MellowBakers Bagels

Although I love homemade bagels I was a bit reluctant to bake them for the MellowBakers. I have the option to skip it but after reading Paul's post I changed my mind; his bagels are very pretty and nicely golden brown [my bagels always come out anemic]. And I'm glad I did because I love the flavor and chew of Hamelman's bagels. They are as good as BBA's but the procedure has an added step of leaving the boiled doughs in ice water before baking. I'll be honest, I omitted this step because I find the 3-minute ice bath too long and what's the reason for it when the bagels are going immediately into the oven anyway.

Aside from looking like vampire bagels, they are thinner and have larger holes than what you normally buy from the stores and I found out from Paul that this is Montreal style and the fat ones with almost no holes are New York style. I never knew that. Thanks Paul. I don't have any preference as long as the bagel is yummy and chewy....and these are yummy and chewy....and really nice with grated young Gouda cheese mixed with chopped roasted sweet yellow or red bell pepper (pimiento) and a tablespoon of mayonnaise.

If anybody wants to try making these bagels here is the recipe.

Rustic Bread

Rustic Bread is one of the 3 recipes that we MellowBakers are baking this month of April, 2010. The other 2 are Bagels, and Light Rye Bread.

Jeffrey Hamelman's Rustic Bread recipe is a fairly easy bread to make although it takes 2 days. The first day is for the preferment which is making a stiff dough with flour, water, salt, and a small amount of commercial yeast, leaving it on the kitchen counter for 12 to 16 hours. The next day is pretty much the same, mix bread flour, a little whole rye and whole wheat flour with water, salt, yeast, and the preferment. Bulk fermentation is 2½ hours with two folds after every 50 minutes, then the dough is divided and shaped into rounds [I shaped mine into fat batards] and made to rise for 1½ hours then off they go in a 450°F steamy oven . Easy peasy.

The bread is soft, chewy, and flavorful and I like it even more the next day, but not after that. Well, they didn't last beyond 3 days so no problem there. This could be a regular bread in my house. It's good for sandwiches or dipping into soups or stews.

Hot Cross Buns! Hot Cross Buns!

I joined a new baking group, the Mellow Bakers created by Yumarama Paul and as the name suggests, the baking will be at a more relaxed pace which is just perfect. We will be baking breads from BREAD by Jeffrey Hamelman.

The first bread chosen for the group is Traditional English Hot Cross Buns. Hard to believe but I have never baked nor eaten a hot cross bun, traditional or otherwise. For real.

The recipe is simple and straightforward. Assemble all the ingredients, mix, let rise, shape, bake, and in less than 4 hours you will enjoy munching on delicious, soft, and slightly sweet hot buns studded with currants. The only thing I had a teensy bit problem with was piping the paste on top of the unbaked buns. The paste, made with a combination of flour, oil, and water has a slight slimy consistency and the ends are difficult to break off. It creates a curly tail and sticks to everything making the tips of the crosses untidy. I practiced first on a plate as there was a lot of paste to spare, which I already halved BTW, but as the photo of the baked buns shows, the lines are crooked and the thickness is not uniform. I had to smooth out the curly ends with slightly wet fingertips. It's not a big deal really but next time I'll omit the oil and just mix flour and water until the paste is pipeable. Although I like the syrup for added sweetness, it made everything sticky. I was constantly washing my hands while taking photos and also while eating. I remedied the sticky mess by putting the bun in a 325° F oven to dry out the syrup resulting in a sugar coating that is oh so good. I will surely make these again but with these minor changes; the recipe is a keeper.

I used cute tiny currants and candied lemon peels

practice did not make perfect crosses

soft, sweet, fruity, citrusy, and yummy

Come join and bake with us. Click on the Mellow Baker link above or on the left side bar logo. You can view a recipe based on Hamelman's here.