Boozy Breads

The theme for August's Bread Baking Day (#33) is Breads with Booze, hosted by Adriana of by Baking Powders.


What you see above is my favorite sandwich, a reuben, full of pastrami, gruyere, sauerkraut, and Russian dressing. This is my benchmark sandwich. I make a thumbs-up or thumbs-down review on any new reuben-offering restaurant by how good the sandwich is.



When I was looking for a bread recipe to meet this month's requirements, I ran across Caraway Cheese Loaf in one of my cookbooks. It's a hearty bread with Swiss cheese, caraway seeds, and dark beer. Perfect match.


My daughter sacrificed one of her Pipeline Porters.




I had gruyere on hand, so I substituted that for the Swiss cheese.


I pulled out my bread machine, added the ingredients, and pushed the button.


Because I wanted to make sandwiches, I used the standard 9x5 bread tin.



The kitchen smelled more heavenly than usual while the bread was baking.




After a short wait, until the bread was cool enough, I sliced it open to try a piece. It tasted like a reuben sandwich just by itself.


The rest is history. For three days straight, I practiced my reuben-sandwich techniques, each sandwich better than the one before. At its best, it rivaled the one from my local deli, which has the best reuben to be found anywhere in the west.



So, Caraway Cheese Loaf is my submission for Bread Baking Day #33. Thanks to Adriana for hosting, and to Zorra for creating this great, monthly bread-baking event.


Caraway Cheese Loaf

¾ cup shredded Swiss Cheese

3 tablespoons bread flour

1 ¼ cups dark beer

1 egg

3 cups bread flour

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon caraway seed, crushed

¾ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon active dry yeast

In a small mixing bowl, toss together the Swiss cheese and the 3 tablespoons of bread flour. Place the remaining ingredients in your bread machine bowl, according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Add the Swiss cheese mixture. Select the manual cycle.

When the manual cycle has finished, remove the dough, shape, and let rise for about 45 minutes.

Bake at 375°F for about 40-45 minutes, or until the internal temperature is between 190°F and 200°F.

Remove from oven; remove from pan and let cool on a rack.

TWD: Oatmeal Breakfast Bread

A couple of Saturdays ago, I decided to depart from the normal breakfast of cold cereal and bake the TWD Oatmeal Breakfast Bread. It was definitely a good choice. You just can't beat a nice moist bread with a streusel topping.



Instead of raisins, I chose to add dates. Dried sour cherries were a close second, but the dates won out. They were ideal, too, contributing to the moistness and the subtle sweetness.



While it's not very photogenic, the taste is wonderful, truly a nice change from the usual weekend breakfast treat.

Natalie of Oven Love made a great choice. You can find the recipe on her blog. The other TWD bakers have made some lovely variations of this bread, so be sure and stop by to take a look.

NFR: Fitness Friday on Monday

Still in Virginia this week. While I'm exceeding my weekly walking goal, perhaps I should increase it by a half mile so I reach Kentucky before 2012. To keep track of my distance, I always wear a step counter. It's a spiffy one that calculates steps as well as mileage. It also serves as my watch until I find a new one.

At one point, I crossed the Chickahominy River. What a cool name! I want to make a chicken and hominy dish just to celebrate, as soon as I can replenish my hominy supply. For some reason, the grocery store was out of hominy.



I've also begun pulling fabric for my quilt. I've started with the yellows and oranges. Now I have to figure out in what manner I'm going to piece them, possibly random-sized strips. I want something rather free-form.



We've been having sunny mornings lately; I'll be glad when the fog returns. Not only is it wonderful walking weather, but spider webs turn into jewels with the drops of fog highlighting each strand.



For more Fitness Friday tales, stop by Tallgrass Prairie Studio.

Daring Cooks: Pierogi

The August 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by LizG of Bits n’ Bites and Anula of Anula’s Kitchen. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make pierogi from scratch and an optional challenge to provide one filling that best represents their locale.


I've always wanted to make pierogi, but, until now, I never had an actual recipe to try. Thanks to Liz and Anula, I can cross these off of my to-make list.


I chose the Russian style pierogi, and made a filling of ground beef, minced onions, and minced mushrooms, bound together with sour cream. Sort of like beef stroganoff.



The rolled dough was so thin, I could see through it, but it was nice and pliable, and forgiving.




My daughter and I were really hungry the night I made these, so, while I filled the pierogi, she crimped the edges with a fork. It was nice to have her help.




We decided to eat them fresh from the boiling water, although I did manage to save a few to fry. Well, the fried ones were so good that they disappeared before I could say 'get the camera.'




While, at first, pierogi might seem a bit labor-intensive, with practice they can be made more quickly. They can also be frozen for future use, so I think it would be a great project for family and friends; sort of like making tamales together.


I apologize for the lack of stunning plating and photography, but we were hungry and these were so delicious that they literally begged to be eaten immediately. The next time I make these, I will try the cottage cheese dough, and perhaps a slightly sweeter filling.





Please stop by the Daring Kitchen to catch an eye-full of beautiful pierogi.

TWD: Chocolate Ganache Ice Cream

This week we were treated to a cool, rich ice cream, courtesy of Katrina of Baking and Boys.

It's been a cool summer here in southern California, but that's the way I like it. Foggy mornings, pleasant days, and cool evenings. I'll never understand why everyone here wants hot, sunny weather. It's miserable! Plus, none of the houses come with air conditioning, so the internal house temperatures can reach 90 degrees or above, with no relief.

Yep. I'll take my foggy mornings and my ice cream.



The only change I made in the recipe was how I mixed everything together. No zillion bowls for me.

I mixed the chopped bittersweet Valrhona chocolate and the hot cream in one bowl. Then I combined the eggs, sugar, milk, cream, and pinch of salt in my saucier, and cooked it until the mixture reached 172 degrees F., upon which I poured it over the ganache.


After chilling, the resulting ice cream base was mighty thick, like pudding. My trusty ice cream maker did a lovely job of converting the pudding to ice cream. This is really rich, so one little ball is all you need.




It's likely we'll eat most of this ice cream, but I'm saving a small portion for another project, about which I'll post in a week or so. For the recipe, head over to Katrina's blog; for comments and ice cream variations, go to the TWD blog.

NFR: Walking across Virginia

Mea culpa.

I should have posted this last Friday, but I've been suffering from blog-writer's block for a few days.

I'm slowly walking my way across Virginia. I breezed through Williamsburg and Jamestown; I'm following some river right now. Slow and steady.

My longest walk was last Wednesday. That was opening day for our county fair and also dollar day. Instead of parking close and paying $10, I parked in the downtown parking garage for free, then walked the 15 minutes to the fairgrounds, where I stood in a quick-moving line, and got in for $1.

This year I entered two different cookies in the fair, so I was curious how they fared. One of the two received an Honorable Mention, so I was pleased with that. I ran into some friends in the Home Arts Building, so we chatted for awhile before moving on. I spent two hours, total, at the fair, seeing what appealed to me, then I left and walked back to my car.

Next week I'm going to increase my daily walking goal. Each mile walked is a piece of fabric earned, and I'm doing fairly well. I've chosen a quilt design and will go through my stash this coming weekend to select the fabrics. Time to start the process.

At the rate I'm going, I'm wondering if I'll make it to the next state by September.




Check out Tallgrass Prairie Studio for event information.

TWD: Ginger Carrot Cookies

When I first saw this week's choice for Tuesdays with Dorie, I was somewhat dismayed.

Carrots?

Raisins?

Coconut?

In cookies?

Who is going to eat these in this household?

Maybe I'll pass.


But then, I stopped and had a very stern talking to myself.

Why are you participating in this baking group? Isn't one of the main reasons to push your boundaries, bake outside of the box, extend your comfort zone? Maybe bake something you wouldn't ordinarily choose and find that you like it?




Why yes.

So, that is what I did.


I finely shredded the carrots, using an attachment for my Kitchen Aid mixer. It makes quick, quick work when shredding or grating substantial amounts of vegetables.

Then I substituted currants for raisins. To me, currants are like dainty raisins. They're subtly present, but they don't smack you in the face.

The pecans were chopped and toasted, and just a smidgen of coconut was tossed in.


I couldn't decide which size of scoop to use, so I opted for the smaller one, and ended up with 5 dozen cookies, plus a few extras, which were immediately consumed for testing purposes. I also kept a watch on the baking times since these were smaller cookies, and removed them when they matched Dorie's description for doneness.


While I'm not a fan of carrot cake, I did find that I really liked these cookies. They were cake-like in texture, which I love, and the toasted pecans added a most delicious flavor. The carrots, coconut, and currants (the 3 Cs) contributed a moistness and some texture. I do like a bit of chew to my cookies; thin, flat ones leave me unsatisfied.


Thanks goes to Natalia of gatti fili e farina for pushing me out of my cookie comfort zone. These were a hit and will definitely be made again. Next time, though, I will add more ginger since it was barely noticeable. You can find the recipe on Natalia's blog.


Be sure and stop by the TWD blog and read about the other bakers' opinions.




P.S. The coconut*currant/raisin*cooked carrot-hating daughter actually said the cookies were tasty, although I doubt she will eat any more than the two she consumed. Good sport. Welcome home from Alaska.