Archives for July 2007
Sunday dinner’s finest
See those dinner rolls. They look light, rich, and fluffy…and you’re right, they are. I bet you wish you could make rolls like that…but maybe you think you can’t. Because although everyone loves freshly baked bread, somehow, somewhere, a hideous untruth was started and continues to this very day. That untruth is the notion that it’s difficult and time consuming to make bread, particularly dinner rolls. I don’t know who is responsible for this lie, but I suspect it was a well meaning pastry chef who wanted to keep everyone else out of his domain. Well, let me tell you I am just the woman to expose the real truth…and in 3 easy steps. You ask “but what will this truth cost me?”. Not a penny my friend…okay…how about your undying devotion. Geesh! No one wants anything for free anymore!
Vanessa’s Sweet, Sweet Sunday Dinner Rolls (in 3 easy steps)
1 stick of sweet butter, melted
2 cups milk (whole, 2%, 1%, or skim…whatever, it all works fine)
1 egg
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon yeast
1 cup of whole wheat white flour or 1 cup flour
3 to 4 cups flour
Step One (begin in the morning)
Melt one stick of sweet butter. Add to the melted butter 2 cups of milk, 1 egg, 2 tablespoons sugar, 2 teaspoons salt. Pour all of this into the bowl of your stand mixer that is fitted with the paddle attachment. Add 1 tablespoon yeast and one cup whole wheat white flour or just plain old white flour. Turn the mixer on to a medium speed and let it mix for 3 minutes. After the three minutes scrap the mixer bowl down and turn it on to a low speed. Begin gradually adding white flour by the cup, pausing between cups to allow the mixer to incorporate the flour into the dough. You should be adding 3 to 4 cups depending upon the weather.
Once the dough clears the bowl and spins freely in the bowl you will want to stop the mixer and feel the dough. If it still sticks to your hands you can knock it off the paddle and add more flour…but go easy because you don’t want the dough to be too dry…it should just barely cling to your hand. Once it’s at the right consistency you should switch from the paddle to the bread hook. let the bread hook work the dough for at least 7 minutes. Once the time is up, stop the mixer, move the dough to a oiled work bowl, flip the dough about a bit in the bowl to get the top side oiled and then cover it with saran and put it in the refrigerator.
For most of the day you should feel free to absolutely ignore it. If you feel so inclined you can poke at it, or if it’ll make you feel better you can actually take it out of the refrigerator, punch it down and then put it back in…but you don’t have to.
Step Two (1.5 hours before you wish to eat dinner)
Remove the dough from the refrigerator and toss it out onto a counter lightly dusted with flour. Give it a few punches and roll it about a bit to deflate it. Walk away from it for ten minutes.
When you return divide the dough into two equal pieces and begin to roll it and shape it with your hands into a long cylinder of dough. Once you complete one move on to the other, letting the first one rest. Don’t fret about the actual shape or anything other than just trying to create a log of dough that is about 15 inches long. The cut the logs into piece about 1.5 to 2 inches wide. Arrange these pieces on parchment covered cookie sheets. Place a clean dish towel on top of each sheet and walk away for another 20 to 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 425F.
Step Three (you’re only a few minutes from eating these tasty morsels, can you believe it?)
With a sharp paring knife you will slit each roll with a shallow gash. Then slide one sheet of rolls in the oven. I have a convection oven and it takes about 12 minutes so I think 15 would suffice for other ovens. However, you actually set the timer for 8 minutes and then you keep a close eye on them thereafter. When they’re golden brown they’re done. Take them out, dump them on to a cooling rack and bake the second sheet.
You’re done! Now wasn’t that easy. No muss, no fuss, and most of all no fretting or worrying about whether you’re doin it right or not…just believe that you are!
Make these pancakes…please!
Holler, over at Tinned Tomatoes writes a blog that is an all around fun read. She tagged me a few weeks ago for the 8 meme so here it goes:
- I have absolutely no understanding of why people make pancakes from a mix…it boggles my mind! The other day I saw a woman standing in front of the display of pancake mixes and I so wanted to sidle up to her and very quietly, and persuasively, convert her away from the dark side. Fortunately Alex was with me and reigned me in…but still…I might have made a difference.
- The public school here teaches my children to make biscuits from the tube. When I was a kid we called them whump biscuits…because you have to whump ‘em on the counter to get them open. Once the school stooped that low they lost all credibility with me.
- I’m aware that I can be rather harsh in my thinking about what constitutes “real” food.
- I adore dark chocolate M&Ms. I like them frozen and I really enjoy the experience of crushing them, individually, between my teeth…it just hits all my buttons. Yes, I know they come from the dark side…but they’re so good.
- Jon Stewart often makes me laugh so hard that I snort.
- Chocolate ganache is the baking equivalent of bacon. Anything you add it to will be enhanced.
- My favorite movies so far this year are 300, Hot Fuzz, and Children of Men.
- I love to read British police procedurals by Reginald Hill and Ruth Rendell.
Those are red currant pancakes in the photo. I think they may be the most perfect addition to a pancake. Their tart zing is the perfect foil to the round sweetness of the maple syrup. Here’s my pancake recipe.
Pancakes - with or without red currants
3 tablespoons of butter, melted
1 cup of milk or 1/2 and 1/2 (I use 1/2 and 1/2)
1 egg, beaten
1 cup flour
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
red currants or blueberries or bananas
Melt the butter. Add the milk or 1/2 and 1/2, and the egg to the butter. Stir well. Add the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Mix well but don’t overstir…it’ll be lumpy.
Heat your griddle or pan up on a medium flame. Add some butter and swirl it around to provide some lubrication. Add 1/3 cup of the batter for each cake and then top it off with the red currants…smooth the batter over the tops of the currants a bit. Flip the cakes when they are puffy and bubbly. Cook the other side until brown. Repeat until the batter is used up.
I use an offset spatula to smooth the batter over the currants…its a smooth/dunk action. By doing it this way you can make some with currants, some plain, and some with bananas or chocolate chips…that way everyone is happy. Enjoy.
Farmers’ Market Porn…burgers, tomatoes, and cherries…oh my!
On Saturday morning Alex and I got up early and headed for the Westside Farmers’ Market in Madison. I knew that there might be tomatoes, sweet corn, and sour cherries so I was antsy to get there early and not miss out on the good stuff. I wasn’t disappointed. WoooHooo…that is one perfect burger. Just looking a the photo makes me hungry. It’s made with ground beef from Jordandal Farm, lettuce and slices of succulent Brandywine tomato, and red onion all from the FM. Yes, you can envy my burger…but don’t hate me for it.
These tomatoes look like fiery jewels. They’re a little bigger than a golf ball and when sliced into wedges and served with Dreamfarm’s Rosebud goat cheese they make for a sweet, zesty flavor explosion. I love them.
I’ve never had gooseberries before and I’m so glad I got them…so far I love them on cereal, in muffins (see below), and eaten as is out of hand. They’re tart with a hint of sweetness. I think I like the red ones best but the green ones are so pretty. Who knew they could be so good. These were grown by the great folks at JenEhr Farm.
These glistening, shiny, seductive orbs of cherrilicous goodness are Balaton Sour Cherries. Once I got back home with my precious ones I whipped up my usual galette dough recipe and stuck it in the refrigerator to chill. A few hours later I seeded the cherries using a partially unbent paper clip, added 1/2 cup of sugar, 4 tablespoons cornstarch, and a teaspoon of vanilla. Once that was all stirred up it became apparent to me that my typical flat galette was going to have no chance in hell of holding in the juicy goodness that these cherries were going to dish out. So I quickly buttered my cast iron skillet, rolled out the dough, and gently rested it in the buttery pan. I added the cherries using a slotted spoon because my research showed that it wasn’t feasible to keep all that juice. I folded in the edges as usual, brushed them with water and sprinkled them with sugar and then I baked it at 400F for 35 minutes.
This was the finest, freshest, most flavorful cherry pie I’ve ever had. The cherry flavor was so intense and appealing and the crust was crisp and tender. I wish I had another piece right now but it disappeared in record time. Cooking it in the skillet was a perfect solution and I’m sure that I’ll use that technique again when I have sloppy fruit for pie.
Finally we have the red currants grown by the JenEhr Farm. I bought these because they were so beautiful but now I’m not sure what to do with them…any suggestions dear readers?
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