BB: Beer Bread

This is a very easy bread to make.  

I wasn't sure what beer to use and had discussion with Jeniffer and Catherine on Facebook as to what type of beer to use.  Finally I decided to use this Kilkenny Irish Beer which my husband said is half-light-half dark (?.. how to describe it correctly? I am not a beer drinker..)  The left over beer I pour into a glass for my husband to drink. I sipped a bit..(otherwise hives will pay a visit soon) and I find this beer quite mild and not too bitter.  

Notice the KA bread flour? 

Ya.. I bought another packet..and this time it was ok..so I used it for this beer bread. 

I had extra sourdough left over so I threw it into the dough as well and mixed together. :p

After mixing and leave to proof

I baked into 2 small boules.

Quite a flavorful and nice bread. Easy to make too. Except somehow I can still taste the beer. There is a slight bitter after-taste of the beer when I eat the bread. Maybe I always eat bread on its own without any butter or jam..so the flavor was more pronounced?  My husband ate some and said it was good. He said the slight beer taste is not really noticeable.  

I need to learn to eat bread with cheese, butter, jam etc.. and not as a snack like I always do.  Actually, I have a very bad habit .. I like to eat the crust of the bread and not in the inside of the bread. :P  Now that I bake my own bread, I force myself to eat everything. Otherwise, I will be eating only the crust and throwing away the insides. I prefer crusty part more...more chewy and crunchy.  That's why I say I like crunchy apples.. crunchy unripe persimmons, crunchy peach, crunchy pears... you get the idea... 

BB: Prosciutto Ring

Proscuitto, salami & bacon. 

I bought Hot sopressa but didn't use as I used bacon instead.

Used bacon oil in place of lard. 

The dough was easy to make. I had some sourdough discard and instead of throwing it away, I just mixed into the dough as well..I think about 100g or so. 

All baked. 

Tasted so good! I love the crackly black pepper bits too.

So easy to put together and so tasty.  

Our family finished the bread in just under 1 day. 

Cant' stop eating it ... 

BB: Ricotta Loaf

Get all ingredients ready.

Knead for 10mins with mixer. 

The dough looks weird..like it has moon-craters. 

Very hard to handle without breaking apart. I put in the fridge overnight.

Overnight, still looking weird, so I re-rolled again..and it looked alright.

But after proofing at room temperature for 2 hours..the dough looked weird again.

I tried to slash but some parts of the dough came off but I could easily just smear it back again. 

Baked the loaf as instructed. 

The bread tasted like a cross between scone & bread. Tasted good but some what dense and heavy.

I would have preferred if it was made into tiny scones..cos the crust was the most flavorful part, I find. 

This is not like the kind of bread I like. When I think of bread, I think of something fluffy.  It's like how I don't like Banana Bread..and why I prefer Banana Cake.  

  

The next day, the bread is slightly harder and dry.  Another reason why I don't like bread that doesn't last at least 2 days...such wastage because our family won't be able to finish bread in a day.  Plus we like bread cottony soft. 

Or maybe I did something wrong along the way...that caused my bread to turn out like this...? 

BB: Touch of Grace Biscuits

I made half recipe as I wasn't sure if anyone would want to eat it. Good thing it was public holiday on May 1st and I could make it in the morning in time for breakfast. My daughter and helper ate up all. They liked it very much. 

Rub the shortening into the flour

Mix the cream/yogurt with the flour mixture

Use a scoop to scoop into flour 

Into a 6" pan & bake

Melt some butter..

Brush butter when it's out from oven

When it was hot from oven, it was very wet and doughy.

After it cooled down, it was just right.

Pretty good biscuits and easy to put together.

BB: Pita Bread

When I first tried Pita bread (store bought), it was pretty "duh"...like floury cardboard or some sort of diet bread. This is unusual because I like plain food.  I like to eat popiah skin which is plain too... (popiah skin is not the same as store bought spring roll skin).

Mix all the ingredients together.

Dough was pretty wet and I had to add a couple tablespoon of flour to make just sticky. 

And place in fridge to rest for 2 days. 

Next day, I rolled the dough into 6 flat disc.

Then I rolled it slightly thinner than 1/4". Maybe I rolled it way too thin? (my thin dumpling rolling pin).

Because when i tried to throw the disc into hot oven, you can see the one on the left folded over and ended up looking like Naan.  Then the one of the right, side was folded..and only 3/4 of it puffed up..the other 1/4 side looked like Nann. LOL! 

Next 2, were perfect. I don't know what I did right..maybe I placed it slowly instead of throwing onto the baking stone. The oven was very hot you know... 

The last 2, no photos..but also ended up looking like Naan..so strange.. 

Sorry, I nibbled on the first one to taste it...Actually, I also found out that if your Pita bread didnt' puff up, don't fret, because you can easily peel the 2 sides up and you'll get a pocket anyway..and still can use it as a Pita bread sandwich. 

I ended up eating Pita bread with sambal egg, sotong and curry chicken, only because my helper forgot to cook rice...! 

Home made Pita bread definitely taste better than store bought. But it is still not my favorite. 

I prefer other flat breads like Naan, Roti Prata/Roti Canai which I find more flavourful and have more bite to it.

BB: Rosemary Foccacia Sheet, Page 205.

I have a confession to make..I bought Rose's Bread Bible since 2008 but I have not flipped over a single page! :p  It was in cold storage until now (same with the Pastry Bible!). Glori recently set up a bake through Bread Bible group for Alpha Bakers and now I get to dig it out from deep inside the cupboard and finally read my first recipe. LOL!   

So our first recipe to bake from Bread Bible is page 205, 

Rosemary Foccacia Sheet. 

I have recently cultivated sourdough and had been having fun using them and feeding them. They are my pets now.  Instead of discarding part of the sourdough during feeding, I decided to use it in place of the yeast mentioned in the book. I used 15% of the flour weight and then do the necessary adjustment for flour and water respectively. 

The dough was pretty wet and had to use paddle. Took 20mins to get stuck to the paddle like this. At first I was watching it then I grew tired and bored and walked away to chat with other alpha bakers on FB group. I heard some noises and ran to the kitchen and saw my mixer walking around the counter top on its own! Scary. Thankfully my mixer didn't walk off the counter top!  

After it is transferred to an oiled glass bowl for proofing.  

And I brought my son out - his usual routine - same shopping centre and McDonalds every week.

I came back 3 hrs later, it proofed ..over proofed..to 3x size! Yikes! 

Also due to weather being very hot & sunny that day too. 

I pour into a sheet pan and tried to push the sides around. I think somehow I only pushed the sides and not the centre..the centre no matter how i try to push it won't budge!  Then I planted rosemary leaves on the bread dough...literally... LOL! (..hahaha... I read wrongly....somehow I remembered the garlic part which was supposed to press it down but ended up pressing the stalks of rosemary leaves down instead cos I forgot about the garlic....LOL!)  After I poured some EVOO onto the top of the dough and into the oven it went.

The foccacia freshly out of the oven. 

Sorry..I couldn't help it..I nibbled on some! 

And I nibbled somemore........

And in the end..I nibbled all the crispy sides!!  

I cannot help it! It was so good fresh out of the oven!

Esp. the sides, so crispy and chewy at the same time.

I couldn't eat dinner that night...my stomach was so bloated with bread & water. 

These were the left over bread in the centre of the dough. 

Fluffier and thicker cos I couldn't seem to push them out.

This is a very delicious bread, fresh out of the oven is heavenly.

I couldn't stop eating it.  The next day the bread remained soft, but however, it turned a bit soggy due to the EVOO.  Still better eaten fresh imo.