Thursday, May 23, 2013

Cream Cheese Braids - Honestly!

Since the beginning of 2013, I have tried to bake some type of bread every day for at least 5 days of each week. It has been an interesting journey, to say the least.......That effort comes with a couple of specific challenges: 1. Finding unusual, dependable, beautiful recipes 2. Finding people who are willing to eat your experiments and honestly evaluate them. After "using" most of our neighborhood as guinea pigs, I headed to our church. A friend works as the church's graphic design artist, so she agreed to take in this recipe to a Monday morning staff meeting. I put everything together the night prior to the meeting, refrigerated it and popped it into the oven the next morning. My friend flew in my driveway at 7:30am, picked up the freshly-baked loaves and whisked them away. The following Sunday, our pastor found me (out of 1000 people!) and raved about how tasty this bread was. Since he's a pastor, I think I got an honest evaluation this time around :-)    

Cream Cheese Braids                                   
Dough
1 Tbsp. or 1 packet Red Star Platinum yeast 
1/4 cup warm water
1/2 cup  warm milk
1/4 cup softened butter
1  teaspoons salt
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 large egg, lightly beaten
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

Filling
8 ounces cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons unbleached  all-purpose flour
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla



Dough: Place water, milk and yeast in EZ DOH bucket and stir. Let sit for 2-3 minutes. Add the remaining dough ingredients and EZ DOH-it until dough is smooth and elastic (or knead with traditional method). Remove from bucket, spray bucket with cooking spray, replace dough in bucket and cover. Place in warm spot until the dough has approximately doubled in size.

Filling: While dough is rising, prepare the filling – Mix all of the ingredients together till smooth. Chill till ready to use.

Assembly: Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface, and divide it in half. Roll each half into a 12 x 8-inch rectangle. Spread half of the filling lengthwise down the center third of each rectangle. Cut 1-inch-wide strips from each side of the filling out to the edges of the dough. Fold about an inch of dough at each end over the filling to contain it, then fold the strips, at an angle, across the filling, alternating from side to side. Gently transfer to a greased baking sheet.

Baking: Allow the braids to rise, covered, for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, till almost doubled in size. (I made my dough, formed and filled it the night before. I then sprayed it lightly with cooking spray, covered it with plastic wrap and let it rise overnight in the frig. Remove the loaves from the frig 1 hour prior to baking).  Brush with a glaze made from 1 egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water, and sprinkle with sugar, if desired; then bake the braids in a preheated 350°F oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from the oven, and cool on a wire rack. I added a simple confectioners sugar drizzle once the loaves were cooled.  Yield: 2 braids.
This recipe has been adapted from a King Arthur Flour recipe 

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Friday, May 10, 2013

Famous Breadsticks

When folks head to a popular Italian restaurant chain for dinner, usually one of the big "draws" are the unlimited, super-soft breadsticks. Well, they're not difficult to make, and family and friends love to see them served at the table. This recipe is a fairly close adaptation of that famous restaurant's offering. 

Famous “Cloned” Breadsticks

2 tablespoons granulated sugar                                               
 3/4 teaspoon Red Star Platinum yeast 
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon warm water                                          3 cups bread flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt                                                                      1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened
Topping:
 2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
 Directions:
Dissolve the sugar and yeast in the warm water in a small bowl or measuring cup and let the mixture sit for 5 minutes,
or until it becomes foamy on top. Combine the flour and salt in the EZ DOH bucket. Mix the softened butter into the flour with your fingertips.  When the yeast mixture is foamy, pour it into the flour mixture – EZ DOH it!  When smooth, remove the dough and spray the bucket with cooking spray. Replace the dough and cover with a clean dishtowel.  Let rise until it doubles in size. When the dough has doubled, divide the dough into 12 equal pieces. Roll each piece out on a countertop to form 7 inch sticks. Place the dough on parchment paper-lined or greased baking sheets, cover and set aside until the dough doubles in size. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Bake the breadsticks for 10-15 minutes, or until golden. When the breadsticks come out of the oven, immediately brush each one with melted butter and sprinkle with a little garlic salt.

Makes 12-13 breadsticks

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