Cheese and Herb Happy Bread

I so enjoy the bread baking community. For example, I learned about this bread by hanging out with bread bakers online. The recipe for this bread was contributed by Yuko to the Artisan Bread Bakers Facebook page Bread of the Month (also known as the BOM). Yuko found this bread recipe from Maya's blog, Foodiva's Kitchen. Maya adapted the recipe from Eva Toneva.

What I love most is that Yuko lives in Japan, Maya lives in Borneo, and Eva  originally wrote the recipe in Bulgarian. How cool is that? Eva originally called it Holiday Bread, and Maya renamed it Happy Bread. I'm sticking with that because just looking at it makes me happy. 

I used the dough to make a savory cheese and herb bread. I used a 10 inch cake pan, thinking that it would be large enough to allow the bread to spread. It grew larger than I expected, so it looks more like cinnamon rolls with the outside petals kind of squished. If you want your bread to be more free form, bake it on a baking sheet. 

You can make this bread into sweet rolls, savory rolls, or just bake the dough as is. It's really flexible. 

Food Diva's Kitchen has some excellent demos of how to shape the bread. I don't think I could describe it any better, so check out her blog. 

Parmesan & Thyme Crackers

Imagine a sable cookie...  only it's not a cookie, it's a savory herb butter cracker that is perfect with an aperitif or a glass of white wine before an elegant dinner.

Are you planning a dinner party? These are perfect.

Or.... imagine yourself sitting at a bistro or brasserie in Paris or Aix en Provence with a few friends, a plate of these, and a bottle of champagne. (Be sure to invite me btw)

These crackers would also make an excellent hostess gift. I was able to use some of my home grown thyme... always a win.

Make ahead tip: You can freeze this dough for up to a month and slice and bake the wafers.

Tomato & Tomatillo Salsa

Tomatillos are these tart little tomato-y looking green things with husks. They are not tomatoes, although they are evidently from the tomato family. To me, they taste a little bit like unripe tomatoes dipped in lime juice. They are most commonly used as the base for salsa verde when combined with jalapeños, garlic, and salt. They add a brightness to this salsa.

Tomatillos are a plant native to the western hemisphere, particularly Mexico.

As a side note, did you know that tomatoes were a native food to the western hemisphere and did not reach Europe until the 16th century? It's true. Who knew that Sunday gravy and pizza/spaghetti sauce originated after the Spanish colonization of Mexico.

By the way, the potato, that traditional Irish food, was introduced to Europe in the 16th century by the Spaniards from the Americas. Tomato... potato... both from the indigenous languages of native Americans. (Apologies to my graduate school advisors for not using proper citations here.)

This recipe combines both tomatoes and tomatillos, along with Anaheim, Poblano, and Jalapeño chiles to create a fairly mild salsa. Boiling the ingredients mellows the chiles and tomatillos, and the salsa will last about a week when refrigerated. This salsa has the flavor without the heat... for your friends who like their salsa mild.

If you are doing a taco bar, I would suggest serving this salsa with a medium strength pico de gallo, and my very spicy roasted jalapeño salsa. All of your guests' tastes will be covered.  Feel free to play around with the ingredients to suit your tastes and accomodate the availability of ingredients.

Tomato & Tomatillo Salsa

4 Roma or medium vine ripened tomatoes

2 tomatillos, husks removed

1 poblano chile, split, stemmed, and seeded

2 Anaheim chiles, split, stemmed, and seeded

2 Jalapeño chiles, split, stemmed, and seeded

3 large garlic cloves, peeled

Salt to taste

• Boil the tomatoes, tomatillos, and chiles for five minutes. 
• Strain the ingredients and add them to a blender. 
• Add the garlic.
• Pulse about 3 to 4 times.
• Add salt to taste. 
• Cool and refrigerate to allow the flavors to meld.

That's it! Enjoy!

Tomato, Basil, & Garlic Filled Bread

This tomato, basil, and garlic cheese bread, or pane bianco, is a wonderful soft, cheesy, and flavorful loaf. 

This is the winning recipe for the 2009 (the first ever) National Festival of Breads, a contest for American amateur bread bakers. The loaf is stuffed with sun dried tomatoes, cheese, and basil. It's seasoned with garlic powder, and rolled up, cut open on top with scissors, and then formed into an "S." 

I had a little issue with that sequence with my first loaf, which, after cutting, flopped open and resisted shaping. On the second loaf (in the top photo), I shaped the "S" first, and then sliced the top open with a thin sharp paring knife that I usually use to slash bread dough. The dough held together better and was easier to move to the baking sheet.

Both of the loaves had amazing oven spring. The one on the left was taller, and had swirls of the filling throughout, while the loaf on the right was flatter (about 2 to 3 inches high) and most of the filling ended up on top (with that awesome burnt pizza cheese goodness).

The bread itself is soft, faintly sweet, and, if I had to find a comparison, somewhat challah like.

I almost had a "fail" here....  when I first mixed the dough, I forgot to add the oil.... 1/3 C of olive oil. I was four minutes into kneading the dough in my stand mixer when I figured it out. I dumped in the oil and all I heard was slosh, slosh, slosh. There was no way this oil was going to be incorporated into this dough.

I took the oily glob of dough out of the mixer, switched to the paddle attachment, and began re-adding tablespoons of the dough every few seconds or so. Once about half of the dough was added back in, I switched back to the dough hook, and continued adding tablespoons of the dough back in. Fortunately this worked. Yay. We have dough. (This is a technique that Esther McManus demonstrated on the Baking with Julia PBS series to make sure the croissant dough is fully mixed.)

This is another reason why I love baking bread. You can punt.

Mexican Red Rice | Arroz Rojo

I grew up in and still live in southern California.  Rice and beans are part of the Mexican food repertoire.  We are pretty lucky.

Most of the time, Mexican rice is pretty much an afterthought. But, why should it be?

This rice stands on its own as an excellent side dish of which you can be proud.

This recipe allows for cooking the rice on the stovetop and then finishing it in the oven. You also have the option for what kind of salsa you would like to use.

I'm not an expert, but here's what I know... this rice was a big hit when I served it at a large family gathering of SoCal peeps.

One of the big issues with rice is the kind of rice you use. Long grain? Medium grain? Short grain? Par boiled? You'll have to adjust the liquid based on the type of rice you are using.

This rice was prepared with non-parboiled long grain white rice (i.e. not Uncle Ben's) so adjust the liquid quantity if you are using another kind of rice. I'd suggest halving the liquid for Uncle Ben's or medium grain rice. You can always add more liquid later.

Pain à l’Ancienne Baguettes

I have not had the best of luck baking baguettes. They get all squiggly when I move them to the stone and they collapse when I slash them. I try to put a positive spin on it. "While they don't look that great, they sure are tasty!"

Genoise Madeleines | Tuesdays with Dorie

This week, the Tuesdays with Dorie group is tackling Madeleines. For something that had intimidated me, these Madeleines were pretty easy.

You begin by making a genoise, a batter that is leavened by beating air into eggs and sugar, and then gently folding in the flour and butter. The batter is delicate, and must be used immediately.

I cut the recipe in half because I only had one pan, so the cooking time for mine was about 8 1/2 minutes (as opposed to the 10 called for in the recipe). Also, while the recipe calls for piping the batter into the pan, I spooned it in, and it worked out fine.

Removing the cookies from the pan was not difficult, probably because my Madeleine Panis nonstick. I let the cookies sit in the pan for about a minute after removing them from the oven, and then turned the pan upside down and tapped in on the counter to remove the madeleines onto a cooling rack.

Now that I've made these, I've been bitten by the Madeleine bug and will be making more variations in the future. In fact, there's a mini Madeleine pan calling my name......

To find the recipe and step-by-step instructions, visit Katie and Amy of Counter Dog.

To see how other Tuesdays with Dorie participants fared, click on the links listed here.

To bake along with us, pick up a copy of Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan and jump in!

Fennel, Red Cabbage, Goat Cheese, & Tangelo Salad with Tarragon, Mint, Yogurt, & Lemon Dressing

Do you think I included enough of the ingredients in the title? I think the only ingredients I left out are salt, pepper, and olive oil.

This salad is super crunchy and fresh tasting, and the combination of fennel and citrus works beautifully. The yogurt, tarragon, lemon, and mint dressing is tangy and fresh. This salad is great on its own for lunch, or as a starter for dinner. Perfect for an al fresco dinner party.

Oooh. Forgot.  There are toasted pecans too!

Mini Chicken Tostada Appetizers

Aren't these cute? Tiny tortilla shells filled with a lime and cilantro marinated chicken, Napa and red cabbage, salsa, and cumin sauce. Adorable. You can eat them in one bite. So pop-able.

I've made the flour tortilla version (above), and the corn tortilla version (below).  Super cute.

I love the combination of flavors.

100% Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread

100% whole wheat sourdough bread (actually about 98% or so because I used a bread flour starter). While I am giving you the whole wheat version, you can substitute some of the whole wheat flour with the same weight of other grains such as rye, cornmeal, maseca, and/or oatmeal.

This recipe calls for a 66% sourdough starter, but I don't think you have to go crazy maintaining multiple starters. Just use your 100% starter and add a little extra flour to your dough.

One of my favorite ways to eat this bread is toasted with cheddar. The two flavors seem to work so well together. It also is great for tuna melts.

Fresh Tomato Salsa | Pico de Gallo

I took this salsa to a party with a Mexican theme. This salsa was clearly the winner in the "salsa wars." Just saying. Or people were just being nice =)

One of the tricks to increasing the intensity of the tomato flavor is to salt the chopped tomatoes and let them  sit over a strainer to drain off some of the water. The salsa is best served the day that it is made, but can be kept in the refrigerator for a couple of days.

Slow Cooker Mahogany Chicken Legs

In looking for something to serve along side the Hakka style cabbage and egg dish I made last weekend, I came across a recipe for mahogany chicken in Art of the Slow Cooker: 80 Exciting New Recipes

The recipes in this book are not your typical "dump and run" dishes that give slow cookers a bad reputation. They require a little prep, (in this case, about 10 minutes) but it's worth it.

What was most difficult for me was locating the dark soy sauce that gives these legs their mahogany look and interesting flavor. First I went to the local Korean market, but they had mostly Korean and Japanese soy sauces (and shelves and shelves of soy sauces). I bought one that said "dark soy sauce" in tiny print on the back, and then posted a photo on the Wok Wednesdays Facebook page, hoping that someone could tell me if I was on the right track. Within a couple of hours, I heard from Grace Young, the author of Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge: The Ultimate Guide to Mastery, with Authentic Recipes and Stories. How cool is that?

I hit the local Chinese supermarket and found exactly what I needed. Thank you Grace Young!

Hakka Style Stir-Fried Cabbage and Egg | Wok Wednesdays

This is a very simple dish and, after prepping your ingredients, it takes about 3 minutes to make. No step takes longer than two minutes and most take about 30 seconds. There are very few ingredients: Napa cabbage, garlic, salt and pepper, and an egg. An egg? Yes, an egg. At the end of the stir fry, you toss in an egg and stir the whole thing for about 30 seconds.

This is a very simple side dish to accompany a main course and some rice. We served it with mahogany chicken and rice. I am so glad to be cooking along with Wok Wednesdays, because this is something I never would have tried on my own... the flavor is difficult to describe, I guess sort of earthy. It is really tasty. Napa cabbage is becoming one of my new favorite ingredients.

This recipe can be found in the book Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge: The Ultimate Guide to Mastery, with Authentic Recipes and Stories by Grace Young.

To see how other Wok Wednesdays participants fared, check out the Wok Wednesdays page and click on the various links from other bloggers. If you'd like to cook along with the group, pick up the book and follow the recipe schedule.

Gruyère Cheese Bread

This Gruyère Cheese Bread is dripping with melty cheese and is absolutely delicious.

The dough for this Gruyère Cheese Bread is high hydration, which means it can be little hard to manage, but you really shouldn't stress too much about achieving perfect looking loaves.

Rustic Potato Loaves | Tuesdays with Dorie

This week, the Tuesdays with Dorie group is baking these loaves from Baking with Julia: Savor the Joys of Baking with America's Best Bakers

I'm really pleased with this bread.

How to make it:

Take equal parts mashed potatoes and flour, mix them together with some yeast, a little water, and a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. Then beat the heck out of the dough for 11 (not 10, not 12) minutes.

Don't pay attention to how the dough feels. Don't worry about the weather, the room temperature, or the humidity. Forget everything you thought you knew about baking bread and the "feel" of the dough. Don't worry about the dough doubling. Just go with the time stated in the recipe.Just have faith.

This all goes against my bread baking intuition. Except... it works.

Buttermilk Chocolate Cookies

Ho hum. Just another chocolate chocolate chip cookie. Not.
These cookies are chewy kind of like brownies, and have a very rich dark chocolate flavor from the large amount of cocoa powder.

This dough does not need to be refrigerated before baking and you don't need to wait for the butter to reach room temperature. You can have chocolate cookies in a few minutes. Perfect for spur of the moment baking with kids. I think this is the first cookie recipe I've tried that does not include eggs (and is not a butter or shortbread cookie).

Strawberry Scones

One of the nice things about living in our part of southern California is that the minute winter turns to spring, strawberry stands pop up on what seems like every corner where there is a vacant lot. These strawberries are huge. They are the kind you might imagine they use to make chocolate dipped strawberries. We usually have at least three or four baskets of strawberries in our house at all times.

Thus these scones. They are made with vanilla, cream, and butter, and brushed with a vanilla glaze. I also added a couple of drops of Fiori di Sicilia, which is a concentrated blend of vanilla and citrus. You could also add a few scrapes of orange zest if you'd prefer.