Poppy Seed Dressing

Long, long ago, in a time before I made most things from scratch, my favorite salad dressing was Briannas brand Poppy Seed Dressing. Kurt would occasionally grab a bottle of the Blush Wine Vinaigrette of the same brand, but if I got to the shelf first, it was Poppy Seed that landed in the shopping cart. For years, I’ve been whipping up all sorts of homemade vinaigrettes, creamy parmesan dressings, Caesar salad dressings, and whathaveyou, and I had all but forgotten about my old favorite poppy seed. Then, along came a story about poppy seeds in the April issue Saveur magazine. Included in that story was the recipe for Poppy Seed Dressing which was first made popular in the 1950s by Helen Corbitt. Poppy seed dressing is sweet, tangy, and somewhat creamy without being too thick. It’s perfect with butter lettuce, and it's a great match for cucumber and tomato.

Although it took me a few months to get around to making this dressing, it ended up being worth the wait. In August, our friends who live in Dublin were visiting Austin for a week. They brought us beautiful food gifts of Irish, cold pressed, extra virgin rapeseed oil and rapeseed oil with chile. This plain rapeseed oil, which is another name for canola oil, has a rich, nutty flavor, and it made the homemade poppy seed dressing extra flavorful. To make the dressing, poppy seeds were cooked for a few minutes until toasted, and then sugar, white wine vinegar, dry mustard powder, salt, pepper, and grated onion with the juice were added. The mix was cooked just until it came to a simmer, and then it was poured into the blender pitcher. Rapeseed oil and olive oil were added, and the dressing was pureed until smooth. You can store the dressing in the refrigerator for about five days. It may need a quick stir before using.

I always loved that poppy seed dressing from the grocery store, but this homemade version was better by far. The flavors were so fresh and bright. With locally grown, just-picked vegetables and homemade dressing, this simple salad was unbelievably good. I’m glad to have reconnected with my old favorite type of salad dressing, and now I’ll be making my own often.

Triple Citrus Coffee Cake

I guess I’ve made it a tradition that I bake a somewhat elaborate breakfast bread for Easter. I can handle that so long as I find a recipe that’s just as good to attempt next year. This year, it was a rolled and cut yeasted sweet bread dough filled with cream cheese mixed with poppy seeds and dried cranberries. The recipe is from an issue of Living magazine from several years ago. My best guess is that it appeared in the early 2000’s, and the recipe is not available online so I’ll include it below. The triple citrus part of the name comes from the orange juice as well as the lemon, orange, and lime zest that are included in the dough. The process for making this is exactly like making cinnamon rolls only rather than cutting individual rolls, the dough is only partially cut through and pieces are twisted out from the center. Now that I look back at my photos, I realize I could have done a better job of that twisting. Regardless of the direction of the twists and how the pieces land, it’s a fragrant and delicious coffee cake. The tender, buttery dough makes it easy to pull a piece off the finished loaf, and the flavors will have you pulling at a second piece soon enough.

This breakfast bread or coffee cake is actually pretty simple to prepare, you just have to allow the time for the dough to rise. Also, this recipe makes two loaves so you can either feed a crowd or store the second loaf in the freezer. To begin, active dry yeast was added to warm water in the bowl of a stand mixer. To that, orange juice, two eggs, more sugar, melted butter, citrus zests, and salt were added. Those ingredients were mixed with a dough hook, and five cups of flour were added one cup at a time while mixing on low speed. The dough was turned out onto a floured surface and kneaded for a few minutes. It was then left to rise for about one and a half hours. When the dough had risen, softened cream cheese was mixed with confectioner’s sugar, two egg yolks, and vanilla, and then poppy seeds and dried cranberries were added. Two baking sheets were lined with buttered parchment paper. The dough was cut in half, and one half at a time was rolled into a big rectangle. Each piece of dough was brushed with melted butter followed by the cream cheese mixture, and then each dough rectangle was rolled into a log. Each log of dough was placed on a prepared baking sheet. Then, each log was cut down one side about six or seven times along the length of the dough with the cuts spaced two inches apart. The cuts only went partially through the rolled dough. Each cut segment was turned to face cut-side up with every other segment being twisted to the opposite side. The cut and twisted loaves were covered with plastic wrap and left for a second rise for about 30 minutes. Before being baked, each loaf was brushed with egg wash.

The dough turns a lovely golden brown as it bakes, and the citrus scent filled the kitchen. If the eggs and melted butter in the dough didn’t make it delicious enough on its own, the sweet cream cheese filling takes it up another level in decadence. This is a definite keeper, so I’ll eventually get better at making those twists in the dough.

Triple Citrus Coffee Cake
From Martha Stewart Living

makes two 16-inch loaves

1/2 cup butter melted, plus 3 tablespoons butter melted
1/2 cup warm water
2 envelopes active dry yeast or 2 tablespooons
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
2 eggs, lightly beaten, plus one egg for egg wash
zest of one organic lemon
zest of one organic lime
zest of one organic orange
1 teaspoon salt
5 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
spray oil for bowl
1 pound, or two 8 ounce packages of cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
2 large egg yolks
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup dried cranberries (4 ¼ ounces)
2/3 cup poppy seeds

-In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, place warm water and yeast. Mix to dissolve and let stand for a few minutes until foamy. Add orange juice, two whole eggs, the granulated sugar, 1/2 cup of the melted butter, the citrus zests, and salt. Mix until combined. On low speed, slowly add the flour one cup at a time, and mix until the dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl.

-Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth. Spray a large bowl with spray oil and transfer the dough to the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave the dough to rise for about an hour and a half or until doubled in size.

-When the dough is almost finished rising, add the cream cheese, confectioners’ sugar, egg yolks, and vanilla to a large mixing bowl and either stir together or mix with a hand mixer until smooth. Stir in dried cranberries and poppy seeds until well combined.

-Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper and brush the parchment paper with one tablespoon of melted butter. Divide the dough in half, and working with one half, roll it out on a floured surface into a rectangle about eleven inches by fifteen inches. Brush the dough with one tablespoon of melted butter. Spread half of the cream cheese mixture over the rectangle. Beginning on a long side of the rectangle, use your fingertips to roll the dough into a log, and pinch the seam to seal. Place the roll on one of the prepared baking sheets seam side down. Using a sharp knife, cut segments into the dough roll, along one side, at two-inch increments. The segments should only be cut three-quarters of the way through the width of the log. Pick up the first segment and turn it so it sits cut-side up. Lift and twist the second segment so it sits cut-side up on the opposite side of the roll. Repeat with alternating segments along the roll of dough. Then, repeat rolling, filling, and cutting with second piece of dough.

-Loosely cover each loaf with plastic wrap and set them aside to rise for about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F. Uncover the loaves and brush the dough only with egg wash. Bake for about 30 to 40 minutes, rotating baking sheets front to back and switching bottom pan to top and top to bottom in the oven after 15 minutes. Let cool before slicing or simply pulling pieces from the loaves.

I’m submitting this to Yeastspotting where you’ll find some seriously well-made bread.

Kaiser Rolls

When I finally started baking from The Bread Baker's Apprentice, I didn’t have good luck with the first two breads I tried. Maybe I chose poorly and should have started with less fussy varieties, but the efforts weren’t completely wasted. I became more familiar with pre-ferments and how chilling them overnight before mixing them into a dough develops flavor. Flavor was definitely not a problem with those first two breads, but I decided to take a break from ciabatta and pugliese and attempt Kaiser rolls. I wanted to jump right in and order a Kaiser roll stamp to make the distinctive cuts in the tops of the rolls, but given my track record with this book, I decided to wait and see how the first batch went before buying a special tool. The stamp makes the pinwheel cuts with one press. There’s also an alternative suggested in the book which involves making a knotted kind of roll that looks similar. I decided to just make multiple cuts in a pinwheel pattern using a lame. The rolls turned out fine, so I’ll have to order the stamp for next time.

Once again, a pre-ferment, this time a pate-fermentee, was mixed and chilled in the refrigerator overnight. The pate-fermentee was brought up to room temperature and then mixed into a dough with flour, salt, barley malt syrup, yeast, an egg, vegetable oil, and water. The dough was kneaded and then fermented for two hours. It was divided into eight pieces which were left to relax for ten minutes before shaping each into a Kaiser roll with pinwheel cuts on top. Then, oddly enough, each roll was placed top side down on a semolina-dusted baking sheet. The pretty, swirly cuts were smashed. That just seemed wrong. After 45 minutes, the rolls were flipped cut side up, and I ended up re-cutting the swirls into most of them. They proofed for another 30 minutes while the oven warmed. Then, I had some questions. The rolls pictured in the book have glossy tops that I assumed could only be achieved with an egg wash. However, the instructions for pre-baking were to simply mist with water and sprinkle with poppy seeds or sesame seeds. I proceeded with just water and sprinkled poppy seeds. That was question one. Question two was why was the oven spritzed with water after loading the rolls? Steam produces a crispy crust and these should have been tender and shiny rather than crisp. So, as suspected, water on the rolls and water spritzed in the oven resulted in crisp surfaced rolls that were perfectly fine and tasty but completely lacking gloss, and next time I will try an egg wash and no water sprayed in the oven.

It was a lot of fun to make Kaiser rolls at home for the first time, and they were delicious rolls. Sally, who is a great bread baker at Bewitching Kitchen, has told me that Reinhart’s later books include slightly different techniques with more consistent results. It will be interesting to bake from and compare the more recent books. Not that I’m giving up on this one. I’ve learned so much, it was almost like bread college in a book. I’ll definitely be trying more from it, but up next, I have to show you how I used these homemade Kaiser rolls.

I’m submitting this to Yeastspotting where you’ll find some seriously well-made bread.

Sourdough Bread Sticks with Parmesan and Poppy Seeds

I’ve been baking from the Breads from the La Brea Bakery book since earlier this year, and at this point, I’ve made a few of the dough recipes more than once. For instance, I’ve practically memorized the bagel recipe I’ve made that one so many times. But, now that I’ve worked with the rustic bread dough a second time, I think it might be my favorite so far. It’s a very wet and sticky dough, and it seems like it’s going to be nothing but a mess until it comes out of the oven with a crisp crust and chewy, open interior full of fresh-baked, sourdough flavor. In the book, Silverton describes what the dough should feel like after it has proofed for two hours: ‘it should feel soft and alive.’ It did feel alive in that the dough was so tender, you could tell it was going to get bubbly, and it seemed full of energy. There are a few recipes in the book that use this dough, and these bread sticks are one of them. Kurt was in need of some kind of bread to take to a company potluck lunch, and I thought that bread sticks might be more fun than dinner rolls. I was also inspired by some parmesan and poppy seed bread twists I saw in Gourmet magazine a few months ago, so I added those toppings to these.

This particular dough is possibly the quickest one to make in the La Brea book. Water, sourdough starter, half of a fresh yeast cake, and bread flour were mixed with a dough hook in a stand mixer and then left to sit for 20 minutes. Then, salt was added and mixed into the dough. Some milk, olive oil, and a little more water were stirred together in a bowl before being slowly added to the dough while the mixer was running on low speed. The dough was very wet and sloshy at this point, and it was necessary to continue mixing slowly until it came together a bit. Finally, it was mixed at higher speed until all the liquid was fully incorporated. At that point, the dough was left in the bowl of the mixer, was covered with plastic wrap, and fermented for two hours. After fermenting, the dough was quickly turned out onto a very well-floured surface, and by quickly turned out, I mean plopped because there really is no shaping to be done with this dough. It just is what it is. I sort of pulled it into a rectangular-ish shape. The dough was sprinkled with more flour, covered with a towel, and was left to proof until it felt ‘alive’ which was an additional two hours. Some bubbles were forming, and the dough was otherwise smooth and lovely. I chose to brush the top with olive oil and then distribute grated parmesan and poppy seeds. Now, the goal was to cut approximately one-inch wide pieces and then stretch them as they were dropped onto a semolina-dusted, parchment-lined baking sheet. Well, this dough being what it was, I cut more or less around an inch-or-so-wide pieces, tried to pick them up and place them on the sheet without turning them into jump ropes, and then dropped them while attempting to twist the dough a little as it fell. They were rustic but no less delicious for it.

The bread sticks baked at 450 F with some water spritzing of the oven during the first five minutes and were golden and crisp after a total of 25 minutes. Kurt was happy to take these for his potluck lunch, and he was even happier that I set a few aside to keep at home. All of the other breads from this book have been great too, but there’s something about this dough that makes it special. I have a feeling I’ll eventually memorize this recipe.

I’m submitting this to Yeastspotting where you’ll find some seriously well-made bread.

Sourdough Starter and Bread Adventure: 6 George’s Seeded Sour

It had been a month since I’d last used my starter. Is it weird that I’ve gotten to where I worry about it and whether or not it might be getting bored? To make sure it would have a lot of fun for this round of baking, I chose a bread that relies entirely on the starter for its leavening. No additional commercial yeast was added as it sometimes is with the other breads I’ve been baking. Once again from the Breads from the La Brea Bakery book, this seeded sourdough was named for the head baker who developed it. It’s a multigrain bread but isn’t dense or heavy, and it’s crusted on top with a combination of seeds. The use of quinoa, millet, and amaranth is what made me want to try this. It sounded like a delicious and healthy mix of grains, but I began this recipe, as I do all bread recipes, with uncertainty, fear, and hope.

This was a two-day preparation. At the end of day one, the dough was to rest for seven hours, so I planned for that refrigerated resting time to begin just before I went to bed. First, a sponge was made with starter, milk, whole-wheat flour, rye flour, and white bread flour. That was left for three hours. The sponge was then combined with quinoa, millet, amaranth, poppy seeds, and more bread flour. All of that was mixed in a stand mixer with a dough hook, and then sea salt was incorporated. The dough was a little sticky, as it was supposed to be, but it was easy enough to knead it on a floured surface. After kneading for a few minutes, it began its seven hour chilled resting time.

The next morning, the dough was removed from the refrigerator and allowed to come to room temperature. It was then cut into two pieces which were left to rest for 15 minutes. A combination of amaranth, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, anise seeds, and fennel seeds was spread on a baking sheet. Each piece of dough was to have been formed into a football shape. Yes, I know what a football ball is. However, I failed a little at this shaping step, and I’m going to blame this on the fact that I have no interest in the sport of football. Maybe in my mind, the shape of a football is a little longer and thinner than regulation size. The shaped or mis-shaped loaves were then spritzed with water from a water bottle and rolled in the seeds, and I had no problem with with that step. The seeded loaves then sat, top-side down, on a baking sheet topped with a floured cloth with some of the cloth pinched up between the loaves to keep them separated. They were covered with another floured cloth, and then all was slid into a plastic trash bag where they proofed for three to four hours. I really hoped this would be the only time these loaves would see the inside of a trash bag.

The usual oven technique was used again here. It was heated to 500 degrees F, spritzed with water, the loaves were removed from their trash bag shroud and slashed on top, they were slid onto a baking stone with a peel, and the oven was turned down to 450 degrees F. In the next five minutes, the oven was water spritzed two more times, and then the loaves were left to bake for 20 minutes. They had become well-browned on the bottom in that time, so I moved them up to a middle rack for the final 10 minutes of baking.

My finished bread was nicely burnished and well-crusted. As I mentioned, they were longer than a football and therefore not as tall as they might have been. I fretted for a couple of hours, with a complete lack of confidence that the inside would seem right, while they cooled. Then, finally, I picked up my bread knife and with a here goes nothing, I cut into a loaf and was pleasantly surprised. Just as the bread had been described in the recipe’s intro, it was lighter than most multigrains. The inside was moist with a fairly open texture. I tasted a slice and understood right away why Silverton raved about using this bread for a turkey sandwich. The flavor of the grains and the sourdough with the crunchy crust would make this a fantastic sandwich bread. I was so proud of my starter and what it had achieved, and I’m curious what wonders it will produce next.

I’m submitting this to Yeastspotting where you’ll find some seriously well-made bread.