Toasty English Muffin Bread

When I was a little girl and sick my Grammy would give me toast and gingerale. That was back when there was still real ginger in gingerale, before everything was artificially flavored. Artificial food, no wonder we are sick.
There is nothing artificial in this wonderful old fashioned bread, lots of "nooks and crannies" for butter, cream cheese or jam. Perfect for toast. Perfect on a cold snowy day when you have a head cold.

Yes, toast this and slather with butter, mmmm.
No kneading and just on rising, can't beat that.
Here's the recipe:
2 cups whole grain flour, spelt or wheat
4 cups all purpose (or white spelt)
1 tablespoon yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups milk
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons cornmeal
Grease 2 loaf pans then sprinkle with the cornmeal, set aside.

 Mix all the dry ingredients in a large mixer bowl.
Warm milk and water to about 120F (warm to the touch), add to the dry

and mix for 10 minutes. This will be between a dough and a batter, very sticky.

Spoon into prepared pans.

Cover with clean dish towel for 40 minutes.
Preheat oven to 425F.

Should be doubled in bulk.
Bake for 25 minutes, top should be nice and brown and if you use a thermometer it will read 190F. when done.

Let cool in pan for 10 minutes then remove to wire rack.

When cool, slice and toast, or not, it makes a good sandwich too. I'm having it for dinner with tomato soup also found on this blog.

Lemon Blueberry Bread--Sweet, Tangy, Who Can Resist

My friend, Gail, was telling me about a lemon blueberry bread she had purchased at local shop and asked if I had a recipe. This is what I made last night, when I came down this morning to start the coffee it was almost gone, apparently someone really liked it. You definitely want to try this one, it is light, lemony, sweet, tangy, everything you want in a tea bread. The glaze soaks in the top for the tangy flavor of lemon while the blueberries are bursting with sweetness.
Lemon Blueberry Bread
1 1/2 sticks butter, softened
1 1/4 cups sugar
3 large eggs
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour ( I used spelt )
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup milk + 2 teaspoons lemon juice (will curdle)
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon zest
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
Glaze:
juice of 2 lemons (scant 1/2 cup)
3/4 cup powdered sugar
Before you start mixing, zest two lemons, set aside.

Grease and flour a loaf pan, set aside.
Preheat the oven to 300F.
Cream the butter, beating until it's light and fluffy.

Add sugar, beat some more.

Add eggs, one at a time beating well after each addition.
He is waiting for me to drop an egg.

Add the zest.

Save any extra zest to sprinkle on top after glazing.

In a separate bowl, sift a good amount of flour, sift, sift, sift, this will give you a light tea bread. I sift the flour for almost any thing I bake with baking powder.

Out of this, measure the 2 1/4 cups of flour then stir in the soda, salt and powder.

Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture alternating with the milk mixed with lemon juice.
Toss the blueberries in a tablespoon of flour, this is supposed to keep them from sinking to the bottom. Of course from my photo you can tell that it didn't work this time, oh well, it works most of the time.

Gently fold them into the batter.

And into the pan.

Bake for 1 1/2 hours or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

While it is baking, mix the glaze and set aside.

After it comes out of the oven, allow it to cool for 10 minutes then remove from pan to a cooling rack.
Prick the top with a fork so the glaze will seep down in.

Drizzle glaze over the top slowly, allowing it to soak in rather than run off. This makes the top extra moist yet not soggy in any way.

Sprinkle the wet glaze with any leftover zest.

Serve warm or wait to cool (if you can).

I should call this "the vanishing lemon bread".
Enjoy!

Savory Mushroom Soup

This soup was so good, absolutely nothing like that stuff in a can.

This will assemble in a jiffy, is rich enough for company and homey enough for a casual dinner.
Loaded with mushrooms, rich with butter and cream, flecks of parsley for color. Beautiful.
4 tablespoons butter
1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
salt and pepper to taste
1 # fresh white button mushrooms, sliced
1/4 cup white wine
1 tablespoon dry parsley or 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh, minced
1/4 teaspoon fresh rosemary, minced
4 cups chicken broth or vegetable broth
1/2 cup (or more) cream
Saute the onion in the butter, when translucent,

add the garlic and mushrooms and saute for another couple minutes.

Add the wine, loosening the brown bits from the bottom of the pan, add broth and seasonings, cook until the mushrooms are tender.

 Add cream.

Serve.

 Served as a first course or as a meal with a salad and bread, so good you can't go wrong.
For those of you who are looking for lower fat content, it was delicious before adding the cream too!

White Chocolate Cheesecake with Red Raspberry Sauce

I wanted something special for Thanksgiving and since the meal itself was pretty healthy we went all out with dessert. This cheesecake was definitely all out!

I made a butter crust and added white chocolate chips directly to the batter as well as on top of the crust so it has a very rich flavor off set perfectly by the red raspberry sauce.
Set the cream cheese out to soften a couple hours ahead.
Crust:
1 cup all purpose flour (I used spelt)
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup cold butter, cut into chunks
Whirl in a food processor until dough forms.
Line 9" springform pan with parchment paper and press the dough on the bottom and sides of pan.

Bake at 350F. for 12-15 minutes until the edges are just beginning to turn golden.

After baking the crust, wrap the exterior of the pan in one piece of foil and put it in a large oven proof pan. Fill pan with water as high as you can with out slopping it all over. This is supposed to keep the cheesecake from cracking (works sometimes).
 Set this aside and make the cream cheese mixture.
Cheesecake:
4  8oz. packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla
12 oz. bag of white chocolate chips or a 10-12 oz. bar, chopped
In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese until fluffy, add sugar and mix well.

Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Mix in vanilla.

Sprinkle 1/2 the white chocolate on the crust.

Now pour the batter on top of this. Top with the other half of the white chocolate, gently press them down into the batter just until covered. This will keep them from turning brown.

Bake 450F. for 10 minutes then reduce heat to 250F. and bake another 40 minutes.

It should be wiggly like jello but not wet or liquid. Since my oven varies on a whim (it's own), I often have to bake it longer.
While this bakes, make the sauce.
Raspberry Sauce:
1 cup seedless raspberry jam
1/4 cup water
Heat the jam and water until melted and whisk together until smooth.

I didn't have seedless jam, if you don't either then put it through a sieve with the back of a spoon to remove seeds. Cool and store in refrigerator.
I like to chill cheesecake until the next day so the flavor builds and it is well set.
Before serving remove the ring from the spring form pan and gently peel the parchment paper from sides. Carefully slide the cake to a serving plate or serve on individual plates. The raspberry sauce can be drizzled (or in my case, dribbled) on top as you serve or small bowl with serving spoon passed for guests to serve themselves.

Happy face!

Challah Buns-Make a Great Sandwich

What could be better than a beautiful challah bun loaded with fresh sandwich meats or cheese and tomato (my favorite).
You'll find the recipe for challah on this blog listed as "Beautiful Braided Challah". For 8 buns make half the recipe. After the rising time cut it into 8 even pieces.

Just like play dough roll each one into a ball then flatten into a disc.

I am using a baking stone here but usually use a sheet pan, if using a sheet pan, grease lightly then dust with corn meal, for the stone just sprinkle corn meal lightly.
Arrange the discs on the stone or pan for the last rise.

Cover with a clean towel and ignore them for 40 minutes or until doubled in size.

Pretty.
Preheat oven to 400F.
Bake for 25 minutes or until deep golden, a thermometer inserted into the bun should read 190F. if you aren't sure.

 Perfect.

  This one is filled with my daughter's Curry Chicken Salad--I'll post that one another day, sorry. ;)