honored

Today I’m honored to have my recipe for Plain Bagels featured on The Pioneer Woman’s Tasty Kitchen Blog!!

I am so flattered that my recipe was chosen and I’m also flattered to have so many new readers today! I’ll be back Monday with more food fun, but for now, go make some bagels y’all!

yeast tutorial

Please note: I’m not an expert. But I can pretend.

Yeast can be intimidating to those who have never used it, but I promise it is not difficult. Recently I passed on a recipe to a friend and she commented that she’s a yeast novice. It seems I have taken for granted the Mama-instilled knowledge of how to work with yeast!

To help my friend, and y’all, I will show you the basic principles of yeast and how it will change your life.

To start, you need to buy some yeast. It comes in envelopes, jars, and (more uncommonly) yeast cakes. I have never laid eyes on yeast cakes as they are more for commercial operations and bakeries. But you’ll be fine with the envelopes or the jar, easily found in your grocer’s baking aisle.

Note: 1 envelope of yeast = 2 1/4 tsp yeast from the jar.

I keep my jar in the refrigerator. Because of this I always proof, or activate, the yeast before using it. Some types of yeast are already active in our times of new fangled food technology, but I follow the school of “always activate the yeast, especially if it was cold in the refrigerator”. It won’t hurt it and will make your dough extra fluffy.

To activate yeast, you need 3 things: warm water, yeast, and a source of sugar. Sugar feeds the yeast so even if your recipe doesn’t call for sugar, adding just a pinch in with the warm water and yeast will really help things along. However, if your recipe doesn’t call for sugar but does call for milk, you don’t need to worry about adding extra sugar since milk naturally has sugar in it.

As far as the water, you can usually run your tap until it is hot and that should suffice; there’s no need to use a kettle or microwave. If you’re worried, buy a cheap candy thermometer and check that the water is within 10* of 115*. Any hotter and you run the risk of “killing” the magical powers of yeast.

Combining the warm water with yeast and sugar begins the activation process and you can sit back and relax for 5-10 minutes. Or you can sit over it and watch it curiously bubble and become foamy, as I do. I’m fascinated by yeast, actually. The above picture was taken after about 5 minutes and you can see how it looks cloudy and bubbly. I ended up letting it foam up for a few more minutes, but as long as it starts looking like I have shown above you’re on the right track to yeast success.

When the time has passed and the yeast is bubbly and foamy, you are ready to add in the rest of your ingredients and bake away! Just follow the recipe’s instructions to form the dough.

When your dough has come together, you should let it rise in a warm place, covered with a dish towel. Do this according to your recipe. If your kitchen/house is naturally cool, I suggest turning on your oven for a few minutes to bring some heat to the area and then you can place the covered dough in a bowl on or near the cooktop.

This,

will become this:

The best part of working with yeast is punching down the risen dough to knead it again!

At this point, keep following your recipe instructions and you’re ready to bake amazing breads! You can freeze yeasted dough once it has risen. It should rise again while thawing in a warm place.

See? Yeast is not that intimidating! And now that you’re a brave, brave soul and are ready to use yeast, check out my recipes and have at it!

get the perfect buns

I bet you are expecting to hear about some amazing new exercise I found to craft my flat, lifeless butt (thanks, Mama’s DNA) into a Kim Kardashian badonkadonk. I bet you are wondering what miracle I found that a women’s magazine has not already tried to tout.

You are wrong.

Oddly enough, this post is not about exercise and your butt. It is actually about baking buns. This may be the antithesis to having a trim and firm buttocks, but I do not care. I like carbohydrates.

I have been working on tweaking these babies for a couple weeks now and I’m now satisfied with them. They are light and airy like a brioche yet firm and hearty like any good sandwich or burger bun should be. I ate my Black Olive & Goat Cheese Turkey Burgers on these buns and man oh man was it delicious.

Now the perfect buns require yeast. But don’t be afraid! If you are afraid of using yeast, I will have a yeast tutorial next week. Yeast is far easier than most people think and I have the utmost confidence in your bun-making skills.

Please make these. You need my buns.

The Perfect Buns (makes 8 )
1 cup warm water
3 T milk
1 1/2 T sugar
2 1/4 tsp (1 envelope) yeast
1 egg, beaten
2 1/3 cup all purpose flour
1 cup wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 T butter, melted
In a mixing bowl, combine warm water, milk, sugar and yeast. Set aside and allow yeast to activate and get foamy, about 5 minutes. Beat an egg and set aside. In another mixing bowl, combine flours, salt, and butter. Add the flour mixture to the yeast mixture and then add the beaten egg to that. Using a dough hook or mixing by hand, combine everything together to form a sticky, tacky dough. It will be messy, but worth it! When the dough has formed a ball, set in bowl, cover, and allow to rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 – 1 1/2 hours. When the dough has rise, punch down and remove from bowl, placing on a floured surface. The dough will be sticky. Knead the dough lightly and divide it into 8 equal parts. Roll the parts into balls (flour your hands to facilitate the process!) and set aside to rise another 15 minutes. Bake at 400* for 15 minutes or until lightly brown and fluffy. *Note: these are divine with purely all purpose flour (3 1/3 cup) but I tried out wheat for a little added health and fiber.*

I can’t be trusted around olives

It is true. I cannot be trusted around olives. I love them all so much. In fact, I do embarrassing things like stick them on my (sausage) fingers in public. You can’t take me anywhere.

This was a lot easier when I was 10.

I think it is the salty, briny taste of the olives that get me. Green, black, kalamata… I have yet to meet an olive I don’t like. And what, my friends, goes perfectly with olives? Goat cheese.

And then I got the idea to put the olives and goat cheese in a burger and the world exploded.

I will also show you how to make these fabulous buns, but that is for another post.

Black Olive & Goat Cheese Turkey Burgers (makes 4 burgers)
1 pound lean ground turkey
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup black olives, chopped
1/4 cup crumbled goat cheese
salt and pepper
In a large mixing bowl, combine ground turkey, olives, goat cheese, the beaten egg, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Mix gently with your hands, trying not to over-mix but being sure to distribute the egg, olives, and cheese evenly. Break into 4 equal parts and gently roll into balls then flatten, setting aside. Heat a cast iron or heavy-bottomed skillet to high heat with cooking spray until hot (test by splashing a bit of water off your fingers into the skillet — it should sizzle when ready). Turn heat down to medium-high and place the burger patties in the skillet with space between. Cook for 10 minutes, flip, and cook for another 10 minutes. Use a meat thermometer if you’re worried about them not being done enough after 20 minutes (use the guidelines for poultry — 170* means done!)

my ultimate comfort food

Today is my dad’s birthday. He would have been 48 today. Since his death 2 years ago, February 10th has been a weird day for me. I literally cry every day, but today is a bit worse for obvious reasons. This year I decided to not purposely take the day off from life and I decided to keep going about business as usual… Classes, babysitting, homework, and making models of sea monsters with crescent rolls.

Instead, the copious tears and time alone happened last night (as did the sea monster, actually).

I was in need of serious comfort food. And then it hit me: I needed to make one of my dad’s favorite foods, which also happens to be one of my favorite foods. This was one of the dishes I remember him absolutely loving and I have very fond memories of him hiding the leftovers in the fridge so that he could eat them for breakfast lunch the next day.

So last night I whipped out a Chicken Broccoli Braid, a recipe so engrained in my memory that I don’t even have directions written down. I just know it. When I took the first bite, I felt myself sitting back at the kitchen table with my mom, dad, and brother and eating this same dish. I cried the whole time I ate it, but that is okay.

This is true comfort food for me.

Chicken Broccoli Braid (serves 4)
1 cup cooked chicken, shredded
1 cup broccoli, chopped
1 medium green pepper, chopped
1 clove garlic, pressed or minced
1/3 cup mayonnaise
heaping 1/2 cup shredded cheddar
1 tube crescent rolls (containing dough for 8 rolls)
salt & pepper to taste
In a mixing bowl, combine chicken, broccoli, green pepper, garlic, mayonnaise, cheese, and salt and pepper to taste. Mix thoroughly. On a cookie sheet, arrange crescent roll dough so that the long tips of the triangles are pointing away from the center and the thicker parts are overlapping. Place the filling in the center of the dough arrangement and begin to wrap the rolls around the filling (using any kind of design or arrangement as you wish). Sprinkle a pinch of salt on top if desired and bake at 375* for 20-25 minutes. Slice and serve hot!

my absolute favorite baked good

This is big. There’s no going back from statements like this. Claiming something as my absolute favorite baked good is like asking a musician for a favorite song or band. But seriously, this is my definitive favorite thing that has come out of an oven ever in the history of ovens. For 22 years (or for however long I’ve been eating them) I have loved bagels.

Harris, my best friend, calls me an honorary Jew because, among other reasons, I am obsessed with bagels. In fact, when I told him that I had made bagels from scratch his actual response was, “Stop it you’re so Jewish.” (You can check Facebook if you don’t believe me.)

I just love bagels. LOVE THEM. I don’t discriminate: I love all flavors, all shmears. I will go out of my way to find a good bagel (like walking 20 blocks in NYC looking for just the right one). They take me back to my competitive swimming years when we’d eat them at swim meets. My gym even gives them out for free on the 1st Tuesday of the month. I dream of bagels.

But since moving to Texas, I’ve been sorely disappointed in the bagels. They say bagels from New York are the best (and they are) but it is as if anywhere off the East Coast cannot make a good bagel. Except for chains like Panera and Einstein’s, I have yet to find a passable bagel here in Austin. I don’t think they boil the bagels here. They’re like circular lumps of dry bread.

I searched the Internet far and wide for ideas and recipes and came up with my own, a minimalist type of recipe so all that you taste is the goodness of the bagel. Nothing fancy here, just chewy bagel goodness. And they’re even vegan so I can serve them to Bess when she visits this weekend!

I now plan on baking 50 dozen bagels (of various flavors) and eating my way out of my apartment. I’ll see you when I get out of my bagel coma.

Plain Bagels (makes 6 bagels)
1 1/2 tsp yeast
1/2 T sugar
2/3 cup warm water + extra
1/2 T vegetable oil
3/4 tsp salt
2 cups flour
In the bottom of your mixer bowl, combine 2/3 cup water, sugar, and yeast and let the yeast develop for about 5 minutes. Add in flour, vegetable oil, and salt and mix with a dough hook (or by hand) until the dough is elastic and tough. You may need to add in a bit of extra water, but do it little by little. Let the dough sit and rise in a warm place for  20-30 minutes. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead. Cut into 6 equal pieces. Roll each individual piece into a “snake” long enough to wrap around your palm. Dip each end of the dough in water and press together in your palm, forming a circle. Place the formed bagels on a floured board and allow to rise another 20-30 minutes. Bring 6 cups of water to a boil in a heavy-bottomed pot. When the water is gently boiling, place 2-3 bagels into the water for 1 minute and then flip to boil on the other side for another minute. Remove the bagels, place them on paper towels to take off excess moisture, then place on a baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining bagels. Bake in the oven on 425* for 18 minutes, turning them over after 10 minutes. Enjoy!

good deeds lead to baked goods

This morning, I did my civic duty and went to a blood drive! Texans everywhere should rest assured that soon my blood will be pumping through their veins. I feel like I have an obligation to donate, since I have type O+ blood, and since it is the right thing to do. I’ll get off my soapbox in a second, but if you fit all the criteria (most people do!) get over your fear of a little needle and look the other way while they stick you!

When I finally made it back to my apartment, I was feeling a little zonked from the blood loss. The only remedy to this? A hearty meal and some sugar. Yes, SUGAR. I made good ol’ sugary banana bread. Today is like sugar central considering I also had a Sprite (ick) and some cookies to keep me conscious during the donation. But I don’t care. I think you get some kind of bonus points for having to regenerate lost blood cells. I think you win karma bonus points for saving 3 lives.

My other excuse for baking? (As if I need one…) Last night, while drinking wine with my friend Trevor, we started talking about stand mixers. That’s normal, right? I started whining about how I wanted one really badly for Christmas, then remembered that a family friend gave me a nice hand mixer for graduation! That is better than nothing. When I dug it out to mix the banana bread, I also discovered it has a dough hook AND an immersion blender attachment, as well as the beaters. WIN.

So I started with the sketchy bananas that, when this ripe, I refuse to consume as-is. I prefer green bananas and yes, I’m weird.

Then you get to use the fun mixer!! Best part? Licking the beaters.

And out comes some delicious, fluffy, semi-healthy (half wheat and contains fruit!) banana bread. Just what the doctor ordered for ideal blood donation recovery. Or any occasion, really.

Sweet Buttermilk Banana Bread (makes 1 loaf)
2 ripe bananas, mashed
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 stick butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 egg white
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 T cinnamon
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 1/4 cup wheat flour
1/2 cup raisins, optional
In a mixing bowl, mash bananas and vanilla together. Cream in the butter, sugar, buttermilk and eggs until throughly mixed. In another bowl, combine flour, wheat flour, soda, powder, salt, and cinnamon and mix well. Using a stand or hand mixer, add the wet ingredients into the flour mixture until well mixed. Lick beaters throughly. Transfer mixture into a greased or non-stick metal loaf pan and bake at 350* for 50-65 minutes or until a knife can be removed cleanly from the middle of the loaf (my oven finished it in 50 but it tends to run very hot). Let cool in loaf pan for 10 minutes, then let it continue to cool on a wire rack or cutting board. Inhale.

mental health day

Today I took a mental health day. I had no particular reason to take it today instead of Saturday, but I used it wisely to run errands, watch plenty of Anthony Bourdain, and pore over cookbooks in bed all afternoon.

Lately I’ve been getting tired of  the boring cooking I’ve been doing… and by that I mean throwing together some pasta with some pasta sauce and calling it a meal. I’ll toot my own horn and say I’m a pretty decent cook, but I’m very limited. I don’t have a big enough repertoire! So, I have a new project.

Today I was inspired by a craving for Cuban food and will bring you one of my favorite Cuban staples: picadillo (fondly known as “Cuban sloppy Joe”)!

Start with the culinary trinity: onions, garlic, and olive oil. Then add salt, pepper, and ground meat (I used turkey since I had it in the freezer).

And now I’ll introduce the other players.

After letting this simmer to become less of a sauce and more of a thick stew, serve any way you want! Or you could even keep it more liquidy and eat it almost as chili! I prefer it as is, on a bun, with tortilla chips, cold, stuffed into empanadas, mixed with cheese in a dip…

Picadillo (makes 4-6 servings)
1 lb ground turkey (or ground beef)
1/2 large onion or 1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, diced
2 T olive oil (use only 1 if cooking with ground beef)
1-16 oz. can diced or crushed tomato (texture preference)
1 T balsamic vinegar
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp cinnamon
2/3 cup raisins
1/2 cup slivered almonds (optional, stirred in at end)
salt & pepper
In a stew pot, combine onions, garlic, and olive oil and sautée until tender, salt and pepper to taste. Add in ground turkey and stir occasionally until all the meat is browned and in small chunks. Once meat is browned, half drain a 16 oz can of diced (or crushed) tomato and add to the meat. Stir thoroughly and then add balsamic vinegar, chili powder, cumin, cinnamon, and raisins. Cover and let simmer for at least 20 minutes, longer to achieve a thicker consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste while it simmers, especially if you used canned tomatoes without added salt (like me). Once the picadillo has reached the consistency you like, stir in the almonds (optional) and serve! You can serve it as it is, on a bun like a sloppy Joe, with tortilla chips, in empanadas, with cheese like a dip… the possibilities are endless!!

And did you notice the giant chunk of bread I ate mine with? Yes that’s right, I’ve been baking today, too! This time I’m back with my very own bread recipe, developed from a lot of online research and trawling through cookbooks today.

Buttermilk Wheat Bread (makes 1 loaf)
1 cup warm water
1 packet active yeast
2 T brown sugar
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp salt
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups all purpose flour, plus extra for kneading
olive oil spray
In a mixing bowl, combine the sugar, water, and yeast and let the yeast develop until it is foamy and bubbling. Stir in the butter milk and salt. Combine the flours and mix into the wet ingredients, using a mixer with a dough hook or your hands in the same motion (like me!). Once dough is well mixed, transfer to a floured bread board and knead it, forming a bowl. Spray the same mixing bowl with a little olive oil spray then transfer the dough back to the bowl, covering it with a cloth and letting it rise in a warm place for 45 minutes to an hour. Once the dough had adequately risen, punch it back down and knead it on the bread board with flour again. Transfer the dough to a non-stick loaf pan and make a shallow cut all the way down the length of the bread. Bake in a 350* oven for 30-35 minutes and enjoy!