How Marriage Is Like A Toaster

(or... How we kept 4 toasters out of the local landfill)

Last year for our anniversary, our toaster died. For the fourth time. Or, should I say... for the last time.

I'd better start from the beginning. One year and one month after receiving our lovely big toaster as a wedding gift, it stopped toasting. It, of course, had a one-year warranty. Our newly-married budget would not allow for it's replacement in kind, so we would have to buy a cheap new one... or have it repaired.

Words That Start With "R"
What are the green 3-Rs again... Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle? What ever happened to Repair? Is it lumped under the Reuse heading? It needs to be its own "R". Twelve years ago, it looked like the honeymoon was over for our wedding-toaster when I realized that small appliance repair was apparently a lost or dying art. Too many years of people thinking that the fourth "R" stands for Replace. I found one repair shop though, and they told me on the phone that if they couldn't fix it there would be no charge. If they could fix it, $24.

Such A Deal
Well, the way I saw it, even a cheap toaster would cost us something in that neighborhood, so fixing it would be like buying that same $60 toaster at 60% off. We decided to go the repair-route. That repair lasted us 6 years before the toaster bit the dust again. Back to the shop, and another $24 fix job. So we've put a total of $48 into it (or by my calculations, bought a $60 toaster for 20% off).

Fast forward four years. Once again, kaput. The shop had moved, but was thankfully still in business. This time it was the circuit board. Our tally is now up to $72 for a $60 toaster. I looked over at Hubby on the way home, "You realize this was the last time?" He nodded in reply.

Requiem For A Toaster
When the oft-resuscitated toaster kicked the bucket last September, Hubs brought up the R-word: repair. I used a different R-word and reminded him of our toaster's history, the timeline, the math. He nodded again... remembering.

It Was Finally Time For A Replacement
Time now to research brands and models, features and reviews. Tedious stuff. But we take our toast seriously. And after living with that toaster for 12 years, we both had definite ideas about what we each wanted in a new one:

1. I bake a lot of rustic round loaves of bread, and I prefer toasting whole slices. 
2. Hubs has strong feelings about different manufacturers and their quality. 
3. We both wanted something simple and basic. One that does what it does, and does it well.

The field of contenders was actually pretty small after we combined our needs and requirements.* Which toaster we ended up with, isn't important to this story. Toast is so subjective anyway. A real hot topic. I'll just say though that we found exactly what we wanted, it cost more than I'd hoped to spend, but then it's also been 12 years since we've shopped for a toaster. I really can't complain!

Happy Toaster-versary!
So here's to our toaster... It's one year later and we're still really happy with our second ever toaster. In honor of the occasion, I baked up an awesome bread recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks:

Oatmeal Sandwich Bread from page 130 of Good To The Grain by Kim Boyce
Find the recipe adapted over at the Diary Of A Locavore blog ...or better yet, just go get the book from your local library or bookstore. It's a great introduction to baking with different grains and flours. I've baked up at least a half-dozen of the recipes so far and have loved every one.

My Notes: Just for the heck of it, I substituted Bob's Red Mill 5-Grain Rolled Hot Cereal for the oats. And since I didn't have any bread flour in the cupboard, I simply used 2 cups of all-purpose flour and added two tablespoons of gluten. The bread tasted—and toasted—great!

* This is all about compromising and it begins with respecting each other. It's a very grown-up thing to do and it helps build a happy marriage. Consider it my Marital Tip Of The Day. Cheers!

Savoring The Simple Gifts Of Summer

I didn't plan on taking a photo of my dinner last night. I didn't plan on blogging about it today. I didn't plan the meal at all. Sure, I knew we'd be having leftover bratwurst with mustard, but beyond that, it all just fell together, and when I sat down and started to dig into it... my senses took everything in and I had to grab the camera.

What you don't see in the photo is the color of the summer evening sky. You can't feel the perfectly soft warmth paired with the gentlest of breezes in such contrast with the scorching heat earlier in the day. You might get a hint of the relaxed ease of the meal, but what about the thrift? What about the sense of accomplishment, stewardship, gratitude, and relief? And, of course, there's the deliciousness to consider as well. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but how many can you really see? To anyone else, it's just a plate of food, but to me it represents so much more...

Whole Wheat Onion Buns For Slider-Loving Life Forms

Something has happened to my onion-hating husband. I think he may be a replicant. The other night he brought home some ground beef... so I made burger buns since we haven't had cheeseburgers in an age.

These weren't just any burger buns though. These were Whole Wheat Onion Buns. Now, my good ol' hubster hates onions, and won't hesitate to let that fact be known. The other night as the buns were baking though, this impostor man walks through the kitchen and says to me, "Ooh, something smells really good! What are you making?". 

It's uncanny how much like my husband this alien interloper is. But I guess that's the whole point of replication isn't it.

Crock, Stock and Two Smoking Hot Loaves Of Bread

Yesterday was the day I dirtied up just about every pot, pan, mixing bowl and measuring cup I own. Two big kitchen projects (plus a few small ones) converged and aligned and generally bumped into each other at every opportunity. I never intend to have days like this. I certainly don't plan them this way, but they sometimes happen. Hey, you do what you gotta do when you gotta do it, right? Well, the lovely turkey carcass in my fridge desperately needed to be dealt with, and I couldn't put off baking the bread another minute. I'd gone far too long without toast.

Tender Sweet Apricots

I always have some sort of dried fruit in my pantry. Always. Dried fruits keep practically forever and are endlessly versatile. One of my very favorite dried fruits is the dried apricot. Soft and sweet with a honeyed-tang. They are amazing in everything from oatmeal at breakfast to turkey stuffing at Thanksgiving. Dipped in dark chocolate, well then  they've dried and gone to heaven.*

In summer though, my thoughts always turn to fresh fruit, and the little fragrant fresh apricots often get overlooked as I bee-line to the berries, peaches, plums and melons. They even get overshadowed by their own genetic offshoots: pluots, apriums, etc. Whats next? Grapricots? Aprinanas? It's time I took another look at the subtle and classic blushing beauty that is the fresh apricot... 

 

These desserts all look so very tempting, my problem now is to pick one:

• A yummy Apricot Cake and Apricot Fold Over Pie both from Serious Eats
• Tea-Steamed Apricots & Blackberries on page 20 of Healthy Desserts  (Williams-Sonoma Collection, 1995 )
• This gorgeous Walnut Apricot Bread also over at Serious Eats uses one of my favorite flavor combinations
• Apricot Slice, a tasty looking thing that would be equally at home either for breakfast or dessert (I just love those). Found on page 23 of Best Of Baking (Wolter and Teubner, 1980) 
• The Martha Stewart Cookbook (1995) has Apricots Baked With Vanilla Sugar (pg 422) and two kinds of Apricot Tart on page 453 (one with Grand Marnier and the other with rum... yum!). 
• Also from Martha are two apricot-almond recipes: a Fresh Apricot Tart and a simple dish of Baked Apricots with Almond Topping..

* I really have to apologize for that cheesy awful joke.

Sandwich Bread

Newly empowered by making my own mayonnaise, I was now faced with a need to find ways of using it up. We normally don't consume a lot of mayo but the recipe made 2 cups of it, so we racked our little brains to come up with all the different uses we could think of. One of those was: sandwiches. Yeah, I know, stop the presses. Since we stopped buying bread and started making it, I haven't been able to wander too far away from sourdough. So I don't. But faced with a mayo surplus, a nice sandwich loaf seems to be in order.

Whole Wheat Burger Buns

Next on the list of foods to eat with mayonnaise: Cheeseburgers. Admittedly burgers and sandwiches don't use up a lot of mayonnaise, but knowing that my jar of homemade mayo has a brief fridge-life of around 5 days, I'm wanting to get as much use out of it as possible.*

So today, as a vehicle for my homemade mayo, I made whole wheat burger buns. Something a teensy bit healthier than the last ones... 

 

Whole Wheat Hamburger Buns
adapted from: page 34, BH&G Homemade Bread Cook Book, 1973

3-1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 packages active dry yeast
2 cups milk
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon salt
2 eggs
3 to 3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

In a large bowl (or the bowl of a stand mixer) whisk together the whole wheat flour and the yeast. In a small saucepan over med/low hear, combine the milk, butter, sugar, and salt. Stir constantly until butter is melted and mixture is at 115°-120°. Add this to the flour/yeast in mixer bowl, then add in the eggs. Beat at low speed just until combined. Scrape the bowl and beat for 3 minutes at high speed (med-high if using a stand mixer).

Stir in by hand the remaining 3 to 3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour to make a somewhat stiff dough. Turn out on floured board and knead until smooth and elastic. If using a stand mixer, replace beater with dough hook and add the remaining flour one cup at a time on low setting. Continue until dough is smooth and elastic.

Place dough in greased bowl and turn over once. Cover and let rise in warm place till double (about 1-1/2 hours). Punch down, cover, let rest for 10 minutes. Divide dough into 16 portions. Shape into buns by folding edges under to make a round ball. Press flat between hands. Place on greased baking sheets (or use Silpats or parchment), pressing down flatten into circles. Cover and let rise for 45 minutes or until almost doubled. Bake at 400° about 15-18 minutes, rotating pan half way through. Let buns cool completely before slicing and serving. Makes 16 hamburger buns.

My Notes: When shaping them, work fast so the dough doesn't dry out. Maybe drape a damp towel over the dough as it waits to be shaped. They turned out great. Denser than the non-whole wheat buns, not as pillowy-soft, but really pretty good. Should easily stand up to a juicy burger or even a sloppy-Joe or pulled pork sandwich.

*On the mayo's last day I'll be making my mom's Curried Chicken Divan which uses 2/3 of a cup of mayonnaise. Speaking of 1960's-era cooking classics that use lots of mayonnaise... Mayonnaise Chocolate Cake! It's not something that I grew up with, but it just jumped in my head. I'll have to see if there's a recipe for it in one of my "older" cookbooks.

What To Make When You're Out Of Dough

Friends and family (thinking I've gone 'round the bend): "You're making what?!"
Me (not having noticed whether I'd rounded any bends lately or not): "Um, hamburger buns."
Friends and family (certain that I've gone 'round the bend): "...from scratch?!"

Admittedly I get kind of a kick out of hearing that response, especially when I know that it's not exactly rocket science that I'm engaging in. Anyone can make these. Just why are we incredulous? Is there a great shroud of mystery around the creation of hamburger buns that only the commercial bread manufacturers know the secrets behind?

I probably used to think that. Or rather, I probably never thought to even think that they could be made at home. Not until the Hubs came home the other day with a package of ground beef, but no buns... and wanting hamburgers for dinner. He thought we could save money* and use our sourdough bread instead of buying buns. I couldn't do that though. I've just never liked hamburgers on bread.

Hamburgers and hot dogs require buns for a reason. Juicy burgers and condiments soak right through regular bread and it falls apart before you're halfway done eating. It's a mess. Sliced bread is for sandwiches and toast and even toasted sandwiches. But not burgers and dogs. We were almost out of bread anyway, and frankly, it would be irritating to use up the last of my nice whole wheat sourdough that way.**

So much for my motivation. The results were... surprisingly good! Somewhat smaller than store-bought buns but bigger than sliders, they had a nice dense crumb that would hold up against the juiciest burger out there. It's getting close to backyard BBQ season, and you can bet I'll be making these more than once this summer. Now I just need to find a whole-wheat version...

Hamburger Buns
adapted from: page 34, BH&G Homemade Bread Cook Book, 1973

8 cups all-purpose flour
2 packages active dry yeast
2 cups warm water (110°)
3/4 cup cooking oil
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon salt
3 eggs

In large mixer bowl whisk together 4 cups of the flour and the yeast. In a separate bowl, combine the warm water, oil, sugar, and salt. Add to flour/yeast mixture, then add in the eggs. Beat at low speed just until combined. Scrape the bowl and beat for 3 minutes at high speed (med-high if using a stand mixer).

By hand, stir in the remaining 4 cups all-purpose flour to make a soft dough. Turn out on floured surface; knead till smooth and elastic. If using a stand mixer, replace beater with dough hook and add remaining flour one cup at a time on low setting. Continue until dough is smooth and elastic.

Place dough in greased bowl, turning once. Cover and let rise in warm place till double (about 1 hour). Punch down, then divide dough into 3 portions. Cover again and let rest 5 minutes. Divide each portion into 8 balls of dough.

Shape into buns by folding edges under to make even circle. Press flat between hands. Place on greased baking sheets (or use Silpats), pressing to 3-1/2 circles. Let rise till double (about 30 minutes). Bake at 350° about 20 minutes, rotating pan half way through. Let buns cool completely before slicing and serving. Makes 24 (smallish) hamburger buns.

My Notes: Recipe makes 24 which was way more than we needed for just the two of us, so I planned on halving the recipe. Note the use of the word "planned". Yep, I forgot. I guess we'll find out how well they freeze. I overworked the dough by using the dough hook to mix the last four cups of flour in and then hand-kneaded it afterwards. Do one or the other, but not both! 

The original recipe said to bake for 10 minutes at 375°, but they were way too pale after 10, so I ended up keeping them in for closer to 15 minutes. By the last batch, I lowered the oven temp to 350° and baked them for 20 minutes. That seemed to do the trick, and while they were too soft and doughy to use right away, by the next day they were perfect. Yes, I used the P-word. Buns were somewhat small. Next time, I'll try making 18 larger ones instead of 24 and adjust temp and time accordingly.

*Hmm...kind of funny how the words dough, bread, and scratch have all been used at one time or other as slang for "money".
**Go ahead and say it... sounds like I'm a bit of a bread snob. Really it's more a matter of wanting to use "the right bread for the right job". It's about form following function ...even when it comes to food.

The Good, The Bad & The Bruschetta

When you make the decision to stop buying bread and start baking it at home, you have to find ways of using up the failed loaves. Because no matter how many times you make it, there will be failed loaves. It's designed that way so we learn humility.

Croutons are always an option, as are breadcrumbs (and I'll tell you, it's a whole lot easier to grind up a failed loaf for breadcrumbs now, than to demolish a beautiful loaf later because you didn't realize you were out).

A friend of ours sparked an idea that sounded so much better this time: bruschetta. She had been watching Julie & Julia on DVD the other day and called me up to ask if I had the recipe for the bruschetta Julie makes in the beginning of the movie.*  Turns out, you don't really need one.

Bruschetta is one of those wonderful "peasant" foods that are infinitely adaptable to anything and everything you have on hand. I have one cookbook that devoted a whole section to bruschetta and not one of the toppings uses tomatoes!

We wanted the tomato-laden version though, and while it's a little early in the year for fabulous flavorful toms, we were craving that tomato-basil goodness. That, and the bread pan-fried in olive oil! After all, that was the part that made everybody sit up and notice. Rather than a light brushing of olive oil, or at most a "drizzle" prior to toasting or broiling the bread, this was calling for a swimming-and-sizzling kind of approach!

Movie-Night Bruschetta How-To

1. Dice six of the most fabulous tomatoes you can get your hands on. If they're excessively juicy, throw them into a strainer for a few minutes after dicing. 
2. Roughly chop a good-sized handful of fresh basil leaves and toss in a bowl with the tomatoes. 
3. Chop up a handful of your favorite olives, removing any pits along the way. 
4. Cut half of an onion into a small dice and add it the mix, if you think you'll like that. 
5. Heat up a skillet over medium heat, adding approximately one tablespoon of olive oil per slice of bread. 
6. Add bread in a single layer and flip to coat both sides with the oil. Sourdough, a baguette, or any rustic-type loaf (preferably day-old) works really well. Watch bread closely and flip it again once the first side is a nice golden brown. 
7. When the second side is done, move the toasts to a paper towel to cool slightly. 
8. Slice a clove of garlic in half and rub the top of the toasts all over with the cut-side of the garlic clove. 
9. Place the toasts on a platter and top generously with the tomato mixture. Sprinkle with ground pepper and sea salt. Be sure to serve it with big napkins... this is no dainty dish!

Notes: We used Roma tomatoes and seeded half of them (cannot wait to use real garden tomatoes!). Our bread was very dense and I knew it would end up being too crunchy and/or chewy if we cut it too thick, so we cut it quite thin. With good bread, slice it to 1/2" or 3/4" even.

Things we learned along the way...
-Kitchen knives in movies are sharper than regular kitchen knives.
-Actors in movies are much neater eaters than my husband and I.
-Bruschetta and a glass of wine makes for a fine dinner... just like in the movies.
-Husbands may mock the gusto with which the movie-husband ate his bruschetta, but in the end, they wind up quoting his lines word for word without even realizing it. 

Some other bruschetta recipes lurking in my bookshelf...

• Bruschetta and lots of variations: page 265-266, How To Cook Everything, Bittman (1998)
• Desperate Measures (Kevin Crafts, 1993) has a basic Bruschetta on page 79
  
• Wonderful "non-tomato" versions (with wine recommendations) on pages 61-63 of The Perfect Match, St. Pierre (2001)
• Bruschetta with Tomato, Black Beans and Arugula on page 34 of Gourmet's Quick Kitchen (1996)
  

*She knew that I had been gifted with the mother-lode of J & J-related stuff this last Christmas. However, in the movie, the bruschetta was prepared prior to Julie's blog project and so, would not be found in Julia's cookbooks.

Soft And Bittersweet

The situation in my kitchen early yesterday morning may be the only circumstance where anyone would be upset because their buns were too firm. To paraphrase a favorite movie, "We're going to need considerably softer buns!".* Here's the lowdown: I have two recipes from my mom for hot cross buns. I made one of them last year and it was a smashing success (they were just like mom used to make). This year, I couldn't remember which of the two recipes I had used before.** So I picked one. I may have picked wrong. Or perhaps it was user error and the fault lies in my execution of the recipe in question. We may never know.

Everything seemed to go like clockwork, without a hitch, every step of the way. Uh, except that the dough didn't rise. These were for brunch on Easter Sunday, and well, with yeast breads as well as with Easter, the rising is the most important part. They tasted fine (we ate them all up), but they were firm and dense when they should have been soft and wonderful. Clearly I'll need to make these again soon in order to figure out what went wrong. Oh darn.

One thing that went right was the candied orange peel I made to put in the buns. We were fresh out of candied orange peel, but you just can't have hot cross buns without it. We did have a box of oranges though... so I looked up a recipe and gave it a go. A little messy for sure, but it turned out fantastically well. The only thing better would be to dip them in dark chocolate. But then, what wouldn't be improved by that?

The syrup that the orange peel cooked in, was infused with orange essence and I just couldn't see pouring it down the drain. I used a little of it to sweeten some plain yogurt, then drizzled it over the fruit salad we served. I'll probably try it in my tea next and if it gets warmer out (which I hope will be soon), it would be great in lemonade. It should work pretty much anywhere you would use simple syrup. When all was said and done, the only things I didn't use up were the pith and the membrane from the oranges, and those went into the compost. A little fuss, a little muss, but no packaging, and no waste whatsoever. Sweet.

Hot Cross Buns page 56, Sunset Cook Book Of Breads, 1975
Here's a similar recipe, also from Sunset magazine... Orange Hot Cross Buns at MyRecipes.com

Notes: Plum out of currants, I used 1/3 cup each of golden raisins and chopped dried cranberries in addition to the chopped candied orange peel that I made (see below). I also put a tsp of dried lavender flowers in the scalded milk as it was cooling. I liked these changes/additions to the flavor, they were subtle but noticeable. And I don't believe they had anything to do with the dough failing to rise. That just may have to remain a mystery.

Candied Orange Peel, page 679-680, How To Cook Everything, Bittman, 1998

Notes: Recipe called for a small amount of corn syrup but said it was optional. We were out of corn syrup, so I opted not to buy a bottle of it right now and made the recipe without it. There is a lot of the candied peel left. Maybe I'll try dipping it in dark chocolate after all.

* The movie was Calendar Girls and it was the scene in which they were in need of "considerably bigger buns" for the sake of modesty (if that made no sense, go rent the movie and it will).
** This here is pretty much the reason I started this blog in the first place.

Quoting... Dodie Smith

"I thank heaven there is no cheaper form of bread than bread." 
- Dodie Smith, I Capture the Castle, 1948

Pan co'Sante (Walnut Raisin Bread)

No-Knead Walnut Raisin Bread from Jim Lahey via The Kitchn

My Notes: Did not have bread flour, so I used AP instead. Initial rise was 15 hours in oven overnight with light on. Used the parchment paper method from CI instead of the floured dish-towel method used in the recipe. Did not knead it at all. I slashed the top before baking. Not sure if oven was to temp. Didn't get the rise it should have had. Will try again with a little bit of kneading, and a higher initial temp. Smells and tastes great regardless!

Almost No-Knead (SOURDOUGH) Bread x2 (3 Variations)

After bringing to life my colony of bacteria*, and naming it Edwina, I wondered, "Could I make bread using Edwina and the fabulous "almost no-knead bread" method? It sure would be swell if I could. The ANKB recipe from Cook's Illustrated approximates the flavor of sourdough, but I wanted the ease of that method with real sourdough flavor. They say good things come in "three's", and as it turns out, they're right. Here are three variations of no-knead sourdough bread: Rustic Sourdough, Brown Rice & Flax Seed Sourdough, and Maple Oatmeal Sourdough. Great article, great recipes, and more great advice available on the author's blog** (another set of 3 good things!).

Almost No-Knead Bread x2

I didn't plan to have two dutch ovens. A few years ago, while doing some last minute Christmas shopping (literally, I mean it was Christmas eve) I saw it. It was: just like the one my friend had, on sale, the only one left, and a happy apple-green color. I felt so lucky to have been at the right place at the right time. It came home with me of course. Two days later, some good friends gave me another one as a Christmas gift. This one was ombre-blue with straight sides. I liked them both. I kept them both. Neither of them are Le Crueset, nor did they cost anywhere near that. Both have metal knobs on the lid that handle any temperature my oven can dish out. They are fantastic. For a long time I thought it was silly of me to keep both. Our kitchen at the time was an architect's after-thought, it was so small. But I kept them and I'm glad I did. Not only are we now in a house with a wonderfully big kitchen, but then I come across someone so brilliant as to double the CIANKB* recipe. Twice the payoff without twice the work. Gotta love that.