We Have Our Winners!

After many wonderful hours of sifting through recipes and photos, I have selected the winners of our recipe contest! Thank you to everyone who submitted, I wish I could have used them all.  I will be featuring some of the others here on the blog over the next few weeks. 

With so many delicious entries, we have 10 winners and 22 recipes!  I will list the recipes later, but here are the names of the winners:

Rachel Neeley
Rachelle Glines
Valerie Penfold
Diana Ellis
Kristine Pryor
Kyle & Erika Smith
Lori Daniels
Vanessa Longfellow
Erin Johnson
Sue Ann Burton

Here is where I need your help! There was one recipe submitted ( an amazing pretzel recipe) that I could not find the email for when it came time to judge last night.  If this is your recipe, please contact me, because I want to use it!!

Thank you again to everyone who submitted, and I will post more on the recipes you can look forward to in the upcoming cookbook soon! 

2 Great new Tutorial Videos!!

A month or so ago my friend Linda Loosli introduced me to Eric with BackStagePass productions and suggested i have him help me put together some tutorial videos.  Well, I took her up on it and I'm so glad I did! Eric hung out at the Bread Geek's house on bread day, and put together these great videos for me.  The videos take you through the entire process of using your starter, starting with using it in a recipe, feeding, and a few other tips along the way.  We were originally only going to do one video, but there was so much content we wanted to include we went back and made a second video. 

In this first video, I will use the starter in a recipe, show you how I mix my dough in the mixer and what it looks like when the dough is ready.  I will feed my starter and set the dough for the long rise.
(For some reason I could not get the first video to embed, so here is the link, just click on it or copy and paste it into your browser.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_LWmnxTl0U

In this second video, I go back and show you how your dough should look when it has completed the long rise and is ready for shaping. I will also show how your dough should look when it is ready to go into the oven. I hope you enjoy these videos and that they are helpful to you in your natural yeast journey!

Naturally Leavened Honey Whole Wheat Bread

This recipe is my very favorite for sandwich bread.  I make this bread multiple times a week for family and classes alike.  The flavor is sweet and mild, and the texture is fantastic.  I hope you enjoy it as much as we do! I will be posting the link to the video tutorial for this recipe here soon, so check back for it!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup start (stir before measuring)

2 ½ cups lukewarm water

2 tsp salt

1 tbsp coconut oil

¼ cup honey

5-6 cups whole wheat flour

 

Setting up the dough: (At least 10 hours before baking)

Combine water, start, coconut oil, honey and salt in mixer.

 

Add flour 2 cups at a time, allowing mixer to incorporate flour before adding more. 

Continue adding flour until dough “cleans” the sides of your mixer bowl.

 (There may be residual bits near the top, and here and there along the sides, but the lower half of the bowl should be clean)

Once the sides have cleaned, allow the dough to knead for 10 minutes.

 

Dampen a large work surface with water and pull the dough out of the mixer bowl onto your work surface. (You want just enough water to keep the dough from sticking, but not enough to water-log your dough)

Wet your hands with water, and knead the dough a few times, until the texture is uniform.

 

Place dough smooth side up into a pre-greased bowl or container (remember to choose a container that allows your dough room to double in size.  You can also split your dough and use two smaller bowls)

Cover your bowl with greased plastic wrap or with a thick, damp kitchen towel (thin towels dry out too quickly and stick to the dough).

Place on countertop to rise overnight, (or all day) for 6-14 hours. 

 

Feed your start, and place in refrigerator

 

Shaping and Final Rise

After a minimum of 6 hours, turn dough out of bowl onto wet work surface.

Wet hands and use dough scraper or sharp serrated bread knife to cut the dough into 2 equal pieces.

Set pieces aside on a damp surface and grease your pans. (This gives your dough time to “relax” before shaping)

 

Take one dough section and pat it out on your damp work surface. 

Shape each piece individually into sandwich loaves, artisan boules or rolls.

Allow the loaves to rise in a warm place for 2-2 ½ hours, or until the dough slowly returns a gentle fingerprint.

 

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees

Bake for 25 minutes, or until a thermometer inserted into the bottom of the loaf reads at least 170 degrees.

Remove from pans and allow to cool completely before cutting.

Last Week for Recipe Submissions!

Alright folks, our recipe contest is winding to a close.  I have been so impressed by the recipes I have gotten so far.  I have seen everything from pretzels to french breads.  Yum! If you have been working on recipes, perfect them this week and send them over!  I will be emailing the winners next week and then it's time to get ready for the photo shoot!

Melissa

Simple Decorated Roll Cake - KUTV.com

Here is the link to my video demonstration of the decorated roll cake recipe.  I had so much fun being back at channel 2, and especially to have the help of Matice, my marketing director for my cookbook.  Together we had so much fun!

Simple Decorated Roll Cake - KUTV.com

KUTV Segment: Simple Decorated Roll Cake

I know many of you have been eagerly awaiting this recipe post, and I thought I would give you something a little fun to play with for the weekend and post it a little early.  The segment will air on Monday at noon, so be sure to tune in!

There are a wide variety of cookbooks for Japanese decorated roll cakes, many of which are very complicated. I have found that complex recipes are necessary for complex design, but for simple patterns, shortcuts can be taken. Design templates can be hand-drawn, printed from the internet, or a piece of decorative scrapbook paper can be used. As you can see in the photos below, I used the po-boy method of marking graph paper in the pattern I wanted since my printer is broken.  To avoid your cake cracking when rolled, be sure to roll it while still warm. Have fun! Ingredients 4 eggs 2/3 cup sugar 2 T water 1 cup sifted all-purpose or cake flour 1 tsp baking powder Extra flour for thickening decorative batter   You will also need: Parchment paper Thin kitchen towel (optional) Cookie sheet with 1 inch sides Hand mixer Design template (printed or drawn) Food coloring Zip loc bags or cake decorating bags and tips Line baking pan with parchment paper. Place template underneath parchment paper at one end of cookie sheet (as you roll your cake up, only about 8 inches of cake will show on top). Place prepared baking sheet in freezer. In a small bowl sift together flour and baking powder.

In a larger bowl beat the eggs together with a hand-mixer for 2 minutes.



Slowly add the sugar. Add water and mix to combine.



Slowly add the flour/baking powder mixture and mix only until batter is creamy . Do not over-mix.

Remove a portion of the batter (2-3 tablespoons is usually enough for a simple design) and add food coloring to desired color intensity. Add 1 tsp flour for every 2 T of batter and stir to thicken.

Pour colored batter into bag(s). Remove pan from freezer and pipe colored batter onto parchment, following template.

Return pan to freezer for ten minutes or until piped batter is firm to the touch. For designs where different colors touch each other (as in the center of a flower and its petals) one color can be piped, frozen for ten minutes, then the other and frozen for another ten.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

When oven is preheated (this usually takes about ten minutes) remove the pan from the freezer and pour remaining batter down the center of the pan. Quickly and carefully spread batter evenly across pan. Do not take too long or your design will melt and smear.

 Bake cake for 6 minutes (no longer, or cake will be overdone).

Remove cake from oven and run a butter knife along the edges to loosen any attached sides.

Immediately turn cake out of pan onto parchment paper or flattened towel so the design is facing up. Gently remove parchment from top of cake.

Carefully flip cake over onto fresh parchment so design faces down

 
Spread filling evenly across cake and add any additional fruits or sweets.

Gently roll cake starting from the end without the design and working your way toward the design end.

Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes before serving. (I have to put that because it’s standard procedure for roll cakes, but if you’re like me, you’ll just eat it!)
 

Exciting News and Recipe Contest!

Writing a book is a lot like having a baby: nothing can prepare you for how hard it is, but once you’re far enough past the sleepless nights you start to think “I could do that again…”

Well, I had both a new baby and a new book at about the same time.  Can you guess which I’m feeling ready to take on again? That’s right.  The bun in the oven is whole wheat, and naturally yeasted.  Book 2 is in the works!

I am so excited for this book. I have learned so much from helping all of you on your natural yeast journeys, and I can’t wait to share what I’ve learned.  New tips, new research, new recipes. 

So here’s where the recipe contest comes in.  I have been so impressed (amazed, really) at the bold creativity you all have demonstrated in your recipe adventures with natural yeast.  The world needs to see what you’ve been up to!  I want to show them how amazing you all are and how we are taking back bread.  No more stores, no more excuses, just determined, everyday folks making extraordinary bread.

For the next month I will be taking submissions for recipes to be included in the cookbook.  Each recipe will be professionally photographed, and include a baker-bio (yours!),  short story of how the recipe came to be, and your photograph (optional).

Recipe guidelines:

• Recipes can be simple or complex, and contain any type of flour (white included).  I want recipes for every level of baking experience and taste preference. (I would especially love recipes of specific country origin- I am considering doing an international bread chapter)
• Recipes should contain no commercial yeast, but may contain baking soda or baking powder.

Submission Guidelines:

• Each submission should have full recipe, and if possible a picture (phone camera pics are great)
• Short baker-bio.  (what is your profession, interesting fact about you and/or your family, how baking fits in your life)
• short description of how this recipe came to be. (ex: Grandma’s famous muffins, your favorite cookie recipe, etc.)
• Submissions that are not accepted for the cookbook will be featured on the blog.

All recipes must be submitted by April 28.

Contest winner Photo Shoot will be held May 9, approx 10:00 am.in Sandy.

Contest winners outside of Utah will have their recipe prepared by me and photographed.

Guys I am so excited! I have already contacted some of you that have sent recipes to me and we have some fantastic stuff lined up.  Well, what are you waiting for? Get baking! Off you go!

Melissa