Tag Archives: Bread

Busy Buddies

3 Replies

I spent a wonderful weekend with my best bud, Claire.  She’s an inspiration, feeding her small family sustainable food, working for a non-profit (Heartland Film Festival), making her own cute clothes, and cooking up a storm.  We met at IU our freshman year and have stayed close friends since then.  Even though we live 200 miles away from each other, we’re still very much in each others’ lives, and cherish the small amount of time we get to hang out together.  We also cram as much as we can in whenever we get together and this weekend was no exception.  As always, I’m happily exhausted and have some yummy products to eat for a few weeks!  Here’s what we did:

After a debrief the night before of each others’ lives and what is new and exciting, we woke up early (for the weekend) and stocked up on veggies at the Binford Farmers Market and talked to some local food artisans about their products.  I love hearing their stories and learning about their products and where they’re from.  It makes eating the food so much more meaningful and enjoyable.  We were immediately drawn to cute ladies selling pasta.  The colors were amazing and I started drooling when I saw some of the ingredients in the handmade pasta.  We picked up some lemon chive angel hair for dinner from Pappardelle Pasta (find them at your local farmers market by clicking on the link), and veggies for our jarring/canning adventure later that day, trying our hand at preserving the growing season’s bounty.

Then we went back home and prepped the veggies.After stopping by a baby shower and quick a trip to the grocer for spices and tools, we spent the rest of the day/night pickling our veggies, baking bread, and making a yummy carb-filled dinner.  That’s right, we did this all within a day, while chatting about life, goals, loves, and family.  Can you say multi-task and efficient?!  When you love what you’re doing and have good company, time flies and your feet don’t hurt until you lay down for the night.

Here are links to the recipes we used this weekend.

Speedy No-Kneed Bread (EXCELLENT and SO EASY): 
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/08/dining/081mrex.html

Easy Pickled Carrots: 
http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2008/11/easy-pickled-carrots/

Crunchy Asian Pickled Green Beans: 
http://manmadediy.com/handjobsforthehome/posts/1247-how-to-make-crunchy-asian-pickled-green-beans

Sweet Roasted Pickled Peppers: 
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/kathleen-daelemans/sweet-pickled-roasted-peppers-recipe/index.html

Mastering the art / science of the Croissant

2 Replies

A proper flaky and buttery croissant is hard to come by here in the US. A friend this weekend said that she thought she didn’t like croissants and I was totally taken back, as how can someone not like multiple layers of crispy, buttery, air-thin sheets that just melt in your mouth? We’re so used to the soggy, flat, rubbery versions from the grocery store, packed in cardboard and saran wrap, that we now think that croissants are only for chicken salad sandwiches or breakfast at Burger King. Even the ones at the neighborhood bakery most times are sub-par. It isn’t until you bite or tear into a proper French croissant right out of the oven that you’ll realize this pastry is of heavenly descent.

Inspired by the French Pastry School and reminiscing about the 1/2 year that I spent in Europe had me craving the tasty treat. I scoured the internet, watched YouTube videos, and thumbed through my books for recipes, tips, and techniques. My good friend, Claire, and I had our first attempt ever at these little suckers this past March, when we broke away from our normal lives for a weekend of creativity, cooking, and crafting in the woods/cornfields of central Indiana. For our first try, I would say we did pretty well and at least they were edible. There were some rookie mistakes though, and perhaps some lack of patience. We probably didn’t let the dough rise enough the first time and perhaps too much refrigeration after a few turns. I also thought it would be a good idea to proof the formed rolls in a slightly warm oven to get them to rise more, and we found out quickly that I let all the butter melt out of them, causing the bottoms to burn. After that day, I was determined to try again and again until I got it right.

I tackled croissant making again last weekend. This time, I decided to follow Julia Child’s recipe and instructions found in “Mastering the Art of French Cooking Vol. II” (got my box set when Borders was closing down near my house). You can also find a good recipe in the book “Baking with Julia”. I’m sure there are copies at your local library if you do not have these books, and I bet if you Google it, you’ll find it too. I put all my faith in Julia. Not only are her recipes authentic, but the amount of instructions and reasoning behind each step is superb!  You can reminisce on some old episodes of “Julia Child:  Lessons with Master Chefs” on PBS.

The result? Better croissants, but not perfect. They weren’t as big and puffy as I would have liked them. It was definitely flaky. crispy, and buttery without being too heavy, but I expected more rise and more poof. Again, I think lack of patience and bad timing got the best of me. I short-changed my second rise because I went to bed extremely late that night and the “overnight rise in the fridge” was really only 5 hours or so and not at least 8 hours. I also think that dry yeast is my crutch. The YouTube video that I found showed that after the second rise, the dough is supposed to be like a bomb inside saran wrap waiting to explode and mine poofed up only a tiny bit. I’m not sure where I would be able to purchase active yeast for home baking though (do you?).

They still turned out pretty well though I think. I made sure that I didn’t melt the butter while final proofing this time and I even decided not to bake all of them at once (froze the ones that I didn’t bake. You can freeze them after final proofing and pop them straight into the oven when you want) so that they could be fresh out of the oven when we eat them (as they don’t store very well once baked, unless you freeze them). Sorry there aren’t any step by step pictures this time, there will be next time, when I attempt this again! Granted the 3 days worth of folding and waiting for it to rise is cumbersome, but the authentic carbi-goodness with some yummy raspberry jam and just a touch of butter makes it all worth while. What do you think, craving a croissant yet?

Giving into Technology

2 Replies

This is probably going to be sad.  My blog is about how I love bread, and all the posts so far haven’t featured actual bread yet, but only biscuits and sweets.  Now, I finally made some bread, but I can’t even say it was made by hand!

So the story begins on Saturday morning.  Zach was feeling guilty (probably because he hasn’t let me choose the movie we go see for 2 years now because he has to see the newest comic book / action movie the weekend it comes out and last summer and this just have had a plethora of them).  So, he decided to take me garage sale shopping.  Luckily, WANT (West Andersonville Neighbors Together) organized a neighborhood yard sale that day, and since we live in West Andersonville, it was just a short walking distance to around 30 sales.  Ahh…garage sale shopping reminds me of when my mom, sister and I would wake up at the crack of dawn during the summer and drive around the nicer neighborhoods, paper map in hand, in the station wagon (just in case there was a must-have piece of furniture).  We would check off each sale listed in the paper, but then also take a sharp turn when there was a bright neon sign posted on a corner light post with a large black-marker arrow that said “HUGE MULTI-FAMILY GARAGE SALE!! ——->”.  My mom has an excellent eye for gently used furniture and is an aggressive haggler, and my sister is an excellent car packer.  It was through one of our Saturday morning adventures that I completely furnished my first apartment.  I LOVE GARAGE SALE SHOPPING!

Seeing what kind of junk people have is so interesting.  You’re kind of letting it all hang out when you sell your stuff on the sidewalk.  People see that you used to be a size 4 and wore tapered jeans, and that you tortured your Barbies by cutting their hair into mohawks.  Or, that you failed at fitness with your 20 Jane Fonda tapes, Ab-glider, and Shake Weight.  But what is your change of interested, failed attempts, and dislikes is someone else’s treasure (or a horder’s next collection).  In my case, it was 2 new Crate & Barrel Pillows, a ceramic hen to add to my kitchen decor, antique sandwich and cake cutters (for my next bridge party or luncheon), a new commuter coffee maker, and a bread machine, all for a whopping total of $14.

I have resisted bread machines before, on my wedding registry and when a neighbor offered it up for free.  I have too many kitchen gadgets already, I’ll never use it, I would rather feel the dough in my hands and watch it rise on the counter than have a machine beep at me.  But for some reason I brought it home.  Perhaps it was the old lady bringing the price down to $4 and telling me how my husband would stay with me forever when he smells the fresh baked bread when he comes home from work (this normally would have slightly offended me, considering I usually come home after he does, and he should be the one baking fresh bread and making me dinner), or it could have been the heat or seeing how much stuff these people had that they needed to get rid of that got me.  I was excited to bring my Breadman TR440C (they don’t make this model anymore) home and try it out though.  Technology is so much fun to play with, even if it is a uni-tasker (per Alton Brown).  I was surprised to find handwritten bread recipes in the machine with cute notes like “Good!”, “Very Good with Honey Butter”, and “Only OK”.  The notes and the slightly greased recipes are always the best and tastiest.

After pouring in the ingredients, pressing a few buttons, and 4 hrs and 20 minutes (I used the longer setting) later, we had a cute little loaf of perfectly baked honey wheat bread.  Perfect for paninis for tonight’s dinner or with honey butter for breakfast.  It was crusty on the outside but soft and fluffy on the inside.  It didn’t taste yeasty or doughy.  It was rather perfect!  Ok, so I cheated, but it’s still fresh baked bread made from scratch and with love.  So, if you have room on your counter, love fresh baked bread, have jobs that require 1 hr or more commutes, or need to make your own because of allergies, check out a few garage sales this summer.  I’m sure you’ll come across your $4 bread maker too.  Perhaps in a few weeks I’ll attempt to make a honey wheat loaf without the aid of the machine and compare.

I couldn’t wait until it cooled, so we sliced off a small piece right out of the machine.

Honey Wheat Bread – by my sweet garage sale neighbor

  • - 1 1/2 Cups White Bread Flour
  • - 1/2 Cup Wheat Flour
  • - 1 Tablespoon Dry Milk
  • - 1 Tablespoon Honey
  • - 1 Teaspoon Salt
  • - 1 Tablespoon Butter
  • - 3/4 Cup Water
  • - 1 1/2 Teaspoon Dry Active Yeast

(Check out your bread machine’s instructions.  Mine said to add all the dry ingredients first (except yeast), make a well and then add the water and yeast).