My Baking Adventures

This weeks choice of recipe comes from my children, Sabrina and Alexander of Cooking With The Kids. They chose Jalapeno Cheddar Cornbread, and may I say, what an excellent selection!

We all love cornbread, and the addition of spicy peppers and cheese just pushes it over the top. It was moist, flavorful and a great addition to the chili that Alexander had made. It was also great the next day, toasted and served with a salad. This would be outstanding with barbecued ribs for a summer cookout. Thanks, kids!

Jalapeno Cheddar Cornbread - Ina Garten

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 cups milk
3 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted, plus extra to grease the pan
8 ounces aged extra-sharp Cheddar, grated, divided
1/3 cup chopped scallions, white and green parts, plus extra for garnish, 3 scallions
3 tablespoons seeded and minced fresh jalapeno peppers

Combine the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, combine the milk, eggs, and butter. With a wooden spoon, stir the wet ingredients into the dry until most of the lumps are dissolved. Don’t overmix! Mix in 2 cups of the grated Cheddar, the scallions and jalapenos, and allow the mixture to sit at room temperature for 20 minutes.Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 by 13 by 2-inch baking pan.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smooth the top, and sprinkle with the remaining grated Cheddar and extra chopped scallions. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool and cut into large squares. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Yes, I know it’s not Tuesday……….but I made these biscuits over a week ago and realized that I never posted them! Like many of the TWD members, I am trying to catch up with the recipes that were made before I joined. What’s funny is that I’ve made quite a few of the recipes in the book that haven’t been chosen yet. But I’ve got 2 years before it’s my turn to select a recipe! Wow, that seems really far away………………

Back to the biscuits. I made them as per the recipe, just left out the pecans. They are very good, with the brown sugar adding quite a bit of flavor. We’re not big biscuit eaters (don’t let the dogs hear that!), so I can’t say I’ll make them again. But I’m glad I tried. These would be good split in half, filled with whipped cream and fruit. Hey - now I know what to do with the biscuits in the freezer!

I saw this recipe for homemade pita bread on Bridget’s blog, The Way The Cookie Crumbles, and since I am not afraid to make yeast-risen recipes anymore, I simply had to try it.

If you have never made pita yourself before, PLEASE DO! I had no idea that it could be so fluffy, so tasty, so remarkably different! Pita was always something you bought at the store! And I was shocked at how easy it was. Of course, I had my mixer doing most of the work. But really, so uncomplicated and so worth the effort.

Since the recipe made 8 pockets, I saved 3 and took the other 5 to the pool party we went to last night. (The same party I took the black and white cookies to). I had made a wonderful Mediterranean salad of orzo, cannellini beans, olives, cucumber, tomatoes (the safe kind), artichoke hearts and green onions. The dressing is olive oil, lemon juice and dried herbs. The suggested accompaniments to this salad (believe it or not) are hummus and pita. Well, how about that!! I’ll have to post the salad recipe with a picture another time because it is a fabulous dish for the summertime.

Here’s the dough, coated with oil and ready for its rising:

But everyone at the party was so surprised that the pita was homemade - and how wonderful it was! I’m glad I stashed some in my freezer - but thanks to Costco and my huge bag of SAF yeast, making these again will be a snap!

Here’s the dough balls waiting to be rolled out:

Here they are ready to go into the oven - I think next time I’ll make them into rounds - almost like a personal pita pocket. Try saying that three times fast.

And for the finale, sitting pretty:

Pita (adapted from Ultimate Bread, by Eric Treuille and Ursula Feriggno)

UB note: The staple bread of the Middle East, called Khubz in Arabic, is more commonly known by its Greek name, Pita, in the west. Its soft, chewy crust, absorbent crumb, and hollow pouch make it the most versatile of breads, ideal to scoop up, dip in, wrap around, or be filled with all manner of food. Best served warm, Pita can be easily reheated: sprinkle lightly with water and warm in the oven. Keep Pita in a sealed plastic bag to prevent dryness.

Bridget note: The only things I’ve changed from the original recipe are adapting it for instant yeast and for a stand mixer.

Makes 8 breads

3½ (17.5 ounces) cups unbleached flour
2 teaspoons instant dry yeast
½ teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1¼ cups water
1 tablespoons olive oil

1. Mix flour, salt, sugar, and yeast in bowl of standing mixer fitted with dough hook. Mix water and olive oil in 1-quart Pyrex liquid measuring cup. Turn machine to low and slowly add liquid. When dough comes together, increase speed to medium (setting number 4 on a KitchenAid mixer) and mix until dough is smooth, supple, and elastic, stopping machine two or three times to scrape dough from hook if necessary, about 10 minutes. Initially, the dough will be quite stiff. It will soften and stretch as you continue kneading. Turn dough onto lightly floured work surface; knead to form smooth, round ball, about 15 seconds. (Alternatively, you can knead by hand for 15 minutes.)

2. Place dough in very lightly oiled bowl, rubbing dough around bowl to lightly coat. Cover bowl with plastic wrap; place in warm oven until dough doubles in size, about 1½ hours.

3. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

4. Divide the dough into 8 pieces. Shape each piece into a smooth ball. Let rest 10 minutes.

5. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out each ball to form an oval, 9 inches long and ¼ inches thick. Cover with a dish towel and proof until slightly risen, about 20 minutes.

6. Dust two baking sheets with flour and preheat in the oven for 5 minutes. Place the dough ovals on the hot baking sheets and return immediately to the oven. Bake for 5 to 10 minutes, until puffy. Wrap in a clean, dry cloth to keep the crusts soft and to prevent drying out.

Thanks Bridget!!

I have been fortunate enough to have several comments from a few TWD visitors advising me to bake up the leftover brioche dough from last weeks round of sticky buns. I kept staring at the dough, thinking, today? No. Next day? No.

However, with my Friday night pizza dough rising, I took the opportunity to let them have a chat and rise side by side. I figured they would cheer each other on and maybe have a competition to see who would rise the highest first.

I found my cute little brioche pans that I bought a few years ago and still haven’t used - so this was the perfect opportunity to break them in.

How cute are these? I set them up next to the pizza dough and left them for several hours. Three hours later they still hadn’t risen very much (the pizza dough clearly won the rising challenge!!) but I forged ahead and baked them anyways.

They looked great, but for some reason, they had that funny yeast smell that comes from the dough not rising enough. Now, my sticky buns didn’t have that problem, so I’m not sure where I went wrong. I thought 3 hours would have been enough time, but maybe I should have left them longer.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

I saw this recipe in the new catalog from Williams Sonoma and I was intrigued by the idea of a slow rising, no knead bread. I am no longer afraid of those little brown cells, so now I am trying to teach Sabrina how to do it. And really, she gets so into it that it’s not hard to have a good time. These are the things I want her to remember when she’s older - you know, “my mom and I used to”…….. And you don’t want to hear them to say, “All mom did was yell at us.” That’s a bad visual.

Back to the bread. After a batch of homemade hot fudge sauce (more about that in another post), we got to work. I stood back and let her scoop, measure, chop and mix. The only part she was cautious about was the lemon zester. My Microplane is so sharp that I didn’t want pieces of her fingers mixed in the bread. That’s definitely not part of the recipe!

Chopping the rosemary - she’s quite confident with her knife skills:

The finished dough - it’s so soft and sticky - not at all what you’re used to!

So we put the bread to rest for 12-18 hours, and waited. By noon the next day, it was ready. I tossed it with some flour, and let it rest again for another 2 hours. Finally, it was time.

She was still in school, but I didn’t want it to sit too long so I preheated the oven, poured the dough into a pretty red Le Creuset, and set the timer. I must admit, I was a little worried about my Le Creuset dutch oven - with the oven at such a high temperature - I was afraid it might crack. Alas, my worries were unfounded.

After the first 30 minutes of baking, I removed the lid and baked the bread for another 15 minutes. It turned golden brown and the house smelled wonderful. I removed it from the oven and tapped the loaf to ensure that it sounded hollow (which it did). I showed it to Sabrina when she got home from school, and she gave me a sly smile and said it looked great.

We cut it open - wow - it was crusty and delicious. I think it was too heavy on the rosemary, but toasted with an olive oil drizzle and perhaps a side of salad and prosciutto, and this bread has it made in the shade. We will definitely make this a regular!!

Please, try this at home!!

Rosemary-Lemon No-Knead Bread

This bread is almost effortless to make because it requires no kneading. Instead, the dough is allowed to slowly rise over a long period of time. Then it is baked in a preheated covered cast-iron pot, which helps produce a crispy, bakery-style crust on the finished loaf.

Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. active dry yeast
1 3/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. chopped fresh rosemary
2 tsp. chopped lemon zest
Cornmeal as needed

Directions:
In a large bowl, combine the flour, yeast, salt, rosemary and zest. Add 1 5/8 cups water and stir until blended; the dough will be shaggy and very sticky. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Let the dough rest at warm room temperature (about 70°F) until the surface is dotted with bubbles, 12 to 18 hours.

Place the dough on a lightly floured work surface. Sprinkle the dough with a little flour and fold the dough over onto itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest for 15 minutes.

Using just enough flour to keep the dough from sticking to the work surface or your fingers, gently and quickly shape the dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel, preferably a flour sack towel (not terry cloth), with cornmeal. Put the dough, seam side down, on the towel and dust with more flour or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise until the dough is more than double in size and does not readily spring back when poked with a finger, about 2 hours.

At least 30 minutes before the dough is ready, put a 2 3/4-quart cast-iron pot in the oven and preheat the oven to 450°F.

Carefully remove the pot from the oven. Slide your hand under the towel and turn the dough over, seam side up, into the pot; it may look like a mess, but that is OK. Shake the pan once or twice if the dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with the lid and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover and continue baking until the loaf is browned, 15 to 30 minutes more.

Transfer the pot to a wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes. Using oven mitts, turn the pot on its side and gently turn the bread; it will release easily. Makes one 1 1/2-lb. loaf.

Adapted from Sullivan Street Bakery (New York City) and Mark Bittman, “The Secret of Great Bread: Let Time Do the Work,” The New York Times, Nov. 8, 2006