Spring is in the air

After a long lasting winter ,trees are getting blossoms and in the herb garden chives are coming up as green as green can be.Ready to find its way to the kitchen and into this month bread. Potato bread with chives .Our kitchen of the month princess Sara at I like to Cook asked us to bake this. And believe me , it tastes much better than it sounds. You need some leftover ¨potato´s and soymilk but just normal milk will do as well. And a bunch of chives.Its a real spring bread ´cause it rises as high as the weeds in my garden are growing at the moment.Full of life !!



It was easy to make and bake and so good!!!!!
The little greens of the chives were hardly visible in the sandwiches Nice, because they don´t eat stuff here with green in it.But they gave a great taste .
Next time I chop larger pieces so it will be seen and the bread wil be all mine, haha.
Sitting in the early morning sun in a spring garden eating this for breakfast....or in the eveningsun eating this bread with a bowl of springonion soup......Makes me so happy and makes me forget that long long lasting winter.




If you want to bake your own spring bread and want to become a bread baking babes´buddie please find the recipe at Sara´s kitchen .I don´t have time to give it to you , I have a battle to fight here....with all those fast growing weeds that are taking over my garden.Any one having a recipe for that????


BTW puppies name is PIP.

colorfull world...

The most colorfull food in the world is , as far as I know , the Indian Kitchen. Which I'm very fond off. Like my husband. To tell you the truth , we stop the car when-ever we see an Indian restaurant around dinnertime.Or almost dinnertime. Or whenever it is open....
We made several recipes at home ,but I never tried the breadbaking side of this kitchen. Bad BreadBakingBabe !!
But Lynn , breadbakingbabe-kitchen-of-the-month-host gave us a recipe of Naan , the indian bread.
As said "naan really can't be made at home because traditional naan is made by in a specially made, super hot brick oven " , Lynn found us a recipe that's really worth trying.The recipes come from Paul Hollywood's 100 Great Breads.
And I baked them on a hot baking stone in my stove.
To be honest , the plain "naan" was good.And simple to make.
And the "curry naan" I made only because it was in this challenge.
Guess what...it was GORGIOUS , GREAT , DELICIOUS !!
The mango-chutney and the raisins turned it into a color-full taste.
So don't spoil any time reading this post.
Run to Lynn's kitchen table and start making "Naan".

And give Lynn my love and thanks !

Buddie roundup November

The first Buddie to sign in was Milagritos
In hot Sidney she created a beautiful Brioche , well wrapped in beautiful Panatone paper.

And then there was Rita, Soepkipje.She didn't have a can. But look how creative she solved the problem....

Maybe a little late but who cares ..Gea van "koekje van eigen deeg" made one too. And it looks great So...another buddie !
And then ,with a big SORRY ,because she waa in time but somehow her message didn't reach me Astrid .
Worth a visit too, as you will find out.

You can , with a can !

Welcome at my kitchen table , I'm your host this month.
And you know what ? I want you to eat out of a can ,this month . Not for the easy cooking but for this month Bread Baking Babes baking :
The Brioche mousseline.










Take a seat and let me explain :
This very luxury and delicious loaf will be baked in a cylindrial container , most likely used for tomatoes, coffee or what-ever, as long as there is no plastic coating inside.
Because we Babes bake all over the world , we immediately had problems with sorts and sizes for every country's cans .The book is talking about one pound cans, I used 1 liter cans .Please don't you worry. Any size will do, just fill it for 2/3 with the dough and keep an eye on your baking time. And the height of your stove !! Because a paper collar will be tied around the can , the dough can rise to a splendid height : Even twice as high as your can ,if you are lucky. The ovenshelf must be low enough to allow the dough to rise without bumping its head to the oventop.



So eat your tomatoes , clean out that can : it's time to create your own Brioche Mousseline" , the loave that has its roots in France, Normandie , at Honnefleur. The recipe , from pricewinning Baker André David , comes from The Breads of France , of Bernard Clayton jr.


To dress up the cans encircle them with paper(buttered if needed )as a collar.
To make it easier , dress up the outside after you put in the dough. I took parchingpaper , folded double AND I lined also the inside , because of some edges there that could make trouble trying to get the bread out. (In case of emergency you always can use your can-opener on the bottomside and push it out ).
If you don't use paper inside , don't forget to butter instead.
I hope these pictures( very bad but my own camera broke down and in eveninglight this one is trouble )will tell you the rest.


And here is the recipe :

Ingredients :For 2 tall loaves ( for 2 cans ).
Starter :
1 package of dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water ( 105-115 F.)
1 cup allpurpose flour

Dough
4 cups all purpose flour
6 eggs, room temp.
4 tablespoons warm water ( 100 F )
3 tab.sp. sugar
1 1/2 teasp.salt
12 ounces butter , unsalted , room temp.

Starter ( takes 10 minutes and 2 hours )
Dissolve yeast in water and put aside for a few minutes until creamy.Stir in flour and knead for about 3 minutes until shaggy loaf of dough. Cover with plastic and let rest for 2 hours.
In mean time prepare the rest of the dough :Start with 2 cups of flour , 4 eggs (stirr in one at the time), 2 table sp. water ,sugar , salt and blend it all.
Knead butter (on a lenght of wax paper) soft and pliable with a doughscraper or spatula.Blend in batter.Than add remaining 2 eggs and spoons of water.Stir in rest of flour , 1/2 cup at the time until the dough is a soft ball.It still is very sticky .Press into oval on your flowered worksurface , place starter in the center and fold over the edges and knead to incorporate the white starter dough with the yellow egg and butter dough. Knead for about 8 minutes. The dough stays a little sticky but will become firm after the cooling in the fridge later.

First rise , 3 hours
At room temp. covered with plastic wrap, until more than double.It becomes light and puffy.

Refrigeration 2 hours or overnight
Allow for at least 2 hours in the fridge so it can be worked better . Overnight is also possible but it will need a longer rise in the mold later on.

Shaping
Fill the (coffee)cans for 2/3 and allow to rise.Use an other well greased mold for any left over dough.


second rising
At room temp. 1 ,untill 2 hours.
This varies a little ,remember , overnight in fridge means at least a 2 hours rise.

Baking 375 F , for 1 hour

Pre-heat the oven 20 minutes before baking.
How high the rising will be depends on the strenght of flour thats been used. There will be a difference between french and american or dutch...Hope you have a hudge oven... ;-)
The Brioche is done when the crust is deep brown but I always let my insertthermometer tell me . Or use a cake testing pin, that has to come out clean .
Undress your mold and let stand for 10 minutes before removing the mold.Twist gently to remove ( take care , still hot ! )and allow to cool down on a rack .
It freezes well for 6 weeks,so you can tie it up then with a X-mas bow and enjoy it as your Santa-breakfast.


Don't forget to take a look at my sister BBB"s (you'll find them on the right sight of this blog ) and see how they managed with this french one.
And if you are able to bake with us (and let me know by mail or as a comment on this post with a link to your Brioche) , do it before november 23: You'll be honored with a Bread Baking Buddy Badge .
Hope to hear from you !

Is it all chinese for us , Babes ?

Sorry I wasn't here on our Bread Baking Babes - posting day of this month , but it was a long travel before I could buy the Chinese flour Karen ( of Bake my Day , our host of the month ) was asking for in this months challenge.
And you know what ? It wasn't even for Baking !!!
Are we Babes getting weard or what ?










No , just kidding . I didn't have go all the way to China to get this special flour and this no-baking recipe is great. You did well , Karen ! I'll bring you some chinese steamingflour next time ! It really works well. No muscles needed for kneading.
The rolls are fun to do and it is even more fun to make different fillings. As usual it was hard for me to stick to the recipe.
I mixed the world , so to say.
I made Italian knots, with pesto and cheese , Japanese ones with Wasibi and ginger ( thanks again Karen ) , "Middle east"-sesame rolls with sesame oil and -seeds and seasalt and an american wreath with maple syrup .Looked fine but the syrup dripped out mostly . And okay , the red pepper and spring onion ones too . And honestly , the original ones became the most colorfull ones.And beeing pale as they are , they need that.



I used the same doughrecipe to bake real Indonesian BAPAO's , steamed rolls with filling inside.Great way to get ridd of your meat-left-overs
Are you steamed up allready ? Go and see the other babes and specially our kitchen of the month Karen to find out how Baking Babes Bake Breads without Baking !
'cause yes , we can !

Amore from Italy

This was real fun to make :
Easy to make dough ,.
Soft as a baby's....you know .
Easy to handle.
Easy to form and you don't even need a high-school degree " knotting " for these little breads.
And then......beautiful to see , to smell but most of all to taste.













Isn't that breadbaking-fun ? Yes , it is !
They are called Italian Knot Breads or Pane di pasta tenera condita .
And they were tossed up by ILVA from Lucullian delights. She invited us all to her kitchen table this month. Please join us there and see for yourselve how easy to do ( but with such great looks ) these Italian knots are.And maybe you'll join us as a Bread Baking Babe's Buddie.
Only one advice :
Because I thought the amount of flour was enough to serve a whole Italian family having lunch under the sun ,somewhere in a Italian farm garden , I made only half of the recipe to get just 10 knotbreads.
That was a mistake !!!
Because they were gone in no-time.And my family asked for more....
So bake them all by using the whole amount . And in the strange case of any leftovers , just pop them in the deepfreezer . Or send them over to me . Because I completely fell in love with them.
Italian Amore !!
Thanks Ilva. You know what is good for us ,Babes !

It makes you smile !

To prove I really can bake bread , this picture.
'Cause I didn't bake anything out of this months Bread Baking Babes " Pane Franchese'.
Don't even dare to show you a pic. Not because the recipe was wrong , no , it is from King Arthur and it's good . Better look at Sara's. from I like to cook . She's this months kitchens host.There you can see how great it can be.
No , its just because I had troubles with my Chef. No , not at work , but with my first starter for this bread, called a Chef ,as in French. At least I blame him , don't we always blame the Chefs ? And I always hated chefs, in any job . Anyway , something didn't turn out right and my Pane became solid as clay.
But to prove I'm a real Baking Babe this picture of a bread I'm very proud of .
Made without wheat or diary products . And still tasty.
I have a child who has a wheat and milk intolerance , we discovered a few months ago .
A difficult combination , its in about everything .
But that boy has a bread and cookie-baking Mama and thats his luck . I now bake him , thanks to a recipe found in the "Laurels' Kitchen Bread Book" , a Soymilk Bread. And I use Spelt in stead of wheat. Spelt is often possible when wheat is not.And it bakes great.
I've never seen a bread having an ovenspring like this. The first one burned on top because it reached the top of my oven.
Every time I take a bread like this out of the stove , it makes me smile.
Because it always looks and tastes great, but most of all that enormous proud feeling I can make my child the best healthy-est bread there is for him . Hand- home- and heartmade !
It really makes me smile !!

Here it is :
2 1/2 cups unflavoured soymilk (cooked and cooled down)
2 tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/2 cup handwarm water
6 cups of spelt flour ( mostly I do 2 cups whole- and 4 cups white spelt flour)
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons soy -"butter" or 6 tablespoons oil.( I mostly let the butter melt in the cooling down soymilk )

In your mixing bowl , solve the yeast in the warm water with the honey , mix in the soymilk with butter , and 2 cups of the flour . "Cover" it with the rest of the flour ( + the oil if you don't used the butter) and the salt.Let stand for a few hours (but no more than 12). The yeast will be cracking the topping flour in that time.
Knead it , but no longer than 4-5 minutes because the Speltgluten will loose their strenght if you knead too long.Easy , isn't it ?
Let rise for 1 hour , then flatten and shape , let rise for 45 minutes. In the mean while heaten up your oven at 350 F . Bake the bread in 45 minutesuntil done.
Of course you can roll in / or over some seeds like poppyseeds , sunflourseeds , pumpkin- or flackseeds.
That funny smiley...can't help you with that . But just look into your mirror while holding your bread !

My kind of bread

And a special kind , also.
Because it is our 1 year anniversary of the Bread Baking Babes .
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO US !!!
A year we bitched ,baked ,laught and cried together, as when we lost our BBBsister Sher.
We did send lots of mails , advices good or not , jokes and drinks over the world to each other.
And became good friends. Friends you can really " Bake on ".
And we found two more friends , because we became to little in number, after Sher died and Glenna left.(They will stay with us in mind). So , we found two new Babes ,and now we are a splendid dozen again . And we make a good mix.
Like this bread : a five grain with walnuts , from "the Italian Baker" of Carol Field. The Pane ai Cinque Cereali Five~Grain con Nod.
And, oh yes.... it has every-thing I like :



Walnuts , rice , whole wheat and just plain allpurpose , Rye , rolled oats , I milled all that and it made a good healthy bread .Great texture , great taste!


I made rolls and a bread :


For the complete recipe , visit our host of the month Tanna , who tossed this bread up and can tell you all about how to become a Bread Baking Buddie . And why we will stay a small group but love you to join baking with us.



And don't forget to sit at all the other BBB's kitchen tables and taste their breads .
And a very special welcome to our two new babes,
Gretchen
Natashya
who allready proved to be real BBBabes.
Yeah , we'll make it for another year , the twelve of us !

It's smelling French here...

Picture this:
Early in the morning , sun just rised . Open your window in your authentic little hotel in Paris ( or anywhere else in France ).Hear the noises of a city waking up and smell.......
The little "Boulangerie" on the corner just made them...



...... FRESH CROISSANTS

Well ,wrong place ,but the smell was there and just the same when they came out of my oven.
Katie of time for cooking made me bake them in this month Bread Baking Babes challenge.
Scary things to make , I tried once but they turned out to be just normal breads in a croissants shape. But Katie made me do it again and she had a great recipe. I'm really greatfull, Katie , thanks .
Although at the end the amounts of milk were very different between us Babes ( different countries, different wheats and flours ) they came out fine.
The only thing I changed was the way of folding-in the butter , now according to Bernard Claytons " the Breads of France ". His recipe for Flaky Croissants was more or less the same as Katie's from Michelinstar-winner Michel Roux.Except for this.
Here's what I did with that butter ,it was very easy to do:
When you roll out the dough ( see the full recipe at Katies) into a rectangle (60-30 cm or 24x12")you spread out the butter on the lower 2/3 of the dough. Fold the top 1/3 over half the butter and lift the bottom 1/3 up and fold over as for a letter.The layers now will be dough , butter , dough , butter , dough.Wrap and refrigerate.
After 4 of that foldings you have 55 layers, the book told . I didn't count them. Maybe you will , because they are really worth making !
Beware ,it takes you 9-13 hours to make them, resting time included.
In that same time I can drive to Paris, wake up in that little hotel and open my window....



But that's not the Bread Baking Babes spirit , is it ? !



If you want to bake your own " morning in France " yourselve and post your results at Katies before febr. 2 , she'll send you your Bread Baking Babes Buddie "button".
And don't forget to peak at the other Babes blogs , list on the top on the right site.They show you what you can do more with this great-to-work-with-dough.

Yule Wreath

(did you notice that tiny little Christmas leaf on this months logo? Thanks to Lien.)



From Betty Crocker's International Cookbook , Lynn , our host of the month ,picked out this delicious and good looking wreath for us.



But you can bake it every day of the year , not only at Christmas time ,because you can fill it with whatever you like.
For ideas ,look at my other Bread Baking Babe sisters' blogs , on the list at the right side . I think there are not even 2 wreaths that are look-a-likes.
For breakfast , lunch or dinner ...the excellent soft dough ( this is how a good dough has to feel )will match with every taste or filling.
And if you want to bake with us, send your result to Lynn (lynncraigATcomcastDOTnet) by the 27th of december and get yourself a Bread Baking Buddie Badge!
I made mine for a dinner with friends , together with a big bowl of Bouillabaise , that delicious French fish soup.
My filling for the wreath.....well I can't give you the exact recipe but I used dried tomatos in oil , garlic , very old Dutch cheese ,red onion, a twist of pepper , seasalt and italian herbs ( fresh and dried ) and made a smooth kind of sauce of it in my foodprocessor.
Although the baking time / temperature was a little too much for my oven (and the bread turned out a little too dark ), it tasted like ..like...Italy.



And so my friends and family agreed.It was gone in a minute or so. Thanks heaven this is a easy - to - do - recipe, great result and not so mutch effort.
Next one will be a sweet one ..or with nuts ...or....mmmm, no time to waste ,I'm off now !!

Rosendals' knäckebröd

I know , a little too late but I proudly present my :



I made some Knäckebröt before and well , to be honest...I better buy them.
But it was this month's Bread Baking Babes thing-to-do ,so I had to bake them again.
And guess what ?? They turned out great.
All thanks to Görel from Graindoe , our Swedish Babe sister who is our kitchen of the month . Go visit her for the real recipe and how to make this Knäckebröt. And also for your Bread Baking Babe Buddy -badge , she'll tell you how to earn it . On your way to Görel , knock on the door of the other BBB's (you'll find them on the right side of this blog ) , for more Knäckebröt , ideas and advices.




My great result was also thanks to Karen and Lien , who struggled allready with the amount of dutch Rye and wrote wise things about that. And ohhh yes , I took advantage of it , of course . Shame on me !
A second confession....I left out the complete rye starter ,because starters and I ..lets say we don't like each-other . I used all the ingredients and amounts from the recipe and simply left out that starter . And see...it worked fine . Maybe there's a little different in taste but who can see that on a picture ,?? !! And I'll never know what I mis , unless one of my dear BBBsisters is going to send me a piece of hers . Ha, I bet they won't.
Any way , they were fun to do , easy to make and they were great .



Thanks Görel , for making me do this !
But tell me one thing ...what on earth is that hole in the middle used for ?

Welcome at my kitchen table..

Yes, welcome, sit down , relax and enjoy.
I like you to taste a slice of my fresh baked Sûkerbôlle.
That's this month challenge for my Bread Baking Babe - sisters .
I"m the proud host of this month and we're baking SÛKERBÔLLE .
Or Frisian Sugarbread.
Let me give you a little geografie first.
In the north of our smal country, Holland (or The Netherlands) in Europe , there is a small part called Friesland . They speak their own languages there, have their own flag , have a great tradition in sailing as you can read in one of my other postings and skyes and clouds are overwhelming.

But they are worldwide famous because of their black and white Frisian cows

and their beautiful black horses .

But also about their :

SÛKERBÔLLE

as they say in Frisian , suikerbrood (in Dutch) or sugerbread (in english ) .
Spreaded with a lot of good Frisian (unsalted) butter...Need I say they sure know what’s good , upthere ?!
So..here’s the recipe. It comes from a very old Frisian recipe-book and it’s written very simple as every-one knew how to make a good bread in those days .That’s the way I give it to you . Because I 'm sure you’re capable to make a great loaf out of it.
Only , beware of a few things : Nothing burns your hands more than hot sugar , so take care…..and , because of all that sugar, your bread will burn very quick , so watch it carefully and cover it if needed with alu-foil. Also, grease your bread-tin with lots of butter because sugar sticks !! Or , like I do , line it with paper and butter it . And don’t knead the sugar into your dough with a breadbaking machine, it will be damaged !!
For the rest its up to you…… Easy , I thought...
But then...a few other problems came up.Because of two ingrediënts : Sugarlumbs and Gingersyrup . Both unknown on the otherside of the ocean. But they seem to solve the problems overthere. Lynn has figured out a great easy and delicious recipe for sugared ginger ànd the syrup. You'll find it here.

Here we go :
(if you want the recipe in Dutch , look at Karen's Bake My Day , she has made a translation on her posting. So no double work here ! )

500 grams all purpose flour
10 grams salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon-powder (a little more if you like it )
3 tablespoons of ginger-syrup (use the syrop that comes with those gingerballs
you buy in a jar here in Europe or look for the recipe at Lynn's )
Make that gingersyrup up to 2 dl with handwarm milk.So its 2 dl all together.
25 grams fresh yeast
75 grams unsalted, melted butter (let it cool down before use}
2 eggs
150 grams sugar grains. Or use sugar lumps /cubes you use for coffee , and
make small pieces of them .( by beating them with….whatever)
Make a nice dough with all the ingredients , except for the sugerlumps/sugergrains and the cinnamon , and let it rise for 45 minutes.
After that fold in the sugar ,mixed with cinnamon , and work it through your dough.
Form a nice bread and put it in a small bread-tin .Make sure it is greased with lots of butter or parchment paper!!
On top ,you can sprinkle granulated sugar ,so it can form a caramel on your bread.
Cover and let it rise for 15 minutes .
Bake it in a warm oven (200 C or 400 F in 30 minutes until brown and done.

Don’t forget that unsalted butter on top of every slice.

Are you still there on my kitchen table ?
Well, take and taste a slice . By the way, do you want coffee or tea ?



_____________________________________________

Would you like to bake this SugarBabeBread with us and earn the one and only
Bread Baking Buddies Badge ? Bake with us! Post it on your blog and send the link to me before ,at last, the 8th of October. I will round up all Baking Buddies in my Kitchen of the Month here at Living on Bread and Water and send you your well deserved Buddy Badge!
And also take a look in my Sugarsweetbakingsisters kitchens and see how they went along :
Notitie Van Lien (Lien),
My Kitchen In Half-Cups (Tanna), Cookie Baker Lynn (Lynn), , Grain Doe (Gorel), Lucullian Delights (Ilva),
Bake my Day ( Karen )
I like to cook Sara

HAVE FUN, Sweeties !

junkfood becomes healthy

:











Pitta's with shoarma-meat...our boys favourit junkfood.But the white "things " you buy and bake-off and fill are not this mothers idea of healthy food.
So I was very happy with this month challenge of the Bread Baking Babes with the recipe of whole wheat Pitta's.
And they were easy to make , fun to roll into circles and surprising in the oven as they puffed up like they had to do. Really , a piece of cake .



Stuffed with shoarma meat, salat , tomato and Mozzarella cheese and an olive here and there , it made a great meal.
What more can I say. Tell you my boys were happy with it? Yes they were. Did they realised they were eating good healthy food ? No , they weren't . Haha !Hurray for Mum ! Don't tell them , please.


Here comes the recipe for

COUNTRY-STYLE WHOLE-WHEAT PITA

It makes 8 round flatbreads, 18 cm diametre

2 1/2 cups warm water (105 to 115 degrees F)
1 tblsp active dry yeast
pinch of sugar
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tblsp salt
3 cups whole-wheat pastry flour (whatever that is, I will used my grain and milled asusual)
3 to 3 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1. in a small bowl pour in 1/2 cup of the water. Sprinkle the yeast and the pinch of sugar over the surface of the water. Stir to dissolve and let stand at room temperature until foamy, about 10 minutes

2. In a large bowl using a whisk or in the bowl of a heavy-duty electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment, combine the remining water, olive oil, salt and whole-wheat pastry flour. Beat hard until creamy, about 1 minute. Stir in the yeast mixture. Add the unbleached flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until a soft, shaggy dough that just clears the sides of the bowl is formed. Switch to a wooden spoon when necessary if making by hand.

3. Turn the dough out on a lightly floured work surface with a plastic pastry scraper and knead until soft and springy. 1-2 minutes for a machine-mixed dough and 3-5 minutes for a hand-mixed dough, dusting wit flour only 1 tablespoon at a time, just enough ass needed to prevent sticking. Leave the dough moist and soft yet at the same time smooth and springy.
If kneading by machine, switch from the paddle to the dough hook and knead for 2-3 minutes, or until the dugh is smooth and springy and springs back when pressed. If desired, transfer dough to a floured surface and knead briefly by hand.

4. Place the dough in a lightly greased deep container. Turn the dough once to coat the top and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise at room temperature until doubled in bulk, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

5. Pre-heat the oven to 475 degrees F with a baking stone set on the bottom rack. Parchment-line several baking sheets, or heavily flour a peel. Gently deflate the dough and divide it in half. Cover half with a plastic wrap or a clean towel to prevent forming a skin. Divide into 8 equal portions and form each into a ball. Let rest 10 minutes while dividing the second half of the dough. Dust the work surface with whole-wheat pastry flour. Using a rolling pin, roll the balls into 6-inch circles about 1/4 inch thick. Loosely cover the circles. Do not stack as they will stick together. If the dough does not roll out easily, let it rest 10 minutes to relax the gluten. Move the dough circles by draping them, one at a time, over a flour-dusted rolling in and place them on a floured dish towel before transferring them to the peel or baking sheets. Let rest for 15 minutes or until puffy.

6. Transfer the circles to a peel or a baking sheet. With a quick action of the wrist, slide the pita rounds from the peel directly onto the hot stone. Four will fit on at once. Or place the baking sheets, one at a time, on the bottom rack directly on the hot stone. No steam .Do not open the oven door for a full 4 minutes. Bake 810 minutes, or until fully puffed and light brown. watch carefully that the pitas do not over bake or burn. The baking sheet pitas will take longer than the stone-baked ones. Remove the puffed hot breads wide a wide metal spatula and stack between clean dish towel.

This recipe was introduced by Ilva. She's BBB's kitchen of the month this time.
If you want to read more , knock on her kitchendoor.Also if you want to bake Pitta's with us and earn a BBBuddie logo .
And if you want to see more of our BBB -Pitta's ,please feel free to visit the other Bread Baking Babes.You'll find them on the right site of this BLOG.

It's all about the flour...

Well, there was supposed to be the March bread of the Bread Baking Babes here :
CAROL FIELDS' COCCODRILLO


But there is not !

I tryed to fight the crocodillo but it almost killed me.

And why ?

Because that very wet dough drowned my flour.

Again ..why ?

Let me try to explane :

It's all about the flour !

Really , no excuse , but it is.

Our Dutch flour isn't as strong as they use in..lets say the USA . Or France.

It simply does not have the high amount of gluten .

And we have a lack of sorts of flour here.

Flour is flour and thats it.

But it doesn't have enough gluten.

It's simply not strong enough to hold a...crocodile.

And then there is my flour : I mill my own grain, become wholewheat or sift it when I need white flour . Great ! And all without pesticides and so , because I only use organic. No poisons in my bread.

But ,as I found out, also not as many strenght as usual flour.I always put in less water than the recipe askes for.And a little gluten if needed. But I can live with that. And I do bake like that for years now.

And yes, that's where it went wrong . This Croc-bread asked for 107 % water (!!!!)

My beloved flour became a fluid dough, to wet and weak ( and by far not enough gluten ) to hold a croc.


























See how it dripped of my KitchenAid ? Almost horror...

It dripped from my countertop too, right on to the floor .

Adding more flour, (I did , but it needed scoops and scoops) was not an option because it would change the recipe too mutch and my croc would turn in to a Ciabatta or something like that.

So...I stopped.Trying to find other flour was also no option, I want to bake with my own stuff.

And that reached the border : this bread was over the top for me.

But I learned a lot and we had lots of fun at BBB's . I also learned a lot of new curses and bad languages in Englisch : Boy, did we all fight that Crocodile !


So , if you want to see what a real Coccodrillo looks like, how my BBB-sisters managed to do it or if you want the recipe , be a BBB-buddy and bake this monster with us , please see our kitchen - of - the - month at Lien Notitie van Lien (Lien), or the other Bread Baking Babes that have battled this coccodrillo and post about it :Bake My Day (Karen), Cookie Baker Lynn (Lynn), I like to cook (Sara), Lucullian Delights (Ilva), My Kitchen in Half Cups (Tanna), The Sour Dough (Mary aka Breadchick), Thyme of Cooking (Katie)and What Did You Eat (Sher)

I wish you all the luck with this bread, you'll need it !
But they say it's worth it !!

Shopping for breadbakers...at your garden-center !

Looking for cheap baking-molds ?

Visit your local garden-center !

And they have more....!
Go , and look for yourselve .

It is real fun !