Food goodness

This is my cousin's recipe and it's perfect! I'm afraid it will disappear from her website someday, so I'm copying it here. Best Challah Ever Ingredients : 1 Tablespoon active dry yeast (note that this is more than 1 packet – measure it, please) 1 cup warm water 4 1/2 cups bread flour (I have no idea what the difference is between this and regular flour, but I’ve tried both and the bread flour is better, by a mile.) 3 eggs 1/2 cup sugar 1 1/2 Tablespoons salt 6 Tablespoons vegetable oil, plus a little extra for greasing the bowl. 1 egg, beaten Sesame seeds, poppy seeds, or both The one on the left was stuffed with apples, and it was divine. Directions : Use two sheet pans or baking sheets, so the bottom of the challah doesn’t get too brown. Put a piece of parchment paper sprayed with cooking spray on the top pan, and then simply stack the two pans. Mix yeast with the cup of warm water and let it sit until it is nice and foamy (about 10 minutes). In the bowl of a stand ...

I've found baking with my bread machine -- I have this one -- to be a lot harder than I anticipated. For me, it's harder to get bread right using the machine than using the traditional way, especially if you want to make anything except plain white bread.  Challah and sourdough are non-starters (haha look at my sourdough joke there). My mix-ins never distribute right, and I've never had any success at all with rye or whole wheat or any kind of whole grain. The moment you sub in any other kind of flour, it all goes to hell and I wind up with an extremely dense, totally inedible doorstop. Also a lot of bread machine recipes use milk powder, which I never have and never can remember to buy.  This King Arthur recipe , with slight tweaks below, is the best one I've found and reliably produces solidly A-/B+ bread. The only mishap I've had is that once, on a really hot day, making the large loaf (which I'd made before just fine!!) created a huge rise that spilled out ...

Based on this recipe , with some fairly substantial modifications. I've made it once with the blueberry sauce and once without, and I think it's actually better with just plain maple syrup on top. You could make this right before eating it, of course, but letting it sit overnight helps everything meld together. Ingredients: A loaf and a half of challah (the best way) or a substantial amount of any kind of bread One package cream cheese (you can use reduced fat, but the regular kind melts better) A pint of fresh blueberries or a few handfuls of frozen 8 eggs 1/2 to 1 c milk 1/2 c maple syrup dash of vanilla dash of cinnamon Grease a 9x13 glass baking dish. Cut the cream cheese into little squares. Tear the bread into bite-sized pieces and layer them in the dish with the cream cheese and blueberries, distributing things somewhat evenly. Whisk together the eggs, milk, syrup, vanilla and cinnamon. Pour it over the casserole a little at a time, making sure it...

The thing that makes this salad so delicious is the balsamic glaze, I think -- which is just regular old balsamic, simmered on the stove until it gets thick and sticky and sweet. Mm. Adapted from this recipe . Preheat the oven to 400. Cube about 3 cups of stale bread and spread it out on an oiled baking sheet. Drizzle more olive oil on top. Toast for about 10 minutes in the oven, until golden brown. Pour onto a platter or into a glass baking dish. On another baking sheet or two, spread 2 generous pints of cherry tomatoes  -- different colors look pretty, but any cherry or grape will do; and better yet, make it 3 pints so you have leftover roasted tomatoes tomorrow -- and drizzle with olive oil and sea salt. About 10 minutes in, take the tomatoes out and drain the hot tomato liquid (hotttt) on top of the bread. Don't soak it, just give it a bit of tasty roasted tomato love. Put the tomatoes back in for another 10 minutes, or until they start turning dark and wrinkly. Cho...

This is sort of like savory bread pudding, and I'm confused about why the original recipe made the directions sound very very complicated, when it's really like "cook stuff and layer it in a pot and bake it for a long time." 8 medium thinly sliced yellow onions Up to 1/2 cup mild-tasting olive oil 6 cloves garlic, thinly sliced Salt 2 pounds Swiss chard (thick ribs removed), cut into 1-inch-wide ribbons 10 ounces day-old chewy peasant-style bread cut into rough 1-inch cubes Up to 4 cups chicken stock 6 ounces cheddar, coarsely grated [the recipe calls for Gruyère] 1. In a large saucepan or skillet, heat some oil and lightly brown the onions, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to low and stir in the garlic and a few pinches of salt. Stew, stirring occasionally, until the onions are a pale amber color and tender but not mushy, another 20 minutes or so. If at any point the onions look as if they may dry out, cover them to trap ...

I just scrolled back through my Facebook status updates because I foolishly posted this adaptation there instead of here, where it belongs. I'm hoping to decrease the rise time. I'll let you know how it goes. If you have four minutes, I recommend (again) watching Bittman make his potato pizza . I find him hilarious. "No need to measure...glug, glug, glug, glug...That's it. You're in pizzaland. There's no better place to be." I used Mark Bittman's basic pizza dough recipe from How to Cook Everything, but subbed 1C of rye flour. I only used the 1 t of yeast called for in the recipe, and the rye flour made it pretty dense so I coaxed and cajoled it through a daylong rise. It turned out to be a really nice texture though and I made the one ball into 3 smallish pizzas and baked each at 500 for about 8-10 min each. Fed the four of us. 3 cups all-purpose flour (I subbed 1 C rye flour) 1 teaspoon rapid-rise yeast (I'm going to guess that another 1/...

Happy new year, friends! My old friend M first found this recipe and I've made it a few times over the last few years, and decided it's basically foolproof. J and I made it last night, and it was massive -- far bigger than a dinner plate -- and wildly delicious. Thanks, Diana ! She recommends plumping the raisins beforehand by covering with hot water or brandy or fruit juice and letting sit for 3 to 5 minutes. (She also has bread machine variations and a few others on her website.) Ingredients : 1 tsp. granulated sugar 1 1/2 cups warm water 2 packages (1/2 oz./4 1/2 tsp./14g) instant yeast or bread yeast 7 to 8 cups bread flour (approximately) 1/8 tsp. powdered saffron or a pinch of saffron threads (optional) 2 tsp. salt 1/4 cup honey 1/3 cup granulated sugar 1/2 cup (4 oz./8 tbsp./113g) butter or margarine, melted (or 1/2 cup vegetable oil may be used) 3 whole eggs 2 egg yolks 1 1/4 cups golden raisins, plumped *(See below on How to Plump Raisins) Egg Wash: 1 egg yolk...

I made this tonight to have with chili, as an alternative to our usual cornbread. So, so tasty. And super simple. We all broke ours into pieces, and then stuffed the air pockets with the chili and ate sort of like a pita. Certainly not something you can eat all the time -- because it is fried dough -- but a totally good treat. I'm not even going to bother to transcribe the recipe, because I want you to go read all about fry bread at the Smithsonian . And then I want you to make some. We had a nice discussion at dinner tonight about how the Native Americans eat this, and then we got sort of serious about why they first made this -- reservations and how the government used to give them crappy food and how this is really food borne out of necessity. Gaby probably internally rolls her eyes and thinks "can't I just eat the tasty bread in peace?" Too bad she's stuck with us.

Adapted From: Annie's Eats and Chukar Cherry Recipes I wanted to make cranberry-orange scones to serve at the coffee hour at church this morning, but I didn't have the heavy cream called for in Annie's recipe, but I did have plenty of Greek yogurt, so I improvised, recalling the cherry scones recipe that Todd likes to make. I also added a glaze to these scones, because I thought the orange zest was a tad bitter. Perhaps I went too far into the pith with the zester. Anyway, these were very pretty, and everyone loved them. 1½ tbsp. freshly grated orange zest 2½ cups all-purpose flour ½ cup plus 3 tbsp. sugar, divided 1 tbsp. baking powder ½ tsp. salt 6 tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces 1¼ cups fresh or frozen cranberries, coarsely chopped 2 large eggs 3/4 cup Greek yogurt 1/4 cup milk (or, sub a total of 1 cup heavy cream for the yogurt and milk) Additional sugar for sprinkling, or make a glaze (see below) Directions: Preheat the oven to 400˚ F. Line a bak...

So I have been feeling more than mildly interested in Heidi101's new book (fickle, I know), but worried that after reading it I'd just want to magically transport my family to her SF neighborhood where we would grow millet pods and farro trees and demararra sugarbushes and I can be the whole new me who is always patient with my children... Anyway, Grg made a good series of suggestions 1) Don't buy the book when you know where to get the recipes for free. 2) If I really want to make her food, then make her food, then decide whether I'm going to... 3) check it out of the library or not. Great advice, Grg. So here we go! Three 101 recipes on the menu for the week. The first one is this panzanella and it was wonderful. I forgot to add the basil at the end and it was still wonderful. I made a giant heap of it and was literally passing bowls of it to neighbors who were enjoying their porches last evening on my block. I made one addition because we were going to eat it for din...

From: The New Jewish Holiday Cookbook 4 cups bread flour 2 to 3 cups unbleached flour, divided 2 packets (4 1/2 tsp) fast-acting dry yeast 1/3 cup sugar 2 tsp salt 4 large eggs, divided, or 8oz egg substitute 1/3 cup canola oil 1 1/2 cups hot water (120 to 130 degrees- no hotter) approx 1 tsp poppy or sesame seeds, optional Mixer Method: In the large bowl (5 qt or larger) bowl of a heavy-duty electric mixer (ie, KitchenAid or similar) with a dough hook, put the bread flour, 1 cup of the unbleached flour, yeast, sugar, and salt. Mix the dry ingredients by holding the hook in your hand and using it to stir. Measure out 3/4 cup of the egg substitute, or use 3 eggs, lightly beaten. Add the 3 eggs (or egg sub) and oil to the flour mixture and stir in with the hook. It is not necessary to mix well at this point. Finally, add the hot water to the bowl and stir in. Set the bowl into the mixer and attach the dough book. Turn the mixer to kneading speed. As the dough kneads, lightly sprin...

Easy. Tasty. Goes great with Khichri (Indian lentils & rice dish). Husband came home and asked our three year-old daughter, who was wearing an apron, wielding a rolling pin, and dusting a circle of dough with flour, "What are you doing?" She replied, "I'm makin' Cha-potties!" True story. Combine 2 C. flour [I used one C whole wheat and one C unbleached white] 1 t. butter pinch of salt Gradually add: 1/2 C (or more) of lukewarm water Knead until dough is soft. Cover with damp cloth and let rest 1 hour. Divide dough into 10 pieces. On a floured surface, roll each piece into 4-inch circle, 1/4 in thick. [If you roll it any thinner, the result is crunchy and you want soft and flexible] Heat heavy un-greased frying pan [I used a cast iron tortilla comal]. Cook each Chapati until it starts to bubble on bottom, turn, cook on other side and remove. Stack in tea towel to keep warm. from: Extending the Table (wonderful 10,000 Villages cookbook)

Adapted from About.com . So, I still have mac nuts from our Hawaii trip last year sitting in the nut drawer in my fridge. And I was thinking about making cookies but then remembered that I had a recipe bookmarked for a tropical fruit bread and thought this would be a great time to try it out. Alas, the recipe I bookmarked was gone--having been lost last year when my computer crashed--but I found one I liked and tweaked it a bit to serve my needs. Note: for this recipe I used unsweetened coconut flakes but next time I'll use sweetened. There's only 3/4 C sugar in the whole thing and while it tasted really good, I think I'd like a smidge more sweetness. 2 large eggs 1/2 C coconut milk (I used lite) 1 tsp vanilla extract 1 tsp coconut extract if you have it 1 can (8 ounces) crushed pineapple, undrained 3/4 C sugar 2 1/2 C all-purpose flour (I used 1.5 C white WW and 1 C AP) 2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 1/4 tsp baking soda 6 T melted butter 1 cup grated coconut, or use ...

Not going to copy out all of the variations, but this beer bread from bread maestro Susan of Farmgirl Fare is really good, and really quick. We made the onion-rye one yesterday to eat with leftover soup for dinner... it's not exactly like regular yeast bread, but like a cross between that and a smooshier quick bread. Good and fast.

From King Arthur Flour's Whole Grain Baking . This recipe is one I use at home pretty regularly when I don't have time to fiddle with a regular yeast bread. Alissa, this should be just what you need to get started with baking bread from scratch. 1 1/4 C lukewarm filtered water (don't use tap--the chlorine can kill the yeast) 1/4 C orange juice 3 T molasses 3 C whole wheat flour or white whole wheat 1/4 C nonfat dry milk 1 1/4 t salt 2 t instant/rapid rise yeast 1 T vital wheat gluten (optional) Grease an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch loaf pan and set aside. Grease well or the bread will stick. You don't want to know what happens if you forget to grease the pan. Preheat oven to 350. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and beat vigorously by hand if you're the sort to do that or use your KitchenAid like I do and use the paddle attachment. This dough is pretty wet and sticky so the paddle is what you need. Beat on med-high speed for 3 min. Scoop the batter into your ...

Another great recipe from Farmgirl Fare . The only thing I did differently was to add a second cup of whole wheat flour, because I didn't have any oat bran, and bake in a loaf pan because I was too lazy for muffins. They turned out great -- really light, and an excellent way to salvage three really pathetic pears.

This is a bit of a cheater post since I'm really just going to post the links, but I highly recommend that 1.) you visit the Breadtopia website and 2.) you make this bread. But first, you need to make a starter if you don't already have one. Fool-proof directions can be found here . Pineapple juice seems unorthodox but if you read the instructions and watch the videos he provides, it makes it very easy to do. I didn't buy juice, I just opened a couple of 8oz cans of cut pineapple, put the juice in the starter and ate the fruit later. Once your starter is mature, you are ready to make no knead bread . I adapted slightly and used 2.5 cups WW flour and just 1 cup bread flour. Plus vital wheat gluten. More on that below. I made a whole wheat starter and my bread was also WW. I think if you are going to do a lot of WW baking, you need to get yourself some vital wheat gluten to help things along. I use Bob's Redmill and use about a Tbs per cup of WW flour. It works ...

From: Closet Cooking Ok, I have some comments/suggestions for this recipe. I will definitely make this recipe again, which is why I am posting it here, but I would make some adjustments to improve the flavor. The texture was great - very moist and fluffy, but the flavor was a little bland. I think you could adjust this by increasing the salt a bit, maybe adding some black pepper or jalapeno, try honey instead of sugar, maybe stirring some cheddar cheese into the batter or sprinkling on top, try using full-fat ingredients instead of the FF cottage cheese I used, etc, etc. I used canola oil in the batter, but perhaps melted butter would help improve the flavor instead of the neutral taste of the canola. Overall, not a bad recipe, but you'll want to tweak the flavor a bit. I have included the recipe below as it was written, without the tweaks, because this is the way I tried it and this way you can make the adaptations you want. Ingredients: 1 cup cornmeal 1 cup flour 2 teaspoons ...

You guys, this is so easy to make and so delicious. I know how much Shannon loves her bread machine but you can make this with a bowl and a spoon and be just fine. A word of caution: I highly recommend using a pizza stone to make this. I can't guarantee the outcome if you use a baking sheet. If you don't have one, T@rget sells them for $20. It's a purchase you won't regret. Adapted from Show Me the Curry . By the way, if you haven't visited this site, you really need to. Not only do they provide recipes for all your favorite Indian recipes, they provide how-to videos on most recipes and it has been super helpful. Note: WW naan isn't going to be soft and squishy like white flour naan. If you prefer to use white flour, exchange an equal amount of AP flour, reduce the yeast to 1 tsp and omit the vital wheat gluten. 2 C WW flour (KAF is best) 1 tsp salt 4 tsp canola oil 1/2 C warm water (about 110 degrees) 1.5 tsp Rapid Rise Yeast 1 tsp sugar 1 heaping tsp...

Yesterday it was nice and warm and I wanted Ernie to grill some hamburgers outside for dinner. I didn't have any hamburger buns, and I was not inclined to go to the store and get some. So I pulled out the cookbook, and made some of my own. I will never buy store-made hamburger buns again. from "The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook" 2-pound loaf (makes 12 rolls) 1 1/4 c. water 1 large egg 6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into pieces 3 Tbsp. sugar 4 c. bread flour 1/3 c. nonfat dry milk 3 Tbsp. instant potato flakes (for those of you, like me, who have never used instant potatoes -- buy instant mashed potatoes. i had to ask someone) 1 Tbsp. plus 1 tsp. gluten 2 tsp. salt 2 1/2 tsp. bread machine yeast Place all ingredients in the pan according to order in manufacturer's instructions. Program for Dough cycle, press start. Line baking sheet with parchment paper, when the machine is done, immediately turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide into 12 por...