Apple yeast bread ~

~

Nest, nest, nest, nest, nest, nest, nest.   Indulgent, productively indulgent nurturing feelings flowing within.  :)  It's coming out looking like apple yeast bread.  Oh, my lucky children. 

It starts here in the past.

The adjustments included using half the recipe.  In the divided recipe amount bumping up the salt to 1 1/4 tsp., less on the vanilla to 1 tsp., 1/2 c. whole wheat flour and 3 1/2 c. white flour, nix the spices.


The inspiration for this are the little wonderful Central Oregon apples.  Someone showed up to a meeting I attended with a paper grocery bag of these small beauties.  Being that there were about a dozen others in the room and a handful of them would want them, I had to silence my impulse to scream out "Mine!  Back off!"  Well, come on -- it's me, it's free, it's nature in the form of food sans chemicals...my impulse is to lunge and hoard.  I took the one with the longest stem because I found it enchanting.  *love*  Then I sat back until after the meeting and everyone else took what they wanted.  My patience-letting go in life continues to grow, this is a gift I've nurtured.  Nurture that which is kind, honest, loving, forgiving, joyful...serenity comes into place in life on it's own.  Then I go have fun making stuff like this recipe! :)

There were smaller than baseballs

This is being linked to the wonderful website Yeastspotting. 

Apple yeast bread ~

Use the above link to the cardamom bread with the noted adjustments.  This will make two rolls. 

Num, num

The apple filling ~


Apples of your choice, approximately three cups diced.
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 T. tapioca flour
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon - more or less to your taste.
Pinch of salt
(I cannot believe I am out of nutmeg, so these were without - and were just deliciously cinnamon laden.) 
4-6 T. melted butter

• Mix the dry ingredients in a small bowl.
• Add half the mix to the apples in a mixing bowl and toss.  Set aside for a short time.  If you let it sit long it will start to juice from the sugar.  That is going to happen during the rise time anyway, I just don't want to roll it while wet.
• Roll the dough to 12" x 16".  Spread the dough with melted butter. 
• Sprinkle the one dough with half the remaining brown sugar.  Sprinkle out half the apples.  
• Roll, seal, let rise for 30 minutes.  The apples will weep the sugar mixture.  This is the time to preheat the oven to 375-400 degrees.  
• Brush with an egg wash before putting in the oven.  Sprinkle with optional sugar.  Then make cuts.
• I baked these at 400 degrees for 35 minutes.  I believe it would have been better to bake at 375 for 50+ minutes.  The apples will make the inside layers to be moist.  If the bread is not cooked all the way, it will be undone and doughy.  So...better a little longer than not. 

Showing the apple-sugar that has seeped out of the bottom

Before baking, the egg wash with the sugar, then slit

Have a wonderful week ~

Peach-nectarine-almond tart

I had the best nectarines and peaches this past summer that I've ever had in my life.  The flavor topped any organic I've had, and that says a lot considering the delicious quality stone fruit we get here in Oregon.  This past summer....as today marks fall equinox, a lovely and welcome transition.

A recipe for short crust, not quite a double amount - plus the best fruit you can find.  One cannot make up for so-so peaches with sugar.  I only had two good peaches on hand, not enough for a pie so I added nectarines. 

Peach-nectarine-almond tart

This makes a tart smaller than a pie, so if you adjust for a pie pan, you'll need more fruit.  I used an 8" tart pan with 2" sides. 

Peach-nectarine-almond tart ~

2 peaches, largish and peeled
3 medium nectarines, peel left on
1/4 c. sugar
2 T. brown sugar
Freshly grated nutmeg
The barest pinch of salt
1 T. tapioca powder

Optional streusel, approx. 3 T.
Crushed sliced almonds, approx. 2 T.


Egg wash and extra sugar, coarse grain - optional


Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

• Mix the sugars, salt, nutmeg, tapioca flour.   
• Peel the peaches, slice into halves, then each half into four slices.  Slice nectarines in the same manner. 
• Mix dry ingredients with the sliced fruit.

• Roll out the crust, line the pan.  
• Sprinkle the streusel and almonds over the interior.
• Roll out the remaining dough and cut into 3/4" strips.  
• Add the fruit to the pan, top with lattice weaving.
• Press edges together and pinch off.
• Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake for 30 minutes.  Reduce to 350 degree and bake approximately another 20-30 minutes, until the crust is golden as you like it.

Happy Fall.    

Pear quick bread ~

Pear quick bread ~ I was really happy with this version of a pear quick bread. I loved the subtly of the pears along with the contrast of an occasional blueberry. I could really taste the pears, something I didn’t want to overpower with too much spice. Soft, moist cubes tucked in a moist batter.

I made this two ways. One batch I made with oil, the other with butter. I don’t stand on the butter soapbox as an all encompassing superior choice. I prefer the one with the butter for taste, it has a soft rich texture. I can appreciate a different neutral flavor that oil provides other ingredients, along with it‘s slightly spongy-dense moist consistency. I list both options.

If you feel it can take more spice, so be it. I’m not big on cinnamon for pear bread, I will pick a combo of nutmeg and cardamom, heavier on the nutmeg. Both freshly ground. White cardamom pods if you can find them.

Pear quick bread ~

3 ½ c. flour
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. baking powder
½ salt
¾ tsp. cardamom
¾ tsp. nutmeg

1 ½ c. brown sugar
1 c. white sugar
1 c. oil (or 2 sticks butter melted and cooled slightly)
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla

1 ½ c. buttermilk

2-3 bosc pears, approx. 2 ½ c. diced
Sprinkling of blueberries on top of batter, frozen work fine.
Sprinkling of pecans
Streusel

• Mix the dry ingredients, set aside.
• Mix the sugar with the oil or butter, mix well.
• Add vanilla.
• Add eggs and whip well after each addition.
• Alternate buttermilk and flour in thirds.
• Pour into prepared 9”x5” loaf pans.
• Sprinkle on few blueberries on top of the batter, add struesel and a few extra pecans.
• Bake at 325 for a softer loaf - started checking at 55 minutes - it could go as long as 75 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees for a firmer loaf, start checking at 50 minutes, could go as long as 65.
• Removed from pans after 5-10 minutes.
• Give one away to an appreciative sweet tooth.

This is pretty with a soft sprinkling of powdered sugar after it’s cooled.

Toodles ~
xoxo

Boysenberry whole wheat muffins ~

Cultus Lake muffins ~

Easing the guilt of sweets, whole wheat muffins. Boysenberry muffins. Pretty muffins. Tasty muffins.

I never cared for whole wheat muffins until I tried one at a lovely place in Redmond, One Street Down Cafe. Inside are gorgeous Venetian plaster walls that I could not stop touching, even though my friend told me to stop stroking the walls. I didn’t listen. It was such a warm place, that doesn’t come from decoration, but from the owner of a place. I’m kicking myself at the moment, because I’m horrible at remembering names, but I do remember how someone makes me feels. The owner is genuine friendly.

I don’t often order baked goods or buy them. When I’m in the mood and do not want to bake one thing, I order them as a treat. Sometimes it’s purely out of sheer curiosity to see the consistency of an item that has been baked by another. From a bakers point of view, the muffins were gorgeous at One Street Down. After I heard they were whole wheat, I just had to find out what they tasted like, what was the interior. I took a muffin back to my table and proceeded to take it apart, see the crumb, the softness. It’s a curious exam, never a judgment. It was a plain muffin, no add-ins. The taste was wonderful, the moistness was there in a whole grain product. I was enamored with the muffin as much as their walls. You see, whole wheat could ease some guilt of feeding muffins to my kidlets.

I complimented the owner, as deserved, for a light, moist, whole wheat muffin that wasn’t too sweet. She said she would share the recipe. !! Turns out, I have the very same cookbook. I’ve had it for over 20 years.

Now my muffins have never turned out as gorgeous as hers, I get a lip and height, but not a perfect dome as found in her restaurant. I add berries because they are the family favorite. I’ve done slight adjusting to the original recipe, as I add frozen berries to the mix, making them bake longer, berries also holding moisture.


Makes 9-12, depending on your add-ins and how you scoop.

1 stick butter, softened
1 c. brown sugar, packed
1 egg
2 c. whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking soda
½ - 1 c. buttermilk - play with this
½ tsp. vanilla

1 c. chopped frozen boysenberries
Zest of one lemon

• Cream butter and sugar.

• Add egg.

• Add flour and buttermilk alternatively.

• Fold in any additions you might have.

Bake at 375 degrees, 25-35 minutes. This depends on what your additions are, if using frozen berries, it increases the bake time.

Toodles ~
xoxo

Pie, pie, pie and more pie ~

The cherries were so gorgeous, plump and dark, the pies came out looking like blackberry. Oh…but the sweet cherry taste. *swoon*

Rhubarb pie…which camp are you in? Love it? Don’t care for it? More, more, more, pretty please. Miss Mary Not So Contrary has it growing at her place in Redmond. Growing. Unused. Not clipped. More importantly, not in my home where it should be macerating in sugar on my kitchen counter! *ha* I hope to make a trip out that-a-way to pick up some pinkish stalks.




What is this post about? It’s about tapioca. Specifically, this tapioca in pies as the thickener. I remember tapioca in the cupboards of my childhood home, used for pudding and as a thickener. Sitting here a little puzzled, wondering what my Grandmother used in her pies. Being a farm wife of long ago, it could have been flour or cornstarch instead of tapioca…..hmmm…..it would be nice to know. But I don’t.

This recipe is for Bing cherries. If you use Royal Anne or Rainer, less sugar will be necessary. This amount is for smaller pies,or a medium pie, but not quite enough for a standard double crust pie. Double for a standard size, double crust pie.

Sweet cherry filling ~

4 c. pitted and halved Bing cherries
1/4 c. sugar
2 T. minute tapioca
Barely a pinch of salt
2 tsp. lemon juice
Lemon zest - if desired
Dot with bits of butter


Rhubarb filling ~

3 c. chopped rhubarb
1/2 -3/4 c. sugar - I like it tart
2 tsp. lemon juice
3 T. minute tapioca
Barely a pinch of salt
Dot with bits of butter

Gather your favorite pie crust recipe. What is your mood? Mini pies? Mini galette? Only have enough peaches like I did for a medium galette?

Notes ~

• I don't care for really sweet pies, so if you like more sugar, add it. Take a taste of the raw fruit before you add the tapioca to gage what you prefer.
• If you use tapioca with a pie that has exposed fruit, such as a galette, the exposed part will have some little hard bits of cooked tapioca. If you are making an open face pie, find a recipe using cornstarch instead.
• I like to start the pies in a 400-425 degree oven for five minutes, then reduce to 350-375 degrees for the remaining bake time.
  
• I don't care for sour cherry pies, so I have no input on the needed increased sugar amounts.
• I brush the crust before baking with an egg wash. One egg, 2T. water. I like the look of raw sugar sprinkled on top.
  

Sweet seepage. MMMmmmm.

Toodles ~
xoxo

Lemon cherry cake ~

I grew up in a time when the only cherries my family had were the ones we picked ourselves from my Grandmother’s trees. She had two trees, one Bing and one Royal Anne. I loved those trees. I would stand underneath it in rapture at *ALL* those cherries of mine. Mine. Mine-mine-mine-mine. Megidtyfregity birds stealing my jewels at the top. Just because I was afraid of heights and couldn’t reach them didn’t mean they weren’t mine.

During cherry season I’d say to my Grandma, “I’m going for a walk.” She’d reply, “Janet….don’t eat a lot of cherries, you’ll be too full for dinner!” It’s okay - I knew she would love me anyway. I’d lie if I had to….because there were cherries in their prime out on the side of the farmhouse. I was a weak girl.

I picked up some Bings from a grocery store this week (gasp) due to their appealing price. As suspected they were not prime. The farmers market had some this past week, though the Royal Anne’s looked a little bruised from travel. I have such fond memories of how gorgeous they are right of my Grandmother’s tree, so I pass when I find them on the bruised side. What I had on hand mid-week were the Make Do Bings. They needed a little help. The color was there, but not the depth of flavor, so that meant help in the form of putting them in baked goods.

There is a lemon pound cake recipe from Lori Longbotham's book all over the food web as an adapted recipe. I’m not sure what has been adapted because it’s not been changed from what I can find. It is a lovely lemon cake. I have made her recipe in the past and it is a fine one as is. I wanted a different result in texture with fruit added to it. I wanted a finer crumb that would be able to take some fruit, and because of the fresh fruit, I didn’t want the soaking method at the end of the original recipe. I went with a more concentrated lemon flavor on the exterior, provided by a glaze.

I made three batches with changes, the end result is the one here. I have changed it slightly with the replacement cake flour for all-purpose, changed the measurement of the flour, switched out buttermilk for milk, bumped up the sugar a bit in the batter, added more zest and nixed the syrup basting phase after it comes out of the oven. I added cherries. I can’t quite bring myself to call it pound cake, as it has dairy. It has a dense, yet fine crumb. It has red, it has yellow, it is a pretty little cake to give away. And I did. Twice. *smiling*

Lemon-cherry cake

3 ¼ c. cake flour
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
¾ lb. unsalted butter ( *whoa*)

1 ¾ c. sugar - feel free to bump this up to 2 c. (I will next time)
6 eggs
1 c. milk
1 tsp. lemon oil
Zest of three large lemons
Zest of one ruby red grapefruit (? Really ? Yep.)
1 - 1 ½ c. cherries, pitted. Either halved or quartered.

• Mix the dry ingredients, set aside.
• Cream the butter and sugar. Whip it good, get ’er fluffy.
  
• Add the eggs one at a time, scraping the bowl before adding the next.
• Alternate the milk and the flour mixture, in thirds, ending with the milk.
  
• Remove from the mixer, then add the zest. If you used the whip attachment and you have a KitchenAid, then you know that zest gets caught in that cross section at the bottom…bothersome, isn’t it?
• Add the cherries.
  
• Scoop batter into preferred pan of choice - any 12 c. bundt style pan.
• Bake at 325 degrees for 1 ¼ - 1 ½ hours, start checking at 75 minutes.
• 
  

Glaze ~

2 c. powdered sugar
Lemon juice
Lemon zest

A consistency a little thicker than maple syrup or heavy whipping cream, will give you a coating that doesn’t run off. If you prefer a thinner glaze, that is lovely too. I posted the various pictures so you see the difference in glazes. The first picture is dusted with powdered sugar.

Notes ~

• If you quarter the cherries -- just before adding to the batter, sprinkle them with flour. This give the perception they will not settle towards the bottom, but they do anyway. Ha. It’s a soft batter - what can one expect?
  
• You could chop the cherries, but then miss impact of cherry flavor biting into a chunk.
• Using a baking spray such as Baker’s Joy will give a better outer crumb than butter and flour - for the most part.

Toodles ~
xoxo

Boysenberries remembered ~

Now that the height of succulent fruit is about to come into season, I am missing one fruit in particular. Can someone tell me where to find a watermelon with seeds? Huge, oval, green - full of anticipation - a fruit blimp, that if cracked open would rain pink-hued juice so sweet one would naturally turn their lips upward to quench their desire at the sight, while dodging delicate seeds that could do no harm. Where did those watermelons go? I don’t want seedless watermelon. I want lush. I’m tired of turning around and seeing bowling ball size watermelon in the stores. I’m holding out for the blimps, I tell ya. When I do, I’ll be typing with sticky fingers and serving my kidlets fresh watermelon juice over ice.

Boysenberries ~ I can still find! Thank goodness. Loganberries are another story, but I’ve not been to the valley to pick fruit since returning home five and a half years ago. Boysenberries, aside from fun to say out loud repeatedly (try it fast) are a delicate sweet yet tart berry. Man, they are juicy-fat. Just how I like ‘em, baby. I remember picking this variety on my Grandma’s farm - they were the ones that would burst in my fingers if touched with a heavy hand. They emit a warmth more so than other berry varieties on the vine, their ample juice inside heated by the sun. De-li-cate.

Fresh won’t be coming until a month of so from now, get ready. It’s a short season. If you want boysenberries at the ready, go here for IQF.

The following recipe could very well be one of my top two favorite coffeecake recipes for the following reason - - it’s the kind that tastes sweetly comforting when it’s warm and fresh. When I see “melted butter’ in a recipe for coffeecake, my mind zips to a full-figured woman in an apron, moving with common assurance in the kitchen. I feel young in the memory. Melting butter for baked goodies was for women that had a special treat to get ready for their families before they woke for the day. No time to let butter come to room temp, no KitchenAids that could beat cold butter into submission in the wee hours. Picture a soft starting weekend day, or a summer morning without obligations. Shhh, let me have my fantasies. I’m not naïve enough to think all women back in the day liked their domestic duties, truly their choices were so much less than we have today. I appreciate the effort, nuturing no matter the path to the end result of our mothers and grandmothers. Warm, sweet and soft on the table, warm, sweet and soft was the woman in the kitchen.

The recipe is adapted from this little book. I add a touch more sugar, use buttermilk instead of milk, add salt since I use unsalted butter, add vanilla and lemon zest.


Fresh Berry Coffeecake
(eat warm - it‘s not a keeper)

1 ½ c. flour
½ c. plus 2 T. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt

1 stick unsalted butter, melted - cooled slightly
½ c. buttermilk
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp. vanilla Zest of ½-1 lemon

A cup of frozen berries of choice, coarsely chopped if not raspberries. If using fresh, no need to chop.

Streusel topping ~
1/4 c. chopped nuts
1/2 c. brown or white sugar (I use white)
1/2 c. flour
2 T. melted butter

• Mix dry ingredients.
• Add milk to warm butter, mix together to bring milk to room temp.
• Add vanilla and zest.
• Make a well in the dry ingredients, pour in the wet, add the egg. Fold together until just combined. This is a loose batter.
• Spoon two-thirds of the batter into your pan, sprinkle berries over batter, top with remaining batter.
• Sprinkle with streusel.

Bake @ 350 degrees. See time notes below.

After it comes out of the oven, let sit about 15 minutes before cutting. Dust with powdered sugar if desired.















Notes ~

Here’s the vague part of my instructional personality again ~ baking time varies according to pan size, volume and flavors used.

• Using frozen berries and two 6” pans, it could be almost 40 minutes before they are done.
• If you use a 9” roundpan and fresh berries, it could be done in 30-35 minutes.
• If you use an 8” round pan and frozen berries, it could take 40 minutes.
• If you double this recipe, it fits nicely in a 12” round pan - a generous size to bake quickly before heading out the door to a morning gathering. Do not double the leavening, multiply by 1.5.
  
• If you multiply the recipe by 1.5, you get a nicely fat product in two 6” pans and….it could take beyond 40 minutes.
• If you use a 9" square as it says in the original recipe with fresh fruit, it takes 25-30 minutes at 375 degrees. I keep my oven to 350 on this recipe.
• Point being, start checking at 30 minutes and go from there. I assume you all know the press and bounce back touch, or use a toothpick to test for crumb.
• Variations ~ oh…so many. Sans berries and add spice of choice. Nutmeg in a warm fluffy coffeecake is soothing.
• I’ve used brown sugar in place of white, added apples, added spice ~ fall options.

Berries ~ coming soon!!! *clapping* my hands in glee. I love my Oregon.
Toodles ~ xoxo

Cocoa-banana bread and originality pondered

I love reading recipes. *Thud* There is nothing new in that statement. Reading a food list to join, stating X-number of blog entries are required before being allowed to join, I get that, which makes sense to me. What caught my eye, what has been lingering on my mind since, was one of the requirements….”must be an original recipe”. I’ve felt nothing is really new. Isn’t one chocolate buttermilk cake similar in most ways to the next chocolate buttermilk cake? Sure, slight ingredient variations, but new? No. Enjoyable? Oh, to me ~ absolutely. In those variations I find my interest, what draws me in, where I can get lost for a few moments.

Glancing over the ingredients, comparing the amount of flour to the sugar to the dairy to the fat of choice, even to the number of eggs, and then judging the texture, the level of sweetness. Ahhhh……….

Cocoa-banana bread. Not new. But a recipe that has changed evolved and adjusted over time. I’m not beyond tweaking it again on a whim, but it has remained as listed below for some time now. I’m happy with it ~

COCOA-BANANA BREAD

4 c. flour, unbleached

1 c. cocoa

½ tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. baking powder

2 ¾ c. sugar

2/3 c. oil

4 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1 1/3 c. buttermilk

6 bananas

1 c. chocolate chips

Optional nuts – 1 c.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease and line sides and bottom of two 9” x 5” loaf pans with parchment.

Mix flour, cocoa, salt and leavening in a bowl, set aside.

Mix sugar, eggs, oil and vanilla on high for two-three minutes.

In thirds, alternate dry ingredients with the buttermilk, starting with flour, ending with buttermilk.

Add bananas and mix just until blended. Remove mixing bowl from mixer and fold in chocolate chips.

Bake for 65-80 minutes. That’s quite the range, isn’t it? Yep, I don’t know your oven, only mine.

Now the notes ~ I almost always have notes.

• Yes, I like butter. I feel it’s glory. Go right ahead. Melt the same amount of butter (slightly cooled) and add in place of oil. Or cream softened butter with the sugar, and then add eggs.
• The particular bread in the picture was made with four bananas mooshed, two chopped and folded in. Mooshing the banana in a separate bowl to your level of chunky love works. I do like seeing a bit of banana in the final result…even if they look like apples.
• I usually have to adjust leavening in some recipes even though I’m only baking at almost 3000 ft.
• I like mini-chocolate chips more so than regular size. Regular size is what I use most often, as I can get those readily in bulk at a better price.
• The glaze is simply powdered sugar, some cocoa, some vanilla, some water. Chocolate ganache is much yummier.
• The sprinkles? I had some praline leftover from a cake order. That is something else I’ll have to blather on about – Filbert Love, Oregon style.
• I feel protective of my recipes, but since I still remember that nothing is really new….and knowing that letting go of control feels good…that includes sharing….I send this out there with a breath of fresh mental air ~
  

I hope you find it. Let me know when you do. *wink*

Xoxo

Toodles!

Raising a glass to Karin *clink* (blueberry 'tini, darlin')

Going back about three weeks in the baking history ~ tarts baked for a couple of sweet Taurus women ~

My first fruit tart of the year, using my petal ring. I used frozen berries, as it really isn't peak fruit season here in Oregon. I'd much prefer consistent quality frozen fruit over imported and mediocre. Come summer, yes - fresh preferred. I added raspberries with the blueberries, just about a quarter as much. I like my fruit tarts to be...well...to have a hint of tart. I prefer a non-too-sweet result. Lemon zest ~ always.



It went something like this.

4 c. blueberries
1 c. raspberries
2 tsp. cornstarch
1/2 c. sugar
Zest of half a lemon
Barely a smidge of salt

Glaze for accents
An egg, beaten with a bit of water. A bit? Maybe a 3 tablespoons? That sounds about right.
Sugar, raw or granulated

My favorite tart shells as of the past few years are the versions without water, though include egg. Not wanting to sift through my cookbooks (yes, yes...I know I need to gather my master recipes into one spot), I did what so many before me have done. Google, please. This is where you will find the recipe I used for this tart. I did not par-bake. I start watching my thinner baked open tarts around 35 minutes, looking for that bubble, that color along the edges, the color on the top of the pastry accents. They can take as long as some pies, depending on depth. 35-55 minutes @ 400 degrees.

This concludes my first post with picture to test font, alignment, photo size, etc.

Toodles ~ see you next time!
It might have something to do with the hazelnut sables I baked this morning....