Bread Baker's Challenge: Recipe 2

This week's challenge was Greek Celebration Bread and of course, I had to visit a local Greek restaurant to get me in the mood! Who doesn't love hummus, pita and taziki!

We had the option of making a traditional loaf or adding fruits & nuts. I opted for golden raisins and craisins because they always rock when plumped up. I also decided to tweak the main recipe a bit to accommodate my likes (i.e. substituted vanilla extract for almond and omitted cloves and). From the word dough, I knew that this bread was far better than week 1's anadama bread. The fruit definitely gave it a little zing!

In my haste, I forget a few of my fundamentals, like the cast iron steam bath. Plus, my afternoon got a little away from me and the final proofing went a little long. See the massive dough! I was suppose to do a semi-elaborate braid on top, but crafty I'm not. So I just dealt with the blob bread. Looks aside, the bread was tasty, but left me wondering if it wouldn't be just as good done in a loaf pan.

Next up: BAGELS aka Cream Cheese's best friend! I see more tweaks in my future as of course, I'm not going to make plain white ones.

Caramelicious!

Holy deliciousness! When I moved back to TN, my cravings for caramel cake came back in full force. The home of my favorite source is now out of business, so I was left in a serious predicament. Thankfully, my marvelous godmother stepped up to the recipe challenge and delivered a truly delectable dessert. I actually prefer the cake in this recipe to the original obsession. Of course the crowning jewel is the icing. It will be hard not to eat the whole pot before icing the cake!

Caramel Cake

1 box white cake mix

1 c whole milk

1 stick butter, melted

3 large eggs

2 t vanilla

Grease 2 9-inch cake pans. Mix cake mix, milk, melted butter, eggs and vanilla on low speed for 1 minute. Scrape down sides. Beat another 2 minutes at medium speed. Divide batter between both pans and bake at 350 for 27-29 minutes. Cool on wire racks. This cake can be made into cupcakes or a sheet cake.

Caramel Icing

1 stick butter

½ c packed light brown sugar

½ c packed dark brown sugar

¼ c whole milk

2 c confectioners sugar, sifted

1 t vanilla extract

In medium saucepan, melt butter and sugar over medium heat until boiling (about 2 minutes). Add milk, stir and bring mixture back to a boil. Remove from heat. Add confectioner’s sugar and vanilla. Beat with wooden spoon until all lumps disappear. This could take a bit. Frost the cake.

Bread Baker's Challenge: Recipe 1

After reading over 100+pages, I came to the first recipe in the challenge...the Anadama Bread. The initial pages of this book are filled with lots of insight regarding ingredients, tools and the baking process. I would've liked to see a little bit more about the kneading experience, but all in all lots of good info. Armed with my new superior knowledge, I set to work on the Andama Bread (side note: I won't be posting these recipes based on the rules of the challenge. I'm sure you can Google around to find it or better yet buy your own copy if it sounds really tasty. SPOILER ALERT: It definitely won't happen with this recipe.)

Step 1 was to create a soaker the night before. I've done this step with other breads and definitely agree that it helps to intensify the bread's flavor.


The next day you add more ingredients: flour, water, salt, etc. Then, you let it sit for about an hour. The lame picture above is after the first proofing. You can see the gluten bubbling it's away to bread gooeyness. Clearly, I'm going to need to channel my inner Ansel Adams to improve my photos, but hey, a girl is trying!

Next up, you're to add the molasses and more flour. As you can see in the photo, the dough is now a dark, malty color.



I won't bore you with too many details. The rest of the process is like any other bread recipe with a few tweaks from Reinhart's bag of tricks. The key here is what does it taste like. I had members of the Diva Mob over last night to give it a go. We were all impressed with what the bread experts call the crumb. The texture of this bread is chewy and nicely paired with apple butter. Will I make it again? Doubtful. I wasn't completely crazy about the taste, but perhaps I could find away to tweak the flavor to keep the crumb. Up next: Greek Celebration Bread.

Bread Baker's Challenge

As many of you know, last summer I took on the challenge of conquering homemade bread. After at least 6 failed attempts, I discovered a delicious recipe in an old book secured from the fabulous Capitol Hill Books. (Seriously it's worth a visit to see what's hidden in there!) Well last week I was catching up on my beloved WaPo food section and discovered this great article on online cooking clubs! If only I had this large group of experts at my disposal a year ago...not to mention that Peter Reinhart is a heck of bread teacher! His book TheBread Baker's Apprentice is full of everything from English Muffins to Focaccia, so I've decided to join the challenge. I've already started reading the initial prep pages (There's over a 100 pages before you hit a recipe) and I already feel like a better baker. Hopefully, I'll be able to tackle a recipe a week like most members of this challenge, but regardless, I'll definitely post my experiences. If the recipes sound tasty, you'll just have to go out, buy your own book and see if you are up to the CHALLENGE!

Training for my own kind of Marathon

Seriously, how did shows survive in the days before the marathon!?!? I’ve fell in love with many a show after spending a few unproductive hours glued to some series I had never set eyes on before. Case in point, I would never have discovered that I actually like Tori Spelling had Oxygen not recently run a Season 2 marathon of Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood. It's too bad that the big 4 players can't/won't take this approach to some of their fan favorite kind of shows (Dirty Sexy Money or Arrested Development anyone...anyone?). At least, the summer drought is almost over and I have a whole new arsenal of shows to love/hate. Synchronize Swatches, Tune in Your Tivo, it's time for my kind of fall madness.

Put your hand on my hip, when I dip you dip we dip!

I love me some dip! It's great paired with veggies, chips or if the consistency is right a sandwich spread. A few weeks ago I was craving some Greek flavors and came upon this fabulous Feta Spread from Cat Cora. It's also in her cookbook, Cat Cora's Kitchen, which she just happened to share with me back in my Food Network hay days. There are lots of tasty treats to enjoy and it just might get me through my Greek Deli withdrawals until my next trip back to DC!

Ice Cream Crumbles

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of spending several mostly sunny filled days on Kentucky Lake. I’m a girl who loves the water and all things that come with it…mainly day drinking, so I was very chipper! While there, we ate some tasty treats…homemade adult slushies, cornbread salsa, stuffed sandwiches and the most tasty summer ice cream dessert. There’s just something about eating delicious treats after a day of sun-filled fun. Of course, I went right to work trying to recreate some of the immediate favs, certain that they would be binder worthy. My first attempt was affectionately known as Crumbles to the lake crew. I did a little internet sleuthing and came up with my own version. The recipe is very straight forward and quite tasty. If you feel saucy like me, I did one side caramel and the other strawberry (for Mr. Diva). Of course, you could do a combo of chocolate, butterscotch, or whatever your favorite might be. Good luck picking and happy eating!

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup chopped pecans

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup quick-cooking oats

1 cup butter, melted

2 jars ice cream topping (pick your favorite: caramel, chocolate or strawberry)

2 quarts vanilla ice cream, softened

Mix sugar, nuts, butter, flour and oatmeal together. Pat onto cookie sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes (lightly browned). Crumble 1/2 while still warm into 9 x 13 inch pan. Drizzle 1 jar of caramel over; spread vanilla ice cream and drizzle the other jar of caramel on top. Crumble remaining crumb mixture on top and freeze. Remove from freezer 10 minutes before serving.