Brace yourself.... homemade soft pretzels ahead...

After years of searching I may finally, FINALLY, have found something that rivals the excitement of making homemade pita bread (did you try that yet? no? then go do it! seriously! now! I'll wait.)


What could this amazing item be? Well, the title gave it away already but just pander to my whims.... drumroll please.... HOME MADE SOFT PRETZELS! (I wish I had taken time for a prettier picture but I could hardly stand to wait another minute before devouring one).

 I learned about this process over at Pink Parsley and got some extra tips from Annie's Eats. It wasn't simple, but it also wasn't as hard as it might seem- it was definitely fun, and I think kids would love shaping the pretzels (I know I did!).


First, you need to make the dough. 
--1.5 cups very warm water 
--1 Tbs sugar
--2 tsp salt
--2¼ tsp instant yeast (= 1 little packet)
--4½ cups all purpose flour
--4 Tbs unsalted butter, melted (could likely substitute olive oil, but butter would taste better)
--Olive oil


At this point, you should also put aside some things you'll need later:
--2/3c baking soda
--more melted butter (olive oil if you really prefer)
-salt/cinnamon sugar/garlic/herbs - whatever you want to top them with.


Put the water in a large bowl, and add the yeast and sugar. Leave a few minutes just to make sure that it starts to foam (so you know the yeast is active). Stir until dissolved. Then add the salt, melted butter, and flour. Mix until well combined, and stir/knead for about 5 more minutes until the dough holds together as a unit and stays away from the side of the bowl (add more flour if it's too wet). Put the dough in a clean bowl lightly coated in oil, flip a few times so it is coated, and then cover with a towel and let rise. (I usually turn on my oven for a couple minutes so it's a little warm, turn it off, and set the bowl in there). It'll have to rise 50-60 minutes, or until doubled.

Flip the dough out on to a clean surface. Then, divide it up into equal pieces- I cut mine into 12.

Take each piece and roll it into a snake- mine were about 12-14 inches long. Twist into a traditional shape, as below, or you can make pretty much anything else you can think of. I made about half of them like this, and then the rest I chopped up in to 1.5 inch pieces to make pretzel bites (which ended up like pretzel balls after baking).

Now, here comes the exciting part. After you have formed them all, you have to boil them, which is how they get their pretzel-like exterior instead of just being like bread.

Bring about 10c of water (or, just a big pan) and 2/3 cup baking soda to a boil. 

One by one, gently place each pretzel into the water for about 30 seconds. (the soundtrack to the above picture is something like "faster! faster! take the picture take the picture! it's falling!". When I made the pretzel nuggets, I cooked them all at the same time.

Halfway through the boiling, flip the pretzel over- the outside will visibly change texture.

Gently take it out, and place on a cookie sheet lined with oil brushed parchment paper. I lightly brushed mine with butter (or the butter-like) product of your choice) and I think it was well worth it. These aren't something you're going to be making every day, might as well make them maximally delicious when you do! Put some coarse salt on top.

I also made (in the pretzel-bites) garlic and cinnamon sugar flavored versions. The garlic I made by brushing them with butter heavily laced with chopped garlic. The cinnamon sugar had some issues, I think if I did them again, I'd roll them in cinnamon sugar immediately upon coming out of the oven.

Cook them for about 12-15 minutes, until really nice and golden in an oven preheated to 450 degrees.

When they come out, be prepared to enjoy the deliciousness immediately, because seriously, they will never be more delicious than at that moment! If you want to reheat them later, I highly recommend putting them in a very hot oven for a few minutes, although some people say you can also microwave them as well. 

This was definitely a process, but it was fun, and man, they were amazing!

The Famous Donut Muffins

I feel like I have been reading left and right on the internet about these donut muffins. I love donuts as much as the next girl, but they're not exactly something you can have on a regular basis. So, I figured I'd give this whole donut muffin thing a shot- I used a recipe from over at For The Love of Cooking, which you should totally check out if you don't read it already.

The Stuff:
- 3/4 c white sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 1/2 cup of flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
- 1/4 cup of vegetable oil
- 3/4 cup of milk (I used almond milk, it didn't matter much)
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla

sugar topping:
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350. Basically, just mix everything together (I am not organized about that, but you can do wet and dry ingredients separately if you're really vigilant). Grease the muffin pan with cooking spray- don't use muffin cups because it'll ruin the whole ultimate donut-like effect. If you want them to be really round, just make about 9 muffins, or you can be more frugal and make 12. Bake them 15-18 minutes.

Now, for the topping. I made some rolled in cinnamon sugar mixture. Just wait a few minutes after cooking, then roll them around in the bowl. I also decided I wanted some glazed because to me, that is what actually makes a donut. I found this Alton Brown glaze, and it was really good. Now, the recipe he has is huge, I only had half my muffins to do anyways, so used a tablespoon of milk and half a cup of powdered sugar (and there was still extra). I put them on a cooling rack with paper towels underneath, and slowly spooned the glaze over. You can see both types in the picture.

Normally with something like this, I would do things like replace the eggs with egg whites, and reduce the oil, and other similar things. But, I figured the whole idea here was that the texture would be similar to a cakey donut, and I didn't want to mess that up. So, I left it as it was. Honestly, it actually did taste pretty donut like, I don't think you'd fool anyone, but the glazed ones in particular could definitely work for a craving... give it a try!

Sage Apple Cornbread

So, in addition to lemon cucumbers, my co-gardener across the city has a bumper crop of sage. There is sage drying for burning, and I managed to abscond with some so I could cook something with it.

Most of the things I'm familiar with using sage for are things like my Gnocchi, Sage, and Butternut Squash, which is very wintery and not what you want to make out of your nice summer garden. After a bit of looking around, this is what I landed on:

Apple Sage Cornbread (based on the cornbread recipe on the corn meal box!)

1c cornmeal

1c flour

.25c sugar

1tbsp baking powder

1tsp salt

1c milk (almond milk, around here)

1/3c oil

1 egg

Mix all those ingredients together, as your base mixture, then lightly sauté the following:

half an onion, finely chopped (do this first, it has to cook the most)

about 10 chopped sage leaves

1 cob of corn, kernels cut off

1 apple, chopped finely

Add these to the mixture, bake at 400 for about 20-25 min (8x8 pan).

Simple Sage Bean Salad

This is a nice, simple cold dish that paired well with the cornbread.

1 can white beans, rinsed and drained

half an onion, finely chopped

sage leaves, chopped

fresh chives, chopped

1 roma tomato, chopped (more if you like tomatoes more than I do!)

half a red pepper, chopped

about 2oz gorgonzola

top with oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper. Let sit in the fridge for a while to chill and let the flavors blend.

All in all, this meal was a nice use of some fresh ingredients, and made for a good summer dinner!

Beer Bread

Oh man oh man oh man!

I'm always trying to figure out some miraculous fast way to make bread at home. I have tried things like this whole artisan bread in 5 minutes a day kick people were on, I've tried other fast and easy tricks. And, let me tell you, I have made a lot of bad bread (see Exhibit A. it was not delicious. it looked like a giant cow pattie. it did not look like the picture on the internet. neither did any of the rest of the ones I made).


Exhibit A.

BUT. This, this might be the answer. And, of course, the answer involved beer.

This is suuuuuuuuuper easy:
1 bottle beer (I used Sierra Nevada IPA because thats what I had)
3c flour
.5tsp salt
1tsp baking powder
1/3c sugar

Stir it up. Put it in a loaf pan. Let it sit for like half an hour to an hour if you have time. Put it in the oven at 350, and bake for about 1 hour. If you want, 3/4 of the way through you can spread butter on the top of it.

Check this out! Its not deformed!


And check THIS out... (DRUMROLL, PLEASE...)

Yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

(ps. if you have self-rising flour, use that. just skip the salt and baking powder)

Foccacia!

I've previously posted on my ongoing efforts to make various kinds of flatbreads. Part of the reason for my obsession is that it kind of blows my mind that when it gets down to it, a lot of these are just made of different permutations of flour and water. Do it one way, get paste! Do it another way, get bread! Its crazy! At any rate, this project has been met with various successes and failures, including

Cumin-sesame flatbread, verdict: ok.
Poppy seed roti, verdict: totally not worth the effort
Pita, verdict: the best, most entertaining, awesome thing I've ever made
and now...
Foccacia. (verdict: good!)

1 tsp sugar
1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
1/3 cup warm water

2 cups flour
2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp salt

First, proof the yeast (I think the rumor is you probably don't need to do this for the little packets of yeast these days, but hey, its fun). Basically, put sugar, yeast, and warm water in a bowl. Let it sit there until its a little frothy (10 min or so), then you know the yeast is good.

Mix in the flour to the yeast mixture really well. Keep putting in water, a tablespoon at a time, until its like a dough and makes a ball that is moist but not sticky or wet.

Take it out of the bowl and make it into a ball, clean the bowl, and put a little oil in it. Put the ball in the bowl and cover with a towel. Put it in a warm place (if you're me, preheat the oven and let it sit on top) and let it sit for about 30 min.

Knead for a minute to deflate, and then put it on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Press it out, so it becomes pretty big and flat- mine took up almost the whole cookie sheet. Then brush with oil, sprinkle the top with salt and whatever herbs you feel like (basil, rosemary).

Bake it in a preheated HOT (475 degrees) oven for 10-20 minutes depending on how thick you made it and how crunchy you want it.

See how awesome it looks?


And here it is in context...

Is this Superbowl Food?

This year I took a break from the Superbowl (although, I did end up watching the end, which was very exciting even for me).

Instead, I made this: Red Lentil Cauliflower Curry and Poppy Seed Roti (from Veganomicon, again). Generally, it went well. The curry is basically red lentils, onion, a wide variety of spices parsnip (to be fair: I do not know the difference between a parsnip and a turnip, never having eaten them growing up. I used one of the two and it worked beautifully. I am also too lazy to google it and determine which one the thing in my fridge actually was, since I'd forgotten since I bought it. It was kind of a supporting player, at any rate). So, the curry was delish! (picture to come). It made a ton and I would totally make it again.

The roti... now, the roti was another story. It was all very promising, and I was so psyched about the results of my previous pita bread efforts, I was very optimistic. Basically, the ingredients are simple (whole wheat flour, cornmeal, poppyseeds, corriander seeds, and a bit of oil. The process of making them, not so easy. It involved a lot of rolling and folding and brushing with oil, over and over. Then, you cook them on a hot pan. I'm not entirely sure whether I did something wrong, or whether this is how they are, but they never puffed up and were just sort of tough. They were ok, but not really worth the effort (sad!).

Here are the roti in their nascent state:


And, here is the whole deal (with brown rice):

Homemade Pitas... wow!

On my list of things I never even pondered making at home was (apparently) pita bread. I was so far from pondering it that I had never even wondered about it until my aunt gave me 'A Baker's Odyssey' for my birthday (which is worth checking out, by the way). Among recipes for baked goods from around the world was a simple sounding pita recipe. I've been biding my time until I had an empty Sunday evening, and this weekend was it!

Here is the cliff notes version of what to do (including my modifications):
1. proof one package of yeast in half a cup hot water with just a dash of sugar (10 min)
2. to the yeast/water mixture add 1c flour, 2c water, and ~2tsp salt (it seems like a lot, but gives a good non-sweet flavor to the final product) and beat. Add 2 more cups flour to this along with 2T olive or canola oil.
3. stir in about 3 more cups flour until it looks like dough.
4. knead this for a bit, adding more flour until it is smooth and not sticky any more, shape into a ball.
5. coat a clean bowl with more oil, put the dough in the bowl and roll around to coat. cover and let rise (if I had read this post already, I would have used a shower cap, because I think that is an awesome idea).
6. Wait for the dough to double (an excellent activity during this time is to pre-emptively make hummus!)
7. Turn out on to work surface, deflate it a bit, and divide with a sharp knife (you can do 16 pieces, that worked well or if you want mini pitas could even do 24 or so).
8. shape each piece into a ball (be sure to pinch the seam shut) and put on a cookie sheet or towel, seam side down
9. let them sit while you pre-heat the oven (10-20 min). The oven should be REALLY hot. I used 500 because it was the hottest my oven goes. Put a cookie sheet in there while it is preheating so it also is pre-heated. If you have a baking or pizza stone you should use that, but plan ahead and start heating it up earlier.
10. roll out the dough into round shapes- you can decide if you want them fatter or thinner, mine are about as wide as my hand is from the fingers to the wrist. let them sit a few more minutes
11. this is the crazy part. Put some circles on the very hot cookie sheet (mine held 4) for only about 2-3 minutes (my oven took 3 minutes because it is a 'crapi' apartment oven). You'll know they are close because they puff up like little balloons! they shouldn't be very brown at all, the puffing is the main sign they are done.
12. now you have to get them out- BE CAREFUL, they are full of really hot steam. I gently pulled mine onto a oven mitt and then tossed them onto a towel... you can see how puffy they are...
13. Deflate each one as it comes out, and stack them up wrapped in a tea towel. I let mine cool tightly wrapped in the towel over night because they were too hot to put in a plastic baggy.
14. enjoy! this is seriously the best pita I have ever had, it is so moist and soft and delicious- and its like magic, it even is split on the inside like 'real' pita. I'm incorporating it into every meal and its awesome...