Twisted Parmesan Herb Buns

 The summer has been an unbearably hot one, and we have been staying away from the stove and oven as much as possible.I'm not complaining, because I actually love all this sunshine and warm weather. but our poor lawn is almost turned to hay!
Today we woke to some rain and a much cooler day.
I had made a pulled pork in the crock pot and was planning to make some homemade potato buns, but after a busy morning found myself with not enough time required to make them..
In the end because I was craving some type of homemade yeast bread, I decided to make these yummy soft fat bread twists.
They literally require only 15 minutes of prep time, an hour to rise, and then another 20 minutes to rest and bake. You can top them with almost anything you feel like, caraway seeds, sesame,rosemary or like I did with some grated Parmesan, sea salt and herb De Provence. I hope you try these as they really do melt in your mouth.

TWISTED HERB BREAD STICKS
1T. yeast
2T. sugar
11/2C. warm water

Mix all these in your mixing bowl

Add
31/2C flour
1tsp.salt

With your dough hook knead for 5 minutes, until the dough pulls away from the bowl.
I then take the dough and lightly oil the bowl ,return the dough and cover with cling wrap and let rise for 1 hour or until double in size.

Flour your counter and roll out the dough into a rectangle about 15X20. with a pizza cutter cut 12 strips about 11/2 inches wide.

Melt 1/4C of butter
 Por the melted butter right  on to your baking sheet.

 Take your stip of cut dough and coat it in the melted butter ,
 fold the dough strip in half and then twist and lay in a row on your baking sheet.

Repeat the same way with all your stripes.

When they are all in the pan  side by side,you are ready to dress them up any way you want. I generously sprinkled Parmesan cheese, salt and herbs on mine. Let rise for another 20 minutes while you preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden.
Beware, when they come out of the oven they won't last long!

Easy Beer Bread and Corn Chowder

 I'm not really a fan of corn I know everyone is in shock now... don't get me wrong I enjoy my corn on the cob, especially with a good lobster boil, or roasted on the grill yummy... but by the third time I tend to pass on this summer crowd pleaser. Last week, my neighbour offered me some corn and because it was a busy week I am ashamed to say that the corn never even made it to the fridge. I hate to spoil food so the corn was quickly grilled then scraped off the cob. I quickly sauteed 3 sliced celery ribs with a large diced onion in some olive oil. Added that to 4 cups of milk, 2 cans of creamed corn 2 potatoes that I cubed and then in went the roasted corn for a quick corn chowder soup.Bacon Garnish optional

Over at Stone Gable , Yvonne had posted this or a similar recipe and included this super simple Beer Bread that I just had to make . Not only is this a simple bread recipe but quick to make in a pinch.

Beer Bread

21/4 C. flour

3T. sugar

1/2 tsp,bakeing sodar

1 T bakeing powder

Mix all the above ingredients.

1 bottle beer

1T oil

ix the oil in the beer and then pour into the flour mixture. Mix just until batter is incorporated. Pour into a greased loaf pan and bake at 400 for about 45 minutes until golden. ( If you wish pour 1 T. melted butter over beer bread before bakeing.)

NO KNEAD BREAD

I love baking bread and so does Ron there is something very cathartic about it and very spiritual. However I am also always on the look out for quick bread recipes.  I came across this video by Mark Bittman on You Tube. In case you don't know him, he has written numerous cookbooks his latest is at Chapters, and also write for the NEW YORK TIMES. But gals save your money and go to you tube, where you can see countless video of him in action, cooking and baking.

This recipe caught my eye, because |I am all for the short cuts! and when I saw that you don't need to knead this dough, well I was sold.

Now I am a convert and have this bread on the go all the time in my house.

I made two loaves this day, and while talking on the phone left the second one in a little longer and henceforth the darker texture but none the less still delicious.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13Ah9ES2yTU

I always like to play with the recipe, by fooling around with the quantities but basically here is the recipe that any 4 year old can do.

3 cups flour

1 1/2 cups water

1 1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. yeast

MIX by hand just to incorporate ingredients

COVER and leave for 12-24 hours

Next day

Pre heat oven to 500F

When temperature is reached, preheat Corning dish and lid in oven.

TAKE out dough and fold over a few times to form a squarish round shape,

COVER with towel.

When the corning dish or cast iron pot is hot carefully remove from oven and plop in your bread from the tea towel.

Cover your pot with lid , this creates steam and helps your bread rise and bake.

Bake for 30 minutes at 500.

Remove lid and continue baking for additional 20 minutes until desired color is reached.

(20 minutes yields dark crust, 15 minutes yields golden crust)

Please check out the video on You Tube.

PAIN PERDUU

Pain Perdu is an old fashioned French nursery dessert. Very similar to French toast with a few twists. Ina Garten's recipe calls for a whole loaf of the Brioche bread and she makes mention that she likes to even serve this as a dessert when entertaining. the original recipe calls for strawberries soaked in Grand Marnier, I omitted this because mine was just a breakfast meal and while I had the Gran Marnier I didn't have any strawberries. As I mentioned the recipe's quantities will be great for a festive brunch but can easily be adapted for two.

PAIN PERDU
1/2 pint fresh strawberries hulled and sliced
2 T sugar, divided
3 T Grand Marnier, divided
6 x-large eggs
1 1/2 C milk or half&half
2 T honey
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. grated orange zest (I used lemon because I used blueberries and omitted the Booze)
2 tsp. kosher salt
1 brioche loaf or challah bread
unsalted butter
vegetable oil and 1/2 C sliced blanched and toasted almonds
confectioners' sugar

Pre-heat oven to 250 degrees
Soak the strawberries in 1T each of sugar and Grand Marnier
In a large bowl whisk together he eggs, milk, honey, 1T sugar, 2T of the GR, the vanilla, orange zest and salt. Slice the bread in 3/4 inch slices. Pour the egg mixture into a large shallow plate and soak a few slices of bread for 4 minutes turning once.
Heat 1 T each of butter and oil in a very large saute pan over medium heat. Take each slice of bread from the egg mixture , dip i side in the toasted almonds and place in the saute pan almonds side down. Cook for 2-3 minutes on each side until nicely browned.Place the cooked bread on a baking sheet and keep warm in the oven. Repeat until all bread is used.
Sprinkle with the confectionery sugar and serve hot with strawberries.

BRIOCHE LOAVES

I love this brioche recipe out of Ina Garten's book Barefoot in Paris. Making bread is usually labour intensive , but this recipe is very quick, the only drawback is that you have to refrigerate the dough overnight. but then the next morning you take it out and with very little effort you place it in some pans and before you know it the kitchen just permeates with the lovely aroma of fresh baked bread.

Ina's recipe makes 2 loaves one to eat and one to freeze, but in my house the second one never makes it to the freezer. My sister likes hers plain just slice an serve. I of course need butter on mine ! Either way this bread is delicious and if any is left over I think I'm going to make some Pain Perdu tomorrow. Stay tuned kids, to find out what that is.

BRIOCHE

1/2 c warm water

1 package dried yeast

3 T. sugar

6 x-large eggs, room temperature

41/2 cups unbleached flour

2 tsp. kosher salt

1/2 lbs. unsalted butter at room temperate

1 egg mixed with 1T. milk for egg wash

Combine the water,yeast and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Allow to stand for about 5 minutes, until yeast and sugar dissolve.

Add the eggs and mix on medium speed for 1 minute.

With the mixer on low speed add 2 cups of flour and salt and mix for 5 minutes. Still on low speed then add the other 2 cups of flour and again mix for 5 minutes.

Add the soft butter in chunks and continue mixing at low speed scraping down the sides of the bowl until well blended. With mixer still running add the additional 1/2 cup of flour. Switch the paddle to the dough hook and mix for an additional 2 minutes on low speed.

Scrape the dough into a large buttered bow with plastic wrap.

Refrigerate overnight.

The next morning lat the dough rest at room temperature for 1 hour.

Grease two 81/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 1/2-in. loaf pans.

T urn the dough onto a light floured board and cut in half.

Pat each portion into a 6 x 8 -in. rectangle, then roll up each rectangle into a cylindrical loaf. Place each loaf n a greased pan, cover with a damp towel and set aside to rise at room temperature until doubled in volume, 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Brush with the egg wash when they have risen and bake for 45 minutes, or until the tops spring back and it sounds slightly hollow when tapped. Turn the loaves out onto a wire rack to cool.

SOUR CREAM YEAST ROLLS

Spring has definitely arrived here in our Nation's Capitol. The trees are all a bud, the sun is shinning and the temperature has hit over 30 Celsius, teasing us with summer temperatures. I know it won't last but in the meantime I'll take it. So I've naturally been taking advantage of the nice days and been working in the garden and doing some spring cleaning. Ryan has been asking for some homemade rolls, in particular the potato rolls that are his favorite , but today I decided to do a quick sour cream yeast roll, that can be made quickly without much fuss. They are also a great dinner roll, or like I like them ,with some fresh sweet butter and homemade strawberry jam.

The recipe called to bake them in a 9X13 pan, but I had just taken out the round pan from the dishwasher, and decided to put them in there. You can see how versatile this recipe is. They were still steaming, when I couldn't wait any longer and just pulled one apart and slathered it with butter.

SOUR CREAM YEAST ROLLS

21/2-3 C. flour

2T. sugar

1 pkg. active dry yeast(1/4oz)

1 tsp. salt

1 C sour cream

1/4 C water

3 T. butter divided

1 egg

In a large bowl combine 1 1/2 C. of flour, sugar, yeast,and salt. In a small saucepan heat the sour cream, water and 2 T. of butter to 120 degrees, add to dry ingredients. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add the egg and 1/2 C flour and beat for 2 minutes longer. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.

Turn onto a floured surface knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl , turning once to grease the top. Cover, place in a warm place and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour. Punch down and turn onto a lightly floured surface, divide into 12 pieces. Shape each into a ball. Place into a greased 13 X9 baking pan, cover and let rise about 30 minutes, Bake at 375 for 30 minutes until golden brow. Brush with remaining butter that is melted , remove from pan onto rack.

Stromboli Turkish Style

Sunday, August 31. 2008

I'm back from Kentucky, had a great time there, unfortunately the hubby is still there till the end of September. Came back on Sunday night, and it pretty much took me a week to re-coop! I think I am getting old!

I so wanted my first blog back to be a dish traditional to Kentucky, but I'm not kidding when I said I needed to re-coop.So you are going to have to wait till the next entry for a Kentucky meal. The kids had taken out some ground beef for burgers the other day , then plans changed and the ground beef was left in the fridge.

As the summer is winding down and I didn't particularly feel like a burger, I thought a Stromboli would be a nice change and could be eaten at any time. ( The boys would be coming home in the wee hours of the morning and I knew they would be looking for a little something to eat.

Traditionally a Stromboli is a type of turnover filled with various cheeses and Italian meats or vegetables, and the dough is an Italian bread dough. As I had neither the cheeses nor meats and wanted something flavourful to spice the meat with I thought of those flat breads that you can get in the stores that sell Arabic delicacies that have those excellent meat mixture on them made with cumin and cinnamon and decided to improvise. Actually, I am sure all cultures must have their own version of a Stromboli. I know that the Ukrainians make smaller dough buns filled with different sweet and savory fillings called Pyroshki. But I digress. Here is my version of a Turkish meat roll/stromboli.

Ready to be baked at 375 degrees

Out of the oven and ready to slice.

Dough

1/2 cup of warm water

1 pkg. yeast

1tsp. sugar

21/2c. flour

1/2c. milk

1/2c. vegetable oil

1tsp. salt

1 egg beaten to brush on rolls

sprinkle of sesame and or poppy seeds (optional)

Filling

good drizzle of oil

1 large onion, chopped

1lb. ground beef

1/2c. finely ground walnuts

1tsp. cumin

1/2 tsp. cinnamon 1 tsp. salt and pepper

Mix yeast, sugar and warm water let rise and bubble for about 15 min.

Sift the flour,add milk, oil and salt to flour and incorporate the yeast into this mixture.Dough should not be sticky, so you might have to add a wee bit more ( I didn't have to.) Place dough into an oiled bowl , cover and place in a warm place and let rise until twice its original size. When doubled divide dough in half and roll out dough into a rectangle . Fill with meat and roll up . Place seam down on baking sheet . ( Will make 2 rolls).

For filling drizzle oil in hot skillet and fry onions and ground beef. Drain if too liquid, or continue to saute until all liquid evaporates. Remove from heat, coll slightly and then add walnuts and spices.

Place half of the filling on one dough rectangle, and roll up and seal ends. Place on baking sheet seam down, brush with beaten egg and sprinkle with sesame/poppy seed. Repeat with second dough rectangle.

Bake at 375 degrees until golden brown about 45-60 minutes.

Enjoy for lunch or a midnight snack!

PS. Made those Pyroshki's also but will post them at a later date.

POTATO BUTTERNILK BUNS

RANT

I apologize for the rant, but there is something terribly wrong with the way our economy is going! I know that it is only two days after Canada Day and already I am complaining. (before anybody gets on my case, I am proud to be a Canadian and I know we have a lot of positives living in Canada...) but you really have to wonder and worry about how young kids living on their own and elderly on fixed incomes are managing with all the rising costs. It baffles me how someone who is only earning 9 something an hour can make ends meet when groceries, gasoline, and housing is all going up and up. It is a sad day when staples like milk, butter and bread are all over $5.00 each, (milk $5.69, a pound of sweet butter $5.49, a loaf of bread $4.99).

It is the cost of bread that is the inspiration for the Potato Buttermilk Rolls. Over the weekend at the market I picked up a loaf of potato-scallion (are the loafs getting smaller?). The loaf was $4.99. It is a nice soft bread that has a tendency to disappear to quickly in my house. When I wanted to make a sandwich the bread was all gone. In the fridge I had a container of buttermilk left over from the pancakes I made with it last week. I was wondering what I would make that would use up the remaining buttermilk and realized that I could probably use it to make a bread. While I didn't make the bread I did find a recipe in the Williams-Sonoma book for Potato Buttermilk Buns that used not only the buttermilk but a large russet potato. The buns are soft and slightly hearty and the buttermilk adds a faint tang that contributes to their appeal.

To begin, in a small sauce pan combine the large potato (about 1/2 lbs or 250g cubed) and bring this to a boil in 1 1/2 cup water until tender about 10 mins. Pour the cooked potato cubes and the water into a 5qt bowl of a stand mixer and mash the potato cubes with a fork. Stir in the 1 1/2 c buttermilk and let the mixture cool to warm. Into this dissolve the yeast (2pkgs or 5tsp active dry yeast), let stand for 5 mins. Add the flour (6c, 2T sugar, 1T salt, and 1/2 c soften unsalted butter). Place the bowl on the mixer, attach the dough hook and knead on low speed (by hand use a wooden spoon until a shaggy mass forms). Using a plastic pastry scraper, scrape the dough onto a floured work surface and knead for 5-10 mins. With a dough hook knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic about 5-7 mins. If the dough seems sticky dust the wok surface with a little extra flour to keep the dough from sticking.





Remove the dough from the bowl and form into a ball. Transfer it to a lightly buttered bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise in a warm draft free spot until it doubles in bulk about 1hr.
Punch down the dough and turn it onto a clean work surface. Cut the dough in half with a sharp knife. Cut each have into 8 equal pieces for rolls or 6 equal pieces for sandwich buns. Cover with a kitchen towel and let them rest for 5 mins before shaping. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll each piece of dough against the work surface into a ball. Place the balls on the prepared sheet pan spacing them evenly. Cover the rolls with a towel and let them rise in a warm spot until doubled in size 15-30 mins. If you want a lighter airier texture for sandwich buns, let the dough rise until spongy and pillow soft around 45 mins.

Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 375F. Lightly dust the tops of the rolls with a little flour, bake the rolls until they are puffed and little browned 20-25 mins. Let rolls cool slightly before serving.

A few minutes later,a little chive cream cheese topped with a juicy tomato on a yummy soft potato-buttermilk bun.


Recipe

1 lrg Russet Potato (about 1/2 lb peeled & cubed)

1 1/2 C water

1 1/2 C Buttermilk

2 pkg or 5 tsp active dry yeast

6 C flour plus extra for kneading and dusting of rolls

2 T Sugar

1 T Salt

1/2 C Unsalted butter at room temperature

(you can use yams or sweet potatoes instead of Russets for a colorful variation)

Makes 12 sandwich buns or 16 rolls

ANYTHING GOES FOCACCIA

You have to admit there is nothing like baking bread to get those juices flowing. I just love making this flat bread/focaccia, mainly because it is so easy to make, a crowd pleaser at any party, and guaranteed to disappear from the plate immediately. You can make it as simple as you want withh only a little olive oil and salt or add what ever you feel like, garlic, rosemary, onions, caramelized onions, olives, ricotta, even tomatoes or all of the above.Go for it!

At Shirley's birthday party we popped this bread in the oven and 15 minutes later served it with some olive oil and balsamic vinegar.. I know that's so retro but still the plate came back CLEAN. There are many focaccia recipes, this one I found to be the easiest to remember.

Focacia

400ml of warm water

1T yeast

1/2 tsp sugar

31/2C flour

1 tsp salt

Olive oil

salt (I used Fleur de Sel Guerande)

What ever topping you wish

I make everything in my KitchenAid and attach the dough hook.

Preheat oven to 400F

Dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water. Let stand for about 10 minutes

Add flour and salt and mix with dough hook for about 3 minutes on medium and then on low for about 4 minutes while scraping down the bowl.

Dough will be a little sticky, if it is too sticky add a little more flour.

Rub a clean bowl with olive oil ,place balled dough into it, cover and place in a warm place and let rice for about11/2 hour.

When doubled in size take out of bowl and press into a rectangular pan.

Sprinkle with olive oil, and desire topping.

Let rise again, about 10 min.

Bake in 400F for about 15 minutes or until bottom and top are golden.