Potato, Cheddar, Green Onion Torpedoes

 
     I once again turned to the Bread Baker's Apprentice for last weeks bread.  This was the first bread that I've made that requires a coarsely chopped potato with the skin left on.  I really expected to see pieces of the skin in the bread, but none were visible.   This was a really wonderful bread.  The potato and potato water added moisture as well as flavor.  I love any bread that lets me use my sourdough starter. Instead of grated cheese, this recipe used thin slices of sharp cheddar that were rolled jelly roll style into the bread.  The recipe originally called for chives, but since chives require a trip to Alexandria, I used green onions.  The directions said to slash through to the first layer of cheese giving the bread that beautiful baked cheese on the crust.  The crust on this bread had an exceptional crunch.  The combination of flavors was delectable.  I brought half a loaf to our friend Anita when we went to Baton Rouge.  She emailed me a simple message, "Mo bread."  Yes, it was that good.  It made a great sandwich with some pulled pork and fresh creole tomatoes.

     We've been busy lately.  Last Friday we went to Baton Rouge.  We made a trip to Plano, Texas on Monday and Tuesday.  Yesterday we went to the The Dinner Bell in McComb, Mississippi.  We met my sister-in-law Carol and her husband Harry there for dinner.  Yesterday would have been my sister-in-law Gerry's 67th birthday.  Years ago Carol, Gerry, Wayne, and I were cleaning out their Aunt Mary's house.  We were wearing shorts and tee shirts and shorts because the house was hot.  We were sweaty and dirty, and hungry.  Right before lunch we came across hat boxes filled with beautiful vintage hats from the 1930's through the 1960's.   Carol and I decided the 3 of us would wear hats to the restaurant.  Well, Gerry was beyond mortified.  She said she would not wear a hat.  We said she had to wear one if she wanted to eat.  She did indeed wear one, an I thought she was going to crawl under the table.  Wayne thought nothing of it.  He's used to the shenanigans that Carol and I come up with.  So that's why we went to The Dinner Bell yesterday, and of course, Carol and I wore hats.  I think Harry was every bit as embarrassed as Gerry would have been.  He tried to pretend he didn't know us, but I would have none of that.  It was our own little loving tribute to Gerry.

     My brother also went to Plano, and he stayed with us Tuesday night.  I knew that I wouldn't be baking on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday.  So I baked Sunday for this week.  I was out of onion rolls, and I wanted to make a fairly quick yeast bread.  I found a recipe for  Sweet Potato Sandwich Rolls at King Arthur.  The sweet potato did not add much flavor, but gave the rolls a beautiful color.  I omitted the sesame seeds and the egg wash.  I knotted three of the rolls, and shaped the other three as regular round rolls.  The rolls are a large roll that would be perfect for any sandwich or burger.  The rolls made a wonderful ham and Swiss cheese sandwich.  Perfect for supper after a long day on the road.

No-Knead Harvest Bread

     This recipe for No-Knead Harvest Bread from the King Arthur Flour website.  This is the first no-knead bread that did not require the oven or the baking vessel to be preheated.  It is a typical no-knead bread in that it has a long first rise.  I mixed my dough using my dough whisk at 5 p.m. yesterday, and did not punch it down and shape it until 8:00 this morning.  After it was shaped into a large boule it went into my enameled dutch oven, allowed to rise for 2 hours.  Before I placed it in the cold oven, I lightly misted the top with water to give the bread a nice sheen.  The oven was turned on to 450 degrees and baked with the lid on for about 45 minutes.  The lid was then removed, and the bread baked for an additional 10 minutes until it had a beautiful brown crust.  The bread is chocked full of golden raisins, dried cranberries, and coarsely chopped pecans.  It was not a particularly fragrant bread as it baked, but it sure qualifies as a super tasty bread.  The bread is very dense and moist.  I think this is a great bread for a beginning bread baker.  It's not as sticky as many no-kneads, you don't have to preheat your baking vessel, and you end up with a beautiful loaf.
     Today was a baking day for me.  I had some fresh raspberries in the fridge, and they were about to go bad.  I found a recipe for raspberry scones with chocolate chips.  They were very tasty warm from the oven.  An hour later the harvest bread  was ready to be sliced.  I asked Wayne which he preferred, and he said the bread.  I had to agree.  The scones were good, but the bread was excellent.  Great crust, great chew, great flavor -  what more could you expect from bread. 

Lavash Crackers

     Lavash is an Armenian flat bread.  It can be baked into a pita-like flat bread or a cracker.  The recipe I used came from my favorite bread book, Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice, and the recipe was for lavash crackers.  The recipe was pretty straight forward and easy to make.  I topped mine with sesame seeds, Hungarian paprika, kosher salt, and black pepper.  They baked to a crispy, mahogany brown cracker.  Rather than pre-cutting them, I broke them into shards and we had them with roasted red pepper hummus.
     As I have gotten older I have developed a passion for Middle Eastern/Greek cuisine.  I think it was because of my Aunt Louiska.  (My mimi loved unusual names.  Her middle name was Eulahlee.)  My aunt had been married to Greek.  She did not learn much Greek cooking, but she did learn how to make a mean leg of lamb and a wonderful spanakopita.  How could I help but not loving all those wonderful layers of phyllo, salty feta, fresh spinach, and herbs baked into a “pie” - yum!  I did not know her husband as they lived in New York and divorced when I was an infant.  She would tell me the story about living in an apartment and Pete asking the landlord if he could run a flour business from it.  The landlord said sure after all what harm could come from “flowers.”  So Pete opened his flour business making phyllo.  Aunt Louiska said there was flour everywhere.  Neighbors complained to the landlord about the white dust from their apartment; that’s when he realized there was a breakdown in communication and that it was indeed flour and not flowers.