Double Cheese and Rosemary Pull Apart Bread

from: http://honestcooking.com/double-cheese-rosemary-pull-apart-bread/

I've always wanted to try to make a pull-apart bread, and this is the one I decided try! Mine didn't come out as beautiful as the one on Honest Cooking, but it was tasty all the same!

Dough:

2 tablespoons sugar, divided

2¼ tsp active dry yeast

¼ cup hot water

3 cups flour

½ tsp salt

¼ cup butter

⅓ cup milk

2 eggs

2 tablespoons finely chopped rosemary

Filling:

¼ cup butter, melted

2 garlic gloves, minced

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

⅓ cup grated parmesan cheese

1. In a small bowl, mix ½ tablespoon of sugar, yeast, and hot water. Stir and set aside for about 10 minutes to allow yeast to activate. It should get nice and puffy.
2. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the rest of the sugar, salt, milk, and melted butter, eggs, rosemary, and yeast.
3. Use a wooden spoon to gradually stir in the flour, 1 cup at a time. Keep stirring until the dough comes away from the edge, at least a good 2. The dough will be a bit sticky.
4. Place the ball of dough in a large greased bowl, and cover it with a clean dish towel.
5. Let rise in a warm place for an hour, or until doubled in size.
6. Deflate the dough, and knead in a tablespoon or two of flour depending on the stickiness of the dough.
7. Let rest for 5 minutes.
8. Mix together melted butter and garlic, and set aside.
9. Roll dough out on a floured surface to create a rectangle about 12"x20" This will be a bit hard since the dough doesn't want to stretch easily. You'll get there!
10. Spread garlic butter mixture onto the dough, be generous with the butter. Sprinkle evenly with cheeses.
11. Cut dough into 6 short strips (a pizza cutter is a good idea).
12. Stack them on top of each other, and then cut into 4 or 5 more strips depending on how wide you rolled your dough.
13. Carefully stack strips into a greased 9"x5" loaf pan. If it's a really tight fit, then leave out a few strips, and bake them in a mini loaf pan.
14. Let the dough rise for another 30 minutes.
15. Sprinkle a bit of extra cheese on top if you'd like.
16. Bake at 350° degrees for 30-35 minutes.
17. If your loaf starts getting super brown before the 30 minutes are up, place a piece of tinfoil over the top of the loaf to keep it from getting any darker.
18. Let cool slightly, and serve warm!

Homemade Soft Pretzels

from: the Fresh Loaf

When I was a kid, I lived in Philly, and one of my fondest memories is getting fresh pretzels from vendors around town. In my memory these vendors were everywhere and the pretzels were amazing! I haven't been back to Philly in a million years, and on the West Coast, you just can't get a fresh pretzel on the street. Sigh... You can go to a mall and get something there, and frankly they don't and never have lived up to my memories of Philly pretzels. So we were in Germany for ten minutes one time years ago, and I wanted a pretzel! We could only find them in the train station, and while totally different from my Philly memories, they were amazing! So how does one satisfy this itch? Well, I decided that this might be the way! I didn't actually think that pretzels would be so easy to make, and I thought the boiling water thing would be scary, but it was fun! Now, these pretzels were good! Way above a mall pretzel! But not quite as great as my famed Philly (or Germany) pretzel experiences but good! Definitely worth it! Pair these with an amazing mustard and you're set!

2-3 cups flour
1 tsp yeast
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1 cup warm milk

1. Combine 2 cups of flour, yeast, brown sugar, salt, and warm milk to form a thick batter.
2. Add the remaining flour as needed until a nice smooth ball of dough is formed.
3. Put the dough in greased bowl, cover with a towel, and let it rise in a warm place for an hour.
4. Roll out the dough and let it rest for 5-10 minutes.
5. Cut the dough into 6 pieces.
6. Roll each one into a short log and cover with a towel.
7. Let the logs rest for 5-10 minutes.
8. Roll each log out again.
9. Let the logs rest for 5-10 minutes.
10. By the third roll they should each be about 15 inches long and about as big around as your index finger. They’ll nearly double in width while baking, so it is okay to roll them out quite thin.
11. Preheat the oven to 425°.
12. Bring a large, wide pot of water to a boil.
13. Take each rope of dough, holding an end in each hand, loop the dough away from you, and bring the ends back toward your stomach, crossing them about an inch above the rope.
14. Apply a little bit of pressure to make the loops stick together, but not too much because you don’t want them to flatten out.
15. Drop each pretzel into the boiling water until they float up, which should be about 5 seconds.
16. Place them onto a baking sheet and sprinkle with coarse salt while still wet.
17. Bake until golden and brown, about 15 minutes.

Apricot Cream Cheese Babka

from: Brown Eyed Baker (http://www.browneyedbaker.com/apricot-cream-cheese-babka/)

When I saw this, I wanted to try it. It looked amazing. I must confess, I made a lot of mistakes. My dough didn't rise much at all, and so it seemed like there was too much apricot filling. I found it difficult to twist the dough much at all for fear of the filling popping out at the seams. (It also seemed like too much streusel, but again, maybe it was an error on my part.) After making it though, I think I should have put all of the apricot filling in since the apricot filling wasn't as prominent in the final bread as it should have been. Still, once done this bread was delicious! It was like a cream cheese danish in loaf form! Yum!!! I will definitely try it again, and hopefully I won't make so many mistakes next time!!

For the Dough:
1¾ cup + 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
2 tbsp + 1 tsp granulated sugar
1 tsp instant yeast
1 pinch of salt
1 egg, at room temperature
⅓ cup whole milk, lukewarm
½ tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature

For the Apricot Filling:
1½ cup dried apricots
½ cup orange juice
⅓ cup lemon juice
2 tbsp granulated sugar

For the Cream Cheese Filling:
8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
2 tbsp granulated sugar
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 pinch of salt

For the Streusel:
¾ cup all-purpose flour
2 tbsp granulated sugar
4½ tsp light brown sugar
1 pinch of salt
3½ tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled

For the Egg Wash:
1 egg
1 pinch of salt

1. To make the dough, place the flour, sugar, yeast and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook. Stir on medium-low speed for a minute or so to combine. 
2. Add the egg, milk, vanilla and butter and mix on medium speed until a smooth dough forms, about 5 minutes. 
3. Form into a ball and place in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with a towel and place in a draft-free area until doubled in volume (about 1 hour). 
4. Make the fillings and streusel. To make the apricot filling, combine the dried apricots, orange juice, lemon juice and sugar in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium-low heat. 
5. Simmer uncovered for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the apricots soften and the liquid is reduced by half. 
6. Remove from the heat and allow to cool completely. 
7. Once cool, transfer the mixture to a food processor and process until a puree forms. 
8. Set aside at room temperature while you make the cream cheese filling.
9. In a medium bowl, stir the cream cheese and sugar with a wooden spoon until smooth and lump-free. 
10. Add the egg yolk, vanilla extract and salt, and stir to combine.
11. Set aside at room temperature whild you make the streusel. 
12. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugars and salt. 
13. Add the melted butter and mix with a rubber spatula until the mixture comes together into large, coarse crumbs. 
14. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use. 
15. Lightly grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan and set aside. 
16. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out into a 10x24-inch rectangle, with the long edge facing you. 
17. Spread the apricot filling evenly over the dough, leaving a ½-inch border along all of the edges. 
18. Spread the cream cheese filling over the apricot filling. 
19. Starting with the bottom edge, roll the dough into the middle of the rectangle, then do the same with the top edge so that the two rolls meet in the center. 
20. Visualize the long cylinder divided into three equal lengths. 
21. Fold the left third over onto the middle third. 
22. Then, fold the right third over the middle third. 
23. Pick up the dough and turn it over so the seam is on the bottom. 
24. Then, holding each end, gently twist it in the middle and place it in the prepared pan. 
25. Whisk together the egg and salt for the egg wash and brush it over the babka. 
26. Lightly cover the pan  and place it in a draft-free area until it is doubled in size, 1½ to 2 hours. 
27. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. 
28. Brush the babka once more with the egg wash.
29. Sprinkle the streusel evenly over the top, pressing lightly so the crumbs adhere to the babka. 
30. Bake until the top is a deep golden brown, about 50 minutes. 
31. Cool the bread in the pan on a wire rack for 25 minutes.
32. Then unmold the bread from the pan (some of the streusel may fall off) and place on the wire rack to cool completely.