Cranberry-Orange-Walnut Quick Bread

This recipe makes two loaves of fragrant, seasonal bread from fresh ingredients available at the grocery store: whole cranberries and seedless oranges.

Ingredients:

1 cup white flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
2 seedless oranges
One 12-oz bag of cranberries (fresh or frozen)
2 eggs
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup broken walnuts

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease two loaf pans.

1. In a large mixing bowl, mix together the dry ingredients (flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg). 
2. Cut in the 1/2 cup shortening using a fork or your fingers to distribute it until you get an evenly coarse grain.  Set aside.
3. Peel the oranges, reserving the peel. Place the orange peel into the bowl of a food processor and pulse until ground.  Add two teaspoons of the ground orange peel into another mixing bowl.  (Preserve the rest of the ground orange peel for future baking by sprinkling it on a dinner plate and setting it out of harm's way to dry naturally.  It will take a day or two to dry, then you can store it in a small air-tight glass jar.)
4. Section the oranges and place the sections into the bowl of the food processor. 
5. Set to the highest setting to liquify them. 
6. Pour the liquid (including all pulp) into the mixing bowl containing the ground orange peel. 
7. Place the fresh or frozen cranberries into the bowl of the food processor and pulse until ground.  Add the ground cranberries to the bowl with the orange pulp and peel. 
8. Add two eggs to the orange-cranberry mixture and beat well. 
9. Mix in 3/4 cup water. 
10. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and beat until smooth. 
11. Mix in the broken walnut pieces. 
12. Divide the mixture between the two greased loaf pans. 
13. Bake at 350 degrees F for 1 hour 15 minutes, or until fully baked. (Insert a fork into the middle of the breads; if it comes out clean the breads are done.  If there is batter stuck to the fork, continue baking another 3-5 minutes and test again.)

A lovely Rye Bread

This recipe uses a technique called "sponge" to raise the bread dough to perfect consistency.

Prepare the Sponge:

1 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast
1 3/4 cups warm water
1 cup coarse rye flour
1 cup unbleached white flour or bread flour

In a large mixing bowl, bud the yeast in the warm water.  Add the flour and mix thoroughly.  Cover the bowl and let it sit in a warm place for 45-60 minutes.  It will form the appearance of a sponge when the yeast has fermented the mixture.

Prepare these ingredients to mix into the sponge:

1/4 cup honey or molasses
1/4 cup vegetable or canola oil
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons caraway seeds (optional)
1 egg

Mix together the above ingredients in a small bowl.  Make sure that the oil has completely blended with the other ingredients.  Add to the sponge and beat well for a few minutes.  The ingredients should meld into a soft, rubbery, gooey mass.

Remaining ingredients:

2 cups white flour
2 cups coarse rye flour

Add the flour one cupful at a time, beating with each addition.  When the mixture becomes more like a stiff ball, turn it onto a floured surface and continue to add small amounts of flour as you knead it.  The dough will be sticky and you may need to scrape it off the surface and from your fingers as you knead.  After about 10 minutes of kneading, the dough will become a smooth round ball.  When it can no longer take additional flour, turn it into a very large bowl that you have coated thinly with vegetable oil.  Cover the bowl and let it stand in a warm place for 45-60 minutes.  When it has doubled in bulk, flour your fist and punch it, which will deflate it somewhat.  Then turn it out of the bowl onto your floured surface, knead it again for another 10 minutes.

Then cut the dough in half with a knife.  Form each piece into a rectangle by flattening it with a rolling pin to about 1/2 inch thick.  Then roll each flattened piece tight, like a jelly roll, and tuck the ends under each loaf. 

Grease two loaf pans and set the loaves in them, or sprinkle a cookie sheet with corn meal and set the loaves on it at least an inch apart.  Set them in a warm place to rise for 20-30 minutes.  When the loaves have risen to the top of the loaf pans, they will be ready to bake.

Preheat your oven to 375 degree F and bake for 40 minutes.  Remove from the pans and tap the bottoms of the loaves.  If they shound hollow, they are done.  Cool on a rack completely before slicing.

Welcome to Breads of the World

Perhaps this blog would be better titled, "Breads of My World." I have been baking breads for over 25 years. Baking bread is a great hobby for cold winter days, and there are never-ending variations to recipes and techniques for bread making.

Bread is a food staple world-wide. Raised loaves or shaped rolls are the most common types of bread we are familar with. Flat breads and crisp breads are also common throughout the world.

Everyday sandwich breads need not be basic white bread. With different types of flours and flavorings, sandwiches can become a lot more interesting.

If you are new to bread baking, beware: Once you have tasted home-baked breads, you will never want to eat store-bought bread again!