Monday, March 1, 2010

Assignment 4 for HB in 5!

Already on the fourth assignment for HB in 5! How time flies! Well, truth be told I baked these breads early because I didn't want to miss out while I was on vacation. When the March 1 bread braid falls due I will be vacationing in Florida and I can't wait!! I SO need a break from the frigid north.



It is actually Valentine's Day as I write this post, and I wanted to share my delicious lunch with you. I defrosted one of my Soft Whole Wheat Hamburger buns, split it, spread it thickly with fig jam, added ham and swiss cheese and grilled it panini style in my Foreman grill. Oh my gosh was it good... and thanks to Rachel Ray magazine for the idea.

Well this week, we began with a full recipe of 100% Whole Wheat with Olive Oil dough. I had a little trouble getting the olive oil in incororate into the dough. During the initial rise the oil seemed to settle on the edges leaving a greasy crust.


I let it proof overnight in the refrigerator and the next day baked this loaf of bread. The dough was still on the greasy side when I shaped the loaf, but the bread came out okay. Here is a picture:


Gary used it for sandwiches and didn't say much about it, so I guess it was okay. I preferred the Soft Whole Wheat recipe.



The next recipe was Aloo Paratha, which is an Indian style calzone stuffed with curried potatoes and peas. I was really looking forward to this recipe because I love curry, but it wasn't as good as I had hoped. I used Yukon gold potatoes and frozen peas. I am afraid I overmashed the potatoes, they were pretty mushy. I made 2 large ones, and sliced them to go with supper.



Fresh from the oven: And sliced, ready to eat: I felt these could have used a lot more curry powder. When I told Gary they were stuffed with curry he was surprised. He hadn't even tasted the curry. It pretty much tasted like bread with mashed potatoes and peas inside. Just bland. Next time I would stuff it with cheese and tomato sauce.



The third recipe was my favorite this time. It was Southwestern Focaccia Bread with Roasted Corn and Goat Cheese. Doesn't that sound great? However, finding the ingredients locally proved to be a major challenge. I lucked out with the fresh cilantro and even the goat cheese, but finding a fresh poblano pepper in the frozen tundra of Maine in January is impossible. The closest I could come was an Anaheim pepper. No fresh corn either, I had to use frozen. The authors said you could use frozen, but didn't tell you how to go about roasting it. I put some in a pan and stuck it in the oven while it preheated to 450.



I rolled the dough into a circle on parchment so I could slide it onto the stone without fuss. Parchment has become my new best friend in baking! I added the sauce and corn and dabs of goat cheese:






then I baked it. When it came out of the oven I sprinkled the fresh chopped cilantro on top.

And I ate two healthy slices for lunch!


It was really good.

10 comments:

Michelle said...

I'm with you on parchment paper! I use it ALL the time and finally just bought a case of it! You can reuse parchment paper too. I just wipe it off with the clean, damp paper towel, let it dry.

With any of the all WW recipes, I think you need to bump up the spices a bit when using a filling.

Looks like you had fun though!

Mama Peck said...

First of all, can I just say the quilt on your header is GORGEOUS! It certainly deserved the blue ribbon- hope it was yours! I'm still salivating over your sandwich.. don't think I've ever tasted fig jam but it sounds delicious. I know what you mean about trying to find ingredients for the foccacia. I had to go to two stores to find the poblano- and I live in AZ for crying out loud! My farmer's market had never heard of it. Would you believe I got it at WalMart? Anyway, that was our favorite recipe. Hubby informed me it aught to be on our weekly menu. LOL Yours looks great. Have fun in Florida!!

Bonnie said...

Darlene, all of your breads looked just beautiful. How is the Florida vacation going? By the way, I love the DEAR Jane quilt on your blog picture. Did you make it?

Ezzie said...

Yours all came out very good! I haven't tried the foccacia yet, but will try that this summer. I understand about not finding the right ingredients, although I can find poblanos here! Usually the main ingredient I need is not available.

Cathy (Bread Experience) said...

Your Aloo Paratha looks great! I really like this one, but the curry definitely makes a difference. Your Focaccia looks delicious! I liked this dough. It's very versatile.

Unknown said...

you're right...I thought the aloo paratha needed more curry powder too...or more flavor. All your breads look great.

petra said...

I heard so much good about the focaccia that i might have to go ahead and try it and just call it a pizza instead. Sorry you did not like the curried stuffing. If you give it another try you could simply take the spice mixture from an indian recipe or simply double it.

Jenny said...

Seeing all these yummy looking foccacias has me anxious to try that out. I didn't get to that one yet, but plan to for dinner tomorrow.
~Jenny~

Guff said...

Nice pictures. I agree about the parchment paper.

Judy's Bakery & Test Kitchen said...

I'm just salivating about your goodies!

Thanks for the tip on parchment paper. I think I should switch to that. I bake batches of bread one after the other. The leftover cornmeal can smoke.