World Bread Day 2009 - Yes we BAKE!

When World Bread Day came around last year, this blog didn't even exist. It is the product of my obsession with baking bread...I think of it as an adjunct to my original blog, Feeding My Enthusiasms. I was just at the beginning of my sourdough starter journey last October. Although I had baked yeasted breads in the past, I didn't think of myself, at all, as a bread baker. Poor Xam wasn't yet the Bread Baker's Dog. He is sure glad that I'm now a regular bread baker :)



The ROUNDUP can be found at 1x umruhren bitte.You can go there to learn more about World Bread Day and Bread Baking Days, too.

A constant source of inspiration is the Yeastspotting event, mostly hosted by Susan at Wild Yeast blog. Every week there are wonderful yeasted breads, rolls, flatbreads, sweet breads and more.

Now that my sourdough starter from last October has gone bad, I'm making a new one, but that means that I'm using packaged yeast for recipes this month. With the holidays coming up, I've been spending time looking at The Festive Bread Book by Kathy Cutler. That is where I saw the illustration for making this bread, although I chose to use a different bread dough. This is a fun one ladies and gents...like playing with clay, only it's softer.

A third of the dough was used in a bodacious chocolate and vanillia swirled snail loaf. That recipe can be found here on Feeding My Enthusiasms blog.

See that line of white milk bread? It sure helps temper the richness of all that chocolate!

The other two thirds were used for this lovely, soft and sweet milk bread for World Bread Day!

Harvest Sheaf

This bread is shaped like a sheaf of wheat. It would make a great addition to a fall buffet table or for Thanksgiving breakfast or dinner.

With quince jelly and a little butter, it is amazing!

I used 2/3 of the Milk Bread recipe from The Italian Baker by Carol Field to make the Harvest Sheaf. You can find the recipe at the bottom of this post and also, along with one for a yummy Chocolate Bread, HERE.


Shaping the Harvest Braid (diagram and recipe at the bottom of this post):


Make the Milk Bread dough as it is given in the recipe.

After the first rising, punch the dough down. You have to approximate the amount of dough needed for each of the following, but the Milk Dough is so easy to work with that you can pinch off some if you have too much or add a bit from another ball of dough if you don’t have enough.

Roll dough into ropes, each about ½ inch thick: four 5-inch ropes, eight 13-inch ropes, eight 16-inch ropes. You may need to make the longer ropes 10 inches and 13 inches respectively … by the time I was making this bread I wasn’t into measuring…I just made eight long ones and eight shorter ones, plus the four very short ones became three very short ones.

Start by putting a silicone mat or parchment paper on a large baking sheet.
The first layer has the ropes touching, starting from the center and moving left and right, with a bend about a third of the way down, four bending one way and four the other.

The next layer has six of the shorter ropes, touching, placed on top of the first set of ropes, half of the ropes bending one way and half the other, about a third of the way down from the top.

The final two ropes are placed on top of that with one bending one way and the other bending the opposite way. I think I actually put one of the long ones almost upright to fill in the sheaf top. I think I spread mine out too much, so the top was pretty, but seemed too flat in comparison to the stacked bottom part.


Take the four (or three) short ropes and twist them together (two twists if you have four ropes, one twist of three strands if you have three like I did). Place the twisted rope across the ‘sheaf’ about half way down. As if it were securing the sheaf together. Tuck the ends under.

Take sharp scissors and snip along the bent portion of the stalks to simulate wheat grains.

Cover and let rise in a warm place until double – about 30 minutes. Make glaze of one egg beaten with 1 tablespoon of water. Brush over the whole loaf.

Bake in a preheated 375 degree F oven for about 25 – 30 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.

This bread is slightly sweet and milky and very mild in flavor. It is great with butter and jam.

Milk Bread

SPONGE:
1 ¾ teaspoons dry yeast or 2/3 small cake (12 grams) fresh yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
½ cup warm milk
1 cup less 1 tablespoon (130-135 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour
Stir the yeast and sugar into the milk in a large mixing bowl or mixer bowl; let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes. Add the flour and whisk vigorously to make a thick batter. Cover and let stand until doubled, less than 1 hour.

DOUGH:
1 egg 1 tablespoon rum
1 cup milk, room temperature
½ stick (55 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 ¾ cups (175 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon (5 grams) salt

Add the egg, rum, milk, and butter to the sponge and mix with the paddle for about 1 minutes. Add 1 cup of the flour and the salt and mix on low speed. Change to the dough hook and add the rest of the flour and knead until soft, silky and elastic, 3 – 4 minutes once the flour is incorporated. Finish kneading briefly by hand on a lightly flour surface.

Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and let rise until doubled, 1 to 2 hours. The dough should be very soft but slightly tacky, and if you pinch the surface, the little peaks of dough should hold their shape.

Cut the dough into three equal pieces. Take one of the pieces and use it for the Chocolate-Vanilla Swirled Snail Loaf, found HERE, or make a round loaf with it, pulling the dough under to form a 'skin', then cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled. Bake it along with the Sheaf, on a separate baking sheet.

Form the Harvest Sheaf with the 2/3 left, using this diagram and the instructions above.

Friendly Fun Fougasse

Bread Baking has been low on the list of priorities of late. The last post here was in August and it is already October 5. I've been reading a lot of bread recipes but not baking. Time to change that. Some days the words just don't flow, so if this post seems to need something, believe me I feel that way, too...maybe some salt?

A few months ago I was lucky enough to be in Seattle at the same time that Tanna of My Kitchen in Half Cups was visiting. She kindly asked me to join her when she met with Lynn of Cookie Baker Lynn. Lynn lives in the Seattle area so she knew of great chocolate places as well at a wonderful bread store/cafe'.

One of the fun things to do with bloggers is to exchange goodie boxes. Cookbooks are a fun thing to send and receive. Recently a cookbook found it's way to me from Lynn and I had a great time looking at all the recipes. Today I finally had time to make one of the breads in the book. The book is called Basic Baking: Flavored Breads by Linda Collister. There are dozens of delightful breads. I decided to start with the Bacon and Walnut Fougasses in the Mediterranean Flavors section. Thank you Lynn!

I've never made fougasse before but have long been intrigued by the way that you slash the bread in a sort of herringbone or ladder shape. It is a kind of flatbread, similar to foccacia. I liked that the crust was not too thick or firm and that some crust formed in the slashed areas.

This is the time of year when the walnuts are falling fromt he tree and making a loud thunk when they hit our deck. Walnuts are a great fall ingredient and since the gougasses are flat, the walnuts get toasted while baking. The walnut flavor was just strong enough, but the bacon flavor was faint in the four I made with bacon. It's possible that it would be better with a different kind of bacon than the one I found in the fridge.



Walnut Fougasses (some with Bacon)
Makes 8 pieces

“These attractive, oval, individual loves come from Provence where, these days, they are made plain or flavored with olives, herbs, charcuterie, or even candied fruit. Use top-quality bacon…”

I changed the recipe a bit by using whole wheat flour for some of the flour and by using dry yeast instead of cake yeast. If you wish to you cake yeast, e-mail me and I’ll send you the recipe for using compressed cake yeast.

1 tablespoon olive or vegetable oil
5 oz. rindless bacon, finely diced
2/3 cup walnut pieces, coarsely chopped
3 cups unbleached white bread flour
1 2/3 cups whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons sea salt
1 package active dry yeast – I used quick rising yeast
1 ¼ cups lukewarm water, divided
1 egg beaten
3 tablespoons olive oil
extra flour, for dusting
extra oil, for brushing
several baking trays, greased or lined with silicon baking mats or parchment paper

Heat the oil in a skillet, add the bacon, and saute’ until golden and crisp, but not hard. Drain on paper towels, then combine well with the walnuts. (If your bacon is very fatty, you can probably skip the extra oil in the pan…I did)

Put the flours in a large bowl, mix well. Remove one cup and set aside. Mix the salt into the larger bowl of flour, then set that aside, too.

Sprinkle the dry yeast over ¼ cup of the lukewarm water in a small bowl. Let sit 10 minutes to hydrate and proof.

Make a well in the center of the flour/salt mixture. Into the well pour the yeast mixture, the rest of the lukewarm water (1 cup), the beaten egg and the olive oil. Gradually work in the flour to make a soft but not sticky dough. Use additional flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, from the reserved one cup to make the dough the right consistency to knead.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead thoroughly for 10 minutes, adding additional flour from the reserved flour if needed. When finished dough will feel fairly smooth, very elastic, and silky.

Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and turn it over so the entire surface is lightly coated with oil.

Cover with a damp cloth and let rise at room temperature until doubled in size – about 1 ½ hours. Punch down the dough, then turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead in the bacon and nuts until evenly distributed.

Weigh the dough and divide into 8 equal parts.

Using a rolling pin, roll each piece into an oval about 8 ½ by 5 by ½ inch. With a sharp knife, cut about 8 slits in a herringbone pattern in each oval. Arrange them, spaced apart, on the baking trays.

Lightly cover the baking trays with a damp cloth and let rise at cool to normal room temperature until doubled in size – about 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Uncover the fougasses and lightly brush with oil. Bake for about 15 – 20 minutes until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.

I made half of these with only the walnuts because I thought we were out of bacon, but later discovered that we had some bacon, so the second batch of 4 were made with the bacon. Although they were fine with just walnuts, the bacon added an extra dimension. Next time I would use a different kind of bacon...something drier and more intensely flavored. If you want to omit the bacon, I would add some herbs to add additional flavor…perhaps some minced fresh rosemary or parsley.

These are nice because each fougasse is a good size for one person and the slashed make they interesting visually, too. I didn’t pull at the rolls once the slashes were made to open up the holes for the first batch without the bacon, so they closed up a bit during the second rise. Sweetie liked them that way, but I like crust so I made the spaced larger for the bacon ones which gave a better crustiness around the slashes in those loaves. You can make them either way depending on how much crust you like. You can also omit the whole wheat flour and use only white flour as the original recipe suggests. I like the additional grain flavor that the whole wheat flour adds, but all white flour would be more refined.

These are fun loaves to make due to the visual interest, the nice crust and chewiness. They make a nice addition to the bread basket and are especially nice warm, with some good butter. They taste lovely toasted, too.

I've been missing the weekly wonderful event that is Yeastspotting at Susan's Wild Yeast...no time to even go there and drool over the bread being baked by the fantastic bakers featured there...so it's nice to have an entry again...and time to bake bread. Here is the URL for Susan's blog :http://www.wildyeastblog.com/

Sourdough Again

After over three months hibernation, the sourdough starter that I froze before we left for Ireland has been thawed, fed twice and made ready for action. The onset of ripe heirloom tomatoes led me to crave a sourdough sandwich with crisp bacon, ripe heirloom tomatoes and crunchy bacon.


Although there are dozens of regionally produced sourdough breads available to buy, without too much trouble, making my own means that I can add whatever I like to the dough and not pay a king's ransom for the results. The fact that the Straight Shooter Man recently gifted me with not one, but two...two! freshly milled flours added to the fun. He visited the Bale grist mill in Napa on a photo shoot and bought both the whole wheat bread flour and the spelt flour that they milled on site with old French mill stones.

I started with one of the first Sourdough Bread recipes I used when my starter was brand new last fall. Now that I have a better sense of how to bake bread with a starter, I only used the recipe for a general guide and quickly went down a different path.


The flour bowl contained a mixture of unbleached bread flour, 12-grain flour, whole wheat bread flour and spelt flour. For additions once the kneading was finished I lightly toasted walnuts, pumpkin seeds, and sunflower seeds. Although that looked good, I also toasted a rolled grain mixture I use for muesli. It has barley flakes, triticale flakes, wheat flakes and oat flakes.

There was no addition in this bread of a sweetener like honey or molasses or brown sugar, nor any butter or milk.

Although it might be too late for this week, I'm sending this over to the host of Yeastspotting, that weekly wonderland of inspiration for yeast lovers, hosted this week by Susan (I think). Do go by and check out all of the wonderful entries.

Sourdough Multigrain with Seeds

2 cups all purpose unbleached flour
1 cup 12 - grain flour (or use additional wheat flour)
1/2 cup whole wheat bread flour
1/2 cup spelt flour
1 cup sourdough starter
1 1/2 cups lukewarm (70 degree F) water
1 tablespoon salt
additional bread flour as needed
1/3 cup sunflower seeds, toasted
1/3 cup pumpkin seeds, toasted
1/3 cup mixed grain flakes (rolled grain), toasted
1/3 cup chopped walnuts, toasted

In a large bowl mix the all purpose flour, 12 grain flour, whole wheat flour and spelt flour together to combine.(I used a whisk to whisk them until combined.)

Put the starter, water and 1 cup flour mixture in the bowl of a stand mixer and whisk to make a smooth batter. Use the paddle or dough hook with mixer on a low speed to work in additional 1 1/2 cups flour mixture. If not using dough hook, change to dough hook at this point. Add rest of the flour mixture to the dough, 1/2 cup at a time with the mixer on a low speed. Let the mixer knead the dough for about 5 minutes, or until dough is elastic, or turn the dough out onto a floured board and knead in the rest of the flour then knead for 5 minutes until the dough is elastic.

Let the dough rest 5 minutes, then push down with the palms of your hands to spread it into a rectangle approximately 10 inches by 12 inches.

Mix the seeds, grain flakes and walnuts together. Spread half on the rectangle, leaving an inch uncovered around the edges. Roll up like a jelly roll, then fold the two open ends into the center of the dough roll. Again push down into a rectangle, spread the other half of the seed mixture over it, leaving an inch uncovered on all sides, roll in jelly roll fashion, fold in the ends and knead a minute or two to distribute the seed mixture even more.

Lightly coat a 4-quart mixing bowl with oil and transfer the dough to the oiled bowl. Turn the dough over once so that the top of the dough is lightly coated with oil. Cover the mixing bowl with a loosely applied layer of plastic wrap and allow the dough to rise at room temperature, until it has doubled in bulk, at least 8 hours, preferably overnight.

Press the air out of the risen dough and gently knead it until it is springy again, The dough will have a smooth, flexible 'skin', although some seeds may poke through.

Divide the dough in half. Working with one half at a time, shape the dough into 2 balls, tucking the cut edges of the dough into the center of the balls, and stretching the 'skin' over the surface of the dough balls. Try to do that without tearing the 'skin'. This is hard to do with all the seeds. If a few pop through, don't worry about it.

Put the balls of dough on a baking sheet lined with a silicone pan liner or bakers' parchment. Loosely cover the loaves with plastic wrap and let them rise until they are doubled in size, about 4 hours.

Put a baking sheet on the bottom rack of the oven and put a second rack one position above it. Pour a 1/2 inch layer of water into the baking sheet on the bottom shelf. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Just before putting the loaves in the oven, use a box cutter or a very sharp knife to cut shallow slashes in a cross over the surface of the loaves, about 1/8 inch deep. Bake the loaves until they are well browned and sound hollow when tapped, about 35 minutes. An instant read thermometer inserted into the center of a loaf will register 200 degrees F.

Transfer the baked loaves to a cooling rack and let them cool to room temperature before slicing.

Bakers dog news: Xam had stitches removed on Friday and he is like a young dog again, running around and even chasing his tail! Still has the grey muzzle and eyebrows to let us know the truth, but he has a spring to his step when we take walks that hasn't been there for months. Yay! Thanks for all your good wishes...I know it helped. Hugs, Elle

Doggy Update

Big smiles around here tonight. We heard from the vet and test results are great...no cancer and all is OK. Xam will go back in a little over a week and get the stitches out. Right now he is getting antibiotics and lots and lots of affection and hugs!

Chunky Bread and Bread Bakers Dog Updates

If you have been following my other blog, Feeding My Enthusiasms, you'll know that I have had dental (gum) surgery and have been on soft foods for over a week. It gets old. It is also difficult to get up much enthusiasm for baking a nice, crusty bread when you won't be able to eat it. Doing better, but still mostly eating soft foods. By next week I'll be back to sterner stuff.

Today I did bake two nice loaves of fresh, fragrant bread because Sweetie really, really deserved some bread and this is the one he requested. He put up most of the signs for a Yard Sale that the P.E.O. chapter I belong to is holding today to raise money for scholarships for women. Over an hour last night and about the same this morning (staring at 6:30 am!) certainly earned him something special from the oven. He followed that up with about 6 hours of tree trimming and then chipping the branches trimmed, with liberal assistance from Straight Shooter from SF.

This bread is also by way of a thank you to Straight Shooter from SF because he returned from a photo shoot to Napa last weekend with some freshly ground wheat bread flour and spelt flour. I used a cup of the whole wheat flour in the bread and as I was kneading it I could really smell the sweetness of fresh grain.

This bread is a variation of the asparagus bread that the Bread Baking Babes made in June. I substituted 1/2 cup cubes, roasted zucchini for the asparagus. I used 1/2 cup fresh Swiss chard (cut in chiffonade, steamed, drained and squeezed dry, then measured) instead of the arugula in the original recipe. I used 1 cup of the freshly milled whole wheat bread flour and three cups of unbleached white bread flour. Because tomatoes are late to ripen but the basil is going gangbusters, I added 1/4 cup minced fresh basil. Zucchini doesn't have the assertive flavor that asparagus does, but the basil not only smells wonderful, but adds great herby taste to the bread. Otherwise the recipe is the same.

This makes a moist, flavorful, chunky bread, full of veggies, nuts and Parmesan. The crumb is soft and fairly tight and the crust is good, although not as good as last time when I used the sourdough starter. I did add steam a couple of times, but didn't open the oven door...already too hot in the house! The loaves are a bit on the flat side, partly because I think I let them rise too long for the second rise and partly because the plethora of veggies makes it hard to have a good 'skin' of dough to hold the loaf higher.

I'm sending this lucious bread over to Yeastspotting, one of the best places to see what other bakers are doing with yeast bread! Check it out!!

Update on Xam: He had surgery this past Thursday to remove a large mass back to the left of his spine by his tail. A fluid biopsy a few days earlier had shown infection, but not cancer, so we have our fingers crossed...won't hear until Tuesday. He is in good spirits and doesn't seem to have noticed the 30 stitches on his rump! He ate bits of this bread with great gusto!

Asparagus (Zucchini) Bread
(with Parmesan Cheese and Walnuts - 2 small loaves)

125 g green asparagus (I used 1/2 cup diced, roasted zucchini instead)
25-30 g rocket (I used 1/2 cup Swiss chard instead)

1/4 cup minced fresh basil
50 g walnuts,
50 g freshly grated Parmesan cheese
450 g strong bread flour (you can also use half whole wheat and half white or white whole wheat if you can get that) (I used 1 cup whole wheat bread flour and 3 cups unbleached white bread flour)
12 g fresh yeast or 1 1/4 tsp dry instant yeast
250-270 g water (whole wheat version may use a little more water)
25 g olive oil
10 g (sea) salt

Boil 3/4 liter of water with a pinch of (sea) salt. Clean the asparagus, set two of them aside, cut the rest into 4 pieces. Boil these pieces for 2 minutes in the water, scoop them out (so you can use the water for the rocket as well) and rinse under cold water (to stop them cooking).

Put the rocket in the boiling water for a few seconds (until wilted), drain and rinse under cold water and drain again. Press the water our of the rocket, chop it coarsely and but the asparagus into 1/4 inch (± 1 cm) long pieces, set aside.

Crush the walnuts coarsely and grate the Parmesan.

Measure the flour and yeast in a large bowl, mix in most of the water and knead for a few minutes (on low speed), add the olive oil and knead for 10-12 minutes. Add the salt and knead on medium speed for 5 minutes until very elastic.

Let the dough rest for 10 minutes. Work the asparagus pieces(zucchini pieces), rocket(Swiss chard), walnuts, basil and Parmesan in with care so that they're evenly distributed. The dough should be very supple and elastic, hence the long kneading time. For me the best way to incorporate all the ingredients is to spread the dough out into a large slap, sprinkle all the ingredients on and roll it up. Let it rest for 5-10 minutes, press flat and fold... rest 5-10 minutes press flat and fold. Shape into rounds.

Place the dough in a greased container, cover and let rise for about 2 hrs.

Divide the dough into 2 equal parts.
Make round balls, cover with a tea towel and let rest for 10 minutes.
Flatten the balls and fold into taut breads with slightly tapering ends. Lay one asparagus in lengthwise in the middle of the bread and press in slightly. Sprinkle with wheat flour and cover to rise for 70 minutes or until doubled. Before baking you can sprinkle a little grated cheese on the bread if you like (optional).

Preheat the oven (preferably with stone) to 460ºF.

Place the loaves directly on the stone. Spray with water (or poor some hot water in a metal container on the bottom of the oven that you preheated to create steam)
Lower the temperature after 5 minutes to 400ºF. Open the door after another 10 minutes to let some air in. Repeat twice during baking. (I must admit I forgot about this step)
Bake for 40-45 minutes and cool on a wire rack.

http://notitievanlien.blogspot.com/2009/06/bbbabes-go-seasonal.html June 26th

Bread Baker's Dog Returns with Zucchini Cheese Bread

Xam, the Bread Baker's Dog, is finally doing well. His infection has cleared up after three full weeks of antibiotics, twice daily warm compresses, and lots of love, affection, and vet bills. Since he found the compresses a bit uncomfortable, after the first two times he knew when it was happening and refused to cooperate. Since bribery works, he soon found that the compresses were accompanied by doggie cookies to munch on. It's also called positive reinforcement, but truly it was bribery. Come sit on Sweetie's lap while Mom presses a warm towel where it already hurts. The joys of dog ownership!

The other good news is that his appetite is back...Sweetie's never left...so it's time for bread baking. Since the zucchini continue to be fruitful and multiply and fill the platter on the table, it seemed like a good zucchini bread recipe would be just the ticket. I've only had the sweet, spicy quick bread type so I went looking for a good recipe in my cookbooks. On the way I found a yeasted on that wasn't sweet and included cheese. It's in Breaking Bread with Father Dominic under the Veggie Bread category. It makes two loaves and the crust gets nice and brown because of all the cheese.

As usual I changed it a bit. Father's version called for caraway seeds and Swiss cheese, but I went with Parmesan cheese and fresh minced basil, plus some pine nuts on top, for a more Mediterranean feel. I used olive oil for the vegetable oil and some 12 grain flour from King Arthur's for part of the flour, both of which added some needed flavor.

It made a lovely, moist bread with a good crumb and great crust.

The cheese isn't a dominant flavor, but you can tell that it's there. The zucchini add moistness and some nice speckles, but very little flavor. Even the basil is a hint, not a hit. It's marvelous freshly cooled, but also good as toast. It's a batter bread. I baked one loaf in a loaf pan and the other in a cast iron skillet. The skillet one had a particularly wonderful bottom crust, but the interior was still quite moist but not gummy. Now that I've made an Asparagus Bread (see June 20th post) that he loooovvved and a Zucchini Cheese Bread that he couldn't stop eating, I think I've made a veggie bread lover out of Sweetie!

And Xam?...he love all baked goods. I tried three times to get a photo of him eating a small piece of this bread, but he scarfed it down so fast that each photo was a black blur...this one is the best!

Guess he likes Zucchini Cheese Bread, too!

I've been missing the weekly wonderful event that is Yeastspotting at Susan's Wild Yeast...no time to even go there and drool over the bread being baked by the fantastic bakers featured there...so it's nice to have an entry again...and time to bake bread. Here is the URL for Susan's blog :http://www.wildyeastblog.com/ Nick at Imafoodblog is the host this time. His URL is: http://www.imafoodblog.com/ . Thanks Nick!!

Yeasted Zucchini Cheese Batter Bread
adapted from a recipe in Breaking Bread with Father Dominic
Yields 2 loaves

2 cups milk at room temperature
1 egg
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 packages active dry yeast (1/2 oz)
2 tablespoons minced fresh basil
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/2 tablespoon salt
about 3 cups bread flour, divided
2 cups 12-grain bread flour (or additional plain bread flour), divided
1 1/2 cups grated Parmesan cheese
2 cups shredded zucchini, excess liquid squeezed out in a towel
2 tablespoons pine nuts (optional)

Combine milk, egg, oil, sugar and yeast in a large mixing bowl. Stir until the yeast is completely dissolved. Add the basil, pepper, salt, and 1 cup each of the bread flour and the 12-grain flour. Beat well (about 150 strokes by hand or three minutes with an electric mixer). Stir in the cheese and zucchini. Add another cup of bread flour and cup of 12-grain flour; beat well. Add enough of the remaining bread flour to make a thick batter that is still easy to manage. Stir until all flour is thoroughly incorporated. Use a rubber spatula to make sure there are no pockets of flour on the bottom of the bowl.

Cover with a clean towel and let rise in a warm, draft-free place about 1 hour. Thoroughly grease two 9x5x3-inch loaf pans. Stir the batter down. Divide the batter between pans. It should fill each pan halfway. Cover and let rise about 20 minutes or until dough nearly reaches the top of the pan. If desired, sprinkle about a tablespoon of pine nuts on the top of each loaf just before baking.

While dough is rising, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Bake about 45 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean and top crust feels solid. Let cool slightly in pans before attempting to remove loaves. Note: If top crust browns too quickly due to the cheese, tent some aluminum foil over it to slow the browning process.

Babes Bodacious Asparagus Bread

The Bread Baking Babes have a real winner this time with a delicious, seasonal and unusual Asparagus Bread, chosen by Lien who blogs at Nottie Van Lien's. The recipe is found HERE and I'm making it as a Bread Baking Buddy type person.

There is plenty of green in this bread from the asparagus and from arugula (although I substituted Swiss chard because my garden is producing so much of it I have to use it where ever I can!) but what ties the flavors together is the walnuts. It makes two smallish loaves of a very moist and tender, flavorful and pretty bread.

While it was still a little warm from the oven I cut a slice and gave it to Sweetie. He made appreciative noises, so I asked for a bite. After I took the bite I started to move away from Sweetie and he reminded me that he was only giving me a bite...he really wanted to finish that slice...and about half the loaf with dinner!

One of the things I missed during my travels in May was making bread. Since I've been back it's been hard to find the time, so it was a real pleasure to have my hands in yeast dough again. Don't expect that all of the non-dough ingredients will be totally encased in the dough once it has baked. Having the odd little bit of asparagus or chard peeking out is part of the pleasure for me.

Do give this recipe a try. If you have a stand mixer to do the kneading, it is a simple recipe. The veggies are basically blanched, drained, and chopped. The rest is pretty fun and the results are spectacular!

This is my entry for this week in Susan's event Yeastspotting at Wild Yeast. If you check out last week's entries you will see at least one loaf of this outstanding seasonal bread. You can also visit all of the Babes's sites using the links on Lein's blog.

Want to be a Buddy, too? Lein tells you how and you still have time...the deadline is June 26th!

On the home front, please keep our dear Bakers Dog Xam in your thoughts. He had surgery on Monday for a glandular infection, but will be seeing the vet on Thursday to see if there are other things wrong. Took him on his first walk this week today and he seemed fine if a bit slower than usual. Fingers and toes crossed that the surgery took care of it all.