this time i’m looking for a little help from you.
i haven’t gotten it how i want it yet.
look at the inside.
#fail
i want more holes – a really “open crumb,” in baking jargon.
i’m looking for an 85-percent hydration recipe, meaning a ratio of 10 ounces of flour to 8.5 ounces of water.
mum? tante una? aunt sus? ms. sscp? ms. keenan? anyone?
someone out there’s got one… please share!
here’s a quick and delicious bread recipe to impress your friends. you don’t have to knead it, so if that part of bread-making scares/concerns/bothers you, this is the bread for you.
anadama bread has a legend behind it. something about a farmer’s wife who knocked over the molasses jug while making his cornbread (or cornmeal porridge, depending on what you read). so the farmer yelled “ANNA, DAMN HER!” and thus a cornmealy, molassesy bread was born.
although he may not have admitted it at the time, it’s delicious. especially good with nutella…
anadama bread
from the fannie farmer cookbook. this is the full recipe, which makes two loaves – i made half.
1/2 cup cornmeal
2 cups water, boiling
1 package yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 cup molasses
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon butter
4 1/2 cups flour
mix cornmeal with 2 cups boiling water, and stir so it doesn’t clump. let stand for 30 minutes.
mix yeast with warm water, and let stand for 5 minutes.
add molasses, salt, butter, and yeast to cornmeal mixture.
stir in flour and beat well.
spoon into two greased loaf pans, and let rise until double in size.
bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes.
great for thanksgiving, too!
the ice cream machine is BACK!
and what better than a seasonal spiced pumpkin variety?
since the recipe book that the machine came with didn’t include a pumpkin version (how dare they?) i decided to modify the strawberry recipe, because adding macerated strawberries seemed most analogous to adding pureed pumpkin.
spiced pumpkin ice cream
1 cup pureed pumpkin
2 cups whole milk
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar (lightly packed)
pinch of salt
cinnamon, ginger, clove, nutmeg, allspice to taste (about 1/4 teaspoon each, 1/8 of clove)
1 teaspoon vanilla
heavy 1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum (for texture)
use a whisk to mix the milk with the sugar and spices,
and stir in pumpkin until there are no lumps.
continue whisking while you add the xanthan gum slowly. in our house, this calls for a sous chef.
pour into ice cream machine and churn for about 20 minutes.
scoop into a freezer-safe container and freeze.
you could also mix in yummies like mini chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, nuts, a caramel swirl…
this is a yummy and wholesome breakfast alternative to muffins.
i modified a recipe from the back of my wheat bran box.
cinnamon-raisin-bran quick bread
1 1/2 cups white flour
1/3 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 1/2 cup wheat bran
1 cup raisins (i used golden raisins)
1/4 butter, softened
1 1/2 cups very hot water
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
preheat oven to 375. mix flour, sugar, baking powder, soda, salt, and cinnamon.
in a separate bowl, mix bran, raisins, butter, and water until the butter has all melted.
beat the egg in a separate bowl and stir it into the bra mixture with the vanilla.
mix wet and dry ingredients until just combined. be careful not to overmix!
pour into a bread pan
and bake for about 50 minutes, or until a straw stuck in comes out clean.
these. are. delicious.
sweet. tangy. crunchy.
of course, if you want, you can sub out the dried cherries for chocolate pieces or nuts, but honestly – and you know how much i love chocolate – i wouldn’t do it.
i should probably also add that i think biscotti are a very under-rated treat. you can have so many tasty flavor combinations, and if you get the toasting at the end just right, the texture is wonderful – crunchy, but not dry.
why not give biscotti a try?!
lemon-cherry biscotti
6 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
at least 1 tablespoon lemon zest (more if you’d like!)
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg (optional)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup dried cherries
preheat oven to 350 degrees.
chop your cherries and zest your lemon(s)
in a bowl (you can do this by hand or in a mixer), cream together the butter and sugar until you can’t tell them apart.
beat in the eggs, vanilla, and lemon.
combine flour, baking powder, nutmeg, and salt. mix in about halfway.
then add the cherries and finish mixing. (this is to keep you from over-mixing the dough and making it tough.)
divide dough in half and shape into flattened logs. it doesn’t matter what shape you make them (think about how you want you biscotti to look… long? short?) just make sure they are only a half-inch thick.
bake for 25 minutes, until light golden brown.
let cool five minutes on sheet pan, then five minutes on wire rack, then move to a cutting board.
using a serrated bread knife, cut them diagonally (to make them fancy!) into half-inch thick pieces.
place back on the cookie sheet cut-side down.
bake for another 5-8 minutes. flip. bake for another 5-8 minutes. since i don’t like mine too too hard, i recommend slightly under-toasting the first side, since they’ll continue to brown as you do the second side.
bellissimo!
recipe from my mother. i have no idea where she got it. don’t sue me.
these are truly the best banana muffins i have come across in a long time. probably because they use so much banana.
i tweaked the original recipe slightly based on what i had around. here’s my version:
banana muffins
4 large brown or browning bananas, mashed
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg, beaten
5 tablespoons melted butter
generous 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
—–
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup shredded coconut (optional, i suppose)
mix first five ingredients in one bowl, and second five in another. combine until just mixed (don’t over-work).
pour into muffins tins (either greased or papered) and bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.
they were fantastic fresh out of the oven and great frozen and thawed, as well.
for miss anne’s big 3-0, i twisted her arm into letting me bake a cake. i know chocolate-lime seems like an unusual combination, but it’s sooo good and it was just gobbled up.
(raspberries, powered sugar, and a gorgeous footed cake plate don’t hurt, either!)
here’s the recipe:
flourless chocolate-lime cake
6 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 1/4 sticks soft unsalted butter, plus more for greasing pan
6 eggs
1 1/4 cup super fine sugar (note: this is NOT the same as confectioners sugar. if you can’t find super-fine, throw regular white sugar in a food processor for a minute or so. or don’t bother, and just use regular sugar.)
1 cup almond meal/flour (whole foods carries bob’s red mill brand)
4 teaspoons best quality cocoa powder, sifted
zest and juice of one lime
1 9″ springform pan (although i used an 8″ and it was fine)
preheat oven to 350 degrees. line base of pan with parchment paper and butter sides.
melt chocolate and butter together in double boiler or in the microwave; let cool slightly.
beat eggs and sugar until triple in volume, pale, and mousse-like.
mix almond meal and cocoa powder and fold gently into egg and sugar mixture, followed by slightly cooled chocolate and butter mixture. finally fold in lime zest and juice.
pour mixture into pan and bake for 40-45 minutes.
the cake will be just firm on top but still have a bit of wobble underneath. (note! by 40 minutes, mine was a little overdone. fortunately, you can’t really mess this cake up, and it was fine. you may just want to check it a little earlier.)
remove from oven and set the cake on a wire rack to cool. once the first heat has left it, drape a clean kitchen towel over the cake to stop it get to too crusty, though a cracked and cratered surface is to be expected.
see, my problem is that i can never decide what i like best in my cookies, so i put in everything.
oats, coconut, cinnamon, pecans, chocolate chips, and white raisins. if i had had cranberries, they’d be in there, too.
can’t help it. the girl can’t help it.
everything cookies
(mostly from the top of the oatmeal box, but with way less sugar, and way more things mixed in)
1/2 a stick of butter (4 tablespoons)
1/4 brown sugar
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch of salt
1 cup oats
raisins, coconut, pecans, and chocolate chips
beat your sugars and butter together well, preferably with a hand-mixer.
then beat in the egg and vanilla.
mix in everything else, scoop onto baking sheet, and bake until golden brown at 350.
enjoy with milk (and downton abbey).
this was a prize-winning recipe in an old better homes and gardens that i think i found at my grandmother’s house. the unique combination of flavors really caught my eye, and i have to say, they didn’t disappoint.
give it a try – the cookie is chewy and soft, the sesame is nutty and toasty, and the chocolate is, of course, chocolatey. all together, makes for an excellent and unique cookie. plus, they’re pretty cool looking, i think! and pretty easy to make.
chocolate-sesame cookies
8 oz. semisweet chocolate
2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons tahini (use the rest to make hummus!)
2/3 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
3/4 cup brown sugar (don’t forget to pack it in the cup)
1 teaspoon canilla
1/2 cup sesame seeds, toasted *
* note: toast your sesame seeds in a dry frying pan (that is, no oil) over low/med-low heat until they start to get light brown and smell nutty. careful not to burn them.
melt chocolate and butter together in a small sauce pan over low heat. remove from the stove, stir in tahini. set aside.
separately, combine flour, baking power, and salt. set aside.
in a large mixing bowl, beat eggs until frothy. add brown sugar and vanilla and beat until well combined. beat in chocolate mixture, then flour mixture. don’t overmix.
refrigerate dough at least 30 minutes.
preheat oven to 350 degrees. roll dough in one-inch balls, and roll in toasted sesame seeds. place on cookie sheets 2 inches apart and bake for 10-12 minutes. (they’re better if they are on the raw side. [insert salmonella disclaimer here.])
as you can see, i used a mixture of white and black sesame seeds.
yup, it’s that time of year, and i want to get in as much pumpkin as i can in every meal.
pumpkin muffins
1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 plus 1/8 cup oil
1/8 cup molasses (see note)
2 eggs
1/3 cup milk or water
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup canned pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling)
note: the oil and molasses measurements are squirrely because i was halving and modifying another recipe, and i really wanted to add molasses. if you don’t have any molasses or don’t like it, use a full 1/2 cup of oil. if you do want to add molasses, don’t worry too much about the exact amounts – use a little less oil and make up for it with molasses. call me unconventional.
mix the dries,
(if you have a mesh strainer, it’s proper baking procedure to sift your dry ingredients together through it. i only do that maybe 50 percent of time.)
mix the wets,
combine, and bake at 350 for 15 minutes-ish or until a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean.
also, i more than quartered the sugar in this recipe because i thought the amount called for in the original was outrageous. but i also sprinkled a little demerara sugar on top for the crispy, professional-muffin look. any large-grain sugar would work for topping – i don’t recommend using regular white sugar.
but they hardly need it. these were so cakey and delicious.
i do think they could have used a slightly stronger spice flavor, so i’ll probably add more nutmeg/cinnamon/ginger next time. maybe some allspice…
