Monday, November 12, 2007
Monday, October 29, 2007
Stages of Scones
Here are the various stages of the cranberry-almond scones Gropius and I enjoyed yesterday for breakfast:
Stage One: crumbly dry ingredients (cut with butter)
Stage Two: "kneading" the dough until it barely sticks together with some help from Saran-Wrap
Stage Three: gently brushing some half-n-half (or cream) on top and sprinkling with a little demerara sugar
Stage Four: resting out of the oven
Stage Five: Breakfast!
Stage One: crumbly dry ingredients (cut with butter)
Stage Two: "kneading" the dough until it barely sticks together with some help from Saran-Wrap
Stage Three: gently brushing some half-n-half (or cream) on top and sprinkling with a little demerara sugar
Stage Four: resting out of the oven
Stage Five: Breakfast!
Saturday, October 20, 2007
breakfast
cherry-almond scones, guatemalan coffee, mango-acai fruit smoothie
close-ups of scones
afternoon snack!
close-ups of scones
afternoon snack!
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Borscht
Hellen loves beets, but she had never had borscht, so Gropius and I made some for her on Tuesday night for dinner after our running group was over. It was a vegetarian borscht, so it's not like my babushka used to make, but it was very tasty (if you love beets).
And, yes, those colors have been corrected, that's the actual color of the beets!
(I'm drinking a combo of cranberry juice and orange juice)
Happy Hellen
And, yes, those colors have been corrected, that's the actual color of the beets!
(I'm drinking a combo of cranberry juice and orange juice)
Happy Hellen
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Schwarzwalder Landbrot
So, Gropius and I made Schwarzwalder Landbrot for the first time since moving to California this past weekend. I had meant to share photos before now, but I've been busy catching up from unforeseen events.
Anyway, we don't have German flour type 1050, so I've had to approximate with what few references I've been able to find on the internet. So, we have a mix of white whole wheat, all purpose, and rye flour in the bread. I usually mix it heavier on the whole wheat side, but this time I split it 50-50 between the whole wheat and all purpose flours.
We also did things a little differently from the recipe this time, too. Normally, you make a paste out of the yeast and some water and allow it to sit in a well in the middle of the flour for 4 hours before adding more water/salt. You are also supposed to knead the dough 3 separate times before its final rise.
Instead, since the weather this weekend was cool-ish, we let it sit in our oven overnight rather than out on the counter for 4 hours. Also, once we added the additional water/salt, we didn't do the knead/rise/knead/rise process and instead just did one rise and kneaded it down pretty well before its final rise. The end result was still tasty though. It's perfect, warm from the oven with a schmear of butter on top. Mmmmmmmm!
Here is the recipe (originally from Marion's Kochbuch website):
850 g Mehl, Typ 1050 (mix of white whole wheat and all purpose)
150 g Roggenmehl (rye flour)
20 g Hefe (yeast, as any good beer-drinker would know)
3 EL Wasser, lauwarm (EL ~ Tablespoon)
25 g Salz
0,6 Liter Wasser
Durch die langen Ruhezeiten braucht das Brot ca. 6-7 Stunden.
Der Aufwand lohnt sich aber, da das Brot bis zu einer Woche frisch bleibt, wenn man es in ein sauberes Geschirrtuch wickelt.
Mehl und Roggenmehl mischen.
In eine Schüssel geben und eine Mulde in die Mitte drücken. Hefe in 3 EL lauwarmen Wasser lösen.
In die Mulde gießen und mit wenig Mehl vom Rand her einen Vorteig rühren.
Mit Mehl bedecken, damit der Vorteig nicht verbrennt. 3-4 Stunden abgedeckt ruhen lassen. Salz und 600 ml lauwarmes Wasser zufügen und verkneten. 60-90 Minuten ruhen lassen.
Dabei alle 30 Minuten einmal kneten. Zu einem runden Brotlaib formen. Auf ein mit Backpapier belegtes Blech legen. 10 Minuten ruhen lassen.
Mit einem Messer ringsum am Rand leicht einschneiden. Ofen auf 250° (500° F) vorheizen. Auf der mittleren Schiene ca. 30 Minuten backen. Auf 180° (350° F) zurückschalten.
In ca. 30 Minuten fertig backen. Das Brot ist fertig, wenn man mit dem Knöchel auf den Boden klopft und das Brot hohl klingt.
Anyway, we don't have German flour type 1050, so I've had to approximate with what few references I've been able to find on the internet. So, we have a mix of white whole wheat, all purpose, and rye flour in the bread. I usually mix it heavier on the whole wheat side, but this time I split it 50-50 between the whole wheat and all purpose flours.
We also did things a little differently from the recipe this time, too. Normally, you make a paste out of the yeast and some water and allow it to sit in a well in the middle of the flour for 4 hours before adding more water/salt. You are also supposed to knead the dough 3 separate times before its final rise.
Instead, since the weather this weekend was cool-ish, we let it sit in our oven overnight rather than out on the counter for 4 hours. Also, once we added the additional water/salt, we didn't do the knead/rise/knead/rise process and instead just did one rise and kneaded it down pretty well before its final rise. The end result was still tasty though. It's perfect, warm from the oven with a schmear of butter on top. Mmmmmmmm!
Here is the recipe (originally from Marion's Kochbuch website):
850 g Mehl, Typ 1050 (mix of white whole wheat and all purpose)
150 g Roggenmehl (rye flour)
20 g Hefe (yeast, as any good beer-drinker would know)
3 EL Wasser, lauwarm (EL ~ Tablespoon)
25 g Salz
0,6 Liter Wasser
Durch die langen Ruhezeiten braucht das Brot ca. 6-7 Stunden.
Der Aufwand lohnt sich aber, da das Brot bis zu einer Woche frisch bleibt, wenn man es in ein sauberes Geschirrtuch wickelt.
Mehl und Roggenmehl mischen.
In eine Schüssel geben und eine Mulde in die Mitte drücken. Hefe in 3 EL lauwarmen Wasser lösen.
In die Mulde gießen und mit wenig Mehl vom Rand her einen Vorteig rühren.
Mit Mehl bedecken, damit der Vorteig nicht verbrennt. 3-4 Stunden abgedeckt ruhen lassen. Salz und 600 ml lauwarmes Wasser zufügen und verkneten. 60-90 Minuten ruhen lassen.
Dabei alle 30 Minuten einmal kneten. Zu einem runden Brotlaib formen. Auf ein mit Backpapier belegtes Blech legen. 10 Minuten ruhen lassen.
Mit einem Messer ringsum am Rand leicht einschneiden. Ofen auf 250° (500° F) vorheizen. Auf der mittleren Schiene ca. 30 Minuten backen. Auf 180° (350° F) zurückschalten.
In ca. 30 Minuten fertig backen. Das Brot ist fertig, wenn man mit dem Knöchel auf den Boden klopft und das Brot hohl klingt.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Schnitzel
We were stymied in our quest to have pretzel dumplings in a chanterelle cream sauce by the Bavarian Bread Lady at the farmers market. She only had one pretzel, so that kinda threw our dinner plans into flux.
So, we re-vamped and had schnitzel with the chanterelle sauce, spatzle instead of dumplings, and carrots.
Yes, that IS a TV in the background. It's Sunday night and The Family Guy is on. Gimme a break!
So, we re-vamped and had schnitzel with the chanterelle sauce, spatzle instead of dumplings, and carrots.
Yes, that IS a TV in the background. It's Sunday night and The Family Guy is on. Gimme a break!
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Biscotti
I decreed Saturday a Day of Baking (tm).
This morning for breakfast (before going to the gym), I made almond poppy seed muffins with the leftover sour cream and yogurt from making kugel and chicken curry last weekend. We always have nonfat vanilla yogurt in the house, but this was plain lowfat stuff, so I figured I'd use it up in baking. In poking around the pantry, Gropius found some sliced almonds that we threw into the poppy seed muffins and I added a splash of almond extract to the sour cream/yogurt mixture. Got them in and out of the oven in 30 minutes, including 20 minutes of baking time. Who says home-cooked breakfast takes too long?? :)
So, while I'm (still) waiting for my Schwarzwalder Landbrot to finish its initial yeast-maturation (4+ hrs), I made chocolate coconut biscotti with macadamia nuts. The biscotti have both dutch-process cocoa powder and chunks of 65% Valhrona in them with a sprinkling of macadamia nuts (about 1/2 c) and coconut. I've never made biscotti before, but I've watched Martha Stewart do it several times (have her shows from the mid-late 90s on video--yeah, yeah, I know--I need help), so I felt prepared to give it a try. The dough came together pretty easily and all in all, they were easy to bake. I'm interested in trying out different flavors now...I know that Martha has a pistachio and cranberry version for the christmas holidays that I might give a whirl in a few months. For now, I am going to try NOT to eat all of these and take a few to school on Monday to share in the mailroom.
And, I've still got about 6+ hrs of bread-rising time before the brot is done. I haven't made this bread since we moved from Ohio, so I'm a little rusty on the German rezept I have, but luckily I have Gropius's trusty German-English dictionary to help me muddle through phrases like "In die Mulde gießen und mit wenig Mehl vom Rand her einen Vorteig rühren." It will be interesting to see how it turns out using the dough hook on the KitchenAid mixer (we didn't have the mixer last time we made this recipe and did all the mixing/kneading by hand).
Will post pictures of the finished product tomorrow, along with pictures of the Knödel mit Soße (made from pretzels and chanterelles, YUM!) that we're planning on making for dinner tomorrow night.
This morning for breakfast (before going to the gym), I made almond poppy seed muffins with the leftover sour cream and yogurt from making kugel and chicken curry last weekend. We always have nonfat vanilla yogurt in the house, but this was plain lowfat stuff, so I figured I'd use it up in baking. In poking around the pantry, Gropius found some sliced almonds that we threw into the poppy seed muffins and I added a splash of almond extract to the sour cream/yogurt mixture. Got them in and out of the oven in 30 minutes, including 20 minutes of baking time. Who says home-cooked breakfast takes too long?? :)
So, while I'm (still) waiting for my Schwarzwalder Landbrot to finish its initial yeast-maturation (4+ hrs), I made chocolate coconut biscotti with macadamia nuts. The biscotti have both dutch-process cocoa powder and chunks of 65% Valhrona in them with a sprinkling of macadamia nuts (about 1/2 c) and coconut. I've never made biscotti before, but I've watched Martha Stewart do it several times (have her shows from the mid-late 90s on video--yeah, yeah, I know--I need help), so I felt prepared to give it a try. The dough came together pretty easily and all in all, they were easy to bake. I'm interested in trying out different flavors now...I know that Martha has a pistachio and cranberry version for the christmas holidays that I might give a whirl in a few months. For now, I am going to try NOT to eat all of these and take a few to school on Monday to share in the mailroom.
And, I've still got about 6+ hrs of bread-rising time before the brot is done. I haven't made this bread since we moved from Ohio, so I'm a little rusty on the German rezept I have, but luckily I have Gropius's trusty German-English dictionary to help me muddle through phrases like "In die Mulde gießen und mit wenig Mehl vom Rand her einen Vorteig rühren." It will be interesting to see how it turns out using the dough hook on the KitchenAid mixer (we didn't have the mixer last time we made this recipe and did all the mixing/kneading by hand).
Will post pictures of the finished product tomorrow, along with pictures of the Knödel mit Soße (made from pretzels and chanterelles, YUM!) that we're planning on making for dinner tomorrow night.
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