Grandma's Kitchen Table

Nancy's Notions: Cucumber Pickle Juice Rye Loaf

      It's been awhile since Nancy and I have had a chance to Twitter bake together but we found occasion yesterday after her daughter Allison made and posted  Dan Lepard's Cucumber Pickle Juice Rye Loaf.  It caught my attention because, well because it had the word "pickle" in the title and that's all it takes to pique my interest as I am all about a good pickle always.

      Dan Lepard is the author of our much beloved and much baked Milk Loaf Bread, of which I must be entitled to some sort of award by now for making it the most of anyone other than possibly Dan Lepard himself.  What can I say, it's a hit around here for sandwiches, toast, and grilled cheese.  We never tire of it.

      While the Pickle Bread is of a completely different nature, very dark, dense, and made with toasted rye flour, I wanted to give it a try for Ruben sandwiches so Nancy and I worked on it together, with Allison's tweeting her experience, opinions, and advice as well, and came up with a nice and interesting experiment. 

      I say experiment as it is good, but I didn't care for it with Rubens, preferring a softer rye for those instead.  That said, Mark really liked this for Ruben sandwiches and thought it was just great.  A good thing because Nancy and I were twittering the whole day about how the bread was not rising as we had envisioned it would, etc.
      In the end, I prefer to have one thin slice of this bread with just a little cheese on it.  It is great with the pickle flavor and that I did love.  I just didn't care for so much bread in my mouth and the need to chew it quite so much...that's why a thin slice works better than a thicker one loaded with all the Ruben ingredients, i.e. corned beef, sauerkraut, cheese, as you have to have a thick slice of bread to handle all that.  You can make it and be your own judge. 

      The dough is fun to work with and it makes a really cute little loaf.  (The recipe says to divide it into two loaves but on Allison's advice, I made it into one loaf as she felt the little ones were maybe just a little too little.  My loaf was about six inches in diameter when it came out of the oven.  No discernible rise at all, despite several hours of encouragement otherwise.)  

      I was most excited about learning some new techniques with this bread, especially using toasted flour as I had never toasted flour before using it and I wasn't sure how that would go and what that would taste like. Turns out that it is quite easy to do, smelled wonderful, and tasted very nice...sort of a deeper richer nuttier type of flavor with a more brownish color to it.  Now I can say I have done that...and used pickle juice for the liquid in a bread! 

     The bread definitely tastes like dill pickles and is delicious!  I might actually make this again when I have pickle juice enough saved up (it takes 1-1/2 cups of it).  It was a fun day. Here's the link to the bread recipe so you can give it a try in your kitchen, especially on days like this one (photo below) where it's a good thing to just stay inside and bake while looking outside at all this snow coming down...I think we had another five inches yesterday...I've sort of lost my excitement over it all (okay, I never really had any excitement over it all) and am ready for my green grass, blooming flowers, and leafy trees.  Soon.

Nancy's Notions: Sour Cream Sandwich Bread

 

It's been awhile since Nancy and I have had a chance to Twitter bake together but we found occasion last week when she proposed making Dan Lepard's Sour Cream Sandwich Bread together. 

Dan Lepard is the author of our much beloved and much baked Milk Loaf Bread, of which I must be entitled to some sort of award by now for making it the most of anyone other than possibly Dan Lepard himself.  What can I say, it's a hit around here for sandwiches, toast, and grilled cheese.  We never tire of it. 

When Nancy came upon this new recipe, and blogging/Twitter friend Ulrike also was making it last week, I decided that I needed to give it a shot as well.  This is one HUGE loaf of bread. 

I made a double batch and baked it in two 5x7" pans as I did not have the exact pan he specifies in the recipe.  It worked out well, but too tall for my toaster.
It's just wonderful, we all liked it.  Will it replace the beloved Milk Loaf for sandwiches, toast, and grilled cheese?  No, it's a little softer than we like for those items.  That said, I think it would make delicious dinner rolls, so I am going to try making those with the dough very soon.  I must find something to use it for, it's just too good to pass it by.  I'll keep you posted.

Here's the link to the bread recipe so you can give it a try in your kitchen.

Nancy's Notions: Buttermilk Baps

A little while ago Nancy found a recipe from Dan Lepard (one of our favorite bread bakers) for some rolls called Buttermilk Baps (baps being a word for a sort of roll in England), and a twitter bake-along was organized with Nancy, Margaret, Tracey, and then later Di and I baked the baps as well. 

I have had very little experience baking with buttermilk in things so now that I have discovered the joys of this, I am constantly looking for more ways to use buttermilk in baked items.  Buttermilk gives a nice lightness to the batter/dough and has a lovely tang of flavor that we all enjoy. 
These dinner rolls were easy and very good.  Need to remember to make them more often actually. 

If you would like the recipe, you can link here.  If you haven't discovered baking with Dan Lepard's recipes yet, you really need to, he has such an easy style that produces such great results, even for a beginner. 

Nancy's Notions: Simple Milk Loaf

A while ago

Nancy found a recipe from Dan Lepard (one of our favorite bread bakers) for a sandwich bread called Simple Milk Loaf, well, actually her husband found the recipe while looking through the recipe book and suggested she make it.  

 

She made it, they loved it, and she proceeded to rave about it to the rest of us who bake on Twitter together each week.  She kept raving about it.  And raving about it.  So, finally, just so that I could say I made it, I tried it. 

 

That was a couple of months ago and it is now the definitive bread in our house.  I have made probably 50 loaves of this bread, and also used it countless times to form into pans of dinner rolls.  We all love it. 

 

It is great for eating out of hand, sandwiches, toast, and very nice for grilled cheese, the real test of a good bread around here with teens.  Okay, I admit it, me, too.  I cannot remember the last time I actually bought a loaf of bread at the store.  This recipe is so easy and is so good that no one here wants to go near the bread aisle at the store anymore.  

 

If you would like the recipe, click here for Nancy's post on it all, including the recipe link.  Her photos are way better than mine.  I hope you try it...then you can rave about it to all your friends and soon hardly anyone will be buying bread in the stores anymore...thanks, Nancy!

Nancy's Notions: Chocolate Custard Muffins

A year ago Nancy found a recipe from Dan Lepard (one of our favorite bread bakers) for a Chocolate Custard Muffin that she was hoping to make one day.  Thursday was the day, and she and I baked together in one of our Twitter bake alongs. 
The recipe is fairly easy and quick, not as quick as a standard muffin, but not bad with all the custard making and the chocolate chopping and all.  (I have become quicker at making things now that I have had a bit of experience these past two years in the baking groups, I will say that.)   

 

Into the oven for 25 minutes and out came 12 pretty perfect looking muffins:  I love their crackly tops.  The guys all loved them, and unlike the experiment of putting nuts IN those banana-pecan cupcakes, well, they disappeared like magic.  Banana-pecan cupcakes with nuts IN them are still sitting here.  So much for experimentation. 

 

The Chocolate Custard Muffins were a big hit and I am not losing this recipe anytime soon as I figure I will have need for it again and again.  Click here for the recipe. 

Nancy's Notions: Grilled Peach Salad with Bresaola

A few weeks ago

Nancy found a recipe on Jamie Oliver's site that she was excited about making, called Grilled Peach Salad with Bresaola and gave it a try.  It is now her new favorite salad of the season and since she was raving about, I decided to have a go also.  It's now my new favorite salad of the season. 

 

Easy, tasty, and good for you, it's a winner.  Hope to have another go at it before all the great peaches are out of season.  Click here for the recipe on JO's site.  A wonderful find.  Thanks, Nancy!  

Nancy's Notions: New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookies

Sometime earlier in the week Nancy saw that Sarah had baked The New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe and declared that it was time, after a year of wanting to bake them herself, that she take the plunge and bake them NOW.  Not one to bake alone if she can find some willing co-conspirators usually, she queried on Twitter if anyone else wanted to bake along, so a little group of us baked the NYT CCCs together.  A full recipe makes only 18 cookies...18 very very very large cookies.  5-6 inches in diameter large.  500 calories each.  I decided I would make a couple of this size for the boys and the rest would be more reasonably portioned as no one around here can afford to be eating 5" 500 calorie cookies with the exception of Matt, who swims 5 hours a day.  And, of course, other swimmers who come by and are always willing to eat anything I make.   This is why all my baking pals are envious of me...not for my baking skills, but for my ability to be able to fob off food at a moment's notice.  You all know how I feel about chocolate, so can't attest to these cookies other than to say they disappeared quickly and every single bite was accompanied with a "these are really really good, Mrs. G."  The recipe is easy enough to find, just google it, make them, and you can form your own opinions.

Jonathan, Matt, Kiernan, Mike, and Jack after the CSC Hayride and cookout tonight.  Several more swimmers (like maybe 25 more) dropped by and all the cookies were gone in no time...definitely need to make these again.

Nancy's Notions: Corn and Vegetable Gratin with Cumin

   A couple of weeks ago Nancy found a recipe from the NY Times that she was excited about making, now that zucchini and corn season was upon us, called Corn and Vegetable Gratin with Cumin. She forwarded the recipe to me and after a quick read, I figured this would be a popular side dish around here, too. 

  Inside you will find thinly sliced zucchini, fresh corn cut from the cob, red pepper in large dice, onion, garlic, gruyere cheese, and some milk, eggs, salt, pepper, cumin, and olive oil to hold it all loosely together. 

  It was a great dish, we all enjoyed it and I will make it again when the vegetables are in season as the freshness of the corn, zucchini, and red pepper absolutely makes this dish.  A wonderful find.  Thanks, Nancy!