I'll be back...

Hey all,

I know I haven't updated in FOREVER. School got a little bit hectic. I promise that once I've graduated (AHHHHH) I will be posting more and more and more. My baking and cooking is generally most prolific in the summer. I will also do some retrospective posts on the projects I have had time for in the second half of this semester (the Easter lamb-roasting bonanza, for instance).

Until then, enjoy the spring!

Peace, love, and final exams,

Morgan

It's Friday, Friday

Hi everyone,

First, enjoy this mashup of Katy Perry and Rebecca Black to start off your Friday: http://thejanedoze.tumblr.com/post/4102690576/the-jane-doze-present-t-g-i-friday-a-mashup

So, I'm sorry for the lack of updates recently. I thought that I would have a ton of time to bake to my heart's content at home, but instead I've been applying to jobs and doing homework. Boo. I did get a chance to make a whole wheat version of Kelsey's Honey Oat Bread, which was delish! But I didn't feel like posting a repeat. Oh well.

Is there baked good you would like to see on La Panadera Desnuda? Comment with a bread/baked good suggestion and/or recipe, and I will feature it on the blog next week! Don't worry if you don't have a recipe-- I can usually figure out one of my own.

Peace, Love, and Cadbury Creme Eggs,

Morgan

Irish Soda Bread

I am not even a little bit Irish. I laugh when I see clearly non-Irish people (think small Asian women like myself) decked out in green top hats and shamrock Mardi Gras beads on St. Patty's Day. Nevertheless, I suppose the holiday has become a celebration ingrained in American culture, which is completely fine by me. I am certainly not one to turn down a Murphy's Irish Red or Guinness midweek.

My first exposure to the magic of St. Patrick's Day was in elementary school. Every March 17th, Patricia Ceccarelli's mom would pack Irish Soda Bread for Pat to share with the class. The combination of the sweet bread and the barely solid butter (it had been softening all day in a tupperware) at the end of the day was ecstasy. I knew nothing about the holiday, nor did I care, but DAMN, that bread was good.

Ever since Patricia stopped being my classmate, I have always made sure to find Irish Soda Bread in March. Maciek, a family friend and caretaker of mine for many years, would pack me Irish Soda Bread slices--pre-buttered!!!!-- for lunch in high school around St. Patty's Day. Whenever Middlebury dining serves it, I always steal a loaf. This year, I decided to try my hand at the time-honored Irish tradition. Thank's to Marilyn's Hippie Bread book, I was able to make one of the best loaves I've ever tried-- it's crunchy on the outside, but rich, soft, and crumbly on the inside. I will definitely be making this recipe all year round for breakfast and teatime bread.



Recipe for Irish Soda Bread from The Garden Way Bread Book (the best Hippie Bread Book ever, really. I recommend buying it, especially if you are a bread beginner.)

Ingredients

- 3 cups unbleached white flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 sticks butter, cold
- 2 cups raisins or currants (or less if you don't want it to be very raisiny)
- 1 eggs
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1 cup buttermilk

1. Sift (or just combine) the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl.

2. Cut the butter into cubes and add it to the bowl. Cut into the mixture with a pastry blender until the flour and butter combine to make pea-size lumps. Alternatively, you can do this in a food processor if you have one.

3. Toss in the raisins and/or currants.

4. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg until it becomes very frothy. Add the honey and whisk until incorporated. Add the buttermilk and whisk one last time to make sure the mixture is homogeneous.

5. Little by little, add the wet mixture to the butter, flour, and raisin mixture. Use two forks to toss the dough and distribute the liquid evenly. The dough will come together as a lumpy mixture, but this is good. It shouldn't be totally smooth and it's okay if everything isn't evenly incorporated. The dough should be moist, but not excessively wet.

6. Spoon the dough into a greased cast-iron skillet, casserole dish, or pie plate. I used a pie plate because that's what we have, and it worked just fine, even if it's a little nontraditional. Smooth out the top with a wooden spoon and place into a 350 degree oven for one hour. The bread is done when it is totally browned on the top and is set in the middle. If you aren't sure that it's done, stick a toothpick in the middle to check for raw dough. Or, cut out a slice. Or, just take it out and toast any pieces that may be a little raw. It's all going to be delicious.

Normally, I slather my bread with butter, but this recipe is so rich and moist that I really didn't need or want it. Eat it on its own for breakfast, snack, or tea. I enjoyed mine with a tall glass of milk. As the Garden Way suggests, "serve it to a lot of people so you won't eat it all yourself."




Peace, love, and Irish Soda Bread,

Morgan

P.S.: Sorry there aren't any pictures of the whole loaf-- Mar and I attacked it immediately.

Kelsey's Honey Oat Bread

It has been the dreariest week of the year in Middlebury. It's been snowy, rainy, icy, and grey. I feel tired and overworked. Boo. Determined to cheer myself up for the weekend, I decided to bake some bread this afternoon after class.

This honey oat bread is one of the first breads I baked with Kelsey. It's wonderfully fluffy, soft, and sweet. It's great with just a bit of butter and honey, but it's also satisfying as sandwich bread.




Kelsey's Honey Oat Bread (yields 2 loaves)

- 1 3/4 cup warm water
- 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
- 3/4 cup oats
- 1/3 cup honey
- about a tablespoon salt, maybe slightly less
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- about 5 cups flour

1. Mix the yeast, 1/4 cup of water, and a squirt or two of honey to wake up the yeast. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes, or until it bubbles and froths.

2. Mix in the remaining water, honey, oil, and salt.

3. Add the flour one cup at a time. When the mixture is too thick to stir with a spoon, start incorporating the flour with your hands. Massage your dough! It feels nice. The dough has taken enough flour once it comes together to form a ball and is neither sticky nor dry.

4. Kneading time! Knead your bread until it's smooth, soft, and springy to the touch. For a denser bread, shorten the kneading time. If you want a very fluffy bread, knead for ten minutes or longer (or until you are bored). You now have a bread baby!

5. Put the bread baby in a large, greased bowl. Make sure the bread baby is nicely oiled so it doesn't dry out. Let the bread baby rise in the bowl covered with a clean dish towel, preferably in a warm place.

6. Allow the bread baby to double in size. Cut it in two and form the dough into two loaves in greased loaf pans. Cover the pans and let the bread proof for about an hour, or until it has risen slightly above the edge of the pan.

7. Bake the loaves at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 40 minutes, or until the loaves make a hollow sound when tapped. Place them on cooling racks and enjoy! I chose to drizzle mine with honey.




Peace, love, and honey oat bread,

Morgan

Rosemary Garlic Rolls

And now, for something completely different...a savory recipe!

I really love sweet breads, but sometimes savory really hits the spot. I've decided to experiment with some rosemary olive bread recipes. However, I decided to try adding garlic instead of olives because olives really turn some people off. Given an olive loaf, Mar and I would eat the whole thing in 10 seconds flat. So, this is really just a way of making sure we don't load up on carbs this week :]




Ingredients

- 1 cup warm milk
- 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 1 teaspoon sugar or honey
- 1 tablespoon olive oil, plus extra for brushing and coating
- a few cups of flour (I think I ended up using 4 or so), plus extra for kneading
- 2-3 teaspoons salt
- a couple tablespoons of garlic
- a couple tablespoons of dried rosemary (if you use fresh, use more)

1. Stir the milk, yeast, and yeast food (i.e., your sweetener) in a large bowl. Wait a couple of minutes until the yeast starts to bubble and froth.

2. Add the olive oil. Stir in the flour, cup by cup, until the dough comes together and is slightly sticky, but not wet. You will most likely need to use your hands to mix the dough after the second or third cup of flour.

3. Knead your dough on a clean, lightly floured surface. The dough should combine to be smooth and springy to the touch. Form the dough into a bread baby (a nice ball), coat it generously with olive oil, and place it into a clean bowl to rise. The bread baby should be loosely covered with a clean dishcloth and should rise for about an hour, or until it essentially doubles in size.

4. Near the end of the rising, mince the garlic. If you want, chop a half cup of kalamata olives, too. I chose to leave them out because 2 of my roommates aren't the biggest fans of them. Once the bread baby has doubled in size, knead in the garlic, rosemary, and optional olives. Grease a 16-muffin muffin tin with olive oil. Cut the bread baby into 16 equal pieces, roll them into individual balls, and place them into the greased muffin tins. Cover the tins and allow the dough to proof for an hour.

5. Brush the rolls with olive oil. Bake them in a 350 degree oven for 20-25 minutes, or until they are golden brown. Enjoy them with olive oil or butter as a savory snack, or use them to wipe up pasta sauce!




Peace, love, and cute little rolls,

Morgan

Smitten Kitchen's Crispy Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Mar and Kels baked cookies last night, so I decided to take pictures. They're not exactly bread, but they're delicious! Check out the recipe at http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/03/crispy-chewy-chocolate-chip-cookies. These are honestly the best chocolate chip cookies I've ever tasted.





Peace, love, and cookies,

Morgan

Cranberry Clementine Chocolate Bread

It is a blizzardy day here in VT! Kels and I decided to make some bread while waiting for Chinese delivery (yes, we're slothy). Here's our recipe for cranberry clementine bread to fight your winter blues. It's essentially a cinnamon raisin bread recipe, but with a different filling.




Cranberry Clementine Chocolate Bread (makes 2 loaves)

For the dough:

- 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
- 2/3 cup warm water
- 1 cup milk
- 1/3 cup honey
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup butter, melted




For the filling:

- a few handfuls of chopped up dark chocolate
- a few handfuls of dried cranberries
- about one tablespoon of orange or clementine zest
- extra melted butter for brushing




1. Put the yeast in a large bowl and add the warm water. Let the yeast sit for 5-10 minutes until it starts to bubble and foam.

2. Add the eggs, milk, honey, salt, and melted butter (make sure it's warm, not hot-- otherwise the yeast will die) to the bowl. Stir to combine.

3. Add flour one cup at a time. The when the dough has taken enough flour, it shouldn't be very sticky, but also shouldn't be very dry. Once the dough becomes too difficult to stir, use your hands.

4. Knead the crap out of your dough! Make sure your surface is clean and lightly floured. Knead until the dough is smooth and springy. Now you have a bread baby!

5. Put the bread baby in a clean bowl and coat it with oil so it doesn't dry out during the rise. Cover the bowl with a clean cloth and let the bread baby rise for about an hour and a half, or until it doubles in size.

6. In the mean time, make the filling. Zest your orange-like fruit of choice, chop up your chocolate, and add cranberries to the mixture.

7. Once the dough has doubled, cut it in half. We decided to make one plain loaf and one cranberry clementine chocolate loaf, but you can put the filling in both loaves if you want. Or, you can make your own filling for the second loaf! Roll out one half of the dough until it's about half an inch thick and rectangular. Brush the surface of the rectangle with melted butter and then spread the filling on top evenly. Roll up the dough so that you make a spiral log and tuck the ends under themselves. Place the loaf seam side down on a buttered loaf pan. Repeat with the other loaf (or just stick it in a loaf pan if it's plain). Brush both loaves with melted butter.

8. Let the loaves proof for about an hour. After they've started to rise above the edge of the pan, place them into a 350 degree oven for 40-45 minutes. When they're done, they should be brown on the top and should have a hollow sound when tapped on the bottom. Let the bread cool, then slice and enjoy with some butter!



This makes an amazing dessert/snack/breakfast bread. It's sinfully good. Give it a try!





Peace, love, and swirly bread,

Morgan and Kelsey

Holla at your Challah

One of my mother's favorite meals is challah. After a long day of work, she sometimes stops by Zarro's counter in Grand Central on her way home and picks one up for the Metro North commute. Once situated on the train, she rips off pieces of the soft, shiny loaf and chews them contentedly while reading a favorite novel (I watched my mom read a lot of Anthony Trollop, Susan Howatch, and Jane Austen on the train as a kid). My mother has done this for as long as I have known her. I was always excited for challah-for-dinner nights when I lived at home because I got the leftovers.



I know what you Jews out there are thinking. "Eating challah when it isn't Shabbat? A Shonda! Yes, challah is a bread for religious occasions. But for me, a heathen raised in Jewish culture, it is one of the best comfort breads out there. I am all for spreading the love of challah far and wide to the goyim. If you've never eaten this fluffy, heavenly bread before, please give this recipe a shot. It's fairly easy as bread recipes go, and it will make your home smell amazing.



This recipe is adapted from Smitten Kitchen's "best challah" recipe (http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/09/best-challah-egg-bread/). She's an amazing food writer, but I like to make my recipes my own, especially when making bread-- the process varies in different environments.



Classic Challah

Ingredients:

- 1 tablespoon dry active yeast
- 1 cup lukewarm water
- 1/4 cup olive oil plus extra for coating the dough
- 1/4 cup honey plus about a tablespoon to feed the yeast
- 4 eggs
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 4-5 cups all purpose, unbleached white flour, plus more for kneading

1. In a large bowl, combine yeast, lukewarm water, and a couple of squirts of honey. Wait a few minutes until the yeast starts foaming/bubbling a bit. You want to make sure that your yeast is alive, well, and gas-producing.

2. Add the oil, honey, eggs, and salt to the bowl with the bubbling yeast. I recommend adding the oil first and then adding the honey with the same measuring cup-- the oil prevents the honey from sticking. Whisk this mixture well.

3. Gradually add the flour and combine well. The mixture will eventually be too difficult to stir with a spoon, so use your hands to bring the dough together. Alternatively, you can use a Kitchenaid Mixer with a dough hook attachment, but I really like getting down and dirty with my dough. The dough is ready once it comes together and isn't very sticky (though it shouldn't be dry).

4. Knead your dough on a well-floured, clean surface. This is the best part of the process! Take your day's frustrations out on your bread-- it's totally cathartic. Once the dough is a smooth springy ball (I like calling the dough at this phase the "bread baby." I don't know why, so don't ask.), place it in a large, clean bowl. Use a little olive oil to coat the bread baby so it doesn't dry out while it rises. Cover the bowl with a clean dishcloth and let the bread baby rise for about an hour, or until it almost doubles in size.

5. Once the bread baby doubles, punch it down to release the gases the yeast is producing. Cover the bowl again and let it rise for another 30-45 minutes.

6. If you decide you want a sweeter challah, knead in some raisins or currants (about a 1/2 cup). Divide the dough into 3 equal balls and roll them out into cylinders of relatively equal diameters. Put the dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. On one end, pinch the cylinders together and braid them just like you would braid hair. At the end of the braid, pinch the dough together and smooth it out. Coat the loaf with eggwash. Let the bread "proof" (rise again) for about 30 minutes to an hour. At some point during the proof, preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

7. Once the bread has risen considerably, coat it with a second coat of eggwash. If you decide you want poppy or sesame seed challah, sprinkle some of your preferred seed on the top of the loaf. Stick it in the center of the hot oven for 30-40 minutes. When the bread is done, it should give a hollow sound when tapped gently on its underside.

8. Let the bread cool before slicing and serve with butter. When it gets a little stale, make Challah french toast (the best way to make delicious french toast!).

I know this bread is meant to be served on Shabbat and the high holidays, but it's delicious for breakfast, tea, and midnight snacking. And, if Zarro's bakes it daily, why shouldn't you bake challah whenever you want?

Let me know if you have any questions about the recipe!

Peace, love, and challah,

Morgan



P.S.: So this challah exploded a little in the oven. No matter, it will still be delicious. However, for those of you out there concerned with aesthetics, make sure you proof your loaf for long enough. I just got antsy!

Let's see if this works.

Hi all,

I know I have a terrible history of maintaining blogs. Oopsie poopsie. However, I have higher hopes for this blog. I intend on documenting my food adventures--especially my bread baking ones-- in my last semester in Middlebury. Stay tuned for recipes, photos, and stories surrounding my greatest love and obsession: food.

Morgan