Bread Pudding with Vanilla Custard

Bread Pudding with Vanilla Custard

Serves 8

1 loaf Italian bread - about 8-10 cups cubed
4 large eggs
4 cups milk1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x13 baking dish.
2. Lay bread cubes in an even layer in prepared pan.
3. Mix together milk, eggs, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg until smooth and well blended. Pour over bread cubes.
4. Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 30 minutes or until puffy and golden.5. Remove from oven and keep warm.

Vanilla Custard

2 large eggs
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups heavy cream or half and half
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1. Beat eggs and sugar together until pale and lemon yellow with no streaks.2. Bring cream just to a boil in a heavy saucepan.

3. Remove from heat and temper the eggs with the cream-adding a quarter cup at a time-1/2 cup total- and whisking quickly so the eggs do not cook.

4. Put the cream back on the stove over a low flame and add the egg/cream mixture in a thin stream, whisking the entire time, until the sauce forms and is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.

5. Remove from heat as soon as it thickens and add the vanilla, mixing well to combine. Serve immediately over the pudding. Makes about 2 1/2 cups.

I am a completely embarrassed Babe - Potato Bread with Chives

It's my month to be Kitchen of the Month in Babeland! I chose a bread that says "Spring" to me - Potato Bread with Chives, from Vegan Planet by Robin Robertson.

The bread is vegan and uses soy (or another non dairy milk of your choice) milk and maple syrup instead of sugar.


I've made this bread twice - once to make sure it was a good choice for my Babes, and then again for this post. It is delicious! I love it. The chives don't really do a ton for the bread (as some other Babes may mention in their own posts) but they don't detract from it. And the best part is, it's not an overly complicated recipe, easily completed in a morning or afternoon.

And guess what?

Both times I made it BOTH TIMES I forgot to take photos. Can you believe it?

(To distract you!)

Potato Bread with Chives
from Vegan Planet by Robin Robertson

"The addition of mashed potatos gives this bread a moist, dense texture and delicate flavor that is accented by that of the chives. This bread is best eaten slightly warm from the oven on the day it is made. It is also good toasted."

2 1/4 tsp (1 packet) active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1 tsp sugar or pure maple syrup
2 Tb corn oil
2 tsp salt
1 cup cold mashed potatos
1 cup soy milk or other dairy free milk
5 cups unbleached all purpose flour, plus more for kneading
2 Tb minced fresh chives

In a large bowl, combine the yeast and 1/4 cup of the water. Add the sugar and stir to dissolve. Let the mixture stand for 10 minutes, then stir in the remaining 3/4 cup of water, the corn oil and the salt. Mix in the potatos, then stir in the soy milk. Add about half the flour, stirring to combine, then work in the remaining flour to form a stiff dough. Transfer to a lightly floured board.

Lightly flour your hands and work surface. Knead the dough well until it is smooth and elastic, 8 to 10 minutes, using more flour as necessary so the dough does not stick. Place in a large lightly oiled bowl and turn over once to coat with oil. Cover with a clean kitchen towel or lightly oiled piece of plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, 1 to 2 hours.

Meanwhile, lightly oil a large baking sheet and set aside. Punch the dough down and knead lightly. Turn out onto a lightly floured work surface, sprinkle with the chives, and knead until the dough is elastic and the chives are well distributed, 3 to 5 minutes. Shape the dough into one large or two small round loaves and place on the prepared baking sheet. Flatten slightly and cover with a clean damp towel or lightly oiled plastic wrap. Set aside in a warm place and let rise again until doubled in bulk, about 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400'F. Use a sharp knife to cut an X into the top of the loaf or loaves. Bake on the center oven rack until golden brown, 35 to 45 minutes, depending on size. Tap on the bottom of the loaf or loaves - if they sound hollow, the bread is done. Remove from the sheet and let cool slightly on a wire rack before slicing.

Please visit the other Babes (listed over on the right) to see how their breads turned out. I bet they might even have pictures! Can you imagine?

If you'd like to join us as a Bread Baking Buddy, please email me a link to your post by Friday April 30. I'll have a round up posted a few days after that. My email is iliketocook AT shaw DOT ca.

Cheers!

I am a completely embarrassed Babe - Potato Bread with Chives

It's my month to be Kitchen of the Month in Babeland! I chose a bread that says "Spring" to me - Potato Bread with Chives, from Vegan Planet by Robin Robertson.

The bread is vegan and uses soy (or another non dairy milk of your choice) milk and maple syrup instead of sugar.


I've made this bread twice - once to make sure it was a good choice for my Babes, and then again for this post. It is delicious! I love it. The chives don't really do a ton for the bread (as some other Babes may mention in their own posts) but they don't detract from it. And the best part is, it's not an overly complicated recipe, easily completed in a morning or afternoon.

And guess what?

Both times I made it BOTH TIMES I forgot to take photos. Can you believe it?

(To distract you!)

Potato Bread with Chives
from Vegan Planet by Robin Robertson

"The addition of mashed potatos gives this bread a moist, dense texture and delicate flavor that is accented by that of the chives. This bread is best eaten slightly warm from the oven on the day it is made. It is also good toasted."

2 1/4 tsp (1 packet) active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1 tsp sugar or pure maple syrup
2 Tb corn oil
2 tsp salt
1 cup cold mashed potatos
1 cup soy milk or other dairy free milk
5 cups unbleached all purpose flour, plus more for kneading
2 Tb minced fresh chives

In a large bowl, combine the yeast and 1/4 cup of the water. Add the sugar and stir to dissolve. Let the mixture stand for 10 minutes, then stir in the remaining 3/4 cup of water, the corn oil and the salt. Mix in the potatos, then stir in the soy milk. Add about half the flour, stirring to combine, then work in the remaining flour to form a stiff dough. Transfer to a lightly floured board.

Lightly flour your hands and work surface. Knead the dough well until it is smooth and elastic, 8 to 10 minutes, using more flour as necessary so the dough does not stick. Place in a large lightly oiled bowl and turn over once to coat with oil. Cover with a clean kitchen towel or lightly oiled piece of plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, 1 to 2 hours.

Meanwhile, lightly oil a large baking sheet and set aside. Punch the dough down and knead lightly. Turn out onto a lightly floured work surface, sprinkle with the chives, and knead until the dough is elastic and the chives are well distributed, 3 to 5 minutes. Shape the dough into one large or two small round loaves and place on the prepared baking sheet. Flatten slightly and cover with a clean damp towel or lightly oiled plastic wrap. Set aside in a warm place and let rise again until doubled in bulk, about 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400'F. Use a sharp knife to cut an X into the top of the loaf or loaves. Bake on the center oven rack until golden brown, 35 to 45 minutes, depending on size. Tap on the bottom of the loaf or loaves - if they sound hollow, the bread is done. Remove from the sheet and let cool slightly on a wire rack before slicing.

Please visit the other Babes (listed over on the right) to see how their breads turned out. I bet they might even have pictures! Can you imagine?

If you'd like to join us as a Bread Baking Buddy, please email me a link to your post by Friday April 30. I'll have a round up posted a few days after that. My email is iliketocook AT shaw DOT ca.

Cheers!

Homemade crostini

One of the economies that gives me most satisfaction is my homemade crostini bases. They're one of those things that are invariably overpriced in smart delis - you can pay £3 plus for a pack.

If you bake them yourself you can make them for about 80p. You just need a stale(ish) ciabatta or similar shaped long loaf - I tend to pick up mine reduced in the supermarket. Slice thinly and place on a couple of baking sheets that you've drizzled with olive oil, moving them around so they get evenly smeared with oil then drizzle a little more oil on the other side and bake in a medium hot oven for about 10-15 minutes until crisp and golden - or a cooler one for a little longer. I'm lucky to be able to shove mine in the AGA but to save fuel just cook them when you have the oven on for something else.

Once they're cooled keep them in an airtight tin - they'll happily keep for a week or so. And you can spread them with any kind of dip or paté for a snack, nibble with drinks or an easy first course.

What's your favourite way of salvaging stale bread?

Homemade crostini

One of the economies that gives me most satisfaction is my homemade crostini bases. They're one of those things that are invariably overpriced in smart delis - you can pay £3 plus for a pack.

If you bake them yourself you can make them for about 80p. You just need a stale(ish) ciabatta or similar shaped long loaf - I tend to pick up mine reduced in the supermarket. Slice thinly and place on a couple of baking sheets that you've drizzled with olive oil, moving them around so they get evenly smeared with oil then drizzle a little more oil on the other side and bake in a medium hot oven for about 10-15 minutes until crisp and golden - or a cooler one for a little longer. I'm lucky to be able to shove mine in the AGA but to save fuel just cook them when you have the oven on for something else.

Once they're cooled keep them in an airtight tin - they'll happily keep for a week or so. And you can spread them with any kind of dip or paté for a snack, nibble with drinks or an easy first course.

What's your favourite way of salvaging stale bread?

Italian Eggs

What makes these eggs "Italian"? A movie! Moonstruck, to be exact. There is a scene in Moonstruck where Cher's character is making breakfast and she hollows out a slice of bread, tosses it in a frying pan and adds an egg to the hollowed out center. From the time I first saw that movie (long time ago!) I've been making this particular variation of those eggs.


Start with a nice large loaf of Italian bread and cut into thick slices.


Hollow out the center of each slice. Heat some oil in a heavy frying pan and add the bread.


Add an egg to the center of each slice of bread. Do this slowly so the egg begins to set and doesn't flow out from underneath the bread. Cook until the bottom of the egg is well set.


Flip once and allow to cook for a few minutes longer.


Top with mozzarella cheese and lid the pan for a few minutes until the cheese melts.


Voila! I sometimes add Mrs. Dash Garlic & Herb to the top of the eggs for extra flavor.

Cut price bread

If you like good bread - which we do - you normally have to pay a fair bit for it. This country loaf (above) is normally priced at £2.50 in our local deli but my husband, who is determined to prove he's a more frugal shopper than I am, picked it up yesterday for just £1.25 because it had been left over from the previous day

Being a traditional sort of loaf it was still perfectly fresh. We froze half of it and have been using the other half for toast.

Even at the higher price it wasn't a bad buy. Large loaves are much better value than small ones for some reason. I've paid two quid in the farmers' market for a loaf half that size. (Not that I've shopped at that stall again!) Any that's left over makes great croutons and breadcrumbs - with or without an AGA ;-)

If you've got a freezer, as thank goodness we finally have, it's well worth buying cut price loaves for Christmas and stashing them away

Cut price bread

If you like good bread - which we do - you normally have to pay a fair bit for it. This country loaf (above) is normally priced at £2.50 in our local deli but my husband, who is determined to prove he's a more frugal shopper than I am, picked it up yesterday for just £1.25 because it had been left over from the previous day

Being a traditional sort of loaf it was still perfectly fresh. We froze half of it and have been using the other half for toast.

Even at the higher price it wasn't a bad buy. Large loaves are much better value than small ones for some reason. I've paid two quid in the farmers' market for a loaf half that size. (Not that I've shopped at that stall again!) Any that's left over makes great croutons and breadcrumbs - with or without an AGA ;-)

If you've got a freezer, as thank goodness we finally have, it's well worth buying cut price loaves for Christmas and stashing them away

Croutons and crostini

Bread is central to our life here in France. Like the French we buy it every day which means endless bits to use up. The village baker makes really great sourdough baguettes* which I slice at the end of the day and put in the freezer. When I have a big batch I make croutons or crostini.

The difference between the two is that crostini - bases for patés or spreads - need to be crunchy whereas croutons need to be baked hard, especially if they're going in a soup. Otherwise you get soggy bits of bread floating around. So the croutons are best baked plain and unadorned (at about 180°C/Gas 4 for 15-20 minutes - slightly longer from frozen) while I spray the bread rounds that are destined to be crostini with a fine mist of olive oil before I bake them. Both keep crisp in a sealed container for about a week.

Yesterday - apart from the morning bread purchase - was a real leftovers/storecupboard day. Various odds and ends of charcuterie, hard boiled eggs, cheese and a salad for lunch. A jar of Provencal-style fish soup with rouille I unearthed in the cupboard for supper. With the croutons and some grana padano as I didn't have the more usual accompaniment of gruyère. It worked perfectly well though.

* In the UK I use ciabatta.

Croutons and crostini

Bread is central to our life here in France. Like the French we buy it every day which means endless bits to use up. The village baker makes really great sourdough baguettes* which I slice at the end of the day and put in the freezer. When I have a big batch I make croutons or crostini.

The difference between the two is that crostini - bases for patés or spreads - need to be crunchy whereas croutons need to be baked hard, especially if they're going in a soup. Otherwise you get soggy bits of bread floating around. So the croutons are best baked plain and unadorned (at about 180°C/Gas 4 for 15-20 minutes - slightly longer from frozen) while I spray the bread rounds that are destined to be crostini with a fine mist of olive oil before I bake them. Both keep crisp in a sealed container for about a week.

Yesterday - apart from the morning bread purchase - was a real leftovers/storecupboard day. Various odds and ends of charcuterie, hard boiled eggs, cheese and a salad for lunch. A jar of Provencal-style fish soup with rouille I unearthed in the cupboard for supper. With the croutons and some grana padano as I didn't have the more usual accompaniment of gruyère. It worked perfectly well though.

* In the UK I use ciabatta.

Can you be frugal and ethical?

Heated discussion over the lunchtable yesterday as to whether you can be frugal and ethical? I.e. if you're on the breadline you're not going to be fussy about whether your food comes from. It's been raised in connection with the Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall/Jamie Oliver chicken debate and I can see it applies here too.

Most people who are on a truly frugal lifestyle have a budget to stick to and don't go buying organic shoulders of lamb, even if they use every bit of it. Point taken. If I'm serious about this book - and this blog - we'll have to spend a week on a genuinely tight budget. No eating out (see yesterday's post) obviously.

In the meantime I have to admit the lamb was great. I studded it with garlic, smothered it with dried rosemary and oregano, crushed with salt, pepper and a little cumin and roasted it for 4 1/2 hours, giving it an initial blast at 180°C/Gas 4 then turning the heat right down to 130°C/Gas 1. You have to keep pouring off the fat after a hour or so but the low temperature is great as it means the pan juices don't burn (so long as you chuck in some wine or stock once the fat has gone) and you get a brilliant tasty sauce at the end. I say sauce rather than gravy because I don't think gravy goes with this style of roast.

I also found a use for the unloved spelt bread. Bases for the smoked haddock paté. Sliced it, cut it into bite-sized squares, sprayed them with olive oil and baked them. Problem was the oven temperature was so low it took them about 45 minutes to crisp up by which time they were the consistency of a ship's biscuit. Everyone gamely crunched through them hoping they wouldn't break their teeth on one. But I think it would work with a higher cooking temperature and shorter cooking time. Not that I'm going to buy that bread again.

Can you be frugal and ethical?

Heated discussion over the lunchtable yesterday as to whether you can be frugal and ethical? I.e. if you're on the breadline you're not going to be fussy about whether your food comes from. It's been raised in connection with the Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall/Jamie Oliver chicken debate and I can see it applies here too.

Most people who are on a truly frugal lifestyle have a budget to stick to and don't go buying organic shoulders of lamb, even if they use every bit of it. Point taken. If I'm serious about this book - and this blog - we'll have to spend a week on a genuinely tight budget. No eating out (see yesterday's post) obviously.

In the meantime I have to admit the lamb was great. I studded it with garlic, smothered it with dried rosemary and oregano, crushed with salt, pepper and a little cumin and roasted it for 4 1/2 hours, giving it an initial blast at 180°C/Gas 4 then turning the heat right down to 130°C/Gas 1. You have to keep pouring off the fat after a hour or so but the low temperature is great as it means the pan juices don't burn (so long as you chuck in some wine or stock once the fat has gone) and you get a brilliant tasty sauce at the end. I say sauce rather than gravy because I don't think gravy goes with this style of roast.

I also found a use for the unloved spelt bread. Bases for the smoked haddock paté. Sliced it, cut it into bite-sized squares, sprayed them with olive oil and baked them. Problem was the oven temperature was so low it took them about 45 minutes to crisp up by which time they were the consistency of a ship's biscuit. Everyone gamely crunched through them hoping they wouldn't break their teeth on one. But I think it would work with a higher cooking temperature and shorter cooking time. Not that I'm going to buy that bread again.

In praise of smoked haddock

Phew! I was so busy planning and shopping and cooking yesterday I didn't have time to post. A productive day, though.

First, I managed to restrain my natural instinct to stock up as if it were Christmas when we have friends round. Or rather when the neighbours do. I'm just providing the main course. I decided what it should be in advance (slow roast shoulder of lamb) and stuck to it. A good buy - for organic meat - at £14.82. A similar sized leg of lamb would have been at least £10 more expensive

I also bought two large fillets of smoked haddock from the local fish shop (Fishworks) to experiment with. I haven't cooked it for a while but it lends itself beautifully to leftovers. Which is just as well as it's expensive these days. I paid £12.60 for 850g including a 10% discount which you can get simply by signing up online to their Seafood Club

I cut up the fish and poached it in water. (Just cover with cold water, bring to the boil and skim off any white frothy scum then simmer very slowly for 5 minutes) then removed the fillets, slipped them off their skin and carefully flaked them. (This is the tedious bit. You have to watch like a hawk for bones. The best way is to run your fingers over the fish to make sure you haven't left any behind)

I made a kedgeree with a third of the fish. Found I didn't have any curry powder so spiced it with turmeric, coriander and a pinch of cumin and chilli powder and served it with a cucumber raita.

I folded the next third into a small amount of white sauce which I made from soy milk* as my husband is dairy intolerant. Infused the milk first with half an onion (used the other half in the kedgeree) which gave it a bit more flavour and grated in a bit of parmesan which curiously doesn't seem to upset him. This we can have on toast for supper tonight with more cheese on top like a fishy Welsh rarebit.

With the final third I made a kind of smoked haddock paté/ brandade by blitzing the remaining fish with butter and a little milk, just enough to make it whizz easily in the blender and seasoned it with lemon juice, chilli powder, black pepper and a pinch of mixed spice. (No nutmeg or mace in the cupboard which would have been ideal). That will do for little hand-round toasts with drinks before lunch. So the fish will have stretched to 9 portions which isn't bad.

On the debit side I found some uneaten leftovers lurking in the fridge which I should have checked before I went out shopping, including some thawed frozen raspberries I was going to use for a pudding and never got round to. Hadn't fortunately gone mouldy so I simmered them up into a fruit compote which we can have with yoghurt for breakfast. There was also the best part of a bunch of celery (shall braise that to go with the lamb), some leftover puff pastry (could be used as lids for the creamy smoked haddock - an instant pie) and some sprouting seeds. (They're gone I'm afraid. Would be cheaper to sprout your own)

There's also a very elderly loaf which is possibly rescuable for breadcrumbs if I remove all the crusts, cut into cubes and whizz up in the blender (can then be frozen) and some very heavy spelt bread which I can't for the life of me think how to use. Heavy ethical issue here - should you chuck away food you don't like?

Blimey! It's hard work this frugal eating.

* Incidentally it's much cheaper to buy soy milk off the shelf than in the chill section. Saved about 30p there.

In praise of smoked haddock

Phew! I was so busy planning and shopping and cooking yesterday I didn't have time to post. A productive day, though.

First, I managed to restrain my natural instinct to stock up as if it were Christmas when we have friends round. Or rather when the neighbours do. I'm just providing the main course. I decided what it should be in advance (slow roast shoulder of lamb) and stuck to it. A good buy - for organic meat - at £14.82. A similar sized leg of lamb would have been at least £10 more expensive

I also bought two large fillets of smoked haddock from the local fish shop (Fishworks) to experiment with. I haven't cooked it for a while but it lends itself beautifully to leftovers. Which is just as well as it's expensive these days. I paid £12.60 for 850g including a 10% discount which you can get simply by signing up online to their Seafood Club

I cut up the fish and poached it in water. (Just cover with cold water, bring to the boil and skim off any white frothy scum then simmer very slowly for 5 minutes) then removed the fillets, slipped them off their skin and carefully flaked them. (This is the tedious bit. You have to watch like a hawk for bones. The best way is to run your fingers over the fish to make sure you haven't left any behind)

I made a kedgeree with a third of the fish. Found I didn't have any curry powder so spiced it with turmeric, coriander and a pinch of cumin and chilli powder and served it with a cucumber raita.

I folded the next third into a small amount of white sauce which I made from soy milk* as my husband is dairy intolerant. Infused the milk first with half an onion (used the other half in the kedgeree) which gave it a bit more flavour and grated in a bit of parmesan which curiously doesn't seem to upset him. This we can have on toast for supper tonight with more cheese on top like a fishy Welsh rarebit.

With the final third I made a kind of smoked haddock paté/ brandade by blitzing the remaining fish with butter and a little milk, just enough to make it whizz easily in the blender and seasoned it with lemon juice, chilli powder, black pepper and a pinch of mixed spice. (No nutmeg or mace in the cupboard which would have been ideal). That will do for little hand-round toasts with drinks before lunch. So the fish will have stretched to 9 portions which isn't bad.

On the debit side I found some uneaten leftovers lurking in the fridge which I should have checked before I went out shopping, including some thawed frozen raspberries I was going to use for a pudding and never got round to. Hadn't fortunately gone mouldy so I simmered them up into a fruit compote which we can have with yoghurt for breakfast. There was also the best part of a bunch of celery (shall braise that to go with the lamb), some leftover puff pastry (could be used as lids for the creamy smoked haddock - an instant pie) and some sprouting seeds. (They're gone I'm afraid. Would be cheaper to sprout your own)

There's also a very elderly loaf which is possibly rescuable for breadcrumbs if I remove all the crusts, cut into cubes and whizz up in the blender (can then be frozen) and some very heavy spelt bread which I can't for the life of me think how to use. Heavy ethical issue here - should you chuck away food you don't like?

Blimey! It's hard work this frugal eating.

* Incidentally it's much cheaper to buy soy milk off the shelf than in the chill section. Saved about 30p there.

My Bread Towel

I love baking bread, and this is my beautiful bread towel covering dough for a Moravian sugar cake I'm making for another post. It's made from an old feedsack that my mother hemmed and added a tab to so it could be hung. It's getting old and worn thin from all the use it's seen over the years. I can't say it's a bread towel only, though-I use it to cover any yeast dough that I make and it's seen it's fair share of rolling pumpkin rolls and holding hot bread or rolls fresh from the oven.

I haven't found another print like it, and I don't expect to, but it will be replaced with another feedsack equally as pretty. I imagine when the time comes I'll wash it one last time and fold it gently to keep away in my grandmother's hope chest.

del.icio.us recipe of the week - Pretzels!! Made with my own two hands!!!!!!!

Written before we left Calgary.....

After my recent foccacia success , I was just itching to get in the kitchen again and continue my winning bread-product-baking streak. I flipped through my handful of remaining cookbooks (most are already in BC) for a relatively easy bread or bun recipe, but came up with nothing. I checked out the Internet. Google gave me nothing. I really wanted to try Mary's Hamburger buns but I don't have potato flakes or know where to get them. And then while searching thru my del.icio.us files, I found it; the perfect recipe to try - the recipe that started the whole Daring Bakers group - the Pretzel Recipe!

The ingredients were all in my cupboard so I rolled up my sleeves and got to work. I used my stand mixer and followed the directions. My dough was quite stiff, not "quite slack" as the recipe stated. I tried adding some more water, but that didn't go well. I could feel my enthusiasm fading; this was going to end up like all the other times I failed at bread making. I left the dough to rise for 30 minutes, and when I came back it looked exactly the same as it had when I left the room. I gave it an additional 30 minutes, but not much happened.

I did not have a good feeling about this.

I divided the dough into 8, rolled the first piece out into a rope and formed a pretzel. After dunking the pretzel in the water/baking soda mixture I looked at what I had just made.


Umm. That's a bow, not a pretzel. I had to go turn the computer back on and Google pretzels to see what shape they were supposed to be. Hi, I am a dork.

Once I got the shape less crappy perfect and the pretzels dunked in the water/soda I sprinkled 4 of them with coarse salt and 4 with garlic salt.


Almost pretty!

I gotta say, even with the stiff dough and the no rising, these suckers were amazing. And so easy, I could not believe it. I did forget to brush them with butter when they were done, only because I was so excited that they turned out OK. I don't think they were lacking in any way though. When I make these again, I'm going to top some with rosemary and garlic, maybe some with cheese and garlic. If you've got a couple of hours to kill and you want to spend some time in the kitchen, this recipe is a perfect choice.

Recipe: Hot Buttered Pretzels.


del.icio.us recipe update - as of today - 201 recipes!

del.icio.us recipe of the week - Pretzels!! Made with my own two hands!!!!!!!

Written before we left Calgary.....

After my recent foccacia success , I was just itching to get in the kitchen again and continue my winning bread-product-baking streak. I flipped through my handful of remaining cookbooks (most are already in BC) for a relatively easy bread or bun recipe, but came up with nothing. I checked out the Internet. Google gave me nothing. I really wanted to try Mary's Hamburger buns but I don't have potato flakes or know where to get them. And then while searching thru my del.icio.us files, I found it; the perfect recipe to try - the recipe that started the whole Daring Bakers group - the Pretzel Recipe!

The ingredients were all in my cupboard so I rolled up my sleeves and got to work. I used my stand mixer and followed the directions. My dough was quite stiff, not "quite slack" as the recipe stated. I tried adding some more water, but that didn't go well. I could feel my enthusiasm fading; this was going to end up like all the other times I failed at bread making. I left the dough to rise for 30 minutes, and when I came back it looked exactly the same as it had when I left the room. I gave it an additional 30 minutes, but not much happened.

I did not have a good feeling about this.

I divided the dough into 8, rolled the first piece out into a rope and formed a pretzel. After dunking the pretzel in the water/baking soda mixture I looked at what I had just made.


Umm. That's a bow, not a pretzel. I had to go turn the computer back on and Google pretzels to see what shape they were supposed to be. Hi, I am a dork.

Once I got the shape less crappy perfect and the pretzels dunked in the water/soda I sprinkled 4 of them with coarse salt and 4 with garlic salt.


Almost pretty!

I gotta say, even with the stiff dough and the no rising, these suckers were amazing. And so easy, I could not believe it. I did forget to brush them with butter when they were done, only because I was so excited that they turned out OK. I don't think they were lacking in any way though. When I make these again, I'm going to top some with rosemary and garlic, maybe some with cheese and garlic. If you've got a couple of hours to kill and you want to spend some time in the kitchen, this recipe is a perfect choice.

Recipe: Hot Buttered Pretzels.


del.icio.us recipe update - as of today - 201 recipes!