Buttermilk Bread

I must admit how pleased I am when my kid says he's hungry and asks for toast with jam and says, "Make sure it's that bread you made!!" I don't really bake much over the summer, and so just yesterday I finally baked off some loaves. I was indifferent to the idea initially, but once the bread came out of the oven it clicked in me as it does every year: oh, this is so worth it! This buttermilk bread recipe came from Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book, which is one of my favorite bread books.

This picture below was my Friday night still life. And the reason why I didn't post yesterday. I'm amazed that now that I have time (my son is in kindergarten--there's so much time now!) I can't get my act together and post everyday. But when he was home with me all the time, somehow I did. I think it's because this blog was all I had to make me feel like a human being, and I kept this space sacred as a place where I could hold onto my identity. Now it's not so pressing, which is nice. So, last night there was warm bread, and some red wine, and a fire going in the wood stove and I thought: you know what? It totally doesn't matter if I throw something up on the blog. And I promptly watched some terrible show on Netflix, then fell asleep. It wasn't heroic, but it felt nice.

Savory Buttermilk Bread Pudding

I've been singing the praises of buttermilk for a while now (see here), and it looks like buttermilk is finally getting it's due. I see it soon getting pantry status, as it is in my house during the winter months. Buttermilk does take a back seat during the warmer months because I don't do as much baking. And just like soups and stews, I get so excited to see it back in rotation after its long absence. So much so, that at the moment I have an over-abundance and have needed to make something every day with it. Which is not that hard: pancakes on Sunday, Irish soda bread on Monday, and this for dinner on Tuesday. This made a lot, so you get leftovers the next day. It would be a great addition to a holiday meal.

The above was a mix of challah rolls and a cheddar-jalepeno sourdough loaf. I love buying day-old bread! The extra cheese and spicy pepper were a good foil to the sweet challah and kale. I think it goes without saying that creativity is welcomed in this dish. Varying the types of bread or vegetables will be a welcome change in your dinners.

If you are serving this as a main dish, you might want to go luxe and drizzle some extra virgin olive oil on top, with some extra fresh cracked pepper, as you plate it up. I served it alongside steamed romanesco broccoli. It was an amazing meal!

Savory Buttermilk Bread Pudding
yields one 3-quart casserole (although I used a 2-qt. and a 1 qt.)

1 large onion, diced
1 large clove garlic, smashed
1 head of kale (red winter kale), de-stemmed and chopped finely
1 teaspoon salt

4 eggs
2 cups buttermilk
1 cup milk

4 ounces of feta
pepper to taste
1/4 cup grated parmesan

Day old bread, cut in 1 inch cubes, about 8 cups (cheddar-jalepeno sourdough and challah rolls)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sauté the onion and garlic in olive oil until golden.
2. Add the kale in large handfuls, mixing to coat with the oil. I like to add a little water to steam the kale down, or if you just washed it, the water clinging to the curls will help this. Add the salt when it has wilted down.
3. In a separate bowl beat the buttermilk, milk and eggs together.
4. With the bread cubes in another separate large bowl, add the hot vegetable mixture and toss gently, adding pepper to taste.
5. Add feta and toss gently.
6. Add egg-milk mixture. Toss gently and let sit for 15 minutes to an hour.
7. Put in a buttered glass or porcelain casserole dish, sprinkle generously with grated cheese and bake in 350 degree oven for about 45-50 minutes, until it has puffed out, has golden edges and feels firm when you gently rest your palm on it.

Duck Prosciutto Bread

In my experimentation with the duck prosciutto, I think this is my favorite thus far. Back in the day (that's about eight years ago) I used to live in NYC, Brooklyn to be exact, and I used to get some really exemplary prosciutto bread. Maybe it was Joe's Busy Corner in Williamsburg, or perhaps it was Caputo's in Carroll Gardens, I really don't remember. But it was chewy bread, with a good crust, studded with prosciutto and cracked black pepper. (You know things are good when they're studded!) Meaty, spicy, salty and chewy bread. That's what makes a girl happy. So, when seeing the duck prosciutto in the fridge the other day, it dawned upon me that I could make prosciutto bread. I can get nice prosciutto, but if I'm laying out the cash for it, I'm having it sliced in see-through slips with nothing else (sounds dirty, doesn't it?). But the duck prosciutto? It's perfect for cubing and stuffing it into dough.

For bread,  I usually use the guidelines for the basic dough in Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. I make it and leave it in the fridge in a large food-grade plastic container, and when I'm ready I can throw together a quick loaf of bread. In this case, today's bread began with a look out the window to see more snow pouring down ceaselessly. An ice storm is due tomorrow. If this meaty bread doesn't cure my winter time ennui, I don't know what will. Maybe those three boxes of wine I have down in the basement. Yes, boxes. Don't knock it!

One loaf I rolled out and sprinkled cubes of prosciutto over it, adding fresh ground black pepper. Then I rolled it back up and pinched the ends. The other one was more focaccia-style. The rolled one steamed the meat, and made the inside all nice and duck-fatty. The focaccia one made the duck get all crispy crackly on the top. I really think the best way to approach would be to start with a new batch of bread, so that when incorporating the flour, you can add the prosciutto, so that the meat and dough cling to each other. But this is certainly not a bad place to start.

Baby Bread Redux

Every week I make at least one loaf of what I call "baby bread." This quick bread is, well, quick, and easy, so a little guy can help. It's also healthy but tasty, with a slight sweetness. It's a perfect snack upon wake up from a nap, or a mid-morning bite after a romp outside. The great thing is the versatility of these breads. The one above was made with pureed sweet potatoes, beets and carrots. The batter was a bright, technicolor pink! I had pressure cooked a small dice of these root vegetables for the little guy, but he decided not to be interested in them. So, I pureed them. Still not interested. Baking them in a bread did the trick, and made the loaf naturally sweet and moist. Like baking with applesauce. I'm sure you could interchange any number of vegetables or fruits and get a satisfactory result.

3 cups of flour (2 cups wheat and 1 cup all purpose)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup buttermilk or yogurt

1 cup vegetable puree (beets, sweet potatoes, carrots, in this case)

1/4 cup agave

Mix wet and add to dry. Bake at 350 degrees for about 50 minutes. I used a square 8x8 inch pan.

Flower interlude: aren't grape hyacinths special? I never planted a one, and they are scattered all over my lawn, probably thanks to the squirrels. They are so intricate! And the neighbors wonder why I don't cut my lawn. There's too many nice things growing in there!

Now here's a sturdy baby bread. Peanut butter bread! Slathered with jelly, this is my kind of snack. I used vanilla sugar, too, so when it was baking it smelled like Reese's Pieces, which I have a thing for. I was going to make peanut butter granola cookies. But I saw via Twitter this from Foodista, an anonymous recipe that I adapted to my tastes and needs. The hook was peanut butter bread with jelly. Of course I was sold. There's the random beauty that is Twitter.

2 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup peanut butter

1/4 cup oil (I wonder if this is even necessary, but did it anyway)

1 cup buttermilk (milk or yogurt would do fine)

2 eggs

In my slapdash fashion, I mixed wet and added to dry, folding the peanut butter in at the end. Bake at 350 for about 50 minutes. I use a square 8x8 inch pan.

Marmalade Quick Bread

When March rolls around and buttermilk goes on sale I always get it. I bake a lot with yogurt, because I always have it on hand for so many uses. I've really got to start making my own. Buttermilk is a little less useful in my household. I hate that I can't drink it straight, for example, but I think some people can or do. Which is repulsive, personally. It's also somewhat expensive, comparatively. But I do love baking with it. So, I've been fiddling around with a few recipes and also keeping in mind the many jars of jelly in the fridge that I have to use in some way. In that spirit, I made Marmalade Bread.

The marmalade I had on deck was a tangerine microwaved version with vanilla that had set a little too firm, and the chunks of peel were like soft candy. I warmed it up a bit so it would mix well in this batter. The resulting bread was a gorgeous yellow, flecked with orange bits and vanilla flecks. It is a lightly sweet bread, fluffy and soft, and perfect for a mid-morning snack. The recipe has only two tablespoons of sugar in it, plus the jam. I didn't feel too bad having a second slice! And either did the baby.

Preheat to 375. Grease a square 8x8 pan.

1 2/3 all purpose flour

2 T sugar

1 t baking powder

1/2 t baking soda

1/2 t salt

1 egg

2/3 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup light olive oil

1/2 to 3/4 cup of jam or marmalade

Mix wet and add to dry. Batter will be sticky. Bake for thirty minutes or until golden brown.

Being Nothingness

I've been feeling rather lackluster lately, and I'm sure it has a lot to do with it being February and all. I gather I'm not the only one who isn't feeling so sparkly. I'm trying to do things that make it better, like baking bread. I think baking bread doesn't just create the illusion of fulfillment, it actually fulfills. And with a loaf of bread this easy and this good, come on, you can't say you don't know how to bake. Do you know how to measure a few ingredients and toss them in a bowl and then wait and hour and a half to bake it for thirty minutes? Of course you do.

Don't you love that old CorningWare? I used to think it was dismal, back when it was ubiquitous. But now I see it and feel its weight, and I think, that's a nice piece of cookware.

Another good thing to do is to bake a nice stack of cookies with some weird chocolate chips.

You could start thinking about spring and the things that grow when all the snow is gone. You could get caught up looking at an onion thinking about the very same thing as you.

You could start thinking: if only I had some soil for you, I would put you right in a little pot. And you could stay with me and grow.

And you could read about Ann's adventures with winter sowing on A Chicken In Every Granny Cart and wonder when you could get that started. Maybe tomorrow? I'm going to use all the seeds I didn't get to last summer...

Some other things I did to cheer me on through the snowy day: made baked beans in the slow cooker and ate them with bread and butter, made a fire and tended it all day, called a friend, stared out the window at the snow with my little boy snuggled against me, and finished a great short story by T.C. Boyle, who I've always liked, and who made me think: that guy isn't afraid of getting better. My new mantra: don't be afraid to get better. It was sort of a sad, quiet story, which most of my favorite stories are, and there was a great line at the end: "She knows it will all be lost, everything we make, everything we love, everything we are." It's out of context, of course, but it felt particularly painful and fitting in the dead of winter when we're quick to forget how easily things grow again. Like a little onion sitting on a cold window sill.

Membrillo and Quince Squares

I finally did it! The last five pounds of quince have been utilized, and I fulfilled my latest obsession of quince paste. I have made quince jelly already, but for some reason membrillo had me a little wary. Every recipe I read had warnings of long periods of time stirring bubbly goo. But I so desired it. How can you not get obsessed over quince fruit, when every time you read about it the author is prompted to go into detail of its illustrious history, its connection to Nostradamus, its heavenly perfume, its ancient mystery. Don't look at me for one of these of well-researched and beautifully written treatises, because you will certainly not find it. But I can direct you to Kevin West's Saving the Seasons (Parts I, II and III) because not only did I mostly follow his recipe for membrillo, but he really lays down the quince law. What I think is most beautiful about his recipe is that he bakes it in the oven at a low temperature, thus taking the fuss work out of it. I let it sit in the oven over the course of a day, forgetting about it, not caring for it, and it came out beautifully.

4 cups of quince puree (from five pounds of quince simmered for an hour, juice reserved for future jelly)

4 cups of sugar

2 tbsp of lemon juice

I chose not to use any aromatics or spices, because I wanted to taste it on its own, but I know next time I will use any of the great recipes I saw, like a plain vanilla bean, or cinnamon and nutmeg, or a more savory style with bay leaves and thyme. They all sound great.

After blending the ingredients in a pot on the stove top until all the sugar dissolved, I poured that mixture into a 13 x 9 pan that was oiled, covered in parchment paper, which was then oiled. (I wasn't taking any chances.) I realized a few hours in that moving to a larger, shallower pan would help, so I did just that. After about five hours (at 225 degrees) I turned off the oven and let it sit over night. The next day I flipped the whole thing (carefully!) and let it sit for another day. This morning I divvied the business up. My bars of membrillo aren't quite as brick-like as many I've seen, both in size and hue, but they are nice little candy bars, and that's just fine for me.

I'm also obsessed with jelly candies, and on reading a book review of a local history of the Dutch settlers gustatory habits, I was piqued by quince squares, a sweet treat back in the early 1700s. I got the book out, but no recipe there! So I just cut up half of the quince paste and dipped them in sugar. I'm sure it's the same exact thing. Aren't they pretty?

Later on we'll have some membrillo with cheese and bread. Isn't it a great little loaf? I love that Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. It's really great to have on hand. Especially when you live in the land of not so good bread. I keep the larger portion in the fridge, which they say makes eight loaves, but no so for this bread eater. I'd say it's more like four loaves.

N.B. You might also want to check out Put Up or Shut Up's Quince Paste using the microwave. Joy of Cooking also has a version of that. Cuts the time up, if you don't have it.

Winter Squash Redux: Bread, Soup and Savory Bread Pudding

Last week I bought a squash, and it's still giving. Soup with a dollop of yogurt and fresh baked bread makes for cozy days in the Hudson Valley winter. Then some savory bread pudding using my old recipe, but I used two cups of stock and one cup of yogurt and no leeks. The cheese sprinkled on top was from a cheese plate left over from Sunday's brunch. Scrumptious!

And then this quick bread which I made to cheer up both me and a friend, as we were both in need of some substantial and healthy, yet a little sweet, treat to pick us up on a gloomy day. This is ever so easy, not too sweet, and packed with good-for-you squash. The crystallized ginger on top was decorative and decadent for such a sturdy bread. I think I might do without it in the future, but it does look pretty!

Sweet Squash Quick Bread

Makes two large loaves. Preheat oven to 350. Have all ingredients at room temperature.

3 cups flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon of pumpkin pie spice

Have these mixed together and ready to go.

In a seperate bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup olive oil and 1 cup sugar

Add 3 beaten eggs. Whisk up fluffy-like.

Add 2 cups of pureed squash.

Add dry to wet in three parts. Beat until smooth. Pour in greased loaf pans. Adorn with crystallized ginger or what have you. Bake for about an hour. Cheer someone up by giving them one loaf and keep the other to yourself!

Baby Bread

This is my favorite quick bread to make for baby. And for me, too! This time we baked it together--thirteen months and he's already baking. I'm so proud. What's great about this bread, aside from being quick, easy and delicious, is that you can play around with the ingredients ad infinitum. I've used all kinds of flours, all kinds of grated fruits and veggies, all kinds of sweeteners. What doesn't change is that I always use yogurt. The recipe is from Bittman's Bitten column, Quick Whole Wheat and Molasses Bread. He goes into the other things you can use besides yogurt. Funny that the first comment is from someone who likes to make this for her toddler. Below is yesterday's take. I added milk because the batter/dough was a tad too dry.

2 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour

1/2 cup fine cornmeal

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1 2/3 cup whole milk yogurt

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup milk

I added wet to dry, put in a greased pan, and baked for almost an hour at 350.

We had it with butter and this year's currant jelly, hot out of the oven. Do you have an easy go to bread?

Oatmeal Bread

The other morning someone forgot to eat their oatmeal, so, unable to throw it out I decided to make bread with it. This was a quick bread, slightly sweetened, with pumpkin pie spices. My oven has been temperamental so it didn't rise as I expected it to. However, it might just be the recipe. It was tasty though, and baby loved it, so it couldn't be all bad. But, be warned.

1 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2/3 cup brown sugar

1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice (cinnamon, ginger, clove, nutmeg)

1 cup cooked oats

1/2 cup oil

2 eggs

1/4 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla

Mix dry ingredients. Mix wet ingredients. Add wet to dry in quick strokes. Bake at 350 for about an hour.

Baby's Zucchini Bread

Remember: I will not make it unless it's easy. I am incredibly lazy. So, this bread is my favorite savory quick bread recipe, taken from Mark Bittman's The Minimalist column in the NY Times. He does a lot of great bread articles/recipes that are for the everyday loaf-er. (Sorry!) 

Anyhoo, I take lots of liberties with the recipe, and it's very forgiving. For this particular bread, I just added finely chopped zucchini and golden raisins. The rest of the ingredients are as follows: wheat flour, cornmeal, brown sugar, salt, baking soda, yogurt. That is it, folks. And in 45 minutes this little number dances out of your oven.