More experimenting with artisan non-knead breads baked in my Le Creuset Dutch Ovens. I am still not 100% with the texture of this Rosemary, Fig and Toasted Pine Nut Rustic Loaf — a little too dense — but I actual fear that I added too many figgy bits. Serves me right as I love figs, but too much of a good thing can hinder the rise. nevertheless, a decent attempt, flavor is good and the crusty outside from the dutch oven is amazing.
Monthly Archives
January 2021
I thought that I would go healthy this week and make some granola bars. This is my go-to recipe — not too hard that you will break your teeth, but a little soft and definitely flavorful. If you search the site, you’ll see a bunch of variations; this time I decided to go ith apples and almond slices, with a bit of cinnamon and vanilla. Great pick me up afternoon snack!
Once a year, I make a cake, on Annual Cake Day. It’s not that I don’t like cake, but there are things that I like more, and I am not great at decorating. I know, I say this every year. On Annual Cake Day. Well, that day is today, so here it is: a Winter Magic Torte: Chocolate Rosemary Almond Cake, with Sugared Cranberries. It’s a chocolate cake with rosemary buttercream on the inside, deep rich ganache, toasted almonds and sugared cranberries on the outside. And it came out better than I expected, so at least Annual Cake Day 2021 turned out ok. Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.
I had a bout of insomnibaking last night and this morning. I went to bed at a reasonable time, but then woke up at about oh-dark-thirty, thinking about focaccia. Yep, strange thing to be dreaming about, but I have been ruminating on this recipe for a while, so maybe less of a surprise than one would think. It is actually the base for a pizza/focaccia recipe from America’s Test Kitchen, and then I started drawing with veggies and grains. Anyway, believe it or not, I got up, made the dough for this and went back to bed. Then, as I always get up at about 5 AM, before work I made the rest of it and baked it off just before work. It is actually really good, so even though it is “artwork” (it actually looks like a 4 years old’s drawing), you can eat it. I could see an Italian restaurant serving this as a starter with olive oil and sea salt. Nom nom nom.
Breads, Breakfast/Brunch, Sweet Snacks
Cinnamon Swirl New Year’s Pretzel
Cinnamon Swirl New Year’s Pretzel
(Grosse Zimt Neujahrs Brezel)
Happy New Year! Happy to have 2020 in the rear view mirror and I am hopeful that 2021 may be somewhat better. Here is this year’s Rendition of my annual Neujahrs Brezel (New Year’s Pretzel). A I have explained in the past years, in parts of Germany, it is traditional to bake these large, sweet (that’s not salt, that’s pearl sugar) pretzels. Like in some other places (France, Spain, etc), traditionally a coin or trinket is baked into the treat and whoever find it, has good luck for the coming year. In order not to have dental bills in the coming year (and seeing I am solo), I skipped the hidden coin, but I did “stuff” the inside with cinnamon-paste, so it’s actually a gigantic cinnamon roll masquerading as a pretzel. What’s not to love, right?