Lisa's Lovin' Loaves

Salmon Patties, Easy? Oh Yes!

2012-01-27T10:45:00.000-05:00

We always get a large enough fillet to have seared salmon for dinner; salmon patties make a great brunch the next day. Start with some chopped onion, celery, shredded cooked salmon, salt and pepper in a large bowl.

To this, add a large egg.

I like to add tarragon and a healthy measure of paprika. Mix this, squeeze in some lemon and about a cup of bread crumbs. I prefer to run stick pretzels through the blender. Work the pretzel or bread crumbs into the mix. Have some pretzel crumbs for coating, too. I place patties in a hot skillet with s smidge of oil just to keep them from sticking. Brown on both sides and remove. Another option is to pop them onto a baking sheet and into a 400 degree F oven for 12 min., turn and continue baking for another 6 minutes.

You get these lightly crisped, moist wonderful salmon patties that go with any favorite side:
coleslaw, tomato, basil, mozzarella,caprese, mac'n'cheese, potato salad, baked beans, tossed salad, whatever your taste buds demand.

BUY AMERICAN, BY TERVIS PRODUCTS

2012-01-05T14:26:00.000-05:00

Palm Trees, home grown lime, ice tea and sunshine

TERVIS makes a rockin' insulated tumbler in various sizes with options of a variety of logos. Tervis is a US company providing the old fashion customer service that has nearly disappeared. Located in Florida, I support a business in my home state, as well as MADE IN THE USA. I LIKE that! I am NOT affiliated with the Tervis company in any way other than a satisfied customer. I had to make this post because this company is what AMERICA is about: a good product, and great service. I have had my tumblers for about ten years. One fell from the table and came apart. They come with a lifetime guarantee. I thought about sending it in but didn't. A few weeks later, I noticed my tervis tumbler left a water ring. Not supposed to happen! Switched to a different one and alas, it had developed a leak. Don't get me wrong, I AM NOT complaining. Setting the stage, though. I use my tumblers everyday, inside, outside and on the go. Tervis tumbler always. So, I find a box and pack 'em up. I go on line to learn the particulars of the return. There is a simple form to print and fill out. Tumbler size, why it is returned and what logo you wish in the replacement. Allow 4-6 weeks. Could I go that long without my Tervis? For ten bucks of shipping I got my tumblers replaced! But they arrived in 9 days! Not good as new or like new but NEW! I love my TERVIS tumblers and suggest if you have not experienced these useful American made products to go online and give 'em a look. They make great gifts with that iconic logo someone is passionate for, filled with a favorite candy or gift card. They will soon discover what a great thing their tervis is and you will shoot to the top of the great gift idea list! Be patriotic, give a tervis to those you love; they will love you and the tervis!
Again, I an NOT affiliated with the company in any way other than as a satisfied customer!

Finnish Pulla~ Not JUST for Christmas

2011-12-21T10:09:00.001-05:00

The perfect accompniment is a nice cuppa tea for a perfect morning; a perfect gift. Thanks, Ava!

Oh! The beauty of the sugar crystals, the oval sliced almonds, the nut brown crust and the alluring aroma of cardamom! Teasing the senses and so pleasing, a gift was delivered to my door in the beautiful form a Finnish Pulla Braid. It needs no dressing of butter or jam.

Recipe from Julie on THe Fresh Loaf, 2009

4 tsp yeast
2 1/2 cups milk, warm
1 Tbsp crushed cardamom (not ground)
1 stick butter, soft
1 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
About 7 1/2 cups flour
1 egg

Directions:
Heat milk to lukewarm. Pour milk into large bowl add yeast.
Next add the cardamom, butter, salt and sugar, mix well. Stir in three cups
of flour, add softened butter. Add remaining flour and knead about ten minutes. Cover and let rise about 1 1/2 hours.

Julie made buns. I make braided loaves. After the dough has risen, divide in half. Cut each half into three equal parts. Roll each third into a 14 inch rope. Put the ends together and fold under. Pinch smooth so they don't separate during the rise. Now braid the three ropes, sealing the ends under. Place the braid on the parchment covered pan. Repeat with the next three ropes. When both are on the parchment, cover and allow to rise about 30 minutes. Brush with beaten egg, sprinkle with sugar and almonds. Place in a 375 degree oven for 25 minutes. Loaves should be golden brown, not dark. Remove from oven, place loaves on wire rack for cooling.

Julie suggests frying left over Pulla in a skillet with butter but I have never had an opportunity to do this for there has never been any left over! Enjoy and thanks, Julie for sharing your mother-in-laws' recipe.

Scottish Morning Buns

2011-12-21T10:04:00.001-05:00

SCOTTISH MORNING BUNS, Worth Getting Up For!

Start with flour in the bowl.

Stir yeast into warm water and milk.

Add liquid and salt.

Stir to form a ball.

Knead a bit and place in an oiled bowl to rise.

Divide dough after the rise into ten equal pieces.

On a floured surface,

roll into an oval shape about 3.5 inches X 4.5.

Brush lightly with oil

Cover with oiled plastic film and allow to rise for half an hour and bake.

Scottish Morning Rolls

Makes 10 Rolls

Ingredients:

4 cups unbleached plain white flour; plus extra for dusting

2tsp salt

¾ oz fresh yeast (or dry yeast equivalent)

¼ pint/ 2∕3 cup lukewarm milk

¼ pint/ 2∕3 cup lukewarm water

2Tb milk, for glazing

Butter for greasing

Equipment:

2 Baking Sheets

Cling Film

To Make:

Grease 2 baking sheets.

Sift the flour and salt together into a large bowl and make a well in the center.

Mix the yeast in with the lukewarm milk and water

Add to the centre of the flour. Mix together to form a soft dough.

Lightly knead or turn the dough about 5 times, then cover with lightly oiled clear film.

Rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk.

Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and fold in thirds.

Divide the dough into 10 equal pieces.

Knead lightly and, using a rolling pin, shape each piece into a flat oval 4 x 3", or flat round about 3½".

Transfer to the prepared baking sheets, spaced well apart, and cover with oiled cling/clear film.

Rise in a warm place, for about 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven on to 400 °F.

Press each roll in the center with three fingers to equalise the air bubbles and prevent blistering.

Brush with milk and dust with flour.

Bake for 15 – 20 minutes or until lightly browned.

Dust with more flour and cool slightly on a wire rack.

Serve warm with butter and jam.

More on Pfeffernusse for Jack

2011-12-11T16:54:00.001-05:00

Meet my neighbor friend, Sgt. Jack Walker. He harks back to the days of home in Louisville, KY where childhood came to an end at 17 when he enlisted.

Thanks to Joann Hayden for sharing her recipe from her mom's collection. More pfeffernusse recipes to share soon!

Jack remembers tastes and flavors of his youth and I hunt them down. That is how the Pfeffernusse Project came to be this month. I have collected recipes from the good folks at The Fresh Loaf, a favorite online haunt for bread bakers and friends.
More pfeffernusse is in the making, and Jack will be the one to say which is closest to his 'memories'. There are other holiday favorites ahead as well. Come on back and check out the Pfeffernusse Project.

N.M. Cookies

2011-11-29T00:01:00.000-05:00

Many years ago the Neiman Marcus Chocolate Chip Cookie was the bench marker for all CCC to be measured against. With the onset of the Internet, secrets of all sorts became public information. Here is the 'desireable' Chocolate Chip Cookie. My first experience was in the 80's in NYC at NM! the cookie was the size of a desert plate and yummy. Here I give credit to NM for a great recipe, a great cookie and great memory! Dare I say I play with this recipe? Oh, but I do. My latest tweak was to change the oatmeal to Bob's Red Mill 5 Grain cereal. Oh, so crunchy and dunkable into that mug of milk. Yes, I said mug because the cookie fits into the mug for the dunk! They don't quite fit the glass. Besides, dunking in a mug adds to the ambiance of the experience, IMHO~

Here's the Toll House Version

N.M. Cookie
(Thanks to my niece, Christie for sharing this recipe oh so long ago!)

1 cup butter, softened 2 cups flour

1 tsp. soda 1 cup sugar

2 1/2 cups blended oatmeal 12 oz. choc. chips

1 cup brown sugar 1/2 tsp. salt

1 4oz Hershey bar, grated 2 eggs

1 tsp. baking powder 1 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 cups nuts

N.M. Version with Bob's Red Mill 5 Grain
instead of oatmeal! Crunchier!

Bake at 375 for 10-12 mins.

Peffernusse for Jack

2011-11-25T21:43:00.001-05:00

Pfeffernusse for Jack, with help from TFL Baking Friends

I have a great neighbor, Jack, who like most of us gets naostalgic with the onset of the holiday season. Moms, Grandmas, kitchen delights, aromas, tastes, flavors and textures long since missed haunt us from childhood. Longing for hands-on and tastebud triggers, we search for recipes of delight. Jack called night aksing if I was familiar with an old fashion German cookie, the Pfeffernusse. So happens, I am and even have an authentic recipe from a work colleague from 1986 in Wichita, Kansas! Jack was excited that I might just be able to recreate this childhood memory and taste of the 'pepper nut' cookie.

My recipe cookie is a quite small hard bit I have learned are called "buttons". His cookie is round and coasted with powdered sugar. I did a search and found several versions. Wanting the recipe to be as authentic as possible, I turned to fellow bakers on The Fresh Loaf site. I got assistance right away from www.flournwater.com, Mini Oven, RonRoy! Thanks! Ron sent me to an image link that lead me to a great resource, http://comfortablydomestic.com where Kristen had shared her heart warming story of baking pfeffernusse. Flournwater sent me a 1939 recipe from the Pennsylvania Dutch traditions. Black Friday? Not for me! I have baker's delight going on in the kitchen and more recipes to try.

Pfeffernusse German Cookies Recipe

shared online by K. Hupp

For Jack
recipe #1 is K. Hupp's

This is a traditional recipe for Pfeffernusse cookies which are often made in Germany during the Christmas holiday season. They are spicy, crisp, peppery cookies which are wonderful for dunking in milk or coffee. Their taste even improves with age when kept in a sealed air-tight container at room temperature. Baked cookies can also be stored in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter or margarine 3/4 cup dark molasses

1/4 cup honey 2 large eggs

4 cups all-purpose flour 3/4 cup granulated white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar 2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground cardamom 1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon ground ginger 1/2 teaspoon allspice

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground anise seeds 1/2 teaspoon salt

1 to 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar for dusting

Directions:

Grease cookie sheets and set aside.

Melt butter or margarine over medium-low heat in a saucepan. Stir in the molasses and honey and continue to heat and stir until mixture is creamy and well blended. Remove the saucepan from heat. Allow to cool to room temperature. Stir eggs into the cooled mixture.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, white sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cardamom, pepper, ginger, allspice, cloves, nutmeg, anise seeds and salt until well blended. Stir in the molasses mixture and mix well until thoroughly combined. Refrigerate dough for 1 to 2 hours.

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Roll dough into small balls about 3/4 inch in diameter. Place dough balls 1 inch apart on prepared cookie sheets.

Bake in preheated oven 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. Use a spatula to move cookies to a cooling rack.

Place powdered sugar in a plastic bag. Adding a small amount of cookies at a time, shake gently to coat completely with powdered sugar. Recipe yields about 5 1/2 dozen cookies.

"CHOPPED" The Home Version

2011-11-03T23:53:00.002-04:00

The Combsman came in from the bike ride/grocery stop and called me to the kitchen. When I made my appearance he proudly placed a pack of diced ham on the counter saying, "Your secret ingredients are:
diced ham, medium shrimp and . . . wait for it . . . wait for it . . .

freeze dried hash browns. The clock starts now.

Just like the chef contestants on the show, I glared at the ingredients he presented as though each would speak at any moment. Nothing was coming so I let the free writing spirit in me take over. Quiche, omelet, and then it came: A simpler version of the Carolina Shrimp and Grits. The hash brown potatoes in place of the grits. Make a cheesy rue sauce (no fancy culinary words here, I'm a good ol' Southern cook by the seat of my britches kind of 'chef').

I love surprises!

From the fridge I selected a red pepper and a nice sweet onion. These I diced and added to a hot pan with a bit of olive oil. Saute was happening. the oil for the hash browns was getting ready while they soaked. Freeze dried, remember? Never before seen much less appeared in this kitchen. Strain the potatoes, add to the skillet. Love that sing of flash fry, turned down the flame and paid attention to the onion/pepper combo. It was ready to come out of the pan. This is when I added the shrimp for a fast fry. Aromas were building and things seemed to be working for me. The timer showed I was 14 minutes in to the given 30. I felt pretty good and in control. I removed shrimp with a pink blush from the pan and let these rest in a bowl while I heated a tad of oil, stirred in a bit of flour to make the rue. I added milk and made the whisk magic work for me.

And I didn't get CHOPPED!
But, I didn't get a 10K prize either!
Reward: A Tasty Dinner with Combsman

MANGO BLUEBERRY PIE

2011-11-03T13:42:00.001-04:00

Brought to you by the Combsman. Yes, I do share the kitchen with the Combsman where he weilds a wild hand time and again with a yummy creativeness. He loves a pie and I am not always n the mood to whip one up. He has experimented with a variety of combinations for quick and easy pies. Here is the winner from this summer, a luscious mango blueberry pie. Mind you the mangoes are from the neighborhood ( I have wonderful neighbors who share) and the blueberries actually are Florida grown.

Here's the scoop:
Mango Blueberry Torte

by Combsman

2 C mango

2 C blueberry

1/4 c br sugar

1/4 c splenda (or regular sugar)

1/2 tapioca

dash of vanilla

Mix all ingredients in a bowl and allow it to sit 20 minutes. Place in a prepared pie shell.

Bake in oven at 400 for about 40 minutes. Allow to cool before serving with your favorite topping.

Lactose Intolerant? The Combsman has a chocolate pie for you. Oh yes he does. Coming soon.

2011-11-01T08:40:00.004-04:00

Novemeber is here and it is crunch time for writers the globe over. Write on, Writers, maythewordsflow!

A Little Smoke, A little heat and a Whole lotta Time

2011-09-24T14:46:00.000-04:00

Hey, hey, hey! Here it is, vegans beware! Content may be offensive! The Combsman did his 3 AM thing wrestling the pig to the smoker donning the dry rub secret. A little heat and smoke a whole lotta time and the results are in. Napkins at the ready -----; view the photos. Here we have three pork butts, bone in fresh from the smoker. There is a nice color, nice bark, juices and ooooohhhhhh, the aroma is killer. Pulled pork on fresh buns. Too busy to get more photos. Next time, I promise.

Smoker Repair Component in Place

2011-09-12T11:10:00.000-04:00

Here is the new component for the smoker repair in place. [Note: The entire smoker is upside down in photos]This is the pan which holds the water and a compartment for the wood. A new $14 drill bit was consumed in the installation adding to the repair cost. Combsman and I are okay with that as the replacement of the entire smoker who far exceed the repair costs. Now the plan is to break in the new pan this week. Time to smoke some pork butt. Not the ham section

or the shoulder, but the butt-with-bone-in! Takes longer but the flavor is enhanced. The Combsman has been perfecting his smoking skills now for about six years. BBQ in Florida, that is real BBQ, is not easy to come by. Yes there is PA BBQ but let's face it, that is NOT BBQ. They steam cook with liquid smoke way off the premises, warm it up, serve it up. There are a couple of BBQ trailer/wagons around but we don't care for the commute when there is no guarantee of good ol' home smoked goodness. We did try a few places around and then I gave the Combsman a smoker for an anniversary surprise.

There will be photos of the test run of the new pan later this week and the end product. Too bad the blog-o-sphere has not incorporated the smell-o-blog AP because this process makes the neighborhood drool! Maybe Apple should get on that, ASAP!

Not All Has to do with Yeast

2011-09-08T13:49:00.000-04:00

Bread is great and can often win the table all on its own. But the saying is "man does not live by bread alone". And well we came to understand this concept the summer the smoker died!

It has been an arduous search by the Combsman to find the replacement piece he needs for repair. As the summer has been HOT, HOT, HOT and there has been no baking of bread other projects have been under development. Writing fiction and more fiction. Characters battle in my dreams for who gets time on a page. I awake energized for the words of the day and soon there is a tangle of focus and I feel they ganged up on me and I lose.

So here are a couple of photos of the dead smoker, upside down in preparation for the required amputation of rusted bits hanging on and application of the new housing which holds the water pan and the wood. With this repair, it is time to consider releasing the yeast to rise and let the bake and smoke resume!

Florida Cottage Food Law Passed!

2011-07-17T16:36:00.001-04:00

This is great news for bakers across Florida! Check the labelling requirements and hop to it, bakers and canners! Thanks to Barbara of Cakes We Bake (visit her site: http://www.cakeswebake.com/) for her involvement and inspiration to make good things happen. Now if it would only cool off enough to fire up the ovens! Happy Baking, all.

BBA Challenge week #4 Brioche

2011-01-30T18:03:00.001-05:00

Brioche has always seemed out of reach for me and this challenge got me across the 'bridge'. It was the pan(s) not the recipe or procedure. Here I am happy to share te results of today's efforts in the kitchen.

The sponge reacted in great bubble form. I blended the dry ingredients and whisked the eggs separately as directed. These were added to the sponge followed by the addition of the butter. I chose to make the Poorman's version for the less butter content. Oh, I would love the Richer version but we are trying on the calorie thing in our house.(somewhat)

With the butter worked in, the dough was extremely sticky. I added a bit of flour and let the Kitchenaid to the knead. I added less than a quarter cup of flour for the knead. The dough became satiny but still tacky. I tumped the dough onto the board for a hand knead to check the feel of the dough. With flour on the board and hands, it folded well and was rather beautiful. Next, the dough was given 90 minutes to rise in a lightly oiled bowl. It rose nicely; excellent texture development. I did not get photos before the bake. Here you can see the crumb

tender, buttery, even without brioche pans.

BBA Challenge week #3 Bagels

2011-01-23T12:42:00.001-05:00

Bagels, bagels, bagels, the ever elusive perfect bagel. In the 80's the Combsman returned from a business trip toting in a huge bag of NYC Bagels... my first NYC bagel and oh boy, was it ever good. Dense tooth, great flavor with or without the traditional smear of cream cheese. Far too soon they were gone and we were hooked. I did in the 80's make my first bagels with a recipe from a NYC cookbook I borrowed from the library. Hey, this is before I had a computer or the internet evolved to the everything you need source it is today. The procedure was to make the dough, rest, shape, rest, boil broil and bake. They turned out fairly well for a novice and only one experience of eating a real bagel. We were happy. It was involved and cumbersome for the bread baker of only an Italian loaf and the occasional pan of sticky buns. Now fast forward to the present and we arrive at my second and third attempt at bagels. BBA's procedure with the cold fermentation produced a flat, less thick bagel more akin to the bialy. I found all the rise times to take longer. I am in South Florida where we think it is cool, but not winter cold. They were tasty with a good tooth. From the photo, you can see my skill of shaping the bagel needs much work. How much does the cold fermentation add flavor to the bagel? Checking bagel recipes and directions in Jeff Hamelman's Bread, he doesn't use the cold fermentation. Curious bakers need to know. I also must confess I had no malt... so I poured a Sam Adams Lager into the boiling water. it did produce a bit of the sheen and crust texture desired. I will be making bagels again because there are no real NYC bagels in my area and we gotta have a bagel fix from time to time. I catch a King Fish occasionally, which makes a great fish dip spread tat screams for a homemade bagel. Maybe, I should get on this brioche recipe for next week and make time for some fishing while the bagels cold ferment next weekend. Oh, wait, I have this other thing called a job.... teaching.... I have papers to grade and science labs to prepare as well..... juggling all the fun events to fit them into a week is an art!! Since that is a juggling act everyone attempts, we must all be artful by daily living, indeed.

Anadama: Peter Rheinhart's Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge

2011-01-09T15:26:00.009-05:00

Thanks to Chris at http://akuindeed.com/ for hosting the BBA Challenge of 2011. I missed the one hosted earlier by a different bread blogger and saw on The Fresh Loaf Chris was starting with the new year. Perfect timing and here I am!

I mixed the cornmeal and water as the soaker and let it sit overnight. Morning arrived bringing with it the time to make the sponge. This went together easily and showed signs of promising performance immediately with the appearance of bubbles. I allowed it to rest for the required hour; then returned to complete the dough build. This formed a very moist, sticky dough. With the dough turned out for the knead, I added a little flour at a time. When the dough was tacky rather than sticky, I returned the dough to the greased bowl for a rest of 90 minutes. I have learned a moist, tacky dough can be a good thing and adding more flour to prevent sticking can make a tough loaf.

The bowl filled and the dough was beautiful. I turned it out for shaping. Still a tacky dough, I dusted my hands rather than the dough. That turned out to be a good decision. I made two 1.5lb loaves and placed them into the bread pans for the final proof. Cooler temps today (even in Florida) caused me to increase this rise time to just more than an hour.

In a preheated 350 degree oven, I slid the pans in and set the timer. At the end of 45 minutes, the loaves looked great, but I have grown to appreciate more color for the crust. I added 12 minutes.

Removing the loaves from the pan started out as a worry. Patience served me well today. I let the loaves rest for about 5 minutes, ran a spatula along the interior of the bread pan for the release. There they were on the rack in a cloud of steam, aroma and rich honey color.

As the aroma filled the house, the Combsman appeared, hovering. But he waited, allowing the bread to finish and cool. Soon he was rewarded.

Color is good but I would prefer
a bit more dome rise above the edge of the bread pans.

Slicing and tasting brought satisfaction of the flavors and textures of a well baked Anadama
Bread.

This recipe is in every bread book I have on the shelf and a few other cookbooks as well. I had never made this and without Chris' BBA Challenge we wouldn't be sharing and enjoying this treat this weekend.

Come on back soon. There will be more reviews of recipes and more BBA Challenge results. Comments are welcome.

Stellar Blueberry Muffins, so I am told!

2010-12-31T14:31:00.002-05:00

Stellar Blueberry Muffins (so I am told)

Muffins, smell ‘em bakin’? Oh, the anticipation of the tender crumb, tasty blueberries with the melted butter all a-meltin’ in your mouth makes a holiday breakfast all the more like a holiday!

I have been makin’ this recipe from the 1936 Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook for over thirty years.

This was my husband's grandmother's
cookbook and includes
handwritten recipes on the inside cover
from her, his mom and now me.

Made ‘em once for County Fair blue ribbon winner, Joanie Rudnitzki, who commented, “Mine won first place at the fair and yours are better!” Now that is a compliment from fellow baker if I ever got one. Thanks, Joanie!

Here is the recipe and some photos of New Year’s Eve Morning’s results from the oven:

Sift together:

2 cups flour

1/4 cup sugar

1 Tbsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

Add:

1/4 cup butter or shortening ( I cut this into the dry ingredients)

1 egg slightly beaten

1 cup milk

Fold gently ONLY until ingredients are wet.

Fill greased muffin tin cups 2/3 full. Place in preheated oven at 400 °F for 20 to 25 minutes. Yields 12 medium sized muffins.

*I double this recipe to make LARGE muffins in my LARGE 6 count muffin tin seen in photos. Oh yes, these were shared and enjoyed around the neighborhood.

I like my extra large muffin tin
especially for impressive
Blueberry Muffins!
They are HUGE!

Rosemary Garlic Potato Bread from BBA pg 219

2010-12-10T11:28:00.002-05:00

Rosemary Garlic Potato Bread recipe from BBA doubles nicely. I made 24 petite rolls and two large elongated loaves. The slice had a nice crunch from the knife, the crust line around the slice was a beautiful quarter inch deep. The crumb was tender, not too airy allowing for great sandwich building.

Here is the smoked turkey, tomato, goat, cheese sandwich we enjoyed with a fiery green chile black bean soup. (Yes, those are homemade bread and butter pickles smiling out at ‘cha!) No left overs, folks; all gone!

I respect copyright of other bakers therefore have not included Peter Rheinhart’s recipe for this bread. If interested, check out his book from your library or bookstore. See this recipe and technique on page 219. I also recommend www.thefreshloaf.com for chatter on all kinds of breads, recipes, techniques. Participants chime in from all over the globe and are happy to help with questions, finding lost recipes, correcting various oooooppps in process and heaping praise on successes! Enjoy something savory and tasty today!

Parker House Rolls, My Grandmother's Recipe

2010-11-10T05:00:00.001-05:00

And in her handwriting from 1963. This is the only page saved from a gardening book she kept with her cookbooks. Notice the bookworm hole in the corner. I loved this book and was saddened to learn it was gone. But I do hav and treasure this handwritten recipe~ No one has penmanship like this anymore. Sad! I collect hand written recipes. Some are great becasue the dish is tasty nad others are good becasue the penmanship is fabulous. The are fun to flip through. Pne day, (soon) I will make a framed arrangement. Meantime, I try tomake a good collectiof for my nephews, Riley and Davis. They love to eat and will adventure into the culinary realm one of these days.

Because it is hard to read:
Parker House Rolls, Nettie Delores Stotts
1 cup scalded milk 2 Tbsp. shortening
2 Tbsp. sugar 1 tsp. salt
1 pkg yeast 1/4 c. luke warm water
1 well beaten egg 2 1/2 c flour
Combine milk shortening and salt. Cool to warm. Add yeast in warm water, add egg, gradually stir iin flout to form soft dough. Beat vigorously, cover and let rise in warm place till doubled in bulk, about 2 hours. Turn out on floured surface and make into rolls. Bake in hot oven, 400 degrees about 15 minutes. Makes three dozen.

Now, like many grandmothers, hse thought many kitchen tasks were intuitive! Here I will add details for "Turn out ... make into rolls..." that I needed. Punch down dough and turn out.
Nettie kept a pastry cloth in a plastic bag and her rolling pin had a cloth cover on it as well. She swore this kept any dough or pastry from sticking. I watched hours upon hours and never saw her fight a dough. No, my mat and pin are not wrapped! Some kids won't learn. And yes, I fight with stuck doughs on many occassions! Back on task here, rol dough 1/2 inch thick and cut with 3 in iscuit cutter. Brush each circle with melted butter and fold in half. Place each half circle in a 13 X 9 buttered pan. Allow to rise about 45 minutes and bake.

Fall Flavors

2010-11-09T10:00:00.002-05:00

Ah, fall finally comes to Florida with temps in the 50's. I won't dig out the old Wisconsin fleece but I have cooked up a pot of beans, small red beans. And with these I made a warm, spicy soup to warm all the way to the toes of the Combsman. Yes, it is sad, he gets cold in Florida. How can that be after twelve years in Wisconsin shoveling snow and ice?
Wash the beans in cold water, put in a pot and cover with two inches of water.

Bring to a boil. Boil gently for five minutes. Turn off the heat and rest an hour. At hour's end pour off the bean water and refresh. Return to a lose fire for a long simmer of about two and a half hours. Add water or chicken broth to keep the beans cooking. After an hour and a half, add chopped onions, peppers, chilies, cumin, garlic, lime, chopped tomatoes, and a dash or two of oregano. Simmer the remaining time. Once the beans are tender and the sauce is thickening, I take three cups from the pot into the blender. With a flip of the button and a few seconds of whirl action the puree is ready to return to the soup pot. Add chunks of chicken or pork (previously cooked) sausage if you like. I had previously smoked some spiced pork. That was a great flavor enhancer. I am not big on using prepared store bought foods. However, this Green Enchiladas Sauce is a great pantry item. I add it to my soups and stews. I use it in my cornbread batter. You know, I should do an entire post of its versatile uses. And yes, I put a large can of GES into the bean soup. Up the YUM factor! I served this with warm bread and a sprinkle of grated cheddar cheese on top. You can garnish with sour cream, Greek yogurt, guacamole; use your palette pleaser.

The remaining soup freezes well. Makes for a great combo with a steaming bowl of rice with fresh tortillas. Or return it to low heat and simmer till thick and use as a burrito filling.

Vietnamese Calamari Salad

2010-10-08T00:01:00.003-04:00

This cookbook has some of the very dishes we enjoyed while traveling through Vietnam.

As you can see here, I have been making this one for awhile now. And yes, I make notations in my cookbooks. when all is said and done, my cookbooks will be the better journal of important events in my life. I love reading previous notations and when I loan a book, I encourage friends to jot along as well.

I found a 2.5 lb package of squid at my local grocery. I let it thaw and come to room temperature. I used my kitchen shears to snip the small tube bodies into rings. This made 4 cups of squid for the salad. Put on 6-8 cups of water to come to a boil. Your pasta put with strainer section is perfect for this. Prepare a large bow of ice water for dunking cooked squid to stop the cooking process. I made the dressing before blanching the squid rings.
Dressing:
2 tablespoons lime juice
1/4 c rice wine
3 cloves crushed garlic
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon cracked black pepper
1/2 cup thinly sliced celery
1/2 cup cilantro leaves, finally chopped
2 tablespoons crushed peanuts
1/4 cup fish sauce
Combine all ingredients well. Let sit.

For the dressing

Back to the squid rings. Place the squid rings in the boiling water for 60-90 seconds. SECONDS is correct. Remove, drain hot water and immediately dump squid rings into the ice water being sure to submerge all pieces.

Pretty blanched squid rings

Dressing going onto the squid rings.

When thoroughly cooled transfer squid to bowl with dressing and toss thoroughly.

Serve on a bed of crisp greens with a side a bowl of soup or serve with crackers or a favorite bread or as here, with a hot tea. Enjoy.

This salad keeps well in the fridge for three days but it never lasts that long in my house.

Fried Green Tomatoes in Blue Cornmeal

2010-10-07T08:16:00.000-04:00

Cut the tomatoes a bit thicker than a quarter inch. Dredge in milk, then seasoned blue cornmeal. Repeat.

In a large skillet with half cup hot oil, fry the slices of tomato with plenty of room until a toasted brown color is achieved.

Flip slices over and brown. This smells wonderful. The toasted cornmeal, the tart tomatoes, mm-mm.
Drain on paper towel This is a great snack with a slab of your favorite cheese, an accompaniment to a roasted meat dinner with black-eyed peas or as you see here, a salad.

This is a Vietnamese Calamari salad atop a bit of fried rice. True it is out of the ordinary in combination! Tasty! Tasty!

Add a little blue cornmeal to your preparation of favorites for a change and surprise of great taste and texture. I am happy to find Blue Cornmeal by Bob's Red Mill now at my local grocery.

Foodie Blogroll (widget lower right)

2010-10-03T09:17:00.000-04:00

Have you ever clicked the Foodie Blogroll widget on a foodie site? If not, try it. There you will find all kinds of news of food and ingredients for making your favorite cuisine. You can also find more blogs about foods. Click the Foodie Blogroll widget and see what fun you find.

2010-10-02T18:29:00.000-04:00

Pretzel Buns
Start with the bread dough, form the buns, snip an X in the top and allow to rise. Once risen, dunk in a boiling water bath for about 1 minute. PLace them on the baking sheet. I used coarse corn meal but parchment paper would have been ideal!
Give a little egg wash across the tops, sprinkle with coarse salt and pop them into a 425 degree oven for about 20 minutes. The finished product has a brown amber color, with a paler X color. The texture is slightly open crumb with a tooth similar to a good New York bagel. These buns hold up well for sandwiches, makes a great toast and are tasty with a slice of your favorite cheese. The baked buns disappeared before I could snap a photo.

Anderson House: First Homemade Pizza

2010-10-01T22:23:00.000-04:00

While visiting my sister and family, I taught the boys how to make yeast dough so they could make their own pizza. Here is the result. A plain cheeze pizza, just the way they like it. The process was not overly complicated. The nephews, teenagers, don't have a great deal of kitchen experience. They pitched right in and got great results.

Yeast Dough for Pizza is the same as my Italian bread recipe. Once the bread had rested and had time to rise, gently place the dough on a floured work surface. Divide n half. With oil on hands, start with the center of lump of dough and press outwards to form a circle. Finger tips make the edge stand up. Keep pressing outward from the center until you have the circle the size you prefer or to match the pan size. Spread the dough with tomato sauce (I use paste). Cover with the cheese you like or a blend. Mozzarella is the pizza cheese of choice because it stretches well and the mild flavor goes will with all seasonings or toppings.

If you want other toppings so you do not have a plain cheeze pizza, this is the time to add them. Be traditional or be creative. Make the pizza your way!

Pop the pie into the hot 425 degree oven and bake until the cheese is toasted and the crust has a a great golden color. I baked my pizza on a screen to enhance the crustiness of the bottom. Now I have a baking stone in the oven and it produces a great crunch of crust. Riley enjoyed making his first chocolate cake but I noticed without icing, no one was going to cut it. Riley pulled out a can of ready made frosting and then it began to disappear. Davis discovered the wonder of the difference of home popped corn and theater pop corn. He is a great corn popping master now.

September Gone, October Arrives

2010-09-30T15:37:00.001-04:00

Ahhh, only 74 this morning here in South Florida! I am sure the hot hot isn't all gone but it is a sign of the fabulous temps we love in fall and winter here. It should me less bugs at dusk, more comfortable outside chats and dog walks.
Looking for recipes, they are a-comin'.

Need a story, visit: http://acreativewritersworkshop.blogspot.com and http://lisawrtiesfiction.wordpress.com

September didn't see to many posts here but October will be chocked full. My goal is a daily post so check back in often, leave a comment, ask a question, suggest a recipe. Looking for a long lost recipe? I love hunting these down. What is it that is missing from your recipe file; it doesn't have to be bread!

There will be Michael Grimm tunes playing in this baker's kitchen; that guy can make you wanna dance or bring to tears. If you don't know what he sounds like, do a search and give a listen. Oh yeah, I am a fan!

Book Talk Needed. On my list for fall is The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake. Anyone interested in book talk leave a message and we will coordinate the readers' chat and decide titles. Suggest a title for discussion.

Marjut has been quilting gangbusters on my mama's quilt from the 30's. The top was made from individual squares by neighbors, friends and relatives. Mom was about 5 years old. She never completed it. It needed the traditional last corner square, the edging, the batting, the back and of course all of the hand stitch quitling. Marjut is one of my Buttermilk Milk Sisters in Milwaukee. She travels with the Quilt and it has its own fan base. She has finished the quilt top, put the batting and back together with basted stitches. She has 75% or so quilted all in hand work. The finished quilt will have no machine work whatsoever. The squares were appliqued by friends of my great-grandmother in Folsomdale, KY, half way between Paducah and Mayfield on HWY 62. Each square had the embroidered name of the creator. These are good old Kentucky names I grew up hearing. I am collecting photos she has made of the traveling quilt. Once I have a montage prepared, I will share them. It is quite amazing and beautiful. Marjut, each stitch is a thread in our sisterhoodfriendship. Sending out quilted hugs!

Now, you know some of my interests and projects. Stop by and tell me some of yours. If you have a blog, I will return the visit!

Baking and taking pictures for the blog is a challenge and I have some work to do for tomorrow begins OCTOBER!

Ya'll come back, ya-hear, Wish there was a way to share the front porch swing I miss so. It still swings at 1028 Park Street, Bowling Green, KY.
Lisa

2010-09-17T10:03:00.000-04:00

Logan Fruit

Chicken Pot Pie: A One Dish Meal

2010-09-10T10:25:00.002-04:00

Chicken pot pie is one of the Combsman's favorite dishes. I struggled for years for the right crust. He likes a crust on top and bottom. I make a big one so some can go in the freezer for those times when neither of us want to cook.

I make the filling first by throwing some onion, garlic and peppers into a little bit of hot oil for a good toss. I add a few spices: salt, black pepper, cayenne, adobo, bay leaf. To this I add chicken broth with cornstarch for sauce thickener. Usually, I add a cup of peas, corn and/or carrots. But the vegetable bin was unpopulated. I used a cup and a half of mashed potatoes and that made the perfect sauce! I added the chunks of previously cooked chicken, about three cups. I turn off the heat and let this cool while I create the dough for the crust.

The crust is what makes a great pie and I have been going at this for decades still not perfectly happy with the crust. I reached for an old well used friend of a cook book, The Dallas Junior League Cookbook and looked up meat pies. There was the answer all these years: page 246, Pastry Dough for Louisiana Meat Pies submitted by Mrs. Larry M. Nobles.
Here is what you need: Preheat Oven to 400
3.5-4 cups AP flour 2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp. salt 1/2 c. melted shortening
2 eggs, room temperature 1/2-2/3 cup milk at room temp.
Here is what you need to do:
Blend dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add melted shortening. Pour enough milk into eggs to make a measure of 1 full cup. Add this to the bowl. Mix well. Pull off 3/4 of the dough to make bottom and sides. Roll dough on floured surface the size of the pan. (I used a large lasagna rectangle pan.) Place dough in pan with the top edge of dough pressed to edge of pan to hold in place. Roll the top from the remaining 1/4 dough ball. Gently add the filling to the pan, top with upper crust. Fold the sides over onto top. Create a couple of steam vents. Brush with an egg wash.
Place in 400 degree oven for 25-35 minutes. When the crust is golden, remove. Allow to cool 5-ten minutes. Serve.

I float my top crust about an inch away from edge.

Brochen, but Whole Wheat

2010-09-09T16:33:00.000-04:00

Labor Day Weekend calls for burgers. Burgers call for a great bun. I have made a favorite German Brochen recipe for our buns for ages. Today, I took inventory of ingredients and fell short of bread flour, the white variety. So, I decided to go all out for an experiment.

Here is what I did for a double batch:
3 cups 2% milk, warm
6 Tbsp butter, melted with milk
1/2 cup sourdough starter
1/2 cup warm water
With these blended in a large bowl I added:
1 pkg yeast
2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar
3 cups bread four (White flour)
Beat in the flour till bubbles appear.
Knowing whole wheat flour needs more hydration I added a little at a time until
the dough made a nice ball. It was Incredibly sticky.
I tumped the dough onto my kneading mat dusted with whole wheat flour.
I kneaded in whole wheat flour a little at a time. I kneaded and added WW flour to keep the dough from collecting on my hands.
In the end, I had added about 4 cups of whole wheat four.
The kneaded ball was tender to touch, a tad sticky but not sticking to hands or mat.
I lightly oiled the bowl, allowed the dough to rise well doubled. It was beautiful.

I divided it into 4-5 ounce lumps and formed the buns. I like to flatten them before the final rise on cornmeal sprinkled parchment paper on the peel. After a good rise, I slid them into a 450 degree F oven on the stone for about an 18 minute bake time. The results smelled wonderful. The crumb when sliced was perfect. In comparison to the original recipe, the Combsman said, "They're just not as good as your other ones." The master of tastebuds has spoken. This recipe is great for those wanting more grain in the bread. It will make a great burger bun, sandwich package, toast. I will post the original brochen recipe and story soon so you can be the judge. The previous "bun" recipe on this blog was from an Italian bread recipe I have used even longer than the brochen recipe.

Sourdough, Finally, but Worth the Wait

2010-09-01T14:48:00.002-04:00

We have all had that scrumptious crust crackling chewy tang bread. Having lived in places where bread is spongey, foamy and a good substitute for a rubber ball when squished together, I did like the bread variety in Milwaukee, and New York. Now in Florida, there are some bakery breads, mass produced breads, the Costco variety of breads but none is really that wonderful sourdough flavor I seek. Studying my bread books, reading blogs of bakers online and everything on he Fresh Loaf site, I began to consider a sourdough event in my won kitchen. A friend and fellow baker, blogger and almost famous beekeeper in Louisville, KY(http://www.flourtodaybreadtomorrow.blogspot.com/) makes sourdough breads, brownies, etc. We chatted via email about sourdough starter strategies and I took the leap. At first, it didn't look to good... but I persevered. Followed his advise. I split, fed, stirred and repeated for a sequence of days. Then finally, yesterday, August 31, 2010, I had BUBBLES of LIFE!
Here is how you create a wild yeast starter:

from Elwood at Flour Today, Bread Tomorrow

"I used Classic Sourdoughs A Home Baker's Handbook by Ed Wood for instructions.

I took 2 cups of flour and 1 1/2 cup warm water and stirred it well, put it in a jar with cheesecloth on the top set it outside and then stirred it every now and again. I brought it in at night, but if you don't have any critter problems I guess you could leave it out. After about 2 days you should see some bubbling. Add another cup of flour and enough water to keep the consistency. You might have to do that several times over a couple of days. You know you have a good active starter when there is a 1 to 2 inch layer of foam on the top."

Mine took about 6 days. I divided a cup of a rather thin slurry into a sterile glass container. I added 1 cup of whole wheat flour and a half cup water. To get the results in the above photo. I continued to whole wheat flour to feed the starter.
Next, I prepared the sourdough bread dough knowing a long rise time was needed. Four hours, six hours and little happened. I allowed more time. Night, late night arrived so I placed the entire batch in an oiled zip bag, and placed it in the fridge. It came out with hope of life this morning. I allowed it to come to room temperature at which time I formed two loaves.

By the time I had the second loaf formed, the first had shown a tiny bit of rise. Now, came the excitement! But disaster loomed. The dough was sticking to the corn meal sprinkled peel. MMM??? Time to call on an old friend, parchment paper. With that placed beneath the loaves, I spritzed them with oil, covered with platic and waited.

And there was RISE! This made me happy. I performed a careful diagonal slash on one and a full length midline on the other. The oven was at temperature with the steam feature ready. POOOWHWWWSSHH! Door closed, timer set, we wait. Ah yes, soon there was a wonderful aroma filling the house. Wait, w a i t . Out of the oven they come.

You can see the difference in the size of the loaves and the slashes. The crust is a bit pale. The bottoms are nutty brown and crisp in appearance. We tried to wait for the loaves to cool but that didn't happen.

The aroma was too alluring and I was anxous to see if I achieved holes.

The knife made firm contact with a crunchy draw across the crust, some crumbs popped. I think that is a good sign. The first piece fell away and the center looked dense. I sliced a another and VIOLA!

HOLES! Despite the l o n g rise time, that the loaf is a tad heavy, the crumb texture dense and the outer top crust a bit pale, I still count this as a sucess for the first effort is ages for a sourdough. The Combsman's commment, "You have made sourdough many times and it never tasted this sour." SCORE! Doing the victory dance, oh yeah, oh yeah!! Yum and yum. . . .

Mango Chutney

2010-08-31T23:58:00.000-04:00

We love the aromatics of Indian Cuisine.
This is my favorite Indian cookbook because it has the 'real deal' for recipes and 'how to's'. There are several wonderful Mango trees throughout the neighborhood. Thankfully, neighbors like to share and swap fruits.

Miss Joyce gave me a bunch of mangoes, huge ones. They commanded CHUTNEY. I so willingly obliged.

Beautiful Mangoes fresh from the tree.

Cheeks removed.

Luscious mango aroma filled the kitchen.

Scoring the cheek in both directions make food art plus the ease of obtaining great chunks of mango. The recipe makes about 2 cups of chutney. The mangoes were huge and I had 9! I got seven pints of Mango Heaven.

Summer Florida Bounty! Some to eat, some to share and some to save for the long stretch before mangoes come again!

Blue Cornmeal Pancakes

2010-08-09T12:07:00.008-04:00

We visited Sante Fe years ago. We couldn't get enough of the black bean soup, blue cornmeal tortillas and blue corn meal pancakes. Of course, it all came with a choice of red or green chile sauce. We have a passion for the green chilies. I was happy to find Arrowhead Blue Corn Meal at my local grocer last week. Ooo-la-la. I knew there would be bcm pancakes in the near future. The near future arrived this morning.
mise en place

I love the bread book, Breads of the Southwest. Beautiful photos, history and traditions of culture pull the baker in me back to the southwest. The batter comes together quickly.

Heat the skillet and add the batter. Leave, adjusting the heat as needed, until the cakes show a dry edge and a few bubbles. I love how the blue hue shows in the batter.

Once the edges show a bit dry, the cake will flip easily. You won't need long on the second side. Plate, serve, and enjoy.

Small Oven Projects

2010-08-08T08:56:00.000-04:00

I do have a small side oven. I only have a couple of baking plans that will fit. What does work is a pie plate. I did make buttermilk biscuits yesterday. They rose tall, caught a nice browning on the top and bottom. Glass is good for that. The inside crumb was near perfect for biscuit: light, tender, airy. The buttermilk gives the biscuit a tenderness so different from regular milk plus that wonderful hint of a sour taste. The Combsman likes his bread and isn't happy with the heat related hiatus I have been on lately. Biscuits, that was the ticket. This would have been a great pan to photo for a post but GONE, they are. I will have to be quicker with the camera next time.

Naan: I am Back in the Kitchen

2010-08-04T15:00:00.000-04:00

Naan: Back in the KItchen

Thanks for checking in. Here is a new post for you, such a faithful lot. The Florida heat sent me packing out of the kitchen for a spell but I decided the flat top griddle would be survivable and chose to make an East Indian favorite of ours, naan.

This is the slipper shaped flat bread that accompanies the tiki, batli and curry dishes.

Naan

What you will need:

2 tsp yeast

4 Tbsp warm milk

2 tsp sugar

4 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2/3 cup milk

2/3 cup plain yogurt

1 beaten egg

2 Tbsp ghee ( I used olive oil)

flour for dusting

chopped coriander and onion seeds for sprinkling to add great flavors

Directions:

Mix warm milk and yeast till frothy.
In a bowl combine dry ingredients; make a well in the center
add the yeast and milk along with the other wet ingredients until a well formed ball of dough is formed.
Remove to a floured surface and knead in quarter turns for about 5 minutes.
Dough should be firm,smooth, elastic, barely tacky; not dry, crumbly
Return dough to a greased bowl and allow to rise for 1 1/2 hrs covered
Punch down, divide into about 12 pieces and roll out the slipper shaped naan. Sprinkle with coriander and onion seeds. I prefer to use my hands to press the dough into shape.
Place on prepared baking sheet, bake at 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes.
I baked mine on the flat top griddle of my stove. I placed the dough side I pressed out with my hands face down on the griddle. I left the naan there for about 4 minutes and flipped them for another for or so minutes. They came off the griddle with great color, puff and texture. The seeds became quite aromatic with the direct heat. Take a look:

Served with Bombay potatoes! The seasonings, onions, peppers were seared in the skillet. Then the tumeric boiled potatoes were mashed and added tothe skillet for a tasty, savory, colorful side.

Dinner was served!

Chinese BBQ Steamed Buns

2010-07-18T15:12:00.000-04:00

With the temperatures Florida has been sporting lately, I reported it to hot to fire up the oven for baking. But there is more than one way to get the job done. Having recently smoked a turkey, I used that as the filler with the proper seasonings. I chopped the turkey with sauteed onion. Then I added a tablespoon of soy sauce, sesame oil and three tablespoon oyster sauce. The house smelled divine.
Steamed Bun Filling
3 1/2 cups finely chpped turkey
1 large chopped onion, sauteed
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 Tbsp. sesame oil
3 Tbsp. oyster sauce
1/2 cup water mixed with 2 Tbsp. cornstarch

Now for the buns:
4 cups of flour,
a packet of yeast,
a tablespoon of sugar
1 3/4 cups warm water.

Put all ingredients into a medium bowl and stir to form ball. This formed a firm but tender dough. It was allowed to rest for an hour and rise. I divided the dough into golf ball pieces. I have a tortilla press and it came in handy for this job. I wanted 3 inch size disks of dough. In the middle of the dough I placed a teaspoon of the turkey mixture. Then I pinched the edges of the dough in a pleated fashion while bringing it up like the neck of a cinched purse. Pinched closed, I placed the formed buns in the bamboo steamer I had lined with cut banana leaves (from my yard).

The pasta pot was boiling on the burner adjacent to the gas grill on the outside deck. I topped the pot with the bamboo steamer for fifteen minutes. The buns were then ready to serve. Also, the buns keep in the refrigerator for up to ten days and warm up in the microwave nicely.

There are more ways to make the daily bread than firing up the oven and heating the house in the dog days of summer!

Tamales

2010-07-15T21:23:00.000-04:00

Tamales! I put the jalapenos, onion, garlic,salt, and green chile sauce in the blender for a few pulses.

I chopped the smoked pork and mixed it with the sauce to use a filling for the tamales.

I blended the shortening in with the masa harina, salt and warm water to make the tamal. This was spread on the corn husks and topped with a bit of filling. I enlisted the Combsman to help tie the tamales and line the pasta steamer with them. Once filled, the steamer was placed on the burner on the grill. We were keeping this steam outside in this heat.

Meanwhile, I prepared the rice and refried black beans. And then, "Come and get it!" Dinner was served.

2010-07-13T20:16:00.000-04:00

Burger buns with a sesame top are the kicker for the turkey burgers from the grill. These are made from the recipe for the Italian Bread recipe I shared in June. These have a nice crust, tender crumb that holds up to the juicy burger topped with tomato, onion, pickle and lettuce. Oven roasted potatoes or baked beans make this a winner year round. They are not only for dinner. Split and toast 'em up to melt a bit of butter and your favorite jam or honey with hot tea or coffee for a great morning starter. Enjoy!

Oooo-la-la, Vienna Bread with a Dutch Crust Top

2010-07-10T21:20:00.001-04:00

Look at the crackly crust on this Vienna loaf! Yummmmmm. I have often purchased a loaf of Vienna bread at the grocery because it makes great toast. Peter Rheinhart includes a recipe in his Bread Baker's Apprentice. This is where I learned what makes a bread Vienna. I love learning new details. What makes this a Vienna bread is the malt and egg that goes into the dough. The dutch Crust topping is made of rice flour, salt, yeast and water. The loaf bakes up tender but firm enough to slice thin for a great toast. One of my favorites.

Too Hot to Fire Up the Oven

2010-07-01T08:57:00.000-04:00

Simple: It is too hot to bake.

I am reading and researching recipes and planning what will be next. Possibly a Persian Lime Pie with a ground pretzel crust... something cooking and soothing and minimal oven time.
Till then we are hanging in the pool, swimming relays with the Havanese Boyz. And the water? Well, it is nearly as warm as the sunshine! Refreshment comes with the evaporation once you are out of the water! Hey, I am not really complaining. We don't shovel sunshine down here!

Disappointment and Anticipation

2010-06-28T11:04:00.001-04:00

That title could be about one's yeast bread baking efforts! Not this time. Yeast breads and cold pre-ferments are producing good results. This is about the baking stone I have awaited with anticipation. It arrived via UPS. As the bubble wrap was pulled back from the first corner, the ominous break was revealed. Thus, the disappointment. A call to the attentive agent at the company(AWMCO, product name: FibraMent) prevented further disappointment. He asked I send in photos, which I did. He explained a replacement stone will be shipped out Monday (today, June 28). I am back in anticipation mode awaiting anxiously again for the arrival of the baking stone.

Why bother with a stone? For the even baking and over all end result of great bread elements of crumb and crust. Also, even though the oven is large, two baking sheets do not really fit well. The whole surface of the stone will allow better placement of loaves when I choose to bake 3 or 4 at a time or want to accommodate a large batch of buns/rolls. Here are photos from a recent effort on Peter Rheinhart's Semolina. Above are two loaves in final proofing stage on one baking sheet. They did swell into one another costing some of the luscious crust. This will be solved with the baking stone. The second photo demonstrates the loss of crust due to crowding.

Cornbread, Southern Style

2010-06-25T14:36:00.000-04:00

I have to tell you, since my grandmothers didn't make yeast breads so much, the aroma that sends me back is when the first spill of cornbread batter hits that hot oil in the iron skillet which has never seen anything but cornbread! As a kid I thought it smelled like popcorn! And my Pop and I couldn't wait for it to come from the oven so we could slather it with butter. A tender, coarse crumb with that delectable crunchy bottom was heavenly. There was always a fruit salad and an entree but who needed all that when the cornbread was fresh, steamy and hot!

I have been making this recipe since 1986 from the Southern Country Cookbook by Lena E. Sturges, who has an award list of culinary accomplishments that go back to the 60's.
This is a Southern cornbread, therefore, it is not sweet nor has the cakey texture.
This is real cornbread like we had on the farm.

Buttermilk Cornbread
1 cup cornmeal
4 tablespoons AP flour
1/2 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon salt ( I use Kosher and measure 1.5 teasp.)
1 Tablespoon melted shortening
I egg
1 cup buttermilk

Directions:
Mix dry ingredients. Melt shortening in 10 inch iron skillet. Beat egg,
add buttermilk. Pour this mixture into the dry ingredients and stir only
until well mixed. Add melted shortening; stir well. The remaining skillet should be heated to "smoking" at which time you pour in the batter. Slide the skillet into a hot 425 degree oven for about 30-35 minutes. Remove and allow to rest for about 3 minutes. Tip out onto a plate. Serves 6, if you share!

New Baking Tools

2010-06-23T16:28:00.001-04:00

They arrived today. Peels. Bread/pizza peels. Time to put the starter together to bake up a Vienna loaf from BBA. The large one measures 18 X 22; the small one is 12 X 14. I will be reporting as to the use of these for proofing bread and delivery to the hot oven stone.I will be all set once the baking stone arrives a in a couple of days.
Another bit of good news is about German Brotchen. Yes, the one I wrote about previously. There was a post on http://www.thefreshloaf.com/ from another baker who posted her recipe for Brotchen. Now I can compare. Her recipe does not use warm milk and she suggests Tippo 00 flour to get that perfect brotchen crumb texture.
A new project I have taken on is researching bread recipes for a friend who is allergic to wheat. Using HBinFive, I have learned the attributes of various flours man of which are not from wheat. For those of you out there with experience with flour substitutions and ratios please chime in via the comment link.

German Brotchen

2010-06-21T23:14:00.000-04:00

German brotchen is a hot milk bread that kneads together yielding a smoothly elastic dough. This makes great rolls and buns. The best is to eat it warm with your favorite cheese or jam. I have searched online for other brotchen recipes. An internet search did not turn up a brotchen recipe for awhile but now several are available. However, none are identical to the one I got on that wonderful trip to Germany in the 80’s from a nice German lady who bickered with her US Army officer husband over the conversion of measures from metric to English. By far, the best travel souvenir I ever brought home.

Here I share my recipe for you to enjoy:

GERMAN BROTCHEN
Mix first three ingredients.
1/2 c. warm water

1 1/2 cup warm milk

1 1/2 Tbsp yeast

Add: 3/4 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

When well blended

Add 1 cup flour

Beat this with a wooden spoon until bubbles appear in the pancake like batter.

Add more flour a cup at a time to make a dough you can no longer stir.

(This recipe uses 5-6 cups of flour total)

Knead for about 10 minutes, adding as little flour as possible;dough should not stick to hands. The dough should be firm, and spring to the touch. Place in a lightly oiled bowl to rise for 90 minutes. The dough should more than double in size. Degas and remove from bowl onto a floured surface. Knead 4 or 5 times and divide into 8 pieces for burger size buns or 16 for dinner rolls. Sprinkle baking sheet with cornmeal generously and evenly space rolls. Allow to rise again covered with plastic wrap you have brush lightly with oil. Preheat oven to 350. When the oven is to temperature, bake 20 - 30 minutes or until lightly golden. I throw a 1/8 cup of water three times in 20 second intervals into my gas convection oven to promote crust development. Remove to cooling rack. Enjoy!

Baking for the Petkids

2010-06-20T17:49:00.000-04:00

Families around the nation celebrate Father’s Day today. Here we celebrate 16 years of a loving pawed companion, GenghsiBob and starting a fourth year without him. Words can’t say how we miss him. The pain of our loss is only as strong as our love for him.

He was always close by no matter the activity at hand. He had friends, many of whom sent cards,emails and flowers when they learned of his death. Lhasa Apso, black and white or was he white with black... he is still the topic of conversations among those who knew him.

Here is to you GenghisBob!

Tasty Dog Biscuits

1/2 cup lukewarm water

2 teaspoons dry yeast

1 1/2 cups chicken broth

3 tablespoons honey

1 egg

2 tablespoons dry parsley

5-6 cups whole wheat flour

Directions:

Blend the yeast, water and broth with the honey and beat in the egg. Add 1 3/4 cups of the flour and stir. Blend in the parsley. Add more flour and work it in to form a stiff dough. Turn out on a floured surface and knead for 7-8 minutes. Form a flat disk, wrap it in plastic or place in a zip bag. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Remove from the refrigerator, return to floured surface. ROll dough about 1/4 to 1/2 inch think and use your choice of shape to cut cookies. Reform scraps, roll and continue to cut cookies until all dough is used. Place cookies on baking sheet and place in a preheated oven at 350 degrees F. for 30 minutes, turn cookies and continue to bake for another 10 minutes. Turn oven off and allow cookies to remain in oven till morning for optimum crunchiness.

30 Posts in 30 Days Challenge

2010-06-19T11:34:00.001-04:00

I thought I would give this challenge a try. Check out my nablopomo (national blog post month) blog page to read more about how I came to bread baking and some of my creative writing efforts. My goal is to write, write, write and write. My goal is to recreate a daily writing ritual in order to finish stories started and pursue publication. 30 posts in 30 days will appear on the nablopomo site, not Flour, Flour Everywhere. More for Flour, Flour Everywhere with recipes and photos coming soon. Thanks for checking in. Come back often.~ Lisa~

Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day: Great Book From A Great Friend

2010-06-17T15:41:00.001-04:00

Still searching for that pull apart recipe. I can't let that keep me from progress. Today's recipe is from HBinFive by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois. I am making a 5 grain whole wheat. Jeff's recipe is for 10 grain but alas, I could only find the 5 grain cereal by Bob's Red Mill. For the reference to 5 minutes a day, Jeff instructs how to make the dough in quantity and have it in the fridge so you can bake when you wish over several days.
This bread recipe goes together rather wet and moist. In his procedure, kneading isn't such a big deal; slow, cold fermentation is. That is why the dough has been in the refrigerator since yeasterday afternoon. :) Baker's humor!

Now the dough is ready for dividing and minimal handling to shape. Resting for 90 minutes I have more than enough time to clean the kitchen, play with the pups, read and figure out how to upload my photos.
This bread bakes in a HOT oven @ 450 for 30 or so minutes. To obtain a wonderful crunchy crust, the dough needs steam. A pan below the rack with hot water added when the loaves go into the oven or my style.... I throw in an 1/8 cup of water and close the door. I do this three times in 20 second intervals. Be careful to protect the glass in the oven door with a towel. Now the hard part, waiting for the end result! The slashes opened nicely accenting the seed coverage. And before I could post pictures, one loaf is all but devoured.
Lisa T., I baked this one for you today. Thanks for a great book and feeding my passion for baking!

Lost a Recipe

2010-06-16T11:08:00.001-04:00

Oh, the memories of the tender, aromatic parmesan-garlic-pull apart loaf of the 70's! Had the recipe card just weeks ago and now it eludes me. I wish to post it here with an account of the first time I made this mouth-watering-ever-tender-you can't-eat-it-slow bread! But it is not to be today. I am searching through the leaves of cookbooks for where I may have tucked it. When I get my hands on it, I will share for the search on the internet has not yielded my recipe. This is NOT made with commercial refrigerated biscuits of any kind. Even Uncle Phaedrus doesn't seem to have it and he has everything imaginable! This is today's post as I am in search mode. Thanks for checking in. I'll be back . . .

Bread Adventure Beginnings

2010-06-14T08:55:00.004-04:00

Hi, my name is Lisa. Baking bread is what I do. I am not a pro, nor do I own or work in a bakery. I tend to be adventuresome rather than a purist and this is how it all began.

Is a cookbook an odd thing for a teenager to buy? It took a lot of babysitting money at fifty cents an hour but I do not recall oooooing over which cookbook to buy. My mom didn’t use cookbooks and my grandmother only had one or two which were ancient. (I have an appreciation for them now.) I selected Good House Keeping, the big red and beige one. It seemed to have everything I could ever possibly need in it.

I read it like a novel. My grandmother had taught me the proper way to set a table and she always had a table cloth, napkins and the proper flatware on the table three times a day. But I knew nothing about what a person needed to set up a kitchen. Mom had always done that as well as the cooking and baking. She was fast, neat and never measured anything. So, I read and read and read. When I got to breads, I was captivated. (page 435) That was something Mom didn’t make. Oh, she made the best buttermilk biscuits you could ever dream of and we had scrumptious chocolate muffins hot from the oven when we came in from school, but she did not make yeast breads. I saw this as an opportunity to be in the kitchen making something of my own. Mom hated a mess. She could make a huge dinner for ten or more, we could sit down at the table and the kitchen would be clean. Not me, then or now. The yeast bread recipes intrigued me. I shared my idea with Mom, she gathered the ingredients making a run to the grocery for the yeast, and let me have her kitchen. She didn’t even stick around to watch. I went through the stages of making the dough, the rise, shaping and chilling. Mom was a sport. I did get the kitchen back to normal. Mom made spaghetti to go with my bread. I was so excited. I preheated the oven and slid the loaves in, set a timer and waited. The aroma wafted through the house, the timer went off. Mom came to the kitchen to see. We took the loaves from the oven and tested the bottoms for that “hollow” sound. We couldn’t wait; we had to slice off some and smear it with butter. There was a crunch, some crumbs and audible “mmmmm”.

I had created something wonderful in the kitchen. Mom liked it despite my mess. Here is the recipe from that same cookbook which sits on my kitchen shelf today. I have made this recipe for decades.

Italian Bread (from The Good House Keeping Cookbook, page 443)

4 1/2 to 5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 Tablespoon sugar

2 teaspoons salt

2 packages active dry yeast

1 tablespoon butter or margarine

cornmeal

salad oil

1 egg white

Early in the day or day before serving:

In large bowl, combine 2 cups of flour sugar, salt and yeast; add butter or margarine. With a mixer at low speed, gradually pour 1 3/4 cups of hot tap water into dry ingredients. Increase speed to medium; beat 2 minutes, occasionally scraping bow with rubber spatula. Beat in 1/2 cup flour or enough to make a thick batter; continue beating for 2 minutes, occasionally scraping bowl. With spoon, stir in enough additional flour (about 1 3/4 cups) to make a soft dough.
Turn dough onto lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about ten minutes. Cut dough in half, cover with towel; let stand 20 minutes. Grease a large cookie sheet; sprinkle with cornmeal.
With lightly floured rolling pin, roll ones dough half into 15 X 10 inch rectangle. Starting with the 15-inch side, tightly roll dough, jelly-roll fashion; pinch seam to seal. Repeat with remaining dough. Place loaves seam side down on cookie sheet; taper ends. Brush loaves with salad oil; cover loosely with plastic wrap. Refrigerate 2- 24 hours. (Cold fermentation is all the rage in the artisan bread revolution these days, not new)
When ready to bake, preheat oven to 425. Meanwhile, remove loaves from refrigerator; uncover and let stand at room temperature 10 minutes. With a sharp knife, cut 3 or 4 diagonal slashes on top of each loaf. Bake for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a small bowl, with fork, beat egg white with 1 Tablespoon cold water. Remove loaves from oven and brush with mixture; return to oven and bake 5 minutes or until golden. Makes 2 loaves.

Use this recipe to make Italian Rolls, breadsticks, pizza crust. Bread may be topped with seeds or salt as your taste guides you... adjusting baking time for size of rolls or sticks. Do not lower the oven temperature. Enjoy!