ȚWD: Brioche Sticky Buns & Brioche Sandwich Buns

 TWD... Our "Tuesday's With Dorie" bake this week was " "Brioche Sticky Buns" found on page 31 of Dorie's "Baking With Dorie: Sweet, Salty & Simple"

These are some of our favorite Sticky buns, but I forgot that the recipe makes the amount for 2 Loaves of Bread and since we are recovering from our cruising high calorie intake I made sticky buns from first half and then made regular sandwich buns from the second half. I know they look a little dark, they are meant to be turned over so all the sweet sticky goodness runs back all over them… (I forgot to take the final photo before people started munching on them.)

As anyone that follows us knows, we are encouraged not to post Dorie's recipe, but I do highly recommend trying this recipe.

TWD - Whole Wheat and Flax Daily Bread

WE ARE SO EXCITED FOR ANOTHER YEAR OF BAKING WITH DORIE…. 

I was so excited when we kicked off the new year with a Bread recipe. We started with “Whole Wheat and Flax Daily Bread” featured on page 15 in “Baking With Dorie”. This is such a yummy loaf of bread to make, I love how easily the dough comes together. 

Out of respect for Dorie and our baking group I won’t share the recipe here but I will share that I added a cup of my leftover fermented Teff flour that I have been playing with since I made my Injera Bread a couple of weeks ago. 

And I can honestly say that this batch of dough worked up beautifully, the rise was perfect and then…. Somewhere between my second rise and baking, it all fell flat! Overproof? Not sure, baked to fast and fell? Maybe. We ended up with a beautiful crumb and two flat loaves of bread. 

BUT IT STILL TASTED AMAZING….. ❤️ we will make this one again.

 

"Injera Bread" (Ethiopian flat bread)

 Sourdough Saturday... A few years ago, here on this blog we featured a series of “Around The World” challenges and we have decided we want to try that challenge again this year, so to kick off the New Year with our first challenge We made Injera Bread. 

It is a sour, spongy, flatbread made from fermented Teff flour (sourdough) and is listed as a staple in Ethiopia living.

Traditionally, people say it has a unique, slightly nutty and tangy flavor with a porous texture that is good for soaking up sauces, making it the reason why they use it as a utensil or plate. We found this to be very true. We really didnt care for it just plain, but when we used it to scoop up the "Garlic Butter Chicken & crunchy vegetables" it was really tasty. It's naturally gluten-free and vegan, making it a nutritious and versatile part of their daily diet.

   

We Loved and followed the photos and recipe from "The Daring Gourmet", so if you want to try it, here is the link: https://www.daringgourmet.com/authentic-injera-ethiopian-flatbread/#recipe.

And keeping with the traditional way of eating this flat bread, we served it along side our pan full of Ethiopian “Creamy Curried Chicken” (see post on January 7, 2026) and ate with our fingers using the bread as our utensils. 

Throwback Thursday - “Baking Yesteryear”

 January 16... "Throwback Thursday"

We have been having so much fun reminiscing over our favorite childhood recipes as we browse through our new "Baking Yesteryear" cookbook, by B. Dylan Hollis. (Such a funny dude, we love his videos) 

Anyway, we thought today would be a great day to share with you all our two bakes so far for the month. 

We chose "Continental Johnny Cake" (corn bread) on page 78 and "Wacky Cake" on page 104. Both turned out fantastic. You will notice that the corn bread may look a little dark speckled in color, that was because we mixed yellow cornmeal and blue cornmeal together. 

TWD: “Tender Biscuits”

 January 14…. TWD: “Tuesday’s With Dorie”

I have missed baking with the group that bakes with and from Dorie Greenspan’s cookbooks, so I decided to catch back up with everyone this year. 

Today, they were baking “Tender Biscuits” found on page 42 in Dorie’s newest cookbook titled “Baking With Dorie: Sweet, Salty, & Simple”. 

I had to laugh at this year’s kickoff recipe because “tender” is not the word I would ever use to describe my biscuits… lol BUT!!! My hubby makes the best biscuits ever and almost every Sunday I wake up too amazing Biscuits & Gravy at my bedside. 💝

TWD: Peacan-Cranberry Loaf

This week our “Tuesday’s with Dorie” recipe was “Pecan - Cranberry Loaf” found on page 73 in her most recent cookbook entitled “Baking with Dorie: Sweet, Salty & Simple”. I have really spending time this year with this group and have enjoyed many recipes, I always seem to learn something new from every recipe and for this I am GRATEFUL! 😁

Since, out of respect to Dorie, we have been asked not to share the exact recipe, I thought I would share a couple of tips that I learned from this very yummy, “have to make again” loaf of sweet style bread. world.

… my First thought was the recipe called for 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander, was not sure how I felt about that being in the flavor profile. So I made two loaves, one loaf without and the other loaf I used fresh ground coriander and I was like… “Why haven’t I thought to try this before” it made all the difference in the

… the other tip I learned from this recipe was before adding the orange zest into the mix, Dorie recommended rubbing the orange zest into the white sugar with my hands before adding it to the mix. This also made a huge difference. It brightened the orange flavor and gave it more umph without the bitter back-taste that sometimes comes with baked orange zest. 

… The other thing for me and this recipe was it called for chopped fresh or frozen whole cranberries, which I didn’t have and because I live so far from town, I used fresh Blackberries that I had on Hand. 

I totally and completely fell in love with this recipe… I am pretty sure it might be served alongside my fruitcake at Christmas this year.

 

Sourdough Saturday… “Pain de Mie”

 This Sourdough Saturday really isn’t a sourdough bread. Today we made “Pain de Mie” or better known in America as “Pullman Bread”. 

This is the last French bread recipe in our cookbook and I love the how easy everything this was to make…💝  This is an enriched dough of milk, sugar and butter that becomes well-developed as the fat and sugar works together. 

Traditionally this bread is baked in a special square pan with a lid on top known s. “Pullman Loaf Pan”, so that it comes out totally square, perfect for sandwiches and Croque Monsieur. 

The recipe makes two loaves, the first loaf is fresh Basil & Asiago Cheese and the second loaf is just plain. 

Recipe:

 1/4 cup warm milk

2 Tablespoons granulated sugar 

1 package instant yeast— 1 1/2 Tablespoons if measuring from tin

1 1/2 cups whole milk 

4 tablespoons unsalted butter 

5 cups (19 ounces/544 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled 

1 1/2 teaspoons fine sea salt

In a large bowl, whisk together the 1/4 cup warm milk , sugar, and yeast. Let rest until bubbly, about 5 minutes. 

Meanwhile, combine the milk and butter. Heat until hot to the touch and the butter has melted, about 1 1/2 minutes. (you can use microwave or a small saucepan over low heat, being careful not to let the milk boil). 

When the yeast has begun to foam, add the flour and salt to the bowl. Pour in the milk and butter mixture. Stir with a wooden spoon until a shaggy dough forms. 

 Knead the dough on until soft, smooth, and elastic, but moving cleanly off the sides of the bowl, you can knead the dough by hand on a lightly floured surface for about 10 to 15 minutes. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow it to rest until doubled in size, about 1 hour. 

Lightly grease a 13-by-4-inch Pullman pan and its lid with oil or nonstick cooking spray. Next, shape the loaf: Flour a work surface generously, place dough on work surface shaping the dough into a rectangle as you do so, approximately 10 inches by 7 inches in size. With the short end closest to you, fold the longer left side into the center of the rectangle, pressing the seam tightly. Repeat with the longer right side. Repeat this folding into the center with the two short sides. Rotate the dough 90° so one longer side is now closest to you. Fold and press the longer sides into the center once more. Flip the dough over—you should now have a nice smooth surface for the top of the loaf. Gently and evenly roll the dough back and forth to form a 13-inch log. Place the dough in the prepared loaf pan. 

Cover the pan with plastic wrap, and let the dough rest for a second time until it reaches just about 1 inch from the lip of the pan, no higher, 45 minutes to an hour. Position a rack to the center of the oven, and preheat it to 400°F. Slide the cover onto the pan. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove the cover and bake for 20 minutes more, or until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the center of the loaf reads 190°F. Turn the bread out of the pan onto a wire rack and let cool completely before slicing. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

 

Iced Honey-Apple Scones with Spelt

 TWD.... this week our "Tuesday's With Dorie" baking group enjoyed baking some very yummy "Iced Honey-Apple Scones with Spelt" from Dorie's new cookbook entitled "Baking with Dorie: Sweet, Salty & Simple. 

I can honestly say that even though we have agreed to not share the recipe here on Facebook, I would encourage everyone to find and try this recipe.... we really enjoyed these tasty little treats with our hot chocolate and fireplace the other night. 

I loved the soft nutty flavor that the spelt flour gave these scones. It was a very welcome touch to a very cakey style scone. We will definitely make these again, maybe with raisins or dried cranberries next time.

Pain de Campagne - (French Country Bread)

Sourdough Saturday…. I love to crack the binding on a new cookbook, I love to flip through all the wonderful pictures and then I go back a start marking recipes. So you can only imagine the fun I am having checking out the new cookbook about European Bread making that my husband gave me for Christmas. The book is entitled “Bread on the Table” by David Norman and even though he is the owner of the Austin Texas’s “Easy Tiger Bake Shop & Beer Garden”, he studied Bread making like people study art while he was in Europe. 

 I am so excited to spend the year making my way through this new book, here is the first loaf of bread… “Pain De Campagne” or also known as “French Country Bread”. 

I was so excited to learn, as I started reading, that most of the breads in this book start with a “STARTER” so me thinking…. “YUM SOURDOUGH!” Got all excited and you can only imagine when after getting through the “STARTER” making process that this is what it looked like (see photo #3) compared to my poor, liquid, runny, fermented, pioneer heritage start in my big glass bottle. Then only to realize that now it sets in the fridge for 12-36 hours. (iPhoto #4) 

Yup…. Then you take that gob of doughy start and you cut it into chunks and mix it with the rest of the ingredients. (Photo #5)Then after a lot of mixing, kneading back in the fridge fermenting, then proofing and then shaping… then baking… we’ll let’s just say ——- 3 days later WE HAVE BREAD TO EAT!!!!! 

Oh, but I learned a lot and the bread was so yummy. 🤗😁💝 

  

 

"Tuesday's with Dorie" - Buttermilk Scones

Today, I got a chance to spend some extra time in the kitchen, so I decided to make up the "Tuesday's with Dori" recipe that I missed at the first of the month. The Buttermilk Scones were really good and I would highly recommend them. The recipe is actually an old Julia Child's recipe... And all you have to do is google it.

Amish Style Sticky Buns

 This is what happens when at 8:00 pm you are still craving the Amish Sticky buns that you have been craving for three days…. 🥰

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup warm milk (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)

1/2 cup butter, melted

4 - 41/2cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup white sugar

2 Tablespoons dry active yeast

Filling:

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1 tablespoons ground cinnamon

1/3 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup of pecan halves, broken or rough chopped (optional, if you like lots of pecans)

Gooey Caramel Sauce for bottom of pan:

2/3 cups brown sugar

1/3 cup butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 tablespoons heavy cream

1/2 cup pecan halves, rough chopped

Directions:

Thick coat a 9×13 inch baking pan with butter or shorting.

Place warm milk and yeast into your mixing bowl and let it sit until the mixture becomes bubbly and active. This usually takes about 5 minutes. Add melted butter, salt, and white sugar into your mixer or bowl. Mix together until smooth and silky looking about 2 mins. Add half the flour and mix with a large spoon. If you are using a kitchenaid mixer, you can knead the dough on the dough hook for 5 minutes.  Now add 2 more cups of flour, stir until blended, If you are using a regular bowl, remove the dough from the bowl and knead it on a floured surface for 5 minutes, if using mixer, knead dough another 5 minutes. Add the other 1/2 cup Flour only if dough is still really sticky. Place dough under a large bread towel and let it rise for about 20 minutes, or until it has doubled in size.  

 While dough is rising, make the filling by combining brown sugar and cinnamon, melt or soften butter and set aside. 

To Make your gooey caramel sauce for the bottom.  Place the brown sugar, heavy cream, vanilla and butter into a saucepan over low heat.  Mix until the sugar has melted and you have a smooth sauce, about 5-6 minutes.  Spread over the bottom of a 9×13 inch pan and sprinkle with the pecan halves, roughly chopped.

On a floured surface, roll dough into a 16×21 inch rectangle. The key to these buns is to leave your dough thick. About 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch in thickness. Spread dough with 1/3 cup butter and sprinkle evenly with sugar/cinnamon mixture. (Sprinkle with crushed pecans, optional if you love pecans, we don’t add peacans here) Roll up dough, jelly roll style, pinch seam and ends to seal and cut into 8-12 rolls. Place each roll in the prepared pan on top of the gooey caramel sauce and pecans.

Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 30-40 minutes. preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Bake rolls in preheated oven until golden brown and not doughy in the center… about 30 minutes.  Invert pan onto a tray and serve warm. Enjoy!

TWD..... English Muffins

I woke up early this morning really excited to be baking again with the “Tuesday’s with Dorie” Group and we are currently baking out of her new cookbook entitled “Baking With Dorie, Sweet, Salty and Simple” by Dorie Greenspan.

Our recipes this month will be England Muffins & Apple Pandowdy. I started with English Muffins. I have only made them one other time and I baked them. I discovered today that Traditional English Muffins are never baked, they are fried. And then best if toasted before eating....

Here is how our day went::::::::

   

 

No Knead Crusty Bread

Make-Over Monday: still snowing... Day 5! This morning I used the left over potato water to make "No Knead Crusty Bread" not as purple in color as I had hoped, but it was delish!


Ingredients: (for 2 loaves)
1 1/2 cup warm purple potato water
2 Tablespoons soft butter
1 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoon dry yeast
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour

---- In a large bowl, mix water, butter, salt and sugar until butter is melted. Sprinkle yeast on top of water and let set for 5 minutes. Stir in flour 1 cup at a time until well blended. Let set in bowl for 20 minutes or until doubled in size. Dump into Dutch over and let rise in pan half way. Bake on 350 for 30 to 45 minutes or until light carmel in color.
                                                                             

TWD: "Baking with Julia" - Pain de Campagne

I love it when our "Tuesday's with Dorie" challenges involve bread! This week I chose to try my hand at PAIN De CAMPAGNE... Very easy to make and it reminded me a lot of Irish Soda Bread.

TWD: "Baking with Julia" - Buttermilk Bread

       

        So we actually had two challenges today, first our "Tuesday's With Dorie" challenge was to make Buttermilk Bread. Next in our bread making techniques class, we learned how to twist and braid loaves of bread. We decided to combine the two together. My loaves are not pretty, but they tasted good.

And of course, no recipe included because we would like to encourage everyone to join us and cook from Dorie's Cookbook... "Baking With Julia", 

TWD: "Baking with Julia" - Caramel Apple Babas

Babas?

Definition: Babas are little sweet yeast egg bread pastries, often made with currants and rum soaked raisins, then they are soaked in rum syrup and then filled with whipped cream. 

   
Well, these are new to me and my crew. I have had savarin before and it was not my favorite style of dessert. Also after reading the recipe and watching Julia's video show... I have some reservations. We are not drinkers, so I have no rum and I don't have the molds to bake them in either. After doing a little more research on the internet I saw a lot of photos of them being round, similar to a small cake or doughnut.
       So we gave them a try... We gave ours a little twist and make ours Caramel Apple. They have both diced apple and caramel on the inside and the outside. We soaked ours in a Caramel Syrup. Then
served them with ice cream and more caramel and apple slices.


                                                                         

Homemade Honey Butter

Earlier this week I came a crossed this very interesting handout about the Chemistry of Honey, I decided to share it for my "Fruitful Friday" today. aLong with that I thought I would share my favorite homemade honey butter recipe (from start to finish).

First you need to make your butter....

• Heavy cream or heavy whipping cream
• A  quart sized Mason Jar with a lid (baby food jars work great for kids)

 Preparation:

1. Fill a jar halfway with heavy cream and screw the lid on tight.
2. Shake the jar up and down until the cream thickens and begins to stick together.
3. Open the jar and pour any remaining liquid, this is actually buttermilk. Everything else is butter.
4. Fill jar with 3 tablespoons of cold clean water and shake the butter in cold water for a few minutes to work out any remaining buttermilk.
5. Sprinkle with a pinch salt, shake and enjoy.
6. Refrigerate any leftovers.

Then take your butter and add the following ingredients...  

• 1 cup homemade butter, softened to room temperature
• 2/3 cup  honey
• 1 Tablespoons confectioners' sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt

Directions:

In a large bowl using a hand-held mixer or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter for 1 minute on medium speed until completely smooth and creamy. Beat in the remaining ingredients on medium speed until completely smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Taste. Add more salt (up to 1/4 teaspoon) if desired.

To Serve... drizzle with more honey and/or a sprinkle of sea salt. Cover leftovers tightly and store in the refrigerator for up to a week or so. Best served on Baking Powder Biscuits

For longer storage... you can freeze the honey butter. To do so, chill the honey butter in the refrigerator and then spoon onto a piece of plastic wrap. Then wrap it up tightly with a couple layers of plastic wrap. Freeze for up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator.

Milk Bread

   Okay... So this week, my Fruitful Friday is based around exploring all the wonderful options and recipes that can be baked in my new Terracotta / Clay cooker, known as a "Cloche" I have been making bread since I was a little girl, but this past year since I started baking with the artisan bread group here on Facebook, I have been intrigued with the clay baking pots. I got one for Christmas and I was so excited to finally get time to play with it today. Here are are a couple of links that I found very helpful...

www.artisanbreadinfive.com
www.thefreshloaf.com

 The photos are of my first loaf of "Milk Bread" baked in my clay baking dish. please share any info or tips you have if you use one of these styles of baking dishes. I am very interested in what everyone thinks.

You will need:
 1 1/2 cup warm whole milk
1 large egg (at room temperature)
 1/4 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons melted butter
1/2 cup all purpose flour
3 1/2 cups bread flour
1 tablespoonactive dry yeast
1 teaspoons salt
 In a large bowl or a mixer, add the milk, egg, sugar, melted butter and salt. Using wooden spoon or the dough hook attachment, mix to desolve sugar and salt. Add yeast, Let it set for 15 minutes. Next add flours and mix well, occasionally stopping to push the dough together. If you’re in a humid climate and the dough is too sticky, feel free to add a little more all purpose flour 1/4 cup at a time until it comes together. If you don’t have a mixer and would like to knead by hand, extend the kneading time by 5-10 minutes.