Cooking with Auden: PB&J Bread

I came across this recipe the other day and thought how could this be bad. It saves the trouble of spreading the PB&J and is way less messy for one (almost) 4 year old.

Ingredients

1 large (about 60 grams) egg, beaten
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons (280 grams) bread flour
2 tablespoons (20 grams) whole wheat flour
3/4 teaspoon (4 grams) table salt
1/4 teaspoon (1 gram) instant or other active dry yeast
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (260 grams) cool (55 to 65 degrees F) water
3 tablespoons (50 grams) unsalted smooth peanut butter
1/4 cup (35 grams) unsalted dry-roasted peanuts, whole
1/4 cup (35 grams) unsalted dry-roasted peanuts, roughly chopped
1/3 cup (100 grams) seedless fruit jam of choice (we used 2 flavors)
oil

additional flour for dusting

Reserve 1 tablespoon of the beaten egg for glazing the bread.

In a medium bowl, stir together the flours, salt, and yeast, stir to combine.

Add in the non-reserved egg.

Blend.

Blend the water and peanut butter in a blender until smooth.

Add mixture to the flour mixture and, using a spoon or your hand, mix until you have a wet, sticky dough without any lumps, about 30 seconds.

Stir in the whole peanuts until evenly distributed. Cover the bowl and let sit at room temperature until the surface is dotted with bubbles and the dough is more than doubled in size, about 6-12 hours.

When the first rise is complete, sprinkle the surface of the dough with flour.

Use a bowl scraper or rubber spatula to scrape the dough out of the bowl in one piece. Lightly flour your hands and gently pat and pull the dough into a rough rectangle about 8 by 12 inches.

Position the dough so a long side is in front of you. Spread the jam evenly over the surface of the dough, leaving a 1-inch border on all sides. We made stripes of blueberry and strawberry. Lift up the far side of the rectangle and fold one third of it over toward the center, then continue rolling up the remainder into a cylinder. With the seam on the bottom, tuck the ends of the roll under to seal them, so the jam doesn't ooze out during baking.

Lightly coat the loaf pan with oil. Sprinkle half of the chopped peanuts into the bottom of the pan. Gently transfer the dough, seam side down, to the loaf pan.

Sprinkle the remaining chopped peanuts onto the dough. Cover the dough with a towel and place it in a warm, draft-free spot to rise for 1 hour. The dough is ready when it has doubled. If you gently poke it with your finger, it should hold the impression. If it springs back, let it rise for another 15 minutes.

About 15 minutes before the end of the second rise, preheat the oven to 450°F, with a rack in the center.

Brush the top of the dough with the reserved beaten egg. Bake until golden, about 1 hour. If the peanuts start to darken, loosely cover the loaf with foil. Use pot holders to invert the pan onto a rack, remove the pan, and turn the bread right side up to cool thoroughly.

Enjoy!

30 down... now what

So last night was the last of my 30 day 30 recipe challenge. As to be expected there were some great new dishes that came out of this, definitely things that I will try to incorporate into our routine. There were also a few that were not so good, but that is also the challenge.

So my question to YOU is:

What should my next challenge be?

I will take any and all suggestions...the best one will even get a prize.

Thanks,

James

roasted root veggies

One of the things that we periodically get from Irv and Shelley's is a soup mix of root veggies. This time I actually followed the recipe on the back of package for roasting them. The sauce had a nice flavor, but I need to almost quadruple the amount to get the flavor to come through.

Roasted Veggies

4 Tbs Soy Sauce

4 Tbs Maple Syrup

4 Tbs Olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

2 - 3 cloves garlic sliced

1 - 2 thyme

about 3 lbs root vegetables

Mix the dressing on a small bowl.

Cut the vegetables into even pieces, and toss with dressing.

Lay the vegetables on a tray.

Bake in a 450 deg oven for about 45 minutes.

Brownies

I have been told by many people that Gail's Brownies are the best and that there is no need to be messing around. I came across this recipe in Martha Stewart Living this month and figured I give it a try.

Double Chocolate Brownies

12 Tbs butter

9 oz dark chocolate

2 1/4 cup sugar

5 eggs

3/8 cup cocoa powder

2/3 tsp salt

3/4 plus 3 TBS flour

Preheat oven to 350. Line a 9x13 baking pan with parchment, allowing it to cover the sides as well. Melt the chocolate and butter in double boiler.

Add the sugar and stir to combine.

Mix in the eggs, one at a time.

Add the cocoa and salt.

Add the flour.

Pour into the pan and bake about 30 minutes.

Let cool in pan slightly, then lift out using the parchment. Remove the parchment and let cool completely before cutting.

Homemade Cheese

In my never ending quest to make great pizza, I figured the best way was to make everything myself. This brought me to making my own cheese. I was pointed to the New England Cheesemaking Supply Company and their "easy" kits.

There is no question that purely from a step by step stand point, this was fairly easy...but from a culinary standpoint I have a greater appreciation that is cheese making. Cheese making is definitely one of those culinary adventures that balances the art and science. You are turning liquid milk, via some crazy chemical reactions, into solid cheese. It is cool process, but one that I surely need way more practice at. Luckily, the kit has enough to make another dozen recipes, so I have some time.

Here is the recipe that I used to make mozzarella, everything you need except the milk comes in the kit.

Mozzarella

1 Gallon milk

1 1/4 cups water

1 1/2 tsp citric acid

1/4 tablet rennet

1 tsp salt

Start by dissolving the rennet in 1/4 cup water and the citric acid in 1 cup water.

In a large stainless pot, add the milk and pour in the citric acid solution stirring to combine.

Heat the milk to 90 deg.

Take off heat and add the rennet and stir for about 30 seconds. Let rest with a lid for about 5 minutes.

This is where all that crazy chemistry happens, the solution should now for a curd, with a clear whey liquid.

Using a long knife slice the curd and return to the burner. Slowly heat the mixture to 110 deg while stirring.

Heat a pot of water to 185 deg. Pour off the whey and then strain the curds.

Dip the curds into the hot water to slowly heat it up to about 135 deg. At this point the cheese will be stretchy. Pull cheese and add in the salt.

After the stretching form a ball.

Submerge the cheese in cold water to cool off the cheese.

What better way to use it then on pizza.

So for my first attempt it wasn't exactly a huge success. The result was a but tough. I guess I need to try again.

Garlic...

Ok so technically I did not need a recipe for this, but I am true to my challenge.

I was flipping through Martha Stewart Living and came across this and it worked perfect as I had just the right amount of bread.

Roasted Garlic with Parmesan

1 head garlic

about 1/2 loaf baguette

1 - 2 Tbs EVOO

salt and pepper

Parmesan

Slice of about 1/4 inch of the top of the garlic. Place on parchment and drizzle with about 1 Tbs oil and season with salt and pepper.

Wrap the garlic in the parchment then in foil and bake in 475 deg oven about 30 - 40 minutes until golden and soft.

Cut the bread and drizzle with oil, toast until lightly browned. To serve, shave the cheese with a peeler and serve with the garlic and toast.

Fennel...again

After a few successful recipes last week, I thought I would give fennel another go. This is a simple recipe. Letting the salad rest, allows the flavors to blend nicely.

This too is from the Moosewood Cooks at Home.

Fennel and Orange Salad

1 fennel bulb

2 oranges (I used blood oranges)

juice of 1/2 lemon

1 Tbs EVOO

salt and pepper to taste

Remove the tops of the fennel and thinly slice.

Place in a bowl. Section the orange and squeeze the extra juice into the bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients, and refrigerate for about 20 minutes.