FINALLY!  I got back in the kitchen and made some bread!  It feels like ages.  I have been away the last two (three?) weekends and just couldn’t wait till this weekend to get back into it.  I have been doing more cooking than the blog suggests, but it takes more than i have these days to post every good thing i eat.  Maybe this weekend i will get around to retro-posting some highlights.

This was not a good recipe to choose to make during the week after work.  Especially not while making dinner, trying to bike on the trainer for an hour, and getting up at 6 to run before work the next morning.  I think the bread came out pretty well, but I sacrificed the run.

My experience of this bread was ruined from the start by the perfectly delicious Panettone that I ate last Christmas.  It was my first ever panettone experience.  One of our consultants shelled out hundreds of dollars to ship us (us = the architecture firm i was working in) – a REAL Milanese Panettone.  Despite it’s massive size, the crumb was as airy like a croissant with a perfect distribution of candied fruits and nuts.

My first panettone probably weighed 20 lbs. and I can only imagine that it had baked for hours.  My petit panettone on the other hand, took roughly 40 minutes.   I checked at 20, 25, and 30 waiting for the tops to be golden brown, and i think 40 minutes was a bit too long and dried them out too much.  The big one (below) took about 1:20 and seems just right (texture-wise, i know it isn’t pretty).  I don’t have a thermometer for it yet, but I know my oven is on the cool side.    I was VERY glad i chose to use my mixer for the whole kneading process on this one.  It was sticky, tacky dough (I may have been heavy handed with the rum) and i would have added too much flour had i kneaded by hand.

This bread in particular has made me appreciate the amount of quality control that goes into professional baking.  To make this bread come out consistently good WHILE making a profit on the effort must be a real challenge.

Yum, yum – dim sum!  I have been craving these since going grocery shopping down in China Town last week.  I was first introduced to red bean pastries by a friend in college, and have gotten sporadic cravings ever since.  I used sweetened, canned red bean paste for the filling, but have seen recipes to make your own red bean paste online.

• 1/2 C lukewarm water
• 1/2 T granulated yeast
• 1/2 T salt
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/4 C honey
• 1 stick butter, melted
• 2 1/2 C  all purpose flour
• egg wash (a bit of beaten egg with 1 t water)

1. Mix yeast, salt, eggs, honey and melted butter with water in a bowl.
2. Mix in the flour without kneading using a wooden spoon or your hands.
3. Cover and allow to rest at room temperature until dough rises and collapses, approx 2 hours.
4. Dust the dough with flour and then shape into a ball. Divide into 8 equal portions.
5. Shape each portion into a ball, flatten into a circle and add 1 tbs of red bean paste at the center. Fold over and re-shape into a ball. Repeat with the rest of the rolls.
6. Allow to rest for 1 hour and 20 minutes.
7. Preheat oven to 350F.  Using a pastry brush, gently brush the top of the crust with egg wash, sprinkle with black sesame seeds.
8. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until golden brown.
9. Cool on a wire rack.

These were sooo good!  I was worried that they would come out too carrot-y, but they were GREAT!  Next time i would consider adding whole or ground flax seeds, and more carrots and oats.

• 1 1/4 C all purpose flour
• 1/2 C brown sugar
• 2 C oats
• 2 C grated carrots
• 3/4 C raisins
• 1/2 C unsweetened applesauce (no oil!)
• 1 egg
  
• 1 t cinnamon
• 1/4 t nutmeg
  
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1/2 t salt

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.  Mix together egg, applesauce, and sugar in a large bowl.  Combine flour, baking soda, and spices in another bowl.
2. Stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients then add carrots, raisins, and oats.  (add more oats as needed)
3. Bake for 12-14 minutes in preheated oven, or until cooked through.  Eat immediately!
   

BBA #23

This might be my favorite bread yet!  I guess it’s easy to think that when you’re eating a warm slice of it and memories of breads past fade away.  I have always really liked the semolina loaf at Whole Foods, and this recipe produced a very similar (though maybe more attractive) loaf.

I was warned by Paul of Yumarama that the final loaf (as prescribed by the recipe) does not come out looking like the photograph in the book, maybe due to a lack of glazing.  So I decided to experiment.  Of the three loafs produced by this recipe, I glazed one with an egg wash, one with olive oil (photo above), and left the last one plain.  I sprinkled both the egg wash and plain breads with black sesame seeds.  After baking for about 45 minutes (I think  there is something wrong with my oven!)  the difference was clear.  Based on my results, I think the loaf photographed for the book was glazed with olive or some other oil.

Check out more process photos on FLICKR.

]]> http://twoskinnyjenkins.wordpress.com/2009/10/13/091013-pane-siciliano-bba-23/feed/ 5 twoskinnyjenkins Pane Siciliano http://twoskinnyjenkins.wordpress.com/2009/10/12/09101-butternut-suash-soup/ http://twoskinnyjenkins.wordpress.com/2009/10/12/09101-butternut-suash-soup/#comments Tue, 13 Oct 2009 01:14:28 +0000 twoskinnyjenkins http://twoskinnyjenkins.wordpress.com/?p=1053 ]]>

This was one of my first ’specialties’.  It is a really healthy soup and made with one of my all time favorite vegetables; butternut squash.  Depending on how much you blend it, it can come out silky, creamy smooth or slightly chunky and brothy.  Tonight I served it topped with toasted pumpkin seeds and with a side beet salad with a dill-garlic-yogurt dressing.  AND a slice of Pane Siciliano – BBA Challenge #23 – blog post on that coming soon!

• 1 medium (2lb) butternut squash
  
• 2 small potatoes, cut into cubes
  
• 1 medium onion, diced
  
• 2 carrots, chopped
  
• 32 oz. chicken broth or stock
  
• salt and pepper to taste

1. cut squash in half, remove seeds, and bake  at 375 F for 1 hour
   
2. brown all veggies (including baked squash) in a large pot for 5 min.
   
3. add stock/ broth and simmer for 40 min over low heat
   
4. blend with immersion blender until smooth (or regular blender)
   
5. add salt and pepper to taste and serve! (good with a dollop of sour cream or plain yogurt)

It REALLY feels like fall now here in Boston.  It dawned on me today that i have been donning my fall wardrobe all week long!

Now that i am back to working hard, I am cooking quicker meals (when i do cook).  Tonight was breakfast for dinner.  These turned out to be the best pancakes that we have ever had.

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups milk (I used 1 C buttermilk and 1/2 C regular)
  
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons vinegar

1. Preheat oven to 250F.  Mix dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl.
2. Mix egg, milk, pumpkin puree, and vinegar in a large bowl.  Stir dry ingredients into the large bowl, just until combined.  You may want to add a bit more milk at this point.  Mine was looking very thick so I added about 2 T.
   
3. Pour 1/3 C batter a time into a buttered skillet over medium heat. Be careful while flipping these – they are fragile and have a tendency to wrinkle.
4. Keep the finished pancakes warm in the preheated oven.
   

This is my first experience with the ‘Bread of the Month‘ (BOM) group on Facebook.  Based on this experience, it will not be my last. This pumpkin gingerbread was so easy and good!  And festive!

• 3 C sugar (that’s right)
• 1 C canola oil
• 4 eggs
• 2/3 C water
• 15 oz. canned pumpkin puree
• 2 t ginger
• 1 t allspice
• 1 t cinnamon
  
• 1 t ground cloves
• 3 1/2 C all purpose flour
• 2 t baking soda
• 1 1/2 t salt
• 1/2 t baking powder
• 1/2 C chopped walnuts (optional)
  

1. combine oil, sugar, and eggs in a large bowl and mix until smooth. Add water, stir in water, then pumpkin, then spices.
2. Combine flour, baking soda, powder, and salt in a medium bowl.
   
3. Stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients just until they are mixed through.
   
4. Pour into greased (spray oiled) loaf pan + muffin tin, sprinkle with chopped walnuts if desired, and bake until a cooked all the way through – about 50 min. for muffins, 70 minutes for the loaf.

To celebrate my new job, Joe and i were going to go out for Ethiopian.  After my first excursion to the grocery store since ‘the accident’ my ankle was not feeling very good.  Plus the fact that it had been raining all day, made it tempting to stay home.   So I decided to make it myself instead.  Joe bought the Injera at a place called South End Food Emporium, just a few blocks from the Prudential Center in downtown Boston.  It felt pretty good to get back in the kitchen.  Now that I have a pretty demanding job, it’s hard to find the time to get into cooking during the week.  Also, my ankle has healed to the point that i don’t mind standing in the kitchen for a while (especially if i get something as yummy as this afterward).

1. Yataklete Kilkil (Vegetable Stew)

• 6 new potatoes, peeled and cut into 1″ cubes
• 5-6 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/4″ discs
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 T chopped ginger
• 1 T niter kebbeh or butter
  
• 1 t ground cardamom (I used 6 whole pods)
• 1 C vegetable broth
• 1 t fenugreek
• 1 1/2 t tumeric

1. combine carrots and potatoes in a large pot, cover with water, add 2 t salt and bring to a boil. Boil the vegetables for 20 minutes or until fully cooked. Drain, set aside.
2. Puree onion, ginger, and garlic in a blender or food processor.
   
3. Add onion puree to pot with butter, fenugreek, and tumeric (or nitter kebbeh) and saute for 5 minutes (do not brown).
4. Add cardamom pods (or ground) and stir a few minutes more.  Add vegetables, 1 C broth, stir, and simmer for 20 minutes.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Keep on low heat while preparing the other dishes.  This stew only gets better as it sits.
   

2. Yemiser W’et (Spicy Lentils)

• 1 C red lentils
• 3 C water
• 1 C onions, finely chopped
• 1 large clove garlic, finely minced or pressed
• 1/4 C niter kebbeh (or 5 T butter)
• 2 T berbere (this is a tad spicy – but not as spicy as takeout)
• 1 t ground cumin
• 1 T sweet paprika
• 2 C tomatoes, finely chopped
• 1/4 C tomato paste
• 1 C vegetable broth
• 1 C grean peas (fresh or frozen)
• 1 t fenugreek
• 1 t tumeric
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Bring water to a boil and simmer lentils until soft – about 15 minutes. Drain and set aside. This should yield approx. 3 C lentils.
2. Meanwhile, saute garlic and onion in niter kebbeh or butter in a large saucepan until translucent, but not brown.  If you are not using niter kebbeh, I advise adding 1 t fenugreek and 1 t tumeric to mimic the spiced butter.
   
3. Add the spices and continue cooking for a couple minutes until fragrant.
   
4. Add the tomatoes, paste, lentils, broth, and peas (if desired) to the saucepan and simmer (stirring every couple minutes to keep from sticking) until it is sufficiently thickened to eat with injera (about 30 minutes).

3. Gomen (Collard Greens)

• 2 big bunches collard greens
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 T niter kebbeh or 3 T butter (i’m sure they use about 6 T in restaurants)
• Salt and pepper to taste

1. wash collards, drain, and trim stalks from leaves.  chop the stalks into 1/4″ pieces and coarsely chop the leaves.
   
2. saute garlic and onion in niter kebbeh (or butter + 1 t fenugreek + 1 t tumeric) until soft.
   
3. Add the stalks to the pot and saute until softening, about 10 minutes.  Then add the leaves and cook until soft and dark, about 20 minutes.  Stir every couple minutes to keep from browning on the bottom.
   

BBA #22

These loaves were fun to shape!  Little did I know, this was to be my last bread for a little while.  After hurting my ankle a week ago, I took a bit of a break from baking.  Then i came back to bake this bread (I had been enticed by the photograph in the Bread Baker’s Apprentice).  Now I have started a new job and it looks like i am not going to have any time to bake or cook.  Today I worked 13 hours.  C’est la vie d’un architecte!  This is soon to become a Crock Pot themed blog!  I’ll be making meals on the weekend for the rest of the week.  It could be gross, or it could be exciting uncharted culinary territory!

This recipe was straightforward.  I used rye flour to makes these loaves (1/3 C) and can only slightly taste it.  I can only bake one loaf at a time in my oven (and i only have one baking sheet) so the two smaller ones spent a lot of extra time proofing in a couche (hence the light coating of flour on those two).  Even though i found this bread less interesting than the Pain a L’Ancienne or Ciabatta, Joe liked it and it made some really good…

bruschetta:

I just seeded and diced a tomato and mixed it up with balsamic, basil, salt, red pepper flakes, and a pinch of fresh ground black pepper.  I toasted the 1/4″ slices of Pain on both sides using the oven broiler, topped with the tomato mixture, then a tiny bit of cheese.  I broiled them again for just a couple minutes with the rack on the top oven shelf.  Total cooking/ prep time: about 10 minutes.  Can’t beat fresh tomatoes!

Check out more photos (plus tips) on FLICKR!

I. Cannot. Sit. Still.  I have become hypersensitive to my body since ‘the accident’, though Joe would tell you that i have always been this way.  My bruised (?) ankle recovery rate thus far does not bode well for the marathon in three weeks.  AAAHHH.

This was my first venture back into the kitchen since the accident. Maybe I went a little crazy, but I had a good time.  As a note, the pumpkin photographed immediately below is not done.  It needed another 15 minutes after this shot was taken, but at that point I was ready to eat and not taking any more pictures.  It was good!  And the spiced pumpkin seeds I made after this were pretty tasty too!  I served the soup with some wheat rosemary olive focaccia.  See that recipe below.

Pumpkin Soup in a Pumpkin

• 1 5 lb. pumpkin, w/ stem
• 5 T butter
• salt
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 1 C fresh white breadcrumbs, toasted
• 1/2 t ground nutmeg
• 1/2 t ground sage
• ground black pepper
• 1/2 C grated swiss (all i had was cheddar) cheese
• 3 C chicken stock (I used bullion cubes)
• 2 bay leaves

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Clean pumpkin inside and out, cutting a 4″ diameter hole for the lid.  Set the seeds aside
2. Melt 4 T butter in a medium skillet and saute onions for 10 minutes over medium heat.  Add breadcrumbs, nutmeg, and sage, and cook 2 more minutes.  Remove from heat and add cheese.
3. Rub remaining 1 T butter (softened) on the inside of the pumpkin.   Scoop onion mixture into the pumpkin, then fill with chicken stock to within 1/2″ of the rim.  Add bay leaves.
   
4. Bake pumpkin for 1 1/2 hours, or until outside is browning and pumpkin flesh is soft.
   
5. Before serving, use a long handled metal spoon to scrape the insides of the pumpkin and mix the flesh in with the soup.  Serve.
   

Quick Focaccia

• 5 C flour (I used 2 C bread, 2 C all purpose, and 1 C whole wheat)
• 2 1/2 t yeast
  
• 1 2/3 C warm water
• 1/4 C olive oil
  
• dried rosemary
• 1/3 C chopped olives
• sea salt

1. Stir together 1 2/3 C lukewarm (105 to 115°F) water and yeast in bowl of mixer and let stand until creamy, about 5 minutes. Add 5 C flour, 1/4 C oil, and 2 1/2 teaspoons table salt and beat with paddle attachment at medium speed until a dough forms. Replace paddle with dough hook and knead dough at high speed (woohoo!) until soft, smooth, and sticky, 3 to 4 minutes.
2. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead in 1 to 2 tablespoons more flour. Knead dough 1 minute (it will still be slightly sticky), then transfer to a lightly oiled bowl and turn dough to coat with oil. Let rise, covered with plastic wrap, at warm room temperature, until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
3. Press dough evenly onto a spray oiled and salted (optional- but good) baking sheet. Let dough rise, covered completely with a kitchen towel, until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
4. Preheat oven to 425°F.
5. Make shallow indentations in the dough with your fingertips.  Gently brush or spray with olive oil.  Sprinkle with rosemary, olives, and sea salt and bake in middle of oven until golden, 20 to 25 minutes.