baking:: trying a new recipe

I recently checked The Bread Bible out of the library and wanted to try the Basic White Sandwich Bread -I had heard great things about this recipe so yesterday morning around 11am, I started making the sponge starter. The starter needed to sit for at least an hour (I let mine sit at room temp for about 2hrs), then I used my KitchenAid to knead the dough together for the first rise. The recipe called for three rises (!), so I knew it would take a while- but last night around 11pm I finally gave up and stuck the two partially-risen loaves into the fridge. This morning I pulled them out, let them rise one last time and then popped them into the oven to bake.

The resulting loaves were DELICIOUS! And honestly, they should be, considering the amount of work that went into them: if I only count the rising time, it was about 7 hours! Add two hours for the sponge to come together and it's an all-day process. My normal bread recipe goes from mixed to baked in about four hours with two rises.

The flavor of the Bread Bible white bread was good, but it was the crumb and the lovely chewy crust that really stood out. I took a few photos to highlight the differences between the Bread Bible recipe and my regular recipe (sorry for the awful lighting- it has been dark and stormy all day!).

Here is my regular recipe: the Amish White Bread-

Note the denseness of the crumb and the thinner crust. This bread uses just water and flour with some sugar for sweetening. I usually use 2/3 all purpose flour and 1/2 whole wheat flour with this recipe.

Here is the Bread Bible Basic White Sandwich Bread:

See how much more air there is in the crumb? This recipe also uses powdered milk and less flour to make for a wetter, more pliable dough. I also used about 1/3 (by volume) wheat flour and added some wheat germ for crunch. The crust of this bread was really nice and crisp right out of the oven.

And the two slices side by side (Bread Bible on the left, Amish White on the right)


After all the effort making the Bread Bible recipe, I was surprised that it wasn't much different in flavor than my normal recipe. The biggest difference between the two loaves was the tenderness of the crumb. I'm now wondering if I can try making a sponge for my Amish White Bread recipe....

::cooking:: homemade granola bars

Monkey Boy and Little Man are going to different schools this year...something I neglected to blog about simply because having two kids in two different schools means 2x the volunteer hours for me! We sent MB to a new charter school and have been super happy with how it has turned out- small class sizes and a collaborative, "21st century' approach to learning has made MB's 1st grade outstanding so far.

One of the other differences between the kids' schools is that MB's school is nut-free- no peanuts, tree nuts or any other nuts are allowed. LM's school allows nuts and has an 'allergy table' for those kids who need to avoid nuts (or other allergens) at lunch time. One of kids' favorite things to eat is granola bars, which I never had a problem sending until this year...did you know it's practically impossible to find nut-free granola bars?

I searched high and low and found gluten-free granola bars, dairy free granola bars, sugar free granola bars- but it was impossible to find nut-free bars. Of course I then turned to the internets and found a granola bar recipe that I was able to change to be completely nut-free so that both LM and MB could bring bars to school. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
3 cups rolled (old fashioned) oats
1/2 cup wheat germ (not pictured)
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips or chunks
1/2 cup dried fruit- I use a berry medley from Trader Joe's
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk

Preheat oven to 325

Line a 9x13 inch pan with parchment paper or heavy duty foil. Make sure the lining covers the bottom of the pan and goes up the sides part way- otherwise your bars will stick like crazy to the pan! Grease lining with cooking spray.

Mix all the ingredients in a big mixing bowl.


Pour into the prepared pan and pat down until it's evenly and firmly packed.

Bake until golden- approx 30 min. Let the pan cool on the counter till granola is firm, then use the parchment paper/foil to lift the bars from the pan.

Cut into bar shapes with a sharp knife.

Wrap individually in wax paper or plastic wrap, or store in an airtight container.

Makes approx. 16 bars.

This makes for a firm, slightly chewy granola bar that tastes a lot like a big oatmeal cookie. The kiddos love them and will eat two batches a week. It's a very versatile recipe, too, since you can use different dried fruit: I've tried a raisin medley, plain cranberries, wild blueberries, and chopped mangos in different batches and they all came out delicious.

If I let Little Man make a batch, he will add some honey or molasses for some added sweetness but I think it tastes fine without. The sweetened condensed milk not only binds the granola together, but adds a nice carmel-y flavor once it's baked.

And of course, you can add any nuts you would like...just reduce the amount of rolled oats by the amount of nuts you add. So adding 1/2 cup of almonds means you will only use 2.5 cups of rolled oats.

Enjoy!

become one with the frosting

do the fondue

Did you know that chocolate fondue is a full immersion experience? Witness:

By the time dinner was over, Monkey Boy looked like he'd been mud wrestling. All his clothes went straight into the washing machine, and he went straight into the bath.

Little Man was a tad more tidy (but check out the choco-stache):

day 52 of 365

Have I mentioned yet how much I love this new kitchen gadget? Because I do! We've used it three times in the last week and I can't wait to use it again. The kids love it, and it's so easy to set up and use.

The Dearest agrees:

fat tuesday

Eat those pancakes while you can: Lent is starting tomorrow!

We're a household of lapsed Catholics- both the Dearest and I were raised in the religion, but neither of us are currently part of a church. However, the Catholic guilt is strong and long-lasting and tends to make itself known during the big Christian holidays such as Christmas and Easter. After 10+ years of Catholic school (back in the day when real nuns ruled the classrooms with iron fists) there's no way I'd forget that Lent is starting soon.

Since today was Fat Tuesday (also known as Shrove Tuesday), I decided we should have the traditional pancakes for dinner. When I told Little Man my plan, he was shocked: "Pancakes? For dinner?"

I used a simple recipe & made the pancakes from scratch...after resting in the fridge for 20 minutes they were ready for the griddle.

And of course you can't sully from-scratch pancakes with store-bought syrup. So I found a recipe for homemade syrup and gave it a try. It turned out quite yummy- not too sweet and a little thicker than real maple syrup.

day 50 of 365

Now we're ready to face Lent!

we survived!

the mega-birthday party, that is.

I woke up at 7:30 this morning and immediately got to work. I had a little list of things to do (start crockpot meatballs [which take 3hrs to cook], tidy the kitchen, decorate the cakes, pre-heat the oven, take a shower, etc. etc. The party didn't start till 10:30am so I thought three hours would be enough time.

Boy, was I wrong!

First off, I received a phone call from my dad's ex-girlfriend-who-is-marrying-someone-else-but-still-his-roomie/caretaker (don't ask) exactly three minutes after I rolled out of bed. She proceeded to talk my ear off for nearly 45 minutes. Without going into a bunch of really boring and depressing family stuff, suffice it to say that it was a highly aggravating phone call. Not the way I would like to start the day- especially since I wasted 45 precious minutes!

After peeling my ear from the phone and doing some deep breathing to calm myself down, I started decorating the cakes. I ended up making two complete trains, one that I made "girly" for Ms. Izzy:

The other one I made "boy-ey" for Monkey Boy:

I think they turned out pretty good, considering I've never taken a cake decorating class (tho that might be something I'm going to sign up for shortly). The first set of cakes I baked last night were waaaay too sticky and wouldn't come out of the pan. I learned my lesson and made sure to spray the pan liberally with baking spray; the second set of trains popped out perfectly formed. Woot!

It was actually a lot of fun decorating the cakes. For Ms. Izzy's cake, I used lots of pink sprinkles, different colors of icing, strips of rainbow sour candy, and homemade buttercream icing to hold it all together. Monkey Boy's cake included Twizzlers, rainbow sprinkles, black licorice and more buttercream icing. I was really happy to find rock candy sticks for the funnels, too. The largest rectangular trays I had weren't big enough for the trains so I ended up using circular ones. The white stuff is shredded coconut; the tracks are made out of green sour candy.

Decorating the cakes took a longer than I thought- especially since I had 'helpers'. The small men had to taste test all the candy, try sticking their fingers in the icing and climb up on my stool every time I stood up to get something. At one point Monkey Boy tried running away with one of the half decorated train cars.

In fact I was so busy that I was shocked to look at the clock and see "9:47am". Yikes! The Dearest was occupied blowing up balloons and playing with the small men. I was was still unshowered, had to vacuum up all the sprinkles Monkey Boy had spilled on the kitchen floor, and clean up the kitchen.

Luckily, Chelle (Miss Izzy's mom) showed up and was able to do some of the cleaning for me so I could actually be presentable when the guests started arriving. Thanks to her & the Dearest, everything was taken care of by the time I came back downstairs with my face on.

Guests started arriving, and then suddenly the entertainment showed up:
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The kids really enjoyed riding on the train. It went around our neighborhood about 50 times- and a couple of the grownups jumped aboard too. Every time the train stopped, all the kids would jump out and run to another car so they could sit in a different seat. It was hilarious. Monkey Boy loved, loved, loved the train- he was sad to see it go but we distracted him with the offer of cake. It was time to blow out some candles:

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So the kids ate the train cakes and we big people had cookies & cream cheesecake with a garnish of cream puffs for dessert. Yummmmm.

People started leaving after dessert, which was perfect because it was time for Monkey Boy's nap. Lots of photos were taken, everyone laughed and the kids played together without too much fighting. All in all, a great party and a really fun day.

I'm glad we went 'all out' for this party, since I failed to celebrate Monkey Boy's first birthday at all (I know, I know: bad mommy!). He might even remember this party- when I was rocking with him tonight, he kept telling me about "Thom-y" and "ride" "train" "fast" and "Gwam-ma"...in other words- "Riding the Thomas the train fast with Grandma." I have a feeling he'll be dreaming about it tonight, too.

doing, doing, done?

doing:

#5 of 365/photo a day

Tomorrow we are having a birthday party for two precious little ones: our Monkey Boy and his cousin, I. Monkey Boy will be celebrating his 2nd birthday; I. will be turning 1 year old. Because their birthdays are very close together, we decided to throw them a combined party.

Since MB is obsessed with trains and dinosaurs, that's our theme. The above image is the new cake pan I got from Williams Sonoma, along with a photo of what the cake will eventually look like (I hope!). Wish me luck!

doing:

Playing with my new moo cards. I lurrrve these cute little cards and can't wait to start handing them out to people. I was surprised at how nice and thick the cardstock is, as well as how great the images look on the cards. They are just gorgeous and this photo above doesn't do them justice.

My cards include some work photos, some yarny photos and some photos of the small men. I'm planning on using them as business cards & calling cards to hand out at playdates or whenever someone asks for my # or email addy. They are so cool that I made a little collage out of them for the front of our fridge. I had to use removable scrapbooking adhesive since our fridge is stainless steel and magnets don't stick. It's fun to catch a glimpse of some of my favorite things every time I open the door.

done:
upgrading to the 'new' blogger!
This is my first post with the upgraded blogger- hopefully all is going to continue working well. Let me know if you all have any problems. I'm going to start playing with the template again, so don't be surprised if things look different around here!

Now....off to get some sleep so I can wake up bright and early to decorate cakes, clean house, cook appetizers and get ready for the arrival of the guests tomorrow. G'night!

all aboard the cookie train

lots & lots of photos from Christmas Eve & Christmas day. An epic photo post upcoming. Another FO report on Monkey Boy's sweater upcoming.

This for now:

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bread success!

Well, my bread machine failed me today. The loaf of bread it produced was shaped like a bowling ball and just as dense. Not so much toothsome as toothbreaking! I think the machine waaay over kneaded the dough so it didn't rise much.

I was so disappointed with the outcome that I went online and found a recipe for Crusty White Bread and started another loaf right away. I used my Kitchenaid stand mixer instead of the bread machine to do the dough. After rising and being baked,the bread turned out perfectly:

The recipe I used was pretty good- the bread is nice and crusty with a soft interior. It's quite tasty, too (some white bread recipes are sooooo bland!). We'll see if the loaf makes it to the morning so I can find out how it tastes the next day. If it's still good, I might end up making a couple of loaves every week for sandwiches and such.