I like banana bread and I often have it with hot chocolate when I order my poison [i.e. dark hot chocolate from Blenz]. I also like coffee cake when I need that extra sugar rush. When I saw this recipe and the description said that it’s a cross between a banana bread and coffee cake…I heard ding-ding-ding in my head.

Patience is not the strongest suit in my cards, that’s for sure. When I see something I want, I get it. If I want to accomplish something, I get it done. Then I just sit back and admire my handiwork with all that extra time. When faced with a must-cook recipe, I don’t waste time either. I just make it!

This life ‘formula’ doesn’t always work out perfectly. Like when I made these, I accidentally ate the 3rd banana that was to complete this recipe’s 1 cup of mashed bananas. Ooops! But I had to have banana bread right that instant so I improvised. I thought of something equally thick and mushy to add: almond butter. I don’t usually have almond butter in my cooking arsenal, but my recent diet changes due to my not-so-stellar health has brought a jar of it in the kitchen. It’s not sweet at all and it definitely covers the thickness/richness factor. I was also too excited to notice that instead of using sugar as the original recipe called for, I used golden yellow one. Oops, again. At that point, I just had to go with the flow and see how it goes. I was just hoping it was edible.

It wasn’t just edible. It was wonderful!

It was good fresh. After I let it sit overnight on the counter, it was perfect. The bread became a little moist (but not too much so it’s perfect for those who dislike super moist banana bread), a little packed…and oh my god the crumble topping is meant to be saved for last.

It was gone in a couple of days. I gave some to friends and my parents had the privilege of devouring them, and taking some on their road trip. The ‘mistakes’ were a success!!! Awesome. You better try it. It could actually be healthy, too…but don’t quote me on that.

Here’s the recipe: Read the full story

Getting back to our routine, I finally tried my hand at baking flatbread. The July 2008 Gourmet issue had an inspiring, super-easy flatbread recipe that really, I had no excuse not to make it. I LOVE flatbread and I look forward to ordering appetizers that are served with it. Admittedly, I sometimes cave in to buying those horrendously expensive bag of them from the store. I think I’ll stick to making them now:

I still have this slight phobia with bread making, and this recipe increased my hopes for bread nirvana. It was light, crispy (but not abrasive for the roof of your mouth, if you know what I mean) and with a nice flavor.

It was sooo nice to bite into.

The recipe makes 3 rustic flatbreads. For my first batch in the oven, I followed 450ºF temperature and checked it after 8 minutes. It was dark, dark brown on one side. I tried it at 400ºF for the second one and baked it for 12 minutes and it was perfect. It was light brown and just golden brown in the right areas — PRETTY. I used the store-brand coarse salt from Whole Foods. It worked out really well.

The bread was seriously delicious. Dan and I split one over a bowl of fresh corn and chicken soup. It’s great to eat on its own as well. I probably ate one whole bread today. It’s completely addicting.

You’ll notice from the recipe that it calls for the use of parchment paper. Well, this is what happens when you leave your boyfriend in charge of the apartment: your boxes of parchment and aluminum foil magically disappears into the kitchen abyss. Haha. So anyway, I just used my trusty Silpat and it delivered fantastic results as usual. I LOVE consistently good products.

Flatbread is one of those foods that you start making and it will change the way you look at the store-bought varieties. It is so good fresh out of the oven! 

CRISP ROSEMARY FLATBREAD

Ingredients (4 servings)

• 1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon chopped rosemary, plus 2 (6-inch) sprigs
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/3 cup olive oil plus more for brushing
• Flaky sea salt such as Maldon. You can easily substitute with kosher salt.

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 450°F with the oven rack positioned in the middle, and place a heavy baking sheet on it.
2. Mix together flour, chopped rosemary, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Create a well in center and pour water and oil into it. Continuously stir together the dry and wet ingredients with a wooden spoon until the dough forms. Transfer on a clean work surface and slowly knead the dough with your hands for 5 minutes.
3. Divide and form dough into 3 balls. Take one and leave the remaining ones covered in plastic wrap). Roll out 1 ball on a sheet of parchment paper until you form a 10-inch round disk. Dough should be thin, but you don’t have to make a perfect circle. It’s meant to look rustic.
4. Lightly brush the top of the disk with olive oil and sprinkle rosemary leaves on top, pressing in slightly. Sprinkle with sea salt.
5. Carefully slide and transport the dough on parchment paper onto the preheated baking sheet. Bake until pale golden and slightly browned raised areas, about 8 to 10 minutes.
6. Transfer flatbread, without the parchment paper, onto to a cooling rack. Repeat steps #3 to #6 for the remaining dough balls, working on each one at a time on fresh parchment. Do not  brush the disks with oil or salt until just before baking them. Break into pieces before serving.

Notes
You can bake the flatbread 2 days in advance. Cool completely before keeping in an airtight container stored at room temperature.

I’ve always daydreamed of making pretzels. Then as soon as I visualize the work involved, I just go on with my day. I don’t know what I’ve been afraid of now that I’ve made my first batch. It was so fun to make, too. Plus they’re cute. [Dan laughs at me when I describe any food as "cute".]

To ease my way into the pretzel making world, I picked a recipe that didn’t require ‘cooking’ the dough on the stove. Baby steps, baby steps. Also, the scientist (or OCD?) in me kicked in and wanting to have uniform results, I weighed each pretzel dough at 50g, and I was able to produce 15 mini pretzels. They were delish and lasted us for two days.

Making pretzels

A note on these pretzels:

As I said earlier, I took the no-dough-cooking route. I’m not sure if that’s the reason, but these pretzels did not have that fine dough texture when you eat it. It’s not similar to Wetzel’s Pretzels, nor did it have a crust like Auntie Anne’s. BUT this is a pretty easy pretzel recipe with very decent homemade results — it was soft and chewy. Dan loved them. Consider this note a warning from someone who’s overcritical about her cooking.

Here’s the recipe:

Read the full story

When I saw the photo for this on the May 2008 Gourmet magazine, I knew I had to make it. How can I resist cheese? I’ve also been meaning to get into bread-making. I thought this would be a good start. Yes, I’ve made cinnamon rolls so many times, but it’s time to move on and progress towards my goals of baking a good French bread and soft pretzels.

This recipe was not one to disappoint as you can see. It smelled and tasted so good, and it has that rustic look and texture, it made us feel like we’re in the country as we drooled over it:

The dough was a bit of challenge to work with, I should warn you (or it could just be me, really). For my first time, I think I did good. I ‘cheated’ and used a rolling pin to flatten it out, instead of using just my hands. Having refrigerated the dough overnight, I was faced with a really tough dough.

You might be wondering how the cheese got ingrained in there. The two kinds of coarsely grated cheeses (I used havarti and fresh mozzarella chopped in the food processor) are lumped into one big ball — and you might cry when you realize the amount of cheese in there as you hold it, but carry on because this really is one mightily awesome food to reach your mouth — but as I was saying, so the ball is placed in the middle of the slightly flattened dough, then it’s wrapped and ‘tied’ at the top, then pushed back down to spread into an 11-inch disk. Makes sense? That was the most challenging part for me.

It’s baked for 10 minutes, then sprayed with olive oil and baked for another 3 minutes to brown. And then you’ll be rewarded with this:

I’m killing you now, aren’t I? Please, dig in!

You know what else you can use this dough for?

Pizza! Yup, I made this with parmesan, mozza, and turkey bacon. Great for snacks. The dough is comparable to the frozen pizza doughs you can buy, and reminiscent of Pizza Hut’s P-zone’s dough. Not too shabby since this doesn’t take a lot of effort as the other pizza dough recipes I’ve seen (and have been scared with).

Alright, after taunting you, here’s the the recipe:  [And Happy Friday!]

GEORGIAN CHEESE BREAD

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 teaspoons (1/4-oz package) active dry yeast
• 7 tablespoons warm water (105-115°F)
• 1 2/3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, divided
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1/4 lb Havarti cheese, coarsely grated
• 1/4 lb fresh mozzarella, coarsely grated (add 1/2 tsp salt)
• olive oil (for spraying or brushing)

Preparation:

1. Sprinkle yeast over warm water and stir in a tablespoon flour. Let stand until creamy, about 5 minutes. (If yeast does not activate, start over with new yeast.)
2. Stir together salt and remaining flour in a large bowl, then stir in egg and yeast mixture to form dough.
3. Transfer dough onto a well-floured surface and turn to coat with flour, and then knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Form into a ball and dust with flour. Let the dough rest in a bowl, covered with plastic wrap, punching down with a wet fist every hour, at least 2 hours and up to 3.
4. Preheat oven to 500°F with rack in middle. Turn out dough onto floured pizza pan. Turn to coat. Flatten with your fingers into a 7-inch disk.
5. Toss together cheeses and compact them into a 3-inch ball with your hands. Place ball in middle of dough, then gather dough up around ball of cheese, squeezing excess dough into a topknot. Press down on topknot with a damp fist to press cheese out from center. Continue to flatten dough and distribute cheese evenly, pressing outward from center, until dough is an 11-inch disk.
6. Cut a 6-inch X through top of dough to expose cheese. Bake until pale golden, about 10 to 12 minutes. Brush/spray surface of dough with olive oil and bake until golden and cooked through, 3 to 5 minutes more. Serve cut into wedges.

Notes

Dough can be made 1 day ahead and chilled in bowl (for a slow rise), covered with plastic wrap. Punch down and bring to room temperature before proceeding with recipe.

If you are using a perforated pizza pan, be sure to have a baking sheet on the rack underneath it when you bake the bread. There might be cheese dripping through the holes. On that note, the cheese might burn so be ready for a smoky oven (and kitchen, and house…).

The cheese bread reheats well in the microwave for 20 seconds.