When I baked a loaf of challah last weekend and saw how huge it was going to be, I knew that a portion of it was destined for french toast.  I stuck several slices in the freezer until the mood struck, and less than a week later (or from the second that I pulled that loaf of bread from the oven) I was in the mood for french toast!  I looked up a few recipes, and ultimately worked off of an Ina Garten recipe because I couldn’t resist her addition of orange zest.  I made a few changes to the recipe – scaling it down slightly, zesting a blood orange because it was all that I had, skipping honey, and adding cinnamon.  My only regret is not setting aside more of the challah so I can wake up to this every weekend morning.  Looks like I have some baking to do…

Orange-Cinnamon French Toast

• 4-6 large pieces of day old bread
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• Zest of 1 small orange
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• Pinch of salt

Whisk together the eggs, milk, orange zest, cinnamon, vanilla, and salt in a large, shallow dish.

Add as many slices of bread as you can fit to the egg mixture.  Soak for two minutes, flip, and soak for two more minutes.

Heat a large skillet or griddle over medium heat with 1 tbsp butter and 1 tbsp vegetable oil.  Add the bread, and cook until evenly browned on each side.  Transfer to a pan in a 200-degree oven to keep warm while you cook the remaining toast.

Serve with powdered sugar and maple syrup.

A few days ago, and somewhat inspired by my dad’s suggestion, no-knead seeded bread became a reality in my kitchen.  I have a copy of Jim Lahey’s My Bread in the mail, and while anxiously awaiting its arrival I’ve been searching for other bread recipes to try.  I have a long list of bookmarked food blogs, some that I check every day and some that I check periodically.  Breadtopia is in the latter group, but it may be edging its way into the former thanks to its several variations on no-knead bread.  I was initially set on making a steel-cut oats loaf, but since I already had some quinoa out to cook for dinner I opted for the seeded sour.  A couple of slices of this bread stuffed with a bunch of cheese and grilled in a hot pan would make my dad very, very happy.

The seeds called for in the original recipe are quinoa, millet, amaranth, and poppy seeds, as well as fennel, anise, and sesame for topping.  Of that group I only had quinoa and poppy seeds, although I could have sworn I had sesame seeds left over from making bagels.  Instead of running out to buy the seeds I was missing, I improvised.  I increased the amount of quinoa and poppy seeds and added flax seeds, and instead of topping the loaf with more seeds I used wheat bran.  I just now realized that I have a bunch of sunflower seeds, which would have been a great addition to the mix.  Maybe next time.

Quinoa, Flax, & Poppy Seed Bread

Slightly adapted from Breadtopia

2 1/2 cups bread flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 cup rye flour*

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp instant yeast

2 tbsp quinoa

1 1/2 tbsp flax seeds

1 1/2 tbsp poppy seeds

1 1/2 cups water

2 tbsp plain yogurt

Additional seeds, wheat bran, or flour for topping

*If you don’t have rye flour, I’m guessing you could substitute whole wheat flour.

Combine the flours, salt, yeast, and seeds in a large bowl.

Combine the yogurt and water, and add it to the flour and seeds.  If it seems a little dry, add an additional tablespoon or two of water until the dough is slightly wet and sticky.

Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap, and let rise at room temperature for 12-18 hours.

Scrape the dough out of the bowl to a floured surface.  With floured hands fold up the sides to create a seam.

Transfer the dough seam-side down to a kitchen towel liberally dusted with flour, seeds, or wheat bran, and sprinkle more of the topping over the dough.  Loosely fold the towel over the dough, and let rise for an additional hour or two.  With 30 minutes to go, preheat your oven to 425 with a dutch oven or covered pot inside.

Invert the dough into the preheated covered pot so the seam is on the top.  Cover the pot, and bake for 30 minutes.  Remove the lid and bake for another 15 minutes, or until the crust is dark brown, but not burnt.

Transfer to a rack to cool before slicing.

This is yet another Jim Lahey creation, and I promise I will soon start making things that don’t have his name behind them.  When you bake a loaf of bread like this, though, it’s hard to want to make anything else.  I keep scrolling down to the pictures below and thinking, “Did I really make that?”  Well yes, I did.  And it was unbelievably easy, and it tastes unbelievably good.

Carrot Bread

From Jim Lahey via Martha Stewart

3 cups bread flour

1 1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp instant yeast

1 1/2 cups carrot juice*

3/4 cup currants (golden raisins are a fine substitute)

3/4 cup walnuts (or pecans)

1 tbsp cumin seeds (optional)

*If you don’t have a juicer, you can find 100% carrot juice at Whole Foods and probably plenty of other grocery stores.

I skipped taking photos of the first few steps because I documented basically the same thing a few days ago.  Click here if you’d like to see photos.

Or…

Mix the flour, salt, and yeast in a large bowl.  Add the carrot juice, and mix to combine with a wooden spoon or your hands.  If the dough isn’t very wet and sticky, add a little more carrot juice or a little water.  I had to add a few tablespoons of water to get a sticky dough.  Add the raisins/currants and nuts and mix to incorporate – it’s easiest just to use your hands for this part.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature for 12-18 hours.

After 12-18 hours the dough should be bubbly and about doubled in size.  Using a rubber spatula scrape the dough out of the bowl to a lightly floured surface.  Fold up the sides to create a ball.

Liberally dust a kitchen towel with flour and cumin seeds (if using).  Transfer the dough seam-side down to the towel, loosely fold the edges of the towel over the dough, and set aside for another hour or two of rising.  With about 30 minutes remaining preheat the oven to 450 with a covered pot inside.  When it’s baking time, remove the pot from the oven, carefully transfer the dough, seam-side up, to the pot, put the lid back on, and bake it for 25 minutes.

Remove the lid and bake for another 15 to 20 minutes, until the crust is deeply browned.

Transfer the bread to a rack to cool before slicing.  Doesn’t that look like a professional made it?

Yum!  This is perfect any time of year, but I think it would be especially fun for Halloween or any fall celebration.

Feel free to experiment with the fillings.  I used golden raisins and pecans because I didn’t have currants or walnuts, and it worked well.  I think dried cherries and walnuts would be a good combo, too.  I’m a little undecided on the cumin seeds, and I might skip them next time.  Make this bread, play around with the fillings, and enjoy!

Of course now that I want to think of an example I cannot think of a single word.  I can think of a something better, though: Jim Lahey’s no-knead bread.  I first heard of Jim Lahey a year or two ago, but it wasn’t until a couple of weeks ago that I actually tried one of his no-knead recipes.  Since I made his wonderful pizza dough, Jim Lahey’s bread technique is everywhere I turn.  I was flipping through the latest issue of Martha Stewart Living last week, and lo and behold there was a full page picture of Jim Lahey surrounded by crusty loaves of no-knead bread. (Sounds a little food porn-ish, doesn’t it?).  If things had ended there I probably wouldn’t have thought twice about it, but of course things did not end there.  Saturday’s episode of America’s Test Kitchen was about baking bread, and Christopher Kimball & Co. baked a loaf using Jim Lahey’s no-knead method.  When will it end?  Probably not anytime soon because I’m about to order his book, and I have dough rising for yet another loaf of no-knead bread.

Making no-knead bread is a lot like making the no-knead pizza dough from a couple weeks ago.  You mix a few ingredients together in about 5 minutes, let it rise for 12-18 hours, scrape the dough out of the bowl and let it rise for an additional hour or two, and then bake it in a hot oven.  The only equipment you need is a big bowl, a spoon, a clean kitchen towel, and a covered pot.  How easy is that?  The only difference between the pizza dough and the bread is the baking method; for the bread you bake the bread in either a dutch oven or some kind of covered pot instead of on a baking stone.  The amount of work involved is minimal, and the results are fantastic.

Whole-Wheat Bread

From Martha Stewart Living, April 2010, adapted from Jim Lahey

2-1/4 cups bread flour

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp active dry yeast

1-1/4 tsp salt

1-1/3 cups cool water (55-65 degrees)

Wheat bran, cornmeal, or extra flour for dusting

Combine the flours, salt, and yeast in a large bowl.

Add the water.

Mix with a spoon or your hands until everything comes together.  Cover with plastic wrap, and let rise for 12-18 hours.

The dough will transform from a dry lump into a larger, bubbly blob.

Use a rubber spatula to scrape the dough out onto a floured surface.

Fold up the sides of the dough to create a seam.

Liberally flour a clean (duh) kitchen towel with flour, cornmeal, or wheat bran.  I used whole wheat flour.

Place the dough seam-side down on the towel, and dust the top with more flour.

Loosely fold up the towel, and let the dough rise for an additional hour or two.  It’s ready when an indent by your finger doesn’t spring right back.

Thirty minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 450 with the covered pot inside.  When the 30 minutes is up, carefully remove the pot from the oven, take off the lid, gently place the dough seam-side up into the pot, give it a shake to center the dough, and place the whole thing back in the oven with the lid on.

Bake for 30 minutes with the lid on.  Remove the lid and bake for an additional 15-20 minutes, until the crust is dark brown.

Immediately remove the bread from the pot using a couple of kitchen towels or spatulas.  Let cool completely for the easiest slicing, and then eat with anything and everything – butter, cheese, soup, eggs, peanut butter…