Ken Cooks blog

Cooking Thoughts and Insights

Category: Breads

  • Let’s Swirl the Bread

    Cinnamon Swirl Bread

    Everyone seems to like this bread and it is pretty easy to make. Start by gathering your ingredients. Bread flour, Active dry yeast, Sugar, Salt, Vegetable oil, Cinnamon, and Powdered sugar. ( I doubled the recipe and made four loaves. The original recipe makes 2 and can be found on the Ken Cooks page of my website.)

    Start with 2 cups of warm water then sprinkle over the top with 1/4 cup sugar and 1 Tbsp.yeast. Allow about five minutes for the yeast to activate (become foamy looking). Add 5 cups bread flour, 2 teaspoons of salt, and 1/4 cup vegetable oil and mix well. (If your dough is too sticky you can add a little flour but I like to do this as I am kneading the dough adding a little at a time as I go.) After mixing your dough, you pour it out onto a floured surface and knead it well for about 5 minutes. Your dough should be soft and workable. Clean and dry your mixing bowl, coat it lightly with vegetable or canola oil and place your dough in face down. Flip it over, cover lightly with plastic wrap and place in a warm place to rise for about an hour until it doubles in size.

    Once it has risen, punch down the dough to release any trapped air and the divide it into two equal balls of dough. On your floured surface, roll the ball out to approximately 9X15 inches (assuming that you are using a 9 inch bread baking dish), sprinkle generously with powdered sugar and cinnamon and the roll tightly from the long end, pinch the bottom and the ends closed tight, and place into a lightly greased 9 inch dish. Repeat with the second ball. Place both dishes back into your warm place and allow to rise a second time for about 30 to 40 minutes until doubled in size.

    Once the loaves have risen the second time, place them into the oven at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until the tops are golden brown and sound hollow when you thump them.

    Enjoy your Cinnamon Swirl Bread toasted with butter. Delicious!

  • Soft Pretzels

    Who Doesn’t Like Soft Pretzels

    These pretzels are delicious fresh out of the oven with some melted butter or cheese sauce, and they are pretty easy to make.

    First, combine in a large bowl (if you have a stand mixer use its bowl, but if you are like me I just mix by hand) 1 ½ cups warm water (105 to 110 degrees), 1 tablespoon of sugar, 2 teaspoons kosher salt, the sprinkle 1 package of active dry yeast (or 2 ¼ teaspoons), let sit for about 5 minutes or until the yeast becomes frothy (begins to foam).

    Add four ½ cups of all-purpose flour, and ¼ cup melted butter. Mix until well combined until dough is smooth and well combined. If mixing by hand you will want to pour the dough out onto a lightly floured surface  and knead a few minutes with floured hands and sprinkling with a little four as you go to reduce stickiness.

    Clean the bowl and coat it with non-stick cooking spray. Put the dough back into the bowl and turn it over so the oiled side comes to the top. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and sit in a warm place to allow the dough to rise for approximately an hour or until the dough has doubles in size.

    Preheat your oven to 450 degrees, line two sheet pans with parchment paper and lightly brush with vegetable oil or spray lightly with non-stick spray and set aside. Bring ten cups of water to a boil and when it starts boiling add 2/3 cup baking soda.

     Meanwhile, turn the dough out onto a lightly oiled surface and divide into eight equal pieces. Roll out each piece into a 24-inch rope. Form the rope into a U shape holding the ends of the rope, then twist and attach the ends at the bottom of the U shape to form the shape of a pretzel. Place them onto your oiled parchment paper on the sheet pan.

    Place the pretzels carefully one at a time (your pan should be big enough to do two at a time) into the boiling water for 30 seconds, 15 seconds per side, then using a large spatula, return them to your parchment lined sheet pans (I always cut the parchment paper down close to the pretzels cause the excess paper tends to burn in the oven). Mix three egg yolks with three tablespoons water and brush each pretzel well with the egg wash and sprinkle generously with coarse kosher salt or pretzel salt.

    Bake the pretzels until they are a dark golden brown in color, approximately 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes before serving with butter or cheese sauce or whatever you like with your pretzels. Enjoy!