Red, White, and Blue Potato Salad

Happy Independence Day to my fellow Americans!

I got this recipe from Bon Appetit magazine and first made it about 2 years ago. I love it - dill and caraway are two of my favorite flavors!  Making it with purple, white/yellow, and red-skinned potatoes gives it a little flair for the weekend cookouts, and tastes amazing, too!

Ingredients
2 lbs potatoes
1 shallot, chopped finely
1/3 C olive oil
S&P
1/4 C vinegar
2 Tbsp fresh dill, chopped
2 tsp toasted caraway seeds

Instructions

1. Cover potatoes with cold salted water, bring to a boil, and cook until tender; drain and transfer to a large bowl.
• I found that my purple potatoes needed more time than the others - I would recommend starting them a bit earlier or cooking the potatoes in color/type batches.
2. In a small, dry skillet, lightly toast the caraway seeds until warm and the aroma begins to fill the air.  Remove and set aside until later.
3. Heat oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chopped shallot and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring often, until soft.
• The original called for 1/2 an onion, chopped.  I'm not a huge fan of onion and find that I prefer the gentler taste of a shallot.  Use what you like.
4. Remove from heat and mix in vinegar.
• The original recipe calls for apple cider vinegar. I'm planning on playing with various vinegars to get a taste that I really love. I might try something more sweet and less abrasive. I love the bite of vinegar, but I don't like when it's all I taste.
5. Add to warm potatoes along with dill and caraway seeds. Toss, crushing potatoes slightly; season with salt and pepper.
• It's important to add the dressing while the potatoes are still warm or hot. They will drink up the dressing and infuse each bite with flavor.

This is wonderful served warm or even room temperature.  It's great for picnics and cookouts because it doesn't have mayonaisse (no need to try to keep it cool).

Update: Homemade Peanut Butter

2 weekends ago, I posted a recipe for homemade roasted peanut butter.

What I didn't mention was that we didn't actually eat much of it.  It came out very dry and firm.  Now, I had an idea that came from another recipe I'd seen for Creamy Peanut Butter. The difference?  Nourishing Joy put the ground peanut butter into a saucepan with warm palm  oil and kind of cooked it.  I thought it sounded odd (and I wasn't in the mood to go searching for palm oil...), so I didn't bother.

I'm still not sold on using palm oil in my peanut butter.  Part of why I'm making it at home is to LIMIT the number of ingredients.  This seemed to be counter-productive.  But... I have peanut oil.  So... I put some peanut oil into a sauce pan, dumped in my very dry and crumbly peanut "butter" and put it on medium low for awhile.  Stirred it about.  Mashed up the lumps.  Let everything come together in a nice melty mess.

Let it cool for a bit (so I didn't shock my mason jars into breaking) and I have a much better consistency.  MUCH.

Now to foist it on my guinea pig (a.k.a. husband) to see what he thinks. :)

The Clever Carrot's Sourdough Noir

I skipped posting last weekend, so this will be a mid-week catch-up post.  I turned 43 on Monday, so decided to take a break from cooking and posting.  I love celebrating birthdays - I think it's important to celebrate life and not worry about the numbers.

Maybe because it's my birthday week... or because I'm a girl... or because I have a love-love relationship with it... whatever the reason, I have been craving chocolate.  I am swimming in sourdough starter (haven't figured out how to tame it yet) so I went looking for something chocolate-y.  I decided to try the Sourdough Noir from The Clever Carrot.

I didn't take a lot of pictures this time - call it part of my lazy birthday week attitude. ;)

The Clever Carrot's Sourdough Noir

Ingredients:

• 150g active fed starter
• 350g water, preferably filtered
• 50g sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract or 1 vanilla pod, seeds scraped
• 500g bread flour
• 50g cocoa powder
• 8g fine sea salt
• 150g semi sweet chocolate chips

Instructions:

1. Mise en place
• Get your stuff together.  You'll use almost all the ingredients in the first 10 minutes.
2. Autolyse
• Combine the starter, water, sugar, and vanilla extract until well combined.
• It will be wet.
• I used strong coffee in place of most of the water.  Coffee tends to enhance the chocolate flavor and I'm wanting a chocolatel-y bread here.
• Sift in the bread flour and cocoa powder.
• Mix to combine.
• I used my stand mixer with the dough hook.  Don't knead it to death, just get it to combine into a slightly sticky dough.
• Cover and let rest (autolyse) for 2 hours.
  
  ***Note: This time I decided to use my mixer to help with the dough.  My last few I've been trying to be a "purist" and hand mix only.  The mixer worked out much much better for me.  I'm giving up the "purist ideal" and going with what actually works for me.  No one is going to come into my kitchen and tell me I'm doing it wrong; if it tastes good and Scott and I like it.... it's good.  Done.  No stressing about what I'm supposed to do or what it's supposed to be.  If it's edible and I'm happy with it.... then it's perfect... for us.
  
3. Dough
• After the autolyse, add the salt and any other add-ins you would like.
• Knead gently until combined.
• The original calls for walnuts and raisins (65g each) along with the chocolate chips, but if you know me you know I don't like nuts or raisins in anything.  It's a texture thing.
• I realized partway in that I didn't have any chocolate chips.  Ooops.  I do have a chocolate bar.  It's not quite enough, but it's better than nothing.
4. Bulk Proof
• Once the salt and add-ins are mixed in, cover and let rise.
• The original calls for 4-12 hours at room temperature, depending on the temperature of your home.
• I'm choosing to do a refrigerated retard for this bulk proof.  This will buy me some time, since I don't want to bake for 24 hours and should intensify the flavors as well.
5. Divide, form, and second rise
• Remove the dough from the refrigerator.
• Divide the dough into 2 equal parts.  This recipe will make 2 smaller loaves than the recipes I've been doing previously.
• Gently form into 2 rounds.
• Line 2 bowls or bannetons with clean towels and dust generously with rice flour.
• Rice flour doesn't mix with the moisture from the dough and make a paste.  It stays dry and becomes like ball-bearings to keep the dough from sticking.  It's a HUGE difference and really worth having on hand.
• Invert the dough into the bowls so the bottom is now the top.
• Cover with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel.
• Let rise for another hour.
6. Prepare
• While the dough is resting and rising the last time, place your pans in the oven and preheat to 400°F.
• When the dough finishes rising, invert it out of the bowls onto parchment.
• PARCHMENT!!  Do not forget this step like I did once before...
• Slash the top of the loaves with a sharp knife or bread lame.
• Using the parchment, lift and lower the dough into a pan and cover.
7. Bake
• Place the covered pans into the oven and bake for 20 minutes.
• Remove the lid and bake for an additional 20 minutes.
8. Cool
• Using the parchment, carefully lift the breads out of the pans and put on a rack to cool.
• Let it cool completely before cutting into it!!
• Yeah.... good luck with that... it smells SO chocolate-y!!

The bread is chewy and the crust is crisp but not super-crunchy (so I'm a happy girl).  It tastes like chocolate, but isn't overly sweet either.  I would definitely make this again... and I'm sending one of the loaves to Scott's daughters so they can enjoy this treat!

The Search for Softer Sweeter Sourdough

This weekend, I'm trying a variation on the Sourdough loaf from last weekend.  It was so good, but it was very chewy with a very firm crust.  I'm a soft bread kind of girl.  I know that people enjoy the artisan, homemade feeling of a really crunchy crust, but not me.  So if I'm going to make sourdough breads more frequently, I'm going to have to find a way to make it more enjoyable for me.

Thankfully, lots of people have played with this before, so I'm not having to reinvent the wheel.  I can just work off what others have done.  This week, I started with Home Joys Soft Sourdough Bread and then applied some of what I'm learning about sourdough from a few websites (like Northwest Sourdough) and a few Facebook groups.

Softer Sweeter Sourdough

Ingredients:

• 1 C (8 fl oz) milk
• 1/4 C oil or melted butter (I used butter)
• 1/4 C honey
• 12 oz whole wheat flour
• 12 oz AP flour
• 4 oz water, divided
• 1 Tbsp fine sea salt
• 2 C active sourdough starter

Instructions:

1. Mise en place
• You know I always say this, because it really does help.  Start organized. Put things away as you use them. You'll be glad you built this habit.
  
• But Jenn!  Sourdough takes all day to make; I don't want my counters cluttered that long!
• You're right - but we use up almost all the ingredients in the first 10 minutes.  Trust me!
2. Mix the base of the dough.
• Mix milk, butter (or oil), honey, flours, and 2 oz of water together until well combined.

  

  I should have trusted my instincts here that I didn't like how this looked...

  
  
• I used all unbleached AP flour.  It's a texture thing for me; I've never really liked whole wheat flours.  I'm working up to it.
• Always try to use the same measuring utensil for the oil/butter/greasy product and the sticky one.  In this case, I measure the butter first (even though I can measure it from the wrapper, I pour it into a measuring cup).  Then, when I measure the honey, it doesn't stick to the cup!  Magic.  Seriously.  I learned this in my 40s.  I've been trying to cook for... a lot longer.  This works for honey, molasses, maple syrup, etc.  You're welcome.
• Cover and let rest for 2 hours.
• This is what is called autolyse.  It lets the flours hydrate and begins the gentle process of building the gluten that holds your bread together, without over-handling it and making it tough.
• We do not want salt in here yet.
• Last week, my starter was part of the autolyse.  This week I'm trying it without the starter.  I've read about both ways and thought I'd try it this way.
• Combine the salt and remaining 2 oz of water in a small bowl and allow to dissolve.
  
• I had to warm up my water a bit to get the salt to actually dissolve. 10 to 15 seconds in the microwave.
• We're doing this to help with the distribution of salt in the next step.  Otherwise, we might end up with pockets of salt in our dough.
3. Mix the final dough together.
• Add the starter to the rested autolysed (Is that even a word??) part and combine.
  

  

  Uhhhh... This is gonna be tricky...
• Once it is mostly combined, add the salt water and squish it with your hands until combined and forming a rough dough.

  

  I don't like the looks of this at all...

  
  
• This is supposed to be a wet dough (like last week), so it will not look like a finished, kneaded loaf like we saw in the yeast doughs I made last month.  It will come together in the end, I think...
4. Stretch & Fold (S&F)
• Every 30 minutes for 2 hours, stretch the dough and fold it back on itself 4 times (12 o'clock, 3, 6, and 9).
• You can read my attempt at a description on last week's recipe, or search the internet for some videos.
  
  **At this point in the game, I need to admit something.  I'm an hour into my planned S&F... and it's a mess.  An embarrassing mess (I didn't even take a picture).  So I just dumped it all into the bowl of my stand mixer, stuck the dough hook on it, and kneaded it for a minute or two at varying speeds.  It still felt lumpy, but it was much better.  And it was still wet and sticky, but I decided to do some extra S&F to make up for this odd extra step.  It's noon - and I'm going to restart the clock on my S&F - so 2 more hours before Rest#1.
  
  
5. Rest #1
• At the end of the 2 hours, cover the dough and let it rest for an hour.
6. Divide and Pre-shape
• Divide the dough into 2 equal parts.  I use my kitchen scale to make sure!
• Gently coax the 2 lumps of dough into rounds.  It doesn't have to be perfect, but we want to get a start at forming the skin and building the surface tension.

  

  They're looking better.  I kneaded in some extra flour and they're holding shape fairly well.

  
  
7. Rest #2
• Cover the dough and let it rest for another 30 minutes to an hour.
• Resting is what makes sure that our bread doesn't get too tough.  The strands of gluten need time to relax every so often.
8. Shape and put in bowls or bannetons
• While the dough is resting, prepare your bowls or bannetons.  I still don't have bannetons, so I'm using bowls that are different sizes. This should be interesting.
• Line the bowls with clean kitchen towels.
• Generously dust the towel with rice flour.  Go to town.  Rub it in.  Make a pretty good layer because this is what will prevent you from getting annoyed at the towel in a few steps.
• Gently do one round of S&F.
• Form into rounds by cupping your hands around either side of the dough and gently pull under and around.  A bit like turning a steering wheel while trying to adjust your steering wheel cover.  I know, I know. That makes no sense.  It's so hard to explain this bit.  You are turning the dough with your hands and stretching the surface to build tension all with one fluid motion.
  
• Place the rounds of dough upside-down into the towel-and-flour-lined bowls.  Yes, upside-down.  Trust me.  We're going to invert this one more time before baking, so what is now the top will become the bottom.
  
9. Final Rise (Rest #3)
• Cover the bowls with plastic wrap and towels.
• Let rise for 3-4 hours.
• I keep my apartment on the cool side, so I will often let my doughs rise in an oven that I've preheated to the lowest possible temperature and then turned off.  There is just enough heat to be an environment that the wee yeasties love!
  

  

  Ooops.  This might be a bit over-proofed...
  

10. Bake
• Remove the dough from the cold oven!
• Preheat oven for at least 30 minutes to 450°
• Preheat the pans for at least 10 minutes
• Cut 2 pieces of parchment paper that are long enough to get into your pans or dutch ovens or cloches.
• Invert a bowl of dough gently onto a piece of parchment.
  
  **Another note: It was definitely over-proofed.  It deflated pretty seriously when I got it out onto the parchment.  I was able to score it, and get it into the pans, but I probably should have dealt with the over-proofed-ness (That is TOO a word... shush!).  I'm stubborn... I pressed on pretending that there wasn't a problem.
  
• Use a sharp knife or lame to score the top.
• Do not skip this step.  It is essential for the proper baking of the bread.
• You can do a simple X or + shape.  As you get more comfortable, you can start to make designs to decorate the top of your bread.
• Using the sides of the parchment, lift the loaf and gently (and carefully) lower the loaf into the pan.
• The pan is hot!  Don't forget that.
• Parchment Parchment Parchment!  I forgot it last week in my excitement - and my bread was thoroughly stuck to my pans.  It was very sad.
• Cover with the lids and put into the oven to bake.
• Bake for 20 minutes.
• Remove the lids.
• Bake for an additional 15-20 minutes until the color is good and the bread sounds hollow when you thump it.
• Use the parchment to lift the bread from the pan and allow to cool completely on a rack.

 I live a charmed life.  These loaves are so pretty!  There was plenty of "oven spring" (which is just a fancy way of saying "it puffed up while cooking").  It probably would have been better if I'd allowed for a last extra rise... next time.

Tonight was a good experiment in my kitchen!

A childhood favorite: American "Pumpernickel" Bread

I LOVE American pumpernickel bread.  LOVE.  And my husband has a love for a good Reuben sandwich.  So, on this journey to becoming a better baker, I decided to tackle the Pumpernickel loaf.

Besides knowing it was related to, or a variation on, rye... I really didn't know what went into that lovely dark brown loaf that I love so much.  So I did what any good nerdy girl would do - I researched!!

My husband likes to joke about my excellent Google skills - and he's right.  I can often find pages on the strangest topics that no one else manages to find.  It's fun.

First thing I learned: to differentiate between "real" pumpernickel (known as Westphalian) and American.  They are VERY different.  Very.  Do not be confused.  (And check out this page on Cooks Info for the details and great images of the differences.)

So then I went on the hunt for a nice recipe for American Pumpernickel.  Most of the results that sounded right to me... were written for bread machines.  Oooops. No.  I don't have one and right now I don't want one.  I like my process.  So then I had to do math (good thing this nerdy girl LOVES math and spreadsheets) to convert the recipes.

My recipe below is based on:
Red Star Yeast
Betty Crocker
Shipton Mill
and Make Your Own 

So here is my version, which I think came out pretty great!

Jenn's American Pumpernickel

Ingredients:

• 1 Cup strong brewed coffee, cooled to 110°F
• 2 Tbsp oil
• 1/2 Cup molasses
• 1 pkg dry active yeast
• 1 Cup bread flour (more later in the list)
• 1/3 Cup (or less) cocoa powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 Cup Rye flour
• 1 Cup bread flour (for a total of 2 Cups)
• 2 Tbsp toasted caraway seeds (optional, but highly recommended)
• up to 1 Cup (~ish) of AP flour

Instructions:

1. Mise en place!
• Get all your stuff together before you begin.  Measure, prep, chop so that when you start moving forward, you don't have to pause to do something!
   
• This is a good time to lightly toast the caraway seeds in a dry pan until warmed through and you can smell the yumminess.  You're not looking to overly brown them, just wake up the flavor.
  
2. Proof the yeast.
• Test the temperature of your coffee and when it's about right for working with yeast (around 110° Fahrenheit) add the oil and molasses and packet of yeast.
• Let proof for about 10 minutes until it's foamy and the yeast is clearly working.  If it doesn't get foamy, throw it out and try again!  It isn't going to magically "fix itself" later on in the recipe.  Not that I would be guilty of trying that myself... *ahem*
  
3. Make the dough.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer, add 1 Cup bread flour, cocoa powder, and salt.  Use the paddle attachment to mix together thoroughly.
  
• Add rye flour, remaining bread flour, and caraway seeds.  Mix for 5 minutes until well combined.
  
• Switch to a dough hook and add up to 1 cup of AP flour, as needed, to bring to the correct consistency.  Knead for 5-7 minutes until smooth and elasticy as a yeast dough generally is.
  
4. Bulk Proof (a.k.a. first rise)
• Coat a bowl lightly with cooking spray or oil.  Turn the dough into the bowl and flip once to cover completely with a light coating of oil.  Cover with plastic wrap and a tea towel and place someplace warm for at least an hour.
  
• Note: If you keep your home on the cool side (*cough* like ME *cough*), turn the oven on to the lowest temperature while you're kneading the dough.  When you're ready for the rise, turn the oven off, place the covered bowl in the warm oven and keep the door shut.  Make-shift proofing box!
  
5. Form and second rise
• Punch down the dough and form into loaves.  Put in pans, if desired, or form into a round boule or any other shape you'd like.  I used 2 8x4 loaf pans hoping to make sandwiches with it.  They came out a bit small, so I might do one loaf in 9x5 or even a free-form boule next time.
  
• Cover and let rise again for 30 minute to an hour.
  
  
6. Bake
• Bake @ 400° F for 30-35 minutes.  Tent it for a portion of the cook if your oven tends to over-brown things (like mine).
  
  
7. Cool
• Pull from the pans and let cool completely on wire racks.
  
  
8. Enjoy!
• I enjoyed this with just simple butter.
• Husband made reubens:
  

The beautiful brown color comes from cocoa powder, coffee, and molasses!  I did not know that going in.  Mine came out a bit chocolate-y, so I might reduce the cocoa next time, but it will be less brown, I'm sure.  Otherwise, we were both quite happy with this experiment in my Practice Kitchen!

Spicy Candied Bacon

Better late than never.  I sat down to plan for this weekend and realized that I never posted my bonus recipe from last weekend.  So here is the Candied Bacon I made the day after I made Challah.  :)

I found my inspiration from many places, but The Clever Carrot was the main one.

Spicy Candied Bacon

Ingredients
1 pound good quality bacon, sliced
2 Tbsp pure real maple syrup*
¼ Cup brown sugar
2 tsp Dijon mustard
½ tsp Kosher salt
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
½ tsp fresh ground black pepper

*Note: Please.  Pleasepleaseplease I am begging you.  Use real Maple Syrup.  From real maple trees.  With no flavorings or additives.  Trust me - it's worth the extra cost.  There is nothing that compares to it.  I'm so passionate about this, I'll probably do a post about this at some point.


Instructions

1. Mise en Place. (By now,  I hope you expected this... get your stuff together!)
2. Prepare.
• Preheat the oven to 400° F.
• Wrap a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil and top with a wire rack. Trust me: do this.  Bacon grease is soooo messy by itself, and this time we're adding all sorts of sticky things, too.
3. Make the coating for the the bacon.
• In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients except the bacon.
• Mix well.
  
4. Coat the bacon and put on the rack.
• Separate the bacon strips and put them all into the bowl.
• Squish the bacon around in the coating until all pieces are nicely covered. Yes, I said "squish". I like instructions that sound normal.  This is how I talk. You'll get used to Jenn-ese.
  
• Line the slices on the rack in a single layer. They can be touching but should not overlap.  They will shrink a bit as you cook them.
  
5. Bake.
• Bake in the center of the oven for 20-30 minutes.
• Keep a close eye it starting around the 15 minute mark.  You're looking for it to be dark but not burnt.  It will finish crisping as it cools, so you want to pull it out before it's super crispy... but not too early either.  This is the trickiest part.
6. Cool and enjoy!
• Remove from the oven and let it cool on the rack for about 5 minutes.  Don't let it completely cool in the rack or it will stick.
• To serve, you can leave whole or break it into smaller pieces.
  

I've had candied bacon in mac-n-cheese with jalapeños.  Sooooo good.  Highly recommend.  But this stuff is great just to munch on.  Or put in a sandwich!

Thanks for checking out this recipe.

Hang out and check back for more posts as I practice

cooking and baking in my little kitchen.

Using up special ingredients: Blue Cheese Crackers

Have you ever bought a "special" ingredient for a recipe and not needed it all?  So what do you do with the leftovers?  I'm frugal, so I hate to waste anything - so I go searching for a recipe (or an idea) to use it in a new and creative way.

Last weekend's Bacon and Blue Pierogies required 4 oz of Blue Cheese.  Because I wasn't totally sure about the amounts, I bought an extra wedge as backup.  Which meant that I've had blue cheese sitting in my fridge for a week - calling my name.

I've made these crackers before - they are a play on a savory shortbread.  I love them.  This time I adjusted the size to be more bite-sized.  I think I prefer them smaller!

Blue Cheese Crackers

Ingredients:

4 oz blue cheese, room temperature

4 Tbsp butter, room temperature

3/4 Cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper (to taste)

Instructions:

1. Mise en place.
• I've said this before.  Get your stuff together before you start cooking.  This recipe has 5 whole ingredients... I think you can manage.

  

  Look closely.  See something wrong here?

  

  I might have gotten excited to make the recipe... and forgot to take pictures until the end!

2. Cream together the blue cheese and butter
• It is really important that both be room temperature.  They won't combine very well if they're not. Trust me - leave them out on the counter for a few hours before trying to make this.
3. Mix in the flour, black pepper, and cayenne.
• Fresh ground black pepper.  Please please please - use a pepper mill or a spice grinder.  Don't buy ground black pepper in the little tin at the grocery store.  Trust me - the flavor is completely different.
• Cayenne.  Use as much or as little as you can handle.  My husband and I both love spicy things - so I'm generous with it.  But it's totally up to you.  But don't skip it unless you're allergic!

  

  Here's a funny picture of my empty bowl!  It's the best I could do!

  
  
4. Prepare the dough.
• For small crackers: split the dough in 1/2 and put into 2 sandwich-size ziptop bags.
  For large crackers: put the whole batch into 1 sandwich-size ziptop bag.
• Squish it all the way to the bottom and roll to form it into a small log.
• Seal the ziptop bag and put it in the refrigerator for a few hours or the freezer for 1 hour.  You need the dough to be very cold in order to slice nicely.

  

  This is after it's chilled, but you get the idea...

  

  For reference, this is 1/2 the dough making small crackers.
  

  

  To give you a sense of how small the log is...
  

5. Slice the coins and place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.
• Cut the log of dough into 1/4" thick coins.
  
• Parchment make this a very easy clean up.
• I got about 20 small crackers from 1/2 the batch.
  
6. Bake at 350° for 15-20 minutes.
• Watch them closely and pull them out when nicely browned.
  

  

  5 minutes
  

  

  10 minutes
  

  

  15 minutes
  

  

  20 minutes

 Tadaaaa!  Used up my leftover blue cheese and now have a nice snack for the weekend!  They are light and crispy and tangy with a nice little bite from the blue cheese and peppers.

Hope you enjoyed this quick little recipe!  Come back and visit next weekend when I spend some more time practicing in my kitchen.