Monday, January 02, 2006
Baking Bread Notes
Hi,
Joanna made some ciabbata yesterday. Fabulous and beautiful too. We had French Dips. Rainy here, we are unmotivated to leave the house, so the baking continues. My black bread came out brownish, so I'll try again later in the week. Pizza tonight.
Hope you are well. You are probably moving into the cold season. We are getting rain and cooling trends but nothing in the freezing neighborhood.
We got Jeff Alford's new cookbook the other day, Mangoes and Curry Leaves. Nice pictures and some interesting recipes. For some reason I had been thinking Australian cookbook when I read months ago it was recipes from the Subcontinent. Eventually I figured out it was from India, Pakistan etc. It won't be the life changing tome that Flat Breads and Flavors has been. Still worth reading and exploring. Wish I had the time and courage to go places and ask how to prepare foods.
Joanna found Gourmet Cookbook, edited by Ruth Reichl at the food co-op the other day. I read 4 of her memoirs last year. She was restaurant critique for the New York times for several years. No nonsense, 1000 recipes. No stories, just recipes.
Experimented with Byalistock Kuchens or bialys. Little rolls with carmelized onions and poppy seeds served with cream cheese. Mimi Sheridan wrote a book called The Bialy Eaters. (She also was a New York times restaurant critic.) She went to Poland to find authentic Bialys, but had a hard time finding any since most of the Jews were run out of Poland (if not killed). They took their traditional rolls to New York. I just took our basic dough, made little rounds, pressed a dent in the middle and filled with caramelized onions and poppy seeds. Bake on a stone at 218 degrees C. for 10 to 12 minutes. They came out fine.
Joanna made some ciabbata yesterday. Fabulous and beautiful too. We had French Dips. Rainy here, we are unmotivated to leave the house, so the baking continues. My black bread came out brownish, so I'll try again later in the week. Pizza tonight.
Hope you are well. You are probably moving into the cold season. We are getting rain and cooling trends but nothing in the freezing neighborhood.
We got Jeff Alford's new cookbook the other day, Mangoes and Curry Leaves. Nice pictures and some interesting recipes. For some reason I had been thinking Australian cookbook when I read months ago it was recipes from the Subcontinent. Eventually I figured out it was from India, Pakistan etc. It won't be the life changing tome that Flat Breads and Flavors has been. Still worth reading and exploring. Wish I had the time and courage to go places and ask how to prepare foods.
Joanna found Gourmet Cookbook, edited by Ruth Reichl at the food co-op the other day. I read 4 of her memoirs last year. She was restaurant critique for the New York times for several years. No nonsense, 1000 recipes. No stories, just recipes.
Experimented with Byalistock Kuchens or bialys. Little rolls with carmelized onions and poppy seeds served with cream cheese. Mimi Sheridan wrote a book called The Bialy Eaters. (She also was a New York times restaurant critic.) She went to Poland to find authentic Bialys, but had a hard time finding any since most of the Jews were run out of Poland (if not killed). They took their traditional rolls to New York. I just took our basic dough, made little rounds, pressed a dent in the middle and filled with caramelized onions and poppy seeds. Bake on a stone at 218 degrees C. for 10 to 12 minutes. They came out fine.
