Right now I have at least two more recipes to try, before I make any kind of final verdict on homemade English Muffins. One of the other recipes I want to try is from King Arthur Flour and another is from Momofuku (which I found by accident.) I’ve also thought about using a Ciabatta or Focaccia recipe to see how it would turn out as an English muffin as well, but I’m more on the fence on this item.

But here are some tips, if you plan on using the recipe from Ruhlman:
1) You’ll need to adjust the heat to between a #4 & #5 setting on an electric range. Since I noticed that the pan heat fluctuated quite a bit, depending on how many muffins were being cooked in the dry pan.
2) To speed up the cooking time, I discovered that you could cover the frying pan with a lid while the muffins are cooking in the cornmeal. But make sure to only cover the pan after you have turned over the muffin, since the top of the muffin will set if you cover the pan before flipping the muffin.
3) Personally, I really don’t know if the baking powder added any thing to the dough/batter in this recipe. Since the baking powder and the egg, makes me think that this is more of a pancake recipe, and less of a bread recipe.
4) An 3.75″ ring is a must, for making these muffins. That is unless you want English muffin pancakes (see point #3). So consider getting yourself at least three rings, so that you can make three muffins at once in the pan. Also don’t try using a biscuit cutting ring, since you’ll only make a mess in the pan.
5)Also don’t forget to butter the rings, before pouring in the batter/dough.
6) I’m just throwing this out there, but I wonder how these muffins would turn out being baked in the oven, instead of cooked in a cornmeal coated frying pan. Consider this just something to think about.
7) So how’s it taste? Pretty good, but not really what I was expecting. Also this muffin recipe seems to go better with a fruit spread (jam, jelly or preserve) then with butter on top.

So with that, the journey continues for more of a bread like English Muffin recipe.

I wasn’t really in the mood for oatmeal raisin cookies, but on the other hand I had a bag of chocolate chips just sitting on the shelf doing nothing. So between the regular Toll House recipe on the bag of chips, the Quaker oatmeal raisin recipe on the bottom of the lid, and this oatmeal chocolate chip recipe I found on the Quaker Oats site, here was the recipe that I ended up coming up with:

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt (optional)
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups quick or old-fashioned oats
• 2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels

Technique:
Pre-heat the oven to 375° F.

Combine the flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat brown sugar, white sugar and butter in a stand mixer until creamy. Then beat in eggs and vanilla extract. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Finally mix in the oats and chocolate chips; mix well. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto a parchment lined jelly roll pan.

Bake for 11 minutes for chewy cookies. Cool on baking sheets for 1 minute; then remove from the pan to a wire rack to cool completely.

Side Notes:
1) I tired one of the cookies after it had cooled, and it was good, but maybe not 100% what I was expecting. So let me put it to you this way. On their own, both the regular Toll House recipe for chocolate chip cookies, we well as the recipe for Oatmeal Raisin cookies from Quaker Oats are good recipes. But combined together into this mash-up, it just doesn’t deliver as expected. So in this case, the parts are greater than the sum of the two recipes.
2) I ended up freezing half the batch of cookies, to see how they would taste re-heated in the microwave. And the verdict…..not so good. So don’t plan any long term storage in the freezer for this cookie recipe, after they have been baked.
3) Personally, I’m going back to the drawing board for this recipe. So I’ll probably have to start digging through my recipe archives, to find a better recipe, since I really have no desire to make this recipe again in it’s current form.

Recipes:
Quaker Oats – Oatmeal Raisin cookie recipe
Original Toll House Chocolate Chip cookie recipe

About a couple of months ago, I was doing some cooking for my sisters Halloween dinner party, and one of the dishes that I had to make were pizza shells for “candy corn pizza wedges” (don’t ask.) I used my normal pizza dough recipe, but the flour I used was a super high gluten flour from Cargill that my sister had on hand. Since the wedges were going to be baked a second time so that the cheese could melt to make the wedges look like candy corn. Instead of fully baking the dough, I just blind baked the pizza shells for 3 minutes instead of the usual 5 minutes.
Well that ended up being the key, as to why my pita’s were turning out tough. But the more that I thought about it the more it made sense. Since with a longer baking time, it will make the bread drier (think about how soft under baked bread can be.) So with a 5 min bake time, I was baking more of a pita cracker (or pita chip) instead of a soft pita bread. So for v3, the only change was reducing the baking time from 5 minutes to 3 minutes on the original recipe.

One other change for v3 is that after I rolled out the pitas, I gave it a little extra time (5 to 10 minutes) of relaxing/rising time before popping the pita in the oven. One other thing that I still need to work, but that I’ve mentioned in the past, is not to roll out the pita too thin and basically working all the air pockets out of the dough. But both of these are just minor techniques that I need to keep working on with future batches of dough.

Side Note: I’m not posting any pics with this post, since the pitas pretty much look the same on the outside as the pitas in the original recipe.

So after a couple of conversations with JRR, he let me know that he is just using a modified pizza dough recipe for his pita bread. Well I happen to have a very good pizza dough recipe that I’ve developed over the years. So why not give that recipe a whirl for pita bread. Well, well, well….it turned out better then I had hoped. It tasted just like, but better then the white flour pitas that I buy at the store. Now I can finally stop buying pita bread in the store, and just roll my own. So here is what I’ve learned in making pita bread.

Tips, Tricks & Recipe:

1) Like I said, for the dough I just used my regular pizza dough recipe. But I let the dough rise a bit longer. 1 hr 30 mins for the first rise, punching the dough down, then 2 hrs for the second rise. The only reason that the second rise was 2 hrs, was that I was at Target & Lowe’s looking at there end of summer clearance items, since I need a new chimney starter.
2) I once again let the dough rise on the stove top, turning the burner on high for 15 seconds before the first and second rise.
3) You should be able to get eight pita’s out of the dough, with each unbaked pita weighting about 85-90 grams each. I made a couple that were 60-65 grams, and they were just too small for my taste.
4) The oven was set to 450F and allowed to pre-heat for 30 mins, with a baking stone placed on the bottom rack. I baked the pita’s two at a time for 5 mins total. After pulling the puffed pita’s from the oven I wrapped them in a kitchen towel to cool.
5) Don’t over roll the dough! I learned this on the first couple of pitas that only puffed up about 50%. I basically rolled all the air bubbles out of the dough. So look at what your dough is doing, and don’t roll the dough out to thin.
6) Remove your center rack from the oven, because more then likely you will burn the top of your hand trying to get pita’s in and out of the oven. Save yourself the grief of a 2nd/3rd degree burn, and just remove the rack before you turn the oven on.
7) After rolling out two pitas, I let it rest for about 5 mins before popping it in the oven. So after you roll out the first two pitas and pop them in the oven, roll out the next two right away. This will give your dough a little bit of time to relax before it goes in the oven.

Now make yourself some pita bread!

Giving it a quick once over, it is remarkable that there are almost no air pockets in the interior of the bread. If I had made it flat, it probably would have made a better pita bread then kaiser roll. Well back to the drawing board as usual.

Break down of the times:
Poolish – 2 hr 30 mins on countertop, then 15 hrs 30 mins in the fridge
First rising – 2 hrs
Shaped rolls rising – 1 hr 30 mins

One other thing, instead of warming up a burner just for the first hour of the 3.5 hrs of rising. I turned it on before each hour of the bread rising, just to “juice” the fermentation, since I keep my house very cold, which isn’t the best for plants or bread, but it’s great for me.

1) Let the poolish rise for about 2 hours on the countertop, then pop it into the fridge for at least overnight to develop. You want at least 12 hours of ferment time in the fridge.

2) When letting the poolish rise in the fridge, make sure to put it in a fairly large bowl, because it will at least double in size. Also the poolish expels a lot of gasses, so when covering the bowl, make sure that it is not airtight. I almost have a Pyrex bowl cover blow-off after a couple of hours in the fridge.

3) After mixing the dough, find a very warm spot to let the un-shaped dough rise. You can help this along if you happen to have a “glasstop” electric stove. Turn one of the burners on high for 15 seconds, then turn off the burner and put the bowl on the now warm burner. This will make a big difference in getting better volume on the finished bread.

4) This is a very wet dough, wetter then anything that I’ve every seen or worked with before. Whatever you do, don’t mix the dough on the countertop, because you’ll just make a mess. Try to do all the mixing and kneading in the bowl with a stiff spatula. Wait to use your hands until after the dough has absorbed most of the final addition of flour.

5) You don’t have to slash this bread with a razor. It is basically a waste of time and it just deflates the bread before baking.

So for some reason I’m starting to come to the realization that less is more when making bread. Because when I fuss with the bread it turns out like crap. But if I neglect the bread, ignoring it and basically putting no effort in, it turns out great. C’est la vie.

Fast-forward to today, and this poorman’s garlic bread is a nice little trick to have up your sleeve in case of cooking emergencies. Since I have a full kitchen back in the states, I can update the original technique by using a toaster oven instead of a frying pan. Though I do like to use white bread for this recipe. I just happen to have made another batch of petite baguettes, so I’ll use petite baguette roll instead of the usual white bread.

To make this poorman’s garlic bread in the toaster oven, cut a petite baguette in half-length wise. Place into the toaster oven, and toast the two pieces on the medium toast setting. After this first toasting, coat the toasted baguette pieces in butter or a buttery spread (I personally like either I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter or Land-o-Lakes Buttery Spread) and give it a good sprinkling of garlic salt (from the Dutchman’s Store).

One tip on the garlic salt, use more then you would normally use for a sprinkling, just so you can really taste that garlic salt goodness. Put the buttered and salted baguettes back into the toaster for a second toasting on the medium toast setting. The second toasting is the key to browning the buttered surface, and releasing that garlic bread smell.

Want to change the recipe, have at it! Top with parmesan or mozzarella cheese for the second toasting, for a cheesy garlic bread. Ah, I can smell it right now. So what are you waiting for, make yourself a piece…..or two.

And with that I started to scour my cookbooks and the Internet for a french bread recipe. While there happened to be a lot of options out there, more then I initially thought. So where to even start this bread journey? Why none other then the King Arthur Flour Co website, whose recipes I’ve used with much success in the past. After surfing through their site I ended up using the KAF Classic Baguettes and Stuffed Baguettes recipe. By the time of me writing this post, I have already made the recipe 3 times and come to a couple of conclusions.

1) Do yourself a favor and let the poolish ferment for as long as possible. The first couple times, I would let it ferment on the countertop for 12 or 24 hours. But the third time, I let it ferment on the countertop for about 12 hours, and then I put it in the refrigerator for at least another 24 hours. The only reason I mixed it up on the third attempt was that I had to go to a dinner party, so I couldn’t make the baguettes after the 12 hour rise. Hence putting the poolish in the refrigerator, since I knew the cold temperature would slow down the fermentation. The baguettes that had a poolish with only countertop time seemed to have a more pale color, and reminded me of Italian loaf. While the baguettes with the two stage poolish had better color and crunchy crust.

2) Don’t make 3 regular baguettes make 6 petite baguettes instead. If you’re going to be using the baguettes for garlic bread or burschetta then make the regular loafs, since more then likely you will be using a whole loaf for the dish. But if you plan on using the baguettes for sandwiches or french bread pizza, then make the petite ones. The first two times making baguettes I noticed that after you cut open the regular baguette, and tried to save the rest. That the baguette goes stale very quickly, after that initial cut. So if you make the petite baguettes, you can basically use a whole mini loaf for the dish, while keeping the rest completely intact.

3) You need a water spray bottle. Since I don’t own a professional steam oven, I need to do a little bit of jury-rigging to come close to the results of the professionals. This is done three ways.
-Before you put the baguettes in the oven, mist all the unbaked baguettes with water.
-As you are putting the baguettes in the oven, spray some water in the oven to develop some steam.
-And after you pull the baguettes out of the oven, mist all the baked baguettes with water.

The first two water applications are an attempt to replicate a commercial steam oven, which helps to develop that crispy crust that makes french bread so delicious. But the third application I learned from my sister the baker. When the mist water on hot bread (bagels, baguettes, etc.) after pulling them out of the oven. It’s that after baking misting that creates the glossy sheen on the crust of the bread.

4) This recipe requires a lot of time but very little labor. When you read through the recipe on the KAF website, you probably see all the time required in the recipe and say to yourself. “Over 24 hours to make bread, I don’t have that kind of time.” Well the times can be deceiving. Since the actually physical labor involved is less then 20 mins. Most of the time in the recipe is for rising and relaxing, so here is a quick breakdown of the time involved.

Day 1
7:00am (2 minutes) – Make the poolish, and leave on countertop.
At work all day
5:00pm (1 minute) – Punch down poolish, and place in refrigerator

Day 2
At work all day
4:00pm (5 minutes) – Take poolish from fridge and make the final dough
5:00pm (1 minute) – Punch down dough
6:00pm (1 minute) – Punch down dough
7:00pm (3 minutes) – Shape loaves into rough shapes, allow to rest
7:15pm (3 minutes) – Shape loaves into final shapes, let it final rise for 60-90 mins until double
8:15-8:45pm (2 minutes) – Slash loaves and pop into oven
8:40-9:10pm – Hot bread ready to pull from the oven, and put into you belly.

So what are you waiting for, give it a shot. You might be pleasantly surprised with the goodness that can come from you own oven.

KAF – Classic Baguettes and Stuffed Baguettes
KAF – Baguettes