Chocolate Walnut Loaf : Sometimes a Girl's Gotta Have Chocolate, Loaf 4

So this week I decided to try something a little different. Originally the idea of this was a chocolate chip bread, but I quickly learned that it seems that's fairly impossible in a bread cycle. So this loaf instead became chocolate walnut instead, tahdah!

Our cast of characters:

1 1/3 cups water

2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 tablespoons sugar (I used Splenda for baking)
1 teaspoon salt
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons yeast (I would suggest trying a teaspoon and a half for this loaf!)
1/2 cup walnuts halves
3/4 cup chocolate chips (I prefer Ghirardelli)

First, into the machine went the wet ingredients. My vanilla extract happens to be clear, but you can tell by the lovely smell of vanilla that doesn't transmute over the inter-webs that it is in the pan. As per usual, I used "I can't believe it's not butter" for baking, but you could use plain old butter or margarine. We prefer ICBINB in our house. I chopped the butter roughly to help it distribute in the bread, and let it come to room temperature.

Shortly after that I discovered a fatal error in bread making.

Oh no, almost out of flour! Luckily I had just enough for this loaf through scooping some out of the plastic bag I keep the bag of flower inside, but it was barely enough. How am I suppose to make 52 loaves if I let myself run out of flour? Harrumph! This will need to be fixed soon my dear readers, never you fret.

After that, all the dry ingredients go in except the chocolate chips and the walnuts. I happened to put the splenda straight into the liquid before adding the flour. It made a satisfying fizzle as it dissolved. It looked kind of like the bubbles when you pour lemonlime soda into a clear glass? An oddly strange and satisfying sound. Make a little volcano, and put your yeast in last. Set the machine to the sweet setting, and I set my crust setting to light.

By now, you might be wondering what about the chocolate chips and walnuts? Didn't we forget them? Ah dear reader, it's now time to discover the raisin beep. You may have noticed it before... You set the machine, walk away, and about half an hour later the machine starts beeping all crazy. You wander over to find out what all the crazy beeping is about, yet their seems to be nothing going on other than the dough is finishing kneading. Shrugging your shoulders, you wander away and hopes it doesn't set your kitchen on fire. (Not that I'VE ever done this before).

This strange beeping, dear reader, is the raisin beep. The raisin beep can be used for any ingredient you want distributed throughout the bread, but not pulverized to smithereens. Pretty much anything you put in the machine at the beginning will be kneaded and slammed against the sides of the machines until only crumbs are left. This beep is the right time to add ingredients like raisins, nuts chunks, or chocolate.

So keep your ears open, and when the machine beeps drop in the nuts and the chocolate chips. The second time the machine beeped, the loaf was done, hooray!

This particular loaf rose.... a lot... I was a little concerned that it might pop the top of the bread machine, or get stuck all over my nice see thru window. I would recommend decreasing the amount of yeast to 1 1/2 teaspoons to keep it from going quite so crazy.

The loaf was quite swirled on the bottom.

Swirled on the outside...

 

Upon slicing it open, I was met with a marbled squishy delight. Though their were no chunks of chocolate, their was a nice chocolate flavor, and the walnuts gave some texture. The bread itself was squishy, not cake like at all, and the vanilla mixed with the chocolate was lovely. I plan on trying it with some peanut butter later this week. Maybe with some banana too... yum! I give this loaf 4 out of 5 loaves.

I'm still waiting for the special loaf to blow my socks off to get 5 loaves.This one was close, but still missing something to push it over the edge...

Amish Friendship Bread- An Oven Baked Chain Letter of Good Will

So I've found as I've started doing more research to try to keep my challenge alive that there are a lot of different types of bread I can make easily by using my bread machine as essentially a poor man's stand mixer. Throw in your ingredients. hit the dough cycle, and then form bread as you would any bread. Not having a kitchenaide mixer myself, I find this idea about the bread machine fascinating.... Especially with how many people I've known who have mixers and don't really know how to use them. Don't get me wrong, a kitchenaide can be a great tool, and they have some awesome attachments. Yet I can make some of the same things by throwing them in my bread machine and let it do the mixing for me? Heck yeah!

So in the coming weeks in between loaves, I think I might experiment with a few of these recipes. I think for the time being, I'm not going to count them towards my 52 loaves as they're not cooked in the breadmachine itself, and that means more dishes in a home without a dishwasher. Stay tuned for more of these....


In the meantime, until we get to next weeks loaf (Which happens to be mixing as we speak. In the room right now it's a combination of bread machine grumbles and the sound of the boy playing Super Hula Hoop) I thought I'd share another creation with you called the Amish Friendship loaf.

The starter was passed to me by my neighbors who with all the best intentions passed it along. The first clue was that the recipe included a box of jello pudding mix. "I don't know what's amish about jello pudding, but it should be tasty" my neighbor said with a smile. Sounds like fun, I'll give it a try.

For 10 days I followed the recipe for the starter. I mushed the bag... mushed the bag... etc. Day 10 came along, baking day! Whoo hoo, a Sunday to boot!

I started reading the recipe... milk... oil..vanilla.... a CUP of sugar? What bread has a CUP of sugar? A sweet bread, that's what! I think we might call this cake dear friend!

Well I'm already elbow deep in it...and we have all the ingredients... and I've been mushing the bag in anticipation for 10 days... and I already made a HUGE mess portioning out the starter into portions. The recipe claimed not to use metal anything... In hindsight I should have said that's a load of phoey, but instead I mixed it up in my pretty glass salad bowl... I felt like a fool mixing it in my glass salad bowl, but I did. Don't judge, you would have too!

So I finished the recipe... wait, 2 loaves? How much does this make? I only have one loaf pan! So I carefully dusted the pan with more cinnamon sugar, split the dough, more cinnamon sugar on top, and baked.

It.... smelled... heavenly. I think I gained 10 pounds just smelling it. One taste and I quickly realized it was very tasty, and there was no way I could keep it in the house and keep my other new years resolutions of trying to eat more in moderation. (Yes I realize a bread blog resolution and an eat in moderation resolution may be just a wee bit contradictory.)  So I packaged up a loaf and took it to friends, and the other loaf was sliced and taken to work.... and somehow I managed to only eat one piece. (score, kept both of my new years resolutions! 21 days to make a habit, bam!)

The folks at work seemed to enjoy it, I got several compliments on it. I assume the friends did as well...So if you're looking for a really sweet breakfast cake... or just to torment your friends with lots of cake and a smidgen of guilt you've found your recipe.

Amish Cinnamon Friendship Bread
Important Tips:

• Do not use a metal bowl or spoon for mixing (see my note about this below)
• Do not refrigerate.
• It is normal for batter to thicken, bubble, or ferment
• You may need to open the bag to release some of the gas
  

Day 1: You receive the fermented batter in a 1 gallon ziploc bag. Do Nothing. Just place the bag on the kitchen counter.
Day 2: Squeeze the bag several times.
Day 3: Squeeze the bag several times.
Day 4: Add 1 c. of flour, 1 c. of sugar, 1 c. of milk. Squeeze bag.
Day 5: Squeeze the bag several times.
Day 6: Add 1 c. each flour, sugar, and milk. Squeeze bag.
Day 7: Squeeze bag several times.
Day 8: Squeeze bag several times.
Day 9: Squeeze bag several times.
Day 10: In a large, non-metal bowl, combine batter with 1 c. each flour, sugar, and milk. Mix with a wooden spoon. Pour four 1-cup starters into individual gallon ziploc bags. Give away starters to friends with this set of directions. It is important to follow this sequence exactly.
To the remaining batter add:

• 1 c. canola oil
• 1 c. sugar
• 1 t. vanilla
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/2 t. baking powder
• 1 t. salt
• 2 c. flour
• 1/2 c. milk
• 1/2 t. baking soda
• 1 large box of instant vanilla pudding
• 2 t. cinnamon

In separate bowl, mix 1 t. cinnamon and 3 T. sugar. Sprinkle into well-greased loaf pans and coat the sides with sugar mixture. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until done.

To add to the mystic, the paper claimed only the amish know the deep dark secret to making this starter. Some internet research confirms that's phooey. If you'd like to make your own starter simply imply put 1 c. flour, 1 c. sugar, 1 c. milk, and 1 T. yeast in a gallon ziploc bag and let it sit on the counter. Call that day 1, and you’re good to go.

I apologize I took no pictures of this bread. If you'd like to see what it looked like check out a version of Amish Friendship Bread here. 'Cept that one got a little fancy and included raisins... which I now wish I had done.

Happy New Year! - Rosemary Loaf

We have some friends coming over to celebrate the new year, and I happen to have some very yummy Trader Joe's Spinach dip on hand. What could be better with that than fresh bread?

I decided for my first loaf to go with something that's been tested a little bit more than the loaf of white bread from the Oster Bread Manual. I also felt like making something that seemed a little fancier than white bread. That's when I stumbled upon Jo's Rosemary Bread by Jo Lager. 657 people had rated the recipe, and it had 5 out of 5 stars, it couldn't be bad right? We'll see if it gets 5 loaves.

Jo' Rosemary Bread on All Recipes

1/2 cup water
1/2 cup milk
3 tablespoons of olive oil

1 1/2 teaspoons of sugar
1 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of italian seasoning
1/4 teaspoon of ground pepper
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary
2 1/2 cups of bread flour
1 1/2 teaspoons dry active yeast

I was elated to use some fresh rosemary. We have a little plant growing in our garden. Being January, it's one of maybe two plants that is still surviving in the garden.

From the reviews on the recipe, some said it was too salty, so I did reduce that a little bit. I also cut the water half an dhalf with milk, as my last recipe without any fat it in came out miserably.

First I combined all the wet ingredients. Oil always looks so strange floating on milk doesn't it?

Ok, after that it's time for the dry ingredients. Make sure you level off the flour with a knife, and spoon it into the measuring cup with a spoon. Now clean up the flour you dropped on the floor and counter, leveling the flour.

Add your herbs on top of the flour. Don't forget the fresh Rosemary. Maybe you skipped outside to cut some fresh rosemary too. Maybe you almost got hit by the neighbor backing out of the driveway on your quest for Rosemary. Don't do that part.

Add all your spices. Dig a little hole in the top of the flour for the yeast to sit in. It looks like a volcano, doesn't it? A yeast volcano... Then go back and grab the pepper mill because you added all the spices so far, except pepper. At least you remembered this time unlike the milk fiasco.

Set the machine to the regular bread setting, and the light crust because you're particular, and press start. Stare through the hole, then clean up the rest of the mess you just made, and keep your fingers crossed that this one works for company.

Ta-dah! Not too shabby! This bread has a lovely moist springy center, a good crisp outside, lovely aromas of rosemary and you can really taste the olive oil flavor. This loaf didn't last long. The last few pieces the Boy ate New Years day for breakfast while murmuring "I love your new hobby."

 

The spinach dip which had been skillfully tucked away in the freezer? Missing... Apparently we have a spinach dip thief in our midst. Maybe one of our cats was low on iron, or we ate it and forgot to replenish. After tasting the bread however, I was a little relieved it was missing. The center is light and moist, but probably not durable enough for spinach dip. Serve with good ol' fashioned butter flavor of your choice, or with some slices of warm turkey and spinach for a yum sandwich.

I made a second loaf of this before some friends came over. We were having pizza and video games night, and it was just as tasty the second time around. I even snuck a handful of ground flax seed into it at the last minute. Shhh, don't tell anyone I snuck in an extra handful of healthy. I couldn't even taste it myself, and I was the only one of the four who knew it was there at the time.

I give this loaf a hearty 4 loaves out of 5, loosing one loaf for the fact that it couldn't have possibly held a heaping spoonful of spinach dip as I had planned, and would have made a huge mess if we had tried. It was a nice light Italian flavored loaf. I'm also really glad I cut the salt in my version.It also made a nice piece of toast the next day that was nice and savory.

Happy New Year! Another loaf for the coming week will be posted soon. I have ten hungry women to feed on Friday, I'm thinking sandwiches may be in order and a new type of bread!