Category: cooking

I have a new pet.

No, it’s not a dog. Jake would never forgive me.

It’s a sourdough starter. I named it Arthur,since I purchased it from King Arthur’s online store. Despite a plethora of information on how to start a sourdough starter from scratch, my handful of attempts had yielded no success. I was in need of some hand-holding. A kit seemed right up my alley. Right I was. Already Arthur has produced 2 batches of sourdough bread.

I used King Arthur’s Extra-Tangy Sourdough Bread recipe. The only thing I changed was that I opted to use bread flour rather than all-purpose. I was in need of getting rid of the bread flour that had been sitting on my shelf for 2 months.

OK so it’s not a real pet, but I do have to feed it once a week. I figured if I named it Pet Arthur, I would have a greater chance of not forgetting about it in a month and letting it die.

Here’s hoping.

I hope you have enjoyed my Homemade Bread for Breakfast series. Dan and I have loved the results, so it is my intention to continue the series.

To expand my collection of bread recipes and to further my knowledge of how to make tasty breads, I bought the following book: Baking Artisan Pastries and Breads: Sweet and Savory Baking for Breakfast, Brunch, and Beyond.

The first recipe I tried my hand at was Orange Cranberry Scones.

Despite an incredible desire to alter the ingredients, I followed the recipe and accompanying instructions to the letter. Although the scones were fun to make thanks mostly to the rubbing technique (I might just retire my pastry blender after all),I felt that they weren’t rich enough. Scones should be made with heavy cream rather than the buttermilk or yogurt recommended; the whole point is that they are just a richer version of a muffin.

If you are wondering why I put sprinkles on my scones, it’s because I didn’t have any course sugar. I used what I had on hand: colored sugar. Dan thought it was “adorable” that I put jimmies on our scones. Silly man.

This week we are having an old favorite for breakfast: Baps.

The recipe is Scottish. Like most Scottish recipes I’ve come across, there are few ingredients listed but the result is rich, homemade goodness.

Nancy posted this recipe of a sweet white bread on her blog.

It was a recipe that had belonged to her grandmother. I love using recipes that have been passed down through the years. You know it has to be good if the next generation wants to make it.

After all this praise for old-time recipes, you might think that I would follow the recipe to a T. You would be wrong. I am firm believer that a recipe is merely a recommendation of how to cook something.

Thus, I took the liberty of swapping butter for the shortening because butter tastes better. I agree with Julie Powell of Julie & Julia when she says the following: “Is there anything better than butter? Think it over, any time you taste something that’s delicious beyond imagining and you say ‘what’s in this?’ the answer is always going to be butter. The day there is a meteorite rushing toward Earth and we have thirty days to live, I am going to spend it eating butter. Here is my final word on the subject, you can never have too much butter.”

The baking temperature listed didn’t seem right. Nancy even commented that the bread didn’t need to cook as long as instructed. I checked my favorite cookbook, Home made, and opted to go with its recommendation: 30 minutes at 375. It was right on the money.

Though the recipe stated that it yielded 4 loaves, both Nancy and I only made 3 loaves. Perhaps if you made mini loaves, then 4 could be yielded.

As anticipated, the bread was quite tasty. It was especially good toasted with jam smeared on top. Thanks Nancy!

This is my first time hosting an Easter dinner. Although I quickly agreed to do it because I love an excuse to cook, I panicked shortly after confirming with family that Easter would be at our house. I wasn’t sure what to serve besides the traditional ham, potatoes and challah.

It took me a few minutes of trolling the internet to find a list of sides that I thought I could pull off with Elly’s help or hinderance depending on her mood.

deviled eggs
strawberry spinach salad
ham glazed with molasses, apple jelly and tart cranberries
carrots in butter & extra ham glaze
mashed potatoes
corn
challah
carrot cake
meringue cookies

So I’m not pulling my hair out Easter morning, I’ve made a few things in advance, such as the challah and the meringue cookies.

The deviled eggs and carrot cake will get made up tomorrow leaving just the ham, carrots, and potatoes for Sunday morning. I refuse to count the corn, since all I plan to do is heat up a bag of frozen kernels. Elly could handle such a task if only she could reach the microwave.

Wishing you a Happy Easter!

Bread with a ricotta cheese filling

I used this recipe.

Dan and I thought it was delicious, but Elly wasn’t as convinced. She just moved it around on her tray.

Cinnamon Rolls!

Though it’s hard to beat the convenience of Pillsbury cinnamon rolls, they don’t hold a candle to the homemade version.

I used this recipe for the rolls and filling. The icing is nothing more than powdered sugar mixed with milk and a splash of vanilla extract.

I didn’t make any changes to the list of ingredients outside of swapping  butter for margarine, but I did make the following changes to the instructions.  After sprinkling the filling over the butter, I gently pressed the sugar and cinnamon into the butter to keep it from falling out during the slicing process. Rather than cook the rolls right away, I let them rise a 2nd time, partly because I believe yeast bread should almost always be allowed to rise twice in order to achieve a light and airy texture and partly because Elly was whining for a nap. Lastly, I grabbed parchment paper rather than Pam spray. Parchment paper makes clean-up a breeze. Gosh how I love the stuff.

Final review of recipe: Yum!