Beer Bread with Dried Cherries and Walnuts

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Dried Cherry and Walnut No-Knead BreadHow can I convince you to bake this bread?  Is it by sharing with you just how deceivingly easy it is to make?  Perhaps I can persuade you by telling you it is so good you may never buy a loaf of store-bought bread again?  Maybe the photos are enough to entice you.  Whatever the reason, I promise you, you won’t regret it.
Dried Cherry and Walnut No-Knead Bread Full credit for this bread goes to the mom of Alexandra Stafford of Alexandra’s Kitchen and her willingness to share her closely guarded recipe for peasant bread, a bread that she baked nearly daily throughout Alexandra’s childhood.  Just imagine – she baked a version of this bread nearly everyday!  I think that speaks to the ease by which this loaf comes together.  There’s no kneading involved!  Even those who might feel overwhelmed with the concept of baking bread can produce beautiful, golden, and delicious loaves.  Alexandra took her mom’s recipe and wrote an entire book of recipes offering variations on the original recipe.  I have made many of the recipes from her book and I honestly can’t choose one over another as my favorite.  Since I have always been a fan of dried fruit and nuts in my bread, this recipe won out as the recipe I wanted to share with all of you.Dried Cherry and Walnut No-Knead BreadThe really fun thing about this bread is that it bakes in pyrex bowls.  If you don’t have two 1-quart pyrex bowls you can find them here, or try finding used ones  at flea markets, thrift shops, Etsy, Ebay, and other similar sources.  It will be well worth the effort because once you make this beer, dried cherry and walnut version you will want to buy the book and make more of Alexandra’s recipes.  Fast, easy, and delicious homemade bread is what it’s all about!
Dried Cherry and Walnut No-Knead Bread

 

Adapted from Bread Toast Crumbs by Alexandra Stafford 




Flaky Buttermilk Biscuits

Flaky Buttermilk Biscuits RecipeWhenever I announce that I’m going to make a batch of biscuits, oohs and aahs from family and friends fill my kitchen. Their excitement makes me feel as though I possess some kind of wizardry when all I do is  turn five basic ingredients into something so universally loved.  It’s not magic, I prefer to think of it as alchemy -alchemy that anyone can achieve with just a few tricks up their sleeve.  And, I fully believe that once you can successfully bake a biscuit, you will have friends for life. After all, who doesn’t hanker for a towering, flaky, buttery, biscuit.

One of my favorite ways to eat a biscuit is drenched in thick sausage gravy, preferably with a side of eggs.  You can be sure that if  ‘biscuits and gravy’ are on the menu,  I will be ordering it.  It’s my all time favorite. No kidding.  I have actually planned vacations around pit-stops at restaurants famous for their biscuits.  That said,  I don’t discriminate when it comes to the way I will eat a hot steaming biscuit.  Butter is a must, followed by a slathering of homemade jam or a drizzle of honey.  And then there’s Fried Chicken and Biscuits, or biscuit topped chicken stew.  This recipe from Ina Garten is comfort food at its best.  I could go on and on but I think you get the picture.  I’m passionate about biscuits.
Flaky Buttermilk Biscuits RecipeThe recipe I’m sharing here is very straight forward.  It’s the technique that sets it apart, creating the flaky layers recognizable in the photo above.  Success depends on what I call the Holy Trinity Method of biscuit making.  Start cold, work fast, and be gentle.  The butter and buttermilk should be VERY cold.  You will want to work fast so that the butter doesn’t start to warm up.  And lastly, be gentle when working the dough.  Too much rough handling and the biscuits will be tough.

So get rolling out a batch of biscuits – and make some friends!
Flaky Buttermilk Biscuits Recipe

 




Chocolate Covered Raisin Oatmeal Cookies

Chocolate Covered Raisin Oatmeal Cookies RecipeWith all the turmoil taking place in our country these days, permeating our lives on a daily basis, you would have to be living under a rock not to be effected.  The news is overwhelming and depressing with issues that run the gamut from political, to gender and racial inequality, to natural disasters that are wiping out entire communities and washing away our natural landscapes.  Is it any wonder that I have been feeling forlorn and powerless?  This week I did something to remind myself I am not powerless.  I have my voice and I have my skills.  I can speak up and act in order to create change.  Great change can happen through small steps.
Chocolate Covered Raisin Oatmeal Cookies RecipeKindness cookies.  That’s what I dubbed these cookies after taking them to my new neighbors and welcoming them to our little slice of heaven in Lunada Bay.  It only makes sense that to breed kindness you have to be kind, and what better place to start than in our own backyards.  Since I am a baker, making cookies comes easily to me.  I decided to use one of my talents to spread some kindness.  That simple gesture not only made them feel welcomed, it brought me joy to use my skill to show kindness to someone else.
Chocolate Covered Raisin Oatmeal Cookies RecipeMy intention with this post is not to be preachy.  It’s only to share how I managed to find a way to bring kindness and warmth to my small community.    In the eulogy my brother composed when our mom passed away a few years ago he wrote, ‘Mom said more than once that being nice or being kind was easier than not being nice and kind.  I am sure she thought small acts were just as important as grand gestures.’  And so do I.
Chocolate Covered Raisin Oatmeal Cookies Recipe

 

 

 




Rustic Sourdough Bread

Sourdough BreadI’ve never created a bucket list – per se.  To be sure, there are things I want to accomplish, places I want to travel to, and experiences I hope to have, but I’ve never put together an actual ‘list’ of those things.  If I did have a bucket list, baking a crusty, slightly tangy, artisan style sourdough bread would have been pretty near the top.  I am proud to say that as of a few days ago, I can cross that off of my ‘non existent’ list.
Sourdough BreadIt was quite the journey getting to the golden brown incrusted – and dare I say gorgeous – boule you see here in these photos. It all began back in November.  Technically, it began years ago when I first became enamored with the concept of making an all natural sourdough starter from scratch.  I had made a number of attempts over the years but never with real success.  But this past November I became more determined than ever and finally achieved success using a process I found on Maurizio Leo’s blog The Perfect Loaf.  As life so often has it, with the holidays looming and all that comes with that, my accomplishment was ill-timed.   I was far too busy to focus on experimental bread baking.  So into the fridge went my eager starter for what became a long winter’s nap.

Jump forward to late January and I embarked once again on my path to baking a sourdough boule using my own natural starter.  Maurizio’s blog has so much incredible information about baking bread using a natural starter.  I spent endless hours studying his step-by-step process and gaining what knowledge I could before attempting my first loaf.  Just as I had studied Maurizio, he writes how he “voraciously read” Chad Robertson’s Tartine Bread before setting out to bake his first sourdough boule.  Maurizio’s tutorials are a genius blend of both his own personal experience and what he learned from Chad Robertson.  Between the two of them, I finally felt empowered enough to give it a go.
Sourdough BreadSourdough BreadI was beyond giddy as I pulled my first loaf from the oven.  I may have even jumped up and down clapping my hands. It looked beautiful!  Just like the photos from The Perfect Loaf and Tartine Bread.  Knowing that looks aren’t everything, how the bread tasted would be the real test.  Well, it was DELICIOUS!!  I may have been slightly biased but when my friend’s eyes rolled back in her head as she chewed her first bite I was pretty convinced I had met with success.
Sourdough BreadHow beautifully and delicious my sourdough boule turned out isn’t really the point of this post.  Please don’t misinterpret my sense of accomplishment with boasting.  My point is, I pushed myself in an area of baking that totally intimidated and challenged me.  And that feels good!  In truth, it feels amazing!!
Sourdough Bread




Roasted Strawberry Cream Cheese Rolls

Roasted Strawberry Cream Cheese Rolls RecipeWithin five walking blocks of my childhood home, there was a small and rather quaint German bakery.  Luckily for me, not only was the bakery close to home, but for many of my younger years my mom was an employee at that bakery.  She wasn’t a baker, at least not professionally, although she was plenty talented enough to be one.  My mom worked the counter.  My guess is that on the days she worked, sales were higher at the bakery than on the days she didn’t work.  Besides being a beautiful woman, my mom was smart and personable.  She likely knew many of the customers personally and treated those she didn’t know as if she did.  My mom once gave me a diamond ring that had belonged to one of her customers.  One day, the woman brought it, along with a few other treasures, to the bakery and gave them to my Mom.  The woman wanted her to know how much she had appreciated her kindness over the years.
Roasted Strawberry Cream Cheese Rolls RecipeAs children, my siblings and I, still in jammies and planted in front of cartoons, enjoyed many a Saturday breakfast with boxes of baked goods carried home by my dad after dropping my mom off at work.  I had many favorites among the varied selection of goods, and my favorite changed with age and a developing palate.  Several stand out in my mind, one of which was a yeast raised jelly-roll topped with glaze and a sprinkling of chopped peanuts.  In essence, it amounted to a ‘peanut butter and jelly sandwich’ roll.  Fast forward several many decades to this past year’s Spring issue of Sift Magazine, and right on the cover was a pan of jelly rolls reminiscent of those from my childhood.
Roasted Strawberry Cream Cheese Rolls RecipeIt took awhile but I finally got around to making the Sift version of that memorable breakfast treat from my mom’s bakery.  Boy, were they worth the wait!  The dough came together in a snap and rolled out like a dream.  And although the recipe required the added step of roasting strawberries,  the oven does all the work and the reward was worth the few extra minutes of time.  My only frustration came when I realized I didn’t have any peanuts in the pantry, which meant I couldn’t make an exact replica of the roll from my childhood.  No worries though because I will definitely be making these rolls again.  I’m just dying to share this recipe with my siblings with the hope that it will also take  them back to those good ole days of our childhood and the delicious treats we enjoyed on those lazy Saturday mornings.
Roasted Strawberry Cream Cheese Rolls Recipe

The recipe for these Roasted Strawberry Cream Cheese Rolls is available online at King Arthur Flour.

A few notes:

I used my counter top mixer and a dough hook to do the work of mixing and kneading the dough.

I used 24 oz of frozen strawberries using this conversion chart.   I felt it made a little too much filling. Next time I will cut that amount back to 20 oz.

I like frosting so I made one and a half times what the recipe called for.  True confession – it wasn’t necessary.