A Thousand Recipes for Revenge‘s ebook has been on sale for $2.49 for the month of January. The month is almost done, alas, and that means the sale will also end. The second book in the duology just came out, too, which means you can read them back to back! No worries about months of wait as you wonder what happens next to Ada and Solenn!
Grab the book now through this affiliate link, and please, spread the word! I don’t know when the book will be on sale again.
Posted by Beth on Jan 24, 2024 in Blog, Bready or Not, yeast bread | Comments Off on Bready or Not Original: Small Batch Crusty Bread
Some bread recipes make a lot of bread. While bread freezes well, not everyone has the space or wants the bread for later. If you just want a small, special round of bread to be shared by 2 or 3 people, this is the bread for you.
This round is rustic, simple, and delicious. It doesn’t require kneading, and therefore doesn’t even ask for a electronic mixer for ease. You don’t even need bread flour. All-purpose does the job just fine.
I first tried this recipe when most of my kitchen was packed up for the move. I didn’t have all of my usual implements or ingredients, but I could make this, and wow, was it good.
I’ve tried this in my small cast iron skillet and in a Pampered Chef covered stoneware dish. Both worked well, but I actually preferred the rise and extra crustiness that came with using the cast iron. These pictures actually depict the stoneware-baked bread, and I daresay, they still don’t look too bad.
This recipe yields a small bread round perfect for 2 or 3 people to share with a meal, with no leftovers likely. The outside is crunchy and crisp, the inner crumb tender and flecked with holes. This is an easy bread to make; everything is done by hand, and kneading isn't necessary.
Course: Bread
Keyword: yeast bread
Author: Beth Cato
Equipment
digital thermometer
cotton towel or napkin
small cast iron skillet or small stoneware dish
parchment paper
Ingredients
1teaspoonactive dry yeast
1teaspoonhoney
2/3cupswarm water 100-110 degrees
1teaspoonkosher salt
1 to 1 2/3cupsall-purpose flour plus more for dusting
Instructions
In a large bowl, stir together the yeast, honey, and warm water. Let it sit about 5 to 10 minutes. The yeast should activate and begin to bloom near the top of the water.
Add flour. Using a sturdy spoon, stir until everything starts to come together, then add the kosher salt. Continue mixing until no dry flour remains in the bowl. The dough should be shaggy and somewhat sticky. Cover the bowl with a towel or plastic wrap and stash it in a warm spot in the kitchen to rise for an hour. It should double in size.
Set out a small bowl and layer a cotton towel inside. Generously flour the towel. Lightly flour a work surface. Tip the dough onto the work surface. Be gentle as to not lose the bubbles. Shape the dough with cupping and tucking motions, drawing the round to be tighter by tucking the rough bits underneath. Place the formed round in the floured-towel bowl with the seam underneath. Cover with a towel or plastic wrap to rise for 30 minutes.
Begin preheating the oven at 450-degrees. Place the small cast iron or stoneware inside the oven to heat up as well–and please remember to use potholders when handling it throughout the baking process!
Pull out a piece of parchment paper. Tip the risen bread onto the parchment, gently tugging it free with the towel if it sticks in spots. Pull the hot pan from the oven. Use the parchment as a sling to set the parchment and bread inside the pan as levelly as possible.
Bake for 22 to 25 minutes. The bread should be browned and sound hollow if tapped on the bottom. Let cool about 10 to 15 minutes so that it can be handled to be sliced and enjoyed. If there are any leftovers, store them in a sealed bag at room temperature or to freeze for later. Freshly-made bread is best eaten within a day.
These Chewy Biscoff Chocolate Chip Cookies taste even more inherently cookie dough-like thanks to cookie butter mixed into the dough. They are chewy, sweet, and oh-so-good.
Because someone always asks, “What’s cookie butter?” The answer is: an addictive substance found near the peanut butter in most every grocery store in America; even my local Walmart has it in the main Biscoff brand or as a Walmart generic, and Trader Joe’s calls it Speculoos. It’s essentially pulverized cookies and oil. It has the exact same texture as peanut butter and can substitute for it in most any recipe. There is nothing healthy about it and it is incredibly delicious.
If you search for Biscoff/cookie butter recipes on Bready or Not, you’ll find a ton of recipes. It’s been one of my favorite ingredients for over ten years.
That’s how old this recipe is, too–so old that I originally posed it on the LiveJournal version of Bready or Not! It was high time it had a remake (or rebake).
Bready or Not: Chewy Biscoff Chocolate Chip Cookies Redux
Cookie butter amps up the cookie dough flavor in these baked delights.
Course: Dessert, Snack
Keyword: chocolate, cookie butter, cookies
Author: Beth Cato
Ingredients
1/2cupunsalted butter room temperature
1/2cupwhite sugar
1/2cupbrown sugar packed
1/4cupCreamy Biscoff spread or other cookie butter
1large egg room temperature
1teaspoonvanilla
1 1/2cupsall-purpose flour
1teaspoonbaking soda
1/4teaspoonsalt
1cupchocolate chips
flaked sea salt optional, for top
Instructions
Cream butter with both sugars until light and fluffy. Mix in the egg, vanilla, and cookie butter.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. Gradually mix the dry ingredients into the wet. Fold in the chocolate chips.
Wrap up dough and chill it in the fridge for a few hours or overnight.
Preheat oven to 350-degrees.
Drop the dough by large tablespoons onto baking sheet. If desired, press a pinch of flaked sea salt onto each round. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Let set on pan briefly and then transfer to a cooling rack. Store cookies in a sealed container at room temperature.
Tomorrow will be my first book event in my new home of Minnesota, and, uh, the temperature is supposed to dip subzero for the first time this season. Brave the cold, and I’ll try to make it worth your while with lots of free, delicious cookies and excerpts from my works. I’ll have some of my new releases for sale, too.
WHERE: Red Wing Public Library in Red Wing, MN, right on the Wisconsin border
WHEN: January 13th at 10am
BE MORE PRECISE, PLEASE: the Foot Room, down in the basement, where there probably aren’t any ghosts