Tag Archive for: Breads

My attempt at baking bread

/3 Comments/in , /by

My mother’s homemade bread is the best.  I am not kidding- everyone loves it.  She gives it away as presents for Christmas, birthdays, new babies, house warmings- it is perfect for every occasion.  She makes loaves and loaves of it at a time and then freezes them so that she always has bread to pull out if she needs it.  She could make it in her sleep.  The first time I tried to make it when I lived up in New York, I had her on the phone with me walking me through the steps.  I thought it was going pretty well, then she said, “Now just add some flour until it is not sticky.”  I am the kind of person who needs more specific directions than “some flour”.  My bread turned out okay but not great, and I definitely added too much flour.  I gave up- it was just much easier to have her make the bread and send it to me or make a bunch when she would come to visit.  Both my sister and sister-in-law have mastered the skill of my mother’s bread.  My sister, who just moved to Vietnam with her husband and two little girls, even can make it over there.  She did have to improvise since she did not have a rolling pin, but apparently a wine bottle works just as well.  I, on the other hand, have never tried to make her bread again, but I think it might be time.  Le Creuset has just come out with an on-line series called “Le Creuset Technique Series with Michael Ruhlman”, and the first one is about bread baking.  You can watch it here- it is fantastic http://lecreuset.com/ruhlman!  It has some wonderful ideas, and I can’t wait for the next story to come out- so inspiring.  Anyway- here is my mother’s bread recipe.  I will be trying it this weekend and actually measuring the flour I use so that if and when I get it right, I will know how much and then can add it to the recipe for future generations to not struggle like me.  At the end when the dough is made, you can put it in a loaf pan and bake it, but my mother breaks it into three balls which she then rolls out into a rope and braids the bread.  It is very pretty.  And while this has nothing to do with bread- here is a fun picture of Walker I took last weekend.

My Mother’s Bread

Ingredients:

1 package yeast

½ cup sugar

2 cups warm water

 3 tbsp oil

2 eggs, at room temperature

1 tbsp salt

¼ cup dry milk powder

unbleached all-purpose flour (see how there is no amount to this- I am going to find out and fill it in!!)

Directions:

Mix yeast, sugar  and water in a big pot or dutch oven. After yeast, sugar and water have reached bubbling stage, whisk in the oil, eggs, salt and milk powder.  Gradually beat in flour, a cup at a time, until you need a spoon to stir flour in.  Continue to add flour until you can work with the dough and your hands are not sticky.  Let rise until double.  Beat down and add more flour.

Bake at 325 degrees for 20-25 min.

National Biscuit Month= Awesome

/0 Comments/in , /by

September is National Biscuit Month which clearly makes it my new favorite month.  It is also National Honey Month, National Rice Month, National Mushroom, All American Breakfast, Better Breakfast, Chicken, Self-Improvement, Courtesy, Hug a Texas Chef, Cholesterol Awareness, and Organic Harvest Month just to name a few.  Clearly, the need to have a month dedicated to ridiculous things is pretty popular.  October has 38 things that it celebrates including National Toilet Tank Repair Month.  I think having a month dedicated to something is a really great idea, but maybe we could limit it to 12 special things- just one for each month- not 38.  And I am going to go ahead and throw out there that September should really lose all of those other things and just be solely National Biscuit Month.  Who doesn’t want to celebrate biscuits?  I am reposting my favorite biscuit recipe to date- Cracked Pepper and Cheddar Biscuits, but I am making it my goal if possible (and it very well might not be possible) to find a new favorite biscuit recipe.  What is your favorite biscuit- buttermilk with jelly, ham and cheese?  I love them all.

Cracked Pepper and Cheddar Cheese Biscuits

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/3 cup of cold butter

3/4 cup of buttermilk

1 tablespoon of cracked pepper

1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Directions

First, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl and mix together. Next, cut in the butter- it is important to use cold butter. Cover the butter lumps with flour and squeeze them between your fingers to break them down into smaller bits and rub the butter into them. What is left in the bowl looks like break crumbs.

Stir in the buttermilk and mix up the dough until the liquid is all absorbed by the flour. At this point, you add the cheese and pepper or whatever combination you choose. With your hands, knead and shape the dough until all the flour is worked in and the dough is of a single consistency. It should be still be slightly sticky to the touch, but not so sticky that it clings to your hands and the side of the bowl.

With a rolling pin, roll out the dough on a board until it is between a half and inch and an inch thick. Cut the dough with a biscuit cutter or the top of a glass or cup. Bake at 450 degrees for 10-12 minutes until golden brown and crispy. So delicious!!!

Parasailing and Pimento Cheese (Part 1)

/0 Comments/in , , /by

Walker had his first day of school yesterday- except that it was only for one hour.  I am not really sure the point of a one-hour day, but I guess it eased him into it.  However, I had to then think of something else for us to do for the rest of the day.  Driving back over the bridge from running an errand, I saw a boat pulling para-sailors in the harbor, and just like that, I had my idea for the day.  I went home and called Tidal Wave Water Sports (www.tidalwavewatersports.com), and two hours later, Walker and I were in a boat headed out to parasail.  It was awesome and not really scary at all (but I was really happy to be back on solid ground when we were done).  I am not sure what the correlation between the two is, but something about seeing the para sailors in the harbor and then doing it myself made me think of a Garden & Gun post on Facebook I saw the other day about pimento cheese and the Lee Brothers.  The post talked about pimento cheese purists who will only use shredded cheddar cheese, Dukes, and jarred pimentos, and anything else isn’t pimento cheese.  Well, the Lee Brothers (I love them!) put a spin on this classic using Swiss cheese and banana peppers.  Highly interesting, and here is the recipe:

Pimento Cheese

10 oz. Swiss cheese, finely grated
One 12-oz. jar pickled banana peppers (hot if available) drained and minced
3 tbs. sour cream
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
2 tbs. chives minced (approx. 1/6 bunch)
2 tbs. capers (soaked in fresh water for 1 minute, then drained)

Directions

Mix all ingredients together with a spatula until evenly blended.  Refrigerate, if possible, for 2 hours or overnight.  Serve in a bowl with a good supply of crackers.

All of this got me thinking- well, if you can use Swiss cheese, why couldn’t you use my favorite pepper jack cheese?  And I think that you could, and then I started thinking that you could use this new mixture in the pimento cheese popovers recipe that is so phenomenal (all of this thinking and random associations between this and the para sailing occurred around 3am in a semi dream/tossing and turning state, and all of this would probably make much more sense if I had written it all down last night when it seemed really genius).  So, I am going to try it!  I am going to use Duke’s Mayonnaise Pimento Cheese recipe but substitute pepper jack cheese for cheddar, and if that all turns out to be as delicious as I think it will, I will then make the Pimento Cheese Popovers with the new pepper jack concoction.  And the creating and testing of all of that will be Part 2 (no more para sailing for a while).  If you have any suggestions or helpful hints- they would be much appreciated!!

More from the Mountains: Bear Claws

/1 Comment/in , , , /by

This is my 11-year-old Springer Spaniel, Nemo (named before the fish).  As you can see, he is a ferocious beast.   Despite the fact that he still looks like a puppy, he is getting old.  His hips are going, and he sleeps most of the time.  However, this morning, he recaptured some of his youth when, at 5:45 am, he demanded to be let out.  I dragged myself down the stairs and opened the door- my eyes still basically closed, thinking he would just quickly do his business and come right back in.  Well, instead, Nemo, the ferocious beast, found and scared a bear cub off our front porch.  The barking and scrambling that ensued, I thought that there was a raccoon or something, except that when I ran onto the porch, I saw this. I did not get a picture of the cub because, well, this is a huge bear, and I did not want to hang out for too long.  But I woke everybody up in the house, and we all watched them safely through the upstairs window as they went up the hill.  I have to say,  when I am out on the boat in Charleston, I still get super excited to see dolphins- it never gets old.  Bears on the front porch, this could lose its appeal pretty quickly!  In honor of Nemo continuing to keep us safe and our hopefully never-to-return visitor, the bear and her cub, here is a fun recipe I got from www.tasteofhome.com for bear claws!!

Bear Claws:

Ingredients

1-1/2 cups cold butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
5 cups all-purpose flour, divided
1 package (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast
1-1/4 cups half-and-half cream
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 egg white
3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/2 cup almond paste, cubed
1 tablespoon water
Coarse or granulated sugar
Sliced almonds

Directions

In a bowl, toss butter with 3 cups flour until well coated; refrigerate. In a large bowl, combine yeast and remaining flour.

In a saucepan, heat cream, sugar and salt to 120°-130°. Add to yeast mixture with 1 egg. Beat until smooth. Stir in butter mixture just until moistened.

Place dough onto a well floured surface; roll into a 21-in. x 12-in. rectangle. Starting at a short side, fold dough in thirds, forming a 12-in. x 7-in. rectangle. Give dough a quarter turn; roll into a 21-in. x 12-in. rectangle. Fold into thirds, starting with a short side. Repeat, flouring surface as needed. (Do not chill dough between each rolling and folding.) Cover and chill for 4 to 24 hours or until firm.

For filling, in a small bowl, beat egg white until foamy. Gradually add confectioners’ sugar and almond paste; beat until smooth. Cut dough in half widthwise. Roll each portion into a 12-in. square; cut each square into three 12-in. x 4-in. strips. Spread about 2 tablespoons filling down center of each strip. Fold long edges together; seal edges and ends. Cut into three pieces.

Place on greased baking sheets with folded edge facing away from you. With scissors, cut strips four times to within 1/2 in. of folded edge; separate slightly. Repeat with remaining dough and filling. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

Lightly beat water and remaining egg; brush over dough. Sprinkle with sugar and almonds. Bake at 375° for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool.

Skillet Cornbread and Marvelous Meatloaf

/4 Comments/in , , /by

My sweet son Walker finally got home from New York this week, and I have, of course, been spoiling him rotten from missing him so much.  I asked him what he would like for dinner the other night, and he replied meatloaf.  This was a little surprising since I haven’t made meatloaf for him in well over a year, but as Corby and I love meatloaf too- that sounded perfect.  It is such an easy recipe, and the best part is that it includes a lot of cheese which is great!  I also decided to try skillet cornbread to go with it- people served a lot of cornbread at the parties we went to on New Year’s day, and I forget how much I like it.  Here is the recipe for skillet cornbread and meatloaf- so tasty!!

Skillet Cornbread

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups stone ground cornmeal (I used yellow)

1 tbsp baking powder

1/2 cup flour

1 tsp salt

4 tbsp melted butter

1 cup buttermilk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  In large bowl, mix cornmeal, baking powder, flour, salt, 2 tablespoons of the butter, and 1 cup of buttermilk.  This should be a pourable consistency- if it is too thick for your liking, you can add more buttermilk.  Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter in a large cast iron skillet, but don’t let the butter burn.  Pour the batter into the very hot skillet and cook for about 3o seconds to 1 minute until it bubbles abound the edges of the batter.  Immediately take skillet from burner and put into preheated over to bake until golden brown- about 20 to 25 minutes.  When done- remove cornbread from skillet with the bottom side up onto a serving dish and enjoy!

Marvelous Meatloaf

Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef (you can have more depending on how many people you are feeding- up to 1 1/2 lbs I keep the same amount of the ingredients below)

1 cup bread crumbs (I used the Italian Seasoning breadcrumbs just to add flavor)

1 egg

salt and pepper to taste

1 tsp oregano

1 cup ketchup (I usually use 2/3 cup ketchup and then the rest I use steak sauce)

1 cup grated mozzarella cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325.  In a large mixing bowl, add the ground beef, egg, bread crumbs, salt and pepper, oregano, and ketchup.  Mix together- I use my hands- until you form a large ball of the meat mixture.  Put a sheet of tin foil on a baking sheet and roll out the meat mixture until you get a flat rectangle, not too thin, but not too thick either.  Sprinkle most of the grated cheese on top of the rectangle, and then roll up the meat- kind of like a jelly roll with the cheese in the middle.  Bake at 325 for 45 minutes.  At around 40 minutes, I sprinkle the remaining cheese on top of the loaf.

It was all so delicious, Walker asked for it again tonight!

Ham and Cheese Crepes and a hike to Babel Tower

/0 Comments/in , /by

I can’t believe that Christmas has come and gone already.  I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!  Corby and I went up to the mountains in North Carolina since it is Walker’s year to spend Christmas with his dad 🙁  While we missed Walker tremendously, we had such a relaxing great time just the two of us.  For your sake, I am going to break this up into two posts because I would just ramble and ramble and the post would be too long for anyone to read, and of course you don’t want to miss anything.  So, the first night we got up to Linville, we made ham and cheese (yum) crepes.  A friend had made these for us when we were in NYC a few weeks ago, and they were amazing- we had to try them ourselves.  Our technique needs some working on, but they sure tasted good and were surprisingly easy.

Ham and Cheese Crepes

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup water

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons butter, melted

ham

grated mozzarella cheese

 

Directions:

In a large bowl, mix together the flour and the eggs. Gradually add in the milk and water, and then add the salt and butter and mix until smooth.

Heat a lightly oiled  frying pan over medium high heat. Ladel the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each crepe. Tilt the pan with a circular motion so that the batter coats the surface evenly.

Cook the crepe for about 2 minutes, until the bottom is light brown. Add in as much ham and grated cheese as you like. Loosen with a spatula and flip half of the crepe on top and then flip to cook the other side. Serve hot.  This is where our technique left something to be desired as it is a little tricky.  Make sure the frying pan is HOT.

These really were so easy and so good, and I think they come off as pretty impressive.

The next day, we went on a great hike down into the Linville Gorge to a swimming hole called Babel Tower- we didn’t swim.  But it was so beautiful, and in the summer, it is a great place to go.  There are several different places to jump off- very low places for me, and there is about a 20-foot jump which scares me to death, but is super fun for Walker.  Here are some pictures.    Tomorrow, I will post recipes about our Christmas day feast of Rommegrot and Canadian bacon strata and our hike up the profile of Grandfather Mountain- too fun!

Cheese and Prosciutto Straws and a Steeplechase

/3 Comments/in , /by

After surviving the Saturday night sleepover of 11 eight-year-old boys, we got to have some grown-up fun by way of the Charleston Cup.  The Charleston Cup is a steeplechase race that started twenty-five years ago. However, this is only the eighteenth running of the race as they took an eight-year hiatus.  It was a spectacular day, and what better way to fight off complete exhaustion than to go spend the day drinking and eating at a horse race!  I had not been to the Charleston Cup since I was about ten, when we sat on the top of the car and bet pennies on all the races- so fun!  As this was Walker’s first experience with horse racing, and because I wanted him to be entertained by something other than me, I gathered up all the change in the house so he would be able to bet as much as he wanted.  Little did I know that kids don’t bet with pennies anymore- it was $5 a race- big stakes- he didn’t win, but I let him keep all the change.

I was also blown away by the tailgates at this event.  I was not informed until I had made a complete fool of myself gawking at everyone’s taxidermy and ice sculptures that there was a “best tailgate” competition going on.  These were the people next to us- if that fox had been a taxidermied jackalope, they would have won! My thoughts on jackalopes requires a whole different post that may or may not happen at some point in the future.  Anyway, back to the tailgates.  Clearly, not only is a tailgate not complete without cheese straws, but I think you would be hard pressed to find- at least in my family- any event where there is drinking, cheese straws are pretty much guaranteed to be involved as well.  With Thanksgiving coming up, and the whole family descending, I found this recipe for Cheese and Prosciutto Straws, that while I didn’t have time to make for the Charleston Cup tailgate (not to worry- they had other cheese straws there)- I will make them for pre-Thanksgiving cocktail hour, and I am really excited about them.

INGREDIENTS

  • 1½ cup all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
  • ½ teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 stick unsalted butter
  • 2 cups grated sharp white cheddar cheese
  • ¾ teaspoon cayenne pepper, divided
  • ¼ teaspoon sweet smoked paprika
  • 2 tablespoons heavy cream, divided
  • ¼ cup finely chopped prosciutto
  • 2 tablespoons flaky sea salt

DIRECTIONS

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and salt.

2. Preheat the oven to 400°. In the bowl of a standing mixer, blend together the butter, cheddar, ½ teaspoon of the cayenne pepper and the paprika.  Gradually add the flour mixture and 1 tablespoon of the heavy cream. Fold in the prosciutto and mix until a dough barely forms.  Divide the dough into two balls the same size, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to overnight.

3. In a small bowl, whisk together the flaky sea salt with the remaining ¼ teaspoon of the cayenne pepper.

4. Remove the dough from the fridge and roll it out on a lightly floured surface into a large rectangle, about 1/16 inch thick. Using a pizza cutter, knife or pastry wheel, cut the dough into ¾-inch-wide-by-6-inch-long strips. Transfer the strips to baking sheets and use a pastry brush to brush the strips with the remaining tablespoon of the heavy cream. Sprinkle each strip with the seasoned salt and gently twist each strip. Place in the oven and bake until golden and crisp, about 12 to 15 minutes. Repeat with the remaining dough until all of it has been used. Serve warm or at room temperature.

 

Pimento Cheese Popovers

/0 Comments/in /by

Corby has been making German pancakes on the weekend for breakfast, and since those don’t really have anything to do with Southern Baking, I have not blogged about them despite how amazing they are.  He adds vanilla, cinnamon, powdered sugar, syrup- they are pretty special.  But, the thing I like best about the German pancakes other than the sugar and butter and delicious taste, is how it puffs up in the oven.  My son Walker gets the biggest kick out of that- to see how big and puffy the German pancake will get.  So  I decided to experiment with popovers and cheese, which I love.  I got a popover pan and a recipe off the Internet and added my own twist of putting pimento cheese in them- I used Callie’s Pimento Cheese which is the BEST- they are so good, and so easy!

Pimento Cheese Popovers

Ingredients:

2 eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon of salt
6- 1/2 tablespoon balls of pimento cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees, and I have found it best if you put the popover pan in the oven while it is preheating.

In a medium bowl, beat the eggs slightly, then beat in the flour, milk and salt until smooth, but be sure not to over beat it.  What I have done, is when the oven is at 450, pour the egg mixture into a mixing cup or something with a pour spout.

Open the oven, and pull out the rack with the pan on it, spray some cooking oil (I have used Pam) or pour a little oil in each popover cup.

Then fill the cups up about half way- put a pimento cheese ball in each and then pour a little more of the mixture over top so that the cheese is covered.

Then cook for 20 minutes at 450 then reduce the heat to 350 degrees and cook for another 20 minutes.

I actually just left mine at 450 for about 25-30 minutes and they were perfect, and they got much bigger than the German pancake, so Walker was immensely happy!

Glazed Gourmet Opened Today!!

/0 Comments/in , /by

We now have a gourmet doughnut shop in Charleston- I am beyond excited! Glazed Gourmet (www.glazedgourmet.com) opened on Upper King Street, and I hear they have a pumpkin doughnut that is extremely tasty.  Can’t wait to check it out for myself! Will post with a picture and an update when I make it there. 

Cracked Pepper and Cheddar Cheese Biscuits

/6 Comments/in , /by

I am not sure what is better than waking up on a crisp summer morning in the mountains to homemade cracked pepper and cheddar cheese biscuits. I found a wonderful recipe in the Charleston City Paper from Robert F. Moss who has a fantastic blog! We have tweaked it a little bit to add the cracked pepper and cheddar, which so far is my favorite combination, but earlier in the week we tried bacon and cheddar and jalapenos and cheddar, which were also delicious!

Biscuits

2 cups flour
1 T baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/4 t baking soda
1/3 cup of cold butter
3/4 cup of buttermilk
1 tablespoon of cracked pepper
1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Directions

First, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl and mix together.

Next, cut in the butter- it is important to use cold butter. Cover the butter lumps with flour and squeeze them between your fingers to break them down into smaller bits and rub the butter into them. What is left in the bowl looks like broken crumbs.

Stir in the buttermilk and mix up the dough until the liquid is all absorbed by the flour.

At this point, you add the cheese and pepper or whatever combination you choose.

With your hands, knead and shape the dough until all the flour is worked in and the dough is of a single consistency.
It should be still be slightly sticky to the touch, but not so sticky that it clings to your hands and the side of the bowl.

Now you’re ready to roll out the biscuits