Baguette

This recipe will change your life. Forever.

I was inspired by Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day, and it can inspire you too! I used my library copy for weeks before buying the book myself since it is full of recipes I wanted to try.

I changed up the basic recipe a bit (I half it and use slightly different methods), but I have found the book to be an invaluable guideline for baking times and inspiration for variations.

To make the dough, mix 1 1/2 c. of warm water with 3/4 T of yeast, 3/4 T of salt, and 1/2 T of sugar*. Stir in 3 1/4 c. of flour, and keep stirring until you have a moist dough. Let it rise for 2 or more hours and then put it in the fridge for up to two weeks. SO EASY!! I do this in my standing mixer, but you can also mix it by hand.

*To yield more dough (will make 4 loaves), use 3 c. warm water, 1 1/2 T yeast, 1 1/2 T salt, 1 T sugar, and 6 1/2 c. flour.

You can use this dough to make pizzas, pita bread, baguette, and more!

I am going to show you how to make it into baguette.

First take the dough out of the refrigerator,

and sprinkle some flour on top.

Sprinkle some flour onto a work surface as well.

Pull out chunks of dough and shape them into baguette loaves.

Let the loaves rest for 20 minutes while you preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Just before baking, brush the top of the loaves with water and slice them with a sharp knife.

Slide them onto a baking sheet that is HOT (preheat it (and a broiler pan - see below) along with the oven) and bake the loaves for 20-25 minutes. To keep the bread from sticking to the pan, you can coat it with cornmeal, spray with olive oil, or use parchment paper.

When you put them in the oven, it is helpful to create some steam to give the bread a crispy crust and soft interior, so you should preheat the oven with a broiler pan on the bottom rack and pour 1 c. of hot water into it right after you place the bread into the oven. It will get all steamy inside! DO NOT use a glass pan or this will happen:

Accidents aside, after 25 minutes, extremely delicous bread will emerge from your oven.

I'll say it again - it will change your life!!!

Just give it a try :) Thanks to Lisa for telling me about this wonderful recipe!

Cooking for a Crowd

Wow, this is a super busy time of year!

A couple of weeks ago, Jamie and I spent the week cooking finals dinners for the students of Conner 5, and ever since then I've been busy with other things and haven't had time to post about it, or anything else for that matter. 

We cooked for about 20 people each night - we had pasta night, taco night, hummus + falafel night (we ordered in for that!), and a pancake breakfast. I wanted to take lots of pictures (ha!), but I found that when cooking for 20 you don't exactly have a lot of extra time or energy to devote to picture taking :)

To go with the pasta dinner, I made home-made loaves of bread (which I will post how to make very soon!):

We served chips, salsa, and guacamole with the tacos. The students loved the freshly made guac!

To go with our catered falafel dinner, we put together a huge salad:

And one of the desserts we made were some delectable chocolate covered strawberries.

I washed and dried all of the srawberries,

and then dipped them in either white or dark Bakers chocolate.

They were delicious and super simple!

 

A Simple Treat

I was inspired by Tasty Kitchen and Perry's Plate to make these Pretzel Nutella Ice Cream Bites, and they turned out delicious! They are also very simple - they only require 4 ingredients - and they don't require any baking/cooking!

First, gather the four ingredients - pretzel snaps, vanilla ice cream, hazelnuts, and nutella.

Lay the pretzels out on parchment paper.

Spread nutella over each one.

Scoop a bit of ice cream on top of the nutella. Work quickly because it will melt quickly!

Top them all with pretzels, and put the tray in the freezer for about an hour.

After they are frozen, smear some more nutella on the edge and dip in crushed hazelnuts. Enjoy!

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

I LOVE strawberry rhubarb pie. I didn't care for pie too much before I tried strawberry rhubarb, but now, I can't get enough of the s-r pie! Last week, when I made this pie, I used a combination of 2 recipes. I made Smitten Kitchen's all-butter, really flaky pie crust (click for link!) filled with my take on Betty Crocker's filling. It turned out great, so here is my method/the recipe.

Above is my set-up for the pie dough making. You can see I needed my computer to follow SK's recipe... it's too bad I don't have an iPad hanging in my kitchen for quick access to recipes :)

Combine 2 1/2 c. flour, 1 T sugar, and 1 t. salt in a bowl, and chop up 2 sticks (1 cup) of very cold butter.

Stir the dry ingredients together,

add the butter,

Go to work with a pastry blender...

...

... until little pea-sized balls form throughout.

Pour in 1/2 c. of ice cold water,

stir, and keep adding water 1 T at a time until all of the flour/butter mixture is incorporated into one ball.

Split the ball into two balls, wrap them in plastic wrap, and place them in the fridge. SK says to chill them for an hour, but I didn't have an hour, so I put them in the freezer for about 15 minutes. That worked just fine.

Look at my mess :)

Now, for the filling, which is SUPER SIMPLE...

Chop 2 c. of strawberries and 2 c. of rhubarb

Stir with 2/3 c. sugar, 2/3 c. Splenda (cuts out a lot of calories and NONE of the yummy taste), and 6 T flour.

Generously flour a cutting board and shape the ball into a thick disc.

Generously flour the top of the dough, and roll it out until it's huge! You can follow what SK says to do and fold it up into quarters to easily transfer it to the pie pan. I found that worked well.

Spread the strawberry-rhubarb-flour-sugar-splenda mixture on top of the dough,

Cut up about 1T of butter into small chunks and sprinkle them on top too.

Roll out the top dough, place it on top,

trim the sides, crimp them together, and cut slits/decorations on the top of the pie!

Bake at 375 degrees for 40 to 50 minutes. I would recommend putting foil around the crust, as mine burnt slightly.

Enjoy this pie!

Seriously - it's good...