I can’t believe it’s been 8 months since I hit send on the manuscript.
Writing a cookbook puts you in a strange timewarp where you feel like it was just yesterday, yet forever ago at the same time. I’m not even sure how that is possible! But that is how it feels.
My cookbook, Beer Bread: Brew-Infused Breads, Rolls, Biscuits, Muffins and More, is officially available for pre-order!
It hits shelves February 4, 2020!
There are so many reasons why I love this book. I mean, I love writing and photographing my own cookbooks, but this one is special. It’s an idea I had on the backburner for years. Even before Food on Tap!
Roasted Garlic Dinner Rolls
December 19, 2014Give your holiday meals a creative twist this year with these garlic dinner rolls! Tucked inside the layers is a spread of slow roasted garlic, shredded Parmesan cheese and rich butter.
When I stand in front a table of holiday foods with an empty plate, I start negotiating with myself. I can’t possibly eat it all, so what is it that I can cut out to reduce volume that I also won’t miss much?
Rolls. It’s always the rolls.
Strawberry Rhubarb Bread
May 21, 2011One of the best gifts anyone can give me is an ingredient. While others may want a ready-made food – a cookie, a bread, etc. I’d much rather have the berries, the chocolate or the oil, which I will then turn into the final product.
Yeah, I’m that person on your gift list that doesn’t take much work at all.
So I was thrilled earlier this week when a friend gave me some rhubarb. As I mentioned last spring with my rhubarb experiments I was never a fan of it growing up, but as I’ve learned of more things to do with it, I actually kind of like the stuff.
Another source of my rhubarb inspiration has been Two Peas and Their Pod. Maria shares her love of rhubarb in her recipes such as the Rhubarb Apple Bread which got me thinking about how to use my rhubarb.
Since we have so many strawberries, I just had to go with the classic combination. So I played around with a few ingredients and came up with a bread of my own.
There is something about a slice of seasonal quick bread and a cup of coffee on a beautiful Saturday morning that makes the entire weekend complete!
Strawberry Rhubarb Bread
Adapted from Rhubarb Apple Bread from Two Peas and Their Pod
Makes: 1 loaf
Ingredients
1 ½ cups white whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground allspice
1 egg
¼ cup plain Greek yogurt (I use 2% or full-fat)
3 tablespoon butter, melted
¼ cup mascavo sugar
¼ cup Demerara sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2/3 cup whole or 2% milk
¾ cup rhubarb, finely chopped
1 cup strawberries, finely chopped
Topping
1 tablespoon Demerara sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Prep
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8×4 inch loaf pan. (I used coconut oil.) (I also used one mini loaf pan and one 8×4 so I could give a small loaf away. My larger loaf was just a little smaller than yours will be. )
In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, salt, 1 teaspoon cinnamon and ground allspice. Set aside.
In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix together the egg and yogurt. Blend well on medium speed. Be sure your butter has cooled and slowly add that to the yogurt and egg.
Add ¼ cup of Demerara sugar and the mascavo sugar, mix on medium-high for about 2 minutes. Mix in the vanilla and milk.
Slowly add the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl. Mix on low just until the flour is incorporated. Remove the bowl from the mixer and gently fold in the rhubarb and strawberries, being careful not the break up the berries too much.
Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan. Mix the remaining Demerara sugar and cinnamon for the topping. Sprinkle it evenly over the loaf. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until a toothpick or knife inserted in the center comes out clean. (My mini loaf took 20 minutes and the less full 8×4 took 30 min.)
Baking Bread and Handmade Pottery
January 3, 2011I’ve mentioned before that I lack skills for baking bread. I can come up with creative ideas and I can knead and shape dough like nobody’s business, but when it comes to pulling a light, fluffy, crusty loaf out of the oven I fail just about every time.
However, something is telling me that my luck may improve this year.
Way back in August, I went to the Woodland Art Festival. A fantastic event, by the way, if you happen to be in the area when it is hosted. There were booths full of handmade pottery and I’m quickly learning that this may be my new thing. I find pottery so interesting – both how it is made and the gorgeous end products.
About halfway through my browsing I found these bread baking bowls from Neal Pottery out of Lebanon, OH. I simply could not pass them up so I bought one for myself and one for my mom which we just gave to her for Christmas.
There are two reasons that this piece of functional art is so outstanding. It is super easy to use when making bread and it makes a small amount. Just about right for 2 to 3 people.
Mine has been sitting in the cabinet all autumn, but my mom was on the ball as soon as she received hers. She also happens to be an expert baker, if I haven’t mentioned it before, so it was no surprise that her loaf turned out great.
I wasn’t convinced that I would have success, but I thought it was about time I attempted. Since we had pasta for NYE, I decided to bake a loaf to serve with our olive oil and herb dipping sauce.
The baking bowl came with 8 recipes, some more complicated than others. I decided to take the recipe that was originally for Greek olive bread and omit the added ingredients. So basically, I wanted to make a loaf of unbleached white bread. I also added a little bit of sugar, because I have a hard time grasping bread recipes without sugar to feed the yeast and have little success with them.
The steps are so simple. Mix the bread dough, knead the dough by hand for a few minutes, place it back in an oiled mixing bowl, rise for an hour. Punch down, knead again for a few minutes, place in the oiled bread baking bowl, let rise to double.
Bake for 45 minutes and viola! It turned out perfectly! It was a really unexpected surprise given my history with bread.
Basic White Bread in a Bread Baking Bowl
Makes: 1 small loaf, about 2 to 3 servings
Ingredients
1/2 pkg dry yeast
1/2 cup lukewarm water
1 tsp mascavo sugar
1 1/2 cups unbleached white flour, plus extra for kneading
1 1/2 tsp olive oil, plus extra for the bowl
1/2 tsp salt
1 small bread baker pottery bowl, about 6.5 inches in diameter and 3.5 inches deep
Prep
In a small bowl combine the yeast, water and sugar. Let sit a 5 to 7 minutes, until it blooms.
In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, olive oil and salt. Add the liquid ingredients and mix until a dough is formed. Add a more water by the teaspoon if it is too dry to form into a ball.
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth, about 2 or 3 minutes. From the dough into a ball. Coat the inside of the mixing bowl with olive oil. Place the dough back in the bowl and cover with a clean dish towel. Let rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
Place the dough on a floured surface, punch down and knead for about 2 to 3 more minutes. Roll into a ball. Lightly oil the pottery bowl and place the dough in the bowl. Cover with a dish towel and let rise until doubled in size again.
Place the bread and baking bowl in a cold oven, set the temperature to 350 degrees F and bake for about 45 minutes. Mine was perfect right when the timer went off.