De Baking Psychopath

  Gus! Beloved Gus! In the last 9 months since I created Gus, he's fed our family so well! Bread, pizza, crumpets, pancakes/waffles, naan...everything has been tasty and fragrant! Long live Gus! It is therefore fitting for me to share this wonderful sourdough recipe as my 200th blog post, as in many ways this sourdough starter has represented the journey and learning curve of discovering and executing new baking recipes over the last few years. It has been a tasty and wonderful time of personal growth that you, my readers, have shared with me over the Interwebs.  This recipe was first used for its intended purpose: pizza. The pizza crust from this recipe is great--fluffy and stretchy and really fragrant from the "Pizza Dough Flavor" from King Arthur Flour (basically a blend of cheese powder).  Then we decided to use this recipe to make rolls to eat BBQ with, and that was a smashing success, so since then we've made this recipe as rolls a few more ...

I have been diligently feeding Gus, my sourdough starter, every one or two weeks, and thus I am always trying to think of what to do with the ripe starter that must be removed to make room for new feedings. We finally finished the last batch of bread awhile back, so I was again ready to try a bread recipe.  I tried this one from Williams-Sonoma , which was made popular through a few high-profile bloggers' sites. As you can see, it turned out wonderfully. The crust "sang" and crackled when it came out of the oven, which is always an auspicious sign of good bread eating to come. The crust is crispy, and the bread crumb is soft and light and great for sandwiches.  I also have been making sourdough naan , pancakes and waffles , and of course our standby crumpets when I don't have too much time but want to feed Gus. Yay Gus! He has given sustenance to our family in so many different ways, and hopefully for years to come!

This bread is probably the best of both the quick bread and yeast bread worlds: quick and easy to throw together, but with just long enough of a rise to develop a nice yeasty flavor and lightness in the bread. All in all, this loaf was fast, fragrant, tasty, and satisfying to make as well as eat. It is named after and billed to be similar to English muffins, with the craggly holes and crisp exterior. We definitely found that to be the case, and it was even sturdy enough to be used as sandwich bread, which I was worried it might not be suited for due to its tender and porous qualities. If you're worried about yeast breads, this is a good primer because there's no kneading or worrying about correct hydration/gluten development prior to the rise since the dough is more akin to a batter. Mix, pour into loaf pan, let rise, and bake! Try it for your next rainy Saturday afternoon baking project! Then cut a thick slice, toast it, spread it thickly with Nutella ...

We were invited over for a lovely sit-down steak dinner at our friends' awhile back, and I took the opportunity to try a recipe for steakhouse-style dinner rolls as an accompaniment for the meal. These did not turn out to be the crusty sort of rolls one might get at certain chain steakhouses, but they are a wonderful example of the sweet soft dinner rolls you might well get at a restaurant of similar caliber. The recipe itself calls for caramel color powder to create the dark color, but since I had none and had no intention of acquiring any, I opted for a few teaspoons of cocoa powder instead. It seemed to do the trick, as you see. We devoured them with butter (plain salted or honey butter), but they would be excellent with soup or stew as well, or just plain. They are sweet and darkly fragrant, so soft and with that enviable tears-apart-in-long-shreds quality that I always seek in soft breads.  The recipe is here , and the only changes I made are that I used 2...

Hi.  I know it's been a little quiet over here. It's not because I am not thinking of this blog, or baking on occasion.  It's just because the last 6 weeks have been an emotional roller coaster that I was not prepared to deal with after my last committee meeting. You see, I am trying to finish up my thesis project by this summer, or at latest this fall, and return back to medical school, and the magnitude of that task has me hyperventilating and my stomach in knots, with very few moments of clarity and peace in between. But most of the time, the near-panic attacks preside. And while I still take time out to relax, it has been more and more of a struggle to keep up my usual baking-blogging routines. So while I stockpile pictures and try to get my act together one of these days to share some of the awesome recipes I am still lucky enough to have time to enjoy making/eating, here are a few peeks into my plate/lunchbox of late. Above, a sandwich made with ...

These soft, tasty rolls were part of a dinner party we threw ages ago, and sadly they got lost in the mix of holiday baking. But they deserve their own spotlight as they were exceedingly delicious. These are the epitome of how plush and fragrant dinner rolls can be! I added a couple tablespoons of dried herbs (mostly parsley I think) and when I shaped the rolls, I made them into knots, which is easily done by rolling the pre-portioned balls of dough into long strips and making a simple knot. You can do whatever fancy knot you know how to do. I got the recipe for these rolls from the excellent blog My Kitchen Addiction, and since they are a family recipe, I think it is best to link back to her post so you can get the full story and wonderful recipe . Make them this week to go with your pot of soul-warming soup!

I first encountered Liege waffles on TV, on a travel show that was talking about a waffle stand that is only accessible to customers by skiing. It is located at the bottom of a ski slope somewhere in Europe, and the little waffle stand is run by a cute couple who specialize in these wonderful treats. Skiers waddle up to the stand and order their waffles, which is eaten plain by hand, wrapped in some paper, as they waddle off to the ski lift for another trip down the slopes. These waffles are not your normal Belgian waffles that you encounter in the US. They are made with a butter-and-egg-rich yeasted dough (close cousin to a Brioche dough) that is studded with large grain pearl sugar, which caramelizes in little pockets on the surface of the crisp, fluffy waffle. They are common to find in Belgium at street vendors for an on-the-go snack, apparently, but haven't really found a foothold here in the US as far as I can tell. I mistakenly tried "yeasted waffle" r...

Remember my quest to recreate the walnut rolls of my youth ? These came very, very close to the right texture and sweetness! I think I would just need to omit the cranberries, substitute in a little bit of whole wheat flour, and knot up the rolls, and I'd be dang close to the original.  But enough about my nostalgic quest, these rolls were awesome in their own right. The walnuts and cranberries are always a great flavor combo, and the softness and stretchiness of the bread made these some of the best rolls to come out of my oven. They made a really welcome and enjoyable addition to Thanksgiving dinner and next-day breakfast, both by themselves or slathered with butter. Walnut Cranberry Rolls (adapted from Brown Eyed Baker , original source Bon Appetit magazine) Ingredients : 3 & 1/2 cups bread flour (more may be needed later) 1 tablespoon light brown sugar 1 & 1/2 teaspoons dry active yeast  1 & 1/2 teaspoons salt 1 & 1/2...

This is our new sandwich bread! I recently was lucky to get my hands on a Pullman bread pan and immediately set out to recreate the nicely quadrilateral breads of our youth in Taiwan.  This style of bread, made in a long loaf pan with a lid, is originally French in origin, I think. The Japanese, being the Francophiles they are, made this butter and milk-enriched bread a common item in their bread shops, and the Taiwanese, being the Nipponophiles we are, grew up buying it from all the Japanese and European style bakeries on the island. I used the well-rated recipe on King Arthur Flour's website for my first try, and the only three changes I made were that 1) I used rice flour (non-glutinous) instead of potato flour because I was too lazy to go out and get some, and 2) I let it rise twice before forming the loaf and letting the dough proof in the pan (3 rises total), and 3) I used powdered goat's milk instead of the nonfat dry milk in the recipe. ...

This is where my food picture documentation has started to be more patchy. First I went to Berkeley and also Chinatown with people, but I always forget to take pictures of the food when I am trying to catch up with people. We had some wonderful Taiwanese food in Berkeley, and then in Chinatown I had some decent dim sum and really awesome sizzling pepper steak and yummy bok choy.   But somewhere in between I went to Japantown. I got some mochi and salmon-stuffed rice ball (pictured above). And a ham and cheese and veggie crepe with sweet Japanese mayo. Yum! Not too heavy and crisp, and fresh. And today I took a bakery trip to Chinatown. From the top, going clockwise, we have an egg custard tart, paper-lined sponge cake, "dry pork" bun, and custard bun. Also from Chinatown was this beautiful baked pork bun from a really old school joint.  Inside was meaty and fatty and sweet and delicious. The bread was more brioche-y than a no...

MEAT!  Meat plus bread = MAN FOOD! These pepperoni rolls were taught to me by my awesome friend, and it is such a versatile recipe to keep in your repetoire. It is sufficient for a meal in itself, it is a great accompaniment to a meaty main course or a hot bowl of soup, and it is a mean snack any time of of the day. (And great with beer, says Michael) The dough is enriched with an egg and a bit of oil, so it is soft, fluffy, and tasty. The pepperoni and cheese get all meaty and melty and happy together in multiple layers. I don't really like pepperoni by itself or on pizza, but I am a big fan of these rolls! Figure 2. Second layer of pepperoni and cheese before folding the last flap over Figure 3. Place rolls seam side down for proofing and baking Pepperoni Rolls (original source unknown, as taught to me by my friend Shannon) Ingredients : 1 & 1/2 cups warm water 1 teaspoon yeast (I used active dry) 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 tablespoons s...

Ok, so I bought The Cafe Pongo Cookbook pretty much for the sake of this bread recipe. I picked up this gem of a cookbook during the used bookstore rummaging that occurred at Saratoga Springs on the Food-Filled Girls Weekend of yore. The cafe itself is tucked away somewhere remote in the Hudson Valley area, so the book was not only a practical purchase for all its great recipes but also a local souvenir for my trip to the area. Walnut bread and I have a long, complicated history. Back in Taiwan, there is a big Japanese bakery chain called Yamazaki that used to have THE best little walnut dinner rolls that were soft, sweet and with a tinge of whole wheat flour. This spring when I was in Taiwan, it was a little bit of a personal mission to find that bread again. Alas, we discovered that they had discontinued that particular product and introduced two different versions of walnut-containing breads in its stead: a light French-style bread studded with walnuts, and a sweeter, milk-brea...

I haven't been baking too much lately, most recently because of the summer heat (no A/C) and the fact I have been playing instead with my precious new ice cream machine(!). And when I have been baking this summer, it has mostly been bread. All of which I have been very very bad at taking pictures of, and thus the lull in writing, but I did get my act together recently to bring you one of my latest installments in home bread baking. While I've been flirting with the whole idea of trying out the natural starter/old-school methods of making bread for awhile now, I think I'm going to do a little more reading and research before embarking on such a commitment. In the meanwhile, I am pretty happy to continue playing with the many variations of no-knead breads that have developed over the last 5 years. The good folks over at Cooks Illustrated tried their hand at developing their take on the technique of no-knead bread. They made several interesting changes, including decre...

I have put off trying Jim Lahey's no-knead bread for a long time, even though Mark Bittman's feature of his recipe that was published in the NYT back in 2006 can be rightfully credited for starting the food-blogger no-knead revolution these past few years. And even though I received Jim Lahey's baking cookbook, My Bread, as a birthday gift! Two main reasons for this delay: 1) I loved the flexibility of the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day refrigeration method so I tried recipes from that book first, and 2) I pored over the introduction and recipes in Jim Lahey's book when I first received it...and to be honest, his writing voice rubbed me the wrong way. The tone of writing came across as arrogant and full of himself.  Something about his writing style, the way he presented his philosophy and life story--I can't identify the exact things that made me feel this way, but it made me procrastinate in trying the recipe out. Several weekends ago on...

A few weeks ago, I officially entered the realm of "late twenties" and promptly heard my biological clock ticking like a time bomb. To herald the next decade of worrying about when to have kids before my risk of having mutant babies becomes too significant for safety, I decided to throw a scrumptious brunch and declare, "To heck with my slowing metabolism and biological clock! I am going to STUFF MY FACE." And I invited my friends to join me. I've been trying very hard to keep the sweet stuff to a healthy minimum. So here are these gorgeous roasted Hasselback potatoes stuffed with lovely slivers of garlic. And this yummy onion, mushroom and cheese frittata that I threw together on a whim and prayed would turn out okay! (It did!) And a loaf of sundried tomato and Parmesan cheese bread, made with the no-knead dough of the week! Soooo good. Moist, flavorful, savory! But of course it wouldn't be a PARTY unless there were some sweets! Front and center ...