TWD- Pumpkin Bagels

I really love bagels. When I was in high school, we would go to lunch at Einsteins all the time. I loved bagel sandwiches. Then I went through my stage where I thought I shouldn't eat 500 calories of bread. Then I got married and while we were living in Virginia, I discovered Panera. And now I'm back to loving bagels (seriously, get the Cinnamon crunch with Hazelnut cream cheese).
This week's TWD is for bagels. Making bagels is time intensive and involves quite a few steps. First, you make the dough of yeast, sugar, shortening, salt and flour. I added about a 1/2 cup pumpkin puree and used half whole wheat flour. Once it's risen for about an hour, you refrigerate it overnight. Then you shape the dough into balls, poke a hole in it and pull it so it looks like a ring. I found it interesting how active the dough still is- in the picture below, all the bagels were shaped the same way, but the top left was shaped first and the bottom right last (I know, they're not on dishtowels. Sometimes I don't follow directions):

After they've been shaped you boil them for about 90 seconds. They come out looking like soggy, wrinkly doughnuts (again, I know there's no cornmeal under these (see above) :)).

Then you brush them with egg whites and sprinkle them with whatever. I chose sesame seeds for some and cinnamon sugar for the rest. 

These baked up beautifully and were so delicious. They had the signature chewy outside and had the perfect texture inside.

This was my lunch after they came out of the oven- ham, provolone, basil, tomatoes and olive oil. I couldn't wait to eat before taking the picture, ok? Don't judge me.

Heather has the recipe!

TWD- Pumpkin Cinnamon Chocolate Loaf

Ahh, it's October. What should be starting to feel like fall. Leaves falling, crisp air...

Well, it's actually about 100 degrees here, but I personally am rebelling by acting like it's fall. I made pumpkin bars last weekend and this bread last night.

This week's Tuesdays With Dorie is for Cranberry Walnut Pumpkin loaf or some such nonsense. If you're new here you should know I don't do dried fruit or nuts very often. Especially in bread. I thought this was going to be a quick bread (non-rising), but it is a yeasted bread.

This recipe is somewhat time consuming- it requires chilling in the refrigerator overnight. Pumpkin puree and some sugar make it slightly sweet, but really only slightly.

Instead of the nuts and fruit, I rolled mine out, spread it with melted butter, and then sprinkled it with brown sugar and cinnamon. I then sprinkled some chocolate chips over the cinnamon sugar and rolled it up.

The bread is moist and chewy- I really liked the texture and my additions made it more dessert-y. I think this would be great toasted or even made into French toast the next day.
Rebecca at This Bountiful Backyard has the recipe!

TWD- Whole Wheat Loaf

What is it about homemade bread that is so comforting, that reminds you of growing up? Even for me, whose mom didn't make homemade bread, it's just something that makes me feel so content, like I should curl up on the couch with a blanket and a book.

Ok, it's actually been like 100 degrees where I live and I wasn't crazy about the idea of turning on the oven, but today was only about 83 so I decided to make this week's TWD for whole wheat bread.

The recipe comes together pretty quickly as far as bread goes: whisk together warm water, yeast and honey. Once the yeast blooms, add bread flour (I used all-purpose) and wheat flour (I used Trader Joe's 100% whole wheat white flour, my favorite). Knead in the stand mixer until smooth. Let it rise a couple times:

I think I let mine rise too long in the loaf pan because it was flat on top. So it's not pretty, but it tasted delicious. The texture is moist and chewy, great for butter and honey.

Michele of Veggie Num Nums and Teresa of The Family That Bakes Together will have the recipe.

TWD- Cherry Nectarine Pie

What is it about baking in someone else's kitchen that makes you feel out of sorts? We're visiting family and we're staying at my parent's. For some reason, I cannot bake very well in my mom's kitchen. Cooking is ok, just not baking. Things turn out like this and this. So sad.

I wasn't sure how this week's TWD for Blueberry Nectarine pie would turn out, but I thought pie doesn't have to rise. I should be ok. I opted for cherries because, well, I like cherries more.

The fruit is cooked in sugar, flour and lemon zest for a few minutes until it's syrup-y and the fruit is soft.

Pour it in the pie crust, top with the other crust and pretend you know how to crimp the edges.

The recipe says to bake 30-40 minutes. Mine took almost 40 minutes. Maybe not the prettiest pie. It was hard to make the edges look good because it's baked in a cake pan. That's my excuse.

This recipe was really fantastic. The cherries were juice and a little tart, and the nectarines added some more tartness. I probably should have used a little more sugar, but paired with ice cream, this was delicious.

Hilary and Liz have the recipe!

TWD- Semolina Bread

I meant to make this recipe for Semolina bread last night. About 7pm, I read the recipe. Three rises of two hours. Not a feat I was willing to start at 7pm. So I started this morning. By dinner time, we had a nice loaf of bread. That was too hot to eat.

The recipe starts with a starter of yeast, water and flour:

Once it's risen, add some more flour- all purpose and semolina, salt and oil. Rise again. Shape in a loaf and rise again. Slit (with a razor??!! I used a knife) (also, was anyone else confused about the slitting instructions?), and bake:

The bread is tender and chewy, with a nice crust. This is a great, easy recipe, if not hands-off time-consuming. Anna of Keep it Luce and Renee of The Way to My Family’s Heart have the recipe!

TWD- French Strawberry Cake

This week's TWD is for French Strawberry cake, a light genoise cake filled with macerated strawberries and covered in cream. The recipe is very straightforward and easy. 

"A génoise cake is an Italian sponge cake named after the city of Genoa and closely associated with Italian and French cuisine that does not use any chemical leavening, instead using air suspended in the batterduring mixing to give volume to the cake."

It's baked in a single layer, and then torted:

There's nothing I dislike more than torting a cake. I never do it if I can help it. If I want layers, I'm more than happy to bake them in separate pans. I only got two layers from my attempt to tort this.

This was delicious and fresh- perfect for a summer BBQ! Check out  Sophia of Sophia’s Sweets and Allison of Sleep Love Think Dine for the recipe!

TWD- Almond Sticky Buns (the most-time-consuming recipe ever)

Ok, this every other week for TWD has messed me up! I keep getting confused on which week we're off and which week we're on! But since I've missed the last couple recipes, I made sure to check when this one was due! This week was Brioche Pecan Sticky Buns. According to Wikipedia, Brioche is "a highly enriched French sweet roll, whose high egg and butter content give it a rich and tender crumb. It is "light and slightly puffy, more or less fine, according to the proportion of butter and eggs"^[1] It has a dark, golden, and flaky crust, frequently accentuated by an egg wash applied after proofing." I've had Brioche bread, but not in the form of sticky buns. The bread is light and eggy, slightly sweet.
This recipe starts with making a batch of brioche. Yeast, milk, egg, flour and salt are left to rest for 30 minutes until the top cracks:

After the mixture has rested (one of many rests it will receive), you add sugar and more flour and beat it for 15 minutes:

Add lots of butter and beat it some more. After it's beaten, it needs to rise for a couple hours. Then deflated and refrigerated for a few more hours. Then you take it out and roll it out, dot it with butter, fold it up, roll it again, fold it up again, and then guess what? That's right , it needs to rest again (in the fridge). After that little vacation, you roll it out yet again, sprinkle in some cinnamon/sugar and nuts (I used almonds instead of pecans), roll it up in a log, wrap it and... what? Another rest? This time in the freezer. 
In the meantime, you smash up some butter in a pan, sprinkle it with lots of brown sugar. Remove the log from the freezer and cut it thick slices (I only made half of the brioche dough into rolls and froze the other half).

And what would this step be without another rest? The rolls need to rise for a couple hours:

Then bake at 350 degrees F for what the recipe says 30-40 minutes (mine took less than 20):

Once gorgeous and out of the oven, you immediately invert the pan onto a plate so all that yummy butter and sugar you put on the bottom of your pan is now a gooey and sugary topping.

What? That's right. These are for reals. Although they were major time-consuming, they were raved about by everyone, even my two year old who said, "Mom, can you make these again? They are so, so, so yum." He said that phrase twice. In a row. How can I not make them again for that? With the other half of the brioche dough in the freezer, I guess I'm halfway there!

The recipe will be here-  Lynn of Eat Drink Man Woman Dogs Cat and Nicole of Cookies on Friday

TWD- Pizza Rustica

I know one of the first rules of cooking and baking is to read the recipe all the way through. I read this recipe through a few times so I knew what ingredients, how to make the dough, and how long it would take to prepare. I decided to make this for dinner tonight. I made the crust this afternoon and left it in the fridge for a few hours. 

We eat at 5pm so I thought I'd just start this at 4:20 or so because it bakes for around 30 minutes.

How did I miss that you're supposed to cool it completely before serving? We ended up just eating it hot. And a little runny.

This is an interesting dish- a sweet crust filled with a ricotta cheese, eggs, cheese, and prosciutto (my fave). The crust isn't subtlety sweet, my daughter thought it tasted like cookies and left out eating the filling. :) Both my husband and I really liked this. My kids, not so much.

Margaret and Jessica will have the recipe!

TWD- Irish Soda Bread

Can someone please tell me when St Patrick's Day became a real holiday where you have to stage a leprechaun visit at your house, create shenanigans that said leprechaun did, and leave treats and goodies for your kids? I was getting a little annoyed with the whole Elf on the Shelf thing at Christmas this year, and now this? What happened to wearing green, maybe some corned beef and cabbage and calling it good? Am I being the St Patrick's Day Scrooge?

Anyhoo, this week's TWD is for Irish Soda Bread. This is about the easiest, quickest recipe ever. Mix flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Add buttermilk, pour in a pie plate. Bake and done!

I made this when I was home with a sick boy. When the rest of my family came home, Beansy said, "What's this? A giant dog treat?" Yes, I made a giant dog treat and left it on the stove. We don't have a dog.

She liked it so much, she did end up eating two pieces for lunch- one with ham and one with jam (Sam I Am. heehee). After hearing it was yummy, my sicky two year old declared, "I want some dog food, too!"

 Carla and Cathleen will have the recipe! 

TWD- Rugelach

Whew, TWD is now only every two weeks, and those weeks seem to go by quickly! We're back this week with Rugelach, a cookie made of sour cream or cream cheese dough and filled with dried fruit, nuts, fruit preserves, cinnamon, chocolate, among others.

This recipe starts with a cream cheese dough, made of flour, cream cheese and butter. I made mine in a food processor. Shape it in a ball, flatten in a disk, and chill.

Before you look at this next picture, I have a confession. I chickened out in using an apricot or prune lekvar. I actually have a personal rule to not eat anything with apricots or prunes because I hate them. As the mom of small children, we never use that word, but I will now. I hate them. Soooo, I used raspberry preserves.

 Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar over the preserves.

Before you look at the next picture, I have another confession. I used chocolate as Dorie posted in Baking From My Home to Yours. And I didn't use dried fruit, cuz that's gross. Oh, and also I forgot to get any kind of nut when I went to the grocery store. So we're just going with chocolate and fruit.

Roll it up jelly-roll style and chill. Again.

 After it's nice and chilly, you brush the roll with egg wash, slice and roll in cinnamon and sugar.

Bake for 25-30 minutes (mine took 20) at 375 degrees F. I didn't wait to take a picture of the baked ones because I'm about to go to bed, but imagine these are de-panned and arranged nicely on a plate.

My husband and I just popped a couple of these in our mouths and were quite pleased. The actual cookie part is pretty delicious- crisp, buttery, and slightly tart from the cream cheese. I quartered the recipe because we have treats coming out our ears right now (red velvet sheet cake post to come). Although these were good, I'm not sure I would make them again. I'm not really a fruit cookie kind of person, but if you are, you should try these! And don't forget the chocolate. 'Cuz it makes everything better. Margaret and Jessica will have the recipe!

TWD- Chocolate Tart

This week's TWD is for Chocolate Tartlets- 6 mini tarts. I only have a large tart pan, so I just made one big tart.

The recipe starts out with a chocolate pastry dough for the crust. It says to remove the bottom of the pan, but I didn't do that.

The filling is a made up whipped egg yolks (lots) and sugar folded into melted butter and chocolate.

The recipe calls for chopped biscotti for the filling, but I used cinnamon cookies sprinkled on top instead of folded in the filling batter.

The tart is delicious- it wasn't fudgey like I thought it would be. It was smooth and creamy and was a hit at home and with some friends!
 Steph, Spike, Jaime and Jessica will have the recipe!

TWD- White Loaves

I'm back to Tuesdays With Dorie and a new book! We're now baking from Baking with Julia, by Dorie Greenspan. I'm really excited to bake from this new book, which is full of great recipes and some new things that I've always wanted to try like puff pastry! The book is based on the PBS series and has great contributors like Flo Braker, Nick Malgieri, Alice Medrich, Nancy Silverton, and Martha Stewart.

The first recipe from the book is White Loaves, chosen by the brains behind TWD Laurie and Jules. The recipe is just basic white bread- two 1 1/2 pound loaves to be exact. I LOVE homemade bread but I've always had a problem making it. I don't know why. I either kill the yeast, it doesn't rise properly, it's not salted enough... the list goes on.

This recipe is straightforward and really easy. I halved the recipe and (sorry) I used mostly whole wheat white flour (from Trader Joes) to make it a little healthier.

 I let it rise too long the second time; the resulting loaf did not have the height of a lovely loaf, but it did taste pretty yummy. My kids loved it with jam.

Jules and Laurie will have the recipe and check out the blogroll to see what others have baked up!
Next up: Chocolate Truffle Tartlets (whoo hoo!)

TWD- Brown Sugar Blueberry Plain Cake

I'll be honest here. I wasn't going to make this week's TWD because it sounded kinda boring. I mean, it says "plain" right in the name! But after reading the handful of rave comments on the P&Q, and remembering that almost EVERY recipe in this book is amazing, I decided to go for it.
This is a very quick cake- it only takes a few minutes to put together. It calls for an 11"x7" pan, which I don't have, so I used a 9"x13". I know that's bigger, but everyone in the P&Q said the blueberries sank, so I thought if the cake was thinner, the blueberries wouldn't sink as much.

This cake is so moist and delicious. The blueberries add the perfect amount of fruity sweetness to it. It tastes like breakfast, but we ate it after dinner. Three-fourths of the pan. It was a hit.

Cindy at Everyday Insanity will have the recipe!