Beer Bread

I was flipping through an old Jamie Oliver Naked Chef cookbook and found his section on bread, and since I'm all bread-tastic these days I read through what he had to say. One of the recipes was for beer bread. It was basically a bread recipe with beer instead of water....

so

Since I had a neat beer in the 'fridge (of course)...that beer is La Fin Du Monde

I decided this would be a good one to use.

I used the recipe found in the previous post and just used beer instead of water and did not add the cheese....I still added the oregano...1) I like the smell and taste and 2) I thought it might add a bit of flavour

It worked out GREAT !

My dough didn't rise much and I waited longer...I'll chalk that up to the fact that we had an 'ass snapping' cold weekend and the dough was not getting any external heat.

In the end it still worked out and had a nice taste...not super beery...

This is the type of bread that would be great as a starter with a flavoured butter, while sipping a beer and waiting for your tray of meats and cheeses.

Next ?

I'm going to make SAUSAGE !

Look at me go !!!

Happy Halloween !

Saturday baking

I'm in the process of making the Parmesan Oregano bread again with WHole Wheat flour...right after that I'll make some Onion Bread and then a pizza crust for dinner....look at me go !

Update: BREAD IS AWESOME !

Butcher Blocks

I've now started making butcher block cutting boards. This one is American Cherry end grain (end grain will be way stronger). This one is roughly 15" x 24". I'd be selling these starting around 45$ depending on size. Leave a comment if you're interested.

Parmesan Oregano Bread

I took my first crack at making bread today. I decided to make Parmesan Oregano Bread. I found a simple recipe and went with it.

Ingredients
2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C) 2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 1/2 tablespoons dried oregano
2 tablespoons white sugar
4 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese

Directions
1.Sprinkle yeast over water in large bowl. Let stand a few minutes, then stir and dissolve yeast. Add sugar and let the mixture get nice and foamy. Then add salt, butter, 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, oregano and 3 cups of the flour. Beat at slow speed for 2 minutes. Beat in rest of flour; cover the bowl with a sheet of wax paper and a kitchen towel. Let rise in a warm place 45 minutes, or until doubled in volume.
2.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease one round, 2-quart casserole. Set aside.
3.Stir batter down for 1/2 a minute. Turn dough into casserole. Sprinkle with the remaining 1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese.
4.Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 55 minutes.

It worked out quite nice. I'll give this a try again once gone then try a more healthy bread with whole wheat flour.

Awesome Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have a nasty habit of finding recipes on the internet, writing them down and then forgetting where I found them....hmmm, maybe I should just put them in my favourites....what a wild concept.
Anyway, I found this recipe for soft chocolate chip cookies....the addition of vanilla pudding had me raise an eyebrow...but I have to say, these were GREAT ! (they didn't last long in the house).

Have a try ! (and if anyone knows where it came from, send me a note so I can give them a shout out)


Ingredients
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups butter, softened
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 (3.4 ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding mix
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 cups semisweet chocolate chips
2 cups chopped walnuts (optional)
Directions
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Sift together the flour and baking soda, set aside.
2.In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Beat in the instant pudding mix until blended. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Blend in the flour mixture. Finally, stir in the chocolate chips and nuts. Drop cookies by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3.Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Edges should be golden brown

Food Fail

I'm sure this can't be real....can it ?