A very late post

I am working on a birthday present for a friend and am posting MUCH later then I should be.  My Beloved is out of town again so going to bed is not so......  I just do not like it.  

Remember, I read cookbooks?  I have reading Flour by Joanne Chang.  I have gotten ideas from her.  So far, I have not tried any of the recipes.  When I see recipes for potato bread, most potatoes are boiled.  She used baked so I figured I would give it a try.

Potato Bread

1 pound russet potatoes, baked, cooled and peeled.

sourdough starter

1 cup flour

3/4 cup water

1 cup plain hempmilk or water

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup olive oil

2 teaspoons salt

4 cups flour

I baked my potato the day before.  I have made enough gnocchi and lefsa to know that handling hot potatoes is just not fun. 

The eight hours before or the night before, mix the sourdough starter, 1 cup flour, and 3/4 cup water in a large bowl.  Cover and let sit.  When you are ready to bake, take out two tablespoons of the mother, and put it in the refrigerator for your next batch of bread.

Put the potato in a bowl and mash.  Add the olive oil and mash some more.  It is okay to have lumps.

Add the potatoes, hempmilk, and sugar to the starter.  Mix well.  Add two cups of flour.  Mix in until it looks like pancake batter.  Cover and let sit until bubbly.  

After two hours, add the salt and two cups of flour.  It should be dough enough to turn out and start kneading.  I found this dough very soft and sticky, reminiscent of lefsa.  Do not worry about lumps!

When the dough has been kneaded smooth, gather up into a ball and put back into the bowl.  Cover and let rise until double.

Punch down, and let rise until double again.

Butter or grease a loaf pan (or two depending on the size of loaves you wish.  My loaf was quite large).  Shape the dough into the shape of a loaf.  Put in the pan and let rise for 45 minutes to an hour, covered.

Put the loaf into a 350 degree Fahrenheit oven for 1 hour.  (I do not preheat)

Yumminess.  This was cut while still warm and butter was added.  It is a very nice toast or sandwich bread.  It would be lovely made into rolls.

By the way, my wooden bread bowl saved my bottom!  I reached for my sourdough jar in the refrigerator and I had forgotten to put anything in it.  It was empty.  I had read a long time ago in Bread Alone that a wooden bread bowl would collect the yeastie beasties if not washed with soap.  I have not washed my wooden bowl with soap so I added 1 cup of flour and 3/4 cup of water.  You know what.  It worked.  I was ecstatic!  Good bread too!

birthday girl!

The main reason we left town when we did was that my Grandmother turned 100 this month.  It was time for celebration.  I really did not get much time with my grandmother but I was able to give her a hug.  It really became a family reunion though.

These are the current youngest members of my family.  I have to admit that most everyone else did not sit still long enough for pictures to be taken.

Except the birthday girl.  Here she is with the Tall Short Person.

And with me.

The event was very DIY but did not feel DIY.  And my grandmother was just a social butterfly.  The event was held at her country club and there were so many people for her there.  The food was good. The slide show was lovely.

My Dad made cream cheese mints.  They come out for every special occasion because we do not buy mints.  He also made sour cream candies as the give away.  I feel the need to make them currently but I may need to wait for the humidity and heat to go down!

Cream Cheese Mints

8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

2 pounds powdered sugar

flavoring of your choice to your choice

food coloring of your choice

Put the cream cheese in a large bowl.  Add 1 pound of powdered sugar (no more!!!!!).  Mix the sugar in with a fork or pastry cutter.  Add flavor and coloring.  Add the last of the powdered sugar and mix in.  Take a small teaspoon of the mixture and roll into a ball.  Flatten.  You can add fork marks straight across or like for peanut butter cookies.

I was going to get pictures of these but the ended up into tummies too fast!  My Dad could have made another batch.  He add about a tablespoon of peppermint and we all liked how light the mint was.  He thought it could be stronger.  He also says you can make chocolate ones by adding enough cocoa and chocolate flavoring to taste.

sugared pecans

I like salads but usually very simple.  Some lettuce.  A bit of fruit.  A nut.  Maybe some cheese.  Steak.  Yes, I said that right.  My favorite way to eat steak is to put it on a salad.  I was craving a steak salad with mandarin oranges, blue cheese, and sugared pecans but I never made sugared pecans before.  So I tried it!

Sugared Pecans

1/4 cup pecans

2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons water

In a small sauce pan, put the pecans, sugar, and water (I use my Scanpan for this).  Stir to dissolve the sugar and bring to a simmer. Simmer 5-7 minutes, stirring all the while.

You want them to be golden and coated. It is very easy to forget about them and have them burn.  That is why I suggest to stir them all the while.

Pour out on to parchment paper to cool (if you can wait that long).

This are pretty fabulous to eat by themselves.

Put them on a salad.

And if you are me, add meats!  Preferably, from the farmer's market or your own animal.  We are picky omnivores around here!

Very yummy!  

oatmeal cookies

I was having a quiet evening today while my Beloved was working and decided that I really wanted cookies.  Now I was thinking chocolate chip but never got myself motivated to leave my book.  But motivated me was oatmeal cookies.  They mixed up just over the time it takes to make a pot of tea.  They baked while I wove.  I think they are addictive but I like how all the flavors of the flours came together.  Something that I need to keep learning, when you are baking cookies gluten free or vegan, the texture of the dough is exactly the same as if you were baking in a more traditional manner.  I have had a few goofs recently forgetting that one little fact!

Oatmeal cookies

Note:  You may replace all the flours with all purpose or whole wheat flour

          You may replace the ground flax seed and hempmilk with one egg

          You may replace the olive oil with butter or margarine or another fat of your choice

          You may replace the baking soda and cream of tartar with baking powder

1/2 cup olive oil

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup hempmilk

2 tablespoons ground flax seed

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/4 cup arrowroot flour

1/4 cup teff flour

1/4 cup millet flour

1/4 cup buckwheat flour

1/4 cup sorghum flour

1/4 cup almond flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 1/2 cups quick oats

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.  In a large mixing bowl (you do realize in my house, this is a small bowl?  It does not hold enough bread dough for six loaves of bread.), put the oil, sugar, milk, flax seeds, vanilla, and cinnamon.  Mix well.  Add the flours, salt, baking soda, and cream of tartar.  Mix.  Stir in the quick oats.

Drop by teaspoon on a baking sheet covered with a silpat or aluminum foil.  Bake for 12 minutes.

I found the outsides were a bit crispy and the insides very tender so be careful taking them off the cookie sheet.  I found it helped to wait 5 to 10 minutes.

Pour a cup of tea.  Put four on a plate.  Sit down to your weaving or reading or crocheting or....

apple dutch baby

We had a lovely time with out of town friends.  Way too much good food and laughter so our tummies were full of both.  I am going to need to learn how to cook Ethiopian food!

There was not a lot of leftover energy after all the laughter.  Weekend breakfasts when my Beloved is home are always interesting.  I have to admit that I always seem to start with some type of cast iron and fat of some sort.  It is best when it can be a casserole like this one.  Takes very little energy when there has been much laughter.  A baked pancake.  This is so easy it is not even funny.  And the eggs from the last post were used in this.  The eggs were so pretty and tasted lovely!

Apple Dutch Baby

Note:  Use 1/2 cup regular flour and 1/2 cup regular milk if you wish.

2 tablespoons butter

1 apple, peeled, cored, and diced

4 tablespoons brown sugar

1/4 cup arrowroot flour

1/4 cup millet flour

1/2 cup hempmilk

3 eggs

a pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Put a 8 inch cast iron pan in the oven with the butter to heat the pan and melt the butter.  Mix the eggs with 2 tablespoons of the brown sugar, salt, and flours.  Mix in the milk.

Take the pan out of the oven and pour the egg mixture into it.  Sprinkle the apple over the top of the egg mixture and the last 2 tablespoons of the brown sugar.

Bake for 25 minutes or until golden and puffy.

You can take it out of the pan if you wish and sprinkle with powdered sugar.  We normally eat it just like this.  It is a lovely breakfast and not too sweet.