Fresh Baked Dilly Bread

Well foo. A small bout of food poisoning (not from my own cooking; stop laughing!) put my good intentions to get back on schedule to waste. Bleargh. Oh well. Here's a recipe post a day or two later than planned. I hope you all enjoy it!

This particular recipe has been in the family for a while. My grandparents used to make this and my mom's been raving about it for years. I had never had it before, but I do have access to all my grandparents' old recipes. That, combined with some texting to my mom/consultant, enabled me to recreate their process.  She seems to think it turned out pretty well. It was certainly tasty and delicious. Fair warning, this is not a difficult recipe but it does require a significant time investment for rising of dough.

What You'll Need

Supplies

Large mixing bowl                                                       Measuring cups

Small bowl                                                                   Wooden mixing spoon

Measuring spoons                                                        Plastic wrap

Mortar and pestle                                                         Round casserole dish

Spoon

Ingredients

1 packet dry active yeast                                            1 tsp onion powder

1/4 cup warm water                                                   1/4 tsp baking soda

8 oz small curd cottage cheese                                    1 1/2 Tbsp dill seed, divided

2 Tbsp sugar                                                               1 egg

1 Tbsp butter, soft + some for greasing                     2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

Now Let's Make Dilly Bread!
Start by making sure you have a warm, dry place around 85-90 F to place the dough while it rises.  If you don't (I live in an apartment that's generally cold and drafty), you can set your oven on warm and put it in there. I also find (if its not summer) that a car parked in the sun does the trick. Warm on my oven is about 100 F so I let it heat, then turn it off, then repeat until the dough has had enough time to rise.

Measure out 1/4 cup warm water and pour it into the large mixing bowl. Make sure the water is very warm but not very hot. You want to activate the yeast, not kill it (like a visit to the spa instead of the Sun). Add the yeast to the water, sprinkling it evenly along the surface and allow it to soften. Softening yeast is a fancy term for letting it foam (I like to picture a little yeast disco). Leave your yeasty water alone for about 10 minutes, and when you come back it should be nice and frothy. If it's not, throw it away, get new yeast, and start over.

Beginning to foam

While you're waiting for your yeast to froth, measure out 8 oz of small curd cottage cheese (at least 1%; none of this nonfat junk, please) into your small bowl. Heat it to lukewarm in the microwave; about 20 seconds out to do the trick.

Then, measure out and add to the small bowl 2 Tbsp sugar, 1 Tbsp soft butter, 1 tsp onion powder, 1/4 tsp baking soda. Don't bother mixing it yet, this is just a prep bowl. If you're using a stand mixer, don't worry about having soft butter, but if you're doing it by hand it's a must.

Pile'o'ingredients

Add 1 Tbsp of dill seed to the small bowl. Put the other 1/2 Tbsp of dill seed in your mortar and pestle and grind until partially crushed. You don't need to go for a powder, but you want all the seed to be broken up. This releases more of the dill flavor into the bread. Add the crushed dill seed to the small bowl.

Crush, crush, crush

By now, your yeast should be foaming. Add the small bowl of ingredients to the yeast. Crack your large egg into the bowl as well. Mix the ingredients together until everything is well blended. You'll especially have to watch that egg, as the whites will resist mixing with the other liquids (snobs).

Dental floss, anyone?

Begin adding your flour to the liquid mixture 1/2 cup at a time. Beat well after each addition. I find that by the last addition I have to get in there with my hands because the dough begins to get stiff and hard to mix with the spoon. Make sure as much of your flour gets squished into the dough as possible. By the end, you should have a rounded floury ball of dough. If, for some reason, you find that your dough is too wet, you may add and addition 1/4 cup flour; just be careful.

 After addition 1                                                  After addition 2

 After addition 3                                                  After final addition

Place the dough ball in the center of the large bowl and cover the bowl loosely with plastic wrap (ie attach the wrap firmly but don't vacuum seal the thing). Place the bowl in a warm place and allow it to rise for 50-60 minutes. The dough should double in size and be nice and light.

Bundled up and ready to rise

While you wait, grease the bottom and sides of your round casserole dish with butter. I use a 9", 2 qt. round dish.  Once the dough has risen, stir it down and turn into the casserole dish. Let it rise for an additional 30-40 minutes in a warm place until the dough is light.

First rise

Stirred down

Second Rise

Bake at 350F for about 30-40 minutes until bread is golden brown.

Extract carefully with butter knife and fingers

Cut, serve, and nom!

   

Best Thing Since Sliced Bread

Okay, okay, so to eat this Irish Soda Bread, technically you have to slice up the loaf.  Semantics.  Prior to tonight, I had never had nor really thought much about Irish Soda Bread.  I've read books, plays, and the like that mentioned it, but it never really occurred to me to try making it.  Let me just say, "Thank goodness I finally did." Because, yum. I got this recipe from the back of Karen Marie Moning's Dreamfever, though I did alter some ingredients and procedures to make it better. (I also left out the book's call for wriggling Unseelie flesh.  You're welcome). Irish Soda Bread is a thick bread, leavened (made to rise) by using baking soda rather than yeast.  Traditionally the bread simply consists of the base bread; however, additions of items like raisins or nuts can be made, as you see here.  I imagine that the bread would go really well with a nice stew, since the thickness would help sop up any broth.

What You'll Need

Supplies

Large mixing bowl                                                        2 butter knives

Whisk                                                                            Small bowl

Measuring cups                                                             Wooden mixing spoon

Measuring spoons                                                          Large cast iron skillet

Ingredients

4 cups all-purpose flour, + some for shaping              4 Tbsp butter (1/2 stick)

2 Tbsp sugar                                                                 1 cup raisins

1 tsp salt                                                                        1 large egg

1 tsp baking soda                                                          1 3/4 cup buttermilk

Now Let's Make Irish Soda Bread

Whisk away

To begin, preheat the oven to 425F. Take your large mixing bowl and add the flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda. Whisk these ingredients together until evenly smooth in texture.  You can also use a sifter and sift them together, but whisking is just as effective with a lot less hassle and is less bulky.

Cut the butter into large chunks and soften it very slightly (about 10 seconds in a microwave if it wasn't already softened). Plop that into the flour mixture. Now, if you happen to have a pastry cutter around use that (fancy pants), otherwise, cut the butter into the flour mixture using your two butter knives.  When you get frustrated with that smash the butter into the flour mixture using the whisk (cause those wires are about the same as a pastry cutter, let's face it). When you're done, run your fingers through the mixture to make sure you've taken care of any large chunks of butter.  The flour mixture should now have a course meal texture (also known as chunky flour).

Once your butter is sufficiently cut in, add the raisins to the bowl and mix them in using your hands (if you're squeamish about sticking your hand - clean I hope - in food, you'll need to get over it quick; it only gets messier).

Buttermilk

Crack an egg into your small bowl and beat the egg.  Add this to the flour along with the buttermilk.  Stir with your wooden spoon until all the flour is mixed in and dough is stiff.  Lightly flour your hands and begin to gently work the dough into a ball shape.  Do NOT knead the dough; if you over work it the soda bread will be tough. (unless of course you like to nosh on concrete) If the dough is too wet to work, gradually add small amounts of flour, working it in with your hands gently until dough is workable.  Keep in mind that you may need to wash the dough off your hands to form it completely, since the dough will stick to the dough on your hands rather than shaping.

When ready, remove the dough from the bowl and place it on a lightly floured surface (aka counter). Shape the dough into a round loaf.  Grease the cast iron skillet using what remains of your stick of butter. Just use the stick to do it, don't grease it with the whole thing). Rub the butter on both the base and sides of the skillet, but do not coat too heavily.  Place your dough in the center of the greased skillet.  Using one of your butter knives, score the top of the loaf in the shape of an X in order to open the loaf and allow the center to cook through.

Irish Soda Bread

Bake the loaf at 425F for 40-50 minutes until the bread is golden brown. You can tell if it is done by inserting a knife into the center; if it comes out clean, your soda bread is cooked.  Serve in slices with butter or along with a stew.  I for one, will be serving it next week along with Brunswich Stew. (Not the exact same loaf! Blegh.)  Mmmmmmm.  What would you serve it with?

Presented by my fabulous assistant