Germany on my mind today as I watch with grave concern the flooding and devastation. It’s not the region of Germany where I have a lot of family (though my father’s side is closer, mother’s side is from the south — and not to worry, all family and friends are accounted for and well). And, I had to feed the sourdough starter and was feeling particularly German, so I made this Mandel-Rosienenzopf. Roughly, it’s a Challah style bread, most commonly called a Hefezopf of Hefekranz, but seeing I wasn’t using Hefe (yeast), I couldn’t very well call it either of that, so I went with Raisin and Almond Challah. It’s light and got a bit of a chew on the inside and is very flavorful. It reminds me of my Oma, who used to dunk it in her milk coffee.
nuts
Mandel-Rosinenzopf (Saurteig) /
I don’t go crazy-overboard with the 4th of July / Independence Day Treats, but I thought that I should do *something*, and this is frankly the most Americana thing that I could think of …. breakfast cereal, marshmallows, peanut butter and red-white-and-blue sprinkles. Voila, festive Rice Krispies Treats, just in the for the holiday.
The weekly sourdough! Another “new-to-me” bread (though I had made it as a yeasted bread before): Sourdough Marathon Bread. Why is it called Marathon Bread? Well, other than it being chock full of good for you stuff, thus, likely a good way to carb-load for a marathon, I don’t have a good, specific answer. It does have grated carrots and finely chopped dried fruit (I used dried apricots but you can use anything that you like), plus sunflower and pumpkin seeds. Healthy, yummy, great as a breakfast bread and keeps you going all day with sustenance. I’ll definitely make it again (but with raisins or cranberries, I think)
I’ve had a song stuck in my head for a day now. Do you like Piña Coladas? Getting caught in the rain…. Yup, all because of these here Pineapple Coconut Crumble Bars, I have been humming those two lines of The Piña Colada Song (mainly because I only know those two lines 🙂 ). It turned unexpectedly tropical this weekend in Greater Boston, so it was more or less appropriate eh?
And here is something different: have you ever tried *sweet* Focaccia? Normally it’s savory, with rosemary or garlic or olives or just as a rustic accompaniment to Italian food, but I decided to make some with honey, oranges and hazelnuts. Wow! Simply phenomenal. I could see this along side a salad for brunch or even as a breakfast bread. It’s bursting with flavor, light, sweet and delicious. And it was another excuse to experiment with my sourdough.