The Sour Dough

Bread Baking Babes: Bring on the Cuban and Pork

2012-01-18T21:34:00.006-05:00

This month, the Bread Baking Babes got a little revolutionary with the choice of bread when we made a soft sandwich bread from Cuba.

Ilva from Lucullian Delights is our host kitchen and the recipe can be found here. It is from Bernard Clayton's "New Complete Book of Breads".

It is wicked easy to make and the really cool thing is the bread is baked from a cold start oven.

I paired this fantastic bread with pulled pork and coleslaw.

The pulled pork recipe is a family recipe and is made in the crockpot. The coleslaw recipe is one I found several years ago and I've modified it to make it "healthy" (no mayo or sugar).

If you want to be Bread Baking Babe Buddy,send Ilva the link to your blog post about it before midnight Saturday 28th of January to luculliandelights AT gmail DOT com, please write Bread Baking Buddy a the subject so Ilva doesn't miss it for her round up.

A New Me in a New Town with a New Life

2012-01-10T19:47:00.003-05:00

Look words here! Bet you never thought you'd see them on this blog again and frankly I wasn't sure I was ever going to write them here again either.

But, here they are. I guess I owe you a small explanation for my long absence from The Sour Dough and what has brought me back at least every once in a while. So, what has happened since I last posted here?

Let's see here since I last typed words here, I've completely upset my life by quitting my wretched job, moving 1,000 miles due south of Connecticut to a state deep in the heart of Dixie, only working when I want to and then only for people I want to work for and only if the project doesn't require me to work a bizillion hours, weekends or travel one day away from home. When I'm not working, I'm doing what I really love to do, seriously work on my golf game.

I also made some major changes to my lifestyle in regards to food and how I use food in my life and what I do with food like baking and cooking, which has resulted in my dropping over 1oolbs of weight.

I haven't wanted to talk much about this here because well, it's was a food blog and frankly I was embarrassed by my weight, the way I got fat, and that I had let myself go as badly as I did, especially after Wren's death. I've never been a tiny petite person. I'm tall and from good Midwestern stock, but I was never obese and never not active. Even when I was a bit heavier than I wanted to be, I carried it well because of my height and body build.

When Wren passed away I put on so much weight that at one point, my weight had approached 300lbs. At my top weight in early and mid 2010, I was 298.7lbs. I was morbidly obese and wretchedly unhappy with myself, my job, and my life. The more unhappy I was the more I turned to emotional eating. It was a vicious cycle that looked like it would never end.

But golf saved my life. Seriously. It did.

I don't mind telling you how hard it was to do simple things like go up stairs and carry loudspeakers, etc like I needed to for my job let alone swing a golf club correctly to hit it long and walking a golf course was impossible when you are as fat as I was.

In September 2010, after playing golf for a little of six months, I ventured to a golf outing in Florida with some folks I met through an online golf forum. I had the most wonderful time and the people were non-judgemental about my weight and my golf game. All they cared about was that I loved the game of golf and was there to have fun. I ended up meeting people who have become lifetime friends and in some cases, as important to me as members of my family.

The big life changing moment came after the outing when I saw pictures of myself. I was horrified by what I saw (I'm the fat girl on the left)

I came home from that outing and joined Weight Watchers. It has been a long slog but this earlier this month when I weighed in at a meeting, I am now only 48lbs away from my goal weight. This is the new me as of October 2011 and I've lost more since then.

The new me is playing the best golf of her life. I've not only broke 100 but I'm well on my way to breaking 90. AND, if my instructor is right and I keep working as hard as I am right now at both my fitness, weight loss and my golf game, there is no reason I won't be playing in the mid-low 80s by the summer and driving the ball over 170yds.

The new me is actually interested in "gasp" DATING again and loves getting those looks from men again. The new me loves to shop for clothes and the girly girl I've always secretly been is living out loud in lipstick, red nail polish, and flirty clothes. But, most importantly the new me doesn't use food as a crutch for her unhappiness and stress.

SO, you are asking what the hello does this have to do with anything at The Sour Dough and what this blog is about?

Well, it means that this blog is no longer going to be just about food. It started as a general topic blog. A place where I could just write and let my thought come out. Because of food is no longer the center focus of my life, I'm taking The Sour Dough back to a more general topic blog when I post. Now that doesn't mean there will be no food here.

I'm still a Bread Baking Babe and hopefully, once a month, the bread of the month will show up here. My lovely sister babes have all thrown their support behind me and know that I will be baking with them when I can adapt the recipe for my new lifestyle.

I still love to cook and bake other things too but I don't eat much of what I bake. Basically, if I can't give away 99.9% of what I bake, I'm not baking it. The cooking I do is very healthy cooking...most of the time. I may post about some of that here if the mood strikes me.

What definitely is changing, is I'm not posting to just post. Also, you will notice there really isn't a way to contact me or leave comments. It isn't that I haven't enjoyed helping you with your bread and recipe questions over the years. Rather, my life has changed and this blog isn't the end all be all of my existence anymore.

So, thank you all for all your support over the years. Feel free to hang out and see if I can break 80 on the golf course before next year and definitely check out the Babe Bread every month and be a Buddy with us!

Bread Baking Babe-orama

2011-07-24T17:52:00.008-04:00

What's this?

Typing??

Here??!!

Why, yes it is typing here!

And not only is there typing here but this is the beginning of me blogging with some regularity again. I'll go into my whereabouts, my reasons behind my taking such long blogging break, what is new in my life and how those new things are going to effect what happens here at The Sour Dough in a future post.

But for now, I have some long outstanding posts about the past two breads my lovely and understanding Bread Baking Babes (Karen, Elizabeth, Elle [Pat], Gorel, Sara, Natasha, Ilva, Tanna, Lien, Astrid, and Susan) have already posted about. I guess this makes me the Bad Babe in the Corner sent to the back bench of our classroom without her supper or her bottle of scotch.

In June, Ilva presented us with the recipe for the most fantastic soda bread I've ever made! Ballymaloe White Soda Bread with Herbs

I hate to say it but saying this was the best soda bread I've ever had includes my long kept family recipe of my great grandmother Sarah Kate Burgess of County Wexford in Ireland AND Michigan.

I made this bread when my mother was visiting.

It was so easy and quick to make that I made it for an afternoon snack on the day she arrived. We took the leftovers with us when we visited the Vanderbilt mansion in Hyde Park, NY

to have as a picnic dinner in the garden.

The deep purple iris

and white waterlilies

made a lovely backdrop to our light dinner

of soda bread, fruit, cheese and of course wine!

This past month, July, Sara gave us the freedom to make hamburger buns any way or shape we wanted to using a recipe from Williams Sonoma.

For my birthday in June, my brother and sister in law sent me a gift card to King Arthur Flour and I used it buy a pan to make homemade hot dog buns. I hadn't had a chance to use it yet but Sara's recipe was too much to resist.

After making my own hot dog buns, I don't think I'll ever buy them again. I've become addicted to turkey Italian sausage. I've been grilling it on my new grill at least two times a week. These buns are the perfect compliment to them.

I've made them at least three times this month and even made the buns using whole wheat flour last week. This recipe is a keeper.

I'm afraid it's too late to be buddy for either of these breads but I really suggest you give them a try. You won't be sorry.

Thanks Babes! I promise to try and be a better Babe for the rest of the year...

White Soda Bread with Herbs
from The Ballymaloe Bread Book by Tim Allen

1 loaf

450 g/1lb plain white four
1 level teaspoon salt
1 level teaspoon bread soda, finely sieved
1 dessert spoon each of rosemary, sage and chives, all freshly chopped
400 ml/ 14 fl oz buttermilk

Heat up the oven to 230 degrees C/450 degrees F

Sieve the flour, salt and bread soda into a large, wide mixing bowl. Add the freshly chopped herbs to the dry ingredients.

Make a well in the centre. Pour most of the milk into the flour. Using one hand with the fingers open and stiff, mix in a full circle drawing in the flour from the sides of the bowl, adding more milk if necessary. The dough should be softish, not too wet and sticky.

The trick with all soda breads is not to over-mix the dough. Mix the dough as quickly and as gently as possible, keeping it really light and airy. When the dough comes together, turn it out onto a well-floured work surface. Wash and dry your hands.

Gently roll the ball of dough around with floury hands for a few seconds, just enough to tidy up. Then pat it gently into a round, about 5 cm/2 in high.

Place the dough on a lightly floured baking sheet. With a sharp knife cut a deep cross in the middle of it, letting the cuts go over the sides of the bread. Then prick the four triangles with your knife: according to Irish folklore this will let the fairies out!

Put this into your preheated oven for 10 minutes, then turn the heat down to 200 degrees C/400 degrees F for a further 25 minutes, or until cooked. When the bread is cooked it will sound hollow when tapped.

Homemade Hamburger Buns

from Williams-Sonoma

1 1/2 cups (375 ml) milk
8 Tbs (1stick/125 g) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
4 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
4 cups (625 g) all purpose flour, plus more for dusting
5 Tbs sugar
1 Tbs kosher salt
1 egg beaten with 1 tsp water
sesame seeds for sprinkling (optional)
In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the milk and butter and heat until the butter is melted, about 7 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool to 105-155'F (40 to 46'C). Add the yeast and stir until the yeast is dissolved. Let stand for 10 minutes.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine the 4 cups of flour, the sugar and salt and beat on low speed until combined, about 30 seconds. Add the milk mixture and knead until the dough forms a ball, about 1 minute. Increase the speed to medium low and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the dough from the bowl, oil the inside of the bowl and return the dough to the bowl. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough into a 10 by 7 1/2 inch (25 by 19 cm) rectangle. Using a ruler as a guide, cut the dough into 2 1/2 inch (6cm) squares. Transfer to the prepared baking sheet, spacing the buns evenly apart, and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400'F (200'C)

Remove the plastic wrap from the baking sheet. Brush the tops of the buns with the egg mixture (I brushed the tops with milk) and sprinkle with sesame seeds if using. Bake until the buns and golder and an instant read thermometer inserted into the center of a bun registers 190'F (88'C), 14 to 16 minutes. Transfer the buns to a wire rack and let cool completely. Cut in half and use as hamburger buns. Makes 12 hamburger buns.

For slider buns: Follow the instructions above but roll out the dough into a 9 inch (23 cm) square. Cut into 1 1/2 inch (4cm) squares and place on 2 parchment lined baking sheets. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes. Position one rack in the upper third of an over and one rack in the lower third and preheat to 400'F (200'C). Brush the tops with the egg mixture and sprinkle with sesame seeds if using. Bake for about 14 minutes, rotating the baking sheets from top to bottom and 180 degrees halfway through baking. Makes 36 slider buns.

A Babeiversary: Three Years of Breads, Bitchin' and Buddies

2011-02-16T00:01:00.002-05:00

Well, well, well...

How time flies when you're having fun with twelve plus crazy women all wearing embroidered panties and aprons, up to your elbows in wet dough, wine, scotch, brandy, and the King Arthur flour catalog; not to mention changing jobs/careers (Karen, Gretchen, Sara, me), having a baby (Sara), getting married (Gretchen), becoming a grandmother (Tanna x 2, Lynn), losing a spouse (me), losing a beloved pet (Natashya, Katie), losing a sister (All of us when we lost Sher), losing our minds (all of us from time to time), moving homes (Gorel, Gretchen, Sara, and me), building a house in the Northern Michigan woods (Tanna), building a house in France (Katie), remodeling a house (Karen), building a brick oven in the backyard (Susan). Well, you get the picture...

In the past three years this little band of sisters has done a lot both in the kitchen and out of the kitchen but the one constant has been every month since February 2008, a bread has been baked in most of our ovens.

We've had some fantastic successes with the Royal Crown Tortano, Poilane style Miche, Challah, Asparagus Bread, Potato Bread with Chives, and Sweet Portuguese Bread. We've had some challenges with the Crocodrillo, Russian Black Bread, Gluten Free No Knead Hearty Seeded Sandwich Bread, and the Yeasted Sprouted Wheat Bread. We've experienced international breads many of us had never tried or heard of with Ethiopian Injera, Sukerbolle, Sukkar bi Tahin, and Broa (Portuguese Corn Bread). We've had fun shaping with the Yule Wreath, Tanta Wawa, Viennese Striesel, and the Cornucopia.

To celebrate the Babes three year anniversary, I took advantage of a few down weeks at home in my Connecticut kitchen to pick one bread from each of the three years to make again or in the case of the last one, for the first time.

During our first year, the one bread that struck fear in the hearts of all us and still sends shivers down the spines of my sisters was the uber-wet dough Crocodrillo.

This bread not only was the wettest dough we've tackled to date (and tackling is the operative word when you are chasing dough off the end of the counter) but it also ended up one of the most satisfying when you got it right and out of the oven. The taste and the texture with the crispy, chewy crust and the large holes in the dough made all the cursing, crying, and pleading worth it.

In the second year, we made a bread sold on the streets of Beirut, the Sukkar bi Tahin. It surprised me when I sat down to pick the three breads that I was going to make for this post that this one kept popping up to the top of my mind. I wasn't a huge fan of the bread when I made it in July 2009, mainly because I'm not a big fan of tahini except in hummus. But when I made it this time I was blown away by how wonderful the bread was. I did stray from the recipe by shaping the dough into one large serpent shaped loaf but the result was stunning.

My office mates were also impressed because exactly ten minutes after I announced at the Monday morning project meeting the bread was on the cutting board in the kitchen, the last piece was consumed.

In the third year of Babe breads, I have to admit there are several breads I missed baking owing to job schedules and some other life changes (i.e. golf), I left our collective kitchen to go on hiatus. So, I decided to bake one of the breads I missed for this anniversary post. Having been itching to use my brotform for several months, I decided the dough and bread from 2010 that best suited the wicker shape was the Broa: Portuguese Corn Bread.

Like my revisit to the Sukkar bi Tahan, this bread surprised me with how much I loved it. It reminded me in taste and texture to my beloved Anadama bread. I admit, I ate about half the loaf at various meals before I finally took the remaining loaf into the office. It too was devoured by my fellow workers and already, I'm hearing rumbling to make it again. It won't be hard to twist my arm in that regards.

Of all the things the past three years that we Babes have enjoyed it has been inviting you, our readers (if I have any left) into our collective kitchen every month as Bread Baking Buddies.

So, this month there isn't a single bread that we are baking and inviting you to bake with us but rather there are thirty-seven! That's right, if you would like to help us celebrate three years of Babe Bread Baking, we would like you to select one of the breads in the below to bake, blog about and then email our host kitchen, our founder and den mother, Tanna (My Kitchen in Half Cups) with a link to your post by Feb. 29. She'll email you a little something-something for your blog!

2008 (from left to right) February: Karen Royal Crown Tortano (in Dutch) and in English:
March: Lien Coccodrillo
April: Tanna Sullivan Street Pizza
May: Sher - Poilane-Style Miche
June: Mary Breadchick's Dark Onion Rye
July: - in memory of Sher who passed away July 20 2008; this month we made something from her blog, something that reminded us of the warm and witty personality Sher was. The news of her passing shocked us. She is our Angel Babe.
August: Ilva Whole Wheat Pita
September : Monique Sûkerbôlle
October : Sara Challah
November: Görel The Rosendal Crisp Bread
December: Lynn Yule Wreath

In our second year, the loaves of 2009;

2009 (from left to right): January Katie Croissants
February Tanna Pane ai Cinque Cereali con Nod (Five-Grain Bread with Walnuts)
March Sara Pane Francese
April Mary Ethiopian Injera
May Ilva Pane di Pasta Tenera Condita (Italian Knot Bread)
June Lien Asparagus Bread (in English and Dutch)
July Natashya Sukkar bi Tahin (Beirut Tahini Swirls)
August Görel Russian Black Bread
September Karen Chinese Flower Steam Buns
October Gretchen Tanta Wawa (Peruvian Bread Babies)
November Monique Brioche Mousseline
December Katie Viennese Striesel

And our third year 2010;

2010 (from left to right) January Lynn Curried Naan
February Karen Ensaimada
March Mary Gluten Free No Knead Hearty Seeded Sandwich Bread
April Sara Potato Bread with Chives
May Natashya Tunisian Spicy Breads
June Lien Korni (in English and Dutch)
July Lynn Yeasted Sprouted Wheat Bread
August Tanna Sweet Portuguese Bread
September Görel Brunkans Långa
October Elizabeth Broa: Portuguese Corn Bread
November Susan Cornucopia
December Ilva Taralli Pugliesi

And finally, just this past month

2011
January: Astrid Hildegard's Spelt Bread

Now, I'm going to get a little sappy here so you might want to go grab a box of tissue. I want to take a few words to thank my Babe sisters for all the love and support of the past three years while I've made some major life changes including leaving the kitchen to pursue a dream of mine, to work on my golf game and get good enough to play serious competitive golf. You each have been so supportive of me and kept my spot on the back bench warm, a bottle of my Macallan 25 taped under the bench, sent me well wishes when I've been competing and helped pick me up when I've failed. I know I won't be joining you every month in the upcoming year but I also know that when I drop into the kitchen and the classroom from time to time, you will welcome me back with open arms. Ladies, may your yeast always bloom, your flour always stay dry, and your loaves always rise.

To go see what my Sisters, The Bread Baking Babes did this month to celebrate three years, go visit their blogs. You can find them over there on the side bar of this blog.

Three Years of Babe Bliss

2011-02-01T11:57:00.006-05:00

Three years ago a little email arrived in my mailbox from my dear friend Tanna asking if I would be interested in joining her in an endeavor: find a very small and intimate group of ladies to bake bread, share laughs, tears, drinks and bottles taped to the underside of back benches, and most importantly create life long friendships.

How could I refuse not to join such a group? Especially when Tanna told me we would have custom embroidered panties and aprons...

Just for kicks and giggles and because as I get older, I feel the need to wander down memory lane more and more, let"s revisit the breads the Babes have baked the past three years:

2008 (from left to right) February: Karen Royal Crown Tortano (in Dutch) and in English:
March: Lien Coccodrillo
April: Tanna Sullivan Street Pizza
May: Sher - Poilane-Style Miche
June: Mary Breadchick's Dark Onion Rye
July: - in memory of Sher who passed away July 20 2008; this month we made something from her blog, something that reminded us of the warm and witty personality Sher was. The news of her passing shocked us. She is our Angel Babe.
August: Ilva Whole Wheat Pita
September : Monique Sûkerbôlle
October : Sara Challah
November: Görel The Rosendal Crisp Bread
December: Lynn Yule Wreath

In our second year, the loaves of 2009;

2009 (from left to right): January Katie Croissants
February Tanna Pane ai Cinque Cereali con Nod (Five-Grain Bread with Walnuts)
March Sara Pane Francese
April Mary Ethiopian Injera
May Ilva Pane di Pasta Tenera Condita (Italian Knot Bread)
June Lien Asparagus Bread (in English and Dutch)
July Natashya Sukkar bi Tahin (Beirut Tahini Swirls)
August Görel Russian Black Bread
September Karen Chinese Flower Steam Buns
October Gretchen Tanta Wawa (Peruvian Bread Babies)
November Monique Brioche Mousseline
December Katie Viennese Striesel

And our third year 2010;

2010 (from left to right) January Lynn Curried Naan
February Karen Ensaimada
March Mary Gluten Free No Knead Hearty Seeded Sandwich Bread
April Sara Potato Bread with Chives
May Natashya Tunisian Spicy Breads
June Lien Korni (in English and Dutch)
July Lynn Yeasted Sprouted Wheat Bread
August Tanna Sweet Portuguese Bread
September Görel Brunkans Långa
October Elizabeth Broa: Portuguese Corn Bread
November Susan Cornucopia
December Ilva Taralli Pugliesi

And finally, just this past month

2011
January: Astrid Hildegard's Spelt Bread

Visit back on the 16th of February to see the beginning of the next year....

Look Who's Back!

2010-11-20T13:10:00.003-05:00

After a two month hiatus to work on a few things out of the kitchen, I'm back for a little food blogging while I make some decisions about what the next stage of my life is going to be and where I'm going to be living for that stage.

A few things I've decided like where I want to be living: the Carolinas or southern Virginia. A few things I haven't but I'm working on those and hope to have that figured out by late winter or early spring. So, next year at this time, I'm hoping to be out of New England and happily living someplace where it doesn't snow that often and I can play golf year round.

For the past eight weeks I've been dedicating almost all my free time to improving my golf game. It has been break from blogging I needed and good way to re-center my life around an active and healthier lifestyle.

During my time away from blogging, I hired a fitness coach, swing coach and a nutritionist. I began a regime with a workout in the morning and evening while watching what I ate (cutting out white flour, sugar, etc. which made baking bread a very hard thing to do). I would go to work, go to the driving range and the golf course, and then come home and fall into bed exhausted. The work has paid off, not only am I almost thirty pounds lighter than I was at the beginning of September but I've got a pretty mean golf game these days.

So, now that the cold weather is setting in and besides doing drills on the golf simulator and working with my coaches inside, my time on the course is going to be very limited, I've decided it is time to see if I can find a way to slowly bring back into my life my love of bread making and not lose the good work I've done. The office and my neighbors is going to love me because nothing I'm baking is staying in the house. I'm giving it all away.

Now this doesn't mean that I'm going to be updating every week but what it does mean that I am back in a place in my life where finding a balance and being in the kitchen amongst the baking pans and flour is as much of a place of peace and comfort as standing on the tee box and smacking a 3 wood 180 yards down the center of a fairway.

It also means that I'm going to try and find a way to participate a bit more with my sisters, The Bread Baking Babes who this month made the most stunning bread I think we've made, cornucopias.

One of the bread baking items I did purchase while I was away was a Pullman Loaf Pan.

I have been wanting one of these forever because who can resist the perfectly square loaf of soft sandwich bread you bake in these.

This bread went right into the office with the exception of two slices I used to make a turkey sandwich for lunch.

Right now, I'm working on some very zingy sourdough bread from my favorite starter, Groucho. Since I haven't been baking much Groucho was pretty dormant.

To revive him, I started a few days ago by taking half of the dormant starter

Adding one half cup of luke warm (about 75 degrees)

and stirring in one half cup of flour

About forty minutes later, I had some bubbles.

I repeated this for three days and this morning, Groucho was bubbly and happy. Tomorrow, I'll be baking a boule for the office.

The office is really glad I'm back in the kitchen because they have been missing things like this Triple Chocolate Truffle Cheesecake on Gingersnap Crust I took in to work at the end of the week.

LB is pretty happy I'm spending more time at home too. So much so, when I'm sitting on the couch working on my laptop or watching some golf on TV, he immediately hops up and assumes his favorite napping position.

Have you ever seen such big feet on a cat?!

Triple Chocolate Truffle Cheesecake on Gingersnap Crust

Crust:
1 2/3 C Gingersnaps, crushed
1/3 C Vanilla Wafer Cookies, crushed
1/2 C Confectioners Sugar
1/3 + 2 Tbsp Butter, melted

Cheesecake
3 8oz packages Cream Cheese, softened
1 14oz can Sweetened Condensed Milk
2/3 C Dark Chocolate (66% or darker), broken into small pieces (or in chips)
2/3 C Milk Chocolate, broken into small pieces (or in chips)
2/3 C White Chocolate, broken into small pieces (or in chips)
4 Eggs
2 tsp Vanilla
1 C Semi Sweet Chocolate, broken into tiny pieces (or in mini chips)

To Make Crust:
Combine dry ingredients in medium bowl and moisten with melted butter. Press crust into prepared 9" spring form pan. Make bottom crust about 1/4" thick and press any excess crust evenly up the sides of the pan. Set aside.

To Make Cheesecake Batter:

Using 1/8 cup of cocoa powder coat semi sweet chips and set aside.

In large bowl using a hand mixer or in a stand mixer, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Add in sweetened condensed milk and continue beating until smooth.

Melt dark, milk, and white chocolate in a double boiler until completely smooth. Stir into cream cheese mixture. Add eggs in, one at time and combine until smooth. Stir in vanilla and semi sweet chocolate until combined.

Pour into spring form pan over the crust and gently shake pan to remove any bubbles.

Place spring form pan on a baking sheet with edges to prevent butter from the crust leaking out in the oven and bake cheesecake for 60 minutes at 300 degrees until firm in the center.

Allow to cool for 20 minutes before gently loosening the outer ring of the spring form pan. If necessary, run a knife under hot water and run along side of outer ring to loosen cheesecake from outer ring.

Let cheesecake cool completely or overnight in the refrigerator.

To serve, shave dark, milk, and white chocolate over top.

WCB: A Fond Farewell For A Few

2010-09-11T19:19:00.002-04:00

We're hosting Weekend Cat Blogging this weekend and it is a bit of sadness that Mom is letting me announce that this will be the last time that we host WCB for this year.

You see, Mom is getting ready to take a break from blogging for the foreseeable future to pursue an outside venture that doesn't involve food. Don't worry, Mom is really excited and once she is in a place where she can tell you what she is going to be doing, I'm sure she'll be back at The Sour Dough to explain and share her news.

Since I only get to use the computer when she is using the computer, it will be really hard for me to host as Mom isn't going to spend much time on the computer.

Don't worry, our really good friends Othello, Salome and Kashim have offered to take our slots for the rest of the year.

In the mean time, since this is our last hosting, we want to thank all the kitties over the years we've been hosting for all the purrs and friendship.

If you want to join us with this lovely early fall weekend and show us what you've been up to the past week. Leave us a comment and check back on Sunday to see all the kitties in comments.

Bread Baking Babes: Exploring the Portuguese Sweet Side

2010-08-16T00:05:00.001-04:00

When Tanna first emailed me with a question about her bread for this month, Sweet Portuguese Bread

I almost peed my pants with excitement! You see, next to dark rye bread, Anadama bread and the perfect French baguette, there is no other bread in this world I love more than Sweet Portuguese Bread.

You see, I have had an almost 45 year love affair with Sweet Portuguese Bread ever since the first time my Auntie Nora took me to one of the many Portuguese bakeries Fall River, MA to help pick up the rolls for weekends at the summer house on Long Lake.

I remember walking into the bakery with the windows all steamed up from the summer heat, standing in line with all the other ladies from New Bedford, Fall River, Tiverton, and the surrounding communities waiting for our turn, the sweet lady behind the counter who would always give me a roll or cookie to "munch on" while I waited for my Aunt to have her rolls and desserts wrapped. I would then sit in the front seat all the way back to the summer house with a big box of still warm buns in my lap. Those buns were so yellow from the eggs and soft, shiny and melt in your mouth good.

We would have those rolls with fresh chunks of lobster in a light mixture of mayonnaise and lemon juice while sitting out on the back deck watching the sun go down over the lake and further out the distance the Atlantic Ocean.

The recipe that Tanna had us follow was an almost perfect match for those sweet rolls I remember from my childhood summers. The rolls I made from the dough (sorry Tanna, I wanted to be 10 again) were sweet without being over sweet like so many recipes for Sweet Portuguese Bread I've tried in the past. They were soft inside with a firm, slightly chewy crust that was dark brown, leading to a nice contrast to the yellowish insides.

I also strayed from the recipe by not marking the tops of my buns or long rolls like Tanna's recipe, again wanting to recreate the rolls of my childhood. Because you see, I had a special plan for my rolls of Sweet Portuguese Bread. I wanted lobster rolls.

There is a lobster pound down the street from my apartment where the lobster boats from Long Island Sound come in and off load their catch for the area restaurants.

This morning, on my way to my coffee shop, I stopped by and spoke with one of the guys on the boat about buying a lobster from them. He said to come back at 3pm when they were back and the restaurants had picked up their catch and if there was an orphan or "damaged" lobster, it was mine.

At 3:35pm this after a 1 1/2lb lobster found its way into my kitchen and into my steaming pot and about 12 minutes later I had a lovely pile of lobster meat.

While the lobster was cooling, I formed four round rolls and four long rolls from the dough that had been rising all afternoon and put them in my oven/proofing chamber for their final rise. After the rolls had baked and cooled,

I pulled the lobster meat from the fridge, dressed it with a tablespoon of mayonnaise and squeeze of lemon.

I piled the lobster meat onto a sliced round roll, put a handful of Herr's Creamy Dill potato chips on the plate

and sat down to watch the final few holes of the 2010 PGA Championship. I could almost see the back deck of my Auntie Nora's when I bit into the lobster roll...

If you want to see what my fellow Babes did with their Sweet Portuguese Bread go visit the blogs over there on my side bar. You'll notice a few new names there too! Last month we welcomed four new Babes, Astrid, Elizabeth, Elle, and Susan to our ranks to help keep our group lively. You'll also notice that a few of us are on hiatus: Gretchen, Katie, and Monique. They will still join us from time to time to bake when their hectic lives allow. I'm trying to be a better Babe and bake more often as my crazy schedule allows as well.

If you want to be a Bread Baking Buddy, you can bake this fantastic tasting bread, post about it by August 29, and email Tanna, our Kitchen of the Month with a link to your post. She'll email you a nifty badge for your blog and include you in her round up.

Sweet Portuguese Bread
Note: Requires an overnight sponge

Ingredients

Over night SPONGE

72 grams bread flour

2 1/4 teaspoons osmotolerant yeast (instant worked just as well too)

114 milliliters potato water, or whey or water (potato water or whey really make it extra tender & soft)

DOUGH

6 tablespoons butter, room temp.

30 to100 grams brown sugar

lemon zest

1 teaspoon salt

3 large eggs, room temp.

120 milliliters milk, room temp.

460 grams bread flour, I make approximately1 cup of the 460g whole wheat, you can use all bread flour if you like

2 tablespoons flax seeds, ground

Method
Mix together the sponge the night before baking the bread. Leave sitting at room temp 8 to 12 hours.

Beat sugar and butter until creamy.
Add zest and salt and beat.
Beat in each egg separately and completely; mix will appear curdled.
Stir in milk and sponge.
Stir in 2 1/2 cups flour and beat vigorously (in a stand mixer it would clear the sides of the bowl, by hand lifting the spoon up should stretch the dough about a foot.)
Add remaining flour to make stiff dough. Knead 5 minutes or more to incorporate all the flour:
Dough should be smooth, soft and very supple with a slight stickiness. Looks a little like very thick cake batter or a brioche dough.
Shape into ball, oil bowl and dough ball.
Cover and allow to rise about 2 hours, should almost or triple in size.
Divide into loaves, shaped into balls.
Allow to rest 20 to 30 minutes before final shaping with rolling pin.
See photos for shaping.

For best demarcation of indents be careful to dust dough ball well with flour.

Shape and place into well oiled cake pans seam side down.
Allow to rise an hour to 2 hours; more than double in size.

Brush with egg wash if you want that beautiful glossy finish.

Bake 350°
50 minutes as two loaves
35 minutes as four loaves

mine took less

Brush with melted butter when hot from the oven.

Recipe a combination of recipes found in Tanna's books:
Advanced Bread & Pastry: A Professional Approach by Michel Suas pg 237
The Bread Bible by Beth Hensperger pg 368
A Baker's Odyssey by Gregg Patent pg 221
The Bread Book by Linda Collister & Anthony Blake pg 136
The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart pg 215

WCB: Lazy Saturday Morning on the Porch

2010-08-14T08:28:00.002-04:00

Guess What! We're hosting Weekend Cat Blogging this weekend and we even remembered we were hosting!! (Thanks Astrid and the kitties for a reminder!)

I know, there was a bit of a snafu last month but don't blame me. Blame Mom. It's her fault.

Stupid work had her so crazy busy last month that besides one post about meatballs that I didn't even get to help with because Mom doesn't let me eat meatballs

(well, she doesn't think she lets me eat meatballs but I snuck one off her plate).

But this month, Mom hasn't been so crazy at work and she has even been home for most of it so far. Which means she has been able to not only spend lots of quality time with me but also spend some time in the kitchen baking.

She baked some cinnamon rolls for a friend at work who was leaving to go to a new job

and she baked some cookies, double chocolate mocha fudge drops and her Arnold Palmer shortbread,

for a friend who is a caddy on the PGA Tour.

Because Mom hasn't been working so much this month, she has gotten to spend more time on the golf course too! Which makes both Mom and me very happy because she isn't cranky.

Mom is going on a special golf trip next month with her friends from The Hackers Paradise at the PGA National Resort. She says there is a really tough golf course there that the PGA pros play a tournament on and that has three really scary holes called "The Bear Trap". So she has been practicing really hard.

Mom is always telling me it isn't just how you golf but also how you look when you golf so got this really pretty hat from The Hackers Paradise

to match her golf bag

She is golfing this afternoon with her upstairs neighbor and said she was going to show off her new hat. The weather is perfectly sunny and nice. Tomorrow she told me she was going to golf early in the morning and then spend the afternoon baking and catching up on laundry.

But morning Mom is sitting out on the back porch reading and working on a few recipes. She is also doing laundry which means I get nap in my favorite place

The laundry basket full of warm clothes!

If you would like to join us this for Weekend Cat Blogging and show us what you are up to or where you are napping or what food you are stealing from your Mom and/or Dad's plates, leave a link in the comments. And, don't forget to check back on Sunday evening and read the comments from all the kitties!

Weekend Cat Blogging: Meatballs and Golf Balls

2010-07-17T12:08:00.004-04:00

First, I'm so sorry I had to miss last weekend's host duties. I was asleep for most of the weekend on the pile of pillows and quilts Mom left on the floor

and Mom had to work all weekend on a stupid project. She worked 36 hours last weekend and by the time she got home on Sunday night she was really, really grumpy. So thanks to Othello, Kashim, and Salome for stepping in doing an emergency hosting!

They are hosting a special Weekend Cat Blogging this weekend in memory of Sher. Sher was very good friend of us here at the Sour Dough, a regular host of Weekend Cat Blogging, and one of the original Bread Baking Babes with Mom. (Did you know that one of the newest Babes is Othello, Kashim, and Salome's momma Astrid?)

Mom has many recipes that she uses in her kitchen from Sher but the one recipe she uses almost every month is her recipe for meatballs. Mom has been cleaning out her freezer and found a package of lamb from a local farm. Mom has also been craving a meatball sub like she used to get this little hole in the wall diner in Watertown, MA.

So, last night, she made lamb meatballs using the seasoning from Sher's recipe

and using a sub roll from the bakery down the street, made this wonderful looking meatball sub sandwich.

Speaking of balls, but not meatballs, Mom has been so busy at work she hasn't been on a golf course or a driving range in over 14 days. The last time she golfed was July 5th!! She's going to try and get on the course later this weekend but since it is also the weekend of the British Open or as it is called in the UK, The Open, she may not make it off the couch.

Of course, she cursed her favorite golfer by picking him to win in one of her golf pools and he had a horrible day yesterday and missed the cut. Mom really should know she is a jinx.

If you would like to join our hosts Othello, Kashim, and Salome this weekend in memory of Sher go visit their blog and leave a comment.

Babes Getting Korni

2010-06-16T19:27:00.005-04:00

I'd love to tell you that I baked this month. I'd love to tell you how fabulous this bread tasted and looked and smell. I'd love to tell you all about it but...

If the fact I'm typing this post about the bread I'd love to tell you about from my iphone in the Crown Room at Atlanta's airport in Terminal C waiting to board my third airplane in as many days says anything about how my month has been.

hen you'll understand I can't tell you anything about this month's bread other than it looks really interesting and my fellow Babes are reporting it has a hearty and delicious crunch and you should definitely try it as Buddy! To see the recipe and how to become a Buddy, go visit our host kitchen Lien of Notitie van Lien.

Then go see the other Babes on the sidebar and read about this bread. And maybe next month, I'll actually get a chance to set up shop in my own house...

Weekend Cat Blogging Flashback for Our Fifth!

2010-06-11T22:01:00.004-04:00

Mom's been traveling again the past ten days. She was in Charlotte, NC; Houston, TX; and Las Vegas!

While she was away, she had a birthday too!! Her friends in Vegas took her out and let her have lots of fun.

She said she wasn't feeling very well though after her night out on the town.

Anyways, Mom is still recovering from her birthday bash in Vegas. So, she is having me post a Weekend Cat Blogging Flashback picture with presents since we are hosting this weekend and Weekend Cat Blogging is celebrating our 5th Birthday!

If you want to join the Weekend Cat Blogging Birthday Bash, leave us a link and come back on Sunday to see how we all celebrated Weekend Cat Blogging's Birthday!!

Bread Baking Babes: Twofer Breads from a Bad Babe

2010-05-17T22:36:00.004-04:00

I've been a Bad Babe the past few months.

Between traveling over hill and dale for my crazy work schedule and well, being distracted trying to earn an exemption into the LPGA (yea, right..) I have to truthful and tell you that baking bread hasn't exactly been at the top of my list lately.

It isn't that the breads the Babes have been baking aren't interesting and when I see the recipes posted in our secret clubhouse, I get all excited. BUT, by the time I find a few minutes to actually sit down and bake, I'm out of time before we are suppose to post. SO, I promise the gals that I will be a "buddy" that month. And you know what happens right? Yup, before I know it I've missed that posting date too! BAD BABE!!!

Anyways, last month my very good friend, twin sister and mother of just about the cutest little boy you have ever laid eyes on, Sara at I Like To Cook was our host kitchen and she gave us one of the best breads we've ever done, Potato Bread with Chives.

Now, I have to admit when I first read this recipe I thought to myself how can anything "vegan" be really that good. After all, I'm not a huge fan of soy milk but this bread is F.A.N.T.A.S.T.I.C.

Sara gave us the option to shape the bread any way we wanted and I opted to make little knots.

I also added a bit of garlic to the dough to go with the chives and coated the knots with garlic butter when they came out of the oven. They were a HUGE hit when I took them to my watering hole. I love this bread so much, I actually keep single servings of soy milk on hand now so I can make it when ever I want to!

This month, Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies is our host kitchen and she has picked a humdinger of a bread for us this month: Tunisian Spicy Bread.

These are like empanadas but with those fantastic middle eastern spices and heat, Heat, HEAT baby!!

The dough is made from Semolina flour and is rich and eggy and frankly, really not my favorite dough we've made. But that is OK because it is the filling (chakchouka) that is the star of this bread.

A filling made of tomatoes, onions, peppers with chilies, cayenne pepper and harissa, it pushes the bread, which is a bit bland in taste to the background. Which, in my opinon is A-OK. I love the filling so much, I'm glad I made a big batch. I've been dipping corn chips, the leftover frozen Naan that was our January bread this year, carrots and anything I can think of into it.

If you want to be a Bread Baking Buddy this month for the Tunisian Spicy Bread visit Natashya's blog for details. You have until May 24th to get her your post about your experience with the Tunisian Spice Bread and don't worry about the spicy part, she let's adjust the heat to taste.

Unfortunately, you can't be a buddy for Sara's bread because the deadline has passed but you should really give the bread a try. I even use the dough for pizza dough! It's that good.

And don't forget to visit the rest of the Babes listed over there on my sidebar to see how they shaped their Potato Bread with Chives and how spicy they like things with the Tunisian Spicy Bread.

May 2010 Bread Baking Babes Bread Recipe:

Tunisian Spicy Breads
Touarits
from Savory Baking from the Mediterranean by Anissa Helou

These are a Tunisian spin on r'ghayefs. Here the dough is made entirely with semolina flour and enriched with oil and egg, and the filling is enclosed between two circles of dough. The breads are usually pan-fried, but I prefer to bake them. Although the amount of harissa and cayenne pepper in the filling may seem excessive, the heat of the spices is tempered by the bread casing. The filling, which is called chakchouka, may also be served on its own as a salad or a dip. Harissa*, made by grinding chili peppers, garlic, and caraway seeds, is widely available in Middle Eastern markets and in some supermarkets.

*or feel free to make your own harissa! There are plenty of recipes online.

Makes 20-22 small breads

Ingredients:

For the dough
3 1/3 tsp (1 1/2 pkg) (16.5 ml) active dry yeast
3 1/2 cups (828 ml) fine semolina or semolina flour
1 1/2 (7.5 ml) tsp fine kosher salt or sea salt
1 1/2 Tbsp (22 ml) extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for brushing the breads
1 whole egg
All purpose flour for kneading and shaping

For the filling
3 Tbsp (45 ml) extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 medium tomatoes, finely chopped (about 1 heaping cup) (250+ ml)
1 medium bell pepper, cored, seeded, and finely chopped (about 3/4 cup) (178 ml approx)
2 small chili peppers, such as serranos, seeded and finely chopped
1 tsp (5 ml) harissa
1/2 (2.5 ml) teaspoon cayenne pepper
Fine kosher salt or sea salt

Directions:

1. Dissolve the yeast in 1/4 cup (60 ml) warm water and stir until creamy.

2. Combine the semolina and salt in a large bowl and make a well in the center. Add the 1 1/2 Tbsps (22 ml) olive oil and the egg to the well. Gradually add the yeast and 2/3 cup plus 2 Tbsps (188 ml total) warm water, bringing in the semolina as you go along. Knead until you have a rough ball of dough.

3. Remove the dough to a lightly floured work surface. Knead for 3 minutes. Invert the bowl over the dough and let rest for 15 minutes. Knead for about 2 to 3 minutes more. Cover with a damp kitchen towel and let rest while the filling is prepared.

4. Make the filling: Heat the oil in a sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook until golden. Add the tomatoes, chopped peppers, harissa, and cayenne. Season with salt to taste and cook, stirring occasionally, until the bell pepper is soft and the sauce is very thick. Remove from the heat and set aside.

5. Divide the dough into two pieces and shape each piece into a ball. Place on a lightly floured work surface, cover with plastic wrap, and let rest for 15 minutes.

6. Preheat the oven to 400F (205C). Roll out one ball of dough until it is 1/4 inch (0.6 cm) thick. Using a 3 1/2 inch (8.9 cm approx) pastry cutter, cut out as many circles of dough as possible and set aside. Briefly knead the extra dough together, and place under the plastic wrap, next to the other ball of dough. Turn the circles over and place 1 tsp (5 ml) of filling in the middle of half of the circles. Cover with the remaining plain circles and press on the edges to seal. Flatten the breads slightly by hand and pinch the edges to flatten further and seal well. Brush with olive oil on both sides and transfer to a non-stick baking sheet, or to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or silicone pastry mat. Cover with a damp kitchen towel. continue making the breads until the dough, including the scraps, is used up.

7. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until lightly crisp and golden. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Serve warm.

Note: To pan-fry the breads, heat a little oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, place as many breads as will fit in the pan, brush the tops with olive oil, and cook for 3 to 5 minutes, until golden on the bottom, pressing on the breads if they puff up. Turn the breads over, brush the cooked bottoms with oil, and cook for 3 minutes more, or until golden all over. Serve immediately.

April 2010 Bread Baking Babes Bread Recipe:

Potato Bread with Chives
from Vegan Planet by Robin Robertson

"The addition of mashed potatos gives this bread a moist, dense texture and delicate flavor that is accented by that of the chives. This bread is best eaten slightly warm from the oven on the day it is made. It is also good toasted."

2 1/4 tsp (1 packet) active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1 tsp sugar or pure maple syrup
2 Tb corn oil
2 tsp salt
1 cup cold mashed potatos
1 cup soy milk or other dairy free milk
5 cups unbleached all purpose flour, plus more for kneading
2 Tb minced fresh chives

In a large bowl, combine the yeast and 1/4 cup of the water. Add the sugar and stir to dissolve. Let the mixture stand for 10 minutes, then stir in the remaining 3/4 cup of water, the corn oil and the salt. Mix in the potatos, then stir in the soy milk. Add about half the flour, stirring to combine, then work in the remaining flour to form a stiff dough. Transfer to a lightly floured board.

Lightly flour your hands and work surface. Knead the dough well until it is smooth and elastic, 8 to 10 minutes, using more flour as necessary so the dough does not stick. Place in a large lightly oiled bowl and turn over once to coat with oil. Cover with a clean kitchen towel or lightly oiled piece of plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, 1 to 2 hours.

Meanwhile, lightly oil a large baking sheet and set aside. Punch the dough down and knead lightly. Turn out onto a lightly floured work surface, sprinkle with the chives, and knead until the dough is elastic and the chives are well distributed, 3 to 5 minutes. Shape the dough into one large or two small round loaves and place on the prepared baking sheet. Flatten slightly and cover with a clean damp towel or lightly oiled plastic wrap. Set aside in a warm place and let rise again until doubled in bulk, about 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400'F. Use a sharp knife to cut an X into the top of the loaf or loaves. Bake on the center oven rack until golden brown, 35 to 45 minutes, depending on size. Tap on the bottom of the loaf or loaves - if they sound hollow, the bread is done. Remove from the sheet and let cool slightly on a wire rack before slicing.

WCB: Mom No Longer Lives Here

2010-05-15T09:22:00.004-04:00

Seems like the only time there are every any words or action here is when I take charge.

Mom has all but abandoned this blog. It isn't because Mom doesn't like cooking or baking anymore. Or that Mom doesn't think about her friends in both the food and cat blogging world. It is just that Mom is so busy these days.

You see, Mom's job has her traveling all over. She says it is because the economy is getting better and that is good because it means that there will be more money to buy me all the kitty treats I like but that I had to give up when we economized. Plus all these projects she had last year that go put on hold have all have started up again at the same time and her clients think that just because they put the project on hold Mom kept working on them so she should be able to deliver their sound system designs on the same time schedule as the original schedule. She laughs when they say that.

Anyways, last week Mom was traveling to Charlotte, NC because the NASCAR Hall of Fame opened and she did the audio and video systems for the museum.

It was a really cool project and Mom even got a chance to drive a race car simulator. She didn't do so good though except for crashing the car really spectacularly. When she stepped out of the simulator she said people started clapping because they show the crashes on a big video screen outside and her crashes were so good. That's my Mom!!

When Mom got home on Thursday, I was so happy to see her that when she sat down on the couch to find a recipe to make some pizza dough, I had to sit on her cookbooks.

But Mom found a great pizza dough recipe she had never tried before anyways and made this really great looking pizza.

I didn't try any of it because she doesn't like anchovies and didn't put any turkey pepperoni on it for me.

We're hosting Weekend Cat Blogging this weekend and we would love to see what the other kitties are doing. So, leave us a comment with your link and check back at the end of the weekend to read the comments!

Now if you will excuse me, I have some window sitting to do and Mom has a golf game (of course!).

Weekend Cat Blogging: Laundry Day

2010-04-10T00:01:00.004-04:00

Once again, Mom is on the road for an extended business trip. She's been gone for almost two weeks today and I sure miss her.

And just to make sure she had a little bit of me with her while she's gone I slept in the laundry basket of warm fresh from the dryer clothes she was getting ready to pack.

I'll just bet Mom sure is happy to have cat hair all over her business clothes!

We're co-hosting Weekend Cat Blogging along with our friends Othello and Salome, who are so excited to be hosting again that they posted a whole week early!! So, go leave a comment there too because between them and us, we'll sure have a party!

And check back here on Sunday or over there to see what all the kitties were up to.

Brave Bread Baking Buddies for Gluten Free Bread

2010-03-31T00:05:00.001-04:00

Wow! We only had a few adventurous buddies this month who wanted to take on the No Knead Gluten Free Hearty Seeded Sandwich Loaf:

Rita of Soepkipje had an interesting ride to say the least using gluten free flours she had on hand. Don't worry Rita! Sometime you win and sometimes you don't.

Andrea at Food and Family had an easier time because she had all the flours on hand but didn't really care for the loaf either.

Nicole from Bread, Butter and Buns has new found respect for those who have to bake without gluten after her attempt.

Oh well, I'm glad that a few people tried to step out of their comfort zone and tried something new. After all, sometimes we won't know if we don't like something unless we try it.

Thanks to all the buddies who joined us this month!

Bread Baking Babes: Gluten? We Don't Knead No Stinkin' Gluten

2010-03-22T00:03:00.002-04:00

Once again it is my turn to be host kitchen for the Bread Baking Babes and as usual, I wanted us to do something different.

I've made the Babes start sourdough starters from scratch for my Dark Onion Rye and then I made them not only make Injera but I made them make a whole Ethiopian meal to go with their injera.

Well, after this month, I'm pretty sure the girls are going to take my hosting duties away from me because I not only made them once again go scurrying around trying to find strange flours BUT I made them make a bread that didn't need to be kneaded when I chose a gluten free no knead sandwich bread from Nancy Baggett's Kneadlessly Simple for our bread of the month.

I've made no knead breads before and gluten free breads before but I have never tried to do both at the same time. Since I have really enjoyed the other recipes from Nancy's fine book I wasn't worried about the recipe (and this one didn't disappoint me). This will be the Bread Baking Babes first no knead bread and our first gluten free bread of the month. Hopefully, it won't our last of either.

The thing I was most worried about was some of our gang in Europe easily finding the flours. There were a few folks who had some trouble, but based upon the usual flurry of flour discussions on our super secret blog, I think most everyone had success.

The bread has a nice crust, good crumb and other than being a bit dense (common for gluten free breads) was pretty tasty. I'm not sure I would want to live on a diet of this bread but I really enjoyed it toasted spread with almond butter or Nutella.

If you want to join us this month as a Bread Baking Buddy, we're giving you a little extra time than the normal one week after our posting to give you some time find the gluten free flours. You have until March 31 to make the No Knead Hearty Seeded Sandwich Bread, post about it on your blog and email me a link to your post. I'll email you a badge for your blog and post a round up off all your wonderful loaves on April 1.

I hope you will find this bread as much fun and tasty as I did. To see how the other Babes did with this month's bread, go check out their blogs from the links on my sidebar.

Oh, and don't freak out Susan but I'm actually going to participate in Yeast Spotting this week too! I just may be getting back into the swing of this whole blogging thing again...

A special thanks to Nancy Baggett for allowing me to post her recipe in full on the blog. If you want to try no knead bread for the first time, I can't recommend a better or easier book to use.

So, without further adieu, here is the recipe.

Gluten Free No Knead Hearty Seeded Sandwich Bread
from Nancy Baggett's "Kneadlessly Simple"

1 2/3 cup white rice flour, divided (may need more depending on your dough)
1/2 cup cornmeal or brown rice flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/3 cup tapioca flour
1/3 cup flax seed or golden flax seed meal
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp instant yeast
1 1/3 cup ice water
1/3 cup corn or canola oil
1/4 cup molasses (not black strap)
1 large egg, room temperature
1/4 cup plain yogurt, drained of excess liquid
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
3 Tablespoon of mixed seeds (millet, poppy seeds, sesame seeds, flax seeds, etc)

First Rise:
In large bowl, stir together 1 1/3 cups of white rice flour, cornmeal or brown rice flour, tapioca flour, flax seed meal, salt, yeast, and 2 Tbsp seed mixture. In another bowl, whisk together water, oil, molasses and mix thoroughly with flour mixture.

If too stiff to blend, add more water to form a barely firm dough. Tightly cover the bowl with plastic wrap. For best flavor, refrigerate dough for 3 - 10 hrs then let stand at cool room temperature for 12 - 18hrs.

Dough will stiffen as it stands and it is alright if it doesn't rise very much.

Second Rise:
Whisk egg and set aside 1 Tbsp to brush top of loaf. Stir the yogurt, baking powder, and 1/3 cup white rice flour into the remaining egg. Vigorously stir the yogurt mixture into the First Rise dough until completely mixed.

If it is too soft, you can add more of the rice flour (white or brown, doesn't matter which). Turn dough into a well greased 9" x 5" loaf pan and brush a little oil on top of loaf.

Brush the reserved egg and seeds over the surface. Using a well oiled serrated knife, make a 1/2" deep cut lengthwise down the loaf. Cover the pan with a lightly greased piece of plastic wrap.

Let dough stand for 2 1/2 - 4 hrs in a warm room until dough extends 1/8" above the pan rim.

Loosen plastic wrap as dough nears top of pan to prevent dough from smooshing down.

Baking:
15 minutes before baking, place a rack in the lower third of the oven and pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees. Bake bread on the lower rack for 55-60 minutes, until the top is nicely browned. If the top starts to over brown, cover with a piece of foil. Continue baking until a skewer inserted comes out with few crumbs or the internal temperature of the bread reaches 206-208 degrees. Bake for 5 minutes more. Remove bread from oven, and leaving bread in pan, let cool on wire rack for 15 minutes. Remove loaf from pan

and let cool completely before slicing.

Happy Π Day!

2010-03-14T21:57:00.003-04:00

Today is Π (Pi) day! The day geeks celebrate 3.141592653yadayadayada

In honor of Pi Day food bloggers around the world normally bake pies. Since I'm in the middle of my end of winter pantry/freezer clean out, I decided to make a summer treat, strawberry rhubarb pie.

I used the last of the frozen strawberries and rhubarb from last summer and my go to pie crust from Alice Water's The Art of Simple Food

It's cooling on the counter right now and when I'm done washing dishes, I'm plopping the last of the vanilla ice cream in the freezer right on top and grabbing a fork!

Bet I finish the whole pie before you can name the first 30 numbers in Pi!

Weekend Cat Blogging: Where Did a Month Go!

2010-03-13T11:46:00.003-05:00

OK, so obviously Mom hasn't been here a lot lately because I just had to clear away the cobwebs from the login button. I guess it is a good thing that I came by because we're hosting Weekend Cat Blogging this weekend.

Since Mom last typed any words here quite a few things have been going on for her both at work, on the golf course, and in the kitchen. On the work front, things are a crazy as ever but a few of her jobs are entering the really fun stage of a project where Mom gets to go out to the project and make lots of noise.

On the golf course, Mom has been working really hard this winter to shave strokes off her score.

She has been taking her golf clubs with her on her business trips and hitting local driving ranges and golf courses after finishing her work. She also took a long weekend trip to Florida to meet her parents and golf with her Dad and Uncle at Disney on the Magnolia,

home of the Children's Miracle Network Classic.

She purposely put her ball in the Mickey Mouse Bunker on the 6th Hole because Mom likes to play out of bunkers.

And when she's home, I try to help her with her putting.

On the baking front, Mom has been really busy working on her home baking instruction business she started in the Fall. She has her business cards and is working on updating the website she used when she baked for clients out her home in Cambridge. That hasn't kept her from the kitchen though.

She had a special order from a friend who wanted cinnamon raisin swirl bread to surprise her mom on her birthday

and Mom made two loaves so she could make some bread pudding to take into the office.

She also made two King Cakes for a Super Bowl party complete with hidden Baby Jesus.

Today, she is in the kitchen working on a few new recipes and prepping for a lecture on baking with herbs she is giving at a garden show next weekend.

Me?

I'm napping on the couch listening to the wind howl outside.

If you want to join us for Weekend Cat Blogging leave us a comment and check back at the end of the weekend to see what other kitties have been up to!

Weekend Cat Blogging: For the Love of a Cat

2010-02-12T19:08:00.001-05:00

LB is going to take a quick break from hosting to let his mom take over on this Valentine's edition of Weekend Cat Blogging. I'm going to come clean and tell you how much I am a huge anti-Valentines Day person.

When I was in elementary school I was the weird, ugly duckling little girl who would only receive four or five Valentines in her "mailbox" and at least one of those was a nasty Valentine. You know the one where someone signs the name of the cutest boy/girl in the class and then when you go to thank them, they are stunned. I hate the candy hearts with sayings on them unless they are the sweet-tart ones. I've never been big on red roses. Luckily, most the men in my life have felt the same way about a day that makes you feel inadequate as a human being if you aren't part of a couple.

But, as I was packing for a long business trip to Florida that would also give me a few days break from the snowy winter weather to play some golf with my parents, LB, who was sulking because I was leaving again, wandered into the living room where I had the golf club bag spread on the floor and proved to me what unconditional love really is by climbing into the bag and looking up at me with all the love only a pet can give us.

In the mornings, I wake up every day to his little furry face right next to me.

In the evenings, after a long hard day at work, he greets me at the door and after dinner curls up next to me on the couch while I work, read or watch TV.

So, while I may not celebrate Valentine's Day, every day with LB show me the power of love.

Where in the World is

2010-02-05T17:41:00.002-05:00

Breadchick?

Well, I haven't been traveling like I was the last three months of 2009 but I have been out and about at least two days each week since my last post. When I've been home, I've been at the office burning the candle on both ends.

This weekend though I get to spend it at home and no packing/cleaning to take of until next Thursday.

So, there is going to be some baking going on in the form of King Cakes to take to two different Super Bowl parties and I'm also thinking that the Thai Chicken Pizza that the gals in the Test Kitchen at King Arthur Flour have on their blog today.

So look for some food here this weekend!

Bread Baking Babes: Live Bread Blogging

2010-01-18T17:48:00.007-05:00

5:54pm East Coast Time: I Begin Naan

Sorta...

I had planned on doing this month's BBB Bread: Naan as suggested by our lovely Lynn live while I made it and keep you up to date step by step.

That was the plan anyways. But, I'm seeing a problem with this whole live blogging thing. It is hard to type and mix dough at the same time!

So, instead of absolutely live there will be a 5 minute taped delay.

You know just in case the yeast has a wardrobe malfunction or the flour utters a word that isn't fit for the little yeast tots out there.

So off we go!

6:45pm East Coast Time: Little Blobs of Dough

Here is the recipe we are using:

Plain Naan

scant 4 cups white bread flour, plus extra for dusting
1-1/2 tsp salt
1/2 oz / 15 g. package compressed fresh yeast*
water to mix (10oz)
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp caraway seeds
olive oil for frying

1- Line a baking sheet. Put the flour, salt and yeast into a bowl and add enough water to make a soft, but not sloppy dough. Add the seeds, then divide the dough into three pieces and put on the baking sheet. Let rest for 1 hour.

2- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured counter and, using a rolling pin, flatten each piece into a circle, 10 inches / 25.5 cm in diameter, and let rest for 5 minutes.

3- Heat a skillet to a medium heat and add a splash of olive oil. Shallow-fry each naan until browned on both sides, then set aside to cool slightly before serving.

Makes 3 naan (which I wonder about - same amount of flour as above, so why half the yield? - Lynn's Note) I wonder why too so I divided it up into eight pieces!

Another place I kind of deviated from Lynn's recipe was I always proof my fresh yeast, regardless of what the recipe calls for. I use a 1/4 cup of luke warm water and pinch of sugar when I proof fresh yeast. You are all set to go when your yeast looks like this

I used two spices in my Naan: cumin seeds and the Penzy's Balti mix (coriander, garlic, ginger, cumin, dundicut chilies, Ceylon cinnamon, funugreek, mustard, cardamom, clove, fennel, chamushka, star anise, ajwain, black cardamom, cilantro, anise seed, and bay leaf).

I put that stuff on everything, including popcorn and I can't wait to taste it in my naan.

While my dough is finishing resting for the hour, I'm going to marinate some chicken for my curry and cook the rice.

8:45pm East Coast Time: Let's EAT!

After letting the dough rest for one hour you have puffy little balls of dough.

The dough was lovely to work with, soft and pliable when rolling out.

Heat some oil in a pan and fry up the naan.

Traditional naan is actually baked on the side of a tandorri but since I don't have one of those, nor do any of my friends or fellow Babes, we have to use shallow frying.

Look at this bubble!

When they are golden brown on one side, flip them and let them brown and take them out to cool.

I'm lucky I had any left for dinner because I had the curry sauce and my favorite Indian condiment, tamarind chutney on the counter while I was making the naan.

I decided to try one while the rest were frying and next thing I knew, I had eaten two. oops.

I restrained myself and while the rice finished cooking in my rice cooker, which next to Isabelle (Kitchen Aid Pro V) is my favorite kitchen appliance, I fixed the curry.

Fifteen minutes later I sat down to a wonderful home cooked Indian meal.

Naan was pretty darn easy to make and I can't wait to try another batch.

Go see what the other Babes made to go along with their naan by visiting their blogs listed on my sidebar. If you want to try your hand at making naan, we'd love to have you join us as a Bread Baking Buddy. Just make the naan, blog about it and email our lovely host kitchen, Cookie Baker Lynn by January 25.

Drive-By Weekend Cat Blogging

2010-01-16T11:16:00.003-05:00

Happy New Year to all my fans and fellow kitties!

This is my first time this year that Mom has let me have the computer and I know it will come as no surprise to you but she is no where to be found this morning to help me with this post for our first hosting of Weekend Cat Blogging for 2010.

You will also be further non-amazed that she is out on the golf course this morning.

(10th Tee Box a Royal Oak Golf Resort in Titusville, FL)

Yes, you read that right. Mom is out golfing. In the winter. In the cold. She has completely lost it I tell you.

You see Mom, despite her best efforts to not travel in January has been informed she is leaving on Wednesday to go spend a few days in Las Vegas on that project and she is planning on taking her clubs with her and since it has been several weeks since she has been on the course, she decided she better get back out there before going and playing with some business people. Besides, she wanted to show off her brand new pink golf bag

that my Grandma, her MIL, gave her for Christmas.

Grandma also sent back from Tennessee a box of kittie treats, a funny ball that I've already batted under the china cabinet to lose sight of God and man, and a can of tuna for me. I got one more Christmas present from Grandma that Mom didn't know about.

Her pink and purple warm socks!

You see she took them off and set them next to her one night two weeks ago and they were so soft and warm, I decided she didn't really need them anymore and I've taken for myself.

Right before Mom left for Christmas in Florida and Tennessee, she decided to join the 21st Century with her cellphone. She had a seven year old Nokia phone that she was loathe to give up but it finally stopped working right and she was forced to give it up and bought herself this

Yup, that would be an I-phone

with it's golf ball skin.

She downloaded a bunch of cool audio, golf and cooking apps and has fun playing with them and getting to know her phone. She even found out that the phone takes really good food pictures

and pictures of dough.

Now if she would just quit taking pictures of me all the time with it!

I'd be happy.

If you want to tell me what you or your humans have been up to this week for Weekend Cat Blogging, leave a comment. If you want to find out what all the kitties and humans have been up to, check back on Sunday evening to see the comments.

Now, I have to go sleep in the sun

before Mom comes home and makes me pose for more pictures...

Blogging By Mail: A Lovely Little Package of Indulgence

2010-01-08T15:59:00.003-05:00

Late last year the lovely Stephanie of Dispensing Happiness announced another round of her popular Blogging By Mail and I, of course, signed up immediately.

I had quite a lot of fun picking out the little items for my package that was sent to a fellow food blogger with whom I have more than a passing acquaintance with and after I sent my package off, I admit I kind of forgot about the whole event as the end of my year was a bit wacky with my travel schedule for work and then my two week vacation to Florida for Christmas.

But when I arrived home there, amongst all the mail and bills was this lovely package from emzeegee and the hungry three.

This package came all the way from Australia and boy was it full of some great stuff!

First, let me confess something. I have a weakness for trashy celeb gossip rags; especially when I'm on a vacation. One of the first things I do when I land at my vacation spot is pick up all the latest issues of US, In Touch, etc. So, I was pretty excited to see a trashy celeb gossip rag in my package. It will be the perfect reading with cup of tea from my stash later tonight when I fill the bathtub with hot, steamy water. This will probably be followed by a bit of chocolate!

The photos in the food magazine are incredible and I'm already dusting my scale off to make a thing or two from the issue. And as if that wasn't enough, I have a new pen to scribble in my 2010 journal! All in all, a great package of Little Indulgences.

Thanks emzeegee!

Kind of Food Related

2010-01-04T00:03:00.001-05:00

Besides work, the major thing that took me away from The Sour Dough last year was my new found obsession, and it is an obsession, with golf. When I wasn't in the kitchen, I was at the golf course or driving range.

One of the funniest commercials I saw over the Christmas holiday was this ESPN Sports Center commercial:

If you don't know the reference, that is Arnold Palmer "playing through" in the ESPN cafeteria to make himself his namesake drink, The Arnold Palmer.

It gets even better. Apparently, after filming the commercial the staff of ESPN and Arnie went out to the back and The King proceeded to chip a ball into a glass filled with an Arnold Palmer.

Man, I wish I could hole out like that!

The wind is howling outside, making the 18 degrees feel like -3 below zero and, even if I wasn't recovering from the flu, I don't think golf is in my future any time soon here in Connecticut. But, to make it feel a little more like summer here is a flashback recipe from the end of the summer last year for my Arnold Palmer Cookies.

Arnold Palmer Cookies

Dough:
1 1/2 C unsalted butter, softened
1/4 C sifted confectioners sugar
1/4C sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp lemon zest
1/8 C lemonade, (Homemade is best but if you have to use store bought, try to get some that doesn't use high fructose corn syrup)
1/4 tsp salt
1 3/4 C AP flour, sifted
1/8 C finely ground black tea

Combine flour, salt and tea and set aside. Cream butter and sugars until the butter is light and fluffy. Add into the butter mixture, the lemon zest and lemonade. 1/4 cup at a time, add in flour mixture until the dough just comes together.

Form the dough plank on waxed paper, place in the freezer for 20 minutes. Dough can also be wrapped and frozen for up to 1 month.

Slice frozen dough in 1/4" slices, place on prepared or parchment paper lined cookie pan. Bake for 12 minutes or until edges are just starting to turn golden brown in pre-heated 350 degree oven.

Remove from oven, allow to cool on pan for 1-2 minutes before transferring the cookies to a cooling rack. Allow to cool completely before glazing.

Glaze:
1 cup confectioners sugar, sifted
1 Tbsp lemonade
1 Tbsp freshly brewed tea

Combine the ingredients together. You may need to add more liquid or sugar to get the glaze to the consistency you desire.

Make 2 dozen. These cookies freeze well, ship fantastic, and will stay fresh for one week in a sealed container.

Ringing in the New Year and New Decade with...

2010-01-03T13:09:00.005-05:00

The flu.

I returned home from Florida and a wonderful visit with my folks on Wednesday evening last week feeling not so hot. It started somewhere around Roanoke, VA with a weird nagging cough that I thought was the last bit of the sinus/ear infection I took to Florida, thanks to six continuous weeks of flying, but by the time I hit Winchester, VA and had ringing in my ears, a craving for orange juice, and a dull thudding headache, I knew I was in trouble. Since I drove to Florida and had a rental car due back Thursday morning, I had no choice but to keep going.

I got home at 9:30pm, took a shower, took my temperature,101 degrees thank you very much, and fell into a coma in bed. Poor LB barely got a hug and pat.

After returning the car early thirty on Thursday morning and finding that my everyday car's battery was dead, dead, dead (I have two, my every day car and my fun car, a 1991 Mercedes 350SD Turbo Diesel), I had to uncover the fun car, unplug it from the engine block warmer, start it up, let it get warmed up, and drive or rather slip and slide my way to the grocery store to pick up a loaf of bread, some soup, cough medicine, orange juice, and some ginger ale before returning to bed where I have been for the last four days.

Needless to say, my resolution to be a better food blogger this year has started out not so good. I didn't do a year end wrap up post, look what I got for Christmas post, what I wish for you and The Sour Dough in the New Year post. I haven't even opened the mail from my vacation where a "Blogging by Mail" package sits and waits for me to open!

Bear with me for a few more days. I'm not 100% yet. Heck, I'm not even 30% yet. But with a little more rest and more watching Miami Vice, the Complete Series (Thanks Bro!), I expect to be back up to snuff very quickly.

Hope your New Year was safe and fun and see you in a few days.

And to All a Good Night

2009-12-24T21:17:00.001-05:00

On this Christmas Eve I find myself on the Space Coast of Florida sleeping on the fold out couch in my parent's RV.

The folks are sans grandkids this year as they hosted Christmas last year and theother sets of Grandparents get to do the honors. My Dad is already sick of Northern Michigan's winter so they headed south to celebrate the season.

I drove down from Connecticut on Tuesday afternoon with a brief overnight stay in Bristol, TN and tonight find myself helping my mother finish with the prep work for tomorrow's dinner. We will be joining my mother's sister and her family in West Palm Beach for Christmas Day. It will be the first time in fifteen years we have been with my aunt at Christmastime. We will be small gathering but festive.

Later tonight my Mom and I will go to Midnight Mass where we will celebrate the birth of Christ with our other family.
When we retum to the RV, we will exchange gifts, drink eggnog with rum and nutmeg, and sing Christmas carols (Let that be warning to the nice people fron Pittsburg who own the RV pad next to my folks!) before we crash in bed.

So, tonight on this most holy of nights no matter where you are, may you find comfort and joy and be surrounded by those you love.

Merry Christmas To All and To All a Good Night.

Holiday Baking with Domino Sugar

2009-12-20T22:25:00.006-05:00

A few weeks ago, the fine folks at C&H/Domino Sugar asked if I would be interested in participating in a holiday baking promotion in exchange for a $20 gift card to offset some of the costs and blog about my Christmas goodies baked with their sugar.

I accepted not only becauseI use their confectioners sugar. dark brown sugar, and super fine sugar when I bake but also because I find the quality to be superior to the store brands. However I admit, I buy store brand light brown sugar and granulated sugar as often as I buy Domino and figured this would be a good time to put the store bought light brown and granulated sugar head to head with the Domino.

I started my baking a few weeks ago before my month long business trips to LA, Las Vegas, Houston, and Charlotte and with yesterday's blizzard here in Connecticut, I hunkered down and baked late into last night finishing up today.

My final package going into the office tomorrow includes Chocolate English Walnut and Chocolate Amaretto fudge, Gingersnap cookies (made with candied ginger), No Bake Cookies, Spritz Cookies, Orange Spiced Shortbread, Mini Chocolate Chip Tea Balls, Chocolate Hazelnut Toffee Bars, White Chocolate Covered Pretzels,

Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cup Bars, Cranberry Orange Bread, and a loaf of my Grandmother's Rum Soaked Fruitcake.

All the goodies mentioned above with the exception of the covered pretzels were made with sugar from Domino and I have to say I did find that the granulated sugar from Domino's was better than the store brand I usually use. I didn't have to break up clumps of sugar with a fork before adding it to my sweets like I normally do. The Domino sugar also caramelized more evenly than the store brand when I made the base for the toffee bars.

Thanks Domino for asking me to participate and you know, it isn't too late for you to put together an incredible tray of goodies for friends and neighbors. You can visit the C&H/Domino website here and get some fantastic ideas for Holiday gifts and goodies.

Also, don't forget that Menu for Hope VI is in full swing! This year we are supporting the World Food Program's Purchase for Progress. I'm offering two bid items this year: a choice of a small box of LA Burdick's mice or penguins (UE08) or a Day of Breadmaking with me (UE09). You can go to the Menu for Hope VI bidding page at Firstgiving to show your support for this worthy cause.

Mini Chocolate Chip Tea Balls
Makes 5 dozen

1 1/2 cups butter, room temperature
3/4 cup confectioners sugar, sifted
1 Tbsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups AP flour
1/2 cup finely chopped nuts (I use pecans but walnuts and hazelnuts work really well too)
2 cups mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Beat butter until fluffy (about 2 - 3 minutes in a stand mixer). Stir in sugar, salt, and vanilla until combined. Gradually add in flour, nuts and chocolate chips.

Shape dough into 1 1/2 tsp balls and place on ungreased baking sheets.

Bake for 10 - 12 minutes until cookies just start to turn golden brown. Cool on racks.

Store for up to one week in sealed container or freeze.

Menu for Hope VI: Purchase for Progress

2009-12-14T00:05:00.003-05:00

It is that time of the year again when food bloggers from the world over unite to participate in Chez Pim's Menu for Hope raffle to support the World Food Programme. This year the proceeds from your bids will go to support the Purchase for Progress program.

The Purchase for Progress program connects small local farmers with the World Food Programme by using the farmers to provide the foodstuffs the WFP uses in the regions they support. Not only does this mean that the small farmers benefit by getting a fair market value for their crops but the WFP benefits by having reliable supplies that are easy to distribute.

This will be the sixth year I've participated in the Menu for Hope and once again I'm offering two wonderful items for bid in the Menu for Hope: LA Burdick Chocolate Mice or Penguins (winner chooses) and a Day of Bread Making with Breadchick.

Item UE 08: Small Box LA Burdick Chocolate Mice or Penguins

I've offered a small box of mice every year and this year decided to make it a choice between the adorable mice

and the absolutely too cute for words penguins.

These are the signature chocolates of one of the best chocolatiers in the United States, Larry Burdick.

The mice are in three flavors: dark with orange interior, milk with mocha interior, and white with cinnamon interior. Each mouse comes decorated with an adorable face and pretty silk ribbon tail. Each penguin is a ganache of dark chocolate and lemon, with almond arms, dressed in a dark chocolate and white chocolate tuxedo.

Sorry, due to the nature of the product, shipping for this bid item will be only to bidders in the USA.

Item UE 09: Day of Bread Making with Breadchick:

This is the third year I've offered this prize and I have to say I'm not sure who had more fun the past two years, the winner of the bid or myself.

This is an "in your home" day long lesson on making bread completely by hand for the winner and up to three of their friends or family. I will come to the winner's house on a weekend day and teach them to make bread the old fashioned way, completely by hand (no mixer, no bread machine).

The winner will learn all about how to have success with bread and yeast in their home and learn techniques like proofing yeast, kneading, and how do you know you will have bread and not a "hockey puck".

We will make two loaves: basic white or whole wheat and one specialty bread like cinnamon rolls, Challah, or whole grain. Along the way, I'll answer any questions about bread, different techniques for making bread and we'll have a "show and tell" about ingredients.

The winner will also get a home bread making kit that includes my preferred loaf pan, yeast, King Arthur flour and recipes for the breads we make with step by step instructions. This is the perfect prize for the person who is terrified of yeast and making bread by hand but always wanted to try.

Unfortunately, unless the winner is willing to pay my travel costs, this bid item is only offered to folks living in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Eastern Pennsylvania and the greater NYC area.

This year, my fabulously talented friend Helene of Tartlette fame is the hostess for the Eastern US Menu for Hope. If you want to see some other wonderful bid offerings from my fellow east coast food bloggers, visit her Menu for Hope listings. Or you can visit Chez Pim's page for a full listing of all the items for bid world wide.

If you want to bid on my two items (and you know you do!) or any of the other wonderful items you see on either Helene's or Chez Pim's pages, all you have to do is visit the First Giving Menu for Hope VI page

Here's what you need to do:
1. Choose a bid item (UE08 for the Burdick Chocolates or UE09 for the Day of Bread Making with Breadchick) or bid items of your choice from our Menu for Hope main bid item list.

2. Go to the donation site at Firstgiving and make a donation. Each chance for the bid item is $10 again this year.

3. Please specify which bid item you'd like in the 'Personal Message' section in the donation form when confirming your donation. You must write-in how many tickets per bid item, and please use the bid item code. (Don't forget UE08 = Chocolate Mice or Penguins, UE09 = Me in your kitchen helping you make bread!)

Each $10 you donate will give you one raffle ticket toward a bid item of your choice. For example, a donation of $50 can be 2 tickets for UE08 and 3 tickets for UE09 - 2xUE08, 3xUE09.

4. If your company matches your charity donation, please check the box and fill in the information so we could claim the corporate match.

5. Please, please, PLEASE check the box to allow us to see your email address so that we can contact you in case you win. Your email address will not be shared with anyone.

Check back on Chez Pim on Monday, January 18 for the results of Menu for Hope bids.

Now go get clicking over at First Giving and bid!

Weekend Cat Blogging Replay

2009-12-12T00:53:00.003-05:00

I'm hosting Weekend Cat Blogging this weekend again because Mom isn't here to help.

Mom is stuck at the airport in Atlanta because stupid Delta Airlines made her miss her connection because they didn't have the gate for her airplane ready and they made her sit on the tarmac of the airport for over 50 minutes while there were other empty gates. She was madder than a wet cat I tell you. And I know something about being a wet cat!

Since Mom hasn't been home to take any new pictures of me and it is getting really close to Christmas, I decided to post two of my favorite pictures of me at Christmas time.

The first one was of me in a box that some Christmas presents came in one year.

Mom put the box on Dad and her's bed and I decided to hop right into it. It was a good spot to hide and pounce on clean laundry.

The other was taken the first year I came to live with Mom. She got me a cat nip mouse for Christmas and I had to snoop before Christmas and got my head stuck in the bag hiding the cat nip mouse.

I knew I never wanted to be a Tom Cat again when she let me keep the mouse.

If you want to show us what you are doing to get ready for the Holiday season or just want to join us for Weekend Cat Blogging, leave a link in our comments! Check back on Sunday evening to see all the fun pictures of kitties.

Let the Baking Begin...

2009-12-05T23:48:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow will be the big Holiday baking day here at the Sour Dough and considering the rest of my month's travel schedule, I better make the most of it too!

Judging from the pile of baking supplies on top of my wine cart

I'd say I have a long day ahead of me.

I'm still on west coast time, so prepping for the day of baking isn't too bad and I've got the PGA Q-School on the Golf Channel (volume turned down) and the Time Life Treasury of Christmas Collection to keep my company.

I've already got the candied and dried fruit for my special fruit cake all chopped up and macerating in rum.

I've cleaned out the bottom and half of the top shelf of my fridge to handle the containers of finished baked goods

and now two rolls of refrigerator cookie dough are resting comfortably under a half hotel pan with a large sourdough ciabatta has joined the cookies for a long winter's overnight rest.

I was in Vegas for the last half of the week. It came on the heels of my Santa Monica/LA trip of the first half of the week. I ate at two of my favorite restaurants in both places, Cafe Del Rey in Santa Monica and Craftsteak in the MGM Grand in Vegas.

I've been eating at Cafe Del Rey for almost thirteen years and blogged about my meals there before. Craftsteak is a newer "must go to when in town" restaurant for me but I never fail to have a fantastic albeit expensive steak there and they make the best Sidecar I've ever had outside of the Algonquin.

But, what saved me in Vegas wasn't the Sidecar and the steak but rather my Brisk Brew.

You see, Vegas hotel rooms don't have coffee makers in them because they want you to have to go down to the hotel deli/coffee shop at 5am and drop some coins in a slot machines on the way to get your caffeine fix.

I love my Brisk Brew for making coffee, tea, and even instant soup. I can't tell you the number of times even delayed in an airport after all the shops have closed that this little gadget has saved my life (and that of some fellow travelers). Unfortunately, Zelco has discontinued the product. The Voltage Valet looks to be a close replacement and is priced about the same as I paid for my Brisk Brew.

What is on my baking list for tomorrow besides fruitcake?

Iced Lime Refrigerator Cookies
Vanilla and Chocolate Checkerboards
Rum Balls made with homemade shortbread
Cutout Cookies
No Bake Cookies
Fudge
Raspberry Linzer cookies
Spritz

and if I have time, white chocolate dipped pretzels.

A good old fashioned Christmas goodie package if I say so myself.

Words About Stuff

2009-11-29T09:04:00.006-05:00

Look! It's typing here.

And LB isn't responsible either.

I've been traveling quite a bit for business. I'm not sure if that means the economy is getting better or that my projects are just all on the same time path. Whichever it has kept me from home, this blog, and most importantly baking bread. I'd like to say this post means a return to baking bread and other treats and delights but unfortunately my travel schedule is only going to get more hectic for the rest of year.

Starting tomorrow, November 30, I'm back in LA for a few days and then onto Las Vegas until the end of the week. I'm home for the weekend but off to Philly for Monday and then Wednesday I fly to Houston where, if everything goes right, along with some business I'm going to get a chance to spend some time in the kitchen with a very special person. After Houston, it is Boston for the weekend and then off to Charlotte, NC to work on a huge sporting venue for the week. By the time I get home on the 18th of December, I will have only one weekend to get ready for the holidays.

The good news of all that travel?

This year's Christmas presents are going to be bought in airports around the country. Also, you may have noticed that some of the cities on my itinerary are some fine eating cities. The added bonus is they are also some of the best golfing cities in the country. So, I'll be traveling with not only my job folders but armed with a list of golf courses I and good restaurants a girl can enjoy a fine scotch and steak in after nine.

Speaking of Christmas presents, I came home from Thanksgiving in Bristol, TN to find a package waiting for me. I opened it find my brother and his wife had sent me a fantastic set of melodramas and romances from the late 50's and early 60's.

They know I love old movies and have a special place in my collection for those fanatastic Technicolor and Cinemascope movies that feature the sets, costumes and of course some wonderful performances by not only well known stars but some of the most overlooked actors of the 20th Century like Barbara Stanwyck, Jane Wyman, Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Rock Hudson, Hope Lange, Cary Grant, and the dreamy Jeff Chandler. I can't wait for the first really snowy day to make a huge pot of soup, bake some bread, and fire up the DVD player.

There will be some cooking going on this weekend. Look at what I stopped at the fishmonger and picked up this morning on my way back from the gym.

Aren't those two lovely filets of wild Pacific salmon? I'm going to ban sear them and make a nice salad for dinner later tonight. But first I have to finish getting ready for this week's travel and if I have time, go catch up on the Sunday NYT that have piled up and since the sun is shining maybe even go hit a bucket of balls at the driving range.

Oh, and then there is finish packing. As you can see

LB thinks he should be packed to come along for this trip. I wish as I miss his furry little face while I'm gone.

Giving a Little to Those Without While We Give Thanks

2009-11-20T21:41:00.005-05:00

Tomorrow will be one of the busiest days in grocery stores and supermarkets across America as we Americans each make that big trip to purchase items for Thanksgiving dinner which is upcoming this Thursday, November 26.

Yet, even as some of us prepare for a biggest food holiday in the land and monumental feast to be enjoyed and shared with our families and friends, almost 50 million fellow American's will be going hungry or be facing a shortage of food on Thursday.

At the same time, because of the economic situation, the food banks, charitable organizations that provide emergency food services and the soup kitchens of America are facing the largest shortage of funds and supplies while at the same time serving more people than in the last fifty years.

To help feed those less fortunate than myself, tomorrow when I go to the store to pick up the items I need to bake the desserts for Thanksgiving, I will be purchasing a few extra cans and boxes of non perishable food stuffs to give to my local food bank. I'm asking all my readers to do the same.

It doesn't have to be a lot, a can of vegetables or fruit or a box of instant potatoes or powdered milk; what ever you feel you can afford. Then put it in the box for the local food bank that most grocery stores have at the check out during this time of the year.

If your local store doesn't have a box or you want to volunteer at a local food bank or soup kitchen for those less fortunate, you can visit either Share Our Strength or Feeding America to find a local food bank or contact a church or the local social services department to find a soup kitchen to volunteer to serve meals or help deliver meals.

After all, Thanksgiving doesn't stop at the front door and we all have so much to be thankful for this year and so much to share.

Remember When I Said I Would Be Home...

2009-11-18T19:31:00.005-05:00

I lied.

Well, I didn't lie. My boss lied to me. I'm sitting here right now after packing for a one day/one night trip to New Orleans. Flight leaves at 5:55am tomorrow and I will be on our job site by 11am.

Good news?

I'm going to New Orleans, the Disneyland of food.

It will be the first trip I've made back to the Big Easy since Hurricane Katrina. I can't wait to have my Po'Boy at Serio's and then my dinner at this place near the Garden District that I can never remember the name of but the bar is filled with boxing memorabilia (I tell the cab driver that and they always seem to find the place) that has the best bbq shrimp I've ever had.

Bad news?

I'm going to miss the Po'Boy Preservation Festival by one week.

May have to do my duty and bring a few home. If you are on NW2196 on Friday, I'm the lady who checked her computer bag so she could bring the cooler of shrimp and crawfish Po'Boys on as carry on.

Bread Baking Babes: Brioche Mousseline and Buddy Time

2009-11-16T08:21:00.004-05:00

Step away folks, nothing to see here.

Yet.

I'm back in town for a whole week! Yes, a whole goll darn week. Can you believe it?!

I can't but I promise the Bread Baking Babes I'm going to put it to good use because this month's bread, to paraphrase a line from one of my favorite chick flicks "Pretty Woman", has potential.

If you know that movie then you know which scene I'm talking about and when you see the incredibly...um...firm and well shaped Brioche Mousseline our host kitchen, Monique of Living on Bread and Water and the other Babes listed over there on the sidebar created, you will understand exactly why I picked that scene.

Anyways, today is posting day and because of my travel schedule I haven't had a chance to bake the bread. So, I'm going to be a Buddy this month and do my level headed best to bake it this week.

If you want to join me as a Buddy this go around, all you have to do is bake the Brioche Mousseline, post about it on your blog, and email Monique with a picture and/or a link to your post by November 23rd.

Bet this bread would make fantastic rolls for Thanksgiving or even Christmas, because Monique says it freezes beautifully.

Brioche Mousseline
from Bernard Clayton Jr's "The Breads of France"

Ingredients :For 2 tall loaves
1 package of dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1 cup all purpose flour

Dough
4 cups all purpose
6 eggs, room temp.
4 Tbsp warm water
3 Tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
12 ounces butter , unsalted , room temp.

Dress up the cans by encircling the cans with paper(buttered if needed )as a collar.
Butter the inside of the can or , better , line in with paper.

Starter ( takes 10 minutes and 2 hours )
Dissolve yeast in water and set aside for a few minutes until creamy.Stir in flour and knead for about 3 minutes until shaggy loaf of dough. Cover with plastic and let rest for 2 hours.
In mean time prepare rest of dough :Start with 2 cups of flour , 4 eggs (stir in one at the time), 2 table sp. water ,sugar , salt and blend it all.
Knead butter (on a lenght of wax paper) soft and pliable with a doughscraper or spatula.Blend in batter.Than add remaining 2 eggs and spoons of water.Stir in rest of flour , 1/2 cup at the time until the dough is a soft ball.Press into oval on your flowered work surface , place starter in the center and fold over the edges and knead to incorporate the withe starter dough with the yellow egg and butter dough. Knead for about 8 minutes. The dough stays a little sticky but will become firm after cooling in the fridge if that will help you kneading.

First rise 3 hours
At room temp. covered wth plastic wrap, until more thsn double.It becomes light and puffy.

Refrigeration 2 hours or overnight
For at lest 2 hours in the fridge. Overnight is also possible but it will need a longer rise in the mold later on.

Shaping
Fill the coffecan for 2/3 and allow to rise.

Pre-heat the oven 20 minutes before baking.

How high the rising will be depends on the strength of flour thats been used. There will be a difference between different flours from different places in the world.

The Brioche is done when the crust is deep brown. Or use a cake testing pin, that has to come out clean .

Undress your mold and let stand for 10 minutes before removing the mold.Twist gently to remove ( take care , still hot ! )and allow to cool down on a rack .

Weekend Cat Blogging: Life is a Bowl of Tuna

2009-11-13T07:56:00.004-05:00

I know it comes as no surprise that Mom is nowhere to be found and there hasn't been any typing here at The Sour Dough since the end of last month.

Further, I know it won't surprise you at all when I tell you that since Mom last visited these dusty and musty webpages, that she has been home for less than three days. It seems that Mom is on her end of the year world wide tour of projects and conferences. I'm calling it Red-Eyeapollza in honor of her bloodshot eyes from all those late night flights.

When Mom does come home, she barely has time to restock the cat food and do her laundry let alone cook or bake anything. She is even scraping the bottom of the normally well stocked pantry when she does make an appearance.

For example, on Wednesday night this week, she showed up on the doorstep at 11:30pm after a flight back from LA starving. After dumping her luggage, starting a load of laundry, and feeding me a bonus can of cat food she scrounged around the pantry and came up with a bag of instant brown rice, a can of Rotel tomatoes, and a travel container of tuna fish for a late night dinner.

The best part of that impromptu meal?

Mom let me lick the tuna fish container...

We're hosting Weekend Cat Blogging here at the Sour Dough this weekend. We're hoping all the other kitties in the blogosphere get as nice a treat as I had. So, stop by, leave a comment and let us know what you are up to!

I Finally Get to Eat My Suntan Lotion

2009-10-30T12:52:00.006-04:00

Got your attention didn't I.

Once upon a time, before we were all warned about the dangers of slathering ourselves with baby oil, cooking oil, and all other sorts of oil in the search for the St. Tropaz bronze and brown tan, I couldn't wait for April and May to come around so I could trot down to the corner drug store and purchase my summer supply of Coppertone, Bain de Soleil, and Hawaiian Tropic.

Even in snowy Northern Michigan, there was nothing like opening a bottle a of sun tan lotion to make you believe it was the middle of July again and you weren't being blinded by the sun on the snow but the sun on the sand and lake. I especially loved Hawaiian Tropic because it smelled so fantastic, with its blend of coconut and pineapple smells. It was like taking a pina colada and smearing it all over yourself. It smelled so good, it made you hungry.

Now, every time I smell a pina colada or the combination of coconut and pineapple, I am instantly transported back to the summer of 1978, with the music from the soundtrack from Grease playing over the transistor radio at the end of the dock, and my first serious boyfriend Billy sitting next to me rubbing sun tan oil on my back. He had a powder blue 1975 Chevelle and it still amazes me to this day that my parents even let him date me let alone sit alone on the dock with me. But I digress...

Today at lunch, while I caught up on the past three weeks of "unimportant" email I had been ignoring, I opened a container of Dannon Light & Fit Pineapple Coconut yogurt. Instantly, I was not trapped in my office, a slave to my computer and my job but rather I was a carefree fifteen again and the only thing I was responsible for was making sure my room was clean and my homework was done. For just a few minutes, the weight of adulthood wasn't on my shoulders any more.

Who says you can't be fifteen again.

What food smells bring back childhood/teenage memories for you?

Bread Baking Babes: Taunted by Tanta Wawa

2009-10-26T22:15:00.008-04:00

Guess what? I'm not a bad babe this month!

Well, let me rephrase that, I'm not a bad, bad Babe this month.

You see, I did make the dough for our wonderfully fun and creative bread of the month, Tanta Wawa (Peruvian Bread Babies),

that the fantastic Gretchen of Canela and Comino, our host kitchen, brought back from her beloved Peru. But, apparently, not only are the golf gods not smiling on me but the yeast queen has deserted me as well.

Earlier this month, Sara, Stephanie, and I got together on Skype on the only night for the past several weeks that I have had time to bake for a marathon night baking session. Because of my crazy 60+ hour weeks of the past month and a half, I had not only a cherry tart/turnover to mess up (more on that in the future) but I also totally screwed up a remake of twelve grain bread and Gretchen's lovely Tanta Wawa.

I'm sure it wasn't the recipe, even though Gretchen and others did report that dough was very dry. I'm absolutely positive it wasn't the flour or even the fact that I was desperately skyping back and forth with my girls about the failure of my turnover dough. Nope, it was none of these things. I'm sure I'll never know but for some strange reason, my dough never relaxed enough for me to do anything with it.

It just lay there in it's little round, tight shape taunting me.

Daring me to try and stretch it out into a fat, happy baby.

Twelve hours later, I decided that it was never going to relax and I had to send the dough off that place where bad dough goes.

Unfortunately, I haven't had time since to give the Tanta Wawa another go. But, hopefully, this week, I may find a bit of time one evening to see if I can get a lovely baby or two. Thanks Gretchen for a really different take on our bread of the month.

To check out some more successful and adorable Tanta Wawa, go check out the other Babes in the sidebar. If you want to be a Bread Baking Buddy, check out what you have to do to make Tanta Wawa yourself at Gretchen's!

Tanta Wawa (Peruvian Bread Babies)
from Gretchen at Canela and Comino
(Note about this recipe: After several of us reported how hard the dough was to work with, our lovely Gretchen went back to the kitchen and adapted the recipe to make an easier dough to work with. That reworked recipe is what is posted here, not the recipe that resulted in the stiff dough ball above)

Makes 4 small

sponge
1 egg
1/2 cup of all purpose flour
1 tablespoon of sugar
1/4 teaspoon of yeast

1/2 cup of all purpose flour
1 cup of whole wheat flour
2 cups of bread flour
1/2 cup of white sugar
1/4 cup of brown sugar
1 tablespoon of dry yeast
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon of ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon of sesame seeds
2 teaspoons of salt
1/2 cup of lowfat milk
1/4 cup of water
1/4 cup of butter
2 eggs (at room temperature)
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
1 egg yolk (for painting)

1. In a bowl combine 1/2 cup of flour, 1 egg, 2 T water, pinch of yeast and 1 T of sugar. Let that sit for a few hours. In a bowl, mix the flours, sugar, yeast, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and sesame seeds. Sprinkle over the sponge.

2. Add the 2 eggs and vanilla to the flour mixture. Measure the milk, water and butter in a measuring cup. Heat for 30 seconds in the microwave, pour into the flour mixture. Mix well then turn out and knead for 10-15 minutes, using additional flour if necessary. Divide dough into 4 portions of 250g each. Form them into ovals. Cover and let the dough rest for 10 minutes.

3. Stretch each dough ball into the form of a "fat baby". (*note: This is where things are really vague...use the linked photos for ideas). Place them on baking sheets which have been greased and floured. Cover with plastic and let the dough babies grow to three times their size. (*note: no indication of how long! Sorry!)

4. Preheat the oven to 180C.

5. Brush the egg yolks over the dough babies. Bake at 180C for 30 minutes.

Weekend Cat Blogging: Mom's Whizzing Around the Kitchen

2009-10-17T15:20:00.007-04:00

Can you believe it? There is a second post this week here.

Of course, Mom isn't writing it because she is too busy in the kitchen playing around with puff pastry dough for some cherry turnovers she's taking to some friend's tonight and the golf course tomorrow, prepping for a marathon night baking session with Sara and Stephanie, and carving up the corned beef she got up at 3am this morning

so she could make some corned beef hash for brunch tomorrow.

Then there were the maple scones she made for a client.

All that running around made Mom really thirsty and she said something about it didn't matter that it was only 39 degrees outside, she was going to have gin and tonic. Then I heard lots of "adult" words coming from the kitchen. It seems Mom had to get the tools out from under the sink to get the bottle of gin open.

Maybe that was telling her something...

Me?

I've been laying around the house trying to be a speed bump between the kitchen and the front room.

I figure the way Mom's scurrying around back and forth, this may the only way I get any attention today!

Our good friend, Kashim is hosting Weekend Cat Blogging this weekend. It's pretty lonely around there so go over and even you don't have a cat who can type and blog like me, you can still say "hi"!

Celebrating Gourmet Magazine

2009-10-15T20:28:00.007-04:00

When it was announced last week that Gourmet Magazine would be ceasing publication, I was devastated along with half the food blogging world. I had been a subscriber for ten years and had just gotten my notice for renewal the day before.

What made it even worse for me was that a few weeks ago, in the quest to downsize my life a bit, I had taken the two boxes of Gourmet and gone through them; removing the recipes I wanted to keep and recycling the rest of the magazine. There was only about 25 complete magazines, including the annual Thanksgiving and Christmas issues when I was done. To say I was sick to my stomach over what I had done would be an understatement.

This culling of my magazines made participating in Julie of A Mingling of Tastes event to Celebrate Gourmet, both more difficult and a little easier. Hard because I thought of all the recipes I had flipped through and the lovely covers that were now somewhere in a recycling facility somewhere in Fairfield County. Easy because I didn't have to flip through one hundred and twenty issues of Gourmet to find what I was going to make.

In the end, I settled on two recipes I had been eyeing:

Meatballs from the January 2009 issue

and Spanish Rice Pudding from the Last Touch section of the February 2009 issue.

My love of meatballs is well documented here at The Sour Dough. Not to mention, that given my schedule of late, they are quick and easy to make. I made these with full intention of following up with the ragu recipe they were paired with in Gourmet but I ended up eating them straight off the paper towel I set them on to cool.

What you probably didn't know is my absolute love and devotion to rice pudding. If I had to name the ultimate comfort food for me it would be rice pudding.

I have often made the original baked rice pudding recipe that Gourmet has updated several times over the years. I also fell in love with a stove top recipe from a few years ago that they ran in a "Best Of" issue. Nothing though prepared me for the incredible mingling of flavors in the Spanish Rice Pudding.

There is lemon and cinnamon and vanilla. The lemon was the surprise for me. Why hadn't I ever thought to lemon in rice pudding? It makes total sense now that I think about it. Lemon would really bring out the zip and zing in cinnamon and heighten the sweetness in the vanilla.

There is only one thing I would change the next time I make this pudding, which given how cold, rainy, and damp it is suppose to be this weekend, will probably be on Friday night, is I would use a bit less milk. I like my pudding a bit thicker.

It is these types of "Ah HA's" that I will miss every bit as much as I will miss the fantastic photographs, the interesting stories on place and how food can define place, the "Last Touch", the book and movie reviews, and most of all the recipes of Gourmet.

Or maybe, some way, or some how there will be a last minute reprieve from the governor...

Spanish Rice Pudding
from the February 2009 issue of Gourmet Magazine (1940 - 2009)

1 cup water
1/2 cup long grain white rice
4 cups whole milk
1/2 cup sugar
3 (4 inch) strips lemon zest
1 cinnamon stick (3 - 4 inches)
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Bring water to boil with 1/4 tsp of salt in large heavy saucepan. Stir in rice and return to a boil. Cook, covered over low heat until water is absorbed, about 18 minutes. Stir in milk, sugar, zest and cinnamon stick and simmer, uncovered stirring often until thickened and rice is tender, 40 minutes to an hour. Stir in vanilla. cool to luke warm in a large shallow bowl. Cover with buttered wax paper to prevent skin from forming. Garnish with cinnamon.

Personal Notes:
- Trust me, 1/2 a cup of rice is enough. Don't be tempted to add more. Reports from the web of people who added more seem to resulted in industrial strength bricks. I was skeptical but when the rice cooked up and the pudding thickened, each bite was chock full of rice

- 3 cups of milk seems to be the reported magic amount for thicker pudding

- I used my microplane to zest my lemon. I'm glad I did because I think it ready spread the lemon through the pudding

- I didn't cover the pudding. I love "pudding skins" and next to eating this for dinner last night right from the pan, I kept getting up from my stool at the breakfast bar where I was working to peel off the pudding skins as they formed.

Weekend Cat Blogging: Where in the World Is Mom This Week?!

2009-10-10T09:04:00.004-04:00

I'm hosting Weekend Cat Blogging this weekend. I use the word "I" because I've given up on including Mom in this whole venture of Weekend Cat Blogging.

Not only does she ignore her normal blogging duties lately because of that stupid game of golf but now she is off galavanting around the countryside for her job. And when she isn't off at some exotic location like Minot, ND or Lincoln, NB she is working until Eight or Nine O'Clock at night and coming home in time to feed me, clean out the litter box and the crash in bed.

Well, I'm mad and I'm not going to take it anymore.

I've decided I'm taking over this blog. I'm pretty handy in the kitchen too!

Like when Mom made homemade turkey Italian sausage late last month with her new meat stuffer attachment for Isabelle, I helped by making sure any little drops of meat didn't dirty the floor. And I batted at this long piece of sausage that missed the pan on the floor Mom was using to catch the filled sausage skins. Mom cooked that little piece up for me and then made her self this dish of oven roasted summer squash, onions and sausage over rice.

Then there was the Smith Island Cake disaster. Mom got it in her head to get rid of the huge boxes of magazines and only keep the recipes that interested her. I sat next to Mom while she ripped out pages of cooking magazines like Gourmet (Mom is sick about that now that Gourmet is closing), Bon Appetit, and Sauver before taking the parts of the magazines she didn't want to the recycling bins.

One of the recipes that caught Mom's eye was the recipe for Smith Island Cake from Savuer. Mom wanted to make something fun and chocolatey to take to her friends at Bogeys Grille and Tap Room, where Mom has become a regular. I told Mom that the recipe for the frosting didn't sound right and that if she wasn't careful, she would be channeling her good friend Lisa from La Mia Cucina's Chocolate Cake Disaster. But she didn't listen to me and look at what that got her.

She said her friends still loved the cake but I can't believe I let her take it out of the house and into a public place. Not that I could or would want to eat chocolate but really, I have a reputation here to protect.

Well, look at what Mom dragged out from under the bed last night.

Yup, that would be the suitcase. She said something about a trip to Charlotte, NC she has to go on and then muttered something about having to get the golf clubs ready to go with her because if she was going to have to go work on a project for a few days, then by golly she was going to get a few holes of golf in.

I think I'll just pack myself in with the golf shirts. I'll bet she won't even notice the cat hair.

If you want to join us in this installment of Weekend Cat Blogging, leave a comment with a link to your post and check back later on in the weekend to see how all the other kitties of the blogosphere are doing with their staff.

Now, where did I put my zip lock baggie with my catnip flavored toothpaste in it...

A Hat Trick of Appies to Open "The Season"

2009-10-03T20:00:00.001-04:00

Now that Fall is here and the sun is setting by 6pm, I'm not spending that much time out on the golf course. Which means, you probably will seeing a lot more typing and food here. Fall also means the start of the season of my other sport passion, hockey.

I've been a hockey fan since I was six months old. Seriously. When I was a baby, my dad would give my mom a break in the evening by feeding me my last bottle of the day, burping me, and rocking me to sleep while listening to the Detroit Red Wings take on all comers on the radio. My first two dolls where named Crissy and Hockey. Really. I named my Chatty Cathy "Hockey".

Since I grew up in the UP of Michigan, we picked up the Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario TV stations. Saturday night would find my dad and I perched in front of the black and white TV watching Hockey Night in Canada. A lot of times, my dad would turn down the volume on the TV so we could listen to the Red Wings on the radio but regardless, we were watching hockey!

Besides the Red Wings (yes, Peabody, I'm a Wings fan), I have always had a soft spot for the Calgary Flames. I also became a rabid Bruins fan while I was living in Boston and I'm trying really hard to like the Rangers but I suspect the Islanders will probably end up my NYC team owing to the fact the Rangers are the arch rivals of the Bruins.

Hockey has played an important role in my career. My job as designer of sound systems for stadiums and arenas has allowed me to watch games from the best seats in the house, the catwalks, in the arenas in Calgary (GO FLAMES!!), Toronto, Vancouver, Detroit, LA, and Boston

A few weeks ago, my bud Ivonne, contacted me and the biggest hockey nut in the food blogging world, Peabody, about putting together a virtual meal in honor the first installment of Hockey Night in Canada of the 2009 -2010 NHL Season.

Faster than a good defenseman can walk a puck across the blue line, I found myself doing appetizers; which is perfect for me as I often can't decide when I'm at a restaurant whether I want to have an entree or just a bunch of appetizers for my dinner.

I decided to make three different appetizers that are perfect for using your fingers to eat and can double as menacing objects when you want to throw something at the TV because your goalie let one slip between the knees: Piggies in a Blanket, Potato and Onion Pierogies, and Spanakopita.

Piggies in a Blanket are no brainers and stupid easy to make. Get yourself a can of crescent rolls and a package of little cocktail weenies (I like Lil' Smokies). Divide of the roll dough and cut each triangle of dough into 4 parts. Wrap the cocktail weenies in the dough bits, bake at 375 for about 8-10 minutes, and you got yourself addicting little morsels of meat and bread. I don't use a dipping sauce but a mixture of grape jelly, chili sauce, and ketchup makes a pretty good condiment.

I don't have a set recipe for the spanakopita other than chopped spinach, some feta cheese, garlic, dill, and a little salt and pepper. I then take six sheets of phyllo dough, cut the sheets into long strips, cut the strips into five smaller rectangles and just like folding the flag, wrap about a tablespoon of filling into the rectangle of phyllo. I then brush each pocket of filling with some garlic infused melted butter and bake them at 375 degrees for 10 minutes. These freeze wonderfully too. So make a huge batch and you have instant appies for last minute guests arrive to cheer on the Canucks, the Pens, or who ever.

I do have a family recipe for the pierogies. It's my Aunt Peggy's family recipe actually. I could share it with you but then I would have to find you and full body check you into the boards because I promised her I would never share it with anyone who wasn't family.

But, if want to try your hand at making these little dough pillows from heaven of potatoes and onions, you can find a really fantasitc recipe that I have used when I didn't feel like slaving for half a day and night in the kitchen making the family version at smittenkitchen! Careful going there though, you will find it three days later after you start wending your way through Deb's lovely site.

Well, there you have it, not only a real, honest goodness post on The Sour Dough but your first course of a "She Shoots, She SCORES the Hat Trick" of appetizers.

If you are done scarfing those down, head over Ivonne's for the main course and make sure you save room because the Mistress of the Stick and Sweets, Peabody has dessert (of course).

And to get you in the mood for the game, take a listen to one of the funniest voices behind the play by play radio calls in the NHL, Mike Lange, who calls the Penguins games.

Bad Babe...Again

2009-09-24T20:51:00.002-04:00

Yup, I didn't get it done again. Hanging my head in absolute shame...

BUT the gals did a bang up job on the Steamed Flour Bread that Karen picked out!

So, instead of staring at my never updating home go check out what the Babe's in the sidebar have done with steam, flour and pepper.

You can find out how to join us as a Bread Baking Buddy by visiting Karen's site.

Taste of Yellow: Summer Squash Gratin

2009-09-13T22:01:00.004-04:00

I spent much of a wet and windy Saturday catching up on my huge backlog of food blogs that accumulated during my month long unplugged break. It was during this catch up session I began to notice a few posts for Barbara of winosandfoodies yearly Taste of Yellow event that supports the Lance Armstrong Foundation's Livestrong fight against cancer.

I've participated in this event before and spoke then about the friends and family I have lost to cancer. This time around I'm going to talk about the friends and family who have survived cancer.

Every single one of them from my best friend who had breast cancer and decided to have preventative surgery in the form of a double mastectomy because her mother, her sister, her grandmother and both aunts had all been diagnosed with breast cancer to my mother in law, who last year less than one month after we both lost Wren, was diagnosed with lung cancer to my biological father, who last year upon returning from a six month trip to China he had been planning for the last ten years to meet his wife's family was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, have one thing in common besides cancer; the way their lives came to a screeching halt.

My best friend was in the midst of writing her thesis for her PhD in Art History. My mother in law was in the middle of grieving for her last living child. My father was reveling in the afterglow of meeting his in-laws who welcomed him into their family with open arms. Regardless of the important events all three of them were engaged in, they all put aside their lives and took up the fight against their cancer.

To honor my friends and family, who thankfully have beat their cancers or whose cancers are in remission, I made a yellow summer squash gratin with the last of the yellow straight neck squash from last week's farmer's market.

Gratins are layered dishes that often include cream, milk, eggs or butter. This gratin is simple and adapted from Alice Water's The Art of Simple Food recipe for summer squash gratin. Her recipe was simple, summer squash, half and half, cream, a bit of butter, salt and pepper.

Like the recipe, I only used half and half and cream with some salt and pepper as the sauce but I added caramelized onions and a dash of nutmeg to the dish. The sauce curdled a bit in the oven but the taste was fantastic, not unlike the lives of people who are diagnosed with cancer. There is a bit of curdling at first but when they come through on the other side, life is even sweeter.

Yellow Summer Squash Gratin
adapted from Alice Water's The Art of Simple Foods

3 medium yellow summer squash, sliced very thin (either long neck or crooked neck yellow squash)
Kosher salt, for sprinkling on summer squash
3 Tbsp salted butter
1 large Vidalia onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp nutmeg
pepper
1/2 cup of finely shredded swiss cheese (optional)
1/2 cup half and half
1/2 cup heavy cream

Slice squash very thin, spread on cookie sheet, and lightly sprinkle with Kosher salt. Set aside while caramelizing the onions.

In large saute pan, melt butter over medium low heat add onions and stir with wooden spoon to coat completely with melted butter. Let onions sweat and slowly caramelize. This will take about 15 - 20 minutes. When onions are just starting to turn golden brown at the edges, add garlic and nutmeg. Stir for about 1 minute until you just start to smell garlic. Remove from heat and set aside.

In greased 8 x 4 loaf pan, put one layer of squash on the bottom, sprinkle 1/4 of the onions on top of the squash, and lightly sprinkle with pepper and swiss cheese, if using. Repeat until all the squash is used, finishing with onions and cheese on top.

In measuring cup, whisk together half and half and cream and pour over squash and onion layers.

Bake in pre-heated 350 degree oven for about 1 hour or until top is brown and bubbling and squash is tender.

Allow to stand for 10 minutes until gratin sets up before serving.

Nearly Wordless Weekend Cat Blogging

2009-09-12T03:13:00.001-04:00

(kneading, kneading,kneading)

Umm...You want me to protect you from that big dangerous cord thingy?

OK!!

We're hosting Weekend Cat Blogging but not saying much this weekend. Leave a comment if you want to participate and check back on Sunday to see what the other cats are saying or not saying!

Arnold Palmer Cookies for "The King"

2009-09-10T00:05:00.003-04:00

Today, probably the greatest golfer who ever strode to a tee box, Arnold Palmer aka "The King", turns 80.

(Photo courtesy of russhons)

Whenever I think of Arnold Palmer, I think of lazy Sundays sitting on the floor in front of my dad's chair while we watched Arnold go head to head with his arch nemesis, Jack Nicklaus. We would sit, watch golf, and catch up with each other. He would ask me about school, I would ask about his job and we would both groan when ever Arnie or Jack missed a putt, put the ball in the rough, or hit a ball into a hazard. I think those Sundays spent watching Arnie, Jack and just spending time with my dad are when I first came to love golf.

Even if you don't play golf, have never watched golf, and couldn't name any players on the PGA Tour today other than Tiger Woods, you probably have heard of Arnold Palmer; if for nothing else for the drink of half iced tea and half lemonade named after him.

Several versions of how this refreshing drink became to be known as the "Arnold Palmer" exist. The most often cited tale is in the 1960s he ordered this combination of iced tea and lemonade in a bar and a woman sitting at the table next to him told the waitress to bring her "that Palmer drink". Regardless of how the drink got its name, it is one of my favorite non-alcoholic drinks and even though it is associated with summer, I drink it all year round. It is light and refreshing even when there is ten inches of snow on the ground.

I wanted to take that refreshing feeling I get when I drink an Arnold Palmer and put it in a cookie.

So, I pulled out my trusty, killer recipe for lemon shortbread, my new kitchen gadget, a motar and pestle, and my tin of loose Twinings English Breakfast tea.

After finely grinding the tea,

I made the dough,

and formed a dough plank about 15" long by 3" wide by 2" tall

before placing the dough in the freezer for about 30 minutes.

While the dough was in the freezer I made the glaze using both fresh squeezed lemonade and brewed iced tea.

After removing the almost frozen dough from the freezer, I sliced it to about 1/4" thick and placed the slices on a parchment paper lined jelly roll pan.

I baked the cookies in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 12 minutes until the cookies were slightly brown at the edges. After letting the cookies cool on the pan for a few minutes, I removed them to a cooling rack to finish cooling completely before I glazed them with a simple glaze made from confectioners sugar, lemonade and fresh brewed iced tea.

These cookies were every bit as refreshing as the drink that inspired them. According to my taste testers, they were a hole in one.

Happy 80th Birthday Arnie! You really are "The King".

Arnold Palmer Cookies

Dough:
1 1/2 C unsalted butter, softened
1/4 C sifted confectioners sugar
1/4C sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp lemon zest
1/8 C lemonade, (Homemade is best but if you have to use store bought, try to get some that doesn't use high fructose corn syrup)
1/4 tsp salt
1 3/4 C AP flour, sifted
1/8 C finely ground black tea

Combine flour, salt and tea and set aside. Cream butter and sugars until the butter is light and fluffy. Add into the butter mixture, the lemon zest and lemonade. 1/4 cup at a time, add in flour mixture until the dough just comes together.

Form the dough plank on waxed paper, place in the freezer for 20 minutes. Dough can also be wrapped and frozen for up to 1 month.

Slice frozen dough in 1/4" slices, place on prepared or parchment paper lined cookie pan. Bake for 12 minutes or until edges are just starting to turn golden brown in pre-heated 350 degree oven.

Remove from oven, allow to cool on pan for 1-2 minutes before transferring the cookies to a cooling rack. Allow to cool completely before glazing.

Glaze:
1 cup confectioners sugar, sifted
1 Tbsp lemonade
1 Tbsp freshly brewed tea

Combine the ingredients together. You may need to add more liquid or sugar to get the glaze to the consistency you desire.

Make 2 dozen. These cookies freeze well, ship fantastic, and will stay fresh for one week in a sealed container.

Edible Word: Confections of a Closet Master Baker

2009-09-06T11:20:00.008-04:00

If you are a long time reader of The Sour Dough (if there are any of you left after my almost month long absence from this little spot on the web), you know that besides baking and now golf, reading is my other deep abiding passion.

I typically have three or four different books going at any given time. A quick survey this morning of my bedside table revealed the following titles: John Feinstein's Tales from Q School: Inside Golf's Fifth Major, Julie Nicolson's The Perfect Summer: England 1911, Just Before the Storm, Mary Lovell's The Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, and this round of The Edible Word's book, Gesine Bullock-Prado's Confections of a Closet Master Baker.

When The Edible Word's hostesses Cath of A Blithe Palate and Stephanie of Dispensing Happiness asked me if I wanted to participate in this round I didn't hesitate to say yes. After all, I was going to get a chance to read a book about someone who is living a fantasy of mine, chucking their current life in for a chance at the nagging dream of owning their own bakery and making good on that dream.

One of the over riding themes in "Confections of a Closet Master Baker" is making the treats from family recipes, especially the author's mother and grandmother, for friends and family. As I read through the book and the wonderful recipes, I began to think about my family recipes. I have the recipe boxes of both my maternal and paternal grandmothers as well as copies of recipes my mother and mother in law have made for me of their recipes. But, rarely have I made these well loved recipes for anyone other than family. Reading in "Confections of a Closet Master Baker" how people reacted with extra joy when receiving a loved family treat made me want to break out my family recipes and share them with friends, co-workers and you, my readers.

Chocolate looms large in the recipes in Ms. Bullock Prado's life. She even stole a whole bag of Oreo cookies from a neighbor's pantry once to satisfy her craving for chocolate sweets. Chocolate has always been a mainstay in my family treat baking but no one cookie, brownie, or cake defines my family's love of chocolate more than my paternal Grandmother Myrna's Magic Chocolate Cookies.

My father is the oldest of thirteen kids. When all the siblings and their families would gather once a year at his parent's lake house on the shores of Burt Lake, my grandmother would bake for a week getting ready for the onslaught of over twenty grandkids. With that many kids, there was sure to be disagreements over chewy versus crisp cookies and my grandmother's Magic Chocolate Cookies could satisfy both in one cookie.

These cookies are chewy and gooey during the first day but become light and crisp after the first day and a quick three minute trip to a warm oven will return them to chewy status. Either way, crisp or chewy, their is enough chocolate goodness in these to satsify any kid of any age's craving for chocolate.

The ingredients for Magic Chocolate are simple, butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, flour, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder (either natural or dutch processed work fine).

I always sift together the flour, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder and set it aside before beginning the recipe. This makes the last step of the dough easier to mix.

Then I cream the sugar and butter using my stand mixer (you can do it by hand too). The recipe calls for a scant 1/4 cup of softened butter to two cups of sugar. When you start creaming, don't worry if you don't think you will have enough butter. You really want buttery sugar and will have the butter and sugar creamed enough when it looks like this:

Next, whisk two eggs with vanilla and combine it with the butter sugar mixture.

Then I add the flour mixture, one 1/2 cup measure at a time. The dough will be stiff at first after you've added the last one or two 1/2 cup measures.

Don't worry though because after about two or three minutes of mixing at medium speed your dough will become soft and deep, dark chocolate brown.

I let the dough rest a few minutes while I gather and prep the cookie sheets and pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. I also like to get a bowl of sparkling sugar to roll the dough balls into before placing them on either greased cookie sheets or parchment paper.

Using a teaspoon, I scoop a little dough out of the bowl and roll it into a 1/2" diameter ball, roll the dough ball into the sparkle sugar, and place about 2" apart on the cookie sheet.

I bake the cookies for about 7 - 9 minutes, until the cookies just spread and a few cracks appear on the cookies. After removing them from the oven, I let them sit for two or three minutes until they just set up before placing them on the cooling racks to cool.

They will be chewy and dark satisfyingly chocolate for the first day or so. If you want crisper cookies right out of the oven, let them bake for 8 - 10 minutes but keep your eye on them as they will go from crisp to toothbreaking hard quickly if you do this.

Personally, I love them as cookies the first day and then use them to dip into my espresso the next day.

Who knows, if I ever decide to do what Ms. Bullock-Prado did when she left her high flying life in Hollywood and open a bakery in some small town in Northern Michigan, these Magic Chocolate Cookies may just be the signature afternoon treat of my little shop.

Grandma Myrna's Magic Chocolate Cookies

1/4 C butter, softened
2 C sugar
2 eggs, large
2 tsp vanilla
2 C AP flour
3/4 C cocoa powder, either natural or dutch processed
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 C sparkle sugar to roll dough balls into (Optional)

Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt and set aside. Cream butter and sugar until the sugar is completely coated. Whisk together two eggs and vanilla and combine into the sugar mixture. Add floor mixture one 1/2 cup at a time. Dough will be stiff at first but mix for 2-3 minutes until combined completely.

Let dough rest for a few minutes. Using a spoon, scoop out enough dough to make 1/2" diameter dough ball. If using the sparkle sugar, roll dough ball into sugar and place on greased or parchment paper prepared cookie sheets 2" apart.

Bake for 7 - 9 minutes in a 350 degree pre-heated oven. Let cookies rest on pan until set up when removing from the oven before placing on cooling racks.

Enjoy warm or cool. Cookies will be chewy for the first day and then become crisp and light after. To make them chewy again, place three minutes in a 350 degree oven.

Makes 3 dozen cookies. Will stay fresh for three or four days or can be frozen.

Taking My Game on the Road

2009-08-19T20:50:00.003-04:00

I had hoped to get a post or two up this week but a work deadline has kept me out of the kitchen all week. Thank goodness for Special K and the Whole Foods salad bar because otherwise I would have starved.

I finished my project at 3pm today and just in time too because in exactly nine hours I will on a plane headed back home to Michigan for one last week of R&R with my folks and I'm taking my clubs with me.

We had so much fun a few weeks ago golfing together that when I came home from the last trip, I immediately booked another week up north. My dad and I have six full days of golfing planned on various courses. Of course, you can't golf that much without having some betting going on and we are no different. High score has bar tab and given how much beer both of us can put away that could be very expensive. My mom has dubbed the week the Father/Daughter Labatts Open.

I did get in the kitchen tonight. Despite the blight, my two grape tomato plants have been surprisingly blight resistant and both are producing nicely. I love to take grape tomatoes and letting them cook down a bit on the stove.

This week the CSA also had a small mid early onions as part of our share.

So, I took some onions, garlic, the green pepper from the CSA share, and a handful of my garden's tomatoes, sauted them in some good olive oil and made some garden scrambled eggs with the last two eggs from last week's CSA share.

With the last few blackberries in the fridge, it not only meant I wasn't throwing anything from the fridge out, it made a fanatastic quick dinner and welcome change from cold cereal and milk for dinner.

I'm not sure I'll be able to post this week. It will depend on if I can get the parent's dial up internet connection to cooperate or not. I will though be coming back with a few fun food things and if I get a few minutes, there may even be some bread baking going on at the folks house.

If not, get out there and visit your local farmer's market. They may not have tomatoes but I'll bet they will have something nice to make your own garden scrambled eggs.

Weekend Cat Blogging: Where Has August Gone?!

2009-08-14T23:12:00.004-04:00

Can you believe that we are half way through August already?

I sure can't. Even more amazing is that the whole summer just seems to be screaming by because it is time for us to host Weekend Cat Blogging again!

Well, I'm hosting again because as usual, Mom is no where to be found. Well, I know where to find her and judging that she has left you hanging on what she did with the wild raspberries she found when she was out hitting golf balls, I would say she sure can't be found in the kitchen.

Instead for most of this month you could find Mom either in the office working to a few deadlines that got pulled in or out on the golf course enjoying the nice warm weather that finally made its appearance. If you asked me though, I'd say it was because she wanted to play with her new putter and hot pink driver.

The driver matches her hot pink playing balls.

I really don't like all the time Mom spends on the golf course but there is an advantage to all this game playing she has been doing, putting practice. You see, Mom's golf instructor told her that she could get much better with her putting if she practiced at home by hitting a golf ball into a drinking glass.

I like to help her collect the balls she misses.

It is fun to pounce on them as they go rolling by me. But after a while, I get bored

and want to take a nap on Mom's new couch.

She even made a place for me down at the end with my favorite blanket.

If you look closely, right next to the new couch is the other new hobby Mom has picked up, knitting.

Mom sure surprised me by picking up knitting needles a few weeks ago. She wanted to make something for her bestest friend Sara, who is expecting her first baby and got hooked. I kind of like the part when she gets new yarn.

She has to roll it in a ball before she starts a new project and she lets me help her keep the yarn in its place by chasing it.

Just in case you think that Mom has given up any cooking this month, she has been in the kitchen a few times. She made a German Chocolate Bundt Cake to take into the office.

Like all the things she brings into the office, it didn't last long.

Mom also has been loving the farm fresh eggs she has been getting from her CSA.

Aren't they pretty with all those different shapes, sizes, and colors? One thing that isn't different about the eggs is how gorgeous yellow the yolks are, regardless of the egg.

Mom loves to come home and make a quick dinner of scrambled eggs.

I even like the farm fresh egg scrambled eggs better when she shares them with me.

Mom's new couch is much smaller than her old couch. It fits much better in her apartment and even leaves room for her to put out my stool

so I can sit on it and wait for my treats.

If you want to join us in Weekend Cat Blogging, just leave us a comment with a link to your post. Mom's going to be working most of the weekend and has two tee times as well but don't let that stop you from checking back at the end of the weekend reading all the comments other kitties leave.

Worth Three Balls and One Half Iced Coffee

2009-08-02T22:27:00.005-04:00

This early evening, after yet another day of rain, thunder and enough humidity to give yourself a facial by walking out your front door, we were treated with the sun peeking out from chunky clouds.

Having forced myself to clean the apartment and do laundry versus sitting on the couch catching up on the last three months of Bon Appetit and Gourmet, I decided to treat myself by heading to a nearby elementary school to hit some golf balls on the soccer field.

On my way to the school I stopped by the local Starbucks to pick up an iced coffee to sip on while I searched all over for my lost balls which, given my current slice and shank, could end up anywhere on the field.

While walking along a chain link fence at the rear of the field looking for three of my hot pink golf balls I heard hit the fence, I noticed poking through the fence, tendrils of wild raspberry bushes that were absolutely loaded with ripe berries.

I let out a squeal of delight because earlier in the day I had wanted to get some raspberries at the store but they were too expensive and now, right in front of me were hundreds of berries for the taking. The problem was I didn't have a bowl or container with me.

Pondering the problem I took a sip of my iced coffee and then it struck it me. I did have a container and it was right in my hand, the plastic cup for my iced coffee. Taking one last sip of my coffee, I dumped it out and started picking.

Twenty minutes later I had one raspberry filled tall coffee cup with only about thirty tangy sweet berries finding their way to my mouth.

Getting home, I thoroughly rinsed the berries to remove any husks, bugs and other debris left over from the vines.

I don't know what I'm going to do with my raspberries yet. I'm sure inspiration will come to me but in the mean time, I'll just look at how vivid red the berries look in their white bowl.

And no, I'm telling you where that school is either because tomorrow on my lunch break I'm heading back with a bucket...

Monkeying Around the Kitchen with The King and Sara

2009-07-31T10:51:00.005-04:00

Late last week, I was catching up on the never ending task of clearing my RSS Reader. I admit I had a two fold purpose for this: downsizing my reads/culling dead links and looking for something fun, interesting yet easy to bake for the office on Monday.

I was doing this while watching some stupid show about whiny people in Miami on Bravo (too lazy to turn the channel) and chatting with my bud, Sara on Skype (I call it multi-tasking but I think the almost-twenty-something intern in the office calls this entering the 21st Century) when I saw that the gals in the test kitchen at King Arthur Flour had made Monkey Bread (aka Pull Apart Bread aka Bubble Bread). A quick send of the KA link to Sara, a "OMG!! Yummmmm" back from Sara, a simulataneous "Let's bake that together" reply, and I had a date on Sunday with my wife.

Sunday was one of those hot, stormy and steamy days we seem to be having in the last part of July here in Connecticut and Sara is dealing with in British Columbia. She was already a bit ahead of me as I was running late from a morning 9 holes at the golf club that seemed to drag on forever, especially when you are digging through thigh high weeds for your ball as many times as I was. By the time I got going, her Monkey Bread was ready to go in the oven.

We chatted while I made the dough. I decided to make whole wheat Monkey Bread, partly because I have been on a how to incorporate more whole grains into my baking kick lately and partly because it was time to turn over the whole wheat flour before it goes rancid in the heat.

After making the dough and letting it rise, which it did in record time because of the heat, I divided it into little chunks

rolled the chunks into little balls, dipping the balls into water and then cinnamon and sugar, and placing the dough balls into a 8" deep sided casserole dish

to rise. The recipe calls for an 8" cake pan but all mine were dirty from testing a German Chocolate cake recipe earlier in the weekend.

I did the final rise in the fridge overnight because I wanted to bake the Monkey Bread in the morning so it would be warm and gooey when I took it into the office. Just like the dough, the monkey bread rose nicely in the fridge.

In the morning, I pulled the dough out of the fridge to come to room temperature, baked it, and flipped it out onto a dish to take to work,

sprinkling some more cinnamon and sugar on top to melt while the bread cooled a bit.

I do have two little beefs with the King Arthur recipe as written. Don't read too much in my beefs either because I still love their flour and recipes but even the King can sometimes go a bit astray.

First, if you add all the flour, the way the recipe says to, you will get too stiff a dough. Both Sara and I experienced the same result and had to add a little more water to our doughs; a bit more than an 1/8th a cup. If this was true on a humid and moist day in the middle of the summer, it would be worse on a dry winter day, when I typically have to add a bit more water to my doughs. Additionally, since I was using whole wheat flour, which typically results in a stickier dough, even with small amounts, I was surprised how dry the dough was. There was no way the dough would have been supple enough after rising to make the dough balls.

Just to check and make sure it wasn't me, I made the dough again in the middle of the week to verify if it was the liquid/flour ratio in the recipe or distraction on our part because we were giggling and all that other nonsense Sara and I do when we get together to bake. This time I cranked the AC to get the humidity in the kitchen down to a normal 52% and I used the regular AP flour called for in the recipe. I also let the dough rest for 10 minutes to fully absorb the liquid. I had the same result, stiff dough that wouldn't take the rest of the flour without adding more water.

My other problem was with the amount of cinnamon and sugar that the recipe makes. I had to make more when I still had five dough balls to coat. That probably was me more than the recipe though because I really coated my dough balls with cinnamon and sugar. I still didn't have enough to put a lot of extra in the pan to make a good gooey coating. If I made this recipe again, I'd triple the amount.

And I will be making the recipe again because it was huge hit in the office.

Have you ever seen those video clips in nature shows of a feeding frenzy of sharks?

If so , you will know what the kitchenette at the office looked like when I pulled the foil off the plate. The Monkey Bread was gone before I could even get my computer started. Everyone enjoyed the cinnamon and sugary balls and one person even asked when I was going to make it again.

Soon, very soon, I promise...

Whole Wheat Monkey Bread
adapted from King Arthur's Baker's Banter blog

You can make this either by hand or in a stand mixer with the dough hook.

Dough:
2/3 cup of water
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 large egg
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp instant yeast
1/2 cup AP flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

Topping:
1 1/2 cup sugar
4 Tbsp cinnamon (I used two types, Mexican and Vietnamese)

Place water, oil, egg, salt, sugar and yeast in large bowl or bowl for stand mixer. Stir to combine.

Add 1/2 cup of AP flour and 1 cup of whole wheat flour, reserving 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour to add as needed when kneading. If you are using a stand mixer, use the dough hook to combine this flour or if by hand, you will probably need to switch to your hand to finish combining the AP flour and the 1 cup of whole wheat flour.

Knead the dough for about 5 - 7 minutes until a soft and supple dough is formed.

Place in a large, greased container to rise until double, about 30 - 45 minutes on a warm day or about an hour on a cooler day.

Gently punch down risen dough and divide into little chunks dough, about 1 1/2" in diameter. Roll into ball form, dip into water and then coat with cinnamon and sugar mixture. Sprinkle any remaining cinnamon and sugar over the dough balls, reserving about 3 Tbsp to sprinkle on top after baking.

Place coated dough into a greased 8" deep cake pan or casserole dish. Cover and let rise until it is really puffy and almost to the top of the pan.

Bake for 25 - 30 minutes in a 350 degree pre-heated oven or until the internal temperature of the bread is 190 degrees.

Remove from pan by tipping pan upside down on a plate. Sprinkle remaining cinnamon and sugar on top to melt while the bread cools a bit.

Allow the bread to cool for about 10 minutes before serving because the hot cinnamon and sugar coating will be extremely hot and could burn.

I Got the Blight!

2009-07-28T09:43:00.008-04:00

It was a sad day in my garden yesterday. I had to pull up and destroy my Tennessee tomato plants

last night after getting home from playing a round of golf at Oak Hills Golf Club.

The Northeast and Midwest tomato plants have been fighting off Late Blight all season. Late Blight is the fungus that caused the Irish Potato Famine. Late Blight can affect any of the nightshade family plants like potatoes and tomatoes. It rots the fruit of the plants from the inside out and causes the plants to wilt and die. It most often strikes during really cool and wet springs and summers and this year definitely qualifies for that.

Unfortunately, despite my best efforts to protect my tomato plants by treating them with anti-fungal powders and keeping my eye out for any signs of the blight, it took hold in my Tennessee plants. They were fine on Saturday but by Monday I noticed the tell tale sign of large black rotten spots on the bottom of some of the fruit.

So, after picking off the small tomatoes that weren't showing any sign of rot to make fried green tomatoes for dinner,

I uprooted the plants, stuffed them in black garbage bags and left them lying out where they will cook inside the bags during the day today. Apparently cooking the plant kills the disease and will prevent it from being spread. You can't compost these plants so I have to throw out the bag with the rest of the garbage.

Luckily, so far, the two plants Weedhopper picked up for me at a local plant sale aren't showing any signs of blight yet. I have my fingers crossed as both have lots of fruit on them.

I suspect that farm fresh tomatoes are going to be in short supply all over the eastern part of the country this summer.

So, enjoy any red ones you get. They are going to have to last us until next summer...

Update on Wednesday 7/29: Today's New York Times food section has a good article on the late blight and how it will effect prices and possible affect the potato crop too.

Golf and Waffles?

2009-07-26T14:53:00.002-04:00

I'm baking with Sara today. We haven't baked together for a long time because of our schedules and a few other things going on in her life. It's great to be with my bestest friend again. I won't tell you what we're baking but when you see it early next week, I'm pretty sure you will be planning a baking session of your own.

I played an early round of golf at South Pine Creek this morning before meeting up with Sara on Skype. South Pine is a sweet little nine hole course. I shot a 40, not great on a Par 3 course shot but I did have some good drives and few nice chip shots. I also had one great sixteen foot putt on the 9th.

On the way home, I stopped at the Sherwood Diner in Westport for breakfast. I had some waffles and side of turkey sausage links. The waffles were great but I'm still searching for the best breakfast turkey sausage links.

Speaking of golf and waffles, it appears one of my favorite golfers, Phil Mickelson, is getting into the waffle business. Phil and two of his business partners have bid on SouthEast Waffles, the bankrupt Tennessee based franchisee for The Waffle House. SouthEast Waffles operates quite a few of the Waffle Houses on my way down to Bristol, TN from NYC. So, this is good news because their bid includes the offer to renovate quite a few of them.

Maybe they'll even re-open the one in Stephens City, VA. That was my 1/3 way down to Bristol stop off and a good place to get out of the car for a stretch of the legs.

Jesperson's: 106 Years of Pie in Petoskey

2009-07-25T13:33:00.003-04:00

One of the places that I always make sure I get to when I visit my folks in Northern Michigan is Jesperson's in downtown Petoskey.

For 106 years the same family has been serving simple home cooked from scratch food to locals and tourists alike.

Hemingway is said to have been a daily visitor to the counter when he visited the family home at Walloon Lake. Basically open for lunch only on most days with people typically standing two and three deep waiting for a table or a spot at the counter but the wait is worth every minute.

During the winter I love to order a bowl of their chicken noodle soup filled with big thick noodles and big pieces of chicken or the spicy chili made with chunks of beef and tomatoes. But the one thing I always order is the grilled ham salad sandwich on dark rye.

My mom almost always orders the sandwich that I've only ever seen at Jesperson's, the grilled swiss and dill on rye.

One of these days I'm going to ask for a grilled swiss, dill and ham salad sandwich. I'm thinking that would be a great combo.

The one thing on the menu that makes Jesperson's a must eat at place in Northern Michigan is its pies. Trust me when I tell you, before you order your lunch, you better order your slice of pie. Many a time before I learned the secret, I would hear the pie selection and not order my slice only to have the pie gone when it came time for dessert. After missing out on their mile high meringue pies

one time too many, I got smart and even before the waitress tells us the daily lunch special, I will have my pie ordered.

Jesperson's makes everything for their pies from scratch, including the crust and fillings. They use local fruits for their pies so some of the flavors like peach and strawberry-rhubarb are only available when the fruit is ripe in the Northern Michigan orchards. Luckily, since Michigan is the captial of pie cherries, they are available almost year round in some form so you can normally get cherry pie even when there are three feet of snow on the ground.

On the day I was in Petoskey this last trip to find the tahini for the Bread Baking Babe bread last month, they had chocolate cream pie, strawberry-rhubarb (another of my favorites), cherry-berry (the pie that put Jesperson's on the map), banana cream, lemon meringue, coconut cream, blueberry, and peach.

After we finished lunch, Sarah, our bubbly and super friendly waitress, brought my mom, dad and I our pies.

My dad ordered the still warm banana cream pie.

My mom ordered coconut cream pie.

And, I ordered cherry-berry pie ala mode

with the ice cream on the side so I could take a really nice picture of how deep red the filling of the pie is with its combo of whole berry cherries, raspberries, and strawberries.

We also ordered a whole chocolate cream pie to take home for dinner that evening. Of course it was gone before I thought to take a picture.

I'm heading back home in a few weeks to enjoy a bit more of summer, get some golf in with my dad and Uncle Billy, and generally just hang out on the deck catching some sun (I hope). You can bet that at least one lunch will be at Jesperson's.

I may just have to order only pie for lunch...

Pasta and Par

2009-07-23T09:50:00.007-04:00

You've probably noticed the long lapse between posts here lately.

Normally, I would blame that on my job and my business and personal travel schedule but that just isn't the case this time around. You see, I've been bit by a bug; the golf bug.

I used to play quite a bit in my late 20's. I was never any good. I'd write "10" on the scorecard for each hole and be on my way, hacking and slashing my way through nine or eighteen holes. It wasn't that I couldn't putt the ball into the hole, I just couldn't drive the ball off the tee.

It would take me six or eight shots to get the green. Once I got to the green, I could normally get the ball into the hole in two, must have been all that putt-putt growing up. My score didn't matter because I enjoyed getting out and walking the course.

When I was home in Michigan two weeks ago, my dad and I played nine holes and all the fun I used to have when I played came rushing back. I couldn't wait to get home and start playing again. Once home, I scoured Craigslist for a set of woman's clubs and found a barely used set of Square Two ladies clubs less than two years old

and promptly hit the driving range.

I've decided to take lessons with a pro to get help with my swing, grip and generally not develop any bad habits. That way maybe, just maybe, I can hit the ball further than ten feet off the tee.

I somehow suspect that is going to take lots and lots of practice with quite a few balls.

Last night, after work, I played nine holes at a local public links course. I was paired with two other single players, both pretty good golfers, one who had a 12 handicap. I warned them both that I was just learning and if they wanted, I'd drive, pick up my ball, take two strokes, and play long ball.

They said not to worry. That everyone had started out "hacking" their way around a course and since we were the last group starting that unless I got really frustrated, to just play my game. They were patient when I shanked the ball at the first tee, helped me find my ball when I put it in the deep rough, and applauded me when I two putted the par 4 third hole.

I only had to play long ball on one hole and even had some pretty decent drives. When we ended up at the clubhouse after nine holes, I bought them both a beer while we tallied our cards. Much to my surprise, I broke 70!

I had a 69 on the nine holes. I even had two pars, the 4th hole where I made a great putt and the 7th hole where I drove the ball over 80 yards straight down the fairway. Both the guys were great and even said that they'd play with me again. I left the course with a smile a mile wide. It was the best round of golf I've ever played.

I got home after dark, and even though it was a bit late, I decided to celebrate my great nine holes with a pasta dish made with five simple ingredients: penne, turkey Italian sausage, pasta sauce, cheese, and fresh basil from my garden.

I washed it down with a nice red wine from Spain.

Sitting down to watch a reply of last year's US Open on Golf Channel while I ate my dinner, I realized that while I may never break 100 on eighteen holes of golf, I was glad I had picked the game up again.

Mark Twain just might be wrong about golf being a good walk spoiled...

Par Five Pasta

1 cup penne or ziti
1 1/2 links of Turkey Italian Sausage, sweet
1/3 cup prepared pasta sauce
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
1/4 cup shredded cheese

Bring to boil 2 cups of salted water in a 2 quart sauce pan. Add penne and cook for 12 - 14 minutes or until al dente.

Remove sausage from its casing and while pasta is cooking, in a non stick skillet, break up and cook sausage throughly.

Drain pasta, reserving about 1 oz of the pasta water. Return pasta to the sauce pan, add pasta sauce, cooked sausage, and enough reserved pasta water to thoroughly coat the pasta with sauce.

Place pasta and sausage in a pasta bowl, toss with chopped basil and top with shredded cheese.

Coconut Cupcake Smack-Down

2009-07-21T18:12:00.005-04:00

Ding, ding, ding....

Welcome to the First Food Smack-Down on The Sour Dough!

In this corner, weighing 1.2 ounces dressed in vanilla bean buttercream frosting and toasted coconut,

The Bon Appetit Coconut Cupcake.

And in this corner, weighing 1.3 ounces dressed coconut cream cheese frosting,

The Barefoot Contessa Coconut Cupcake.

If I had to pick one flavor of cupcakes that I could eat a whole dozen of in one sitting it would be coconut. Over the years I've probably baked a couple hundred coconut cupcakes and there is only one recipe I've ever used, Ina Garten's (The Barefoot Contessa). Her coconut cupcakes are the gold standard by which all other coconut cupcakes are compared.

On Monday while catching up with some of my friends blogs in my reader I noticed my good friend, Ivonne had baked coconut cupcakes for her regular Magazine Monday feature, Coconut Cupcakes. The recipe she used was from the April 2009 Bon Appetit and called for reduced coconut milk.

I'm not going to go into too much detail about reduced coconut milk. You can read about it in the link for the Bon Appetit coconut cupcakes. But, I will tell you this: I will never NOT have reduced coconut milk in my fridge ever again.

Anyways, after reading Ivonne's post, I left a cheeky comment about comparing head to head the Bon Apetit cupcakes against the Barefoot Contessa's and a few hours later Ivonne wrote back with one sentence, "Let's do it!".

Thus was born the food smack-down between Bon Appetit's Coconut Cupcake versus Ina Garten's Coconut Cupcake.

On Sunday, Ivonne and I got together on Skype and baked coconut cupcakes. Both recipes came together easy and after making the reduced coconut milk called for in the Bon Apetit recipe, my house smelled like a massive bottle of suntan oil had exploded all over the place.

If I had to choose based on batter alone, I would have said the Bon Apetit cupcake was the hands down winner. It was creamy and loaded with coconut flavor. I did miss the flaked coconut that the Ina Garten recipe.

After baking, I found the Bon Appetit cupcakes browned quicker than the Ina Garten. I also noticed that the Bon Appetit cake, while moister had a more subtle coconut flavor. I like the over top coconut flavor in the Barefoot Contessa cupcakes when they are baked. It was a surpising actually that the Bon Appetit cupcakes coconut flavor so strong in the batter tamed when baked.

I think the Ina Garten cream cheese frosting was the clear winner of the two. I'm sorry but you add coconut to cream cheese frosting and you can bury me in a huge vat of that stuff!

Not wanting to be the only arbitrator of which cupcake reigned supreme, I took a batch of each into the office. The office winner was the Bon Appetit cupcake by a 3 to 1 margin. Everyone liked the moistness of the cupcake and the toasted coconut and most found the coconut taste in the Barefoot Contessa version "overpowering". Weedhopper liked Ina's the best, declaring the coconut in the frosting and the frosting better. He said he wouldn't refuse either though.

Lastly, I had a final judge, a coconut cupcake specialist taste the two cupcakes. Ms. B, like myself, has always held Ina's coconut cupcake up as the ultimate and best coconut cupcake. She is familiar with my version of the Barefoot Contessa coconut cupcake and was more than happy to be ultimate taster.

Without telling her which cupcake was which, I had her taste the two samples. Her decision?

Bon Appetit but the Ina Garten frosting.

Hmm, maybe she's on to something there. Do I smell Coconut Cupcake Smack-Down Part II in the air?

Bon Appetit Cupcake with Barefoot Contessa Frosting anyone...

Bread Baking Babes in Beruit?

2009-07-15T14:16:00.009-04:00

This month, our host kitchen was the lovely Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies and she had us make Sukkar bi Tahin or Beruit Tahini Rolls.

Because of these little wound up sesame paste infused addicting yeast rolls, I've made a most eye-opening discovery: every culture has its own version of a cinnamon roll. I've also reacquainted myself with that old adage don't judge a book by its cover. You see, I was skeptical when I first saw this recipe (Sorry Natashya).

I'm not a big sesame fan. The smell of tosting sesame seeds makes me gag and I hate the texture of the seeds when I bite into them. Heck, I even make the poor sushi chef at the place I eat lunch at two times a week leave off the sesame seeds from my spicy tuna roll. Since this recipe relies on tahani, a paste made entirely of ground sesame seeds, I was pretty sure I wouldn't really like the taste of these. Further, because I was going to have to make these while I was in Michigan on vacation, I was darn sure my culinary challenged family in Northern Michigan wouldn't like them either.

Then there was the little problem of finding tahani in B$% F@#$ Northern Michigan. Now, the far reaches of the Lower Pennisula are becoming a bit more worldly in the offerings of hard to find international ingredients in the local market. Heck, they even have a whole aisle now called "International Food" in my folks supermarket. Sure, a full third of the aisle is dedicated to Old El Paso, La Choy, and Prego but they also have digestive cookies from the UK, pickled eggs from Poland, and for some reason all the Kosher food there too. The last time I was home I even found black bean paste to make some pot stickers. But, I knew they wouldn't have tahani.

Luckily, on one of the days I was home before heading out on the sailboat, I made a trip into Petoskey to stock up on some gourmet provisions at Symon's General Store, the first and probably best stocked gourmet food store in far Northern Michigan. Sure enough, they had some tahani in the Jiffy peanut butter jar size container. Hmm, what was I going to do with all that tahani?

Brain kicked in and next thing you know, I'm planning on not only making these for my family but also for the crew of the sailboat. Crazy. Just plain crazy, I know. But, what the hay, I was on vacation and part of my plan was to have a good time in the galley.

Once I had the tahani, the rest of the recipe was pretty easy. The dough took no time at all and even in the damp, cool galley rose pretty nicely. I did have to resort to the place the dough in the microwave to keep it out drafts instead of the little galley oven because I was using the oven at the same time to roast some veggies. Otherwise, it was just like making a big cinnamon roll you flatten. Instead of sesame seeds on top of the roll, I brushed the top with a simple syrup I made for mixed drinks.

I served the rolls warm with strong tea for a mid afternoon break on a blustery day when we dropped anchor in the lee side of the Keweenaw Pennisula to wait out some rather gusty winds before making our run to Isle Royale. They were a hit. The tahani/sugar filling added just a mildly sweet taste to the roll and the simple syrup had baked the outer part of the roll sweet and crisp.

The only other little problem I faced on the sailboat was there wasn't a cooling rack big enough to hold all the rolls when they were finished baking. So, I improvised and used the steaming basket insert to hold four of the eight rolls I made.

I also had a lot of left over tahani/sugar filling. That didn't last long as the three guys used it like peanut butter on anything they could find to spread it on.

The second time I made the rolls for my family, I cut back on the amount of filling I made and topped the rolls with a mixture of brown and white sugar. Much to my surprise, even my brother's super and I mean super picky son who won't eat anything that is brown liked them. I already have a request to make him some when I visit my brother and his family in the fall.

You can join us as a Bread Baking Buddy this month by baking the Sukkar bi Tahin (recipe below), blogging about it, and then emailing Natashya by August 1. She'll send you a nice badge for your blog and include your post in a round up.

If you want to see a whole bunch more of the Babes delicious buns (NO, not those types of buns...sheesh), go check out my fellow Babes over there on the side bar.

Sukkar bi Tahin - Beirut Tahini Swirls
Home Baking, The Artful Mix of Flour and Tradition Around the World
Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid
Makes 6 golden brown, flaky textured coiled rounds, about 6 inches wide, filled with sesame paste and sugar.

Ingredients
Dough
1/2 tsp. active dry yeast
1 cup lukewarm water
About 2-1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp sugar
1 tbsp olive oil

Filling
3/4 cup tahini
3/4 cup sugar

Directions
In a medium bowl, dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm water. Stir in one cup of the flour, then add the sugar and oil and stir in. Incorporate a second cup of flour, then turn the dough out onto a well floured surface and knead for 5 minutes, or until smooth.

Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let rise for 2 to 3 hours, until doubled in volume.

Meanwhile, place a baking stone or unglazed quarry tiles, if you have them, (or a baking sheet) on the middle oven rack and preheat the oven to 375 F. Mix together the tahini and sugar and stir until smooth. Set aside.

Cut the dough into 6 equal pieces. Work with 3 at a time, keeping the others covered. Flatten each out on a lightly floured surface, then roll each out to a rectangle about 5 inches by 10 inches. Spread the top surface with 2 1/2 tablespoons of the filling mixture, spreading it almost to the edges. Roll up the rectangle from a long side into a cylinder, which will stretch as you roll to about 20 inches long. Anchor one end and coil the bread around itself, then tuck the end in. Flatten with the palm of your hand, then set aside, covered, while you fill and shape the other 2 rectangles.

Return to the first coil and roll out gently with a rolling pin. Roll the other 2 out a little and then return to the first one and roll it out a little more thinly, and so on, until you have rolled each to a round about 6 to 7 inches in diameter. A little filling may leak out—don’t worry, just leave it.

Place the breads on the hot baking stone or tiles (or baking sheet) and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until golden brown and flaky. Transfer to a rack to cool.Shape and bake the remaining 3 pieces of dough. Serve warm or at room temperature.

I have made these twice so far, once according to the original recipe, and once with whole wheat flour and brown sugar. I have to admit, I liked the original best. I will try once more with a combination of both.
These can be made in an afternoon, and once you have tried them you will want to make them again!

*Tahini is a paste of ground sesame seeds. It can be found in health food stores, Middle Eastern markets and some grocery stores. It is a common ingredient in hummus, and is gaining in popularity in most parts of the world. It must be refrigerated after opening.

** My tahini has been out since I bought it two weeks ago and even made a trip home in a box that the USPS just delivered to me. It seems to be fine without refrigeration. I made hummus with it last night and I'm still alive (so far). But I suspect that like any nut based spread, it would go rancid if not used quickly. So, use your own judgment about the fridge.

Weekend Cat Blogging: Mom Went on a Sailing Trip and All I Got Was This Lousy Mouse

2009-07-11T10:38:00.003-04:00

We're hosting Weekend Cat Blogging again this weekend and, as usual, Mom is nowhere to be found because she is out in the nice bright sun hitting these stupid little white balls with a big stick at another stick that pokes out from a dumb hole far, far, far away from where she tries to hit the stupid little white ball and inventing new ways to add the phrase "G#$ D!#$ It!" to the beginning of every sentence .

Meaning, I'm left holding the bag or in this case

the catnip filled mouse she brought back for me from her vacation sailing trip and her three day business trip to Florida.

Mom had a great time on her sailing vacation across Lake Superior. She said despite the fact that the weather wasn't perfect and it was a bit cooler than they would have liked, it was really nice to be so far away from civilization that the cellphone didn't work and the only communication with the outside world was the marine radio and the AM/FM radio in the galley.

Unfortunately, Mom also had a camera malfunction. The little card that goes into her digital camera can't be found on her computer and the camera doesn't seem to know it has a 10GB memory card. She did get some pictures on the internal memory off the camera though. She needs a new digital camera if you ask me.

So, until she either figures out how to get all the great pictures of her trip off or gets some pictures from her friends, she can't show you the galley kitchen she cooked in or the big, big freighter that Mama Breadchick's next door neighbor is the steward on.

They shared adjoining locks at the Soo Locks with the neighbor's boat and Mom and the neighbor had a nice chat over the deck railings while the neighbor's boat was lowered so it could go on Lake Huron and Mom's boat was raised so it could go on Lake Superior. It was fun to see the looks on the tourists watching from the veiwing stands because compared to the big boat, Mom's 38 foot sailboat was really tiny.

Once out in Lake Superior Mom made good use of the galley but not the grill because it rained almost every day, especially when it was close to dinner time. Mom also said the oven was funny to work in because she had to bake things in shifts it was so tiny, even tinier than the one she has here!

One night Mom made a complete foil dinner in the oven

of spicy mini ground turkey meatloafs, potatoes with carrots,

and those braised greens with bacon she wrote about here. Everyone loved the turkey meatloaf because mom used cumin, smoked chipolte chile powder, and some jalapeno juice in them.

For dessert, Mom made a simple bowl of fresh berries with a splash of cointreau and demerara sugar sprinkled on top.

Another big hit on the sailboat was a polenta crusted ratatouille tart

Mom saw on her friend, Patricia's blog, Technicolor Kitchen, right before she left for her vacation. She oven roasted the veggies and served it with a big lettuce salad made with heirloom Black Seeded Simpson lettuce picked up at the farmer's market in the Soo.

The crust was a bit crumbly Mom said so she is going to play with it this week because she is making the tart on Monday to take to work all week as lunch.

Mom even baked bread a few times while on the boat, including making the BBA bagels! She did those once they made it to Isle Royale becasue the boat wasn't rocking too much and she could use a bigger oven on the boat moored next to them, a big 60' powerboat with a full kitchen. She shared some of the bagels with the people on that boat and they said they were the best bagels they had ever had except for ones they got in NYC!

Mom says she will have a catch up post for the BBA Challenge really soon because she also made the Poor Man's Brioche while on her vacation. Mom is real glad that the BBA Challenge is at your own pace because with her travel schedule the past two months, she hasn't had the time to bake once a week.

One other bread Mom made while on vacation but not on the sail boat was the Bread Baking Babes bread of the month. Not to give anything away, Mom said that she wasn't sure that her family in Michigan would like the bread but was really happy everyone LOVED it.

On one of the days while Mom was on vacation, someone in her office called her about a business trip she needed to go on the day after she got home from Michigan. They were one day out of Whitefish Bay and on deck enjoying a pocket of sunshine when someone heard a cellphone ringing. Mom said the wind was blowing just right because she had half a bar on her cellphone. The person from her office was a bit surprised that she was someplace without cellphone coverage and internet.

Mom said she was surprised her cellphone even worked! It didn't work for long because they got cut off but it must have worked long enough because when Mom got home her airline tickets and everything for her Florida trip were waiting for her.

Anyways, Mom didn't get home until 9pm on Tuesday night this past week and had to be on another airplane at 11am on Wednesday morning to go to Florida. Needless to say, this didn't make me very happy and I showed her how unhappy I was by jumping into her suitcase while she was trying to pack her bag with nice clean business clothes

and grooming myself all over her favorite brown business suit

so she could take some cat hair with her. Pretty funny of me huh?!

You can tell Mom travels a lot by all the tore off plane side baggage claim tickets on her suitcase.

Mom was even more surprised when she got back from Florida and she saw how big her tomato plants

and the rest of her garden and grown, especially the tomato plant from Tennessee which is shoulder high. She found a few tomatoes starting to grow on the Tennessee plant.

Even if the humans don't like all the rain we've had in June and July, Mom's garden sure does!

Well, I can't think of anything else you need to know about what Mom has been up to except to say she is really glad to be home for the rest of the month and excited about getting back into the kitchen to bake some more of the BBA breads she's missed and putter with a few recipes she's testing and to catch up with all her friends on the internet and in person.

She knows she owes a few of you some emails to tell you how fantastic your breads are looking and she has a post about a family restaurant in Northern Michigan that makes the best pie ever. She also wants to tell you about some new bread bakers she is really proud of and has been meaning to write about forever.

If you want to join in Weekend Cat Blogging this weekend, just leave us a link on the comments. If you want to check out what all the kitties have been up to this past week, check back on Sunday evening to visit the links left by everyone!

And now I have to nap with my new mouse

because writing this post has been exhausting....

A Daring Bakewell Tart of a Farewell

2009-06-30T15:17:00.011-04:00

This month's Daring Baker Challenge, the scrumptious Bakewell Tart

as hosted by my friend Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar, marks my twenty-second Daring Baker Challenge and the perfect way to say so long and farewell to my career as a Daring Baker.

I've been a Daring Baker since March 2007, starting with the Red Velvet Cake.

Some of the highlights of my Daring Baker sorjourn were the Gateau St. Honore

where I mastered my fear of puff pastry (and managed to burn myself for the 100th time with hot sugar), the Potato Bread challenge

where I made that really awesome wheat sheath bread from the world's stickiest dough, and my stint as co-hostess with my twin of different mother sister, Sara of I Like To Cook, where we made over 600 people spend 12+ hours in the kitchen and read twenty pages of recipe making Julia Child's French Bread.

I lived through the frustrating and infamous Martha Stewart Crepe Cake

and burning myself yet again with hot molten sugar

the bounce like rubber Mirror Cake

and the Milk Caramel Tart that landed on the floor of my car while I was transporting it.

When I was asked to join by the incomparable Lisa and Ivonne there were less than twenty Daring Bakers and most of us were located in North America. Now there are over 1,000 members world wide! I've become good friends with some of my Daring Baker Sisters and Brothers: Elle, Helen, Veron, Dharm, Jenny, Tanna, Ilva, Peabody, Brilynn, Mary, Christina, and Kelly to name but a few of the incredible people I met because I was a Daring Baker. Without this fantastic group called Daring Bakers, I would never have been exposed to so many fellow food bloggers. Thank you one and all for two and almost half fabulous years!

So, what did I think of this month's challenge, my farewell challenge, the Bakewell Tart?

Well, if it is any indication of how good it was, only the Danish Braid

was demolished by my office taste testers faster! It lasted less than 10 minutes and I could make the frangipane to eat straight from the bowl, raw eggs be damned!

Since this a traditional British tart and it is strawberry season right now both here and at Wimbledon, I decided to use a very British jam, Hartley's to spread on the bottom of the sweet shortcrust

and sprinkled slivered almonds on top the frangipane before baking the tart until golden brown.

It was so easy and quick that I'm going to be making another one of these this week while on the sailboat but I think I'll use fresh Michigan cherries and apricots for part of the filling.

Thanks Jasmine and Annemarie for a British staple that will now be a go to staple in my kitchen. It was the perfect challenge on which to go out with a bang!

To see my fellow Daring Bakers tarts you can visit some of them here.

The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England.

Bakewell Tart

Makes one 23cm (9” tart)
Prep time: less than 10 minutes (plus time for the individual elements)
Resting time: 15 minutes
Baking time: 30 minutes
Equipment needed: 23cm (9”) tart pan or pie tin (preferably with ridged edges), rolling pin, One quantity sweet shortcrust pastry (recipe follows), Bench flour (AP flour for dusting your rolling surface),250ml (1cup (8 US fl. oz))jam or curd warmed for spreadability, One quantity frangipane (recipe follows),
One handful blanched, flaked almonds

Assembling the tart
Place the chilled dough disc on a lightly floured surface. If it's overly cold, you will need to let it become acclimatised for about 15 minutes before you roll it out. Flour the rolling pin and roll the pastry to 5mm (1/4”) thickness, by rolling in one direction only (start from the centre and roll away from you), and turning the disc a quarter turn after each roll. When the pastry is to the desired size and thickness, transfer it to the tart pan, press in and trim the excess dough. Patch any holes, fissures or tears with trimmed bits. Chill in the freezer for 15 minutes. Preheat oven to 200C/400F. Remove shell from freezer, spread as even a layer as you can of jam onto the pastry base. Top with frangipane, spreading to cover the entire surface of the tart. Smooth the top and pop into the oven for 30 minutes. Five minutes before the tart is done, the top will be poofy and brownish. Remove from oven and strew flaked almonds on top and return to the heat for the last five minutes of baking. The finished tart will have a golden crust and the frangipane will be tanned, poofy and a bit spongy-looking. Remove from the oven and cool on the counter. Serve warm, with crème fraîche, whipped cream or custard sauce if you wish.When you slice into the tart, the almond paste will be firm, but slightly squidgy and the crust should be crisp but not tough.

Jasmine’s notes:
• If you cannot have nuts, you can try substituting Victoria sponge for the frangipane. It's a pretty popular popular cake, so you shouldn't have any troubles finding one in one of your cookbooks or through a Google search.
• You can use whichever jam you wish, but if you choose something with a lot of seeds, such as raspberry or blackberry, you should sieve them out.
• The jam quantity can be anywhere from 60ml (1/4 cup) to 250ml (1cup), depending upon how “damp” and strongly flavoured your preserves are. I made it with the lesser quantity of home made strawberry jam, while Annemarie made it with the greater quantity of cherry jam; we both had fabulous results. If in doubt, just split the difference and spread 150ml (2/3cup) on the crust.
Annemarie’s notes:
• The excess shortcrust can be rolled out and cut into cookie-shapes (heck, it’s pretty darned close to a shortbread dough).

Sweet shortcrust pastry
Prep time:15-20 minutes
Resting time: 30 minutes (minimum)
Equipment needed: bowls, box grater, cling film

225g (8oz) all purpose flour
30g (1oz) sugar
2.5ml (½ tsp) salt
110g (4oz) unsalted butter, cold (frozen is better)
2 (2) egg yolks
2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract (optional)
15-30ml (1-2 Tbsp) cold water

Sift together flour, sugar and salt. Grate butter into the flour mixture, using the large hole-side of a box grater. Using your finger tips only, and working very quickly, rub the fat into the flour until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Set aside. Lightly beat the egg yolks with the almond extract (if using) and quickly mix into the flour mixture. Keep mixing while dribbling in the water, only adding enough to form a cohesive and slightly sticky dough. Form the dough into a disc, wrap in cling and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes

Jasmine’s notes: I make this using vanilla salt and vanilla sugar. If you wish, you can substitute the seeds of one vanilla bean, one teaspoon of vanilla paste or one teaspoon of vanilla extract for the almond extract

Frangipane
Prep time:10-15 minutes
Equipment needed: bowls, hand mixer, rubber spatula

125g (4.5oz) unsalted butter, softened
125g (4.5oz) icing sugar (confectioner's sugar)
3 (3) eggs
2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract
125g (4.5oz) ground almonds
30g (1oz) all purpose flour

Cream butter and sugar together for about a minute or until the mixture is primrose in colour and very fluffy. Scrape down the side of the bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. The batter may appear to curdle. In the words of Douglas Adams: Don’t panic. Really. It’ll be fine. After all three are in, pour in the almond extract and mix for about another 30 seconds and scrape down the sides again. With the beaters on, spoon in the ground nuts and the flour. Mix well. The mixture will be soft, keep its slightly curdled look (mostly from the almonds) and retain its pallid yellow colour. Annemarie’s notes:
• Add another five minutes or more if you're grinding your own almonds or if you're mixing by hand (Heaven help you).

Finding My Mojo Again Just in Time for 500 Posts!

2009-06-28T16:00:00.010-04:00

It sure has been dead around here the past two weeks hasn't it?

I'm not sure what happened but somewhere between Virginia and home in Connecticut, I think my baking/cooking/blogging mojo got out of the car, decided to hitchhike back home, and got lost.

When you combine a serious case of writers/kitchen block with the crazy travel schedule of the past thirty days you get nothing coming out of the kitchen.

Or, maybe it was performance anxiety.

I've been mulling over this post for almost as long as I've not been blogging because this post marks the 500th post on The Sour Dough. I had all these grand plans to make it a special post complete with a glance back at some of my favorite posts and food I've made/baked and eaten over the past five and half years. I wanted Post 500 to be momentous.

But, instead, you are going to have to content yourself with a little tour of my back yard and deck in all its summer/spring glory

(Amazing that after two straight weeks of rain anything is still alive!)

and a peek at my birthday meal from a few weeks ago, where I made grill braised greens from part of my CSA box.

This summer, I joined a CSA and I've down scaled my garden a bit as a result. Oh, who am I kidding. I was going to downsize my garden to only include two tomato plants I brought home from Tennessee

but before I knew it, I had walked out of Russell's, where I stopped on one of my many trips back and forth between Boston and Connecticut the past three months, with a little red wagon full of flowers

(what ARE these?!)

herbs

some marigolds to plant between the chives and peppermint

and a nifty pole for my bird feeder,

that the squirrels are still trying to figure out much to LB's chagrin, as I think he enjoys meowing at squirrels on the bird feeder more than window stalking birds.

The flowers around the house are enjoying a bit of sunshine in between the rain. The snap dragons are thriving

and despite the daily drenching, a few pretty roses made a brief appearance.

A few weeks ago I turned Fortysomething (third anniversary of my 39th birthday if you must know). On the day I celebrated my birthday, I also picked up my first box from my CSA, The Hickories. It was a typical late spring box filled with lettuces, early onions, spinach and greens.

Weedhopper and I are sharing a box this year. As he and Wife of Weedhopper are expecting Jr. Weedhopper any day now and my crazy summer schedule, we both figured we would have smaller gardens (Um, yea...see above and he has just a tad smaller garden this year) and we wanted to experience a CSA.

Along with my first CSA experience, I also have been seriously into meat, curing meats, and everything meat in the kitchen all spring. First it was curing my own corned beef for St. Paddy's Day. Then it was make my own sausage. Now, it is age my own steak.

My birthday meal consisted of a fourteen day aged t-bone steak and grill braised greens.

What the heck are grill braised greens you ask?

Greens you pack in tin foil

with a pat of butter, a little sodium free or extremely low sodium powdered chicken stock, a clove of garlic and three pieces of pre-cooked bacon crumbled (I used store bought pre-cooked bacon, thick cut).

Wrap up the greens tightly, and toss on the cool side of the grill while your steak cooks.

There is no need to add any water as the moisture from the greens in the foil will be sufficient.

The result is heavenly,

I assure you.

Well, there you have it! 500th post all finished and it didn't hurt too bad now did it?

I've got two more posts this week before I take off for a much needed vacation, including a late Daring Baker's post.

I'm heading up north to sit on a dock at a rental house drinking adult libations with some friends for a few days and then we're sailing their 38' sailboat out on Lake Superior between Sault Ste. Marie and Isle Royale and back.

I'm paying my way by offering my services in the galley to avoid swabbing any decks. I've been told the oven works, there is a grill that mounts to the railing of the sailboat, and the galley has a three burner stove. It will be a good excuse to use a cookbook, Dining on Deck: Fine Foods for Sailing & Boating. I bought this cookbook many years ago in hopes of someday having just this opportunity.

I'll bet some grilled braised greens make it to the table somewhere between Rock Harbor and Paradise.

Grill Braised Greens

1 lb braising greens (Chard, beet tops, collard greens, what have you)
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 packet powdered sodium free or low sodium chicken stock
1 clove of garlic, crushed
3 pieces pre-cooked bacon, cut up in little bits

Rinse and dry the greens. Trim any heavy stalks from the greens. Mix greens with bacon bits and garlic.

In large piece of foil (I use the Reynolds Non-Stick Foil when doing packages on the grill), place greens mixture. Sprinkle with chicken stock and seal foil pack.

Place over cool side of grill and cook for 15 minutes or until greens cooked through.

Weekend Cat Blogging: Mom's Daft

2009-06-14T09:09:00.008-04:00

Yes, we are hosting Weekend Cat Blogging this weekend here. But, Mom has been a bit daft in the head I'm afraid about our hosting schedule.

You see, every weekend since the middle of March, she has been running back forth between home here in Connecticut and Boston, where she is taking care of the last bit of details for Dad's estate

and arranging for the last of the furniture she doesn't want or need from our house in Cambridge to be sold at an estate sale in July. The old house was sold in May and she had to spend some time there too making sure everything is in order.

She also has been figuring out how to bring home to Connecticut Dad's big black German car.

She was going to sell it but decided that she loves it too much and wants to enjoy Summer cruising along the Sound with the sun roof open.

She has been cussing a lot lately about the RMV in Massachusetts. I don't know who the RMV is but I'm real glad I'm not him because Mom has some really nasty things to say about him.

Now, she tells me she is off for Orlando for five days. She assures me it is because she has to go to a big meeting for her work but I think she is going to play with that big mouse.

I will be really happy when she has time to stay home and bake and play string game with me.

Until then, I'll just be curled up against my scratching pole napping

or curled up the big leather chair from Dad's study that Mom strapped to the top of her car and hauled home this weekend.

It is right back where it belongs, under the window in the front room where I can sleep and dream of tuna.

Weekend Cat Blogging is 4!!

A weekly event, that started at eatstuff.net with Claire and Kiri, as a way for food bloggers to not blog about food on the weekend is now a worldwide cat blogging event. There are a few hardy food bloggers like Rosa of Rosa's Yummy Yums and Astrid of Paulchen's Food Blog (and the arranger of the WCB hosting schedule) who participate but mostly it is kitty bloggers, which we like just fine!

If you want to post about what all you kitties have been doing this weekend, go ahead and leave a comment. Mom will edit this post with a round up, hopefully before we have to host again!

Dinner of Champions

2009-06-11T20:58:00.002-04:00

Because sometimes a girl just has to do what a girl has to do...

Bad Blogger, "Bad" Salad

2009-06-03T18:52:00.004-04:00

I've been a really bad blogger and worse yet, a bad blog reader.

Despite my best efforts to keep up with my daily reads and so many of my friend's blogs, I've fallen way behind. My feed reader says I have over 3,000 unread posts!! I missed visiting my Daring Baker sisters and brothers blogs after the strudel posts. I haven't even scratched the crust of the Anadama and Greek Celebration posts from fellow BBA participants and sure don't go looking for Bagels or Brioche on my blog. Those two lovely breads are just going to have to wait until the end of June now.

Believe me, it hasn't been malice or lack of interest that has kept me from your blogs. Rather, I just looked at the number of days I've been home since Mama Breadchick left and discovered that I have only been home for six week days and four weekend days. Yikes. No wonder I can't find kitchen tools in my own cupboards.

Almost as bad has been my ability to answer emails from dear friends and readers. I owe so many of you answers and replies, you probably have black listed my email address. I haven't even been able to finish an outline for a bread baking class I've been asked to teach.

I promise though, I'm going to kick my butt into gear this week and try to get as caught up as I can. Starting right now...

Who knew there would be so many of you fascinated by the idea of corn bread salad. Fascinated like watching a car wreck for some of you and others leaving me comments and emails begging me for the recipe.

So, for you my pretties, I called Shirley's Home Cooking today to find out what was in their cornbread salad. They were as sweet as could be and while they didn't give me the recipe, they told me what was in their cornbread salad. A little Google action and I think I can give you a close enough recipe.

No guarantees on if you will like this but it sure is interesting...

Corn Bread Salad
(Inspired by Shirley's Home Cooking Corn Bread Salad)

1 9 x 9 pan Southern corn bread (Note: Southern corn bread uses white corn meal and no sugar vs Northen cornbread which uses yellow corn meal and sugar)
1 cup chopped white onions
1 cup chopped green peppers
1 cup sweet pickle relish
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
1 small jar pimentos, chopped
1/2 cup dill pickle juice
salt and pepper to taste

Crumble corn bread, divide in half and set aside in 2 bowls, one large and one medium bowl and set aside.

In the large bowl, combine 1/2 crumbled corn bread and all remaining ingredients.

Using another large clear glass bowl, put half the remaining crumbled corn bread on the bottom. Next spoon on top the cornbread mixture and smooth. Finally, sprinkle remaining crumbled cornbread on top.

Cover and let sit overnight in the fridge. Serve cold with country ham or country fried chicken dinner.

Mother's Marching Menagerie

2009-06-02T22:06:00.003-04:00

Lions, hippos, camels and bears are back

and marching to a glass of milk near you very soon.

Good Southern Cooking or How I'm becoming Paula Deen

2009-06-01T22:39:00.007-04:00

I'm home from my business trip/mini vacation to Southern Virgina and Northeastern Tennessee and as usual, I had some fantastic food while visiting. I also discovered two of the best kept secrets of Tennessee, strawberries and tomatoes.

It is the peak of the strawberry season and this morning, before departing Bristol. TN to head back home to Connecticut and LB, I stopped off the local farm stand down from the family homestead for some strawberries and tomatoes. The strawberries didn't even make it to the Pennsylvania border. Scratch that, didn't make it to Lexington, VA.

Somewhere outside of Blacksburg, I started just eating one because they were smelling so sweet, it was just too tempting. The next thing I knew, I was rummaging around the bottom of the brown bag like I was looking for that last french fry. I also had red fingers and strawberry juice stained lips; real attractive to the drive through guy at the Roanoke Starbucks, I'm sure.

Did you know that some of the best tomatoes come from Tennessee? I didn't until this trip down South. After munching on slices of the early tomatoes out on Wren's mother's back porch while we had our afternoon adult libation, I was a convert. It was late summer in my mouth. Sweet and crisp, I could have eaten one just like an apple. I liked them so much, that I had to also pick up a tomato plant yesterday to bring home and plant out back. I can't wait until August.

My trip down south also included a trip out to Hampton, TN on the North Carolina border to Shirley's Home Cooking, a family style restaurant where we feasted on just about the best fried chicken I've ever had. Seriously.

I could have eaten two whole chickens if I also hadn't "had" to have some country ham and roast beef along with some mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, green beans, soup beans, macaroni & cheese, fried apples, cole slaw, cooked cabbage, and cornbread salad (yuck).

The meal also included soft slightly sweet yeast rolls, Southern corn bread (white cornmeal and slightly salty versus yellow corn meal slightly sweet Northern corn bread), and buttermilk biscuits. The mac and cheese was runny and I'm not a big fan of cornbread salad but the soup beans (i.e. cranberry beans) were out of the world and the cooked cabbage was very good too. The fact that both of them were seasoned with bits of country ham probably had no bearing on my liking those two dishes best of all the sides.

Finally, it has only taken ten years, but I am convinced that iced tea should be served sweet with three slices of lemon and a sprig of mint and I have in my suitcase about forty hand written family recipes from Wren's mom, his aunts, and grandmothers including the family recipe for angel biscuits.

Tonight, I caught myself saying "Y'all" while standing in the deli line at ShopRite. Can deep frying a block of butter be that far off?!

Sometimes the Best French Dining Comes in Surprising Places

2009-05-28T00:01:00.000-04:00

I'm back in my beloved Shenandoah Valley this week.

I'm in the early stages of a project thatwill give me the excuse to visit the valley and the surrounding environs often over the next few months and nothing could please me more.

Last September, when I was vacationing in the area, I discovered that the valley is a little foodie paradise; especially between Strasburg and Roanoke. The key to discovering this land of tiny but fantastic restaurants, farm stands filled with just picked produce, and shops filled with local delicacies is to get off the Interstate and drive Route 11.

Tonight, while staying in Lexington, I had the pleasure of dining at a French restaurant that was as much at home in Virginia as it would be in any small French village or New York City for that matter, Cafe Michel.

I admit, I had done a little research before descending in Lexington for the evening. I googled "Best Restaurant Lexington, VA" and Cafe Michel kept popping up with every link. After visiting the restaurant's webpage and checking out the menu, I knew that was were I was going for dinner.

When I arrived in my hotel room, I called to see if I could get a table for one. Luckily, I was able to and now let me tell you why, the next time I'm any where near Lexington, I'm going to make it my mission to go back to Cafe Michel.

Even though this was my first visit to the restaurant, I was greeted like I was a returning regular. Maybe I'm jaded, living in the greater NYC area by the typically cold or lack of any greeting when I enter a restaurant but nothing makes you ready for a good dinner than a friendly, we are really to happy to see you and we want to make sure your dining experience is good greeting by the host or hostess.

After being shown to my seat, which wasn't off in the corner which is somewhat typical when you are dining alone, I was given the menu and wine list and a basket of nice soft bread was placed on my table. I ordered a nice Oregon Pinot Noir and told the evening specials.

I was pretty sure when I walked in to the restaurant that I would be ordering the smoked salmon but when my waitress mentioned that the house special country pate was the appetizer special, I quickly decided that I would have the pate.

I wish I had remembered to bring my camera in to take a picture of the textbook pate. It was perfectly marbled with meat and fat and wrapped in country smoked bacon. On the plate with the generous slices of pate were grilled slices of the same bread in the basket, a small herb salad with a Dijon mustard vinaigrette. The pate was absolutely fantastic. In fact, it was the best pate I've had since my last visit to Paris. I could eat Chef Michel Galand's country pate every day for the rest of my life and die very, very happy. Yes, very happy indeed.

Had I known that the pate was going to be that fantastic, I would not have ordered a salad but the champagne vinaigrette on the salad was the perfect combination of sweet and tangy that vinaigrette should be and the shaved carrots in the salad were nice and crisp, perfect to be dipped into the vinaigrette.

I was in the mood for a light pasta dish for dinner so I ordered the Chicken Bianco. It was also very, very good. The chicken wasn't over cooked, the white wine sauce well seasoned and the pasta perfectly done. I especially liked that the parmesan cheese was tossed into the pasta and not just shaved over top. The heat of the pasta caused the parmesan cheese to begin to melt and helped form these tight swirls of pasta to collect the sauce with.

I finished my meal with a creme brulee cheesecake that was every bit as good as anything I get at Juniors in Brooklyn. Come to find out, they get their cheesecakes shipped in from New York City but other than the cheesecake, they make all their desserts. Another reason to come back to try the crepes and the creme brulee.

The best part of my dinner, besides the pate (did I mention how good the pate was?), was the nice long chat I had with Chef Galand while I finished my coffee.

He told me about coming to America after working at resorts in Bermuda to cook as a chef at the Homestead. After a stint in Wisconsin, he came back to Virginia to open his first restaurant in Coventry before opening Cafe Michel in Clifton Forge. About five years ago he moved his restaurant to Lexington, including the customized ice box that serves as the wine cooler and is prominently displayed in the middle of the restaurant. After showing me the kitchen, we went out to the bar area where he has pictures of his hometown on the Swiss border prominently displayed.

Besides the wonderful pictures of the local food market, I especially loved the pictures of the communal oven where the residents of his tiny home village still bake bread. I wanted to run right over there and shove a loaf of my pain de champagne right into the blackened brick maw.

We then walked over to the wall where Chef Galand's many, many awards and reviews are displayed including his prized signed photo of Gordon Ramsey and a signed article from the Washington post about his best friend, former White House pastry chef Roland Mesnier.

We stood and chatted about the joys of tripe and pigs feet before he sent me on my way back to my hotel with fresh strawberries sliced on the last half of my creme brulee cheesecake. I can't wait to come back to Cafe Michel on my return to Lexington and have the smoked salmon for a starter.

Chef tells me he cold smokes it fresh and I'm a sucker for cold smoked salmon...

Making Dough Stretch The Daring Baker's Way!

2009-05-27T00:01:00.000-04:00

The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers.
mmmmm......

Apple Strudel. Serve it warm with a big ole scoop of vanilla ice cream!

Trust me.

You'll be going "mmmm.....apple strudel" all day long.

To see other scrumptilicious strudels get your lederhosen on and check out my fellow Daring Baker's creations. Thanks Courtney and Linda for a fun challenge.

Apple strudel
from “Kaffeehaus – Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague” by Rick Rodgers

2 tablespoons (30 ml) golden rum
3 tablespoons (45 ml) raisins
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon (80 g) sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick / 115 g) unsalted butter, melted, divided
1 1/2 cups (350 ml) fresh bread crumbs
strudel dough (recipe below)
1/2 cup (120 ml, about 60 g) coarsely chopped walnuts
2 pounds (900 g) tart cooking apples, peeled, cored and cut into ¼ inch-thick slices (use apples that hold their shape during baking)

1. Mix the rum and raisins in a bowl. Mix the cinnamon and sugar in another bowl.

2. Heat 3 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet over medium-high. Add the breadcrumbs and cook whilst stirring until golden and toasted. This will take about 3 minutes. Let it cool completely.

3. Put the rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Line a large baking sheet with baking paper (parchment paper). Make the strudel dough as described below. Spread about 3 tablespoons of the remaining melted butter over the dough using your hands (a bristle brush could tear the dough, you could use a special feather pastry brush instead of your hands). Sprinkle the buttered dough with the bread crumbs. Spread the walnuts about 3 inches (8 cm) from the short edge of the dough in a 6-inch-(15cm)-wide strip. Mix the apples with the raisins (including the rum), and the cinnamon sugar. Spread the mixture over the walnuts.

4. Fold the short end of the dough onto the filling. Lift the tablecloth at the short end of the dough so that the strudel rolls onto itself. Transfer the strudel to the prepared baking sheet by lifting it. Curve it into a horseshoe to fit. Tuck the ends under the strudel. Brush the top with the remaining melted butter.

5. Bake the strudel for about 30 minutes or until it is deep golden brown. Cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing. Use a serrated knife and serve either warm or at room temperature. It is best on the day it is baked.

Strudel dough
from “Kaffeehaus – Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague” by Rick Rodgers

1 1/3 cups (200 g) unbleached flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
7 tablespoons (105 ml) water, plus more if needed
2 tablespoons (30 ml) vegetable oil, plus additional for coating the dough
1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar

1. Combine the flour and salt in a stand-mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix the water, oil and vinegar in a measuring cup. Add the water/oil mixture to the flour with the mixer on low speed. You will get a soft dough. Make sure it is not too dry, add a little more water if necessary.
Take the dough out of the mixer. Change to the dough hook. Put the dough ball back in the mixer. Let the dough knead on medium until you get a soft dough ball with a somewhat rough surface.

2. Take the dough out of the mixer and continue kneading by hand on an unfloured work surface. Knead for about 2 minutes. Pick up the dough and throw it down hard onto your working surface occasionally.
Shape the dough into a ball and transfer it to a plate. Oil the top of the dough ball lightly. Cover the ball tightly with plastic wrap. Allow to stand for 30-90 minutes (longer is better).

3. It would be best if you have a work area that you can walk around on all sides like a 36 inch (90 cm) round table or a work surface of 23 x 38 inches (60 x 100 cm). Cover your working area with table cloth, dust it with flour and rub it into the fabric. Put your dough ball in the middle and roll it out as much as you can.
Pick the dough up by holding it by an edge. This way the weight of the dough and gravity can help stretching it as it hangs. Using the back of your hands to gently stretch and pull the dough. You can use your forearms to support it.

4. The dough will become too large to hold. Put it on your work surface. Leave the thicker edge of the dough to hang over the edge of the table. Place your hands underneath the dough and stretch and pull the dough thinner using the backs of your hands. Stretch and pull the dough until it's about 2 feet (60 cm) wide and 3 feet (90 cm) long, it will be tissue-thin by this time. Cut away the thick dough around the edges with scissors. The dough is now ready to be filled.

Tips
- Ingredients are cheap so make a double batch of the dough, that way you can practice the pulling and stretching of the dough with the first batch and if it doesn't come out like it should you can use the second batch to give it another try;
- The tablecloth can be cotton or polyster;
- Before pulling and stretching the dough, remove your jewelry from hands and wrists, and wear short-sleeves;
- To make it easier to pull the dough, you can use your hip to secure the dough against the edge of the table;
- Few small holes in the dough is not a problem as the dough will be rolled, making (most of) the holes invisible.

Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge: Greek Celebration Bread

2009-05-26T08:22:00.000-04:00

Oh, Peter.

I really truly wanted to like the Greek Celebration bread.

Honestly, I did.

Especially after running my fingers through the luscious dough that rose so high and puffy.

I even laughed at myself for calling the dough "Puffy Christo Dough" since I was going to make the Christopsomos version of Greek Celebration Bread. I cooed at it and chatted up a storm with my "Puffy Dough". I get that way when I'm working with the dough from one of my starters.

I used Harpo for this bread since I'd been feeding him regularly the past two weeks to give some away to two students at a bread baking class I taught last weekend. Nice, mild and easy does it is Harpo's way. Aptly named starter wouldn't you say?

The bread baked nicely and the crumb was a delight

but there was just something that didn't click with me when I took my first bite.

Maybe it is the combination of cloves and allspice I don't like in this bread or maybe the fruit combination I used. I had a mix of dates, apricots, golden raisins and currants on hand from another dessert I made a few weeks ago. Frankly, dried fruit is expensive so I did substitute.

Or, maybe it was the 1 1/2 extra cups of precious bread flour I had to add to the soup I started with to get the dough even close to the description in the Bread Baker's Apprentice.

I don't know and maybe won't ever know but I'm sorry Peter and you lovely Puffy Christo Dough.

I really and truly am...

Breadchick Rating of BBA Recipe:
2 Loaves out of a possible 5

A Search Gone Awry...In a Very Good Way

2009-05-25T11:25:00.008-04:00

I didn't intend to end up visiting the four corners of Manhattan when I woke up on Saturday morning.

I had no intention what so ever of doing anything but sleeping in late, leisurely puttering around the house until midday and then going into "town" about 4ish to meet some friends at the roof top bar of the MET for drinks and the best views one can have while holding an adult beverage of Central Park for six bucks (or six bucks plus the price of admission if you aren't a memeber) before embarking on an evening of debauchery in the Big Apple.

But, after reading about Nutella and Go on Baking Bites, I got a wild hair and quickly gathered myself for a day of searching the various food shops that specialize in European imports for those little packages of Nutella and dipping biscuits. I was going to go find some and triumphantly take them into the office for all to oogle and be in awe of my luck. Besides, I was out of Jif to Go and what better item to replace those little containers of peanut butter with than little containers of Nutella?

Deciding my best plan of attack to find the Nutella and Go was to hit the stores specializing in the cuisine of the countries I know that Nutella is one of the major food groups, I added to my Google map of NYC Food and Cookbook Store the Essex Street Market in the Lower East Side, collected my things for a day and night in NYC in my "city bag", fed LB a generous helping of cat food along with leaving two windows open for him to catch the early summer breezes from the sound, and took the 11am train into Grand Central.

I started with a visit to the Yorkville section of the Upper East Side for a stop in one of my two favorite cookbook stores, Kitchen Arts and Letters. I love this little store crammed full of new and old cookbooks. I had the store to myself and after perusing several lengthy and heavy tomes on bread baking and pastry, I was a good girl and left without purchasing anything to add to my ever expanding cookbook collection.

Next stop, Schaller & Weber, the venerable German grocer on the corner of 2nd Ave and 86th street.

I've stopped in here before to quench an addiction of mine for lemon filled crisp cookies by Manner

but I had never really bought anything else. Since I knew I was meeting friends later and the weather was delightful, I decided to add some German salamis and cheese to my purchases.

I figured we all might like to go sit in Central Park before emarking on our evening of drinking for an impromptu picnic of various meats, cheeses, and other goodies I might discover while searching for the Nutella and Go.

Right next to Schaller & Weber is the Heidelberg Restaurant,

one of the last places along the "German Broadway" where they still pull good German beer the old fashioned way, slow and long, and that you can get the German equivalent of a Ploughman's Lunch

Wurstbrot mit Kartoffelsalat (sausage loaf with potato salad). I opted to get mine with a fried egg on top. The egg had a still soft center that when I cut into it spilled over the Wurstbrot and when paired with the fantastic true German pumpernickel from the bread basket and washed down with a "Frau" liter of Hasenbrau

was exactly the type of stick to my ribs lunch I needed before heading to the Village and my next stop, Myers of Keswick.

But not before a stop at the place that I and quite a few other New Yorkers think has the best cupcakes in NYC, Two Little Red Hens

for a little dessert of two mini cupcakes, one red velvet with cream cheese frosting and the other yellow cake with chocolate frosting and sprinkles. I devoured them before I even thought to take a picture.

A twenty minute subway ride with a change from the Downtown 6 to the Shuttle at Grand Central and a jump onto, literally, of the Downtown 1 at Times Square to Christopher/Sheridan found me at the doorstep of my absolute favorite cookbook store in the world, Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks.

Bonnie is the absolute queen of all cookbooks old. If the cookbook was published and can still be found extant, she either has it or knows where to get it. I'd like to tell you I had the same restraint I had at Kitchen Arts and Letters but I would be so completely telling a lie. I mean when one is confronted with a vintage copy of Bernard Clayton, Jr's "The Bread's of France and How to Make Them in Your Own Kitchen"

a bread baker has to do what a bread baker has to do! (Don't hate me Tanna.) Afterall before there was Peter Reinhart, Maggie Glazer, and Rose Levy Beranbaum, there was Bernard Clayton, Jr. showing us how to make artisan bread in our home ovens.

I'm also not sure how these other three books ended up going home with me.

Honest. They just jumped in my bag. Really....

My trip to Myers of Keswick was very in and out. The store was swarming with people and the shop isn't that big. So, after a quick "look-see" to try and locate the so far elusive Nutella & Go, I headed out into the sunshine and a walk to 6th Ave to catch the "F" train to Coney Island to get off at Delancey/Essex and check out the Essex Street Market.

I have always wanted to wander through here but just haven't quite had a chance to. It reminded me a lot of the Chelsea Market but on the other side of town. I stopped in to Batista's and they didn't have my Nutella & Go yet but said that they were trying to source it as I was about the twentieth person in two weeks to ask for it.

As it was about 3pm, I knew I had to be quick about my last stop, Zabar's.

But I had that planned as making Zabar's my last stop would put me on the opposite side of Central Park and quick cab ride across the 79th St. Traverse to the Met. Besides, Zabar's was the place to pick up any last minute picnic items, like their Lake Superior smoked whitefish dip, some more cheese,

and a big hunk of Sullivan Street hearty country sourdough bread.

Zabar's was the typical late Saturday afternoon zoo that it always is but the sample ladies were as nice as always shoving pieces of bread slathered with country pate and hunks of thin shaved prosciutto at you as you whizzed by basket over arm. No luck on the Nutella and Go but that is OK because I also tossed a box of Carrs crackers and a much needed bottle of water in my basket.

I walked out onto the sidewalk to hail a cab and head to my rendezvous on top of the MET but was waylaid by the smell of fresh baked bagels wafting across the street from H&H Bagels.

Well, just in case I ended up staying the night at one of my friends apartments, it would be good to have something for breakfast like half a dozen everything, sourdough, and egg bagels right?

As it was, after munching on some of the goodies I had bought during my Nutella and Go search and dropping the leftovers off at one of the apartments, we ended up having dinner dinner at Buceo 95 before hitting an endless string of bars and night spots. I did end up crashing on a friend's couch because I missed the 1:49AM "Strange Train" back to Connecticut and it was all good. Really. Greenwich Village is a great place to end up at 4:00AM.

Nicole informs us that Nutella and Go isn't yet available in the US but, when I embarked on my city wide search on Saturday morning, I assumed she meant they weren't available "out there" beyond the borders of NYC, the great city of small ethnic markets on every corner.

I was wrong and she was right but, after my visits to the food markets of the four corners of Manhattan, I have never been happier or more sated to admit I was wrong.

Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge: Anadama Bread Rules!

2009-05-22T08:36:00.000-04:00

Peter Reinhart has been sniffing around my family recipe box.

I'm proving my loss of any semblance of sanity by participating along with my fellow Bread Baking Babes Tanna, Gorel, and Natashya in the Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge so wonderfully directed by Nicole of Pinch My Salt.

I've blogged about my deep, personal and intense love of Anadama bread before. I've even shared my Great Auntie Nora's family recipe for Anadama bread with you.

I've gushed about how I love the molasses sweetened taste of Anadama bread toasted and slathered with butter. How I love to take slightly staled slices and dip them in steaming clam chowder made with clams straight off the boat that morning.

So, imagine how I gleefully ripped into that first perfect loaf from the oven

I made using Peter Reinhart's fabulous recipe in The Bread Baker's Apprentice.

While his recipe calls to soak the corn meal overnight versus pouring boiling water over it like my family recipe instructs, the result is still the same: the texture of the cornmeal is preserved in the baked bread.

Which, in this Anadama bread lovers opinion is what makes it such a fantastic toasting bread.

The only thing that makes it better?

Slather some orange marmalade on top and eat with slices of sharp Vermont cheddar cheese for after dinner dessert!

Breadchick Rating of BBA Recipe:
5 Loaves out of a possible 5

Bread Baking Babes Twist Things Around a Bit

2009-05-20T20:02:00.004-04:00

Hi, you've reached the home of Breadchick.

I can't come to the blog right now because I'm a bit tied up in knots of luscious dough and yummy Italian Knot bread

courtesy of the Bread Baking Babes and our host kitchen, Ilva.

If you would like to be a Bread Baking Buddy, please email Ilva by May 30th with a link to your post or a picture of your bread and go visit the other Babes on the sidebar over there to see their twists, turns, and tucks.

Thanks and have a good day.

Beep....

PANE DI PASTA TENERA CONDITA or ITALIAN KNOT BREAD

biga:
500 g /1,1 lb normal bread flour
5 g/0,17 oz fresh yeast
240 ml/1 cup water (I usually need a little more)

- Dissolve the yeast in a little water and quickly work the dough together.
- Put it in a high container, cover itwith a half closed lid or a kitchen towel and leave it for 15-24 hours.

bread:
0,500 g/1,1 lb biga
1 kg/ 2,2 lb 00 flour
450-550 ml/ 1,9-2,3 cup water, finger warm
30 g fresh yeast (this is what I found: 18 grams of fresh yeast = 7-10 grams of active dry yeast = about 4-6 grams of instant yeast, I don't dare trying to calculate it right now)
50 g/ 1,7 oz extra-virgin olive oil
60 g/ 2,1 oz lard
25 g/ 0,88 oz honey
25 g/ 0,88 oz salt

- Put the flour either in a big bowl or on a baking board, add the lard and mix it with your fingers until it has 'crumbled' and is completely mixed with the flour.
- Dissolve the yeast in little tepid water and add it to the flour.Mix as well as you can.
- Mix salt, olive oil and honey with the finger warm water and add it to the flour. Now work it it until it holds together and then add the biga.
- Work the dough until it is smooth and doesn't stick. I do it by hand and then it takes between 5-10 minutes.
- Put it into a big bowl, cover it with plastic film and leave to rise until it has doubled.
- Now take up the dough and divide it into smaller parts, about 100 g/3,5 oz each, and roll them it into long snakes (sorry can't remember the proper term) about 25 cm/9,8 in long but you can do them smaller if you want, no need the follow these indications religiously!
- To make the knots:

page 1
1. (top left) Roll out the dough into snakes and lay them out on a flat surface.
2. (middle right) Make a semi-circle with the dough snakes.
3. (bottom left) Twist the two end together like in the photo.

page 2
4. (top left) Bring the two ends towards the upper part of the circle.
5. (bottom left) Lift/fold the top part over the twisted part.
6. (right) Take the two end and join them together under the actual knot, this will make the knot part come out more and it hides the ends.

- Put the knots on baking sheets and leave to rise until they have doubled in size.
- Bake in a pre-heated oven (200°C/390°F) for 30-35 minutes. As always it is useful to check the bread and to use your common baking sense!

Bread Baking Babes: Buddies Show Off Their Injera

2009-05-18T18:40:00.005-04:00

This past month's bread the Babes "baked" was quite the challenge for us and our buddies but we had ~~five~~ six intrepid bakers join us for some Authentic Ethiopian Injera,

including a few from places where Teff was really hard to find!

First to show up with her perfect looking and from the sounds of it tasting Injera was Judy from Judy's Gross Eats.

She loves Ethiopian food even her dog didn't like the "Tacoma" aroma wafting from the starter.

Next in was Jude of Apple Pie, Patis, & Pate with his gorgeous looking injera

and admits to an "addiction" to the Ethiopian restaurants in Chicago.

Long time buddy, Caitlin of Engineer Baker used all her powers of persuasion to get her boyfriend make a drive to the Madison, WI Whole Foods to get her Teff flour.

Even though he wasn't buying the fantastic Injera she made (or the toxic smell the starter gave off), she wrapped up her injera to take home and enjoy all by herself; which gives a new meaning to "taking your ball and going home."

Astrid, my fellow Weekend Cat Blogging food friend at Paulchen's Food Blog searched high and low in her home of Austria for teff flour. She finally found it online and had a "grand time" (sarcasm here children) trying to get the starter to do what it was suppose to but on the third try she had great success! Just look how lovely her injera looks.

I'll bet it tasted fantastic with her yam wot and lentils.

Madam Chow came to the party with the perfectly chewy balanced injera

and showed us all how you can combine many cultures of food with this flat bread by scooping up lovely leftover Mr. Chow's Coq au Vin with pieces of injera. When you get right down to it, there really isn't much different between Doro Wat and Coq au Vin, other than a few spices.

GUESS WHAT! We really had SIX buddies this month! Jane from Jane of Many Trades has a tale of woe to share but don't fret too much, despite having to improvise with some flour and water at the last minute, she and her other culinary half (both she and her husband are trained cooks!) pulled off a meal of injera and wot.

Thanks Jane for letting me know about your post.

Don't forget to join me and the other Babes this Wednesday for the bread we've all been working so hard on this month and to see how you can join us as a Bread Baking Buddy.

If I missed anyone's injera, drop me a note so I can add you to the round up and thanks for all your great efforts this month!

They're Baaa-ck!

2009-05-16T22:40:00.003-04:00

Look what I spied this afternoon in a grocery store...

Yup, that would be a package of Archway Cookies!!

Back in October 2008, the private equity firm that owned Salerno, Mother's Cookies and Archway shuttered the bakeries, filed for bankruptcy and fired all the folks that baked those cookies in the ubiquitous red and yellow package. By November, just when all of us were looking for our Mexican wedding cake, cherry nuget, and our pfeffernusse for the holidays, the last of the stock of the original soft supermarket cookies were gone.

In December a secret Santa came to town in the form of Lance Snacks, who not only bought the assets of Archway BUT also immediately rehired people who lost their jobs, gave them $1500 gift cards to get through the holidays, and started the ovens again.

The good folks at Lance said that getting production back up and running would be a long term process and that it may take them six months to get Archway back in all the stores. Now I know, making cookies are easy, but if you have to have a store bought cookie, there isn't a better cookie than Archway, Mothers, and Salerno. I'm glad to have them back.

I've always been a fan of Lance Snacks, having grown up with their peanut butter on cheese crackers in my lunch box, in the picnic basket and the hiking backpack. I always keep a pack or two in my travel bag as emergency rations. But their good will towards the workers of the bakeries affected by the bankruptcy and the slow restarting of the bakeries made me search out Lance's other snacks.

By the way, Lance was the only peanut butter cracker not affected by the recall of peanut butter. They don't outsource their peanuts and make their own peanut butter to keep quality control high.

In this day and age when we are bombarded by news of our food companies outsourcing their ingredients, having to recall large batches because of lax oversight on both the government and the companies, it is nice to see that at least one food company in the US has some morals.

Now on to some bread business.

I'll bet you think I've forgotten all about the Bread Baking Babes Buddies this month. I'll bet you think that I forgot that I was host kitchen and owe you all a round up of the fantastic Injera that you all made. I mean it has been almost a month!!

Never fear, I haven't forgotten about you all. Work was a bit crazy this week and now I'm out of town to deliver the Day of Bread Baking with Breadchick prize from last years Menu for Hope. The round up will be on Monday. Promise!!

Also, for those of you who had any doubt that I was absolutely out of mind and in serious need of therapy and a rubber room, this little news flash will cure you of your delusion...

I joined that crazy group of folks from all over the world who are baking their way through every recipe in Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice with Nicole at Pinch My Salt. I baked the first bread and I'm telling you, if I had to pick one bread to live on for the rest of my life, this one just might be it. I'll be showing you what I mean on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, those wild and crazy gal pals of mine, the Babes, will be showing you what we've been up to this past month. I'm not giving anything away but if bread had a yoga pose, what we did this month might qualify.

Heck, since we are on a roll (get it, roll...he-he, bread humor), let's really knock you out by offering up an installment of "Ask Breadchick" next week!

So, get those questions in to me. I'll answer them on Friday before we all take off for the Memorial Day weekend and the official start of Summer. Now if only the weather would co-operate. It's going to be 40 where I am tonight. Brrrr.....

Wordless Wednesday: First Brats of the Grilling Season

2009-05-13T08:35:00.001-04:00