New Under the Sun

Philosphers said that there was nothing new under the sun, but then came computers and shot that idea to hell.

Since the personal computer has taken over the world we know that there are lots of new things and the Internet keeps them whirling around the planet. Blogging is a growing part of the Internet, so today I'm letting you in on two new web sites that are part of food blogging.

The first one - blatant self-promotion here - is my bread baking blog, Bread Baker's Dog. It began yesterday, mostly because I started to realize that this blog was becoming oversaturated with bread posts and not everyone is as dingy about bread baking as I am. If you ARE (or just want to see what the new blog looks like...and who is the dog?...and why a dog?) then head on over to:

http://breadbakersdog.blogspot.com/

If the daring Bakers do bread, I'll probably post about it here as usual, but most other bread posts will be at the new site, so you may want to bookmark it.

The second one - a bit of self-promotion, but mostly Daring Bakers and Daring Cooks promotion - is the NEW and vastly improved Daring Baker Kitchen blog called The Daring Kitchen found at:

http://www.thedaringkitchen.com/

where Food Talk features...you guessed it...me writing about Cooking and Baking with Walnuts.

It has some wonderful focus sections on some great bloggers, a way to sign up to be a Daring Baker or Daring Cook, or both! There are forums, a cookbook review, and lots more.

Tomorrow we will be back to our regularly scheduled programming, but today the sun is shining on some new bits of the blogosphere.

Pork Chops with a Mustard Marinade

No, I don't spend my whole life baking bread...although that does sound like fun. Sometimes I even cook dinner. The photo is not the best, but it was late and the light was poor. Sorry.

One of the great things about visiting other blogs and reading what other bloggers have to say is that it can inspire you, or at least help you figure out what to cook for dinner.

Deborah at Taste and Tell might be a time-strapped new mother, but she always comes up with delicious dishes. Often she gives multiple recipes from one cookbook. Recently she wrote about a marinated pork chop dish from Weight Watchers New Complete Cookbook that had lots of strong flavors from mustard and cider vinegar, plus a little sweetness from some honey.

I added some lime juice for a citrus kick and this was one great entrée. Sweetie put them under the broiler and we enjoyed them with some baked potatoes and a green salad with tomatoes, cucumber and avocados. Not a terribly adventuresome meal, but a delicious one. Thanks Deborah!

Mustard Honey and Lime Pork Chops
adapted from Weight Watchers New Complete Cookbook
Serves 4

4 teaspoons honey
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
juice from one small lime
1 teaspoon cider vinegar
1/4 teaspoon salt
freshly ground pepper, to taste
4 (5-ounce) bone-in loin pork chops, 1-inch thick

To prepare the marinade, in a small saucepan over low heat, heat the honey until it liquefies. Stir in the mustard, lime juice, vinegar, salt and pepper; cool to room temperature.

Place the pork chops in a gallon-size ziploc plastic bag; add the marinade. Seal the bag, squeezing out the air; turn to coat the chops. Refrigerate, turning the bag occasionally, at least 8 hours or overnight. Remove the chops from the refrigerator 30 minutes before broiling.

Preheat the broiler. Discard the marinade. Place the chops on the broiler rack and broil 3-4" from the heat until cooked through, 6-7 minutes on each side.

Birthday Treat

I know that it's March and the big round number birthday was in February, but it's taken me a few days to process the photos from my birthday treat.

You're probably thinking that the treat was food related...after all this IS a food blog...but no, it was house and garden related and photo opportunity related and SPRING related.

Since the weather around here has been rainy for over a month, spring is late in showing up, but we had ONE lovely, springlike, blue sky day last week and it was, miraculously, on the day of the treat.

Sweetie, our daughter and I traveled a while and arrived at Filoli, a National Historic Trust property south of San Francisco, and directly south of the beautiful Crystal Springs Reservoir.

We were there for the first day of the season and for the Daffodil Days event. We had signed up for the Photography and Painting in the Garden segment, plus the house and garden tour, so had lots of opportunities for beautiful photos.

The first photo at the top of the post is from the gardens and this one is from one of the grand rooms in the house. Both are for Ruby Tuesday. You can see what it is all about over at Work of the Poet. Plenty of red in that flower. There is less on the figure, but that rich Chinese red is especially lovely.

Today's header is also from a photo taken of the meadow of daffodils at Filoli. If the weather had been warmer in the preceding days, there would likely have been more flower in the meadow, but it was still quite beautiful.

If you ever get the opportunity to visit this property, make the time if you love formal gardens, garden rooms, Georgian architecture, or a safe in the butler's pantry to store all the silverware. That safe is almost as big as my whole kitchen. Sigh. Imagine having that much money. Thankfully they got their tax write off and the public got a wonderful place to visit.

Just so you won't think that food has taken a vacation, too, here is a recipe for some Rosemary Knot Rolls that I made for dinner last night. They went very well with our pasta and turkey meatballs and salad.

Rosemary Knot Rolls

Makes 8 - 10 rolls

1 cup sourdough starter at room temperature

3/4 cup buttermilk, at room temperature

1 tablespoon olive oil (plus about the same to glaze the rolls before baking)

1 egg, slightly beaten

1 1/2 cups spelt or whole wheat flour

1 1/2 to 2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

2 tablespoons finely minced fresh rosemary (about 2 stalks)

1 tablespoon sea salt

Put the sourdough starter in the bowl of a stand mixer. With a wooden spoon, mix in the buttermilk, olive oil, egg, and 1/2 cup each of the spelt and all-purpose flours. Attach the bowl to the mixer and attach the dough hook. On one or two, mix in the remaining flour, salt , and rosemary. Knead with the dough hook until the dough is fairly smooth and elastic, and cleans the sides of the bowl. Turn out onto a lightly floured smooth surface and knead another few minutes to fully incorporate the rosemary.

Cut the dough into eight or ten pieces. Roll each piece into a snake shape, then tie in a knot by crossing the length over itself about half way and tucking one of the ends through the hole. Lay the rolls on parchment or silicon mat lined baking sheet. Cover with a tea cloth and let rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Oil the tops of the rolls lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with the sea salt.

Bake for 20 to 30 minutes, or until rolls are slightly browned. Serve warm.

If these resemble a recipe from anywhere else, my subconscious must have retained it because I really didn't consult any recipe while making these.

Welcome March with Sweet Potato Orange Rolls

It's raining and blowing up a storm outside...and we are thrilled in our neck of the woods because even if it rained buckets for the next couple of weeks, we are still facing a drought this summer...and I want to plant a mess of tomatoes and squash, both water needy plants.

The house smells wonderful. I just took a pan of lovely Sweet Potato Orange Fantan Rolls out of the oven. I started the dough yesterday and shaped the rolls this morning, then let them rise. The dough was a soft and slightly sticky one, full of garnet yams (which the grocers often call sweet potatoes), oatmeal, sourdough starter, and a few other goodies like butter, maple syrup and extra yeast. I really shouldn't have added the extra yeast because the dough baked up really puffy and I think this kind of roll is meant to be more genteel.

Usually you brush the rolled out dough with melted butter, then stack them, cut into rolls and put them into muffin tins. I decided to use orange marmalade instead of the butter since orange is a great flavor combo with yams and sweet potatoes.

These are perfect for a Sunday brunch with some fresh fruit and coffee or tea. They would also be good for afternoon tea or snacks. You can finish them up to the part where they are stacked and cut into rolls, then lay on a try and freeze. Once frozen store in the freezer in a ZipLok or similar bag and you can have a treat in short order. I'd thaw them and let rise for at least an hour, then bake as directed.

To guild the lily, you could also drizzle the final rolls with a mixture of orange juice and confectioners sugar. I thought, after tasting one, that they needed the extra sweetness.

When March comes in like a lion counter with hot sweet rolls and welcome the month!

Sweet Potato Orange Fantan Rolls
based on similar rolls found at Andreas's Recipes

Makes 12 rolls

Equipment
stand mixer with hook attachment (or mixing bowl and wooden spoon)
large mixing bowl, lightly coated with cooking spray
12 cup standard muffin tin, buttered

Ingredients
1 large sweet potato (about 1 cup), cooked , cooled and mashed well
1 cup rolled oats mixed with 1 cup water, refrigerated 3 days
1 cup sourdough starter
3 cups unbleached bread flour, plus more for dusting, divided
1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water (105-115° F/41-46° C)
1 teaspoon salt
¼ cup pure maple syrup
6 tablespoons + 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, divided
2/3 cup marmalade (about), warmed

Preparation
1. In a medium bowl, mix together the sweet potato, rolled oats mixture, sourdough starter, and 1 cup of the flour. Stir until thoroughly combined. Cover with plastic wrap and set in a warm place to rise for 1 ½ to 2 hours.

2. Mix the active dry yeast and the water and let sit 10 minutes to proof the yeast. In the bowl of the stand mixer, mix together the sweet potato mixture, yeast mixture, salt, syrup, and butter. Mix to combine.

2. Attach the dough hook. Mix in the flour until the dough starts to come together, using about 2 ½ to 3 more cups. Mix on 2 for about 6 minutes. The dough should be smooth and elastic and soft.

3. Put the dough into the oiled rising bowl and turn to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel. Let the dough rise in a draft free spot at warm room temperature until the dough doubles, about 1-1/2 to 2 hours.

4. Dust your work surface with flour. Punch down the dough, then halve it. Wrap one half in the plastic wrap and set aside. Roll the other half into a 12×12-inch (30.5×30.5 cm) square. You may have to roll slightly larger then trim the ends to even out the square.

5. Spread the surface of the dough with about 1/2 the warmed marmalade, leaving 1/6 strip plain. This will allow you to have a plain side of dough on each side of the roll touching the muffin cup. Cut into 6 equal strips,

then stack the strips on top of each other with the plain strip on top. Cut through the layers into 6 equal pieces,

then place each into a buttered muffin cup, standing up so the layers are visible. Gently fan them open. Repeat with the remaining dough & the rest of the marmalade.


6. Cover with a tea towel and let the rolls rise in a draft free spot at warm room temperature until the dough doubles, about 1 to 1-1/2 hours. (Optional - I put a piece of plastic wrap between the rolls and the towel because of the sticky marmalade.)

7. Place the rack in the middle and preheat the oven to 375° F/190° C.

8. Remove the towel and bake the rolls until they are golden brown, about 20 to 25 minutes.Cool in the pan ten minutes, then transfer to a rack and allow to cool for about another 20 minutes before serving.

I'm sending this over to that bread bakers's wonderland, YeastSpotting on Susan's Wild Yeast blog, plus as an entry in the Bread Baking Day # 17, themed with potatoes, at Lien's blog Notitie van Lien.

Decadent Chocolate in the Land of St. Honore'

As she sat by the fire somewhere in the Land of St. Honore', the old woman watched with amusement as the younger ones twittered on about the latest heartthrob.

They wouldn’t even know who she was talking about, but she remembered being a young girl and feeling that way about Valentino. They wouldn’t even know who she meant, despite the many sighs he had inspired in his career on the silver screen.

February being the month of romance and love, she decided to be daring and bake a Valentino Cake for the girls. Maybe over cake and tea she could share her memories, or at least find out who the latest version of Valentino was. After all chocolate reduces the generations gap significantly.



Such a simple cake.

Care must be taken to use the best ingredients. The chocolate, especially, is key because your cake will taste just like the chocolate you use. A mixture of bittersweet and semisweet Sharfenberger was her choice. Lots of chocolate!

Butter

and that wonderful chocolate are melted gently together. Doesn’t that look delicious?

Five egg yolks

Will be beaten with the cooled chocolate mixture

Five egg whites, beaten until stiff are folded carefully into the chocolate mixture.

Then the batter is put into a springform pan and baked just until the internal temperature reaches 140 degrees F.

After cooling in the pan 10 minutes, the pan sides are removed. More cooling is needed before the cake can be turned over and the parchment removed, then turned over again on the serving plate.

Drifts of whipped cream and dollops of raspberry jam, plus a scattering of fresh berries dress up this decadent dessert. Vanilla ice cream was contemplated, but time and energy ran out. Some old ladies really don’t have the patience to make ice cream after all.

The young ladies were impressed by the cake, but just giggled when she tried to explain why it was called the Valentino Cake. Cretins!


Yes, it's time again for the monthly Daring Baker's Challenge. Many Valentino Cakes (and ice creams) may be found using the Daring Baker’s Blogroll.

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef. We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.

The recipes may be found on their blogs: Dharm & Wendy

This was a truly decadent, ultra chocolate cake. Although best served in small pieces, because it is very rich, Sweetie, our daughter (home on a visit) and I managed to each devour a good sized wedge, which was made even more delightful with the berries, jam and whipped cream.

(The baker dog didn’t get any chocolate of course, but he enjoyed licking whipped cream bowl.)

The amazing thing about this cake is that it is restaurant quality and super impressive, but easy to make. Use the best ingredients you can and take care with each step, then enjoy the results. Sweetie claims it is the best chocolate cake I’ve ever made.

Thank you Dharm and Wendy for choosing such a wonderful challenge! Dharm is another Daring Baker who adds a little fiction to some of his monthly posts, so I hope he enjoys the story at the beginning of this one.

Ruby Tuesday

My fellow blogger DaviMack over at Wish I were Baking posted a photo last week of a glorious red door as part of a blogging event new to me, Ruby Tuesday. The idea is to post a photo with red...a bit of red, lots of red, your choice. You can see what it is all about over at Work of the Poet.

Usually I post about food, but to do a Ruby Tuesday post I decided to share a photo from last fall. When I was in Taos my sister and I went to a wool festival on the town green. The scope and variety of wool and wool products was awesome. I only took a few photos...I was too busy feeling the nubby yarn and looking at hand knit sweaters and felted scarves to think about taking pictures. One view that did appeal to me was a stall that had bags of brightly colored wool.

This can't really warm you up if you are where it is cold, but the lovely mix of reds can brighten the day a bit, right?

xoxo Elle

Being a Buddy with Bread

I've wanted to be a Bread Baking Buddy, someone who makes and posts about the bread of the month baked by the Bread Baking Babes, but something always got in the way. This month, just in time for their first Anniversary, I finally managed to carve out the time to do it. It was a good month for it, too. The recipe for the BBB Anniversary Bread is Carol Field’s Pane ai Cinque Cereali con Noci, also known as Five-Grain Bread with Walnuts,Adapted from The Italian Baker by Carol Field.

The Kitchen of the month is Tanna's My Kitchen in Half Cups, which is very appropriate since she is described as the Den Mother of the Babes. The bread is chock full of walnuts, has five yummy grains, and makes a delicious loaf or two. I made both of mine into oval loaves and had them do the final rise and their trip in the oven on a baking sheet...no pans for these loaves. As a result, they were flatter and wider than sandwich loaves, but really beautiful with two kinds of slashes on the top. One is what I've heard is a traditional wheat grain slash. The other is just diagonal slashes.

Both loaves were given a milk/egg wash and they came out of the oven shiny and brown and gorgeous.

Often when I make bread using the stand mixer I let the dough hook do most of the kneading. This loaf was different, perhaps because the walnuts are added along with the flour near the beginning instead of being kneaded in once the dough is elastic. The dough hook just didn't want to hook up with this dough, so I had fun kneading it for a while.

Once the loaves where shaped I put them in the fridge and went off to work. When I got home they had risen a little, but the most interesting thing was that they looks a bit pale purple. I think that had to do with some chemical reaction to compounds in the walnuts. Once baked the purple hue mostly went away, but it did look weird for a while before baking. Sorry, didn't get a photo...dinner was underway and photos were not encouraged by Sweetie.

This bread is delicious, with a hearty taste from the different grains and some crunch from the walnuts. I was hoping for a stronger walnut flavor. Next time I might use some walnut oil in the dough and maybe even more walnuts. The crumb is good and the bread is moist enough, but not too moist for my taste.

Thank you Bread Baking Babes for a year of bread adventures, even though it was mostly vicarious enjoyment. Guess I'm finally a Buddy.

You can find the recipe at Tanna's blog, My Kitchen in Half Cups. I followed it very closely, using barley flour instead of the rice flour, but otherwise baking the recipe.

Just a Cookie

Sometimes all you want is just a cookie. A simple cookie, not something that is too complicated or has too many ingredients. It does have to have some good flavor, and maybe some texture. It helps it you don't have to go to the store for more ingredients, too.

I found just such a cookie today. A friend was coming over for tea. It was raining out, so not only did I not want to go to the store, I had a chilly kitchen, too. That meant that it might take some time for butter to soften, so I was also looking for a recipe that didn't need soft butter. The ingredients were all in the pantry and fridge. I warmed the eggs in a bowl of warm water and they were in the oven in a jiffy.

These cookies are called Pecan Chews. I found them in the Bar Cookie section of Maida Heatter's Book of Great Cookies. She describes them as "soft, tender, chewy squares". They are flavored with a quantity of pecans, with some coffee and some brown sugar. They go together quickly.

Once they were baked and had cooled a little on the counter, I cooled them in the fridge until they were cool enough to cut.

They were just right with a cup of tea and great with a cup of coffee. The house also had a nice welcoming scent of freshly baked cookies. Sweetie was appreciative of them as well.

Use fresh pecans for these. The nuts are a big part of the flavor and appeal.

Pecan Chews

16 squares

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon double-acting baking powder
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon instant coffee
1 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
6 oz. (generous 1 2/3 cups) pecans, cut into medium-sized pieces

(abbreviated directions - for full directions, go to the book itself). Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Turn a 9-inch square (although I used an 8 -inch square pan and it worked fine)baking pan over. Cover with aluminum foil. Take the foil off and turn the pan over. Using a pot holder, push the foil down into the inside of the pan to fit. Grease and flour the pan. Knock out excess flour.

Sift together the flour and baking powder and set aside.

Beat the eggs lightly just to mix. Add the vanilla, instant coffee, and sugar and beat only to mix; don't overmix. On low speed beat in the sifted dry ingredients only to mix. Mix in 1 cup nuts.

Turn dough into prepared pan. Spread to level. Sprinkle with remaining 2/3 cup pecans.

Bake for about 25 minutes until cake starts pulling away from sides of pan just a bit.

Remove from the oven. Cool in pan 20 minutes.

Turn out onto board, peel off foil, carefully turn back over. Cool in fridge about half hour.

Cut into 16 squares. A serrated knife works well.

Dangerous and Chocolate

As a post-Valentine treat my red-headed friend e-mailed me a very dangerous recipe. It's for a chocolate cake. She is a true chocoholic, so I was immediately interested. The cake is just enough for one person and is made in the microwave. Lookin' good. The ingredients are ones that I usually have on hand. Better and better. It's called the 5 Minute Chocolate Mug Cake.

So why is it dangerous? Because now you have a recipe (below) for a yummy chocolate cake that you can make anytime, day or night, when you have 5 minutes.

I immediately sent the recipe out to a lot of friends and family on my e-mail list, although I did copy it into a new document and I added that it might be good with some chopped walnuts thrown in.

Then it occured to me that I hadn't made this dangerous cake. Maybe it was terribel and I'd inflicted a bad recipe...not dangerous bad, but yucky bad...on loved ones. So I had to make it :)

This afternoon, after I had worked off some calories gardening...weed pulling and hauling potting soil and pots around can be vigorous exercise, right?...I made up a mug of chocolate cake. I included the chocolate chips, but didn't make any changes, nor did I add nuts. It seemed like a good idea to see how it was as written.

It was good...not great, but good. Best of all, it was warm! Warm chocolate cake with melty chocolate chips is pretty nice stuff. Since I love chocolate and raspberry, I put some raspberry coulis on the plate. It seemed a bit dry, so I added some half and half once I had cut the cake in half. It was a delightful afternoon treat. I might try it again sometime. Next time I would try it with the butter, with the nuts, and with some of the milk replaced with cold coffee. Doesn't that sound good?

So here is your own little dangerous recipe to try. You might even think of your own variations.

From Don Fulton: The most dangerous cake recipe


5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE

4 tablespoons flour

4 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons cocoa

1 egg

3 tablespoons milk

3 tablespoons oil ..or try real butter...worked very well

3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)

a small splash of vanilla extract

1 large coffee mug

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Pour in the milk and oil and mix well. Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract, and mix again.

Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts (high). The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed! Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.

EAT! (this can serve 2 if you want to feel slightly more virtuous). And why is this the most dangerous cake recipe in the world? Because now we are all only 5 minutes away from chocolate cake at any time of the day or night!

You are going to print this out straight away, aren't you?
Bet some chopped walnuts would go well, too. Mmmmm.

Triple the Oatmeal

It's probably due to my Celtic background, the Irish ancestors or something, but I love oats. Oats were once a staple grain for much of Northern Europe, especially England, Scotland and Ireland. They have a nice, nutty taste and lots of water soluble fibre.

When I was growing up, my Mom would often make a whole pot of oatmeal for breakfast during the colder part of the year. If made ahead and kept hot, oatmeal has a tendency to become gummy or gluey. Fraid that was the case with Mom's oatmeal if my memory serves.

Still, many mornings a week these days I eat oatmeal for breakfast and I love it! I add some golden raisins and pour a little milk on top once the cooked oatmeal cools a bit.

When I make quick breads or muffins, I often whirl some rolled oats around in the food processor to get some ready made oat flour to add to those goodies, just because I like the way they taste when I do. I know that oats are a healthy food, too, especially if you don't add quantities of butter, brown sugar, and cream. Another Irish staple, potatoes, also is pretty healthy until you start adding in the butter, sour cream and salt in large doses...but that's for another post.

Continuing on my bread baking journey, this week I decided to see what happened if I used some of the things I had learned making loaves in the past and applied that learning to making my own bread recipe. An oatmeal bread seemed like a good place to start.

First I made some oatmeal using steel cut oats. Once the oatmeal was cooled, it went into a poolish, along with whole wheat flour, all purpose flour and some rolled oats...the kind that are quick oats because you can cook them in the microwave in a little over a minute. Some sourdough starter also went into the mix, along with water and salt.

The next morning the third kind of oats came into play. The poolish went into the mixer bowl and was joined by old fashioned rolled oats...the kind you cook for at least five minutes, but usually longer...plus some more whole wheat flour, some bread flour, some buttermilk and honey and egg. This made a wonderful, elastic, easy to work with dough.

Once the loaf had been shaped in a loaf pan and had risen, it received an egg wash and a sprinkle of some more of the old fashioned kind of rolled oats on top. A few slashes across the top and into the oven it went.

This bread browned up slowly...even when slices went into the toaster. It has a nice rough texture from the old fashioned oats and makes great sandwich bread.

If you like oats, you will love this bread. No sourdough starter? No problem. Just put a teaspoon of dried yeast into 1/3 cup of warm water (not above 110 degrees F) and let it sit 10 minutes to proof. Then add it to the poolish instead of the starter. This bread makes a great entry into Susan of Wild Yeast's Yeast Spotting event.

Triple Oat Sandwich Bread

recipe by Elle

Poolish:
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup steel cut oats, cooked for 5 minutes in 3/4 cup boiling water, stirring constantly, then cooled to tepid
1/2 cup quick style rolled oats
1 cup sourdough starter
1/2 cup warm water
1 teaspoon salt

Dough:

1/2 cup buttermilk at room temperature
1 tablespoon honey
1 egg, beaten slightly, or equivalent egg substitute
all of the Poolish
1 cup old fashioned rolled oats
2 cups + breadflour
1 cup whole wheat flour

Wash and topping:

1 egg yolk, mixed with 1 tablespoon warm water

2-3 tablespoons old fashioned rolled oats

Whisk all the ingredients for the Poolish together. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit in cool place overnight, or for at least eight hours.

In a heatproof measuring cup or bowl, mix together the buttermilk and honey. Warm slightly in the microwave. Cool if needed so that it is no hotter than 110 degrees F. Mix in the egg.

Take all of the Poolish and put into a stand mixer bowl. Using paddle attachment, mix in the buttermilk mixture, the rolled oats, and 1 cup of the bread flour. Remove the paddle and using the dough hook, incorporate the remaining bread flour and the whole wheat flour. If needed, use more bread flour, a tablespoon at a time, to make a dough that cleans the side of the mixer bowl. Knead with the mixer and/or by hand for 8 - 10 minutes until dough is elastic and somewhat smooth.

Place dough in oiled bowl; turn dough to oil other side. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in bulk, about 2 hours.

Punch dough down and turn out onto a floured board. Knead lightly a few times to release trapped air. Divide dough in half. Shape each half into a loaf shape and put into a loaf pan. Cover and let rise until almost to the top of the pans, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. about 15 minutes before bread is ready to bake.

Brush egg wash over the top of each loaf and sprinkle liberally with the rolled oats. Cut slashes in the top of the loaf and bake in preheated oven for about an hour, until top of bread is golden and loaf sounds hollow when bottom is tapped. Cool on a wire rack for at least 45 minutes before slicing. Makes 2 loaves.

Darling Baker

Apparently it is a bit daunting to bake for a Daring Baker. There are worries about not measuring up. Well, this Daring Baker was absolutely THRILLED with the birthday cake that Darling Baker Sister Number One brought yesterday.

Candles were lit, the birthday song was sung, wishes made, candles blown out and then we each had a slice. The cake was baked in the same heart shaped cake pans that had been used to bake cakes for my birthday when I was a child. How is that for special? The cake was my favorite kind...chocolate...and iced with...YUM...whipped cream. Between the layers was spread a mixed berry jam, an excellent choice. The cake was moist and darkly chocolate and perfectly delicious. She even sprinkled pink sugar decorations on top. Sweetie liked it so much he had a piece for breakfast this morning :)

Happy Valentine's Day to the darling Daring Bakers, the sweet bloggers, and even you lurkers!

This evening Sweetie and Sister Number One, now known as the Darling Baker, will each receive a little Valentines gift from me.

Your gift is the recipe for the Anzac cookies...so delicious if you don''t burn them...which I should have posted yesterday.

Anzac Cookies

makes about 2 dozen

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, melted
2 tablespoons hot water
2 tablespoons golden syrup
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup self-rising flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup dry coconut
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
1/2 cup mixed dried fruit (I used Sunkist Anti-oxidant blend)

1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

2) Combine the melted butter, hot water, golden syrup and brown sugar in a mixing bowl (or the pot you melted the butter in if it large enough to hold the batter). Stir to blend well.

3) On a sheet of waxed paper combine the oats, flours, salt and soda. You could also combine them in a mixing bowl

4) Add the nuts, coconut, dry ingredients and dried fruit to the butter mixture. Stir to blend well.

5) Pack dough into small tart pans or make into drop cookies on a cookie sheet. Bake in preheated oven for 15 minute until golden brown. (New note: Check cookies at 10 and 13 minutes :)

6) Cool cookies on wire rack. Store in airtight container. These cookies ship well. Enjoy!

Musings in February

Funny how we really don't see ourselves clearly.

This week I was having lunch with K and she gave me a wonderful birthday gift...a satin scarf in a lovely Baroque print in shades of brown and green. She was anxious because she wasn't sure it was my style (in fact it is just right for me!) and said that she doesn't have any style herself, which was why she was worried. That startled me because the day before I had been thinking that I wished I had her sense of style. She is always beautifully coordinated. She says that she just wears tops and bottoms, but her tops have embroidery, lovely wooden beads, and other embellishments, plus the colors are perfect for her.

Then I received a wonderful letter from Grandma L. She said that I am a formidable woman, as well as smart and other nice things. I had never thought of myself as formidable! Forceful, perhaps, and a go-getter, but maybe some of that translates into formidable. Who knew?

One thing I'm not is perfect (well, who is really?) and I proved that last night. I decided to bake some Anzac cookies for Sweetie for Valentine's Day in heart shapes. After dinner I put together the batter, even adding some anti-oxidant dried fruit mix to offset the butter. In to the preheated oven they went, I checked my watch for the time, then went and did some e-mail. My nose is notorious...I can't smell things burning until they are well and truly charred. That is what happened! The poor things were black on the bottom and sides. The broiler had been on to broil pork chops for dinner and I guess it made the oven hotter than it should have been. So the bad news is that there won't be any cute cookies for V-Day, but we are such sick puppies that the good news is we ate about half of them anyway, char and all.

I'm including a photo of how they looked, plus one of a batch I made a while ago that look like they are supposed to look. Also a shot of golden syrup dripping into the pan...the golden syrup is the 'secret ingredient' for these yummy bites. I use Lyles' Golden Syrup from the import section of my grocery store.

Happy birthday to me and Happy Valentine's Day to y'all. Hope your Valentines treats work out better than mine did!

xoxoxo Elle