white whole wheat flour | MyKitchenInHalfCups

June 17, 2013
by MyKitchenInHalfCups 7 Comments

BBB ~ Nan e Barbari (Persian flatbread)

Flat, I’m flat, I’m flat as a pancake. Flat as a pancake, busy as a bee and happy as can be with Nan E Barbari!

Since I am so very late posting this month because the universe has chosen to bless me with a hail storm of crisis events – always loved that Morton salt girl with the huge umbrella in the downpour – when it rains it pours. I will do this very short with just a few notes of mine.

Notes: You really want to bake this: It’s drop dead easy and fast for yeasties.

My original goal was to have a lovely Persian dinner with this like lamb meatballs … but I never got that past the idea stage and instead we used half of a loaf for toast and the rest for glorious sandwiches! When we get to Michigan, this is going to be high on my list for a BBQ nite.

Recipe from our Kitchen of the Month Elizabeth

and

based on Lida’s recipe for Barbari Bread at 1001recipe.com

Nan e Barbari (Persian flatbread)

dough
5 gm (~1.5 tsp) active dry yeast
360 gm (1.5 c) water, at 90F (32C) ¹
60 gm (~0.5 c) 100% whole wheat flour
360 gm (~2.75 c) unbleached all purpose flour (100 grams of this was spelt)
2 gm (~0.5 tsp) baking powder
6 gm (1 tsp) salt

30 gm ground flax seed
nigella seeds (or black sesame, poppy, sesame seeds)
sauce
1 teaspoon flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
160 gm (2/3 c) water

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, mix the flours, baking powder, yeast and salt and whisk together. with a wooden spoon until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. (Doesn’t that give you pause … baking powder, yeast. Well, it did me but I blindly followed along.) Add water and mix with wooden spoon or your hands until it clears the sides of the bowl.

This resulted in flatter loaf.

2. Kneading: Turn the dough out onto an UNfloured board. Now Elizabeth has a fetish about washing and drying her bowl … I don’t. Please do not be tempted to skip this step. I did … ship it. Using both hands on either side of the dough and thumbs resting on the top in the center, lift it up and flip it over in the air before plopping it back down on the board. Considering all that hail storm, my plopping was more like whack and bam but boy that was just terrific. Fold the dough in half away from you as you plop the dough down. Keep repeating until the dough is smooth. Every so often, use the dough scraper to clean the board. Stretching the dough is desired on the turns. But this won’t start happening right away. When the dough is smooth, place it in the clean mixing bowl (there is no need to oil the bowl).

3. I placed the dough ball in my rising bucket and put the lid on. Allowed to double.

4. Prepare the sauce: Whisk flour, baking soda and water in a small pot. Bring it to a boil. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

5. Pre-shaping: Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Scatter a light dusting of flour on the board and gently remove the risen dough onto it. Don’t worry that the dough is quite slack. Cut the dough in half. Form each piece into a ball and place well apart on the cookie sheet.

Loaf came out with most loft using this method.

6. I covered this with a large plastic box and allow to rise to double in a draft-free area. (about an hour)

Final rise after shaping.

7. Final Shaping: Brush each round with the sauce. Dip your fingers in the sauce and dimple the rounds down to form two ovals with lengthwise furrows. Brush ovals with the sauce once more and sprinkle with nigella seeds. Allow the ovals to stand for about 30 min. Elizabeth has terrific links for videos, very worth while, I just don’t have time to include today.

8. Baking: Baking: If you do not have a barbecue, this bread can be baked in a conventional oven. Lida suggests baking it in a preheated 375F (190C) oven for about 30 minutes until golden brown.

Grand color!

Serve the bread warm. And if cools completely all is not lost because …

Can you have better at a picnic!?

You can still have glory!

Are you drooling now … Get thee to the kitchen and BAKE!

Thank You Elizabeth for a great bread, please for give the speed post. Some times life just throws such incredible curves.

See our Kitchen of the Month Elizabeth blog to be a Bread Baking Buddy!

April 16, 2013
by MyKitchenInHalfCups 18 Comments

Tomato, Basil, & Garlic Filled Pane Bianco

I must apologize to Natashya. Living In The Kitchen With Puppies (Natashya ) our most wonderful Kitchen of the Month, gave us a glorious recipe … for white bread and I used almost half white whole wheat and added ground flax seed. Sigh, then when it came time for the kneading … I reached for the whole wheat, really I did. Still, I really like the look, the crumb and for sure the taste. Then when the recipe called for 3/4 teaspoon granulated garlic or garlic powder, well, I haven’t had any of that in my house for maybe 30 years. Since, I had just bought a long stocking of fresh garlic, there was just no way I was going to the store for 3/4 teaspoon granulated garlic or garlic powder. So, I’m really sorry Natashya, I really played with the recipe … oh and oops, I had a really bad senior moment and forgot to add the cheese to the tomato, garlic filling but hey what’s cheese for if not to put between two slices of a loaf and grill it! Oh yes it is a glorious bread. Thank you Natashya for inviting me to play. And thank you King Arthur.

There are those of us who obsess about somethings. Like measurements. I’m not one of those. Especially I’m not one of those when life tries to keep me in sleepless chaos. Amazing how you can be totally exhausted, even falling asleep sitting up but as soon as you get horizontal, the brain leaps into high gear and starts reviewing every thing that’s got you tied to the worry wart and your eyes are wide open all night. So while I can’t be bothered to obsess about measurements, Elizabeth takes care of all that obsessing for me. (Not being one to name names.) This is the kind of recipe I would look at and think “WAY to much yeast.” No slow rise with flavor develop with this one. BUT I’m getting a different picture lately. Ordinarily I’d have been inclined to make it a tablespoon. Since Elizabeth raved about the oven rise and I was using some whole wheat, I went with the 4 teaspoons. I did put it in the fridge for about 20 minutes and let it rise then about an hour and a half.

As to the sugar … I’m at the end of a bag of brown sugar that’s gotten a little dry … so I used a clot (sort of like a big pinch). See how carefully I measure.

Gosh, I’m beginning to feel rather heretical. Normally, I go with the metric measures. I really like just pouring flour from the bag into the bowl on the scale. For some reason known only to the cosmos, I used the cup measures. Go figure.

Tomato, Basil, & Garlic Filled Pane Bianco

Recipe from: King Arthur Flour’s website adapted by Natashya
Yield: 2 loaves

Ingredients by volume:
* 1/2 cup warm water
* 1/4 cup sugar ~ sigh, couldn’t do it, just a pinch
* 4 teaspoons instant yeast
* 1 cup warm skim milk
* 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
* 2 large eggs
* 2 teaspoons salt ~ didn’t really measure
* 6 cups King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour
* 1 (8 1/2-ounce) jar oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes
* 5 heads garlic, roasted, yes really
* 1 1/2 cups shredded Italian blend cheese, forgotten but topped with parmesan
* 2/3 cup chopped fresh basil ~ not quite

1) Combine the water, sugar (I used just a pinch), yeast, milk, olive oil, eggs, salt, and flour, and mixed and kneaded by hand, until you’ve made a cohesive, soft dough. By hand, the dough formed a smooth ball. Place the dough in a greased bowl, and turn to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until double, about 45 minutes. To roast my garlic and let it cool, I wanted a slightly slower rise. A twenty minute rest in the fridge followed by an hour and a half rise on the counter worked very well.

2) Meanwhile, thoroughly drain the sun-dried tomatoes; lay them on a paper towel to absorb any excess oil. Using kitchen shears, finely chop the tomatoes.

3) Line two baking sheets with parchment. Gently deflate the dough and divide it in half. Roll one piece into a 22″ x 8 1/2″ rectangle. Sprinkle on half the garlic, cheese, basil, and tomatoes.

4. 4) Starting with one long edge, roll the dough into a log the long way. Pinch the edges to seal.

5) Place the log seam-side down on a baking sheet. Using kitchen shears, start 1/2″ from one end and cut the log lengthwise down the center about 1″ deep, to within 1/2″ of the other end.

6) Keeping the cut side up, form an “S” shape. Tuck both ends under the center of the “S” to form a “figure 8”; pinch the ends together to seal. Cover and let rise in a warm place until double, 45 to 60 minutes.

7) For the second loaf, I played with a different shape. Filled and rolled the same way but cut the ends became the center buds and the log cut into triangles.

8) While the loaves are rising, preheat the oven to 350°F.9) Bake the first loaf for 35 to 40 minutes. Tent the loaf with foil after 15 to 20 minutes to prevent over-browning. Bake the remaining loaf.

10) Remove loaves from their pans; cook on racks. Store any leftovers well-wrapped, at room temperature.

Because I forgot the cheese in the filling, I tried several slices on the grill … OH MY OH MY what a glorious cheese sandwich.

Want to try this bread with us? You know you do! If you wanna give this one a bake too, you’re all very welcome to bake along as our Bread Baking Buddy. Bake, tell us what your thoughts are about it, blog and send it all to Living In The Kitchen With Puppies (Natashya ). Here’s the scoop from Natashya: I invited the Bread Baking Babes to have fun with this bread, and all Buddies and home bakers are welcome to join in. If you would like to bake this delicious bread – bake it up, blog it, and let us know how you liked the experience. Send me a link by April 26th, and a medium-sized photo if I can’t get one from your site, to kitchenpuppies AT gmail DOT com – I’ll put up a round-up on the 27th. Send an e-mail with Buddy for Tomato Basil & Garlic Filled Pane Bianco. Really, you’ll enjoy this even if you don’t use five heads of garlic.

March 16, 2013
by MyKitchenInHalfCups 15 Comments

BBB ~ Dessert or Breakfast ~ Gâteau À La Crème ~ It’s Bread

First, Kitchen of the Month: Lien from Notitie van Lien (Lien’s Notes).

You want perfection, she’s got it.

You want to learn from mistakes, I’ve got that or at least some of them, I’m sure I could mess this up and will when I bake it the next time but I will be baking this again. The above was my freeform attempt at this gateau, not what I’d call success.

Before she baked this bread, Lien was curious about all those eggs and butter in the recipe, saying “I tend to have a lot of problems with doughs like that, which have a hard time rising. So lots of eggs, really lots of eggs, lots of butter, crème fraîche….I think the amount of servings should be 6 to 8 instead 4-6.” Trust me friends, Lien did not have trouble with this one, her gateau is a work of art! You can have it as a dessert, which we did once but it goes great with coffee as breakfast which I did twice. Yes I know life is so hard when you have to eat brioche.

Gâteau À La Crème

Recipe By: Lien: adapted from Raymond Blanc “From Raymond Blanc’s Kitchen Secrets”

Serving Size: 4 (6-8)
Yield: 1 gateau and 1 loaf or in my case however you like to swing it

For the BRIOCHE DOUGH (enough dough for 4 small, 3 larger gateau or use the left over dough to make a loaf or brioche rolls)

500 grams untreated strong plain flour, (1lb 1½oz)preferably organic

{I admit I used 200 grams white whole wheat (with 300 grams bread flour to total the 500 grams) and 20 grams of ground flax and will do both again}
7 grams sea salt
3 tablespoons caster sugar
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
7 free-range eggs, preferable organic
300 grams (10½oz) unsalted butter, cut into small cubes

For the crème FILLING (makes 1/2 liter, enough for 2 small gateaux / double the recipe if you want to use all the dough for gateaux)
6 free-range egg yolks, preferably organic
50 grams caster sugar
75 grams lemon juice, juice and zest (1 1/2 lemons made the juice)
250 ml (8¾fl oz) crème fraîche
GLAZE – Admit: I totally skipped this
2 free-range egg yolks, preferably organic (1 eggyolk or 1/2 whisked egg is more than plenty)
1 TBsp caster sugar (optional)
20 g (¾ oz) butter, cut into cubes (optional)
1 TBsp nibbed sugar, to decorate

Directions:1. For the brioche dough, place the flour, salt (actually I held the salt out until I mixed in the eggs), sugar and yeast (keeping the yeast away from the salt as it will attack it and damage its ability to ferment), in an electric mixer bowl. Add the eggs and mix with a dough hook attachment for 5 minutes on low power until the eggs are completely incorporated (alternatively, place the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and stir together for 5 minutes). I did use the old KitchenAid in this case and it has lived to tell the tale.2. Increase the speed of the machine or your stirring and mix for another 5 minutes until the dough comes away from the edge of the bowl. Then add the cubes of butter and continue to mix for 2-3 minutes until completely incorporated.3. Remove the bowl from the machine, if using, then cover and set aside at room temperature for 1 hour to prove, then chill the dough for a further hour (it will be easier to work with). I believe next time I’ll divide the dough at this point and refrigerate half immediately for a day; making this two days for baking.4. Preheat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF/Gas 6. (make that 180ºC or the rim gets too dark) – I baked mine at 400° F and only my escapee got to dark.5. Lightly flour a work surface and your hands. Take 300 g of the brioche dough and bring it together with the palms of your hands to form a ball, then place it on a baking tray and flatten it slightly. Starting from the middle of the dough, gently press the dough flat and spread it out to form a circle to approx 20 cm (8 in) in diameter, but leave a 2 cm (1 in) gap from the edge as this will create the rim of the tart. Be careful not to stretch the dough and try to keep the base even in thickness.

6. Cover with a clean tea towel and place the dough in the warm area for 25 minutes or until puffed up.

7. For the crème filling, mix the egg yolks, sugar, lemon zest and juice together in a large mixing bowl and gradually mix in the crème fraîche. Set aside.

8. For the glaze, brush the rim of the gateau with the egg yolk and prick the base of the dough evenly with a fork to help the even cooking and rising of the dough,sprinkle with the nibbed sugar . Pour part of the crème mixture in the middle of the dough, sprinkle with the caster sugar and dot with the butter, the rest of the filling should be poured in when the baking sheet is already in the oven, so it won’t spill and

9. bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes, or until the brioche has risen and the filling is set. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool, then serve.

Because I’m the savory girl that I am, yes I had to bake this with a savory filling. Because my affair with spinach knows no bounds, the savory filling uses spinach. Because when I went to the market for the crème fraîche, there was quark sitting right next to it – I went into such a frenzied happy dance in the store they almost had be removed – the spinach filling has quark in it! I’ve never found quark in an American market until now.

These I did in tart pans. Like the way the dough fell into the filling here and will try for more of that next time.

Will try for less dough on the bottom and more up the sides next time.

SPINACH FILLING
8 ounces quark
1 large egg
3 cloves garlic, crushed
salt & pepper
spinach, chopped

next time bacon! with the spinach! oo la la YES!
touch herb: rosemary, thyme, what’s your favorite

Lien’s original recipe is delicious lemony and rich and perfect for easter breakfast or coffee with all that butter and eggs. Don’t forget to check out the other Bread Baking Babes (links in the side bar). And we really really enjoyed the lemon! But for me, I would pick the spinach filling and good grief quark is just heavenly! I went right back to the store and got three more containers! Gorgeous!

But regardless of what you fill it with, brioche is still bread elevated to an all time high. It reheats so wonderfully crisp!

You just want MORE!

If you wanna give this one a bake too, you’re all very welcome to bake along as our Bread Baking Buddy. Bake, tell us what your thoughts are about it, blog and send it all to me (notitievanlien(at)gmail(dot)com), so I can return the favour by sending a Buddy Badge back ánd include you all in a round up of the Buddies. Deadline 29th of this month as usual. Have a great time baking and Happy Easter!

Why can’t I figure out how to get my e-mail on here … comments my kitchen at mac dot com … you know no spaces in there.

December 16, 2012
by MyKitchenInHalfCups 14 Comments

BBB – Holiday Apple Kuchen

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy New Year

When Gretchen, our most gracious Kitchen of the Month, put up the bread for December, I thought everything in the universe has lined up perfectly. Not only did I have six pounds of Granny Smith baking apples on my counter, I had also just mixed up a fresh batch of Speculaas Dutch Spice Mix and I was still deeply interested in all things apple even though I had just baked three different recipes for Deep Dish Apple Pie.

What you ask is Speculass/Speculoss? If you know or read much about the Netherlands or Dutch, you realize how deeply seeped in spices their history and hence their cooking/baking has become.

There are several interpretations for the origins of the name Speculoos. It may derive from Latin speculum, which means mirror, and refer to the fact that the images are cut as a mirrored bas-relief into a wooden stamp which is then used to decorate the Speculoos. Another explanation of the name refers to the Latin word speculator which, among other meanings, could also refer to a bishop or St Nicholas’ epithet “he who sees everything”. Specerij the Dutch word for spice is another possible origin.

In the United States, New Zealand and Australia, speculoos are often sold as Dutch Windmill cookies or Biscoff cookies. from Wikipedia.

This is the recipe I used for my Speculoos:

Speculaaskruiden (Dutch Spice Mix) adapted from About.com Dutch Food

Mix together:
4 tsp [20 ml] ground cinnamon
1 tsp [5 ml] ground cloves
1 tsp [5 ml] ground mace
½ tsp [2.5 ml] ground ginger
¼ tsp [1.25 ml] white pepper
¼ tsp [1.25 ml] ground cardamom
¼ tsp [1.25 ml] ground coriander seeds
¼ tsp [1.25 ml] ground anise seeds
¼ tsp [1.25 ml] grated nutmeg

Gretchen raised the question of what is a Kuchen and her call on this recipe was it was closest to a Pie Kuchen having a thick cake like crust with apple pie filling and a sweet white icing. I found that to be an excellent description of how this bakes. I would also say that if you love pie but the crust is a difficulty for you, this “bread” could be the best pie recipe you’ve ever come across. I could say that I have a hard time calling this bread because of that but then I do subscribe to the idea that “bread” is about yeast and this uses yeast. Is it cake? or bread or pie? I say it is all of those and goes beautifully with a rich cup of coffee for breakfast, tea in the afternoon and dessert for dinner. Call it cake, bread, pie or all of those, whatever you call it, it’s just lovely and lovely enough for any holiday event.

What follows is Gretchen’s recipe with my modifications.

Holiday Apple Kuchen

Recipe found by Gretchen in Better Homes & Gardens Holiday Baking 2009 Magazine
Servings: 12

Dough

Bread Dough:

2 1/4 cups flour, divided + 4 tablespoons ground flax seeds
1 package active dry yeast
150 ml butter milk
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs

Apple Filling:
9 cups apple slices (about 4 medium baking apples)
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon quick cooking tapioca
3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoon speculoss

Crumb Topping (Make this first)
1/2 cup flour + 1/4 c oat bran
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons butter

Cream Cheese Topper
1 (8oz) package cream cheese, softened
2/3 whipping cream
2/3 cup powdered sugar

Directions:

1. 1. Grease a 13x9x2 baking pan; set aside. In a large bowl, combine 1 cup of the flour and the yeast; set aside.

2. In a small saucepan, heat and stir milk, granulated sugar, butter and salt just until mixture is warm (120F-130F) and butter almost melts. Add milk mixture and eggs to flour mixture. Beat with an electric mixer on low to medium speed for 30 seconds, scraping sides of the bowl constantly. Beat on high speed for 2 minutes or until smooth. Beat in as much of the remaining flour as you can without the mixer. Stir in any remaining flour to make a stiff batter.

Ready for Apples

3. Spread batter into the prepared baking pan. In another large bowl, combine apples, brown sugar, tapioca, lemon juice and apple pie spice. Place apple mixture on top of the batter. Sprinkle with Crumb Topping. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour.

4. Bake in a preheated 375F oven for 30 minutes or until top is browned and apples are tender. Cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes. Cut into 12 pieces and serve warm or at room temperature with a dollop of Cream Cheese Topper on each piece.

Apples

5. Crumb Topping: 1/2 cup flour 1/2 cup brown sugar 3 tablespoons butter

6. 1. In a medium bowl, combine flour and brown sugar. Using a pastry blender, cut in butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs – I just used my fingers. Set aside. (I may have added extra brown sugar, I may have used 4 tablespoons butter … now why would I do that … hehehe)

: Shower cap covering dough & apples

Shower cap

I always used to wonder who ever uses a shower cap, I always wash my hair in the shower. Then one day I had the idea that a shower cap is a plastic film just right for covering rising dough in a bowl, a loaf pan or a baking dish.

Shower cap covering dough & apples

Now that my dear reader is what I call brilliant.

7. Cream Cheese Topper: 1 (8oz) package cream cheese, softened 2/3 whipping cream 2/3 cup powdered sugar, oh and I think there was a splash of Calvados (Apple brandy. Why? You can ask why? Because it was sitting on the counter. Why? You sound like a four year old. Because I put it there! Because it needed to be used. Now no more questions please.)

8. 1. In a small bowl, beat cream cheese with an electric mixer until smooth. Beat in whipping cream and powdered sugar. Really I just whipped it because I set it all out when I started and it was nice and soft.

Oo la la! I added almond slivers!!

I think you will find the perfect time and place to share this with friends, family or just all by yourself in a quiet moment. Enjoy.

Can’t believe I forgot to put a few cranberries in with the apples, next time. At least I did think to pretty it up with some pomegranate seeds … just forgot to snap a photo of that. Very nice.

You’d like to be a Buddy with us this month! Oh, we’d be so delighted (and you will be when this comes out of the oven). Here’s how:

1.Bake the Apple Kuchen, snap a pic & share your thoughts about how you liked it (or not liked it).

2.Send an email to Kitchen of the Month. Please note in the subject line that this is for the BBB Buddy Bread.

Gretchen, Kitchen of the Month

Don’t forget to visit my fellow Bread Baking Babes to see how they baked and also… visit our Katie! She is the BBBBB (Bitchin’ Bread Baking Babe Bibliothécaire) who writes up such lovely round ups of all the BBB Breads every month!

This Bread and all it’s iterations goes to Susan for YeastSpotting!

Next bread for the BBB’s will post on the 16th of next month.

November 16, 2012
by MyKitchenInHalfCups 18 Comments

PocketBooks or Hot Lips? It’s still bread!

I suppose there are people in this world who are not fascinated by bread like I am … well, I know there are people like that because when I really start getting revved up telling somebody about my latest bake and their eyes glaze over … I know I’ve just run head long into one. But, I can’t imagine what they could possibly entertain themselves with when they wake up in the middle of the night and can’t go back to sleep … on the other hand, maybe if I didn’t find bread and it’s many iterations so entertaining I’d be able to go back to sleep.

This month our charming hostess lives in Vienna Austria, has kitties and bakes! Astrid blogging at PaulChensFoodBlog has presented us with Pocket Book Rolls.

PocketBook Rolls

Recipe By: adapted from The Glory of Southern Cooking by James Villas

Yield: 2 doz. rolls

1 tablespoon yeast
1/2 cup lukewarm whole milk
1/4 cup shortening – I used butter, room temperature
4 tablespoons butter, room temperature
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup boiling water
1 large egg, beaten
3 cups all purpose flour – I used white whole wheat and buckwheat
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
8 tablespoons butter, melted

1. Whisk yeast, salt and flours together.

2. Cream the shortening, butter and the sugar in a large mixing bowl. Gradually beat in the boiling water and warm milk.
Add the beaten egg.

When well blended add the flour, yeast and salt and mix very well.

3. You can keep the mixture up to one week in the fridge covered lightly with plastic wrap for further use.

4. Three hours before ready to use: Roll out the dough. About 1/2 inch thick.
Cut into rounds with a 2 to 2 1/2 inch biscuit cutter.
Fold each round in half and place on greased baking sheet.
Brush each roll generously with melted butter, cover with a towel.
Let rise in a warm place for about 2 1/2 hours. In the book it says it is essential that you let rise them at least 2 hours to attain the right feathery texture they are famous for.
Preheat the oven to 400°F Bake the rolls until golden brown. Should take about 7-8 minutes
Serve hot – with more butter.

You will note that I did not dissolve my yeast in liquid, used all butter no shortening. I cut back on the sugar and I played with the flour making it a combination of white whole wheat from King Arthur and buckwheat flours. I was totally delighted with the sweet earthiness of the buckwheat; really why don’t I use this more.

It seems to me if you’re going to call something a pocket book well then it really wants to have something put into it. You put money into a pocketbook so I figured something equally valuable should go into these.

That’s how I ended up with Hot Lips. I created my hot lips with a splash of spicy tomato jam, just oh so nice.

I do love baking bread. I love the kneading, the rising. I love feeling it change. I love the feel of it. But like everybody, I love the smell of baking bread and the fresh from the oven experience. I’ve never gotten over taking fresh bread from the oven. Sometimes I’m known for halving recipes, just so I can bake again sooner. With these rolls you can have fresh bread coming out of your oven all day long if you want. I think it’s best to limit it to once a day for up to a week. How many days you bake with this is dependent on how many rolls you do each day. I baked these three days. And each time I baked them I used a different filling. Bad picture above was splashed with pumpkin butter and several dried cranberries. The next day I did mostly the same but added a few pistachios!

Yes, they were lip licking smacking good!

Now, I know you want to bake these so jump to it!!

I do hope you’ll want to be a Buddy with us on this one. 1.Bake the featured bread, snap a pic & share your thoughts about how you liked it (or not liked it) 2.Send an email to Kitchen of the Month. Please note in the subject line that this is for the BBB Buddy Bread. Kitchen of the month is Astrid blogging at PaulChensFoodBlog.

This Bread and all it’s iterations is going to Susan for YeastSpotting!

Next bread for the BBB’s will post on the 16th of next month.

Note on the pocketbook: belonged to my mother.

October 15, 2012
by MyKitchenInHalfCups 20 Comments

Russian Braid/Rose

My memory of a time when I thought bread was an impossibility for my skill is pretty foggy. I know there was that time. But, I have been baking bread for a long time now. I do sort of remember that yeast was a very delicate finicky thing to be very careful with. For whatever reason, I no longer proof yeast. When the recipe says dissolve the yeast in water and proof for 5 minutes … I whisk the yeast into the flour and use the total amount of liquid into the flour(s). If a recipe uses oil and doesn’t make a big deal out of adding it separately at a special place in the recipe, it goes into the liquid. If, as I did with my second loaf of this bread, I put my dough into the rising bucket and suddenly remember … ooops, I left out the oil, I simply take the dough out of the container, flatten it out a bit, pour on a tablespoon, knead it, adding a tablespoon at a time until I think I’ve added the correct amount and put it back into the tub to rise again. I can’t really date when this lack-a-dayical attitude took hold of me.

The raw materials: flours, yeast, flax seed, salt

I won’t claim that my bread is the very best on this globe. I will claim that it is wonderful bread enjoyed by all I’ve served it to. What that translates to for me is this: If you want to obsess about yeast failure, loaf failure, or some other aspect of this bread baking thing, you’re welcome to it. I’ll even admit a certain amount of obsessing is in order when you are first baking BUT if you bake, you will get to the point that you develop a healthy ability to adapt to your moments of lapses and your enjoyment level will soar like the eagle 😉

Roasted garlic: 1st loaf, mild sweet flavor

Do not think just because this looks fabulous, all the Babes and Buddies baking this one are beyond your abilities and this is way out of your reach. This is truly a fabulous loaf and YOU really can do it. Think one step at a time. When I baked my first loaf with this recipe, I went downstairs into the kitchen after 7AM and took the loaf out of the oven at 10:30AM. Bread in under four hours … using yeast … and it looks incredibly difficult … it’s not.

Beginning of 1st rise

End of 1st rise

Russian Braid/Rose

This bread described as:
beautiful braided bread, tender, a rich straight dough
requires moderate braiding skills, time and attention.

Recipe Adapted from The Fresh Loaf
Yield: 1 loaf

Ingredients:

Rosemary

– Dough
– 300 grams bread flour
– 200 grams white whole wheat flour
– 100 grams sprouted wheat flour
– total flour should equal 600 grams – try different combinations
– 2-3 tablespoons ground flax seeds or wheat germ or a combo (optional)
– 2.25 teaspoons dry yeast (Fresh Yeast 28g (1oz) used 1 heaping tablespoon
– 10 grams Sugar 10g (0.35oz)
– 10 grams Salt 10g (0.35oz)
– 50 grams Canola Oil 50cc (1.7 fl oz) I used 56 grams butter in 1st loaf; 50 grams olive oil in 2nd loaf
– 1 tablespoon White Vinegar, I used white Balsamic Vinegar in my 2nd loaf
– 450 – 500 grams Water 300cc (10 fl oz) (alternate use potato water
– Original recipe called for
– AP Flour 600g (21oz) total
– seasoning was pesto, dusted with sumac
– Filling – the options are only limited by your imagination and what’s in your kitchen!
– butter, softened
– garlic, pressed
– parmesan, finely grated

– salt, to taste
– rosemary or basil

Directions:

1. Set oven to 210c (410F) Prep: Baking Pan – 26cm (8″) springform (no bottom), take a piece of parchment paper and crimp tightly around the bottom of the springform, oil the sides. Place on top of a baking sheet. Set aside. I baked my first loaf in a 10 inch springform pan and it was too large. The second loaf I baked in a glass pie dish with parchment paper.

2. Add all ingredients to a mixing bowl, add the water carefully as you start mixing. I mix this with a wooden spoon. My first loaf I used just a little more than 300 ml potato water and it seemed stiff but manageable. The second loaf I used 450 ml of water and it seemed about the same. Flours were the same in both loaves, I did however add the 1 tablespoon of vinegar to the second loaf. I can not understand how the first loaf could have worked at all, it didn’t rise as much as the second loaf but it was excellent. Dough should be supple and not sticky to the touch. Add water or flour if dough is too stiff or too loose (respectively). When dough is ready, spray a bowl with oil and gently put the dough in the bowl. Spray a little more oil on top and cover. Let rise (80%) about 40 minutes to an hour.

3. Lightly flour your work area. Flatten the dough gently with your hands. Roll the dough as thin as you can using a floured rolling pin. When rolling out the dough, try not to lift and move it too much. You can try and gently pull the dough to stretch it thin like with Strudel. I rolled this as thin as I could but it was nothing like the paper thin when I did Strudel.

Now you can read about shaping this below and totally mess your mind thinking you can’t possibly do this bread OR you can watch Ciril Hitz’s YouTube video and drop your jaw at how easy this is to do.

4. Apply a thin layer of your filling on top of the dough (leave the edge clear 1/4″).

5. Slowly, tightly and very gently roll the dough into a roulade (pinwheel ). You will now have a very long roulade.

6. Take a sharp chef’s knife (not a serrated knife) and cut (not saw) the roulade lengthwise trying to keep the knife in the middle so you end up with two equal parts (you can cut down from the seam but it is not make or break).

7. Place the two halves crossing each other (open roulade layers facing up) to create and X shape. Gently pick up the two ends of the bottom half, cross them over the top half, and place them back down. Continue this process, taking the two bottom ends and crossing them over the top until all the roulade has been used.

8. You now have a two strand rope shape. If for some reason some of the open roulade layers are pointing down or sideways, carefully turn them so they are facing up. Gently pinch the ends to seal. Look at the braid. If one end looks a little thinner make that your starting point. If not, just start from either end. Slowly and very gently, roll the braid sideways (horizontally) without lifting your hands from the table. You should keep those open roulade layers facing up. Pinch the end delicately. The end result should look like a giant snail shell or a giant cinnamon bun. Depending on your filling you may want to sprinkle on something (paprika, sumac, brown sugar & cinnamon). Keep in mind you don’t want to cover up the effect of the shaping.

9. Carefully pick up the braid and place in the prepared springform. Keep it flat on the parchment. The bottom of the braid should set nicely.

10. Cover. Let rise until the braid hits three quarters the way up the springform. Depending upon the temp in your kitchen this may take from 20 to 40 minutes.

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11. Bake at 210c (410F) for 5-10 mins., lower oven to 180c (355F) and bake for another 20-30 mins. There should be a decent amount of oven spring. The bread should rise above the springform edge. If your loaf is getting too dark on top before it’s done, cover it with foil until it’s done. When the bread is out of the oven lightly brush olive oil or butter on top and sides. Let cool on a rack. In my opinion, the vinegar gives this a wonderful boost in rising. Thanks to our Buddy Carola for the link. re the vinegar and it’s effects.

12. You are welcome to bake this with all white flour or any combination of you like. I tried to incorporate more whole grains, the original recipe uses all purpose flour; I will probably try this with some rye flour, onion and garlic. I’m sure that there is a spinach, bacon/chicken sausage, parmesan filling in the future for this recipe; perhaps with a shaping modification. Someday I will do a sweet cinnamon iteration. The fillings are limited only by your imagination and what’s on hand.

For me this romance is about SHAPE.

***************

I was Kitchen of the Month for the Bread Baking Babes and Buddies. If you’d like to bake this bread with us and be a buddy, you will be rewarded with a fabulous bread and a badge if you bake the bread, post it, send me a photo with a note giving your take on baking the bread and send me an e-mail at commentsmykitchen At mac Dot com. I’ll have a round up with all that here on the 29th so you must get that info to me by the 26th.

******************************

YeastSpotting

Each week, Susan (Wild Yeast) compiles a list of many bread-specific recipes from across the web. For complete details on how to be included in the YeastSpotting round up, please read the following:

YeastSpotting Archive

Many thanks to Zorra for allowing the Babes and Buddies to participate in World Bread Day as a group. And always we thank her for the long running Bread Baking Series she sponsors every month.

Now if you know what’s good for you

Get Baking Russian Braid/Rose

and I know you’ll thank me.

September 16, 2012
by MyKitchenInHalfCups 13 Comments

BBB – Molasses Fennel Rye

Surprise people! Here’s another bread/recipe I would have read and passed on and I would have missed out big time. Gorn would have missed out bigger time. Do I repeat myself? Perhaps but this is why I am so sold on baking with a group of friends. Try something new that I wouldn’t have tried on my own.

The bread. Some of us dressed and shaped our loaves with more style than I did but none of that would have changed the aroma coming from the oven or the fabulous flavor in every bite. So mine is a very plain looking loaf everything else about this bread is stellar.

Kitchen of the Month: Elizabeth who blogs at From Our Kitchen. For Elizabeth and her husband this is a super special bread because they shared it on on super special evening (see her story here). For me it’s a super special bread because Gorn ate 2/3 of the first loaf in one evening and I don’t think it had that much sugar in it. Raisins, it does have raisins in it and he’ll go for raisins every time. I like molasses, I just don’t like too much of it SO, I only used 2 tablespoons molasses and then used 2 tablespoons of Rise Appelstroop (a long ago gift from Holland).

Molasses Fennel Rye Bread As Posted
——————————————————————————–

Recipe By: based on Jack Francis’ recipe for Molasses-Fennel Bread served at “Clark’s by the Bay” restaurant in Collins Bay, Ontario (near Kingston) – now sadly closed
Yield: 2 loaves

Ingredients: my changes

1 1/2 teaspoon ( 6gm 5gm) active dry yeast
1/4 cup (63gm) lukewarm water
2 tablespoons molasses

2 tablespoons Rinse Appelstroop
1 3/4 cup (438gm) water, room temperature
1 tablespoon (6gm) fennel seeds
1 1/2 inch knob grated fresh ginger root
1 cup (103gm) rye flour
1 cup (122 gm) sprouted whole wheat flour
1/2 cup (59gm) wheat germ + 3 tablespoons flax seed
2 cups (254gm) unbleached white whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon (18gm) salt (I used 15 gm)
1/4 cup (36gm) Thompson raisins … it was more
up to ½ c (64gm) unbleached all purpose flour for kneading – I used about 2 tablespoons

Directions:

Mixing

In a smallish bowl, whisk yeast with the lukewarm water (do the baby’s bottle test on your wrist) until it resembles cream. Set aside. Actually, I mixed the yeast in the entire 2 cups of water … and one cup of the two was potato water.

Meanwhile, in a bowl large enough for the dough to double, pour the rest of the water – In my case it was all the water. Stir in ~~sugar~~ (I skipped the sugar) molasses. (If the molasses is stiff because of a chilly kitchen, use warm water instead of room temperature.) Add fennel seeds and ground ginger. Dump in flours, wheat germ, flax seed and salt and stir with a wooden spoon until the flour is mostly absorbed. Stir to form a rough dough.

Cover the bowl with a plate and let sit on the counter for about 20 minutes.

Kneading

Scatter a little of the flour for kneading onto a wooden board. Turn the dough out onto the board. Wash and dry the mixing bowl. (Please do not be tempted to skip this step.) Hand knead the dough 10 to 15 minutes, adding the smallest amounts of additional flour if dough is sticky. You don’t have to use up all the flour. When the dough is springy and silky to the touch, knead in raisins.

Proofing

Form the dough into a ball and put it in the clean bowl; cover it with a plate (there is no need to oil the bowl!) Let the dough rise in a no-draft place at room temperature (or in the oven with only the light turned on if you want) for about an hour or until it has doubled in size.

Gently deflate dough.

Recover with the plate and allow to rise until doubled again.

Gently turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board; cut it in half with a dough scraper if you have one, with a knife if you don’t.

Shape into two round balls and place them (not touching) on a parchment papered pan or a cornmeal dusted peel. Dust the tops with flour.

Cover with a large plastic bag overtop let rise until double in size. (about an hour if the temperature is around 20C) Baking

Place a breadstone, if you have one, on the middle to second from the top rack and preheat the oven to 400F. If you want, slash the top of the rounds with a very sharp knife. Liberally spray the tops with water. Put bread in oven and immediately turn the oven down to 350F – I left it at 400° for 5 minutes then turned it down to 350°. Bake the bread on the middle to second from the top rack for 35-40 (I bake it for 45-50 30-35) minutes until the bread reaches an internal temperature of 205-210F or until it is hollow sounding on the bottom. My bread took 35 minutes total to reach 205° . I took the bread out of the pans and set them on their sides for the last 5 minutes in the oven. It’s a good idea to turn the bread after about 20 minutes of half way through baking to allow for uneven heat in the oven (remove parchment paper at the same time).

Remove to cool on racks. Please wait until the bread is cool before cutting it. It’s still baking inside! If you like to eat warm bread, reheat the bread after it has cooled.

This is a really lovely bread. With the ginger, raisins, baking aromas and gorgeous flavors, I’d easily call this a holiday bread.

Elizabeth has some terrific suggestions for serving this bread but finding this a very simple, even rustic loaf I went with simple and rustic: Tuscan Bean Soup.

Simple Rustic Bread & Soup

Simple and Rustic foods … I very much like the contrast here between the today square style clear bowl, bamboo wooden spoon and the very old my Grandmother’s Jewel Tea plate. The plate rim ring is long gone from years of washing … by hand as there was never a mechanical dishwasher in that house. These are the plates my Grandmother collected every time she went to the grocery story and these are the plates all the family ate off of for so many years. Sitting for hours around the table with lively talk of old times and heated political debates. One such meal and debate ended with my father making a point by tapping my Aunt Dort’s chest which sent her over backwards (she always was tipping her chair on the back legs) and hitting her head on the molding around the floor. Dr. Brown (John Brown) was called out to stitch her head requiring 15 stitches. Doctors still made house calls in those days.

To receive a Baking Buddy Badge to display on your site: bake Molasses Fennel Rye Bread in the next couple of weeks and post about it (we love to see how your bread turned out AND hear what you think about it – what you didn’t like and/or what you liked) before the 29 September 2012. If you do not have a blog, no problem; you can also post your picture(s) to Flickr (or any other photo sharing site) and record your thoughts about the bread there. Please remember to contact the Kitchen of the Month (Elizabeth who blogs at From Our Kitchen) to say that your post is up.

Either email Elizabeth or leave a comment on her post that you have baked the bread and a link back to your post.

YeastSpotting

Each week, Susan (Wild Yeast) compiles a list of many bread-specific recipes from across the web. For complete details on how to be included in the YeastSpotting round up, please read the following:

YeastSpotting Archive

Bake Your Own Bread (BYOB)
BYOB is a monthly event hosted by Heather (girlichef)

that encourages you to start (or continue) getting comfortable baking bread in your own kitchen. Anything from simple quick breads to conquering that fear of yeast to making and nurturing your own sourdough starter. All levels of bakers are welcome to participate.

For more information about BYOB, please read the following:

BYOB: Bake Your Own Bread

Spread it with cream cheese! Lovely. Today we’re finishing the second loaf with salmon, cream cheese & capers! I know it’s going to be great. Bake it!

August 15, 2012
by MyKitchenInHalfCups 17 Comments

Oh Julia … Hysterical Nonchalance … Happy Birthday!

Many weeks ago, our Bread Babe Susan of Wild Yeast and Kitchen of the Month came to us with the suggestion that we all post a day early, hence the 15th this month, AND that we invite the Buddies to Bake and Post with us … well I think Julia would have loved that idea for Celebrating her Centennial … and so did all the other Babes and so here we are with Babes & Buddies posting together. Our Bread Babe Pat of Feeding My Enthusiasms put together a wonderful invite for the event.

I am elegant.
I am French.

Wouldn’t you know it, our fabulous Babe of the Badge Making Talent Lien of Lien’s Notes put together a wonderful Babes & Buddy Badge.

Babes & Buddies Bake Together!

Do you/ would you quake in your kitchen boots, faced with a 20 page recipe? I can tell you there are plenty of infinitely shorter recipes that have brought me to my knees. With a bread recipe, most often the most upsetting thing I find myself yelling: What does it feel like at this point? If the recipe in question is for French Bread in vol 2 of Mastering the Art of French Cooking and written by Julia Child, then I would suggest you relax with confidence, make yourself comfortable and enjoy the intoxicating experience of silky soft dough in your hands. All from just the reading of her recipe. I’ve often said and heard others say: the best way to learn to bake bread is at the side of an experienced bread baker. I found an amazing video of Julia baking this recipe on her The French Chef – Julia Child – Bakes French Bread

Keep it cool and you can prolong the rise even when it’s 103° outside!
A little ice in the bowl kept it cool enough to provide a 4 hour first rise.

Most of the time you’ll find a video does a much better job of communicating a recipe than the written word does. Well, if you read Julia’s recipe first, I think you’ll find that all the video adds is the wonderfully odd sound of her voice and her fabulous enthusiasm/love for life and cooking. I say ‘all’ it adds is the voice and the enthusiasm/love because what it doesn’t really add much to is the recipe because it’s all written there. Let me try that another way, if you actually read the recipe you will find yourself able to picture clearly the entire process including the feel of the dough and how it changes in your hands – all just in the reading. So 20 pages of reading this recipe is really like Julia standing next to you while you make this in your own kitchen.

Used my French Bread Form and got well shaped and just the right length loaves. Tasted great.

One other thing you may get from the video is how unrehearsed Julia and the show appear, especially if you compare it to todays cooking shows. I do not feel there is anything really dated about Julia or the shows. There’s a line in Bob Spritz’s bio of Julia titled Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child, that describes her as always with “a soupçon of hysterical nonchalance.” She flips bench scrapers and nasal sprayers all over as well as throwing flour on the floor.

Nice crumb … all three loaves gone in 36 hours … we need another baking of these.

When I read that line about “always a soupçon of hysterical nonchalance”, I feel connection with this Julia Child. I think it was and is exactly this ‘soupçon of hysterical nonchalance’ that appeals and attracts so many of us to Julia. She never polished her enthusiasm to be sophisticated and toned down; she continues to make us feel real and possible in the kitchen. For Julia, there were no mistakes, only lessons and good times.

OK, let’s do it again and go free form …

I first baked this bread as a Daring Baker Challenge from none other than our own BBB Mary (aka BreadChick from theSourDough) and Sara (from ILikeToCook) way back in February 2008. Yes, once upon a time I was a daring baker. (If you don’t know who the DBs are, I’d love to meet you because you must be from Mars!)

The 2nd Bake: Oh the crust was gorgeous, the crumb excellent … the shapes were tortured ugly … the taste transported you back to Paris.

Twenty pages of recipe reading is daunting but you can only do one step at a time. One step at a time with a lot of time in between each step delivers France and the streets of Paris. Hey, I’m there.

Tortured, really they were.

It’s bread: you mix up water, yeast, flour and salt. That’s it. One thing this recipe has you doing is giving the dough short (2 to 5 minutes) resting times between several of the steps. One of the most fascinating things to me about this dough was how much it changed from the first kneading – gluey, sticky, stringy – give it a 3 minute rest, then knead it for a minute before putting it in for the first rise. In that 3 minute rest, it went from that gluey, sticky, stringy state to almost smooth and barely sticky!

Breakfast, lunch and dinner appetizers … oh they were glorious.

The recipe describes the dough after the first rise as “humped into a slight dome…light and spongy when pressed…some big bubbly blister on the surface…” This is a recipe that uses words to tell you where you’re headed. Words that tell me what I’m looking for are the sign of a good recipe to me.

Tortured still tastes heavenly, proving once again beauty that counts is more than skin deep.

You’d think that in all the times baking I’d have gotten fancy but this bread does the fancy on your taste buds.

Breakfast this morning? Coffee, a simple basil bruschetta on Julia’s French Bread!

I’m sure you can find the recipe on Susan’s site but I’d really encourage you to own a book. Heck, this is two (volume 1 & 2) that I have both a hard copy AND an iBook copy of. Trust me, really you want to bake this bread and honor Julia Child and all the possibility her legacy continues to open for all who step into the kitchen.

Thanks to all the Babes and Buddies who joined with us this month to wish a very very Happy 100th Birthday Julia, it’s been a blast.

This Bread and all it’s iterations is going to Susan for YeastSpotting!

Check out a TON of Julia tributes here

June 24, 2012
by MyKitchenInHalfCups 19 Comments

Fresh Corn Cakes (aka Corny Pancakes)

Sometimes I can still surprise myself. Surprise myself on several different levels when I least expect it. For years, I’ve looked on in envy and wished I could get my hands on King Arthur’s little newsletter The Baking Sheet. I’ve stopped subscribing and stopped buying most magazines because they just seem to get drooled over and then pile up all over everywhere until I’m forced to take them all to the library or HalfPriceBooks or the trash before a new pile comes in from the mail box. But this is baking and this would be King Arthur … and then I placed an order and at the end an offer came up … a year’s subscription to YES, the Baking Sheet … for Free! Could you have said no? Well, maybe you’d have been principled and not clicked that box but me, no there were no principles between me and that click. No, that doesn’t surprise me about myself, I know myself only too well.

What surprised me was … you got it, I’m baking from it … well in this case it’s griddleing. (Right that is not a word but I’m using it and I just know you know what it means.)

I’m one that thinks if you buy a cook book and enjoy the reading of it and get even one keeper of a recipe out of it, it was worth the $$$. So to find a little newsletter and get a keeper of a recipe seems so much more a concentrated value. Does that make sense to you?

This recipe came from a book, Yankee Hill-Country Cooking published in 1963 and is a collection of Heirloom Recipes from Rural Kitchens. The author, Beatrice Vaughan, titles these Green Corn Cakes and I’ve no idea why … although when I think about these and that title I conjure up some crazy idea in my head of stacking or layering the corn cakes with fried green tomatoes and finding a nirvana but that’s something else.

Reading the recipe you rather doubt these could turn out: 8 ears of corn, 2 tablespoons white whole wheat flour, salt, Aleppo pepper and two eggs, separated. How’s that going to hold together much less leave you wanting more. Well, trust me, it will. No sugar but these are deliciously sweet and so I added in a finely chopped jalapeño pepper from my garden.

Adding the jalapeño was brilliant, loved it but it also blossomed into the idea that these little cakes would adapt to innumerable flavors. I just know you don’t need any of my suggestions as I’m sure about now you’ve generated 7 great combos. … cinnamon, cardamom, vanilla; ginger; ham … oh, tell me more …

There were only two of us in the house this morning so I cut this way back: used only 2 ears of corn and 1 tablespoon of flour with one egg. Obviously I didn’t need the 6 quart Kitchen Aid to whip that one little egg white into stiff peaks, neither did I really want to do it by hand. Bring on that stick blender whisk!

The two things I think are most important to the success of this are:

1. Score each row of corn down the center of each row.

2. Scrape, do not cut, all the corn from the cob into a bowl. A deep bowl that you can put the cob on the bottom works well to contain all the splattering of corn and it’s juice when scraped.

For more variations, play with the flour and if you want them gluten free: use a gluten-free flour blend or make them with corn meal – try blue corn meal … see what I mean there are just so many possibilities and additions to these.

A tablespoon of delicate delicious! I promise. You see the other thing that surprised me about all this was that both of us really enjoyed these and the talk is to have them again … soon … as in tomorrow!

MyKitchenInHalfCups

Once Upon a time: Cooking … Baking … Traveling … Laughing …

Tag Archives: white whole wheat flour

BBB ~ Nan e Barbari (Persian flatbread)

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Tomato, Basil, & Garlic Filled Pane Bianco

BBB ~ Dessert or Breakfast ~ Gâteau À La Crème ~ It’s Bread

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PocketBooks or Hot Lips? It’s still bread!

Russian Braid/Rose

BBB – Molasses Fennel Rye

Oh Julia … Hysterical Nonchalance … Happy Birthday!

Fresh Corn Cakes (aka Corny Pancakes)

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Tomato, Basil, & Garlic Filled Pane Bianco

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