Mood Food: Winter Foods Part 2, Breads and Mini Baguettes

I have decided to make some revisions to the way I write Mood Food. I have been writing about food that fits moods of the week and really on a personal level. I kind of strayed from the goal here which was to bring great food to table and share ideas that will make the kitchen somewhere we can all look forward to being. I apparently had more to say than I thought; no one who knows me would be surprised. So in the spirit of my original goal I am going to rant elsewhere (sorry, everyone who knows me) and stick to the plan here. That said...

It’s August, its hot and school is back in. I am busier than a squirrel stocking up for the winter. Even with the craziness of this time of year I start thinking ahead to the fall and winter months. School being back in makes me think of several things. One is saving time. I want to be able to come home on a blustery day and cozy up with my dinner without a ton of effort. I also think about saving money. Christmas comes faster than we plan every year and not wasting money on throw away groceries is a great place to start. How do we do this? We learn to make things for ourselves, even the simple things and we freeze them. In this edition of Mood Food we will begin the practice rounds with breads. Talk about saving money; bread, good bread is upwards of three dollars a loaf. If you are packing sandwiches every day that adds up. You can bake your own for about a $1.35. Now loaves of bread don’t freeze well, however if you are using it for toast and sandwiches it won’t be around long enough to freeze. Now baguettes, those puppies freeze great and are so good they will never end up in the “shivering little mysteries in the back of the freezer” category. We will start with a basic white bread recipe and continue on with our herbs from last week and make some herbed baguettes to go with next weeks soups.

Do not be afraid of bread!!!! Heck if I can conquer angel food cake all of you can do this. It feels good to make your own bread, less sugar, fresh taste and that warm grandma in the kitchen feeling. Not that I want to be thought of as grandma, however channeling a little of that comfort never hurts. The biggest commitment to bread making is time, not effort. You will see in a moment that the bread itself is easy as pie (well easier than pie, pie crust is a pain in the...) Like our kids,  good bread comes in the raising and waiting. I have some tips that will help save time and make this even more worth your while.

Equipment List

Mixer with dough hook (if you are without a paddle will do the job but you will have knead by hand)
Cutting board or clean kitchen table to work on
Large bowl
Plastic wrap
Two bread pans (or one and a sheet tray for baguettes)
Cooking spray
Cooling rack
Parchment paper or very clean non-stick baking tray
Elbow grease (for those of you hand kneading)


Ingredient List

For the bread (2 loaves or one loaf and 4 baguettes)

6-7 cups of flour
2 pkgs dry yeast, quick rise
2 tblsp shortening (use butter flavor)
3 tblsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 ¼ c very warm water (about 110 degrees)

For the Baguettes (no they are not long thin french loaves but it sounds nice)

¼c combined Dried herbs (thyme, rosemary and basil are nice together)
Slices of garlic (chopped is fine)
1 tblsp cinnamon
¼ c dark brown sugar
1 egg white lightly beaten

In General

2 tblsp melted butter or margerine


Putting It All Together

Turn on the oven light for warmth and put the rack on the second row from the bottom.

In your mixer put the shortening, sugar and dry yeast and start on the lowest setting. Measure out 3 ½ cups of flour (this baking, no guessing) and add slowly letting the flour incorporate with the other ingredients. Slowly add the warm water.

Note: If you use regular yeast and not quick rise you will have to feed it first. Add the yeast and one tablespoon of the sugar to the warm water in a bowl and let it foam. Then add it to the flour and shortening.

This will form a pool of rather gooey flour liquid in the mixer. This is normal. Add more flour one half cup at a time until the mixture start to ball. Turn the mixer up to medium and it will pull the excess flour off of the sides, then turn it back down to low. When the dough ball has started to form check it for stickiness. If you press on it and it sticks and pulls up with you finger add more flour again one half cup at a time. You want the dough to be soft and spring but not sticky; think Silly Putty.
If you are blessed with a dough hook let the mixer go on low for about 6 minutes. If not knead the bread for 6 minutes. Do this by folding the dough in on itself over and over until it feels like Silly Putty.
Put the dough in a greased or sprayed bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Put in the oven to rise. If you are using quick rise yeast this will take about 35-45 minutes.
During this time, do something for yourself. Put on a Whitestrip, read a few chapters of a book, color your hair or write your grocery list.

When the dough ball has doubled in size take it out and punch it down in the middle. Pull it out and cut it in half. If you are making two loaves then repeat this step twice. To do one loaf and four baguettes save one half of the dough.

Take half of the dough and knead it lightly to remove any air bubbles. Form into a loaf shape and lay in a greased or sprayed bread pan. Cover lightly with plastic wrap and put back in the oven to rise again to double its current size.

Take the other half of the dough and cut into four equal parts. There are a lot of options with baguettes. I like to make two sweet and two savory; one for breakfast and one for dinner.

Take the four sections of dough and push them down flat with the tips of your fingers, or a rolling pin. Think thick pizza crust.

For the savory baguettes take about ¾ of your dried herbs and all of the garlic and sprinkle evenly on the dough surface on two of the sections. From one end start to roll it up. At each roll turn the ends in to seal. At the end do a final turn of the ends to ensure the herbs do not escape. Flip over so that the seam side is down. Lay on a baking sheet.

For the sweet style do the same procedure. Inside lay the cinnamon and brown sugar. Again lay on a  baking sheet. You can bake these four on the same large sheet.

Give the baguettes a light non-stick spray, cover with plastic wrap and put in the oven with the bread to rise.

Tip: It is time to begin the baking process when the hump in the center of the bread is about an inch over the top of the pan.

Before baking, remove the plastic wrap and brush the loaf with the melted butter as well as the cinnamon baguettes. Use the egg white to brush the top of the savory baguette and then sprinkle with the rest of you dried herbs.

Turn oven to 425 without removing the bread. Let it finish rising in the heat.

Bake until golden. You can also tell if bread is done by listening to it. If you tap on the top and it sound hollow, its ready to go.

Let the bread cool completely before storing. The baguettes can be frozen in air tight bags for a about a month.