Back in Virginia

Posted on May 31, 2011 by heidiannie

This is the first loaf of sourdough French I’ve made this week.

I’m back in Chincoteague in my test kitchen ( really Meredith’s kitchen, but I

don’t think she objects if I call it my test kitchen, especially when, as in the

next two weeks, she gets to test the results right along with us!)

That’s right- she finally gets to come home in the summer!

She’s never seen her house in the summer aside from in pictures- so yesterday

Cynthia and I planted up three huge combination planters of very beautiful

annuals and set them at the entranceways.

And I just made mini lemon cheesecakes to welcome her. Cynthia and Ally

are picking her up at Norfolk International Airport and Aiden and I are

waiting patiently here for them to get back. He’s patient because I talked him

into taking a nap. I am really not very patient- but I am waiting quietly so

Aiden will take a nice long nap!

We went out to the beach yesterday. The ponies were so close to the road

that I couldn’t resist taking a picture.

And there are all these great pictures of Aiden playing with the waves!

See the look of pure pleasure in his face?

And on hers?

Ocean magic!!!

I love flax and rye!

Posted on May 26, 2011 by heidiannie

My new favorite bread!

This is my new favorite bread!

I made it today, using a sourdough

sponge and after several hours of

raising, added white and dark rye flour,

And 2 Tbs. of soft butter, and 2 Tbs.

of molasses and 2 tsp. salt, and 1 Tbs.

rapidrise yeast, and 1 cup HOT water.

I mixed it up and then added 1 1/2 cups

high gluten hard wheat bread flour and kneaded it for about 10 minutes. It was a rather sticky

dough, so I oiled the bowl and let it raise for about 2 1/2 hours and then cut the dough in half

and added some golden flax seed that I had soaking in hot water. The golden flax became soft,

and the water almost gelatinous. I love the caraway flavor with rye so I added a Tbs of caraway

seeds as well, shaped each into a loaf and put into a greased loaf pan for a final raise.

It was ready in about an hour and a half and I baked them at 350 degrees F. The loaves were

high and firm- and the flavor – PERFECT!

I had a little visitor for dinner tonight- Aiden asked for a second piece of bread after he had

finished his meal.

This is His new favorite bread, too, I think!

Another view!

Fig and Hazelnut Bread

Posted on May 5, 2011 by heidiannie

My friend, Joanna, posted this bread on her blog , Zeb Bakes .

Only hers looks a lot better than mine.

It is so very good. I kind of fudged on her recipe, because it is in grams and I

am a firm believer in cups and ounces, tablespoons, and Farenheit temperatures.

So this is my recipe.

3 cups bread flour

2 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 cup rye flour

1 or 2 TBSP soft butter

2 tsps sea salt

1 1/2 cups warm water

2 tsps yeast

1 1/2 cups of sliced dried figs

1 cup partially chopped hazelnuts

1 TBSP fennel seed

(optional- 1/2 tsp finely minced rosemary)

Mix together flours and salt. Make a well in the center of the flour and

pour water and yeast into the well. Mix the yeast (add 1/2 tsp sugar, to get it started)

and let it sit for a couple of minutes to prove the yeast.

Add butter and mix well, adding warm water to get a pliable dough- up to 3/4 cup more.

When the dough is well mixed, add the figs, hazelnuts and fennel.

Knead for about 10 minutes and then place in a well greased bowl and cover.

Let this raise for about 2 1/2 hours- poke it with your finger to make sure it is flexible.

Shape into a ball and place into a bowl that has a piece of parchment paper molded into it.

Raise for another hour and a half-preheat oven and cast iron kettle to 425 degrees F

and then carefully lift edges of parchment paper and place entire dough into kettle and

cover with a lid. Bake for 25 minutes with lid on- then lower the heat to 375 and take off

the lid and bake another 20 minutes.

It is great with butter, or toasted, and today we had ham sandwiches with it and they

were magnificent.

Wednesday Noon

Posted on April 20, 2011 by heidiannie

It just wouldn’t be Easter if I didn’t make dozens of bunny dinner rolls!

They smell wonderful- and look really cute.

And they taste delicious.

I just don’t like eating them.

For one thing – they are just TOO cute.

The ears are too skinny and hard.

And I make them for the Bake Shop in Ghent to sell.

They look really neat with the brown eggs in baskets, though, don’t they?

Baking: Bread and cake

Posted on April 2, 2011 by heidiannie

This grape skin flour is so foreign to me.

Gluten free and cocoa brown and with little flavor.

So far I’m just not too impressed.

I made a harvest bread with it, yesterday.

It’s not bad- but is it good?

It’s all right. Just not great.

I’m going to try hazelnut cookies with it and then I’ll let you know

the final verdict.

I also made banana bread.

I HATE bananas- the texture and the smell- YUCK!

But my men keep buying and eating them despite my prejudiced

opinion and sometimes we have these black spotted things (shudder)

in my fruit bowl. So I mashed them up and made a very nice tea cake.

You could call it banana bread, but it has such a nice light texture- that

I prefer calling it a tea cake. Here’s the recipe.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup margarine or butter, room temp.

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

3 TBS sour cream

3 bananas, over-ripe and mashed

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup chopped nuts

Method:

Cream margarine and sugar. Beat in eggs.

(If you want an extra light cake, divide eggs,

whip whites, add yolks to batter, fold in whites after all

ingredients have been added.)

Add sour cream and bananas. Add dry ingredients, sifted.

Stir in nuts.

Grease and flour loaf pan

Pour in batter till 2/3 full.

Bake at 350 degrees F for an hour.

And I made Sobao Pasiego- a sponge butter cake.

More about those later. Go here to see them done right!

Arthur writes one of my favorite food blogs- it is a delight

to see anything he makes- Art is in the kitchen, indeed!

Making do-looking for cardamom

Posted on March 14, 2011 by heidiannie

Some spices are really hard to find.

I knew this- and planned on bringing some down with me.

But, although I bought some, it never made it into the spice satchel.

So, I was all set to make cardamom owl rolls for our guests over the weekend- and – no cardamom.

There is one source here, but they want to sell me a cup+ of cardamom.

Why would anyone want to buy more than a few ounces of a ground spice?

And who in their right mind would pay $18 for the privilege of a ground spice that has been sitting

on the shelf in a thin plastic container for half a year?

So, I raided the Chai tea container.

And I pulled the seeds out of the pods-

and ground up my own spice.

I love having and using a mortar and pestle.

It makes me feel like an apothecary.

And gives me the opportunity to make and eat-

THESE!

(The recipe is here.)

Hopefully, you have a small tin of cardamom. But I really enjoyed the freshness and

novelty of grinding my own.

Making do- with Oatmeal!

Posted on March 9, 2011 by heidiannie

I don’t have a whole lot of ingredients to work with

here in Virginia. I can’t find any specialty flours in the

amounts I want to buy. I brought down my own bread flour,

made an acceptable sourdough starter whilst here, and

have made some very decent loaves, but I wanted to make

another loaf of sourdough rye before I ran out of the loaf

I brought down. Not going to happen, I think.

But I got a box of oatmeal today and made a loaf of

oatmeal bread.

It will do nicely for toast and peanut butter sandwiches.

AND, since I had oatmeal, I decided to make Frank his favorite

cookies ( although I don’t have any raisins, I added walnuts.)

I picked some daffodils this morning-

Don’t they look pretty next to the cookie jar?

Oatmeal Bread

ingredients:

3 cups bread flour

1 cup rolled oats

1 1/2 tsp salt

2 TBS butter

3 TBS honey

2 tsp instant yeast

1 1/4 cup scalded milk- luke warm

Mix all together, it should make a nice soft dough-not too sticky.

Place in buttered bowl and let sit to raise for 1 hour.

It will not be doubled, but nicely puffy. Shape into a log, and place into

a greased loaf pan. Cut slashes across top if desired. Cover and proof for

another 1 1/2 hours, top of loaf should come a couple of inches over

the top of pan.

Bake at 375 F for 35 to 45 minutes.

Cool on rack, don’t slice until completely cooled.

Baking for a visit-

Posted on January 21, 2011 by heidiannie

Can you see the design? I used a stamp of a lion and the lamb.

You can see it better in person. Maybe YOU should come over for a visit!

I love stamping baked cookies! Especially these Swedish ginger cookies-

they get a little larger and crunchier and have a cool design.

My son and his family are coming for the weekend!

So I also made bread!

A cheesy flat bread… to go with some spicy pumpkin soup.

AND-

Sourdough Rye with caraway seeds.

I love the spicy pumpkin soup, recipe here. I added some fresh ground

cardamom this time!

I love grinding it myself- and it is Extra aromatic and fresh!

Cardamom is quite expensive. I usually buy my spices at bulk stores and get it

fresher that way. But I left this ingredient out of the soup last time because:

1) the stores didn’t carry cardamom (WHAT? I was in a remote place in Virginia)

2) the store I found that carried it wanted $20+ for a medium size bag.

So I waited until I came home to my own little stash!

(Forgot to mention bread bears for Aidan!)

People should come over to visit more often!

Salted Breadsticks (or cheese or seeded)

Posted on January 12, 2011 by heidiannie

These are not your typical Italian-style bread sticks.

I got the recipe from a Hungarian friend of mine and they are in texture more

like a Kifli cookie. But they are savory and so flaky and good.

Try them _ I KNOW you will like them.

Ingredients:

4 1/2 cups plain AP flour

3 tsp. salt

2 sticks (1/2 lb.) butter- room temperature

1 TBS yeast

1/3 cup warm water

16 oz sour cream (1 lb)

2 egg yolks (you will use the whites when you roll out dough.)

Proof yeast in water. Mix salt and flour in large bowl. Add all other ingredients and mix

together well. Knead lightly and form into ball.

Turn bowl over onto top of counter and allow to raise 1/2 hour.

Roll out and brush loosely whipped egg whites on top.

Fold up- keeping whites inside dough- and allow to raise another 1/2 hr.

Roll out again- and sprinkle with seeds, salt, or cheese.

Cut into bars, twist and place on parchment paper on top of baking sheet.

Bake at 350 degree F for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

These are light and flaky and buttery! Dip into a marinara sauce or spread with

a pate- these are great- I like them plain instead of a roll with salad.

Bread and Sausage Rolls-

Posted on January 7, 2011 by heidiannie

Baking makes me happy.

It keeps me sane.

And it makes me focus.

It accompanies my memories.

And fills my day with fragrance.

Today, I followed several of those strands- needing to be cheered,

seeking a focus for melancholy and enjoying the trip into the past.

My friend, Joanna at Zeb Bakes shared some of her pictures of the

holiday fare at her home. And one thing she shared was sausage rolls.

At the very mention, my interest was piqued.

Jordan and I went to visit Luke and Willow when they lived in England

whilst Luke attended Durham University. We went after Christmas-

Boxing day until the end of the first week in January. It was wonderful.

We traveled around the north of England and into Scotland- visiting Lindisfarne-

staying at a B and B in the Lakes district- spending a couple of days in Glasgow-

and much more. We ate at pubs and tea houses, got fish and chips wrapped in

newsprint, and had fried bread and baked beans for breakfast, picked up fresh

baked foods at markets- and snacked on sausage rolls while on a car trip.

Jordan said he figured we stopped at every bakery and used book store (second-

hand book shop) that we came across. I loved it.

So when I saw the sausage rolls, I asked Joanna for her recipe. It was actually

her husband’s recipe for flaky pastry and sausage. I made my own sausage with

bacon, pork, Granny Smith apples, bread crumbs, onions, parley,sage, and salt

and pepper.

Then I rolled it up in the pastry( you make pie dough and roll

it out, add a layer of butter, fold it into a small packet, refrigerate and roll it out again.

It becomes a short version of puff pastry.

So- my day ended up much happier.

Happy memories.

An accomplishment I hadn’t anticipated.

And- because I don’t know when enough is enough-

BREAD!!!

And more BREAD!

My house smells s0 very good.

We ate the French bread with dinner.

The rest I’m taking to Columbus tomorrow to share in our grandson’s baptism.

Bread is a blessing.

Steps On The Journey

walk with me a while

Category Archives: BREAD!