[128] Spent Grain Sandwich Bread

Adapted from the Amish White Bread recipe on AllRecipes.

This is actually a challenge recipe. I know our initial rules specify that recipes from the internet don’t count. However, this is both a recipe from the internet and one a friend had carefully selected to give to me for Christmas one year (back in 2008), in a recipe book. I love the book and I love MBBB and thus I’m delighted to share with you.

Of course, as it was a selection from MBBB, when I finally went to make this recipe (more than four years after this blog started), that I included spent grain flour was only fitting.

And man. As soon as I made it, I regretted not making it sooner. I’ve had it before (without spent grain flour).… Continue reading →

Spent Grain Part I: No Knead Bread

So, Bill is the bread master at our house. I can make it, and it’s good, but it’s his joy and he’s phenomenal at it.

Mostly, he makes the basic recipe in Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.1 This year, he’s decided is the year he’s really tackling bread-making.

He’s experimented a bit over the last couple of years with the basic recipe. Amusingly, mostly experiments that his imagination has come up with. I don’t believe we’ve ever made a recipe that’s from the book beyond the basic recipe.

This was no exception. Except that it’s 100% my fault. Mostly because I got into brewing beer again while you guys weren’t looking, and I now have brewer’s spent grain (BSG) around the house. I wanted to save it for baking, but one and only time I’ve brewed so far was right before we went on a work trip.… Continue reading →

[127] Damsel’s Heirloom Sour Cream Apple Pie

I’m just saying, blame Toni.

So, how did the PIE turn out? And how did I make it?

It turned out delicious! I won’t deny, I was pretty dubious about an apple pie with sour cream in it, but when I poked Toni for advice on apple pies, she mentioned her go-to recipe has cream in it and that baked in dairy often gives an “a la mode” flavor without the melty ice cream.

Well. I wouldn’t NORMALLY be in favor of skipping ice cream, but I knew the judges weren’t going to go for me demanding they not try my pie without ice cream. So why not?

I made the pie by doubling and tweaking the crust for Alton Brown’s pecan pie, and then using it for this particular sour cream pie in The Pie Town Cookbook straight.… Continue reading →

Redo Two!

Okay, we’ve probably actually redone this particular recipe, the White Bean and Spinach Soup from The Enchanted Broccoli Forest, seven or eight times.

However, I think this is only the second time I’ve posted about a replication. The first time, found here, is about the garnishes Katzen calls for (and how they were no good). This time, I want to discuss freezing the soup.

Basically, it doesn’t freeze well. Most of it does, but the greens do not. I’m not really sure why they don’t, since I expected it to freeze well. However, the freeze and reheat cycle leaves them disintegrating and not terribly palatable. I’m sure this isn’t a microwave issue, simply because reheating the following day is fine.

This makes a pretty sizable recipe, though, so I’ve been considering ways in which it could be changed to freeze better.… Continue reading →

[126] Simmered Tofu

Cover to Asian Cook by Terry Tan (unknown edition)

Last year, my friend Theresa convinced me to take a wine and food pairing class with her and a couple of her friends. It was a huge amount of fun, and by the end, we were all pretty friendly. We decided we should continue the tradition, and so we now meet about a month to try new foods and wines we think we will go with them. Previously, we hadn’t had any sort of organization, but we’ve recently decided we should have a “theme” for each night.

The most recent hostess decided that we should have Asian food as our theme, partially because it’s a difficult pairing, and partially because she’s Korean and wanted to share shopping and cooking with us. As you can imagine, I figured it was the perfect time to pull out my Asian Cook cookbook and try something.… Continue reading →