HONEY OATMEAL BREAD - BEES WOULD LOVE IT

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It's already October, and still warm and nice. The cats are mostly outside, and Ruffi The Ruffian, our big red tom cat, comes in only when he pleases - he is the only one who can't be bribed by food. 

Roamin' Ruffi, for once at home, resting in his favorite place

My thoughts are already on my upcoming trip to Hamburg, to see my family and friends, and my desk is covered with even more papers than usual: it's high time for the taxes, and I'm procrastinating.

The A(vid) B(akers) C(hallenge) for October was another welcome distraction. We are baking our way through Abby Dodge's "The Weekend Baker", and this month's recipe is "Honey Oatmeal Bread".

  Following Abby's do-ahead option of mixing the dough the day before, then letting it slowly rise overnight in the fridge, was a no-brainer - I do this with almost all of my breads.

You do most of the work the day before, the dough rises while you are sleeping, and, as additional benefit, the taste improves if you give it more time to develop.

I had read about some other bloggers problems with the bread getting too dark in the oven, and there is nothing wrong with your ovens or your baking abilities. The given temperature, 375º F, is simply too high!

According to master baker Peter Reinhart, rich breads with milk, eggs, fat and sugar are best baked at 350ºF, and that works just fine!

Looking at the list of ingredients I stumbled over the staggering amount of sweetener. Okay, this is supposed to be a HONEY oatmeal bread, but 1/3 cup? 

Though I adapted somewhat to Americans' Love of Sweet during my eleven years as a Mainer - I now can eat pancakes with syrup - my stubbornly German stomach still revolts against a really sweet bread.

A bread is a bread - and not a cake! I want to eat it with ham, cheese or salami. And if I want it sweet, I put honey (or jam) on it, not in it. I reduced the amount of honey by half.

From my experience I know that you can safely reduce the amount of yeast in many recipes (even in Peter Reinhart's), especially if you let your dough rise slowly in the cold. 2 1/4 teaspoon/7 g instant yeast are not necessary, 1 1/2 teaspoons/5 g are enough, even for a rich bread like this.

Instead of long kneading I prefer the elegant stretch and fold technique. Even very sticky doughs can be handled - and tamed - with ease, and develop beautifully.

And, instead of brushing the baked bread with melted butter, I applied an egg wash - with more rolled oats as topping.

HONEY OATMEAL BREAD  (adapted from Abby Dodge: "The Weekend Baker")

1 1/4 cups/300 ml whole or 2% milk

             2 oz/57 g old-fashioned rolled oats (not instant)

          3 tbsp/43 g unsalted butter 

        1 1/2 tsp/5 g instant yeast

        2.12 oz/50 g honey

        1 1/2 tsp/7 g salt

   12 1/4 oz/347 g all-purpose flour 

1 egg, lightly beaten with 1 tbsp. water, for egg wash

         rolled oats, for topping

       

DAY 1

Place measuring cup with milk in the microwave and bring to a boil. Stir in oats and butter, and let sit for 20 minutes, stirring once or twice. Stir in instant yeast and honey, until well combined.

Add milk mixture to flour and salt in mixing bowl. Stir on low speed for 1 - 2 minutes (or with wooden spoon) until all flour is hydrated and shaggy mass forms. Let dough rest for 5 minutes.

Knead at medium-low speed for 6 minutes (or by hand). Dough will be a bit sticky, but don't add any more flour (always err on the wet side!)

Transfer dough to lightly oiled work surface. Pat in a rough rectangle. With wet or oiled hands, stretch and fold dough in thirds, like a business letter.

Fold the upper third down...

....then the bottom third up, like a business letter

Then repeat the same stretching and folding in thirds from both sides:

Folding the left side to the right...

....then the right side over to the left

Gather dough into a ball, tucking the sides underneath, and place it, smooth side up, into a greased bowl. Cover, and let rest for 10 minutes. Repeat these stretches and folds (S & F) 3 more times, at 10 minute intervals.

After each S & F the dough will be smoother

After the last S & F, place dough in an oiled container with lid, and place in refrigerator overnight.

DAY 2
Remove dough from fridge 2 hours before using, to warm up. Lightly grease 8 1/2" x 4 1/2" loaf pan.

Transfer dough on clean work surface. Placing your hands in the middle, gently press down to degas. Pat dough into a 7 x 10-inch rectangle. Roll up into a sandwich loaf, pinching seams to seal. Place, seam side down, in prepared loaf pan, then gently flatten with your hands to even it out.

Brush top with egg wash.  Using sharp knife, slash lengthwise. Sprinkle with rolled oats, then gently press with your hands to make sure they stick to the dough.

Preheat oven to 425ºF/220ºC, adjusting rack to middle position. (Steaming is not necessary.)

Glazed with egg wash, slashed and sprinkled with oats

Mist loaf with baking spray, cover, and proof for 45 minutes, or until grown 1 1/2 times its original size. (Poke dough gently with your finger - the dent should slowly come back a little bit, and stay visible, but not fill up again!)

Refresh the scoring if you want the slash to open wider during the bake - I do.

Ready for the oven

Place bread in the middle of the oven, reduce temperature to 350ºF/175ºC, and bake for 20 minutes. Rotate loaf 180 degrees for even browning, and continue baking for another 20 - 25 minutes, until top is golden brown, and it registers at least 195ºF/90ºC.

Remove from oven, turn out onto wire rack, and let cool.

We had the lovely looking loaf, toasted, for lunch. It was still mildly sweet, but its taste blended harmoniously with Black Forest ham, as well as with my Rose Hip Jam.

Next time I bake it, I'll substitute 10% of the white flour with spelt or whole wheat, to add a little more heartiness.

And if you would like to join us, go to Hanaâ's Kitchen, and check out what comes next.

ROSE HIP LEVAIN - MADE FROM JAM!

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When I made my wonderful rose hip jam a month ago, temperatures were in the eighties, t-shirt weather for weeks, and we even used the air condition in our bedroom - in Maine!

The glasses were sitting on the kitchen counter, waiting to be properly tagged before going into the basement. But my husband, immobilized by his broken foot, needed special attention, and, between baking twice a week for our local natural food store, answering student questions online, and taking care of our undeserving critters, I didn't get to it for quite a while.

After a week or so, I noticed that one of the glasses showed ominous signs of frothy activity. Obviously I didn't fill it quite high enough to establish a vacuum, and, with the prevailing heat as incubator, my rose hip jam had started to ferment.

I was pretty annoyed with myself. Why didn't I pay more attention, and place the compromised glass into the fridge, before it could turn itself into booze?

No help for it, this was a goner, and had to be thrown out..... Or not? Suddenly I remembered my experiences with apple yeast water two years ago. Made from fermenting apples, the yeast water had proved to be a powerful leaven, my bread even grew a horn!

But in the end the apple yeast water died a slow death from starvation in a dark corner of my fridge, all but forgotten, since we preferred the tangier taste of sourdough.

Wouldn't it be worth a try to experiment a bit, and see what would happen if I fed the tipsy jam with  flour?

I measured a teaspoon of jam in a little bowl and added equal amounts of water....

.....and whole wheat flour to the bowl:         

5 g fermented rose hip jam + 25 g water + 25 g whole wheat flour.

Eleven hours later the reddish mixture had become bubbly and spongy, and emitted a wonderful fruity-sour smell. I was very pleased and contemplated my next move.

I wanted to make a fairly simple levain, with a bit of whole grain, but not too much. I expected a rather mild taste, but I didn't want the blandness of an all-white bread, nor a too hearty loaf that overwhelmed more subtle nuances.

So I adapted a recipe for Pain au Levain, made with apple yeast leaven, from Jan Hedh's "Swedish Breads and Pastries". I had made this bread before, with apple yeast water, it had been nice, but rather mild.

Hedh's book is gorgeous, with wonderful recipes, though not without some pesky errata - my first attempt of an attractive looking Levain with Bran and Vinegar had ended in a dense, compact brick - thanks to one erroneous Zero too many in the bran department.

Even though it was already evening, I didn't want to wait, and started with 16 g of my newborn rose hip mother - mother, chef and levain are the classic French terms for the 3 steps to make a leaven - to make the second stage: the chef.

Le petit chef before his rest

I woke up at midnight, went downstairs, eager to see how my starter was doing, and found a nicely grown chef, wide awake, and hungry for more.

A really grown-up chef

After feeding the little guy with more flour and water, I tottered back to bed.

The next morning my levain was fully ripened and ready to go!

PAIN AU LEVAIN  (adapted from Jan Hedh: "Swedish Breads and Pastries")

CHEF
21 g mother starter (it doesn't have to be rose hip, an ordinary mature wheat or rye starter will do)
   8 g water
21 g bread flour

LEVAIN
  50 g chef (all)
  50 g water
100 g bread flour

FINAL DOUGH
200 g levain (all)
 16 g spelt flour
 16 g rye meal
282 g bread flour
219 g water
    6 g salt

DAY 1:
1. Mix together all ingredients for chef. Knead for 2 minutes, then let rest for 5 minutes. Resume kneading for 1 more minute. (Dough should be stiff, but not hard, moisten your hands to incorporate more water, if needed.) Cover, and let sit for 4 hours, or until doubled in size.

2. Mix together all ingredients for levain. Knead for 2 minutes, then let rest for 5 minutes. Resume kneading for 1 minute more. (Dough should be stiff, but not hard, moisten your hands to incorporate more water, if needed.) Cover, and let ripen for 5 - 6 hours, or until doubled in size. Knead briefly to degas, and refrigerate overnight.

DAY 2:
3. Remove levain from refrigerator 2 hours before using, to warm up. Cut into smaller pieces and place with flour and water in mixer bowl. Knead for 3 minutes at low speed, then let dough rest for 5 minutes.

4. Add salt and continue kneading for 7 more minutes at medium-low speed. Stretch and fold 1 x, gather dough into a ball, place it in lightly oiled bowl, turn it around to coat with oil, cover, and let rest for 90 minutes.

5. Transfer dough to lightly floured work surface, place hands in the middle and push out the air, stretch and fold 1 x, gather dough into a ball, return it to the bowl, and leave it for another 80 minutes.

6. Push out air again, and let dough relax for 10 more minutes. Shape into a round, place in banneton (seam side up), or on parchment lined baking sheet (seam side down).

7. Sprinkle bread with flour, mist with baking spray, cover, and proof for 60 - 90 minutes (in a warm place), until it has grown 1 3/4 times its original size.

8. Preheat oven to 250º C/482º F, including steam pan. Score bread.

9. Bake bread for 5 minutes, reduce heat to 200º C/400º F, and continue baking for another 15 minutes. Rotate bread 180 degrees, remove steam pan, and bake for 20 minutes more, venting the oven once to let out steam in between.

10. Leave bread in switched-off oven with door slightly ajar for another 10 minutes. Transfer to wire rack and let cool completely.

I changed Jan Hedh's recipe a bit. Instead of long kneading, I added a period of rest (autolyse) while mixing the dough, thereby shaving off some hands-on time.

A total baking time of 60 minutes, as stated in the recipe, was not necessary, my bread was already done after 40 minutes. And leaving it a while longer in the switched-off oven with the door a bit ajar guaranteed a nice crisp crust that didn't soften soon after baking.

Did it taste like rose hips? No. But is was delicious! And not only that: The best of all husbands found it "the crustiest bread you ever made".  

One question remains: what was it exactly that gave the bread its marvelous lift? The rose hips? The apples? Or the red wine the jam was made with?

Rugosa rose and hips

Submitted to YeastSpotting and BYOB

LEINSAMENBROT - GERMAN FLAXSEED BREAD

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German breads are often made with a combination of three or more flours, and loaves with grains and seeds are, also, very popular.  Flaxseed breads are, therefore, one of the regulars in German bakery shelves.

My Leinsamenbrot, made with bread flour, rye and whole wheat, is a hearty bread with a pleasantly nutty taste and little crunch from the seeds.

Though whole flax seeds, even when thoroughly soaked, do not release much of their nutrients into our digestive system, the little brown specks give the bread an attractive look - and the fiber supports (to put it elegantly) bowel movement.

Like most German everyday breads, Leinsamenbrot makes good sandwiches with ham, salami or cheese, but tastes also good with jam or honey.

Different from Americans, Germans eat their sandwiches mostly open faced - only if they take it to work or school the cold cuts will be covered by a second slice of bread.

I adapted this recipe from one of my old German bread baking books,"Brot backen" by Cornelia Zingerling.

It contains a lot of good recipes, though I "remastered" the techniques to more modern methods, utilizing pre-doughs and autolyse, as well as cold fermentation.

Leinsamenbrot is made with a soaker and biga. I like mixing the dough the day before and let it rise slowly overnight in the fridge.

This kills two birds with one stone, I don't have to wait for the rise, and I don't need to get up too early on baking day.

The heavy lifting being all done, I only take the dough out of the fridge 2 hours earlier to de-chill, and shape, proof and bake the breads.

But you can also prepare the biga in the evening, and the final dough on baking day, but the soaker should be mixed 24 hours earlier, so that the flax seeds have time enough to soften and absorb all the water they need.

To achieve the pretty star pattern, you need a large, star shaped cookie cutter.

Scored with a smaller cookie cutter

LEINSAMENBROT - GERMAN FLAXSEED BREAD    (2 Loaves)

SOAKER
200 g whole rye flour
111 g whole wheat flour
5 g/1/2 tsp. salt
150 g whole flaxseeds
273 g buttermilk
33 g water


BIGA
311 g bread flour
1 g/1/4 tsp. instant yeast
203 g water

FINAL DOUGH
all soaker and biga
78 g bread flour
  7 g salt
  7 g instant yeast (2 1/4 tsp)
19 g/1 tbsp. honey
15 g/1 tbsp. pumpkin seed oil (or other vegetable oil)
    milk, for brushing


DAY 1
In the morning, stir together all soaker ingredients until well hydrated. Cover with plastic wrap, and leave at room temperature. (Soaker will become pretty stiff).

Mix together all biga ingredients at low speed (or with wooden spoon) for 1 - 2 minutes, until all flour is hydrated. Knead for 2 minutes at medium-low speed (or by hand).

Let dough rest for 5 minutes, then knead for 1 more minute. Place biga in lightly oiled bowl, turn around to coat with oil, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate (up to 3 days). Remove 2 hours before using, to warm up.

In the evening, mix together ingredients for final dough for 1 - 2 minutes on low speed, or by hand, until dough comes together. Knead for 4 minutes on medium-low speed. Dough should be slightly sticky, adjust with a bit more water as needed.

Let dough rest for 5 minutes, then resume kneading for another minute. Place dough in lightly oiled container, turn around to coat with oil. Cover, and refrigerate overnight. (I divide the dough at this point already into 2 portions and refrigerate them in 2 containers.)

The dough has risen overnight in the fridge

DAY 2
Remove dough from refrigerator 2 hours before using, to let it come to room temperature.

Shape dough into 2 boules, and place them, seam side down, on a parchment lined baking sheet. Brush with milk. Score them with a big star shaped cookie cutter. Spray breads with baking spray, and cover them with plastic wrap. (To learn how to shape your bread into a boule, click here.)

Shaped (and cookie cutter scored) boules on baking sheet

Preheat oven to 425º F, including baking stone and steam pan. (To learn how to prepare your home oven for hearth baking, click here.)

Let breads rise at room temperature for 45 - 60 minutes, or until they have grown to 1 1/2 times their original size. (Poke test: gently poke dough to make an indentation, it may slowly come back a bit, but should stay visible.)

Bake breads at 350ºF, steaming with 1 cup of boiling water. After 20 minutes, rotate breads 180 degrees, remove steam pan, and continue baking for another 20 - 25 minutes.

They should be a deep golden brown, sound hollow, when knocked on bottom, and register at least 195ºF (instant thermometer).

Let breads cool on wire rack.

Breads at Hamfelder Hofladen, a farm bakery near Hamburg

Submitted to YeastSpotting and BYOB

VANILLA SPONGE CAKE - THE PERFECT PLUM COMPANION

 August did not start on a good foot - my husband broke his foot in July, and hobbled miserably on one leg and crutches for over six weeks.

Not allowed to put the slightest weight on his foot (it was a tricky fracture that doesn't heal well) he spent a lot of time in bed, until we bought a comfortable chair. And he felt more and more bored, until we brought his guitars and recording equipment down from the third floor.

This was one of the moments where we realized that we are not invulnerable - and our old house with its many stairs and narrow bathrooms is everything but accommodating disabilities.

Not much time for baking, other then my usual breads for A&B Naturals. I felt like in the olden days when I was a single working mom with kids, responsible for everything and all....

But broken bones heal, and last week my husband was allowed to walk ("released from prison!"). Cast and crutches vanished into the basement, and I was finally discharged as nurse.

Just in time for the ABC September challenge - Abby Dodge's Mile-High Vanilla Sponge Cake. You can find this recipe in "The Weekend Baker", or here.

This is one of the pastries that, without the Avid Baker Challenge, I would never have made on my own. Simple vanilla cakes don't have much allure for me, and I consider sponge cakes only as base for elaborate fruit or cream fillings, as in tortes.

But challenge is challenge, so I first cooked a nice, tart plum compote, with red wine and cinnamon, to add some pizzazz to this mild-mannered cake, and cracked my seven eggs for the batter.

I opted for the citrus-y version, with orange juice and zest, and cut the sugar amount by a third: 1 1/2 cups seem way too much!

Instead of adding all the flour to the egg mixture at once, I did it in increments, folding in each addition very gently, before adding the next. This is much easier, and, also, reduces the risk of overmixing.

The cake rose nicely (perhaps a little less than a mile...) It was done after 50 minutes.

It had to cool upside down, standing on the pan's little legs, for three hours, before it could be freed from the mold (like my husband from his cast.)

With the help of a long, thin knife (the one my husband calls his "monkey deboning knife" - to shock young visitors,) it came out of the pan without mishap, shedding only a few crumbs.

 

At tea time, when the vanilla cake was cut, it showed a luxurious golden crumb (eggs galore!), was not too dry and springy, as a sponge cake should be. 

Together with a generous amount of Gifford's Old Fashioned Vanilla Ice Cream and my aromatic prune plum compote it blended into a very pleasant flavor combination of tart and sweet, vanilla, cinnamon, and a hint of citrus.

Next time I would add even more than 2 teaspoons of orange zest, the cake can take a bit stronger citrus flavor. 

And if you are an avid baker and want to become an Avid Baker - it's never too late to join the fun! Contact Hanaâ (Hanaâ's Kitchen)

ROSE HIP JAM WITH RED WINE & APPLES

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Bar Harbor's Shore Path is lined by Rosa rugosa bushes. A Japanese native, these wild roses were introduced to Europe and America, not only for their ornamental value, but because of their extreme salt tolerance and hardiness, helping to stabilize dunes and preventing erosion in coastal areas.

Their flowers, red, pink or white, are beautiful, and their leaves glossy green. But at this time of the year it's their large rose hips that rouse the old hunter and gatherer's instincts.

When I was a child we picked rose hips mainly for their seeds  - the perfect way to annoy classmates with surprise attacks from behind. Those seeds, thrust under the shirt, itched horribly, and were quite difficult to get rid of.

Ripening rose hips

Usually it's our dog, Buffy, who decides when and where to stop, sniff (or do other things related to odors), but now I am the one who lingers among shrubs full of orange red rose hips.

This year we have an abundance of fruits, so that I could pick and choose the fattest and ripest ones - not a meager harvest like last summer, when I was too late, and had to take whatever small, wrinkly fruit was left.

Rose hips contain a lot of vitamin C

The first time I made rose hip jam was many years ago. Following a recipe from food magazine "essen & trinken", I spent hours scraping seeds from the hips, until I was ready to drop the knife.

The jam tasted good, but what a slave labor to prepare it!

When we moved to Mount Desert Island and I saw the abundance of  rose hips, I wanted to give it another try.

Looking for an easier recipe, I remembered the "hobbythek". In this old German TV show, Jean Pütz presented DIY methods for all kinds of interesting things - like cooking with wild plants and fruits.

His rose hip jam doesn't require tedious scraping of seeds, but just the removal of stems and flowers. It utilizes the natural pectin from apples, and the fruits are cooked with red wine. You need some brawn to press the cooked fruit mass through a strainer. If you own a food mill it's a little easier.

Do not try to strain all those fruits at once - your sieve or food mill gets too clogged. Process half of the mass, roughly clean your straining tool, and then do the the other half. This part is a bit strenuous, but the result is well worth the effort! The addition of lemon juice gives the mild rose hip flavor a bright note.

Necessary ingredients

 ROSE HIP JAM (4 - 5 glasses)

1.5 kg/3.3 lb rose hips
750 g/26.5 oz Granny Smith apples
550 g/19.4 oz sugar
200 g/6.8 oz water
100 g/3.4 oz red wine, dry and fruity
juice of 1/2 - 1 lemon
1 package Sure-Jell (for reduced sugar)

Place 4 - 5 clean jam glasses on a paper kitchen towel.

Wash rose hips. Remove stems and flowers. Grate whole apples coarsely.

In a small bowl, mix Sure-Jell powder and 100 g of the sugar.

In a big sauce pan, stir together rose hips, grated apples, water, red wine and remaining 450 g of the sugar. Bring to a boil, cover, and cook on low heat for 1/2 hour, stirring now and then.

Put half of fruit mass through a strainer or food mill to remove seeds and skins. Transfer back to sauce pan. Clean strainer roughly, and repeat with other half of cooked fruits.

Add lemon juice, and sugar-Sure-Jell mix, and stir well. Bring to a boil, and cook on high heat for 3 minutes, stirring constantly.

Pour hot rose hip jam in prepared glasses, filling them up to the rim. Close lids and turn glasses for 10 minutes upside down, to create a vacuum. (If you prefer to use the cook-in-the-glass method, follow the instructions in the Sure-Jell package.)

Wild roses in the Acadia National Park

 This recipe was adapted from Jean Pütz' TV show "hobbythek".

DAN LEPARD'S ALEHOUSE ROLLS

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When I was a student, I traveled with my best friend, Andrea, through England, Cornwall and Wales. We didn't have a fixed itinerary, we just followed our nose to places we had read or heard about.

We didn't stay in hotels (only once, and that was as dusty as it was expensive), we preferred B&Bs, always looking for interesting old buildings. We slept in grand manor houses, rustic inns, cozy farm houses, and even a water mill from the sixteenth century.

Old Water Mill Inn & Pub, England 1971

People always complain about the English food - I never had a really bad experience, I would always find something I liked, as long as it started with "apple" and ended with "pie"!

We often ate in pubs, having sandwiches with cheddar and chutney, and I was delighted to try the different beers.

With all these fond memories in mind - no wonder I wanted to try master baker Dan Lepard's Alehouse Rolls. You will find it in his book "Short and Sweet", or here.

I had just bought Newcastle Brown Ale at the Bangor commissary, and thought this was very appropriate for British rolls.

The dough is made with a hot beer soaker - ale and oats are brought to a boil, with butter and honey added to the hot liquid - and the rolled oats are toasted.

It also has some whole grain flour, to make the rolls even heartier (and give health conscious bakers a better conscience!)

Hot soaker with ale, oats, butter and hone

Dan Lepard has a nice, minimalistic approach to working the dough, he handles it gently, kneads it very briefly, and allows it to develop while resting (autolyse).

As a psychotherapist this method appeals to me a lot: give the patient dough the means and time to develop, without pushing and hectoring - and it will grow just fine!

At different times I had to add varying amounts of water to the final dough, the consistency should be soft and somewhat sticky.

Instead of letting the dough rest for a final 30 minutes on the counter, I did what I usually do - and put it to sleep overnight in the fridge.

This cold fermentation of the dough fits much better in my schedule than doing it all on one day. Though I like baking in the morning, I don't want to get up in the wee hours, so I prepare everything the day before, and only have the shaping and baking left to do.

Having to choose between large sandwich rolls (à 235 g a piece) or smaller dinner rolls, I opted for the more petite version - 12 rolls à 92 g.

The recipe suggests rolling the rolls first over wet kitchen paper towels and then in oat flakes. I didn't read the instructions thoroughly, and, therefore, dunked only the tops in the oat meal.

Alehouse Rolls - ready for baking

Whereas the giant sandwich rolls have to bake for 20 minutes at 210º C/410º F, and then some more at reduced heat, my little rolls were golden brown after 26 minutes (without reducing the heat.)

They tasted just as good as they looked, a semi-soft crust with a little crunch, and a hearty, somewhat nutty flavor.

I have made these rolls with rye flour and brown ale, whole wheat and stout, as well as spelt flour and a rather hoppy ale. All versions tasted excellent, spicy and slightly sweetish.


ALEHOUSE ROLLS  (adapted from Dan Lepard)
(12 Rolls)

75 g rolled oats
440 ml ale or stout
25 g butter
25 g honey
450 g bread flour
100 g rye, whole wheat, or spelt flour
6 g instant yeast
8 g salt
20 g cold water, or more, as needed (I used up to 80 g)
rolled oats, for topping

DAY 1
Toast oats in oven at 400ºF/200ºC for ca. 7-10 minutes, stirring in between, until they turn a rich golden brown (or toast them in a dry skillet on the stove top.)

In a saucepan, bring beer and toasted oats to a boil over medium heat. Remove pan from the heat, add butter and honey, stir until melted, cover, and let cool for ca. 30 minutes.

Mix flours, yeast and salt together in large bowl. Add lukewarm oat mixture and stir with your fingers, adding a little cold water if needed to make a soft, somewhat sticky dough (hand mixing gives you a better feeling for how much extra water you should add). Cover bowl and leave for 10 minutes.

Transfer dough to lightly oiled work surface, and, with oiled hands, gently knead it for 10 seconds. Scoop dough back into bowl, cover, then repeat the light knead 2 x more at 10-minute intervals. Place dough in oiled container, cover and refrigerate it overnight. (At this point I divide the dough into 2 portions).

Alehouse Roll dough after bulk rise - ready to be shaped

DAY 2
Transfer dough to lightly floured work surface. Divide it into 12 pieces. Shape into rolls.

Place sheet of wet paper kitchen towel on one dinner plate, and rolled oats on another, then roll each roll first across wet paper and then through oats. Place on parchment lined or perforated baking sheet, cover, and let rise for 45 - 60 minutes, or until they have grown by 1 1/2 times their original size.

Preheat oven to 210°C/410°F. (Steam optional.)

Bake the rolls for 12 minutes, rotate, (remove steam pan if using) and continue baking for another 13 minutes, until golden brown.

Post updated 9/6/14 to include formula and BreadStorm downloadable file.

As tasty as they look - freshly baked Alehouse Rolls.

APRICOT-PLUM GALETTE - A CURE FOR "PIE ANXIETY"

Apricot-Plum Galette, juicy and tangy

Apricot-Plum Galette, a fruity, tangy dessert, was our Avid Bakers' Challenge for August. It came just right for these hot summer days.

Abigail Dodge, author of "The Weekend Baker", calls a galette the "friendliest of all pies": ideal for people suffering from "pie anxiety". There is no double crust to deal with, no complicated lattice weaving, no edge crimping - not even a pie plate is needed.

Though I like the combination of plums and apricots - and both were available  in our supermarket - I didn't suffer so much from pie phobia, as from filling anxiety. Apricots and plums are usually only half ripe when you get them, and you never know whether they will soften into juicy goodness or mealy sourness. 

I bought my two pounds of fruit, and placed them, together with an apple, in a brown bag, hoping they would ripen in time for the challenge. 

Making the crust was no problem. Following Hanaâ's advice, I froze the cubed butter, instead of just refrigerating it. I substituted a fifth all-purpose flour for spelt flour, to have a little bit of whole grains in the crust.

Rolling the dough, transferring it into the sheet pan - no great challenge there, and no slightest twinge of pie anxiety. 

After their three days of hobnobbing with the apple, I found the apricots and plums softer and sufficiently sweet, so I didn't add any additional sugar. I forgot the lemon juice in the mix, so I belatedly drizzled a bit over the top.

The galette looked very appetizing when it came out of the oven - only the crust had cracked in several places and the pie sat in a puddle of juice!

And then came the only glitch - Abby Dodge wants you to lift the slightly cooled galette with two spatulas on a plate. This action, exercised with a metal peel and a bench knife, ended in a broken pie. 

The congealing juice stuck to the parchment paper, and the sticky surface made easy gliding impossible. The parchment paper was pushed together in wrinkles, and the galette broke apart.

Re-assembled galette, the damage is hardly visible

 I got the pie out, don't ask me how, and assembled the broken pieces on the plate, so that the galette looked almost like new. I didn't attempt to glaze it, not wanting to disturb my poor pie anymore.

But, in the end, who cares, when the the taste is right. And it WAS right! Plums, apricots and ginger made an awesome combination, and the crust was delicate and flaky. 

You'll find the recipe in "The Weekend Baker", by Abigail Johnson Dodge. She calls her recipes "irresistible" and I wholeheartedly agree. And to make this galette entirely "stress-free for busy people", I would next time line the baking sheet with aluminum foil, and move it with the pie to the platter.

And, after reading other Avid Bakers' posts, I realize that leakages rather seem to be the rule in rustic galettes, not a failure. Even master baker Joanne Chang commented in Fine Cooking: "It’s all right if some of the juices escape from the tart and seep onto the pan." 

But I still thought about how to minimize those leaks, and asked my knowledgeable daughter Valerie  what she would do.

It's great to have a chef in the family

She recommended "Bakers' Secret Weapon" - a layer of cake crumbs on the crust to soak up excess juice. Or mix the fruits with the sugar several hours before using, strain them over a bowl, and then cook the juice in a sauce pan until reduced to syrup. 

Another way to achieve a leak free crust is a French pastry bakers' technique, called fraisage. After transferring the dough to the work surface, you smear the crumbly mass repeatedly with the heel of your hand, until it is cohesive. Cook's Illustrated explains that this procedure creates long, thin streaks of butter between layers of flour and water, resulting in a sturdy, but very flaky dough.

If you would like to join the Hanaâ's Avid Bakers, take up the monthly challenge, and have the fun - here is your link: