What are you baking now?

[Kim_NC]

Hope your sourdough starter works out this time, Sandee. Oh my, that water heater closet episode sounds like a real mess. LOL...do we have a giggling smilie?

SunnyDawn...we dance on the porch in the Summer time while supper is cooking on the outdoor grill. OK...so I need a *kookie smilie* for that one.

We're having kielbasi and homemade sauerkraut for supper. I had opened the sauerkraut to make the pastrami ruebens, so we're finishing the jar, with sautéed zucchini & pecans and fresh egg bread (challah). I'm not sure that kielbasi or sauerkraut qualify as St Patrick's day food...but that's the menu.

edited: because I never see my misspellings and typos until they're posted!

 

[Dragonfly Ranch]

I'm reading a new book by Leda Meredith - "Botany, Ballet & Dinner from Scratch - a Memoir with Recipes". She was a professional ballerina and choreographer and also loved Botany and learned to pick wild greens etc - from her Greek Great Grandmother and Grandmother and has traveled all over the world eating and cooking. Anyway, she has a recipe for Buttermilk Soda Bread that I'm going to try when I get home. No raising or kneading necessary. I'll make sure I charge up the battery in the camera so I can start taking pictures of my successes and messes. Wanted to take one last night of the "Blob" but batteries were not charged.

Kim_NC thanks for posting the pastrami recipe - I sent it to the house so I can watch the video at home. Have been encouraging my husband to try his hand at homemade bacon but he is too busy with new chicken coop so there is no way I want to stop progress on that. Hopefully he'll have the door on one side completed today.

Sandee

 

[SunnyDawn]

Quote:
I may be silly but I just got a wonderful picture in my head of you two dancing in the evening on a welcoming, wide front porch with warm light and with the moths flying lazily around. It sounds lovely!!! Oh and the song playing is "Dream a Little Dream of Me" (although you can't shag to that song

).
If I tell my DH this story he'll be wanting to dance on the front porch too. He's always trying to get me to dance everywhere when a good song comes on (grocery store, restaurant...). Thank you for sharing that story! It's such a great story and it's wonderful to hear that romance is still alive and well!

 

[Kim_NC]

Quote:
I may be silly but I just got a wonderful picture in my head of you two dancing in the evening on a welcoming, wide front porch with warm light and with the moths flying lazily around. It sounds lovely!!! Oh and the song playing is "Dream a Little Dream of Me" (although you can't shag to that song

).
If I tell my DH this story he'll be wanting to dance on the front porch too. He's always trying to get me to dance everywhere when a good song comes on (grocery store, restaurant...). Thank you for sharing that story! It's such a great story and it's wonderful to hear that romance is still alive and well!

Awwhhh, such a nice image you created. But yea, that's about right, although we usually finish cooking before dark at 9:00pm in Summer. Then there are those late night meals....very bad about that during Summer garden season when we want to stay out. We have a small radio that stays plugged in on the porch. Often we turn it on in the mornings and it plays all day/evening until dark when we give it a break overnight.

How sweet that your DH wants to dance anywhere/everywhere!

This week's baking for market...I'm try a new sourdouch recipe called Nutty Fruity Sourdough, uses dried fruits and nuts. Think I'll go with slivered almonds for the nuts. It's supposed to make fabulous toast. We'll see! My new Sourdough Onion was popular enough last week that I decided to expand into more sourdough types. Oh...that reminds me, must go feed my starter so it's ready for recipes tomorrow.

 

[Dragonfly Ranch]

Well, I made the most wonderful bread last night. It was like a giant flaky, airy buttermilk biscuit!!!

Yes, that right folks a double drool and rated a 10 at our house.

I had to force myself not to have more than one slice - due to my diet. I'm making a double batch tonight with sausage gravy and eggs. There goes the diet for sure.

Here is a picture and the recipe. Again, this is from the book I'm reading and exactly as she wrote it.

Kim_NC you should try this one for the market since it is so fast and easy to make. I bet if you handed out samples it would go like hotcakes - no I mean biscuits

Buttermilk Soda Bread

Preheat oven to 375°
Grease a baking sheet or line it with parchment paper or a silpat mat.


1 2/3 cups whole-wheat pastry flour (pastry flour makes this bread more tender. If you can’t get whole-wheat pastry flour, use a mix of half all-purpose and half whole wheat)
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons caraway or anise seeds (optional)
1 egg
2/3 cup buttermilk
¼ cup melted butter, plus 1 more tablespoon reserved for brushing on finished bread
1 tablespoon honey

1. Whisk the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
2. In a bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients
3. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ones. Stir to incorporate the flour. Don’t stir too much though – it’s Okay if there is still a little dry flour here and there, and for this dough lumpy is good. You want the dough to still be soft and sticky, but coherent enough that you can shape it into a loaf. If the dough seems too goopy, add more flour a little at a time. I sometimes need to add as much as another 1/3 cup of additional flour. Some cracks on top are okay and actually make the finished loaf more attractive in a rustic way.
4. Scrape the dough out onto your baking sheet. Shape it into a disk approximately 5 to 6 inches in diameter. Bake 25 to 35 minutes until golden. While still hot, brush with remaining tablespoon of butter. Let cool on a rack.

P.S. Sorry I forgot to mention that I used bread flour (no whole wheat pastry) and NO caraway seeds - I don't dislike many things in the food arena but Caraway seeds are just plain down right GROSS

 

[SunnyDawn]

Quote:
YUM! A double drool recipe!

I can't wait to try this this weekend! I love quick breads. I agree about the caraway seeds, yuk. Think I may throw on some sesame seeds instead.

 

[urban dreamer]

Thank you all so much for the bread recipes. I have made 6 loaves since I first posted and we are down to a half! I told them I am not baking anymore until the pound cake I baked was eaten first (I don't want it to go to waste while they are eating all of my bread). Its half gone now.

LOL Im loving this! And Im learning to can now too so hopfully I will have some fresh jelly to go with that bread soon.

Said it once and I'll say it again: I love this place

 

[SunnyDawn]

Quote:
Congrats! Sounds like the bread was a huge success!

 

[Kim_NC]

Sandee - I'll have to try that Buttermilk Soda Bread. If I can't get to it with today's baking for market, then maybe next week. It's 5:00am. After I finish morning coffee, I'm going to get a head start - whole wheat breads first.

Quote:
You know your bread is good when they leave the sweets behind in favor of eating your bread! And wait until you do have homemade jelly...both will disappear quickly. LOL...enlist help to pick, clean, chop fruits and veggies for canning now. It's tough for one person to do it all for 4 or 6 in the family. And....some of my best memories of childhood and teenage years are of working with mom, grandmother, aunts and cousins picking fruits, shucking corn, snapping beans, etc and filling jars. We always had fun while stocking up for Winter. (Where is that :nostalgia-smilie when you need it???)

 

[Patchesnposies]

Testimonial here for Sandee's Buttermilk Soda Bread! I doubled the recipe yesterday and made a beautiful big loaf for supper. My husband had to run to the feed store after work, but the kids were starving so I went ahead and fed them and did not wait until Papa got home.

They ate the entire double loaf! This recipe is so easy that I was able to whip another one up and was pulling it out of the oven as my DH arrived home.

And, as I just had a piece with my morning coffee, I can also testify that it is just as good the next day!

I can guarantee there won't be any left this afternoon!

Thanks for the recipe Sandee, good stuff!