Living on bread and water

Feest !!

2011-03-28T11:50:00.000-07:00

En ja hoor , mijn eerstvolgende stukje gaat toch weer over :
Brownies en Tiramisu
Niet zelfgebakken maar....het ultieme verjaardagscadeau : Een grote schaal vol !!!
Gekregen van Pascale , de vriendin van mijn dochter (maar ook mijn bakvriendin tegenwoordig).
Ik heb letterlijk met het mes staan zwaaien om nog gauw een foto te kunnen maken van een nog nét niet lege schaal.
Mijn hele gezin stortte zich erop .En ik vooral natuurlijk.
Wat een feest !!!En wat een lief idee !!
En lékker.....
Voor jullie blijft helaas alleen het genieten van de foto .
Sorry....

Groetjes , Monique

Een nieuwe lente ......

2011-03-28T10:32:00.000-07:00

Daar was ze weer !
Bijna een jaar na de laatste posting...
Foei?
Eigenlijk wel ,maar het was niet alleen luiheid.
Ook omdat de spam mijn blog vond. Tientallen berichtjes per week in een onleesbaar chinees lettertype.Zo vervelend.
Dus heb ik de boel maar eens even in de ijskast gezet.
Maar nu is ze er weer.
Weer met nieuwe zin , nieuwe verhalen en mooie foto's (hoop ik).
En gewoon in het nederlands.! Over meer dan alleen bakken.
Over alles wat er zoal voorbij komt.
Eindelijk dan toch een collum , hè Annemiek ?
Een nieuwe lente , een nieuw begin.
Ik heb er zin in !
Dus kom ik met mijn eerste lente foto over de brug :

Groetjes ,Monique

Spring is in the air

2010-04-22T13:08:00.000-07:00

After a long lasting winter ,trees are getting blossoms and in the herb garden chives are coming up as green as green can be.Ready to find its way to the kitchen and into this month bread. Potato bread with chives .Our kitchen of the month princess Sara at I like to Cook asked us to bake this. And believe me , it tastes much better than it sounds. You need some leftover ¨potato´s and soymilk but just normal milk will do as well. And a bunch of chives.Its a real spring bread ´cause it rises as high as the weeds in my garden are growing at the moment.Full of life !!

It was easy to make and bake and so good!!!!!
The little greens of the chives were hardly visible in the sandwiches Nice, because they don´t eat stuff here with green in it.But they gave a great taste .
Next time I chop larger pieces so it will be seen and the bread wil be all mine, haha.
Sitting in the early morning sun in a spring garden eating this for breakfast....or in the eveningsun eating this bread with a bowl of springonion soup......Makes me so happy and makes me forget that long long lasting winter.

If you want to bake your own spring bread and want to become a bread baking babes´buddie please find the recipe at Sara´s kitchen .I don´t have time to give it to you , I have a battle to fight here....with all those fast growing weeds that are taking over my garden.Any one having a recipe for that????

BTW puppies name is PIP.

The reason for posting late , this month....

2010-02-20T05:25:00.000-08:00

WELL , HERE IT IS....

Born dec. 31 '09 and moved over to our house a few days ago.
She , our little German shepparddog , still has no name , or 5 'cause every member of this family wants to name her differently. So if you can come up with a name we all agree, she will be very happy.And so will I.

Oh ,but this post was supposed to tell you about this month BBB's bread.
Well it was good , it was fun and it was tasty.
But keep it to the sweet fillings , goath-cheese and sweetbread don't match , I think. Chocolat like Nutella will do perfect, fat and tasty, instead of pork fat....
What this is all about ?

It's called Ensaïmada and it's said that the origin dates back to the 17th century. Ensaïmadas are made in a lot of Spanish speaking countries, Spain obviously but also the Philipines and Puerto Rico.And now here at BBB's

My dear friend Karen of Bake my Day found this recipe for us.She's the kitchenQueen of the month and for further information you have to go and ring her doorbel.Give her my love and many thanks.
It was a great to do challenge.
Ï'm off to bake dog-bicuits now...

http://sarreguemines-enfants-richard.blogspot.com/

2010-02-07T01:43:00.000-08:00

Mijn nieuwe blog al gezien ?
http://sarreguemines-enfants-richard.blogspot.com/

Over een heel oud servies , wat al honderd jaar in mijn familie is.....
Soms vind ik er nog weleens wat bij om aan te schaffen.
Elk stuk heeft zijn eigen verhaal.
Maar ook verhalen van andere verzamelaars hoop ik hier te krijgen.
En , heel misschien , meldt zich iemand die nog wat over heeft van dit leuke spul !
Kom in elk geval
even kijken ....
groetjes , Monique

A new blog is born

2010-02-01T13:39:00.000-08:00

My second one :

SARREGUEMINES' ENFANTS RICHARD

Sad to say it's in dutch...
But I'll tell you about it. It 's all about a french china , very old ,from a little town , Sarreguemines in France. The name is Enfants Richard and probably the illustrations are from Kate Greenaway , an English writer of children's books in that time.

It's in my family for ages .It was there allready ,as far as I know ,in 1925 when my mother was born. When my brothers and I were little ,we loved when the pancake plate and the the sugar pot and so where used. Each of the pieces has memories , things to tell and each picture has its own story , told by my Mam when we where kids. Dear dear memories. There where no plates left and that's why I started collecting .Now a days I'm trying to find all kinds of items to make it complete.Thats what I'm telling about in my Blog . And if any-one of you has some of that china hidden under the bed....you know where to find me!
In the mean time , take a look at my new blogspot if you like :

http://sarreguemines-enfants-richard.blogspot.com/

There also are pictures of other collectioners , so don't think that big big cupboard is mine. Wish it was....
These are mine :

.

Cute isn't it ? Worth telling about !!

colorfull world...

2010-01-18T09:49:00.001-08:00

The most colorfull food in the world is , as far as I know , the Indian Kitchen. Which I'm very fond off. Like my husband. To tell you the truth , we stop the car when-ever we see an Indian restaurant around dinnertime.Or almost dinnertime. Or whenever it is open....
We made several recipes at home ,but I never tried the breadbaking side of this kitchen. Bad BreadBakingBabe !!
But Lynn , breadbakingbabe-kitchen-of-the-month-host gave us a recipe of Naan , the indian bread.
As said "naan really can't be made at home because traditional naan is made by in a specially made, super hot brick oven " , Lynn found us a recipe that's really worth trying.The recipes come from Paul Hollywood's 100 Great Breads.
And I baked them on a hot baking stone in my stove.
To be honest , the plain "naan" was good.And simple to make.
And the "curry naan" I made only because it was in this challenge.
Guess what...it was GORGIOUS , GREAT , DELICIOUS !!
The mango-chutney and the raisins turned it into a color-full taste.
So don't spoil any time reading this post.
Run to Lynn's kitchen table and start making "Naan".

And give Lynn my love and thanks !

Buddie roundup November

2009-11-22T05:30:00.000-08:00

The first Buddie to sign in was Milagritos
In hot Sidney she created a beautiful Brioche , well wrapped in beautiful Panatone paper.

And then there was Rita, Soepkipje.She didn't have a can. But look how creative she solved the problem....

Maybe a little late but who cares ..Gea van "koekje van eigen deeg" made one too. And it looks great So...another buddie !
And then ,with a big SORRY ,because she waa in time but somehow her message didn't reach me Astrid .
Worth a visit too, as you will find out.

You can , with a can !

2009-11-14T14:05:00.001-08:00

Welcome at my kitchen table , I'm your host this month.
And you know what ? I want you to eat out of a can ,this month . Not for the easy cooking but for this month Bread Baking Babes baking :
The Brioche mousseline.

Take a seat and let me explain :
This very luxury and delicious loaf will be baked in a cylindrial container , most likely used for tomatoes, coffee or what-ever, as long as there is no plastic coating inside.
Because we Babes bake all over the world , we immediately had problems with sorts and sizes for every country's cans .The book is talking about one pound cans, I used 1 liter cans .Please don't you worry. Any size will do, just fill it for 2/3 with the dough and keep an eye on your baking time. And the height of your stove !! Because a paper collar will be tied around the can , the dough can rise to a splendid height : Even twice as high as your can ,if you are lucky. The ovenshelf must be low enough to allow the dough to rise without bumping its head to the oventop.

So eat your tomatoes , clean out that can : it's time to create your own Brioche Mousseline" , the loave that has its roots in France, Normandie , at Honnefleur. The recipe , from pricewinning Baker André David , comes from The Breads of France , of Bernard Clayton jr.

To dress up the cans encircle them with paper(buttered if needed )as a collar.
To make it easier , dress up the outside after you put in the dough. I took parchingpaper , folded double AND I lined also the inside , because of some edges there that could make trouble trying to get the bread out. (In case of emergency you always can use your can-opener on the bottomside and push it out ).
If you don't use paper inside , don't forget to butter instead.
I hope these pictures( very bad but my own camera broke down and in eveninglight this one is trouble )will tell you the rest.

And here is the recipe :

Ingredients :For 2 tall loaves ( for 2 cans ).
Starter :
1 package of dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water ( 105-115 F.)
1 cup allpurpose flour

Dough
4 cups all purpose flour
6 eggs, room temp.
4 tablespoons warm water ( 100 F )
3 tab.sp. sugar
1 1/2 teasp.salt
12 ounces butter , unsalted , room temp.

Starter ( takes 10 minutes and 2 hours )
Dissolve yeast in water and put aside for a few minutes until creamy.Stir in flour and knead for about 3 minutes until shaggy loaf of dough. Cover with plastic and let rest for 2 hours.
In mean time prepare the rest of the dough :Start with 2 cups of flour , 4 eggs (stirr in one at the time), 2 table sp. water ,sugar , salt and blend it all.
Knead butter (on a lenght of wax paper) soft and pliable with a doughscraper or spatula.Blend in batter.Than add remaining 2 eggs and spoons of water.Stir in rest of flour , 1/2 cup at the time until the dough is a soft ball.It still is very sticky .Press into oval on your flowered worksurface , place starter in the center and fold over the edges and knead to incorporate the white starter dough with the yellow egg and butter dough. Knead for about 8 minutes. The dough stays a little sticky but will become firm after the cooling in the fridge later.

First rise , 3 hours
At room temp. covered with plastic wrap, until more than double.It becomes light and puffy.

Refrigeration 2 hours or overnight
Allow for at least 2 hours in the fridge so it can be worked better . Overnight is also possible but it will need a longer rise in the mold later on.

Shaping
Fill the (coffee)cans for 2/3 and allow to rise.Use an other well greased mold for any left over dough.

second rising
At room temp. 1 ,untill 2 hours.
This varies a little ,remember , overnight in fridge means at least a 2 hours rise.

Baking 375 F , for 1 hour

Pre-heat the oven 20 minutes before baking.
How high the rising will be depends on the strenght of flour thats been used. There will be a difference between french and american or dutch...Hope you have a hudge oven... ;-)
The Brioche is done when the crust is deep brown but I always let my insertthermometer tell me . Or use a cake testing pin, that has to come out clean .
Undress your mold and let stand for 10 minutes before removing the mold.Twist gently to remove ( take care , still hot ! )and allow to cool down on a rack .
It freezes well for 6 weeks,so you can tie it up then with a X-mas bow and enjoy it as your Santa-breakfast.

Don't forget to take a look at my sister BBB"s (you'll find them on the right sight of this blog ) and see how they managed with this french one.
And if you are able to bake with us (and let me know by mail or as a comment on this post with a link to your Brioche) , do it before november 23: You'll be honored with a Bread Baking Buddy Badge .
Hope to hear from you !

Babes baking Babes...

2009-10-26T09:54:00.000-07:00

We , Bread baking Babes ,proudly present our BABES. Yes !
And our kitchen-of the-month Babe Gretchen of Canela y Comino let us make them.
They are called TANTA WAWA 's

TANTA WHAT"S ???
What are Tanta Wawa's? They are bread or cake figures in the form of babies or animals or whatever. The name Tanta Wawa comes from Quechua , the original language of ancient Peru . And thats where Gretchen found them. These breads can be decorated with candies, raisins or anise . In the Andes ,people give them as presents during all Saints day or the day of the deads at november 1th and 2nd and honour the ones who passed away . It is unknown when this Andean tradition began but it was a long time ago , thats for sure.
If you want to make your own babies , go visit Gretchen, she can tell you all about them.And look at her Tanta Wawa's, she's really great in making beautiful ones. Ever seen a Tanta Wawa elephant ? I fell in love with it ! And give Gretchen my love and thank her for bringing us a part of her so beloved Peruvian culture .
But don't ask me how to make the beautiful Tanta Wawa's , 'cause ..well see for yourselve.

Isn't this the ugliest baby you've ever seen ? It bursted all over.
But , as it should be , every mother loves her babies , ugly or beauty.
And I did. And it tasted great.
But that's not what a good mother is supposed to say...

Is it all chinese for us , Babes ?

2009-09-25T07:06:00.000-07:00

Sorry I wasn't here on our Bread Baking Babes - posting day of this month , but it was a long travel before I could buy the Chinese flour Karen ( of Bake my Day , our host of the month ) was asking for in this months challenge.
And you know what ? It wasn't even for Baking !!!
Are we Babes getting weard or what ?

No , just kidding . I didn't have go all the way to China to get this special flour and this no-baking recipe is great. You did well , Karen ! I'll bring you some chinese steamingflour next time ! It really works well. No muscles needed for kneading.
The rolls are fun to do and it is even more fun to make different fillings. As usual it was hard for me to stick to the recipe.
I mixed the world , so to say.
I made Italian knots, with pesto and cheese , Japanese ones with Wasibi and ginger ( thanks again Karen ) , "Middle east"-sesame rolls with sesame oil and -seeds and seasalt and an american wreath with maple syrup .Looked fine but the syrup dripped out mostly . And okay , the red pepper and spring onion ones too . And honestly , the original ones became the most colorfull ones.And beeing pale as they are , they need that.

I used the same doughrecipe to bake real Indonesian BAPAO's , steamed rolls with filling inside.Great way to get ridd of your meat-left-overs
Are you steamed up allready ? Go and see the other babes and specially our kitchen of the month Karen to find out how Baking Babes Bake Breads without Baking !
'cause yes , we can !

Gone for Beirut , this month .

2009-07-16T20:53:00.000-07:00

I know , posting too late again . And even no pictures.
Bad bad Babe !!! And a stupid one too , 'cause the recipe of these little breads from Beirut was on my bookshelve for a long long time . In the beautiful book Home baking , the artful mix of flour and tradition around the world( J . Alford, N Duguid) Karen of Bake my Day gave me as a birthday present once.Rich with pictures of people all over the world, stories and filled with delicious recipes of breads from all over the world you , unlike me , really have to make . All of them !! But somehow I 've missed these Sukkar bi Tahin as they call them in arabic. And thats too bad because they are great.
Thank you Natashya at living in the kitchen with puppies , as our host of the month ,for bringing these swirls up as this months Bread Baking Babe's bread.Otherwise I never , or at least for a long time would have made them and didn't know what I was been missing !!!
They turned out to be kind of flaky rounds , very nice to see . And eat !!! Flavoured by sugar , but not sweet at all and "filled" with Tahini . By the way , Tahini is a paste made out of sesame seeds , very much used in the middle east but avalable even here in Europe"s Holland. It reminds you to peanut butter and to be honest , I think I 'll make these Beirut swirls with that one day. I even could resist a jar of hazelnut-raisin paste as I reached out for the Tahini in the store. And believe me, it made those breads taste great too !!
The rolling out of these breads wasn't as easy as I thought , the paste was peeping out at a lot of places but Natashya told us not to worry because it was all in the game . Hurry to her kitchen table and see for yourselve . There you find the recipe and how you can bake it too and become a Buddy of us , baking Babes. And you can see her pictures or those from the other Babes ( list at the side bar ). Mine....????Sorry , my camera was in Russia with my hard working husband . I tried to keep some breads in the fridge for a pic but ..ah you know , temptation can be so hard to resist. As these swirls are . Try !!!

Amore from Italy

2009-05-18T12:18:00.000-07:00

This was real fun to make :
Easy to make dough ,.
Soft as a baby's....you know .
Easy to handle.
Easy to form and you don't even need a high-school degree " knotting " for these little breads.
And then......beautiful to see , to smell but most of all to taste.

Isn't that breadbaking-fun ? Yes , it is !
They are called Italian Knot Breads or Pane di pasta tenera condita .
And they were tossed up by ILVA from Lucullian delights. She invited us all to her kitchen table this month. Please join us there and see for yourselve how easy to do ( but with such great looks ) these Italian knots are.And maybe you'll join us as a Bread Baking Babe's Buddie.
Only one advice :
Because I thought the amount of flour was enough to serve a whole Italian family having lunch under the sun ,somewhere in a Italian farm garden , I made only half of the recipe to get just 10 knotbreads.
That was a mistake !!!
Because they were gone in no-time.And my family asked for more....
So bake them all by using the whole amount . And in the strange case of any leftovers , just pop them in the deepfreezer . Or send them over to me . Because I completely fell in love with them.
Italian Amore !!
Thanks Ilva. You know what is good for us ,Babes !

They made me do this.

2009-03-15T09:11:00.000-07:00

How could I think of sneaking away and not blogging my Pane Franchesa pictures ?
They fell over me , my BBBsisters . I hád to post .To let the world know even a BBBabe is not perfect!.... ;-)
So with shame I present : One goodtasting but very heavy Pane. With wholes on places you only dream of in bad nights.
Because I used a starter from spelt and soya.Why ? See my earlier post "it makes me smile ".Thats the bread we eat these days
But believe me, next time it will be Rye and water!!
By the way , I killed my Chef ! Ha !

It makes you smile !

2009-03-15T05:24:00.000-07:00

To prove I really can bake bread , this picture.
'Cause I didn't bake anything out of this months Bread Baking Babes " Pane Franchese'.
Don't even dare to show you a pic. Not because the recipe was wrong , no , it is from King Arthur and it's good . Better look at Sara's. from I like to cook . She's this months kitchens host.There you can see how great it can be.
No , its just because I had troubles with my Chef. No , not at work , but with my first starter for this bread, called a Chef ,as in French. At least I blame him , don't we always blame the Chefs ? And I always hated chefs, in any job . Anyway , something didn't turn out right and my Pane became solid as clay.
But to prove I'm a real Baking Babe this picture of a bread I'm very proud of .
Made without wheat or diary products . And still tasty.
I have a child who has a wheat and milk intolerance , we discovered a few months ago .
A difficult combination , its in about everything .
But that boy has a bread and cookie-baking Mama and thats his luck . I now bake him , thanks to a recipe found in the "Laurels' Kitchen Bread Book" , a Soymilk Bread. And I use Spelt in stead of wheat. Spelt is often possible when wheat is not.And it bakes great.
I've never seen a bread having an ovenspring like this. The first one burned on top because it reached the top of my oven.
Every time I take a bread like this out of the stove , it makes me smile.
Because it always looks and tastes great, but most of all that enormous proud feeling I can make my child the best healthy-est bread there is for him . Hand- home- and heartmade !
It really makes me smile !!

Here it is :
2 1/2 cups unflavoured soymilk (cooked and cooled down)
2 tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/2 cup handwarm water
6 cups of spelt flour ( mostly I do 2 cups whole- and 4 cups white spelt flour)
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons soy -"butter" or 6 tablespoons oil.( I mostly let the butter melt in the cooling down soymilk )

In your mixing bowl , solve the yeast in the warm water with the honey , mix in the soymilk with butter , and 2 cups of the flour . "Cover" it with the rest of the flour ( + the oil if you don't used the butter) and the salt.Let stand for a few hours (but no more than 12). The yeast will be cracking the topping flour in that time.
Knead it , but no longer than 4-5 minutes because the Speltgluten will loose their strenght if you knead too long.Easy , isn't it ?
Let rise for 1 hour , then flatten and shape , let rise for 45 minutes. In the mean while heaten up your oven at 350 F . Bake the bread in 45 minutesuntil done.
Of course you can roll in / or over some seeds like poppyseeds , sunflourseeds , pumpkin- or flackseeds.
That funny smiley...can't help you with that . But just look into your mirror while holding your bread !

My kind of bread

2009-02-16T10:58:00.000-08:00

And a special kind , also.
Because it is our 1 year anniversary of the Bread Baking Babes .
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO US !!!
A year we bitched ,baked ,laught and cried together, as when we lost our BBBsister Sher.
We did send lots of mails , advices good or not , jokes and drinks over the world to each other.
And became good friends. Friends you can really " Bake on ".
And we found two more friends , because we became to little in number, after Sher died and Glenna left.(They will stay with us in mind). So , we found two new Babes ,and now we are a splendid dozen again . And we make a good mix.
Like this bread : a five grain with walnuts , from "the Italian Baker" of Carol Field. The Pane ai Cinque Cereali Five~Grain con Nod.
And, oh yes.... it has every-thing I like :

Walnuts , rice , whole wheat and just plain allpurpose , Rye , rolled oats , I milled all that and it made a good healthy bread .Great texture , great taste!

I made rolls and a bread :

For the complete recipe , visit our host of the month Tanna , who tossed this bread up and can tell you all about how to become a Bread Baking Buddie . And why we will stay a small group but love you to join baking with us.

And don't forget to sit at all the other BBB's kitchen tables and taste their breads .
And a very special welcome to our two new babes,
Gretchen
Natashya
who allready proved to be real BBBabes.
Yeah , we'll make it for another year , the twelve of us !

Dutch winter

2009-02-03T11:01:00.001-08:00

It's smelling French here...

2009-01-20T09:39:00.000-08:00

Picture this:
Early in the morning , sun just rised . Open your window in your authentic little hotel in Paris ( or anywhere else in France ).Hear the noises of a city waking up and smell.......
The little "Boulangerie" on the corner just made them...

...... FRESH CROISSANTS

Well ,wrong place ,but the smell was there and just the same when they came out of my oven.
Katie of time for cooking made me bake them in this month Bread Baking Babes challenge.
Scary things to make , I tried once but they turned out to be just normal breads in a croissants shape. But Katie made me do it again and she had a great recipe. I'm really greatfull, Katie , thanks .
Although at the end the amounts of milk were very different between us Babes ( different countries, different wheats and flours ) they came out fine.
The only thing I changed was the way of folding-in the butter , now according to Bernard Claytons " the Breads of France ". His recipe for Flaky Croissants was more or less the same as Katie's from Michelinstar-winner Michel Roux.Except for this.
Here's what I did with that butter ,it was very easy to do:
When you roll out the dough ( see the full recipe at Katies) into a rectangle (60-30 cm or 24x12")you spread out the butter on the lower 2/3 of the dough. Fold the top 1/3 over half the butter and lift the bottom 1/3 up and fold over as for a letter.The layers now will be dough , butter , dough , butter , dough.Wrap and refrigerate.
After 4 of that foldings you have 55 layers, the book told . I didn't count them. Maybe you will , because they are really worth making !
Beware ,it takes you 9-13 hours to make them, resting time included.
In that same time I can drive to Paris, wake up in that little hotel and open my window....

But that's not the Bread Baking Babes spirit , is it ? !

If you want to bake your own " morning in France " yourselve and post your results at Katies before febr. 2 , she'll send you your Bread Baking Babes Buddie "button".
And don't forget to peak at the other Babes blogs , list on the top on the right site.They show you what you can do more with this great-to-work-with-dough.

Cookies or koekjes...as long as they are home made

2008-12-27T15:02:00.000-08:00

Cookie.... Derived from the Dutch koekje, meaning little cake, the cookie came over with the first ships to New Amsterdam ,America and as far as the rest of the world is concerned, it never went home. And it started its own historie. And then, as it happened , this Dutch girl made American cookies for her Dutch Christmas in Holland and brought those "koekjes" back home again.
Who cares , as long as they are home made ,with love.
So , I baked a lot, had a cookie-exchange with Karen , from Bake-my-Day and we even baked together , in her kitchen. More cookies and lots of fun ,believe me.Karen has the pictures !
My dream, to eat cookies for the rest of the year , didn't come true.At Christmas-day, my family came over and I was almost to late to make this only picture .In one evening (Ah , well.. , and the day before , I had to make sure they stayed OK , didn't I )they where all gone.

But...after two days , when I cleaned out my fridge ,I found a roll of lemon / poppy-seed dough , Karen made. Totally forgotten. Hooray ! I'm planning to bake them when nobody is home . And keep them all for myselve. To eat cookies for the rest of the year !

May all yoúr dreams come true next year !
And "Cake it easy " in 2009 !

Love, Monique

Yule Wreath

2008-12-22T12:00:00.000-08:00

(did you notice that tiny little Christmas leaf on this months logo? Thanks to Lien.)

From Betty Crocker's International Cookbook , Lynn , our host of the month ,picked out this delicious and good looking wreath for us.

But you can bake it every day of the year , not only at Christmas time ,because you can fill it with whatever you like.
For ideas ,look at my other Bread Baking Babe sisters' blogs , on the list at the right side . I think there are not even 2 wreaths that are look-a-likes.
For breakfast , lunch or dinner ...the excellent soft dough ( this is how a good dough has to feel )will match with every taste or filling.
And if you want to bake with us, send your result to Lynn (lynncraigATcomcastDOTnet) by the 27th of december and get yourself a Bread Baking Buddie Badge!
I made mine for a dinner with friends , together with a big bowl of Bouillabaise , that delicious French fish soup.
My filling for the wreath.....well I can't give you the exact recipe but I used dried tomatos in oil , garlic , very old Dutch cheese ,red onion, a twist of pepper , seasalt and italian herbs ( fresh and dried ) and made a smooth kind of sauce of it in my foodprocessor.
Although the baking time / temperature was a little too much for my oven (and the bread turned out a little too dark ), it tasted like ..like...Italy.

And so my friends and family agreed.It was gone in a minute or so. Thanks heaven this is a easy - to - do - recipe, great result and not so mutch effort.
Next one will be a sweet one ..or with nuts ...or....mmmm, no time to waste ,I'm off now !!

Rosendals' knäckebröd

2008-11-19T07:53:00.000-08:00

I know , a little too late but I proudly present my :

I made some Knäckebröt before and well , to be honest...I better buy them.
But it was this month's Bread Baking Babes thing-to-do ,so I had to bake them again.
And guess what ?? They turned out great.
All thanks to Görel from Graindoe , our Swedish Babe sister who is our kitchen of the month . Go visit her for the real recipe and how to make this Knäckebröt. And also for your Bread Baking Babe Buddy -badge , she'll tell you how to earn it . On your way to Görel , knock on the door of the other BBB's (you'll find them on the right side of this blog ) , for more Knäckebröt , ideas and advices.

My great result was also thanks to Karen and Lien , who struggled allready with the amount of dutch Rye and wrote wise things about that. And ohhh yes , I took advantage of it , of course . Shame on me !
A second confession....I left out the complete rye starter ,because starters and I ..lets say we don't like each-other . I used all the ingredients and amounts from the recipe and simply left out that starter . And see...it worked fine . Maybe there's a little different in taste but who can see that on a picture ,?? !! And I'll never know what I mis , unless one of my dear BBBsisters is going to send me a piece of hers . Ha, I bet they won't.
Any way , they were fun to do , easy to make and they were great .

Thanks Görel , for making me do this !
But tell me one thing ...what on earth is that hole in the middle used for ?

No Challah today.

2008-10-21T13:05:00.001-07:00

Our "this month Bread Baking Babes Bread would be a Challah..
But I have missed all the fun because of computerproblems for more than two weeks.
And now I'm too late to post mine. I didn't even bake one, to be honest, thanks to our computerprovider.
It will come , one of these days, I promess , but not today.
Please take a look at my fellow Bakingladies, listed somewhere on the right to see how they did.
Leaving me with a great problem...how can I compare to those beautiful breads they already made...
Have to think about that ...

Sûkerbôlle finds friends all over the world !

2008-10-08T02:45:00.001-07:00

Isn't it great how an ancient Frisian recipe can fly all over the world and find friends among many Baking friends ?
This month Bread Baking Babes bread, that came from my kitchen table was baked in so many places of the world and ....they liked it. They all came out wonderfull .Even with all the troubles there were...like the sugardrops and gingersyrop ...and the metric weights (sorry for that, but it is Dutch , isn't it ?? )
If you like to see for yourselve. check the following Bread Baking Buddies.They really deserved their "BBBbutton ". With many thanks to all of them for baking with us.

Thank you Judy
Caithlyn
Gretchen
Ulrike
Natashya

June
See you all next month on one of our kitchentables ??

Welcome at my kitchen table..

2008-09-29T08:19:00.000-07:00

Yes, welcome, sit down , relax and enjoy.
I like you to taste a slice of my fresh baked Sûkerbôlle.
That's this month challenge for my Bread Baking Babe - sisters .
I"m the proud host of this month and we're baking SÛKERBÔLLE .
Or Frisian Sugarbread.
Let me give you a little geografie first.
In the north of our smal country, Holland (or The Netherlands) in Europe , there is a small part called Friesland . They speak their own languages there, have their own flag , have a great tradition in sailing as you can read in one of my other postings and skyes and clouds are overwhelming.

But they are worldwide famous because of their black and white Frisian cows

and their beautiful black horses .

But also about their :

SÛKERBÔLLE

as they say in Frisian , suikerbrood (in Dutch) or sugerbread (in english ) .
Spreaded with a lot of good Frisian (unsalted) butter...Need I say they sure know what’s good , upthere ?!
So..here’s the recipe. It comes from a very old Frisian recipe-book and it’s written very simple as every-one knew how to make a good bread in those days .That’s the way I give it to you . Because I 'm sure you’re capable to make a great loaf out of it.
Only , beware of a few things : Nothing burns your hands more than hot sugar , so take care…..and , because of all that sugar, your bread will burn very quick , so watch it carefully and cover it if needed with alu-foil. Also, grease your bread-tin with lots of butter because sugar sticks !! Or , like I do , line it with paper and butter it . And don’t knead the sugar into your dough with a breadbaking machine, it will be damaged !!
For the rest its up to you…… Easy , I thought...
But then...a few other problems came up.Because of two ingrediënts : Sugarlumbs and Gingersyrup . Both unknown on the otherside of the ocean. But they seem to solve the problems overthere. Lynn has figured out a great easy and delicious recipe for sugared ginger ànd the syrup. You'll find it here.

Here we go :
(if you want the recipe in Dutch , look at Karen's Bake My Day , she has made a translation on her posting. So no double work here ! )

500 grams all purpose flour
10 grams salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon-powder (a little more if you like it )
3 tablespoons of ginger-syrup (use the syrop that comes with those gingerballs
you buy in a jar here in Europe or look for the recipe at Lynn's )
Make that gingersyrup up to 2 dl with handwarm milk.So its 2 dl all together.
25 grams fresh yeast
75 grams unsalted, melted butter (let it cool down before use}
2 eggs
150 grams sugar grains. Or use sugar lumps /cubes you use for coffee , and
make small pieces of them .( by beating them with….whatever)
Make a nice dough with all the ingredients , except for the sugerlumps/sugergrains and the cinnamon , and let it rise for 45 minutes.
After that fold in the sugar ,mixed with cinnamon , and work it through your dough.
Form a nice bread and put it in a small bread-tin .Make sure it is greased with lots of butter or parchment paper!!
On top ,you can sprinkle granulated sugar ,so it can form a caramel on your bread.
Cover and let it rise for 15 minutes .
Bake it in a warm oven (200 C or 400 F in 30 minutes until brown and done.

Don’t forget that unsalted butter on top of every slice.

Are you still there on my kitchen table ?
Well, take and taste a slice . By the way, do you want coffee or tea ?

_____________________________________________

Would you like to bake this SugarBabeBread with us and earn the one and only
Bread Baking Buddies Badge ? Bake with us! Post it on your blog and send the link to me before ,at last, the 8th of October. I will round up all Baking Buddies in my Kitchen of the Month here at Living on Bread and Water and send you your well deserved Buddy Badge!
And also take a look in my Sugarsweetbakingsisters kitchens and see how they went along :
Notitie Van Lien (Lien),
My Kitchen In Half-Cups (Tanna), Cookie Baker Lynn (Lynn), , Grain Doe (Gorel), Lucullian Delights (Ilva),
Bake my Day ( Karen )
I like to cook Sara

HAVE FUN, Sweeties !

junkfood becomes healthy

2008-08-28T12:07:00.000-07:00

:

Pitta's with shoarma-meat...our boys favourit junkfood.But the white "things " you buy and bake-off and fill are not this mothers idea of healthy food.
So I was very happy with this month challenge of the Bread Baking Babes with the recipe of whole wheat Pitta's.
And they were easy to make , fun to roll into circles and surprising in the oven as they puffed up like they had to do. Really , a piece of cake .

Stuffed with shoarma meat, salat , tomato and Mozzarella cheese and an olive here and there , it made a great meal.
What more can I say. Tell you my boys were happy with it? Yes they were. Did they realised they were eating good healthy food ? No , they weren't . Haha !Hurray for Mum ! Don't tell them , please.

Here comes the recipe for

COUNTRY-STYLE WHOLE-WHEAT PITA

It makes 8 round flatbreads, 18 cm diametre

2 1/2 cups warm water (105 to 115 degrees F)
1 tblsp active dry yeast
pinch of sugar
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tblsp salt
3 cups whole-wheat pastry flour (whatever that is, I will used my grain and milled asusual)
3 to 3 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1. in a small bowl pour in 1/2 cup of the water. Sprinkle the yeast and the pinch of sugar over the surface of the water. Stir to dissolve and let stand at room temperature until foamy, about 10 minutes

2. In a large bowl using a whisk or in the bowl of a heavy-duty electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment, combine the remining water, olive oil, salt and whole-wheat pastry flour. Beat hard until creamy, about 1 minute. Stir in the yeast mixture. Add the unbleached flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until a soft, shaggy dough that just clears the sides of the bowl is formed. Switch to a wooden spoon when necessary if making by hand.

3. Turn the dough out on a lightly floured work surface with a plastic pastry scraper and knead until soft and springy. 1-2 minutes for a machine-mixed dough and 3-5 minutes for a hand-mixed dough, dusting wit flour only 1 tablespoon at a time, just enough ass needed to prevent sticking. Leave the dough moist and soft yet at the same time smooth and springy.
If kneading by machine, switch from the paddle to the dough hook and knead for 2-3 minutes, or until the dugh is smooth and springy and springs back when pressed. If desired, transfer dough to a floured surface and knead briefly by hand.

4. Place the dough in a lightly greased deep container. Turn the dough once to coat the top and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise at room temperature until doubled in bulk, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

5. Pre-heat the oven to 475 degrees F with a baking stone set on the bottom rack. Parchment-line several baking sheets, or heavily flour a peel. Gently deflate the dough and divide it in half. Cover half with a plastic wrap or a clean towel to prevent forming a skin. Divide into 8 equal portions and form each into a ball. Let rest 10 minutes while dividing the second half of the dough. Dust the work surface with whole-wheat pastry flour. Using a rolling pin, roll the balls into 6-inch circles about 1/4 inch thick. Loosely cover the circles. Do not stack as they will stick together. If the dough does not roll out easily, let it rest 10 minutes to relax the gluten. Move the dough circles by draping them, one at a time, over a flour-dusted rolling in and place them on a floured dish towel before transferring them to the peel or baking sheets. Let rest for 15 minutes or until puffy.

6. Transfer the circles to a peel or a baking sheet. With a quick action of the wrist, slide the pita rounds from the peel directly onto the hot stone. Four will fit on at once. Or place the baking sheets, one at a time, on the bottom rack directly on the hot stone. No steam .Do not open the oven door for a full 4 minutes. Bake 810 minutes, or until fully puffed and light brown. watch carefully that the pitas do not over bake or burn. The baking sheet pitas will take longer than the stone-baked ones. Remove the puffed hot breads wide a wide metal spatula and stack between clean dish towel.

This recipe was introduced by Ilva. She's BBB's kitchen of the month this time.
If you want to read more , knock on her kitchendoor.Also if you want to bake Pitta's with us and earn a BBBuddie logo .
And if you want to see more of our BBB -Pitta's ,please feel free to visit the other Bread Baking Babes.You'll find them on the right site of this BLOG.

For Sher.

2008-07-24T03:55:00.000-07:00

They keep going through my head, those words of that song : Heaven...must be missing an Angel...

Only now it is : Bakings Babes ..must be missing a sister....

Sher , of What Did You Eat is no longer with us.

And it shocked us all.

Although I never met her in person , never even saw a picture of her (until recently at Glenna"s tribute , look at A Fridge Full Of Food ) I'm mourning. She was our Bread Baking Babe - sister and we had fun with her.

It must be so hard for the family and close friends to lose her. I whish them all the strenght they need .

At BBB's we want to bring her a tribute , coming from all over the world as we are.
So , what can you bring someone like Sher ?? Well : Cook her dishes !! And write about it in our blog's. Oh , how she liked reading them and leave a message.....

I've choosen her couscousrecipe : Couscous With Spinache and Lemon Chive dressing.
Because we're very fond of couscous here , but more because her hillarious story about her not beiing able to sleep and running around with a paintballgun. That's Sher for me.I loved her for that sence of humour. Read it for yourselfs , you'll find it at "pasta's " . And no, I'm not posting the recipe here. Go , look , and find it at Sher's blog , What Did You Eat , that's so much worth visiting , even if she 's not there anymore. Her blog is a tribute to herselve.

After I finissed making her lovely couscous dish , I figured out my camera wasn't home. It went to Greece , with my daughter....So , sorry, no pictures.

Well, it didn't taste anyway, although the family here LOVED it . For me, on that moment there was one ingrediënt to much in it , to make it taste : SADNESS !

Thank you for letting me know you and beiing Babes together , Sher .
There will be an empty chair forever in that backrow of our BBB-classroom !

Gone sailing.....

2008-07-20T03:31:00.000-07:00

Yes , I was.

I love sailing.

We have a small sailingboat of our own and a little holliday house

in the north parts of our country, where it is called Friesland.

Where they have their own language and flag.

Lots of water and beautiful skies.

And where they have "Skûtsjes".

Old cargo boats with flat bottoms , so they could sail in very undeep waters .

To transport manure and peat and earn their poorly bread.

While living aboard with the whole family in very bad circumstances.

But that's historie .

These days now , they only sail competitions , once a year, every day in a different place in Friesland.

Most of the boats are from different villages , so there is also a lot of honour involved.

Its a real battle, between ships, skippers , crew and villages.

And a lot of power from man ( hardly no womans world), wind and water.

And we where there...

watching ...

and admiring...

Natural power at its best.

Wish you where there to join this !!

Healthy salad....but no thanks !!...

2008-06-03T08:42:00.000-07:00

Don't you think this is a good looking salad ?

I did.

And I took the recipe-card home with me, that was kindly offered by the hudge wholesailer SLIGRO.

And I planned to treat myselve on this healthy stuff.

Because it really looks good.

Don't you agree?

Well....take a good look....

A closer look maybe.....

Let me help you :

Do you see what I see ??

No, it's not a way -over- time salad.

They belong in there.

WORMS !! ROASTED !!

And a nice juicy Dragon Fly , sóóóo tasty....

You can buy them in a vacúum jar...

Lot's of protein !

Oh...and for desert ?

No problem ,

just catch a nice juicy grasshopper !

By the way, don't worry, I won't invite you for dinner , this time !

But if you want the recipe........

Take onions, potatoes and rosemary and....

2008-04-15T10:26:00.000-07:00

MAKE A PIZZA TOPPING!

Well, I know , these ingredients are not the first to think about when you say PIZZA.
Not even the last because ...potatoes...on a pizza...??Come on !!!
But this month challenge of the Bread Baking Babes made me change my mind.

The recipe for the Sullivan Street Potato Pizza was adapted from Maggie Glezer’s Artisan Baking ,
coming from the Sullivan Street Bakery ,named for its street in the SoHo section of New York City.

And o boy, have I been tackled by that Croc last month ,okay, but who would be knocked down by something simple as a pizza....
I was.
Almost.
Because the dough had a 107 % water . And again it became very very fluid...
Although I had my Kitchen Aid to do the dirty job for half an hour , it just turned out to be...Yakk !!!
But standing strong , I poored it in a baking tin and made my topping. Thin sliced and drained potatoes,chopped onions ( supposed to be white or yellow but I only had red ones in store ), fresh Rosemary leaves and all of this husseled with a good olive oil and sea salt. Spreaded it all over the dough and baked in a pre-heated oven of 220 C. With no hope of any eat-able result.

But guess what.....it turned out great. The dough became a thick Foccacia - like bread and those potatoes tasted like....cheeselike and not like potatoes anymore, great. Only the onions turned into a very dark untasty color.Indeed the recipe said to use yellow or white onions, so I made that mistake already for you.
Anyway , the family liked it and the pizza/Foccacia turned out to be too little. But that was my mistake too , had I read my fellow BBB's comments first ...I'dd knew it would be tasty enough to make a double batch .
Always trust a BBB .

And look at this... the bread was great , airholes as they should be ,but look, only a little tiny bit left to take a picture off......'cause we knocked that Pizza down !

For the complete recipe knock at the door of this month kitchen :where you also can earn your BBB-buddy logo from this month by baking this pizza with us and letting us know. And don't forget to take a look at some of the other BBB's blogs ( on the right) to find out how they celebrated "Pizza-time !!!

For the recipe in Dutch you have to take a look in the kitchen of Lien.

Did it again.....

2008-04-05T11:57:00.000-07:00

Yes I did.

And I promissed myselve never ever to buy a breadbook again.

Or any other cookbook.

Really I did. Once.

But I did it again.

In Paris.

I bought books

I couln't resist these two :

"Bread" and "Chocolat".

All there is to know about.

How could I leave them in that shop.

And just walk away..

Felt like leaving a loved one.

So...

No problem this time to try to stuff them in my

chock-full bookshelfs.

Or on my overloaded kitchencountertop.

Or beside my bed.

Or where-ever I need to find a place for all that books.

YES , beiing this size I can buy another million books.

I still have place in my cookie-jar.

Or behind the teapot...

Only one problem....

Did any-one see my reading glasses ?

Can you imagine ?

2008-03-26T12:21:00.000-07:00

Remember the picture I showed you one month ago?

With those little Daffodils dancing in the spring ?

Look at that same garden now, only a few days after Eastern....

I'm so confused.

And so is mother Nature...

It's all about the flour...

2008-03-18T11:27:00.001-07:00

Well, there was supposed to be the March bread of the Bread Baking Babes here :
CAROL FIELDS' COCCODRILLO

But there is not !

I tryed to fight the crocodillo but it almost killed me.

And why ?

Because that very wet dough drowned my flour.

Again ..why ?

Let me try to explane :

It's all about the flour !

Really , no excuse , but it is.

Our Dutch flour isn't as strong as they use in..lets say the USA . Or France.

It simply does not have the high amount of gluten .

And we have a lack of sorts of flour here.

Flour is flour and thats it.

But it doesn't have enough gluten.

It's simply not strong enough to hold a...crocodile.

And then there is my flour : I mill my own grain, become wholewheat or sift it when I need white flour . Great ! And all without pesticides and so , because I only use organic. No poisons in my bread.

But ,as I found out, also not as many strenght as usual flour.I always put in less water than the recipe askes for.And a little gluten if needed. But I can live with that. And I do bake like that for years now.

And yes, that's where it went wrong . This Croc-bread asked for 107 % water (!!!!)

My beloved flour became a fluid dough, to wet and weak ( and by far not enough gluten ) to hold a croc.

See how it dripped of my KitchenAid ? Almost horror...

It dripped from my countertop too, right on to the floor .

Adding more flour, (I did , but it needed scoops and scoops) was not an option because it would change the recipe too mutch and my croc would turn in to a Ciabatta or something like that.

So...I stopped.Trying to find other flour was also no option, I want to bake with my own stuff.

And that reached the border : this bread was over the top for me.

But I learned a lot and we had lots of fun at BBB's . I also learned a lot of new curses and bad languages in Englisch : Boy, did we all fight that Crocodile !

So , if you want to see what a real Coccodrillo looks like, how my BBB-sisters managed to do it or if you want the recipe , be a BBB-buddy and bake this monster with us , please see our kitchen - of - the - month at Lien Notitie van Lien (Lien), or the other Bread Baking Babes that have battled this coccodrillo and post about it :Bake My Day (Karen), Cookie Baker Lynn (Lynn), I like to cook (Sara), Lucullian Delights (Ilva), My Kitchen in Half Cups (Tanna), The Sour Dough (Mary aka Breadchick), Thyme of Cooking (Katie)and What Did You Eat (Sher)

I wish you all the luck with this bread, you'll need it !
But they say it's worth it !!

Shopping for breadbakers...at your garden-center !

2008-03-03T01:13:00.000-08:00

Looking for cheap baking-molds ?

Visit your local garden-center !

And they have more....!
Go , and look for yourselve .

It is real fun !

COMING SOON !!!!!!!

2008-02-25T00:38:00.001-08:00

Look what I found in a corner of the garden,

this cold ,but sunny morning :

Only 15 cm high ,

bringing a very important message:

SPRING IS COMING SOON !!!

I swear.... I could hear the sound of trompets,

making me very happy......

Royal Crown Tortano

2008-02-16T02:47:00.000-08:00

TODAY IS THE DAY !

Twelve "Bread Baking Babes ",

from everywhere in the world ,

are showing the bread they all worked on :

The ROYAL CROWN TORTANO .

from the recipe of Maggie Gleezer.

Yes, we all struggled with this very wet

dough , the circle in the middle and the airholes inside that where supposed to be radish-size aircells.
It took 19 hours to make it , but only 20 minutes of active work .

( Did it ? Only twenty ? Not counting the hours to clean the countertop then...)

As already said, most of the time was waiting...

For the rest it was kind of fighting with the very wet dough..

And struggling to get it in shape.

And then...

Making the middle whole the French Baker's way...

Proofing the dough in my French banneton.

Baking it off...

And there it is.....but where is that middle hole ?

In the oven , this Royal Crown Tortano blew up like a balloon....

and my perfect round circle- hole became some sort of strange belly-button...

But never the less , the bread tasted

SOOO GOOD !!!

Do you want more Royal Crown Tortano story's ?
The recipe , maybe?
Read all about the twelve Bread Baking Babe's and find out who and what we are?
Just look at the blogs of the other Bread Baking Babes ,
on the right side of this blog.

Daily Bread

2008-02-13T05:03:00.000-08:00

In spite of all the lovely breads in the world , there is one that I always come back for , because it's exactly right for our dutch sandwiches with cheese, peanutbutter (if you should like to )or Hagelslag, the sprinkler chocolat the rest of the world uses only on cake or so.

This is my recipe :

700 gr. flour. I use 400 unbleached and 300 fresh milled whole wheat.
15 gr. fresh yeast
14 gr. sea-salt

425 ml lukewarm water
40 gr milkpowder

Then I add a handfull of whatever is " in store" ,
sunflowerseeds , pumpkinseeds,rolled oats , millet , flaxseeds whole or milled ( my favorit ), quinoa and so on. All together or only a few.

No fat , no sugar . Just healthy stuff.

I use the "volcano methode", that means you make a sponge with all the water , yeast and a part of the flour.Cover it with the rest of the flour , cover the bowl and set aside.How long ? Depends on my not so regular life ...one night , a few hours ... Anyway , after a little time you can see the sponge bubbling through the covering flour , like a little working volcano.

After the resting time, mix your dough in your kitchenaid for a few minutes and let it rest again for the autolyse . Say 20 minutes . Than you put in the salt ,the seeds and milkpowder

DON ' T FORGET . I did, several times !
Well, the rest of the work is old news...mixing, rising , making and shaping , rising again in a loaf pan ,slashing a few cuts and bake it off in your oven , (with a little steam ) about 220 C or 425 F , until your inside food thermometer calls you to get it out of the oven ( at 95 C )

Most of the time, I do the baking
off in the evening, let it cool down at night and start eating for breakfast.

If there is still anything left.
But that's an other story.

Do you want to see my pighead ?

2008-02-10T03:51:00.000-08:00

Yeah , really....

There are people that love to see my pighead...

Talk about it in their blogs...

And completaly fall in love when they see my picture.

Even go wild and envy me about it...

Isn't that something ...

Are you getting curious now....

Wanna see my pic./pig too...

Okay...

Promiss me not to laugh...

Ready...?

Here I come...

I just love using showercaps in the kitchen.

What's so funny about that...???

Tadaaaaa !

2008-02-09T11:54:00.000-08:00

My own Blog.
I never ever dreamed of it.
Because I lived very happy without one. I thought.
But since I'm a Bread Baking Babe member , I felt like the Black Sheep of the family.
Couldn't sleep anymore. Felt unhappy. My breads burned in the oven.....
Called a babe and still unhappy ?
Yes !!
Because my BBB-sisters ALL have Blogs. And they all write brilliant stories , they all show beautiful pictures....and I stayed behind.
So, I dried my tears , pulled myselve together and her I am !
Bread Baking Babe nr 12, with her own blog : Living on bread and water !
Ha !
But what am I going to write about ........???