I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing Bake!!

BaguettesI love bread. I love bread with butter. I love bread with olive oil  . . . and balsamic vinegar!!  I love bread with cheese.  I love bread with cheese and tomatoes and basil!! I like bread in rolls. I like bread in loaves.  I like to slice it, dice it, rip it and chew it.  I like it as the bookends of my sandwich or as a crusty chunk in my soup. I like it for breakfast, for lunch and for dinner. I like it when I am hungry and even when I am not!!  I like to toast it, soak it, dip it and fry it. Almost any way I can fix it I will try it!!

Bread is an amazing food.  The cultivation of wheat marks the change in man from nomadic to agrarian.  After always being on the hunt or following the herd, Mankind finally settled down in one spot and began the practice of cultivation. Of all the grasses and grains our European forefathers came across wheat became the preferred staple. The ability for wheat and flour to be stored over the non-producing seasons allowed families to provide themselves with calories and nourishment while the next crop grew.  Bread, at that time, was literally the stuff of life.

Bread for me IS the stuff of life.  (That and beer. It must be the yeast that they have in common.)  Recently I purchased new food processor and discovered that it has a setting for Dough.  Being the culinary purist that I am it took about . . . a second . . . for me to think, “Cool! No more kneading.”  For those of you who make, or have made, there own bread you will empathize with my next sentiment.  It takes a lot of work to make a loaf of bread!

Sure we have great recipes available to us and all the ingredients we need are on the shelves of the local grocery store. So why do not we make our breads?  Homemade bread tastes WAY better, in most cases.  Simple answer: (You guessed it.)  Effort. It takes a lot of work to make a loaf of bread.  For a while bread machines were all the craze but honestly . . . who wants to eat a cylindrical loaf of bread.  There is something about those hand wrought loaves that are more appealing.  I even purchased the heavy duty Kitchen Aid mixer with a dough hook so I could bake bread more often.  But I have found that it isn’t strong enough to knead stiff doughs and it stripped a gear with my last effort.

So when I saw how easy it was to use the food processor I jumped at the chance to try it out.  It was very simple with only a few detail points to consider. First, I did not need to proof the yeast. It simply got mixed in with the flour. Second, all of the dry ingredients get mixed in the bowl and the water is slowly drizzled in as the processor . . . processes. The only consideration was measuring the temperature of the flour and water with an instant read thermometer.  I spent five minutes mixing and kneading the dough.  After that, it only took a little forming and some patience. I did find that I needed to schedule my day around the rising periods but in the end the amount of effort expended was well invested as the results were superb!!

There was something very satisfying about having my house smell of freshly baked bread.  I knocked back one of the loaves with tomatoes, mozzarella, basil, olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  Another succumbed to rips and grabs.  The third I wrapped and gifted.  If you find a little extra time one day consider knocking out a loaf . . . the easy way.

Eat Well and Smile Often!!

tj

p.s. Hmm . . . maybe I should try a Ciabatta next??

 

Vive La France! Vive La Crepe! Vive La . . . My Breakfast!?

Crepe Thomas

Mai Oui!! (pronounced in my kitchen, May Weeeeeee!!)

My father was a patient, intelligent, saint of a man and he proved this by making our family pancakes every Sunday morning. His techniques were unique to say the least. I remember one morning he fired up the dual waffle/pancake griddle and began to rub wax paper onto the surface. (Herein lies the genesis of my love for the science of cooking.) “Wax paper,” I asked “shouldn’t you be using butter?” He smiled that knowing, fatherly smile at me. The one that suggested that, even though my, age appropriate, test scores matched his I was still without a clue. Cluelessly I awaited a response.

“The wax is slippery and keeps the pancakes from sticking without using oil.”  My father was a pharmacist and smart as a whip.  When I began to learn about emulsions in culinary school he helped me understand the similarities and differences of oil-in-water suspensions and water-in-oil suspensions. (It’s a volume thing. Evidently size matters here too.)  Anyways, I asked about eating wax to which he replied, “A little wax never hurt anybody.”  My mother raised an eyebrow, we ate the pancakes and the next Sunday he used butter.

Speaking of pancakes, Le French have a pancake of their own: La Crepe.  Thinking of my father, he was half French but never made us crepe, I set to the blender and stove to make this morning’s breakfast: Fresh crepe with Grand Marnier Strawberries and Ricotta cheese. (It’s okay to say Yum out loud.) It was yummy. Now crepes are not difficult, nor are they easy.  They require a medium skill level to prepare and just the right pan.  The great thing is that if you make enough batter you can practice, practice, practice and if you get 2 right, you can eat!

Crepe Batter

1.5 cups                flour, all purpose

1.5 cups                milk, 1%

3                            eggs, whole

3 Tbsp                   butter, melted

Mix all the ingredients in a blender for 30 seconds. Stop mixing and scrape down sides.  Continue mixing for 30 seconds more or until fully blended.  Pour into a jar and let stand covered for at least 1 hour.  This will let the bubbles settle out.

 

Cooking Crepes

1                              sauté pan, 6 – 9”; you may use Teflon it the surface is not marred at all   ¼ cup                    oil

For metal sauté pans:  Pour all of the oil into the pan and place on medium heat for about 3 minutes.  Do NOT walk away from the stove. As the oil starts to shimmer, gently rotate the pan so that the oil begins to coat up the sides of the pan.  Warm for one more minute then remove from the burner and let sit to cool.  (This process opens up the pores in the metal and allows the warm oil to slightly penetrate the pan creating a nonstick surface.) Pour cool oil into a container and set aside.

Warm the pan over medium heat until a drop of water spatters and evaporates immediately.  Pour 1 tablespoon of oil into the warm pan and ladle in enough batter to just coat the bottom. Lift the pan and rotate it to spread the batter up the sides just a bit.  Pour any excess back into the container for a nice thin crepe.  Work the edges gently with a spatula to keep from sticking and after the crepe sets, slide the pan back and forth so that the crepe slips in the pan.  When the edges turn brown flip the crepe with a spatula, cook for about 1 minute then slide onto a paper towel.  Wipe the pan with a clean towel and repeat until batter is finished alternately stacking crepe and paper towel.

The trick is to keep the pan heat just right; neither too hot nor too cool.

If wrapped well these will hold for about a week in the refrigerator or can be frozen.  Allow to warm to room temperature before using.

 

Grand Marnier Strawberries

 

2 dozen                  strawberries, quartered (sliced not fed and bedded.)

4 Tbsp                   sugar, white

4 Tbsp                   Grand Marnier

 

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and let stand at least one hour.

Lay out a crepe. Dollop some Ricotta cheese and spoon some of the strawberries in a line.  Roll the edges over and turnover on to a plate.  Drizzle with the syrup from the strawberries and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serve 2 at a time.

 

Eat Well and Smile Often,

tj

p.s. Let Eataly top that!