Bread, bread everywhere!

We started our bread module about two weeks ago, and I just haven't gotten a chance to post a blog about any of the things we've made. Thus, the huge amount of pictures and random items. Bread is seriously amazing to me--it's just flour, water, yeast, and maybe a starter, yet you can do so much with such simple ingredients. Anyone can make bread, but true artisan bread takes very specific methods. It's all about technique, which is what we're being taught right now and is so intriguing to me. I forgot to take pictures of a few things we made like baguettes, pretzels and bagels, but these are a good representation of what we've been working on. Enjoy!

Artisan French bread

Hot cross buns

Focaccia bread--made with fresh rosemary, red peppers, onions, and thinly sliced potatoes.

Homemade pizza--the first is with pepperoni, sausage, cheese and sauce; the second is a white cheese pizza with spinach and red peppers.

Fresh whole grain bread

Sourdough bread--we made sourdough starters and "fed" them over the weekend (which is just taking 1/2 the starter and adding water and high gluten flour) then made the bread in class.

Zeppoles--if you've never had them, it's basically just fried dough with powdered sugar. Amazing!

Doughnuts--lemon doughnut with lemon vanilla icing and sprinkles.

Coffee cinnamon doughnut with chocolate sprinkles and lemon doughnut with lemon-vanilla icing and rainbow sprinkles.

More doughnuts...

Yet more doughnuts...

Boston creme doughnut with chocolate icing...

Brioche--it's a sweet bread, and believe it or not, it's supposed to have the top part...it just shouldn't be crooked. It's called Brioche à Tête.

Pain Aux Raisin--we used currants instead of raisins and there's an almond spread and sugar fondant icing.