Kids Dish

Two days ago I started my second batch of the no-knead bread.

Based on suggestions that it would rise better in a smaller vessel I baked it in my smaller cast iron dutch oven instead of my enormous, Le Creuset enameled oven. But even baked in my smaller dutch oven it came out sort of flat. It never seemed to rise. After two hours I moved it upstairs to above the wood stove, hoping the heat would give it some incentive, but after a four hour second rise it never even came close.

Last night it spread out. It definitely expanded and took up more space than it did after being shaped, but never puffed up like it should. I started to troubleshoot. Was the yeast active? I mixed a bit with water and sugar and it started to bubble almost immediately? Was it the wrong kind of yeast? According to the original recipe, no, but according to a follow-up article in the NYT, active dry yeast is fine. Did it stay flat because my house is too cold? My house temperature is between 59-60 degrees most of the time, not the recommended 70 degrees, but the follow-up article does suggest that any temperature is fine. I even added more yeast this time in the hopes that it would make a difference.

The only difference between this attempt and the last failed attempt was that the bread, flat as it was, tasted amazing and had a bread like texture instead of being dense and hard like a rock. It’s seriously delicious. It may be flat as a pancake, but at 11 pm, when I finally took it out of the oven after letting it “rise” for an additional 2 hours, we had to stop ourselves from eating the whole thing right then and there.

I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. Based on the videos there’s nothing wrong with my technique. I have no problems making yeast breads ordinarily, but this one just seems to elude me. Give it a shot and let me know how you make out.

Since I’m Jewish my knowledge of Christian religious traditions is rather limited. I remember every year I’d see people with dirty foreheads and I never really made the Ash Wednesday connection until I was in high school. I remember smacking myself in the forehead and thinking, “Duh,” when I figured that one out.

Today, the day before Lent begins, is Fastnacht Day, a German tradition that’s also celebrated not too far from me in Pennsylvania Dutch Country. I’d never heard of Fastnacht Day, until a few local bloggers, wrote about the tradition and linked to the wikipedia article.

Jennie wrote:

But most importantly, it’s Fat Tuesday here in Pennsylvania, which means any god-fearing life-long resident with a German heritage is making a batch of oh-so-bad-for-you-but-unnervingly-delicious fried fauschnauts (the counterpart to pancakes and doughnuts in other parts of the world that observe “Shrove” Tuesday). When I was growing up in the rural heart of Pennsylvania, my school actually celebrated Fauschnaut Day by serving homemade fauschnauts at lunch. To this day I am baffled by how a cafeteria renowned for its inedible cuisine was able to churn out these little balls of heaven once a year. My mom also made homemade fauschnauts during much of my childhood, and I adored swiping them straight out of the cinnamon sugar mixture while they were still piping hot. Ah, the memories…

A quick recipe search came up with several different versions of the Fat Tuesday treat but the one I’m going to share comes from Alice Faust, a Pennsylvania native. This recipe was originally printed in Dig It magazine. It’s one of three recipes printed and this one seems like it would be the best dipped in butter and cinnamon sugar.

Alice Faust’s Family Recipe #2: Fashnachts with Yeast

2 cups scalded milk
½ cup lard
1 cup mashed potatoes
2 teaspoons salt
¾ cup sugar
2 well beaten eggs
1 package yeast
7 cups flour, approximately

Scald milk and add mashed potatoes, sugar, salt, and lard. Cool until lukewarm. Add eggs. Add yeast and enough flour to make a soft dough. Knead well and place in a greased bowl. Cover with a cloth and let rise about 1 ½ hours. Roll ¼ in thick on a
floured board. Place on a cloth and let rise until doubled in size and fry in hot fat.

I like baking bread but I’m definitely not a purist. I know that in order to be good at baking bread I should be familiar with the various stages of dough and gluten by touch, but I just don’t have the patience. I love the smell of freshly baked bread and I love the yeasty smell while I wait for it to rise, but I don’t find the act of kneading particularly therapeutic so I use my Kitchenaid mixer instead.

The problem with using the mixer (and the food processor which is even more frightening and dangerous) is that Sam alternately loves it and is afraid of it. He wants to turn it on and off and on and off and on and off then runs from it if it’s turned on too quickly. I don’t want him to get too comfortable with it, because the dangers and mess potential far outweigh the benefits.

Sure I could stick to quick breads like biscuits, but what’s the fun in that. Instead I’m going to give no-knead bread a shot. A recipe published not too long ago in the New York Times claims to produce a perfect loaf of bread with no kneading. The secret is a long, overnight rise. According to the NYT, what makes the “process revolutionary is the resulting combination of great crumb, lightness, incredible flavor — long fermentation gives you that — and an enviable, crackling crust, the feature of bread that most frequently separates the amateurs from the pros.”

Sounds good to me. I don’t have the right size cast iron dutch oven required for baking but I’m going to give the recipe a go anyway. I’ll let you know how it turns out.

I realized last week as I posted the Vegetarian Blog Carnival that I’d completely forgotten about Mondays. Z is a few weeks behind, but since there’s not much going on in terms of Z ingredients you’ll forgive me I’m sure. I’ve posted about zucchini more times than I can count this summer so I’ll skip it this week and turn to zest, the brightly colored, outermost peel of citrus fruit. Any recipe that calls for citrus juice, whether it be lime, lemon, or orange, can often be improved with the addition of just a tiny bit of zest. Getting away from the kids part of Kids Dish for a moment, my lime simple syrup*, used in margaritas and classic, shaken lime daiquiris, gets most of it’s superb flavor from the zest of one lime.

To get zest from citrus without taking any of the pith with it you can use a citrus zester, vegetable peeler, or fine grater. I love my Microplane grater, but before I bought it I just used the smallest side of my box grater.

Here’s a great seasonal recipe the kids will love. The recipe is adapted from Allrecipes.com. I added more spice, substituted applesauce for oil and subbed in one cup of whole wheat flour.

Mini Pumpkin Muffins with Orange Drizzle

* 1 (15 ounce) can 100% pure pumpkin or about 2 cups fresh (or frozen) pumpkin puree
* 2 teaspoons ground ginger
* 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
* 1 cup dark brown sugar
* 1/2 cup applesauce
* 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
* 1 cup all-purpose flour and 1 cup whole wheat flour
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon salt

Orange Drizzle:
* 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
* 1/4 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
* 4 teaspoons orange juice

1. Adjust oven rack to center position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Spray 36 mini-muffin cups with vegetable cooking spray.
2. Bring pumpkin, ginger, cinnamon and cloves to a simmer in a medium saucepan until puree thickens enough to start sticking to pan bottom, 6 to 8 minutes. Turn hot puree into a bowl. Whisk in brown sugar and applesauce, then slowly beat in eggs.
3. Meanwhile, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl; whisk into pumpkin mixture until just combined.
4. Divide batter among the muffin cups and bake until golden and cooked through, about 10 minutes. Let stand a few minutes, then transfer mini-muffins to a wire rack to cool.

For drizzle

1. Sift the confectioners sugar onto a plate and discard any lumps that remain.
2. In a medium sized bowl whisk together sugar, orange juice and zest.
3. Drizzle over warm (not hot!) muffins.

*Since you’re all dying for the recipe, the simple syrup calls for 2 cups sugar dissolved in one cup boiling water. Add the juice of 12 limes and the zest of one lime. It’s delicious in a variety of adults only drinks.

zest, Easy as A-B-C Monday, citrus fruits, recipes, pumpkin muffins with orange drizzle, mini muffins, fall recipe

Acorn Squash, Butternut Squash, Spaghetti Squash, Delicata, Hubbard, Kabocha and fall’s ubiquitous pumpkin are just a few varieties of squashes harvested in late summer and fall. Winter Squashes store well in cool basements for months if they are checked regularly for soft spots or mold.

Unlike summer squash, winter squashes tend to have thick, hard skins so I find it’s easiest to bake first and cut later for the larger varieties like butternut or cut in half and bake in the shell for smaller varieties like acorn. Most squashes are sweet when cooked, making them popular with kids. They’re high in Vitamins A and C, high in potassium and fiber.

To cook most squashes, bake them in a 375 degree oven until the skin is easily pierced with a fork. Cut the squash in half, scoop out the seeds and either serve in the shell or scoop out the flesh and mash or puree. Other squashes are delicious cubed in soups or stews. For these cut first, scoop the seeds, bake for about 20 minutes and peel and cube when the flesh is cool enough to handle.

The flesh of squash when pureed can be baked into breads or muffins for an extra vitamin boost. This time of year pumpkin finds its way into many baked goods like my favorite pumpkin cheese muffins. This recipe calls for canned pumpkin, but if you have access to small, sweet cooking pumpkins, not the large jack-o-lantern types which tend to be tasteless, you can puree the cooked flesh and use the equivalent amount in the muffins.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese (low fat is fine. Non fat is not)
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons brown sugar

4 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
5 tablespoons white sugar
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons chopped pecans

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 3/4 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 1/3 cups canned pumpkin ( I usually add more)
1/3 cup olive oil or applesauce
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease and flour 18 muffin cups, or use paper liners.

To make the filling: In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese until soft. Add egg, vanilla and brown sugar. Beat until smooth, then set aside.

For the streusel topping: In a medium bowl, mix flour, sugar, cinnamon and pecans. Add butter and cut it in with a fork until crumbly. Set aside.

For the muffin batter: In a large bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Make a well in the center of flour mixture and add eggs, pumpkin, olive oil and vanilla. Beat together until smooth.

Place pumpkin mixture in muffin cups about 1/2 full. Then add one tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture right in the middle of the batter. Try to keep cream cheese from touching the paper cup. Sprinkle on the streusel topping.

Bake at 375 degrees F (195 degrees C) for 20 to 25 minutes.

winter squash, muffin recipe, pumpkin cheese muffin recipe

It’s pronounced fuh-kah-sha in these parts. My husband has a whole other pronunciation but this is a site about kids…
At any rate, I love focaccia. I usually pick it up at our local Trader Joes, though, because I am not a baker. I have no patience for baking. And I want to make breads, I really do, but they just require so much effort.

That’s why this recipe from Family Circle caught my eye. I will admit to not having tried it (yet) but it incorporates veggies and cheese and seems fairly easy - and it involves a grill so you can make it outside (if the sun ever comes out in parts of the world - like the northeast US!).

Grilled Veggie Focaccia
Source: Family Circle

Ingredients
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon rapid-rise yeast
1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
3/4 cup warm water (120 degrees F to 130 degrees F)
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 small zucchini, trimmed and sliced lengthwise into planks
1 small red onion, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch thick slices
3 tablespoons prepared balsamic vinaigrette salad dressing
1 medium tomato, cored and thinly sliced
1/2 cup grated asiago cheese

Directions
1. Mix flour, yeast, rosemary, salt and sugar in a food processor. Pulse to evenly blend. Add warm water and oil and pulse until dough comes together in a ball.
2. Pulse dough with an on and off motion to knead, about 30 seconds. With lightly oiled hands, transfer dough to a lightly oiled bowl, turning to coat. Set aside to rest while preparing veggies.
3. Heat gas grill to medium-high or prepare charcoal grill with medium-hot coals. Place zucchini slices in a medium-size bowl. Secure onion slices with toothpicks, to keep rings from separating while grilling. Add to bowl with zucchini, and toss with balsamic vinaigrette.
4. Grill veggies, 2 minutes per side until tender and nicely marked. Transfer to cutting board; cool slightly, removing toothpicks from onions.
5. While vegetables cool, pat out dough to a 12 x 8-inch rectangle. Brush with 1 tablespoon oil, and transfer, oil side down, to grill.
6. Grill dough 3 minutes, or until dry on top and lightly browned on the bottom. Brush top with remaining tablespoon oil and flip over using a set of tongs and large spatula.
7. Top dough with sliced tomato and 1/4-cup cheese. Chop the vegetables, and sprinkle over dough. Top with remaining 1/4-cup shredded cheese and close lid on grill. Cook for 2 minutes, or until cheese is melted. Serve warm. Makes 6 servings.

focaccia, cheese, bread, grill

Mmmm. Biscuits.

I was born and raised a Southern girl. My grandmother (I called her “Granny”) made fresh biscuits every day of her life, whether a crowd was gathering or if it was just her and my grandfather. At night, in summer, we would eat a bowl of vegetable soup and a biscuit for dinner. Granny would wash it down with a glass of buttermilk. I can remember those nights as if they happened last week - which is pretty amazing because as a mother of three, I can barely remember what I did five minutes ago.

Kids will love these biscuits plain, with butter, with jelly… It’s a great way to use up leftovers (Easter ham mini-sandwiches). I also recommend serving plain biscuits warm with butter and molasses for a nice treat.

Oops, I think I just caught a little drool…

Southern-style biscuits

4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup vegetable shortening (Granny used lard but I realize that’s frowned upon these days!)
1 1/2 to 2 cups buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Sift together dry ingredients. Cut in the shortening using your hands or a fork. Gradually add buttermilk until the dough turns a little stick, but not tacky.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and roll out to about 1-1/2″ thick. Cut into circles using cookie cutters, biscuit cutters or a drinking glass. Place biscuits on an ungreased cookie sheet at least two inches apart. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until risen and golden brown.

** Why mess with a good thing? But for some variety, you can try mixing some parmesan or shredded cheese into the dough. Adding two tablespoons of garlic also gives it a good punch.

Southern food, biscuits, soul food, comfort food