Testing Challah With Nutella

My dear middle child doesn't really take cheese bread. She, however, is fond of Nutella on her bread, plus sliced banana. She loves muffins filled with jam and brownies. She is crazy for s'mores .... warm, melt-in-the-mouth marshmallows over a puddle of melted chocolate in sandwiched between (she likes) digestive bars.... She may not admit it, but I really think that she's got a sweet tooth. I thought of baking a sweet bun filled with chocolate for her and I used Challah dough from from Artisan Bread In Five Minutes A Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François.



I was aware of the potential challenge that I would face as the dough was very soft, even after having been refrigerated. I gave a small try, I baked only two small muffin size buns, generously filled with nutella and topped with chopped almond. They turned out yummy! I still have plenty of dough to make, I will make some more, maybe tomorrow.

Cheddar Cheese Bread Sticks

These are bread sticks with cheddar cheese. I put the dough together in the morning yesterday after the kids left for school. Grated cheese, flour and the rests of the gang. I kept the dough in the fridge after rising and only took them out towards late afternoon, before the kids arrive back from school and I was ready to bake them. The dough was very easy to work with when it was cold. The basic recipe comes from Artisan Bread In Five Minutes A Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François, Vermont Cheddar Bread, with much more grated cheese added.

A Quicker No-Knead Bread

Call me obsessed or impulsive, I just couldn't wait much longer to start making the bread using the recipe on Kitt's blog . I wouldn't be able to sleep unless I tried the recipe! I started around 6:30PM, it happened that we didn't have dinner together, my husband was out of town and my three girls had three different schedules and everyone had dinner upon arriving late afternoon from school and ran off to their activities. I halved the recipe and at the beginning I was not going to bake the bread that very evening, knowing that I could store the dough in the fridge and I would have many days to bake them.

I was pleased seeing how much the dough has risen after two hours and decided to go on and fold it twice and let it rest for another 10-15 minutes. Of course, I continued with shaping it into a ball and letting it rest for 45 minutes while I started warming up my dutch oven. By the time I put the dough in the oven, it was already 9:30 PM.

Out of excitement, I forgot to slash a cross on top of the bread, I only used a kitchen scissors to make a couple of small slits. After baking it with the lid on for 20 minutes and uncovered for another 15 minutes, of course it was already past my youngest daughter's bed time. Not mommy's, she couldn't resist tasting it as soon as it was ready. Mommy just have to have a bit! It was great, the crust was just crunchy and the inside was just incredibly yummy!! The pictures weren't that great though, taken after 10PM without natural light. But now I know I could have a good and peaceful night sleep!! And next time, I will leave the dough in the fridge for a while to improve its texture and taste.

Thanks to Kitt and to "Artisan Bread" authors Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François.
This is a recipe that I will use again and again.