Ah, Love, Thy Name is Bread Machine.

I got a bread machine for my birthday (Thanks, Mom!).

This is the one I got. Photo from Amazon.com

 I've been wanting to make my own bread.  Like most processed or prepared foods, the ingredients on loaves of bread in the store contain a LOT of ingredients.  I've been thinking a lot about the ingredients in prepared or processed foods. When I read the back of a package, I wonder why there are so many ingredients listed when the recipe for making the same thing contains half (or fewer than) that number.

     Example, Wonder Bread (which despite being made by the defunct Hostess Foods is not gone forever as it has been sold to another company) has 29 ingredients listed on its package--29!  Now, not all store-bought breads contain this many ingredients, but even Milton's 100% Whole Wheat Bread, arguably a much healthier choice than Wonder, contains 14 ingredients. Also, all store-bought breads seem to contain soy in one form or another.  Now, I'm not anti-soy.  I like soy sauce and the occasional bean curd stir fry. I do have a problem with the fact that so much of soy is GMO. Also, it's the general problem I have with all these added ingredients in food.

     How many ingredients are there in a homemade loaf of bread?  I'm glad you asked.  It depends on the recipe you are making, but for a basic white loaf, the bread cookbook I have calls for 9.  Some of the bread recipes call for fewer, but 6 - 10 ingredients is usual among the recipes.  Also, all of these ingredients are recognizable.  Water, honey and/or sugar, butter or oil, flour, yeast, and salt are the basics. Some recipes call for dry milk powder for added protein and wheat gluten for protein and to make the bread softer. However, no artificial ingredients or colors are called for and no weird fillers either.

     I've made bread before, but it never turned out all that well.  It was edible, but not super tasty.  I never seem to be able to knead the dough properly.  The bread machine solves that.  The first thing I made with my bread machine was a loaf of the above mentioned white bread.  I ran the whole bread machine cycle from mixing to baking.  It turned out well. My problem was that I had no bread knife.  That didn't deter me for long, I just hacked off pieces and ate them.  I ended up freezing half the loaf until I got a chance to find a good bread knife.

     The next thing I made was pizza dough. This time I just ran the dough cycle on the bread machine, which mixes, kneads, and rises the dough, but doesn't bake it.  I made one batch with all white flour and one batch with half white and half whole wheat flour.  They both turned out great.  Perfectly chewy, crusty pizza dough.  I had a couple of friends over, and we made individual pizzas with lots of yummy toppings including pepperoni, sausage, zucchini, onions, and lots of cheese.  Makes me hungry just thinking of them.

     Then I made sticky buns.  Oh my goodness, these were stunningly delicious.  I found the recipe for Morning Sticky Buns in Beth Hensperger's The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook (Harvard Common Press, 2000).  The buns came out perfect.  I couldn't believe it.  The best thing about these was that the insides didn't end up too gooey.  The caramel topping was wonderfully gooey, but the bun itself was soft, but fully cooked, not underdone and doughy like they can be.  I highly recommend them for a special treat.

Morning Sticky Buns

Recipe by Beth Hensperger from The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook

Ingredients

For the dough:
1 1/4 cups fat-free milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces

3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons SAF yeast or 2 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast

For the cinnamon filling:
3/4 cup light or dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

For the caramel:
1/3 cup unsalted butter
1 cup light or dark brown sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1 cup chopped pecans

1. To make the dough, place all the dough ingredients in the pan according to the order in the manufacturer's instructions.  Program for the Dough cycle; press Start.  The dough ball will be soft, yet at the same time smooth and springy.  Combine the sugar and cinnamon for the filling in a small bowl.  Set aside.

2. To make the caramel, 10 minutes before the end of the Dough cycle, grease the sides and bottoms of a 13-by-9 inch glass or metal baking pan. (I prefer to use a metal or disposable aluminum pan if I will be rising the buns overnight in the refrigerator--a glass pan cold from the refrigerator could break when placed in a hot oven.)  Combine the butter, brown sugar, and corn syrup in a small skillet or heavy saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly.  When the butter is melted and the sugar is dissolved, remove from the heat.  Immediately pour into the baking pan.  Spread evenly over the bottom with a rubber spatula.  Sprinkle with the nuts.  Set aside.

3. When the machine beeps at the end of the cycle, press Stop and unplug the machine.  Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface.  Roll it into a 12-by-15 inch rectangle.  Add the filling:  Leaving a 1-inch border around all the edges-spread the surface evenly with the 6 tablespoons soft butter, then sprinkle evenly with the sugar and cinnamon, which will be quite a light filling.  Roll up jelly-roll fashion starting from a long edge, and pinch the seam to seal.  With a serrated knife using a gentle sawing motion, cut the roll into 12 equal portions, each slice about 1 1/2 inches thick.  Place the slices close together on top of the caramel, spiral cut side down.  Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let the rolls rise at room temperature for 45 minutes, or until puffy and even with the rim of the pan.  (The rolls can be refrigerated before this last rise, covered tightly with a double layer of plastic wrap, leaving the rolls to rise to rise slowly and be baked in the morning.  Remove the pan from the refrigerator and let rest for 20 minutes before baking.)

4. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

5. Bake the buns until the tops are brown, 30 to 35 minutes.  Remove from the oven and let stand no more than 5 minutes on a wire rack.  Place the cooling rack on top of the pan and, securely holding the hot pan with oven mitts, invert the pan on top of the rack, taking care not to touch the not caramel.  Let cool for at least 20 minutes, then transfer to a serving plate.  Pull the buns apart and serve warm.

Sorry for the lack of photos.  I never seem to plan ahead these days for taking pictures for the blog.  I'll try to do better in the future.

Some references:
Wonder breads 29 ingredients: http://theysmell.com/wonder-bread-ingredients/
Milton's 14 ingredients: http://www.shopwell.com/miltons-100-whole-wheat-bread-whole-grains/bread/p/0654192088
The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook on Amazon.com

Playing Catch Up

Happy New Year! It was a very busy December for me both cooking-wise and work-wise. Work went absolutely mad in December. Between holiday parties (5), a huge job assessment questionnaire to complete, and a last minute website makeover, I was dead tired and mentally exhausted.

I did get to do a bunch of baking and cooking for the above mentioned holiday parties. I made toasted oatmeal cookies and shortbread cookies for our libraries' open houses, stuffed pasta shells (x2) for the end of the semester parties for our student library aides, and Holiday Beans for the staff Christmas party.

I really like the Toasted Oatmeal Cookies. I found the recipe at the Betty Crocker website.  The first time I made this recipe, I adapted it a bit to use what I had on hand.  I had used my oats to make granola, and I realized that the granola was very similar to what goes into the cookies: oats and nuts, toasted in the oven before being incorporated into the dough.  Instead of the 2 1/2 cups of oats and the 1 cup of nuts, I used 3 1/2 cups of granola. The recipe only calls for brown sugar, but I've found that this can make the cookies come out too thin and a little too sweet.  It works better if you don't pack the brown sugar, and I think I might try it with 1 cup brown and 1/2 cup white next time.

I've mentioned the shortbread cookies in a prior post.  The recipe I use comes from Brown Bag Designs Shortbread pans.  I've used their Classic Shortbread recipe for years, and it never fails.

Now for the stuffed pasta shells...I realize that I haven't blogged about these before, and I must amend that oversight right now.  These are always a huge hit, and I've made them for potlucks at work (current and past jobs) and for family dinners and special occasions.  I got the idea from a pasta cookbook I have.  I changed the recipe, of course.  I just can't seem to help myself.  They're not difficult, but there are several steps and the prep takes a while.  The filling has cream cheese, cheddar cheese, mozzarella  milk, eggs, and a little basil.  I use my regular spaghetti sauce I make (usually without meat though) for covering the shells before baking.  The shells are vegetarian as long as you don't use any meat or broth in your sauce.

Stuffed Pasta Shells

For the filling:
1 eight (8) ounce package cream cheese, softened
3 - 4 large eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup milk
3 - 3 1/2 cups shredded cheese (I use a mix of cheddar and mozzarella.)
1 1/2 tsp. dried basil (optional--sometimes I forget to put it in and the shells are still yummy.)
a couple of dashes of black pepper


1 box jumbo pasta shells (I like Barilla, but I've had good results with other brands as well.)
3 cups spaghetti sauce (approximately--should be enough to fill in all of the spaces around the shells once they are in the pan with some sauce left to go over the top of them.  The sauce doesn't need to cover them completely, but there should be plenty)

Make the Filling:
Place the cream cheese in a large mixing bowl.  Beat it on low speed with a hand mixer until the cream cheese is smooth.  Add the eggs and continue beating until well incorporated.  There may still be small chunks of cream cheese, but that's okay as long as it's mostly blended well with the eggs. Stir in the milk, and then fold in cheese.  The filling can be mixed and chilled an hour or two head of time.  Chilling the filling helps thicken it and makes it easier to fill the shells.

Pre-cook the Pasta:
Cook the pasta shells according to the package directions, but for a minute less than al dente.  For example, if the pasta box says that the shells will cook to al dente in 10 minutes, I cook them for 9 minutes.  Drain and rinse the shells in cold water until they are cool enough to handle.

Assemble the Shells:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Rub a little olive oil over the bottom and sides of a 13 x 9 inch baking pan.  Spread about 3/4 cup of sauce in the bottom of the pan.

Using a teaspoon (not the measure, but the place-setting spoon), spoon filling into shells.  Fill each shell with a heaping scoop.  The shells should be filled but not overstuffed.  The edges of the shells should still be able to touch.  Place each shell in the pan as you fill it.  You should be able to fit all of the shells into the pan.

Pour the remaining sauce over the shells then gently shake the pan to get the sauce into all of the spaces between the shells.  Loosely cover with a piece of foil and bake in the oven for 45 minutes.  Remove the pan from the oven, take off the foil, and sprinkle the top of the shells with some freshly-grated Parmesan cheese. Put the pan back in the oven for 15 minutes, until the Parmesan is melted and the sauce is bubbling.

Remove from the oven and let sit for 20 minutes before serving.

After all the craziness of the last two weeks of work, I flew back to California to spend Christmas with family.  I got a chance to relax over the holidays, and I had a great time visiting my wonderful family: mom, sister, brother-in-law' and nephew, and some of my dearest friends.  I didn't get to see my brother and sister-in-law, but we did have a nice talk on Christmas.  However, I got to visit them back in September, which was great.  I was so happy to see them.  They moved away when I moved here to Arizona, and I hadn't seen them since I moved.  Hopefully we can all be together next year around Christmas.

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, and wish you a very Happy New Year.

Holiday Beans

I wrote the following dinner report last year, but I never got around to posting it.  I stumbled across it the other day (virtually speaking--it's on my computer) and thought I'd post it.  

Well, it's been an age since I last posted.  I apologize for the long delay in posts.  It's not that I haven't been cooking or eating dinner; it's just the I've been wrapped up in moving, starting a new job, learning a new job, and generally getting used to my new life and routine.  Now that I've finished my first semester as a college librarian, I have 5 wonderful weeks off to celebrate Christmas with (some of) my family, visit my friends, and then enjoy my birthday before heading back to Spring semester 2012.

Since I last posted, I have cooked quite a bit.  I've made some old favorites like chili, scotch broth, spaghetti, and linguine carbonara.  I've also made stuffed pasta shells and a ton of cookies for various Christmas gatherings for work as well as the famous Praline Pumpkin Torte.

One of my favorite things to make for family holiday get-togethers is the doctored up baked beans that were one of my dad's favorites.  He really liked baked beans in most forms, but he always said these were his favorite.  I just wish he could be here this year to have them again.  The beans are pretty simple to make, starting with canned beans and adding a few ingredients, but the result is so good.

Alex's Christmas Beans

8 oz bacon, regular--not thick cut

1 large yellow onion, finely minced

2 large (28 oz.) cans Bush's Original Baked Beans

Yellow Mustard

Brown sugar

Chop or snip the bacon in to very small pieces.  I like to use a pair of kitchen shears as they make short work of the bacon.  Over medium heat, saute in a large, deep saucepan, stockpot, or dutch oven until bacon is just barely crispy and most of the fat has rendered out.  Scoop out the bacon with a slotted spoon and allow to drain on a paper-towel covered plate.  Pour out all but about 2 tablespoons of the bacon fat.  Add the onion and cook until soft and beginning to turn a caramel color.  

Once the onion is completely soft, pour in the two cans of beans, liquid and all. Stir to incorporate the onions throughout.  Add 2 Tbsp yellow mustard and 1/4 cup brown sugar and stir to combine well.  Stir in the bacon pieces.  Heat to bubbly, then reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Taste the beans.  They should have a sweet, mellow smoky flavor with a bit of tang.  Adjust as needed with either mustard or brown sugar and allow to simmer for another 30 minutes to 1 hour.  These beans can just sit on the stove simmering while you prepare the rest of the dinner.  These are especially good served with ham and cornbread.

Thanks for reading.  I'm going to be trying a couple new recipes this week, so I hope to add 1 or 2 additional posts soon.  I'm making Bacon, Lentil, and Spinach Stew and Chicken and Leek Pie from my new cookbook, "One Pot of the Day: 365 Recipes for Every Day of the Year."  I'll also be roasting a chicken with lemon and fresh herbs, (I'll use the leftovers for the pie.) and doing some roasted root vegetables or maybe a vegetable curry.  I love fall!

Mmmm...Lamb

This week, I made Spicy Grilled Lamb Burgers in pitas with tzatziki sauce.  I posted about a similar dish I made about 2 years ago.  I sort of just tossed that one together.  For this one, I did some research, and it was even better than the last one.

In case you don't know, tzatziki is a Greek yogurt cucumber sauce usually served with pita wedges or on gyros. There are many variations of tzatziki around the Meditteranean and south-western Asia. In India, cucumber raita is similar in taste but much thinner. It's great for cooling down spicy curries. I looked up recipes for tzatziki and read several. I didn't follow any one recipe, but took the common elements among most of the recipe I read. I did not include the fresh herbs some of the recipes called for (usually dill, mint, or parsley), but I wasn't concerned with making a truly authentic tzatziki because I was making curried lamb burgers, not Greek gyros. There were differences in the various recipes. It's funny, some recipes called for plain yogurt, some called for sour cream, and some called for both. The recipes that called for plain yogurt had you strain the yogurt first for several hours to get out the excess liquid. Doing that, you end up with a thicker yogurt instead of the thin regular yogurt.

Since I had a container (6 oz.) of Chobani non-fat plain Greek yogurt, I skipped that step since Greek yogurt has already been strained. I added 3 cloves of garlic, minced and about 2/3 of a peeled cucumber. I had a regular cucumber with seeds, so I cut it in half and scraped out the seeds before grating it using a regular box grater. You can also use an English or Japanese seedless cucumber. I squeezed out some of the liquid using a paper towel then mixed the shredded cucumber into the yogurt. I stirred in about 1/2 tsp olive oil (for texture) and the juice of half a lemon. I then added just a little salt to taste. Once it was well mixed, I put it in the fridge to let all the flavors meld.

After about an hour I pulled it out of the fridge to taste it. The flavors came together nicely, but it was pretty tangy. I stirred in about 1/2 of a teaspoon of sugar and then let it sit while I made the lamb.

For the lamb burgers, I found this recipe for Spicy Lamb Patties on All-Recipes.com. I followed the recipe, though I didn't have green onion so substituted a little finely minced white onion. I flattened out the patties then grilled them using my non-stick grill pan rubbed with a little oil.

Normally, I would probably pop the pita in the microwave to heat up. However, since moving, I don't have a microwave, and I don't miss it all that much. Instead, I patted just a tiny bit of water onto the whole wheat pita then wrapped it in foil and put it in the oven to heat up. This turned out great. I ended up with a soft, warm pita.

I put the burger in the pita and slathered on some tzatziki and bit in. I couldn't believe how good it turned out. I only wish I'd had some lettuce to put in the pita with the burger. That would have been perfect.  All in all, a highly successful dinner.

Dinner Photos and Others

I ate leftovers last night, and the Vegetable Curry was still really good.  I took some of the leftover rice, mixed in some slivered almonds, and made it into small patties which I then cooked in a non-stick skillet.  I reheated the curry and poured it over the rice and added some fresh spinach.  Very yummy.  The pictures aren't the greatest, but you can get the idea.

In case that isn't particularly appealing, here's a nice picture of a rainbow over my neighbor's house...
	and some clouds I saw while driving home...

and It's A Small World at Disneyland all lit up...

and a cool b&w ladybug I found on my car a few months ago.

Happy Memories of Chickpeas

Well, it wasn't Meatless Monday this week, but it was Veggie Wednesday. I made a vegetable curry, an Indian-type curry made with wonderful curry powder my mom sent me. She got it at a great market somewhere in the Napa Valley area. I can't remember exactly where or the name of the market (even though I've actually been there once or twice). The curry wasn't completely vegetarian because I used chicken stock (actually Better Than Bullion dissolved in some water--love this stuff), but it didn't contain any actual meat. You could substitute water or vegetable brother for the bullion to make this truly vegetarian.

I do not like garbanzo beans much at all. I don't like them in salads, I don't like them in soups, I don't even really like hummus. I think it's partly taste and partly texture. However, for some reason I like chickpeas (I prefer this name to garbanzo beans, maybe because I think of garbanzo beans as being something you add to salads.) in curry. I think I like them because they pick up lots of flavor from the curry, and they simmer long enough to be soft, so the texture issue is moot.

 I never would have known I liked chickpeas if it hadn't been for an Indian restaurant called Deboo's (I think that was the name) that used to be in the Bel Air shopping center in Natomas. The first time I went in, the owner asked what I wanted to order. I said I wasn't sure, and he said he would make me something good. He gave me tandoori chicken, some naan, a cauliflower dish, and curried peas & chickpeas. I didn't think I'd like the chickpeas, but they were surprisingly good.  I was happy to expand my culinary vista.

 Here's what I did to make my vegetable curry:

 First, I cut a leek lengthwise and then thinly sliced it into half rings. I sauteed these in a small amount of fat (equal parts olive oil & butter). After the leeks softened, I added a tablespoon of curry powder and stirred that around for a few minutes. I then tipped in a can of drained & rinsed garbanzo beans and a small to medium potato cut into chunks. I dissolved a rounded teaspoon of Better Than Bullion Chicken in 1.5 cups warm water. I poured that over the beans & potato chunks. I let this simmer, covered, for about 25 minutes.

Once the beans were tender & the potato cooked, I added some cornstarch to thicken the sauce and added some zucchini. I let this cook a little while longer until the zucchini was cooked but not mushy. I was going to add some spinach or cabbage but my pan was full, so I just left it as it was. It turned out really well. I served the curry over some rice.  I think it made about 4 servings.  Anyway, I have leftovers.

 The other way I like chickpeas is as falafal. Okay, so it's not really the same, but falafal is made with ground chickpeas. The first time I had a falafal was in Boston. Some friends took me to a tiny, hole-in-the-wall, Middle Eastern grocery near Haymarket. It's right along where they have the outdoor fruit & vegetable market during the warmer months.  The shop is down about 5 steps from street level, and you have to duck to avoid whacking your head on the top of the door frame. Inside there are shelves of groceries and bins of spices. Tucked to one side is a food counter. You can get takeaway of various types including shawarma & falafal sandwiches.

There is a little old man who works behind the counter. I never did get his name, but everyone referred to him as Falafal Man (though not to his face).  He makes the food, and it is delicious! For the falafal sandwiches he takes a piece of flatbread (locally made), spreads on some tahini & harissa, layers on some veggies including small wedges of dill pickles (unexpected, but delicious), and then tops that with falafal which he smashes a bit to break open and then wraps it all up. The sandwich is delicious, and Falafal Man is such a sweetie.  Several of us from Simmons went to see him right before graduation to say goodbye and to get a last falafal sandwich. He came out from behind the counter and hugged each of us. Next time I visit Boston, I am definitely going back.

A Successful Stir-Fry

Well, it's been nearly a year since I last posted, and a lot has happened. I got a full-time job, moved to a new state, and finished my first semester as a professional librarian. I also turned 40 and went to Hawaii. It's been a busy year.

Just because I haven't posted doesn't mean I haven't been cooking during the year. I still have the information about the trifle I made from the Madeira cake (the one that turned out not so great). The trifle was much better than the cake. I also made some granita from orange, peach, mango juice and gin. Pretty tasty.

Tonight I made a very successful stir fry from a recipe from Williams-Sonoma. The recipe is called Stir-Fried Pork and Sugar Snaps with Soba Noodles.

The recipe sounded easy with ingredients available at the local grocery store. I was really surprised to see no garlic in the list of ingredients though. The main flavors come from soy sauce, ginger, sesame oil, and red pepper as well as a generous amount of green onions. There was a lot of oil in the recipe between the sesame oil and the oil for cooking the pork. I think it could be reduced, at least the amount needed to sautée the pork could be. A tablespoon was way more than needed. The flavor turned out well. I might try it with some garlic next time though to see how that changes it.

picture from Williams-Sonoma.com