Multigrain Bread

 Multigrain Bread 

- the bread I made a lot in the yellow house.  Healthy.  I started with a recipe from Cooks Illustrated and simplified it a little. 

2 C boiling water

1 C seven grain hot cereal mix 

3 T honey

3 T butter 

2 1/4 C all purpose flour (plus a bit more during kneading) 

1 C white whole wheat flour 

2 T wheat gluten 

2 T wheat germ 

1 envelope ( 2 1/4 teaspoons) yeast 

1 1/2 tsp salt 

1/2 C old fashioned oats 

1.  Add boiling water, honey, and butter to cereal mix in a large bowl.  Stir occasionally as it cools to warm. 

2.  Meanwhile, mix ingredients in stand mixer fitted with dough hook. 

3.  Add cereal mixture to dry ingredients; knead until dough clears the sides but sticks to the bottom.  Add a little more flour if necessary.  Dough should be soft but not too sticky. 

4.  Turn the dough out and knead to form a smooth round ball. 

5.  Put dough in large bowl (oiled or buttered).  Cover loosely with greased plastic wrap.  Let rise in a warm place 30-45 minutes. 

6.  Turn dough out and gently press dough into a rectangular shape.  Roll up tightly into a loaf shape.  Place into a greased 9 x 5 loaf pan.  Loosely cover, and let rise for 30-40 minutes. 

7.  Preheat oven to 350.  Spray top of risen loaf lightly with water.  Bake for 35-45 minutes.  Spread hot crust with butter.  Let cool in pan 15 minutes.  Turn out onto a rack and cool. 

Makes beautiful toast the next day! 

Apple Crisp

Apple Crisp - serves 4-6 

Modified from  The Best Recipe- page 503.    It is really so good.  Until recently I made it by hand but now I do have a food processor. You can easily double it (just cook it a bit longer). 

For the crisp: 

6 T flour 

1/4 C brown sugar 

1/4 C sugar

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp salt

5 T butter, chilled, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

3/4 C coarsely chopped pecans

Pulse dry ingredients in food processor, add butter and pulse about 10 times, then add nuts and pulse a few times ("topping should look like slightly clumpy wet sand").  Refrigerate at least 15 minutes. 

Meanwhile,  prepare apples and scrape apple mixture into an 8-inch square pan, or a deep dish pie plate, or cast iron skillet.

4-5 apples (I use Granny Smith) - (cut into quarters and then cut each quarter into thirds) 

1/4 C sugar 

zest and juice of one lemon (more or less) 

Sprinkle topping over the fruit.  Bake at 400 degrees for about 40 minutes or until topping is deeply golden brown, and apples are tender but not mushy.  

Serve warm with GOOD icecream! 

(If you need your oven to make dinner, you can actually make this crisp earlier in the day, set aside at room temp, and reheat in your still warm oven while you eat dinner)  

Burgers

 Burgers - "Well-Done Burgers Done Well" from Cook's Illustrated 2006 

This is David's favorite method for grilling burgers. 

Makes 4 burgers

1 large slice good white sandwich bread, crust removed, chopped into tiny pieces (about 1/2 C)

2 T whole milk

3/4 tsp salt (David uses less)

3/4 tsp black pepper 

1 medium garlic clove, minced or pressed 

2 tsp steak sauce (A-1)

1 1/2 pounds 80% lean ground chuck 

vegetable oil for cooking grate

Mash bread and milk in a large bowl with fork to make a paste.   Stir in remaining ingredients,  then ground beef and mix well (and gently) with your hands.  Form into 4 patties.  

Grill!!  

For excruciatingly detailed instructions see the Cook's Illustrated recipe, pp 20-21, July/August 2006 issue.   

Pizza Dough - the latest - from NYT cooking

Roberta's Pizza Dough from NYT Cooking 

Make the day before you want to use it - makes TWO 12 inch crusts.  I make two double batches - 8 crusts - for a larger group at Kaela's. 

Need a kitchen scale

153 grams 00 flour (Italian pizza flour, get at Whole Foods)  

153 grams all purpose flour 

8 grams fine sea salt (1 tsp) 

2 grams active dry yeast (3/4 teaspoon) 

4 grams (1 tsp) olive oil (or a bit more) 

200 grams (about 1 C) water, lukewarm 

1.  Combine flours and salt in KitchenAid. 

2.  Combine the water, the olive oil and the yeast, and add to flour. 

3.  Knead three minutes, then let rest 15 minutes.  Knead again for 3 minutes.  Cut into two pieces, shape each piece into a ball.   Place balls onto heavily floured cookie sheet, dust with flour, cover with plastic wrap, and *refrigerate for 8-24 hours (or more).  Take out of fridge 30-45 minutes before starting to shape it for pizzas.  

*alternately just leave covered to rest at room temp for 3-4 hours, although we haven't tried that yet.  

Some helpful notes from readers of NYT Cooking: 

Cathy Onderick5 years ago

Forgot to mention that I do use a kitchen aid mixer with dough hook using the recommended kneading times suggested by recipe. Works out great every time.

Samantha5 years ago

This recipe is great! It instantly became my go-to for amazing pizza. After many batches and some experimentation I've found that 300g king Arthur bread flour, in place of the 2 types of flour, is quite acceptable if you can't find/don't have 00.

Joyce5 years ago

I preheat the oven to 550F for 45 minutes to an hour, with the pizza stone on the middle shelf. I make the pizza on top of a piece of parchment paper, then use a peel under the parchment to transfer the whole thing onto the stone in the oven. After about 5 minutes I lift the pizza slightly with the peel and carefully pull out the parchment so that the pizza is directly on the stone. Then I let it finish baking, another 5-10 minutes. You have to watch. Doesn't stick and crispy every time.

Joyce5 years ago

Yes, once it's cut into 2 pieces I sometimes take one piece and put it in an oiled ziplock bag and put that in the freezer. When needed, thaw in fridge overnight, then bring it up to room temp for a few hours before shaping into crust.

David's Stirfry (with tofu)

 Stir fry with Tofu 

Ingredients: 

A thumb of fresh ginger, grated

1 garlic clove, minced

1/4 C soy sauce

1/2 tsp sugar

1 tsp rice wine vinegar

dash Cholula 

1/4 C chopped fresh basil or cilantro 

1/2 C+ chicken broth 

Chopped vege (carrots, sliced on the bias; broccoli florets) 

cornstarch

1.  Sauté the garlic in oil in a hot wok or skillet. 

2. Add chopped veggies (carrots, broccoli). Stir briefly. 

3.  Add all sauce ingredients except cornstarch.  Cook and stir.  Add tofu.  Cover.  

4.  Cook and check sauce now and then.  Add more chicken broth if the sauce seems too strong. 

5.  Mix about 1 T cornstarch with some water to form a thin paste.  Stir into the stirfry to thicken it a bit. 

6.  Continue to cook until vegetables are crisp-tender. 

Serve over Japanese rice.  

Snickerdoodles

 Snickerdoodles 

Makes 24-30

2 1/4 C flour

2 tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

12 T butter, softened

1/4 C Crisco

1 1/2 C sugar

2 large eggs

For rolling cookies: 

1 T cinnamon

3 T sugar

1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper

2. Whisk dry ingredients together; set aside. 

3.  In mixer, cream butter, shortening, and sugar.  Add eggs, beat.  

4. Add dry ingredients, beat til combined. 

5.  Roll dough into small balls, roll in cinnamon sugar. 

6.  The cookies spread, so place them 2 to 2 1/2 inches apart on the cookie sheets. 

7.  Bake 9-11 minutes, til edges are browned and centers are soft and puffy. 

8.  Let cookies cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet before removing with spatula. 

YUM 

Kaela's Croque Monsieur

 Kaela's Croque Monsieur 

Makes 2 sandwiches. 

2 slices of ham to fit bread

4 slices white bread, no crust, toasted

4 slices Swiss cheese

Béchamel Sauce: 

2 T unsalted butter, melted

2 T flour, add and stir to make a roux 

1 1/2 C milk - heated til bubbles form, add to roux.  Dash salt and pepper.

1/2 C Gruyère cheese, grated  - add to sauce. 

Pour sauce over sandwiches and sprinkle with more Gruyère.

Bake at 375 degrees 15-20 minutes.