That’s a lot of bread in one post, I know, but I have a very valid excuse. (Not that I need an excuse to bake bread.) Once again, its time to post my efforts at baking from Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes (a.k.a. ABin5)
For the past two ABin5/ HBin5 posts, I have been woefully behind most of the members in baking according to schedule. There’s nothing new about this where I am concerned, and it was the freedom to bake whenever one could was one of the reasons that I joined this group.
On the flip side it means that I could end up never really baking my way through the book!
So I decided it was about time I did something to catch up with the others and ended up baking a lot more bread than I normally would. Of course, I always bake in small batches and since the bread was good, no one was complaining.
This time we were to make Milk Honey Raisin Bread and Cinnamon Crescent Rolls with Cream Cheese Icing. We were also to make Chocolate Espresso Whole Wheat Brioche but I decided not to do this as I had already made the Chocolate Coffee Bread Cupcakes earlier.
The Cinnamon Crescent Rolls were to be made using the Pumpkin Pie Brioche (pg 284 of HBin5), but I have never made anything sweet or baked with pumpkin before and was sure I wanted to test the waters with this one. So I made the Brioche from ABin5 (pg 189) and used that for the crescent rolls.
You can find the Pumpkin Pie Brioche recipe here
Brioche à Tête and Cinnamon Crescent Rolls:
First I shall show you the brioche I baked. This brioche is so good, it is worth making again and again. I have made it a few times and it has never failed me yet. The last time I used that dough to make a wonderful Brioche With Chocolate Ganache
I made half the recipe and made some Brioche à Tête (pg 191) with half the dough and some Mini Cinnamon Crescent Rolls with the other half. I decided to leave my crescent rolls as they were, without the cream cheese icing. Let me say that they were gone so quickly, I just about managed to get some pictures.
There’s a post on shaping Brioche à Tête on the ABin5 site.
Milk Honey Raisin Bread:
I made the Milk Honey Raisin Bread from the HBin5 book (pg 270- 271) using my usual 1: 3 whole wheat to all purpose flour ratios, but left out the gluten. Yet another good bread from Jeff and Zoe. This bread was soft with a nice crumb, very pretty dotted with raisins and the crunch from the sugar sprinkled on the bread was a nice contrast.
Eat this bread warm from the oven or toast it to slight crispness. Either way it is good with a cup of coffee or tea.
There’s a recipe for this bread here
And now for the bread I was supposed to bake previously but never quite managed to. The last time I posted the Pine Nut Pesto Bread, I was still behind schedule. I should have made Carrot Bread and Olive Spelt Bread. The Olive Spelt Bread was out of question for me as we don’t get spelt here and after one not very good experience with olive oil in bread, I’ve decided not to bake bread where olive oil figures in a big way.
I should have also made some Gluten-free Breads but didn’t as I didn’t have the time not the are gluten-free flours for baking, available here.
Carrot Buttermilk Bread:
I did want to make the Carrot Bread but as ABin5 does not have a recipe for it, Renée of Flamingo Musings came to my rescue again. She mailed me the additions to the basic bread and I decided to work with that.
I used half the buttermilk bread recipe (pg 207 of ABin5) and added fresh coconut, grated carrots, brown sugar, raisins and some garam masala (instead of cinnamon) to the other ingredients and mixed them up. I followed the buttermilk bread recipe for baking instructions.
As is my usual practice, I used whole wheat flour and all purpose flour in 1: 3 ratios.
If you haven’t made the Buttermilk Bread from Abin5 (pg 207) yet, then you really must. I find that it is also just perfect for the carrot bread. I think the coconut normally used in this bread is desiccated (dehydrated) but I live in a place where fresh coconuts are plentiful and it didn’t seem right to use anything else.
I found this bread to be moist and very slightly sweet, just the way we like it. It makes good toast and even better French toast.
You can see the Buttermilk Bread recipe here
So that’s it for my 5 minute breads this time. Please do not forget to see what my bread baking friends have been baking this time. Catch you again in a couple of weeks with some more bread.
My Brioche à Tête is being YeastSpotted!
Happy Cook says
I have been wanting to make plain brioche, till now I have not done any. Actually other than the daily bread I have not made any bread for 2 weeks…..ALl the bread looks yumm.
Ria Mathew says
WOW!Now, that is definately a bread galore! I loved the brioche! They look cute! 🙂
Mansi says
I love the carrot loaf! the brioche buns look pretty too though:)
Chow and Chatter says
oh wow love the brioche your a star and what amazing pictures
Divya Vikram says
All breads look too good!
Petra says
Great breads, your crescents look perfect and that bread yum and the brioche looks so light I want to take a bite. Really beautiful bread.
Nags says
u are my bread-baking guru, really!
Femalechef says
Great post and lovely breads!!!
SavoringTime in the Kitchen says
Beautiful breads! You did a wonderful job with all of your recipes. I saw your adorable little brioche on Foodgawker ;)~Susan
Curry Leaf says
Everything looks AWESOME.My first preference will be the carrot buttermilk bread and then the raisinloaf.WONDERFUL Aparna
Bonnie says
I put garam masala in my carrot bread as well. And I also did brioche a tete. Great minds think alike? Your breads all turned out beautifully. You have been so busy catching up!
Kristen says
Wow – what a delicious collection of bread! They all look drool worthy!
Asha @ FSK says
Oh MY!! you have been baking quite a bit!! very productive alone week eh?! ;-))
Joanne says
It was definitely a good idea to make the carrot bread with buttermilk…it looks fantastic! And those crescents…I would die to be able to have one for breakfast. yum!
Cynthia says
I’d say that you have made up in fine and outstanding style!
Michelle says
You have been busy!I tried the AB5 Brioche for the first time and it was so good. Don’t know why I did not make it before now. Love the little brioch tins…so cute!The Buttermilk Bread is another bread I’ve not tried yet! But I have to say that your Buttermilk Carrot Bread sure looks better then mine did and I know mine was good!
Old Pop says
Now you can relax. Great looking breads.
Ezzie says
I love your breads! Great post! Also let me ask…do you mix up your own garam malasa and if so what’s the best ingredients for it? I found a recipe that calls for it and have to find it somewhere around here, or mix it myself.
MeetaK says
this is simply awesome aparna! just love the variety – brioche is always a hit here!
Zara says
Hi Aparna,I’ve just come to your blog through What’s for Lunch Honey, your recipes sound yummi and pics are looking very nice;) Cheers!Zara
Soma says
You have some really tempting recipes here. I will have to dare to try out all of them. I love those cute little cups.
Cathy (breadexperience) says
All of your breads look delicious! I can’t wait to try the honey and raisin bread. Yummy!
Elwood says
Great looking brioche.
Aparna says
Thank you. I guess I did end up baking a lot of bread over 2 weeks! :)Nags, me a gurur and yours? Now you’re making me *blush*!!! :DBonnie, great minds do think alike. :)Thanks Michelle. You must try the buttermilk bread too, when you can.Great Pop, not really. Have to make the bread for the next braid. :DEzzie, I must confess that I do not mix my own garam masala!In the place I lived earlier my spice vendor used to mix me a blend.Now I buy it readymade and I use this brand.Not quite the same as home-made, but good enough. And there is no one recipe for garam masala. The mixture and proportion of spices differs from home to home!Welcome to my virtual kitchen, Zara. Hope you like it here and will visit again.
Mama Peck says
I’m really proud of you to make such an effort to catch up. I managed to get behind too. Hopefully, I can do some catching up of my own in the near future. Your breads all look wonderful.
Danielle says
my goodness that’s a lot of catch up work! everything looks wonderful.
Avanika [YumsiliciousBakes] says
Wow so many great looking breads. I’m still scared of yeast, have yet to try even one! You serve as inspiration 🙂