{Let them eat….} Onion Herb Rolls

A few weeks back Kayte found several bread recipes from King Arthur Flour she wanted to bake and asked several of us on TWITTER to join in. Naturally, I said YES!! I love making different types of bread. More than that, I like EATING different types of bread. Fortunately, so does B. These rolls were no exception.

KAF Herb and Onion Rolls.

I made them just as suggested as cloverleaf rolls. I wanted them for dinner that night. I honestly didn’t think B would like these (because they contain herbes de Provence), but as usual he surprised me. Now I wish I had made more than just four.

All those little pieces of herb – delicious!

What makes these different is the use of potato water which makes them nice and soft. I made sure to make potato salad just so I would have the potato water. I will definitely make these again, but probably as sandwich rolls, like Kayte did.

3 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1 ¼ teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon sugar
2 ½ teaspoons instant yeast
2 tablespoons minced dried onion
1 teaspoon herbes de Provence
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup lukewarm potato cooking water (water in which potatoes have been boiled)*

1) Combine all of the ingredients, and knead to make a smooth, soft dough. Use your hands, a mixer, or a bread machine set on the dough cycle. The dough will be quite sticky, and probably won’t clear the sides of the bowl; that’s OK. It’ll firm up a bit as it rises.

2) Cover the dough, and let it rise for 60 to 90 minutes, until it’s almost doubled in size.

3) Gently deflate the dough. Decide what shape and quantity of rolls you want to make: divide the dough into 24 pieces (for small rolls); 16 pieces (for medium rolls); 12 pieces (for large rolls), or 36 pieces (for cloverleaf rolls).

4) For large stand-alone rolls: Shape the 12 pieces of dough into rounds, and space a couple of inches apart on a parchment-lined or lightly greased baking sheet.

5) For medium pull-apart rolls: Shape the 16 pieces of dough into rounds, and place in two lightly greased 8″ round cake pans.

6) For small pull-apart rolls: Shape the 24 pieces of dough into rounds, and place in a lightly greased 9″ x 13″ pan, in six rows of four.

7) For cloverleaf rolls: Shape the 36 pieces of dough into rounds. Place 3 rounds into the bottom of each cup of a standard-size, 12-cup muffin pan.

8) Cover the pan(s), and let the rolls rise for about 90 minutes, until they’re puffy. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat your oven to 350°F.

9) If you’re topping the rolls with seeds, combine 1 egg white with 1 tablespoon cold water. Gently brush over the tops of the risen rolls, and sprinkle with seeds; the egg wash will keep them in place. If you’re not topping with seeds, brush the rolls with melted butter, if desired; this will help brown their crust, and add buttery flavor.

10) Bake the rolls for 22 to 24 minutes for cloverleafs, or small or medium-sized pull-apart rolls. Bake 25 to 30 minutes for larger rolls. The finished rolls will be a light- to medium-dark brown, depending on what you’ve brushed them with.

11) Remove the rolls from the oven, and brush them with melted butter, if desired; this will give them great flavor, and a satiny finish.

12) Remove the rolls from the pan, and serve warm. Or cool on a rack, wrap tightly, and store at room temperature for several days. Freeze for longer storage.

Yield: 12 to 24 rolls, depending on size.

I made 1/3 of the recipe.

 

{Slow and Steady BBA}Torpedoes and Miche

THIS has been an experience. Baking my way, along with several other friends, through Reinhart’s Bread Baker’s Apprentice. That what I have been for the last 40+ breads, an apprentice. This apprenticeship began in August of 2009 when Nancy suggested we do a small goupr of BBA with just two breads a month rather than weekly. Weekly was just too much bread. I started with the Ciabatta bread, caught up, and last week Kayte and I, well, Kayte, finished the breads. The last two in the book are Potato, Cheddar, and Chive Torpedoes and Roasted Onion and Asiago Miche.

The Torpedoes are made with boiled unpeeled potatoes, slices of cheddar cheese (although I used shredded and it did fine!), and chopped fresh chives. The bread was so chewy, rustic, and delicious.

The tops of the loaves are slashed so that the cheese oozes out onto the tops of the bread. Fresh out of the oven it was wonderful. Grilled for a sandwich it was perfect. Definitely a repeat here.I am glad I made two to begin with. One is safely tucked away in the freezer.

******************************

The Miche was full of Asiago cheese both internally and sprinkled on top before baking. There was also sauteed onions on top {although they may look burnt, they are pleasingly caramelized!!}

This bread was AMAZING!! All the flavor of the cheese and the richness of the bread. It is a three day bread but worth all 72 hours. One day to make the sponge. One day prepare the dough and sautee (or roast) the onions and one day to bake the bread. Did I say how amazing it was?? I only made 1/2 of the recipe and it resulted in a large 11 inch diameter bread.

HUGE!!

You should have been reading the tweets that were being passed back and forth between me, Kayte, and Rebecca. It was as if we were obsessed with bread. Well, of course, we ARE !! So much fun baking with others, even if we are thousands of miles apart!!!!

While Kayte has now finished all the breads in Reinhart’s book I still have 5 to go. Four of them are sourdough and one is the Artos: Greek Celebration Bread. I will get to them. Really, I will!!

If you get a chance visit at Grandma’s Kitchen Table and look at Kayte’s breads. And Rebecca made it with the original group.

Thanks for tagging along on my apprenticeship and thanks to all the other Slow and Steady Bakers for introducing me to such wonderful breads.

 

{Indian NIght} Indian Kabobs with saffron cream sauce

Last week we had another TwitterCook Indian Night. Originally Leslie, Kayte, Abby, Peggy, and I were going to make Indian on Wednesday but as usual life got in the way. Abby and I managed to get the meal done one night, Kayte the next and Leslie the next. Peggy didn’t quite make this one. Next time, Peggy!!

On the menu….

Skewered Barbecued Chicken and Beef Kebabs and Saffron and Cream Sauce

Ingredients:

2 kg (4 lb) leg of lamb, boned {I used chicken breast and round steak}
– Spices –
1 teaspoon crushed garlic
11/2 teaspoons finely grated fresh ginger
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons finely ground almonds
2 tablespoons yoghurt
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cummin
Salt to taste
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Trim lamb, discarding excess fat. Since I used chicken and beef I simply had to cut it all into cubes.} Any sinewy bits may be saved for stock or for adding to a curry. Cut the lean meat into 2.5 cm (1 inch) cubes and put into a large howl.
Combine all the remaining ingredients, mixing well. Marinate meat in the mixture, kneading the spices well into the meat.
Cover and leave for 2 or 3 hours, or refrigerate and leave for as long as 4 days.
Thread 4 or 5 pieces of meat on each skewer and barbecue over glowing coals or under a preheated griller until crisp and brown all over, turning to ensure meat is well cooked.

Besides changing the meat, I also alternated zucchini, grape tomatoes and eggplant cubes with the meat. Except for the eggplant which dried out too much the veggies were a good addition. The chicken was a litle dry, but I wanted to make sure it was done. I used breast meat, but next time will probably use thight meat. Jucier. But it was all good – especially with the delicious

Saffron Cream Sauce.



Ingredients:
Serves: 6
1/8 teaspoon saffron strands {I had some ground Saffron so I used that.}
2 tablespoons boiling water
2 tablespoons blanched pistachios
4 tablespoons blanched almonds
1 tablespoon ghee or butter
3/4 cup cream
1/2 cup milk
– Spices –
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste
1/2 teaspoon white pepper.

Pound saffron in mortar and pestle, then dissolve in the boiling water. Put pistachios and almonds into electric blender and grind finely, or pound with mortar and pestle. Heat the ghee or butter in a small pan and fry the ground nuts, stirring constantly. Add the saffron, cream, milk, cardamom, salt and pepper and simmer, stirring constantly, until sauce is thick. Serve with kebabs.

{Both recipes come from Indian Foods Co.}

The sauce was an excellent ‘dip’ for the kabobs and added a lot of flavor. Just the sauce alone could be used for a number of different dishes. {Or just eaten by the spoonful!}

I am looking forward to our next Virtual Indian Meal. ‘Cause it’s all good.

 

{Bake!}individual coconut cakes

Those are little bites of coconut and lemon. Little Bites!! They are an invention of Nick Malgieri and found on page 134/135 of his newest collection of goodies – Bake!

A mixture of eggwhites, very little flour, sugar and both sweetened and unsweetened coconut. Don’t they look delightful?

Hubs liked. I am still thinking about it. I love coconut. I love lemon. But I’m not sure if I liked them both together in this little cuppy.

Phyl and Kayte and I made them Sunday afternoon. Check out there little cuppys!!!!

 

{Modern Baker} Cinnamon Raisin Breakfast Ring.

A picture is worth a 1000 words!! do I really need to say anything about this one?? No!! It’ll be short and SWEET!!!

This is Malgieri’s Cinnamon Raisin Breakfast Ring from Modern Baker and it is delicious. It is simply a giant cinnamon roll with a twist.

The twist is after filling the rolled dough with sugar/cinnamon and rolling it up the ends are brought around in a circle and joined to form a circle rather than just cutting the filled (pecans. raisins, sugar, butter) dough into individual cinnamon rolls. The rolled, filled dough is then sliced part way to the center about every 1 1/2″. The slices are then twisted up and spirals are formed all around the perimeter of the circle.

And it is huge. That little 10″ circle rose beautifully in the oven and gave me a wonderful cinnamon and pecan filled delight.

The cinnamon Ring is the result of a Rolling Twitterbake with Di and Kayte. Kayte started first. I joined in about an hour later followed by Di who did hers that night. By the time mine was baked Kayte’s had been devoured by her guys. Mine is half gone and I didn’t even have a chance to put the glaze on it first. Did get to glaze the last 1/2 of it. Even better!!

 

{TwitterCook} Murghi Rasedar – Chicken in Fried Onion Sauce

I love cooking with other people. The chit-chat in the kitchen. The cooperative ballet that goes on when 2 or 3 people are wending their way around each other in the kitchen. The rapidity with which the meal builds with so many hands chopping, whisking, blending.

Unless the people you are cooking with are 1000s of miles away. Twittercooking gives you the chance to work ‘together’ in the kitchen. Not much ballet going on there, but plenty of chit-chat. Leslie is in California. Kayte is in Indiana. I’m in Louisiana. But we cook ‘together’ using Jaffrey’s Indian Cooking.

We all love Indian food so what began as an occassional treat is fast becoming a regular night in the kitchen with garam masala, basmati rice, coriander, ginger, naan, tumeric……

This week our menu included Murghi rasedar with Basmati rice, and Carrot & Onion Salad.

What makes this dish unique is the onion sauce. Step one is to fry the onions until they are soft and golden brown. Then mix these with a paste made from onions, ginger, and galic whish is also fried. (Are we sure this isn’t a Southern Dish???) Then the onions are mixed with the browned paste, spices, and yogurt until thickened before adding in the chicken to cook. It made for a delicious sauce. (As hard as I tried I just could not make this photogenic!!)

I didn’t make the salad. I knew no one would like it because of the raw onions, but I know Kayte did and probably Leslie. This is the first time I had made basmati rice. It could very easily become our favorite rice. Wonder if I can buy it in bulk somewhere…..

We aren’t publishing the recipes from Jaffrey’s book, but you can find it on page 93 and the salad on page 217.

While this wasn’t one of my favorites, it was still quite tasty. The flavor did not penetrate into the chicken leaving it rather bland. But the sauce did bring it all together. Next time I think I will slice the chicken up before cooking to get more flavor into the meat. And there will be a next time.

NaBloPoMo Day 29. (Hope I still qualify. I missed two days because of some wonderful 24 hour bug that caught me **sigh**)

 

Cooking with Friends – TwitterCook!!

I have several friends I have never met. We talk. We cook. We bake together. But we have never met. We want to. Someday we will, but for now we have to be satisfied with cooking together on-line. We have Twitter Cooks/Bakes!!!

Last weekend Leslie, Kayte, and I fixed an Indian Feast – Naan, Spicy Cucumber Wedges, and Easy Shrimp Curry (Masala Jhinga).

We just started using Madhur Jaffrey’s Indian Cooking for some regular Indian TwitterCooks. It is a beautiful book with a collection of wonderful curries, beautiful desserts, and delicious sides. The Naan and Spicy Cucumber Wedges (Leslie’s choice) came from the book.

It is an easy recipe and always works for me (Yes, I’ve used this one before.) And it always comes out perfectly. I brushed it with a little garlic butter for extra flavor. The Spicy Cucumber Wedges also came from Indian Cooking. Simply cut a peeled cucumber into wedges and sprinkle with salt, cayenne pepper, black pepper roasted cumin seeds and lemon juice. These little wedges pack a punch. It’s the cayanne pepper and cumin that really bring the flavor.

From New Asian Cuisine we made the Shrimp Curry. The recipe came to my email and I shared it with Kayte and she shared it with Leslie. It was so good. And fairly easy. And it was shrimp!!!

Did I say it was good? I was wrong. It was delicious. It was so much like my favorite curry at a little Indian ‘joint’ in town. Knowing I can achieve the same flavor – FANTASTIC!!! Visit the New Asian Cuisine Site. It is a collection of recipes from different chefs/books. And it is quite a collection. I know Kayte and Leslie enjoyed the curry. And thanks for cooking with me, girls. {P.S. I don’t know when they will post, but visit them anyway!! Always good stuff to cook or bake.}

NaBloPoMo Day 20.

 

Twitter Bake with Sweet Potatoes {SOS}

Fun is defined as trying some new dish in the kitchen. Funner is defined as trying it with friends – even though these friends are MILES away!!! That is what TwitterBakes are all about. Kayte and Phyl decided to make Nick Maglieri’s Old Fashioned Sweet Potato Tart from his newest book – Bake! which they both have copies of and they let me join in.

I have always loved Sweet Potatoes. Eating them instead of a baked potato or making sweet potato fries (baked) or sweet potato bread. So the idea of making a sweet potato tart appealed to me. It is very simple to put together. (Altho’ you will have to buy the book to find out what the recipe is.) At this point don’t think this will be a repeat. The dough was hard to work with. I finally had to press the dough into the pan rather than rolling it out. And the filling was awfully bland. I was rather disappointed. Especially since all the other goodies I have made with Nick’s recipes have been sooooo good.

But I will play with the filling and see in increasing the spices helps. It should.

NaBloPoMo Day 13.

 

“Peared” up with Dorie {TWD}

We have two pear trees in the back ‘yard’. One is a Bartlette and one is a Kieffer. The Bartlette is an eating pear. Sweet and soft. The Kieffer is more of a cooking pear. Firm and sweet. I thought the two trees had quit bearing, but The Hubs told me there were still plenty of Kieffers on the tree. (That was good because I thought I was going to have to make either an Apple torte or a small pear one.) Neither of them look like the pears you see in the grocery store.

The ones in the middle are nice, ripe Kieffers (from the tree). The outside ones are Bosch (from the store). Big difference. In shape and in taste. With the Kieffers in hand I set out to make this week’s TWD Pick:

Fold Over Pear Torte.

Thank you so much, Cakelaw of Laws of the Kitchen for a great fall sweet.

The torte is similar to a rustic galette except instead of being free formed it is baked in a spring form pan. That means, of course, that you can put TONS more fruit in it plus a simple custard. Pears, walnuts, golden raisins, and some dried cranberries for a little color.

The hardest part was wrestling the dough into the springform. I had to patch it in a couple of places, but it all came together and formed a beautiful crust.

I have to tell you – it was DELICIOUS!! Family was over for supper and this was dessert. It was a hit with everyone.

Simple Vanilla ice cream on top gave us a perfect ending to a perfect meal (I can say that since The Hubs had fixed his prize winning BBQ’d chicken.)

This torte was part of a TwitterBake this weekend. Several of us baked it together – virtually. Since I got started a little later than the others I picked up on their tips. so major thanks to Di, Kayte, Nancy, Tracey, and Marthe (who had actually made it a few days before) for making it a fun ‘assignment’.

Visit the other TWD Bakers and see their ‘take’ on this torte. I bet you find some amazing variations. The recipe will be on Cakelaw’s page or in Dorie’s Baking: From My Home to Yours.

 

{CEinMB} Mixed Berry Cobbler

I don’t think there is anything better than cobbler for a quick and tasty dessert. I love making cobbler with fresh fruits – apple, peaches, pears from our trees, strawberries, etc. But if you cannot get fresh then for many cobblers frozen peaches or berries. And this is what Ellie had in store for us this week with Pamela’s pick of

Mixed Berry Cobbler

which was made will all frozen fruit. I had my reservations. I don’t often use frozen for desserts but I need to remember to trust Ellie. It came out deliciously.

Made even better with just a little of Dorie’s

Home Made Vanilla Ice Cream. Topped with a little of the juicy goodies in the cobbler.

While this is healthy with the Whole Wheat Crust on top, I made it just a little better by using Splenda in the berries instead of the sugar (even though it was only 1/4 cup) and in the topping. Actually, I forgot to put the sweetener in the topping, so just sprinkled it over the entire top of the cobbler. It was good!!

I have to admit, I almost forgot the zest too, but Kayte reminded me when she said (we, along with Marthe)were Twitterbaking) she was zesting. So, thanks Kayte, the zest really added to the flavor.

Pam this was a great pick. I will make it often. You can find Ellie’s recipe on FOODTV and it will be on Pam’s site.