You know Martha, right?  Martha Stewart that is.  She that is everything perfect.  She who creates recipes which do not fail.  (Or she who hires people who create recipes which do not fail.)  Last weekend I had a recipe-didn’t-turn-out-as-well-as-I-wanted-it-to which, in Martha’s world, is a fail.  Let me explain.

As I have mentioned, oh about 100 times, I have a bazillion cookbooks.  Some I use more than others.  Some I would take to a desert island with me.  When I need appetizer inspiration, I turn to Martha’s Hors d’Oeuvres Handbook.  The pictures in this book are stunning and unlike many cookbooks, there is a photo of just about every recipe.  Truth be told, many of the recipes are pretty fussy and require last minute cooking or assembling which, in my mind, does not a good appetizer make.  But I do so love this book.

Last weekend my lovely friend Jen held her summer yoga retreat.  (She does one a quarter.)  I created a summery menu that included gazpacho with four different topping choices, a potato tortilla with Romesco sauce, an Israeli couscous salad, a quinoa and corn salad, and a simple green salad with shavings of red onion and kohlrabi.  I always like to have something on the tables where everyone will be sitting in case I am not 100% ready for people to go through the food line.  Last time I made this super popular dip and this time I made bread sticks which could be dipped in a lemon/thyme butter.

Good idea, right?  They look good, right?  It goes with the menu, right?  Bread sticks are supposed to be crunchy, right?  These weren’t.  I made them about five days before the retreat and they weren’t crunchy out of the oven.  They certainly weren’t crunchy after a rest in the freezer.  Right before I served them, I gave them another heat through in the oven and that kind of did the trick but they were still a little more bread-like than I wanted.

Why am I sharing the recipe?  They are easy and fun to make – a great project to do with kids.  The recipe gives you a large yield and you can freeze them (just be sure to bring them back to life in the oven), and the flavor was really good.  Because they aren’t too snappy or crunchy, they can survive a dip into softened butter and not break…and, hey, well, I guess Martha is all right after all.

By the way, if you live in the Seattle area and want to experience a day of amazing yoga and my food for lunch, Jen will be hosting another yoga retreat on October 16th.  Check out her site for details and to sign up.

One Year Ago: Smoky Muhammara Dip
Two Years Ago: Pasta with Cauliflower, Peppers, and Walnut Pesto

Yeast Bread Sticks
Adapted from Martha Stewart’s Hors d’Oeuvres Handbook
Makes about 5 dozen

1 ¼-ounce package active dry yeast (2 teaspoons)
2 cups warm water
1½ tbsp. honey
5 tbsp. olive oil, plus extra for brushing
5¾ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
4 tsp. kosher salt

In a medium bowl, combine the yeast and ¼ cup of the water.  Set aside to proof for 5 minutes.  Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the remaining 1¾ cups water with the honey and the olive oil.  Stir the honey mixture into the yeast.  Set aside.  Brush the inside of a large bowl with olive oil.  Set aside.

In another large bowl, combine the flour, Parmesan, and salt.  Pour the wet yeast mixture over the dry flour mixture.  Using your hands, combine until the flour mixture is completely incorporated; the dough will be sticky.

Transfer the wet mixture to a lightly floured board.  Knead the dough until soft and elastic, about 5 minutes.  (DT: I used the dough hook on my Kitchen Aid for the kneading.)  Transfer the dough to the reserved large bowl, brush the top of the dough with olive oil, and cover with plastic wrap.  Set aside in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1½ hours.

Heat the oven to 425ºF.  Divide the dough evenly into 4 batches.  Wrap 3 batches in plastic wrap and set aside.  Cut the remaining batch into 16 pieces.  Using your fingers, roll one piece at a time on a lightly floured surface into 16-inch-long sticks.  Transfer the sticks to 2 baking sheets, placing them about 1 inch apart.  Cover with plastic wrap, set aside in a warm place, and let proof for 30 minutes.  Repeat with another batch of dough and 2 more sheet pans.  While the second batch is proofing, proceed with the first batch.

Just before baking, brush each stick with olive oil and sprinkle with salt.  Bake, rotating the sheets once, until lightly browned, about 10 to 12 minutes.  The bread sticks can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for 2 to 3 days.

I have been writing Dana Treat for a little over two years.  In that time, I have shared a lot about the food I make, the things I like and dislike, a bit about my family, a lot about Lopez Island and the special bakery that is there, and thoughts on a new tattoo (photo and story coming soon, I promise).  I’ve directed you to other blogs I like and have sung the praises of chickpeas and chocolate.  Hopefully I have goaded you into giving tofu a chance and maybe even into trying tempeh.  I also hope I have shown you what vegetarian food can be, given the chance.  Here is something I’ve never discussed.

I’m not really a cheese person.

{pause}

I hesitate to even mention it because I almost feel like I lose some foodie credibility.  How can you love food and not love cheese?  You don’t eat meat and you don’t like cheese?  Who the hell are you anyway??

It’s not that I don’t like cheese.  I do like it.  I have recipes here that feature cheese – 21 of them as a matter of fact.  I guess I should say that I don’t like it much by itself and I tend to use less of it in recipes where it is called for.  If there is a cheese platter at your next party, you might see me hovering near it, but I promise you – what I am admiring is the crackers.  The cheese plate in a French restaurant?  Lost on me.

On the opposite end of the spectrum is my friend Michelle.  I have known Michelle since I was a lowly promotions intern at a radio station in 1994.  As our friendship has grown, we have shared meals together all over Seattle and in Vancouver, Whistler, London, Rome, and Paris.  She is a lusty and enthusiastic eater.  She often says things like, “This is the best (fill in the blank) I have ever tasted”.  As you can imagine, she is fun to cook for.  I haven’t asked her about her desert island food, but my hunch if would be cheese.  The woman is passionate about cheese.

Michelle came to stay with us this past weekend and I knew immediately what I had to make for Sunday lunch.  I have a sweet little book called Savory Baking, and in there is a recipe for Chile Cheese Gratin Sandwiches  Basically, you bake a chile and cheese filled bread in a loaf pan.  Once it is cool, you cut slices of the bread, top it with sliced tomatoes and then top the whole thing with a  cheese and butter concoction.  Under the broiler it goes for a few minutes and then what you have is basically cheese heaven.

Before I tell you how much I liked this recipe, allow me to tell you how much I liked making lunch.  Whenever we have friends over on Sunday, it is almost always for brunch.  I make some kind of egg dish (like this one or this one), I always make roasted potatoes, and I make some kind of baked good (like cinnamon rolls or coffee cake or petits pains au chocolat).  The dishes change, the formula remains the same.  This time I thought I would change it up and make lunch instead.  This cheese bread, soup, salad.  It was a nice change of pace.

So, if you set up your tent in the cheese lovers’ camp, this is a good recipe for you.  I loved it because the flavors were interesting – not all one note as cheesy things can sometimes be for me.  There were canned chiles, red pepper, and jalapeño peppers in the bread so while it was rich, there was also a lot of spice to cut the richness.  I was thinking ahead and just doubled the recipe and put the other loaf in the freezer.  The next time I serve a hearty soup, I know what I am serving along side.

One Year Ago: Grilled Vegetable Quesadillas
Two Years Ago: Curried Red Lentil Stew with Vegetables

Chile Cheese Gratin Sandwiches
Adapted from Savory Baking
Serves 8

Two notes.  Worcestershire sauce is not vegetarian – it contains anchovies.  If you care, you can find a vegan sauce at Whole Foods or just omit it.  I sprayed my pans with non-stick spray and some of the bread stuck to the bottom, so be sure to grease your pans well.

Chile-Cheese Bread
2 cups flour
2 tsp. sugar
1 tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp. salt
4 ounces (1 cup) sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1 cup whole milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 4-ounce can peeled mild green chiles, drained
1 jalapeño pepper, seeds and membranes removed, finely diced
½ cup red bell pepper, finely diced

Cheddar Topping
4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
4 ounces (1 cup) sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1 ounce (¼ cup) Romano cheese, shredded
½ tsp. Worcestershire sauce
½ tsp. garlic powder
Pinch of salt
8 tomato slices

To prepare the bread:
Preheat the oven to 375ºF and butter or spray an 8-by-3-inch loaf pan.  Stir the flour, sugar, baking powder, pepper, and salt together in a medium bowl.  Add the cheese and gently toss until the cheese is evenly distributed throughout the mixture.

Whisk the milk, oil, egg. green chiles, chopped jalapeño, and red bell pepper in another bowl.  Pour the milk mixture over the flour mixture and briefly blend with a spatula.  The batter will look moist.  Pour the batter into the prepared pan and place it in the oven.  Bake until the top is golden brown and springs back gently when touched in the center, about 45 minutes.  Put the loaf on a cooking rack for 10 minutes and then remove the bread from the pan to completely cool.

To Prepare the Topping:
Put the butter, Cheddar and Romano cheese, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, and a little salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whip attachment.  Whip for 2 minutes on medium speed.

Set the oven to broil.  Cut the loaf into 8 slices and lay the slices on a baking sheet.  Place a tomato slice on each piece of bread.  Spoon about 2 heaping tablespoons of the cheese topping over each tomato slice.  Put the baking sheet into the oven about 4 inches away from the flame and broil until the cheese is bubbly and golden, 3 to 5 minutes.  Serve immediately.

(Wrap cooled bread in plastic wrap at room temperature for up to 1 week, or freeze for up to 1 month.  Remove the loaf from the freezer and thaw at room temperature for a couple of hours.  The Cheddar topping can be made ahead and stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.)

Randy has been involved in a big project at work.  In addition to his time-consuming and demanding day job, he hired a team of outside consultants to help him with a totally separate project.  (Don’t ask me what he does for a living because I’m not exactly sure.)  Everyone involved has been working ridiculously hard and not sleeping much.  Yesterday was the big presentation and it starts to wind down from here.  We had a big dinner party last night last night to celebrate.

Big dinner party.  Big.  As in 9 people.  As in I started working on the meal on Saturday.  As in 4 different cocktail nibbles, appetizer course, salad course, bread, 3-part main course, and a totally over-the-top dessert.  Big as in a lot of wine bottles going out to the recycling bin today.

I knew the food would be blog worthy and I had the best intentions of photographing everything so I could write about it.  I even set up my light on the floor of our kitchen.  It started off well.  I got some shots of the appetizers and the salad (see above) but then things got a little crazy in the kitchen.  There was salmon involved and a farro/black rice dish that had to be finished at the last moment.  There was a peanut butter pie served with homemade chocolate sauce, roasted banana ice cream, and a no-bake peanut chocolate cookie.  I kept thinking, “I should be taking pictures!  I want to write about this!” but I just ran out of steam.  The trip from the dining room to the kitchen carrying a plate laden with chocolate and peanut butter seemed like a long journey.

For the record, I turned to a trusted source for advice on the salmon.  We had intended to grill it but after a few emails with Matt, fish genius extraordinaire, I decided to slow roast it in the oven.  I’m totally sold on this method from now on.  I bought 4 pounds of Copper River salmon at the place Matt recommended.  I don’t eat fish but I do know that Copper River salmon is the best of the best.  Randy cut it into portions and then put it on a baking sheet and into the refrigerator.  Half an hour before I wanted it to go in the oven, I pulled it out, drizzled it with healthy amount of olive oil and sea salt and let it come up to room temperature.  About 35 minutes in a 250° oven and the salmon was cooked perfectly, and no one had to stand outside with the rain and the grill.

Also for the record, let me tell you that I will be making that exact same dessert – all parts – again soon so I can take those damn photos and share recipes with you.  Wanna come for dinner?

What I can share today is this bread.  You know when you see a recipe and just want to drop everything and make it?  Maybe something called Pull-Apart Cheesy Onion Bread?  That happened to me with this one.  Fortunately, I had this dinner party in the works which could accommodate it because otherwise, I might have eaten the entire loaf myself.

Have you heard of monkey bread?  This is a savory version that is much less labor intensive.  It goes a little something like this.  You make a super simple dough, roll it out to a very long rectangle then top it with a cooked onion and Gruyère cheese mixture.  You cut the dough into 10 pieces and stack them one on top of the other in a loaf pan.  You take a look at your crooked stack that doesn’t fill up the pan and think, “This is never going to work”.  Then you put it in the oven.  Soon your kitchen starts smelling amazing and when you peek in the oven, you see that magically the dough is starting to fill in the whole pan.  When it is done, it has magically turned into a loaf (though still crooked), it has turned golden brown, and it calls to you to be eaten immediately.  (But!  It can keep for two days at room temperature!  I love recipes like this.)

The result is pretty extraordinary.  Come on.  Sauteed onions?  Gruyere?  Bread?  So soft you want to use it as a pillow?  I brought this out to the table (after sneaking a piece) and when I went back not five minutes later, it was gone.  Not a crumb on a plate.  I can’t wait to make it again.  You can have it with your peanut butter pie when you come over for dinner.

One Year Ago: Green Bean and Fennel Salad

Pull-Apart Cheesy Onion Bread
Food & Wine
Makes one 9-inch loaf

1½ sticks cold unsalted butter, 1 stick cubed
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp. poppy seeds
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup coarsely grated Gruyère cheese (3 ounces)
2 cups flour, plus more for dusting
2 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 cup buttermilk

1.  Preheat the oven to 425°F.  Butter a 9-by-4½-inch metal loaf pan.  In a large skillet, melt the ½ stick of uncubed butter; pour 2 tablespoons of the melted butter into a small bowl and reserve.  Add the chopped onion to the skillet and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until it is softened, about 8 minutes.  Stir in the poppy seeds and season with salt and pepper.  Scrape the onion mixture onto a plate and refrigerate for 5 minutes, until cooled slightly.  Stir in the Gruyère.

2.  Meanwhile, in a food processor, pulse the flour with the baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Add the cubed butter and pulse until it is the size of small peas.  Add the buttermilk and pulse 5 or 6 times, just until a soft dough forms.

3.  Turn the dough out onto a well-floured work surface and knead 2 or 3 times.  Pat or roll the dough into a 2-by-24-inch rectangle.  Spread the onion mixture on top.  Cut the dough crosswise into 10 pieces.  Stack 9 pieces onion side up, then top with the final piece, onion-side down.  Carefully lay the stack in the prepared loaf pan and brush with the reserved butter.

4.  Bake the loaf in the center of the oven for about 30 minutes, until it is golden and risen.  Let the bread cool for at least 15 minutes before unmolding and serving.

(The unmolded loaf can be stored at room temperature for up to 2 days.  Rewarm before serving.)

Friends, the clock is ticking.  I am just about 3½ months away from a big birthday.  Big as in huge.  40.

Last July, when I turned 39, I set some goals for myself.  Since I still have a few months to go, I will wait to fill you in on whether all the goals are met.  (Here is a hint – yoga, yay!  Croissants – not so much!).  But now I can cross a big one off my list.

Every single time I go into Holly B’s Bakery I either get a cinnamon roll, or I regret not having gotten a cinnamon roll in addition to whatever delicious item I did get.  If I did one of those free association exercises and you said, “Holly B”, I would no doubt say, “Cinnamon roll”.  You get where I am going with this.  Holly B = cinnamon roll.  And yet, in all years I have owned her cookbook, I have never made them.  I can partly blame it on the fear of finding myself in the house with a dozen or so cinnamon rolls and partly blame it on timing.  You see, this recipe ends with the dreaded words, “Serve still warm from the oven”.  How do you time that?

Now that I have made them, I kick myself for not just diving in sooner.  It is not complicated.  First you make a bread dough which needs to rise for an hour or so.  Then you roll the dough out, do the brushing and sprinkling and the rolling back up.  Then you slice and place on a baking sheet where they rise again for about 30 minutes.  They bake for about 30 and then you eat them.  Why did this sound so daunting?  I wanted to bring these rolls over to a friend’s house for a post egg-hunting brunch.  I made the dough and let it rise about and hour and a half before we left.  I formed the rolls just before we walked out the door and let them finish their rise in her warm kitchen and bake in her oven.  Then we feasted.

Back to that free associate exercise.  If I say “cinnamon roll” and you think “Cinnabon” then I would not advise making these rolls.  They have very little in common with those shopping mall monsters (sorry, I am biased).  Remember, this is a bread recipe (that has a whole cup of whole wheat flour in it) which is rolled out, brushed with butter, sprinkled with two kinds of sugar, a full tablespoon of cinnamon, raisins, and sliced almonds.  There is no icing and I wouldn’t want there to be.  Because the roll itself actually tastes like something other than air, you actually want to taste that part.  The roll is delightfully nutty from the whole wheat flour and the sugars caramelize just so.  I always tell you how I don’t like nuts in my baked goods but I wouldn’t think of leaving those sliced almonds out.  They are delicate and add a wonderful crunch and very subtle flavor.

I wanted to get a picture of me with both boys but the Easter egg hunting was a little too exciting for them to both stand still at the same time.  Separate was the best I got.

One Year Ago:  Marinated Chickpea Salad with Radishes and Cucumber

Holly B’s Cinnamon Rolls
Adapted from With Love & Butter
Makes approximately 12 rolls

For the dough:
2 cups warm water
2 tbsp. honey
1 package (2¼ tsp.) quick-rise yeast
2 tbsp. mild tasting oil (DT: I used canola oil)
Scant 4 cups flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
3 tbsp. milk powder
1¾ tsp. salt

For the Rolls:
Flour for dusting work surface
¼ cup (½ a stick) butter, melted
¾ cup raisins
¾ cup sliced almonds
¾ cup brown sugar, firmly packed
¾ cup granulated sugar
1 tbsp. cinnamon

Make the dough:
Swish together the water, honey, yeast, and oil in a roomy bowl.  Now dump in the flours and lastly the milk powder and the salt.  Mix these dry ingredients gently with your fingers without breaking through to the liquid below.

Now grab a wooden spoon and mix the dough vigorously until it’s just too stiff to continue.  Either knead the dough with floured hands on a lightly floured surface or use a dough hook with a stand mixer.  If the dough feels too wet, add a little more flour.  If it feels too stiff, sprinkle with warm water.  You will want a nice smooth dough – 2-5 minutes of kneading should be fine.  Dust the ball of dough with a little flour.  Lightly oil a bowl and place the dough inside.  Drape with a dishtowel and let rise in a warm spot until doubled in size.  (This takes about an hour.)

Lay a sheet of parchment paper down on a 10×15-inch baking sheet.

Make the rolls:
Do not punch down the dough, but gently turn it onto a floured surface.  Sprinkle the dough with flour and roll into a rectangle ¼-inch thick and approximately 10 by 25 inches with the short sides top and bottom.  Check the underside of the dough frequently.  Loosen any stuck spots and sprinkle on a little more flour.  Brush the dough with the melted butter, coating well but not leaving puddles.

Combine the raisins, almonds, sugars, and cinnamon.  Distribute the mixture evenly over the buttered surface, pressing down on the edges so the filling won’t fall off when you roll up the dough.

Starting at the short edge nearest you, roll up the dough, tugging gently to achieve a nice, snug long and keeping the edges even.  Turn the log seam downward and use a serrated knife to slice the dough into 10-12 rolls.  Place the rolls snugly in the pan.  Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until puffy and doubled in size, about 30 minutes.

Before the rolls finish rising, preheat the oven to 375°F with the rack in the center position.  Bake the Cinnamon Rolls for 15 minutes, rotate the pan, and bake for another 15 minutes more.  The rolls should be light gold and no longer doughy inside.  (DT: I think it’s best to check on the insides – mine looked done but were a little doughy.)  Serve still warm from the oven.

Folks, it’s true.  I am the last food blogger on Earth who has not made Jim Lahey’s No-Knead Bread.  Okay, well maybe not the last,  but I am one of the last.

I’m intrigued by it though and having tasted it (my lovely neighbor Julie is a convert), I can tell you that all the fuss is well-deserved.  I bought the cookbook, I have the right size pot, now I just need to bake it.  (I don’t think I will write about it though – haven’t we all read enough about no-knead bread?).

I decided to make another of Lahey’s much-praised recipes for my first foray into his world.  Pizza Bianca is one of those things where you look at the list of ingredients and think – that’s it?  Or at least I do.  But then I remember that my very favorite part of any pizza, even bad pizza, is the crust.  So why not just one giant crust?

To be fair, this is meant to be more of a flatbread than a crust.  I imagine Lahey’s vision is somewhere between a foccacia and a pizza crust.  I think what I made is a little closer to a foccacia and I didn’t quite get the dimpling technique right, but it was still really delicious.  I cook and bake a lot but I have to say that pizza dough is not my specialty.  I know that I just need to make it more regularly to get a better feel for the dough.  (Did you hear that?  That is Randy cheering in the background.)  I am excited to try more of his pizza recipes in addition to that famous bread.

One Year Ago: Chocolate, Hazelnut, and Ginger Biscotti and Tropical Gazpacho

Pizza Bianca
From My Bread
One 14-inch pie

3 cups (400 grams) bread flour
¼ tsp. (1 gram) instant or other active yeast
½ tsp. (4 grams) table salt
¾ tsp. (4 grams) sugar
1½ cups (350 grams) cool (55 to 65°F) water
¼ cup (60 grams) extra virgin olive oil, plus additional for coating the bowl and brushing
½ tsp. (4 grams) coarse sea salt
3 sprigs fresh rosemary

1.  In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, yeast, table salt, and sugar.  Add the water and, using a wooden spoon or your hand, mix until you have a wet, stick dough, about 30 seconds.  Lightly coat a second medium bowl with olive oil and place the dough in it.  Cover the bowl and let sit at room temperature, until the surface is dotted with bubbles and the dough is more than doubled in size, 9 to 12 hours.

2.  When the first rise is complete, generously dust a work surface (a cutting board is useful here) with flour.  Use a bowl scraper or rubber spatula to scrape the dough out of the bowl in one piece; as you begin to pull it away from the bowl, it will cling in long thin strands and will be quite loose and sticky.  Using lightly floured hands, fold the dough over itself two or three times and nudge it into a loose, rather flat ball.  Brush the surface of the dough with olive oil as sprinkle with the coarse salt (which will gradually dissolve on the surface).  Put the dough in a warm, draft-free spot and let rise until doubled, 1 to 2 hours.

3.  Half an hour before the end of the second rise, preheat the oven to 500°F, with a rack in the center, and place a pizza stone, at least 14 inches in diameter, in the center of the rack.

4.  Generously dust a pizza peel with flour and place the ball of dough in the middle.  Spread out the fingers of one hand, like a claw, and drive your fingers into the dough but do not puncture it.  You want to simultaneously create dimples in the dough and spread it out across the peel.  Continue working your hand across the dough and dimpling it until you have a bumpy disk about 12 inches in diameter.  Drizzle the remaining olive oil over the top and sprinkle with the rosemary leaves.

5.  With the peel resting on the counter, grasp the handle and give it a quick little tug; you want the pizza to just barely move but stay on the peel.  (Loosening it makes it easier to slide it onto the baking stone.)  If the dough sticks to the peel, gently lift it around the edges and add flour to the peel.  Shake the pizza onto the baking stone.  Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until the crust is golden brown on the mounds but still pale in the dimples.

6.  Slide the peel under the pizza and transfer it to a rack to cool for at least a few minutes before slicing and serving.

So what do you serve with chili?  Kind of silly, right?  Kind of like asking, “What do you serve with peanut butter on bread?”  In case you are not catching my drift – cornbread is what you serve with chili.  Oh and beer.  Duh.

The question becomes, which cornbread?  I already have two favorites but I thought it was time to try a third recipe.  If you want very full-flavored cornbread with lots going on, I can whole-heartedly recommend Ina’s version.  It is the one to make for a crowd since you will end up with a ton of it.  But if your appetite is more on the delicate side, I wouldn’t use that recipe.  It’s a meal in and of itself.

I thought I would try Holly B’s recipe and jazz it up by doing the Pesto Parmesan option listed in the book.  The nice thing is that the pesto stays in a small area so I could taste the bread on its own as well to truly asses where it stands in my cornbread book.  The verdict?  Very delicate and cakey.  So much so that as Randy went to take a bite, it basically crumbled right into his chili, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  I liked baking it in a pie dish and that each wedge had a little dollop of pesto at its end.  I also liked the Parmesan sprinkled over top.  Maybe I’ll try that with my other favorite version which comes from The Joy of Cooking.  Recipe coming some time soon.

One Year Ago: Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

Holly’s Favorite Corn Bread
With Love & Butter
Makes 8 wedges

¾ cup stone ground cornmeal
1 cup flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1 tbsp. honey
¼ tsp. salt
1 cup milk
1 egg
½ cup (1 stick) butter, melted
8 tsp. pesto
¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 375°F with the rack in the middle of the oven.  Butter a 9- to 10-inch glass pie plate.

Place all the ingredients except the pesto and cheese in a medium bowl and mix, by machine or by hand, until just combined.  Scrape down the bowl once or twice.  Smooth the batter into the pie dish.  Evenly blob 8 teaspoons of pesto around the edge of the batter, so that each wedge of cornbread will show a bit of green at the base.  Scatter the whole dish with the Parmesan.  Bake 15 minutes, rotate the dish, and bake for 5 to 10 minutes more or until the top is light brown and a toothpick comes out easily.  Cut into 8 wedges and serve.

If I happened upon this blog and saw this photo, I would assume it was biscotti.  You know, when you take the log from the oven to start slicing it into cookies.  It is not biscotti; it is bread.  Bread that did very little rising.  Why?  I’m really not sure.  This is why people are afraid to work with yeast.  Yeast can be mysterious.  I have a feeling that it just wasn’t warm enough in my kitchen for it to do its thing.  Usually when I am baking bread, I turn on my oven to a very low heat and then turn it off and prop the door open for a minute or two.  That nice little warm haven is perfect for rising dough.  I skipped that step this time.

Why am I sharing a recipe for flat bread that is not supposed to be flat?  Simple.  It tasted really good.  Like if it had risen appropriately, I might have found my perfect bread.  I am a total sucker for olives and absolutely love them in bread.  For this particular recipe, you make a Biga starter which is nothing more than some flour, yeast, and water.  You will have more starter than you need for one loaf, so why not double the bread recipe and make two?  Put one in the freezer and one on your table.  And if yours rises, send me a photo.

One Year Ago: Roasted Orange Pepper Soup

Olivetta Loaf
Macrina Bakery and Café Cookbook
Makes 1 oval loaf

The recipe originally suggests you bake this bread on a pizza stone.  I found the dough so wet and sticky that I would have been unable to get it onto the stone.  It also suggests you do a final shaping step that I was also unable to do due to stickiness.  Just keep your flour handy, do what I did, and the bread will taste great.

5 ounces Traditional Biga Starter (recipe follows)
1 cup water, at room temperature
¼ tsp. dried yeast
2¾ cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup olive oil
1 tsp. chopped fresh rosemary
1 tsp. chopped fresh oregano
2 tsp. kosher salt
¾ cup green olives, pitted and halved

Combine starter, water, and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer.  Using the paddle attachment, mix on low speed for 1 minute.  Add flour, ¼ cup of the olive oil, herbs, and salt, and mix on low speed until ingredients are combined.  Switch to the dough hook attachment and mix on medium speed for about 10 minutes.  Dough will start forming a ball around the hook.

This dough is quite wet, so give your hands a generous dusting of flour before working with it.  Pull dough from bowl on to a floured surface and form into a 6 x 10-inch rectangle, positioning dough so that a short end is facing you.  Sprinkle olives over entire surface of dough.  Starting with the closest end, roll dough away from you into a log.  Make sure log is resting on its seam, then fold the ends underneath to form a loosely shaped ball.  Place ball of dough in an oiled medium bowl and cover with plastic wrap.  Let proof in a warm room, 70 to 75°, for 2 to 2½ hours.  Dough should double in size.

Pull dough from bowl onto a floured surface and gently flatten it with your hands to release excess air.  Form flattened dough into an oval shape by folding the left and right sides onto the top.  Place loaf, seam side up, on a very well floured floured rimmed baking sheet.  Sprinkle top of loaf with flour and cover with a dish towel to keep it from drying out.  Let proof in a warm room for about 1½ hours.  Loaf will rise slightly and be soft to the touch.

While loaf is proofing, preheat oven to 385°F.

Uncover dough dimple lightly with your fingers, and place baking sheet in oven.  Bake for about 45 minutes.  The finished loaf will have a reddish brown color and will sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.  Let loaf cool on a wire rack for about 20 minutes, then brush top with more olive oil.

Traditional Biga Starter
Makes approximately 2½ pounds of starter

2 cups water, at room temperature
1½ tsp. dried yeast
2½ cups flour

Pour water into a medium bowl and sprinkle yeast on top.  Mix with a whisk until all lumps are dissolved.  Add flour and mix with whisk until smooth, about 3 mintues.  Place uncovered bowl in a warm room, 70 to 75°, and let sit for 2 to 3 hours.  Bubbles will appear on the surface of the biga.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and transfer to the refrigerator for at least 6 hours.  It is during this time that the starter will truly develop its flavor.  Bigas can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.  So it does not taste too sour, it is best to use it within 2 days.

If you don’t own Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, I would highly recommend you put it on your holiday list.  The book is ten years old but it has recently been re-issued for its’ anniversary.  Whether you are vegetarian, vegan, meat-eating, or gluten-free, you will find untold treasures in this book.  It’s the one book I would bring to a desert island without question.

I’ve used it countless times in the past but seeing as it houses about 1,400 recipes, there are so many amazing recipes still waiting to be discovered.  A few months ago Ele posted about Ms. Madison’s Naan recipe and somewhere in my clouded foggy mommy brain, I filed it away for the next time I made a curry.  It is a testament to her post (and to her lovely blog in general) that I actually only remembered it.  I received some collard greens in our CSA box last week and decided to make a favorite – Peanut Curry.

As is often the case when I am about to make bread, I took a look at the recipe and almost punted.  I don’t know what it is about bread baking that sometimes seems so onerous to me.  I certainly cook and bake things that take a lot more work.  If I hadn’t been bringing dinner to a friend in need, I probably would never had made this naan and that would have been a shame.  Friends, this is sooo good.  And sooo easy.

A few notes.  Ele said she always grills hers.  I neglected to file away that fact in my clouded foggy mommy brain and now can’t wait to make it again so I can try it grilled.  Instead I followed Madison’s instructions and used a pizza stone.  Still awesome.  I bought both the wheat bran and ghee called for in the recipe because I have a grocery store nearby where those things are easily found.  I’m sure you could substitute butter (I would melt it and cool it slightly – or you can make your own ghee) and whole wheat flour for the wheat bran.  Finally, you must brush each bread with a little melted butter and sprinkle it with sea salt when it comes out of the oven.  Sublime.

One Year Ago:  Giant Chocolate-Toffee Cookies

Yogurt Flatbread (Naan)
Adapted from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone
Makes 8 to 10 small breads

1/4 cup warm water
2 1/4 tsp. (1 envelope) active dry yeast
3/4 cup hot water
3/4 cup yogurt, preferably whole milk (DT: I used low fat)
1/4 cup or clarified butter
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1/4 cup wheat bran
3 cups all-purpose or bread flour
1/2 stick butter, melted
Sea salt

Sprinkle the yeast over 1/4 cup warm water in a small bowl and set aside until foamy, about 10 minutes.  Meanwhile, combine 3/4 cup hot water, the yogurt, ghee, and salt in a bowl , then stir in the yeast, whole-wheat flour, and bran.  Work in enough white flour to form a heavy smooth dough, then turn it out and knead, adding more flour if needed, until smooth but slightly tacky.  Put the dough in a n oiled bowl, turn it to coat the top, then cover and put in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 450°F with a pizza stone or a sheet pan on the bottom rack of the oven.  Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured counter and divide into 8 or 10 pieces.  Roll them into balls, cover wtih a towel, and let rest for 10 minutes.

Here are two options for shaping the dough:

1.  Pat the dough into a circle using your fingertips to dimple it all over.  Then gently pull it in opposite directions to make a dimpled oblong.  The texture will be uneven, providing crisp and bready parts.  Place right on the baking stone or hot sheet pan and bake until browned on top, 12 to 15 minutes.

2.  Pat or roll the dough into a circle about 1/4 inch thick.  Make five short knife cuts, radiating from the center like a sand dollar, then transfer to the baking stone and bake until browned.

(DT: I shaped my breads using option #2.  I was able to bake two at a time on my stone.  As each pair came out of the oven, I brushed the tops with melted butter and sprinkled them liberally with sea salt.)

Everyone who is afraid of making bread, please raise your hand.

Well, I wish I could see you and then I wish I could come into your kitchen, hold your hand, and make this bread with you.  There are a few reasons for this.  One, after my experience last week, I’d love to meet more people who read this blog.  Two, I would like to help dispel the myth that bread is scary and hard to make.  Three, I would love to share the joy and wonder that is bread baking.  And four, maybe you would let me take some of the bread home because mine is all gone.

I know – yeast.  Eeeek!  But it does. not. have. to. be. so!  I have made this bread countless times and it always turns out perfectly.  It has nothing to do with my experience or any kind of “magic” – it’s just a terrific recipe and it’s easy.  Really.

The one thing you will need here is time.  This bread has four rising times, the longest being two hours and the shortest being ten minutes. The process will take five hours from beginning to end but almost all of that is rising time.  Your hands-on time (like with most bread) is maybe half an hour and even that is split into small increments.  Take advantage of one of those rainy days where you are just home and take the leap.  Maybe you are also making a big pot of soup or a lasagna or something that is going to keep you in the kitchen for a few hours.  The dough will keep you company while you work.

And at the end of it all you get two gigantic loaves of the most fragrant, soft yet dense, and slightly sweet bread you can imagine.  It freezes incredibly well so you can enjoy one loaf and save the other for another time.  My very favorite way to eat it is completely plain – it’s that good.  But it also makes terrific french toast, bread pudding and grilled goat cheese sandwiches which you then serve with homemade Tomato and Leek soup.  Recipe for that one coming soon.

A couple of notes.  I use my Kitchen Aid mixer to make this dough.  I use the paddle attachment to mix everything together, and about halfway through adding the flour, I switch to the dough hook.  Once all the flour is added (and I think 6 cups is just about spot-on), I let it mix for about 5 minutes.  Dough that is sufficiently kneaded should feel like your ear lobe. A perfect place to let your dough rise is in the oven.  Turn it on to it’s lowest setting and then turn it off after just a few minutes.  Just that little bit of heat (plus no draft) will make it nice and cozy in there.  When you need to heat the oven to bake the bread, place the loaves on the stovetop where they will still get residual heat.

Braided Challah
Adapted from Food and Wine
Makes 2 large loaves

2 packages active dry yeast
1/2 cup lukewarm water (about 110°)
1/3 cup sugar, plus a pinch
1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, thinly sliced, plus 2 tablespoons, melted
1 cup milk
1 tbsp. honey
2 1/2 tsp. salt
4 large eggs, at room temperature
About 6 cups bread flour
1 large egg plus 1 large egg yolk and 1 tbsp. water

1.  In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm water with the pinch of sugar and let stand until creamy and starting to bubble.  In a medium saucepan, combine the sliced butter and the milk.  Warm over low heat just until the butter melts. Stir in the remaining 1/3 cup of sugar and the honey and slat.  Pour the milk mixture into a large bowl and stir in the dissolved yeast and the 4 eggs.

2.  Stir in just enough of the flour, 1/2 cup at a time, to form a dense dough that doesn’t stick to the side of the bowl.  Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, adding only as much flour as necessary to keep the dough from sticking.

3.  Brush a large bowl with 1 1/2 tablespoons of the melted butter.  Transfer the dough to the buttered bowl and brush the top with the remaining 1/2 tablespoon of melted butter.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and let rise in a warm, draft-free spot until the dough is doubled in bulk, about 2 hours.

4.  Punch down the dough, then cover and let rise again until doubled in bulk again, about 1 1/4 hours.

5.  Line 2 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.  On a lightly floured surface, divide the dough in half.  Cover one half with plastic wrap and divide the other half into  3 equal pieces.  Using lightly floured hands, roll each piece into a 10-inch long rope with tapered ends.

6.  Arrange the 3 ropes side by side pointing toward you and just touching.  Starting in the middle and working toward your body, braid the ropes together, bringing the outside ropes over the center one.  Pinch the ends to seal and tuck them under.  Turn the loaf around and repeat with the other half, this time braiding the outer ropes under the center one.  Seal the ends, tuck them under and transfer the loaf to a prepared baking sheet; gently plump the loaf with your hands.  Repeat with the remaining dough.  Cover the loaves with kitchen towels and let rise for 35 minutes.

7.  Preheat the oven to 375°F.  Mix the remaining egg, egg yolk, and tablespoon of water together to make a glaze.  Brush the loaves with the egg glaze.  Let stand uncovered for 10 minutes, then brush again with the glaze.  Bake the loaves in the upper and lower thirds of the oven, switching the pans halfway through baking, for 35-45 minutes, or until they are golden, feel light when lifted and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.  Loosely cover the loaves with foil if they become too brown during baking.  Transfer to a rack and let cool thoroughly before slicing.

Today is Tuesday and for the foreseeable future, that means it’s Holly B’s day.  If you didn’t read this post, Tuesdays are the days I will be baking a treat from the Holly B’s bakery on Lopez Island.  And this week, it’s bread.

The only reason I have even tried Holly B’s bread is because I have been there literally countless times.  I have sampled at least one of just about everything and in the case of the cinnamon rolls, I have sampled at least 100 of those.  So there comes a time when maybe you are feeling a little virtuous so instead of making a lunch out of four different kinds of cookies, you decide to pick up some cheese from the grocery store across the street and figure a loaf of the olive bread sounds good.  Then you take that olive bread and cheese to the beach and proceed to completely ignore the cheese because the bread is some of the best you have ever tasted.  And when all is said and done, you might as well have eaten the four cookies because the loaf of bread is almost gone and your husband only had a few bites.  I wouldn’t know anything about this, it’s an imaginary scenario.

Last week I invited a fellow food blogger and her fiance to dinner.  I always like to make good food when we have guests but there was definitely added pressure – it was like inviting a chef to dinner.  I decided to go all out and make bread to accompany our meal.  There was never a doubt as to which one I would make.  But because olives figured prominently in something else on the table, I went with the sun-dried tomato filling instead of the olive.

The basic premise is this.  You make a biga which is nothing more than flour, yeast, and water which is then allowed to sit out at room temperature for at least 2 hours.  The beauty of it is that you can put it in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks so this bread and another in the book can be made quite easily.  The biga is mixed together with other ingredients and left to rise to double it’s size.

The dough is then rolled out to a rectangle, the filling is spread down the middle, the dough is folded in half and then rolled into a snake, seam side down.  A glaze is brushed on the breads, their tops are slashed 5 times and into the oven they go.  No second rising time necessary.

This bread has what you might call a fine crumb.  In other words, it’s dense and soft.  There are no large air pockets like you find in traditional baguettes.  I’m not sure I would flip over the plain version of this bread, but flip I did for the sundried tomato version and flip I will when I make the olive version.  One of these loaves was plain (the recipe makes three) and I used it to make delicious croutons for this salad.

Purchase Holly B’s cookbook by visiting this site.
One Year Ago:  Pomodori al Forno – a greatest hits appetizer

French Bread
With Love and Butter
Makes 3 loaves

Biga
1/2 cup water
1/8 tsp. quick-rise yeast
7/8 cup unbleached flour

Dough
2 3/4 cup warm water
1/4 cup biga (stir down before measuring)
1 3/4 tsp. quick-rise yeast
7 cups unbleached flour
4 tsp. salt
Cornmeal for baking sheet

Cornstarch Glaze
1/2 cold water
1 1/2 tsp. cornstarch

Note:  You will need to prepare the biga for the French Bread at least 2 hours in advance.  I recommend doing this step the night before.  Also note that this dough does not rise a second time.

At least 2 hours before you wish to start your French Bread, mix together the water, yeast and flour for the biga.  The biga should have the consistency of thick pancake batter.  If too stiff or loose, adjust by adding a touch more water or flour.  Mix until smooth.  Scrape into a lidded container at least twice the volume of the batter.  Let the biga stand to room temperature at least 2 hours and up to overnight.  The biga can now be used for French Bread or stored up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator.

Place the water, 1/4 cup biga, yeast, 4 cups of flour, and salt, in that order, in a big bowl.  Stir with a wooden spoon until well blended.  Add the remaining 3 cups of flour and continue mixing until stiff, then continue with your floured hands to mix and knead the dough into a ball.  Continue kneading for 5 to 10 minutes adding flour as needed until the dough forms a smooth ball.  (HB: I always try to do this within the big bowl to cut down on cleanup, but you can turn everything onto a clean counter and do your kneading there.  DT: I used the dough hook of my stand mixer.)  You should end up with a smooth round ball about the firmness of a baby’s bottom (or anyone’s bottom who isn’t very thin).  If the dough is too stiff, work in some water; if too sticky, work in some extra flour.

Lightly oil the bowl and place the dough back inside.  Cover with plastic wrap or a dishtowel and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 425°F with the oven rack in the middle position, and sprinkle a large baking sheet with cornmeal.  Prepare the glaze by whisking water and cornstarch together in a small saucepan and heating on medium-high heat until the mixture thickens and comes to a boil.  Remove from the heat and set aside.

Punch the dough down and turn onto a lightly floured surface.  Using floured hands, divide the dough into 3 pieces.  Don’t work the dough – leave it puffy.

Place one of the pieces of dough before you on your lightly floured work surface.  using the heel of your hands, flatten the dough into a rectangle with the long side running left to right.  Now fold the dough lengthwise and seal the seam with the heels of your hands.  Roll and snake out the loaf to fit the length of the pan, and place seam-down on the cornmealed baking sheet.  Slash each loaf five times with a sharp knife and brush the tops with the cornstarch glaze.  (No, this dough does not rise again before baking!)

Bake the loaves 10 minutes, then rotate the pan and bake another 10 minutes.  When done the leaves will be golden brown and crisp.  If blond and limp, bake an additional 5 minutes.  Remove from pan and cool on a rack.

Greek Olive or Sun-Dried Tomato Tapenade
Makes 1 1/2 cups

1 cup pitted Greek Kalamata olives or sun-dried tomato halves (not packed in oil)
Salt (Sun-Dried Tomato Tapenade only)
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. minced garlic
1 1/2 tsp. brandy
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper

If using sun-dried tomatoes, put them in a small bowl and cover with boiling water.  After 5 minutes, drain off the water and pat the tomatoes dry with paper towels.  Sprinkle with salt and proceed with the recipe.

Place the olives or tomatoes and all the ramaining ingredients into a food processor fitted with the steel knife blade.  Pulse until chopped and combined, but leave the tapenade somewhat chunky.  You want some texture, not a smooth paste.  Tapenade will keep several week in the refrigerator or several months in the freezer.

Using in the bread:
Before folding and sealing your loaves, smear 3 tablespoons of tapenade down the center of the rectangle of flattened-out dough.  Then fold over the dough, pinch together, and snake out the loaf to the appropriate length.

Before folding and sealing