Something to Savor

WGB Challenge

2011-07-25T11:48:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry I have been MIA with the challenge as of late. I have been baking for the most part just not updating, but I'm kind of dropping out of that too now.

We've got another little 'bun' in the oven and I have been either too tired or too sick to want whole grain breads. So after we had several loafs of bread go moldy on the counter top and no sandwich bread for lunches I am having to reassess my priorities. I am so glad you all decided to bake along with me and I wish you luck as you finish the book, but I'm done with the schedule. I'll still be baking from it, but at my stomach's pace. I have also been missing all of that wonderful white bread from the BBA and will be revisiting that as well.
Thanks so much! I'll still be posting my baking adventures here and following the group in the meantime though I'll be eating some of this:

mmm Turtle Cheesecake!

WGB: Tansitional Challah

2011-07-03T20:24:00.000-07:00

So it has taken a while for us to get this up, sorry about that. This is danny typing this one, I have been enjoying baking this stuff along with Jenni(Ok ok, I have enjoyed eating this bread and helping in a somewhat anemic way, I am trying to get better about helping as well as eating).

Anyway I was excited for the challah since that was one of our favorite breads from the Bread Bakers Apprentice challenge that jenni participated in before(last year or the year before?). Since we are a little behind getting the post up it might not be as helpful now but we found then and it rang true for the wheat version that challah makes the best french toast you have ever had. Unfortunately, I don't think we got any pictures of the french toast we made. Sometimes the willpower needed to go get the camera and take a picture versus the desire to just snarf everything in sight immediately just isn't strong enough.

Anyway here are some pictures of how our challah turned out.

We really liked doing the braids, I don't think it was mentioned in this book but his earlier book mentioned that it was a traditional jewish bread and that the traditional way had 12 turns to signify the 12 tribes. We thought it was a kinda cool extra tidbit, so we try to make the twelve twists every time. We were both really dissappointed that we didn't notice the multiple braided styles that he demonstrates in this book till after we had baked our bread. We just stacked two smaller separate pieces that were braided independently. I really want to try that many-braid method it just looks so cool.

So hopefully everyone else had theirs turn out yummy like ours. It was pretty good and I think it has already totally disappeared.

So I tried to gather up some links to everybody else posts. I think these are all of them. Wow we have some good bakers and photographers chiming in. Sorry if our blog level/picture/detail level isn't quite up to snuff, the 16 month old monster(That we love) running around here takes up quite a bit of time.
Susie's
Jim's
Rob's
I'm sure I missed somebodies sorry about that. I can re-edit this and toss them on or you can comment here or in the google group. Oh and we are making the soaker for the transitional hearth bread tonight so we can make it tomorrow. WooHoo go holidays, anyway we should get this one up sooner.

WGB: Cinnamon Rolls

2011-06-24T15:16:00.000-07:00

I planned on making these beauties for breakfast on Father's Day. Well... we ate them for dessert instead.

I suppose that is a better category anyways.

Mmm, they look so good someone just couldn't wait!

I'm still looking for a gooey cinnamon roll like the kind you buy at the mall. I added some extra cinnamon and sugar, but I guess my conscious won't let me add enough.

Kneadless Pot Bread

2011-06-17T08:39:00.000-07:00

After hearing about my Whole Grains challenge a friend of ours suggested a book by Nancy Baggett entitled Kneadlessly Simple: Fabulous Fuss Free No-Knead Breads.

I must say that the simplicity of these breads is over exaggerated in my opinion. Yes you don't have to knead them, but they still take 2-3 days with various care in between. I do think though that once you learn her process better it would become simple, but I don't think Peter Reinharts bread are anymore complex. (well maybe a little)

That said, I love the crust and moist crumb on this bread. We ate it with french onion soup and it was the perfect soup bread. Spongy enough to soak up the broth, but with enough integrity to hold up. I am very intrigued by pot breads now and intend to look more into those.

WGB: Transitional Rye Bread

2011-06-17T08:30:00.000-07:00

I have to be honest up until the Bread Baker's Apprentice I thought I didn't like rye bread. I was surprised by how mild rye flour can be when I baked for that challenge. That said this was my least favorite sandwich bread thus far. My bread turned out dense with a very tight crumb. My husband liked it, but I found it much to dense for a sandwich. It did make good toast though.

Here are some other posts from by fellow bakers:
Ovenminded
Susie's Home and Hobbies

On to the cinnamon rolls! I'm stepping out of the loaf breads for this one in honor of Father's Day. We'll be baking these for breakfast on Sunday.

WGB: Transitional Multigrain Revisited

2011-06-13T14:22:00.000-07:00

Sorry this post is a little late, but hopefully I get an extension because this is try 2. The same thing happened this time though! It was raising beautifully then it fell in the oven. I think however that this time it was due to the dough being too wet. I was trying to see how wet I could keep my dough and I think I found the limit. This bread is quite tasty though. I even caught my 1 yr. old smelling it as he ate it :)

Here's some more from my fellow challenge bakers:
Susie's Home and Hobbies
Exorphin Junkie

WGB: Transitional Multigrain Sandwich Bread

2011-06-08T18:07:00.000-07:00

I am planning on baking this bread again on Friday for some reason it fell in the oven :( It still makes very good toast, but is a little dense for sandwich bread. I figured I'd share a little teaser picture.

Transitional Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread

2011-05-31T15:35:00.000-07:00

Okay so I've made this bread several times now. I thought I would post pretty early so that I could share some of what I've learned. Sorry about the photo quality my digital camera has gone missing in action :( Fortunately, it helped me to finally take the jump to a DSLR which is ordered and will be here in a few weeks. :) So until then all I have are cell phone pics.

Here is my first soaker and biga.

Mise en place, soaker and biga all chopped up.

Oops! I forgot to turn down the temperature of my oven after I added the bread :( Tasted ok but the crust was a bit overdone and the crumb was dry.

So the second time was Memorial Day so with our added time my husband and I decided to try an experiment. A loaf each with

Biga, Instant Yeast & Scalded Milk

Biga, Instant Yeast & Unscalded Milk

Wild Yeast, Sourdough Starter & Scalded Milk

Wild Yeast, Sourdough Starter & Unscalded Milk

It got a little crazy with all the different types of dough so we wrote out an index card with each combination and moved it with the dough through each step.

You can see our index cards in this picture as well as the variation in rises.

1. Wild Yeast, Unscalded Milk

2. Wild Yeast, Scalded Milk

3. Biga, Scalded Milk

4. Biga Unscalded Milk

So we actually ended up with 4 distinctive end products. I personally preferred the taste of 4. I think that is because it was allowed to brown a bit more and thus had a nuttier flavor. It was hard to beat the rise of 1 and 2. Though before you run out and start your own starter I think the raise was more due to the moisture content of the dough than the starter. Our starter was a lot wetter than the Biga. This led to better kneading and softer dough so that more gluten developed and was allowed to create longer threads.

It was really awesome to see all these results right next to each other so that I could gain a better idea of how to control the process. I think I might keep making several loafs at a time for the sandwich breads at least. Since my family always is in need of sandwich bread anyways.

Oh and scalded vs. unscalded? minor differences not really worth the work in my opinion but that may be because we're using store bought pasteurized milk to begin with. (Edited to add a little caveat to be aware of, the hydration level of the scalded milk breads was lower and needed to be corrected. This was because we measured out even amounts of un-scalded milk for both versions which meant that the actual amount of liquid was a little low in the scalded version due to evaporation.)

Preheat Your Ovens!

2011-05-28T15:18:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone is excited to start baking this week. I've created a google group here http://groups.google.com/group/wgb-challenge.

This week we're starting with the Transitional Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread.

Good Luck!

WGB Challange

2011-05-09T09:30:00.000-07:00

Okay, I'm throwing down the Gauntlet for a new bread baking challenge. As may of you know I was part of a challenge offered by Pinch my Salt to bake my way through Peter Reinhart's Bread Baker's Apprentice book. Even though I fell behind with a move and a new baby I managed to mostly complete the challenge and it pretty much changed my life. I never buy bread from the grocery store! French bread, sandwich bread, rolls, hot dog buns... you name it I can make it and I can make it tasty. The only problem is I mostly use white flour and I would much prefer to have the added health benefits of whole grains in my growing family's diet. I must say the only 100% whole wheat breads I make are dry, dense, and disgusting! So I challange myself to bake my way through Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads book, New Techniques, Extraordinary Flavor. I hope that I will exit this challenge equally changed, ready to bake delicious, healthy breads for my family.
Sound interesting to you? Please join me! It's so much easier and more fun with a group.

This leaves you plenty of time to grab a book and get ready to bake! Please leave a comment if you're going to join so that I know who my fellow bakers are.

Here's the schedule:
(We're not going straight through since I feel we should do all the transitional breads first then move into the 100% whole grain, baby steps right?)
5/29- 6/4      Transitional Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread p.99
6/5- 6/11      Transitional Multigrain Sandwich Bread p.107
6/12- 6/18    Transitional Rye Sandwich Bread p.119
6/19- 6/25    Transitional Cinnamon Raisin Bread p.140
6/26- 7/2      Transitional Challah p.149
7/3- 7/9        Transitional Country Hearth Bread p.156
7/10- 7/16    Transitional Multigrain Hearth Bread p.161
7/17- 7/23    Transitional Rye Hearth Meteil p.178
7/24- 7/30    Transitional Rye Hearth Seigle p.181
7/31- 8/6      Transitional German-Style Many Seed Bread p.210
8/7- 8/13      Transitional Rustic Bread & Focaccia p.264
8/14- 8/20    100% Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread p.95
8/21- 8/27    Multigrain Struan p.103
8/28- 9/3      Oat Bran Broom Bread p.109
9/4- 9/10      Rye Sandwich Meteil p.112
9/11- 9/17    Rye Sandwich Seigle p.116
9/18- 9/24    Potato Onion Rye Meteil p.122
9/25- 10/1    Potato Rosemary Bread p.125
10/2- 10/8    Anadama Bread p.129
10/9- 10/15 Whole Wheat Cinnamon Raisin Bread p.132
10/16-10/22 Whole Wheat Cinnamon Buns p.136
10/23-10/29 Whole Wheat Challah p.144
10/30- 11/5 Whole Wheat Hearth Bread p.153
11/6- 11/12   Multigrain Hearth Bread p.158
11/13- 11/19 High- Extraction Flour Miche p.164
11/20-11/26 Three Rye Hearth Bread Variations (choose 1) p.169
11/27- 12/3   Power Bread p.185
12/4- 12/10   Whole Wheat Sprouted Grain Bread p.189
12/11-12/17 100% Sprouted Grain Bread p.192
12/18- 12/24 **Julekage, Panettone, and Stollen (choose 1) p.245
12/25- 12/31 Whole Wheat Mash Bread p.195
1/1- 1/7         Multigrain Mash Bread p.201
1/8- 1/14       Steamed Boston Brown Bread p.202
1/15- 1/21     Spent-Grain Bread p.205
1/22- 1/28     Whole Wheat Brioche p.215
1/29- 2/4       Volkronbrot p.219
2/5- 2/11       Bavarian Pumpernickel p.225
2/12- 2/18     Hutzelbrot with Dried Fruit p.229
2/19- 2/25     Swedish Limpa Rye Bread p.233
2/26- 3/3       Santa Lucia Buns p.236
3/4- 3/10       Hapanleipa and Vorterkaker p.241
3/11- 3/17     Whole Wheat, Multigrain, and Pumpernickel Bagels (choose 1) p.253
3/18- 3/24     Whole Wheat Focaccia p.260
3/25- 3/31     Whole Wheat and Multigrain Pizza Dough p.267
4/1- 4/7         Whole Wheat Pita Bread p.273
4/8- 4/14       Whole Wheat Naan p.278
4/15- 4/21     Chapatis, Parathas, and Roti p.281
4/22- 4/28     Injera p.283
4/29- 5/5       Whole Wheat Matzo p.285
5/6- 5/12       Lavash p.289
5/13- 5/19     Thin Wheat Crackers p.291
5/20- 5/26     Seeded Crackers p.293
5/27- 6/2       Graham Crackers p.296

Chinese Food

2011-03-18T15:29:00.000-07:00

Okay so this story really starts here. I was looking for Christmas presents last year and stumbled upon this on Amazon. The author is supposed to be a Cantonese Julia Child. It looked really authentic and was supposed to be half text book/ half cookbook similar to my bread book that started my food blog.

I was really tempted but I was worried because my husband is known to be a little snobby when it comes to Chinese food. (apparently Panda isn't authentic?) Anyways, I found something better and moved on. A couple months later somehow it got brought up and I showed it to him. He was so excited! (missed perfect gift giving opportunity) He couldn't wait to have it and all of the sudden started remembering gift checks that had just been deposited and never really used. So this Sunday we decided to show off our fancy culinary skills for the inlaws. This is what we made:

(excuse the ugly picture, by the time it was all ready I was too tired and hungry to go find our camera so this was taken with my phone)

Long beans with Roasted Sesame Seeds

(These are cut up they really were like 18in long)

Crisp Beef

(This was A-MAZING! including sichuan peppercorn paste, hot bean sauce, sweet bean sauce, and hot pepper oil. Surprisingly, it wasn't that spicy just really intense flavor)

Beijing Baked Bread w/ Scallion Oil

Pan Pizza

2011-03-11T15:51:00.000-08:00

The other day I really wanted Pizza Hut style pan pizza. So I went online and found a recipe. It turned out amazing. It really did taste like Pizza Hut except I cut back on the oil. I was okay comprising I little authenticity for my conscious. Oh I used this recipe here.

Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole with Creamy Mustard Sauce

2011-03-03T14:01:00.000-08:00

Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole with Creamy Mustard Sauce

This looks amazing! Definitely on my to try list.

Mint M&M Bark

2009-12-18T05:07:00.000-08:00

This recipe is a product of one of my biggest pet peeves. Peppermint ice cream is one of my all time favorite foods, but I can't understand why everyone insists on ruining it by putting candy cane pieces in it! I am not one to chew hard candy, I think it might be my neurotic obsession with my teeth. I mean when I am enjoying a nice smooth bowl of ice cream I don't want to have chomp on candy cane or worse swallow a bunch of ragged pieces.
Anyways how this is all relevant to the recipe to this recipe is that this is originally for peppermint bark, but I've replaced the candy cane pieces with a less offensive candy to chew, mint M&M's :)

So for Tracy, here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
2 cups (12 oz) White Chocolate Chips
appox. 1 cup Mint M&M's
Dash of Vanilla Extract (optional)

A word on M&M's: Make sure you get the classic mint M&M's that are only available for the holidays. They should come in a bigger bag. They also make a gourmet type mint M&M in small bags, but they don't have shells and will thus just melt into the chocolate. (Which will still taste pretty good but won't look the same)

Directions:

1. Melt chocolate in Microwave

2. Place M&M's in plastic bag and crush using a rolling pin.

3. Holding Strainer over melted chocolate pour crushed candy into strainer. Shake. Leave the larger pieces in the strainer.

4. Pour chocolate onto wax paper. Sprinkle with reserved larger pieces.

5. Allow to cool then break into pieces.

White Chocolate Fudge

2009-12-17T16:43:00.000-08:00

This is going to have to be a short post because guess how much I've packed for our trip tomorrow... yup nadda nothing none.

Ingredients:
2 pkg. Baker's White Chocolate
3/4 cup Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 cup Almonds
1/2 cup dried cranberries
splash of vanilla extract

1. Line 8-inch pan with foil
2. Microwave chocolate and milk until melted (stiring frequently)
3. Add almonds, cranberries, and vanilla and stir well
4. Spread into prepared pan and refrigerate until firm.
5. Remove from pan and cut into pieces

Pumpkin Rolls

2009-12-16T09:42:00.000-08:00

I was introduced to this amazing treat when I married my husband.
Ingredients:
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup canned pumpkin
1 tsp. lemon juice
3/4 cup flour
1 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Filling
1 cup powdered sugar
1 pkg. cream cheese
1/2 tsp. vanilla
4 Tbsp butter

Beat eggs on high for 5 min.
Gradually add sugar.
Stir in pumpkin and lemon juice.
Stir together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, salt, and nutmeg
Fold in pumpkin mixture
Spread onto greased parchment papered pan. (Top with nuts if using)
Bake at 375 for 15 minutes.
Turn onto or place parchment onto dish towel and sprinkle with powdered sugar.
Start at the narrow end and roll towel and cake together.
Allow to cool.
Beat all filling ingredients together until smooth. Unroll and spread filling over cake. Roll cake back up and freeze.
Once cold cut into pieces. (hint: it won't cut very well unless it's cold)

Fudge!

2009-12-15T10:19:00.000-08:00

This is another easy peasy recipe that you can throw together in a sec. The fudge is tasty, not award winning but tasty and foolproof. (you'll see why this is important later)

Ingredients:
3 cups Chocolate Chips (I used semi-sweet)
1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 tsp. Vanilla Extract

1. Combine Chocolate and Sweetened Condensed Molk
2. Microwave until chocolate is melted (stirring frequently, ever 10-30 sec)
3. Stir in Vanilla
4. Pour into wax-paper lined 9-inch pan
5. Let cool & harden cut into pieces

Ok so that was the pretty fudge I took to the neighbors now for complete honesty... I am absolutely HORRIBLE at making fudge! Last year my fudge was harder than a rock we broke it into pieces and gave it out as chocolate. This year I was committed to making good fudge so I started with Danny's family cookbook. (it's never led me astray yet) Things started out well I put the sugar and evaporated milk on the stove and let it boil for the 6 minutes. The whole time I stood right there so that nothing would happen to it. Somewhere along minute 3 or 4 my computer beeped letting me know I had an email...

I came back 10 seconds later to find this. So all that is in the pot is sugar and milk can someone explain the floating black pieces that appeared out of no where!?! At last my slight distraction had let to me burning the fudge. I knew that there was no rescue from this so I threw it out and searched for easy, foolproof recipes thus why my neighbors actually received fudge this year.

Chocolate Truffles

2009-12-12T16:04:00.000-08:00

These are my favorite holiday treat! My brother-in-law told me last year that they were better than the fancy smancy truffles he bought from a chocolate shop. Oh and did I mention they are super easy to make?

Ingredients:
Insides
1 pkg. (8 sqaures) Semi-Sweet Chocolate
1 pkg. (8 oz) Cream Cheese

Outsides
1 pkg. Semi-Sweet Chocolate
or
Powder Sugar
Cocoa Powder

1. Melt 8 chocolate squares. I melt my chocolate in the microwave in 10-30 seconds spurts just make sure you stir frequently and don't overheat.
2. Beat cream cheese into chocolate until creamy. It should look something like this. Now place in the refrigerator until firm. This takes about an hour or two, but you can leave overnight.

(Sorry this is where my camera battery died)

3. Using a cookie scoop or measuring spoon shape filling into tsp-Tbsp size balls. I scoop out a bit then roll them in my hands to make them round and smooth. Warning this gets messy as things warm up. (if things get too soft return to the fridge to harden again)

4. Melt 8 more squares of chocolate and using a fork dip truffles, then return to wax paper-covered tray. Refrigerate until firm.

Other options include rolling the truffles in cocoa powder or powdered sugar. (this is a faster, easier option)

So Much Baking!!!

2009-12-12T15:43:00.000-08:00

I finally went to and survived the dentist so what to I do on the way home? Stop by the store and load up on all this sugar! I had to load up on baking supplies to prepare for this year's Christmas baking. Can I just say I love holiday baking! Every year I block out a whole day and turn my kitchen into a pastry shop. So if you haven't been bitten by the baking bug yet this year my next posts are for you. I'll post one treat a day until we take off for London so enjoy!

Here's some tips to help making your baking day faster and more enjoyable. First, a couple days in advance plan what you'll be making and stock up on supplies. Then, on the day of set them all out within easy reach. Something I learned a while back is to always have a glass of cold water close by when your baking sweets. All that sugary smell can really make you sick after a while and the water will also help keep you from "sampling" your goods all day long. I know those chocolate chips are calling to you, but if you eat them all day you'll regret it by the time everything is done.

Next, fill up a sink with very hot soapy water. If you start with really hot water you won't need to change it as often. I found that having this wash station set up is really helpful if your like me and only have one set of measuring cups and mixing bowls.

Tater Tot Taco Salads

2009-12-03T11:49:00.000-08:00

This dish has quickly become a favorite at our house for quick weeknight dinners.

Tater Tots
Taco Meat
Lettuce
Tomato
Cheese
Other Taco Toppings such as: sour cream, salsa, hot sauce, avocado use your imagination

Bake Tater Tots in oven according to package
Fry hamburger in pan and season as taco meat
Place 1 serving of tater tots on plate, then spoon on meat, finish with taco toppings

This is really quick and easy but fun and unique. Enjoy!

Mmmm.... The Fall Baking Bug Has Bitten

2009-10-20T12:22:00.000-07:00

After me and my husband ate all of the pumpkin chocolate chip scones yesterday I was once again craving some baking and nothing was in the house. This led me to my first self-invented recipe

Apple-Pear Muffins

1 c. rolled oats
1 c. buttermilk (or I used 1 tbsp vinegar the rest skim milk)
1/2 c. whole wheat flour
3/4 c. white cake flour
1 t. baking power
1/2 t. baking soda
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. nutmeg
1/2 t. allspice
1/4 t. ground ginger
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. applesauce
1 apple diced
1 pear diced

1. Combine oats and buttermilk in a small bowl

2. Combine flours, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and brown sugar.
3. Add oats mixture, applesauce, and fruit mix sparingly (gluten is not our friend here)

4. Pour into muffin tin. (Mine turned out best when filled level with the cup)

Optional sprinkle with oatmeal & brown sugar mix

5. Bake at 350 for 30 min.

Sourdough Bread

2009-10-19T11:49:00.001-07:00

Here's our second try at sourdough bread. The loaves aren't very big but they look delicious.

Pumpkin Chocolate-Chip Scones

2009-10-19T11:32:00.000-07:00

Being pregnant I haven't had any of what I would call strange cravings (not including that applesauce with peanut butter thing... gross!) but I will think of something that sounds good and that's it I have to make it. So this morning I was struck with the scone bug that lead to me trying to decide between cranberry orange, chocolate chip, or pumpkin. I decided everything is better with chocolate and I had some pumpkin I need to use up so here we are pumpkin chocolate-chip scones.

I searched Pinch My Salt for a recipe (this blog has single-handedly changed my cooking forever!) and found to my delight she had already done a lot of the work for me and already had a pumpkin scone recipe I threw in some chocolate chips and got ready for breakfast. They turned out amazing!!

Taken from: http://pinchmysalt.com/2007/10/18/pumpkin-spice-scone-recipe/

Pumpkin Spice Scones
1 C. all purpose flour
1 C. cake flour
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. ground nutmeg
1/4 t. ground allspice
1/4 t. ground ginger
6 T. unsalted butter
1/2 C. chocolate chips (optional)
1/3 C. pumpkin puree
1/3 C. heavy cream
6 T. brown sugar
1 t. vanilla
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Get out a baking sheet and line with parchment paper (not required but makes cleanup easy!). Cut the butter into small pieces, put it in a small bowl and put it back in the refridgerator. In a medium bowl, combine both flours, baking powder, salt, and all spices. Whisk together well. Place bowl in freezer (refrigerator is fine if you have no room in freezer).
2. In a separate bowl, combine pumpkin, heavy cream, brown sugar, and vanilla. Whisk together well. Put this bowl in freezer (or refrigerator) and take the other bowl back out. Get the butter pieces out of the fridge and dump them into the bowl with the flour mixture. Cut the butter into the flour using a pastry blender or rub it in with your fingertips until it resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the chocolate chipes if you are using them.
3. Get the liquid mixture out of the freezer and pour into the flour mixture all at once. Stir with a wooden spoon until everything is just moistened. The dough will be very crumbly, this is the way it should be. Turn the mixture out onto the counter and push the pile together with your hands. It should stick together fairly well. Knead it just a couple of times until everything is together. Don’t knead it too much or the dough will get too sticky.
4. Pat the dough out into a rough circle, 3/4 to 1 inch thick. Cut it like a pie into 8 pieces. Place pieces on the baking sheet so that they are not touching. Bake scones for about 15 minutes at 425 degrees. They should be light brown on the bottom, the tops will darken as they cool.

Wow! It's been awhile!

2009-10-19T11:16:00.000-07:00

I could not believe I had not blogged anything since July!!! Where have I been? Oh yeah that's right moving across country and "brewin' a human" (phrase courtesy of some random guy at Walmart) Ok well here's what I've been up to this week.

Date Night:
Me and my husband try to have a date night once a week, but we are also trying to stick to a fairly minimal budget so Friday night was movie night at home.

The Food:
From Left to Right.
Cheddar Bacon Potato Skins, Beef Taquitos, Chicken Bacon Ranch Pizza Bits

Cheddar Bacon Potato Skins
Several Small Potatos
Kosher Salt
Black Pepper
Canola Oil
Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Bacon (cooked and crumbled)
Butter
Sour Cream
Chives (dried or fresh)

1. Wash Potato skins really well.
2. Rub potato skins with canola oil then roll in kosher salt and black pepper.
3. Bake in oven at 350 for an hour
4. Allow potatoes to cool until you can handle them easily
5. Slice potatoes in half and scoop out the inside using a spoon. Leave about a 1/4 in. of potato remaining on the skin.
6. Brush potatoes with butter and bake at 400 for 10 min.
7. Fill potatoes with cheese and bacon
8. Bake at 400 for 10 more min. or until the cheese is melted
9. Mix chives into sour cream and top potatoes with mixture.
10. Enjoy :)

Beef Taquitos
Taken from http://www.ourbestbites.com/2009/06/baked-chipotle-beef-taquitos.html

Baked Chipotle Beef Taquitos
Recipe by OurBestBites.com

3 C cooked, shredded beef roast*
4oz green chilies, undrained
1/4-1/2 t minced chipotle pepper in adobo sauce (I use 1/4 t for mild heat. See note below)
3 t adobo sauce from the canned chipotle peppers
1 t garlic powder
1 t coriander
1/2 t cumin
1 t chili powder
zest from one lime
1 T fresh lime juice
1 package Queso Fresco (about 12 oz)
white corn tortillas ---- inch...
olive oil or cooking spray
kosher salt

Note: If you don't want to work with the chipotle peppers, or can't find them, try adding some Chipotle Chili Powder. You can find it by the other spices in the grocery store. It will still give you a smoky spice, so start with a little and increase to taste.

*I created this recipe to use up left over roast from things like pot roast and french dip sandwiches. If you're cooking a roast strictly for use in these taquitos, then just mildly season it with things like salt, pepper, onion, and garlic before cooking.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Slice any larger pieces of roast across the grain so the beef is shredded into 1/2-1 inch pieces.
Combine chilies, chipotle pepper, adobo sauce, garlic, coriander, cumin, chili powder and lime zest and juice in a bowl. After stirring to combine, gently toss together with shredded beef.

Wrap a pile of about 10 tortillas in damp paper towels and microwave for 1 minute to soften. (after those are used, do the next 10)

Working with one tortilla at a time, crumble about 1T queso fresco in a line across the center of the tortilla. Top with 1-2 T shredded beef mixture. Tightly roll and place seam-side down on a lightly sprayed baking sheet. Continue to roll until all of the tortillas are filled.

Use cooking spray, olive oil spray, or lightly brush olive oil on the top of each taquito. Sprinkle with kosher salt. Place in the pre-heated oven and bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown on the edges.

Serve warm with sour cream and guacamole. Makes about 20 taquitos.

Chicken Bacon Ranch Pizza Bits
Taken from http://www.ourbestbites.com/2009/06/chicken-bacon-stuffed-pizza-rolls.html

1 roll refrigerated pizza dough* (or make your own)
1 packet Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing mix
2 T grated Parmesan cheese
1 T olive oil or melted butter
sharp cheddar cheese (I used 75% sharp cheddar and 25% mozzarella)
8 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
about 1 C shredded, cooked chicken.
3/4 C mayo
3/4 C milk

First take 1 teaspoon of your ranch dressing mix and combine it with 1 1/2 T parmesan cheese. Set aside. Combine the remaining ranch mix with 3/4 C mayo and 3/4 C milk and place in the fridge to chill.

Preheat oven to heat specified on pizza dough package. Usually it's 400-425 degrees.

Unroll your pizza dough onto a lightly floured surface. Pat or roll the dough so it's about 12" by 8". You're going to want to cut it into 24 squares, so just eyeball it if you need to. Use a pizza cutter to slice the dough into 24 squares.

Place cheese and desired toppings on each square.

When all of your dough squares have cheese and toppings on them, carefully lift up each square and wrap the dough around the toppings.

I grab the four corners first and then squeeze the seams shut. Then place them seam side down in a lightly sprayed pie pan (or similar sized dish). Brush with melted butter or olive oil and sprinkle with the parmesan-ranch mixture.

Place your rolls in the oven. I've noticed baking time really depends on the type of dough I'm using. Whether it's different brands from the store, or homemade dough, they all take different amounts of time. Set your timer for 10 minutes and check on them after that. They may take up to 15 or 20 to be done. Take them out when they're lightly golden on top.

Serve them warm with a side of freshly made ranch dressing for dipping.

Happy Birthday to Us!

2009-07-28T10:44:00.001-07:00

My husband and my birthday fall within 3 days of each other so why make two cakes when you can make one gigantic one?

We almost had enough candles for both of us, two short.

Here's the slice the cake is 2 french vanilla cake mixes with the addition of lots of eggs, butter, and milk. The layers and blackberries and the new Philadelphia instant cheesecake stuff. It all worked out very well and the cake was delicious! Don't believe me we still have a TON in the freeze you can come try.

BBA: English Muffins

2009-07-28T10:37:00.000-07:00

These made an amazing breakfast for dinner evening, and they were a lot of fun to make as well.

Here is the dough all ready to fry.

After being cooked in the griddle on both sides and baked for a couple of minutes.

Fork split. Not quite the big hole you see from the grocery store, but they tasted a million times better.

Sausage, cheese, and egg english muffins and hash browns for dinner! Unfortunately, none of the english muffins lived to see the next morning.

BBA: Corn Bread

2009-07-28T10:33:00.000-07:00

The week we were supposed to make corn bread my and my husband were headed up to north Idaho with some friends to stay in their cabin. So, I pack all the ingredients and we made it up there. My husband loved this bread will all of it's flavor and texture. I however, felt that it was a little overloaded. I am more of a fan of fluffy cake like cornbread.

After one meal this was all that was left to come home with us!

BBA: Cinnamon Raisin Walnut Bread

2009-07-28T10:28:00.000-07:00

Now this is one of my favorite recipes so far in this book! This bread was simply amazing! My favorite thing to do with it is to toast it and make peanut butter and banana sandwiches. Amazing!

We almost didn't get any pictures of this one because we ate it so fast, but my darling husband took some before he finished it off.
The only thing I wish I could figure out is how to keep the bread moist and sealed up without the moisture making the cinnamon sugar mixture on top turn to goo.

BBA: Cinnamon Buns and Sticky Buns

2009-07-28T10:18:00.000-07:00

The introduction to this recipe in the book states that this was the recipe he would give his students when the wanted to make cinnamon buns as good as the ones in the mall from Cinnabon. Well, that is a fantastic idea! Make homemade cinnamon rolls as goopy and delicious as those in the mall! Well, here's what I learned. If you want to make goopy cinnamon rolls you need to add more than a sprinkle of cinnamon and sugar and maybe even butter! I think these turned out more like those cinnamon swirl donuts you get when their out of all the other good kinds. Danny thinks I'm crazy and that they were great and that I have just been brain washed by years of my parents making overly stuffed cinnamon rolls. I'm not sure but, when I want a cinnamon roll I am not looking to taste the wonderful bread, I'm in it for the goop!

Oh a word on the sticky buns. In the book it says that it takes practice to know just when to pull these from the oven when the glaze as been caramelized and the dough is cooked through. Well on the first try we were pretty close they tasted great but the caramel became a little too hard. However, this was solved by leaving them in the car all day at our family reunion then they tasted great soft and warm :)
Sorry, we made these on our way out of town so I forgot to take some better pictures.

BBA: Ciabatta :(

2009-07-28T10:13:00.000-07:00

As you can guess by the frown in the title ciabatta and I are no long friends. I love ciabatta and was very eager to make it myself assuming it would turn out as amazing as everything else I had made from this book, but I was incredible disappointed!

However, from reading other baker's responses I think the second way the book states to make it, biga version, works better so next time I get the guts I'll try that.

Here's the crust. I guess in my frustration with my holeless ciabatta I didn't even take a picture of the crumb. Oh well it really wasn't worth looking at anyways. *Sigh*

BBA: Challah

2009-07-28T10:00:00.000-07:00

Wow! It's been a long time. It seems that baking and blogging has proven to be too much for me, but I have kept on track with the baking at least. I am going to throw up everything I've made in my absence and recommit myself to writing better blog posts once I move. So here is my apology in advance for all the short posts I'm about to make. Stay tuned and they'll resume to their prior glory in a couple or months :)

A word on Challah: According to the book challah is the braided sabbath bread of Judaism symbolic of God's goodness and bounty. The braids traditionally separate the loaf into twelve distinct sections representing the twelve tribes of Israel.

Oops this on this loaf the top braid slipped off the top. It ended up more of a side-by-side double braid.

The crumb. This was a nice soft, light bread. Actually, I think this could make a delicious french toast as well.

BBA: Multigrain Bread Extraordinaire

2009-06-03T14:57:00.000-07:00

aka: Little piece of heaven!

Once again we're baking out of order in order to keep up with our daily lunch needs. I must say however that this bread is my favorite sandwich bread so far.
What a beautiful loaf of bread! I did however make a couple adjustments to the recipe as follows:

-I substituted a 7 grain cereal for the cornmeal and wheat bran because that was what I had at home.
-I also substituted white rice for the brown rice, once again because that was what I had in the fridge already.
-I found that I needed to add a lot of extra flour I could be because of my soaker. I didn't measure the water I just filled till it covered the grains as it states in the recipe.

I doubled the recipe and it made 2 large loaves over 2 1/2 pounds each.
My lunch! I am officially committed to never buying store bread again. One bite and I was with my family eating a $7 sandwich at the Atlanta Bread Company. This loaf could easily sell for $5-10. Let's just say 5 stars! This bread is pretty well perfect.

BBA: Brioche

2009-06-03T13:24:00.000-07:00

Let them eat Brioche!

According to Peter's book, the history of brioche "includes allusions to Queen Marie Antoinette, whose last words are reputed to be properly translated as 'Let them eat brioche,' and not 'Let them eat cake.'"
There are three different types of brioche in the book, rich, middle-class, and poor man's. I decided to make the middle-class so that I could get a good idea of what brioche is (I've never had it before) but not needing to work-out non stop.

Here's my pretty bread! I was surprised at how quickly this loaf baked. The times in the book are a little vague depending on what shape you made the dough. I figured the loaf would be on the max side of things. It cooked a lot faster than I thought, so it turned out slightly over done.

The Crumb! Looks almost like pound cake, but it's a lot lighter think cream puff.

French Toast

(We almost had breakfast for dinner I was so excited about this!)

Ingredients

* 2/3 cup milk
* 2 large eggs
* 1 1/3 tablespoons honey, warmed in microwave for 20 seconds
* 1/8 teaspoon salt
* 5 (1/2-inch) slices day-old brioche
* 2 tablespoons butter

Directions

In medium size mixing bowl, whisk together the milk, eggs, honey, and salt. Pour the mixture into a deep plate or pie pan

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Dip bread into mixture, allow to soak for 30 seconds on each side, and then remove to a cooling rack that is sitting in a sheet pan, and allow to sit for 1 to 2 minutes.

Over medium-low heat, melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a 10-inch nonstick saute pan. Place 2 slices of bread at a time into the pan and cook until golden brown, approximately 2 to 3 minutes per side. Remove from pan and place on rack in oven for 5 minutes. Repeat with all 8 slices.

Buttermilk Syrup
I was introduced to this at a local restaurant and had to try it at home
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3 Tbsp butter
1/3 cup buttermilk
1 Tbsp corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla
pinch of cinnamon (optional)

Combine sugar, butter, buttermilk and corn syrup in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a low boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and simmer for 2 minutes (continue to stir!) until all sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and cinnamon if desired.

Recipe from Dinner's on me
Ta Dah! This was the most amazing french toast I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing! I am planning on freezing and saving the other loaf of brioche for breakfast when my sister comes down next week. (yup Tiff that's you so be excited!)

I wouldn't say it's a healthy breakfast, but what a way to start the day!

Breakfast in a Crock-Pot?

2009-05-24T13:53:00.000-07:00

So I am a sleeper, as in I could sleep till noon everyday of my life if no one woke me up. However, my husband is an eater, meaning his stomach wakes him up by 7:00am every morning. As you can see this is not exactly a match made in heaven. That was until I discovered... Breakfast in a Crock-Pot.

This is so cool! You put all of the ingredients in before you go to bed, set the cooker on low, and then in the morning you wake up to a hot breakfast that cooked itself.

BBA: Light Weat Bread

2009-05-24T12:38:00.001-07:00

Okay I know this recipe is skipping ahead, but I needed a good PB&J bread for this week's lunches.

My proof box! This works so well. I microwave a small cup of water for about 5 min. Then, I stick the dough in with the now boiling water and it proofs perfectly.

Looks pretty good huh? Read on :(

Still looks pretty good...

Eeek! We can't make sandwiches out of holey bread. So here is my question for all you bread bakers out there What went wrong? I think I have narrowed it down to two possible culprits.
A: I do not have bread flour only all-purpose so in order to get the gluten-high that makes bread so tasty I added some wheat gluten. Here is my first thought, maybe I added too much? We did the calculations so that the flour would be about 16% gluten, but maybe we were wrong.
B: Sometime after the proofing before the shaping the dough did not deflate all the way (didn't get totally punched down) and thus when it was shaped a giant air bubble got trapped? What do you think? Please, let me know.

At least all is not lost this bread made fantastic croutons!

One thing I didn't mention is that this bread tasted INCREDIBLE!! It was quite possibly the best sandwich bread I have ever had the privilege of tasting.

BBA: Bagels

2009-05-24T08:18:00.000-07:00

Here's the dough. Man, I really need to get me one of those dough whisks. Maybe for my birthday? *hint, hint*

Shaping the dough. We did half this way and half the pokey way. I think I like this way better because you get smooth stretched dough. Our poke ones were just a little lumpy.

After the curls on my celebration bread unrolled I was proactive and used a little bit of water to seal the ends together. I seemed to work very well no unrolled bagels!

I thought this pot would never boil! I suppose that's what I get for living at such a high altitude. We boiled the bagels for 1 - 1 1/2 minutes on each side.

I found that using the bottom end of a fork was the easiest way to flip the bagel when the pot was full.

Time to come out :)

Here they are all topped for the oven we ended up with 13 bagels:
3 onion
3 Asiago Cheese
2 Sesame Seed
2 Kosher Salt
2 Cinnamon & Sugar
1 Plain

After 5 min. in the oven

All done! The first pan I left in the oven for a few extra minutes to brown a little more, but the second pan I just left (aka forgot) the oven at 500 instead of turning it down after I rotated them. The second batch browned a lot better. I think I'll stick with this.

Check out my crumb!

Breakfast! Bagel w/ cream cheese

This was the most adventurous recipe of the challenge yet for me. I have never made something like this, but they turned out amazing!

BBA: Pizza Dough

2009-05-19T21:04:00.001-07:00

I love making homemade pizza! While this dough was good I'm not sure it was leaps and bounds over what I already use. We made the dough and my sister and her husband brought the toppings it was one delicious dinner party.

The recipe tells you to split the dough into sixths I found this made medium sized thin crust pizzas. I learned that I definitely need to work on my dough tossing skills. We decided to eat four of them and put the extra dough into the freezer.

I use these racks for everything. This time they worked great as racks for all our different kinds of pizza.

I know less is more but this pizza has refried beans, lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream, avocado, and black beans.

Here we have artichoke hearts, tomatoes, chicken, and garlic ranch.

Classic pepperoni and red sauce.

BBA: Casatiello

2009-05-19T20:55:00.000-07:00

We baked this bread way out of order, but my husband was so anxious to try it. This is a bread that is loaded with meat and cheese. We discussed our various options of meat and cheese. I wanted bacon, Danny kind of wanted sausage. I wanted provolone Danny wanted cheddar. In the end, we had bacon and cheddar. (a fairly good compromise)

Here you can see all of those yummy pieces of bacon and cheese. We did have a little mishap with the bacon. We wanted the bacon really crisp so that we could crumble it. So as I was cooking I started thinking of other things I needed to do. I figured since we wanted the bacon crispy I could walk away for a second. The problem was I got distracted and ended up completely burning it and we had to start over.

This bread was really tasty! We really like eating a slice as an afternoon snack. Overall, I would give this recipe a 4 out of 5. Why? Because, aside from just eating it I'm not sure what you would do with it. (Doesn't make very good sandwich bread.

BBA: Artos, Christopomos

2009-05-19T19:29:00.000-07:00

This is actually a Greek holiday bread, but what the heck school's almost over so we'll say we're celebrating that! :)

This was our first bread that required a pre-ferment and I was really excited, but in order to get everything done on Saturday Danny took charge of that piece.

I promise I will get better at taking pictures of the process, but this time we were in a mad dash to finish the bread before we had to go to church.

We ended up taking the loaf to a BBQ with the in-laws and it was devoured so I was unable to take pictures of the crumb. I kind of resembled a cinnamon bun with less sweetness and more fruit if that makes any sense. I was a little surprised at the density of the bread, for how much it rose I was expecting a light bread. However, this loaf was actually quite dense. I love how the loaf looks, even if our swirls didn't stick. Next time I will use a little bit of water to bind the curl to the bread.

BBA: Anadama Bread

2009-05-19T19:19:00.000-07:00

I actually made this bread a couple of weeks ago. I was a little
surprised by the cornmeal molasses mix and wondered how the finished
bread would taste. I was particularly worried about what I had gotten myself into as I kneaded the grainy dough.
I ended up using a really dark molasses because
that was what I had on hand. The finished product had a strong
molasses flavor, but the texture was perfect. It is still a little
chilly here in Utah at times so I had to turn up my heat a little to
get everything to rise. (It is a good thing my apartment doesn't charge us for our gas) This was probably the lightest, best textured
bread I've ever made it also had a nice thin crunchy crust. I think
the directions in the beginning of the book about kneading and steam
in the oven made the biggest difference for me.

Overall, I'd give it about 4 out of 5 stars. It made a pretty good
PB&J and it would be good for variety every once in a while, but not
my absolute favorite.

Finally Pictures!
Sorry these were taken with my cell phone

Bread Baker's Apprentice Challange

2009-05-06T07:34:00.000-07:00

In light of the Bread Baker's Apprentice challenge from Pinch my Salt I've decided to start my own food blog. This is so that I quit filling up our family blog with my culinary creations. Not so much here right now but stay tuned for at least weekly updates.

I have already made the first week's challenge Anadama bread a few weeks ago so I will post about it soon.