"Easy" French Bread

We love bread and eat more than our fair share.

I came across this french bread and had two questions.....

1. Would it be "easy"? (I am a skeptic)
2. Would it be "good"? (More important than "easy")

Using two small pans I experimented with a couple different finishes....

Kosher Salt

Sesame seeds and "Sicilian Seasoning" (I don't know what "Sicilian Seasoning" really means - it was in a jar in the back of the cabinet....)

Other than the shape - I am not sure this is technically correct French Bread but it is easy and good.... there were no leftovers!

EASY FRENCH BREAD

1 package quick-acting yeast

2 cups lukewarm water

4 cups sifted flour

2 teaspoons sugar

1 tablespoon salt

Dissolve yeast in 1 cup water - add to sifted flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl.

Add second cup of water (dough will be sticky).

Cover and set bowl aside to let rise until doubled.

Punch dough down and knead twice. Place on greased loaf pan and cover.

Let rise until reaches top of pan.

Brush lightly with melted butter (sesame seeds, poppy seeds, etc can be added here)

Bake at 400 for 30-40 minutes until crust is golden brown and loaf sounds hollow when tapped.

Note: I thought this dough was too sticky so added about 3 teaspoons extra flour. I might try it next time without this addition.

TWD: CHOCOLATE SOUFFLE

The word soufflé is the past participle of the French verb souffler which means "to blow up" or more loosely "puff up" (thank you Wikipedia) - I never knew this but it makes sense...

Even though I've had the opportunity to travel many places and eat at many "fine" restaurants - I've never eaten a souffle. I'm not sure why...

Saturday's French-food-theme (Country French Stew, French Bread, Cabernet) needed this dessert so the timing was perfect. I was surprised how easy this mysterious dessert was to make (even if it didn't come out quite right).

I was hoping that it would raise more - a few things might have contributed to this...

• milk chocolate took the place of bittersweet chocolate,
• egg yolks were added after about 1/2 the whites were folded in (why were they across the kitchen near the coffee maker?!) and could have caused some over-mixing,
• maybe the rim wasn't clean and they "got stuck",
• powder sugar was added before baking.

Unfortunately, nobody really cared for these immediately out of the oven - maybe because of my mis-steps? There was, however, a fight for the leftovers - especially with some Creme Anglaise poured over the top!

I will try these again - just for the leftovers if nothing else!

An interesting thought.....

Once upon a time - I came across what I thought was a word (starting with a "t" for some reason) but have since discovered that it is really a phrase.......

mise en place

[MEEZ ahn plahs]

A French term referring to having all the ingredients necessary for a dish prepared and ready to combine up to the point of cooking.

© Copyright Barron's Educational Services, Inc. 1995 based on THE FOOD LOVER'S COMPANION

What a great concept!

Based on this definition - I think this is how it should work...

This is how I feel it works in my kitchen...

I have a new goal that doesn't begin with a "T" - ha ha ha!

NOTE: These are not my pictures and I would give credit where it is due - if I could find the sticky note that had the information.......

TWD: ESPRESSO CHEESECAKE BROWNIES

What's not to love about these brownies? Chocolate, espresso, sour cream - sounds pretty good to me except for one word.... "cheesecake". I can not recall any incident(s) that would create irrational feelings, but that one word just doesn't do anything for me - even after eating some cheesecakes that I would have to say are very good (does that make any sense????).

Thinking about skipping - I decided to humor others around me and give this a go. My compromise was that there would only be a half-batch......

The end result was actually much better than I thought/hoped it would be. There was a tasty combination of flavors that worked very well together with none of them being overpowering.

With a couple adjustments - this was pretty easy although there was a lot of cooling time.

• I didn't have espresso powder so I used a cup of left over morning coffee and added a tsp of instant coffee to it. This gave a lot of coffee flavor and without being bitter.
• No bittersweet chocolate in the pantry so milk chocolate made its way into the batter.
• A panic attack (what would really happen if the knife were "plunged" into the brownie layer - yikes) kept me from making the swirls.

Being somewhat over-indulgent - I ate my piece with the last scoop of chocolate peanut butter toasted coconut hot fudge ice cream..........

Did this change my opinion of cheesecake - probably not, but I have decided to be open minded enough to make it again!

Suggestions..... please

I was in the baking mood the other day and was looking for something (eventually settling on Oatmeal Chocolate Coconut cookies).....

It dawned on me that I only have two baking books (not counting BH&G) -

While the internet is great and full of wonderful ideas - I like to use a book, turn the pages and plan/scheme. It dawned on me - my library needs to be expanded and I would appreciate any/all suggestions. So far - I've received:

• Simple Art Of Perfect Baking - Flo Braker (why doesn't B&N have any of these available?!)
• Tartine

Suggestions?

Please!

Thank you!

Chocolate Coconut Cookies

Seems like just a couple days ago - I was passing on making a Creamy Lime Tort because there were "too many" sweets in the house?

Monday morning (should that not be enough of a reason to want to do something pleasant) passed and I "needed" to do something productive. I decided to bake something even though there were apple bars, vanilla caramel cupcakes and brownies all setting around, waiting, getting dry.

The answer - Chocolate Coconut Cookies......

• Oatmeal cookies with a 50/50 blend of semisweet and milk chocolate chips
• White chocolate "frosting"
• Toasted coconut

Delicious with a tall glass of cold milk... even better with a bowl of peanut butter/chocolate ice cream!

All this begs the question.... can there really be too many sweets in the house???

Wilton Decorating Class #2

I have decided to learn how to decorate cakes. The Wilton courses seemed like a good and inexpensive way to take the first step. Having finished Course #1 early this summer - I boldly went for #2 which wrapped up Monday night.

Being one of the two token males in the group (the other being a 14 year old young man who was very passionate and quite talented) we got lots of attention. You would think the others had never heard of Keegan Gerhard, Chef Duff or Buddy!

My moto for the class was "Come on - guys can decorate cakes too - right after we gut that armadillo found along the road" (my sense of humor wasn't always appreciated.....).

The end result (after qualifying that I really don't "do cute") was kind of - well - "cute". Since I was there to learn technique - I did the project but put my own spin on the colors.

• Royal frosting flowers but not in nice pastel colors - the brighter the better!
• Blue birds were going to be deep purple (another way of saying I added way too much coloring). They broke after falling out of the cabinet. I settled for this version made in an earlier class.
• Those orange things in the upper left corner are daffodils - they were a lot of fun to make!
• Gotta love classic white frosting - even if it is a little stiff and flaky!

• Basket weave! While it looks a little rough - I like the look and the process of putting this finish together.

• Rope border - the easy way! We did the "Wilton" way first - then learned a easy motion to speed up the process. The "easy" way gave me a much more consistent pattern.

• Clever trick for getting some extra height on a project. This puts it almost eye-level while seated and takes a lot of strain off the back. That really cool "tackle box" was a gift but I think it was intended more as a way of saying "get all this stuff off the counter and out of bowls in the cabinet".

I am debating whether or not to take Course #3 - fondant........