Bread Baking (or Breaking)

I used to make bread all the time.  We hardly ever bought store bread.  I got really good at.  For the past few years, I've made bread occasionally and have had frustrating results.  For some reason, the yeast is causing me trouble, or at least the bread isn't rising well.  And our oven, well we are renting and if we owned this place the oven would be the first thing to be replaced.

Its frustrating.  I used to be so good at this and I can't get it to work.  I tried using store bought wheat instead of ground wheat.  I tried getting a different kind of yeast.  I bought a book all about baking bread, with copious information about leavening, in particular yeast.  But it isn't working.  I still get the same weird results with recipes that have worked well for me in the past.

I have some free time during the next couple of months, so I'm going to attempt to figure out if I'm just a hopeless failure at this for some reason, or if I'm just missing something critical.

I'm going to start out with some soda bread recipes.  These are bread recipes that use baking soda and baking powder as the leavening agent.  Using sodas is a lot less tricky than using yeast.  But, the bread doesn't have the same depth of flavor.

Then I'll try the old standby that I used to make all the time, being very particular about proofing the yeast for the right amount of time and measuring the ingredients precisely.

I'd also like to try to cook some bread in someone else's kitchen, but bread making is messy and time consuming so that might not work out for me.

I don't know where I will go from there, but I really miss those good loaves of bread that I used to make all the time.

With some help from my wife I organized my spice cupboard today. This is what I currently have in it (very roughly from back to front, which also translates very roughly into least used to most used):

1. "Italian seasoning"
2. cinnamon sticks
3. lemon pepper
4. garam masala
5. red pepper flakes
6. alum
7. cream of tartar
8. paprika
9. whole nutmeg
10. whole cloves
11. whole yellow mustard seed
12. "curry powder"
13. Tony Chachere's "salt alternative"
14. whole peppercorns
15. powdered ginger
16. Lawry's seasoned salt
17. parsley flakes
18. chili powder
19. dill weed
20. fennugreek seeds
21. nigella seeds
22. sage
23. celery salt
24. ground black pepper
25. tamarind concentrate
26. poppy seed
27. "fajita seasoning"
28. star anise
29. saffron threads
30. ground mustard
31. whole caraway seed
32. chipotle powder
33. whole allspice
34. ground cloves
35. ground mace
36. whole fennel seed
37. ground cardamom
38. ground nutmeg
39. cayenne pepper
40. ground cinnamon
41. whole coriander
42. marjoram
43. whole cumin
44. tarragon
45. thyme
46. oregano
47. ground coriander
48. ground turmeric
49. bay leaf
50. ground cumin
51. kosher salt

Of course this doesn't count other spices that I have other places, such as: in baskets above the cupboards (including powdered peppermint leaf [important to some Indian recipes], powdered spearmint leaf, black mustard seed, dried basil leaf, and lots of others); on the back of the stove (Sriracha sauce and Tabasco sauce), in the garden on the deck (fresh chives, rosemary, thyme, and oregano); and, in it's own special place where it won't corrupt other spices, asafoetida powder.

I like to have a good selection of spices on hand. What do you think? Anything obvious I'm missing? Some things on my wish list are: curry leaves, whole cardamom pods and dried green mango, but I get along without them.

Cross posted to P. B. and Jorgee's.

Squash-Apple Cheddar Gratin

From The Moosewood Restaurant Kitchen Garden by David Hirsch

2 Cups sliced onions
1 tsp fresh thyme
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 1/2 cups thinly sliced apples
1 Tbsp white flour
1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese
2 Tbsp bread crumbs
3 cups cooked, lightly mashed winter squash
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Gently saute onions and thyme in oil for about 20 min. till soft and golden. Toss apple slices in flour. In separate bowl toss cheese with bread crumbs.

Preheat oven to 350. Oil 8x8 baking dish and layer in: squash, sprinkling of salt and pepper, onions, apple slices more salt and pepper and cheese mix.

It is delicious.

Bake cover 30 min. then uncovered 15.

Whole Wheat Bread

This recipe uses food stuffs that can be stored pretty easily. The bread is moist and magnificent and super easy to make.

Ingredients:
2.5 teaspoons instant yeast OR 1 packet active dry yeast
1 1/3 cup water
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup honey, molasses or maple syrup
3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (I mill mine at home from wheat that we store, milled whole wheat flour doesn't stay fresh for very long.)
1/4 cup nonfat dry milk
1 1/4 tsp. salt

In a mixing bowl combine the water, vegetable oil, and honey. Add the dried milk and whisk until the milk is well mixed (if you can't keep the milk from clumping it's fine, just try to get a little clumping as you can). Add the salt to the liquid mixture and stir. Add the whole wheat flour a cup at at time for the first two cups and then a half cup at a time for the rest. Once the dough has a soft consistency, quit adding flour (you may have to add more or less). Make sure that the dough is well mixed, but don't work the dough too much. Allow the bread to rise until doubled (about an hour).
While the dough is rising grease the bread pan with butter or vegetable shortening.
After the dough has risen carefully move the dough to the bread pan. Cover with a moist kitchen towel or saran wrap and allow the it to rise again until it is about an inch above the bread pan.
Bake the bread at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. When you can tap the bread and it sounds hollow, it is done.

I'm not vegan, but...

this Kathy lady is and her food looks amazing. I'm adding her to the blog roll, enjoy!

Snicker Surprises

2 sticks butter, softened
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking powder
3 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 package snickers miniatures

Cream together butter, peanut butter and sugars.
Add eggs, vanilla.
Then add flour salt and baking soda
chill for 2 -3 hours
divide dough into approx. 1 Tablespoon pieces and flatten place a snicker in the middle of each and from the dough into a ball around the snickers.
Bake at 300 degrees Fahrenheit for 10-12 minutes.

Lime Chicken Taco Salad

The first two of our CSA shares have been greens. Greens that I've never heard of or would even consider looking out for. We got some strawberries and some beets too, but the greens have been the bulk of it. I made a salad last night for dinner, Lime Chicken Taco Salad, at least that is what I call it. We used two whole heads of the four red leaf lettuce heads we got this week!


Marinade for the chicken:
1/4 - 1/2 cup lime juice
2 teaspoons Fajita Seasoning (I got it at Target)
2 teaspoons Ground Corriander
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar (if you would like, you could use 1/4 cup white wine)

I marinated it overnight, which I recommend unless you have fresh good chicken, ours was frozen and not a great quality chicken. Marinating in the lime juice helps tenderize it. At least marinade it for 30 minutes.
At this point you can choose if you want to grill it or fry it or broil it.

Dressing:
1/3 cup lime juice
1/3 cup honey
2/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup cilantro (you can leave this out and just sprinkle it on top)
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon ground corriander
salt to taste
(I had to add a little more honey, just adjust to your taste)

Additional Items for the Salad:
Fresh greens
Feta (I know not really Mexican, but the flavor goes really well with the salad)
Crushed tortilla chips

It was so good, just thought I would share a simple summer meal that I sort of made up on the fly.

Guten Appetit!