Rosemary&Garlic

Noel

2011-12-23T06:29:00.000-08:00

Michael Chiarello has a wonderful catalog called Napa Style. I always find something that I would want. I have a wonderful carved pig that sits on my counter and holds fruit. There are a few things from his catalog on my someday I won't have children in college list. I love their Christmas decorations. They had the most beautiful Noel sign for sale. It was for sale for $600 I think. It is all sold out, amazing.

I showed it to my son Joe, the poor broke college student, and he made me a similar sign as my Christmas present for my house.

Eggs and Latkes

2011-12-17T06:09:00.000-08:00

November is a challenging month for my husband, he spends a lot of it on travel. Today is the start of both of our vacations. Unfortunately, we have a list of things to do to get the house ready to put on the market. So I thought that we should begin this sure to be less than fun vacation with breakfast.

Tom grew up in New Jersey, his best friend, Nate, is Jewish. Nate had a big influence on Tom's taste buds. The hungry, cross country running teenager ate everything and anything he was given. His favorite breakfast is probably bagels and lox. Sad to say, I make the best bagels that we have tasted since we moved to Texas. But I don't really have time for it so I decided to make latkes with fried eggs and roasted tomatoes from Salt and Serenity's blog.

One of the reasons that I like reading other people's blogs is that sometimes you learn more from a blog than from a cookbook. If someone has made latkes all their lives and writes about it, you feel like you are sitting in their kitchen, at their elbow.

The recipe starts with roasted cherry tomatoes. I used olive oil, salt, pepper and rosemary. The roasted tomatoes on top of the eggs took this dish to a new level. I may throw some tomatoes in the oven any time I want to add pizzazz to an egg dish from now on.

Then you make latkes.

I have tried a few different recipes, this may be my favorite so far. You grate some yukon golds. Then you chop up some onion in the food processor with half of the grated potatoes. Head over to Salt & Serenity's blog for more detailed instructions. Trust me, you would prefer to be at her elbow...

The potato onion mixture is put in a colander over a ball and the liquid is squished out.

And then she says pour off the water and save the starch and you think what is she talking about??? Tip the bowl to the side and see the white starch on the bottom.

The grated potatoes, starch, chopped potato and onion, egg, matzo meal, and kosher salt are mixed together.
Fry them in hot oil 4 mins a side. Top with an egg and some tomatoes and enjoy.

Now we are ready to: take the car with the scary check engine light to the dealer, take the left over paint from the garage to the hazardous collection site, get the kitchen cabinets ready to paint... oh the list goes on and on.

Pecan and Almond Chocolate Toffee

2011-12-12T12:03:00.000-08:00

Grad school is kicking my butt. Not winning, but definitely changing my routine. I have three more classes left and a project and I will have my MSN. I am tired of homework. I never particularly enjoyed APA formatting and if I never see a hanging indent after grad school, it will be too soon. My colleagues at work are tired of grad school. They really weren't too interested in Global Health Care. I'm not sure how they will feel about my next class, epidemiology...

So at night, instead of looking at people's blogs, I do homework. Not to sound too petulant, but I really hate homework. The end is in site. Great news though, my next class doesn't start until January 9th. So lets see if I can remember how to blog and if anyone still reads it!

We pick secret Santas at work and you get a little sheet of information about your person. Mine loves toffee, as do I. Generally I avoid making any Christmas candy or cookie that I love. As I struggle with my weight, I don't need toffee calling to me. But today I thought that I would try my hand at toffee.

Baked by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito is one of my favorite cook books. Everything turns out. The recipes aren't necessarily easy, but they are delicious.

Their pecan and almonds chocolate toffee didn't look too challenging if I could get past my whole candy making aversion.

1 cup sliced almonds, ground to a powder
1 cup toasted pecans, chopped
1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
9 oz semisweet chocolate bits They used a mixture of dark and milk, coarsely chopped

butter a 9X13 pan

Melt the butter on low, when it is halfway melted, add the sugar and 1 T of water. Cook over low, stirring with a silicon spatula until combined. Clip on the candy thermometer, turn the heat up to medium high and heat until 300 degrees F, about 15 mins.

The mixture will bubble and turn brown

My favorite piece of advice... If the browning seems uneven, swirl the pan during the cooking process but do not stir...

How would the explanation go in the er. Yes doctor, I wasn't stirring, I was swirling the 300 degree mixture. This is why I don't like making candy.

When it reaches 300 degrees, remove from heat, remove thermometer, add pecans and pour into prepared pan. It will even out.

wait one min and top with chocolate, wait three mins and chocolate will melt. Spread with offset spatula and sprinkle with almond powder. I added a little salt to the almond powder.

Put in the freezer for 30 mins and break into pieces.

Secret Santa gift.

Oatmeal bread with Cinnamon, without Raisins

2011-08-08T09:17:00.000-07:00

I haven't been baking or blogging much lately. I have too many balls up in the air, and the heaviest is grad school. What does it say when you would rather bake bread than work on your papers? Anyway, people were excited when I pulled out my scale last night.

There are several delicious loaves for August's Mellow Baker's Challenge. There are two Oatmeal Breads, one with cinnamon and raisins, one without. I opted to make the cinnamon version but without the raisins since no one in my house likes their raisins cooked.

It is an easy loaf. Oatmeal is soaked in water and then high gluten flour, whole wheat flour, milk, honey, vegetable oil, salt, yeast and cinnamon are added. The dough fermented over night, was shaped and baked. Joe came down when the morning house was filled with aromas and the bread was still in the oven and wanted to know how long it had to cool.

I love breads with oats. I can't wait to try the non cinnamon version but this one is a keeper..

Cooking with Joe

2011-08-07T11:18:00.000-07:00

Joe is home for ten days. He has moved into an apartment in Pittsburgh with his brother. They plan on installing an air conditioner in one of the windows but the kitchen is hot and will remain hot. Until winter comes, and then it will be the place to be. With thoughts of keeping the place cool, I thought we would try out some crock pot recipes this week and some old favorites

I've ordered another cook book. If there is an intervention available for people who have too many cook books send it my way. I really enjoy the slow cooker. My husband cooks a meal at least once a week using it. So, when I saw some reviews for Michele Scicolone's The Italian Slow Cooker, I had to buy it.

I can't wait for it to come.

Until it comes, we will have to try some other recipes. So we started with Ultimate Cheater Pulled Pork from NPR's web site. Disclaimer, this is not really pulled pork, no crunchy outside, no vinegar mop. But it makes for some good sanwiches.

Joe made an easy basic dry rub.

1/4 cup paprika
2 T kosher salt
2 T ground pepper
1 T garlic powder
1T dry mustard

He cut a 6 pound boneless Boston butt into 3" chunks. Rubbed the meat with 1/4 cup of the rub. Put it in the crock pot and added 1/2 cup liquid smoke. It cooked on low for 5 - 6 hours or on high for 10 - 12 hours. Pull the meat apart and serve on buns with your favorite barbeque sauce.

Did you know that you could cook potatoes in the crock pot? 3 pounds of small new potatoes simmered in 1/2 cup of water for on high for three hours. We covered them with butter, salt and pepper and some herbs.

We made perhaps the best enchiladas. I'll post that later.

Simple Slow Roasted Tomatoes = FFWD

2011-08-07T06:06:00.000-07:00

This Friday's French Fridays with Dorie was a very easy recipe. Cherry tomatoes were cut in half, sprinkled with some olive oil, salt and pepper. Garlic and herbs were added and they were roasted in a 225 degree oven for three hours. I have a similar recipe that we serve with goat cheese and baguettes.

This method brings out a sweetness in the tomatoes. I mixed mine with some cannelloni beans, red onions and a vinaigrette for a salad for lunch.

Summer Salads

2011-08-06T07:00:00.000-07:00

It has been over 100 here in Texas for more days than I can remember. Our back lawn is dead, our front lawn is dying. Water once a week really isn't working for the plants.

Salads are the way to go. I love the coleslaw salad with broccoli flowerettes, cranberries, nuts, bacon, shredded cabbage. Make a dressing out of mayonnaise, red wine vinegar, diced onions and sugar.

Whenever we have ripe avocados I make this, sometimes as a side, sometimes with tortilla chips.

Black beans, red onions, avocado, cilantro, lime juice and s&P. Quick, easy and delicious.

Skillet Eggs with Squash

2011-07-27T03:43:00.000-07:00

Do you have too many zucchinis? This is a delicious recipe. A great way to use up some of those squash in a unique breakfast. Think healthier hashbrowns, with a zing.

Food network posted the recipe from their magazine on their web page along with a nicer picture of gooey eggs, if you liked gooey eggs.

I used half the squash mixture with four eggs. Toms were gooey, mine stayed in the oven for a little longer. Great way to start the day.

Skillet Eggs with Squash Food Network Magazine July/Aug 2011

Ingredients

3 pounds (6 medium) summer squash and/or zucchini
Kosher salt
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 scallions, thinly sliced, white and green parts separated
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
Freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
6 large eggs
1/2 cup grated pepper jack or sharp white cheddar cheese

Directions

Grate the squash into a colander using the large holes of a box grater (or use a food processor fitted with the shredding attachment). Toss with 1 tablespoon salt, then let drain in the sink, 30 to 40 minutes. Squeeze the squash to remove as much liquid as possible.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Heat the olive oil in a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Set aside 3 tablespoons scallion greens. Add the remaining scallions (white and green parts), the jalapeno, and salt to taste and cook until the scallions are soft, about 3 minutes. Add the shredded squash and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 7 minutes. Stir in the parsley, nutmeg, and pepper to taste. Cook until the mixture is slightly dry, about 1 more minute. Remove from the heat and let cool, 5 minutes.
Spread the squash evenly in the skillet. Make six 2 1/2-inch-wide indentations in the mixture with the back of a spoon; put 1/2 teaspoon butter in each one. One at a time, crack each egg into a small bowl and pour into an indentation. Season with salt and pepper, and sprinkle with the cheese.
Transfer the skillet to the oven and bake until the egg whites are set and the yolks are cooked to desired doneness, 10 to 12 minutes. Scatter the reserved scallion greens on top.

June - French Fridays with Dorie

2011-07-23T06:01:00.000-07:00

Things fell apart in June. My mother went into the hospital in the end of May with hip problems. And then on to rehab where she said that she had no desire to exercise, none. Not at all. And she fired everyone...She wanted me to find her "some place Catholic to die." Fascinating thought, but as far as I can tell, she isn't dying any time soon. But, she has moved in with the grey habited Polish nuns, going to Mass every day and seems to be a little higher on the happiness continuum. Still enjoying a good piece of cake.

Scout and I are tackling my summer to do list. She is incredibly supportive. I had a list of things a mile long that I intended on doing this summer while I was off from school. I am now playing catch up. How many can I do in the few weeks remaining before school starts?

My husband walks around and talks about bread longingly. You used to bake bread, I hear him muttering. It has been a sad month or two. My starter is a little grey. I'm sure it will come around.

One day in June, I decided to make the majority of the French Fridays with Dorie's recipes for June. We started with the tomato strawberry salad. I knew that I had some delightful mozzarella in the fridge, my husband knew that he had eaten it. Oh well. This still was a great salad. Ripe tomatoes, strawberries, basil and mozzarella combined with a smidge of olive oil and a bit of balsamic vinegar.

We moved on to the ribs with jam and Coke. So, here in Texas, Tom cooks ribs. In the backyard. Maybe in a smoker, maybe the edge of a mountain of charcoal, maybe on a gas grill. Not in the oven. Not with jam. I tried to hide the ingredients from his prying eyes. But he was onto me the night before when I rubbed the ribs with the spice rub. Five spice powder, ginger and salt and pepper are rubbed onto the spareribs. Then they are covered with a mixture of apricot jam, orange juice and the juice of a lemon. They are the refrigerated for several hours.

Into the oven in a roasting pan with a few tablespoons of water. They are cooked, basted every so often for an hour and a half. Then the Coke is poured around the ribs and they are basted every five mins for another half hour.

These were delicious. An oriental flavor, fall off the bone tender. #2 son would love these.

For dessert we had roasted rhubarb over ice cream. Rhubarb is trimmed and cut into piece, tossed with sugar and zest of an orange. Covered with foil and roasted in a 400 degree oven for 20 mins. When it had cooled, we put it on ice cream.

I grew up eating rhubarb. I love it. I had never roasted it. It is my new favorite way to prepare it. Not that I see it much here in Texas.

In the beginning of July, I went to DC for a school nurse conference. I stayed an extra day and we went to the Newseum. A new museum in DC that is not free, sad to say. But it was fascinating. Below is a picture of world. The green indicates countries with freedom of the press. Something that we tend to take for granted here in the US.

Healthy Potato Salad - Daring Cooks

2011-06-14T06:46:00.000-07:00

Jami Sorrento was our June Daring Cooks hostess and she chose to challenge us to celebrate the humble spud by making a delicious and healthy potato salad. The Daring Cooks Potato Salad Challenge was sponsored by the nice people at the United States Potato Board, who awarded prizes to the top 3 most creative and healthy potato salads. A medium-size (5.3 ounce) potato has 110 calories, no fat, no cholesterol, no sodium and includes nearly half your daily value of vitamin C and has more potassium than a banana!

We have a couple of potato salad recipes that we like, but I have been intrigued for some time by the idea of a french potato salad.

French potato salad is made by boiling sliced potatoes and coating them with a dressing while the slices are still warm.

I used a recipe from The New Best Recipe Cookbook. Red potatoes were sliced and boiled in salted water.

When they came out of the water, they were coated with a dressing made with mustard, wine vinegar, 1/4 cup of the water from the boiling potatoes, olive oil, garlic and pepper.

The potatoes were left to soak up the dressing for 10 minutes

and then tossed with parsley, chives and shallots.

This was a delicious, easy recipe.

Mustard Batons

2011-04-24T17:58:00.000-07:00

This weekend we welcomed a new addition to our mustard family. Some of you might be wondering how we can accept any more members into our family. Each one brings something to our lives, sometimes it is as simple as a little spice, maybe some sweetness, maybe a little French attitude but we relish each member of our family.

This week's French Fridays with Dorie was a simple recipe for Mustard Batons. I took my visiting brother in law to Rustlin Rob's in Fredericksburg, TX. Rustlin Rob's is a condiment heaven. I knew that I was making mustard batons for an appetizer for Easter so I visited the mustard section. Maybe that was a mistake. How many mustards are too many mustards?

When I tasted the Creole Cognac mustard I knew that she had to come home with us. The tangy, delightful flavor would be perfect for an appetizer.

I unfolded some thawed puffed pastry and rolled it out to the required size.

Mustard was spread on half of the pastry, it was folded, cut into one inch strips and brushed with a beaten egg.

I grew up outside of Philadephia, we used to go downtown to ride the escalators and eat hot pretzels. When I hear mustard and bread, I can only think of topping it with flaky salt.

Delicious easy recipe.

Fish for Lent

2011-04-16T07:23:00.000-07:00

It really isn't a challenge to eat fish on Friday's for Lent. I think to make a true act of penance we should all switch to liver on Fridays...

We had mussels steamed in wine, shallots, parsley, bay, pepper and a little butter. We dunked bread in the broth and enjoyed ourselves.

Edible Containers - Daring Cooks

2011-04-14T18:07:00.000-07:00

For April's Daring Cooks; Challenge we had a creative challenge. Renata of Testado, Provado & Aprovado! was our Daring Cooks’ April 2011 hostess. Renata challenged us to think “outside the plate” and create our own edible containers! Prizes are being awarded to the most creative edible container and filling, so vote on your favorite from April 17th to May 16th at http://thedaringkitchen.com!

I love chili rellenos, but try to stay away from batter fried food. I decided to stuff roasted, peeled poblanos. First, I asked my husband to bring home the straightest poblanos that he could find.

Then, I roasted them and peeled away the blackened skin. I made a small slit in them to remove the seeds.

After they were peeled, they looked pretty dark.

I roasted some chicken and made a tomato sauce with garlic, tomatoes, onions, cinnamon and cilantro.

I mixed up some mexican cheese, the chicken, some black beans, a little jalepeno, corn, some of the tomato sauce and cilantro and stuffed the peppers. They were delicious and I am looking forward to seeing what else I can stuff in them!

éclairs - FFwD

2011-04-14T05:07:00.000-07:00

My husband walked into the kitchen and glanced at my opened copy of Dorie Greenspan's around my french table and then he said "you're not an éclair maker are you?"

Does the man know me or what.

When I saw this Friday's selection for French Fridays with Dorie, I almost skipped it. I know the people in this house and they aren't eating éclairs. But then I thought, I can take them to work. They eat anything at work. Someone is always hungry.

This week's recipe calls for vanilla éclairs, cream puff dough filled with vanilla pastry cream and topped with white glaze. To get the people in this house to try them, I knew that I needed to add some chocolate, so I decided to top them with a ganache.

I made the pastry cream early in the morning and put it in the refrigerator to cool.

I like making puff dough. We eat gougeres on Christmas Eve. However, they don't involve a pastry bag. They can easily be spooned onto a cookie sheet.

Eclairs need a pastry bag, I have previously been identified as not an éclair maker and I am comfortable with that label. I am not comfortable with pastry bags. How do you get the sticky puff dough into the bag without making a mess? Perhaps it is a skill thing, one that I may not develop at this stage in my life. I think a third hand would come in handy. I got the dough into the bag, made the four inch strips and baked them.

I went out to work on the yard and let the elairs cool. We had such a long, hard freeze, we have lost some plants. By my front door, I have two bicolored iris plants. They are perhaps my favorite plant. They bloom and bloom. Unfortunately, a lot of the plant had to be cut back after the freeze. But today, there is one flower.

When I had finished with mulch, I returned to the eclairs. The cooled eclairs were cut and filled with pastry cream and then topped with chocolate ganache. They were tasty, it was a fun experience.

Garlicky crumb-coated broccoli FFwD

2011-04-07T17:45:00.000-07:00

This Friday's challenge for French Fridays with Dorie was a simple, delicious way to prepare some broccoli. I steamed some stalks, sauteed some minced garlic in butter. After the garlic was softened, I added breadcrumbs and then some chopped parsley. The stalks had been drained and patted dry and were coated with the breadcrumbs.

Here is were I failed, by coating didn't coat. Some of it got on, but most ended up sprinkled on the final dish. I am a coating failure.

It was tasty. A bit like broccoli scampi. I like my broccoli cooked in olive oil, garlic and red peppers. I'm not looking for a new method for one of my favorite veggies. Maybe we are stuck in a rut, but I'm ok with that.

Dessert - The Ugliest cake

2011-04-04T01:39:00.000-07:00

My mother thinks that I don't make dessert often enough. I've been known to bake dessert for birthdays, Easter and Thanksgiving. That leaves over 345 days undesserted. I pull an occasional dessert out of the hat, but for the most part we are dessertless.

I bought Rose Levy Beranbaum's Rose's heavenly cakes because I couldn't resist the pictures. I should have started with The Cake Bible but some of the desserts in this cookbook called out to me.

I made a bundt cake a while back. I do enjoy a good bundt cake. I remember having some difficulties getting the cake out in one piece.

Rose has a beautiful yellow daisy cake in her cookbook. She bakes it in a Nordic Ware daisy cake pan. It is a beautiful pan cake pan that leaves daisies on the top of the cake, for say $35 dollars. I am at the point in my life where I am trying to downsize the number of things in my kitchen. I can't see spending the money for a spring time cake pan when Rose says that a fluted tube pan can be used instead.

Perhaps I should mention that many of the things in the kitchen that I am trying to downsize are over 25 years old. The fluted tube pan, which I will refer to as bundt pan, has seen better days. But remembering my recent difficulties, I was certain to well prepare the pan. To no avail. The top of the cake remained in the pan. The bottom almost did as well, but I stuck a knife in and saved the day.

Good news, I was planning on dividing the cake and filling it with berries and cream. It self divided. But it was no easy feat releasing the top; it came out in chunks. Which I then covered with more cream.

I threw the pan out. I'm not a big fan of throwing things out. But my darling husband asked me what chemicals are being released by 25 year old nonstick pans that are way past their prime. I have ordered a new pan.

The cake was delicious, ugly but delicious. Here is a link to Rose's blog with a yellow cake recipe.

short ribs in red wine and port - ffwd

2011-02-18T05:45:00.000-08:00

Something very unusually happened here in San Antonio, we got snow. Not much, certainly not enough to make a city ground to a stop back where I grew up. We knew that something was going to happen. The weathermen were all excited. We received multiple emails on what the district would do in the event of snow.

Then, during the night, plans changed. We got freezing rain and then, a dusting of snow. Perhaps where you are from, the plows and salt trucks would be out in full force. I don't think that we have any, maybe we have one or two. So early in the morning, the city closed every highway. Done deal, no school for anyone. The excited weathermen talked all morning long about how ice is slippery. All morning long, through the Today show, which is one of my favorite indulgences. And since I normally leave at 710, I don't indulge often.

There hasn't been real snow here for decades. So we got up, and made a snowman on the basketball court, we tried for a snow angel. Somewhere in the midst of all this excitement, the camera was handed from one mittened hand to another. We have no real skill with mittens. And we dropped the camera, and like tiny little electronic things everywhere, the camera stopped working.

So, my photos are from my phone. And they do not do the short ribs in red wine and port justice. I have become a big fan of cooking meat in vast quantities of alcohol. Go Dorie. One of the February Friday challenges was for this delicious, winter appropriate meal.

The recipe starts with a bouquet garni. Parsley sprigs, thyme sprigs, bay leaves, rosemary, star anise and celery stalks are tied up in cheese clothe.

Short ribs are broiled on all sizes until browned and sizzling then seasoned with salt and pepper.

Onions, carrots, parsnips, ginger and garlic are sauted in oil and seasoned with salt and pepper until a little browned about 10 mins. 2 T of tomatoes is added to the pan and stirred about.

Then, an entire bottle of Syrah and 1.5 cups of port and the bouquet garni are added and boiled until the liquid reduces by a third. The meat is added to the pot with enough beef broth to cover it. The covered with foild and cooked for 2 hours. The foil folded back to let some steam leave and then cooked for one more hours. At this point, I added carrots. We love carrots, lightly cooked.

The sauce is strained and reduced further. The short ribs are put under the broiler and served.

This broth was delicious. Short ribs annoy me. I ended up taking all the meat off the bones and putting it back in the broth. Next time, I want to try this with a lovely pot roast.

basque potato tortilla - ffwd

2011-02-04T06:17:00.000-08:00

There is a suggestion at French Fridays with Dorie for a delicious Valentine's Day dinner. The potato tortilla, served at warm temperature, is suggested as an appetizer.

Tortilla means something completely different in the Basque region of France than it does in Texas. This is more like a room temperature omelet than anything that would be considered a tortilla in my neck of the woods.

You start by cooking some cubed Yukon Golds and diced onion in a cast iron pan. Some rosemary, garlic with the skin left on and salt and pepper are added to the potatoes and onions. It is sauteed for about twenty minutes. After the potatoes are tender, they are removed and the pan is wiped down. The garlic and rosemary are removed, I had to hunt around for the garlic skins.

9 large eggs that have been beaten with salt and pepper and a pinch of cayenne are mixed with the potatoes and onions. The mixture is returned to the oil coated skilled, cooked slowly and then put under the broiler for final browning.

We ate the tortilla warm. My husband and daughter enjoyed it.

Pullman Bread or pain de mie - mellow bakers

2011-01-15T14:40:00.000-08:00

My husband asked when we were going to have homemade bread again.

I haven't baked bread for a couple of weeks. I think that I was a little tired from my baking, feeding fest over Christmas where I tried to fatten my children. Unfortunately, my children currently lack the fattening metabolism and the only person that I succeeded in fattening was myself.

In an attempt to become a little healthier, I have decided to try to incorporate more fruits and vegetables into my diet and to get more regular exercise. I'm not an anticarb person, I just need to use a little more discretion about which ones are invited into my house and with what frequency.

January's Mellow Baker's assignment includes three breads; golden raisin, pain de mie and a three stage sourdough rye. I believe that I have mentioned that no one in my house eats cooked raisins. Perhaps, on occasion, I have mentioned some of my trials with rye flour, so I opted for the pain de mie. Hamelman and I have the same sized pain de mie pan. I got mine on sale at King Arthur flour when they were releasing the newer, perhaps smoothier lidded, version. A pullman pan is a rectangular pan with a lid.

I pull it out whenever I have the desire for a rectangular prism. Which really isn't that often.

This was a very easy recipe. The ingredients were assembled.

Bread flour, dry milk, salt, sugar, yeast, butter and water were combined. The dough fermented for two hours, and then was shaped. I had enough for one loaf in the pain de mie pan and then another smaller loaf. My white bread loving husband was concerned that I was going to throw the dough out because it was too small. Really... The dough was shaped into the pullman pan and a smaller pan, and fermented again for an hour and then baked.

In the end you have made white bread, which isn't my favorite, but will make a fun breakfast.

I was tempted to make french toast, but always wanted to try eggs in the nest.

My Go To Beef Daube - FFwD

2010-12-31T05:36:00.000-08:00

French Fridays with Dorie picked four recipes for the month of December. Although I have made three of them, things have been a little hectic and this is only my second post for FFwD for the month of December. Its OK because FFwD rules say cook along as much as you can!

The great thing about the second part of December is that I have had sons home from college. My sons are willing sous chefs. They will peel, chop and stir if I promise to feed them at the end of the day. And then they will eat everything in the house! I will miss them when they go back to college..

Dorie says that we all need a great beef stew recipe. This certainly was easy and delicious. Bacon was sauteed in the dutch oven and then beef chuck roast was cubed into 2 inch cubes and browned and removed. Onions and shallots were sauteed for 8 mins. Then garlic, carrots, parsnips and herbs were added to the pot. It cooked for 2.5 hours in the entire bottle of wine and made the house smell delicious.

We made this on a cold, wet, rainy day. It was just the recipe for the weather. Now I need to find another bottle of wine to sacrifice for future stews!

Gougères

2010-12-30T04:58:00.000-08:00

I would like Jacques Pépin to come to my kitchen. He seems like such a pleasant chef. I enjoy watching him on TV. Apparently, he has a new TV show called Essential Pépin that will be coming out in the fall of 2011.

On Christmas Eve, we put a prime rib in the oven for an hour, and then turn the oven off for three hours. During the off time, we head out to Mass. When we return, we turn the oven on again and everyone starts making a little something to bring to the table.

I make Jacques Pépin's Gougères. You can make them the morning before and pop them in the refrigerator and bake them when you get home. You can even freeze them. This recipe is taken from Food & Wine.

Makes about 30

1 cup milk
4 T unsalted butter
1/4 t salt
dash of cayenne pepper (I add some cracked pepper as well)
1 cup ap flour
3 large eggs
1/2 t papirika
1/2 c grated Parmesan cheese
1 & 1/2 c grated Swiss cheese
Coarse sal, fleur de sel or kosher salt. If you are going to put them in the refrigerator, don't put the salt on top until right before baking.

Directions

Bring the milk, butter, salt, and cayenne to a boil in a saucepan. Remove from the heat, add the flour all at once, and mix vigorously with a wooden spatula until the mixture forms a ball. Return the pan to the heat and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for about 1 minute to dry the mixture a bit. Transfer to the bowl of a food processor, let cool for 5 minutes, then process for about 5 seconds.
Add the eggs and paprika to the processor bowl, and process for 10 to 15 seconds, until well mixed. Transfer the choux paste to a mixing bowl, and let cool for 10 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375°. Line a cookie sheet with a reusable nonstick baking mat or parchment paper. Reserve 1 tablespoon of the grated Parmesan cheese, then add the remainder and all the Swiss cheese to the choux paste. Stir just enough to incorporate. Using a tablespoon, scoop out a level tablespoon of the gougère dough, and push it off the spoon onto the cooking mat. Continue making individual gougères, spacing them about 2-inches apart on the sheet. Sprinkle a few grains of coarse salt and a little of the reserved Parmesan cheese on each gougère. Bake for about 30 minutes, until nicely browned and crisp. Serve lukewarm or at room temperature with drinks.

Christmas Present Growing!

2010-12-29T07:21:00.000-08:00

My Christmas present is growing! I have followed all instructions. I mist it daily, give it four hours of indirect light each day and have found a place in the house that is as close to 60 degrees as possible.
Very soon, this evening I think, I will be harvesting my first shiitake mushrooms. I should get three harvests from my Christmas present. How cool.

Christmas Presents

2010-12-22T09:57:00.000-08:00

This is what my brother and sister in law sent me for Christmas! And I am so excited. Do you know what it is? I think that it looks a little like some of bad experiences that I have had with rye breads. But right now, it isn't edible.

It came with instructions. I love a gift with instructions. First I soaked it in a bag of water for fourteen hours.

Now it needs diffuse light, dampness and cool temperatures for about ten days. I can handle the diffuse light, fours hours each day. The front window will be perfect. I can spritz it every day to keep it damp, I already have covered it with the perforated plastic bag for the greenhouse environment.

My concern is the cool temperature, 60 degrees. They suggest a kitchen, really bad idea, this is where my oven is. A basement, don't have one. A barn, I would really like a barn. A bay window, we have a big front window, it will have to work. Or a garage. I have one of those, yesterday it was above 80 here. We are having a record warm winter. Next week, the temperatures may drop to the 60s and I think that I will move my present outside.

I'll let you know what develops.

Poached Eggs - Daring Cooks Challenge

2010-12-15T03:54:00.000-08:00

I remember my father making poached eggs. I don't think that he ever consulted Julia Child before him made them. I believe that his technique involved dumping eggs into boiling water, cutting some bread for toast, getting the paper and rescuing the egg. I vividly remember the loose yellow egg yolk. I was repulsed as a child.

I worked at a small restaurant down the street from where I grew up. In the summer, they opened the attached ice cream store. I started working there when I was 15. In the mornings, I would get ready to open up. If breakfast was still going on, I would help clear tables and take some orders. I remained repulsed by yellow runny yolks, which were everywhere.

It took me years to start eating eggs. When I went to college, on Sundays they served pieces of large sheets of omelets. Huge omelets, made from dozens of eggs, on the large grill. No visible egg yolk there.

The way cool thing to do when I was in college was to go out to breakfast at the end of the semester at the neightborhood restaurant. A hopping deli. With eggs of course. I think that I started to enjoy omelets for the first time. But I maintained my aversion to runny yolks.

December's challenge was poached eggs. I actually was excited. Time to see what all the fuss was about. Every one is eating them. People put them on top of everything. If I could find some quail eggs, it would be fine dining!

First I checked with Julia. My water was simmering, with a little vinegar added. I made a swirl in the water, cracked the egg into a ramekin and gently put it into the simmering water. When cooked, I removed it and put it into a pan of warm water to rinse the vinegar off. I trimmed any white tendrils, no kidding... I think that my dad skipped some steps.

I had made some English Muffins and Hollandaise Sauce. I whipped up some delicious Eggs Benedict. Except they weren't delicious. They had oozy, yellow yolks.

My husband loved them, but I felt guilty as I heard his arteries closing. It is back to oatmeal for us.

sweet and spicy cocktail nuts - FFwD

2010-12-04T10:25:00.000-08:00

One of December's recipes for French Fridays with Dorie are sweet and spicy cocktail nuts. I really shouldn't make spicy nuts. It is so difficult for me to stay away from them. How many could you eat?

It is a simple recipe. Mix up some sugar, salt, chili powder, cinnamon and cayenne. Moisten some nuts with egg whites and then coat with the spice mixture. Put them a cookie sheet, and bake until dry.

I like spicy nuts. I have a recipe that I like a little more that uses fresh cracked pepper in place of the chili powder. Maybe this Christmas I should try different spicy nut recipes and give them away as gifts. And out of each recipe, I will only eat three. Or not.

Roast chicken for les paresseux - FFwD

2010-11-19T04:20:00.000-08:00

This is my new favorite roast chicken recipe. You start by rubbing the inside of a dutch oven with olive oil. Then a slice of bread is placed in the bottom of the dutch oven, a bed for the bird. A five pound chicken is seasoned inside and out with salt and pepper. Some sprigs of herbs and half a head of garlic are put in the cavity. The chicken is put on its bead along with some more herbs, a little oil and water and the other half of the garlic. Put it into a 450 degree oven for 45 mins. Then add some potatoes, shallots, carrots that have been tossed in olive oil. Continue roasting for 45 more mins.

Paresseaux means lazy people. I'm glad to be one. This was another easy recipe from Dorie Greespan's around my french table. The French Fridays with Dorie group is baking their way through the delicious recipes.

I will make this again, if only for the crispy piece of bread hiding under the bird...

Souffles - Daring Cooks Challenge

2010-11-14T05:12:00.000-08:00

Linda and Dave of Monkeyshines in the Kitchen chose November's Daring Cooks Challenge . We were to make a souffle. Sweet, savory, it didn't matter.

Years ago, I went through a souffle stage. At the end of it, I concluded that I don't really like souffles. I generally don't like really eggy dishes. Flan, quiche, meringue not really my favorites.

However, a souffle is a wonderful canvas, lots of ingredients can be incorporated into them. I wanted to make mine from things that I had on hand.

The basil in my backyard is thriving. We have towering tomato bushes filled with green tomatoes. The race is on to see if winter's first frost arrives in Texas before red tomatoes...

At some point, I gave away my ceramic souffle dish. Every so often I go through a decluttering kick. So I found myself without the perfect pan. I decided to make four individual ramekins from a three egg souffle for lunch.

I sauteed some garlic in some butter. I added some flour, cooked it for a bit. Added milk and made a thick bechamel sauce. I seasoned it with salt and pepper. I let it cool for ten minutes. I added the egg yolks one by one followed by the cheese and basil.

The egg white were beaten and then folded in. Folding always confuses me. Too much folding and the wonderful bubbles disappear. Too little folding and you have large streaks of cooked egg whites. A delicate balance is needed.

I divided the mixture into four ramekins and put them into the oven, with a burnt out lightbulb. And hoped that the tops weren't burning. Because you can't open the oven to check on them. Because they are souffles...

I served it with some sliced tomatoes. A delicious lunch, the two souffles left on the counter quickly shriveled away. Because they are souffles. Beautiful for a moment only.

Brown-Sugar Squash and Brussel Sprouts en Papillote - FFwD

2010-11-12T04:04:00.000-08:00

I am enjoying cooking my way through Dorie Greenspan's around my french table. When the recipe suggestions for November's French Fridays with Dorie were posted, I knew that I could not vote for brussel sprouts. Evil little cabbages.

My father grew them in our huge backyard garden. And they grew well. Towering trees of evil little cabbages. I think that the groundhogs and rabbits ignored them.

We were a "clean plate" family. I happened to sit close to the trash can, during brussel sprouts season, little balls would roll across the table from my five siblings and I would quickly dispose of them and one of my brothers would hurry to empty the trash after dinner.

Every so often, I will run across a brussel sprout lover. I am always surprised that they exist. I have tried brussel sprouts. They are attractive little balls, you would think that they should taste good. I have roasted them, steamed them, simmered them, pureed them. With the same conclusion. Evil little cabbages.

Some how, I continue to find myself drawn to them. There they were in the grocery store, beautiful looking perfect balls. I bought them. Maybe this time I could find the right recipe. Then I remembered Dorie's recipe. This recipe was concocted by Dorie solely because the main ingredients were next to each other in the farmers market when she went shopping. Really, that is how it works for her.

I was hesitant because I don't generally like sugar on my vegetables. I checked the ingredient list. I happened to have a butternut squash in the pantry, and granny smith apples had been on sale. I have a backyard full of sage. I always have brown sugar, salt, pepper and olive oil.

I peeled and cubed some butternut squash, cut the evil little cabbages in half, cut up an apple and mixed it all together. I sprinkled the mixture with olive oil, salt and pepper. Put some of the mixture in the middle of tin foil squares, topped it with sage and the tiniest amount of brown sugar and popped it into the oven.

I liked it. I amazingly liked it. I mean if I had a friend who was growing the evil little cabbages and came over to dinner with them, I have a recipe. This is a weight off my shoulders, at almost the half century mark I can clean those brussel sprouts off my plate!

Easy Pumpkin Crisp

2010-11-10T03:46:00.000-08:00

This is for one of those nights when you need to pull a delicious dessert out of a hat, or a box. It is from Southern Living, 2005 I think. Every time that I make it, people love it. It is one of the easiest recipes that I have.

Pumpkin Crisp

Southern Living

Mix the first 5 ingredients and pour into a lightly greased 13 x 9 pan.

1 (15 oz) can pumpkin

1 cup evaporated milk

1 cup sugar

1 t vanilla extract

1 t cinnamon

Yellow cake mix

1 cup chopped pecans

1 cup melted butter

Whipped cream

Sprinkle cake mix evenly over mixture. Sprinkle pecans, drizzle with butter.

Bake at 350 for one hour. Remove and let stand for 10 mins. Serve warm or at room temp. Top with whipped cream if you'd like.

Pommes Dauphinois FFwD

2010-11-04T18:58:00.000-07:00

This Friday's recipe for French Fridays with Dorie was Potato Gratin. What is not to love about potato gratin. Simple ingredients combined to make a bubbly plate of delicious goodness.

Garlic and heavy cream is brought to a gentle simmer. Potatoes are sliced with a mandoline and arranged in a pan in overlapping circles. Each layer is sprinkled with salt and pepper and some warm cream. When the pan is filled, it is covered with shredded cheese. The gratin is baked for 45 mins and then allowed to rest while the potatoes absorb a little more cream.

I am biased towards any dish made with potatoes. However, we have a favorite gratin that is made with grueyere and creme fraiche that is hard to surpass.

Challah - Mellow Bakers

2010-10-30T16:06:00.000-07:00

Well, I have been so Mellow in October it is embarrassing. But, not to worry. I have one weekend left to bake the October breads for Mellow Bakers.

My last class in grad school was overwhelming. The teacher wouldn't hesitate to give us 300 pages to read in a week. Most of the students are working full time, etc. By the end of the class, I am sure that everyone had piles of laundry and dust bunnies under beds. But a new class started on Monday, and it seems to be much more reasonable. So I am making bread.

I was looking forward to trying some braiding. The recipe came together quickly. Eggs, oil, water, flour, yeast and salt were all mixed together in my trust kitchen aid. It formed a fairly stiff dough, good for braiding.

I have enjoyed everyone's knots, so I made a couple of them.

I think that they would make great breakfast sandwiches and may try them out tomorrow morning.

I wanted to try the six stranded braid that is more raised but couldn't figure it out. I wish that I had checked out every one's blog, one of the comments on Cathy's Challah was a link to Shabbat Shalom Greetings.com instructions on how to bread a six strand Challah. I have one more Challah recipe that I want to try, so I may get to make the six stranded loaf some time.

The one that I did make turned out nicely. We gave it away to a good home, where it won't be neglected or go stale!

Scout enjoyed the baking experience. She hasn't been quite as perky, we wonder if it is age or the illness. I realize that she is so intertwined into the fabric of our lives, it will be hard to say goodbye to her. However, today I am embracing denial. I am certain that the vet is wrong and she is going to be fine.

I am going to send this over to YeastSpotting.

Marie-Hélène’s Apple Cake FFwD

2010-10-30T06:25:00.000-07:00

Here is another delicious recipe from Dorie Greenspan's around my french table. There were photos of this most delicious cake trapped on my camera. Luckily, in my Saturday morning cleaning I found the cable, of course that means that I missed the posting for French Fridays with Dorie.

This recipe is a keeper. A quick, delicious fall cake. A mixture of ingredients that we all have at home. However, the recipe called for rum. There is no rum in my house, I have not recovered from my college experience with rum. I am not buying rum. So, I added a little cinnamon.

For years, the teenagers in my house had braces. This handy apple cutter let them continue to eat apples to their belly's content.

It was a quick batter that resulted in a cake that we will make time and time again. I heard a request for it to grace the Thanksgiving table...

Scout

2010-10-30T04:59:00.000-07:00

I may have the best seven and a half year old Labrador Retriever in the world. My dog loves me. She thinks that I am her mother. The head bitch.

She loves the other members of my pack.

She thinks that she is my sous chef. She eats anything that I make. Even if she isn't invited.

And she has a tumor in her skull and will die a painful death. The boys are praying that she makes it until Thanksgiving so they can say goodbye.

We are so sad.

Hachis Parmentier FFwD

2010-10-22T04:53:00.000-07:00

Hachis Parmentier

This week's challenge was Hachis Parmentier, the French version of shepherd's pie. We really enjoy a good shepherd's pie in my house so I was excited to try this recipe.

You start by making a delicious broth and cooking the beef. I doubled the amount of beef called for and used two pounds of tenderized cube steak. It was simmered with onions, carrots, celery, garlic, parsley, bay, salt and pepper and water.

I have huge bay tree taking over my back yard and am always happy to use some fresh bay.

When the beef was cooked, it was chopped into bite sized pieces. The broth was removed. I sauteed an onion. I like onion and beef in my shepherd's pie. Some sausage was sauteed and I combined the onions and beef. The mixture was moistened with the leftover broth.

How do you mash your potatoes? I love my potato ricer.


Potato Ricer

A delicious batch of mashed potatoes was made. I used Yukon Gold. Cooked, riced, and mixed with milk, cream and butter, seasoned with salt and pepper, heavenly. These were put on top of the meat mixture, covered with some Gruyere and Parmesan and baked.

This was a delicious Sunday dinner.

Gerard's Mustard Tart - French Fridays with Dorie

2010-10-05T04:56:00.000-07:00

This is the second week of French Fridays with Dorie, or FFwD. FFwD is a group of bloggers making their way through Dorie Greenspan's new book around my french table. Last week, I was late posting, I posted on Saturday. I am striving to be prompt this week.

Gerard's mustard tart was made by a friend of Dorie's. Perhaps you can guess who? Gerard. Recipes that friends make for you most always are delicious. The food becomes intertwined with the evening and memories. Gerard uses an old fashioned, a l'ancienne, mustard. So I started by searching for the correct mustard.

I thought for certain that I had found it. When I returned home, a closer look at the label revealed a tiny line that read "Product of Canada, manufactured for maille-dijon france." Do you think that the mustard knows that it is not really French? It is delicious, but an impostor.

The recipe starts with a tart shell. This one was made with flour, sugar, salt, butter, ice water and egg. It came together quickly in the food processor and then was chilled, rolled out and baked.

Carrots and leeks were cut into three inch pieces and steamed with a sprig of rosemary. The rosemary left a delicate, delightful flavor.

The eggs, Crème Fraîche, dijon mustard, maille mustard and white pepper were combined, put into the tart shell. The vegetables were arranged on top and baked.

What a tasty Sunday dinner. My husband was so excited to bring the leftovers to work.

Gougères - French Fridays with Dorie

2010-10-02T11:27:00.000-07:00

I signed up for another cooking group. It was shear jealousy that made me do it. I have been watching people bake from Tuesday's with Dorie and have been amazed with the things that they create. However, I recognize that we don't have much of a sweet tooth in my house. When Dorie Greenspan's new book around my french table, I bought it sight unseen.

I have already made a couple recipes from it, and have enjoyed everyone of them. I like the idea of a group of people cooking the same thing and blogging about it. I am fascinated how varied the responses can be. So, I joined French Fridays with Dorie. I find that when I have a deadline at grad school, I am far more productive if I have something more fun to do. And, cooking is always more fun.

The first recipe is Gougères. Gougères are delicious cheese puffs. On Christmas Eve, when we return from evening Mass we have a family buffet. We try to make it easy but elegant. Everyone in the family cooks something, it is a wonderful symphony in my kitchen. I make Jacques Pepin Gougères . They can be made ahead of time and popped into the oven when we get home. We love the recipe, which uses a blend of cheeses and some cayenne pepper. I was interested in seeing how Dorie's came out. I find that it is always hard to top a recipe when you have a favorite recipe that is tied up with memories

Gougères start with whole milk, water, butter and salt being brought to a boil on the stove top. Flour is added, mixed and the mixture is cooked. Then eggs and cheese are added, the Gougères are formed and baked. They are very easy to make.

The aroma that fills the house when you bake them is delicious. People come out of their rooms and into the kitchen hoping for a taste of these delicious, easy morsels.

Focaccia alla Barese: Apulian Onion, Anchovy & Olvie Focaccia - Modern Bakers

2010-10-02T08:16:00.001-07:00

Modern Bakers has moved into a new section of Nick Malgieri's book, the Modern Baker. For the next three months, we will be baking and blogging from the yeast-risen specialties section.

This Focaccia is a traditional Christmas Eve antipasto in Apulia. Apulia is an area in Southeastern Italy. I was attracted to this recipe by the use of anchovies. You don't like anchovies you say? I once heard a chef say that anchovies were one of the hidden ingredients, that add a depth of flavor, to a large number of his dishes. If people don't know that they are there, they love them.

These anchovies are not hidden, but boy do they add some flavor.

You start by making the focaccia dough from flour, salt, yeast, water and olive oil. The dough is allowed to rise in the bowl for 1 to 2 hours and then the slack dough is put into a prepared 11x17 pan. Where it rises for another hour.

While the dough is rising, a large thinly sliced onion is sauteed in olive oil until softened and beginning to color. 2 oz of anchovies in olive oil are drained, chopped and added to the onions and sauteed for one minute. Allow the onion, anchovy mixture to cool. Some gaeta and cerignola olives are pitted and quartered and added to the mixture. I couldn't find these olives, so I used a pleasing mixture of black and green olives.

Dimple the fococcia with your fingers, sprinkle on the topping and add a little kosher salt and a drizzle of olive oil. The upper right corner is missing the olives, for the olive hater...

This was so delicious, we devoured it.

Make this for dinner

2010-09-27T15:10:00.000-07:00

Ignore the picture, just make it...

I know that I am among fellow cookbook addicts. Lynne Rossetto Kasper and Sally Swift's The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper is one of my favorite cookbooks. It is filled with delicious recipes and sound advice.

This weekend, I tried one of the pasta recipes that has just become one of my all time favorites. They write that the switching of the order of cheese and tomato sauce brings a whole new flavor to the dish. You have to give it a try.

Cheese - Gilded Linguine with Smoking Tomatoes from The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper

5 quarts salted water
extra virgin olive oil
6 slices bacon, cut into 1/4" sticks
large onion
salt & pepper
1/4 t red pepper flakes
5 garlic cloves, minced
28 OZ can whole tomatoes with juice plus one 14oz can drained
1 lb linguine
1 cup fresh grated parmigiano reggiano

Boil the water
saute the bacon until golden. Remove and put on paper towels. Drain off all but 3 T of bacon fat. Saute the onions, s&P and red pepper flakes for about 5 - 8 mins until onions soften and start to color.

Blend in the garlic and saute for one minute. Add the canned tomatoes (you could use fresh) crushing them. Add the bacon and bring to a lively bubble and cook for 8 minutes, stirring to keep from sticking. I used the immersion blender to smooth it out.

Cook the pasta, when al dente, drain, turn it into a serving bowl and toss in the entire cup of cheese until mixed then toss with the sauce.

It will be smokey smooth and delicious.

Cheese Bread

2010-09-25T04:11:00.000-07:00

Well, October's bread selections are up for The Mellow Baker's Challenge. I was hoping to end up with Normandy Apple Bread, it seems like a fall bread. Jeffrey Hamelman's Bread has so many intriguing recipes. And sooner or later, the Mellow Baker's will reach all of them.

September's breads were a Cheese Bread, Sourdough with Walnuts and soft butter rolls. I made the soft butter rolls, the cheese bread and am mellowly skipping sourdough with walnuts. No one but me would be eating that one.

October's breads will include pretzels, roasted potato bread and challah. If you bake bread a lot, you have favorite recipes. I really like the Bread Baker's Apprentice potato rosemary bread, we will have to see how Hamelman's recipe compares. The man can bake. I see challah and I think french toast. I am looking forward to baking that. I like braiding.

The cheese bread was an interesting recipe. It stated with a stiff-levain build that stayed in the refrigerator for twelve hours. Then flour, water, olive oil, salt, and yeast were added to the levain. The cheese, which I grated, was added and the dough was fermented for 2.5 hours.

It was shaped, fermented again and baked.

I had a pretty slack dough. I wanted to slash it like Ostwestwind's loaf, who had one of the nicest looking loaves, but it was too slack.

The good news is, it was delicious.

Apple Butter & Jalapeno Jam Daring Cooks

2010-09-19T07:23:00.000-07:00

John from Eat4Fun came up with a fabulous challenge for September's Daring Cooks challenge. We were presented with two recipes, one for apple butter and one for bruschetta in a jar. The challenge was to try our hand at some canning, and include at least one of the recipes that he posted.

I grew up in Pennsylvania and apple butter is a staple for the Pennsylvania Dutch. I am not Pennsylvania Dutch, they are of German descent, but in my college cottage cheese and apple butter were always on the salad bar.

I prefer my apple butter with as few additional ingredients as possible. I used golden delicious apples, apple cider, and cinnamon. I cooked the apple until they were mush and then cooked them some more, eventually adding a little cinnamon. I ended up with a jar for the refrigerator and some bags for the freezer.

I have had my eye on a jalapeno jelly. It calls for red peppers, green peppers, jalapenos, red wine vinegar, sugar and pectin. It is a simple recipe but makes two beautiful jars of jam.

The recipe is from Chevys and Rio Bravo's Fresh Mex Cookbook. It is a real fun cookbook. Sweet Hot Jalapeno Jelly

Wear gloves while you prepare the peppers.

3/4 cup chopped red bell peppers (one large for me)
3/4 cup chopped green bell peppers
1/3 cup diced and seeded jalapenos (about three large)
2-3/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon freshly squeeze lime juice
6 tablespoons Certo liquid pectin.

Combine the peppers, jalapenos, sugar, vinegar, and lime juice in a large sauce pan over medium heat. Heat until warm and sugar is dissolved.

Pour the mixture in a blender or food processor and blend for 5 seconds. Return the blended mixture to the saucepan and bring to a boil. Skim off any foam that rises to the surface. Decrease the heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes.

Stir in the pectin (follow the directions on the pectin for boiling time), increase the heat to medium-high and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and cool. The jelly will set as it cools down. When cool, cover and refrigerate for up to 5 days.

I brought this into work and put it on cream cheese and served it with crackers. It was gone in minutes.

I grew up helping my mother can. We canned whatever was available, peaches, apples, strawberries, tomatoes. It is a science, with set rules to keep everyone safe. John did a great job incorporating those rules in his post. It was a fun challenge, I wish that I had posted on time.

Recipe-swap onion "carbonara" - Around My French Table

2010-09-11T15:33:00.000-07:00

We have an agreement in my house. We will all tighten our belts and avoid frivolous spending in an attempt to recover from our trip to Europe. Everyone thinks it would be a wise fiscal move. We appeared to all be in agreement.

Unfortunately, I have an addiction to cookbooks. Generally, I can ignore them. I looked at a few cookbooks in a book store in Paris. Totally in French, using that wonderful metric system that I am trying to convince the United States to follow. And I was able to walk away. Pretty easily actually, since apparently although I can recall word for word some of my high school French lessons (Michelle and Anne watching TV instead of studying) I appear to have forgotten all the useful words. I am certain that I never knew the common recipe words.

There are a few things that I tried in Paris that I would like to replicate at home. We had some wonderful mussels. Actually, any time they were on a menu, I ordered them. There were some that had been broiled in cream and perhaps leeks. They are on my to do list.

I had a tart from the Salon de The that I must learn how to make.

Visions of recipes were swirling in my head. And then when we returned, I learned that Dorie Greenspan's new book around my french table was available at Amazon.com I get Dorie's newsletter so I know that I like the way that she writes. I was tempted.

I have seen the baked goods that the bloggers who are in Tuesdays with Dorie bake. They are consistently some of the most delicious looking sweets from Baking from My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan and if I was a baker, I'd be in the group. But my house is almost devoid of sweet teeth.

I remained tempted. I looked at Amazon.com's page. Someone had reviewed it and had made a quiche, I have recipes for quiches, delicious recipes, I could withstand the temptation. But I bought 4" tart pans with removal bottoms instead...

Then, Gaarp at Of Cabbages & King Cakes wrote about Dorie's recipe for eggplant caviar. Who can resist eggplant? I just planted some lovely plants for our fall garden. What if I have no recipes when they are ready for harvest? So I bought the book, I caved, completely. To Gaarp's peer pressure.

What a wonderful read. Far better than the material for my master's of nursing... I could spend the day reading the cookbook.

I decided to try the recipe swap onion "carbonara." In my house, creamed onions are the sought after Thanksgiving side. These looked delicious. With onions, bacon, cream, egg, butter and Parmesan how could you go wrong?

It is an easy recipe, that started with thinly sliced steamed onions. I have never steamed onions. Mixed with the bacon and the carbonara sauce they were delightful. I am so excited. It is a beautiful book, tempting recipes, I guess it isn't the worst addiction.

Pita Bread Modern Baker

2010-09-11T09:23:00.000-07:00

I signed up to make the pita bread in the bread section of Nick Malgieri's The Modern Baker for the Modern Baker Challenge. I have made these pitas four times, but blogging has been the real challenge.

It is the same excuse every time. I make these for dinner, I get picture of the process up to the end product. By the time we pull them out of the oven, I am putting things on the table. We sit, we laugh, we eat.... We eat them all before I photograph them.

Today I decided to make these while I was alone in the house. Emily and Tom had to go to school early this morning for a mandatory meeting on going to college. No one was thrilled to leave the house on a Saturday morning. Maybe fresh pitas for lunch will perk them up.

This is an easy recipe. The mis en place consists of flour, salt, warm water, olive oil and yeast.

The salt and flour are combined, the yeast is mixed into the water and then the olive oil is added. The liquids are combined with the flour for two minutes and then the dough rests for 10 mins.

The dough is kneaded for a few minutes, allowed to double then divided into 12 pieces.

The pieces rest and then are rolled into rounds.

The rounds rest and then are baked. I've made a batch of hummus and some tzatziki and everything is ready for lunch.

I find that I need to add an extra 1/4 cup of flour to this recipe. I also find that sometimes my pitas puff and sometimes they don't. I don't exactly know why. But this recipe is a keeper.

Soft Butter Rolls - Mellow Bakers

2010-09-04T15:09:00.000-07:00

I have been a neglectful baker. All of my starters need attention. My cook books are lonely. My instant yeast is in the back of the refrigerator!

The summer months were whirlwinds of activity. I took my girl scouts to New England, we came back, unpacked and then my family was back on a plane to Europe. The day after we came back, I went back to work. I work as a school nurse in a middle and high school that has a large number of kids with health issues. I like to have everything organized, a complete mis en place shall we say, for the school environment. Until that is accomplished, I feel unsettled.

I started another 8week, 3 credit grad school class on Monday and was instantly overwhelmed. The first week is the roughest and then I find some kind of rhythm. I think hip hop...

The good news is, things are getting organized. At home and school. All of my starters got some attention. They all still smelled quite delicious when I took them out of storage. I love the way starters smell.

My liquid starter is quite perky. My stiff starter may need a little more tlc. My desk at work is organized. We have a three day weekend.

Lets do some baking.

Mellow bakers has three breads posted for September; cheese bread, soft butter rolls and sourdough rye with walnuts. The cheese bread and the sourdough rye need starters that haven't been languishing in the refrigerator.

The butter rolls seemed perfect. My husband was making white chili and was willing to use the butter rolls instead of corned bread as an accompaniment.

The dough came together quickly, flour, salt, sugar, yeast, egg, water, butter and dry milk. I use King Arthur's Baker's Special Dry Milk. It really think that it is better than my supermarket variety.

I made the dough in my stand mixer. It fermented for a little more than an hour. I divided the dough into 24 and formed two pans full of rolls, they proofed for only a half an hour. I cut the baking time in half because Abby's were overcooked when she checked hers and I have been finding that my oven cooks faster than Mr. Hamelman's. After 15 minutes they were done.

We enjoyed them. I have a favorite dinner roll recipe, that I got from Mags who got them from Frieda...Maybe some day I will have a bake off.

Vacation

2010-08-21T04:27:00.000-07:00

Years ago we decided that we would try to go to Europe, with our three children, for our 25th anniversary. One of our children had a job commitment, so he could only join us for one of our planned two week adventure. Our first week was spent on the MSC Splendida. MSC is an Italian cruise line. We decided that if we were going to Europe, we were going to try to immerse ourselves in the culture. Probably 80% of the people on the cruise line were Italian, with some French, Germans, Dutch, English thrown in. We were the minority, which was fine by me.

I had never been on a cruise. I wasn't sure that I would like it. There are some definite advantages to a cruise. Every morning we woke up in a different port. We got to see five countries. You don't get to see five countries, just a little taste of them. But we have some ideas as to where we would go if we went again.

We would eat breakfast and head off. We had coffee and baked goods it a lot of towns. Our first stop was our shortest, Tunisia. The old town had some beautiful buildings but the number of people intently trying to sell you things was startling.

We went back to the ship for dinner. Dinner always including a pasta course and the risotto was amazing. Every night a different area of Italy was highlighted. We had some good food on the ship.

The next day we work up in Malta. Malta was amazing. There are forts and armor every where. Walking around Valleta was beautiful. We got a ticket to go to a couple museums.

I enjoy a museum. I may enjoy two museums. But by my third museums, I may sit in the courtyard, people watching. I may run into Rod Stewart who had performed the night before.

The next day, we woke up in Messina. We had hired a driver to take us to Castelmola and Taormina. Two picturesque towns high up in the mountains. We enjoyed strolling around and eating gellato and drinking coffee. I could retire here. Serve travelers coffee.

This is the town's public library. Could you read here?

Rome was a big day for us. The port is about 1.25 hours from Rome. We had hired a licensed driver/tour guide to show us the town. It was a whirlwind of activity. We were underground, we were above ground. In ruins, surrounded by bones. Finally, we stopped for a delicious lunch. The pasta and fish were suburb. Fish were piled in the restaurant, ready for your selection. What a lovely day.

The next day was Genoa. We hopped on a double decker tour bus and went all around town. Stopping for coffee and pastries and finally eating some pizza in the plaza by this church.

On Sunday, we went to Mass in French in Marseilles. Where has it gone, all that French that I studied?

By this point, I wanted off the ship because I knew that the next day, Joe would fly into Barcelona and we would all be together. Something that doesn't happen often it seems.

We did a whirlwind tour of Barcelona and flew to Paris to spend some time in our spacious, 500 sq ft apartment. In Texas, spacious and 500 sq feet don't go together...

I loved our apartment. Down the block from a metro stop, a open air market, a boulangerie. The ideal location for us.

We bought a museum pass... How to balance museums and foodie finds? It is a very delicate balance.

We will probably have to return to perfect the balance.

I've Been Away

2010-08-16T02:13:00.001-07:00

80% sourdough rye with a rye flour soaker

2010-07-16T05:56:00.000-07:00

The breads for July for Mellow Bakers include two rye breads. One of the rye breads contains rye chops. Rye chops are chopped up rye berries. I have been on an elusive search for rye berries. There is only one local grocery store left.

I actually flew to New England and searched for rye chops. OK, so the trip to King Arthur Flour store just happened to fit into my New England trip. It doesn't matter, there were no rye chops in the store. A wonderful store, filled with flour and linens and beautiful things for the kitchen. There is a bakery in the store filled with beautiful delicious goods. I am glad that it is on the other side of the country from me. They were able to suggest a place in Vermont where I could find rye chops, unfortunately, we did not have time to go exploring for whole grains.

So, I have made the 80 percent Sourdough Rye. The night before baking, you make a sourdough with whole-rye flour, water, sourdough culture. You also make rye paste, boiling water is poured on rye flour and left to soften over night.

In the morning I had a bubbly sourdough and a gooey soaker. They were combined with some rye flour, high gluten flour, water, salt and yeast. It made a sticky dough. It was allowed to ferment for 30 mins and then shaped. I needed to use a bit of flour to shape the gooey mess into two loaves. I wondered while I was working with the rye, why it always reminds me of kindergarten and glue paste. I wondered what a mud bath was like while I tried to wash it off my hands.

The loaves fermented again and then were supposedly left for 24 hours to stabilize the texture of the crumb. Except my husband came home and does not believe that any loaf should sit around unsampled for 24 hours. It is a delightful rye. Perhaps the best rye bread that I have ever made.

I saw some beautiful slashing on my travels. I stopped off at the Standard Baking Co. in Portland Maine. I really enjoyed Portland, add it onto your travel list. What a delightful New England town. The customers in the Standard Baking Co. thought that I was odd when I photographed the breads, but look at the slashing.

Bialys

2010-07-01T15:42:00.001-07:00

One of the three breads from Hamelman's Bread for July's Mellow Baker's challenge is Bialys. I have made Kossar's Bialys from Maggie Glezer's Artisan Baking. I was looking forward to seeing how the recipes differed.

This is an easy recipe. High gluten flour, water, salt and yeast are combined in the mixer. The stiff dough is mixed, fermented, folded after an hour and fermented some more. Glezer's recipe used a food processor, which quickly heated the dough, which then had to be cooled. I prefer Hamelman's method.

Half of the bialys are already gone, they are irresistible. I will make these again but caramelize the onions.

The dough is formed into balls, which rise again. They are then formed into six inch pizza shape with a raised outer lip. Think inflatable kiddie pool. A teaspoon of finely chopped onions, that had visited with some white bread crumbs, is put in the center of the dough.

Here is the big difference. Glezer's recipe called for the same finely chopped onions without the bread crumbs. The onions are mounded and cooked in a 350 degree oven for an hour, caramelizing them before putting them in the bialys. I much preferred the flavor of the caramelized onions.

Distracted Baking

2010-06-17T06:13:00.000-07:00

My husband frequently comments on how I can cook dinner and maintain conversations with all of the members of my household and advance the laundry and answer the phone all at the same time. Distracted cooking is not really challenging for me. It kinds of fits with our family lifestyle.

Now distracted baking may be another thing all together. I am writing my final paper for what has been a challenging, annoying grad school course. The problem with online classes is that you are limited in your interaction with your professor and that he/she can post a comment onto your work that doubles or triple the amount of work that you have to do without any effort on their part. Maybe it is distracted teaching. Maybe there is a purpose to it.

I am waiting for this class to be over, but I am thinking about my paper and working on my paper while making Hamelman's sourdoughs with whole wheat and with increased whole grain. Distracting baking, perhaps not a good idea.

I made the levains last night. It is hot, humid and heavy here in Texas. Nothing is going to take more than 12 hours to be ready.

I assembled my mis en place for the whole wheat.

Mixed the flours, levain, and water. Waited for the autolyse phase to end, added the salt, mixed for 2 minutes and put it aside for fermentation.

The I assembled my mis en place for the increased whole grain. Can you spot a significant difference between the two mis en places.

I mixed the flours, levain, and water and made liquid slop.

Ah, distracted baking. Did I check the errata sheet before I started baking? No. Did I check out the Mellow Baker's web site, too easy. Look at the differences in bread flours between the two loaves. My increased whole grain mis en place had 8 oz which, we all know is not 5.5 cups. Not the 1 pound, 8 oz that the recipe actually needs.

It didn't take me long to notice the mistake. When I combined the ingredients, I made dough batter. No pictures because I was working so quickly to correct the error so the rye didn't turn into gluten mess. I added extra flour to what I hope is the correct proportions.

Perhaps now would be a good time for all of us to go through the errata sheet and make the necessary corrections. Or we could all work on our papers.

The dough fermented for two hours and then was shaped. The whole wheat loaf was easy to work with.

I am concerned about the increased whole grain. It has huge air bubbles, and is a little looser than I would prefer.

I ended up with some beautiful looking loaves. The ones on the left are the increased grain.

The rye is slightly darker. The both have a nice flavor.

Simple risky salad #38

2010-06-16T15:33:00.000-07:00

This salad appeals to me, I hope that I enjoy it. I may end up eating all of it. Any one who has been following my bread baking blog is aware that my family is adverse to fruit in the breads. Cooked raisins are not allowed in my house. Delicious dates never factor into my ingredients.

I was pondering their aversion to fruits. They will eat apple pie, blueberry pie, tarts with fruits but ask the fruit to share the stage, combine with dough and they turn their noses up at my baked goods.

Their dislike extends to some natural dinner combinations including my favorite pork with apples. There an exception to the rule, mangos and pork have the approval of all family members.

Go figure. Any way, this salad in Bittman's 101 salads caught my eye. Watermelon, red onion, feta, olives and mint with a little lemon and olive oil. Where could you go wrong? Oh yeah, the fruit thing...

I made up the salads and put them in the refrigerator to chill. Now, I just want to let you know that I don't make these things up.

My husband came home, I put the salad in front of him and he said,

"This is very disturbing"

He tried some more and then said

"This is that Bittman guy, isn't it"

A few more bites,

"on my fork there are onions, cheese and you would think tomatoes, but no..."

Well, the salad is gone. I really enjoyed it. Tom would eat it again, I don't have the heart to tell him that there is one with tomatoes and watermelon...

101 salads for summer

2010-06-14T15:31:00.000-07:00

Last summer Mark Bittman published 101 salad recipes in his column in the New York Times. He says that the majority of them take less than 20 mins to prepare.

I need to do something to offset my fascination with baking all the recipes in a bread cookbooks! The Mellow Bakers are baking their way through the 84 recipes in Jeffrey Hamelman's book, Bread. The Modern Bakers are baking their way through Nick Malgieri's The Modern Bakers.

Bittman's recipes are indeed minimalist. A list of ingredients, no measurements. They plant the idea for a delicious salad. I've made quite a few of them, but this summer I am going to focus on seeing how many I can try.

Tonight's salad. Chickpeas, shredded carrots, celery and coconut with a dressing of lemon, olive oil, cilantro and curry powder.

I really enjoy cilantro, however I can remember the first time I tried it. We were out on a fancy date night. With two boys, fifteen months apart, we didn't do that much. We had been transferred to Tucson, AZ. Our first experience with Southwestern cuisine. Tom ordered some soup and had me taste it. We were both pretty certain that the chef had dumped soap in to the soup. Cilantro aldehydes are similar to aldehydes found in soaps and lotions. Some people can't stand the flavor. The New York Times has an interesting article on why people don't like it.

Our tastes have matured, we really enjoy cilantro. We try to grow it in the backyard, before the heat gets to it.

Pates and Bread, Daring Cooks Challenge

2010-06-10T18:29:00.000-07:00

Valerie, from the Chocolate Bunny and Evelyne from Cheap Ethnic Eatz, are hosting June's Daring Cooks Challenge. They did indeed present a challenge. There were three pate recipes to choose from and then, of course, one must make bread to accompany the pate.

I chose to make the tricolor vegetable pate from their recipes. And then I thought about some of the pates that I had read about in the Frog Commissary Cookbook. This was one of the earliest, off the beaten path, cookbooks that I owned.

I lived in Philadelphia when Steve Poses had several restaurants going and would stop by the Commissary and look at their delicious takeout. This cookbook has perhaps one of the best carrot cake recipes.

I had always passed by the pates, not really something we eat a lot of. But they were calling to me.

The bread choice was easy. The Pain a l'Ancienne was one of my favorite breads from Peter Reinhart's, The Bread Baker's Apprentice. It is a very wet dough, 79% hydration and relies on cold fermentation. That is part of its allure, you make it one day, put it in the refrigerator and wake up to dough that is almost ready to be made into delicious baguettes.

The tricolor pate was easy to make. It has a white bean layer, a roasted red pepper layer and a basil, parsley pesto layer. It chilled in the refrigerator, unmolded easily and looked tempting surrounded by sliced bread.

The Frog Commissary cookbook had an interesting pate recipe for a country pate.

It included ground veal, ground pork, chicken livers, chicken breast and ham that had been soaked in brandy, pistachios, spices, eggs, cream and garlic. An amazing amount of ingredients that were formed into loaf pans lined with pork fat and cooked in a water bath.

They also had a seafood pate that combined salmon and scallops, two of my favorite things.

The delicate pink layer was filled with a line of dill, spinach, scallops.

I put everything out on the table, added some sausage and cheese. We all sat down to a delicious, unusual afternoon feast and promptly went off for an afternoon nap!

Beer Bread with Roasted Barley

2010-06-09T05:27:00.000-07:00

One of the breads for June in the Mellow Bakers Challenge is Beer Bread with Roasted Barley. Hamelman says that husked malted barley is easy to find in beer-brewing stores. My beer-brewing stores referred to it as dehusked barley. Apparently, there are many varieties of barley. My local store had a dehusked, already roasted dried barley called carafa II malt. There is another store on the other side of town that has more varieties of barley, I may have to visit it. The roasted barley is very dark. I tasted it and it was not bitter.

The bread starts off with a polish made with equal parts of bread flour and water and only 1/8 of a teaspoon of yeast. I am always impressed at what such a small amount of yeast can do. The final dough includes the poolish, bread flour, whole-wheat flour, beer, water, salt, yeast, malted barley.

This is a bread full of choices. What kind of barley, what kind of beer. I decided to try a lager for the beer.

All of the ingredients were weighed out. Again, Mr. Hamelman please use metrics. Those .6 oz are a little challenging and the fractions make me feel old, my eyes are failing.

The ingredients were put in a mixing bowl. I blended the flours, salt, yeast and barley and then added the poolish, beer water mix and turned it on and slopped beer all over my pajamas. Note to self, mix with spoon in the future.

The bread was mixed for six minutes and then left to ferment for two hours with a fold after one hour. I needed to add a little more flour and questioned if I should have added more.

At this point, I am a little worried about the dough. It is still pretty wet. The question is is it modernly loose hydration? I shape it and divide into two. At some point, I will buy another bannetone. I shaped one into a boule and one went into the bannetone and they were left to rise for an hour.

After about 70 mins, the boules were baked. The loaves only took 30 mins until they were done. They had a delightful crust and a complex flavor. I have never baked with barley or beer. I can't wait to see what my fellow mellow bakers think of this, I think that there will be a lot of variables, what kind of barley, what kind of beer. I wonder what the verdict will be.

Vermont Sourdough

2010-06-06T06:41:00.000-07:00

The June breads have been listed in the Mellow Baker's challenge. They include Vermont Sourdough, Pizza Dough and Beer Bread with roasted barley. We are out of bread, so I decided to make the Vermont Sourdough.

I took my starter out of the refrigerator and refreshed it a couple of times for two days. One of my sons has returned for the summer. He has been out of the house for several years rowing at college or working or some bizarre combination of the two. I overheard my husband explaining to Matt that he shouldn't throw out any slimey things that he finds on the counter, "they probably belong to Mom and are going in bread." Matt seemed agreeable to the idea, especially since bread was the endpoint.

I made the liquid-levain build 16 hours before I thought that I would use it. Bread flour, water and starter were combined, covered and happily bubbled away. I had to go to work on Saturday for a work day. Friday was the last day for school for the students but the staff had to come in half day work day on Saturday.

The day was to end with a 45 minute presentation by the superintendent. 90 minutes later, I was worrying about my levain. No worries, I finally got home, it still looked happy. I added the bread flour, rye flour, and water. Mixed it together. Let it stand for an autolyse phase for 30 mins. Then added the salt, mixed and fermented for 2.5 hours with a fold at 90 mins.

I shaped the bread into two boules and stuck it in the refrigerator and started the summer by heading off to Shakespeare in the Park.

This morning, I baked the delicious bread and everyone in the house will be happy when they come down the stairs.

I will try the other variations of this delicious bread.

Sweet Rusks for Dunking - The Modern Baker

2010-05-23T07:50:00.002-07:00

The Modern Bakers are baking our way through Nick Malgieri's The Modern Baker. We started with the quick breads. We have embarked on participatory group blogging. We claimed certain recipes to blog about and then bake/blog about whatever other recipes catch our fancy.

The sweet rusks for dunking appealed to me on several levels. Sweet rusks are a quick bread that have been baked so long that it becomes impossible to eat them without dunking them in tea or coffee. Nick says that sweet rusks are common in South Africa and the Netherlands. I work with a woman who is from the Netherlands; I am interested in her critique of the recipe.

I live in a house of backpackers. They have taken pilot biscuits, or hardtack, on some of their trips. I'm not sure that they enjoyed pilot biscuits but I hoped that the sweet rusks would be a delightful backpacking snack.

I assembled the flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, salt, butter, egg and buttermilk.

The flour, oats, sugar, baking powder and salt were combined in a food processor.

The butter was pulsed into the flour mixture. The egg was whisked into the buttermilk, then added to the processor. The mixture was dumped onto a floured surface divided into thirds.

Each third was rolled out and then each log was divided into 12 pieces.

At this point, I would suggest putting the remaining dough balls in the refrigerator. They quickly got more difficult to work with as they warmed up.

The pieces were supposed to be put in a 9 x 13 pan that had been coated with buttered foil. I missed that part. It is up by the ingredients in the top right. Any way, I sprayed my 9x13 pan with cooking spray and didn't have any problems. Nick wants you to put them 9 x 4 in the pan. I couldn't quite fit the 9 so ended up 7 x 5.

The rusks were baked until they were golden, in a 350 oven for 40 mins.

Then they were cooled, broken apart and then arranged on their sides onto cookie sheets.

At this point, some children came down the stairs and ate the not yet dried out biscuits and enjoyed them.

I think that if I had used a knife to separate the pieces, they would have been more prone to staying on their sides for the final drying period. They were returned to the 250 oven for 1.5 hours.

After you have dried out the biscuits, you are left with a pretty tasty little morsel. Hard as can be, maybe even dangerous to the teeth if you don't dunk them in coffee, but tasty, in a subtle fashion.

I brought some in to work and had my Dutch friend, Anneke, try them. She was impressed by how dried out they were. They are not something that she is familiar with, they were not part of her childhood.

King Arthur Oatmeal Bread

2010-05-22T07:34:00.000-07:00

There has been a bit of a crisis in my house, no fresh bread. Or perhaps my mother being in the hospital has been the real crisis.

My mom is 88 and like most 88 year olds she has multiple health issues. She lives up the street from me in an independent senior citizen community. She ended up in the hospital for a few nights and then went on to a skilled nursing facility for two weeks. I moved her back to her apartment, with home health aids, on Tuesday.

So, this weekend it is time to address some of the deficits in my home. Things are growing the refrigerator; it is not my starters. The white tile floor is not white.

In my forever house, I will have poured concrete flooring, with swirls of color. It will be very accepting of dirt.

The backyard is overgrown, good news, that is outside, not my domain.

Because we are fluent in the rhythm of laundry, it isn't an issue. Except no one has changed the sheets on the beds for some time. And maybe there is a pile of ironing hidden away from sight.

But the crisis remains, there is no bread. And my family no longer likes the bread from the grocers. I have not baked one of the three breads for the Mellow Bakers Challenge, the miche pointe-a-calliere. The recipe takes at least 22 hours. I don't really have the time to commit to a demanding loaf of bread.

I had clipped the Oatmeal Bread recipe from the King Arthur bread flour bag some time ago and put it in my to do pile. I really enjoy oatmeal bread. I checked out the recipe to see if it was a fussy, demanding bread. "In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine all of the ingredient..." Perfect for the overwhelmed weekend baker.

I really enjoy King Arthur's blog. I would love to visit their store. I am taking my girlscouts to Boston this summer. I've considered proposing a side trip to Vermont to look at flours. We are from Texas, we have different acceptable driving distances for side trips from much of the US. If we divided up everything I bought among everyone's luggage I am sure it wouldn't be too heavy. Unfortunately, we are a democratic troop, I think that I would get voted down.

I assembled the ingredients. Actually, I assembled too many ingredients, pick one sweetener, brown sugar or honey.

I moistened the yeast on the milk, which is not on the recipe that I clipped from the bag, but is on the linked recipe. Then I dumped everything into the bowl, combined and kneaded by machine for 5 mins. It was allowed to ferment for one hour.

After an hour, I shaped it and put it in my large loaf pan. After another hour I baked it. Just what the house needed, an absolutely delicious aroma and fresh bread.

Blueberry Crumb Muffins

2010-05-15T07:03:00.000-07:00

The Modern Baker Challenge is baking its way through Nick Malgieri's The Modern Baker. We are in the quick bread section and I am skipping some of them. There was a sign up sheet to bake and blog about the quick breads, and I jumped at the opportunity to make the spicy jalepeno corn bread.

My family is a little devoid of a sweet tooth, so I have to be careful about what I bake. The blueberry crumb muffins were described by Nick (by the way, I think that I can call him Nick since he posted a response on my blog :) He went through and read and commented on all of blogs up so far. How cool.) Where was I? oh, described by Nick as a not overly sweet, packed with blueberries, muffin.

Joe's girlfriend Dana has come to Texas for a visit. We have not been the bests of hosts. My mom was recently hospitalized and is getting a little rehab before returning to her apartment. I have spent my evenings visiting my Mom so our house is a little lacking for attention. I decided muffins were in order for breakfast to compensate for our inattentiveness.

The crumb topping was a mixture of flour, baking powder, cinnamon, butter and brown sugar. I've never added baking powder to a crumb topping. I had a perfect amount of crumb for my muffins.

The muffins, like all quick breads, came together quickly. Flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg (I substituted cinnamon) were mixed together. Butter and brown and white sugar were mixed. Eggs were added. Flour mixture and dry ingredients soon followed.

Nick recommended that you mixed the berries a little to disperse their blueberry goodness. I used frozen blueberries.

This makes a tasty muffin. Enjoyed by everyone who is up so far.

Dana and Joe have been photographing some of Texas' beauty. We are having an amazing wildflower season. I thought that I would share, with Dana's permission of course.

Corn Bread

2010-05-08T04:29:00.000-07:00

One of May's three breads chosen randomly for April's Mellow Bakers is Hamelman's corn bread. The recipe is not a quick rise, baking powder cornbread. This recipe is for a yeast bread that is made with some cornmeal (25%).

You start by making a poolish of flour, water and yeast that ferments for 16 hours.

The next day fine cornmeal is softened in some water. I didn't have any fine cornmeal, I did have medium cornmeal. I am running out of space for my flour, so I decided to try the medium cornmeal.

Then bread flour, salt, yeast and olive oil are combined with the poolish.

After six minutes in the mixer, I had a very supple dough. It fermented for 45 minutes, then was folded.

And fermented for 45 more minutes.

I divided the dough in two, let it rest and shaped one half into a boule and the other I formed into a large loaf. I have a large loaf pan that I picked up in a discount store. It has proven to be handy with some of the larger recipes.

We preferred the corn bread in the loaf pan. It made great sandwiches and tasted better as it aged.

This is a delicious bread. One that I will make again.

Grissini

2010-05-01T13:53:00.000-07:00

The Mellow Bakers keep baking their way through Jeffrey Hamelman's Bread. I love the idea of randomly generated bread choices for each month. You never know quite what is going to come up. Apparently we will be baking three breads a month for 23 months. I find the idea comforting.

One of May's breads is grissini, or Italian bread sticks. It is an easy bread.

Bread flour, water, olive oil, butter, salt and yeast are combined in a bowl.

It was mixed on first speed for a few minutes and then three more minutes on second speed.

There are a number of possibilities for flavoring the grissini. I divided the dough in half and incorporated some cracked pepper and pecorino cheese in half of the dough.

And some rosemary and roasted garlic into the other half.

I am overwhelmed by rosemary. The rains have made it grow at an alarming rate. There used to be a path between my rosemary bushes. We need to eat more rosemary.

The dough was a delightful, supple dough. It fermented for an hour and then was divided into 24 pieces. They were rolled out and baked to make a delightful snack.

This was a fun, quick recipe.

Light Rye Bread or the blob

2010-04-28T17:32:00.000-07:00

I wanted to make this bread before the end of April, because...

I am not a mellow person.

There it is, in black and white.

If there are three breads in April's Mellow bakers challenge, then I will bake all three.

There were a couple of problems with my plan, the most pressing was the lack of my books.

Good news, I found a recipe on line and assumed it was correct.

I made the sourdough with rye flour,
water
mature sourdough

This ripened for 14 to 16 hours. Things looked to be going fine, I made some grey-brown slime and watched it bubble. Been there.

I rushed home from work and put

high gluten flou
rwater
1 T salt
yeast
the sourdough mixture

into a bowl, mixed it and thought that I needed some more flour, added a little more then cut the dough in half and added caraway to half a loaf.

let it rise until doubled, and then, when I poured it out, I had a blob. An almost impossible to shape, limp mess.

Shaped into boules, left to rise for another hour. I tried to slice them, oh, slicing slime never works. Never

Into the oven to pray for spring.

I have seen some beautiful looking loaves from this recipe, maybe, is this the recipe. And thanks to some number checking from some fellow bakers, I had the right recipe.

I ended up adding at least a half a cup of flour during the initial mix, I should have added more, but I am hesitant to add lots of flour to a recipe.

The good news is, the bread is delicious. I just won't be making this one again.

Thom Leonard's Country French Bread

2010-04-24T05:40:00.000-07:00

I needed to bake the bread for the week and three of my cookbooks have gone to visit a friend. This country french bread had appealed to me when I first looked through Artisan Baking by Maggie Glezer. Almost all the recipes in Artisan Baking call to me, bake me, bake me next. Maybe it is a good thing that some of my cookbooks have disappeared?

You start by making a levain with 25grams of your fermented sourdough starter, 140 gram of water and 140 grams of bread flour. This is left to ferment overnight on the counter. We should all know by know that I love having things bubbling away on my counter.

The next day, a mixture of 350 grams whole wheat flour, 750 grams bread flour, 30 grams rye flour are mixed together and then added to the levain and water.

Glezer uses a coarsely ground whole wheat flour that you can order in 50 pound bags from some place in Colorado. I wonder what my husband would say if I start ordering 50 pound bags of flour?

This is mixed for 10 minutes and then one Tablespoon with 1.5 t salt is added and mixed for 5 more mins until you make a soft, sticky and extensible dough. Let the dough rest for 10 minutes

The dough is folded after 30, 60 and 90 minutes and left to ferment for 90 more minutes.

So, this recipe actually makes about a four pound loaf. At least that is what the shaping called for, one gigantic loaf.

After three hours, I divided into two, let it rest on the counter and then shaped two boules which were allowed to ferment for four hours. I used my new brotform and my colander covered with a floured linen clothe. After four hours, turn the loaves out and slash them. One loaf I slashed, one I did not.

This is an all day, slow one hundred percent sourdough bread. There is no frantic rushing around the kitchen with this bread. This is a delicious loaf of bread, well worth the effort. The sourdough flavor was delicious and I was surprised how much you could taste the rye flour.

When I run out of recipes whispering to me, I will make this one again. But, before I do, I am going to send this recipe to yeastspotting.

Bagels

2010-04-17T05:48:00.000-07:00

One of the Mellow Baker's April breads is bagels. My husband really enjoys a good bagel. I was glad to get the opportunity to make these. Unfortunately, we are overwhelmed by our daughter Emily's lifestyle. She is the stage manager of the high school production of Beauty and the Beast. There are four shows this weekend, which are cramping my baking/blogging style!

High gluten flour, salt, yeast, diastatic malt powder and water were combined to make a stiff dough. Bagels almost killed my mixer the last time that I made them. I know there are other, heavy duty mixers out there. But my stand mixer is older than my marriage, maybe 25 years old. So I proceeded with care.

My stiff dough fermented for one hour and then was formed into bagels. Some of them I made by Hamelman's rope method and some of them I made by poking a hole into a round of dough.

They were put into the refrigerator overnight to gain some more flavor.

At this point, I decided to skip the ice path, bagel flipping method. I boiled some water with baking soda, boiled the bagels for a minute each side and popped them into a 450 degree oven for about 8 mins.

They are delicious. We are trying to figure out which ones we like more. We think that it might be the BBA recipe, but perhaps we were influenced by how exiting it was to actually make bagels at home.

Brunswick Stew

2010-04-15T17:42:00.000-07:00

I'm late. I've been busy with school. And perhaps I am too old for school Sometimes when it an assignment is due, I find myself thinking, I could be baking bread. Oh well. I finished the recipe earlier but forgot to write it up...

April's Daring Cooks Challenge was a Southern classic, Brunswick Stew. I had never made Brunswick Stew. A quick internet search revealed that I could make the stew with rabbits or squirrels, but I fresh out of both of them. I opted for chicken and pork.

Any recipe that starts with sauteed bacon is on its way to tasty goodness. After the bacon was removed, I sauteed some serrano chiles and some poblanos. They were removed and then I seared the chicken and pork.

The pan was deglazed with stock. The stock was reduced and then more stock,bay leaves, celery, potatoes, chicken, pork, bacon and chiles were added and simmered for 1.5 hours. The chicken, and pork were removed and shredded. The bay, celery, chiles and bacon were discarded. Carrots, onions, butterbeans, corn and tomatoes were added and simmered for 30 min with the meat. At the very end, vinegar and lemon were added.

This was a tasty stew. I'm glad that I was able to find the traditional butter beans, like huge squished lima beans with less of the pasty taste.

Rustic Bread

2010-04-11T11:30:00.001-07:00

I have officially baked my first bread in the Mellow Bakers challenge. The rustic bread started with a pre-ferment. A pre-ferment adds a depth of flavor to breads. This rustic bread pre-ferment used bread flour, water, salt and yeast. A stiff dough was formed that was allowed to stand on the counter for 12 - 16 hours.

The next day bread flour, whole rye flour, whole wheat flour, water, salt, and yeast were combined with the preferment. I cut back on the amount of salt in the recipe. One Tablespoon of salt is a little too much salt for my taste.

Knowing how rye flour can quickly get gummy, I paid close attention to the dough during mixing. It took less than 5 minutes for it to come together and form a supple dough.

The dough was then fermented for 2.5 hours with folding at the 50 minute and 100 minute mark.

After resting, I tried Hamelman's folding technique. I was trying to make a batard with blunt ends. I didn't quite pull it off. The loaves had their final fermentation in floured baker's linens.

After 1.5 hours, they were scored and baked in a 450 degree oven.

I checked on them after 25 minutes and was surprised at how brown they were. Clearly I should have scored them more deeply.

It makes a very tasty loaf of bread, I think that the three flours come together in a delicious fashion and am looking forward to toast...

Spicy Jalapeno Cornbread

2010-04-11T09:18:00.000-07:00

I wanted some cornbread for tonight's dinner and when I checked in the Modern Baker, by Nick Malgieri, I found a recipe. A quick peek at the Modern Bakers Challenge web paged indicated that no one had signed up to blog about the recipe. I don't know why people aren't rushing to sign up for the bread that calls for four jalapenos. I'm not kidding. Four.

This is a savory recipe in his quick breads section. The quick breads come together with little effort. It is a little bit of an unusual cornbread with the addition of jalapenos, scallions and cilantro. You actually have to seed, and slice some jalapenos and scallions and saute them. I chose to use only two jalapenos, and I diced them. Sometimes I like cornbread for breakfast, and didn't want to end up with a slice of jalepeno in my mouth at five in the morning.

I assembled my ingredients and set about measuring and chopping.

Once the jalapenos and scallions cooled, and butter was melted and cooled this recipe came together quickly.

cornmeal, ap flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt were combined. The eggs were beaten lightly and buttermilk was added to the eggs. Several options are provided for the liquid, I feel buttermilk adds a nice tang to cornbread.

The melted butter and the cooled jalapenos, scallions and cilantro were added to the liquid and everything was combined.

I put it into a square pan. Nick uses round, but I like squares of cornbread. They are easier to split open and grill in the morning.

This is a delightful savory cornbread recipe. I liked the flavor from the 2 jalapenos and the baked cilantro. However, it is not a sweet cornbread. I was impressed by how varied the reviews of the cornbread recipe in the Bread Bakers Apprentice challenge were, I wonder if this recipe will invoke the same varied response.

Chocolate Spice Bread, The Modern Baker

2010-04-10T12:53:00.000-07:00

The Modern Baker challenge has begun and I decided to skip the first recipe in the book and move on the chocolate spice bread. I will be skipping recipes this challenge. My family lacks a sweet tooth. Or perhaps they have a very defined sweet tooth. There are a lot of things that they just won't eat. Dessert is not really something they enjoy.

However, this chocolate spice bread was just up their alley. Who doesn't love a quick bread? Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl. Flour, cocoa, baking powder, salt and cinnamon and stir. In another bowl, whisk some eggs, add some sugar and brown sugar, add some melted butter and sour cream and then add the dry ingedients.

Put the mixture into a bread pan and cook until a knife comes out clean.

I served this with strawberries and whipped cream. This was quick and easy, a good recipe to have when you find out unexpected company is on their way. It made a delightful dessert, which prompted Emily to ask why is this a bread and not a cake????

Judy Unruh's Wedding Zwieback

2010-04-03T19:10:00.000-07:00

Artisan Baking keeps calling me. Maggie Glezer writes such endearing stories about the bakers that she meets. She went to threshing days in Goessel, Kansas. It celebrates the wheat harvest and Mennonite heritage.

Judy Unruh was making these rolls in the Krause House, part of the Mennonite Heritage Museum. The recipe makes a sweeter, wedding roll.

I went out today to buy some rolls at Costco, the shame. But the Costco by me has some pretty delicious rolls. Unfortunately, they were sold out. There was a brief moment of concern, what to do about rolls for Easter dinner? And then I remembered, I can bake.

I have a recent new favorite roll recipe, but the story about the Zwieback hooked me in and makes me want to try the recipe.

It starts with scalded milk. My mom always scalded the milk before she made yeast bread. Glezer says that it denatures a protein in the milk and makes for a smoother texture in the bread. You add some yeast, some flour, sugar, salt butter and optional eggs. The eggs are added if you want richer and light rolls, just where I was heading.

Then I added a little of King Arthur's baker's special dry milk, because I could. And I think it adds a little flavor. I needed to add a little more flour, the dough is supposed to be soft and sticky, mine was liquid. I think that the added eggs needed a little more flour.

Any the dough spent the night in the refrigerator. I pulled it out in the morning, let it come to room temp for about two hours shaped it and let them rise for two more hours. baked at 350 for 25 mins. I'd like to note that the recipe says to serve the rolls immediately. Glezer needs to talk to Reinhart. Eating bread fresh out of the oven!!

2 cups scaled milk cooled
sprinkle with 1.25 t instant yeast
add 825 g ap flour ( I needed more)
55 g sugar (I cut this down to 30)
2.25 t salt
6 T unsalted butter
2 eggs
1/4 cup baker's dry special milk

Mix by dough hook for about 5 mins, then into the frig overnight.

Can you picture the sandwiches?

Roasted-Potato Bread

2010-04-03T06:09:00.000-07:00

I set off to make the first of the April breads for the Mellow Bakers. The Mellow Bakers are a group of bread baking enthusiasts who bake some bread each month. A few breads from Jeffrey Hamelman's Bread are posted each month and you can bake them and blog about them. If you want. Or not. It is very Mellow.

April's breads are a Rustic Bread, a Medium Rye and Bagels. Some how, I started following the recipe with the roasted potatoes, one page after the rustic bread. So for my first of the Mellow Bakers challenge, I am not baking the right bread. I'm in the neighborhood. The Rustic bread and the Roasted-Potato bread are very similar, the key difference being the roasted potatoes.

Both breads start off with a pate fermentee which is left to ferment on the counter for sixteen hours. The roasted potato bread adds some roasted potatoes. Hamelman recommends roasting the potatoes for added flavor. I love to roast my veggies, it brings out their flavor. I scrubbed and the cut some yukon gold potatoes into chunks, tossed them in some olive oil and roasted them in a 400 degree oven until they were tender, about 20 mins.

The bread flour, wheat flour, salt, yeast, water, roasted potatoes, skins and all and the pate fermentee were combined.

At this point, I have to say that Mr. Hamelman's book is driving me a little crazy. All of his recipes are presented in formulas for 20 pounds, 10 kilos or 2 pound of flour. The 2 pound column is challenging, the measurements for 1 5/8ths, couldn't we just use metrics??? The fractions are a little hard for my eyes, early morning baking will become more challenging. 1lb, 11.2 oz, how sensitive is everyone's scale? Let us all just switch to metrics now please. Metrics 4 US It will be a rough couple of years, everyone will think that they have lost weight when they learn their weight in kg, it will take some adjust, but please let us all switch to metrics. Now.

So, Hamelman is into folding. After 45 mins, the bread was folded and returned to ferment for another 45 mins. The dough was divided, allowed to rest and then shaped. I made a boule and a loaf. The final fermentation was for a little more than an hour. The oven was heated and I forgot to put in my baking stone. I put some boiling water into the pan at the bottom of the oven and baked the breads.

It is a delicious loaf, softer from the addition of the potatoes. Darker from the addition of the potatoes. I'll get this right some time, maybe next weekend.

Rustic Roasted Garlic Bread

2010-03-27T19:03:00.000-07:00

Go out and buy the book already. I had a rough week. I was looking forward to the weekend and bread baking. Maggie Glezer's Artisan Baking is filled with delightful stories from bakeries all over the US. When you read the account of Della Fattoria you become aware that an artisan bakery, with a wood burning stove is a 24 hour commitment. Who feeds the starter, who stokes the fire. I love reading stories in cookbooks and am really enjoying this one.

One of Della Fattoria's most popular varieties is the Rustic Roasted Garlic Bread. You need a little time on your hands to make this bread. First you will need a firm sourdough starter that has been refreshed 8 hours earlier. Glezer tells you how to make your batter type starter into a firm starter, buy the book, you won't regret it.

The starter is mixed with water, bread flour and wheat flour and allowed to ferment overnight. I enjoy having things fermenting on my counter. It makes me feel like I am back in lab.

At some point, you roast three heads of garlic in the oven for about an hour. After they are roasted, pop the cloves out of their skins, mash them and add some olive oil, salt and pepper to make at least 3 Tablespoons of garlic paste.

The next morning, mix the fermented levain, water, and bread flour. This forms a wet, soft dough that you mix in a stand mixer for 25 minutes. Not a typo. So far the recipes in Artisan Baking have had a longer mixing time. After 25 mins you add some salt. You end up with a very soft dough. I can't help but wonder if the 25 minutes is really necessary. It would be nice to have a bake off.

Now starts the four hour fermenting. Put it in a container, every 30 mins take it out and fold it, do this for 3 times or 90 mins, then leave it alone for 2.5 more hours. It will slowly rise. Divide it into two. Form it into rounds, flip them over, squash them down, smear on some garlic paste and asiago cheese, pinch the dough together to make a pleated pouch. Flip it over, make a nice parsley wreath and put a clove of garlic into a slice in the the center of the loaf. Put the loaf parsley side down in a floured, linen covered bowl. Let it ferment for four more hours. Flip it onto a sheet. You were supposed to slice around the perimeter right before baking. I forgot that part. Bake it on a baking stone in a 425 oven.

Then, let the bread cool. Slice it open and fight over who gets the piece with the most garlic puree. It is clear that the hours spent fermenting add to the flavor of this bread. This is not bread for the faint of heart, it screams hearty, flavorful, not white, garlic lover bread.

I sending this over to YeastSpotting.

Minimalist Hot Cross Buns - Mellow Bakers 1st Bread

2010-03-22T04:40:00.000-07:00

I found myself in a state of confusion after I finished the last of the BBA challenge breads. What was I going to do on the weekends? What to bake? Paul over at the Yumarama Bread Blog suggested forming a new group of bakers, the Mellow Bakers. We are baking breads out of Jeffrey Hamelman's Bread: A Baker's Book of Techniques and Recipes.

Paul suggested Hot Cross Buns for March. Some people enjoy a hot cross bun in the springtime. I've lived with the people in my house for some time. I know their idiosyncrasies. They will eat no fruit in their breads. They have no aversion to uncooked fruit. Two of my family members have been known to eat raw lemons. Candy that lemon and they won't go near it.

The paste that is used to cross the buns has been peeled off and discarded from many a pastry brought into my house.

So I made nontraditional hot cross buns. No dried currants, no candied peel, no allspice. A touch of cinnamon and a little glaze after they had cooled. They made a delicious breakfast treat. I am not certain that I could convince any one that they tasted like the traditional hot cross buns. If you would like to see what the traditional buns look like and find a recipe, head over to Susan's Wild Yeast blog.

Sullivan Street Potato Pizza

2010-03-19T16:44:00.000-07:00

I am enjoying Maggie Glezer's Artisan Baking. It is hard for me to decide which recipe to try next. I chose this recipe because the guy in the book looks so pleased to be carrying a potato pizza. And why shouldn't he? Potatoes, pizza, what is not to like?

It is a very wet dough that is made by mixing bread flour, all purpose flour, instant yeast and 109% water with a pinch of salt and sugar.

You are supposed to mix it for 20 minutes to see the miracle of bread making. It took a little less for a nice dough to form.

After fermenting for four hours, it is put in the bottom of a 13 x 9 pan that has been coated with olive oil. After it is given a chance to rise, it is covered with a mixture of thinly sliced yukon gold potatoes, onions, salt, pepper, rosemary and olive oil. The rosemary plants in my backyard are covered with new growth.

It smells incredible while baking.

We all enjoyed the pizza although we aren't really sure that it is a pizza. We are willing to give it another try to discern it's true nature. Some people in the house think that a pizza has to have some sauce/cheese. It has been suggested that this is more like a tart by my bread eating family. I do not know, but I know why the guy in the book is smiling.

I'm sending this to YeastSpotting!

Polenta with Mushrooms in Beef Sauce

2010-03-17T05:53:00.000-07:00

So, I had the delicious focaccia and some leftover polenta in the fridge that I had poured in a pan to firm up. I am trying to use up all leftovers and not waste food.

I sauteed some onions and garlic in a little butter. I added some red wine and cooked it down. I put in a little flour, cooked it and added some of that delicious homemade beef stock that I had made.

I cut the polenta into squares. Warmed them up in a pan and topped them with my sauce. Added some grilled veggies, because veggies are important.

The risotto may not have been my favorite, but this was delicious.

Acme's Herb Slabs

2010-03-15T17:01:00.000-07:00

This herb slab is a delicious focaccia, flecked with rosemary. I thought about roasting some garlic and adding it but decided to try the recipe as printed in Maggie Glezer's Artisan Baking.

The evening before baking, you make a poolish of water and all-purpose flour. It only uses 1/16th of a teaspoon and I questioned whether it would have much effect.

Indeed it did.

The next morning, flour, salt, fresh chopped rosemary and yeast were combined. Some water and olive oil were added to the poolish and then they were all combined. I mixed it in the mixer until it came together and then let it rest for 10 mins. Apparently to let the yeast hydrate. Then I mixed it with the dough hook for 5 mins.

It was a very wet dough. Over the next hour, I turned it three times and then let it ferment for five more hours. It was divided into two, formed into round blob shapes and rested.

then shaped into rectangles. The rectangles were dimpled, then proofed then baked in a 450 degree oven. After 5 minutes, you flip the loaves. Really, doesn't that sound like a bad idea? A way to get burnt. Or maybe a way to develop a lovely crust?

It is a delightful focaccio. Full of flavor. Nice crumb. I served it with some polenta and sauteed brocollini with garlic.

I am enjoyed Maggie Glezer's Artisan Baking. She has a different way of presenting the breads. I wonder if I could make all the recipes in her book?

Risotto Daring Cooks

2010-03-14T07:13:00.000-07:00

This was not my favorite recipe and I wouldn't post it except it is part of the Daring Cook's challenge. Eleanor and Jess choose risotto with a homemade stock for this month's challenge.

We enjoy risotto. For this challenge I thought that I would try something that I had never tried. I have never made my own beef broth. I decided to make some beef broth out of shanks, onion, red wine and water. Then I chose a recipe that required beef broth from Marcella Hazan's Marcella Cucina. Risotto with Sausages and Cranberry Beans.

It was a simple recipe with cranberries beans, pork sausage, onions, beef broth and risotto.

Hazan says that the final step of risotto is the mantecare. It means to work butter or cream into what you are cooking. It is what gives the risotto some of its creamy consistency.

The mantecare for this recipe included better and parmigiano-reggiano cheese. The risotto was ok, I have had rice and beans made with white rice that I enjoyed more. The beans are mashed against the edge of the pot to add some creamy consistency.

I have some risotto recipes that I enjoy more.

Roasted Onion and Asiago Miche, The Final BBA Bread

2010-03-07T07:34:00.000-08:00

I wish that you could smell my kitchen. This bread has filled the house with the aroma of bread, cheese and onions. It is amazing.

It was a three day bread. A bonus recipe in the end of the Bread Bakers Apprentice. Another recipe from Bennett Valley Bread and Pastry's.

It started with a sponge of water, flour and starter. Then onions were chopped, sprinkled with olive oil and roasted with some salt and pepper.

I made the whole seven pounds of dough. The dough had the started and some instant yeast as well as flour, water, salt, olive oi, 16 ounces of asiago cheese, chives and scallions. Half of the cheese was incorporated into the dough, half was saved for the top. After the ingredients were mixed, the dough was formed into two large boules which were put in the refrigerator for up to three days.

While baking, in the hearth like oven, the aroma was amazing. We all enjoyed the bread and I took a loaf into work. It was gone pretty quickly. I was worried, it is a full flavored bread, with the onions and scallions and chives. But everyone enjoyed it.

I am conflicted now that I have reached the end of the book. I am proud and excited that I have completed all of the recipes and sad to see the end of the book. I have never cooked every recipe in a book before. I think that it is a fascinating way to approach a cookbook. The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart is subtitled Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread. I certainly have made some extraordinary breads. I have become familiar with the twelve stages of bread baking, cooling remains my least favorite stage. I wouldn't consider myself a master at bread baking, but I am on my way. Some of the breads I will make again and again, and some I made just for the experience. I can easily say that my reasons for preferring some breads are based on childhood memories, personal palate and past experiences.

Favorites?

Bagels
Ciabatta
Cinnamon & Sticky Buns
English Muffins
Focaccia
Italian bread
Multigrain Bread Extraordinaire
Pain a l'ancienne
Pane Siciliano
Pizza Napoletana
Potato Rosemary Bread
Basic Sourdough Bread
White Bread
Potato, Cheddar & chive Torpedos
Roasted Onion and Asiago Miche

Plans? I think I'll head over to Mellow Bakers. A new challenge is in the works. Why not?

Potato, Cheddar, and Chive Torpedoes BBA bread #42

2010-02-28T04:41:00.000-08:00

When I first looked through The Bread Bakers Apprentice, this was one of the breads that I wanted to make. At the end of the book, Peter Reinhart writes about some wonderful bread bakers, Tim and Crystal Decker. The Deckers opened a bakery called Bennett Valley Bread and Pastry. This is one of Bennett Valley Bread and Pastry's most popular breads.

8oz of potatoes were coarsely chopped and boiled in 3 cups of water until soft. The potato water and the potatoes were cooled. 10.5 oz of barm, some flour, yeast, the potatoes and 1/2 of potato water were blended together, then allowed to sit for 30 mins. More flour and salt were added. The dough was kneaded for 6 minutes, 1/4 of chives were added. Kneading continued for a few more minutes. The dough fermented for 90 minutes. It was formed into two rectangles, which were covered with cheddar cheese slices, rolled up and formed into logs with tapered ends. these were allowed to proof for 60 mins.

Some where around this point, I left and turned over the kitchen to my main stake holder. I left the book open on the counter, put the oven stone in the oven and took off. I thought I was in trouble when he called and asked if we were making the Roasted Onion and Asiago Miche, but after a moment of confusion, there was quick recovery. He did a superb job slicing to the cheese. The loaves were beautifully browned, he called me to tell me that they were more browned that other loaves that I have baked, but closely resembled the loaves in the book.

By the time I returned, they had cooled. They are a deeper brown than a lot of the loaves that I have baked. Maybe I should let the main stake holder handle all the baking? Good news for us, at Bennett Valley, they appear to have a shorter cooling time. As I had heard through the rumor mill, these breads are delicious. A great one day bread.

This is such a beautiful, delicious loaf of bread, I am sending it to Yeastspotting.

Whole Wheat Bread BBA Challenge #41

2010-02-27T08:54:00.001-08:00

I was not looking forward to this bread. I could find no reason too, it has been met with lukewarm reviews. Oggi thinks that this is her least favorite bread of the challenge. SallyBR found the dough unpleasant to work with, and made it into croutons. Phyl gave it a meh, not a positive endorsement.

First thing, I cut the recipe in half. Then for the soaker, I used coarsely ground oats and whole oats in water. I think that buttermilk would have been a better choice for liquids. For the whole wheat poolish, I left it out on the counter overnight, thinking it might add a depth of flavor, or kill us, who knows. Just kidding, one of my new favorite breads, the Mediteranean Country Bread spends three days fermenting on the counter.

Then I followed the recipe. It is an average loaf of bread. It lacks a strong flavor, perhaps one could call it bland. I won't be making it again, but we will eat it for sandwiches.

Ensaimadas

2010-02-21T12:18:00.000-08:00

The Bread Baking Babes are entering their third year. Karen at Bake My Day chose Ensaimadas. They are a sweet, rolled dough maybe filled with a little surprise. Head over to her link for the recipe.

She posted a link to a you tube video on how to roll the ensaimdasas. I watched the video, once again wondering why I didn't study Spanish instead of French. At one point the baker is explaining what he is filling them with and listing some other options. I heard chocolate, really nice how you can understand that word in so many languages.

I filled half of them with Nutella and half with butter, cinnamon and sugar. They are light, delicious treat.

Kossar's Bialys

2010-02-21T11:24:00.000-08:00

I ordered a new cookbook. I didn't need one, I wanted one. I am saddened that the end of the BBA challenge is around the corner and am wondering what to do next. I have found that I really enjoy baking bread on the weekends. I find it to be a calming, rhythmic, productive way to make the bread for my family.

I asked Tanna of My Kitchen in Half Cups about some of the books on her bookshelf, not of course one of the many that I already own. She recommended Maggie Glezer's Artisan Baking. The New York Times calls it a landmark book. I'm trying to figure that one out..

I planned on skipping the wheat bread for now, only for this weekend. It would be the first one that I skipped. All the way to W and now I am skipping. I think that I have a good reason. My main stakeholder has been away on retreat with 100 teenagers. We all know he is bread lover. I thought that I would make sure that I had some waiting for him.

I could envision the reunion, hi honey, while you were away, I baked some whole wheat bread. Unfortunately, not a single person who has baked it thus far has enjoyed it. Hope you break the trend.

So, I was going to skip it and head for the cheddar chive bread which has received rave reviews. Unfortunately, my starter is a little slow, I needed a back up plan.

There was a recipe in the new cookbook that had caught my husband's eye, Kossar's Bialys. My husband grew up in New Jersey in a predominantly Jewish neighborhood. There is a real bagel shop around the corner from his house and my inlaws will pick some up before they fly out to Texas. My husband's formative years were spent eating whitefish salad, lox and whatever else he could find.

A bialy is the short name for bialystoker kuchen. Bialystock is the second largest city in Poland. These delicious Jewish breads originated there and came to New York around the turn of the century.

Glezer's recipe recommends using a food processor to make the dough. You mix high-gluten flour, yeast, salt and water in the food processor. It becomes startlingly hot, you take it out, knead by hand to cool it down, and repeat a couple of time. I think it was a little stressful for my food processor. While the dough was fermenting, I went onto the web to see if anyone had tried the recipe and had any tips. Bread cetera proposes a double flour addition technique which I think I will try next time. This method allows you to use your stand mixer.

I made the onions, cooking them in the oven, they turned an odd pink tinged. Next time I will carmelize them on the stove top.

After about 2 hours, the dough was divided and formed into 12 pieces which were formed into balls. After 2.5 more hours, they were formed into pizza shapes with a narrow membrane of dough in the center. a smear of onions went into the center. They were then baked in a 475 degree oven for 6 mins. They are delicious.

Mezze, The Daring Cooks Challenge

2010-02-14T04:59:00.000-08:00

This month's daring cooks challenge was proposed by Michelle from Veggie Num Nums. The challenge was to prepare a mezze table, a collection of small dishes from the Mediterranean. What a fun challenge. I have a number of Mediterranean cookbooks and was looking forward to trying out some recipes. Michelle had one stipulation, we must use her hummus and pita recipe.

Her hummus recipe was delicious. The recipe calls for a little more lemon juice than I usually add, but we all enjoyed it. Apparently, pitas should puff when you cook them, like blowfish. Some of mine puffed, some didn't. I wasn't sure if the baking stone lost heat between patches or I needed to roll them out thinner.

Michelle had a couple of ideas for some dishes for the mezze table. She had a shot of a jar of preserved lemons. Preserved lemons are a condiment used commonly in Morrocan cooking. Most recipes take several weeks. I found a quick preserved lemon recipe on Cooking Light's web site.

I washed and quartered two meyers lemons and boiled them in 1 cup of water with two tablespoons of Kosher salt for 30 mins.

The lemons were a big hit. Unusual, tart and delicious.

I used the recipe that Michelle had posted for The Cucumber Raita

*Optional Recipe: Cucumber Raita – Recipe adapted from The Indian Grocery Store Demystified by Linda Bladholm
Prep time: Approximately 15 minutes

1 medium cucumber, peeled and most of the seeds removed
1 teaspoon cumin seeds (.1 ounce/3 grams) OR use a small pinch of dried cumin—to taste
2 cups plain whole milk or Greek yogurt (17 ounces/473ml)
1 garlic clove, peeled and minced
fresh coriander or mint, chopped, a couple pinches or more to taste
cayenne pepper or paprika, just a pinch to use as a garnish (optional)

Directions:
1. Peel cucumber, de-seed, and dice. Blot off moisture with paper towels.
2. Toast cumin seeds for a few seconds in a small, heavy frying pan over high heat.
3. In a bowl, stir yogurt until it is smooth.
4. Mix it with the cumin, garlic and coriander or mint leaves (I used some grated radish instead).
5. Stir in the cucumber and sprinkle with cayenne or paprika, and chill before serving.

I decided to try one of my newest cookbooks, The New Mediterranean Diet Cookbook but Nancy Harmon Jenkins. All of the recipes that we tried we delicious. After pouring through the cookbook, I came up with a menu for my mezze table.

Going clockwise in the picture above, start with preserved lemons, seasoned olives, cucumber raita, humus, melitzanasalata (spicy grilled eggplant dip), grilled pork, feta, tunisian aijjah with spicy potatoes .

Tunisian Aijjah with Spicy Potatoes
Adapted from the New Mediteranean Diet Cookbook by Nancy Harmon Jenkins

1 lb small new potatoes, peeled and diced
3 T olive oil
½ t sea salt
½ t ground caraway
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 T tomato puree
1/2 c warm water
1T harissa
ground pepper
8 eggs

(harissa is a hot sauce made of a variety of dried chilies, coriander, cumin, caraway, cloves and olive oil. Available in some Middle Eastern stores, I used Sriracha hot sauce)

In a large skillet, med heat, sauté the potatoes in 2 T o.o, until softened and browning, about 15 mins.

While they are cooking, pound the salt and caraway to a powder in a mortar, then add the garlic and form a paste. Dilute the tom puree with the warm water, stir in the hot sauce, combine with the garlic paste. When the potatoes are done, at this to the pan, stir for 5 – 10 mins, until liquid is reduced to thick sauce. Taste and adjust seasoning. Beat the eggs with a fork, add to pan, lift to let eggs run under pan. When eggs are at desired consistency, remove from heat and serve.

Perhaps our favorite was the Melitzanasalata. We poked an eggplant with a fork a dozen times and then grilled it for about 20 mins. We blackened 2 poblanos. When they had cooled, we combined their flesh with 1/2 cup plain yogurt, 2 T olive oil, juice of half a lemon, clove of crushed garlic and salt. I used an immersion blender.

This was such a fun challenge.

White Bread Olympics, BBA#40

2010-02-13T17:14:00.001-08:00

The Olympics have started! I look forward to the Olympics. I knew that I would spend the day watching the Olympic coverage. What a great opportunity to have a bread challenge.

My husband loves a good loaf of white bread. Peter Reinhart presents three variations of white bread in The Bread Baker's Apprentice, but how would you know which one was better if you didn't try them all at the same time. There needed to be a contest for the gold, silver and bronze.

I started off with Variation One. All of the breads contain flour, salt, sugar, yeast, butter and eggs. They differ in how they get hydrated. Variation one has powdered milk and water. I used King Arthur Flour Baker's Special Dry Milk and that, I think, made all the difference. It produced the Gold Winner. I'm wondering if it is a banned substance, it made such a tasty difference.

Variation 2 had buttermilk. I thought that this would be my favorite, I enjoy buttermilk. I grew up rooting for her, the hometown favorite, but she was only the silver winner.

Variation 3 started with a sponge of bread flour, yeast and whole milk. The sponge seemed a little unnecessary. A bread with attitude. After an hour, more flour, salt, sugar, egg yolk and butter was added to the sponge. The 3rd place winner. I was glad it didn't win gold because I like my white breads to be straight forward. Why add a sponge to the process if it isn't necessary.

They all were very tasty breads, that made some tasty rolls. I'll be making Variation One again.

Vienna Bread for the Superbowl, BBA #39

2010-02-07T05:28:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I made the pate fermentee, the pre ferment needed for this bread. The mixture of flour, bread four, salt, yeast and water spent some time on the counter developing its flavor and then was moved to the refrigerator to further mature. This morning, I took it out of the refrigerator, chopped it into pieces, assembled my mis en place, took a picture, covered the pieces and went to check out the reviews of this bread.

I was relieved to see that every one has enjoyed it. Oggi has the most impressive slash down her loaf. Sallybr apparently has a husband who is unable to follow the manditory cooling period. Paul's final picture with the jam has had me hungry all morning. Both he and Phyl made the dutch crumb. They had such success, I will have to try that variety.

But I have plans for this bread. Superbowl plans. I am making pistolets or torpedo rolls for steak sandwiches.

We are having too much food. I'm trying Dragon's Chicken Wings, , Pioneer Woman's Mexican Layer Dip, and a variation of her jalepenos, Ina Garten's roasted shrimp cocktail and steak sandwiches. Of course I need rolls.

We always have steak sandwiches for the Superbowl. It is a kid driven thing. My main stakeholder would be happier with some kind of a poboy but as long as their is fresh bread for the rolls, he'll be happy.

I enjoyed this bread. It had a lovely feel to it, and it had salt.

Tuscan Bread, BBA challenge # 38

2010-02-06T07:06:00.000-08:00

As we near the end of the challenge, perhaps we have reached one of the more challenging breads for our palates. The Tuscan bread has no salt. It is typically served with some more flavored foods. The New York Times just had an article on Tasty Tuscan Bread. Unfortunately, many of the BBA challenge members who have gone before me have not enjoyed the bread. None of them called it tasty. Oggi really tried a variety of toppings but she isn't heading out to buy any Tuscan bread any time soon. Sally made a beautiful loaf that I don't think that she will be making again. Phyl had a pretty similar conclusion.

So the New York Times likes it. Personally, I'll eat anything that you want to feed me in Tuscany. The recipe that they provide is not similar to Reinhart's. Peter's recipe starts with the formation of a flour paste, boiling water is dumped on flour which is allowed to sit out overnight. The next day, flour yeast, olive oil, the paste and enough water to form a soft supple ball are combined. The NYTimes recipe uses a sponge, no olive oil. But we are talking flour, water and yeast here. After the bread has doubled, I formed it into a boule. I had cut the recipe in half after I had read the reviews and was trying to figure how to enjoy the finished product.

The article suggests making the dried bread into a salad with tomatoes, onions and basil, panzenella. Sounded like a possible future if we didn't like the bread. But first I thought the I would make some Bagna Caoda/Cauda. It is a warm dip, from the Piedmont area of Italy. It is made by combinining olive oil, butter, garlic and anchioves. We normally dip raw vegetables in it. It is one of the saltier flavors that I know of. Slathered on the bread, it was quite tasty. The bread by itself is unusual. Not my favorite flavor, but my main stake holder finds it quite tasty. Apparently as long as there is no fruit in the bread, he will eat it.

Limpa, Swedish Rye BBA # 37

2010-02-03T08:23:00.000-08:00

Dear BBA friends, I have a confession, I have killed the bread. I don't know how. Things were going so well. I had some organic oranges and made dried orange peels some time ago. Last night, I crushed them in my mortar and pestle and made the intriguing sponge with the water, molasses and dried orange peel, aniseed, fennel seed and cardamon. I let it cool and added it to some very happy barm and white rye flour. I had a bubbly perky sponge.

This morning, I measured out some bread flour, the yeast (I do remember doing this) the salt, brown sugar and vegetable oil. And then, because I was out of my high gluten flour, I added some vital wheat gluten. Some where I have done something wrong. It didn't windowpane. Do you knead longer? Or avoid the death by gumminess. I avoid gumminess.

It may be the weather. It is wet and cold here. But have moved the loafs into the slightly warmed oven to rise. They are not rising.

It may that they sense my attitude. I am in a bad mood. I have an ill child and I cannot figure out what is wrong with her. I have been a school nurse for a long time. Generally, I have a clue. I am off today, to bake the bread that will not rise but smelled so good and go to the doctor. The stupid bread.

People have had great success. Oggi gave it all fives, and hers look so beautiful. Gaaarp thought it was amazing. Sally's looks delightful. She said that hers didn't rise much, but mine is in two loaf pans, a little effort on its part would be appreciated at this point.

I don't like rye flour. It is pasty. Not pleasant. Perhaps it senses it. It feels kind of alive...

Have I mentioned that my bread is not rising. How long do you think is too long a rise?

Scout doesn't understand it all. At the end of a long day, she is just looking for a place to rest her head.

Two hours later, there was some signs of life and in the oven, spring, just like Oggi had predicted. But no where near what I expected. Still they are delicious.

The Best Crabcakes

2010-02-01T15:50:00.001-08:00

My favorite fish cookbook is no longer in print. The Seafood Cookbook by Pierre Franey & Bryan Miller is one of the first cookbooks that my husband gave to me. We were living in Philadelphia at the time. I could walk to the Reading Terminal Market or the Italian Market and buy seafood that was so fresh it practically winked at you.

We cooked a lot of recipes in this cookbook. Everyone who ever ate the crab cakes raved about them.

This week at the grocery store lump crab meat was on sale. It wasn't from Maryland, which has some of the sweetest crab meat ever tasted, but it would do.

All-American Crab Cakes

1 lb crab meat, shell and cartilage removed
2 cups fine fresh bread crumbs
2 large eggs well beaten
1 T Dijon mustard
1 t Worcestershire sauce
1 T finely chopped fresh parsley
1/2 cup finely chopped scallions
1 t old Bay Seasoning
salt and pepper
4 T oil

In a large bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups bread crumbs with eggs, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, parsley scallions, and old bay. Season with salt and pepper, blend well and fold in the crab meat. Form into 12 patties and coat each portion with bread crumbs.

Heat 2 T of oil in a nonstick pan. Saute the patties 4 or 5 at a time, 2 mins a side, until golden brown. Drain on paper towels and serve immediately.

Stollen, BBA # 36

2010-01-31T07:06:00.000-08:00

Being involved with the Bread Baker's Aprentice challenge, I find that I always have bread on my mind. I am aware of where the regulars are with the challenge with their bread. I know what is coming up, because I am about two or three breads behind from the most regular baker.

I had brought a loaf of bread to work and was thinking about the Stollen. By now, everyone who reads my blog is aware that the people of my house do not like fruits in their breads. Me, not so picky, I like cranberries and pears, maybe the occasional apricot. But whatever I make that has fruit, I have to be prepared to eat the entire loaf.

I was pretty sure that I couldn't eat an entire stollen. The question was what should I do with it? About the time this was weighing heavy on my mind, one of my student's parent walked in. She is German, and can pronounce and enjoy Stollen. She was willing to assess mine. Indeed, she said that she works with a lot of women who are German and they would try it,

Maybe this was more than I bargained for. What are the odds that whatever I make compares with their childhood Christmas memories? Not very likely. When I was researching the stollen, trying to figure out how to fold it, it became apparent that there are a number of variations on the recipe. Unlike Peter Reinhart, who mistakenly told a roomful of chefs from different nations that all their holiday breads were very similar, I doubt that I will be making anyone's childhood favorite. The nuances of our memories are very strong.

I have noticed that if you grew up eating a specific bread, like bagels, challah or portugese sweet breads, frequently you have a little different flavor profile in mind for the bread. So will the women like this bread?

I started by soaking the dried fruit in brandy for about three days. The fruit were nice and puffed and full of liquid.

This morning, I made the starter by mixing yeast, flour and milk and letting sit on the counter until bubbly. I assembled my ingredients, the dry, flour, salt, cinnamon (which is not in all the recipes), the wet, eggs, butter and the soaker and the fruit.

They were all put together to make a delightful dough. I had to add a little more flour after I put the wet fruit into the mix.

The dough doubled and was then folded into a swaddling baby shape. It can also be formed into a crescent. How it is really done, eludes me. I have read a few blogs, puzzled about the used of a broomstick, and come up with a plan. A number of recipes add marzipan in the fold. I added slivered almonds. When the loaf came out of the oven, I brushed them with melted butter. I know that Peter says oil, but I prefer the flavor of butter. Sprinkled with confectioners sugar, they cooled and were wrapped off and sent off for their evaluation.

I delivered them in the morning and before noon I had received the verdict; delicious!

Sunflower Seed Rye BBA #35

2010-01-28T14:52:00.000-08:00

The last of the sourdough breads. It has been interesting journey, some delights, one 100% inedible.

The day before I made the bread, I soaked some whole rye in water. The next day, I added some starter to bread flour, salt, yeast and toasted sunflower seeds. with enough water to make a tacky but not sticky dough. I work hard to not overmix the rye, to avoid the gumminess that can happen.

The dough doubled in 90 minutes and was shaped into one couronne, which was similar to a huge bagel. I put the dowel marks on the bread, but I was not aggressive enough and they disappeared during the final rise. Half of the dough I formed into tiny boule for dinner.

Again, I prepared my oven for hearth baking and cooked the bread.

This was not my favorite of the sourdoughs. It was a very hearty loaf. Maybe even a little too hearty.

Mediteranean Country Style Bread

2010-01-18T13:01:00.001-08:00

I need a few back up loaves for the freezer, so I thought I'd try a new recipe. Nancy Harmon Jenkins The New Mediterranean Diet Cookbook has a recipe for Mediterranean Country Style Bread. It is a very slow rising bread, three days, but is supposed to be delicious. You start by putting 1 t of yeast in 2 cups of very warm water, you add 2 cups of white flour and let it rise overnight.

On the next day, you add one cup of tepid water, 2 T of sea salt and 2 cups of your choice of flour. I added wheat. Leave it on the counter for 24 more hours. Another simply stunning photo.

It is not a labor intensive bread. On the third day, you add 7 cups of flour, I used a mixture of whole wheat and white, some more water. The challenging part is you end up with a massive amount of dough that must be kneaded for ten minutes. It is a bit of a workout, but the dough had a lovely feel. It takes 2 - 3 hours for it to increase in size by 2.5 times. Then I shaped it into two boules and one large loaf. They took about an hour to double. Then I prepared my oven for hearth baking because I am a creature of habit and gave them 20 mins at 500 and then lowered the temp to 350. I baked until they were 200 degrees.

The recipe made three large loaves. I gave one of them away to a friend of mine who was raised in Holland. She is unimpressed with the majority of supermarket breads and has been following my BBA challenge adventures. She thinks that this may be my finest loaf. I will definitely be making this again.

Mediterranean Country-Style Bread
2 cups very warm, almost hot water
1 t active dry yeast
9 to 11 cups unbleached all purpose white flour (I used a mixture of bread flour and whole wheat flour)
2 T sea salt
2 1/2 cup tepid water
2 cups barley, rye or whole wheat flour
2 - 3 T corn meal as needed.

Put the warm water in a large bowl and sprinkle the yeast over it. Add 2 cps of the white flour, stir to mix and cover with plastic wrap and set in cool place ( 50 - 70 degrees) for 24 hours

The next day add a cup of tepid water, the barley, rye or whole wheat flour, stir Cover at return to cool place for 24 hours.

On the third day, add the remaining 1 1/2 cups tepid water and about seven cups of flour. Continue adding flour, kneading until you have a smooth elastic dough. It was almost too much for my stand mixer and took about 7 mins.

Rinse out he bowl, I sprayed it with cooking spray, put the dough in it and cover and let rise to 2.5 times the size, until it has more than doubled. About 2 - 3 hours.

Turn it out onto floured counter and shape. I made two boules and one large sandwich loaf. Let rise in a warm place (70 degrees) until doubled, about one hour.

Put your baking stone in the cold over and preheat to 500 degrees. Slash the top of the loaves, slide onto hot stone, bake for 15 mins and turn heat down to 350 and bake for 25 - 30 mins. I baked until they were 200 degrees in the center.

This is one of my all time favorites.

Black Beans

2010-01-18T05:55:00.000-08:00

I like a good side of black beans. I have perhaps too many Southwestern and vegetarian cookbooks. I have tried a lot of recipes and have a new favorite. They are from The Santa Fe School of Cooking Cookbook by Susan Curtis. Apparently the recipe was developed by Todd Sanson as part of the Southwest Vegetarian class. I've made a few changes.

I don't soak my beans, Cooks Illustrated did a test on soaking, not soaking and it doesn't seem to make that much of a difference. Works for me, I don't necessarily know the night before what I am eating the next day. So start by picking over a pound of black beans. My main stakeholder helped me out here, he was flipped out to learn that there were rocks in black beans. He probably pulled out eight. I imagine, he could easily picture cracked teeth.

The original recipe had epazote, which is a Mexican herb with a strong odor, sometimes described as gasoliney. It is hard to find, I omitted it. It also had Amontillado Sherry, which I also omitted. Chipotle chiles are smoked red jalepenos. The flavor is amazing in these beans. After the chiles had rehydrated by simmering in the water, I slit them open so some of their spice would be sure to get into the beans.

Black Beans with Garlic and Chipotle Chiles
Adapted from Santa Fe School of Cooking

1 lb black beans, picked over
1 T olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
2 t minced garlic
4 bay leaves
2 t oregano
3 dried chipotle chiles
4 to 5 quarts water
2 T cider vinegar
1.5 t salt

Heat the oil in at least a 4 quart pot, saute the onion for three mins, add the garlic, saute for 2 minutes. Add the bay leaves, oregano, and chiles, saute for 1 minute. Add the beans and 3 quarts of water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer uncovered for 2 to 3 hours, until the beans are soft. You may need to add more water, depending on how fast your simmer is.

Add the vinegar and salt and cook slowly for 30 more minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings.

Mango Salsa

2010-01-17T13:11:00.000-08:00

There is a pot of black beans on the stove, some roasted pork loin ready for the tacos. This calls for mango salsa. I first fell in love with mango salsa at a fusion restaurant that served it as a side with fried wontons. It seems to pop up at different restaurants, on fish, with pork. I don't care what it is served with, I really enjoy the taste of mangos.

It is a make your own recipe, add what you have. For me the must have ingredients are mangos and cilantro. Typically I dice up a mango, add some cilantro, red onion if I have it, a little diced ginger always adds a nice flavor. You'll need something for some heat. Diced jalepeno, crushed red pepper, today I happened to have a serrano pepper. Dice them all up. Put them in a bowl and add a little lime juice and maybe some rice wine vinegar. Give it a taste and adjust as needed.

Don't like cilantro? By all means leave it out. But aren't there some foods that you used to dislike that you like now that you are older?

Pumpernickel Bread BBA#34

2010-01-16T12:09:00.000-08:00

This is a delicious rye loaf. According to Mr. Reinhart a rye loaf is a bread made with coarsely ground whole grain rye flour. So, maybe my bread is not really a rye loaf. I used Arrow Mills organic rye flour to make the starter. I know nothing about the grind. I know that if I were truly dedicated I could purchase my own grain and flour mill. I'm not at that level of dedication. Maybe I'll put that on my bucket list.

Anyway, the rye starter was made by mixing my faithful barm, some rye flour and water which fermented until it became bubbly. The next day, I added some clear flour, and some bread flour, the brown sugar, cocoa powder, salt, yeast, some bread crumbs, vegetable oil and water. Working quickly because rye bread will become gummy, I made a smooth pliable dough.

The dough fermented at room temperature for 2 hours. After 2 hours, I formed it into two batards which took about two hours to come to a nice size. Would you be surprised to learn that I prepared my oven for hearth baking and baked them until they were done?

I'm getting the hang of this....

I'm am sad that we are coming close to the end of the book. I have learned a lot and have definitely made some breads that I would never have tried if not for the challenge. I bake pretty much every weekend, and I find that I look forward to it. If I miss a week, my main stakeholder, will stand in the middle of the kitchen and ask if we have any real bread in the house. I have decided to join the crazy bakers at Bake Your Own Bread, BYOB. Sandy of At the Baker's Bench, is on the BBA challenge blogroll. I have enjoyed following her blog. I think will push me to try some new recipes. I have never made pita, we love pita. I've made hamburger rolls, never hotdog rolls. It should be an interesting year. Apparently, no one from the BYOB group stops by your house and checks your pantry.

The whole working full time, sandwich generation should make this an interesting challenge. I plan on taking advantage of the three day weekend and making some bread for the freezer. One of the pumpernickel loaves will be heading there.

I'm trying a new recipe that takes three days to ferment, but is not very hard.

Which gives me the opportunity to enjoy a toasted slice of pumpernickel.

Daring Cooks Satays

2010-01-14T04:12:00.000-08:00

Cuppy, of Cuppylicious chose a recipe for satays for this month's challenge. She wanted us to focus on the marinade. Options were presented, opportunities existed to marinade and cook just about anything you could put on a stick.

Her first example was a pork satay, which I have never made. I have made chicken, beef and shrimp satays. I actually think that the flavor of most foods improve when they are served on a stick.

The pork was cut into strips, placed in a ziploc bag with all the ingredients that had been quickly processed in the food processor.

1/2 small onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 Thai dragon (bird’s eye) chili pepper
2 T ginger root, chopped (4 cm cubed)
2 T lemon juice (1 oz or 30 mls)
1 T soy sauce (0.5 oz or 15 mls)
1 T fish sauce (0.5 oz or 15 mls)
1 tsp ground coriander (5 mls)
1 tsp ground cumin (5 mls)
1/2 tsp ground turmeric (2-2.5 mls)
2 T vegetable oil (or peanut or olive oil) (30 mls)

I wasn't sure what a Thai dragon was, but I had some dried red peppers that worked. I let it marinate over night and then grilled them.

I served them with the
Thai pepper dip

4 Tbsp soy sauce (2 oz or 60 mls)
1 Tbsp lemon juice (0.5 oz or 15 mls)
1 tsp brown sugar (5 mls)
1-2 dried red chilies, chopped (keep the seeds for heat)
1 finely chopped green onion (scallion)

Mix well. Serve chilled or room temperature.

and some peanut noodles. I am very tempted to try some of the tofu that I see presented.

Rainbow Cheap Eats

2010-01-11T16:20:00.000-08:00

I enjoy listening to The Splendid Table on Public Radio. On their web site, they have a collection of affordable entrees, splendid cheap eats. The Rainbow Peanut Noodles recipe seemed like the perfect recipe for my family. The Chinese peanut dressing can be assembled before hand, then stored in the refrigerator for up to three weeks. The recipe is taken from Asian Noodles: Mouthwatering Dishes to Twirl, Slurp and Savor, by Nina Simonds

Chinese Peanut Dressing

one inch of peeled fresh ginger (recipe called for 1/2")
8 gloves peeled garlic
one teaspoon hot chile paste
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 c soy sauce
3.5 T sugar
3.5 T black vinegar (or Worcestershire suace)
3T sesame oil
5 T chicken broth

In a food processor, pulse ginger and garlic, add the remaining ingredients. If too thick, add more broth.

Cook .5 lb noodles, I used linguine. Rinse under cold water. Add sauce, I used half the container and vegetables.

5 carrots Julienned
2 cucumbers, julienned
2 cups bean sprouts (skipped these)
1 red bell pepper, in thin strips
2 cups sliced cooked chicken
2.5 T scallions

This one is a keeper. I have half of the sauce in the refrigerator for later. I always have some kind of noodles and some kind of vegetables. My local monopoly grocery store make a cooked fajita chicken breast strip that worked very well in this quick meal.

Poilane-Style Miche BBA #33

2010-01-09T14:12:00.000-08:00

We have finally reached the cover loaf!

I was worried about this loaf. We are having record low temperatures, so I wasn't sure about proofing the dough. However, the sourdoughs are a little more time intensive. They become weekend breads. But I didn't want to wait for another weekend to try this one.

Yesterday evening I made the firm starter. I used half wheat flour half bread flour because I do not have access to medium grain whole wheat flour. I added the barm to the flour and some water and let it ferment until doubled. I actually put it on top of the refrigerator, went to bed and this morning, it had just doubled.

I then added the 7 cups of flour, salt and water to the starter. I divided the dough in half and mixed and kneaded it. I am having difficulty with the arthritis in my hands in this cold weather. They don't wake up happy and perky and looking forward to kneading for 15 minutes to form a supple, tacky, but sticky dough. Usually I can talk my main stake holder into kneading, but he retains the ability to sleep past 0600 on the weekend. The mixer did a lovely job.

The dough took about 5 hours to double. The temperature in the kitchen varied with the number of time the dog went outside. Eventually, I made my oven into a proofing box. I formed the dough into a large boule and put it into my largest bowl. I was once again coveting a banneton. But the bowl lined with my linen worked fine.

After two hours, I turned the dough onto a pan and prepared the oven for hearth baking.

We are enjoying this bread. Peter says that it is good for 5 to 7 days. Good soup bread.

Christmas

2009-12-29T04:49:00.001-08:00

I am delighting in my Christmas break. I wake up each morning and think about what I will bake or cook that day. I am able to fit exercise into my day. The chores blend in with the free time and don't seem so challenging. Joe has headed off to work at a winter camp for kids with Juvenile Diabetes. Matt is waiting to get back to college, where everything is more exciting than life on his parent's sofa. But while he is on the sofa, he is willing to eat anything I make and enjoys a good conversation. Emily is enjoying not studying. OK, so Tom had to go back to work. Not all of us are on school schedules.

The nativity scene in my front yard remains lit up and will remain lit up through the Epiphany. It was my Christmas present from my sons, who are skilled with power tools. Our old nativity scene had begun to warp and Joseph took a tumble whenever the winds picked up. We have to take care when we stake it in the ground that we don't impale the sprinkler system. We did that one year, a costly mistake.

My neighbors think that I have forgotten to take it down. I wish we would all enjoy Christmas a little longer, let the season linger. I think that I will make some gingerbread today, we haven't smelled that scent in the house this season.

My least favorite Bread 100% Sourdough Rye Bread BBA #32

2009-12-28T18:15:00.000-08:00

I am enjoying vacation. There is little that must be done, which leaves a lot of time to enjoy life. I like being a school nurse, but it is nice to have a little break from the frantic pace. I am making my way through Rick Bayless' Mexico, One Plate at a Time. I made some sopas for lunch to go with the leftover Posole. Little tortillas cups, filled with roasted tomato green chili salas. We consumed them so quickly that I took no pictures. I think that my sopa shaping skills need to be developed. But the flavors were delicious. The book has great stories and tips from testers. It's fun to read.

Yesterday, I made some delicious sourdough bread to feed the minions and started the rye starter. Today, I worked on the rye bread. Or failed to have any effect on the rye bread. From the very start, the dough did not feel pleasant. I enjoy the smell and texture of dough, this bread felt like playdough, not enough elasticity. It took five hours to double. Shaping it into loaves was a little disconcerting. I really wasn't looking forward to the baking.

So, I went back to Rick Bayless and made the Tomatillo-Braised Pork Loin. Pork braised in a delicious roasted tomatillo sauce. Rick can handle more serranos than I can.

Dinner out of the way, I had to finish the bread. It didn't help when major stakeholder walked by the breads and said those are funny looking. There was minimal rise once the breads were shaped. They are singularly the least attractive loaves of bread that I have ever made. I could not find an image of Peter's loaves, perhaps his resembled cow pies as well.

Major stake holder thinks that the taste is ok. If you are looking for a dense, chewy loaf of bread, here's one for you.

New Cookbook

2009-12-27T11:32:00.000-08:00

I am a little addicted to cookbooks. I get a cookbook from my husband every Christmas. He surprised me with Rick Bayless' Mexico One Plate at a Time. We had watched the Top Chef Masters TV show and I was impressed with how pleasant Rick Bayless seemed, how professional. It actually was amazing that the master chefs seemed to have a completely different vocabulary and way of treating each other than their younger counterparts.

So, my main stakeholder is addicted to Mexican food. To his credit, I am not sure if he has ever bought me a Mexican cookbook. I decided to start with his favorite soup, Pozole. Rick Bayless' pozole is a pork and hominy stew. The broth takes some time to make. And, you have to buy pork feet, or trotters. Rick recommends fresh or frozen nixtamal corn or dried pozole. I couldn't find either here in San Antonio. I have since located a source for mailordered dried pozole . I'll probably order some for next time, there are a few more specialty stores that I want to try. Any way, I used canned hominy, rinsed well. It had a delicious flavor.

I'm enjoying reading the cookbook, the stories, the respect for the food and the cooking. Great fun.

Christmas Eve

2009-12-25T10:07:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve is my favorite day of the Christmas season. With any luck, most years I have done all of the Christmas shopping and can spend the day baking and cooking and watching the comings and goings. I make Christmas Tree Coffee cakes for Christmas morning and some for neighbors. Then I start working on dinner.

We always start with Paula Dean's Foolproof standing rib roast. You just count back 4.5 hours from when you want to serve the roast and follow her directions to have a delicious, incredibly easy Prime Rib Roast ready for you. There is a time when the oven is off for three hours and this is when we head to church.

We have a buffet when we come home from church, a last minute, everyone make something buffet. Matt makes a tray with proscuitto and sausages, Joe and Emily make a cheese and cracker tray and throw some pigs in the blanket in the oven. Tom generally makes some sauteed spicy shrimp and I make stuffed mushrooms.

This year I decided to make some Gougeres. Food & Wine had a recipe by Jacques Pepin and I substituted Manchego cheese. They were delicious. They will be making a return next Christmas.

I made some stuffed mushrooms. I stuffed the tops with sauteed mushroom stems, roasted garlic, bacon, cream cheese, s&P, and a little bread crumbs. A tasty morsel.

I decided to make Ina Garten's shrimp cocktail this year. This is one of the easiest, tastiest shrimp cocktail recipes. Roasted in the oven, they have a great flavor. The cocktail sauce is delicious. Maybe I made mine a little too spicy, everyone ate them.

We had a great evening, munching away, enjoying each others' company.

Christmas Tree Coffee Cake

2009-12-25T05:23:00.000-08:00

I have helped my mother make these for Christmas for as long as I can remember. I started with simple chores, watching to see if the milk scalds or sifting the flour and eventually I could make them all on my own. I don't sift the flour, I use bread flour. My mother's looked nicer than mine because she bought the candied red and green cherries and cut them in half and used them to decorate the tree.
No one in my house eats candied fruits so I don't buy them.

Christmas Tree Coffee Cake
1/2 cup warm water
2 envelopes of yeast
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup sugar
2t salt
1/2 c shortening
2 eggs, lightly beaten
7 to 71/2 c bread or regular flour

brown sugar
cinnamon
chopped nuts
softened butter

powdered sugar
milk
vanilla extract

Add the yeast to the warm water, 110 degrees, set aside. Scald the milk. Put it in a 4 quart pan over medium heat and heat until a skim appears on the top of the milk. Take the pan off the heat. Add the shortening, sugar, salt to the warm milk. Stir until the shortening dissolves. Add flour, one cup at a time to four cups, the mixture should have cooled some. Add the eggs and the yeast mixture. Add more flour. At around six cups of flour, either transfer to mixer or begin kneading. You should make a delightful soft dough. Let it rise until double. The recipe makes two large trees or three small trees. The large feeds my family of five. Decide how you are going to divide the dough. Then roll it into a 1/4" thick rectangle. Dab the dough with butter about 1-2 tablespoons. Sprinkle with brown sugar, cinnamon and nuts. Roll into a long snake and shape into the tree. Let rise until double and Bake in a 350 degree oven for 25 minutes. Decorate with powdered sugar thinned with milk.

And there you have it, Christmas breakfast! I'm sending this to Bread Baking Day for their baking under the tree celebration.

Biscuits and Canadian Bacon and Cheese

2009-12-21T06:29:00.000-08:00

I made James Beard's biscuits this morning. Boy are they delicious. Unfortunately, I will never be making them again. A simple mixture of flour, salt, baking powder and over a cup of heavy cream, they are dipped into melted butter before you bake them.

They were delicious but you only have one set of arteries. There has to be a more reasonable, equally tasty, recipe out there. I added a little Canadian bacon and cheese to see if I could give my main stakeholder something to do at the gym...

Biscuits and Gravy

2009-12-20T09:06:00.000-08:00

So, I'm not from the south. Biscuits and gravy have no draw for me. But my husband is more than willing to try any food from any where. Where every we have lived, he embraces the local cuisine. We have lived a couple places where biscuits and gravy are available. He enjoys biscuits and gravy but normally eats healthy cereal and bananas.

But, I'm on vacation and thought that I would make some breakfast. I ordered a cookbook that I wanted for some time that is out of print, The Farm House Cookbook, by Susan Herrman Loomis. I got a used paperback copy. The Amazon review had mentioned that it had artery clogging breakfast. Why not whip some up before he headed off for the gym?

So, they aren't really difficult to make. Take some pork sausage, season it with sage, salt, pepper, I added a little chili powder. Make some patties, cook them and then use the dripping and the sausage bits left in the pan to make a gravy. I tried the biscuit recipe that she has in her book, which she says isn't as fluffy as some so it can stand up to the sausage and gravy. I have had better biscuits. Emily loves biscuits, I'll try another recipe tomorrow.

Scout found the whole hot breakfast in the morning idea fascinating.