright when the subject of yeast is even mentioned. I guess I was too young or naive to listen to such wives' tales. I just dug in and did it. I started making bread regularly in the mid 60's, when I was in my early 20's. In fact, once I learned the techniques, and found several recipes that I really liked, I began making all of my own bread. Sandwich bread (mostly buttermilk), cornmeal bread (a raised version), and a wheat bread too. At Christmas I made Stollen, and a few times a year I made this Portuguese Sweet Bread.

Growing up, we had a Portuguese family living across the street from us. Point Loma, a peninsula and a suburb in San Diego, is the home to thousands of Portuguese families, most of whom make their living by deep sea fishing. Although we didn't ever know this family well, one year the matriarch brought over a round globe of this bread on Good Friday. Maybe it was a silent peace offering because their dog barked incessantly, hour upon hour morning to night and during the night. Whatever the reason, it was nice that she shared a loaf with us. We enjoyed it.

Portuguese Sweet Bread is traditional only at Easter, apparently. I asked her about the recipe one day when she was chasing her barking dog in the street, but she seemed disinclined to share it. A few years later I saw a Portuguese cookbook at the library and sure enough, there was a recipe!

So in the early 1970's I was a stay-at-home mother of a very young child. Money was tight. So I began baking bread and selling it to friends. Most of my hard-earned money was used for babysitting, so I could get out a little bit. Many of my mother's friends were kind enough to buy bread from me every week. Bless them! My recollection is that I charged about $1.00 a loaf for the buttermilk type. Up to $2.00 for the richer breads and a bit more for Stollen. Every week my kitchen heated up for hours on end as I made what seemed like endless loaves of bread. I bought 100 pound bags of flour through a local bakery and kept it in a special trash can in the garage (lined with a two layers of heavy-duty plastic bags and sealed very tight).

I didn't have a business, a license, or any of that kind of thing; it was just word of mouth. I bought one pound blocks of fresh yeast (the cube, cake kind) from the same bakery and froze it in small batches. And I bought 1000-piece boxes of bread-sized clear plastic bags (the kind bakeries use). I still have what was left of the last box I bought, believe it or not. Those bags are over 40 years old and they're still just fine. Amazing. No wonder we have problems with our landfills and plastic grocery bags.

The buttermilk bread was the hands-down favorite of all my customers. But every few weeks I made this bread too. Usually only a few loaves. These take more time to make (longer rising times) and can be a bit temperamental if not given the right rising environment. But if the signs are right and the gods smile, you'll be blessed with a wonderfully fragrant loaf of soft, eggy bread. It would be ideal for the Pineapple French Toast I posted recently (click here) if you don't have the King's Hawaiian Bread used in that recipe.

In those days of busy bread baking, I combed through lots of bread cookbooks from the library and gathered ideas from anywhere I could find them. In my own recipe archives I have a funny shaped envelope that still contains all of my yeast recipes from those bread-baking days, with notes about costs, all written on 3x5 or 4x6 cards. And in some book - no recollection where - I read a long dissertation about the molecular action of yeast. I've never forgotten those words of advice about how yeast needs to climb, but if it's mixed only in water the molecules are slippery and have a hard time doing their job. So, this book recommended making the first yeast mixture (where you proof the yeast) with a little addition of sugar and ground ginger. I decided to try it, and believed then, as I do now, that that step does a lot for yeast. Now I use dry, granulated yeast, but it's the same process. No change, just dry yeast for cubed, fresh yeast.

A word about proofing. Maybe some of you have never even heard the expression of "proofing the yeast." The goal is to PROVE that the yeast is good, viable, and that it's working; therefore, proof that the yeast is alive and well. You will always want to do that step.

If you use a bread machine, that step is skipped. You don't want the yeast to be dissolved in liquid in a bread machine recipe as the machine process relies on the use of dry, granular yeast which dissolves slowly, and some not at all during the mix and sit, mix and sit series. I have a bread machine that I don't use very often anymore. It was a great timesaver when I was working, but I was never very satisfied with the wheat varieties I made in the machine. We rarely eat white bread anymore, so the machine has been relegated to a shelf in the laundry room.

Don't attempt to make this bread in a bread machine - it won't work because the dough needs longer rising periods. Now if you want to tinker with the yeast (adding more) to make it rise faster, either conventionally, or in the bread machine, by all means try it. Or if you just want to use the bread machine to accomplish the first mixing and kneading, that's fine.

So, back to Portuguese Sweet Bread. This bread is a sweet dough. And if you're a bread novice, you need to know that when you add some sugar to bread, it helps the yeast to grow (rise), but the sweeter the dough, the longer it will take to rise. Don't, under any circumstances, be in a hurry when you make this. This bread needs long, slow rising times (actually two) and if it doesn't rise nearly double in volume it probably wasn't kneaded enough. Because this bread contains so much sugar, the yeast struggles to do its job - to double in volume. That's why it's temperamental and if the yeast molecules aren't dispersed and kneaded well enough in the beginning, it just won't rise sufficiently. Then you'll be left with a kind of heavy, leaden bread. Not tasty at all.

You can try rising it in a slightly higher temperature (turn the oven on for a few minutes, then turn it off and put the dough in the oven to continue to rise). But when it's done and you slice into this, you'll be amazed at the perfume. Glorious. And you don't have to wait until Easter to make it.

Portuguese Sweet Bread
Recipe Source: unknown
Serving Size : 20
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1/4 cup water
4 tablespoons butter

2 packages dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 cup warm water

3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 whole eggs
5 cups bread (hard wheat) flour

1. In a saucepan, melt the butter with the evaporated milk and water. In a large bowl place the 3/4 cup sugar, salt and eggs. Pour in the milk/butter mixture and stir to dissolve the sugar. Allow to cool while gathering the other ingredients for the bread. In a small, glass measuring cup, combine the warm water, ground ginger, sugar and add the packages of yeast. Stir briefly and set aside for only about 5-10 minutes. (Do not do this step ahead).
2. When the egg and sugar mixture is cool, add about one cup of flour and stir. Add the yeast once it has become bubbly, then stir in additional flour. The mixture may take a bit more flour than the ingredient list shows since adding flour to yeast bread is never an exact science. But, be careful you don't add too much. Sweet breads can sometimes take more flour, but then the bread will be heavy and tough. Only add as much flour as you must to keep the stickiness under control. Roll the dough out onto a floured board and knead until the dough is elastic and smooth. Put into a greased bowl and allow to rise in a warm place until double in bulk. My notes say this takes about 2 hours.
3. Punch the dough down and pour out onto the floured board again and knead until there are no air bubbles in the dough. Cut in half and shape into bread shapes, place in bread pans and allow to rise again. This dough does not rise very fast, so wait until it's nearly ready before you preheat the oven. You can also mold these into rounds - and use round cake pans.
4. Heat oven to 375°. Bake bread for 25 minutes. Remove from oven, cover the pans lightly with foil, then reduce temperature to 350° and bake an additional 8-10 minutes.
5. Remove bread from the oven and IF it's stable enough, set loaves out on a rack to cool. If made correctly, this bread is very tender, so it may require cooling for 10-15 minutes in the pans before you remove them to a rack.
Serving Ideas : In Portuguese homes, this is served on Easter morning as part of a traditional breakfast.
NOTES : You can make this more festive by putting it into a large springform pan (full recipe) and after the second rising, brush with egg white and sprinkle with granulated sugar. Bake for about 45-50 minutes at 350°.
Per Serving : 196 Calories; 4g Fat (19.1% calories from fat); 6g Protein; 34g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 40mg Cholesterol; 149mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1 1/2 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 0 Non-Fat Milk; 1/2 Fat; 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.
To view a printable recipe, click title at top. (photo from maryssweetbread.com)

No Knead Bread

It was late last year that I first read about the No-Knead Bread on one of the food blogs I watch regularly. Since I have and do make homemade yeast bread (not often, but on occasion), it was not a big deal to think about it and do it, although I could hardly believe it could be THAT good when making it is THAT easy. Truly it is.

You need little more than flour, salt, water, yeast, a heavy-duty iron pot (like Le Crueset) with a lid, and about 24 hours. Of that 24, only about 5 minutes of it requires any hands-on work. The rest of the time the bread is just sitting, doing its thing. And really, you absolutely do not knead it. I love the ciabatta bread from Il Fornaio or La Brea Bakery. But I had no idea making that kind of holey moist bread could be such a cinch. I've made it for guests several times. And just for us several times too. It keeps just fine for a day at room temp. I usually slice it up on the 2nd day (if there is any left over, that is), wrap the slices in foil, then pop them in a ziploc plastic bag and into the freezer.

If you head over to Jaden's Blog - Jaden's Steamy Kitchen, you'll find a long and beautifully photographed blog posting all about this bread. And how her 4-year old son (who is adorable besides) made it. If he can do it, you can do it.

A fellow named Jim Lahey, of the Sullivan Street Bakery in New York (photo at top is from the bakery's website), developed this recipe. I found watching the video of making this very helpful. It's on the New York Times' website. Hope it's still there. Here's the link to it. I'm glad I did because I might have done a couple of things differently. I used an oval Le Crueset pan (with lid) and it worked just perfectly. I will say that the bottom crust is VERY firm, which requires a firm hand to slice through. You can use a smaller pot and you'll likely have a higher-rising bread. By the way, Le Crueset does not guarantee the black knobs on their pots will survive in an oven over 400°. However, several other people who have made this bread say they have had no problem with the knob. I used one with side handles and no black knobs. You may also use any other kind of pot - with a lid. If the dough comes out too moist, remove the lid sooner in the baking process.

In my Dacor oven (runs a bit hot) I bake this at 425° for 30 minutes, then remove lid and continue baking for another 15. Each oven is different. Initially the crust was too hard, which is why I reduced the temperature and removed it earlier from the oven. I also mix the flour - half bread, half regular all-purpose. Others who have made this say you can vary flours in small quantities. If you add too much whole wheat, however, it most likely will not rise sufficiently.

No-Knead Bread (Yes, really)
Recipe By :Jim Lahey of Sullivan Street Bakery, New York
Serving Size : 10
3 cups all-purpose flour -- or mixture with bread flour
1/4 teaspoon rapid rise yeast
1 5/8 cups water -- plus 1-2 tablespoons
2 teaspoons salt Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed
1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt and stir to distribute dry ingredients before adding the water. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. If it's not sticky, add another tablespoon of water if you have any idea it's too dry. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.
2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.
3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.
4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.
Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 137 Calories; trace Fat (2.5% calories from fat); 4g Protein; 29g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; 428mg Sodium. Exchanges: 2 Grain(Starch).

To view a printable recipe, click title at top.