Sourdough needs time!

I knew better, but I still tried to rush it. I had fed the sourdough to the Norwich Bread specifications. Maybe, I already did not wait long enough there, to have it at it’s prime bubbliness. Then I made the dough. Ask seemed fine. I formed the breads – 2 baguettes and 1 loaf – put them into the fridge without keying them rise first. Here is where I think I messed up. They do need some rising time before being refrigerated. So, even though I gave them ample time to acclimate to my kitchen temperature before going into the oven, they did not rise enough. So, lesson learned. You have to give sourdough it’s proper time to do it’s magic
I still have the other bread and will see if a bit more rising time will do the job

Salad Nicoise

We had gotten lettuce, beans, tomatoes, potatoes and onions in our Local Food Stop bag this week. It is freakishly hot outside, so we like cool or semi cool dinners.
The array of goodies brought this salad to mind, a salad we all enjoy very much. It looks so majestic, so special, just the way it tastes. What a treat!

Pumpkin Bread

To celebrate our 3rd snow day in a row, which is unheard of in Georgia, and to give in to my husbands wishes for this delicious bread this is in the oven.

Pumpkin (Chocolate Chip) Bread

A soft, sweet, spicy, orange bread. Perfect for breakfast, snack and afternoon coffee or tea.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
• 1/2 cup apple sauce
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2/3 cup water
• 4 eggs
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I used white whole wheat flour (King Arthur) and it worked wonderfully)
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon ground nutmeg (fresh if you can get it)
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips (I have left them out before, and it was actually our favorite so far
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (have also tried pecans, and it was delice)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour three 1 pound size coffee cans, or three 9×5 inch loaf pans. (use mini muffins pans and bake them for 15 minutes – big hit with the kids)
2. In a large bowl, combine sugar, pumpkin, oil, water, and eggs. Beat until smooth. Blend in flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt. Fold in chocolate chips and nuts. Fill cans 1/2 to 3/4 full.
3. Bake for 1 hour, or until an inserted knife comes out clean. Cool on wire racks before removing from cans or pans.

adapted from www.allrecipes.com

Farmers Bread (Bauernbrot)

It’s a snow day, it’s cold outside and I had some sourdough sitting on the counter, but not enough to make a sourdough loaf only with that. Nevertheless, I was dead set on making a delicious loaf with wheat and a bit of rye flour. That combination makes the most beautiful artisan breads with great flavor!

I posted it on facebook, and promptly was asked for the recipe. So, here it is …

Teacher treats … Chocolate Chip Scones and Banana Nut Bread

As mentioned before, the end of the school year always brings me even closer to my oven. It is the time to thank the teachers for all their hard work and another great year for our girls. A sure winner is the banana nut bread that regularly was mentioned in the teacher’s thank you notes.

This year, I thought it would be a great idea to bake it with the girls. I had it all planned out, even the cute little origami baskets they would be baking in and certainly a great banana nut bread recipe.

These  baskets, I thought, would make the presentation just perfect. We got out 8×10″ white sheets of paper and cut out the same size of baking paper and folded. Very cute, indeed.

I put them on a baking sheet, not to close to one another so they would have enough room to bake separately. I was a bit worried about the sides being a bit wobbly, you know the part where the handle is supposed to be. Hm, as the batter baked and rose, it pushed just as much on the sides. Well, what happens if there isn’t ample resistance? The banana breads ended up looking as wide as they were long. I should have really taken a picture, but I was so displeased with myself, I did not have enough humor left. I wanted to hand the teachers something scrumptious the next morning.

I decided to make our success-proven Chocolate Chip Scones, cut up the banana bread and present those to the teachers with a cute little sign, wrapped in cellophane paper finished with a bright, cheery ribbon.

Amerikaner/Black and White cookies

It’s the end of the school year. That always means I will be baking for end-of-year parties. With most people bringing chocolate chip cookies, I usually try to make something different. This year, I stumbled across an old recipe of Amerikaner. They are like your Black and White Cookies.

Why are they called Amerikaner (Americans) in Germany? Nobody is sure, but there are two good stories. In one GI’s were not able to find all the ingredients for an American Cake during the Second World War, thus creating the “Amerikaner”. The other has Germans not being able to pronounce “Black and White Cookies” which the Americans brought over in the 50′s, so that they just called them “Amerikaner”. Either one has their origins from the Americans and I thank you for it!

I love their vanilla flavored, cakey-soft texture with a slightly crunchy icing on the underside, which becomes the upper side. Oh, and the choices of icings and decorations – there are no limits. The traditional icing is just powdered sugar and water- at least in Germany- but who is to keep you from using melted chocolate or colors in your icing? This is actually a wonderful treat to make or decorate with children. They get to make faces with M&M’s, beautiful sprinkles or melted chocolate in a candy melt bottle. As you can see our Emily had quite a lot of fun with it!

Beer Bread

This is one of the easiest breads you can make. It is as fitting and delicious for breakfast with some jam as for dinner with chili or soup, but you have to have a bottle or can of beer in the house.

That can be a challenge for me. Even though I am German, I am not a big beer fan. That said, I love it fresh off the tab in a Beer Garden or with a little sprite on my mom’s balcony, not that I’m choosy or anything

Years ago a friend of mine had made beer bread – a box mix – and it was delicious. We don’t usually have beer in the house, but had some left over after a dinner party, so I set off to find a from scratch recipe for beer bread (I am not a box mix kind a gal). I found several ones and mixed them to this simple recipe that I have stuck with for several years now. It is also SO simple, I can’t fathom why beer bread should be made from a box, but that’s just me. I’ll get off my high horse now and get on with it …

One of the best parts about  this bread is that it is started in a cold oven. Our girls like it so much that I have mixed it and left it in the oven overnight to bake on time-bake in the morning on more than one occasion. There is no better way than to wake up to the scent of fresh baked bread!

I have also been known to pack the simple ingredients when going on vacation. It makes for an easy side item, and it is just as easy to bring it back. I just did that last Easter and made myself the official beer bread maker of the family.

One thing I have to warn about, though. The beer has to have some taste, so no dishwashing water, please!

Another warning … it is a bit addictive … thus no picture of the beautiful, golden crumb …

Burger Buns

I am finicky about the food I eat, but especially about the bread. There is the German side of me, having grown up with the world famous German bread. The memories of, as a young girl, going to the local bakery to buy Brötchen (rolls) or bread fresh out of the oven for breakfast or even an afternoon snack, the same baker, who later made Michael’s and my wedding cake are so precious to me.

Yes, it is usually heavier, but not always. We also have our delicious Weißbrot (white bread), but it is considered a special bread or dessert bread. It’s nothing like the white bread here. American white bread in many families is used every day and is all fluff from sugar, fat and bleached flour … thus, if I have to go the route of buying bread, I go for the all natural baked goods or at least whole wheat containing ones.

So, when it came to burger buns, I had just usually picked up a few rolls of “good” ones. They still have too many ingredients that I can’t pronounce, I guess to extend their shelf life, so I thought I would give it a try and make them myself. It can’t be that hard, right? It really isn’t.

Carrot Salad

Carrots – if I have nothing else in the fridge, you still find carrots. Seriously, I always have carrots around. They are perfect for so many things – as a snack or side dish, in soup or salad and they keep well for a long time.

This carrot salad is what I most often make with them – at least every other week. It comes together quickly – especially if you have a food processor – and is quite healthy, too. The Vitamin A in the carrots is a fat soluble vitamin, meaning that your meal has to include some fat for your body to be able to absorb it. This is where the canola oil and walnuts  come in. Both are chuck full of omega-3 fatty acids and polyunsaturated fats.

This fresh, sweet, tangy, nutty and wonderfully crunchy salad pleases most any palate and goes with just about any dish. It can be made ahead of time (leave out the raisins to add later, or they will plump up too much), making it a great salad to bring along to a dinner with friends or picnic, but leftovers are still perfect a day later. I always have to make a double batch in my house …

Fresh Strawberry Scones

Shame on me.

We did not eat our strawberries right away, when I brought them home in our weekly CSA (community supported agriculture) bag last Wednesday.

They are fresh and organic, absolutely to die for sweet, juicy and tender, need I say more? If you leave them too long, they get soft and overripe. So, we like to eat them fresh with just some sweetened yogurt sauce – just plain yogurt with sugar, sometimes or often, may I confess, with whipped cream folded under for a lusciously rich, smooth taste. 

But, I needed to find another way to use those strawberries that do not pass the fresh strawberry perfection test.  I pondered strawberry bread and strawberry cheesecake ice-cream. While perusing one of my favorite websites for sure-fire recipes, King Arthur Flour (my flour of choice!), I came across the Fresh Blueberry Scones recipe I had made before with frozen strawberries since my 8-year old Emily isn’t much of a blueberry fan. I know, I can’t believe it either. Who does not like blueberries? She does like them freshly picked off the bush when we go blueberry picking, but not in muffins, pancakes or any other form once they are brought home. It’s kind of like when we go to the supermarket, nosh on the samples, pick up some of that delicious dip we loved so much, just to find it in the back of the fridge weeks later… with a many more hues of color than I care to remember…

But I digress … I made the scones and at Emily’s request tried three different toppings. After slathering them with melted butter I sprinkled granulated sugar or sugar crystals/sparkling sugar on them and left some without sugar. While I liked the sparkle and crunch of the sugar crystals, I preferred how the granulated sugar and butter married into a barely-there, but would-miss-it-if-it-wasn’t-there pearly, crunchy sheen.

These scones serve happiness on a rainy spring day or a refreshing treat in the muggy Atlanta almost-summer air. They are moist, yet fluffy and light; fruity and just sweet enough to still let the strawberries be the stars they were grown to be.