Sunday, December 29, 2013

You like my food. I like your food. We like each other's food. You cook for me. I cook for you. We cook / eat together.


I made the bread a few days ago.  
Above, they're soaking in eggnog (plus a couple of eggs).


Golden Delicious apple ready for the microwave 
for a couple of minutes.


Medium heat.  Cook on one side for a few minutes. 


Turn over the toast.  Cover with a lid, so the custard will gel a bit and all will stay moist.





What remained of french toast batter, I poured into a skillet and covered to cook until the mixture gelled.







That's the way it was for awhile on December 29, 2013.

Friday, December 27, 2013

You'd see me doing this a lot where I live! Coffee?





















For this batch of bread:
  • about 2 cups of warm water
  • about 2 tablspoons of yeast
  • about 1/2 cup of sugar
  • about 1 teaspoon of salt
  • one egg
I used my electric mixer and mixed all that together before adding my bread flour.
  • I used my dough hook on the mixer, so it would knead as I added flour.
  • I added flour 1/3 cup at a time and mixed for about 1 minutes before each addition.
  • I kept adding flour until the dough was gathering on the dough hook and sticking less to the sides of the bowl.  The dough was still a little sticky to touch, but it was twisting and twisting and twisting on the dough hook.  I let it do the twist for about 15 minutes.
  • See that cake container.  I use that as a proofing chamber.  I put the dough in that, place the lid (well usually it's the bottom for cake) on it.  I placed the container of dough in a warm place (top of our family freezer).
  • After two hours in the proofing chamber, I punched all over the dough and let it rest a few minutes while I got the muffin tin ready (butter and flour).
  • I rolled the dough out flat, brushed butter all over the top, folded the dough in half, and rolled out flat again.  I repeated these steps two more times.
  • I cut the rolled out dough into two parts.
  • I rolled one of the parts into a log.
  • I cut the log into sections, and placed each section into the muffin tin.
  • I placed the muffin tin into a cold oven, then set the oven temperature to 375 degrees.
  • I baked the rolls until they were light brown (about 20-25 minutes.
  • I removed the rolls from the oven and brushed the tops with melted butter.
What about the other half of the dough?






Saturday, December 21, 2013

I noticed some lonely blueberries in the fridge, so...! Muffins / Pancakes anyone?

        I'll keep the reading material to a minimal.

     I've never seen much difference between muffin and pancake batters.  I put eggs, butter, and milk in both.  I use self-rising flour in both.  In both, I start with mixing everything, except the self-rising flour, in a bowl until everything is (wait for it) well mixed and distributed.  Then, I gradually, and gently, start folding in the self-rising flour until I see the thickness I want in the batter -- lumpy-clumpy for muffins, pourable for pancakes.  Obviously, I make pancake batter thinner, so I'll start with more milk than with muffins.  In both cases, "GENTLE" is a key treatment of the batter once I've added the flour, because over mixing the batter produces tougher pancakes / muffins.  I ignore the lumpy-clumpiness of the batter.



      Egg, vanilla, buttermilk, oatmeal, sugar, diced apples, and fresh blueberries....





        I baked them at 375 for until light brown and a toothpick would come out clean.  With the batter left in the bowl, I put a skillet to work.  Saphira (my canine child) loved sharing the pancake with me!







Coffee?