Norwegian Mountain Bread

I tried something a little different, from my beloved How to Be a Domestic Goddess again. This is Norwegian Mountain Bread. It's just okay, probably not something I'll make again anytime soon -- but it was a fun recipe.

This is a yeast bread loaded with wheat flour, rye flour, nuts, and seeds. And yet there is no kneading involved. After mixing the batter, it's put into a cold oven to rise as the oven warms.

The result is a very dense bread that makes a pretty good breakfast when topped with peanut butter and honey. Reminds me a little of the "Power Bagels" from Einsteins. If I do ever make it again, I think I'll try mixing in some dried fruit.

Better Bagels

I have a new favorite bagel recipe! I usually bake the recipe from Nigella's Domestic Goddess book, but this time I tried Martha Stewart's recipe (Baking Handbook) with great success.

The main differences were malt syrup in both the dough and the boiling water, and longer rising times. Definitely worth the extra effort. These were wonderfully chewy.

Maybe next time I'll try adding some sort of flavoring; although, I really liked the plain ones!

Basic White Bread

So... I'm starting out simple for January with plain old white bread. I got a new Kitchenaid mixer for Christmas (yay! Thanks, honey!). I tried the Rapid Mix Cool Rise White Bread recipe from the enclosed booklet. My loaves turned out salty due to my misread of the ingredients, but I can tell that it's a nice recipe. Not sure I'll make it again though, because it calls for so much yeast.

http://www.bakespace.com/recipes/detail/KITCHEN-AID-RAPID-MIX-COOL-RISE-WHITE-BREAD/3842/

I think I'll stick with Nigella's basic white bread recipe (How to Be a Domestic Goddess) as my standard.

http://www.nigella.com/recipe/recipe_detail.aspx?rid=12139

What's your favorite white bread recipe?