Sunday, February 28, 2010

Spring is coming!



The kids are starting to get cabin fever and I in turn am getting the same way! THe snow on the ground for the most of 2 months is now becoming exhausting. The Olympics have provided a nice diversion though...as have new bread experiments. This braid for the HBin5 group was to make a batch of the Whole Wheat Olive Oil dough. This is the first dough I had made out of the HBin5 book when I got it. I know I made pizza, but cannot remember what else I did with it! But I do remember liking it. When people in the group starting baking with it and reporting, they were talking that they weren't enjoying it as much as other breads they had made. I was interested in trying again to see if my memory served me right. And my memory didn't fail me (although it is more and more the further along I get in this pregnancy!). I did not accomplish all that this braid required, but I did play a little. We were supposed to make a loaf of bread. Instead of a loaf, I made baguettes for our supper one night. I had recieved my new baguette pan in the mail a week earlier and hadn't had a chance to try it out. I was excited at the opportunity as well as happy with the outcome.



For supper on Friday, I was trying to figure out how to incorporate the focaccia into the meal. I had just enough dough left for one focaccia. We were supposed to make the Southwest Focaccia. I didn't not have anything on hand that that recipe required, so I scoured my pantry and freezer and came up with this: a rosemary/olive oil/salt focaccia that I cut in half put cut up chicken and Italian cheese mix that I had left over from the pizza earlier that week in the middle. I toasted it again to melt the cheese. I made Sicilian Butter and Homemade Pizza Sauce to dip it in. Along with the focaccia, I made Bocso sticks with a batch of the soft whole wheat in the ABin5 book. For the bosco sticks, I cut motzerella cheese sticks in half lengthwise, placed them in the middle of the dough I had lengthened, flattened, folded over and sealed again. After letting them rest, I brushed the Sicilian Butter on top and baked them according to the Garlic Parmesan knots in the HBin5 book.




For free, here is a picture of the pizza I had made ealier with the Soft Whole Wheat Sandwich Dough from HBin5. Amber, our oldest, wanted alfredo chicken pizza. I had made something before for her, but was looking for a new way. I was very happy with my outcome. The flavor was great. I used the alfredo sauce from here, and chopped chicken to the top and topped that with Italian cheeses.



To view what the rest of the group did with this challange visit Big Black Dog and read through their posts. It is amazing how creative people can be with just one type of dough!


This Saturday, we are having a bread baking day at our church. There have been a number of people interested in making the breads my mom and I are making (with the AB/HBin5 method). So we thought it would be a fun day to do a demostration and let them bake a loaf and take home a bucket of dough. I am excited and looking forward to introducing more people to this fun way of bread baking! We are just making the boule from ABin5 (but modified slightly) to keep things simiple.

15 comments:

  1. Your baguette turned out GORGEOUS! And they're exactly the same size too! I am jealous, mine never are the same size!! LOL!

    And thanks so much for the link to the Sicilian Butter. I know we would enjoy it!

    The Bocso sticks look like they were fun to make and something we would like as well.

    Great presentation of all your breads with so many interesting and creative ideas!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sicilian butter and pizza sauce - oh my! I love 'scoured pantry' recipes and yours are wonderful!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Love how creative you were with this dough- I'd never even heart of Bosco Sticks. They sound delish. By the way, your baguettes look absolutely professional!.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Those baquettes are beautiful. All of your breads turned out so lovely.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Love the baguettes! And I love that you are teaching others to make bread too.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Your pictures of your baquettes make me want to put a new pan on my "needs" list.
    Great!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Great variations! I love the Bocso sticks!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thank you, everyone, for your comments. I'm not sure how common bosco sticks are, but a local resturant serves them and the kids have them at school, too.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Your breads look great! I never thought of using this dough for baguettes. I loved this dough as well! What a great idea to have a bread-baking day. Fun! Fun!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I loved this bread as well! I can't imagine how it could ever get bad reviews (to each his own I guess). I love the white pizza you made for your daughter...sounds delicious.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I'm especially liking the pizza and bosco sticks!! everything looks wonderful

    ReplyDelete
  12. gorgeous bread, what more could I say!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Your baguettes look so nice and uniform. Everything else looks great too. Hope you have lots of fun with your bread baking demonstration!
    ~Jenny~

    ReplyDelete
  14. Your baguettes look FABULOUS! I would love some tips. I have the same baguette pan, and mine don't look half as good as yours!

    I guess we will soon be seeing your friends from church on this group! Good luck with your demo.

    ReplyDelete
  15. looks great hope it warms up soon for you all

    ReplyDelete