Grandma's Kitchen Table

They Are Off to a Great Start

(Photo:  Matt swimming to the end of the 200 Freestyle and winning that race with a new best time for himself.) 
Preliminaries Friday were a good thing.  Always nervous when he goes in seeded so high that having two good weekends in a row for meets will just not be there, but Friday the times were there.   

 

(Photo: 100 Freestyle was quite the race, he was seeded 4th in that and ended up winning it with a new best time.)

 

 

He got a new best time in both his individual events, the 200 Freestyle and the 100 Freestyle, and now has Junior National Times in both those events. 
Harrison, unfortunately, had a goggle malfunction in the 100 Freestyle that cost him his first place seeding in the 100 Freestyle on Friday, which was really unfortunate. 

 

(Photo:  Matt and Harrison stepping up to the block before the 100 Freestyle, and before the goggle misfunction costing Harrison precious seconds.  Matt always steps up and makes The Sign of the Cross before he swims, just happened to catch him mid action with that in this photo.)   

 

Harrison goes to another high school but has been swimming with Matt in USA swimming for too many years to count, maybe like 10, and is one of Matt's best friends, so while Matt was excited to get the first place seeding for Saturday, he was also disappointed for Harrison because the malfunction slowed Harrison down and cost him a top heat seeding.  Very disappointing for a swimmer of Harrison's caliber.

 

(Photo:  The relay team getting ready to defend their first seeded position, Mike, Nik, Jonathan, and Matt.  The boys are sporting special new state swim caps, gray with a blue greyhound on them, instead of their traditional blue with the large yellow "C" on them.  Quite fancy.)

 

Matt's relays did well, they were both seeded first Friday night but the 200 Freestyle Relay ended up seeded second going into Saturday, Matt swam a 20.9 on his 50 leg, which might have been one of his best in that, so they were hoping to get back into the groove of that one and take first again.  The 400 Freestyle Relay went in seeded first and came out seeded first.   All in all a great day for Matt.  Will it continue?  We shall see. 

They Are Off To State!

Photo:  (Back, left to right)  Matt G, Scott, Cheffy, Mike, Jonathan, Matt F, Johnny, Kiernan, Elliot, Mark; (Front, left to right) Roma, Vic, Michael, Charles, Eric (the diver), Nik, and John.  

 

And, as in the past two years, Matt and Roch, off to State together, neither knew it would work out this way, but indeed it has...something of Providence in it all I guess.  Mother Guerin was big on Providence.  

 

It's The Day.  State prelims for boys swimming are today at the Nat in Indianapolis.  Top 16 contenders get to advance to finals tomorrow.

 

Excitement is running high as the CHS boys have a real shot at winning the state title this year.  We are sending 17 boys wearing the blue and gold.  17 very excited young men who have worked long and hard for a chance at the state title.  We shall see, by tomorrow's eve we will know if the dreams have become reality. 

 

The boys were dismissed from school at 11:30 and hopped on two small CHS buses for transport to a special lunch for them, followed by a team meeting at Mike's house, and then transported downtown Indy to the Nat (about 15 miles). 

 

Some of the parents met up at the school to wish them well, exchange school backpacks for swim backpacks, and hold a banner across the drive so that the bus could plow through it, which it did, but apparently banners tend to stick to the bus, and Matt hopped out to gather it up to free the driver's vision, etc.  Off they go...keep the good thoughts going for them.  Go Greyhounds!

CEiMB: Broccoli-Cheddar Breakfast Bake

The recipe chosen this week for CEiMB, using Ellie Krieger's book So Easy: Luscious Healthy Recipes for Every Meal of the Week, was selected by Heide at Chez Zero and is Broccoli-Cheddar Breakfast Bake, found on page 52, and Heide has it on her site today as well.  Thank you, Heide, it was a great choice, we all loved it. 

 

I have been missing in action here for a couple of weeks.  With the steak recipe I decided to wait and make it when we could thaw out the grill, and I had intended to do the Chocolate Mousse recipe, but I don't like chocolate, and the guys found out I was buying tofu for it and nixed the whole idea.   

 

While Ellie has this week's recipe listed in the breakfast section of the book, that did not work out this week as the only breakfast we have together is on Sunday mornings, and last Sunday morning was a bit disjointed with Matt needing to serve a Mass that was right in the middle of breakfast time.   

 

So I made it tonight.  For dinner.  It was a fine dinner, with eggs, broccoli, onions, cheese, whole wheat baguette, and ham.  HAM????  Ellie doesn't say a thing about ham in the recipe, but since I was making it for dinner and the swimmer is this close to state, I figured I better up the protein a bit and while eggs are not his favorite, he can be talked into them if ham is involved.

 

Another great recipe...we would like it with or without the ham, and someday soon it will find itself on the breakfast menu as it is something you can make ahead and bake at a later time.  Oh, so convenient with that added advantage. 

 

Next week:  Peppercorn Pork with Wine Sauce, recipe found in Ellie Krieger's book, The Food You Crave, on page 196.

Cooking Italy: Pot Roast of Beef Braised in Red Wine and Mashed Potatoes with Milk and Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese

(Okay, I know you are all going to wonder at the way I cut roast, but it is the way my mother did it and I grew up with it this way so to me this is normal.  I like to eat the long thin pieces.) 

 

The recipes for the Cooking Italy group this past week were Pot Roast of Beef Braised in Red Wine, found on page 393-394 and Mashed Potatoes with Milk and Parmesan Cheese, Bolognese Style, found on page 518 of the cookbook we are using:  Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. 

 

Guys here love a pot roast. Guys here love mashed potatoes.  I can easily go with the flow on both, so today found me making these recipes knowing that the guys were going to appreciate a favorite dinner this evening. 

 

The pot roast recipe uses beef chuck roast, onions, carrot, celery, red wine, beef broth, roma tomatoes (canned), thyme, marjoram, salt & pepper.  The roast is browned and then cooked in the oven for 3 hours, pretty much like my standard roast recipe.  One new technique, however, was that she had us turning the roast every 20 minutes during the cooking time (my usual recipe just has the roast unattended in the oven for that amount of time with no fussing with it at all), which turned out a very nice incredibly tender melt-in-your-mouth piece of meat with no dry spots, etc.  It was delicious.  In fact it was the best roast I have ever eaten.  

 

The potatoes were easy enough to prepare (potatoes, milk, butter, parmigiano reggiano, nutmeg, salt) and will be a new go-to fairly regularly here as the additional flavor of the Parmesan cheese and a little freshly grated nutmeg is lovely.   We enjoyed both of these recipes.    

 

 If you would like more information on the Cooking Italy group, want to see the menus and schedules, and want to see fabulous food and photos, visit Angela's site here. 

Tuesdays with Dorie: Honey-Wheat Cookies

Thanks to Michelle of Flourchild for her Tuesdays with Dorie pick of Honey-Wheat Cookies, found on page 81 of Dorie Greenspan's Baking from My Home to Yours cookbook.  Michelle has the recipe posted on her site today.  (And, thanks, Michelle, in a month of chocolate recipes, you were thinking of me, right?  No chocolate involved, and best part:  lemon and honey.) 

 

These are a perfect tea cookie, absolutely perfect.  If you are going to have a cup of tea, and you want a little sweet with it, this is it.  A perfect match.  The recipe goes together easily and quickly, plus it has the added advantage in that you can make the dough ahead, refrigerate it for a day or two, and bake them off later. 
The cookies have honey, butter, lemon, and wheat germ in them...what more could you ask for with a cup of hot tea?  I made half a batch only (18) as I was running low on honey and only had enough for half.  I halved everything, except I accidentally (on purpose) forgot to halve the lemon part, which was a very good thing as these are now nice and lemony.   The cookies were a hit with everyone, definitely a repeat. 

 

Next week:  Beryl from Cinemon Girl has chosen Toasted-Coconut Custard Tart, found on pages 344-345.  TWD blogroll found here.  

Four Firsts For Matt

If you are here for the swimming news, here's a bit of it.  Thursday and Saturday were high school boys' swimming sectionals here in Indiana.  For sectionals you can qualify with appropriate swim times for 2 individual events and 2 relay events maximum.  The events Matt's coach picked for him were the 100 Freestyle and the 200 Freestyle individual events and the 200 Freestyle Relay (lead position) and the 400 Freestyle Relay (anchor position).  Matt placed first in all his events, even got a new best time for the 200 Freestyle, taking off 2 seconds from his old time, qualifying him for Junior Nationals in that swim, and breaking the sectional record.  Whew, what a great swim that was, for sure.  His two relays also broke the sectional record at this meet.(Photo: Matt F, Jonathan, Jesse, Mike, Matt G, Nik, and Charles sporting their sectional locks.)   Before all that, last Sunday, Valentine's Day, the boys all met at Cheffy's house and dyed their hair either blonde or blue (blue and gold being the school colors).  Matt opted for blonde.
(Photo: The Seniors (only 6/7ths of them shown) get to go first through the line, followed by the juniors, etc.)   Wednesdaynight the team had their pre-sectional spaghetti dinner in the basement of the Masonic Lodge (not just any place will agree to let 50 boys come and shave their hair in their facilities dontchaknow).
 (The senior table, left to right:  Nik, Jesse, Charles, Scott, Johnny, Cheffy, Matt F.)
(Photo:  Ali, Matt, Mike.  Because she swims for a different high school during the high school season, but is still part of the guys USA team, Ali dropped by to wish the guys luck.)
(Photo:  CHS girls' swim team shows up for a little Risky Business entertainment.)   Eats, speeches, fun, and most of all, the shaving of the heads of hair.  Well, sort of.  The senior guys get to shave the younger guys in any manner they wish...so you can imagine some of the configurations.  Nik shaved Matt and gave Matt a nice mohawk haircut.
 (Photo:  Scott shearing Jonathan; Nik giving Matt a Mohawk; Matt F giving Jack a cross shield, and Johnny giving John a much shorter version with "I Love Beth" carved into it.)
(Photo:  At Noblesville for Sectionals, warm-up time, Matt in back row with thumbs up salute.)  Thursday night the guys sported the fancy "do"s at preliminaries, but by Friday, the hair was all shaven and by finals on Saturday all the guys were bald and will remain so until after state this week.  A strange little tradition, but the guys all seem to have a lot of fun with it.
(Photo:  200 Freestyle:  Matt, first; Jonathan 2nd; Kiernan 5th.)
(Photo:  100 Freestyle: Coach Plumb reaches down to congratulate Matt, Jonathan, Charles for Placing 1,2,3.)
(Photo:  Never did get a decent shot of the three of them up there, they were so happy to place 1,2,3 in the 100 Freestyle swim, all going to state with their times.)
(Photo:  200 Freestyle Relay first place winners:  Matt and Charles up on the podium with Roma and Jonathan standing in front.)
(Photo:  First place 400 Freestyle Relay:  Matt and Jonathan in back, Nik and Charles in front.)    

(Last Photo:  Matt and Nik holding the CHS Sectional Trophy, both boys managed to get first in every event they swam in sectionals.)

 

Where do we stand going into state?  Matt is seeded first in the 200 Freestyle (but Jonathan and Daniel are right behind him) and fourth in the 100 Freestyle (with Harrison seeded ahead of him).  Both his relays are seeded first for state.  It should be an exciting upcoming weekend.  While all this is well and good, any swimmer can beat any other swimmer on any given day, so one enters optimistically excited, but realistically prepared for just another swim in just another meet where anything can happen.  There is a lot of very fierce competition with a lot of hungry swimmers scheduled to show up at state, all with their A Game.  There are no slow swimmers at state.  We shall see.

My First King Cake!

I made a King Cake for Mardi Gras!  My first ever and it turned out looking fairly decent and tasting fairly decent.  Most of all, it was fun.

Cooking Italy: Sausages and Cream Sauce

The recipe for the Cooking Italy group this past week was Sausages and Cream Sauce, found on page 201 of the cookbook we are using:  Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking.  

 

The recipe itself is quite easy:  butter. oil, onion, cream, sweet Italian sausage, salt & pepper, all cooked and served over some sort of pasta with groves to soak up the sauce and let it cling a bit. 

 

When I first read through the recipe, my first thought was that it sounded an awful lot like Hamburger Helper (with the emphasis for myself on the word "awful" as I tend not to like anything along those lines).  I should preface this post by saying that when I read a recipe and it says, "add a can of cream of .... soup," that's pretty much a guarantee I am not going to make it, much less eat it.  This recipe was a similar version. 

 

The butter, the cream, the fat from the sausages...not something I would make again for sure.  That said, the guys thought it was great.  (I have decided that guys tend to be like that when a recipe screams "Cholesterol Poster Child's Nightmare.")  I tried to get a good photo, but this is as good as it gets as this is exactly what it looked like. 

 

I took two bites, one as a test and another to be sure that I wasn't judging it wrongly...and then Pippin and Vash had the rest of mine.  I felt a little guilty feeding it to the dogs like that, and then I realized that I just fed it to my family...yikes!  As I said, they loved it, so if you like a recipe like this, you might enjoy it as well.  Not everyone likes/dislikes the same kinds of food. 

 

If you would like more information on the Cooking Italy group, want to see the menus and schedules, and want to see fabulous food and photos, visit Angela's site here. 

Tuesdays with Dorie: My Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

Thanks to Kait of Kait's Plate for her Tuesdays with Dorie pick of My Best Chocolate Chip Cookies, found on page 68 of Dorie Greenspan's Baking from My Home to Yours cookbook.  Kait has the recipe posted on her site today. 

Not much to say about chocolate chip cookies as most everyone has been there, done that, and in the case of some of my fellow TWD and Twitter baking buddies, there was a whole lot of chocolate chip cookie dough being made these past two weeks as many of them were running a taste test with various versions of chocolate chip cookie recipes.   Dorie's recipe is a lot like the Tollhouse cookie recipe, and the guys here loved them.  
They loved that they were thin enough to be crunchy and there were a lot of chocolate chips in each one.   The recipe called for pecans or walnuts.  They chose pecans.  The cookies disappeared overnight, literally.  These were a hit at our house, a definite keeper, and yes, there will be return after return to this recipe as long as the boys are requesting them, which they have been...over and over.  

Next week:  Michelle from Flourchild has chosen Honey-Wheat Cookies, found on page 81.  TWD blogroll found here. 

MSC: S'Mores Cupcakes

It's time for another cupcake adventure this month from the Martha Stewart's Cupcakes book.  This one, S'Mores Cupcakes, is found on pages 150-151 of the book, and was chosen by Mary Ann of Meet Me in the Kitchen.  Mary Ann and I bake/cook in a couple of groups together, so it was fun to get to make a recipe she picked this month.  And, thanks to another Mary Ann, my sister-in-law, I have a stash of really cute little cupcake wrappers which were gifted to me by her at Christmas! 

 

The recipe is a bit fussy in that there are three separate parts to it:  the cupcake, the chocolate ganache, and the marshmallow topping, which you need to use a butane torch or risk going under the broiler, to obtain that toasted marshmallow look.  Not difficult, just lots of this and that. 
The cupcakes were made with graham flour and it was the first time I got to use that, so that was fun, and delicious.  Need to find some other things to make with graham flour!  It was also fun making marshmallow topping and mine tasted just exactly like marshmallows so I must have done it all correctly. 

 

I made half a batch of the cupcakes, which was supposed to net 12, but I got 18 out of the recipe.  A couple of those found themselves without any chocolate ganache on them, surprise, surprise. 

 

I thought the little cupcake tasted best warm straight out of the oven with nothing on it, but the guys were happy with the entire assembly, thought they were good, tasted just like s'mores, and were happy to eat them.  Rave reviews?  Not really, so not sure I will make them again, as they are a bit fussy and its just a whole lot easier to make s'mores with a whole lot less cleaning up.  It was fun to do it this once, however. 

 

Next month's recipe selection was chosen by Megan from My Baking Adventures and is Lemon Meringue Cupcakes, found on pages 142.   Blogroll and Schedule found here.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Rick Katz's Brownies for Julia

Thanks to Tanya of Chocolatechic for her Tuesdays with Dorie pick of Rick Katz's Brownies for Julia, found on page 91 of Dorie Greenspan's Baking from My Home to Yours cookbook.  Tanya has the recipe posted on her site today (and she got a new dog).  

 

Lots of chocolate this month, so Tanya at Chocolatechic is probably really happy with her brownie pick right now.  The guys here were very happy with her brownie pick this week, I do know that as I have made them three times now and they keep disappearing faster each time. 

 

I'm always a little nervous with this much chocolate involved...I'm never sure it turns out right, I think it looks unappealing when it is finished, and I don't taste anything as I go so frankly I have not a clue if I am doing it right.  This recipe was driving me crazy because so far, almost all of the time, I do what Dorie says and it always turns out great (or if it doesn't, the error is mine), so I was a little perplexed when the recipe said this would be finished in 25 minutes and at that time, I still had essentially chocolate soup in the middle of the pan of these brownies.  Mine were done at 54 minutes.  
I also had a papery crust on the top, which Nancy assures me is most desirable in a brownie, and which I had not a clue how I got it or what it would taste like.  I made them a second time.  Same thing.  Again.  Same thing, only this time I used an 11 by 7 pan and it took only 42 minutes to finish. 

 

I wasn't really sure what I had or if I did it right, etc., but I do know one thing, the guys absolutely love these brownies and their favorite part was the crackly crunchy tops, so if they are a failure, I hope to keep failing many more times as they are a big hit here. 

 

This was another recipe that I baked with Leslie on Twitter, same recipe, same method, and hers and mine don't look anything alike.  It's a mystery.  I am eager to see everyone's brownies this week on their blogs so that I can see what they are supposed to look like as there is no photo of these in the book.   

 

Next week:  Kait from Kait's Plate has chosen My Best Chocolate Chip Cookies, found on page 68.  TWD blogroll found here. 

Friday's Favorites Fare

READING:  The Tea Shop Mysteries by Laura Childs.  Something just a little fun and light to read as it has been that kind of week! I am learning a lot about tea, too.  

LISTENING TO:  All Def All Day

COOKING BYTES:  Definitely going to be the year of bread around here as I am finding that I love baking bread, it could be that I will need to locate people who would like to have the extras as I am baking so much of it, so far the guys can keep up, but almost every day I think to myself, "What kind of bread can I make today?" I might be becoming a bit compulsive about it.  Compulsive, me???  Just maybe.
 

FAV NEW FIND:  Matt can actually swim a decent butterfly!  Who knew?  Not us, that's for sure.  For years he looked like a drowning moth out there trying to swim that swim.  His strokes are the freestyle and the backstroke and he looks good doing those, yes, he does.  But the butterfly?  Not so much.  Until now.  At the swim meet this week his coach put swimmers in events that they don't usually swim and Matt swam the 100 butterfly.  He took first place, took two seconds off his previous time, and now has the second best butterfly time on the high school team, second only to his good buddy Mike, and he looked good doing it.  Yep, that's definitely a favorite new find!
 
FAV THING THIS WEEK:  Well, I can think of a couple of things that were not my favorite things this week, but I like to keep things upbeat around here, so let me think a moment.  Oh, I know:  IU almost, yes, almost, beat Purdue last night, who happens to be ranked something like 8th in the nation right now.  The baby Hoos played a full two halves of the game and put forth, I think, their best performance of the whole year so far.  It came down to the last shot, yep, the very last shot in the very last second. Things are looking up, definitely a fun thing to see.
 
GOING TO:  Watch a lot of ball games, that I know for sure, especially a little thing the Colts are in called The Super Bowl, have you heard of it?  High school girls sectionals for swimming are this weekend, so we work, we watch, we cheer, we spend a lot of time at the pool.  Cooking/baking/reading/enjoying family time about covers the rest.

PRAYING FOR:  An early spring, I know that is terribly selfish and all, but I am really really tired of winter and I haven't been able to get away this winter, so an early spring would be really really nice, please join me! 

CEiMB: Curried Chicken Salad

The recipe chosen this week for CEiMB, using Ellie Krieger's book So Easy: Luscious Healthy Recipes for Every Meal of the Week, was selected by Sarah at Sarah's Kitchen Adventures and is Curried Chicken Salad, found on pages 67, or you can also find it on the web, click here.   Thank you Sarah, as this is a chicken salad loving household.  Matt could eat it by the tons every single week. 

I was really looking forward to making this chicken salad recipe and having the taste of curry in it as well as having it be a more calorie friendly version.  It did not disappoint.  I won't list the ingredients, etc., because if you are that interested you can click on the website and have a look for yourself. 

Make it:  it's easy, it's wonderfully fresh tasting, and the portions are large, we were able to make it go twice as far as it said as one cup size portions were huge, the half-cup size much more manageable at lunch.  I ate it with the lettuce and it was perfect, the guys opted for it in sandwiches and felt it was perfect that way as well.  Another keeper, it was a big hit here.  

Next week:  Marinated Flank Steak with Blue Cheese Sauce, recipe found in Ellie Krieger's new book:  So Easy:  Luscious Healthy Recipes for Every Meal of the Week, on page 177.

Cooking Italy: Ciambella (Grandmother's Pastry Ring)

The recipe for the Cooking Italy group this week is Ciambella (Grandmother's Pastry Ring), found on page 592-593 of the cookbook we are using:  Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking.  

 

The recipe itself is quite easy:  butter. flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, eggs, milk, and lemon peel (and in my case I added the juice of a fourth of a lemon because my dough was a little dry as sometimes happens with differences in air temperature, brands of flour, and well, you just can't possibly ever have too much lemon, now can you?), all the ingredients are pretty much staples found in your refrigerator and pantry. 

 

The whole mass gets stirred together, kneaded for a bit to bring it together, and then rolled into a 2 inch sausage shape, formed into a ring, placed on a baking sheet, and brushed with a little egg yolk water mixture before it heads into the oven for a 35 minute stint.   

The directions say to wait until it cools to cut it, but there was no way I was waiting to cut warm lemon bread straight from the oven, nope, no patience for that...the house smelled of lemony goodness and I figured waiting was for sissies.  Or something along those lines. 

 

It's very good.  Good alone.  Good with lemon marmalade.  Good with a little butter.  Good warm.  Good at room temperature.  Good with tea.  Or not.  It's not too sweet, and has a kind of biscuit-y feel to it (probably all that baking powder), and breaks nicely into small pieces. Best of all:  it's very lemony! 

 

Definitely a winner, definitely a keeper, and yes, there will definitely still be some left when the guys come home this evening.  That's the plan now anyway.  Just kidding, it makes a huge ring, and I am sure you could reduce the recipe and just come up with a smaller ring, probably need to adjust the baking time if you do that, however, by just a little. 

 

Am loving this cookbook and the recipes in it and so is my family, the recipes are easy and yet flavorful.  I have learned so many techniques that produce the wonderful flavors.  If you would like more information on the Cooking Italy group, want to see the menus and schedules, and want to see fabulous food and photos, visit Angela's site here. 

TWD: Milk Chocolate Mini-Bundt Cakes

Thanks to Kristin of I'm Right About Everything for her Tuesdays with Dorie pick of Milk Chocolate Mini-Bundt Cakes, found on pages 188-189 of Dorie Greenspan's Baking from My Home to Yours cookbook.  Kristin has the recipe posted on her site today. 

 

Kristin, you were certainly right about this recipe as my family really enjoyed eating the little cakes.  Usually I am not all that excited about making things on chocolate weeks, but I like that my family loves the things we make, so I just go along with it nicely.  This week, however, I was excited about chocolate week as these little mini-bundt cakes are just so cute!  I don't use that mini-bundt pan nearly enough.   

 

The recipe was easy to follow and it all cooked in the exact amount of time that Dorie specified in the recipe. 

 

The little cakes have a swirl of nuts, cocoa, and sugar running throughout the inside middle area, so that was kind of fun to see how that all worked and the guys enjoyed finding that in there.  I think I am right:  it's a nuts AND chocolate thing as they loved these. 

 

When I made the glaze, I found that I needed a little more corn syrup to get the right consistency for it to drizzle along the top and down the sides, but I am figuring that products vary greatly, so sometimes there is just a need for a little adjustment depending on the product one is using, i.e. the brand of chocolate or corn syrup.  I think I added an extra teaspoon to make it easier to drizzle.  Apparently it tasted "great," so guess that was an okay thing to do.  All in all, a very nice recipe and one they would like to see repeated from time to time.

 

BTW, if you hook up with Leslie on Twitter, you have a really good shot at getting things done early as she is always baking ahead, so thanks to Leslie for baking and tweeting with me, we even got the brownies done for next week!  Yep, Leslie is the person to get you moving on things!   

 

Next week:  Tanya from Chocolatechic has chosen Rick Katz's Brownies for Julia, found on page 91.  TWD blogroll found here. 

BBA: Kaiser Rolls

The sixteenth Bread Baker's Apprentice challenge (from the book by the same name authored by Peter Reinhart) was Kaiser Rolls, and is found on pages 175-177.   

 

This was another of the two-day breads in this section of the book, calling for the pâte fermentée  like the French Bread.  By this point, I am no longer intimidated by the thought of two-day breads as it is just a matter of being organized and realizing you get to spread the work out over two days.  Sometimes I don't have two days in a row to mess with bread, but the dough keeps in the frig for up to three days, so am more relaxed about that aspect as well.  Nancy has even frozen her starter dough and taken it out and put it back in a few times and says it is still one of the best breads she has made using it.  I am a lot less intimidated (saving that for the upcoming sourdough section, yikes).   

 

The Kaisers were a big hit here, I had one, the guys polished off the rest and then I made them again as Mark wanted them for lunch for his sandwiches all week. 

 

The dough is nice and easy to work with, the rising times and sitting around times have to be attended to, so these are not exactly a quick run, but the flavor makes them well worth it, very fresh and nice and much better than the ones I can get around here. 

 

I do not have a fancy cutter for the top, so I used the knot method, which takes some practice.  I am getting better the more I do it.  Sometimes they go in looking really great and rise funny and come out looking very individualistic.  I like that, too.  Perfect for sandwiches, give them a try, they are just downright fun to make. 

 

Nancy, Cathy, Jessica, Melissa, Sarah, Di, Leslie, Margaret and I are baking and posting every other week to better fit into our schedules.  If you would like to see their Kaiser Rolls, click on their names and visit their sites in the next few days, or you can visit the main group and marvel how they are so far ahead of us.  We'll get there...Slow and Steady.  Our next challenge:  Lavash, found on pages 178-180.

BBA: Italian Bread

The fifteenth Bread Baker's Apprentice challenge (from the book by the same name authored by Peter Reinhart) was Italian Bread, and is found on pages 172-173.   

 

I decided to just go on a bread making spree and this was the third of the two-day breads in this section of the book.  This one called for a biga dough to spend the night in the refrigerator gathering enhanced flavoring and developing the yeast, etc.  It was easy to put together and easy to work with the following day when making the bread. 
Definitely the bread had great texture and flavor.  It is one of our favorites.  I thought it was a little less fussy than the French Bread, but might be because there were just two loaves and I seemed to have an easier time forming them.

 

We used the bread for two days for sandwiches, with English Onion Soup (worked well toasted for the croutons for that), and just eating out of hand.  I will be making this one often as Mark really loved using this to make his sandwiches.  

 

Nancy, Cathy, Jessica, Melissa, Sarah, Di, Leslie, Margaret and I are baking and posting every other week to better fit into our schedules.  If you would like to see their Italian Bread, click on their names and visit their sites in the next few days, or you can visit the main group and marvel how they are so far ahead of us.  We'll get there...Slow and Steady.  Our next challenge:  Kaiser Rolls, found on pages 175-177.

BBA: French Bread

The fourteenth Bread Baker's Apprentice challenge (from the book by the same name authored by Peter Reinhart) was French Bread, and is found on pages 168-171. 

 

This was another of the two-day breads, where you make pâte fermentée the day before you want to make the bread so that it can sit in the refrigerator overnight to enhance the growth of the dough, giving it better flavor and texture, etc.  After being stymied by the Focaccia, I just got busy making the next three breads so that I could get caught up with things around BBA Slow & Steady. 

 

This bread was fun, easy, and turned out very nicely for a first attempt.  I think my loaves need a little work in their presentation, but all in all, we were all happy with the results.  The flavor was very good. 
I must admit I was feeling a little defeated when I first started as I had read in Julia Child's biography about how she made hundreds and hundreds of loaves of French Bread trying to perfect it and get it to equal as close to that she could buy in France as she could.  I was figuring my chances were not that great on just the one time beginner status.  However, all credit due to this book and the recipes in it, I had three really nice baguettes when I finished, very exciting!  Will make this often as it is much easier and tastier than one would think, and much better than I can get at the stores around me.

 

Nancy, Cathy, Jessica, Melissa, Sarah, Di, Leslie, Margaret and I are baking and posting every other week to better fit into our schedules.  If you would like to see their French Bread, click on their names and visit their sites in the next few days, or you can visit the main group and marvel how they are so far ahead of us.  We'll get there...Slow and Steady.   Our next challenge:  Italian Bread, found on pages 172-173.

BBA: Focaccia

The thirteenth Bread Baker's Apprentice challenge (from the book by the same name authored by Peter Reinhart) was Focaccia, and is found on pages 159-167.

 

I know it has been awhile since I posted any of the BBA breads as I sort of stymied over the Focaccia.  For a long time I couldn't figure out what it was that was making me have Focaccia Phobia, as my other BBA baking buddies were all having a great time with it and producing wonderful results.  Then I figured it out: I didn't really like the Focaccia I had eaten before, the recipe/directions/photos in the book took up NINE pages, and the whole process was scheduled to take two days.  Somehow that all just seemed intimidating at the time. 

 

Then one day, I just got up and decided that was THE DAY to start the Focaccia.  It was easy, didn't really take all that much time since most of the time it sits in the frig just minding its own business, and most of all, it was delicious.  The dough's stint overnight in the refrigerator enhances the flavors.  I made only half a batch as my side by side refrigerator would not hold the size of pan for a whole recipe.   

 

The thing that was most surprising to me was that it was light and airy and sort of just melted in your mouth.  All of the Focaccia I had eaten in the past was heavy and dull and kind of gummy in my mouth, often over-spiced with ingredients that had sort of a fake taste.  PR's recipe is nothing like those, it is absolutely wonderful.

 

In hindsight, it was a good thing I only made half a batch as this is very dangerous stuff to have around.  It's good with a meal, as sandwich material, and excellent all on its own for a snack.  Definitely something I will be baking now and again, so worth it.    

 

Nancy, Cathy, Jessica, Melissa, Sarah, Di, Leslie, Margaret and I are baking and posting every other week to better fit into our schedules.  If you would like to see their Focaccia, click on their names and visit their sites in the next few days, or you can visit the main group and marvel how they are so far ahead of us.  We'll get there...Slow and Steady.  Our next challenge:  French Bread, found on pages 168-171.