My journey of cooking, gardening, preserving and more
Well, my broccoli sprouts sprouted overnight! This is what they looked like on Saturday (they’re the seeds on the left): And this is what they looked like Sunday morning: I started these on Friday afternoon, so I’m very pleased with the results so far. As …
My husband’s convinced that my recent interest in home sprouting stems from my need to be growing something. He thinks I’m going through summer-garden-withdrawal, which may or may not be true. Whatever the reason, I’m pretty excited to have a go at it. I’ve always …
The beauty of this bread is it takes full advantage of fast-rising or quick-rising yeast. This makes it possible to knock out a loaf of French bread in less than 2 hours.
I’ve made a lot of homemade bread and this one is 3 of my favorite things in the kitchen:
Are you with me?
This only makes one loaf so feel free to double this recipe if you want 2 loaves. It keeps and freezes well, I just love it fresh out of the oven.
In a large mixing bowl, mix together the flour, salt and yeast.
Add the hot water all at once and mix well.
Drop your dough out onto a floured surface and knead for 8-10 minutes, adding your extra cup of flour a little at a time. The key here is this: keep adding your extra flour just enough to keep the dough supple but still a little sticky. It shouldn’t be a sticky mess – if it is, keep working in your extra flour reserve – but don’t add so much flour that it becomes dry and flaky. A little moistness is good here.
Once it’s reached a firm but slightly sticky ball, cover and let rest for 10 minutes.
In the meantime, grease a baking sheet. If you’d like, sprinkle with a tablespoon or two of cornmeal on the oiled pan.
Once rested, roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to about a 10″ x 15″ rectangle. Rolling from the 15-inch side, roll the dough up like a jelly roll and pinch the end together to seal. Place on baking sheet, seam side down.
Cover and let rest for about 45 minutes, or until doubled in size.
Using a sharp knife, slice a few diagonal cuts about 1/4 inch deep across the top of the loaf.
Bake the loaf in a 425 oven for 25-30 minutes. Let rest if you can wait that long, otherwise, if you’re like me, slice right in and enjoy.
Now you know you can customize this a bit if you’d like:
I hope you’ll try this! Imagine it warm out of the oven with some lovely jam or fruity olive oil. Again, it’s easy, fast (for bread) and absolutely delicious.
The second the weather starts to cool off, I kick into comfort food mode. I love making braised dishes and soups in the fall and winter, don’t you? Beef brisket with root veggies in a tomato and red wine sauce is a perfect recipe to …
If you’ve been following my adventure in growing a ghost chili plant, then you know I’ve been at this for a while. I started our ghost chili plant indoors in February and it has taken this long to achieve one little pepper. The plant is …
If the only way you’ve ever had Brussels sprouts is from a frozen package and then boiled to death, I’d like to think you’re in for a treat.
But the reality is, some people just don’t like them. I get that. Cruciferous vegetables are not everyone’s cup of tea. Cauliflower, Kale, Cabbage, Broccoli, Bok Choy, Rapini…am I scaring you yet? I love them all but not everyone does.
But if you’ve not had Brussels sprouts roasted in the oven and caramelized along with olive oil and chunks of fresh garlic, then I hope you’ll try them this way. I even cheat on this one sometimes, in the sense that I buy the already-cleaned, pre-packed fresh sprouts that are easy to just rinse, cut in half and roast. Gasp
Cut me a little break; at times, that’s my only option in this neck of the woods.
Preheat oven to 375.
Take all of the above and toss together in a heavy skillet or oven-safe dish.
Place in oven and roast for 15 minutes. Stir contents and let roast for 5-10 minutes more, or until Brussels sprouts become tender but not mushy and begin to brown and caramelize.
These not only make a great side dish, they also make a nice appetizer.
Also, don’t be afraid to toss with a little lemon zest or Parmesan…or both.
Give this a try and you might actually love them!
I do a lot of canning but Sunday was my first attempt at canning tomatillo salsa. Last year I roasted them and then froze them, but we have such an overload this year that I thought canning them was a longer lasting solution. It came …