Breads Recipes

Bread is a food baked from a dough or batter made with flour or meal, water or other liquids and a leavener. These are some of my favorites...

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Texas Baguettes

If you thought you could never make bread at home, well you were wrong. This quick and easy recipe is absolutely delicious. Don't be tempted to leave out the vinegar because it sounds like a strange ingredient in bread. It works some real magic in there. You will need a double trough French bread pan for baking.

1 T. sugar

1 ½ cups warm water (105-115 degrees) (Make sure the water is in this range)

3 ½ cups bread flour

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

1 ½ teaspoons salt

½ cup canola oil

Glaze:

4 T. unsalted butter

2 large garlic cloves, minced

1 tsp. salt

In a 2-cup liquid measuring cup, combine the yeast, sugar and warm water. Stir gently to blend well. Set aside for about 3 minutes until yeast begins to bubble. In work bowl of food processor fitted with the steel blade, combine the bread flour, vinegar and salt. Pulse on-off 3 or 4 times to blend ingredients. Add the yeast mixture, scraping out cup with rubber spatula. Process to blend in the yeast, about 10 seconds. Stop and check the consistency of the dough. It should be very wet and sticky with just a bit of body. If it is really runny, add couple of tablespoons more bread flour, but no more! Process for 25 seconds to knead the dough.

Pour the canola oil into a large ceramic or stainless steel bowl and swirl to coat the sides with the oil. Grease your hands with some of the oil. Turn dough out into the bowl and use your hands to scrape it off of the blade and to get any bits of dough stuck to the processor bowl. Turn the dough over in the oil to coat all sides. Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap and set aside to rise in a draft-free spot for 45 minutes, or until doubled in bulk.

While the dough is rising, melt the butter for the glaze in a small saucepan. Add the minced garlic and salt. Cover over medium heat for 1-3 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

When the dough has risen, preheat oven to 400 degrees and place oven rack in center position. Line a double-trough French bread pan with parchment paper and spray the parchment with non-stick vegetable spray; set aside. Grease your hands again with some of the canola oil in the dough bowl, and then flatten the dough, punching out all of the air. Pinch the dough mass in half. Lift each half of the dough and stretch it into a long piece almost as long as the pan. Place one piece of dough in each half of the pan. Don't worry about bumps or wrinkles (in the dough). They'll iron out as the dough rises.

Strain the garlic out of the butter and discard it. Brush both loaves liberally with the butter using a pastry brush. Place the bread pan on a long cookie sheet with shallow sides and cover the dough loosely with plastic wrap. Set aside to rise until dough has risen about a half inch above the sides of the pan, about 30 to 40 minutes.

Place bread in preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes, or until golden brown and crisp on top. Carefully turn the loaves over in the pan to brown the bottoms, then cook an additional 5-8 minutes. Place loaves on wire cooling rack and cool slightly before slicing.

Beer Bread

This bread is quick and easy and absolutely delicious!

Makes 1 loaf-serves 8

3 cups self rising flour

3 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon Herbs de Province

1 12 oz. beer (room temperature) I use Corona, but any kind will work

1 stick (4 oz.) butter, melted

Heat oven to 350 F. Spray a loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.

In bowl of electric mixer fitted with a paddle, place dry ingredients. Carefully add the beer then mix on slow speed until combined. Using a rubber spatula, spoon batter into greased loaf pan. Let sit covered with saran wrap in a warm place for 20 minutes.

Bake for 20 minutes then remove from oven and ladle half the melted butter over the top careful not to spill butter over the edge of the pan.

Bake an additional 20 minutes or until stick inserted in center of loaf comes out clean.

Remove loaf from oven and carefully ladle remaining butter on top.

Homemade Flour Tortillas

These are very easy to make and taste so much better than store bought. I make 2 batches at once and freeze.

9 oz. (2 cups) unbleached all-purpose flour, more for kneading and rolling

1 teaspoon table salt

¼ teaspoon baking powder

¼ cup cold vegetable shortening or lard, cut into small pieces

In a medium bowl, stir the flour, salt, and baking powder. Add the shortening or lard and cut it into the flour with a pastry blender or two table knives until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. Stir in 2/3 cup warm water with a fork until a shaggy dough forms. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and soft, 3 to 4 minutes, reflouring the surface as necessary. After kneading, the dough shouldn't be very sticky. Portion the dough into eight equal pieces (about 2 oz. each) and shape each piece into a ball. Cover the dough balls loosely with plastic and let rest on the counter for at least 30 minutes and up to 2 hours.

When ready to cook the tortillas, heat a large (11-12 inch) dry cast-iron skillet or griddle over medium heat until hot. Working with one ball of dough at a time (keep the remaining dough covered) and using just enough flour to prevent sticking, roll the dough into a 9-10 inch round. The dough should be so thin that you can vaguely see the pattern of your countertop through it, and it should be more or less circular, though an amoeba shape is fine, too. Peel the dough off the counter and lay it in the skillet or on the griddle.

Cook until the tortilla bubbles and puffs and the bottom browns in spots, 45 to 60 seconds. If any gigantic bubbles form, pierce them so the tortilla cooks evenly. Flip with a spatula and cook until the second side gets brown in spots and any translucent, raw-looking areas become opaque, another 45 to 60 second. (If the tortillas brown too quickly or start to burn in spots, reduce the heat to medium low or low). Transfer the tortilla to a dishtowel and cover with a dishtowel to keep warm. Repeat process for all the tortilla balls.

Homemade Pita Bread With Curried Tuna Salad

After you make your own Pita Bread, you will never go back to store bought!

Pita Bread

1 package active dry yeast

1 teaspoon sugar

1 1/2 cups warm water 105-115 degrees

1 teaspoon salt

3 1/2 cups bread flour, plus more for dusting

1 teaspoon olive oil

In the bowl of a heavy-duty electric mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine the yeast, sugar, and warm water; stir to blend. Let the yeast stand until foamy, about 5 to 10 minutes.

Stir the salt into the flour. A little at a time, add the flour mixture mixing at the lowest speed until all the flour has been incorporated and the dough gathers into a ball; this should take about 4 minutes.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead until it's smooth and elastic. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, turn it over to coat, and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to rise until double in size, about 1 1/2 hours.

Place a large pizza stone (see ad) on the lower oven rack; preheat the oven (and stone) to 500 degrees F.

Punch the dough down, divide it into 8 pieces, and gather each piece into a ball; keeping all of them lightly floured and covered while you work. Allow the balls of dough to rest, covered, for 15 minutes so they will be easier to roll out.

Using a rolling pin, roll each dough ball into a circle that is about 8 inches in diameter and 1/4 inch thick. Making sure the circle is totally smooth, with no creases or seams in the dough, which can prevent the pitas from puffing up properly. Cover the disks as you roll them out, but do not stack them up. Put 2 pita rounds at a time on the hot pizza stone and bake for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the bread puffs up like a balloon and is pale golden. Watch closely; they bake fast. Remove the bread from the oven and place on a rack to cool for 5 minutes; they will naturally deflate, leaving a pocket in the center. Wrap the pitas in a large kitchen towel to keep them soft.

Curried Tuna Salad

2 - 6 oz. cans solid light tuna, packed in olive oil

1/4 cup sliced pickled jalapenos, drained and chopped.

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 Tbsp. fresh lime juice

2 teaspoons best-quality curry powder

1/4 cup diced celery heart

1/4 cup diced red onion

1/2 cup dark raisins

1/2 cup coarsely chopped Granny Smith apples

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves

Salt to Taste

Shredded Lettuce

Drain the tuna well and break into large chunks. Mixing gently, combine tuna with jalapenos, mayonnaise, lime juice, curry powder, celery, onion, raisins, apple, basil and salt. To assembly, stuff some shredded lettuce into pita halves along with some tuna salad.

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