September 27 2008
If you’re going to be an idiot, it helps if you’re at least an early-rising idiot.
That way, when you get up at 6 AM and see that the world is being taken over by Daring Bakers bearing lavash crackers with all manner of vegan, gluten-free dips, spreads, and salsas, and you slap your forehead and realize that yes, it’s that day and you’re caught not only lavash-less but lavash-plan-less, well, you still might have time to pull something together before you get caught up in the rest of your day.
It helps to have a few other things on your side.
Like that your lovely hosts Natalie (Gluten A Go Go) and Shel (Musings From the Fishbowl) have crafted a challenge that is fun and delicious (and yeasted in the bargain!) without being too time-intensive.
(Read more…)
events
September 24 2008
In the small town where I spend some (not nearly enough) time, there is a used bookstore. It is almost always open, but the owner has never been there whenever I’ve stopped in. He does, however, leave a price list posted next to the money jar:
- Ordinary Books: $1.00
- Good Books: $2.00
- Extraordinary books: $3.00
- Great Books: $5.00
- Spectacular Books: $10.00
- Unbelievably Great Books: $20.00
I always like to browse the cooking section, and occasionally, amid titles like “1001 5-Minute Meals” and “The 1983 Annual Campbell’s Tomato Soup Cookbook,” which bear faded covers that belie the near-perfect-condition pages that show just how much they were (not) loved, I discover a gem.
I had never heard of the little unassuming volume entitled Favorite Breads From Rose Lane Farm, nor of its author Ada Lou Roberts, but that didn’t stop me from fishing into my pocket for a $5 bill. It was in good (not perfect!) condition, and it’s generally a good bet that any 40+ year old bread book will turn out to qualify for Great Book status.
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recipes
September 21 2008
I spent the first few decades of my life believing I did not care for rye bread. Clearly I had a bad experience somewhere in my childhood, and those early associations are nothing if not tenacious. It’s a bread that’s fairly easy to avoid in this country, if one is so inclined, and I was.
The breakthrough came when we made a version of this lovely simple rye bread in my first class at SFBI. At the end-of-the day tasting, not wanting to eschew it completely and risk exposing myself as a bread wimp, I opted for the smallest piece on the cutting board. Happily, I found myself won over by its rich, earthy flavor and chewy texture, and kicking myself for all those wasted years of rye abstinence.
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recipes
September 15 2008
How I came to make this pudding is one of those bad news-good news kinds of deals:
- Bad news: Nasty run-in with bread knife.
- Good news: No stitches.
- Bad news: Several days confinement in metal splint extending across palm of hand.
- More bad news: Can’t examine patients with this thing, so no work for me.
- Good news: More time to bake.
- Bad news: Can’t shape bread either.
- Good news: Dessert.
(Read more…)
recipes
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