The Chronicles of Yeast: Rise and Conquer

Today was the day that you have all been waiting for. I have successfully managed to produce the perfect environment to allow yeast to do it's thing. Yes, folks, you heard right. Bread rose, not once, but twice. It was a beautiful thing. I feel like a new woman. I am beaming with pride, or it could just be the sugar high from the bread I made. I'm not quite sure, but either way, it's good. Here's how it all went down. I know you are dying to know what happened.

This is some flour, yeast, sugar, and salt just hanging out in the bowl for my electric mixer. I can't use my electric mixer, though. He died. Today, I am required to use some good old-fashioned elbow grease. In the little bowl are a couple of eggs all beaten up.

On the sidelines, I am heating some milk and butter together. You heat it until the butter is just melted. Add some water and vanilla to that. Then you patiently wait for the temperature of the miltter is 115-125 degrees. Millter is the way cool people say milk and butter. But, since you are cool, you already knew that.

Anyway. Once your millter is at the right temperature, add it to the flour mixture. Stir until it is just combined. Then add the eggs and stir with a spatula until they are fully incorporated. It's a little tricky. You have to work for it. Those little eggs are going to raise some hell. Add a little more flour and mix it all together. Here I tossed the spatula to the side and went for it full force and dove in with my hands.

Put your ball o' dough in a greased bowl. Cover it with plastic wrap.

Alright. It is time to reveal my secret of how I got my yeast to finally rise. I came to the conclusion that I had to create a warm space for my dough to rest in. My kitchen is a large open space with a window right next to my oven, smack dab in the middle of my counter. There is only one heating vent in my kitchen, clear across the room. There really was no place to put my dough that would be warm enough.

To solve this problem, I heated my oven to the lowest temperature it would go. I placed a cookie sheet on the middle rack, then placed the bowl with my dough on top of that with a clean kitchen towel folded over the top. This is a yeast heaven.

Just a sidebar. How come recipes always tell you to cover your dough with a clean kitchen towel. Do they really assume you would use a dirty one? Like, you would pull a wet, grubby towel out of your laundry basket and say, "This looks like the perfect towel to cover my dough with." I just always thought it was funny they had to emphasize that the towel be clean. Sorry. Let's get back to the task at hand.

See how my dough went from flab to drab? I totally just stole that line from a infomercial type commercial that was just on. That is an amazing thing. Look how it grew. It's a beautiful sight. Oh, how I have longed for risen bread dough.

Dump that dough out and deflate it. Knead a few tablespoons of flour into it, cover with a kitchen towel and let rest for 5 minutes.

 In a small bowl, mix together some sugar and cinnamon. Also, grease a loaf pan. Set both aside. We will return to them shortly. But first, we must play with our dough.

Take your beautiful lump of dough and roll it out to 12x20. If you listen to the dough when you are rolling it out, it sounds like the world's smallest bubble wrap is being popped. Or I am slowly killing the Rice Krispie Snap, Crackle, and Pop guys. That was a little morbid, but it's the truth. Listen closely next time.

Once your dough is rolled out, spread some melted butter onto it. Then cover it in your cinnamon/sugar mixture. That is a pretty, pretty sight.

Cut your dough into 6 strips and stack them on top of each other.

Cut the stack of strips into 6 piles.

Put those piles of dough into your loaf pan, standing them up against each other. It's kind of a tight fit. They are making a nice cozy home in there. Cover this with a CLEAN kitchen towel and let it rest for another 30-45 minutes or until it has at least doubled in size. I put mine right back into my warm oven. Look how beautiful it looks after it has risen a second time. All of those little slices of dough start to fill up that loaf pan like they own it.

 

Bake your bread at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. You want the outside to be nice and brown, not just light brown, or the middle will still be doughy.

Let the bread rest in the loaf pan for 30 minutes after you take it out of the oven. Using a butter knife, loosen the bread along the edges. Flip the loaf pan onto a plate. That's what is happening in the bottom picture on the left. Look at the ooey-gooey goodness happening there. Flip the loaf back over. Pull apart the layers. I shouldn't have to tell you what to do next, but it does involve biting and chewing.

This bread tastes best warm, but you can cover it and keep it for two days. If you can keep it for two whole days, you deserve an award. Between Avery, Kendall, and me, only 1/3 of the bread remains. I made it in the middle of the morning, and we snacked on it all afternoon. I would have loved to dunk one of those pieces in a delicious cup of hot coffee. I bet that would have knocked my socks off.

Here's how to do it, if you dare:

Cinnamon Sugar Pull-Apart Bread

via joythebaker.com

For the Dough:

2 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 1/4 teaspoons (1 envelope) active dry yeast

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 ounces unsalted butter

1/3 cup whole milk

1/4 cup water

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the Filling:

1 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

2 ounces unsalted butter, melted

In a large mixing bowl (I used just the bowl of my stand mixer) whisk together 2 cups flour, sugar, yeast, and salt.  Set aside.

Whisk together eggs and set aside.

In a small saucepan, melt together milk and butter until butter has just melted.  Remove from the heat and add water and vanilla extract.  Let mixture stand for a minute or two, or until the mixture registers 115 to 125 degrees F.

Pour the milk mixture into the dry ingredients and mix with a spatula.  Add the eggs and stir the mixture until the eggs are incorporated into the batter.  The eggs will feel soupy and it’ll seem like the dough and the eggs are never going to come together.  Keep stirring.  Add the remaining 3/4 cup of flour and stir with the spatula for about 2 minutes.  

Place the dough is a large, greased bowl.  Cover with plastic wrap and a clean kitchen towel.  Place in a warm space and allow to rest until doubled in size, about 1 hour.  *The dough can be risen until doubled in size, then refrigerated overnight for use in the morning.  If you’re using this method, just let the dough rest on the counter for 30 minutes before following the roll-out directions below.

While the dough rises, whisk together the sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg for the filling.  Set aside.  Melt 2 ounces of butter.  Set aside.  Grease and flour a 9×5x3-inch  loaf pan.  Set that aside too.

Deflate the risen dough and knead about 2 tablespoons of flour into the dough.  Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rest for 5 minutes.  On a lightly floured work surface, use a rolling pin to roll the dough out. The dough should be 12-inches tall and about 20-inches long.  

Use a pastry brush to spread melted butter across all of the dough.  Sprinkle with all of the sugar and cinnamon mixture.  

Slice the dough vertically, into six equal-sized strips.  Stack the strips on top of one another and slice the stack into six equal slices once again.  You’ll have six stacks of six squares.  Layer the dough squares in the loaf pan like a flip-book.  Place a kitchen towel over the loaf pan and allow in a warm place for 30 to 45 minutes or until almost doubled in size.

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.  Place loaf in the oven and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the top is very golden brown.  The top may be lightly browned, but the center may still be raw.  A nice, dark, golden brown will ensure that the center is cooked as well.

Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 20 to 30 minutes.   Run a butter knife around the edges of the pan to loosen the bread and invert onto a clean board.  Place a cake stand or cake plate on top of the upside down loaf, and carefully invert so it’s right side up.