Provencal Bread
Provencal Bread
Here it is. The promised bread recipe from last weeks soup entry. See, I wouldn’t let you down or leave you hanging.
During my last year in law school, I started playing around with some sourdough starter. It was a lot of fun but never quite as flavorful as I wanted. My experiment went away when I started moving a lot and couldn’t be there to give it the love and care it deserved. So I was really excited to try this easy and delicious bread which begins the day before—with a rye flour starter.
It’s neither that hard or that scary. I promise.
Provencal Bread
From the Hairy Biker’s Big Book of Baking (I am slowly but surely taking over the Hairy Bikers Tumblr tag! Muhahahahha)
Starter Dough
1 tsp dried yeast
1 tsp sugar
3/4 cup white flour
3/4 cup rye flour
31 1/5 tbsp warm water (or 0.8 cups or 200 ml - sheesh. this is the problem with British conversions)
Bread
2 tsp dried yeast
1 tbsp salt
4 - 4 1/2 cups flour
1 1/3 cups lukewarm water
3 tbsp chopped fresh thyme leaves (or 1 tbsp dried)
1 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary leaves (or 2 tsp dried)
Starting the day before you want to eat the bread (I know this is the hard part), make your starter. Mix the dried yeast, warm water, and sugar and allow this to sit for about 10 minutes.
Add the foamy yeast mixture to your flour and mix into a thick gloopy paste.
Cover this and let it sit in the refrigerator for 24 hours.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, salt, and yeast. Dig a well in the center and set aside. In a large measuring cup or small bowl, mix half your starter and the lukewarm water to make a really goopy mess. (You can freeze the remaining starter for a month. When you want another loaf, just let it thaw overnight in the fridge before using.)
Add this to your flour and mix until you get a nice soft dough.
Knead the dough for about 10 minutes or until smooth and elastic.
Put the dough in an oiled bowl and let it raise in a warm place for one hour.
In the meantime, chop your herbs. Next time I make this I am gonna experiment with some other flavor combinations. I am think roasted garlic would be really good in this bread. Or maybe some olives. Mmmmm.
After the hour is over, you need to knead in your herbs until they are pretty evenly dispersed.
Form a nice round shape, bringing all the edges together on the bottom of the loaf. Gently flatten it a little to give it a good shape and put it on a baking sheet to rise again.
After another hour has passed, carefully score the top (I like the pretty spoke and wheel look, but do what floats your boat) and put it in a preheated 425 degree fahrenheit oven for 25-30 minutes.
The loaf is done when it has risen, is golden brown, and sounds hollow when you rap on the bottom of it.
Cool it on a wire rack before cutting.
I did not wait long enough and got some gummy bread from a too-hasty cut.
Ooops.
Orzo Soup
Yes, I know it is June. And I know it was 85 degrees here today, but you know what… I don’t care. I love soup and bread as a meal. It is delicious and fun to make and satisfying.
So I might have stolen my mother’s copy of Twelve Months of Monastery Soups by Brother Victor-Antoine d’Avila-Latourrette (and you thought your name took a long time to type!). And I might be unrepentant about the theft. I love this cookbook. Nothing but soups and each soup is put in the month that ingredients are prevalent and the weather cooperates. So we made this delicious light and easy soup on a hot day in June. And it was good. But don’t feel like you can only make it in June.
Orzo Soup
From Twelve Months of Monastery Soups
The book recipe says it serves 6-8 so I cut it way down to serve just us two.
2 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
4 cups chicken or vegetable stock (I use the Knots ready-made concentrated stock which I love)
1 cup white wine
If you’ve got it: a sprig of fresh oregano and thyme - or dried, add a tsp of each
1 bay leaf
1/4 cup finely chopped mushrooms
1/2 cup frozen green peas
1/2 cup Orzo
salt and pepper to taste
Pour the olive oil into a soup pot and cook the onions and garlic for about a minute.
Add in your stock, wine, herbs, and a little salt and pepper. I had fresh thyme but dried oregano so that’s what I used.
Bring this all up to a boil before adding your chopped mushrooms and frozen peas.
Cover and let the soup cook for 30 - 45 minutes on a simmer.
Add in your Orzo and check the salt/pepper seasoning.
Simmer with the Orzo for about 15 minutes or until the pasta is your preferred doneness. Remove the fresh herbs and the bay leaf.
Serve with fresh homemade bread (be sure to come back next week for the homemade bread recipe) and some parmesan or Romano cheese.
Chicago-Style Pizza
So as we all have seen. I love pizza!
Anytime I can’t think of something to make… I go with pizza. Any time I need comfort Food? Pizza.
Usually I am a ‘thin but chewy with a pleasing crunch New York pizza’ kinda girl. But I have been told that is only because I have yet to travel to Chicago. While I am not sure I will be converted, I do have to say this pizza was amazing. Gooey and cheesy with tangy tomato sauce make it really a perfect comfort food.
Don’t be scared by the laminating step. It is truly no harder than any other dough. And it creates such a wonderfully layered crust: flaky, puffy, and crispy! You really have to try it.
Chicago-Style Pizza
From Seeded At The Table
This will make one 9-inch deep dish pizza.
1 1/2 cups + 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour (you could also here use yellow cornmeal to get even more authentic, but I find I prefer the whole wheat flavor)
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 1/8 tsp instant yeast
1/2 cup lukewarm water+ more as needed when dough is coming together
1 1/2 tbsp butter, melted
1 tsp olive oil
2 tbsp butter, softened
I broke my mother’s golden rule with this dough. Shhh, don’t tell her. I used my Kitchen Aid to make a yeast-based dough. In my defense, I am getting over the Cold From Hell and this dough required a lot of kneading. A lot. I know… she won’t buy it either but… well… if you have a Kitchen Aid… this might be a good recipe to break the ‘no kneading with the Kitchen Aid’ rule unless you are very comfortable kneading for a very long time.
Mix together the flours, salt, sugar and yeast. Add in the water, olive oil and melted butter and knead for a good 10 - 12 minutes, adding more water in tablespoons if needed to make the dough come together.
(If you are, you know, using the Kitchen Aid 5-8 minutes should be enough to give you a nice soft and smooth dough.)
Put the dough into a greased bowl (I always reuse the bowl I mix in because I don’t like dirtying extra dishes).
Cover and let the dough rise in a nice draft-free place until doubled. About an hour.
Once it is risen, punch it down and roll into a rough 8X6 inch rectangle.
And get ready to laminate!!!!!!!
You simply spread the softened butter over the surface, being sure to leave a good 1/2 inch border around the edges. Easy!
Now, starting at the short end roll the dough up cinnamon roll style.
This is the only really tricky part: with the seam side down, you need to do your best to roll the dough back into a rectangle. Mine are never pretty. I go until I get a tear and butter leaks out. That is my cue to stop rolling and get folding.
After you have something that kinda looks like a rectangle, fold it into thirds like a letter.
Pinch the ends together and form it back into a ball.
Put it back into your greased bowl and let it rise again for another 1 - 2 hours. This time though, it needs to be in the refrigerator so the butter doesn’t melt.
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Coat a 9-inch cake pan with olive oil, both for nonstick and for taste. Roll the doll out into a roughly 13-disk about 1/4 inch thick.
Transfer the dough into the pan and press it down, being sure to get dough up the sides. I find this recipe makes a little bit too much and so have to trim up my edges.
Now at this point you could just assemble your pizza as normal, but we are going for a good Chicago Style Pizza, so take your mozzarella and generously cover the surface of the dough.
Then layer your sauce over the cheese.
(You can use any sauce you like. My favorite canned pizza sauce has disappeared from my grocery’s shelves so I will very soon have an entry giving you a few delicious homemade varieties should the same fate befall you! I will advocate, though, that you use a nice chunky sauce for this pizza.) If you want other toppings, add them now.
Now cover the top of the sauce with a good bit of parmesan and a little bit more mozzarella.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the crust is golden, the cheese bubbly, and it looks like a magazine picture.
And now here is the hardest instruction. Let the pizza stand for 10 minutes before cutting into it.
I know… I know… I looks so good. And it will be so so so good but… the waiting helps it set up a little bit and will save you from a burnt roof of the mouth. See, I just have your best interests at heart.
Sour Cream Pancakes
I think I may have mentioned, but allow me to reiterate: my husband is obsessed with breakfast! Completely and totally obsessed! So when I got a copy of the beautiful Pioneer Woman Cooks cookbook I knew that one day I would be making him the Edna Mae’s Sour Cream Pancakes.
And that day has arrived.
Now I hate sour cream. With a passion. I find it utterly just gross… but I love sour cream in my baked goods. Soon I will have to make the amazing soft and moist and delicious sour cream bread my mother makes for ya’ll. And there is this Christmas bread we make every year… it features prominent sour cream in the dough but is so so good…
Anyway…. these pancakes are also amazingly light and moist and delicious. The only problem I found was, when I halved the recipe, there just weren’t enough pancakes! So I am giving you the full recipe - the pictures are of the half.
Sour Cream Pancakes
From The Pioneer Woman Cooks ( Also online
1 cup sour cream
7 tbsp flour
1 tbsp sugar (I like sweet pancakes so put in a little more - ok, I doubled it)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
Whatever lovely toppings you prefer on your pancakes
For this you want a nice hot frying pan or griddle. (We don’t own a griddle. It makes my husband sad.)
Put the sour cream in a mixing bowl and add in the flour, sugar, and baking soda. I know it looks like the sour cream is way too much and the flour is way too little, but this is right.
Mix until just beginning to come together.
Now beat your eggs together with the vanilla. I know I hate using another container for it… more to wash… but because you really don’t want to over-mix your pancakes here is one time when I just have to suck it up and dirty that second dish. Sigh….
Add your egg and vanilla mixture to the flour and stir just until combined.
Melt some butter in your nicely hot skillet or griddle.
Scoop in about 1/4 cup of the batter.
Now this is important - these cook a little differently than regular. So you don’t need to wait for the bubbles - indeed if you do wait you will overcook them. Instead just give them a good 2 minutes on each side and you are done. They will be softer than your usual pancakes. Don’t worry about it. They will still be delicious!
Top with your favorite pancake toppings. Whip up some eggs and sausage. Enjoy!!!!
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Scandinavian Rye Bread
So as we all know, and will continue to learn and relearn, I love carbs in all its forms. But I have never been that big a fan of rye bread. It’s heavy and I hate caraway seeds and their licorice-esq flavor.
‘But wait,’ I hear you think as you look back up at the title, ‘isn’t this a rye bread recipe?’ Well yes it is. I bought some rye flour for another recipe (these divine gingerbread cookies that I will post up here one of these days - stay tuned) but I had to buy 5 pounds of it. And that is a lot of rye flour.
And I love my new Hairy Biker’s cookbook. And the rye bread they made in Norway looked promising. And I figured since I didn’t even own any caraway seeds I could find something else to put in and… well…. I love carbs.
And I love this bread! I didn’t think I would. But I so do. It was good with pasta the first day I made it. It was amazing toasted and smeared with apple butter in the following days.
This is a delicious bread. And no licorice in sight. Or taste.
Scandinavian Rye Bread
From The Hairy Bikers’ Big Book of Baking
3/4 cup whole milk (or, well… I had 1%)
3/4 cup water
2 tbsp dark brown sugar (I only have light so I did 1 tbsp of brown sugar and 1 tbsp of molasses)
1 pkg of yeast
2 1/4 cup rye flour
2 cups white flour
1 tbsp salt
1 tsp rosemary (yep dried and crushed rosemary. Who needs caraway seeds)
Heat your milk, water, and sugar in a saucepan until lukewarm and the sugar is dissolved.
You do not want this too hot or you will kill off the yeast (on the show they called it Blood temperature and I like that so you know… make your milk blood temperature!)
Getting far, far away from the heat, add in the yeast…
…stir to dissolve, and leave it alone for 10 minutes until it is all nice and bubbly and Alive!
In a large mixing bowl combine your flours, salt, and rosemary.
Dig a well (read: hole) in the center and pour in your yeast milk mixture.
Stir until you can’t and then knead with your hands. This is a stiff dough. Knead like a crazy person. Make your shoulders burn! No pain, no gain! You can do it! You can feel sore tomorrow or you can be sorry tomorrow! Do it! One more knead! For yourself!
Anyway, once you have beaten the dough into submission and it is a nice smooth elastic dough (it will take about 10 minutes) put it into an oiled bowl to rise for 1 1/2 hours.
Punch down your dough, give it a few more turns kneading, and form it into a rough oval shape. Give it four shallow cuts on top, place on a greased tray, cover with oiled plastic wrap, and let it rise again for another hour.
Preheat your oven to 350 Fahrenheit. Bake for 40 - 50 minutes. It should be risen and sound hollow when rapped on the bottom.
And it will smell oh so fragrant and wonderful.
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Chocolate Covered Cherry Fudge
I am a day late, a dollar short, and I have no excuses.
I had originally planned to put up the surprisingly simple and amazingly delicious Vodka Pasta I made for my husband when he got home from work Friday but alas I forgot my camera in West Virginia (the problem with driving back and forth every weekend - whatever you need is always in the other state.) Oh well that just means I’ll have to make more! What a difficult life I have.
So today we are having pink sugar overload. Actually this is a really good recipe for this Spring weekend. Another find by my little sister I was originally a little put off by the aggressive Pink of it but one bit converted me. It is like the ubiquitous Christmas chocolate covered cherries - only with out the gooey middle to get on your hands and clothing.
Chocolate Covered Cherry Fudge
From Shugary Sweets
3/4 cup butter
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup heavy cream
pinch of salt
1 tsp cherry flavored gelatin (I just bought a cherry jello pack and took it out of that - but what can one do with the leftovers?)
2 1/2 cup white chocolate
7 oz jar of marshmallow cream/fluff
1/2 cup dried cherries
10 oz dark chocolate, melted
In a large sauce pan melt the butter and sugar with the cream and a pinch of salt over medium heat.
Once it comes to a full boil add in the cherry gelatin and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes.
In a separate mixing bowl combine the white chocolate and marshmallow cream.
After you have cooked the cream/gelatin mixture for the full 5 minutes, pour it over the chocolate/marshmallow cream mixture.
Beat until smooth and all the chocolate is melted.
Fold in the dried cherries. And really, it goes without saying that I consider the 1/2 cup more of a guideline than a hard rule. Dried cherries are delicious!
Line a 9 in square pan with parchment paper - or you know, aluminum foil because that is all you have on hand - and grease the heck out of that thing. Pour the fudge mixture into the pan and place it in the fridge to begin to set up.
After about 30 minutes melt your chocolate. (In a microwave safe bowl or a double boiler. Whatever floats your boat.)
Carefully pour the melted chocolate over the barely set fudge and spread to the edge in as nice and even a layer as you can.
(I messed this part up and just poured the chocolate over the fudge as soon as I put it in the pan without chilling at all. It was a mess let me tell you. Don’t do as I do. Be patient. It will work better for you.)
Chill the fudge for an additional 3 hours or, better (but again that patience thing) let it set overnight.
Busy week
So its been a crazy busy weekend over here in my world.
My little sister graduated from college! Summa Cum Laude, thank you very much. And with a scholarship and a leadership award. She’s awesome!
And then today was my 30th Birthday. I’m old.
But the cake was good and my husband bought me the Hairy Bikers Big Book of Baking! So we will all be enjoying recipes from them in the weeks to come!!! (Well… once I figure out English to US conversions.)
New recipe next week! This week I need to sleep!
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Lemon Blossoms
Shhh don’t tell anyone but these are super easy. They have a box lemon cake mix in them but no one would ever know. They are so so so good.
And classy
And did I mention delicious?
My little sister found this recipe for a fundraiser/jewelry party she threw for her 1000 Shillings trip and they were a huge hit. I might have consumed many… all by myself…
Lemon Blossoms
Adapted from Paula Dean by Crazy About Cakes
For the cakes
1 box yellow cake mix (shhhh)
1 box cook-and-serve lemon pudding (they say you can use instant too if you got it)
4 large eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
For the glaze
4 cups confectioners’ sugar
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp lemon zest (about 1 lemon - so I just used 1 lemon and didn’t measure)
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (about 2 lemons or, you know, the above mentioned one lemon and the concentrated stuff from the fridge)
3 tbsp water
Preheat the oven to 350 degree. Spray muffin tins (also great with mini-muffin tins if you have them) with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside
In a large bowl beat the cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, and 3/4 cup oil for 2 minutes.
Spoon the batter into each muffin tin.
Bake for 12-15 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. (I told you these were easy.)
In a medium bowl combine the confectioners sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, 3 tbsp oil, and water.
Stir until it becomes a smooth drizzly consistency.
Dip each cake into the glaze while the cakes are still warm. Try to get as much of the cake covered as possible.
Place the cakes on a wire rack to cool (Be sure to put something under the rack or you will have a drippy lemon-flavored mess.).
Let the glaze set completely before eating (if you can!).
Store extras in an air tight container.
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My Sister
What did Mario say when he broke up with Princess Peach?
It’s not you, it’s a-me, Mario!
So this is my little sister. And she would love that joke.
She is super smart, and funny, and beautiful. If you knew her you would be her bff (she has about 30 million of them).
She loves Jason Mraz, and The Great Gatsby, Enjolras from Les Mis and and Christmas. Its actually a little frightening how much this girl loves Christmas. Just mentioning any of those things (among others) and she is all squee and excited
But here is something amazing about my funny, smart sister. She is really really brave and compassionate.
She has a resume I would kill for (seriously she has worked both for a Senator and NBC) but she is still is going to Africa this summer with 1000 Shillings to help women in an Ugandan slum start small businesses and make better lives for their families.
She is amazing.
But she needs some help. So I am gonna ask, if you have a dollar - would you donate it to her? Take a look at the 100 Shillings website. See what they are about. Maybe buy some jewelry to help if you like but my sister, just needs a dollar. Seriously thats it, a buck, cause every buck adds up.
Don’t want to donate anything, that’s ok. Really! But would you consider reblogging this to get some more people looking at it?
Thank you so much! Seriously, just for reading this. Thank you!!
Cheddar Swirl Breakfast Buns
These are amazing. These are a beautiful, delicious, savory answer to the cinnamon roll. And they make your house smell amazing!
I found these in my beautiful Smitten Kitchen cookbook and, although they are in the breakfast section, I have only made them for dinner.
They went beautifully with bar-b-que ribs.
Cheddar Swirl Breakfast Buns
From The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook
For the dough
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp table salt
a shake or two of black pepper
1 tbsp sugar
2 1/4 tsp (1 pkg) yeast
1 cup milk
4 tbsp butter, melted
For the filling
1/2 cups (about 1 small or 1/2 medium) grated white onion
6 oz sharp cheddar cheese (but you know, if you have an 8 ounce bag and it all just happens to get used, that’s ok too)
2 tsp parsley
First make the dough. Combine the flour, salt, pepper, and sugar in a large bowl.
If you have a large enough measuring cup you can combine the milk and yeast in that (and save washing an extra bowl). Whisk until the yeast has dissolved into the milk.
Pour the milk and melted butter into the flour mixture and stir until a sticky ball forms.
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth.
Place the dough in a greased bowl and allow to rise until doubled in bulk (about 1.5 to 2 hours). This dough also can easily be chilled overnight (or up to three days) and then brought back to room temperature when you are ready to make and serve them.
While the dough is rising, grate an onion.
(Its fun! or not… but really try not to cry.)
Mix the onion with the cheese and then add in the parsley. (A note about the filling - really, you have many different options. The original recipe called for dill - I am not a fan of dill. I use parsley. Like mozzarella? Try that. And olive oIl instead of butter. Garlic! Garlic is always nice. Go wild here.)
Punch down your dough and roll it into a rectangle (about 12x16—but my marble is 12X12, so that is the size I got) and, a la cinnamon rolls, spread the cheese mixture on the dough and roll up the long edge to form a 12-inch log.
Using a sharp serrated knife, cut the log into roughly 1-in rolls.
Arrange in either a well greased 9X13 baking dish or two well greased 8-in cake pans.
Allow to rise another hour until beautiful.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and bake for 20 - 25 minutes. The rolls should be brown and the cheese should be bubbly.
Serve immediately and be so so glad you made them.
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