Lemon and Currant Brioches

Happy 2013 everyone! I hope everyone had wonderful holidays with lots of delicious baked goods. I did make a lot of cookies, of course, but travel and family occupied my time and so I didn't do a great job of documenting them. I do have some delicious recipes for the new year, though, including some experiments with my brand new waffle maker (which I am very excited about). Here is a slightly older recipe for a lemon and currant brioche. It looks beautiful and was very good but I think this recipe was a better one so I'd recommend adding 1/3 cup of currants (I actually used  raisins) and the zest of 1 lemon to that recipe. The dough in the previous recipe was sticky so it was harder to work with, but this result was more dense. It could also be that I didn't knead it quite as well as I ought.

Cinnamon Rolls

A friend of mine organized a 12 bars of Christmas pub crawl. I made it to 8 bars and then had to give up but I think some people hung in the whole time, over 12 hours. We also wore ugly Christmas sweaters. Anyway, in hopes to offset the quantities of drinking I decided to have some brunch at my house first and hopefully get some food in everyone's stomach.

Chilled borscht with beet biscuits

 After almost two months hiatus (i.e. incredible laziness) I am offering you a recipe for possibly the most beautiful and striking dinner you will ever come across. Chilled borscht with beet biscuits create a delicious and vibrant pink meal.

Blueberry Pancakes

Blueberry pancakes! I am so excited for them. I may have eaten them for breakfast three times in the last week and a half. I may have finished breakfast and eaten the last couple without silverware or syrup even though I was full on my way out the door. I may have done that at least twice. But let us not dwell on who may have eaten how many blueberry pancakes. Let us instead dwell on the sheer awesomeness of these pancakes and the fact that I will never ever make pancakes out of a mix again and you shouldn't either.

Brioche

 This is another recipe from the Macrina Bakery & Cafe Cookbook and it is a winner.  I love brioche, a rich, slightly sweet French bread.  I've tried to make it before but with not a lot of success but this recipe is not only amazingly delicious but easy too, especially if you have a stand mixer with a dough hook.

Pumpkin Dinner Rolls

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  I actually have ancestors who came over on the Mayflower so I know all about this holiday.  The goal is to gain as much weight as possible, so the extra layer of fat will keep you warm during the cold New England winter. 

Bread

This recipe is from The River Cottage Bread Handbook, which I just got and am very excited about.  First off it is a very detailed book on how to bake bread (with lots of pictures) by a baking instructor.  It has both a very detailed breakdown of how to make a basic bread recipe (which is what I made here) as well as a lot of other recipes to try.

Bagels

This is my uncle Charlie. He went to Alaska and caught a lot of salmon. He had a bunch of it made into lox. I went and visited and I made bagels to go with the lox. It was absolutely delicious.

Basic Sourdough Bread

Hmm, three bread posts in a row. I think I need to branch out a bit. Don't worry, this weekend I'm going to be making a berry tart I think, and maybe also some scones.

Honey Whole-Wheat Bread

I've been cooking a lot of bread recently, but for anyone who is a bit too intimidated by creating a starter, here is a really simple and delcious bread recipe you can try.  Get your feet wet and maybe after you've made some delicious loaves of bread, you'll be ready to be a bit more adventurous.  If not, this bread is amazing anyway.

Wild Yeast Sourdough

As you've probably noticed, I am a big fan of easy, simple, quick recipes that turn out looking much harder than they actually are.  This recipe is not any of that. While it does not have a long ingredient list and in theory is fairly straightforward, it ends up being kind of a hassle.

No-Knead Bread

This bread is hands-down the easiest bread you will ever make.  The recipe was developed by Jim Lahey, owner of Sullivan Street Bakery.  The man is clearly a genius.

You may be thinking: isn't kneading what makes bread work and taste delicious.  Well, you would apparently be wrong my friend because this bread is amazing.  Professional kitchens have really awesome ovens which cook bread at a high temp but also keep it moist.  You'll have trouble reproducing the same circumstances in your oven, unless you use a dutch oven.  It traps heat and moisture and makes for some seriously delicious bread.

Dutch Oven Bread

Last Sunday, for Mother's Day, my mom came out for a visit.  We went to see Carole King and James Taylor and had a lot of fun.  She also brought me presents and cleaned my apartment.  I think she might have the holiday backwards.