Kitchen Fail ~ Part 7

We really like breads, all kinds of breads.   

I wanted try my hand Focaccia and went to work on that the other week. 

I didn’t even safe the recipe that I used, because it came out so dense and chewy. 

I’m pretty sure it was cook-error not the recipe.  I know better when it comes to making bread, the humidity in your home plays a big part on the water to flour ratio.  I know that I simply used too much flour. 

Well, there’s always next time.

Cook or bake, for your family!

And as always … if you could, hit that ‘like’ button, leave a comment below maybe just to say ALOHA; subscribe to my blog if you like what you’re reading and get an email when a new post has been uploaded. 

MAHALO! 

Apple Crumble Coffee Cake ala Chef John

I know that I’ve posted a few of the Coffee Cakes that I’ve made, but I must tell you that this Apple version from Chef John on AllRecipes.com is da boom!

I had bought this tube pan from King Arthur Baking Company® awhiles back, washed it, put it away and promptly forgot all about it! 😀

While I was watching Chef John’s You Tube video for this recipe, I remembered that I had that super cool pan.

💡

Since he’s already posted his recipe, I’ll just link the recipe here.

• 

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YUM!

The change that I made was I used Fuji Apples `cuz that’s what I had. Two other subs were Pecans for Walnuts and Sour Cream for the Yogurt, again, that’s what I had.

I hope you’ll try Chef John’s recipe soon and please let me know what your family thinks of this fabulous cake.

Remember, a recipe is simply someone else’s idea, take it and make it your own.

… and if you could, hit that ‘like’ button, leave a comment below maybe just to say ALOHA; subscribe to my blog if you like what you’re reading and get an email when a new post has been uploaded.

MAHALO!

Never Have I Ever Made ~ #5

Scones.

I really do not care for them, but my Mother loves them! I did some research and it seems that this brand of packaged Scones Mix is quite highly rated.

I found this at a gourmet market, I can’t remember where, but I thought we’d give it a shot.

I made my own Lemon Glaze out of 1/3 of a cup of Powdered Sugar and a scant tablespoon of Lemon Juice, nice addition.

I served these warm with softened Butter and my Homemade Meyer Lemon Curd. Mom was in piggy-heaven. 

For myself, I liken Scones to the American Drop Biscuits, a bit too dry for me, even with all the toppin’s.

In any case …

Cook for your family!

… and if you could, hit that ‘like’ button, leave a comment below maybe just to say ALOHA; subscribe to my blog if you like what you’re reading and get an email when a new post has been uploaded.

MAHALO!

Never Have I Ever Made ~ #1 … Dinner Rolls

For real!
I’ve never made, from scratch, Dinner Rolls. Yeah, I’ve baked all sorts of stuff, but not this. My mind was
BLOWN

I know I’ve told you all that I belong to this Food Forum that’s pretty cool, well, I saw this recipe, more like the photo grabbed me first, and MAN!
I simple had to try this myself.

 

S&P’s Cast Iron Skillet Rolls

makes 16 small or 8 large Rolls

1/4 C. Beer (any type will do, I drink Trader Joe’s Dark Beer, MMM)
5 tsp. Sugar
1 envelope Dry Active Yeast
1 C. warm Water
1 tsp. Salt
2 1/2 – 3 1/2 C. All Purpose Flour
Oil, whatever you have, just to coat the mixing bowl
about 2 Tbsp. melted Butter, divided or to taste
approx. 1/2 tsp. Sea Salt, or to taste

In the bowl of a Stand Mixer, bloom the Yeast with the Sugar and warm Water. Add the Beer and Salt; start the mixer with the Dough Hook attached, on the lowest speed and slowly add the Flour, just enough to form a ball and come away from the sides of the bowl.
Knead the dough on setting #2 for 10 minutes.
Lift up the ball of dough and coat the bowl with Oil, replace the dough ball and turn over to coat that too. Cover the ball of dough directly with a piece of plastic wrap, this will ensure that a skin does not form. Place the bowl in a draft-free place to rise, until doubled in size.
Preheat your oven to 375°
Turn the dough out on to a floured surface and divide into either 8 or 16 balls. Place them into a lightly greased 10 inch Cast Iron Skillet. Lightly brush the tops with melted butter and allow to rise again for 20 minutes.
Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden brown.
Remove the pan, carefully, to a cooling rack and brush the tops of the Rolls with MORE melted Butter and sprinkle with Sea Salt.

We enjoyed our CI Skillet Rolls with a lovely Chef salad.

And the next morning, split and toasted for Breakfast.

Cook for your family !!

Freshly Baked, Homemade Apple Pie From Frozen

Yup, that’s what we’re talkin’ about today.  Homemade, from scratch, fresh Apple Pie and then we’re going to freeze them, unbaked!  for later.

I’ve showed you my version of Apple Pie before, super easy to do, and WAY better than using that ready-made canned stuff. 

Well, for some reason, we have not been able to finish a whole Pie before it goes South.

I put my brain to the task of figuring this conundrum out

💡

I bought these mini Pie Tins awhiles back.  Why can’t I make up four Mini Apple Pies and freeze them individually, unbaked ?  I did a few internet searches and this is what I devised.

One recipe of my Apple Crostata aka Apple Pie, will make 4 of these Mini Pies.

If you put the Mini Pies, unbaked, into the deep freeze on a sheet pan, you’re virtually doing an IQF.  ⭐

Once they’re frozen solid, usually over night will do it, simply wrap each Pie, still in their Pie Tins, in some heavy-duty foil, then into a gallon sized freezer zip-top bag that you of course have marked with the date and content.

Now, whenever you want a freshly baked Mini Apple Pie, here’s what you do:

Preheat the oven to 450°

Place any number of your still frozen solid Mini Apple Pies in their tins on a lined sheet pan

Bake for 20 minutes

Reduce the heat to 375° and bake another 20-30 minutes or until golden brown.

And Bob’s your uncle!

I didn’t even have to put any foil around the edge of the crust, it’s gorgeous and mighty tasty, even if I do say so myself.  😎

 

 

Homemade Everything Bread

On my adventure to the soon to be closed Cost Plus World Market in our area, I found this

Hmmm, “& More” eh?  Let’s try it on homemade Bread.

I started out by making King Arthur Flour’s recipe for No Knead Bread.

I think that I’ve made this recipe a coupla times now, it’s easy and delicious.  I like to park the dough in the `fridge for 4-5 days to develop flavor.

I wanted to share a loaf with each of my Neighborhood Gal Pal’s to see what they thought of this version.

I have a Bakers Stone that lives permanently in my oven for Pizza, so why not Bread too?  Best to bake the Bread in twos.

Oh so pretty! But what about the taste?

Meh, neither DH nor I were fans.  The Gal Pals and their hubbies all liked it!

Happy Birthday To ME!!!

 

Yup!  I’m a July baby.  AND I make my own Birthday cake, every year!

Homemade No Knead Crusty White Bread

Since the World fell off it’s axis back in, what was it March, I think, anyways … since then, it has been nearly impossible to find Dry Active or Instant Yeast, let alone any Wheat Flour!

WELL!

I may have made mention that my Pal Carolyn from up the street a ways, gifted me some Yeast and I did find two 5 pound bags of All-Purpose Flour, YAY!!

 

 

I already made one batch of No Knead Dutch Oven Bread with the recipe that Carolyn gave me, adapted for High Altitude, now let’s make KAF No Knead Crusty White Bread, shall we?

 

 

This recipe made me 4 decent sized baguettes, not bad.  But oops, can you see the two loaves to the left there?  I didn’t make deep enough slashes in the dough prior to baking round one on my Baking Stone.

 

 

But look how gorgeous this came out!  I’m very pleased with the results.

 

 

YUM!

 

 

I shared three of the loaves with the Neighbors, along with a jar of homemade Fresh Strawberry Jam that I tried my hand at.  I mean what goes better with Bread than Jam and Butter?

Share your food everyone.

 

Speaking Of Homemade Bread …

One of the Neighborhood Gals recently gave me a loaf of her most delicious Homemade Bread! I asked her for the recipe and she very generously not only printed that out for me but also gave me some sorely needed Active Dry Yeast!
Have you tried to find Yeast in the markets lately? 

JEEZ!

Now that we live at almost 5000 feet in elevation, you need to make adjustments to baked goods. My pal was kind enough to even add those instructions!

Carolyn’s No Knead Dutch Oven Bread

makes one 1 1/1 pound loaf

1/4 tsp. Active Dry Yeast
1 1/2 C. warm Water
3 C. All Purpose Flour (plus more for dusting)
1 1/2 tsp. Salt

In a large bowl add the Water and Yeast, stir to dissolve.
Add in the Flour and Salt and stir until well blended.
This is a VERY sticky dough, don’t worry.

I used this, a Dough Whisk, also referred to as a “Danish dough whisk” or “brodpisker”.  It worked like a charm on this wet, sticky dough!

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or as I used a Shower Cap that I sprayed with Vegetable Oil. Let rise in a warm place for at least 8 hours or up 18.

Turn the dough out on to a floured work surface; using a bench scrape, I gently turned the dough into itself a coupla times, covered it loosely with plastic wrap and let it rest for 15 minutes.

Generously Flour a Tea Towel. Using your Bench scraper and enough Flour so that the dough doesn’t stick to everything, shape the dough into a ball and place it seam side down on the Tea Towel. Cover with another Towel and let rise for 1-2 hours or until doubled in size.

At least 20 minutes before the dough is ready to go into the oven, heat the oven to 475° with a heavy covered 6-8 quart Dutch Oven in it, either Cast Iron, Enamel, Pyrex or Ceramic. I had cut a piece of Parchment Paper to fit prior to doing so, just to make the transfer of the dough ball to the pot easier.
Once ready, carefully remove the Dutch Oven from the oven and remove the lid. Gently slide your hand under the Tea Towel and with that Parchment Paper on the top of the loaf, turn everything over so as the seam side is now on top. Place the Parchment Paper filled with the dough into the Dutch Oven and give it a shake to distribute the dough.
Cover with the lid and bake for 30 minutes.
Remove the lid and bake for an additional 15-20 minutes or until gorgeously brown.

Remove the Bread to a rack and cool for at least 1 hour before slicing.

** For elevations above 3000 feet use:
3 1/4 C. All Purpose Flour
2 tsp. Salt
1/4 tsp. Active Dry Yeast
1 3/4 C. warm Water

and follow instructions as above.

When I took the Bread out of the Oven, I turned it over and tapped with my knuckle on the bottom of the Loaf, it had a wonderful “hallow” sound to it, saying that it was perfectly baked.  Also, as it was cooling, you could hear some lovely, tiny crackling sounds, the sure sign of nicely crisped crust on the outside… YUM!!

Let’s Make Some Bread!

Originally, I posted this back in March of 2019 and really haven’t made too much bread since.
Dunno why, both DH and I love it, so let’s do it again!

 

Back in the day, I would make fresh bread often.  For some reason, I stopped doing so, probably because I didn’t have that kind of time to devote to the process.  Now that I’m retired,

Let’s make some bread!

I made a full batch of King Arthur Flour No-Knead Crusty White Bread, and got 4 nice sized loaves for us two.

Very yummy!

I left the dough to sit in the refrigerator for 4 days for the first round and then 6 days the second round.  We liked the 4 day dough better in flavor.

I think we’ll be making fresh bread more often 😀