Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Cooking with Auden: PB&J Bread

I came across this recipe the other day and thought how could this be bad. It saves the trouble of spreading the PB&J and is way less messy for one (almost) 4 year old.

Ingredients

1 large (about 60 grams) egg, beaten
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons (280 grams) bread flour
2 tablespoons (20 grams) whole wheat flour
3/4 teaspoon (4 grams) table salt
1/4 teaspoon (1 gram) instant or other active dry yeast
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (260 grams) cool (55 to 65 degrees F) water
3 tablespoons (50 grams) unsalted smooth peanut butter
1/4 cup (35 grams) unsalted dry-roasted peanuts, whole
1/4 cup (35 grams) unsalted dry-roasted peanuts, roughly chopped
1/3 cup (100 grams) seedless fruit jam of choice (we used 2 flavors)
oil

additional flour for dusting


Reserve 1 tablespoon of the beaten egg for glazing the bread.

In a medium bowl, stir together the flours, salt, and yeast, stir to combine.




Add in the non-reserved egg.



Blend.

Blend the water and peanut butter in a blender until smooth.

Add mixture to the flour mixture and, using a spoon or your hand, mix until you have a wet, sticky dough without any lumps, about 30 seconds.

Stir in the whole peanuts until evenly distributed. Cover the bowl and let sit at room temperature until the surface is dotted with bubbles and the dough is more than doubled in size, about 6-12 hours.

When the first rise is complete, sprinkle the surface of the dough with flour.

Use a bowl scraper or rubber spatula to scrape the dough out of the bowl in one piece. Lightly flour your hands and gently pat and pull the dough into a rough rectangle about 8 by 12 inches.


Position the dough so a long side is in front of you. Spread the jam evenly over the surface of the dough, leaving a 1-inch border on all sides. We made stripes of blueberry and strawberry. Lift up the far side of the rectangle and fold one third of it over toward the center, then continue rolling up the remainder into a cylinder. With the seam on the bottom, tuck the ends of the roll under to seal them, so the jam doesn't ooze out during baking.


Lightly coat the loaf pan with oil. Sprinkle half of the chopped peanuts into the bottom of the pan. Gently transfer the dough, seam side down, to the loaf pan.


Sprinkle the remaining chopped peanuts onto the dough. Cover the dough with a towel and place it in a warm, draft-free spot to rise for 1 hour. The dough is ready when it has doubled. If you gently poke it with your finger, it should hold the impression. If it springs back, let it rise for another 15 minutes.

About 15 minutes before the end of the second rise, preheat the oven to 450°F, with a rack in the center.

Brush the top of the dough with the reserved beaten egg. Bake until golden, about 1 hour. If the peanuts start to darken, loosely cover the loaf with foil. Use pot holders to invert the pan onto a rack, remove the pan, and turn the bread right side up to cool thoroughly.


Enjoy!