29 Feb
Daring Bakers: French Bread ala Julia Child
Posted by Michelle as Yeast Breads | 22 Comments
I was definitely not surprised to see that this month’s challenge was bread, given that Breadchick Mary at The Sour Dough, along with Sara at I Like to Cook, was hosting it. French bread… great, I’ve been wanting to try it! I set out to get an early start on the recipe by printing it out and giving it a couple of thorough reads… but wait… FOURTEEN (as in, 14) pages? This recipe is 14 pages long?! Yowza! Well, that’s okay… I will sit down with my lunch and read through it. I had long finished my sandwich and chips and was only five pages into the recipe. Yikes. This is certainly a “daring” challenge!
I actually never read the recipe from start to finish in one sitting. I couldn’t get through it. And to be honest, I seriously considered just skipping this month. Aside from not even being able to read the entire recipe during the time it takes to watch a primetime drama, this was shaping up to be an all-day event, with an estimated 8 to 10 hour start to finish time. I got together with Laurie over at quirky cupcake and we decided to tackle the recipe “together” (which, in a virtual world, meant that we frantically instant messaged each other throughout the process, doing it at the same time in our respective kitchens). You can thank Laurie for my post, because had it not been for someone keeping me accountable I don’t think I would have mustered the energy to do this. So thank you, Laurie, for forcing me to put my game face on 
Now on to the actual recipe… as I said, this was an insanely long recipe. It is a Julia Child recipe, and I guess another shameful confession is that I’ve never made one of her recipes or have seen one of her shows. This was certainly a way to dive right in. I honestly can’t tell you if I even think I did this correctly. There were a lot of different types of kneading techniques and deflating techniques that I have never encountered before. There were no pictures or diagrams to go by, so I winged it by doing what I thought was correct.
The outcome of the recipe was good. I have never made French bread before (just some variations on white sandwich bread, Italian bread, and sweet rolls), so I have nothing to compare this to other than store-bought French bread I have eaten. This turned out to be about the same – it was good, it tasted like French bread should. I guess since it was an all-day affair with Julia Child I was expecting something out-of-this-world and leagues above anything I had made before. It really didn’t live up to those expectations, although as I said, it was good bread, but not especially remarkable. I just personally don’t really think it was worth the all-day effort. This perhaps may be a result of me not performing certain techniques correctly, as there was no real guide on how to go about them. Either way, we had a couple of good loafs of bread to eat over the course of a week and I got to make my first Julia Child recipe
Thank you again to Mary and Sara for hosting this challenge. If you are interested in seeing the recipe, you can view it at The Sour Dough.
20 Feb
Chicken and Dumplings
Posted by Michelle as Poultry | 25 Comments
I have only had chicken and dumplings once in my twenty-something years of existence. However, I do remember that I loved them. I have been seeing some of these dishes pop up on a number of blogs that I frequent, as well as on some cooking websites. The only problem was that I didn’t *love* any of the recipes. I liked parts of one, some parts of another, and so as a result I just never made any of them! This is where I run into problems, as I am a big recipe follower. Perhaps it’s the baker in me. Bakers NEED to follow recipes, or bad things happen. While this is not so in cooking, I still treat it as such. I am always leery to stray from a recipe, in fear of what might happen. I decided to just create my own recipe for chicken and dumplings (cut to bright lights and angels singing). I must say that I think it turned out fabulous! It felt warm and hearty, just like a good bowl of comfort food should. If you try this recipe, I hope that you enjoy it as much as I did!
19 Feb
Almost Fudge Gateau
Posted by Michelle as Cakes | 53 Comments
Almost-Fudge… couldn’t really explain it any better myself!
I was beyond excited when Nikki of Crazy Delicious chose the Almost-Fudge Gâteau for this week’s recipe. I decided to make two smaller cakes instead of one large 9″ one. The smaller sized cakes didn’t quite use all of the batter, but they were so cute, and I was able to freeze one whole cake for dessert another time. This cake was extremely dense and fudge-like, and was perfect with ice cream or a tall glass of milk. The perfect decadent dessert for a special meal!
Head on over to the Tuesdays With Dorie blog for a listing of the other Dorie bakers’ blogs and see how their cakes turned out. We are up to over 40 bakers now – welcome to all of the newbies!
Next week: Pecan Sour Cream Biscuits
Last week: Brown Sugar-Apple Cheesecake
13 Feb
Thin n’ Crispy Pizza Crust
Posted by Michelle as Pizza, Flatbreads and Crackers | 23 Comments
Let’s face it. There are two types of people in this world – those that love a thick chewy pizza crust, and those that love a thin and crispy pizza crust. I happen to fall into the latter category and until recently I have been unable to unearth a homemade pizza dough recipe that was the thin crispiness that I yearn for. I finally found it in a holiday edition of Cooking Light and this is definitely my favorite pizza dough recipe to date. The dough comes together easily (no electrics required!) and rolls out better than any pizza dough I have attempted before.
12 Feb
Brown Sugar-Apple Cheesecake
Posted by Michelle as Cheesecakes | 41 Comments
Thank you to Jaime of Good Eats ‘n Sweet Treats for choosing this week’s recipe, Brown Sugar-Apple Cheesecake. I am a lover of all things cheesecake; I don’t think I have ever met a cheesecake that I didn’t like. So needless to say when this week’s recipe was revealed I was beyond thrilled. I have always had success with cheesecakes, so I wasn’t worried about this recipe, but that is not to say that it went off without a hitch.
I got my crust put together, baked off and cooled. The trouble began with the carmelization of the apples. My large non-stick pan was dirty and I didn’t feel like washing it just to saute some apples, so I took out a slightly smaller stainless steel pan. Easy enough. Moments later the kitchen was flooded with a wretched burnt butter and apple smell that was less than pleasant. I had foiled the first batch of apples, so I decided to slice what I had left in half so that I would still have the same number of apple wedges, albeit a little smaller.
With the apple crisis averted, I moved on to putting together the cheesecake filling and it came together easily and without incident. Since I used a 9″ springform pan instead of a 10″ I ended up baking my cheesecake for about 20 additional minutes, for a total of 2 hours and 5 minutes. When I took the pan out of the water bath and unwrapped the (triple-wrapped) foil I was disappointed to find a puddle of water had gotten through the foil. Although it didn’t appear to affect the crust, Nikki suggested using heavy duty aluminum foil to avoid such problems in the future. Thank you for the tip Nikki!
You’d think that this would be the end of the cheesecake saga, right? Well, the rest revolves around my food-obsessed, yet darling golden retriever. He appears to have stretched in length overnight because even though the cheesecake was pushed against the back counter to cool, he still managed to snag a chunk out of it. Needless to say, I was not happy.
While Dorie suggests garnishing this cheesecake with a thin layer of apple jelly or a dusting of confectioner’s sugar, I had planned to drizzle the cheesecake with the remaining butter/brown sugar mixture from carmelizing the apples. I think this would be fabulous; however, I am not able to report on how it tasted because the dog managed to find that plate as well. ::sigh::
Aside from all of the trials and tribulations, what was my final take on this cheesecake? I absolutely loved it! The brown sugar in the batter made for a deliciously sweet and creamy cheesecake, and the apples complemented the cheesecake’s flavor perfectly. Being an apple lover, I would probably opt to pile even more apples on next time. The amount in the recipe wasn’t enough to cover a single layer of the pan, so I would certainly up the apples to cheesecake ratio. Overall, another perfect dessert from Dorie!
Check out all of the other Tuesdays With Dorie cheesecakes here.
Next week: Almost-Fudge Gateau
Last week: Black and White Chocolate Cake
07 Feb
Homemade Granola
Posted by Michelle as Appetizers, Breakfast Foods | 24 Comments
I have always been a big fan of granola – the toasted, crunchy oats and nuts, along with sweet fruit make a wonderful combination, whether eating it in yogurt or by the handful. I ran into some problems, though, after discovering that I have a nut allergy, as one would be pretty hard pressed to find a package of store-bought granola that did not include some type of nut. So I figured I would need to go the homemade route if I wanted to enjoy granola again. However, it’s virtually impossible to find a recipe that does not include them and mostly out of sheer laziness I have never, before now, gone through the trouble of adapting a recipe (I know, it’s brutally taxing work). This granola tastes wonderful and I have been enjoying it mixed into my yogurt. I substituted Grape-Nuts cereal for the nuts in this recipe, which mimics the nice crunchy texture of nuts.
05 Feb
Black and White Chocolate Cake
Posted by Michelle as Layer Cakes | 35 Comments
This week’s Tuesdays With Dorie recipe, Black and White Chocolate Cake, was chosen by April at Abby Sweets. Thanks April! This cake was an incredible combination of a moist yellow cake, a dark chocolate cream/custard, and white chocolate whipped cream. Let’s talk about each distinct part, shall we? This is the order in which I assembled this cake, making the dark chocolate cream and whipped white chocolate cream the night before since they needed to be refrigerated until completely chilled.
I’ll start with the dark chocolate cream because that was my favorite part of the cake. I had battled a fear of custard, curdled eggs, and undercooked eggs until I made Bostini Cream Pies for the October 2007 Darking Bakers challenge. It was a wonderful lesson in custard and boosted my confidence. I found this chocolate cream incredibly easy to make, it came together beautifully, and I had to resist eating it by the spoonful. I still have the leftovers sitting in my fridge – it’s perfect for dipping pretzel rods
Now on to the white chocolate whipped cream. This I did not have such an easy time with. The first time that I made the whipped cream I used my stand mixer and beat it just a hair too far and it separated. Crap. I ran back to the store and got more cream and white chocolate. In the meantime, I read on Epicurious that a hand mixer is best because the strong motor of the stand mixer makes it difficult to gauge the whipping progress and can quickly overwhip the cream. So I busted out my hand mixer. My second attempt was more successful in that it didn’t separate; however, I think that out of fear that it would separate again I didn’t quite whip it far enough. I didn’t get much volume out of it and as a result, I didn’t have enough to cover the finished cake. I ended up whipping the leftover cream I had and adding that to the outer layer. I know some other people have had problems with whipping cream and knowing when it is at “soft peaks,” “firm peaks,” and how to walk that fine line before it separates. I was able to find this video at Epicurious which demonstrates how to properly whip cream. I think it’s very helpful, so if you’ve run into any similar issues, take a peek!
The cake was a classic yellow cake that was easy to throw together, baked up perfectly, and was nice and moist.
Put it all together, and what do you get? A wonderful combination of flavors and once again, another Dorie recipe that produces an elegant dessert that is fit for the fanciest of dinner parties. The recipe suggests decorating the cake with shaved or curled chocolate, but I chose instead to dust the top of the cake with some cocoa powder.
Our group continues to grow, and we now have 13 bloggers tackling Dorie recipes each week. How incredibly exciting! Check out my Tuesdays With Dorie blogroll to see what the others have made.
Next week: Brown Sugar-Apple Cheesecake
Last week: Orange Berry Muffins
Keep reading »
04 Feb
Spaghetti & Meatballs
Posted by Michelle as Meat, Pasta, Noodles and Dumplings | 34 Comments
The ultimate in Italian comfort food.
Growing up, our extended family would gather at my Grandma’s every Sunday for the traditional Sunday dinner (which, in contrast to common nomenclature, is actually eaten by Italians at what is typically lunchtime). While there was always some type of meat on the table, some potatoes and vegetables, the star of dinner was always pasta. It may have been ravioli, gnocchi, manicotti, lasagna, spaghetti (all homemade, of course), or some other variation of pasta, but without a doubt, you could always count on a great pasta dish. It feels warm, comfortable, cozy, and just like home. And for that reason I am submitting my spaghetti and meatballs into What’s For Lunch Honey’s Monthly Mingle Comfort Foods blog event.
Meeta asked fellow bloggers to celebrate the foods that pick us up when we are down, warms us when we are feeling lost, and blurs out the bad mood. This is what spaghetti and meatballs represent in my house… the warmth of family, memories of childhood, and a connection to my heritage.
I hope you enjoy these simple and classic recipes.
01 Feb
Super Super Bowl Suggestions
Posted by Michelle as Appetizers, Favorites | 0 Comments
It’s that time of year again – the game people wait all year for. Maybe you just watch for the commercials, or maybe you just watch for the half-time show, or maybe you actually watch the game! Regardless, a good many people will be sitting in front of the TV this Sunday cheering on someone. Now, far be it from me to rain on a “perfect” parade, but as a native Pittsburgher, I find it pretty darn near impossible to root for the Patriots. So many AFC Championship Games (and subsequent trips to the Super Bowl) squashed for the Steelers at the hands of the Patriots. So, without a doubt, I will be cheering on Lil’ Manning and the Giants on Sunday.
I know that many of you will be hootin’ and hollerin’ with a house full of people! Even though I’m not having a party, I do have some favorite party and munchies-type food that I’ll throw out there in case anyone is having trouble planning their menu for the big game.
