March 29, 2005

Petits pains au chocolat

These were so popular that I made them for a party I was going to. They were also enjoyed there. So simple, so nice.

Posted by chris at 11:00 AM

Taloas

These are an odd blend of corn muffin, english muffin, and pita. Quite tasty! Also I made them a few days ago. Things are busy, I'm about to travel cross-country by train.

Posted by chris at 10:59 AM

March 24, 2005

Petits pains au chocolat

Little chocolate-filled rolls! Apparently they are all the rage with French school kids, who sit on them before eating them to warm them up and melt the chocolate. Again, pain au lait dough.

Both these and the schneckes went stale fast. Fortunately they were too nice to leave around, and they were eaten pretty quickly.

Posted by chris at 01:43 PM

Schneckes

Currant rolls! Made with pain au lait, rolled up like a sticky bun. Very pleasant.

Posted by chris at 01:40 PM

March 22, 2005

Pear soup

I was going to make cucumber soup but when it came time to add the cucumbers they were all spoiled. So I added pear instead, and some other spices, and, well, it was food. I am not get a good improviser, but it wasn't exactly inedible.

Posted by chris at 11:07 PM

Mountain white bread with poppy seeds

I just don't seem to like white bread.

Posted by chris at 11:04 PM

March 18, 2005

Piquenchagne

This is a pear bread, but not a quick bread. It's a pear-based yeast bread. You cook down the pears a bit and puree them into the water and that's your liquid. You also add black pepper.

I added perhaps a bit too much black pepper. It is a little too dominant. But still, this bread is really flavorful and nice. I suspect toasting it would really bring out the pear flavor, but it's so good plain that I haven't tried it yet!

Posted by chris at 09:54 AM

Potato and onion soup

Yesterday I made some potato and onion soup, which was basically the potato and leek soup but with onions instead of leeks. It also came out OK. But these soups still lack that certain something magical. Perhaps something needs to be roasted.

Posted by chris at 09:52 AM

March 16, 2005

Pear galette

Very simple and relatively quick. I used gingerbread pears (and this recipe only took two, so I have a few left), and the hardest part was cutting and arranging them on the dough. I never thought of this: Use a pizza pan to hold the galette!

Anyway it's all simple and nice. The bottom crust came out too thin and soggy and I'm not entirely sure why. The recipe was an apple galette recipe and I was doing the pear variation and it wasn't 100% clear what was going on.

But the taste is nice and simple and pear-y!

Posted by chris at 12:22 AM

Potato leek soup, with bread bowls

Whee! I made potato leek soup and bread bowls to put it in. I also made the vegetable stock with which to make the soup.

It was all pretty successful. The stock was not as rich as last time. Leeks are strange; I have never worked with them before and I never realized you use so little of them! The soup pureed into, well, exactly what I wanted potato soup to be like all the time.

The bread bowls were something of a last minute idea, and I took every shortcut I could to make this. I used a basic hearth bread recipe, and more or less divided what would be two regular boules into three. These were about the right size. They barely got a rise before I shaped them, and they finished shaping just in time to be cooked. The bread ended tasting surprisingly good!

And now I am so full!

Posted by chris at 12:19 AM

March 12, 2005

Squaw bread

This bread, with its vaguely offensive name, is made not from squaw, but from water in which raisins and honey have been macerating and which are then pureed. So there is a pleasant fructose sweetness to it. Nothing cloying, but nice. It's a nice bread. It got to rise for a day in the fridge and that increased its niceness, I think. Every time I try some I am surprised again at the flavor's complexity and niceness. So nice, this bread.

Posted by chris at 10:13 PM

March 10, 2005

Frosted lemon cookies

I made these, recipe courtesy of Cooks Illustrated, and they were fine, but not really anything too special. I mean they're nice cookies but they're hardly bowling me over. But my want was simple (cookies) and these were up to the task.

Posted by chris at 12:50 AM

March 06, 2005

Swedish limpa bread

Bread 17: This is quite nice, but I've never had it before, so I don't know if it is supposed to taste like this. The liquid is molasses with ale and a bit of butter; it tastes not unlike brown bread, but that's molasses for you. Good with a bit of butter, probably killer when toasted. It's making me think I should try some baked beans to have with it.

Posted by chris at 11:08 PM

Blueberry muffins

These didn't come out that great. Edible but not great.

Part of the problem is that my oven decided to be many, many degrees off. So the muffins didn't cook at the right temperature. It was far too low.

The frozen blueberries might have also added too much moisture to the dough.

Also, they were just sort of "meh" tasting. And I suspect that might be the recipe's fault. You have let me down, Cooks Illustrated!

Posted by chris at 11:07 PM

March 04, 2005

Another batch of pickles

These will be done in a week and a half. They are garlicky.

Posted by chris at 11:04 PM

Speedy flaxseed bread

I made it speedy. It has flaxseeds in it. It's OK. It's bread.

Posted by chris at 01:51 PM