So you know how sometimes really crappy weather makes you want to hunker down and hibernate just a little while? Well, it’s April and New England is getting a Nor’Easter (which actually doesn’t mean snow necessarily, just wind direction, but the precipitation is still supposed to be yucky). So the bad weather got me thinking of wanting to be in the tropics, which got me thinking of citrus fruits, so I dug through my bag of tricks and came up with a jar of Guava Jam. Never had a guava? Well, it tastes a lot like oranges and peaches mixed together. Add in some macadamia nuts and voila, tropical inspiration to get over the Spring Stormy blues.
Monthly Archives
April 2021
Continuing my sourdough adventures…. I had to give Alice some refreshment, and I really hate to through away perfectly good starter, I decided to make another style of breakfast bread (I already make a terrific Cranberry Walnut Bread!): Müsli Sourdough Breakfast Bread. Toasted Granola and the ever-controversial raisins are the mix-ins this time with some sweet, dark avocado blossom honey. It’s still a little dense, but incredibly moist and phenomenal flavor. I can definitely see this one going into the rotation of breakfast breads.
Some of you may have heard of the slightly strange tradition of naming one’s Sourdough Starter (aka Mother). I have named mine Alice. Alice in Wondoughland, in fact. I’ll just put that in as a teaser as there will be more on Alice as time goes on. Yes, I named a jar of goo after a fictional character. Trust me, I am still sane, even through the pandemic. Or at least mostly as bonkers as I was at the beginning.
Anyway, Alice and her Adventures in Wondoughland produced this lovely Seeded Multigrain Sourdough Loaf. It is very similar to my yeasted multigrain loaf. It turned out positively delicious. I still need to work on the texture a bit, but the flavor was spot on.
PS: Alice has her own FB Page (@AliceInWondoughland) and Instagram (@aliceinwondoughland). I just started them so there isn’t anything up there yet, but feel free to like/follow.
Ending my Easter baking this year with a little Cardamom Carrot Cake with Pecans and Zante Currants. I love cardamom — my favorite spice — and a nice, healthy carrot cake to balance out all the chocolate Easter Bunnies. I didn’t make the sugar-decorations just bought them; being lazy), but they are a cute addition, don’t you think?
Continuing the tradition of making a new variation on Hot Cross Buns, this year, I made Apricot Pecan Hot Cross Buns. Dried apricots soaked in rum and toasted pecan bits in a sweet, yeasted dough. Very “Easter-y” to me and delicious for breakfast for the next few days as I have company for the holiday weekend.