A Photo A Day [Days 379 & 380]

The first hint of fall.





In case you missed my previous post with my pumpkin spice pull-apart bread.

Pumpkin Spice Pull-Apart Bread

Shortly after I became tragically addicted to Pinterest, I discovered and made what was to become one of my favorite recipes of all time: Lemon pull-apart bread. To. Die. For. Imagine how thrilled I was when fall rolled around and I started seeing a pumpkin version cropping up.

Since I'm training for that 5k I'm trying to be good and cut back on sweets, but as Saturday was my 30th birthday I needed to have something special for my birthday breakfast, right? The basic steps of the recipe are the same as the lemon bread with the major change being the addition of pumpkin to the dough and the use of browned butter in place of plain old butter. The filling is perfect for the season with a little nutmeg mixed in with the cinnamon, sugar, and browned butter. Now, for the topping I decided to change things up from the original recipe, which called for a butter rum glaze. As I'm not a huge fan of rum and I've been craving cinnamon rolls lately I instead went with the maple glaze from The Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls. In keeping with the browned butter theme I went ahead and browned the butter for that as well, which gave the topping a stronger flavor. I think I'll also use that trick from now on whenever I make those cinnamon rolls.


Now it's time for me to confess where I messed this up. In an effort to do as much the night before and have less to do the day of my birthday I sliced the dough, layered it, and put it in the pan overnight. All this to save a measly 30-40 minutes. The dough continued to rise nicely in the fridge but the problem was that the butter and sugar ran to the bottom of the pan and formed a syrup. As a result, my layers didn't stick together as well as they should have and I'm sure the loaf wasn't as ooey gooey as it would have been otherwise. Oh well. It still tasted delicious and the combination of flavors was there, not to mention that there was plenty of added moisture from the glaze. It was a great fix for that pumpkin craving I always get this time of year. Just like the lemon pull-apart bread, this stuff didn't last long in our house.

Pumpkin Spice Pull-Apart Bread
Recipe adapted from Willow Bird Baking

Pumpkin Pull-Apart Bread Ingredients:
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 teaspoons (1 envelope) active dry yeast
2 1/2 cups bread flour

Filling Ingredients:
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Maple Browned Butter Glaze Ingredients:
Recipe adapted from The Pioneer Woman
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup powdered sugar (plus more if necessary)
1/2 teaspoon maple flavor
1 1/2 tablespoons milk
1 1/2 tablespoons brewed coffee

Directions:
Make the pull-apart bread dough: Grease and flour a loaf pan and set aside. In a saucepan over medium-high heat, brown the 2 tablespoons of butter. Let it bubble and foam and when you see it start to brown, stir it so that it browns evenly. When it’s the color of dark honey, remove it from the heat and pour it into a large heat-safe mixer bowl to cool. In the same saucepan over medium-low heat, warm the milk until it bubbles. Remove it from the heat and pour it into the bowl with the butter. Let these cool until they’re about 100-110 degrees F (use a candy thermometer to check).

Stir the sugar and yeast into the milk/butter mixture and let it sit for a few minutes. Stir in pumpkin, salt, and 1 cup flour. If you haven’t already, fit your mixer with a dough hook. Add the rest of the flour 1/2 cup at a time, stirring between each addition. When the dough is combined, knead on low speed with a dough hook until smooth and elastic (about 4 minutes with a mixer).

Place the dough in a greased bowl and cover it with a damp cloth. Let it rise in a warm place for about an hour until it doubles in size (After it rises, you can put it in the fridge overnight to use it in the morning, but let it sit out for half an hour before rolling if you do.)

Make the filling: While the dough is rising, whisk the sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg together in a small bowl. Toward the end of the rising time, melt the 2 tablespoons of butter for the filling in the saucepan over medium-high heat and brown it as directed above. Put it in a small heat-safe bowl to cool for use later.

Shape and bake pull-apart bread: Knead a sprinkling of flour (about 1 tablespoon) into the dough, deflating it, and recover it. Let it sit to relax for 5 minutes. Flour a large work surface and turn your rested dough out onto it. Roll it out to a 20 inch long and 12 inch wide rectangle, lifting corners periodically to make sure it’s not sticking. If it seems to be snapping back, cover it with your damp towel and let it rest for 5 minutes before continuing (I had to do this twice during the process).

Spread the browned butter over the surface of the dough with a pastry brush and then sprinkle the sugar mixture over the top, patting it down to ensure it mostly sticks. Joy the Baker encourages you to use it all even though it seems like a ton, but I admit I got squeamish at the amount and only used most. It was fine despite my nerves. Go ahead and pile it on.

With the long edge of the rectangle toward you, cut it into 6 strips (do this by cutting the rectangle in half, then cutting each half into equal thirds. I used a pizza cutter). Stack these strips on top of one another and cut the resulting stack into 6 even portions (again, cut it in half, and then cut the halves into equal thirds). Place these portions one at a time into your greased loaf pan, pressing them up against each other to fit them all in. Cover the pan with your damp cloth and place it in a warm place for 30-45 minutes to double in size.

While dough rises, preheat oven to 350 degrees F (or 325 if you have a glass loaf dish instead of a metal pan). When it’s risen, place the loaf in the center of the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes until dark golden brown on top (if you take it out at light golden brown, it’s liable to be raw in the middle, so let it get good and dark). Cool for 15-20 minutes on a cooling rack in the loaf pan while you make the glaze.

Make the glaze: Brown the butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat as directed above. Mix together all ingredients and stir well until smooth. It should be thick but pourable. Taste and adjust as needed. Remove loaf from pan and generously drizzle glaze over the warm loaf.

Braaaaaains! Zombies want brains. And exercise?

Looks like I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna lace up my sneakers and enter the world of competitive running. Just last month I posted a picture for my photography project about how I should get off my lazy butt and start running again to shed the pounds my regular workouts weren't getting rid of. I knew that by publicly posting that I wouldn't be able to make any more excuses. So for weeks I've added piddly little two-mile runs to my regular workout routine. No results yet, alas, but upon discovering that there will be a zombie-themed 5k in my hometown of Charlottesville, Virginia I got to thinking that perhaps it's something I can do. Even stranger is that I find myself actually wanting to do it, excited about the idea.

Of course, my nascent running "skills" involve my crawling along at a snail's pace so I don't expect anything from myself but to finish the run. Not to mention that Charlottesville has a huge running community so I'll be up against pros. Oh, and did I mention the hills? Oh yes, the wonderful hills that made learning to drive stick shift that much more fun will also add an extra challenge to the run. One which I can't train for since I live in New Jersey now. Instead I'll count on an even slower time and more fatigue than I'm accustomed to. No matter how poor my time will be I'm still happy to have something to work toward and can't wait to see the zombies out and about in costume. It should be a blast!

A Photo A Day [Days 376-378]

I've been missing taking photos lately even though I've lost my creative mojo. Today I went on a treasure hunt around the house trying to find something interesting to photograph. Here's one of a bat silhouette we bought to decorate our spooky house.



These last two are attempts to make something ordinary look interesting. It's harder than you'd think.

A Photo A Day [Day 375]

My husband and I are thinking of adopting. Now it's just a matter of deciding which of these precious angels to bring home with us.




I think we may have found a winner with this one. The resemblance to my husband is uncanny.




Awww. Have you ever seen a more adorable baby? Don't you just want to pinch his chubby little cheeks?

The Best Pizza Dough Ever?

I found a recipe touting itself as the "best pizza dough ever" floating around Pinterest. Since I've tried many a dough recipe and have yet to find "the one" I was willing to accept the challenge and try out this recipe for myself.

The first thing I noticed was that there is a lot of information in the instructions. I don't know what it says about me that I prefer that over simple, sometimes non-specific directions but in this case it was a huge plus. The biggest difference between this and other recipes I've tried is that both the flour and water need to be chilled. I'd never had a recipe specify that before. I'm fascinated by this difference and would be interested in learning more about the science behind it but I guess for that I'd have to buy the book the recipe came from, Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread. Which, incidentally, has been on my Amazon wish list for some time.

Because of the specificity of the instructions I was a little daunted by the recipe. But if you've made dough before nothing's really all that different as far as the basic procedure is concerned. I mixed the dough first by hand and then kneaded it with my KitchenAid, which the poor mixer seemed to struggle with a bit. I noticed the motor got really hot in the process when I went to put it away afterwards. I both liked and hated that after mixing the dough it needs to sit overnight in the fridge. I started craving pizza on Sunday but had to wait until Monday to eat the fruits of my labor. Obviously next time I'll know and will plan ahead accordingly. I'm not usually an instant gratification sort of person but when it comes to food cravings I am helpless. However, I do like that I can whip up the dough the night before and have less to do the day of the pizza baking.

Of course, the real test is obviously in the taste. I followed the instructions to not overload the dough with toppings, opting for a light layer of red sauce, chunks of soft mozzarella, a few slivers of onion, and then a dusting of basil and Parmesan once it came out of the oven. I did use my pizza stone and wound up with a crust that was both crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside, which happens to be my ideal. There weren't any soggy bits and the crust, while thin, was sturdy enough to support the toppings. Those are both things previous recipes I've tried have struggled with so that's two big pluses in my book.

While I'm not bold enough to claim this is the best pizza dough ever, I can say it's the best one I've ever made. I wouldn't change a thing about the recipe and look forward to the remaining five pizzas I'll get out of this batch of dough. Another winner from Pinterest!

So-Called Best Pizza Dough Ever
Recipe from 101 Cookbooks, originally from The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread

4 1/2 cups (20.25 ounces) unbleached high-gluten, bread, or all-purpose flour, chilled (I used bread flour)
1 3/4 (.44 ounce) teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon (.11 ounce) instant yeast
1/4 cup (2 ounces) olive oil (optional, I included this)
1 3/4 cups (14 ounces) water, ice cold (40°F)
Semolina flour OR cornmeal for dusting

1. Stir together the flour, salt, and instant yeast in a 4-quart bowl (or in the bowl of an electric mixer). With a large metal spoon, stir in the oil and the cold water until the flour is all absorbed (or mix on low speed with the paddle attachment), If you are mixing by hand, repeatedly dip one of your hands or the metal spoon into cold water and use it, much like a dough hook, to work the dough vigorously into a smooth mass while rotating the bowl in a circular motion with the other hand. Reverse the circular motion a few times to develop the gluten further. Do this for 5 to 7 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and the ingredients are evenly distributed. If you are using an electric mixer, switch to the dough hook and mix on medium speed for 5 to 7 minutes, or as long as it takes to create a smooth, sticky dough. The dough should clear the sides of the bowl but stick to the bottom of the bowl. If the dough is too wet and doesn't come off the sides of the bowl, sprinkle in some more flour just until it clears the sides. If it clears the bottom of the bowl, dribble in a tea- spoon or two of cold water. The finished dough will be springy, elastic, and sticky, not just tacky, and register 50 to 55F.

2. Sprinkle flour on the counter and transfer the dough to the counter. Prepare a sheet pan by lining it with baking parchment and misting the parchment with spray oil (or lightly oil the parchment). Using a metal dough scraper, cut the dough into 6 equal pieces (or larger if you are comfortable shaping large pizzas), You can dip the scraper into the water between cuts to keep the dough from sticking to it, Sprinkle flour over the dough. Make sure your hands are dry and then flour them. Lift each piece and gently round it into a ball. If the dough sticks to your hands, dip your hands into the flour again. Transfer the dough balls to the sheet pan, Mist the dough generously with spray oil and slip the pan into a food-grade plastic bag.

3. Put the pan into the refrigerator overnight to rest the dough, or keep for up to 3 days. (Note: If you want to save some of the dough for future baking, you can store the dough balls in a zippered freezer bag. Dip each dough ball into a bowl that has a few tablespoons of oil in it, rolling the dough in the oil, and then put each ball into a separate bag. You can place the bags into the freezer for up to 3 months. Transfer them to the refrigerator the day before you plan to make pizza.)

4. On the day you plan to make the pizza, remove the desired number of dough balls from the refrigerator 2 hours before making the pizza. Before letting the dough rest at room temperature for 2 hours, dust the counter with flour, and then mist the counter with spray oil. Place the dough balls on top of the floured counter and sprinkle them with flour; dust your hands with flour. Gently press the dough into flat disks about 1/2 inch thick and 5 inches in diameter. Sprinkle the dough with flour, mist it again with spray oil, and cover the dough loosely with plastic wrap or a food-grade plastic bag. Now let rest for 2 hours.

5. At least 45 minutes before making the pizza, place a baking stone either on the floor of the oven (for gas ovens), or on a rack in the lower third of the oven. Heat the oven as hot as possible, up to 800F (most home ovens will go only to 500 to 550F, but some will go higher). If you do not have a baking stone, you can use the back of a sheet pan, but do not preheat the pan.

6. Generously dust a peel or the back of a sheet pan with semolina flour or cornmeal. Make the pizzas one at a time. Dip your hands, including the backs of your hands and knuckles, in flour and lift I piece of dough by getting under it with a pastry scraper. Very gently lay the dough across your fists and carefully stretch it by bouncing the dough in a circular motion on your hands, carefully giving it a little stretch with each bounce. If it begins to stick to your hands, lay it down on the floured counter and reflour your hands, then continue shaping it. Once the dough has expanded outward, move to a full toss as shown on page 208. If you have trouble tossing the dough, or if the dough keeps springing back, let it rest for 5 to 20 minutes so the gluten can relax, and try again. You can also resort to using a rolling pin, though this isn't as effective as the toss method.

7. When the dough is stretched out to your satisfaction (about 9 to 12 inches in diameter for a 6-ounce piece of dough), lay it on the peel or pan, making sure there is enough semolina flour or cornmeal to allow it to slide. Lightly top it with sauce and then with your other top- pings, remembering that the best pizzas are topped with a less-is-more philosophy. The American "kitchen sink" approach is counterproductive, as it makes the crust more difficult to bake. A few, usually no more than 3 or 4 toppings, including sauce and cheese is sufficient.

8. Slide the topped pizza onto the stone (or bake directly on the sheet pan) and close the door. Wait 2 minutes, then take a peek. If it needs to be rotated 180 degrees for even baking, do so. The pizza should take about 5 to 8 minutes to bake. If the top gets done before the bottom, you will need to move the stone to a lower self before the next round. if the bottom crisps before the cheese caramelizes, then you will need to raise the stone for subsequent bakes.

9. Remove the pizza from the oven and transfer to a cutting board. Wait 3 to 5 minutes before slicing and serving, to allow the cheese to set slightly.

Makes six 6-ounce pizza crusts.

A Photo A Day [Day 374]

A sneak peek at the pizza I made last night. Recipe post to follow soon. It's probably my favorite dough recipe of all the ones I've tried. This shot, however, is not my favorite. I think I overdid it a tad with the processing. I'll be sure to upload a more normal shot with the recipe later today.