Posts filed under 'Bread'
My List
I’m humming that song from The Sound of Music… “My Favorite Things”. You know the one, right? Only instead of raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens and sleigh bells and schnitzel (who came up with that last one anyway?), I’ve got a few other things in mind. Fiery autumn leaves is obviously one of them and along with brilliant foliage displays comes myriad food associations, many of which are among my most favored of all. Who here doesn’t drool just thinking about just-picked butternut squash, pumpkin, chestnuts, figs, apples, rutabaga, parsnips… the list of glorious local produce this time of the year is nearly endless.
Coincidentally, I’ll be bringing you recipes for each of those locally grown ingredients over the next few weeks. I’ve had a streak of foraging luck recently that even the wildest woman would be proud of, gathering up such uncommon delicacies as hardy kiwis and tender stalks of rhubarb from rather unexpected places. Stay tuned for those stories as they unfold in future posts. (Yes, I’m a tease sometimes.)
At the very tippy top of this blogger’s “my favorite things” list sits a golden orb, the regal Asian pear. Starting in mid-September, I literally haunt the walkways of farmers markets and the websites of pick-your-own orchards, ready to pounce on that first harvest of the season. From the moment I bite that first succulent juicy sweet fruit ‘til the flood of pears dwindles to a trickle in November, I eat them like a bear getting ready for hibernation. Fortunately, they’re so healthy, I don’t pack on the same pounds as a bear.
But really, if you’ve never had an Asian pear (versus, say, a more common Bartlett), you haven’t let your taste buds really experience life. These pears are so tender and oh-so juicy. No matter how careful you are, juice is going to dribble down your chin and you’re going to giggle when it does because Asian pears make you so very happy.
Generally I don’t cook with these pears though. Why cook them when they’re already perfect fresh? I tried making pear butter with them last year though and found that while it was good, it wasn’t any better than eating them raw. This year, after getting my initial “fix” on the amazing pears from North Star Orchard, I decided to try cooking with them once more. Just when you think you can’t improve upon perfection, along comes Sweet Gorgonzola and Pear Bruschetta.
6 comments October 9, 2008
Fall Prelude
I don’t know about where you are, but around here, the smell of fall has been in the air all week. It’s especially heavy in the dewy cool morning light. I smile like the Mona Lisa when I’m walking to class or working in my garden. I’ve pulled the light sweaters out of the cedar chest. What is it about autumn that just makes life a little sweeter? And is there anyone out there that “hates” fall the way some people hate winter or summer? I can’t imagine disliking cool nights, crisp mornings, and warm (but not hot) sun in the afternoon.
With the advent of autumn on my doorstep, I start to move my menus from light cool fare to hearty comforting dishes. Today’s Corn and Tomato Bread Pudding is a great bridge between the bounty of summer and the more selective nature of fall. Fresh sweet corn cut off the cob pairs beautifully with hefty cubes of whole wheat bread, slivers of oven-dried tomatoes, and a generous sprinkling of sharp cheese.
3 comments August 29, 2008
Bread Co-op: Oatmeal
How many of you are members of a cooperative, or co-op? I became a member of a large, well-establish co-op (the one associated with Weavers Way Farm) here in the city awhile back, and I’ve seen a few co-op apartments advertised around the neighborhood. But generally speaking, I always saw co-ops as these big entities that somehow solidified when no one was looking. Of course, I know that some energized and creative folks worked hard to start them at one point, but I’d never seen it happen.
Thanks to some creative minds at Weavers Way Farm, the development of a co-op has been demystified for me. Farmer Dave and the great interns working with him this year, Nina and Nicole, decided to start a bread co-op. Knowing how much I love to be in the kitchen, they invited me to “join”. Now, I’m guessing you might have had some of the same questions I did. What is a bread co-op? How does it work? Is there a membership fee? How do I benefit? What kind of bread do I need to make?
1 comment June 4, 2008
The Real Deal
Alright, so first, let me tell you how grateful I am for the outpouring of support for my thematic tweaking of the blog and for my gutsy or wacky, depending on which peanut gallery you’re seated in, career change. You ladies and gents rock! I mean that! I really have been second guessing my sanity the past few weeks so any and all morale boosters are much needed. Did I mention I ticked off another decade this past week too? I’m not telling you which one, but let’s just say I’m fearful I’ve left the “young woman” stage of my life behind. On my birthday, I was on my knees, pulling weeds, and wondering which synapse exactly in my aging brain short-circuited when I decided to leave my cushy manager’s position for *this*. Fortunately, I’ve since halted plans to surgically remove that faulty synapse, realizing after planting several 10-15 feet tall trees among towering 200 year old Hemlocks today, that this new role is pretty darn cool.
So anyway, eons ago, when the temperatures were below freezing (strange how that seems far in the past already), I had those wonderful Weeks of Bread. Remember? And in one of those carbohydrate crazy posts, I showcased a recipe for Pumpernickel Bread that proved to be a bit untraditional and promised to make a stab at a more traditional recipe in the near future. Well, let’s see…3 months later, I’ve finally got that traditional Pumpernickel Bread recipe for you. This batch was much more along the lines of what most people think of when they imagine those dark, dense loaves with a molasses nip in the flavor.
It is very time consuming though, so be forewarned. And it still didn’t meet the standards of the pumpernickel aficionado (D), supposedly too “homemade” tasting. Um, yes, it is homemade, my dear; how insightful of you. I personally enjoyed its moist dense interior and crackly exterior, but I guess D was expecting, yet again, a loaf much more similar to that which he buys in the store. Take that review for what it’s worth. I would suggest trying this recipe for yourself and, assuming you like it as much as I did, planning to bake big batches of it at a time and freezing it until ready to use. The fermenting period, coupled with the long sauna session in the oven, make this particular bread a bit difficult to “whip up”. For the record though, the initial step of getting the ingredients incorporated into a dough is one of the fastest and easiest of any bread I’ve ever made.
As may be foreshadowed by my slowness to post this recipe, making traditional pumpernickel is only for those with some reserves of patience or mad multitasking skills.
8 comments April 9, 2008
Week 3 of Bread: Bread Bowls
You know what I love most about blogging? With a little dedication, time and encouragement, a virtual community starts forming and the flow of ideas starts going both directs – me to you and you back to me. Actually, I guess ideas really start flowing three ways when you consider readers sharing hints with other readers in the comments section. In short, you guys rock!
Why the sudden outpouring of love? Well, the Yeast Primer post got a lot of great discussion going in the comments, and I’ve started getting regular emails with helpful ideas and recipes too. For example, the base recipe for today’s Seasoned Bread Bowls, the last of the bread recipes until next winter probably, comes from reader, Kim, and it helped me to offer an easy method for making bread bowls, a request made by another loyal reader, my mom.
The original recipe was meant for baguettes, I believe, but I thought the seasoned dough would make nice bowls for soups too, adding a little extra flavor in the background. This dough was very interesting to work with as it wasn’t like any other I’ve made before. It started with making a batter! And then beating that batter until it was nearly frothy wiht a heady yeast smell. Then it became a very fast riser and generally much shorter process from start to finish, which is perfect if you’re trying to get a bunch of them together for a dinner party.
Thanks to the milk, butter and egg, the resulting crumb of the bread is very light and soft with a good crust – perfect for bread bowls. The seasoning wasn’t as prominent as I expected so I’ve added some extra in the recipe below that I think will give it a boost. I found I liked my second bread bowl better than the first since it had sat for a day, getting ever so slightly stale (I forgot to seal the bag) and developing its flavors more.
I don’t have any to test it on, but I think this would be a great recipe to get the kids involved with, particularly the shaping of the dough balls. The dough is super easy, even downright fun, to work with so have them thump it around a bit and then use their little hands, which are much better proportioned than adult hands, to rotate the dough to form small taught balls. And how excited will the be to then eat their soup out of the bread bowls? I know I sure was!
14 comments February 23, 2008
