Category Archives: Yeast

Italian, Vegetables, Yeast

Foccacia w/ Poached Garlic

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After my last foray into breadmaking, I thought I’d take another stab at it so I started looking through “The Bread Bible” for an easy recipe. This one looked interesting. Foccacia, studded with garlic cloves that have been poached in olive oil.

First I separated and peeled one head of garlic, put them in a small saucepan and covered it with olive oil. I poached them over low heat for half an hour before removing them to cool.

The foccacia recipe is a very wet dough and I almost thought I ruined it because it was so gloppy. But with a little more patience (and the right attachment for the KitchenAid), the dough got to the right consistency. I let it rise for 4 hours before pouring it out onto a sheet pan that was greased with the garlic-infused oil. I stretched it out, then studded the garlic cloves into the dough.

It sat for another hour then went into the oven at 475*F for 13 minutes.

I’d say it came out all right for a first attempt. The poached garlic is great – almost sweet. I’ll have to do it again…this time with more garlic! :-p

Aloha, Nate

American, Yeast

Dinner Rolls

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What are the best dinner rolls you ever ate? I remember once eating some great bread in a steak restaurant near Provo, Utah. Forget what they were called, but they were good.

When Annie and I were dating, every so often we’d go have the buffet at the Plumeria Beach Cafe in the Kahala Hilton on Oahu. Besides the awesome spread there (oh, for the days when we could eat lots more and not worry about the weight), they had a basket of rolls with different selections from regular to whole wheat to sourdough to taro. The taro bread was especially good.

Annie made these two types of dinner rolls for us the other night. The first was “Butter-Dipped Dinner Rolls” from “The Bread Bible” and the second was “Dark & Soft Restaurant Dinner Rolls” from “Whole Grain Baking” by King Arthur Flour. Here are both doughs rising before shaping.

After baking. They were both great, but I think the edge went to the butter-dipped ones. Those were so light, airy, and buttery

These were the best rolls I’ve had in a very long time.

Aloha, Nate

Asian, Bakes, Yeast

Red Bean Buns

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Annie was inspired to make some red bean (azuki) buns after reading some Chinese dim sum and Japanese pastry recipe books she borrowed from the library. She’s made azuki bean buns before but this time she cut each dough ball into three smaller balls, filled those with the azuki bean paste, and placed the three balls into a muffin tin.

Here they are proofing in the tin:

After proofing, brush with egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake at 350*F for 12 minutes until golden brown.

They were great – the bread so light and just the right amount of azuki bean. It was hard to stop popping them, one by one, into my mouth!

The buns in the background that don’t have sesame seeds on them are baked char siu bao. Annie made her own char siu the other day, and then made a filling from that. (That’s another blog post…)

Aloha, Nate

Bakes, Hawaiian, Yeast

Portuguese Sweet Bread

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Growing up, we used to have slices of King’s Hawaiian brand Portuguese Sweet Bread for breakfast. The bread had a sweet, eggy crumb and a dark, almost coffee-flavored crust. I’d smear on pats of spread and devour the loaf. It would be gone within a few days.

Annie found this recipe from “The Bread Baker’s Apprentice” that was quite easy to do and produced two wonderful loaves. The crust was soft and delicious while the cumb was tight but light.

 

We gave one loaf away and kept one for ourselves. The kids devoured the loaf within a few days.

Aloha, Nate