Sugared Crescents

This is the last weekend of spring break.  It has been a much needed break.  I feel it was far to short.  I'm not sure if I am zen enough to return to work on Monday.  Work has been extra challenging this past month.  I've been trying to sort out my feelings about it over this past week away and have come to an impasse with myself.  I am not willing to give up, so I need to move forward.  Thus I'm declaring this weekend the weekend of Crescents. It's something I have not made before.  And something very French.  I feel that in order for me to move forward I need to get back to the things that I use to love.  I need to remember that I use to love using my weekends to make lovely things in the kitchen. 

First up: Sugared Crescents

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup warm milk
• 1 Tablespoon dry active yeast 
• 1 & 1/2 cups milk
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup sugar 
• 2 eggs
• 1 stick melted butter
• 5 cups of flour (add more if needed)
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract 
• Egg wash
• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon water 
• 9 tablespoon sugar

Directions:

1. Combine 1/2 cup milk and yeast.

2. Stir.
3. Let sit for 5 to 10 minutes to rise.

4. Pour 1 & 1/2 cups of milk into stand mixer.
5. Add salt, sugar, eggs, butter, yeast mixture, vanilla, and flour.

6. Turn mixer on low and let ingredients come together.

7. Allow mixer to knead dough for another 20 minutes.
8. Cover with a cloth in a warm place and let rise to 1 to 2 hours.
9. Punch the dough down.
10. Pour a couple of tablespoons of oil on work surface and cover hands with oil as well.
11. Turn the dough out onto the work surface and bring ends towards the center making a neat ball.
12. Make ball into a log.
13. Cut log into three equal pieces.
14. Shape each into a ball and set aside to rest.
15. Whisk together  2 eggs and 1 tablespoon of water, set aside.
16. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
17. Set baking rack in the middle.
18. Roll a dough ball as thin as you can into a circle.  
19. Lightly sprinkle with 3 tablespoons of sugar.
20. Cut diagonally 5 or 6 times (like a pizza).
21. Roll the crescents starting with the thickest end, rolling towards the thinnest end.
22. Place shaped crescents onto a baking sheet, end down, about 2 to 3 inches apart.
23. Allow them to rise for 15 to 30 minutes.
24. Brush with egg wash.

25. Bake until golden, 15 to 20 minutes.

Sourdough Bread Lasagna

Time gets away from me.   Weeks turn into months and pretty soon we do the whole year again.  This year is already flying by.  On February second I took my last bite of meat (hopefully) until my birthday.  So far so good, especially if I find more recipes like this one that are wholly satisfying.

Christmas Review and French Bread

French Bread

 (Julia's Kitchen Wisdom pg. 81)

Thanksgiving Recap

My friends I had not meant to be away from this space for so long.  I've been so busy with work and not really doing anything else that I haven't had anything to share with all of you.  Here are some of pictures from our feast yesterday.

Finishing up the last of the meal!

More Wheat Bread

Another day, another Wheat Bread recipe.

Honey Whole Wheat Bread

There are very few things that make me deliriously happy.  Fresh baked bread with honey on top is one of them.  After a long week of practice teaching, after dealing with another snafu with the California DMV regarding my vehicle, after learning I'll probably have to drive the entire 3,000 miles home in July, after another air bead sprung a leak, and missing my kitty it was time to treat myself.

Happy New Years

Last night Alex and I made Steak Diane and these Cloverleaf Rolls from One Perfect Bite.

Corn Bread

Happy Thanksgiving Eve.

Sour-Don't

Sourdough Starter

Lets start by saying that Alex loves Sourdough.  It's his favorite type of bread and he eats it with everything including peanut butter and jelly.

Since moving to the east coast it has been a trial finding sourdough bread.  It's not impossible, but it usually runs out quickly and isn't there everyday or even at every grocery store.

In order to ensure that we have sourdough for all of Alex's bread needs it has become a necessity to make a sourdough starter.

The other day I came across this sourdough starter tutorial from the Cake Duchess and thought I can do that. So, here it goes...

Liza Baker's Chocolate Banana Bread

This recipe was given to me by a dear friend of mine, Liza Baker.  She is just the greatest!  Everyone should have a friend like her, giving and loving.  Here she is eating something at my bridal shower!

For the past couple of years she has been struggling with an unknown disease.  This young woman who has been so strong, raising her son all by herself and supporting them both, could no longer do so.

Tomato-Herb Loaf

Today's recipe comes from one of these beautify pamphlets (mini-cookbooks?) that I picked up on my trip to Trinity County last summer.

50 WOMEN GAME CHANGERS #3 Fannie Farmer - Oatmeal Bread

For some time a few of the blogs I read on a regular basis have been doing this 50 Women Game Changers challenge started by Mary from One Perfect Bite after the May 2011 article in Gourmet.  I've been wanting to join in the fun, but have been full of excuses.  This year my goal is to do it my self!  Even though the rest are all the way up to #32 and I'm starting at the bringing I'm still excited. 

Fannie Merritt Farmer (March 23, 1857 to January 15, 1915) wrote a famous cookbook in 1896 called The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book.  At my local library I was able to obtain an eleventh edition of this book.  

 

 This edition was published in 1965. I loved looking at the old check-out stamps. I wonder who those people were, why did they check-out this particular book? What did they make or take from having this book? These are just things that wonder.

Enough musings on to the recipe.

Oatmeal Bread

Ingredients:

• 2 cups boiling water
• 1 cup rolled oats, regular or quick
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1 package yeast
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 & 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

Directions:

• Boil 2 cups water

• In a large bowl add 1 cup oats

• Add boiling water

• Stir thoroughly
• Let stand for 1 hour
• Add Molasses

• Add salt

• Add Butter

• In a small bowl dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup lukewarm water
• Add to oatmeal mixture

• Stir in the 4 & 1/2 cups of flour
• Beat thoroughly.

• Let rise until double in bulk

• Add enough more flour to make the dough just firm enough to knead
• Shape into 2 loaves.
• Put into buttered pans

• Let rise until almost double in bulk

• Bake about 50 minutes at 350 degrees

50 WOMEN GAME CHANGERS #2 Alice Waters - Marion's Cornmeal Graham Bread

For some time a few of the blogs I read on a regular basis have been doing this 50 Women Game Changers challenge started by Mary from One Perfect Bite after the May 2011 article in Gourmet.  I've been wanting to join in the fun, but have been full of excuses.  This year my goal is to do it my self!  Even though the rest are all the way up to #32 and I'm starting at the bringing I'm still excited. 

 The second woman on the list, Alice Waters, was unknown to me.  Even though I was born and raised in California.  I should have known who this lovely lady was, but I did not.  So, I took myself to the library and checked out two books The Chez Panisse Menu Cookbook and Alice Waters and Chez Panisse: The Romantic, Impractical, Often Eccentric, Ultimately Brilliant Making of a Food Revolution by Thomas McNamee.

Over the past two years I have been experiencing a change in my view of food.  I have for quite awhile now abhorred eating fast-food, but I really couldn't put into words as to why.  And from time to time I would still eat at places like Taco Bell and KFC, even though I haven't eaten at places like McDonalds since high school.  Alice says "Depersonalizatied, assembly-line fast food may be 'convenient' and 'time-saving,' but it deprives the senses and denies true nourishment" (pg 3 The Chez Panisse Menu Cookbook).

Last year I started to pay attention to fresh ingredients and combining them for new and interesting flavors.  Alice's philosophy on food speaks to my new sensibilities.  Though I am just finding Alice I am grateful to have been exposed to such a wonderful woman.

"My style of cooking involves combining ingredients that harmonize because of their quality freshness, aroma, and flavor."  (pg 5 The Chez Panisse Menu Cookbook).

Though I am still learning and have many mistakes ahead of me in my cooking journey.  Alice says "A good cook needs only to have positive feelings about food in general, and about the pleasures of eating and cooking."  (pg 5 The Chez Panisse Menu Cookbook).  This makes me hopeful.

For my first foray into the world of Alice Waters I choose to make a bread.

Marion's Cornmeal Graham Bread

(The Chez Panisse Menu Cookbook pg 235)

Ingredients:

• 1 package of dry yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 2 cups buttermilk, slightly warmed
• 1 & 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 cups graham flour
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup yellow cornmeal

Directions:

• Sprinkle the yeast over the water in a large bowl.

• Stir to dissolve and let stand for several minutes.
• Add the butter, buttermilk, salt, sugar, and the graham flour.
• Beat vigorously for a minute

• Add enough of the all-purpose flour to make the dough come away from the side of the bowl and collect around the spoon
• Add the cornmeal and stir to blend.

• turn the dough onto a lightly floured board.

• Knead for a minute or two.
• Let rest for 10 minutes
• Adding just enough flour so that the dough is not sticky
• Resume kneading until the dough is smooth and elastic.

• Put the dough in a large greased bowl, cover and let rise until double in bulk.

• Punch down and shape into two loaves.

• Place in greased loaf pans, cover, and let rise to the top of the pans.
• Bake in a pre-heated 375 degree oven for about 45 minutes or until done.

• Remove from pans and cool on racks.

Shared with:

Rosemary Popovers

Day Six

This is one of many reasons not to get out of bed in the morning.

Rosemary Popovers

Ingredients:

• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup whole milk
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons minced fresh rosemary leaves

Directions:

• Lightly butter a standard 12-cup muffin pan
• In a large bowl,whisk together the eggs and salt.
• Stir in the milk and butter.
• Using a wooden spoon, beat in the flour and rosemary just until blended, do not over beat.
• Fill each cup one-half to two-thirds full.
• Place pan in a cold oven.
• Set the temperature to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Bake for 20 minutes
• Reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Bake until popovers are golden and crisp on the outsides, 10-15 minutes longer
• Quickly pierce each popover with a thin metal skewer to release the steam
• Leave popovers in the oven for a couple of minutes longer so they will crisp up a bit more.
• Serve immediately

So yeah, popovers were well not really worth the effort in my opinion.
I enjoy a good biscuit much better.

In other news.

I had a horrible day today.
I should have never gotten up.
The story.

While balancing my checkbook against my online bank statement I noticed a strange charge.
I called the bank up and yep a charge of $23+ at a shell station in Florida.

Now I have to cancel my card, again.

And wait for a new one to arrive, again.
This is the second time this has happened in the past three months.

Grump!

Fall, Cleaning, and Pumpkin Bread

It was a beautiful Fall day.



Even Mama was in the mood to pose for some photos.



Unfortunately, there were ants running amok in my kitchen this morning.

I had to wipe down all the shelves.

And pushed into the back was this.

Pumpkin Bread mix.



So I mixed it up with water, olive oil, and eggs.



Divided the mix into two bread pans.



Put in the oven and out popped bread.



So my dinner tonight was pumpkin bread with pumpkin spice tea.

Happy Saturday