French Bread

Yeah, so my bread turned out a little wonky-looking. But it was otherwise successful, so I'm very happy!

As I've mentioned here before, I'm not big on bread baking. Not that I don't want to be a master baker (get your mind out of the gutter!), but I've had some bad luck in the past. The only bread that has come out successfully for me is the no knead stuff from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. The recipes in that series of books is practically idiot-proof, and even my attempt at brioche came out spectacularly. But I don't necessarily want to wait for hours and hours or overnight to be able to make a loaf of bread. I want bread NOW.

Homemade bread isn't a NOW kind of proposition, but I did find a recipe that allowed me to produce a couple of loaves in less than two hours time. Because the bread was quick, it wasn't absolutely ideal - the crust wasn't hard and crunchy, but it did have some crispness. There were no air holes in the center, just fluffiness. But it wasn't tough and tasted pretty great with a smear of butter. And bone marrow. That's right - the whole reason I wanted the bread was to use as a base for a schmear of roasted bone marrow. Marrow and caramelized onions. Mmmm.

Easy French Bread

1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
2 teaspoons sugar
1 1/4 cup warm water (100°-105°F)
1 teaspoon sea salt
3 to 3 1/2 cups flour

Place yeast and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook and stir in half the water. Allow to sit for 5 minutes until yeast bubbles. Add the remainder of the water, the salt, and 3 cups of flour. Turn on the mixer to low speed and beat until dough starts to come together, scraping down sides as needed. After 3 minutes, turn the speed up to medium and continue to beat dough until it pulls away from the sides of the bowl, about 4 minutes more. If it seems too sticky, add some or all of the remaining flour. (I didn't need any of the extra flour.)

Remove dough from mixer bowl and form into a ball. Place in another bowl, dribble with a tiny bit of olive oil, and move the ball around in the oil to coat it. Cover bowl and allow dough to rise for an hour, or until doubled in size. Punch down the dough and divide into two pieces.

Roll each piece of dough into an 8" x 10" rectangle. Roll up the dough, jelly-roll fashion, and pinch the seam closed. Place each on a parchment lined baking sheet dusted with a bit of flour or cornmeal. Cover dough and allow to rise an additional 30 minutes.

While dough is rising, preheat oven to 375°F. Place a second baking sheet on the center rack. Put a small baking pan off-center on the rack below it. After the second rising, remove cover and cut four diagonal slashes into the top of each loaf with a razor blade or very sharp knife. Slide the parchment from the baking sheet onto the hot sheet in the stove. Pour 1/2 cup of water into the small baking pan on the bottom rack to create steam.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until loaves are golden brown and sound hollow when you thump on the bottoms. Or, take their temperature with an instant read thermometer - they should be done at 190°F.

Cool loaves on a wire rack.

Easy Bone Marrow with Caramelized Onions

1 large onion, diced
Olive oil
Salt
Butter
Marrow bones
Chopped parsley
Flaky sea salt

Cook the onion over medium heat in a bit of olive oil and a pinch of salt. Once onion is softened, add a tablespoon or so of butter. Cook over medium low heat 30 minutes or so, until onions are very soft and brown. Remove from heat and set aside.

Preheat oven to 425°F. Place marrow bones on a foil-lined baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes.

Remove bones to a plate. Top with caramelized onions and a sprinkling of parsley. Serve on fresh bread with a pinch of sea salt on top.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Holiday Gifts for Foodies

If you're looking for foodie-appropriate gifts this holiday season, look no further than my list here.

Posted by theminx on Minxeats.com.

Homemade Pizza

Gluten and I do not have a good relationship. I don't have any sensitivity to the stuff :::knocking on wood::: but I do seem to fight with it when I am handling a yeast-raised dough. I have never been a fan of wrestling, professional or otherwise, and would much rather have Mr Gluten surrender to my whims. Oh, he's under control when I bake bread, since I use the fabulous no-knead technique found in Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, but he still gives me a fit when I attempt pizza. Most of the time, I'll use a ready-made crust such as Mama Mary's (but never Boboli - yuck) or a flatbread, but once in a rare while, while feeling feisty, I'll buy a blob of pizza dough from Trader Joe's and then the fighting begins anew. An attempt to stretch it into a circle causes it to bounce right back. Sneaking up on the dough after letting it rest a few minutes doesn't work, either - Mr Gluten isn't stupid. The next time I want pizza, I find myself cozying back up with the much more-friendly Mama Mary.

Despite my comfortable relationship with Mama, it's pure stubbornness that makes me want to try again with Mr Gluten. The next time I had the urge to make home-made pizza, I made the dough completely from scratch, using a recipe from my favorite bread book. For some reason, this home-made dough was much more willing to acquiesce to my will and seemed positively happy to be manipulated into a baking-sheet sized rectangle.

Thus tamed, the beast was topped with some leftover Italian cold cuts (bresaola and sopressata) sundried tomatoes that had been rehydrated and roughly chopped, red onion, fresh mozzarella, and several varieties of basil from the garden. After spending around 20 minutes in a 475F oven, the resulting crust was thin and crisp, but not cracker-y, and the cornicione (crust edge), while not obviously bubbled, was hollow in areas, making for extra crunch.

My ideal pizza has a softer bottom crust that is fold-able, yet still crisp (a la New York style), but this one was pretty damn good. And obedient. The only issue with making pizza from a wet dough recipe is that I need to think ahead and make the dough the day before. But since a batch can last in the fridge for well over a week, I already have dough waiting for my next pizza urge.

Posted by theminx on Minxeats.com.

Meatless Monday - Veggie Burgers

I never thought, when I started Minxeats, that I would end up posting very many vegetarian recipes. But now that meat has necessarily become an endangered species in our house, I've had to resort to making veggies and non-animal proteins the focus at dinnertime.

Veggie burgers are one of those things I think of as a vegetarian staple, but I haven't eaten very many. Once in a while we'd buy a box of Boca Burgers, but eventually the fake grill flavor started to remind me of the loathed Burger King, and I gave up on them. Then, sometime last year, I was asked by Baltimore Magazine to write a blurb on Banksy's Café on Falls Road. Their veggie burger is apparently based on a famous burger once served at Ratner's, a Kosher deli in New York, and was extremely soft, rather mashed-potatoey, but also very good. That made me realize that a veggie burger need only be burger-shaped and not really bear any other resemblance to something served up by clowns by the millions every day.

I did a little research on veggie burgers and found that a lot of them involve beans. Over the years, I've discovered that beans and I have a mutual dislike for each other, but occasionally black beans have found their way into my gullet without too much of a struggle. I thought I'd give them a try in burger form, bolstered by mushrooms for texture. Not too much texture though - instead of merely chopping the 'shrooms to allow them to lend their squeaky chew, I minced them in the food processor with some onion, essentially making a duxelles. When mixed with the beans (which also took a trip through the foodpro - hey, it was already dirty and taking up precious counter space), the mushrooms didn't exactly provide the texture I was seeking. However, the mixture, seasoned with a bit of garlic, smoked paprika, and green onion was darn tasty.

And wow - it kinda looked like a big ol' juicy burger, too.

I made my own rolls, using the soft sandwich bread recipe in Artisan Baking in Five Minutes a Day. They tasted fine, but were too crisp for the burgers, which were quite soft and squooshed out the sides at every bite. Mushroom Black Bean Burgers also seemed a bit too exotic for mere ketchup, mustard, or mayo, so I made a bit of basil mayo and some Cambodian lemongrass curry mayo, and a bit of corn relish.

I dare say I will make these again, perhaps adding some chia seed to help with the texture.

Mushroom and Black Bean Burgers

2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup onion, finely minced
1 cup mushrooms, finely minced
pinch salt
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 13oz can black beans
2 tablespoons chopped green onion
1/2 - 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
salt and pepper to taste
plain dry bread crumbs
olive oil for frying

Sauté onions and mushrooms in olive oil over medium heat until most of their moisture has evaporated and they become pasty. about 15-20 minutes. Add garlic and cook another 2-3 minutes. Allow to cool.

I never said it would be pretty.

Puree beans in food processor. Place in bowl and add cooked mushrooms, green onion, paprika, and salt and pepper to taste. Form into cakes. Roll in bread crumbs.

Heat some canola or olive oil in a saute pan over high heat. Add burgers and cook until crisp and browned on bottom. Carefully turn burgers and brown on the other side.

Serve on soft buns with your favorite condiments. Makes 6 burgers.

Posted by theminx on Minxeats.com.

Corned Beef and Cabbage

Of course, my idea of corned beef and cabbage isn't at all like the traditional St Patrick's dinner; I believe corned beef should only be eaten on rye bread with mustard, or, occasionally, with Russian dressing and sauerkraut.

Good rye bread is paramount. I'll never again have the delicious Levin's rye from my youth, but home-baked comes pretty close. Might even surpass it.

I bought my first-ever corned beef and braised it according to package directions. It was a bit bland, not to mention too lean, so next time I'll try the corning process myself on a fattier chunk of brisket.

In any case, it was pretty good on the rye with lashings of yellow mustard. (I find that other types of mustard can be too acidic and overwhelm the delicate taste of the meat.)

As for the "cabbage" part of the equation, how about a nice big helping of potatoes and chopped Brussels sprouts? You can call it "bubble and squeak" if you'd like; I just call it delicious.

"Cabbage"

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 cups yukon gold or other waxy potato, cut into rough dice
3 tablespoons water
1 pint Brussels sprouts, stem end trimmed, outer leaves removed, shredded
salt and pepper to taste

Heat a large skillet, add oil and onion. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until onion softens and edges begin to brown slightly, 10 minutes. Toss in potatoes and stir to combine. Cover pan and cook potatoes, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes until they start to soften. To speed up the process a bit, add the water to steam the potatoes. When potatoes are fork tender, add Brussels sprouts and stir. When Brussels sprouts have turned bright green, mash the mixture in the pan down a bit with the back of a spatula and turn up the heat. After 2-3 minutes, turn everything over and press down again to brown the other side. Taste for seasoning and serve hot.

Posted by theminx on Minxeats.com.

King Cake

I had only eaten King Cake once before, at a friend's party. After hearing that it was de rigeur for a Mardi Gras celebration, I had it built up in my head as some grand fancy pastry. It was a little disappointing to find that it's actually a ginormous Danish, either braided and plain or filled, in the style of the French galette de rois, with an almond paste, or even a cream cheese mixture. Now that I'm a bread-baking fool, I thought I'd try to make my own version by altering a sweet bread recipe from my current favorite cookbook, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.

To the book's basic brioche recipe, which I halved, I added 1/4 cup sugar and 1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg. It's a very sticky dough, so rather than trying to roll it out, I decided to arrange a series of flattened dough blobs in an oval shape on a parchment-lined baking sheet. I then applied a thin layer of pistachio paste (cuz almond is just so done, plus - pistachio!) down the center of the oval, and covered that with the rest of the dough. A whole hazelnut was inserted at random, to stand in for the traditional plastic baby or bean.

After an hour and twenty minutes of rising time, the oval was baked at 350F for 35 minutes, then set on a rack to cool.

When cool, it was frosted with a mixture of powdered sugar, milk, and lemon juice in the form of True Lemon powder, and topped with the traditional purple, green, and gold Mardi Gras colors in the form of coarse sugar.

The verdict? It was good - like a glazed brioche. The pistachio paste was delicious, but it could have used a lot more. (I was afraid to add too much because it might leak out; during the rising, some of it did, but I pinched the dough back in place over the leaks.) A cream cheese filling would have been nice, too.

According to tradition, the one who finds the baby (or in this case, hazelnut) gets to throw the next Mardi Gras party or at least supply the cake. Since I found it in my second slice, I suppose that makes me "it." :)

More Adventures with Bread

A couple of weeks ago, I waxed rhapsodic about a small boule I baked using the techniques in Artisan Baking in Five Minutes a Day. The rest of that batch of dough became a small baguette to eat with another dinner. Immediately upon ridding the container of batch one, I mixed up batch two and plopped it in, ready for the next baking adventure. That turned out to be banh mi (Vietnamese sandwiches). Although my baguette was not "authentic" (made with rice flour, although I've read some comments online that strongly suggest not worrying about the rice component and just going with nice, crusty bread) it sure was pretty:

The second half of that batch became a pizza crust. Heeding the book's warning about the possibility of smoking cornmeal at 550F, I cooked the pizza at 475F. While the bottom didn't have any nice blackened spots (as my bread loaves do), the cornicione (crust) was nicely crisp/crunchy and a far cry better than that of your typical generic restaurant pizza.

No, the heart shape wasn't intentional. I always have issues making a round pizza. My hands activate the gluten in dough with the slightest touch so I'm usually wrestling with it. And lose.

A commenter on my initial bread post suggested that I try the book's brioche recipe, saying, "my hubs, who cooks professionally, had to grudgingly admit that the brioche was every bit as good as the recipe he uses which takes 3 days and a whole lot of Frenchified effort." Strong praise. I had to try it next. Here's my wee loaf rising...

...and here it is, cooling.

It. Was. Amazing. While it was baking, it perfumed the house with the most wonderful sweet aroma that lasted for hours and hours. It was a cold and nasty day, typical of the weather we've been having recently, and every time I came in from walking the dog, I was greeted by the sweet perfume of brioche.

The flavor was as good or better than any brioche I've had previously. Mine was richer and moister; Mr Minx compared it to pound cake. And I was happy to be able to share a large slab of it with my Dad, Mr Bread, later that evening.

I can't recommend Artisan Baking in Five Minutes a Day enough. I'm not a big fan of hyperbole, but I can almost say that the book changed my life. It certainly has changed my bread-eating ways for the better.

Baking Bread

Some people are potato fiends. Mr Minx could probably eat pasta every day. But my carb of choice is bread - good bread. By that I mean flavorful bread with texture as unlike cotton wool as possible, preferably with a crackly-crisp crust, otherwise it's really not worth eating. This is why I get so upset when I'm given bread that doesn't stand up to the food that it's served with, including the bland starch that came with the rillettes at Chameleon Café and the charcuterie platters at Clementine. Both restaurants do so many things very well so why offer lackluster bread?

Years and years ago, I made my first and only attempt at baking bread. I had found a relatively-simple-seeming challah recipe which turned out a tough, if visually attractive, loaf. I swore off bread baking, leaving it to the professionals like Stone Mill, Bonaparte, and Atwater's.

And then I found Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. I was a bit skeptical, but the recipes made sense and seemed too easy not to try. Five minutes per day is an exaggeration, of course; it actually takes much less time. Yes, I did say less time. Making a batch of wet dough takes fewer than 5 minutes of actual hands-on time because there is no kneading involved. Simply mix the wet dough, store it in the fridge, and pull off a blob to rise and bake whenever you feel like it.

I made my first batch on Saturday afternoon, tossing a packet of yeast, some barely-warm water, and flour into the Kitchen-Aid stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. After a few minutes, I had a ball of dough that I then dumped into a large Ziploc-brand resealable plastic container. After a couple of hours on the countertop, during which time the dough rose a bit, I put it in the fridge for later. On Sunday afternoon, I removed a blob of dough, floured it, and let it sit for 40 minutes while I preheated the oven with a bare cookie sheet and a shallow pan in it. When the oven was preheated, I put the dough onto the preheated cookie sheet, poured water into the other pan, and set the timer for 30 minutes.

Voila. A tiny boule, enough for two people to enjoy with dinner.

Although it doesn't look pretty, it tasted wonderful. The crust was properly crisp-crackly, the crumb was moist and firm with a pleasant springy chew, and it was perfect all on its own with a slathering of butter.

I am seriously pleased with myself, and will be experimenting with bread a lot more in the near future.