Giving bread a go

A few weeks ago i went to a 2 part cooking class given by King Arthur Flour (KAF). The first half taught us how to make bread, the second half taught us how to make pie dough/crust. For a lot of people (myself included) this stuff is really scary. The part about letting it rise and how long is good enough for kneading. Hint 1:there is a King Arthur emergency hotline for baking 911's. She said the hotline would be starting to have weekend and late night hours soon because of the upcoming holidays. Don't you just love America!!

I kept postponing my first experience. I kind of blamed the lack of a food processor to help as an excuse...but darn that KAF. She pretty much said you don't need a food processor or mixer. All of it can be done by hand. REALLY?! Well i guess our ancestors did it, i guess i can too.

My wonderful friend Chelsea took the plunge first and then shared her recipe for what i was told is a French bread. I'm sure hers turned out like one....mine was kind of just bread like. HEY i'll take any form of bread shape, it was my first go! Since then i've become brave and done it again! Each time it gets better and i become more brave. This week i've decided to tackle something in the filled bread section. We'll see how that one goes.

Anyhoo, here are shots from my bread experience.

This is rising yeast. Smells like a brewery...wonder why!


My dough was supposed to be in the shape of a ball...and not soupy. Well it stuck together, but not as a ball. This is the dough in it's oil bath during the rising process.



Couple hours later it's risen and ready for baking!!


TADA! Fancy huh!

Fall Flavors

I've never really been a fan of fall veggies. Sweet potatoes (was recently added a few years back to the good list), squash, eggplant, root veggies never really made my list of favorites. Walking in the farmers market though the colors just call to me and i thought this year i'm going to give it a try. I'll try something i don't usually like, try a recipe with stuff i enjoy and maybe, just maybe i can add a new vegetable to my like section and make my dislike section smaller.

A few weeks back i made an eggplant concoction (i followed someone's recipe...i haven't the slightest clue how to make something like that). I just don't like the texture, strange hard outside, mushy gross inside, seeds tasted bitter and yucky (i'm such a child). I made it twice thinking maybe i messed it up. nope i still don't like it. I think i'll have to skin it and cut out the seeds. hmmmm it's really too bad because eggplant is such a pretty color.

Next i thought i'd make something with butternut squash. I found this recipe on "www.allrecipes.com". I love that place! So i really have no idea how to make squash based products. I had NO idea that the seeds were in the bulbous part. I always thought they were throughout the entire squash. Hence my picture. I was so amazed (does anyone know about cooking the seeds? They looked like pumpkin seeds!!).




I decided on soup, to ease myself into the veggie. It was squash with corn, rice, ground sausage and other delicious things. It was so yum i know i'll make this again!! hearty, flavorful, delish!



I was so happy with the flavor i bought another one today. I also bought an acorn squash...my next tester!! Soon enough i'll add parsnip...they were so pretty today i should have just bought them.