Lemon Loaf Cake

I wasn’t so sure about doing this recipe.  I have to go out of town on business this week and my husband will also be away for a few days. Who is going to eat this?  When I go away, my friend and neighbor helps out with my dogs.  She has a wicked sweet tooth!  I’m sure this loaf will be a big surprise for her when she lets my dogs out the first time!

I decided to follow the recipe with only one addition.  After reading all the comments on the TWD blog, I added the juice of one lemon to give it more lemony flavor.  Boy, am I glad I did.  I don’t think it would have much of a lemon flavor without it.  Even with only one lemon, it’s very mild and delicate tasting.  I really like it!  I am not a huge fan of lemon desserts probably because they are usually too heavy on the lemon, but this is just right. 

One of the best gadgets in my kitchen is a microplane.  I think I have about four different ones.  I used the one especially for grating citrus. It has a bigger surface which allows you to make quick work of a lemon or any other citrus fruit.  Here is a picture of the one I use. 

After assembling all the ingredients, the batter came out looking buttery yellow. You can see the flecks of lemon rind.  This will melt away once the loaf is baked.  

I timed it for 55 minutes, not wanting to bake it too long.  However, when I checked on it after the timer sounded, it needed those extra five minutes to finish baking the center.  It was still a little under cooked when I inserted the toothpick.  After another five minutes…Perfection!!  What a beautiful little loaf. Others thought it was too dry, but when I tasted it, it melted in my mouth and was very moist. 

This recipe can be found on page 252 of Baking with Julia or at this week’s hosts sites, Truc and Michelle

Happy Baking!

Karen

Pizza Rustica

The latest recipe on our blog TWD/Baking with Julia is Pizza Rustica.  For this recipe, I decided I needed a new tool.  For some reason, I never used a pastry mat. I have no idea why I never bought one, but after using it for this recipe; I will never be without one!  In all my years of cooking and baking, I realize the proper tools do make a difference and also make the process so much more enjoyable.   I decided to buy two.  One has the circle sizes so you can accurately determine how big the circle needs to be for your pan.  The other one is a silicone mat similar to Silpat.  I used the one with the layout on it for the Pizza and it worked well.  It did slide a bit but it takes up so much room on my counter, it wasn’t that annoying.  

I used the food processor for the dough.  I have the big daddy Cuisinart with three bowls.  I love this machine.  It makes short work of anything you want to do.  The dough came together pretty fast.  It’s very soft dough, easy to roll but very delicate. It breaks very easily.  Once done, it goes into the refrigerator during preparation of the filling.  I thought that would help, but as soon as you start to work with it, it softens up again.  Luckily, this doesn’t have to be too pretty.  They don’t call it Rustica for nothing! 

I did not deviate from the ingredients in the recipe.  I read a lot of the comments earlier in the week in which my fellow bloggers were talking about changes and additions they were trying with the recipe.  I decided to make it exactly as intended in the book.   I believe I will make this again and at that time I may lend my spin to it.  But for now, I just wanted to try it as is and taste it the way Julia intended.

I mixed all the filling ingredients into a bowl.  The Prosciutto was interesting.  It was so soft, I ended up cutting it with a kitchen shears because using a knife was not getting me the results I wanted and the shears were so much easier.  Again, kitchen tools can make a big difference!

  Once the filling was prepared,  I removed the dough from the frig and proceeded to roll out the bottom of the pie.  If you are expecting  the same texture as a standard run of the mill pie dough, think again!  The eggs make this dough pretty different from any other dough I’ve ever made.  It breaks easily and is very soft.  The color is more yellow-gold than a traditional pie dough.  

The filling is just enough to fill up the pie plate.  I am not a fan of lattice pie tops.  You have to play around with the lattice so everything is woven together.  I think that is a problem with this dough. It breaks so easy when you pick it up to place it on the top.  If you have to move it around, it is very delicate so you have to be careful.  I also didn’t quite get the lattice pattern right.  I realized it after I had all the pieces on top.  I tried to fix a few but gave up when it was too difficult to pick them up to interweave the strips.  

All in all, it was a great recipe. Definitely a keeper! 

Head on over to too the following links to see the recipe.  http://capitalregiondiningblog.blogspot.com/    or   http://tptch.com/

Happy Baking! 

Irish Soda Bread

This week we are making Irish Soda Bread which can be found on page 214 in Baking with Julia.   I decided to make this bread on St. Patrick’s Day as I planned on cooking up a batch of homemade Vegetable Beef Soup and needed something else to go with it.  I also decided to make half the recipe as both I and my husband can’t really eat all this by ourselves.  

Reading through the recipe, I just knew it would be super easy to make.  And it was!  This recipe only requires about 5 minute’s prep time and very little effort.  How many recipes do that!

I did not buy buttermilk as I had my old standby in the refrigerator.  I always keep SACO Cultured Buttermilk Blend on hand for recipes that call for it.  Buttermilk can be hard to find in the grocery store and I usually need a lot less than the quart size you must purchase.  This is a great alternative as it lets you make only what you need. It is very similar to nonfat dry milk.  Here is a picture of the container for reference.

 Once I had the dough mixed, it was quick to shape the loaf and get it in a stoneware pan.  I used a small round one and it fit perfectly.  I slashed the top as described in the recipe and placed it in my oven.  

Because I only make half a loaf, I needed to adjust my cooking time.  I set the timer on my over for 30 minutes just to be safe. If I needed a little more time, it would be easy to add. If you bake it too long, well we all know what happens then!  When the timer went off, I checked on the bread and decided it needed a little longer as it was not quite brown enough for me.  I added another 10 minutes and it was done.  

My husband loved this and it was so moist.  I had a small piece leftover for two days and it still tasted just a good.  I’m not sure why Julia said it would be as hard as a blarney stone because I did not experience that at all.   This recipe is truly a keeper and in the future I will try to be creative and add some additional surprises.  I like the idea of raisins for a sweeter loaf and also the cheese and herbs for a more savory experience.  

Happy Baking!

Karen

Rugelach

Good morning, everyone!

I was not able to complete the Chocolate Truffle tarts last month.  Too much going on.  I started the recipe but didn’t get very far. I decide to freeze the cookie crust for another time.  I will probably finish it this weekend.  

I am happy to report I made the Rugelach. I really haven’t decided if I will make this again.  It’s a great festive occasion sweet which would be great at Christmas. But, while not too difficult, it is a lot of work. There are numerous steps and for busy people this is just not practical to make during the week.

I am a big fan of anything with cream cheese so I really wanted to try this recipe.  I had to improvise.  I forgot about the levkar so I substituted apple butter in its place.   I have to say the cookies taste delicious anyway!  

Big Question! What is everyone doing with all these baked goods?  My husband, bless his heart, has decided to give up sweets for Lent!  I certainly can’t eat all this myself.  My sons are too far away to use as guinea pigs and I think my co-workers are Christmas goodied out.  If I eat all this myself, I will big as big as my house and never make it out alive!  It’s the one thing I did not consider when I started this adventure.  

At least this time, I had no problems with my mixer.  Everything went smoothly except I struggle with rolling out a square. I never can do it properly.  Mine were more like half moons!  

I had no problems with the making the dough itself.  This is the dough right out of the mixer and after shaping. I refrigerated it for a few hours and later Sunday evening, I rolled out the dough into the so called rectangles and filled with all the goodies.   I placed both rolls in my refrigerator to chill overnight.

Since I had to work Monday, I finished off the baking after I got home from work.  This part was pretty easy.  In no time, I had finished cookies.

If you are looking for a fancy treat to serve for a special occasion, this recipe from Baking with Julia, by Julia Child would be a good choice.  Just allow two days to go through all the preparation.  It can be found on page 325-327  of her aforementioned book. 

Happy Baking!

White Loaves

Good morning, all!   I truly enjoyed baking bread using Julia’s recipe.  It’s quite different than the one I’ve used for years.   At my weekly grocery shopping trip, I made sure to buy a fresh jar of yeast. The one in my frig was a few months old.  I didn’t want to take any chances!  Yeast can be temperamental when it gets old.  

I can be a messy cook.  I’m usually a pretty organized person but with cooking or baking, I tend to do it on the fly.  I’m inclined to modify recipes, too.  This penchant I have for modifying recipes is automatic. I hardly know I’m doing it until after it’s done.  I needed to follow this recipe to the letter so I suppressed the urge even while processing the modifications in my head.   

I pulled out my container I use dough as well as all the other ingredients for White Loaves from the cookbook Baking with Julia by Julia Child and Dorie Greenspan.  My next step was to ready the Kitchen Aid mixer.  Now, I haven’t been baking much lately.  Since it takes up so much counter space, I put it away some time ago in the lower portion of my buffet.  I forgot how heavy it is!  It’s got a home on the counter again because I don’t want to be moving it back and forth for all this baking.   The recipe is pretty simple really.  I decided to bake the bread after church on a Sunday.  I really can’t do too much baking during the week.  I am gone from 6:30 in the morning to almost 6 PM every weekday.  By the time I get home, I don’t have enough energy to bake cookies let alone bread!  I placed the butter on my counter to soften while I was gone so I could be ready to go when I returned from church.  

Now, it’s been some time since I used the mixer.  I can truly say I have never mixed bread in the Kitchen Aid.  I guess I’ve been old school.  Most of my bread, I mix by hand and turn out on a floured board to knead.  I was really interested to see what the machine could do.  It would certainly save a lot of time and energy.   I wasn’t sure I could knead the loaves properly anyway.  My right wrist has been giving me problems and the thought of 15 minutes of kneading was not fun.   I attached the dough hook and placed the proper ingredients in the bowl according to the directions then turned the mixer on very low.  Flour all over the kitchen was not an option!  Since it had to mix for 10 minutes, miss smarty pants though she could multitask.  Boy was I wrong!  I looked away from the mixer for about 30 seconds to prepare a pan on the stove for lunch.  I heard this loud bang!  It was the mixer dangling off the edge of the counter, still running!  It had walked off!  The sheer force from the motor moving through the dough had allowed the mixer to travel all the way to the edge of my counter.  The plug pulled out from the wall which cut off the power.  My model has a pin the connects the head (which houses the motor and all the main working parts) from the cast iron stand.  The pin worked its way loose and the head disconnected from the stand. I just stood there looking at it in shock!  Once I got my wits about me, I ran over to pick it up wondering how I was going to get this thing back together.  Actually, it wasn’t that hard.  The dough was still in the bowl as it had not fallen on the floor.  I picked up the top first then the base.  The pin had fallen on my kitchen floor but at that time I was not aware it as missing.  I examined the mixer wondering how in the world I was going to put this back together.  

 I looked it over and realized that the pin existed and the top portion needed to align with the base using the holes where the pin should go.  I looked on the counter and finally on the floor and found it in front of my dishwasher. I spent the next few minutes trying to line up the two sections.   Once it was back together, I used my meat mallet to pound the pin back in completely and I was back in business. My only concern was whether the mixer would work!  I turned it on and I was good to go.  After breathing a heavy sigh of relief, I continued with the kneading for a few more minutes and never took my eyes off the mixer again!  I did not mix it the entire amount of time called for in the recipe.  As you will see later, it turned out wonderfully without mixing a full eight minutes.  As long as the bread is smooth and elastic, you will have a good loaf.  After letting it rise about 1 hour, it looked magnificent!  Here is a picture:

I always use either ceramic or stoneware for bread.  I find it helps create a great crust which makes an excellent loaf.  I am using here an Emile Henry loaf pan and a Bialetti Stoneware 9 by 5 loaf pan.

After allowing to rise again for another 60 minutes, here are both loaves before I placed them in the oven.  Clearly, one loaf is slightly larger than the other but that could be the pan.  My Emile Henry pan is a little smaller than the Bialetti.

Another new experience for me was using a thermometer to take the temperature of a loaf to confirm doneness.  I was always taught to knock on the loaf with your knuckle to hear a sort of thump.  Now, I know that is not scientific or terribly professional but it worked most of the time.  Using the thermometer was a real eye opener.  It was so much more precise and I truly believed I got a much better loaf.  The other thing I never knew was to let it rest.  In the past when I baked bread, I could barely get it out of the oven before my husband Joe had a bread knife in hand waiting expectantly for me to take it out of the pan. He loves hot, fresh bread.  I was lucky this day. He wasn’t home!  Now I know to keep his hands off it until it cools.  The loaves were beautiful!  Here is my finished product.

This crust is beautifully crunchy with a soft center and the taste is simply wonderful.  Slather some butter and go to town!  I will definitely make this bread again.  

Happy Cooking!  Karen

Veggie Meatballs

This weekend, I've been cooking quite a few things.   My work schedule makes it almost impossible during the week so I try to make up for that on Saturday and Sunday.  It was snowing yesterday morning which definitely called for some Chicken Corn Soup.  I never follow a recipe so it's my own creation.  I wanted to make the first recipe in Baking with Julia to go with the soup, but I ran out of time. As we all know, baking bread can take some time! I had another recipe I was anxious to try.  My husband and I are trying to cut down on red meat.  A few years ago, I was on a vegetarian diet.  We explored a lot of other ways to get protein and really like the veggie meatballs you can buy from various companies.  The one kicker- boy are they expensive!  I found a recipe using lentils and sauteed vegetable that seemed pretty good.  Of course I modified to suit myself. I just can't seem to leave a recipe alone!  It's a habit I've acquired over 40 odd years of cooking.  In this case, I used my Cuisinart to process all the ingredients into a smoother consistency. I also used my cookie scoop to get the same shape.  I plan on using them in Spaghetti sauce one night this week.  I made so many that I froze over 40 of them for future meals.  When you compute the cost of buying just 20 at the store for over $5.00, I may almost 70 for less than $2.00.  Here is a picture of the finished product.

I finally got to make the bread on Sunday but I will wait until Feb 7 to blog about that. It started out as quite an adventure with an almost kitchen disaster!  Just suffice it to say, do not turn your back on your  mixer when mixing bread dough! 

Happy Baking!

Karen