Easy, Awesome Challah Bread

Apr 26, 2015

ISN’T IT PRETTY?!?!

Seriously, this bread is just beautiful. And it’s not just beautiful, it’s amazingly soft and flavorful and perfect.

I’d never had challah bread before this, but basically it’s a yeast-leavened, lightly-sweet braided dough made with eggs, then brushed with an egg wash before baking. It can be soft or dense, made with many different grains, created into other shapes (spirals, circles, birds, etc.), but at its heart it’s just a slighly sweet eggy bread.

And I can’t imagine that it gets much better than this recipe! First-try bread recipes can be tricky sometimes, and rarely are they absolutely perfect the first time. But this recipe was super forgiving (I let it rise quite a bit longer than the recipe called for), the braiding was super easy, and the final product made me want to eat ALL THE BREAD. And I’m not even a bread person…

Let’s just look at it again, shall we???

Okay, moving on…

Crusty French Baguettes in 30 Minutes

Jul 27, 2014

You know those times when you realize that you’re having a bunch of people over and that you forgot to figure out a bread? But you’re like an hour from dinner and pretty much everything would take way too long?

(yeah, me neither)

Lucky for me, I’ve found a couple of pretty quick bread recipes that are pretty quick (and aren’t just biscuits). I have this 1-hour focaccia bread and a 1-hour french bread, but this goes even further. You can have this thing done start to finish in about a half hour (give or take a few minutes depending on how long it takes to bake). And the flavor is AMAZING!

This is a key part of bread making…

Bread is a non-negotiable part of meals for my mom, so super happy to have another great recipe in the arsenal.

Caramelized Onion, Spinach, & Olive Oil Quick Bread

Sep 29, 2013

I went on a massive bread-baking stint last year and tried all manner of yeast breads and quick breads. I think I kind of overdid it, so I’ve avoided making bread for several months now. But a couple weekends ago I was recuperating from a really long week, getting ready to head out of town, and wanted to make a semi-healthy meal. I settled on a frittata since it’s easy, so figured I could whip up something a little out of the ordinary as well. That’s where this bread came in.

This bread got rave reviews from my co-workers, despite the its slight over-saltiness (yeeeeeah…I may have accidentally added too much salt)!

It’s a great complement to any meal, but particularly something that could be a little bare on its own (like the beet and feta frittata I made with it). It was moist and satisfying, with a great subtle flavor.

It would also be awesome for Thanksgiving, as something to nibble on in the afternoon when you’re less stuffed than you were but not ready to commit to dinner yet.