Twisted-up Everything Bread ...and yummy stuff for shmearing...on Moon & Stars bread...or any other.

There's been lots of fun with yeast around mi casa over past week or so.  I went to make another batch of Whole Grain Artisan bread, only to realize I was basically out of Whole Wheat flour...and I had already begun mixing the other things. I changed it up a bit and hoped for the best.  I ended up having less than a cup of the ww flour, so I subbed bread flour...not quite as healthy, but turned out every bit as satisfying!  Next came deciding what to actually make from the dough.  This was a crazy week anyway with it being the last week of school for the kiddos...which included field trips, end of year programs and field day...so we were out of the house a lot.  That's one of the cool things about making the no-knead dough...it lasts a few days in the fridge.  Although, my dough was kind of iffy this week...it seemed to be getting a bit too wet!?  It was hard to form...it just sort of sat and spread it's way across the surface it was resting on.  Basically it didn't rise as well as it could have, but you know...it didn't lose any of its appeal. You know how I adore food with rustic appeal, anyway.

The first loaf I made was from Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day...called Moon and Stars Bread...although I prefer to call it Crescent Moon bread; that's what it looks like after all!  Since this was the first loaf made from the dough, it wasn't quite as wet as it got later...but you can tell it didn't rise as much as a regular, kneaded loaf.  But the dusting of sesame seeds on top and the fun shape totally made up for it!  I used the recipe (slightly adapted, obviously...with the flours) for Whole Grain Artisan Bread found HERE at the HBin5 website.  From here you just form a 1 lb. size piece of the dough into tapered ends and form it into a crescent shape.  After a 90-minute rest, brush it with water and sprinkle it with sesame seeds before cutting slits around the sides with kitchen shears.  Bake ~30 minutes or until done.

This was a great tasting loaf made even better by shmearing with a little White Bean and Roasted Garlic Purée w/ Thyme, which is from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman.

White Bean Purée with Roasted Garlic (& thyme)
slightly adapted
2 c. cooked Great Northern Beans
20 roasted Garlic cloves
2 tsp. fresh thyme leaves
1 Tbs. olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Purée beans, garlic and thyme in blender or food processor...adding a bit of the bean cooking liquid or water or stock until it just makes a smooth purée.  Add to small saucepan with olive oil and mix until hot.  Season with salt and pepper.  Dip it, spread it, shmear it!

...and now on to my favorite surprise from this dough...a happy surprise!  Although I had my doubts...when I turned out the last 3 pounds of the dough onto the counter, it was wet.  Very, very wet.  I added a bit of flour just to help me form the loaves.  I divided it into five ropes and rolled each rope in different delicious toppings.  I wanted to make a twisted-ropelike loaf...um...it was a struggle just to braid them.  Once I left the loaves (I cut it in half because it was a lot of dough) to rise...they just sort of melted together...no visible twist.  Ugh.  BUT, the gorgeous toppings were still twisted and combined and scattered...they looked gorgeous!

I let them rise for ~1 hour and cooked them at 450 degrees F for ~35 minutes, until they were golden and inviting!  What was really cool about the bread was the goodies enveloped inside...since the ropes melded together, there were seeds, crunchy salt, pungeant garlic and mellow, roasted, delicious garlic cloves hidden inside!  It was soooo tasty.  It didn't form and rise perfectly...as a matter of fact it kind of looked like a loaf of ciabatta...but man, was it tasty!

It was delicious sliced lengthwise and made into sammies!  I used what I had today which was salami, pepper-jack cheese, roasted red peppers and bbq potato chips...sound strange?  It was awesome! Mingled with all the deliciousness going on in the bread itself...I think I'll go make another when I'm done here, actually.

Me and my Twisted Everything Bread...we're goin' places.  Like on a picnic...yeah, that sounds perfect.

*I am submitting my Twisted Everything Bread to my friend Natashya at Living in the Kitchen with Puppies for Bread Baking Day #30~ Breads with a twist.
*I am submitting both breads to the current HBin5 Bread Braid...our host for HBin5 is Michelle of Big Black Dog...where the HBin5 group is based!
*The White Bean Purée with Roasted Garlic is my entry to this week's Herb Garden theme over at IHCC...please join us!
*And last, but not least...I'm sending the bread to Susan at Wild Yeast submission into Yeastspotting this week.
Whew!

This bread has been YEASTSPOTTED!!!