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.

According to our hostesses, the tart is  made up of several layers.  “The first is the “pudding” where a layer of jam is covered by an almondy pastry cream and baked in puff pastry. The second is the “tart” where a rich shortcrust pastry holds jam and an almondy sponge cake-like filling. The version we’re daring you to make is a combination of the two: a sweet almond-flavored shortcrust pastry, frangipane and jam.”

I decided to bake this in my square tart pan, and I used one of my favorite jams, Blenheim apricot, from We Love Jam.  Folks, if you haven’t tried their jams and barbecue sauce, you are seriously missing out on something.  I discovered them via David Lebovitz’s blog, and I’ve been a loyal customer.

The tart was easy to put together, and I didn’t bother rolling the crust to try to fit it into the pan - I just flattened it out, and pressed the dough, bit by bit, into the tart tin.  I’ve found that when I’m dealing with shortbread crusts, this technique saves my sanity.  After that, it was a matter of layering in the jam (2/3 cup - I will use a full cup next time) and the frangipane cream.  After it cooled a bit, I dusted it with powdered sugar.  I think my husband had three pieces, he loved it so much.  Definitely a winner, and something I plan on making again.

Thank you Jasmine and Annemarie for a great pick.  Check out the DB blogroll to see what other bakers made this month. You can find the recipe here.
continue reading "The Daring Bakers and a Traditional Bakewell Tart. Or Pudding."

The theme for Frugal Fridays is to use ingredients I have on hand so they don’t go to waste.  Recently, I made some Italian Knot Rolls and, because I halved the final recipe, I had some biga left over.  While perusing one of my favorite baking books, King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking: Delicious Recipes Using Nutritious Whole Grains, I came across a recipe for Sourdough Chocolate Waffles.  I used the leftover biga, and added some buttermilk until the mixture looked “right.”  I know that’s not really helpful, but the starter is supposed to be 100% hydration.  Judging by the incredible, mouth watering, gut-busting results, I think I got the proportions correct.

These are some of the best waffles I’ve ever eaten.  They were better than most chocolate CAKES I’ve ever had.  I had some left over so I froze them, and they were good FROZEN.  By that I mean we didn’t even bother to toast them, they were so good.  Even my husband loved these, and he’s not a big fan of chocolate.  The waffles are a bit soft when they come out of the iron, but if you let them sit in a 150 F oven on a rack, they will firm up.  I will be making these again and again, and I’m so happy to have found another recipe for my leftover sourdough toss off and biga.  You may also be interested in this recipe, which is a lot like the one in the book.  And be sure to check out Susan’s weekly Yeastspotting roundup!
continue reading "Whole Wheat Sourdough Chocolate Waffles - Fantastic!"

I had everything I needed to make this week’s dish.  Andrea of Andrea In The Kitchen picked Coconut-Roasted Pineapple Dacquoise, and after reading some of the reviews, I was looking forward to making it.  Until I discovered that a mouse had eaten my coconut.

Let me back up.  Master Chow and I have lived here for going on nine years.  Until the last year, we never saw a mouse.  Then, last year, a field mouse invaded our home.  We finally caught him in a humane trap and released him, but not after I had to throw out quite a bit of food.

Fast forward to the past week.  We’ve had very wet spring, and last week we did a lot of yard work and weeding.  I think the combination of the rain and possible disturbance of a rodent’s abode led a small field mouse to move into our laundry room.

I did a pantry inventory a week ago, and there was no sign of a mouse.  A few days later, I picked up a bag of brown rice and grains of it started to shower onto the floor.  Surprised, I looked at the bag and thought at first that I’d torn it.  But, nooooo.  I saw tell-tale signs of a mouse, namely poop.  Over the course of this past weekend, I discovered that Field Mouse had treated my pantry like a smorgasbord, nibbling here and there, and contaminating a lot of food.

Now, there are some things that I buy in bulk because we eat quite a bit of it.  Oatmeal, for example.  So, when the mouse ate through the cardboard box and sealed bag to take a nibble of some oatmeal, I had to throw out 4.5 POUNDS OF IT.  Below is a partial list of what this fellow munched on, and what I had to discard:

• the aformentioned oatmeal
• A BRAND NEW, 64 OZ. BAG OF CHOCOLATE CHIPS (this find alone nearly made me swoon.  Don’t mess with my chocolate!)
• 2 bags of unsweetened coconut (for this week’s cake, and very hard to find)
• 1 bag of sweetened coconut (for next week’s cake)
• a bag of muesli
• a 5 pound bag of raw peanuts (for assorted sweet and savory uses)

That’s a partial list.  An expensive list.  Needless to say, without coconut, I’m not making this week’s dessert.  I also have to vacuum and wash down our entire laundry room with a bleach solution.

And the mouse?  We set two snap traps and one live-catch trap.  I don’t use sticky traps because they torture the animals to death.  If it’s a choice between my mouse or my family, I pick my family, but I’m not going to torment the animal for trying to survive.  I caught the little bugger in the live-catch trap, and released him into the wild far from my house. Where there is no chocolate, and no coconut.

(First, sorry for the lousy photos - I’ve been having lighting issues.)

Take a rich buttery brioche, and add bacon and cheese to it.  Then thank the Italians for this marvelous creation that they call Casatiello.

Now, how does this fit into my Frugal Fridays theme of using everything on hand to make something and not let food go to waste? I’m glad you asked, because I had a hunk of frozen provolone in the freezer, along with some bacon and . . . Morningstar Farms soy bacon.  Yep, you read that correctly.

And the result?  Delicious, fragrant, buttery, tender.  Even after a few days the bread was great toasted, and excellent for sandwiches.  We are still eating it because this bread is huge - almost as big as the Artos bread I made a few weeks ago.

You can find a list of those participating, here, and you can find the recipe for Casatiello here.   Be sure check out Susan’s bread baking roundup every Friday:  Yeastspotting.

Going up later today! Friday:  Casatiello! On another note, here is a scary article about wheat crops that every baker should read.

I tell you, I’ve been having a heck of a time taking photos lately; lighting issues, blurriness, etc., and my brioche and Casatiello photos are no exception.  At any rate, I opted for the poor man’s brioche, the bread with the least amount of butter, which is kind of like comparing a woolly mammoth to a whale.  It still has a lot of butter, so the diet is out the window.  I know because my scale told me so.

On a happier note, the fragrance of brioche baking is so distinctive once you experience it, you’ll never forget it.

I didn’t have any problems making the brioche.  We consumed one loaf, and the other one sits in my freezer, waiting for a brunch that I’m hosting in a couple weeks.  Yum, what shall I make with it? The possibilities are endless:  a strata?  French toast?  We shall see.

You can find a list of those participating, here, and you can find the recipe for Poor Man’s Brioche here.   And please check out Susan’s bread baking roundup every Friday:  Yeastspotting.

I am back in town after a trip, so I’ll have a lot of posts going up this week, as I play catch-up with all my cooking groups!  First up:  Tuesdays with Dorie.

This week, Tommi of Brown Interior selected Honey-Peach Ice Cream on page 437 of Baking: From My Home to Yours.  Except I used mangos (peaches are not yet in season) and passion fruit curd, vanilla bean, and forgot to add the honey.  Master Chow had his with one of his beloved Chipster-Topped Brownies, and declared the entire dessert a success.  Thank you, Tommi, for a great pick.  To see what other group members made, check out the TWD blogroll.

Gus, exhausted upon his return home after I was away on a trip. This is before he peed on my bed.  I extracted my revenge by giving him a bath today.  And I just turned another year older.  Woo-hoo!

During a recent purge of The Time Machine, aka, my freezer, I discovered a couple bags of bulgur that I bought a while ago, hoping to try my hand at tabbouleh.  After watching an episode of Barefoot Contessa, I knew I had to make Ina Garten’s recipe.  I had everything I needed in the pantry and refrigerator (the theme of Frugal Fridays), so I got to work.  The result was delicious, just a tad too salty for me, so the recipe I’m including below has less salt than her original recipe.

This is a quick, easy, high-fiber grain dish that  I plan on making again and again.  I’ve been trying to add some diversity to the grains that we eat, and this one is a winner.

If you want to join me for Frugal Fridays, you can find out how to do it here.

continue reading "Ina Garten’s Tabbouleh for Frugal Fridays"

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I saw these last year on Tanna’s blog, My Kitchen in Half Cups, and I knew I had to try them.  I’m amazed it took me this long to get around to it.  Why are they “frugal?”  Why, because it is a great way to use that sourdough toss off, instead of literally tossing it off.  Every time that flour mixture goes down the drain, something inside of me cringes.

I used my white starter, Son of Boris, to make these.  Boris Senior passed away last year, but Junior seems to be made of sturdier stuff.  I followed Tanna’s recipe for the most part, but when I couldn’t find my sparkling water or Aleppo pepper, I winged it by adding regular water, about 1/2 tsp. of cayenne pepper, and some garlic powder and salt.  Like Tanna, I found that one soft ball-sized onion was more than enough for my husband and me.  These really benefit from liberal seasoning, so next time I make these I’ll increase all the spices.

The coating was crisp and light, and the rings were best piping hot.  We stood at the stove and ate them as they came out of the oil, and were so full that we couldn’t eat dinner.  I find that my tolerance for grease has decreased dramatically with age.  But, obviously, not my taste for it.  Heh. These onion rings have been Yeastpotted!  If you want to join me for Frugal Fridays, see here for more info.

continue reading "Tanna’s Sourdough Onion Rings for Frugal Fridays"

This month, for  “You Want Pies with That?”, Ellen at Kittymama chose “Childhood Memory Pies” as our theme.  With spring in the air and summer just around the corner, what came to mind was the one summer when I was losing my front baby teeth.

Why?  Fresh corn on the cob.  One of the finest foods on earth.  Summer = corn.  What I remember is sitting out in the backyard, gnawing away at a corn cob in my toothless state.  I would not be deterred.  Pain was brushed aside as I gummed those ears of corn for all I was worth.  Ah, the memories!

So, when I saw a recipe for roasted corn quiche in King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking: Delicious Recipes Using Nutritious Whole Grains, I knew I had to make something like it.  I used my variation of Dorie’s Good for Almost Anything Pie Dough (left out the sugar in the crust), and filled the pan with roasted corn, peas, green onions, onion, a bit of leftover bacon, some thyme, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco, salt and pepper, and a bit of left over habanero cheddar that was languishing in the refrigerator.

Into the oven it went (I used a 10-inch diameter pan, about 1-3/4 inches deep) and emerged 45 minutes later.  Served with a tossed green salad, it was a satisfying dinner.  And it will tide me over until I can get my hands on some good local corn later this summer.

To see the other pies that the Pies with That gang baked this month, check out the blogroll - a roundup will be up soon after June 7.