This week, Michelle of Bad Girl Baking chose Granola Grabbers (you can find the recipe on her blog) for Tuesdays with Dorie. I left out the wheat germ, raisins, and the coconut, and just added a bit more peanuts. Oh, and chocolate chips. One must NOT forget to add chocolate chips. Or some chocolate chunks, or chocolate-covered something or others. I love cookies, but don’t like baking them, so adding a bit of chocolate helps alleviate the angst.

These surprised me – I wasn’t sure what the granola would make them taste like, but in the end they tasted like a chocolate and peanut oatmeal cookie, and what’s not to like about that? They are sweet, but no more than a chocolate chip cookie. Be sure to check out Tuesdays with Dorie to see how others faired with the recipe. I had not made cookies since Christmas, when I baked about 20 different kinds, and triggered a major case of cookie-baking burnout. It was nice to make a batch again, and take a break from my bread baking experiments. Thank you, Michelle, for the great pick!

Back in May, a group of wild and crazy gals decided to bake some cheesy rolls from King Arthur Flour’s Bakers Banter blog. The bread looked amazing, so I bookmarked it, and finally had the opportunity to bake it.

I may not have added enough flour or kneaded the dough long enough, because it was pretty tough to work with – incredibly sticky and very, very soft. I used Ementaler cheese instead of Gruyere (which, believe it or not, I really don’t like that much). But the result was fantastic – soft interior, crispy exterior, and cheesy goodness all around. Next time, I’d like to try this with a sharp cheddar and diced green chilies.

If I could give one tip, it would be to pick a strong, flavorful cheese. I’m so glad I made this, and I hope to again. And thanks to all of you out there in the blogosphere who are my constant sources of inspiration! Keep on baking!

And please excuse me for the short posts the last week – I’ve been really busy, and I’m just glad I was able to get a thing or two up on my blog. I appreciate all your visits, and really look forward to your comments.  And be sure to check out Susan’s YeastSpotting post every Friday to see what people have been baking!

**Update** I forgot to mention that I used lime instead of lemon, and after about a week, the flavor of the ice cream was really, really good, but I still had trouble with the texture.  I plan to try this again, but I’m going to substitute low fat sour cream and half-and-half (light cream) for some of the heavy whipping cream. **

This week, Dolores of Chronicles in Culinary Curiosity chose Blueberry Sour Cream Ice Cream on page 434 of Dorie’s book, Baking: From My Home to Yours. I found some fresh blueberries on sale, and decided to double the recipe, making one small change: I replaced only 25% of the full fat sour cream with low fat sour cream. I also made the galette again to take to a dinner party, and it was polished off in record time!

The verdict? My least favorite recipe to date. Don’t feel bad, folks, I don’t consider this a failure. My husband enjoyed it, and I learned a bit more about what I like in an ice cream recipe. Namely, in a fruit ice cream, I like to taste the fruit. With this recipe, I was overwhelmed by the cream, sour cream, and the grease slick they left on my lips and the roof of my mouth, which is exactly why I don’t like Cold Stone Creamery brand ice cream. So, if you DO like really rich ice cream like Cold Stone, this is a recipe for you!

For the recipe, check out Dolores’s blog. To see how everyone else faired, go to the TWD blogroll.

Another book that has made it onto my bookshelf recently is The Healthy Hedonist: More Than 200 Delectable Flexitarian Recipes for Relaxed Daily Feasts. Kornfeld teaches cooking classes all over the United States for Sur La Table, and is the author of a number of vegetarian/vegan/ cookbooks. The Healthy Hedonist is what I would call a “flexitarian” cookbook – the focus is vegetarian, but she has a good selection of fish and poultry recipes, as well. The recipes are creative, use healthy ingredients, and a lot of them have a definite Asian or Latino bent.

After reading some reviews on Amazon, I decided that I had to make the maple glazed chicken for Master Chow, a chicken lover if ever there was one. Anyone who reads my blog can see that I tend to bake a LOT, and I realized that my cooking was getting into a rut. I wasn’t challenging myself enough, or adding new recipes to my repertoire.

The chicken was a hit – Master Chow has asked me to put it on the “repeat list.” That is always a thrill! I love it when he likes something enough to have it again. I have a lot of recipes bookmarked in The Healthy Hedonist, so hopefully I’ll be sharing a few more with you on this blog.  Recipe after the jump . . . .
continue reading "Maple Glazed Chicken"

“The Singular Case of Pane di Altamura.” Am I referring to a Sherlock Holmes mystery, perhaps?

No, indeed. Something even better: a bread-baking adventure.

Months ago, I purchased Daniel Leader’s newest book, Local Breads: Sourdough and Whole-Grain Recipes from Europe’s Best Artisan Bakers. The book has its problems, but it is still a treasure trove of wonderful bread recipes by some of the best bread bakers in France, Germany, Poland, Italy, Austria, and the Czech Republic. Best of all are Leader’s fascinating descriptions of these breads and his desire to learn all that he could about them. I actually read this book on the elliptical machine and in the tub – it’s like The Da Vinci Code for bread bakers!

One chapter captured my attention and held me in thrall: The Singular Case of Pane di Altamura. I’m not really sure why, but the description of this bread and its history captivated me. ” . . . enormous, crudely shaped loaves the color of the sun, made with 100 percent semolina flour . . . .” Local Breads, p. 246. The Italian government has awarded the bread a prestigious DOP (denominazione di orgine protetta) designation, which is “reserved for agricultural and food products hose properties are essentially or exclusively derived from their geographical environment.” Local Breads, p. 247.

Recently, I decided to tackle Pane di Altamura, and an interesting adventure it was. For one thing, bread dough mysteriously has made it way onto my kitchen walls, cupboards, and other nooks and crannies. How did that happen? But I digress.

The Sourdough

The first thing I had to prepare was the semolina sourdough, which is made with yogurt and no added yeast. You mix 1/4 cup of tepid spring water (57 g), with 1/2 cup of fine durum semolina flour (70 g), and 2 Tablespoons (28g) of yogurt (low or nonfat is fine) with active yogurt cultures, preferably organic. You keep feeding the sourdough 1/4 cup of spring water and 1/2 a cup of semolina, without tossing off, for up to 10 days, until the sourdough is bubbly and frothy. This yields a dough-like sourdough, not a very liquid one.

On day 8, my starter was bubbly and frothy, or so I thought, so I made the bread. After six hours, this is the rise I got, which is to say . . . about zilch, as you can tell from the picture to the right.

I had just gone through a rather alarming amount of semolina, so there was no way I was throwing this out. This batch of dough currently resides in my freezer, soon to be made into focaccia. I split the remaining sourdough, fed both batches, put one in the refrigerator, and left the other one on the counter overnight. I fed the latter batch again before going to bed.

Determined to tackle Pane di Altamura again, I arose to a new day and the sight of a very happy starter. It was bubbling and gurgling, and seemed a lot more active after I’d halved it.

Some more notes on the sourdough: First, the book says that it will turn a brilliant yellow. To me, that means canary yellow, but my starter always remained a pale yellow. Second, between feeding the sourdough and baking the first batch of bread (the dud), I went through about 3.5 pounds of flour. I started with a 3 pound bag of King Arthur durum semolina, and ended up with Bob’s Red Mill durum semolina. Don’t even start this bread unless you have about 5 pounds of flour on hand, just in case, which is what I ended up using in total.

The Dough

After some research, I learned that one baker had to ferment another dough in Leader’s book (for Pierre Nury’s Rustic Light Rye) for seventeen hours. SEVENTEEN HOURS. I decided to make the dough again, and wait it out and see what would happen. On the day after I split the starter, I fed it in the morning, and whipped up another batch of dough later that afternoon.

I mixed the dough for about 20 minutes, not the 10 stated in the recipe. I would stop the stand mixer every once in a while and just let the dough rest, then I’d come back. If I had to add more flour, I did so judiciously. I’ve made this three times so far, and the dough should feel very dense, and a bit tacky, but still moist – like pizza dough.

I should mention that when I made my first dud batch, I weighed everything on my kitchen scale. By the next day, my patience was wearing a tad thin, so I measured everything with U.S. measuring cups, and added flour by feel as I went along. I can’t really explain how I did this, I can only say that I was going to make this bread as many times as I needed to get it “right,” so I was willing to make mistakes. I really encourage novice bread bakers to go for it – there is no “test,” and you learn so much if you are willing to experiment. And you can always turn the duds into bread crumbs.

About four hours after I set the dough aside to proof, I casually walked into the kitchen to check on it, fully expecting to see nothing much happening. Well, the thing was alive, almost to the top of the bowl! So, I tossed it in the refrigerator overnight and hoped for the best (it was 10 p.m. by this time).

At 5:45 the next morning I launched myself out of bed. “What are you doing?” asked Master Chow. “I have to check on my bread!” I yelled as I ran for the stairs. “NOW?” he asked. Well . . ., yes. If you like to bake bread, I’m sure you’ll understand.

I completely skipped the step that called for a second proofing inside a kitchen towel and just formed the dough into the traditional Altamura loaf. In case you’re wondering what the dough feels like, it is just like cold pizza dough. The strands of gluten are amazing:

I proofed the dough for a couple more hours at room temperature, baked it, and ended up with the loaf at the top of this post. I have no idea what the bread should taste like, or what the crumb should look like, I can only tell you that it reminded me and my husband of San Francisco sourdough, which I like a lot. It’s not a bread I see myself baking again – as a loaf of bread – but I think it will make a great pizza. Look for a post on that in the near future.

I took a look around my kitchen, and I knew that there was no way I was going to toss out all that beautiful semolina sourdough. So I made two more batches of dough -and they both proofed beautifully! One batch is in the freezer to be made into focaccia (along with my first dud), and the second I turned into an Altamura peasant loaf, pane del contadino. I proofed this one inside the towel before shaping:

I had a great time experimenting with this bread. I had never made a semolina sourdough bread before, so I didn’t know what to expect, and had to rely on my own instincts and judgment. It was a real confidence builder – I encourage all you novice bakers out there to make the leap and bake some bread. It is immensely satisfying! I’m submitting this for Susan’s weekly YeastSpotting roundup at Wild Yeast Blog. Recipe after the jump . . .
continue reading "The Bread I Had to Make – Pane di Altamura"

Dorie Greenspan has also blogged about it. Click here for more information. I think this is a great cause, so I sent out some brownies on Wednesday.

Back in the day, I would only buy shellfish in months that ended with the letter “r.”  I have family in Alaska that harvests wild shellfish, and they stick to that rule.  “Shellfish can be problematic in the summer for several reasons. The first has to do with red tides, vast blooms of algae that collect along coastlines, usually in warm weather. They can spread toxins that are soaked up by oysters, clams and mussels.”  (Source.)  I can’t stand oysers, so I don’t eat them, but if you do, you can find more info here, and there is some medical info here.

With the increased availability of commercially farmed mussels, however, safety concerns aren’t as great.  I still try to stick to the old rule, but every once in a while I’ll get a fresh bag and cook them up this way.  It’s fast, easy, and healthy. 

Recently, I also found some steamed snow crab legs on sale at Whole Foods.  I’d never had them before, but my sister-in-law highly recommended them, so I bought a couple to try.  Because they were cooked, I placed them on top of the pile of mussels in the pan, just to heat the crab.  It worked perfectly.  With a tossed salad, and a little French baguette, this is a perfect light summer meal.  Just be careful where you buy your seafood.

You know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men. I actually made the buttercream, then I discovered that my new container of whipping cream was . . . sour. Argh! Another grocery store run was out of the question.

Thank you for visiting my humble blog, and please be sure to go check everyone else’s creations at Daring Bakers Blogroll – there are some awesome cakes out there!

I have an announcement to make: This is our favorite item to date out of Dorie’s book,Baking: From My Home to Yours. Thanks to Michelle from Michelle in Colorado Springs for this week’s fabulous selection. It’s on the repeat list, and we thought it was so wonderful, I will be serving it to dinner guests in the future. Everything about the galette was absolutely delicious: the tender and buttery crust, the sweet white peach filling . . . .

What I changed: I cut the dough in half and made a smaller galette. I skipped the custard completely, because we didn’t need more calories, and because I didn’t want to detract from the flavor of the incredible white peaches that I had found. The skin on the fruit was so tender, I didn’t even have to peel it – just sliced it thinly and fanned it out over the pastry dough (yes, folks, I used one ONE peach!). I also used plum jam, and amaretti cookies, an idea that came courtesy of Ulrike over in the comments section of the TWD blog (be sure to check it out for links to the other participants). I froze the whole thing for 15 minutes before baking, per Dorie’s recommendation – it’s over 90 F over here, and the pastry really needed it.  Then I brushed the pastry with cream, sprinkled it with sugar, and baked it.  We devoured the galette in record time.

One more thing: as with the blueberry pie, I substituted low fat cream cheese for the shortening. This may well be my new favorite pie dough, too!

I’ve baked quite a few things from Carole Walter’s fabulous book, Great Coffee Cakes, Sticky Buns, Muffins & More: 200 Anytime Treats and Special Sweets for Morning to Midnight, but if I had to pick one favorite so far, it would be a particular dough. A dough that takes literally minutes to make. A dough that freezes exceedingly well, and can be used to make many different pastries. And a dough whose taste and texture approach or exceed that of homemade Danish pastry, with a fraction of the time and effort.

Sound interesting? It’s Walter’s rich sour cream dough, or simple sweet dough, which can be used interchangeably. The difference between the two is that the former uses milk, while the latter uses sour cream. The end result is a rich, tender, flaky, and flavorful yeast bread that can be used to make braids, tea rings, buns, kuchen, sticky buns, cinnamon rolls, etc. If I have some milk or sour cream that need to be used up, I make a batch of this dough (or two), and freeze it. It is phenomenal.

A few weeks ago, I made the Dimpled Sugar Cake. I suspect that dish will make rare appearances in my house, BECAUSE WE ATE THE WHOLE THING IN ONE DAY. No wonder I have to spend so much time at the gym. For a great picture of the cake, and a review of Walters’ book, check out Ivonne’s blog. Ivonne describes the Dimpled Sugar Cake as “heaven in a pan.” To be honest, I was too busy eating the buttery, brown sugary creation to try to stage a decent picture.

Recently, I decided to try the crumb buns. These are little pillows of warm, yeasty goodness, sprinkled with a streusel topping (I used my own recipe). I pulled the dough out of the freezer the night before, and let it thaw in the refrigerator. In the morning, I shaped the buns, let them rise for an hour, and baked them. If you wanted to, you could shape them the night before and keep them in the refrigerator overnight, ready to pop in the oven the next morning. Is that great, or what? Note: the streusel topping that I made is not terribly sweet – if you like it very sweet, add a bit of white sugar to the mix.

These buns are my entry for this month’s Bread Baking Day #12, created by Zorra, and hosted by Aparna of the wonderful vegetarian blog, My Diverse Kitchen. Her choice this month was “small breads.” Be on the lookout for her roundup of everyone’s entries. And be sure to check out Susan’s weekly YeastSpotting roundup at Wild Yeast Blog. Recipe after the jump . . .
continue reading "Delicious and Easy Crumb Buns"