TWD: Cranberry-Walnut Pumpkin Loaves

Tuesdays with Dorie baking through Baking with Julia
by Dorie Greenspan
Recipe by Steve Sullivan



This bread has to be good. The contributing baker is Steve Sullivan, founder of Acme Bread.
Acme supplies breads to our local restaurants and grocery stores, and Steve once worked baking bread at Alice Waters' famed Chez Panisse in Berkeley, CA.

I have yet to make it over to Chez Panisse, something I have wanted to do for quite some time. A friend of mine eats there a few times a year and I always question her as to what she had, from appetizer to dessert. Always the menu sounds fabulous! The one thing I look forward to beside the awesome food is that they ask that you refrain from using your cell phone or laptops at the table (a pet peeve of mine) - this request is even printed on the menu! I must get there soon..

Sorry to digress - back to the topic at hand: Cranberry-Walnut Pumpkin Loaves.

This recipe screams fall - pumpkin, cranberry, yeast breads. I'm so ready for fall foods, but we have been having such nice awesome weather (high 70's to low 80's) that it just has not been cool enough for soups, stews and the like, but bread I can handle.

The recipe is pretty straight forward. Just plan on two days to make this bread. You need to refrigerate the dough overnight between risings, though I read here that "merrybaker" skipped the refrigeration. I'm a novice bread maker so I followed Mr. Sullivan's directions.

The bread is moist and soft the day of baking, and like the whole wheat loaves they start to become dry by the next day. Maybe that is how it is with homemade bread (i.e. no preservatives). Unfortunately the pumpkin flavor is not very pronounced. Toasted with butter, this is reminiscent to the raisin bread I had as a child, with a slight twang from the cranberries.

Once again, as with the whole wheat loaves we made recently, this is just OK. I feel this bread was not worth the time invested; I was also hoping for more of a pumpkin essence. I'll stick with the awesome quick-bread recipe of Pumpkin Bran Bread which has a lot more flavor, a lot less time to make, and stays moist for several days after baking.

Success meter (1-3): 2

Tip:

Grate your nutmeg into a measuring cup.

I find it easier to get the ground nutmeg 

into the measuring spoon this way.

I had a hard time keeping the cranberries

incorporated in the dough. They kept

wriggling their way out.

After an overnight rest in the refrigerator,

divide your dough and shape into loaves.

The cranberries just want to keep poppin' out!

Originally I was going to use two standard size

loaf pans until I found these burried in the back

of my cupboard. :)

All tucked in and ready to rise.

An hour later - beautiful!

If you're interested in the recipe visit the site of our host:

Rebecca at This Bountiful Backyard

You may also want to check out the LYL link for my fellow

blogger's trials and triumphs of this recipe.

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Book Ninety: Complete Entertaining Cookbook

From Williams-Sonoma
Recipes by Joyce Goldstein



                                    Sweet & White Potato Gratin


Trying to tame my craving of something delicious, homey, and comforting, this side-dish hit the spot, along with the rest of this meal.

This may not be the healthiest dinner we've had, but man-o-man, was it good.

And how can it not be good - salmon with a honey-soy glaze, spinach salad with pear and blue cheese, and a gratin made with not only sliced Idaho potatoes, but also sliced sweet potatoes (my all-time favorite) and covered in a garlic infused heavy cream, and baked until the potatoes are tender and the cream thick, and well, creamy. Yes it's worth repeating - this hit the spot.

This gratin I'm thinking, would make a fine addition to your Thanksgiving table, when fat and calories don't count are not counted.

Success meter (1-3): 3

A mandoline makes slicing the potatoes a breeze.

 

Yep. The potatoes are good.

WW: Stir-Fried Cucumber and Pork with Golden Garlic

Wok Wednesdays wokking thru Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge
by Grace Young





What can I say - without sounding like a broken record? Grace's recipes are so friggin' easy, quick, and delicious.

My cucumber slices really should be thinner, a quarter inch thick,

 and my pork had quite a bit of fat (you should see the underside) -

I cut off as much as my not-so-sharp knives could.

I fried my garlic in the wok. Next time I will use a

small saucepan, for my thermometer tip did not reach

the oil without some manipulation, and my instant

read thermometer only goes up to 220°F.

The hubby after eating his dinner asked,

"Is there a lot left over?"

We finished it off and unfortunately there

was none left for lunch the next day.

You will not find the recipe here on my blog or within the Wok Wednesdays community. We encourage readers to go and purchase this book at their local independent bookstore or on-line.

Make sure to visit my co-wokkers to see their results on this stir-fry.

Look for the LYL link on the Wok Wednesdays page.

TWD: Whole Wheat Loaves

Tuesdays with Dorie baking through Baking with Julia
by Dorie Greenspan
Contributing baker: Craig Kominiak






Bread. Knead I say more? (Yeah - I do.)

We are a bread loving family; we eat more than we should. I was looking forward to making this loaf, especially after reading that a fellow blogger loves this bread so much, she recently made seven loaves to freeze!

This bread is good... Toasted. It made great toast to go with my morning coffee, and made a tasty toasted open-faced tomato sandwich. Unfortunately if you don't make your everyday sandwiches the day this bread is made they're not going to be so great.

I did not care for the sandwich I made on my last hike where I made a PB&J (a must have when you are hiking!) because the bread was really dry. Good thing our hike was only four miles and I did not eat said sandwich till after I got home; I would have been quite disappointed up on a hill, famished, pulling out, what I think is a great pick-me-up, to find a dried, almost choking (OK maybe not that bad - but you get the idea) PB&J sandwich.

If you are into eating toast rather than sandwiches - this is the loaf to make! When toasted it is crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside; makes a good base for a poached egg!

Success meter (1-3): 2

The yeast is creamy looking and ready!

That is one clean bowl!

Never did need to scrape the sides down.

Form the dough into a ball.

Let it rise...

Punch the dough down.

(I got a little overzealous on the punching - it's fun.)

Turn out the dough and cut in half.

Shape your loaves.

Let it rise again.

Beautiful rise.

Bread is ready when instant read thermometer reaches 200°.

(Close enough for me.)

Makes great toast!

I prefer Cheddar for this "sandwich" but I had some

Jack in the fridge I needed to use up.

If you would like the recipe, visit our hosts for the week:

Michele of Veggie Num Nums and Teresa of The Family That Bakes Together

Don't forget to check out the LYL link for my fellow blogger's take on this recipe.

Book Eighty-Nine: RAW The UNcook Book

by Juliano with Erika Lenkert

Butternut Squash Soup

I am far from becoming a vegetarian - I like my chicken and occasional burger. I purchased this book because the cover intrigued me; however I apparently did not look at it too closely while in the bookstore.

Not only are there ingredients I am unfamiliar with, which I'm sure if I ventured into a health food store I could make myself familiar with them; but I do not have the desire to sprout my own seeds, beans and grains, or purchase equipment needed to eat "raw" food - such as a dehydrator, juicer, or a power blender such as a Vitamix or Blendtech. Though I really would like a Blendtech or Vitamix...

I decided on this soup in that, it called for ordinary ingredients that can be purchased at the local market. No special trip to a specialty store, and no sprouting of any kind! And this was ready in a flash! A huge plus in my book.

I have a tendency to lean towards the unusual, and this was interesting to say the least. This has good flavor amazingly; if only I had a power blender it would have had a smoother consistency. I used my Cuisinart, and so the soup had a texture similar to the feel of grated carrot. This was not a bad thing mind you; just the picture in the book has a very creamy, dreamy look to it.

This was good.

Success meter (1-3): 3

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Yeah... this was good.

Dessert! :)