Behold, the Super Muffin

 

It's a new year and time for a new college try at regular blog posting. I care less about you, dear readers, and more about myself, really. Do you know how many times I've freaked out having lost recipes I loved because I didn't blog them? Like, three times. It was horrible.

THIS recipe must not be lost. It's too good. In fact, it's super... as you'll soon find out for yourself. 

Super Muffins  ( Adapted from Banana Bread Recipe at simplyrecipes.com)

 

Ingredients

 

4 ripe bananas, smashed

1/3 cup melted butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

¼ cup white sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon baking soda

Pinch of salt

1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

3/4 cup heath bar, smashed ( can buy this way in the baking aisle- make sure it’s the bits that include the chocolate coating)

Optional: ½ cup semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips ( I didn’t include these)

 

Method

 

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). With a wooden spoon or fork, mix butter into the smashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the brown sugar, white sugar, egg, and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour last, mix. Fold in ½ cup of the heath bar bits and chocolate chips ( if using) reserving ¼ cup of heath bar to sprinkle on top. Pour mixture into a prepared muffin tin or 4x8 inch loaf pan and top with remaining heath bar. Bake for 1 hour ( or, 30-35 minutes for muffins.) 

Skillet Cornbread

First- I'm calling this summer officially completed.

Now-Enter skillet cornbread. Nothing is tastier on a crisp fall day than some old-fashioned beans and skillet cornbread. ( wishful thinking here in OK... not quite there yet.)

I'll get to the beans someday but let's devote our attention where attention is due. Look at those crisp brown edges...those buttery crevices ( buttery crevices?)...the rustic presentation....  Okay, quit looking. Just go make some. You'll never use a boxed mix again.

Skillet Cornbread

Adapated from The Pioneer Woman

The key to this cornbread is a piping hot skillet and a properly preheated oven so don't rush it! Also, you can make this in a casserole or baking dish but that hot skillet really sends those browned edges into a whole new realm of tastiness. LodgeLogic makes high quality and affordable cast iron skillets ( and a panini grill and press that would make a really great birthday present for someone...just sayin.)

Ingredients

¼ cup plus two Tbsp. unsalted butter

1 cup Yellow Corn Meal
½ cup All-purpose Flour
1 tsp. Salt
1 cup Buttermilk ( don't sweat if you don't have it... just add a Tbsp. of lemon juice to a cup of milk and let sit at room temp. for 5 minutes- Voila! Buttermilk!)
½ cup Milk
1 large Egg
1 Tbsp. Baking Powder
½ tsp. Baking Soda  ( PLEASE, don't confuse the baking powder and baking soda measurements. It tastes nasty when you do. Trust me.)


1.Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Melt butter
3. Combine cornmeal, flour and salt in a bowl. In a separate bowl, combine egg, buttermilk, and milk.
4. Join in happy matrimony the wet and dry ingredients you just combined until just incorporated.
5. Sprinkle in baking soda and baking powder- Stir.
6. Add in melted butter, stirring constantly. Also, start preheating your skillet over medium to medium high.
7. When your pan is hot, add the two Tbsps. butter reserved and spread along the sides and bottoms to coat. Pan should be hot enough to readily melt the butter but not hot enough to scorch it.
8. Add batter to hot skillet.Smooth with a spatula and let set for 15-20 seconds.
9. Transfer skillet to oven and bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown and beautiful.

Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes A Day - Review and Master Recipe

Wait! Before I delve into a long love story about the bread above, I just want to say that I couldn't muster up the energy to make another batch of blueberry muffins. I tried. I bought the blueberries and everything....they went moldy. Let's just say, we were blueberry muffined out and nothing, not even the allure of content for this here blog, could make me bake more. Besides, Round 2 totally won and I declare them the undefeated champion until I feel like making blueberry muffins again. Or, blueberry anything. Don't worry...it'll happen soon.


Now, what you've come here to hear about... The bread. The wonderous, crackly bounty of your fantasies. My fantasies include a river of nutella and a visit from Legends of the Fall era Brad Pitt. Who's with me? Oh, yes. The bread...


In the time it took me to ramble on and the time it took you to seriously consider going to do the dishes, you could have been well on your way to artisan bread thanks to the science and craft of Jeff Hertzberg, M.D. and Zoe Francois and their book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. I swear, I've been carrying around this thing like a bible.






I've craved the crackle ever since our first trip across the pond and haven't been able to satisfy my urges to slather butter and aged cheese on a worthy recipient. France has us whooped in the baking department and I just can't handle grocery store bread anymore. Except, I've been forced to do so...either that or shell out 6-8 bucks for a good quality boule which also requires a drive to the city. NO MORE, I SAY.

I made two loaves in two days and it's all because this one genuis idea... you can store high moisture dough in the fridge for over a week. Yes, you can.

I read the master recipe on Ivory Hut and gave it a go only to realize I needed to financially support the wonderment and buy the whole book. The end product is not much different in taste than my previous bread making attempt but it's all about the texture and aging. I find this method to give me crisper crust, chewier crumb, and more depth in flavor as the week progresses. I will now share the master recipe with you in the hopes that you can discover a life filled with baked goodness ( and, go get some nutella, too...oh, and buy the book. You'll love it.)

The Master Recipe ( Makes four 1 lb. loaves--- we did halfsies)

3 cups lukewarm water
1.5 Tbsp. granulated yeast ( or two packets of instant yeast)
1. 5 Tbsp. kosher salt
6.5 cups unsifted, unbleaches all purpose white flour measured by scooping with minimal pressure and sweeping off level ( I don't know why this is specified in every recipe in this book but I went with it and it worked fine- normally I spoon in and then sweep.)

Cornmeal for dusting

Special equipment: Pizza stone or other baking stone ( not totally necessary but important for the crackle.) Large 5 qt. lidded container.

1. Warm water slightly to about body temperature and add yeast and salt. You can add make this in a large mixing bowl or a lidded 5 quart container ( that way, you only dirty one thing because you're gonna store this stuff in the container. Or, you can start all this off in a 14 cup food processor or stand mixer.

2. Mix in flour until uniformly moist. Either do this by hand, with spoon, or in a 14 cup food processor or stand mixer, both fitted with a dough hook.


3. That's it. Once uniformly mixed, let it rest at room temperature for 2 hours. After 2 hours, you can make it or refrigerate the dough.

4. Once you're ready to bake, liberally sprinkle cornmeal on a pizza peel ( not the stone) or cutting board or counter top. This is where you're going to set your loaf to rise and you don't want it to stick.

5. Sprinkle the surface of your dough with flour and pull off a grapefruit size hunk ( that's about 1 lb.) Quickly form it into a ball by the "gluten cloak" method-- this means, stretch the surface of the dough around to the bottom, rotating the ball a quarter turn until all sides are tucked under. Resist the urge to knead- this whole process should take 30-60 seconds. Set the seam side down on the corn meal and let it rest for 40 minutes.

6. 20 minutes into the rest period, preheat your oven to 450 degrees F and make sure you have an empty broiler tray in there and the stone on the middle rack.

7. When the dough has rested for 40 minutes, dust it with flour ( dusted a bit too much) and score with a serrated knife into a pattern (tic tac toe, stripes, x marks the stop, etc.) and then carefully place your ball on the stone and return to the oven. Quickly dump about 1 cup of tap water into the broiling tray and shut the door real fast to trap the steam. THIS IS THE KEY TO THE MAGIC.

8. Bake for 30 minutes. Try to let it cool completely before you break in. Oh, when it first comes out, listen to it sing. Oh, the merriment. Confused about the 5 minutes part? Well, the whole process takes about 5 minutes of actual interaction with the stuff...maybe 15 minutes tops once you've cleaned everything up. I say, that's pretty good since I could be doing plenty of other stuff in between and still have hot bread in record time per day. And, it's yum.

Zucchini Bread

My heightened awareness and possession of zucchini this season has led me to seek out many ways to make it. Zucchini and squash stir fry can only take me so far and, after the massive chicken and zucchini failure, I was on a hunt for something new and different that I could master. So, of course, I had to set out trying zucchini bread when a friend suggested I make it with this giant zucchini I'd acquired. (I should have taken a picture of it next to my head for perspective...)

I wasn't immediately sold on the idea...I mean, banana and pumpkin, yes, but whoever heard of zucchini bread? I entertained visions of providing my bread to unsuspecting receptacles... "Oh, wow, that's delicious" they would say. "What is that making my taste buds swoon?" Then I would squeal out, "It's...It's... Z-Z-ZUCCHINI!!!" and all would herald me as a creative extraordinaire. MUhahahaha.

Very quickly, my dreams were crushed. Sadly, everyone and their mother has had zucchini bread in my town except for me. Even MY MOTHER said she used to make it all the time and she's not even from my town. Oh, and, the above scenario is based on a very optimistic view that I wouldn't burn the thing. Yet, I was still set on making it depite the fact that my bud bailed on providing the recipe. Plus, I was pretty determined to find someone who hadn't had it before.

I came across this foundational piece at allrecipes.com and modified it resulting in less fat and full deliciousness. I reduced the sugar and used half white and half brown. I swapped half the oil for applesauce and to make up for what I feared would be a loss in moistness, I added an additional cup of grated zucchini. Hey, I had to get my tricks in there somewhere and, guess what? It was a winning combo by all accounts - even from experienced zucchini bread eaters. I'll definitely be making this again ( especially since the zucchini supply hasn't diminished at all)

Zucchini Bread ( adapted from Mom's Zucchini Bread and Allrecipes.com) Makes 2 loaves ( one to eat- one to share!)

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil 1/2 cup applesauce
1 cup white sugar 1 cup brown sugar
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups grated zucchini
1 cup chopped walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Butter 2 8x 4 inch loaf pans.

2.Sift flour, salt, baking powder, soda, and cinnamon together in a bowl.
Beat eggs, oil, applesauce, vanilla, brown and white sugar together in a large bowl. Add sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture, and beat well. Stir in zucchini and nuts until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pans.

3. Bake for 40 to 60 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack for 20 minutes. Remove bread from pan, and completely cool.

4. Deliver second loaf to the neighbor but don't tell them it's zucchini bread, just in case they haven't had it before.

Score! They hadn't had it. Mission complete.

No Knead Bread

It's usually the case that when Aubrey and I are craving good bread, we have to drive to Tulsa and then freeze our loot to make it last. Even then, it's hard to find good crusty bread that breaks your teeth on the outside and then lets them have a little fun on the inside. Yes, I think chewy things are fun. When I was little, I used to chew the glue that holds credit cards to junk mail. Fortunately, my treats have become much more sophisticated these days.

Anyway....

In the midst of preparing our horribly ugly 3rd bedroom for its transformation from pepto pink to a lovely neutral tan, we got a hankering for good bread and a two hour drive to Tulsa was off limits. So, I finally decided to try the infamous, Sullivan Street Bakery No Knead Bread. Since I generally suck at baking, I was really nervous at investing 18-20 hours into a no-guarantee creation( actual interaction with the stuff was only about 15 minutes...pretty easy.) It turns out that even a person who chews glue can make this bread. And, if you're a real genius, you can add more yeast to cut the time down substantially.


No Knead Bread

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1¼ teaspoons salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran, as needed

1. Mix flour, yeast, and salt together in a bowl. Add 1 5/8 cup of warmish water. Blend. Dough will be wet and shaggy. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 8-12 hours at room temperature ( I did about 14 hours and let it hang out in the bathroom...the warmest room in the house. Don't knock it!)

2. Dough is ready when it has bubbles all over the surface. Flour a work surface and fold the dough once or twice. ( The original recipe says to lightly flour the surface but I found that the dough was just too sticky at this stage. I didn't add much more and I should have.)

3. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let it hang out for 15 minutes.

4. Using "just enough flour to keep the dough from sticking" ( which will probably be a lot more than I used....) work the dough into a ball and place on a cloth ( not terry) generously coated with more flour, cornmeal, or wheat bran. ( I used more flour and when it says generously, it means generously. I lost half my dough by not using enough.)

5. Dust with more flour, cornmeal, or wheat brand and cover with another cloth towel and let rise for 2 hours. It is ready when it doesn't readily spring back when poked and is doubled in size.

6. Preheat oven to 450 degrees during the last 30 minutes of rising time. Place a covered casserole dish or a cool dutch oven like the one I got for Christmas in the oven to heat up, too.

7. Carefully remove dish or dutch oven and flop your dough into it. The original recipe says seam side down but I didn't end up with a seam because I didn't use enough flour.

8. Bake 30 minutes with lid on and 8-15 more minutes with lid off ( depending on how crusty you want your crust.

That's it. It was smaller than it should have been due to the stickage but overall amazing. Our awful room is now halfway to a decent color and we're half way to Paris with this recipe. Coolness.