Monday, November 26, 2007

Unleash some Daring Magic!

savoury potato braid

I suspect that our lovely hostess for this challenge added the "knead it with your hands" just for me...
You might know that my hands and a sticky gooey mass are not a happy combination, not because I'm afraid I will ruin my manicure (pfff mani what?) but because I dread having all these stuff sticking to, in and between my fingers, I love to bake bread but I seriously love my DeLonghi! Tanna must have had so much fun writing this down! I love you! Really I do! Well not at the time of kneading but before and after..oh yesssss!

In comes the magic! With a little help from my friend Monique who had been a witness and active participant to a memorable challenge, went to New York and came back with.....this!

Don't worry, I will show and tell in my ""Gadgets that.." series, for now the Challenge comes first. I managed to bake this particular recipe three times....
Every time I made a part of this dough in rolls and loaves and saved a part to play with. I must say that I like the loaves better than the rolls, I think the extra handling to make them into rolls made the crumb tighter than I would like to see in a roll.

tender potato bread (loaf and rolls)

Inspired by the potatoes in the dough ánd the fact that we Dutch thrive on our PMV (potatoes, meat, vegetables) I decided I'd combine the three in one bread. Added leek to the dough, and rolled cumin seasoned ground beef in the braids, et voilà: "all in one Dutch Dinner Fare". Can't find my pic..will add later if I can find it... together with my notes for baking this with Dutch flour and how many potatoes I used...

Our scheduled bake-off with Challenge Master Tanna and Ilva (who had to back out and watch from the side lines due to unforeseen circumstances, she baked a couple of days later .... missed you!) resulted in focaccia as per the recipe suggested. I must say that I love love love this dough for focaccia! After second rise I spread the dough (without degassing) in a brownie pan, dimpled and drizzled generously with olive oil, topped with chopped black and green olives, capers, raw onions and some lost bits of red pepper. Seriously good! In fact it was so good I had to rescue this part to make a pic!

tender potato focaccia DB

Part of the dough was rolled out, filled with Tandoori Chicken and mock-braided and was devoured still warm during a weekend afternoon: crispy crust, succulent chicken breast and spices...yum!

potato bread filled with chicken tikka

Next was trying to bake this particular dough in a Romertopf (or unglazed cloche), which turned out really well, as usual I love the rustic looks of these kinds of bread. Especially when a dough is wetter than most, a cloche is the ideal vehicle to bake in. Follow these hints and it's easy.

tender potato bread in romertopf

All in all a very pleasurable experience, I for one was glad that cows and hens got time off to rest a while, although I suspect they have to be ready for the next challenge! Follow our adventures and click! As she stated in issuing our challenge, Tanna stood up for all savouries out there in saying "you see I am a savory girl and must protect my reputation". Well she did, with a vengeance! Tanna, thanks for dreaming up this challenge, I owe you...big time!

55 comments:

  1. Wow, your breads look amazing ! Congrats !

    ReplyDelete
  2. Karen, I missed you too when I finally managed to get going and make it! Lovely lovely photos!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Marvelous!!! You were so creative and the pictures truly capture your efforts. :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great job!

    And thanks to your advice mine turned our well too...

    ReplyDelete
  5. They turned out wonderful! Very pretty!

    ReplyDelete
  6. All your loaves look wonderful and scrumptious! Well done!

    Cheers,

    Rosa

    ReplyDelete
  7. All your bread incarnations looks equally delicious, K.
    I made a focaccia as well, but it 'disappeared' before I could take any pictures of it...

    ReplyDelete
  8. focaccia is definitly the best one.. so tasty yummy..
    here i have to takepics befero serve the bread 'cause otherwise will have no food to take a pic..

    ReplyDelete
  9. I love those gloves girl!! I also like the idea of doing it in a römertopf and filling it with tandoori chicken. How ingenious!

    ReplyDelete
  10. You have done a very very god job...well done!

    ReplyDelete
  11. your breads all looks awesome, good job on each one of them

    ReplyDelete
  12. Those gloves are a miracle! And so is your bread...Tandoori Chicken! That sounds so delicious!

    BB
    buttabuns.wordpress.com

    ReplyDelete
  13. So many versions of the bread - you really pulled out all the stops. Each sounds very tasty in its own way, too.

    ReplyDelete
  14. your bread looks wonderful!

    ReplyDelete
  15. This challenge seems to have had a lot of us making it three times. Yours came out beautifully on all of them!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Love your filled potato bread! What a clever twist with Tandoori Chicken. Well done.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Your breads look very tasty and your hands perfectly clean :)

    ReplyDelete
  18. :) :) :)
    Well done, looks delicious.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Your bread looks wonderfully crisp and soft at the same time. I love the kneading glove too! Great job this month as usual and like you was glad for some savory instead of sweet.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Fantastic! I love the look of the loaf baked in the cloche, so rustic and inviting. You did a lovely job!

    ReplyDelete
  21. I want some of those gloves!! What beautiful bread!

    ReplyDelete
  22. Beautiful job- love the braid and the fillings sound marvelous!
    xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  23. Evil. Meat / Bread / Potatoes, all in one? Truly evil ... no wonder you made this three times this month!

    Wonderful bread, wonderful braid, and great idea!

    ReplyDelete
  24. Filled with Tandori chicken? Wow...how fantastic.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Karen,
    Is that a "kneading glove" or was it Michael Jackson's hand in that slide show??
    Great pictures and you did so many things with that dough! Once again, I would like to just live under your kitchen counters and eat the crumbs of all those wonderful breads you bake!! Nice job!

    ReplyDelete
  26. I love what you did with your breads! Fabulous ideas. They are just lovely. I must ask you about your gloves - are they special? How did you keep the dough from sucking the glove off your hand (and sucking you in too?). Okay, I am joking, but I do want to know how those gloves aren't sticking to that dough!! :)

    -jen at use real butter

    ReplyDelete
  27. Oooh , very very pretty. I love that slide show too...

    ReplyDelete
  28. how wonderful. Chicken stuffed bread sounds amazing.

    ReplyDelete
  29. I agree: let's find one neghborhood and let's all move in next to one another. We will have the tasty and most educated community out there!! I love the looks of all the bread and you just reminded to dust my cloche off adn make another boule!

    ReplyDelete
  30. I love the braids!! Nice shape and oh my...the fococcia looks fabulous =D

    ReplyDelete
  31. Love everything that you did with the dough. I too, like rustic looking bread. You're like Tanna and seriously good at bread making! Like the cool gloves.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Such impressive array of breads! You did a great job :)

    ReplyDelete
  33. All your breads look fantastic! And now you've got me thinking I must do a filled one next time...mmmm! :) I'm also very glad Tanna chose this challenge :)

    ReplyDelete
  34. You did a fabulous job on your breads! I loved your filled version with the tandoori chicken...I can't wait to try it in a gluten free version.

    Natalie @ Gluten A Go Go

    ReplyDelete
  35. Baking Soda,

    Fantastic looking breads... what a selection!!

    ReplyDelete
  36. Prachtige broden, Karen. Mijn complimenten!

    ReplyDelete
  37. Fantastic bread!!! Where did you find a glove that dough does not stick too...And I thought I had every kitchen gadget in the universe!

    ReplyDelete
  38. Wow, all your breads look awesome! I'm excited to see that you were able to weave it--I think it's such an excellent way to work dough. Thanks for the inspiration, and congrats on a job well done!

    ReplyDelete
  39. OMG! That's such awesome stuffed bread! I also love that glove gadget you use ;)

    ReplyDelete
  40. Tandori chicken braid. Brilliant. I am so-ooo not worthy.

    And I'm still picking pieces of potato dough out of my ring...where can I get one of those gloves?

    ReplyDelete
  41. Very nice post! The pics are great. Your breads look wonderful!

    ReplyDelete
  42. Wow, you made alot with the bread. I can't wait to read about this mysterious glove you are wearing. Cause I was picking dough out of my nails for days.

    ReplyDelete
  43. Love the idea of tandoori chicken in your bread! Well done!

    ReplyDelete
  44. That is some really fab rustic looking bread! I was memorised by those gloves! are they special dough kneading ones? I have never seen them before!

    ReplyDelete
  45. You have been so creative here :) Well done!

    ReplyDelete
  46. Amazing bread! Each one looks really great.

    Can you believe that my nails were long when I made this? I must have cleaned under my nails fifty times during this!

    Christina ~ She Runs, She Eats

    ReplyDelete
  47. What wonderful looking breads! Amazing!
    I love the idea of stuffing it to make a meal from it, going to have to look into some stuffing ideas and see if I can find one that appeals to my boys!

    ReplyDelete
  48. That glove is weird and funny all at the same time! I love the pictures and of course the bread is unbelievable ... especially the braid!

    ReplyDelete
  49. HA! The gloves crack me up! Was there fuzz in the bread? It looks wonderful...see what hand kneeding can do for bread?!

    ReplyDelete
  50. That round loaf looks PERFECT! Awesome job!

    ReplyDelete
  51. 'Baking Soda' - I love your site and I come here often, I was wondering if you would like to participate in my culinary meme. You can find the details on my site:
    TableBread

    It's completely voluntary of course but I think you will enjoy it!

    ~Lewis
    -DB's forever ;)

    ReplyDelete
  52. Gloves! Brilliant! But how did you keep the dough from sticking to them instead?

    ReplyDelete
  53. This looks terrific, I particularly like the stuffed bread idea.

    ReplyDelete
  54. Karen, I know I read this and I know I left a comment and now I don't see it.
    I know I did because I went on and on about how I would never have done anything so low and tacky as to say "knead by hand" just because you can't stand to stick your hands into the dough and tricked me into kneading those bagels - yes those OMG fun bagels. Such a thought! ;))
    And then Monique came to the rescue with those gloves! The gloves look like they actually work!
    Love each one of the ways you did the bread. I'm so happy we both did the phony braide.
    Your saved focaccia is gorgeous, perfect golden toasty!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for visiting! I really appreciate and enjoy reading all your comments! If you have any questions feel free to email me.