Firecracker Rolls

Doesn’t get much easier.  Open a bag of frozen rolls, open a bag of grated cheese, open another bag of grated cheese, open a can of diced chilis.  What can go wrong?? Too much cheese is not a problem, it is a feature.

Did you forget to defrost the rolls?  Preheat the oven to 225°.  Take the rolls from the freezer and place them in the pan.  Place the rolls in the oven on a middle rack. Place another baking sheet, half-filled with water, on a lower rack and turn the oven off.  After 15-20 minutes, check the rolls. If they have doubled in size, they are ready to bake. Now you can follow the package instructions to bake the rolls.

Ingredients:

  • 2 loaves Bridgford Frozen Ready-Dough®, thawed or
    1 pkg Bridgford Frozen White Rolls Dough, thawed or
    1 pkg Bridgford Frozen Parkerhouse Rolls Dough, thawed
  • ¼ c melted butter or margarine
  • ½ c shredded Cheddar cheese
  • ½ c shredded Jack cheese
  • ½ c diced canned green chiles, drained (4 oz)

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 375°.
  2. Lightly grease two, 8″ or 9″ metal cake pans.  Or 1 7×11 pan.  Foil pans bend to get the rolls out and dissapear into the trash.
  3. If using Frozen Ready-Dough, divide each thawed loaf into 12 equal pieces. Place 12 pieces of dough in each pan evenly spaced. If using Frozen Roll Dough, separate rolls and place half of package in each pan, (12 rolls in each pan for Parkerhouse Rolls and 9 rolls in each pan for White Rolls).  All of it into a 7×11 pan.
  4. Brush dough with melted butter.
  5. Let dough rise until rolls reach top rim of pan.
  6. Gently and evenly top each pan of raised rolls with ¼ cup Jack
    cheese and ¼ cup Cheddar cheese.
  7. Evenly sprinkle over each pan of rolls, 3-4 tablespoons of chiles.
  8. Bake for 25 minutes. Insert a toothpick into the center of the roll. If it comes out clean, the rolls are likely done or use an instant-read thermometer.  The center should be 190°. Are they golden brown?
  9. Remove from oven and pan to cool on wire rack.
  10. Brush with remaining melted butter.

Serves: You can’t eat just one!

Source: bridgeford.com

Pumpkin Bread with Salted Maple Butter

Reported to be pretty close to Starbucks Pumpkin Bread.  Maple Butter a plus.  Someone added the Maple Mascarpone Cheese spread and it is a winner.

Caution! This calls for pure pureed pumpkin. Just make sure you’re not using pumpkin pie filling as that already has spices and sweeteners added to it. They are right next to each other in the grocery store so just had to make a note!

If you put tin foil around the outside of your loaf pan (shiny side facing in) will help prevent the sides and bottom from browning too much since it bakes for an hour. This is a fun trick and really works. Keeps the outside of the bread nice and soft! You can also place a piece of tin foil over the top of the bread after 45 minutes of baking.

Bread Ingredients:

  • Nonstick vegetable oil spray
  • 2½ c flour
  • 2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 2 tsp kosher salt
  • ½ tsp baking soda
  • ½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
  • ⅛ tsp ground cloves
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 15-oz. can pumpkin purée
  • 1 Tab plus 1 tsp finely grated ginger (from about one 3″ piece fresh ginger)
  • 1½ c plus 1 Tab sugar
  • 1 c extra-virgin olive oil
  • ½ c raw pumpkin seeds

Maple Butter Ingredients:

  • 1½ sticks (¾ c) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • ¼ c pure maple syrup
  • ¾ tsp flaky sea salt, plus more for serving

Bread Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 325°.
  2. Lightly coat a 9×5″ loaf pan with nonstick spray.
  3. Line bottom of pan with parchment, leaving a generous overhang on both long sides.
  4. Whisk flour, cinnamon, kosher salt, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, and cloves in a medium bowl.
  5. Whisk eggs, pumpkin purée, ginger, and 1½ cups sugar in a large bowl.
  6. Stream in oil, whisking constantly until mixture is homogeneous.
  7. Gently fold half of dry ingredients into egg mixture until no dry spots remain.
  8. Repeat with remaining dry ingredients, stirring to combine but being careful not to overmix.
  9. Transfer batter to prepared pan.
  10. Smooth top with a spatula.
  11. Scatter pumpkin seeds over batter, pressing lightly to adhere.
  12. Sprinkle seeds with remaining 1 Tbsp. sugar.
  13. Bake bread, rotating pan once halfway through, until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 80–90 minutes.
  14. Let cool slightly.
  15. Run a knife or small offset spatula around pan to help loosen bread.
  16. Using overhang parchment, transfer bread to a wire rack and let cool.

Do Ahead: Bread can be baked 4 days ahead. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and keep at  room temperature.

Maple Butter Directions:

  1. Using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter in a large bowl, scraping down
    sides, until light and fluffy, 5–6 minutes.
  2. Add maple syrup and ¾ tsp sea salt and beat, scraping down sides of bowl once more, just until incorporated.
  3. Transfer maple butter to a small bowl.
  4. Season with more sea salt.

Do Ahead: Maple butter can be made 5 days ahead. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and chill.  Let come to room temperature before using.

Maple Mascarpone Cheese

  • 8 oz Mascarpone cheese
  • 1 Tab powdered sugar
  • 3 Tab maple syrup
  • 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

Maple Mascarpone Cheese Directions:

Whip together these ingredients, but not too long so it does not turn into butter.

Serves:  Makes 1 loaf

Source: Bon Appetit, Published October 2018 , Mary Doten

Jalapeño Cheese Breadsticks

Look at this recipe as a suggestion.  Consider brushing raw dough with marinara sauce or pizza sauce or mustard, or or or…Add in diced pepperoni, diced ham, chopped tomato, or or or. . .

Ingredients:

  • 1 loaf Bridgford Frozen Ready-Dough®, thawed
  • 1/2 c shredded Cheddar cheese (I would use lots more cheese!)
  • 1/2 c chopped, canned jalapeño peppers (or diced green chiles)  (Bland.  For more heat toss with a little hot sauce.)

Directions:

  1. Lightly grease a large rimless sheet pan; set aside.
  2. On a lightly floured surface roll out dough to a 10 x 14 inch rectangle. If dough shrinks back after rolling, let rest for 10 minutes and then continue rolling.
  3. Carefully transfer rectangle of dough to prepared sheet pan.
  4. Brush dough with melted butter.
  5. Sprinkle evenly with cheese and peppers.
  6. With a pizza slicer or sharp knife, cut the dough into 1-inch strips. Do not move strips.
  7. Let the dough rise until puffy (45 minutes – 1 hour).
  8. Bake in a preheated 375° oven for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.
  9. Remove from oven.
  10. Cut the strips apart and remove to cool on wire rack.

Serves:  ? 12-14 if you can eat jusr one

Source:  Ad for Bridgeford frozen bread

Crescent Rolls – Yes, You Can freeze Them

Pillsbury Rolls (Crescent) can be frozen baked or unbaked without any danger to the texture, flavor, or taste. The fresh dough can be frozen for about a year and the baked rolls can be frozen for about 2 months for the best quality.

Can you freeze Pillsbury crescent rolls in their cans? No, you shouldn’t. There is usually a warning on the can telling you not to freeze. But some people still do anyway.  More often than not, the cans have been known to explode as they freeze. That’s because the dough contains water, which expands as it freezes.

Do this instead:

Freeing uncooked Pillsbury Crescent Rolls

Step 1:  Open the can of Pillsbury rolls (Crescent). Bring out the fresh dough, and separate the roll of dough into single and separate rolls by following the serrated lines made in the dough. Roll each one separately and shape them as you like.

Step 2:  Get a cookie sheet (that will fit in your freezer) and line it with parchment paper, take your unbaked crescent rolls and place them individually on the cookie sheet making sure they are not in contact.  Place the tray of unbaked rolls in the freezer and leave them to freeze until the rolls have frozen solid -overnight.

Step 3: Take your frozen unbaked crescent rolls and transfer them into heavy-duty airtight freezer bags. Don’t stuff the bag full.  Leave about an inch of space. Expel as much air as you can from the bags by pressing them flat before sealing. Label the bags with a sharpie, stating the content of the bags and the date of the freeze.

Freezing Baked Pillsbury Crescent Rolls

Step 1: Let the rolls cool down to room temperature.

Step 2: Wrapped each baked rolls separately in several layers of plastic wrap.

Step 3:  Pack the wrapped rolls into airtight freezer bags. Don’t stuff the bags full, expel as much air as you can before you seal. Before placing the bags into the freezer to freeze, don’t forget to label them.

Defrosting Frozen Pillsbury Crescent Rolls

Remove them from the freezer and place on baking sheet. Leave them to thaw overnight in the refrigerator. Once thawed you can bake as per cooking instructions and add about 5 minutes of extra cooking time to compensate for the cold dough.
To defrost frozen baked rolls, you can reheat them in the oven with the plastic wrap removed. Just place the rolls in the oven till it heats through and through.  You can microwave but quality will be poor.

Source:  Experience

 

High Altitude Baking Adjustments

Why Does High Altitude Matter?
Anything 3500+ feet above sea level is considered high altitude. In a nut shell- as altitude increases, air pressure decreases. This affects baked goods in two main ways:

  1. They will rise more easily, and lose moisture faster. Liquids evaporate more quickly since water boils at lower temperatures – 212° at sea level and 208° at 2,000 ft .
  2. Leavening occurs faster, gas bubbles expand too quickly and create unstable baked goods.  They rise too quickly- before they can stabilize- and then collapse. Quicker evaporation also has ramifications. Baked goods dry out easier, they’re more prone to sticking, and sugar becomes more concentrated.

What Can You Do About It?
The good news is that with a few basic adjustments you can avoid high altitude baking disasters.  So much of high altitude can be trial and error. As altitude goes up, more adjustments may be necessary. Start with one or two adjustments at a time and make a note of what worked and didn’t. Good luck!

Oven Temperature: Increase oven temp by 15-25 degrees over 5000 feet. Evaporation happens more quickly the higher in elevation you go, so the idea is that a higher oven temperature will stabilize the structure of the baked good(s).
Baking Time:  Decrease by 5-10 minutes per hour of baking time. Baking at higher temperatures means baked goods will be done sooner.
Sugar: Decrease by 1-2 tablespoons per cup. Sugar concentrates at higher altitudes which can weaken the structure of what your baking.
Liquid: Increase liquid by 1 tablespoon at 3,000 feet. Add 1/2 tablespoon for each additional 1,000 feet.  Extra liquid helps baked goods from drying out due to higher oven temperatures and extra evaporation.
Flour: Add 1 tablespoon per cup of flour at 3,000 feet. Add an additional 1 tablespoon per cup for each additional 1500 feet.  Adding an extra bit of flour helps strengthen the structure of the baked goods.
Leavening: Decrease leavening agent by 1/8 teaspoon per 1 teaspoon at 5000 feet. Decrease by 1/4 teaspoon per 1 teaspoon 6000 feet to 7500 feet. Leavening is what gives baked goods their rise/poof.
Because leavening agents have more power at altitude, baked goods rise too quickly- before they can stabilize- and then fall flat. Decreasing the leavening allows the baked goods to rise more slowly and stabilize.
Eggs: Always use large eggs and take care not to over beat. Overbeating the eggs creates too much air and decreases the stableness of the baked goods. You can also just add an extra egg (especially in mile-high Denver!)
Yeast: You may need to decrease the amount of yeast by 15-20%. Give dough an extra rise by punching it down twice before forming it OR let it rise in the refrigerator to slow down the rise and allow the flavor to develop. Yeast bread dough rises more rapidly at higher altitudes and the rising period is shortened.
Yeast doughs can easily over-rise if not watched carefully. Good flavor is dependent on the length of the rise so adjust by using one of the two methods mentioned.

Source:  www.mountainmamacooks.com

Brie in Brioche

Many cooks, famous and not so famous, offer Julia Child’s Brioche or Brie in Brioche recipes – with a change or two they choose to make.  This is MY take on the topic!

The recipe suggested to start the brioche at least 24 hours or up to 36 hours ahead. Brioche dough requires intensive mixing, literally beating the dough to submission, in order to develop its smooth fine texture.

While most brioche dough calls for cool butter, this recipe stands out in using melted butter. With the melted butter, you gain in convenience of mixing all the ingredients in the stand mixer all at once. This recipe is bread-machine friendly and among the easiest to make.

Check out Brie Basics on this blog for more than you will ever need to know about brie.

Ingredients:

  • 1 T  active dry yeast. (I used instant yeast)
  • 3 T non-fat dry milk
  • 3 T sugar
  • 1 1/2 t salt
  • 3 1/4 c all-purpose flour
  • 2 sticks of unsalted butter – softened or almost melted – a microwave thing
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1/3 c water
  • 3 large onions
  • 1 large egg for the egg wash
  • 1 round  wheel ripe Brie (unpeeled, although no recipe indicated peeled vs unpeeled the photos appeared with the rind intact.)

Directions:

Start with the onions.

  1. To caramelize onions in the oven, heat the oven to 400°.
  2. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper (or foil).
  3. Toss a big pile of thinly sliced onions with olive oil and a splash of water (which will help them to steam and soften).
  4. Season with salt.
  5. Roast until golden-brown and shrunken, stirring every 10 minutes or so, for 40–50 minutes.

Now the dough.

  1. Pre heat the oven 425°.
  2. Place brioche ingredients in the large bowl of a stand mixer –  1T active dry yeast (1 package), 3T nonfat dry milk, 3T sugar, 1 1/2 t salt, 3 1/4 C all-purpose flour, 2 sticks of unsalted butter, 3 large eggs and 1/3 C water.  (If you put the eggs and water in first and mix with a fork it is faster,)
  3. Mix on low until combined. (Use a paddle not the dough hook.)  No recipe told me how long to mix on high in order to “beat it into submission”.  I was ready to move on after about 10 – 15 minutes.
  4. Put in a plastic bag and store in the refrigerator 12 – 14 hours.
  5. Take the dough from the refrigerator at least 4 hours before you want to serve it.
  6. Turn the cold brioche dough on to a lightly floured surface.
  7. Roll into a large cylinder and cut into 3 parts .
  8. Roll a piece into a 12-inch diameter circle, assuming a large brie wheel.
  9. Fit the dough into the bottom of the pan covering the sides about 1 inch around. Use a pan an inch larger than the brie.
  10. Halved the brie wheel horizontally.
  11. Put the brie half in the middle and pour the cooled onions on top of the cheese. Leave enough room around for the top and bottom dough to connect
  12. Roll the second dough  12-inch diameter and cover the cheese.
  13. Pinch around to connect to the bottom dough.
  14. Roll the remaining dough into 30 by 3 inches rectangular strip. Make 2 cuts along the length trying not to separate the top end.
  15. Braid the dough. (A joke!! It is veery stretchy so just try to plate it as best you can.  I might try just a twist next time.)
  16. Put the braid around the  pan in the space between the brie and the edge dough.
  17. Let it rise at room temperature for  40 min – 1 hour. (Mine didn’t look like it rose at all but we baked it anyway – turned out beautiful!)
  18. Place the pan in the pre heated oven.
  19. Bake the brioche for 15 minutes.
  20. Then lower the temperature to 375°.
  21. Bake for another 30 minutes.  If you need to, tent it with a foil to prevent it from browning too fast.
  22. Cool for 30 minutes before serving.  (You’re kidding!  No one will wait that long!  We served slices on a plate with a fork.  There is enough bread around the brie to eliminate the need for crackers.)

Serves:  10-12

Source:  Research and luck.

 

Gougeres (French cheese puffs)

Gougères (pronounced goo-zhair) are French cheese puffs made with a simple pate a choux dough. Serve them plain like a roll or cut them open and fill for an appetizer.  Don’t tell anyone how easy they are to make.  “Oh, they are FRENCH you know!”

Ingredients:

  • 1 c water
  • 6 Tab butter cut into pieces
  • ½ tsp  salt
  • ⅛ tsp pepper
  • pinch nutmeg
  • 1 c all purpose flour
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 c cheese, grated (Gruyère, Comté or Emmentaler, Swiss, cheddar, etc.)
  • 1 large egg

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 425°.
  2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or butter it generously.
  3. In a heavy bottom pan, bring water, butter, salt, pepper and nutmeg to a boil.
  4. When butter is melted and water is boiling, remove from heat.
    With a wooden spoon stir in flour.
  5. Cook over medium high heat for 1-2 minutes. The dough should leave the side of the pan clean and a slight film on the bottom.
  6. Remove from heat.
  7. Some recipes suggest moving the dough to the bowl of a stand mixer and adding the eggs with a paddle attachment.  You can also leave it in the pan and beat it with a hand mixer.
  8. Make a well in the center of the dough.
  9. Add one egg.
  10. Beat in egg until incorporated.
  11. Repeat with three more eggs, stirring each one in completely before adding the next.
  12. Stir the cheese into the warm dough.
  13. Place dough in a pastry bag (or plastic bag with a corner cut out) or use a soup spoon to make 1 inch diameter and 1 inch high mounds (optional: for a true Julia Child touch, make a small peak on the top of the mound).  We use a cookie press with a die with a 1/2 inch hole.  Use scissors to cut the dough off the press.
  14. Drop the dough on the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches between the mounds.
  15. SECRET – don’t tell: At this point you can put the cookie sheet in the freezer.  When the little treasures are frozen about one hour, slide them into a bag and, voila!, you have gougeres instantly – day or night.  Keep Champagne in the fridge and you have a party.
  16. In a small bowl combine remaining egg and ½ teaspoon of water. Brush the egg mixture lightly on top of the puffs without letting it drip all the way to the parchment paper. This will prevent the puffs from rising.
  17. Bake the Gougères for 10 minutes at 450°.
  18. Then turn the oven down to 350° and bake for an additional 17-23 minutes, until they are nicely golden brown and feel firm when tapped.
  19. Let the Gougères cool slightly on a wire rack before serving. (The Gougères are best served warm.)
  20. They also freeze (unbaked) incredibly well.

Serves:  25-30 gougeres

Source: thatrecipe.com/blog/gougeres-french-cheese-puffs-a-la-julia-child-ourfamilytable and several others

No-Knead Bread

Supper easy bread recipe that turns out with a great crust.  It came from Jim Lahey, owner of Sullivan Street Bakery in New York City, who created a way to make a spectacular loaf at home, with a crackling crust, open-holed crumb, light texture, and fantastic flavor — all with next to no hands-on time.
A wet dough and slow fermentation are the keys to success; almost by magic, they take the place of kneading . You’ll also notice the unique baking method — a heated covered pot — which creates essentially an oven within an oven to trap steam as the bread bakes. I’m not kidding when I say the results will blow your mind.
The only thing required is forethought. Ideally, you will start the dough about 24 hours before you plan to eat it; you can cut that to 12 and even 9, but you’ll be sacrificing some of the yeasty flavor and open crumb.

P.S. There is a high altitude recipe also on the blog.

Ingredients:

  • 4 c all-purpose or bread flour, plus more as needed
  • Scant 1/2 tsp instant yeast
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 2 Tab olive oil (optional)
  • Cornmeal, semolina, or wheat bran for dusting

Directions:

  1. Combine the flour, yeast, and salt in a large bowl.
  2. Add 2 cups water (it should be about 70°).
  3. Stir until blended. You’ll have a shaggy, sticky dough; add a little more water if it seems dry.
  4. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rest for about 18 hours at room temperature (a couple of hours less if your kitchen is warmer; a couple more if it’s cool). The dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles.
  5. Lightly flour a work surface.
  6. Transfer the dough to it.
  7. Fold it once or twice; it will be soft but not terribly sticky once dusted with flour.
  8. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest for about 15 minutes.
  9. Using just enough additional flour to keep the dough from sticking, gently and quickly shape the dough into a ball.
  10. Generously coat a cotton (not terry cloth) kitchen towel with cornmeal, semolina, or wheat bran (or use a silicone baking mat)’
  11. Put the dough seam side down on the towel and dust with more flour or cornmeal.
  12. Cover with another cotton towel (or plastic wrap) and let rise for about 2 hours. When it’s ready, the dough will be more than doubled in size and won’t spring back readily when poked with your finger.
  13. At least a half hour before the dough is ready, heat the oven to 450°.
  14. Put a 3- to 4-quart covered pot (with the cover)— it may be cast iron, enamel, Pyrex, or ceramic — in the oven as it heats.
  15. When the dough is ready, carefully remove the pot from the oven.
  16. Turn the dough over into the pot, seam side up. (Slide your hand under the towel and just turn the dough over into the pot; it’s messy, and it probably won’t fall in artfully, but it will straighten out as it bakes.)
  17. Cover with the lid and bake for 30 minutes.
  18. Then remove the lid and bake for another 20 to 30 minutes, until the loaf is beautifully browned; the bread’s internal temperature should be 200°F or more. (If at any point the dough starts to smell scorched, lower the heat a bit.)
  19. Remove the bread with a spatula or tongs and cool on a rack for at least 30 minutes before slicing.

Serves  one 1 1/2 lb loaf

Source: How to Bake Everything via Eric Kleerup

Faster No-Knead Bread:  Reduce the initial rise to 8 hours; skip the 15-minute resting period in Step 2 and then shape the dough in Step 3. Proceed immediately to Step 4.

Whole Wheat No-Knead Bread:  Substitute whole wheat flour for up to 2 cups of the all-purpose flour.

Yeast produces different byproducts depending on the temperature it ferments at. So dough formed with a warm ferment ends up with a sour, yeasty off-flavor, as opposed to the richer, maltier aromas you get from bread fermented at cooler temperatures. Giving lean doughs like this a stay in the fridge for three to five days can massively increase its flavor and its performance. Same goes for the no-knead bread.

After allowing it to rise at room temperature overnight, Stick it directly into the refrigerator for three days. There’s another advantage built into this as well: cold dough is much easier to handle. Gluten gets stiffer as it cools, which means that refrigerated dough will be much simpler to shape into a ball or a long loaf, or whatever shape you wish to bake it in.

After shaping, cover is with a bowl or a flour-coated kitchen towel and let it rise at room temperature for a couple of hours to take the chill off it and leaven for the final time before slashing it with a sharp knife (this allows it to expand faster in the Dutch oven, and makes it look pretty), and baking.

 

 

No-Knead Bread at Altitude

Altitude really does make a difference when baking. 

Also, for a more flavorful bread try refrigerating it for a couple of days.  Yeast produces different byproducts depending on the temperature it ferments at. So dough formed with a warm ferment ends up with a sour, yeasty off-flavor, as opposed to the richer, maltier aromas you get from bread fermented at cooler temperatures. Giving lean doughs  a stay in the fridge for three to five days can massively increase its flavor and its performance. Same goes for the no-knead bread.

After allowing it to rise at room temperature overnight, Stick it directly into the refrigerator for three days. There’s another advantage built into this as well: cold dough is much easier to handle. Gluten gets stiffer as it cools, which means that refrigerated dough will be much simpler to shape into a ball or a long loaf, or whatever shape you wish to bake it in.

After shaping, cover is with a bowl or a flour-coated kitchen towel and let it rise at room temperature for a couple of hours to take the chill off it and leaven for the final time before slashing it with a sharp knife (this allows it to expand faster in the Dutch oven, and makes it look pretty), and baking.

Ingredients:

  • 3 c bread flour
  • 1 1/4 tsp salt
  • scant 1/4 tsp instant (rapid rise) yeast
  • 1 4/3 c room temperature water

Directions:

  1. Combine flour, yeast, and salt in a large mixing bowl.
  2. Add 1 3/4 cups tepid (warm room temperature) water and stir until blended. Dough will be sticky and shaggy, but will come together in a rough ball.
  3. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and let rest at room temperature (68-70 degrees) for 12-15 hours. When dough is ready, it will have roughly doubled in size and surface will be dotted with bubbles.                                       Note: High gluten content in your bread flour is essential at high altitude. Do *not* substitute all-purpose or whole grain flours unless you add additional wheat gluten.                                                                                      Note: Don’t be tempted to skimp on the salt. It turns out it’s important.
  4. Dump dough out of bowl onto lightly-floured work surface.
  5. Fold it over itself a few times.
  6. Sprinkle with flour, cover with saran wrap, and let rest 10-15 minutes
  7. Using just enough flour (really, the least you can get away with) to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball.
  8. Generously coat a silpat or non-terry cotton towel with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal.
  9. Put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal.
  10. Cover with an oiled piece of saran wrap covered with a second, damp cotton towel. (This is to make up for the fact that air pressure is less at altitude.)
  11. Let rise for about 1 1/2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.
  12. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees.
  13. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats.
  14. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven.
  15. Slide your hand under towel or silpat 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.
  16. Cover with lid and bake 45 minutes, then check the temperature of the bread.
  17. Remove lid and cook for up to another 15 minutes, until bread reaches an internal temperature of 210 degrees.                                                                                                                                                                                                   Note: Mine got stuck at just over 200 degrees, but I took it out after about 55 minutes anyway because, well, it just seemed done.
  18. Remove bread from oven and cool on a rack until it reaches nearly room temperature before you cut into it. (This keeps it from drying out.)
  19. Enjoy!

Serves:  one 1 1/2 lb loaf

Source:  Cooking at 5280 – Denver Calibrated Cooking  Adapted from Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery, via Mark Bittman at The New York Times

 

 

Pão de Queijo (Brazilian Cheese Bread)

Serves:   Makes approximately 2 (extremely addictive) dozen puffs
Source:   Obrigado Brazil! – VPWL November 2014