Ciabatta

Poolish mixed with dry ingredients...

A big sticky mess...

Prepping for the stretch & fold method...

Stretch & fold...

After the 30 minute rest - Stretched & folded for the 2nd time - Covered dough with plastic & fermented for 2 hours...wow...its huge!

Prepped the couche...shaped the dough into three sections - misted with spray oil - covered with a towel & proofed for 60 minutes...

Prepped a pan with cornmeal to make the dough slide more easily onto the preheated stone in the 500 degree oven...The dough has swelled from the proof...

Followed the directions in the book for the "steam oven" & baked for 20 minutes...I probably could have let the loaves bake a bit longer...bit I didn't want to risk burning them after such an intensive recipe...

The ciabatta did not have the "big, shiny holes" as typical ciabatta does...& the flavor was a bit bland...but it was still a nice bread to try to create...& very attractive right out of the oven...

The sliced Ciabatta at a friends house - the menu? Italian of course...

Ciabatta french toast the next morning - very chewy on the outside & soft in the middle...

The look of this bread has a definate "wow" factor - I'm not sure why the taste was a bit bland...still - very fun to try to recreate what you drool over in the gourmet bakeries - my first artisan bread!

Challah

Mixing the dry & liquid ingredients...

first ferment - 1 hour

Knead 2 minutes to de-gas & then 2nd ferment for 1 hour...

1 & 1/2 times orignial size...

Divided into 3 pieces & shaped into boules - & then a 10-minute rest covered with a towel...

Pieces rolled into three strands - slightly thicker in the middle...

Braid starting from the middle - braid both sides & pinching off both ends

Parchment paper on sheet pan - loaf brushed with egg wash...misted with spray oil & covered with plastic - 60-75 minute proof at room temperature - dough 1 1/2 size original - & then brushed again with egg wash & sprinkled with poppy seeds...

Baked 20 minutes at 350 degrees - rotated pan & then baked for another 20 minutes.

Registered at 205 degrees after 40 minutes so I removed the bread from the oven... Smelled heavenly!

Probably one of our favorite so far...fantastic with butter & jam...

Tried the Challah again a few days later - the braids did not hold their shape & broke during proofing...

Not as pretty as the first attempt...

But still tasted great!

Casatiello with Brie & Carmelized Onions

Casatiello - whole milk between 90-100' ...

Bubbly starter...

Vegetarian version with brie...

& carmelized onions....

Smooshing the brie in with fingers...

First proof.

Doubled...

Second Proof...

Out of the oven...

Not a good rise at all...

The Casatiello tasted Ok...I guess I was just disappointed that it didn't rise as mush as it should have...the house was a bit on the cool side this day...so maybe that's it...probably my least favorite so far...still...fun to try...

Poor Man's Brioche

Poor Man's Brioche - taking the advice of some fellow bakers on the google group message boards, I decided I wanted to make a version of the brioche that if I accidently just happened to eat it all, I wouldn't feel as guilty as if I ate the rich man's brioche (2 cups of butter)...so I opted to make the Poor Man's version (1/2 cup butter)...wow...I feel so much better about myself already... Ok...the sponge...full fat milk between 90-100 degrees...

45 minutes for the sponge to do its thing...

Then mixing the rest of the ingredients & the 90 minute proof...

Whoa...definately doubled in size...

2nd proof

Divided up...

A little egg wash...

I wish this was a scratch & sniff sticker...because the smells coming from my kitchen were just a*m*a*z*i*n*g!

The egg wash gave the bread an amazing golden color...

Wow...another successful turnout! Don't worry, I'm not getting a big head...I completely burned tonight's dinner & considered ordering pizza...The only thing salvageable was the bread which we used the little rolls as burger buns...I think toasted slices with anything will be great as well!

Bagels

Bagels! Here is the sponge mixture...

Resting for 2 hours...

2 hours done...not as bubbly or foamy as I'd thought...

Adding the rest of the dry ingredients... I was able to find Barley Malt at my local Henry's store.

My KitchenAid mixer started to smoke when I was mixing this...so I had to roll up my sleeves & finish it myself... I never came to a good "window pane" test...the dough always ripped...but my arms were tired so I just divided up the dough...

4.5 oz for each piece

I ended up with 14 pieces exactly at 4.5 oz & one straggler at about 3.5oz

Then I decided it was time to finish off the remaining ounces of this yummy Stags Leap Cabernet Sauvignon...

My husband asked for chocolate chip bagels...so I was happy to figure something out...

I used the "poke your thumb through the dough" method...worked well for me...

For 3 of the pieces, I smooshed in about 1/8 cup of chocolate chips...

On these two I wanted to see what the result would be to flavor the dough overnight...OK...into the fridge for the overnight proof...

Here goes...my first bagel in its very own boiling bagel bath...

One minute per side...

Flip for another minute on the other side...

Ready to come out...

My assembly line...

Looks like a big fat doughnut to me!

A little sesame seed/poppy seed/kosher salt mixture & then cinnamon & sugar...

I kept waiting for them to deflate...

& waiting...

& waiting...

But they didn't!

Now for the chocolate chip ones...

Experimentation time...

So far so good...only one started to tear open a bit...the water turn a bit brown from the chocolate...

These 5 sort of lost their fullness...but if its filled with chocolate, I don't care...

After 10 minutes in the oven they were done! My entire house smelled like a real bakery..

Wow...they turned out really well...

Of course I was anxious to see what the chocolate stuffed bagel tasted like...

Obviously not quite a chocolate croissant, but not a chocolate doughnut either..

The chocolate was all gooey & melted & the bagel dough very soft...an aquired taste...

Quite a lot of steps in the bagel recipe itself & in this post, but I wanted to capture just how easy this was...Next time I'd have more topping handy to make more of a variety.