Bread

I'm starting out the new year as a real baker! I have finally learned how to bake bread! For Thanksgiving I volunteered to make rolls so I could get in some more practice; and I baked my very first successful batch of dinner rolls, they were delicious. I went on to bake my very first loaf of bread successfully. There are some very important elements I had to learn to finally produce a great loaf of bread.

First of all it is important to add the right amount of water, depending on the weather and humidity of your location the amount of water you'll need varies. Second, you have to kneed bread until it is soft and smooth, enough to activate the glutten and aerate the dough. Third, you must not let the bread raise too much during the first sitting; otherwise, the yeast will eat up all the sugar and you won't have enough left for the second raise.

What really helped me to learn all of these key components; and how to make bread, was good ol' King Arthur Flour and the recipe for Soft White Dinner Rolls. These dinner rolls are wonderful tasty and simple to make, and I do make them from time to time.

Amazing how some simple understanding can make all the difference! Knowledge really is power! Now I have homemade bread in my own home whenever I feel like baking. What a blessing it is!

Innovative Inspiration for my Kitchen

Last month I became a Pampered Chef consultant and I bet you can't guess the reason.. ;) Yep, now I get to talk about food and kitchen tools to lots of people in person! In addition, I get to grow my own kitchen supplies and try out even more new recipes and techniques. If I make any money at it, that's just bonus, I really just want the opportunity to talk with other people about cooking!
I have been really enjoying my new Season's Best cookbook and New Consultant recipe cards. I made Strawberry Amaretto Pastries, Mini Chocolate Tiramisu Cakes (with Coffee substituted), Taffy Apple Tartlets, Caramel-Banana Ravioli and Three-Cheese Garden Pizza so far. All sounds delectable and fattening doesn't it? I love that these recipes are made in small portions and when I make them I get to share them with a group of people. I've also found that I can freeze a few and they keep just great until I need a treat to serve some other day!
Another thing I've really enjoyed is that the Pampered Chef recipes are so versitale they are great for putting my own twist on. For example, after making the Three-Cheese Garden Pizza I thought, "Gee, that pizza would probably be great with chicken on it." One thought led to another and I ended up making a delicious Barbeque Chicken Pizza for dinner the next week!
Here's how I did it; first I oiled my baking stone, rolled out some homemade pizza crust, basted it with a mixture of oil and fresh pressed garlic, and smoothed on a somewhat generous helping of my favorite barbeque sauce to the edges of the dough. Over the sauce, I spread some chicken I had pan fried in coconut oil and chopped into bite size squares, and topped it with some shedded mozzerella cheese and crumbled 3-4 fresh crisp bacon strips on top.(Not too crisp because the baking will make it even crunchier.) Baked at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes. It was delicious with a great big helping of garden salad and ranch dressing! Are you hungry yet? Good! Make it, it's easy and you'll love it! ;)

How about some Chocolate Cake!

My sister-in-law's birthday was last month and I volunteered to make her cake. She loves chocolate so I tried making Julia's Le Marquis (Chocolate Spongecake.) It was not the best chocolate cake I ever had so I ended up buying and making a chocoalate cake mix last minute. The ganache from Julia's Kitchen Wisdom is super dark chocolate, and I over overcooked the spongecake so it was too dry and tuff. *sigh* It's probably a good cake when someone makes it right. Oh well, you win some, you loose some. The Betty Crocker Chocolate cake mix turned out moist and soft and decadent with Pillsbury Fudge Frosting on it. A ready mix saved the night!
Pity my Le Marquis was literally a bitter disappointment; although, it does look pretty don't you think?
The chocolate spongecake is levened with egg whites so I imagine if made right this cake would be light and fluffy. I will have to try again!

Junior's Cheesecake

My husband is a New York Style Cheesecake buff. If we go to the cheesecake factory he will only order the plain cheesecake every time. I have made a fair amount of cheesecake being the amateur cook I am, some have been excellent and some have been a bitter disappointment.

In January my husband watched a segment on the food network and then advised me to buy a Junior's Cheesecake Cookbook. After researching it a bit I discovered I would need an 8-9" Spring form pan to make the cheesecake that had been featured and caught my husband's interest. I ordered the pan and cookbook online and they arrived about a week before Valentines Day. Guess what I made my husband for Valentine's Day. The best cheesecake there has ever been! Junior's Cheesecake is smooth and light and rich and beyond delicious. It was by far the best cheesecake I have ever had the pleasure of eating and it needed no topping. There is a slightly lemony sponge cake for a crust instead of graham crackers and the cheesecake is wrapped in foil and steamed in the oven and then cools overnight. I cut the cake and froze half of it, because I knew we'd either eat the whole thing, or we would leave most of it to go to waste and neither scenario would be healthy. We ate half of that cheesecake in 2-3 days and then defrosted the other half (which kept perfectly when I followed the storing directions given in the book.) about two weeks later and finished it off.

Thank you Junior's Cheesecake for sharing your delectable secrets!

Dear Reader, if you ever by any cookbook in your life, buy this book and make this cheesecake yourself, it's worth every penny and all the effort! You will be the new Cheesecake Queen my friend!

Poached Fish and Hollandaise

I finally had the chance to make a hollandaise sauce! Last month I decided to poach some fish and serve it with hollandaise sauce and vegetables for dinner one night. It was my first time poaching fish as well as making the sauce.
I don't like to cook with wine because I don't drink it, and what will I do with it after I've used what I needed to cook with! So I substituted white grape juice for white wine in the poached fish recipe. First I caramelized shallots in butter in a oven proof skillet. After arranging the sole evenly over the onions, I poured on the sparkling white grape juice, let it simmer a while then covered it all with buttered parchment paper and set it in the oven to finish cooking. I have to say I loved the poached fish part but the Dover sole I had chosen for the project was pretty bitter and I think I'd choose a real "sole" next time or an entirely different kind of fish.
The hollandaise sauce was shockingly a cinch to make! I have no idea why I should have been so intimidated by it before. It requires a lot of stirring and I think I would be more stingy with the lemon juice next time I make it. For the purpose of the fish I made the hollandaise into a Sauce Chantilly (made with whipped cream.) and enjoyed every bite except for the bitter after-taste the chosen fish emitted. As a whole I consider the experience a success and thank Julia Child for showing me how easy it is to make Hollandaise Sauce and how delicious poached fish can be. I am looking forward to learning to make an omelet her way and grace it with another batch of hollandaise. Mmm.

Bread Making

I am sorry to say I have neglected this blog because I have been too busy working, and because all this thinking about food is making me fatter and fatter. I have, however, been endeavoring to learn how to make a good loaf of sandwich bread. So far I have made two loaves that fell during the baking process. The first loaf I thought was too wet, but may have fallen because I allowed it to raise too long. Then, because I thought the first loaf was too wet, I made the second loaf too dry and it did not raise enough. Bread winning has taken on a whole new meaning, but I am determined to prevail. Although both of my efforts ended in dumpy loaves the flavor and texture were very good, and so I will recommend the recipe I used for sandwich bread here. I did make some pretty yummy peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with my first loaf which held together beautifully. King Arthur Flour has many delicious recipes and another recipe I tried for soup was so delicious it is going into my own recipe book for frequent use.

Sauces

The next chapter is on sauces. Sauces are essential to french cooking, so I have learned. Take a nice omelet, add hollandaise sauce and viola! Something simple and and nice becomes something delectable and savorable. My experience was with meatballs.
My husband and I wanted to have Swedish meatballs unfortunately I had no recipe to go by, but the Swedish meatballs that I've had have always had a sweet brown sauce. So I turned to my Julia Child Cookbook. I learned a sauce consists of a few important components: a good roux, hot liquid, enrichment's and time. The most delicate sauces are cooked for 2 hours or as long as a whole day! The roux is made with fat (or butter) and flour. No more than 3 Tbsp of flour per cup of liquid for a thick sauce. For a good sauce I had to first cook the roux for several minutes (little bubbles) this step is key because if I didn't cook the roux long enough it would make the sauce pasty and raw tasting. Next I stirred in the beef stock and other seasonings, and let it simmer for a few minutes to thicken to the desired consistency. Adding butter or cream to enrich the sauce a few minutes before serving.
I dumped the hot meatballs into the sauce and served them spilling over the edge of mashed potatoes with salad on the side. It was delicious and I was impressed with how simple it was to make such a top notch sauce.
Sauces come in many forms, there are marinara sauces, brown sauces, white sauces, and gravy. I look forward to making hollandaise and Mayonnaise.