Daring Bakers -- Danish Braid!

The Daring Baker have decided it's time for more yeast. This months challenge was a Danish Braid. I'm going to keep my post short. (I appoligize in advance for the crummy pictures. The lighting in my house was terrible at 9 PM)



I made my braid on Friday. I started around 10 AM and it finished baking at 9 PM. That wouldn't have bothered me so much, but the whole bottom of my braid was burnt. Pitch black. Thankfully that was the one part that burnt. The filling and the top stayed nice and fluffy/flaky. But nearly twelve hours and I burnt it!!





It didn't seem like I had any problem doing the turns, but I'm not sure since this is my first time making anything like this.

The filling was pineapple/cheese, and I got the recipe from Carole Walter's "Great Coffee Cakes, Sticky Buns, Muffins & More". I liked the filling a lot, but I should've added more. I added a crumb topping from the same book to the top.



Anway, as for why it burnt, I'm not sure. I didn't have any parchment paper so I wasn't able to use that one the pan. Instead I greased it with margarine. Is that the reason why?

Please go to this months hosts blog for the recipe, as well as great pictures of the process!
Sass and Veracity and What's Cooking

Daring baker's challenge: French Bread!

I woke up this morning and my first thought was: I can post my bread!! So, I plug in the digital camera, and open up the folder with all the pictures...but to my greatest disappointment, the pictures are gone. Yep, gone. -sigh- I still have one picture,and luckily it was my favorite, but I'm still very upset.

The bread absolutely fabulous. The taste, the texture, the crumb, everything was really great. This was the best bread I've ever made. And thank goodness, too, because it took all day to make! Luckily it was still done by 7 and we were able to have some with dinner. Everyone gobbled it up!



The recipe looks a bit intimidating, but as you read through it you realize you only need half the directions, and they're not that bad. The recipe is VERY long, so I'll link to BreadChick's POST.

I'll I can say is, BRING ON THE NEXT CHALLENGE! Wooh!

Unholy Ciabatta -

I attempted the Poolish Ciabatta from Bread Baker's Apprentice today. No big holes, but still pretty yummy. I was wonder, should I have baked it upside down?
I'm trying to figure out why I had such a small crumb. I did my best not to degass it or anything...did I not give it enough of a work out when kneading it? It really left me a bit depressed.







Oh well...my family still thought it tasted good.

Cinnamon Rolls! Mmmmm.....

Carole Walter is a genious. Her Simple Sweet Dough is Absolutely delicious! I felt like I was making a pie crust when mixing the dough, not a yeast bread! It's soft, flaky and slightly sweet. Just perfect for cinnamon rolls! And what better to top cinnamon rolls than cream cheese frosting? Nothing. It's got to be a sin to use anything other than cream cheese frosting on cinnamon rolls!

Sunday evening and cinnamon rolls, a fire in the fire place, ahh....what could be better?





They were so gooey and yummy! Recipe for the dough can be found on this blog. I didn't use that filling recipe or icing. Filling was free-style. I used 1 sticks of really soft butter, and spread it all across the rolled out dough. Then sprinkled with a ton of dark brown sugar, maybe about 2 cups. Then sprinkled a fair amount of cinnamon, about 1/2 to 3/4 cup . Frosting was from my mom's carrot cake recipe-

Frosting Recipe:
8 Ounces or cream cheese, softened
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
6 tablespoons butter (softened works best)
1 tsp. vanilla


The Fireplace:


We got a new tablecloth and new napkins for our Easter brunch we're having at our house. My aunt and uncle are coming over, as well as their grown and married kids. (my cousins)





Here's our WIP menu for our Easter Brunch. Me and my mommy will be doing the cooking/baking. (with some help of Dad and big sis :-) )

Roast Beef with oven roasted potatoes.
Ham, with pineapple and cherries.
Sausage
French Toast casserole (Courtesy of Paula Deen) with our twist of cream cheese dollops and crumb topping, (thanks to a nice chef I met who attended the CIA)
Croissants, with a variety of filling. Chocolate, cherry cream cheese, pinapple cream cheese.
Dinner Rolls
Fruit bowl. (still deciding, it will depend on the prices.)
Green Bean Casserole
Cranberry Sauce
Sweet red cabbage, the way grandma makes it.
Blueberry Cream cheese Coffee Cake

Vegetables:
Corn
String Beans

I can't wait for Easter! Plus, I want to make homemade Cadbury Cream Eggs. And we'll buy lots of yummy chocolate and candy. =3

Banana Nut....Yeast Bread?

Yesterday I felt like experimenting. My mom always makes Banana Bread. But it never as any yeast in it. It seems almost like banana cake, rather than bread. Actually, it's quite good with cream cheese frosting...
After looking online, and finding no banana bread made with yeast, I new I had to try it. So I did. It was weird...It actually wasn't that bad. I kept cutting myself more pieces with dinner, so I must ave liked it a little. My family said they liked it, and that was before I told tem I made up the recipe, so that was pretty good. I tink it could have been a bit sweeter. If I ever had the desire to make it again I'd alter the recipe a little.

Onto the pictures!



Does the inside seem a little uncooked to anyone? It may have tasted a tad doughy.

Haven't cut into the loaf yet...I'm curious to see how that one came out!