magic pancakes

I like breakfast. Especially for Dinner. The other night pancakes were requested and I was all too happy to oblige.

Thinking we were out of mix on our recent (and way to infrequent) trip to Whole Foods, I picked up a package of their brand of Pancake/Waffle Mix. Unbeknownst to me this was somehow quite different from the Trader Joe’s mix I’ve been using lately, and worlds apart from my Dads (from scratch) which are my all-time favorite.

Over the past several years I started experimenting with whole grain flours and such – looking to health up an otherwise nutrionally devoid stack of sugars and overprocessed flour. Most incarnations were edible – but never well received by my wife or daughter, that is until we found TJ’s whole grain mix. (to which I’ve taken to add soymilk, and a splash of OJ.)

From the start I knew the Whole Foods mix was different. First off it was so thick, that It wouldn’t even totally mix in the blender (in my 2000 Horsepower Vita-Mixer) so I added more liquid than the 2 cups called for (with 2 cups mix) and fortunatlely mixing with a wisk worked. Yet what would normally yield a few cups of batter – puffed up to 10. You’d swear I was raising a turbocharged loaf of bread!

The first few hit the griddle – the batter something between merangue and angel food cake. These cooked up lighter and fluffier than anything I’ve ever seen before, and they were fantastic! While the first ones cooked, the remaining batter magically refilled itself - never ending pancake bowl!

It was a chore, but in between eating 6-8 decent sized, but very light pancakes myself, (my little one even had seconds), I was also able to cook up the remaining batter – plenty for later.

What happened, I still have no idea. But it was delicious! I’m going to have to make another batch the old fashined way, just to see if something got whipped up nice and fluffy via the mixer – unlike the million other times I’ve done this. (Perhaps there is a secret ingredient – some new breed of yeast the military is developing to incubate life on other planets or something.)

 

an artful science…

but it’s still a science.

I seem to have this habit of blogging some food creations as I’m making them (what else does one do while bread is rising, proofing and then eventually baking?). I think I got a little cocky with my beer bread last time, not being so precise with the measurements, (scoop and sweep) and taking the bread out a little too soon. (doughy in the middle, and while edible, not really sandwich worthy).

Granted I was making three loaves of bread at the same time, a double batch of a multigrain bread I’m trying to perfect (using vegetable juice instead of water) to up the healthieness a bit. Those came out just fine thank-you, but I’m still not having consistent results. The dough is just too sticky, so I’ll add more flour (can take an awful lot before things seem “right.” Not that I always know what “right” is.

I’ve done a little homework, and had some great comments which have proven helpful. However, today I was trying to juggle dinner and bread at the same time, and tried to forgo adding all that extra flour, perhaps I was just rushing things. I mean afterall, the beer bread I’ve made is more like batter than dough, and usually comes out great.

So tonight, trying to heed my lessons I learned last time (and after being tired of the two supermarket loaves I’ve had to eat - the first since new years) I tried sticking more closely to the original recipe. Once the dough had doubled in size, it plopped down to something more akin to pizza dough. I’m currently expecting two pink bricks to come out of the oven. (See here I go doing it again… blogging about something not done yet… everthing might turn out great. I’m just not putting my money down on that outcome.)

The new site A year in bread couldn’t have come at a better time. Hopefully, with a little more prodding, and a lot more practice. I can be a much better bread baker.

The past two weeks have shown me that even my mediocre attempts are much more tasty than supermarket fare. My poached egg on toast this morning was nearly unfit to serve!

— added 3/27/07 —

Yes my last batch of bread turned out to be a pair of orange/pink bricks…. but tasty ones at that.

 

the B’s and C’s of Baking…

While baking is most assuredly a science, (close attention must be paid to weights and measures, humidity and so on), it is becoming clearer to me that it is an artful science, and therefore less intimidating

Scores (if not millions) of bakers out there have slight variations on pretty much standard recipes, so that leds me to consider undertaking creative changes to my current “standards” that I’ve become good at replicating (with a reasonable amount of consistency). Albeit slight ones at first… but hey, Rome wasn’t built in a day.

The bread recipe I’ve blogged about recently and the chocolate chip cookies I made almost 4 million of at Christmas time, came up for revision this weekend. In part due to whim, part holidays, and part “dieters guilt” for wanting, no needing, to make something chocolate (using valentines day as a convenient excuse).

Inspired by a non-diet diet themed entry over at area 603 and in making good on my comment there, I’m trying to only bring “junk food” into the house if I make it myself. So far it’s been true for beer and cookies. Haven’t bought a one since before Christmas! I’ve made the last 8 or ten loaves of bread we’ve consumed for that matter.

Am I losing weight, probably not, but I am controlling the ingredients (read, lack of chemicals, preservatives and other non-food items hidden in our food) that go into my temple. (Which is slightly larger and less impressive than I’l like it to be. But, for the record, I haven’t had cookies since christmas (hence the withdrawal), and I’m being plenty active (hence the lesser-taboo of scarfing a double batch), I’m just not excesizing per-se.

Digression aside (just a little insight into the mind behind the madness), a look through the spartan fridge brought to light a 1/2 gallon (unopened) of vegetable juice cocktail from Whole Foods (haven’t been there in months). Reasoning if I put that into my bread instead of water, much as I used beer alone for the last batch of bread, I could easily up my vegetable quotient invisibly (And more easily excuse the cookies - which was my real goal - plus I wouldn’t have to drink it). I was thinking of the Tomato Basil bread from Panera’s, so I shouldn’t be too far off base from edible if things went horribly awry.

The dough came out very sticky, and I had to keep adding flour to get the texture right before proceeding with proofing and baking. In the end it baked up fine and tastes just like my last couple of batches of Soft Multi-grain (nearly). Perfect for croutons, toast, sandwiches (but probably not peanut butter).

After wearing out my tablespoons dropping hundreds of chocolate chip (expresso chip, etc…) cookies at christmas time, I broke down and bought myself a few dishers (Ice cream style scoops for doling out muffin and cookie batter consistently - or perhaps mashed potatoes and spaghetti if you think back to grade school). But I was cookied out (until chocolate week on Food Network) so they rest in a drawer, unused until this morning. Oh what a glorious tool. Guess what all the cookie mavens in my family will be getting next christmas?

Anyhow, a trip to a non-local food coop recently had me cross path with a box of roasted cacao nibs. “good for snacking and baking. Chocolate lovers have been known to eat these right out of the box”… So I grabbed a box, and added about 1/4 cup to the batch. (my daughter and I both sampled them straight before hand - yes they have a chocolate like flavor, but bitter. How the ancients figured out (or even bothered) with these before eventually coming up with chocolate is a mystery in itself.

A couple tablespoons of espresso powder and the cocoa nibs have elevated the humble chocolate chip cookie from a sweet treat, to near perfection. Delicious, not too sweet. Next batch I’ll up the amount of nibs, and probably cut back on the chocolate a bit. Some recipes call for an 8 oz bag. mine calls for 12 - almost impossible for the dough to form balls, even with the disher, but after they do bake up perfectly. Perhaps because I’m making such large cookies.

I used a #24 disher which made for some nice big cookies - the recipe called for 30 cookies, doubled I got 24! They were cooked perfectly on the outside, browning on the bottom, but still a tad underdone in the middle. I’ll jump down a size next time, those should come out perfect… but then I’m sure I’ll eat more in a sitting. One or 2 at the current size is plenty.

The cookies were the third inspired recipe alteration to hit this weekend. After the bread was in the oven, I ran out to TJ’s and found these tiny little mozzeralla balls for salad, and some proscuitto that my wife has been pining for, I took those and turned some leftover honey mustard maple chicken into stuffed chicken (along with some of the bread) delicious all around. Good things happen in three’s! Mmmm.

 

Light and soft multigrain bread?

Soft whole-grain, multi-grain? From scratch? Yes, it is indeed possible! No more will I have to buy the pricey, dense (but flavorful) wholesome loaves that the rest of the family isn’t entirely thrilled with - nor will they have to hop off the organic bandwagon to get something just as soft as the nutritionally-devoid, overly-processed white loaves we all grew up on.

This week had me taking loaves 5 and 6 out of the oven and my best ones to date, whether by hand, or by breadmachine. (For the record, old school has won out over the Zojirushi!)

Several recipes online offer up close variations on the Cooks Illustrated recipe that I’ve been using (yes - six loaves since Christmastime!) Starting out with anywhere from 1/2 to 1 1/4 cups of wholegrain cereal, (add hotwater, cool) then add flour 3-4 cups, yeast, honey, butter and salt - knead, rise, knead, put in pan(s), rise, bake and enjoy.

While there are some differences in ingredients, (primarily with the choice of sweetener, or ratio of flour to whole-grain cereal mix) the biggest differences are in prep. And while I’m not sure I’ve just had progressively better luck with each, or if adapting new methods to the same recipe has taken a short and dense loaf to a tall, airy loaf, perfect for sandwiches, toasting, or sopping up marinara and soup!

I know baking is a science, so perhaps somedays were just better bread days, but it seems to me that the method is what did the trick here, so if you choose to stick with your own recipe, and are less than thrilled with the size or texture, perhaps some hot water will do the trick for you too.

The recipe is at Cooks Illustrated, (which is fairly similar to this one - provided you add 1/2 stick of butter, and trade out the sugar for 1/4 cup honey) The revised techniques are adapted from Alton Brown (x2), Cooks Illustrated, Epicurious, Food Network, and just plain old luck.

Follow instructions through first rise (on counter). punch down, divide into pans, and let rise again - but this time in the oven (off) above a sheet cake pan 1/2 filled with boiling water to “Proof” the dough. Once doubled in size, turn the oven on to 375 and bake until 200 degrees in center (approx 40 min). If you overcook the bread (past 212) the bread will be dried out. (or so I’ve been told, makes sense though).

I’ve found with proofing, the second rise is much faster, higher, (or perhaps more controllable/repeatable!) and the hot water in the baking dish (while baking) allows the dough to continue to rise a bit, rather than yield a loaf no taller than the pan.

This recipe started out as a good tasting, but very dense 3″ tall loaf. Future attemps had me baking with the pan full of water to a slightly better (taller) loaf, but in the end, the proofing was the key.

Pictures? Maybe next loaf, this one is nearly gone! Soups, sandwiches, with poached eggs, buried under pasta, or simply toasted with butter and gomasio (but that’s another blog).

Mmmm, bread.

 

Year end food wrap-up

(or why we need to make resolutions)

The weeks leading up to Christmas and New Years found me in the kitchen even more than planned. I wrote up a list of what I was planning to cook/bake, and when, if only to minimize the time I’d be cooped up, and maximize the tastes and aromas that speak Christmas so much more than words can convey.

My favorites this year, turns out, are recipes that have little to do with Christmas, or family traditions at all!

First off, The 12 days of cookies newsletter found it’s way into my in-box, the Chocolate Chip first caught my eye, mostly because it was a simplification in terms of prep (and touted ease - have the kids come help) so I envisioned time with my little one, rolling out sheet after sheet of cookies.

My new mixer (Oh, how I still love thee) really simplified prep. A triple batch in one bowl! Lets make two! (so I did).

In the end, most of my cooking was done solo - too much in the house, (primarily the 25 days of Christmas countdown on ABC family) to catch and hold the attention of the little one.

This left me time to improvise a bit. The addition of espresso powder to the basic dough, combined with two kinds of chocolate chips (whether semi-sweet and Bittersweet or white) turned out to be an inspired one.
And a new holiday, no, year round staple was born.

Also on the cookie front, AB inspired me to make up a batch of his sugar cookie pinwheels - again, I thought I’d have some “help” with cookie cutters, but in the end, a roll was made, to slice and bake, but in lieu of peppermint, I added Baileys. Yum!

My favorite new discovery, I have to say, also courtesy of Food TV, was the Chocolate Peanut Butter Biscotti. These were a lovely salty/sweet counterpoint to all the sweet I’d been noshing thus far.

Having my fill of cookies, and needing a break from them, I decided to start off the new year right. Soup sounded like it would fit the bill, so for New Years Eve, I managed to perfect the two recipes I left Bermuda with. I tried my hands at making a Fish Chowder reminiscent of the one I had on our Oct vacation (cruise). (The conch fritters that rounded out that meal would have to wait.)

Vegetarian or not - being a good New Englander, chowder must have a nice creamy base, at least where Clam and seafood chowder is concerned (sorry Manhattan, San Fran…). But, that said, the tomato broth of this Fish chowder works for me. Not being such a big seafood person, my wife was a little uneasy when I first brought up making the recipe (especially with no side dishes for her to fall back on), but the addition of the hot sherry peppers sauce had its appeal.  I replaced the water and beef consomme of the recipe with equal parts chicken stock and vegetable broth, but otherwise followed the recipe as written. I would have doubled the recipe (I almost did) but fortuanately I decided against, as the recipe nearly came to the brim of my 8 quart pot!

The verdict - a winner!

Perhaps it was the spiciness of the sherry peppers sauce, perhaps it was the fact that the fish cooked down into such tiny pieces she didn’t know them for what they were, or perhaps it was the rum!

Speaking of rum. I’ve been making myself a nice (very nice if you ask me) Dark and Stormy since October. The recipe hasn’t changed, but I perfected the preparation, and somehow, that has made all the difference. I smuggled two bottles of Black Seal Rum and 2 liters of Ginger Beer (not the same as Ginger Ale, as one patron at the Grocery Store informed us. “That is not Jinjah Ale, that is Jinjah.”)

The simple recipe is to take 1 glass, fill with Ice. Add 2 oz rum, 6 oz Ginger beer, and a twist of lime. Enjoy.
I’d combined the rum and ginger beer in a measuring cup, poured over the ice, only to have it form a foamy head atop the drink.
After finding inspiration in various places (Food Network mostly), I’ve learned to modify the drink as follows:
1. take a tall beer glass, fill 2/3 with ice.
2. Squeeze lime juice (1/2 lime) over the ice
3. add 2 oz. Dark rum (Black Seal, Baby!)
4. add 6 oz. Ginger Beer (Barritt’s if you’ve got it, can’t vouch for any others, yet…)
5. add a slice of lime
6. try to drink just one!

*note to any federal agents, or legal types reading this post, I only use the smuggling term in jest, a pirate reference, having been to sunny bermudy on a boat and all that… I got my two bottles all proper and duty free like, with the knowledge that this Rum was described as “hard to find”… outside of the NH liquor store that is… So 1/2 of the equation is taken care of - futurewise, that is. As for some nice Jinjah beer, that is another story.

 

a few homemade kitchen tools

More cross-blog posting fun, where woodworking and the kitchen combine…

The two spurtles, I made last fall in a woodturning class. The top one is oak the bottom is cherry. Both are finished with walnut oil, and so far remain unused. I’ve only seen Alton Brown over on the Food Network use one to make oatmeal, or perhaps it was haggis. I just don’t seem to make enough of either to neccessitate two spurtles!

The turner, my brother-in-law liberated from a broken cutting board. Maple.

More artisan homegoods from (and more coming) over at my lumberjocks blog.

 

bagged and tagged

10 Cups of fresh (and now frozen) Christmas ham stock.

now… what to do with it? (apart from forget about it, and throw it away next fall)
Seriously.

I’m not finding much inspiration out there - little beyond split pea soup or ham and beans… I can’t be heading into uncharted waters here, can I?

What would you do?

 

two kitchen day

I knew today was going to be a busy day, but I didn’t think I’d get close to everything accomplished.

I had to assemble (on the Q.T.) the toy kitchen set Santa pre-delivered (for assembly) for my little girl… (he’s getting up there in age, the worlds population is exploding and sometimes he just has to outsource the assembly) but while I was working on her kitchen, I always had something going on in mine.

I lost out in the yankee swap at work yesterday, but I scored the leftover Honey Baked Ham & bone so stock will be enjoyed by all. Got it started just after 7am! Good thing I made stock from the turkey last month, so I new exactly what to do - and thanks to Alton Brown, so I knew exactly how to cool it down quickly, without ruining everything in the fridge! (Sink full of ice water, and a frozen water bottle in the middle of the pot chilling in the sink.) Already had fat congealing on the surface when i got back from (yet another) trip out to the grocery store…. Current estimates has me going through 25-28 sticks of butter in one week! (can you hear the arteries hardening).

With the stock simmering, I moved onto making two batches of shortbread. Tried Cooks Illustrated’s recipe, which I’ve had, but never made before (was much easier than what I’ve done in the past). I’ve normally made individual cookies (with a slightly different ingredient proportions than I used today and a very different prep method). Today they spread out like lava… so I cut them into smaller shapes and no harm done. They’re still delicious. Next year, back to the tried and true.

While the Shortbread was baking, I broke open the box that the kitchen came in, sorted through everything, and started assembly. By the time I stopped for lunch, I’d finally put the finishing touches on what is essentially a piece of pre-fab furniture (that I generally abhor as a woodworker,.. but since this is a toy,.. that’s different), I’d also made a sweet and spicy nut mix - two double batches (one with the spicy, one without) and a batch of chocolate peanut butter biscotti.

After lunch - which was a trip out to Lowes, The Home Depot, Lowes again (oops), A Bookstore and the Grocery store - I pulled together the dough for sugar cookie pinwheels that were slated for the evenings baking agenda. I took Alton Brown’s recipe for Chocolate Peppermint sugar cookies, and skipped the peppermint in favor of Bailey’s. Yum!

Then… the recipe I’d been waiting for.  The Gingerbread with the Stout I made a few weeks back.

Yes, a busy day for sure…

The verdict, after all the baking, tasting and so on…

First, I still LOVE my new mixer. I wouldn’t have bothered doing half as much today without it.

Second… The Chocolate Peanut Butter Biscotti is my new favorite (after 5 batches of chocolate chip in a week (no I didn’t eat them all. Yet.) I like the peanut butterey and saltiness of these… they are suppoed to go well with coffee. (I don’t buy that, but I know my Dad will also love these. (Scientists found peanut butter in his bloodstream)

The sugar cookies - also awesome, look really good too - not an off the shelf slice and bake, but nearly as easy, without all the preservatives.

I’ve been hankering something sweet and spicy  since I saw Emeril do a spicy nut chocolate bark a week or two back… I thought this recipe would fit the bill, but it’s just not for me. Got raves online… so maybe it’s just me. Tried adding chocolate to it - a good improvement, but haven’t decided if I’ll be “gifting” that… no prob though, between the Spritz, Shortbread, 3 types of Chocolate Chip, Biscotti, and sugar cookies, I’ve got giving covered.

Oh, and the beer - The stout tastes just like a “chocolate/vanilla porter” a local microbrewery used to make - the first beer (and possibly only) that my wife could actually drink without making a face. Too bad they’re out of business. The gingerbread just came out of the oven and it looks really good too… but I can’t call it gingerbread. I accidentally left out the molasses. (after everything I’ve done today it’s a miracle I didn’t mess up anything else!) So I’ll call it a ginger stout cake. Sounds good to me.

All this butter and sugar, it’s no wonder so many people start eating salad in January… if not for the diet excuse, then to give the body a rest from all the sweets and carbs. (mmmm carbs)

 

baking fool

A double batch of spritz cookies last weekend, then a double batch of chocolate chip yesterday morning, two loaves of multi-grain bread this morning and a triple layer birthday cake tonight…

I LOVE my new mixer. I’m so happy my friend had to “upgrade” to the bigger one (ahh the demands of the foodwriter), otherwise I might have put off this purchase indefinately…

…and consequently not spent the money I saved (off retail) on flour, sugar and eggs this week! Don’t think I’m kidding.

Tomorrow (if I dare), I can try my first batch of beer. St. Patricks Stout from Mr. Beer. (It may benefit from additional time in the bottle.) If it is less than stellar, I’ll have no qualms about using the lot (yes all two gallons worth) to make the gingerbread I blogged about recently….

Lets see, two gallons of beer,.. divided by 3/4 cup per batch…

We’re gonna need a bigger oven.

 

things are a brewin

Yesterday I brewed up a nice (I hope) batch of Pale Ale, as well as an Apple Ale (not cider, but rather a beer with apple juice replacing some of the water and sugar in the recipe). The latter, along with the stout I started after thanksgiving, will work well in some of my recipes (Cakes, breads, and so on) if they’re less than drinkable.

If they are really tasty, then so much the better, for I’ll have 6 gallons to put down pretty soon.

I’m happy to have taken on this new hobby (yes, another one) that my wife slid under the Christmas tree a few years back. (She new I’d like it, and she was right… what took me so long? Am I worried that another interest will fill up my days, or push other intersts aside? Nope. At least not now.

With these kits from Mr. Beer, I’m basically making brownies from the box, rather than doing everything from scratch (not that either is terribly difficult – from scratch I mean). Also, working from the box (with hundreds of recipe variations available online) I’m pretty much guaranteed a fair amount of beginners luck in the quality dept. (Or so I’m choosing to believe.)

The stout will be ready to sample on Sunday, but will be better if I can hold off a little longer. Unfortunately the Pale Ale won’t be ready in time for Christmas, as it’s supposed to chill in the bottle until the 26th. I was hoping everything I needed would have arrived in time for a Pre-Christmas gathering at my grandparents… but the mail had other ideas. It’ll be fine for New Years, though nowhere is it written we can’t try an early nip. Perhaps I’ll try a little everyday to see if it keeps getting better!

Even though the Pale Ale and the The Apple Ale took me about an hour to brew, The latter will take considerably longer to finish. 3 weeks to ferment in the keg, then 3 weeks in the bottle. Minimum! (Oh well, others require months of waiting….) No prob, I need time to collect more bottles (or empty the ones I’ve already filled!)

But just in case expectations fall short, I’ve started to amass recipes for beer bread, biscuits, mustard (yes, mustard), and so on. I’d bet that the Apple Ale will work wonderfully in crepes. The recipe I learned In Bretagne called for beer instead of milk, (and were fantastic with cider) perhaps a splash in my grandmothers apple brownies will be a welcome addition!

In the end I may have a hard time deciding whether to eat or drink my beer! Oh, the problems we must endure!