New Beginnings!

I recently nursed started back to health. Last Saturday, in fact. I probably had ignored her for almost a month -- if not more! She had a solid inch of alcohol on top when I finally pulled her jar out and was all huddled in the bottom of the jar. But with warm air, warm clean jars, and fresh food, she soon perked right back up.

I pulled her out to feed today, although I probably could have done this yesterday or maybe even Tuesday. I had PLANS for her today. But when I washed out my Official Starter Mixing Bowl and tried to pour some starter in, she refused to budge. I shook the jar a bit. She made a huffing noise as air whooshed in and out. Left with no recourse, I pulled out a big spoon and ruthlessly divided her in half.

And onto the project! Y'see, Mister and I have been sneakily, behind starter's back, looking into recipes for rye bread. Apparently, most traditional german rye breads were sourdough based and cooked over a looooooooooong time to get that dark color (it's now common to use caramel coloring and cook it faster). With that in mind, we even bought rye flour. We bought this... oh probably close to two months ago now. And today I implemented it.

Half of starter got fed with rye flour and water. The other half got fed with all purpose and water, like normal. It did mean that this feeding I would not be able to bake, as when dividing in half, normally with the second half one would make two loaves of bread.

But so now I have two little jars of starter in the fridge. We'll see how the rye comes out! I probably won't be able to bake with it for at least 3 feedings or so, as I want the rye to be the dominant flavor.

Food of Late

So Mister and I haven't really been eating much at home (as per usual...) but what we have made has been fun!

For Superbowl Sunday, during the halftime show, we made onion strings and fried kasseri cheese using the same breading. As my one Calphalon pan started smelling and spluttering while we were heating the oil, I pulled out my wok for this one. Man it's been awhile since the wok and I were friends!

I learned today that my new favorite quesadilla is: cheddar, spinach and sour cream on the side. OMG delicious. It reminded me quite a bit of fried pierogi.

We've had thawing since last Thursday stewing venison that we got from my dad this Christmas (I love that my dad now hunts!), so venison stew needed to be made. We based it off of a sausage soup that we'd made recently, which Mister apparently based off of goulash? Any way, it involved frying onions in olive oil and bacon fat (venison is very lean, so needs fat added), browning the meat (which was prechopped to a decent size! I didn't expect that), deglazing the pan with a splash of brandy, adding beef stock, carrots, potatoes and spices: bay, salt, pepper, oregano, paprika, cumin, coriander (for those not in the US, this is the seeds, not the leaves), tarragon and cayenne. I let it cook down for about 4 hours, adding in two other batches of potatoes, so that the finished dish was quite thick from disintegrated potato but still had potato pieces. Oh it was delicious. I served it with crescent rolls from my freezer.

I also made veggie stock today! I pulled out two bags of frozen veg bits from the freezer, one was all potato peels (from Thanksgiving) and one was celery, onion, carrot, parsnips, and a handful of other things. I'm too lazy to go see what I wrote down on the bag. :-P I added that plus a quartered onion and the remains of four heads of lettuce to water and pretty much the same spices as the stew. Oh, and red pepper flakes. I let that cook for about 3 or 4 hours, strained it, and bottled it. It made about 120 oz, split between three 44 oz jars, with enough headroom to let me freeze them. This is super exciting!

Today I also cuddled starter, as she was looking sad in the fridge, and quite deflated. I fed her, and she perked right up sitting next to the simmering soups! She doubled in 4 hours like a healthy starter should, so I started up a proof with a new recipe: I used 1 c. all purpose and 2 c. white whole wheat, a bit of powdered milk, a heaping tablespoon of honey, and about 2 c. filtered water. When I work with it tomorrow morning, I'll just use all purpose flour and probably mix in some dried cranberries. Perhaps I'll also try to add in a cinnamon-sugar swirl when shaping it? I'm so excited to do something beyond a plain sourdough!

Also, for my own benefit, here are some sourdough recipes from sourdoughhome.com

Pizza Crusts
Bagels
Blueberry Muffins <-- I would have made this tonight if I had eggs
Rolls
English Muffins
Kaiser Rolls

Bread and Life

WARNING: LONG RAMBLING POST AHOY.

I made a batch of sourdough the other day. Honestly, I was super nervous. All that confidence I had built making bread a whopping five times with my starter? Gone. I was unsure about how I was kneading it, unsure about the amount of flour, it wasn't rising well, I didn't shape it well, etc. etc. But it still came out quite tasty.

I'm currently toasting two slices to spread with peanut butter, and heating the kettle to try some Starbucks Via (instant coffee) that I got from a friend -- adding sweetened condensed milk to the mix. Is peanut butter normally quite goopy? I had to open a jar for the first time in about a year, as we're out of peanut butter, and when I was mixing in the oil, it seemed like there was too much oil! That the peanut butter was too thin with it added. Granted, it was also room temp and we keep our peanut butter in the fridge so that could have been part of the problem.

EDIT: The via is not bad. I added a big spoonful of sweetened condensed milk, some more sugar and it's quite palatable. :-P But there is still a bit of bitterness that is just pure Starbucks. I dont' know as I would buy via, but I'll sure take it for free from my buddy.

Speaking of room temp... my heat is mysteriously not on. The thermostat has been wonky (it's digital) and I'd noticed a few days back that the screen wasn't lit up, but it came back. Last night however, it was unlit, hasn't come back, and the heat is also not turning on when I'm pretty sure it should by now. Mister's also not sure if this is a problem on NStar's end, or if we need to call our landlord because the heating system is broken. I'm gonna have him deal with that, since I wouldn't know one way from the other, and NStar is in his name anyway.

Yesterday was the last day of classes, and a highly productive one at that. I had my Russian oral exam with a partner -- I wasn't the best, but I wasn't the worst. There was one awesome sketch that had my prof laughing the entire time. Couldn't understand a word of it beyond: "'Oh hey Ivan!' 'Do I know you?' 'It's Hamid, Sasha's my sister.' 'Oh I thought you were her friend.'" There was also a memorable bit where Hamid stood up to go, said good bye, and Ivan was like "wait a minute Hamid, I have something to ask you." I think he then asked if Sasha liked him, judging by the class's response, but I have no idea. The assignment was actually super hard: 12 questions with a partner, 12 each!, and you can't repeat questions. I honestly stumbled over some of the parts at the end, because I forgot to write down what I was to say and I never recognize the verb "to eat dinner". Never. So I'm like 'uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...' and my parter was like "dinner!" :-P

Then on to theory where I had a presentation. That went well. We had studied a few Bach fugues in class, and I found a fugue that was the inspiration for one of Bach's. Bach's is much better. :-P

In ear training, I gave my presentation Monday so I was all set.

And then before my 1:00 History class, I wrote a 5-page paper. I started it at 8:00, had three hours of classes, and finished at 12:34. Tada! I had been attempting to work on it Monday and Tuesday, and I had a mental block about it -- I have no idea why. I wrote a highly amusing "essay" at about 3 am while ridiculously frustrated, though. It begins with: "The Twelve Tables and the Magna Carta are both super awesome." You can tell that an essay is a winner, when it begins like that!

So I have two finals to prep for: my history final tomorrow at 11:30, and my Russian final Wednesday at 8:00. KILL ME NOW. Luckily, I've felt woefully unprepared for each Russian exam, and gotten As... so either she's a super easy grader, gives easy tests or I really know more Russian than I think I do (doubtful)... but yeah, I'm not expecting that test to go well.

I have a doctor's appointment today at 3pm which I'm super excited about. Not in the journey to the doctor's office, as it's far away, but that I get to talk to my doc about the problems I've been having. Yay!

Sourdough

I am restarting my sourdough starter. It has languished in the freezer for some time now, and frankly, I've been craving bread. Yet, now that I know how tasty and easy it is (and cheap!), I've been loath to buy it, even at the day-old price of $3.

One thing that's nice about the starter currently is it's much more liquid. I had troubles before with it being a little stiff, and I like the consistency that it is. But I've just fed it tonight and we'll see how it takes to that. A warm jar and a warm bowl to be mixed in can do wonders I feel.

Success!

And there are my first two loaves of sourdough! Let's get a closer look...



Oh my, I cannot wait to slice into this beauty! I realized, as I was staring longingly into my oven as these baked, that I have not mentioned my little sourdough project. It all started when over at Pinch My Salt she started a new sourdough starter and invited the internet to join in. This bread has been two full weeks in the making, as I started on a Saturday two weeks ago. It was all going decently, but my starter was moving MUCH slower than the one on Pinch My Salt. I realized it was probably due to it being in the window, and it was probably chilly. I moved it next to the stove, and it perked right up.

I also followed the recipe for her bread, since I was using her starter. I started the sponge last night, popped it in the fridge so it wouldn't overproof, and let it rise for its three rises all day today, as it was beautiful and over 80 degrees F. The only change I made when making it was to mist it with water 3x in the first three minutes of baking. It is now sitting on my counter, on a cooling rack, tempting me.

I will let you know if it's as tasty as it looks!

Baked Goods

So I made bread yesterday from this recipe. I used up the last of my whole wheat flour, my all purpose flour, and a bit of the white whole wheat (plus water, olive oil salt and yeast). Just a very simple, basic bread to see how I like the recipe. It's a little bland, but very workable.

Funnily enough, today's 101 cookbooks recipe is ALSO bread! It also looks quite tasty, and I'll probably try it out after these two loaves are gone.

Found a recipe for Shortbread that I'd like to try.

And I scored free pyrex the other day! I got two loaf pans, two pie pans, two mixing bowls and a metal loaf pan as well.

Links and More Links

As always, lemme clean out my browser windows:

my favorite gutters comic


Fruit and Custard Pie

Galit Barak's blog -- a jeweler who crochets wire and attached semi-precious gems (and a lot of pearls!)


Skillet Cornbread


An interesting granny square

Obelisk Fiber Arts' Etsy specializing in weaving


An adorable embroidered pillow


A recipe for spoon bread

Delicious Squash Bread

So the other day I made a delicious squash bread from this recipe.

Here are some pictures!



Roasted Squash.



Empty squash shells.



Being kneaded by my machine (I think my machine needs oil -- anyone know how to oil KitchenAid stand mixers?)



One loaf looked like a turkey while in-pan.



Lookit how tasty it is!

Things to make note of for next time: we don't eat two whole loaves of bread in the time needed. Freeze one. (I used an entire loaf for a breakfast strata because it went stale.) Use unsalted butter for the butter on the top afterwards because as this is a sweet bread, the saltyness of the butter threw off my tastebuds.

Some Recipes to Make

Limoncello Cheesecake Bites (I'd probably use REAL cream cheese.)
Turkish Fermented Cabbage
Shaker Squash Bread -- I have a few that need to be eaten NOW...
Sri Lankan Mustard

"Okay, tip for your Recipes to Make Soon post: when making the Sri Lankan, mustard, remember to add salt to the ginger and garlic and mustard seeds when soaking, not after! Mustard seeds ground or pasted without the salt seeping in will turn inedibly bitter.

Also, the turmeric is just for colour, not taste. You can skip if you like. And try to substitute green chilies instead of cayenne powder. Okay, all done :-)" -- R

Bread Making

I was reading Tips for Better Bread from Farm Girl Fare, and realized that I wanted to jot down a few of the more pertinent points I think.

1 -- make the same type of bread over and over again until you understand it.
2 -- keep a bread journal, and write down details every single time you bake bread -- even if it's for the 456th time.
3 -- use good ingredients, including filtered water
4 -- add salt after autolyse.

Things that I intend to do:
1 -- make double and treble batches of dough. I already know how well bread freezes, and I only want to have one baking day a week.
2 -- consider getting a bread box. The only person I know with one is my grandmother, but she certainly doesn't use it properly. She keeps her bread in the fridge year round.

I cannot wait to be settled in the new place, and start putting all of my plans together!

Plans for new apartment thus far:

Gardening Thoughts
Ideas for the New Apartment
Plans for 2011
Fridge and Freezer Plans
Pantry Plans
Plants that Grow in Shade
Food Storage Tubs

Turnabout Is Fair Play

So remember the time that I said I had no intention of making bread? Well, I lied apparently. The amount of baked goodness on the internets coupled with my chicken soup that I made yesterday lured my bread-baking out of hiding.

So! Pics of soup making.

Making stock from my nommy chicken carcass.

You have to strain out all of the bones and such.

After picking through all of the bones for meat (because SOMEONE ate the meat I reserved for soup...)

Sooooooooooooup glorious sooooooup.

Nommy bread!

So the recipe (bare bones though it is) for the bread is as follows:

I started with this recipe for garlic soda bread and leaped off from there. I used 50/50 WW flour/white flour, and regular skim milk (in lieu of buttermilk). I then threw in grated sharp provolone and parmesan, fresh rosemary, fresh basil, and some herbs des provences for good measure. Mixed it all up in the bowl, didn't really bother kneading, and threw it in a greased round cake pan, and topped it with more grated cheese and course sea salt for good measure. Baked for a little over 20 mins, et voila! Tastiness achieved!

Best part about it? Mister was pleasantly surprised and said it was really tasty (although too much salt on top) -- the last thing I threw together breadwise was a spectacular failure :-\

Bread

Why does it seem like everyone is posting yummy quick breads right now?

Granted, not all of those are bread per se, but the point still stands. Why must people make these delicious soda breads when I do not have a good kitchen?! Yes, yes, I am aware that one can make anything with limited space -- just willpower. But in my head, bread is a complicated, demanding beast that requires all of my attention and counterspace. And cleaning up mid-project is not my forte. :-P

I keep pushing back my thoughts on baking bread -- "I'll bake in the new apartment", "I'll have a starter in the new apartment", "I'll bake weekly bread in the new apartment" -- I'm hanging an awful lot on the new apartment!

With that being said, I still have no intention of baking in this apartment. It's too cramped and confining to feel comfortable doing so. I need lots of space in order to feel free to experiment and/or feel free to actually get flour everywhere... Also, we aren't fully in a cooking routine. We keep starting ones, but then not falling through. Having a full kitchen and full equipment will make that easier, and would then be nice to have a baking day. (It's so easy to PLAN things...)

Saving Some Recipes

This is merely one of three in my freezer

Graham Cracker Chewy Bars
Pumpkin Pie Snickerdoodle Bars
Thanksgiving Twofer Bars
Pumpkin-Pecan Pie Candy
Russian Teacake Cookies
Pumpkin-Pecan Spice Bread
Macaroons Speculoos
Roasted Delicata Squash with Panne Cotta
Butternut Squash Pudding
Praline Pumpkin Cake
Pumpkin Bread Pudding
Almond and Polenta Cake

Recipes to Save

Pot Pie #1
Pot Pie #2
Pot Pie #3
Pot Pie #4
Pumpkin Apple Bread Pudding
Banana Bread Pudding
Steak with Fondue
Bacon, Onion, Cheddar Biscuits
Make Ahead Muffin Melts
Black Ginger Blondies <--- I should make these for my coworkers at LUSH for Christmas! yay for vegan food blogs!
Irish Cream liqueur
Pumpkin Bread Pudding with Spicy Caramel Apple sauce and Vanilla Creme Anglaise

Recipes to keep track of

Since I have nothing better to do than drool over cooking blogs, here are some things that are cluttering up my browser.

Fried Plantains with Coconut Caramel Sauce
Shredded Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Walnuts, which is remarkably similar to...
Bacon Sprouts
Taiwanese Pork (Lo Ba)
Roast Banana Pumpkin Breakfast Bread
Hachis Parmentier (similar to Shepherd's Pie)

And to top it all off, Tasty Kitchen and Pioneer Woman are having Pie Week! What's a girl who's not celebrating Thanksgiving to do?!

Some Recipes to Save

Spicy Squash Soup with Kielbasa and Corn
Mexican Deep Dish Pizza
Garlic Mustard Pesto
Preserved Lemons
Whole Wheat Bread

Also, I have every intention of stopping at the Farmer's Market today after work (I hope I get out in time!). Items to buy: squash, pumpkin, more cabbage after the cabbage-failure (:-(), shallots, carrots, apples, whatever looks good.

Follow-up of Brunch -- Strata and Spicy Apple Dumplings

So J and her roommate M came over for brunch. (Of the massive horde that I invite... sheesh.) Due to my loving to work last minute coupled with their arrival 10 minutes early, even the coffee wasn't ready (but the kettle was already on the stove! ... and things were ready in 10 mins).

As I had to be at home from 8-12 for the RCN guy to show up (if he'd shown up at 8 I was going to punch him), I had to be here early. But, as it was RCN that was showing up, our internet was down. And where did I post all of those lovely recipes I wanted to try? My blog. Where did I leave the book they came from? Mister's house.

Luckily, I typed all of the damn things in, so remembered the basics of what I wanted.

Half of it turned out as delicious as I wanted. The other half... I'll explain.

Based upon my half remembered Basic Breakfast Strata.
Strata Recipe:

Ingredients:
-- ground pork
-- bread (preferably day old, but I dried out regular bread)
-- garlic
-- oil
-- spices
-- 6 eggs
-- milk
-- 8 oz. block of cheddar cheese

I fried the pork with garlic and spices until appropriately browned. In a greased casserole dish, layer 1/3 of your bread in torn up bits. Add a layer of half of the sausage. Add 1/3 of the cheese. Another 1/3 of bread. The second half of sausage. Another 1/3 of cheese. Final 1/3 of bread. Leave final 1/3 of cheese off. Mix eggs with milk, and VERY VERY VERY SLOWLY pour the egg/milk mix over your casserole, allowing it to soak in everywhere (if you don't pour slowly, it bounces off the bread and onto the counter. Don't ask how I know). Let sit for an hour. Add final layer of cheese, and bake in 375F for close to an hour, or until done.

Verdict? Delicious.

Based upon my staring at this recipe a lot -- I looked up a recipe for the dough in the King Arthur Flour's Baking Companion.
Spicy Apple Dumpling Recipe(Picture above):

-- 2 apples, peeled, cored and diced
-- sugar
-- vanilla
-- choc. chips
-- cinnamon
-- garam masala
-- 2 c. flour (+ more for rolling out)
-- 2 tsp. baking powder
-- 1/2 tsp. salt
-- 2/3 c. shortening
-- 1/2 c. milk

In a med. sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Using a pastry cutter or fork, blend in shortening until crumbly. Stir in milk and form a soft dough. Divide dough in half, wrap each half in plastic, and refridgerate it while preparing apples.

Prepare apples as listed above. Throw in a bowl with a bunch of sugar, and, remembering that Garam Masala is cinnamon and a few other spices, toss a boat-load in and consider it a job done. Mix, and realize apples are spicier than an apple has a right to be. Throw in vanilla, cinnamon, more sugar and finally, chocolate chips in an endeavor to fix said spicy apples. Consider it as good as it's gonna get.

Preheat oven to 375F.

Roll out small balls of dough (<2" diameter in ball form). Place a spoonful of apple mix in the middle, and fold dough over into little purse-shapes. Place dumplings seam side down on a greased pan.

Bake for 45-50 mins.

Verdict? Spicy. I keep trying to convince Mister to come over and eat them. He's entrenched at his apartment, and not budging (nor am I being a sweetie and bringing them to him).


All in all, a fun morning drinking coffee and discussing musicals and odd bits of youtube.

Sticky Buns

Ingredients for Buns:

-- 1 package (2 1/4 tsp.) active dry yeast
-- 1/4 c. warm (105-115F) water
-- 1/2 c. cake flour
-- 1/3 c. sugar
-- 1 tsp. salt
-- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
-- 1/4 c. milk
-- 1 tsp. vanilla
-- 2 c. bread flour
-- 6 Tbs. very soft butter

Ingredients for Topping:

-- 1 + 1/3 c. packed dark brown sugar
-- 8 Tbs. butter
-- 1/4 c. honey
-- 3/4 c. chopped pecans (*opt.)
-- 1 Tbs. melted butter
-- 2 tsp. cinnamon

Combine yeast and warm water in mixing bowl, and let stand until yeast is dissolved, about 5 mins.

Add cake flour, sugar, salt, eggs, milk and vanilla. Mix by hand or on low speed until blended. Gradually stir in bread flour. Mix for 1 min. until dough comes together. Knead by hand for about 10 mins or with the dough hook on low to med. speed (**For KitchenAid stand mixers, only use dough hook on speed 2) for 5-7 mins until the dough is smooth and elastic and no longer sticks to your hands or the bowl.

Add butter. Vigorously knead in the butter until completely incorporated and the dough is once again smooth. Place the dough in a large buttered bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place (75-80F) until doubled in volume, about 1 1/2 hours. [N.B. -- this may or may not be in the directions: Punch down the dough, knead briefly, and refridgerate, covered until doubled again, 4-12 hours. Punch down the dough and shape it. If it has not yet doubled, let the dough finish rising in a warm place, punch it down and refridgerate for 30 mins.]

Meanwhile, butter a 13"x9" baking pan.

Bring 1 c. brown sugar, butter and honey to a boil in a small saucepan over med. heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Remove from the heat and stir in pecans.

Pour the hot syrup into the baking pan and spread it evenly. Let cool.

Roll out the dough to a 16"x12" rectangle. Brush the dough with melted butter. Sprinkle with 1/3 c. brown sugar and cinnamon.

Starting from one long side, roll up the dough as you would a jelly roll. Cut crosswise into 8 slices. Arrange the slices cut side down in the prepared pan, spacing the slices equally in the pan. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Bake until the buns are golden brown and the syrup is bubbling hot, about 30 mins. Let the buns cool in the pan for 5 mins, then invert the pan onto a baking sheet to collect the hot syrup. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Makes 8 buns.

[taken from Joy of Cooking: All About Breakfast & Brunch by Irma S. Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker, Ethan Becker]

Buttermilk Crackling Corn Bread

Ingredients:

-- 4 oz. fatty salt pork
-- 3/4 c. cornmeal
-- 3/4 c. flour
-- 1 1/2 Tbs. baking powder
-- 1 Tbs. sugar (*opt.)
-- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
-- 1/2 tsp. salt
-- 2 large eggs
-- 1 1/2 c. buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 425F.

Rinse salt pork quickly, then pat dry. Slice off and discard the rind, then cut the pork into 1/4" dice. Turn into a heavy 9 or 10" oven proof skillet, preferably cast iron, and cook over med. heat until very brown and crisp and the fat is rendered. Remove the skillet from the heat.

Whisk dry ingredients together thoroughly in a large bowl. In another bowl, whisk eggs until foamy. Whisk in the buttermilk.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until just moistened. Fold in the cracklings and all but 1 Tbs. of the fat in the skillet. Set the skillet over high heat until the fat smokes. Remove from the heat and pour in the batter all at once. Immediately set in the oven and bake until a toothpick inserted comes clean, 15-25 mins.

Serve at once, either plain or with jam or sorghum syrup.

Serves 8.

[taken from Joy of Cooking: All About Breakfast & Brunch by Irma S. Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker, Ethan Becker]

Custard-Topped Spoon Bread

Ingredients:

-- 1 c. flour
-- 3/4 c. cornmeal
-- 1 tsp. baking powder
-- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
-- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
-- 2 c. milk
-- 2 Tbs. warm, melted butter
-- 2 Tbs. sugar
-- 1 1/2 Tbs. white vinegar
-- 1/2 tsp. salt
-- 2 tsp. butter, softened or melted
-- 1 c. heavy cream

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350F. Place an ungreased 8x8 baking dish in the oven to heat.

Whisk together thoroughly first four ingredients. Whisk next six together in a large bowl.

Add dry ingredients to wet, and stir just until the batter is smooth and free of lumps. Add 2 tsp. butter to the heated baking dish and tilt to coat the bottom evenly.

Scrape the batter into the baking dish and spread evenly. Set the dish on the oven rack. Pour cream over the batter slowly, without stirring.

Bake until the custard layer on top is puffed and golden brown but still quivery and a knife inserted into the center comes out clean, 45-50 mins. Remove from the oven and let stand for about 10 mins. before serving. Serve hot or warm.

Serves 8.

[taken from Joy of Cooking: All About Breakfast & Brunch by Irma S. Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker, Ethan Becker]