Homemade Bagels

Next on my list of baking goals was the bagel. I'm a big fan of bagels and after our bagel experience in NYC, I couldn't satisfy my bagel craving with pretty much anything in Portland. Kettleman Bagels are pretty good, but I just heard they were bought by Noah's, so there goes that option.

Superbowl Snacks

Pretzels cooling on the rack...it took all the strength we had to not bite right into them

Here it is days past the Superbowl and I am just getting to this post. I think we're still depressed.

NYE Baking Extravaganza!

Happy 2011!

For New Year's Eve this year, we decided to have our friends over rather than going out spending tons of money trying to figure out the place to be at midnight. Too much stress...So, we had a party. Not at all stressful. Ha ha. For some reason, I wanted to add to that and start a couple of projects for the next day. Shawn requested that our first meal of 2011 be beef stew, as he's been craving it for a few weeks now and it seemed like a good do-nothing kind of day meal. Clearly I needed to make a loaf of no-knead bread.

And since we're trying to be conservative with our budget, but I still wanted a good breakfast on Saturday, I made my first attempt at English muffins. This was all on top of the other snacks I was making for that evening. Surprisingly, I had about an hour free before anyone arrived. I must be getting better at this planning thing.

America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book English muffins

1 recipe for American sandwich bread
Cornmeal

First you have to make the bread and let it do its rising thing (boring pics I've posted a bajillion times). Then you roll the bread into a 12-inch log and cut into 12 equal pieces. Working with one piece at a time, work each one carefully into small rolls. Spray with vegetable oil, cover with plastic on cornmeal-dusted pan and do some more waiting.

Here we are....waiting. After they have doubled in size again, flatten each into about 3/4" disk, and sprinkle liberally with more cornmeal. Cover with plastic and heat up your skillet.

Woo hoo! We're finally grilling. Takes 3-6 minutes for the first side. They should be deep brown (not burnt) before flipping.

You have to keep pressing them down so they don't become little domes. I think I messed this part up and pressed down too much, because there was a serious lack of nooks and crannies.

Right after they come off the grill (each batch, not the whole lot), put them in a 350 degree oven. Now, I know I messed this part up. I waited too long and I think that was part of their demise.

So, they weren't what I expected. I know a couple of things I did wrong now and will try again sometime soon. They tasted good, but just had more of a bread feel than English muffin feel. Oh well, live and learn.

Sunday Dinner: Mushroom Pasta

This past Sunday, I was in the mood for some mushrooms. I saw a recipe last week on Twitter from Foodista for porcini ravioli with sage brown butter sauce, which, by the way, sounded amazing. I don't have a pasta maker and I was too lazy to go to Pastaworks to buy fresh sheets of pasta, so I improvised using the base of their recipe. I understand the Spaghetti Factory has a similar dish...I like the idea, I despise the Spaghetti Factory.

Mushroom Linguini with Sage Brown Butter sauce
1 lb. linguini
1/2 sweet onion
1 garlic clove
10 fresh sage leaves (2 chopped, 8 left whole)
1/4 c. fresh Italian parsley
1/4 lb. crimini* mushrooms, chopped
1/8 lb. chanterelle mushrooms, chopped
1/8 lb. king oyster mushrooms, chopped
1/2 stick unsalted butter
1/4 c. olive oil
reserved pasta water
salt & pepper to taste
mizithra cheese

Cook pasta according to directions. Try to time this to finish at the same time as the mushrooms.

Slice onion very thin. Heat 1/2 the olive oil over medium-high heat for a few minutes, then lower the flame and cook until onions are caramelized. Add garlic near the end and cook until fragrant. Set onion and garlic aside in a medium-size bowl.

Chop the mushrooms (I prefer to leave the pieces pretty large, about the size of a quarter). Add the rest of the olive oil, heat to medium-high again. Throw in your mushrooms and cook until they are slightly brown, but still firm. Throw the mushrooms into the bowl with the onions and toss with the parsley and sage. Add pepper, but I recommend not adding salt until later. Set aside.

Put your butter in the pan and melt down over medium heat. Add the remaining 8 sage leaves and allow the butter to brown slightly. Add the mushroom mixture and toss until well coated.

Drain pasta, but keep about a cup of the water. Put the pasta back in the pan and add the mushroom mixture that is coated with the butter sauce. Shred some mizithra cheese over the top and mix. Add hot pasta water, as needed. At this point you can test to see if you need more salt. The cheese was so salty, I didn't need any extra.

Add a little extra cheese, and some parsley (if desired), and serve!

Sorry the color is a little off. I had a bad setting on my camera phone when I took this picture.

I made another loaf of No Knead Bread a la The New York Times. I prefer this recipe over the Test Kitchen one as there are fewer ingredients and it's much easier. The Test Kitchen recipe is, of course, delicious, but there's (pun alert) no need to take that course when the simpler NY Times recipe is just as good.*Note: New Seasons sells an 8 oz. variety package of mushrooms for $6.99. The contents change regularly, but it is a great way to go if you're unsure what kind of mushrooms you want. I padded mine with the crimini mushrooms since the other can be so expensive.

Sunday Dinner #2: Beef Stew & Rustic Rolls

I skipped over last week's Sunday dinner (the first of fall) as we just grilled pizzas again and it wasn't the most exciting thing ever. I did, however, find a good use for my leftovers with that menu--meatball and mushroom, pesto and chicken, and fresh tomato sauce and mozzarella. Sound familiar? So, on to this weekend's dinner.

It was a rather chilly day, despite ending up as a sunny day. I spent part of my morning meeting up with my high school friend Kristel as she finished the last 4 miles of the Portland Marathon (go Kristel!). It was a strange way to catch up after 11 years, but I had a great time being there for it. After coming home chilly from running outside, beef stew sounded just perfect. I also wanted to make my first attempt at making rolls. They couldn't be too much different than making bread, but something about their little perfect shape intimidates me.

I used the Test Kitchen as my basis for both recipes. I had never tried their beef stew recipe and found it unusual to throw it in the oven after browning the meat and adding the liquid. Don't doubt the Test Kitchen, though. The meat was unbelievably tender. One thing I don't understand, though, is the lack of celery in their recipe. I added it, but I find it unusual that they don't bother with it. Personally, I love celery in my stew. I failed to recognize the fact that I needed to cook the stew in the oven when planning my meal. It only became an issue when I was to heat the oven to 425 degrees for the rolls. Oops. I have a good Dutch oven (William Temple house--$5!) and finished it on the stove.Can't beat a $5 find like this! Not pretty, but man can it cook.

The rolls were pretty easy, actually. I started a sponge on Saturday night. The recipe is very similar to any rustic bread (I just found out that "rustic" actually means "simple"...interesting). the only difference is after letting the dough rise the first time, you divide it into equal parts (it was supposed to be 18, I got 17) and let the individual part rise again. The dough seemed wetter to me than my usual bread dough, but that might have just been operator error.

Rest little rolls.

After heating the oven with the baking stone for a half hour, I slid my rolls and parchment paper onto the hot stone to bake for 20 minutes until golden. I was impatient and ended up doing all of them at once. I don't think it made too much of a difference, but I should probably rotate them out next time. The recipe says to allow them to cool for a half hour before serving, but who doesn't want a hot roll out of the oven?? C'mon.

Better than fresh from the bakery

Back to bread baking

Since this last weekend may have been the last chilly/free weekend I had for some time, I thought I would finally tackle my goal of my first multigrain bread. I bought the ingredients about 6 weeks ago and haven't gotten around to making it. Bread baking is time consuming, but I manage to find time every other weekend. I think the idea of making the hot cereal and cooling it before I even got started on the actual kneading scared me off a bit. But this Sunday, I had more time than usual since I'm healing a small running injury and would be skipping my 9 mile run. (Hallelujah).

And while I was baking one loaf, why not just throw another one in there? That was my reasoning apparently, because I also made an effort to prepare a lovely parmesan focaccia for our pasta dinner on Monday. What was I thinking? I spent about 4 hours baking bread on Sunday, along with another hour making dinner. Good thing it was worth it.

Both loaves turned out very well. The multigrain is especially good. It's holding up well in the refrigerator, too, and makes wonderful toast.

Thursday night pizza

Tonight I made my first pizza all by myself. Okay, that's not totally true. I've made pizza before, but never with my own crust. Since I'm no longer afraid of yeast (maybe just a little), I decided it was time to stop buying one bag of crust from the store and just make my own. I made it on Tuesday night since I wasn't sure I'd have time last night and I knew I wouldn't have time tonight (Shawn gets hungry early). It wasn't until after I made it that I saw the note, "can be refrigerated up to 16 hours." Oops.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, I'm happy to announce that it can stay in the refrigerator for 48 hours. Ha, take that America's Test Kitchen.


The only downside is that my pizzas, much like my tortillas, are never round. I must be missing that gene. In the past when I've made pizzas, I tend to undercook the crust, basically because I didn't know what I was doing and that you have to preheat the baking stone for 30 minutes before sticking raw dough on it. Makes sense. I also have the tendency to overdo it on the toppings. This time I chose less cheese for an evenly cooked crust. Good decision. The crust turned out crisp everywhere and very chewy and airy in the middle. Success!

Cooking notes: I also made the pizza sauce, which is just garlic cooked in olive oil and then simmered with crushed tomatoes. I bought smoked mozzarella from New Seasons, since it was on sale last week, and a little finely grated parmigiano-reggiano. I skipped the freshly torn basil because we went grocery shopping last weekend and I wasn't sure how long it would last. It also costs $2.99 for a bag, which I wasn't willing to spend. To get some basil flavor, I opted for the crushed tomatoes with basil in my sauce.

Adventures in flatbread

We were invited to our friends Paul and Ann's house for dinner on Saturday night to celebrate (officially) Michael's 35th birthday, and to talk a bit about house sitting for them while they are in Africa (so jealous). We were in charge of salad, and Michael tipped us off that Paul would be preparing lamb skewers. I found a Mediterranean-style salad in my Test Kitchen cook book with radicchio, romaine, chickpeas, feta, and a basic balsalmic vinaigrette. I took a risk and decided to try out flatbread, as well. I didn't tell anyone, besides Shawn, that I was going to attempt it, just in case it was a disaster.

Lo and behold, it turns out I can make flatbread. And got some rave reviews.

Baking weekend

This weekend we hosted our friends, the Rices, for a card night at our place. We try to plan a dinner at one of our houses about once a month (it usually ends up being every two months). Eve-Maridy and I are both big foodies, so it gives us a chance to experiment with recipes for each other. The boys are just happy to be fed a good dinner and hang out, so it works out nicely.

Since it was my turn for the first time in a while, I wanted to do something special. The menu:
Crisp Winter Lettuces with Warm Sweet-and-Sharp Dressing
Homemade baguettes (America's Test Kitchen Family Baking book)
Steak with red wine pan sauce (America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook)
Low fat Scalloped potatoes (America's Test Kitchen Best Light Recipes)
Fallen Chocolate Cake (America's Test Kitchen Family Baking book) with raspberry coulis and lightly sweetened cocoa whipped cream (me)

As you can tell, I love me some America's Test Kitchen. I use those books for everything. Everything turned out really well. I did make a small error with the salads and halved the bacon, but not the rest of the ingredients. It turned out fine, but not as thick as I would have liked. The cooking vinegar may have also irritated my lungs because now I have this horrible cough.

The baguettes were a success! It was my first time working with a sponge and I was a little worried. Luckily I knew I could always run down to the bakery, DiPrima Dolci, if they didn't work out. The recipe yields two 15" baguettes, and unfortunately I only have a 13" baking stone. So, I cut one of them in half, and threw the other in the refrigerator to finish rising and bake the next day.

The chocolate cake, on the other hand, was quite easy and turned out delicious. I didn't have individual ramekins, so I ended up using my springform pan to do one big cake. No matter, it was yummy either way. Although, I do need to get a thermometer for my oven because I think it runs a little hot.

The cake (had a little trouble removing from the pan):

The second round of baguettes (didn't get a picture of the first one):I think my fear of yeast is slowly starting to dissipate...

Quick follow up to earlier this month

I did end up trying a "whole wheat" bread. It was the almost-no-knead whole wheat bread from the Test Kitchen. While it does have whole wheat flour, it has twice as much white flour, along with beer and honey to keep it moist. I understand the purpose, but I really do need to figure out a whole grain bread that doesn't involve white flour, and doesn't turn out to be a brick. I think I'm going to try one with a multi-grain cereal like Bob's Red Mill (love those products).

A funny note on my whole wheat bread though...it turned out well and despite its overcooked bottom, it was very tasty. However, the funny part was that it was almost a perfect ball. It never really settled down like the white bread--probably a little too dense. I'm adjusting.

Next up will be pizza dough...more to come!

My First Focaccia

Continuing the journey that is getting over my fear of working with yeast, I decided to try another bread. I had an extra russet potato hanging around and happened to remember that my recipe for focaccia bread called for one russet potato. What luck! So, Sunday afternoon, I started working on my first focaccia.

It starts with boiling the potato cut into 1-inch chunks, then grating the cooled potato on a box grater.
Then kneading the dough and potato in a stand mixer.

Kneading it by hand, forming into a smooth ball, and letting it rise in an oiled bowl.

After the first rising when it has doubled in size, it gets stretched out onto an oiled, rimmed baking sheet, covered with oiled plastic and left to rise a second time. (More oil, I'm sure you see a trend here...)

When the dough doesn't bounce back immediately after poking, it's ready to roll. Since I didn't have fresh rosemary, and did have fresh thyme and olives, I used those instead. Both ingredients were leftover from Christmas, so it was a great way to use up stuff I would've eventually thrown away instead.

And voila! Focaccia!Notes on this recipe...

• From America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook or Family Baking Book
  
• My stand mixer isn't the greatest. It works and thankfully has dough hooks, but it's not very powerful, so kneading the dough in the mixer was tricky. I ended up doing more of the kneading by hand. I'm glad I did, though, since I'm a rather inexperienced bread baker and knead (ha ha) to get used to the feel of properly balanced dough.
• The dough didn't like to stretch out to the edges of the pan, even though I left it for a minute to relax like the recipe said, it still wouldn't fill the pan. I attribute that to my baking sheets. I need to get some of those industrial sheets for these tasks.

I have been enjoying this bread baking business quite a bit. However, so far I've only worked with white flour. I am starting my weight loss boot camp this weekend and want to learn more about doing whole grain breads. Hopefully they will be just as much fun and tasty!

Make This: No Knead Bread

I had my first experience baking bread yesterday. For some silly reason, I've always been a little wary of working with yeast. I'm convinced it's going to die on me and I'll end up with a big, globby mess. But when I heard about the No Knead Bread, I though I could try it. It's taken me over a year, but I've finally done it. I started the process on Monday afternoon when I was home from work on a snow day. I probably should have read the recipe first. I ended up letting my dough rise for well over 24 hours. When I got home yesterday from work, I finished it up, let the last step of rising happen, then threw it in the oven to finish. Ladies and gentlemen...my first loaf of homemade bread...
Besides actually being very easy, it's delicious. Just as airy and chewy on the inside and crisp on the outside as my favorite bakery breads. Honestly, if I can do it, with all the fear of yeast that I have, then anyone can. I highly suggest trying it out. You may never want to buy bread again.