SMAC attack! - Braided "Country Fair Bread"

This one is for Sarah, who managed to put in her request for a braided loaf both by comment and by phone...

I have to admit, though, that I almost didn't make a loaf this weekend...My coursework is a bit more than usual (exacerbated by having to spend all of Saturday listening to talks), and since I had an extra loaf in the freezer (the left over loaf of marble bread from last week) I had planned to just thaw that out and not spend any time in the kitchen Saturday and Sunday. But when I woke up this morning my clock read 5:05 (and, as I found out in a little bit, that clock was in fact an hour fast, so it was actually closer to 4:00). I tried (and rather failed) to go back to sleep for a while, but eventually I just had to get up. Anyway, it was still much too early to go into the office, so I decided to do some early morning baking after all.

This bread starts off a bit unusually...no proofing of the yeast. Instead, combine 2 1/2 teaspoons of yeast, 1 cup of all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons of salt, and about 1/4 cup of sugar. While that's just sitting in a bowl, not doing anything, heat up in a saucepan 1 1/2 cups of milk and 4 tablespoons of butter (cut up into small pieces so that it all melts before the milk gets too hot). Once it is warm, add the milk to the flour mixture, along with 2 eggs, and stir for a good five minutes. I'm not really sure what this accomplishes, other than tiring out one's wrist, but this week I have a recipe again, and that's what it says to do.

Once the mixture is very...well, mixed, stir in 4 1/2 more cups of all-purpose flour and start kneading. There will be a bit more of it than usual this time around, but this dough kneads very easily. Once the dough is smooth and elastic, put in a buttered bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and place in a warm, draft-free spot for the

First Rising (1 hour and 20 minutes)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, after complaining last week that teaching was a bit less fun this semester because there is no question asked, nothing that happens that I hadn't already heard last semester, My students proved me wrong last semester. First, some back-story...

Once in a while (say, two or maybe three times over the course of the semester) I like to bring in doughnuts or cookies and juice or some such for my students. On the one hand, I just like randomly being nice once in a while. And, a bit more selfishly, I have definitely noticed that after a burst of sugar my 8 am sections are definitely more attentive. Anyway, you have to say something the first time you bring food in, and this semester for some reason a bunch of my students asked me about my "food policy." Well, I haven't been in a classroom where a "food policy" was relevant since high school, so I was a bit taken aback at the time. But, that gave me a perfect excuse to introduce doughnuts with the following rather cheesy approach: "Last class someone asked me about my policy on food...(blah blah blah)... so anyway, of course, food is fine. But you know, I've always believed in sharing, so if you bring in food wouldn't it be nice to bring in enough for everybody...So, for example, today I wanted a few doughnut holes, so..." well, you get the idea. Anyway, the class and I have a good laugh over that, because we all know that no student is every going to buy food for all twenty-five of us.

But then, last week, one of my students in my Thursday section brought in a giant bag of cherry Hershey's kisses to share with the whole class. Now, no doubt they were just leftover Valentine's Day candy, but still...I thought that was just great, and was glad to be proven wrong.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Punch down the dough and divide into six roughly equal pieces. Roll by hand each piece into a cylinder about 10-12 inches long. Then, simply "braid the strands together." Now, perhaps you know how to make a six-stranded braid, but I certainly don't! Now, I'm not quite sure how to describe what I made up, so let me try the nerdiest possible way with a bit of expanded cycle notation:

Press the strands together at one end, and label them 1-6 from left to right. The first two moves are (123456) -> (612345) -> (623451). Now that we've basically just switched the first and the last strands, relabel them 1-6, because we're just going to repeat the following four moves over and over until we're done: (123456) -> (231456) -> (523146) -> (523614) -> (536142). Make sense? Anyway, I'm not sure if that's how one is supposed to do six-braids, but go ahead...try and tell me that doesn't look pretty sweet!



Second Rising (40 minutes...the bread could have risen for longer, I am sure, but it was about to spill over the edge of the cookie sheet)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Some of you perhaps already know about my bizarre, retrospective "To Do in Life" list. Whereas, I suppose, most people sort of have an idea of the big things they want to accomplish or experience (Become president? Learn how to fly? Go over Niagara Falls in a barrel?) I've only ever had a list of little things that I realize that I've always wanted to do, but only after I've done them. These have ranged from the monetary (I first became aware of this list when I flew into Los Angeles and there was a guy waiting for me, with a car and a big sign upon which my name was writ large. This made me aware of the fact that, despite not being aware of it, I had always wanted to be picked up in a fancy car from an airport - thanks to Cousin Scott's wedding for that one!) to the cheesy-romantic (successfully pulling off the gallantly-give-jacket-to-shivering-girl routine) to the just plain silly (umm...the whole cult thing springs to mind). Well, I am happy to announce that I have now added a fourth thing to said list: last week I managed to compose, in a bout of both whimsy and pure, muse-like inspiration, a letter that was entirely written in verse. Even down to the date, opening, and closing. Admittedly, that was probably one of the silliest "happy birthday" letters ever written, but I had a lot of fun with it...I hope the recipient likes it as much!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Set oven to 375, and while the oven is coming up to temperature brush the top of the bread with 1 tablespoon of cold water beaten with 1 egg white to give the crust some texture. Bake for 45 minutes.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tasting verdict: First, speaking of things written in verse, bonus points to anybody who can guess what book (that I last read the summer after my sophomore or junior year of high school) the above picture made me think of. Anyway, as you can see, I haven't tried a slice from this loaf yet, a result of my eating two breakfasts (cereal, and then a cheese omelet on the last of last week's marble bread) while waiting for it to rise and bake. However, if the past six weeks (and my knowledge of the ingredients of what went into this one) are any guide, I'm going to say that this bread will have a much lighter texture than most of the breads I've made so far, and will almost certainly be a rather rich and sweet loaf. Anyway, I'm sure it'll be great for sandwiches, if a bit too large and oddly-shaped to fit into the plastic sandwich bags I have.

Currently reading: Too busy to do as much reading as I would like...still working on last week's book.

Next week: Well, we've had two requests in a row...can anyone make that three? If not, probably some sort of whole-wheat loaf.

Masha's Marble Bread

I have to say, I was a little bit disappointed by you (dear Reader)...not a single soul responded to my request, my plea for a recipe for the bread I was to bake this weekend. But no matter. As Masha both requested this entry and was the only one to supply me with so much as a hint as to what marble bread even was (much less how to make it), I've named this loaf in her honor. (As an aside: last week, you may recall, I traded a loaf of bread away for a cake, and now this week I've created my own recipe for a bread...I feel like I'm getting steadily closer to removing the "amateur" from my profile description!)

Now, you might think I was slightly nervous about trying to create a fancier-than-average bread with nothing more than a picture to guide me...au contraire! You see, I have a vague, two-part theory about making bread. First: bread can smell fear. Like a ravenous attack dog (of the sort that used to startle me when I would go for a run around my hometown). So, then, when making bread one must be supremely confident, certain that at every step you are doing just the right thing; doubt is only permitted when the bread is safely within the oven. Second: well...we'll save the rest of my theory for another day.

So, to the bread! We'll be preparing two different doughs for this week's loaf, so let's start with the one that has to rise for a longer amount of time, the dark layer. Start things off by proofing 2 1/2 teaspoons of yeast in 1/2 a cup of warm water, with 1 tablespoon of sugar added. After a few minutes, add 2 tablespoons of butter, 1 tablespoon of salt, 2 tablespoons of molasses, and another 3/4 of a cup of warm water. Now, this liquid mixture probably still doesn't look dark enough to provide the sort of contrast you want, so cast about the kitchen for other ingredients you could add. Settle on two Hersey's Dark Chocolate Kisses. Then, with as much panache as you can muster, use a nutmeg grater to add the chocolate powder to the mix. Finally satisfied, add two cups of rye flour, two cups of whole wheat flour, and 1/3 of a cup of cornmeal, stir together, and start kneading. The dough will not be terribly resilient, and will still be slightly sticky, but not to worry: the bread is not yet in the oven, so you can do no wrong. Anyway, place in a buttered saucepan, cover, and set in a draft free spot to start rising. Wash all of the dishes so as to start fresh with the next batch of dough.

The light layer should (as if I know?) just be the whitest white bread possible. So, proof 2 1/2 teaspoons of yeast in 1/2 a cup of warm water and 2 teaspoons of sugar. Then add that to 4 cups of all-purpose flour mixed with 1 tablespoon of salt, and pour in another 3/4 of a cup of warm water (to get the consistency right). Knead this second batch of bread, which won't take nearly as long as any of the other kneading session discussed on this blog. Place in a buttered bowl, cover, and set next to the saucepan for the

First Rising (1 hour and 30 minutes)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Another tale of woe today (although, I think, not nearly as frightening as the anadama fiasco)... Early last week a bunch of us, all working late in the physics building on a particularly nasty problem set, went out to get some late-night Chinese food as a way of taking a break. Well, dinner was nice (sesame chicken - delicious and, I realized, only the second time I've had Chinese food since leaving New England), and it was good to not think about the work for a while. But at the end of the meal came a terrible shock. Naturally along with the check came a pile of fortune cookies, so I picked one, opened it up, and...

There was no fortune inside!! What kind of horrible omen is that? That I have no fortune, no future? I'm not sure I like that at all. Now, admittedly, I've gotten fortune cookies with two fortunes inside, and so obviously fortune-cookie-quality-control isn't anything folks brag about, but still...the idea of a fortuneless cookie shivers my soul. Anyway, I took another cookie from a large basket by the door, but of course that fortune (something like "You will soon be presented an with an unusual gift. Accept!") hasn't come true...after all, that fortune was not meant for me.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Take the doughs out of the oven, punch them both down (twice as much fun as usual!), and divide them both into two slightly unequal pieces. Take a rolling pin and flatten the each piece to about the width of the bread pan and long enough so that each is maybe between a quarter and half an inch thick. Then, put the light layer pieces down first, lay the dark layer pieces on top of them, gently press together, and then roll each up (I suppose I should say "like a jelly roll" to have an appropriate food analogy here, but really this reminded me of nothing so much as rolling up a sleeping bag before trying to store it away). Anyway. place the two rolled-up loaves of dough in an 8x4 and a 9x5 bread pan, re-cover, and return to a warm, draft-free spot for the

Second Rising (1 hour and 15 minutes)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So, I've been teaching this semester's classes for about a month now, and I'm afraid I'm not enjoying it nearly as much as I did last semester. Not only have I taught exactly the same material already (last semester), but even worse is that I've basically already answered every question my students ask me on any given day. I'm still working on fine-tuning both my responses and also, of course, my mini-lectures (I feel I'm slowly getting more competent at that, but really, they need quite a bit more work), but there's just much less excitement to it all, and I'm not surprised nearly as much as I was the last time around. So on the one hand, I'm not nearly as nervous as I was last semester (and have almost gotten used to the idea of standing up and talking to a class of people), so there's less nervous energy, but I'm afraid that also means there's just less total energy.

In part it's also that my students this semester seem a lot less energetic themselves. All of the older grad students have told me they tend to notice the same thing each year, that spring semester always much less fun than the fall (even when teaching different classes), but still...I don't remember students seeming substantially different from spring to fall semesters in college, and I can't really think of a good reason why that would be the case. What do you think?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Set oven to 387.5 (we've made everything else up, so why not pick an unusual number?). While the oven is heating up, brush the tops of the dough with cold milk to try to give the crust some texture, and bake for 40 minutes. The crust on this bread will be only marginally thicker than last week's cinnamon bread, so again, wait a while before slicing.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tasting verdict: First, a quick comment about the appearance...on the one hand, I rather like the, let's say, elegant curve of the boundary between the two doughs inside this loaf. On the other hand, I had hoped for more of an interlocking spiral than what I got. So, I think a good future modification to the recipe would be to make slightly more of the light layer than I did, and then flatten out both doughs much more thinly before rolling them together. Having said all that, though, I'm quite happy to report that my first foray into creating my own bread recipe yielded quite tasty results. The two breads are just mixed together enough that you get some of each with every bite (well, except maybe for one chunk in the middle), and they really do complement each other pretty well: one very light and airy, the other dense and flavorful. All in all, a success!

Currently reading: Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac (just finished), and Borges' Labyrinths (just starting)

Next week: After this week's whirlwind adventure in making stuff up, I'm not sure what I'll try next...any suggestions?

Cinnamon Bread

An exciting week for bread making! I thought that this week, instead of going for a loaf to make the week's sandwiches out of, I would try to mix things up a little bit and go for a breakfast loaf...one that would work well just as toast with butter. So, I went with a cinnamon bread (not a rolled one, though...just one where you knead in the spice). To make things even better, this recipe makes two loaves, and without any prompting from me at all (honest!), one of my friends proposed a deal where I would trade a fresh-baked loaf of bread for a freshly made cake...how could I say no to a deal like that? All in all, I think I feel pretty good about bartering bread for other goods!

Anyway, start out by combining 3/4 of a cup of warm water with 5 teaspoons of yeast and 1/3 of a cup of sugar. While this is proofing, warm 1 1/4 cup of milk, and add to that half a stick of melted butter and 1 1/2 tablespoons of salt. Mix the liquids together, and then try to stir in 1 generous tablespoon of powdered cinnamon (trying to evenly stir in something that floats is a bit beyond me, but, oh well). Stir in about 4 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour, and then turn out on a board and start kneading in another cup or so of flour.

Now, you know I often like to think of kneading the dough as some kind of epic battle (see, for instance, Norwegian Whole Wheat). Well, this bread was just pathetic in that regard, more like taking candy from a baby than engaging in a heroic struggle. I probably should have expected that, as this is the first bread I've made with only all-purpose flour, but still... kneading is one of the best parts of bread-making, so I was a bit disappointed that it didn't take much of an effort this time around. Anyway, as usually, put the kneaded dough into a buttered bowl, cover, and place in a warm, draft-free spot for the

First Rising (1 hour and 30 minutes - about the time it takes to grade 47 quizzes)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, I finally made it to a musical event at the Krannert Center (central Illinois' premier cultural arts center...if pressed, I'd say that the concert space is probably one of the most acoustically perfect concert halls in the world, the sort that could only have been designed by the likes of someone as great as that most renowned of acousiticians, Dr. C. Cyril Harris). It actually was a phenomenal performance, though, and a great place to hear it. The concert was advertised as just being 13 of Rachmaninov's 24 piano preludes, but it started out with Beethoven's Sonata in E Minor. Then, instead of launching into the preludes, the pianist hit two fast, low-note chords, each a syllable seeming to say "Chopin," as he launch into three relatively short Chopin pieces. To be honest, I always feel strange when I hear Chopin live...I'll be listening along, thoroughly enjoying the music, and then there will be, say, a four measure passage that just seems to make perfect sense, that fits the mood so absolutely perfectly that I start to think maybe Chopin is my favorite piano composer. But then there will be another four measures where everything seems to shift...I don't know quite how to explain it, but almost suddenly too happy, too major-key, or too high-pitched. Not very well thought out, I know. But anyway, I think I probably would have been happy if the whole concert was just more Chopin.

But of course, that's not what the concert was. After these first four numbers, which took all of thirty minutes, the performer apparently needed a thirty minute intermission before actually playing any of the Rach preludes. Those pieces are always, I think, very technically impressive, and quite exciting, but they're not my favorite...they seem somehow too virtuosic but not terribly deep and engaging. Not mesmerizing in the way I think a Bach prelude can be. In any event, all joking about the pure acoustics of the Krannert aside... Of course I'm no acoustical expert, but you really could hear a difference in the quality of the sound...every note managed to be both crisp and ringingly resonant at the same time. Which was wonderful 99.9% of the time, but a bit awkward when the pianist ("Maestro Hobson," as the program referred to him...apparently he conducts opera when he isn't performing solo) occasionally lifted a pedal a fraction of a second early or hit a wrong note in a particularly fast and furious passage. Maybe in a space like Chapin the sound would have muffled enough to not be noticeable, but here those moments stood out like sore thumbs. Still, I had a great time, and I'll have to make an effort to go to concerts much more frequently.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Take the dough, punch it down a bit, and cut into two halves. Butter two equally sized bread pans (or, in my case, one 9x5 and one 8x4), shape the halves into loaves fitting into the pans. Cover and return to that warm, draft-free spot (a.k.a. "the oven" turned to its lowest setting), and wait until the dough has doubled in bulk during the

Second Rising (1 hour - enough time to grade the remaining 23 quizzes and clean up some of the dishes)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A short digression on weather, because Illinois has been having some crazy varieties of it recently (ranging from 45 degrees and rainy to 5 degrees with a windchill down to -9 in the span of 24 hours)...I've decided my favorite weather is when it's not too cold (say, in the upper 20's), and snowing heavily. Not windy, with the snow whipping in your face, mind you (though that can be nice, too), but just thick, gently falling snow. I think I like it so much because everything just seems much softer to the senses in that kind of weather (perfect for taking a walk): It can't be terribly bright because it's so overcast, visibility is reduced dramatically, so there's less for the eyes to take in anyway, the ground underfoot loses it's distinctions between asphalt and grass and ice as it all just becomes softly crunching snow, and not only are even sounds muffled, but there aren't that many of them to hear anyway, as car just go slowly ghosting in and out of sight instead of screaming down the road.

Well, maybe all that's a bit silly, but this last week I think I've decided that heavy fog is my second favorite sort of weather, for just exactly the same reasons. Last week (Tuesday? Wednesday? I can't quite remember) was just such a day, with visibility reduced to maybe half a block at most, and it was the best walk to and from my apartment I've had since moving here. In fact, at the end of the day I was quite excited to finish up my work and just go for a long walk, but by the time I put the finishing touches on my last problem set, the weather and transformed into one of the most violent thunderstorms I've seen in a long while. Now, normally I quite like thunderstorms, too...but not really walking a mile and a half through them without an umbrella. My sneakers are still propped up by the heater drying out from that one.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bake at 425 for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 and bake for another 25. Out of the oven, the crust of this bread feels paper-thin, so you really do have to wait for it to cool off before slicing

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tasting verdict: As you can see, I was so excited to try this bread that I forgot to take a picture before I took a monstrous bite out of a slice. The reason for that excitement is that while baking this bread filled the entire apartment with the best bread-and-cinnamon aroma combination I can imagine. And it tasted wonderful. Anyway, I had intended this to be largely a breakfast loaf, but I think the cinnamon flavor is just subtle enough that it might work for sandwiches as well...maybe with peanut butter and honey. The crust of this bread has practically no texture at all, which is a bit of a disappointment....next time I make it I'll have to remember to try brushing the loaf with something just before putting it in the oven.

Currently reading: After realizing that most of the passages I had to memorize in high school have by now slipped out of my mind, just rereading some Shakespeare.

Next week: In honor of last week's first commented upon post, next week we'll be looking forward to a marble bread...now, if anybody happens to have a recipe for such a loaf, do let me know!

Bavarian Rye

A simple, solid rye bread this week (albeit without some of the more traditional Bavarian methods, like air-tight wooden kegs for the dough to rise in, but still)...this one is almost comically easy to make, although it does require a certain amount of patience.

Get things going by combining 2 1/2 teaspoons of yeast, 1 1/2 cups of warm water, and 1 heaping tablespoon of salt. Slowly stir in as much of 3 3/4 cups of rye flour as you can...a bit tricky since the dough will be quite tough and sticky. Anyway, knead on a lightly floured board, but you really only need to knead this dough until all of the flour is evenly blended in. Place the dough in a buttered bowl, cover it with plastic wrap, cover that with tin foil, and place in a "semi-warm" area for the ridiculously long

First Rising (17 hours)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Speaking of things that take 17 hours...this weekend is the start of one of my friend's first solo exhibition in a gallery in upstate New York, and I'm sure just by virtue of being on a long list in some address book I was sent an email invitation to the opening. It would have been great to go, and so I spent all of this week half planning, half idly pondering actually going. It got to the point where I had somebody lined up to cover my Friday afternoon teaching assignment, had the routes printed out, and had great plans of leaving at midnight, showing up just in time for the show, popping over to Williams to surprise everyone there. It would have been so much fun, I'm sure.

But then that annoyingly sensible part of me took hold, and realized that I was actually thinking of spending something like thirty five hours driving by myself over the course of three days, seeing friends for maybe a third as much time, with my course work piling up back in Illinois all the while. That just wouldn't have worked. Still, once you've had an idea like that and then decide not to go through with it, you feel like you're just no fun anymore, unwilling to put those half-crazy-but-inspired ideas into action. Like an old fuddy duddy.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Unwrap the dough. As the recipe somewhat humorously notes, it will look like the dough "hasn't changed much, but punch it down anyway." Knead the dough (now quite easy to work with) for a few minutes, the place in a buttered 8x4 inch bread pan (perhaps reveling in the fact that, after a month, you finally have such a sized pan!). Place in an oven, turned to its lowest setting, with the door partly opened, and wait until the dough has doubled in bulk during the

Second Rising (1 hour and 15 minutes)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So far I'm not too much liking the rhythm of this semester...the classes and the teaching is all fine, but their distribution throughout the week is not so great. All of my work is due Wednesday and Thursday, so there's this regular frenzy of work Sunday through Wednesday night as I try to get everything done, compounded by the fact that all of my office hours and most of my class time is also right at the beginning of the week. But then Thursday rolls around, and everything just evaporates. I have to teach early in the morning on Thursday, and then there is a break of a few hours before my one Thursday class, and then nothing. Oh, there's also another physics 101 section I teach on Friday afternoon, but having already gone through the material twice by that point in the week, I don't need to really do any prep work for that section. Really, it just seems strange having two or three days feel so empty when the other four or five are just a mad dash, filled with things to do. Hopefully I'll figure out something to do about that...unfortunately, though, so far all of the extra-curriculars I've found that might be interesting also have all of their meetings at the beginning of the week, and that just won't do....hmm...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Heat oven to 375. Brush the top of the loaves with a mixture of one egg yolk beaten into about a tablespoon of milk, and bake for 50 minutes. Set a new record by waiting less than a minute before cutting a slice and eating piping hot. Marvel at how easy the bread is to slice.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tasting verdict: I'm very excited, as this tasted (more or less) just like a bakery-made rye bread! A rather small loaf, and maybe it doesn't look quite as nice (although I kind of like the cracked appearance of the sides!), but quite tasty, with an excellent crust, and very dense.

Currently reading: Potential advisors' papers...still looking.

Next week: Maybe a different rye? Or maybe something else altogether....