Bread, Bread and More Bread

I love to bake.  Anyone who's been around me enough knows that I get a lot of enjoyment out of it.  I especially love to make breads.  Many people that cook - even people that love to bake - then to shy away from yeast breads.  Sometimes because they feel it's too time consuming or they are just plain intimidated.

Bread making is really not as complicated as it may seem and, once you have been doing it for a while, is not all that time consuming.  If you have a good stand mixer - it does most of the heavy work for you.  I have a commercial-grade, 6 quart mixer that will handle up to 14 cups of flour at a time.  I'm posting the recipe based on the bread making instructions for my mixer, but it can easily be tailored according to your mixer's specs/directions - or even for making it by hand.

I often bake breads (of different types) ahead and stock my freezer with them.  If you wrap them air-tight, they can be kept up to 3 months in the freezer.  When you want to use it, pull it out of the freezer, leave it wrapped and let it sit on the kitchen counter to thaw.

I made a hearty beef stew for dinner last night and was trying to think of a nice bread to go along with it.  I scoured my bread recipes and finally decided to start with an old stand-by and modify it with flavors that would best accompany the stew.  The result was a nice herb and cheese braid.  If you don't want to make braids, you can most likely form this as a regular loaf also.  This recipe will make 2 braids or 2 loaves.

ITALIAN HERB AND CHEESE BREAD

4 1/2 to 5 cups flour

2 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons salt

1 pkg. rapid-rise yeast (or 2 1/2 teaspoons jarred yeast)

3/4 to 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

3 teaspoons dried Italian herbs

1/4 cup water

1 cup milk

1/2 cup butter, cut into 8 tablespoons pats

2 eggs

1 egg yolk

1 teaspoon water

Additional herbs

In mixer bowl, combine 3 1/2 cups flour, sugar, salt, yeast, Parmesan cheese and herbs.  Attach dough hook and mix for 2 minutes until combined.

In a saucepan combine water, milk and butter.  Heat over medium-low heat until 110 to 115 degrees. 

Turn mixer to 'kneading' speed (on mine that's 2) and gradually add liquid to dry ingredients, mixing until well-blended.  Add eggs, one at a time and continue mixing until blended.  Add remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time until a smooth dough is formed and it cleans the sides of the bowl (I find that I usually only need approximately 1 cup of the remaining flour).  Knead dough as per your mixer's instructions.

Place dough in a well-greased bowl, turning dough over to grease top.  Cover and let rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in bulk (depending on the temperature of your kitchen - 30 to 60 minutes).

Punch down dough.  On a lightly floured surface, divide dough in half.  Working with one half at a time, divide dough into 3 pieces and roll each piece into a 14 inch rope.  Braid three ropes, pinching ends to seal.  Gently rock braid back and forth on surface to 'tighten'.  Place on greased baking sheet.  Repeat with remaining dough.  Cover and let rise until doubled in bulk (30 to 60 minutes).

After second rise, preheat oven to 375 degrees.  In a small bowl, beat egg yolk and water.  Brush each braid and sprinkle with additional herbs.  Bake on center rack in oven for 35 to 40 minutes or until done.  

Immediately remove from baking sheets to wire racks to cool.

Slow Cooker Pot Roast

There were many things that I learned while growing up and being taught to cook by the women of my family.  My grandmother was very "brand loyal" and was insistent that you only bought and used name-brand products, wasn't happy when I bought her a microwave, thought it was cheating if you used a crock pot or any other cooking appliance that wasn't the range.

Well, I am not her.  I still don't do a lot of 'cooking' in my microwave and, while I love my range, I often opt for my slow cooker and my latest discovery (gasp) an electric roaster oven.

Last night's dinner, as I stated in the the previous post, had pot roast with the traditional veggies.  Following is a very successful, fool-proof and simple way to do a roast in the crock pot.  I used more veggies than what I've listed here (a whole bag of carrots and I used small red potatoes in their jackets - about 12 about the size of an egg).  If you like your sauce/gravy a bit thicker, increase the buerre manie.

SLOW COOKER POT ROAST

1 - 4# beef roast, trimmed of as much fat as possible and blotted dry

1/2 t. salt

1/4 t. freshly ground black pepper

4 large carrots, peeled and cut into 3-inch lengths

4 large potatoes, peeled and quartered

1 large yellow onion, peeled and quartered

2 bay leaves

3 C water

1/2 C cider vinegar

3 T butter, softened

3 T flour

Spray slow cooker with cooking spray.  Put the roast in cooker and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Add carrots, potatoes, onion and bay leaves.  Pour water and vinegar over the meat and vegetables.  Cover and cook on LOW for 6 to 8 hours.

Transfer meat and vegetables to a heated platter and cover with aluminum foil.  Turn the cooker to HIGH.  There will be about 3 full cups of liquid in cooker.  In a small bowl, mash together butter and flour to make a paste (this is called buerre manie - the French use this for thickening sauces and soups - simple and the rule of thumb is 1 T flour and 1 T butter for EACH cup of liquid).  Add the buerre manie to the hot liquid and whisk until melted and the liquid thickens.  Ladle some over the meat and vegetables, if desired, and serve the remainder in a bowl.

Strawberry Angel Food Cake Dessert

Okay, so I have been extremely lax about posting anything to this blog.  Sometimes life gets in the way and, well, best laid plans...

Anyhooooooo...last night I had friends over for dinner.  It was simple, easy food for a nice spring evening of fellowship and laughter.  Pot roast with veggies and something for dessert.  My grandmother (and probably most everyone else's) used to make a really simple dessert with angel food cake, strawberry gelatin, frozen strawberries and whipped topping.  I hadn't made it in ages and thought that I might 'brush up' on the measurements by looking it up on the web.

Surprise!  I found an 'updated' recipe for this classic.  It added a few extra steps that I hadn't thought of (and I know that my grandmother hadn't either) and the dessert was a big hit, so much so that there was very little of it remaining in the dish after my friends went home.

A few notes:  store brands work great for this...it doesn't need to be fancy (everything that I used was store-brand other than the ice cream; I just happened to have Haagen-Dazs 'Vanilla Bean' in the freezer).  I happen to like making my own angle food cake and used about half of a 10" round cake.  But, if you don't want to take the time to make your own (or you simply don't have the time) store-bought angle food works nicely also.  One loaf-style should work fine. 

STRAWBERRY ANGEL FOOD CAKE DESSERT

Angel food cake

1 C milk

1 sm pkg. instant vanilla pudding

1 pt. vanilla ice cream

1 sm. pkg. strawberry gelatin

1 1/2 C boiling water

10 oz. frozen strawberries

Whipped topping

Break angel food cake into pieces and place in bottom of 9x13 baking dish.  With an electric mixer, blend milk, pudding and ice cream until smooth. Pour over cake pieces and refrigerate until set.  Mix gelatin and boiling water until gelatin dissolves.  Add strawberries.  Stir and place bowl in refrigerator until it starts to gel.  Pour over the pudding/ice cream layer.  Refrigerate for several hours until the gelatin is set.  Top with whipped topping. 

Soup Weather!

Fall!  My favorite season.  The cool, crisp air, the smells and the days getting shorter bring many things to mind - buying school supplies, raking and burning leaves, walking along with the crunch leaves under my feet and most of all - SOUP!

I love to make soup and find that the one that everyone asks me to make the most is my chili.  My chili recipe is not a closely-guarded family secret.  It's just old-fashioned chili that anyone with basic cooking skills can make.  This makes a large pot of chili so, if you're not going to can it, be prepared to have some friends over and share.

Peace out all and happy cooking!

SEAN'S CHILI

5 lbs. ground beef (or venison, if you prefer - or a combination of both)
2 C. chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
2 pints home-canned Italian Tomato Sauce OR 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
1/2 C. chili powder (more or less to taste)
1 1/2 T. salt
3/4 T. ground black pepper
1 hot red pepper, finely chopped OR 1 t. cayenne pepper
1 t. cumin seed
3 qts. home-canned tomato juice OR 3 46 oz. cans store-bought tomato juice
1 large can Brooks "hot" chili beans (omit if you are canning)

In a large stockpot, combine onion, garlic, chili powder, salt, black pepper, red pepper (or cayenne) and cumin seed.  Brown meat in large skillet - you will probably have to split it and cook in two pans.  Drain excess fat and place in stockpot with seasonings.  Add tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes and the juice (and beans if you are not going to can the chili).  Stir will and simmer for at 20 minutes (if you are going to can it or until you are ready to eat).

FOR CANNING: skim off excess fat, if necessary, before canning.  Ladle hot chili into sterilized quart jars, leaving 1-inch headspace, seal and process for 90 minutes, at 10 pounds pressure in a steam pressure canner.  When you are ready to serve, add cooked or canned pinto or kidney beans (or "hot" chili beans); heat and serve.

Creamed Corn Cornbread

I was looking for a good cornbread recipe the other day and found this one.  I've only baked this in my cast iron skillet but I'm sure that you could modify it to back in whatever "dish" you prefer.

This recipe is courtesy of Alton Brown of The Food Network and it is fantastic - great with soup or just to eat a piece as a snack!

Peace out all and happy cooking!

CREAMED CORN CORNBREAD

2 C. yellow cornmeal
1 t. salt
1 T. sugar
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1 C. buttermilk
2 eggs
1 C. creamed corn
2 T. butter or canola oil

Preheat oven to 425 and place a 10" cast iron skillet in the oven.  In a bowl, combine cornmeal, salt, sugar, baking powder and baking soda.  Whisk together to combine well.  In a large bowl, combine buttermilk, eggs and creamed corn, whisking together to combine thoroughly.  Add dry ingredients and stir to combine.

Place butter in hot skillet to melt and swirl to coat (or swirl canola oil in hot skillet).  Pour the batter into skillet and bake until the cornbread is golden brown and springs back upon the touch - about 20 minutes.

Italian Tomato Sauce

Throughout the summer I was able to find a wealth of tomatoes at the farmers' market.  Growing up with in a family that always had gardens, fresh tomatoes were always plentiful.  Since I don't have much of a yard, going to the farmers' market assures me that I can have home-grown tomatoes all season long.

I've been canning for a few years now (thanks to my grandmother who taught me how to master this art), and have searched out recipes that would allow me to enjoy the wonderful tomatoes that I found at the farmers' market - well into the winter while the snow is flying.  

I found this recipe in the 100th Anniversary edition of the "Ball Blue Book".  It's called a "sauce" but I would say that it has the consistency of stewed tomatoes.  It's flavorful, versatile and FABULOUS!

Peace out all and happy cooking!

ITALIAN TOMATO SAUCE

4 quarts tomatoes - cored, peeled, seeded and chopped (about 24 large)

1 C. chopped celery (about 2 stalks)

1/2 C. chopped onion (about 1/2 medium)

1/4 C. chopped green pepper (about 1/4 medium)

1 T. basil

1 T. oregano

1 T. minced parsley

2 t. crushed red pepper

Combine all ingredients in a large sauce pot.  Cover and cook 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking.  Ladle hot sauce into hot jars, leaving 1-inch headspace.  Remove air bubbles.  Adjust two-piece caps.  Process pints for 20 minutes, quarts for 25 minutes, at 10 pounds pressure in a steam-pressure canner.  Yield: about 7 pints or 3 quarts.

Starting up...

Well, I'm going to give this a shot. I'm not really good at keeping up with blogs, journals, diaries and the like...but I'm certainly going to try on this one.

Mainly this blog was inspired by the movie "Julie & Julia".  I'm not going to be cooking my way through "Mastering the Art of French Cooking", but I am going to share some of my favorite recipes.

You may find a few anecdotes along the way also....

Peace out all and happy cooking!