Day 78 - Challah Bread

     There was a recipe in the Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook for Challah bread, but it called for fresh yeast. Momma doesn't have fresh yeast and I'm not into conversions and figuring out how much dry active yeast I need in place of it. so I took the easy way out and looked for a different recipe. I found this one on the Food Network. It is a Bistro Challah Bread Recipe. For some reason, I've had Challah on the brain lately. I have no idea why. I guess it's just something I've always wanted to make. AND, I just figured out that I can score BIG points with my son tomorrow morning when I make him French Toast with it before he goes to school.  I have also been craving Nutella something awful and was going to put some into it, but decided against it.  I haven't had challah bread before, so I wanted to try it without any additions.
     I can't post the recipe, but here are pictures.

Yeast, sugar and water after 10 minutes.





 Yeast mixture, eggs and melted butter combined with 2 of the 4 cups of flour.







Into the greased bowl for rising.




After 2½ hours in a warm oven.  Recipe said to let rise for an hour or double in bulk - we went out to dinner.



Directions said to put it in a loaf pan, but I wanted to make a pretty braid.



Ok, I couldn't for the life of me remember how to start a braid.  It's been years since I've braided my daughters' hair and even then I never did it often.  You can see on the left where I started and it progressively improved by the end. 

 In the loaf pan, it was to bake at 375º F for an hour, but I baked it for 45 minutes and that was still too long.  Too brown.

It still tasted good though.  I'm excited to try it for French Toast.

     Even though I overbaked it, it was still mighty tasty and my husband liked it, too.  I am really disappointed that I left it in the oven too long, but I'll know better for next time.  On a scale of 1-4 with 4 being the best, I'm going to rate this Challah bread 3 rolling pins.  It had a nice sweet flavor and was soft and spongy on the inside.

     Happy baking!

Day 51 - Pretzels

     Today I made pretzels with my eldest daughter.  I found the recipe on the Food Network website for Alton Brown's Homemade Soft Pretzels.  They received one of the highest ratings and looked really good and pretty easy, so why not?  It's something we've never done and we've always loved pretzels from Auntie Anne's and Wetzel's Pretzels.  They're always so yummy!  So, knowing how good those were, I really tried to not go into today's recipe with any expectations (heehee, remember yesterday?).
     I have to say that it was a lot of fun making these and they really didn't take that long either.  The only thing that took the most time was waiting for the dough to rise for the hour or so.  And the one thing that was kind of confusing was flipping the dough around after holding it in a u-shape.  They make it look so easy at those pretzel places.  The first one came out perfectly and then I don't know what happened, I was over thinking it, I think and trying to hard.  I have a tendency to do that.
     My daughter was also taking some of the pictures.  Enjoy!

Sugar, salt, water, yeast, flour, butter before rising.

 

After rising for 55 minutes.

Dough separated into 8 equal pieces and rolled into a 24-inch rope.

Holding the ends, making the U shape, and twisting.

Bringing the ends down to the bottom of the U.

Shaping.

Still shaping.

TA DA!!

On the parchment paper before being boiled.

Boiling in water and baking soda for 30 seconds.

Removal from the boiling water with two spatulas.

The ones on the right have been boiled; they are puffier and bigger.

Brushed with egg yolk before baking.

The finished product with some honey mustard sauce - 1/2 honey, 1/2 Dijon mustard.

     These were absolutely delicious.  They had a nice crispy crust on the outside and were really soft on the inside.  The middles smelled really good, too!  I didn't use pretzel salt, but used coarse sea salt and we all really liked that, too.  What a great project this would be over vacation with the kids.  I'm sure they'll really like them and have fun being in the kitchen.  Mine certainly did!
     The rating for Alton Brown's Homemade Soft Pretzels is 3½ rolling pins!  My rolling pin rating is based on a scale of 1-4 with 4 being the absolute best.
     Happy baking!

Day 39 - Blueberry Muffins

     So I climb into bed last night and I'm lying there for about 10 minutes when I feel something crawl across my nose.  I SAT UP IN BED SO FAST!!!!!  I'm brushing my nose, rubbling my hands all over my face.  I'm running my fingers through my hair, then I'm doing wide sweeps of the covers and of my pillow.  All of this is going on in the dark mind you because the light switch next to bedroom door was off, so I couldn't turn the light on my nightstand on.  I was freaking out!  And I was making so much noise rustling the covers I'm extremely surprised my husband didn't say anything.  I race to the light switch, turn on the light and then closely examine the pillow, covers, floor and surrounding area because there is NO way that bugger is crawling on me again!  Nothing.  I didn't see a thing.  For all I know, I probably smeared him on my pillow, but I'm sure I would've felt that.  I was so eeeked out and jittery!!  You have to understand that I'm really not afraid of bugs, snakes or spiders.  I was the one at the vet clinic everyone came to to extinguish the little critters because no one else wanted to do it, except the doctor.  So, I really am not bothered by them WHEN I CAN SEE THEM AND DON'T FEEL THEM CRAWLING ON ME!!  Ooohh, chills just thinking about it.  I finally calmed myself down, turned off the light and climbed back into bed.  Every single one of my senses was on high alert, especially all those nerve endings on my skin.  I'm lying there wondering if I should go into another unoccupied bedroom and then I started thinking about the mouse we had in our old house. 
     Back in Rhode Island, I was sitting at the kitchen table with the kids and there was a package of Keebler Peanut Butter Sticks on the counter.  The mouse came out from behind the oven and ran over to the cookies, took one out and tried to squeeze back behind the oven, but had the cookie positioned the wrong way - like carrying a log through a door, he had it the long way instead of the end going through first.  He figured it out though.  It was pretty remarkable to see him reposition himself so that he could finally fit and take his prized possession with him.  Usually, people scream and jump on to chairs when they see a mouse, but I was entertained. However, I was really disgusted with the fact that he ran on the counter and contaminated a newly opened bag of really good cookies.
     So, yeah, this was something I thought about while lying there in bed, too.  Little creepy crawly things that really don't bother me.  What really does bother me are things that fly and come into my home.  Again, back in Rhode Island we had a chimney and on occasion birds would fly down and then be stuck in the house trying to escape.  That really frightened me because they're scared, they're flying around and they're so doggone unpredictable.  Ha ha I haven't even gotten to today's recipe yet, but this is a story I have to share.  Our daughters were about 5 and 3 years old at the time and shared a bedroom.  Our son was an infant, and I had put him down to bed and was reading the girls their nightly bedtime story.  This night will forever be stuck in my head.  The book we were reading was  Emma at the Beach.  It's about a good, little witch named, Emma, and her friends, a cat, an owl, and a bat.  We're sitting on one of their beds, one of them on either side of me when I notice something black about the size of a small shoe on the floor that I hadn't noticed before.  I thought it was a pair of pants one of the girls had thrown on the floor.  I continued reading and the thing started to move.  Interesting.  What the...?  Then it started to fly!  It was a BAT, circling around in the bedroom!  OH MY GOSH!!!!!  I'm screaming.  My daughters are screaming.  I was FREAKING OUT!!!  All I could think about were stories where the bat gets stuck in a girl's hair and has rabies and bites her in the neck.  EEEEWWWW!!  So the three of us are screaming.  My husband's downstairs and I'm thinking why the heck (ok, hell) hasn't he come up yet with all this noise?  Light bulb goes on in my head:  I'll stand up, get the bat to follow me out of the room and the girls will be fine.  Ok, I stand up, open their door, look for the bat, run out of the room and slam the door behind me.  PHEW!  I hated doing that, but we're all ok, and every thing's fine.  Wait, the girls are still screaming.  Where's the bat?  OH MY GOD!!!!  They're in their room with the door shut and the bat is STILL flying around!!  WHAT KIND OF A MOTHER AM I???!!!  OH MY GOSH, I HAVE TO GO BACK IN THERE!!!  So, I stood there in the hall, yelling for my husband, who came running up the stairs, and then took a VERY deep breath and quickly opened the door to get the girls out of their room.  What a night!  Our neighbors ended up coming over because we knew their boys would be interested in seeing it.  We eventually caught it in a hamper and took it outside to release it, but it will forever live in our memories.  So ironic that we were reading a story that had a bat in it.
     Last night, after climbing into bed the second time, a couple minutes later I thought I felt something touching my leg.  Again, I'm on even higher alert and wondering if I'll be able to fall asleep.  Finally, exhaustion just took over and the lovely Mr. Sandman paid me a visit.  Yes, you can bet I washed our bedsheets this morning.  All this previous chit chat had no relevance to today's recipe, but was something I wanted to share.
     Blueberry Muffins was the recipe for today.  They came from Alton Brown at http://www.foodnetwork.com/
Here's the link, since I can't post the recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/blueberry-muffins-recipe/reviews/index.html.  It called for cake flour, but I didn't have any, so I used regular.  And I also used Greek yogurt for the 1 cup of plain yogurt.

The sugar, egg, oil, and yogurt combined.

 Ready for baking!

Complete yummy goodness...

     I have to say that these were the most delicious blueberry muffins I have ever made.  Ok, to be honest, I've never made blueberry muffins from scratch, they've always been from those store bought mixes.  Not any more!  These are definitely the way to go!  They were so good!  The tops were nicely browned and a little chewy and crunchy and the inside was so moist.  MMMMMmmmmmmm......deliciousness!  The only problem I had was that even though I greased the muffin tins, they still stuck when I went to turn them out and about a quarter of the tops came off.  Next time, muffin cups.  This is where I'm going to gain most of my weight, eating the scraps of the goods that won't hold together.  A bit here, a piece there, it will all end up on my hips creating, are you ready, it just seems so appropriate with today's post, a MUFFIN TOP!  Sorry, hard for me to hold back on that one.  Also, they didn't rise up, they were more like flat muffins.  Maybe that was because I didn't use cake flour.  I didn't care though, those little bits and pieces were still delicious.  My rolling pin rating:  on a scale of 1-4 rolling pins with 4 being the best, Alton's Blueberry Muffins scored a 3½!
     Happy baking!

Day 36 - Margherita Pizza

     Something happened today that I wasn't too happy about.  I was running errands and at one point while I was driving I had a car behind me, a car coming up on my left side and the curb on the right.  I saw him run into the road and thought he'd scoot across fast enough without any problem; this cute little prairie dog was far enough in front of me and I was going about 40-45 mph.  The thing is, when I drove closer to him, the little bugger STOPPED right in my lane!  I'm screaming at him, "MOVE, GO ON, MOVE, GO, GO, GO!"  He just sat there.  Why?  Why does he run across one lane and then all of a sudden have to stop in mine?!  Did he need to rest?  He hadn't run that far, or was he that out of shape?  He's just sitting there!!!!  Is he committing prairie dog suicide?  "Why don't you MOVE???!!!!"  I couldn't swerve or slam on my brakes, I would've caused an accident.  The bumps in the road were making noises under my tires and as I passed his "resting spot", I could only hope that the noise I heard was another one of those bumps in the road.  Yes, it was a bump, but as I looked in my rear view mirror, it was not the bump I had hoped it would be.  May that little guy rest in peace.
 
Not a good segue into today's recipe, but we had a really good dinner tonight thanks to Tyler Florence's recipe at http://www.foodnetwork.com/ for Margherita Pizza:  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/margherita-pizza-recipe/index.html.
Here is a picture of the yeast, sugar and water.

The dough before rising:

    
After rising:

The sauce was delicious because it was made with fresh garlic, oregano and thyme.

 
     The recipe for the crust made enough to make another pizza another night, so I stuck it in the freezer.  The only problem that I had making this pizza was the spreading of the pizza dough around the jelly roll sheet or cookie sheet, and I forgot to take a picture of it.  I was becoming so darned frustrated!  It said to cut the dough in half after it rises and then to "stretch" the dough so it is just bigger than the pan you're using.  Yeah, that was easier said than done.  It kept wanting to spring back into its' original form.  I was getting so angry that I took out the rolling pin and started beating it on the counter.  Ok, no.  I wasn't beating it.  I just started rolling it into submission, rolling it very forcefully.  I am the Alpha baker and I own the dough.  It will obey me!  I should've started yelling as I was rolling, "The power of Christ compels you, the power of Christ compels you!"  Eventually, I rolled it into some sort of rectangular form and then placed it in the pan.  It started to shrink away from the edges, so I pushed and prodded some more and began making small holes in the dough or it was either too thin in some spots and too thick in others.  Finally, I just said what I do when I'm fixing my hair in the morning and it's got a mind of its' own, "Walk away, walk away, just walk away."  I'm glad I was the only one in the kitchen, my kids probably would've thought I was nuts. 

On a scale of 1-4 with 4 being the best, the rating of the Margherita Pizza:  3½ rolling pins.

Day 30 - Snickerdoodles

     Sssnnniiiccckkkeeerrrdddoooooodddllleeesss.  I love that word.  Isn't it just awesome the way it rolls off your tongue?  Try it.  You need to say it slowly enough in order to get the full effect. 

SSSNNNIIICCCKKKEEERRRDDDOOOOOODDDLLLEEESSS

It's so much fun to say.  I wonder what it sounds like in other languages and if it's as much fun.  If anyone knows how to say snickerdoodles in another language, I'd love it if you could comment and let me know.  I'd like to add it to the post.  That'd be cool!

     The snickerdoodle has been and I'm sure will always be, delicious.  I don't think there's any way one can screw up a snickerdoodle short of forgetting to add an ingredient or leaving them in the oven for too long.  They are a great sugar cookie with that hint of cinnamon.  This was an easy recipe, too.  Once again, taken from the Food Network website.  The recipe address is:  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/snickerdoodles-recipe/index.html .  They are from The Emeril Live Show.  So easy and so quick, I made them in under ½ hour -  prepping ingredients, mixing and baking.



Shortening and butter creamed.

Sugar added and mixed til fluffy.

The flour and the eggs.

The eggs added to the sugar, shortening and butter.

After the flour, baking soda and salt are added.

Rolled in sugar and cinnamon and flattened on the cookie sheet.

Mmmmmm....delicious!

    

     The rolling pin rating for snickerdoodles: the family voted that it's 3½.  The were going to give them a four, but are holding out I suppose for a really super-to-die-for cookie.  I wonder what that will be.  Remember, anyone that can post a comment telling us what snickerdoodle is in another language, I'd love to add it to the post.  I look forward to hearing from you!

     Happy baking!

Day 29 - Lemon Ricotta Cookies with Lemon Glaze

     Another recipe from the Food Network:    http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/lemon-ricotta-cookies-with-lemon-glaze-recipe/index.html
These were the cookies I saw yesterday while searching for a cookie recipe, but came across the Flu-Fighters and decided to make those instead.  These are from Giada De Laurentiis.  I love her.  She is so petite and pretty and she knows her stuff.  And she's Italian, too.  I love Italy and everything Italian.  If there's one place in the world I'd love to visit, it's Italy.  I don't have an ounce of Italian in me, but I overcook so much food on occasion that you'd think I was.
     As you know, I'm also partial to lemons and anything lemon flavored.  I think it started when I was young and would get the lemon-filled donut when we'd go to Dunkin' Donuts.  Oh, how I love those!  Then, if you're from Rhode Island, there's Del's (frozen) Lemonade which is absolutely the best thing to have on a hot summer day, especially at the beach.  Now in 2011, they also have different flavors of Del's, like Watermelon, Cherry, Blueberry, and others, but if you're as old as me (not that old, born in the late 60's - and I'm already telling you my weight, so something's gotta be kept a secret!), the original flavor was lemon and Del's isn't Del's unless it's lemon.  My kids, of course, think otherwise.
   These cookies were easy to make (not nearly as many ingredients as yesterday).  They contain flour, sugar, lemon juice,  lemon zest, eggs, unsalted butter, ricotta cheese, baking powder, and salt.

Butter and sugar.

Butter and sugar, eggs.

Eggs, butter, and sugar, lemon zest, ricotta cheese, lemon juice.

Dry ingredients added.

Onto the cookie sheet.

They were just a little time consuming because I used one cookie sheet to make sure I wouldn't have any too dark, and then they had to sit for 20 minutes on the sheet after they came out of the oven to cool before being frosted. 

Being cooled.

So that's where the time went.  However, I have never had so much trouble zesting a stupid lemon.  I was becoming extremely aggravated with the thing.  I had zested half of it and then all of a sudden it was like it surrounded itself with this invisible shield and I couldn't get anything more to come off it.  I pushed, I scraped, I pressed really hard, but nothing was coming off.  FINE!  You're going to succumb to your death anyway because I'm going to need your juice, so you might as well just surrender and give me ALL of it.  Hmmmm....still nothing.  Stupid lemon.

     They were big cookies, too.  Directions said to drop about 2 tablespoons for each cookie - I did about 1½ or so.  Because they are light and have the specks of lemon zest in the glaze, I think these are an awesome spring cookie and would be great to have out at your Easter gatherings.  The rating:  3½ rolling pins.  The family liked them and I did as well.  They were light and lemony, and soft, but not too soft.
     Happy baking!

Day 28 - Flu-Fighter Cookies

  Yes, a recipe that took me by surprise.  I was searching for a cookie recipe on the http://www.foodnetwork.com/ website and saw a delicious looking recipe that I'll definitely be trying, but when I was scrolling down the page this one caught my eye.  I had never heard of a cookie named the Flu-Fighter Cookie.  The thought of it just really doesn't sound too appetizing; which is why my teenage daughter probably turned her nose up at them and wouldn't give them a try besides the fact that they contain nuts (not that she's allergic, she just doesn't like to eat them).  The name sounded so unappetizing to me and yet at the same time, was so very much intriguing!  And it is completely filled with ingredients.  It's like someone took a pantry and spice cupboard and dumped it all in a bowl - really bizarre.  There are 18 different things in this one cookie!  And soooo many different flavors! I can't post the recipe, but I can give you the link: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/flu-fighter-cookies-recipe/index.html (I still haven't figured out how to link words to websites yet.  It's on my list of things to do, so please bear with me.)  I am going to list the ingredients for you though, you ready?
flour
baking powder
baking soda
salt
ground cinnamon
freshly grated nutmeg
pinch of ground cloves
unsalted butter
dark brown sugar (I went to two different grocery stores for different things today and forgot it each time.  I had some light brown sugar at home, so I just used that.)
eggs
molasses
Greek yogurt (I always have that in my fridge)
freshly grated ginger
grated lemon zest
old-fashioned oats
golden raisins
dried cranberries
chopped toasted walnuts
See?  That's quite a list, isn't it?  They're so much in them that I was concerned about how they would taste, but then I'm thinking the Food Network isn't going to put crappy recipes up on their site and it's so different that I'm just going to have to try it.  Besides, people around these here parts have been quite sick with the flu and whatever else is going around, so maybe these will help to boost people's immune systems.  I know I'm going to be eating them for a while.  Heck, they're healthy, too (ok, at least they appear to be - it says each cookie has a calorie count of 174).  Any excuse I have to eat a cookie, I'm all over it and again, if you read my weigh-in post today, I didn't gain any weight this week.  I'm ok.
     The ingredients:  oats, flour, brown sugar, butter, baking powder, baking soda, cloves, salt, cinnamon, and, eggs.

Golden raisins, toasted walnuts, dried cranberries. molasses, and Greek yogurt.

 Lemon zest, grated ginger (behind it is ginger juice), and grated nutmeg.

After grating the nutmeg, (grating those lil' buggers is hard!  It was rolling around in my fingers and wouldn't stay still.  I need to get me one of those microplane graters) something which I had never done before, I sliced it to make sure I was grating the proper part.  I had no idea.  It smelled good as I was grating, so I figured I was doing something right.  I couldn't buy just one piece, had to buy a jar of nine for $7.9something, and four of which are stuck in the bottom of the bottle.  How the heck am I going to get those out of there and when am I going to use the rest of it?  Guess we'll be making more things with nutmeg in them.  It doesn't expire until sometime in 2014, so we're good.  The smell reminded me of some rice pudding I used to eat, so there's one idea.
I thought the inside of the nutmeg was cool:

My sous chef, Charlie.  He kept watching the mixer, but really he's waiting for me to feed him because, you know, the world revolves around the cat.

The flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves combined.

 The butter and brown sugar creamed.

The second egg added to the butter and brown sugar.

The molasses, lemon zest and ginger added to mixture.

The flour mixture added to previous ingredients.  Hanging off the blender are the fibers from the ginger.  I was really thinking this wasn't going to be a good part of the cookie and would be stringy.

Oats,  ½ of each of the cranberries, walnuts and raisins added.

Ready for the oven.

Baked and ready to be eaten.

     The aroma that filled the house while these were in the oven was wonderful!  It smelled like gingerbread.  I have to say I wasn't looking forward to trying these and was thinking that they were not going to be eaten.  But, wow!  For a cookie with so much in it, it's like a taste party in your mouth!  Unbelievable.  It's gingery, with a taste of cinnamon; a touch of lemon and I'm not tasting that ginger stringy-stuff I thought I would; crunchy from the nuts and chewy because of the raisins and cranberries; and it has just the right amount of sweetness!  These probably are the healthiest tasting cookies I have ever had.  It's a good cookie to send in a care package to your college student who is stressed, doesn't eat well or get enough sleep and is around a lot of sick people, especially this time of year.  You can bet I'll be sending some of these out to my daughter.
     The rating for Flu-Fighter Cookies: 3½ rolling pins.
     So, here's to your immune systems, happy baking!