Roasted Potato Multigrain Bread #BreadBakers

Roasted Yukon Gold potatoes and a hefty pinch of rosemary give these low rising loaves a wonderfully savoury character. A sourdough preferment adds tang while keeping the crumb moist and open. A slice or two is perfect with any soup or stew, or just on it's own!

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Is there anything better than roasted potatoes to cure a comfort carb craving? I'll admit, I don't indulge in them as much as I should, but when I get the chance I'm all in! This bread was sparked by an abundance of potatoes left over from a family dinner, and fresh rosemary by the windowsill. I've made roast potato bread before, but when I saw this recipe on My Love of Baking that used a sourdough preferment, I had to give it a try!

Not only does this bread have the rich flavour of roasted potatoe and rosemary, but the preferment used an unusual ingredient - beer! The amber ale I picked was ever so slightly sweet (and not hoppy) and local to me. I took that idea and paired it with the nuttiness of barley flour and my standard whole wheat bread flour.

Once you combine the preferment with the rest of the ingredients (apart from the potatoes, that is) and knead it all together, be prepared to let it rest - think of the bread like your body after running a marathon (or conquering the work week) - it needs a spa day. A few folds and the addition of the potatoes later, it gets shaped and given a final proof in a bowl. I don't have a round banneton, but I imagine it would be better! A final rise and its plopped (gently) into a screaming hot Dutch oven and baked to a deep brown with a prominent crust.

The bread itself is time consuming, but well worth it in the end - the smell that came from my oven as it baked in a Dutch oven was out of this world.

Slicing into the cooled loaf, you're met with a slightly dense but still tender crumb speckled with bits of roasted potatoes. My mom immediately spread it with cream cheese, but the heels of the bread made stellar soup dippers from what I hear!

This loaf is my submission for the #Breadbakers Mixed Grains Bread event. 

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our of lovely bread by following our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated after each event on the #BreadBakers home page.

We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send Stacy an email with your blog URL to foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com.

Cream Cheese Snickerdoodles

You can never go wrong with snickerdoodles! These have a touch of cream cheese in the dough , which keeps them impossibly tender, and if my niece and nephew are any judge they won't last long on the cookie table!

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 We are right in the thick of cookie season - one of my favourite times of year. I spent last weekend sorting out what to put in everyone's holiday package this year, since I always attempt to personalize what I give out. One batch I knew I had to make was snickerdoodles - the combination of a soft, lightly sweet cookie rolled in cinnamon sugar is a hit with kids and adults alike!

I've been lucky this year to get significant help in the kitchen too - my niece and nephew are full fledged sous chefs for me, and my nephew in particular loves rolling dough into balls and coating them with sugar or whatever the recipe calls for! They're great at measuring and mixing, and for this recipe I was able to teach them about what the ingredients do.

While (almost) all cookies need a base of fat, I opt to use a combination of butter, shortening and cream cheese in these. The shortening and cream cheese help these cookies stay soft and thick, while the butter lends a classic flavour. Cream of tartar is a staple in snickerdoodles, as it adds an extra hint of tang to them that really can't be replicated with straight baking powder (the result of combining baking soda and cream of tartar). We also added a half tablespoon of ground flaxseed, which bumps up the flavour and helps bind the cookies together. If you don't have any, you can add another egg yolk to the recipe instead. 

Like most cookies, these do benefit from at least a couple hours in the fridge before baking. However, you can absolutely bake these off immediately, it may require two tosses in the cinnamon sugar to keep the crust though.

Rhubarb-Apple Lattice Pie

Shredded apples (peel and all) not only add fruity notes to the filling, but contain pectin which helps thicken it. The result is an easy to slice but not gloopy pie ready for your next backyard bbq!

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It's been a hot minute since I dabbled in pastry  quite frankly, I don't have the patience to coax together a perfectly flaky crust any more, and the people who would enjoy such a treat are few and far between now. However, I did have the opportunity to pay a few visits to a friend with a distinct love for rhubarb pie this year - and how could I not indulge that possibility? 

Luckily, the backyard rhubarb was - and is - prolific this year. We have (at last count) 4 rhubarb plants in the garden, each exploding into a mess of foliage every year. I'm the only one who actually uses the rhubarb, oddly enough, and what better way to celebrate this often ignored ingredient than in my annual pie?

That said, rhubarb-only pie has a set of things that need to be addressed for it to be fit for the dessert table. The first (and most obvious) is that fresh rhubarb is tart - great in, say, chutney, but not alone in a dessert. The next is the fact that rhubarb is essentially sour celery. It's stringy because of the cellulose fibres that give it structure, and it's filled with water. Ignore those elements and you wind up with dental floss soup in a pie crust. Appetizing, right?

 The approach I took in order to combat all three considerations while keeping the rhubarb front and centre was multi-fold. The easiest one was the tartness, obviously - but to add some complexity to the sweetness I used a mix of plain granulated and dark brown sugars. The brown sugar gave me the inspiration to tackle the liquid issue as well. In addition to using tapioca starch (my go-to thickener for pie, since it's freezer-stable) I decided to shred apples, peel and all, into the rhubarb mixture. The apple's pectin, combined with the sugar and the heat of the oven, also aided in the thickening of the filling. The stringiness of the rhubarb turned out to be a non-issue, since the pieces were chopped fairly small but the cellulose was also somewhat softened by the overnight sit in the sugar.

This is not a quick pie to make, since you need to let the filling stand for 12 hours (which also lets you chill your pie dough appropriately), it bakes for an hour, then has to set for another 8 hours before serving. I 100% promise it is worth it though - and if you're feeling energetic enough to make enough pie dough these freeze well both unbaked and baked. Don't want to fuss with a lattice (you can see my amazing weave work above haha)? No problem - just pop a full crust lid on top and poke 5-6 slits in the top for ventilation.

PS - Prime Day is TOMORROW! What's on your list this year? 

Don't forget, you must be an Amazon Prime member to catch all the deals!

Kielbasa and Kale Soup

It looks like spring is finally edging it's way in for good - and what better way to celebrate than with a bowl full of vibrant colour and flavour! This Kielbasa and Kale Soup is packed with carrots, potatoes, and white beans in addition to its namesake ingredients, and packs a spicy, smoky punch too.

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You might be surprised to know that my family eats soup and stews year round. Lunchtime in the summer is often just as hectic (if not more so) than it is during the school year, since we either have the littles over all day, the garden needs constant attention, or mom is running off somewhere or other. Having filling, delicious meals on hand is something that never goes out of season! Given that the warmer months are here (hopefully to stay!) I wanted to bring the colours of the season into this bi-monthly batch with lots of kale, celery and carrots. These vegetables were accented with hearty sausage and potatoes, creamy white beans, a hefty pop of garlic and a richly flavoured homemade chicken broth.

The star of the show, for me at least, is the smoked paprika. I own three varieties of smoked paprika, which I love to use in the summer to amplify the flavour of meals either cooked on the grill or not. Selefina Spices' Spanish de la Vera Smoked Paprika is the perfect addition to burger mixes, mayo, ketchup, deviled eggs and pasta salad - and I'd wager it would make grilled corn butter pop too. Letting the soup simmer (and even sit overnight before reheating) allows the flavour of the paprika to infuse fully, making every bite memorable.

Some notes on variations and alternate ingredients:

• You can use turkey or beef kielbasa in place of the traditional pork, or even cooked Polish sausage. I haven't tried vegan sausage in this but it should work as well, or leave it out completely.
• If you don't have hot smoked paprika on hand, mix 1 1/4 tsp sweet smoked paprika with 1/4 tsp of cayenne to make your own.
• If you don't want the spice of the hot paprika, use sweet smoked paprika 1:1 for the hot paprika. 
• Any waxy potato will work - I used Yukon Gold, but white or red potatoes would work too.
• Vegetable broth can be used in place of chicken, if you don't use low sodium taste the soup and add salt to taste
• Start with 9 cups of broth and add if you need the soup to loosen up.
  
• Kidney beans, brown lentils, lima beans and navy beans will all work. You want about 5 cups of cooked beans if you're cooking from dry.
• You can use any leafy greens instead of kale - Savoy cabbage or mature spinach are both good.
  
• This soup freezes well - ladle cooled soup into freezer-safe containers and store up to 3 months.
  
  
  

Brigadeiro-Filled Chocolate Cake

A comparatively un-fancy yet apparently quite delicious "haha you're older" consolation prize for my sister this year. Complete with Brigadeiro (Brazilian fudge) filling trying to escape and questionable looking polka dots on the sides, it wouldn't be a birthday cake if there wasnt a decoratimg adventure story alongside it!

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I'll admit, I'm a little disappointed in myself that I wasn't able to achieve a fancy-pants cake for the birthdays this year. Normally, I go all out and put together something that, if I may be so bold to say, is gorgeous. However, life was in a constant state of upheaval this year, so (upon consultation with the birthday girl) I took a less-involved approach to decorating this time around. However, the cake itself more than makes up for the plainer appearance!

The star of the show here is by far the rich, thick and indulgent brigadeiro that makes up the filling. If you aren't familiar with this treat, it is essentially a mix between truffle and fudge, made with sweetened condensed milk and cocoa powder and rolled in sprinkles. When I say it is a rich filling, it is rich. But a birthday is a once a year deal, so whole-hog it was!

Once you have the filling made - a time consuming and somewhat meticulous process that is well worth it in the end - the rest of the cake is easy! I have multiple chill steps in the assembly instructions due to the filling's tendency to want to escape, but I have to tell you that brigadeiro mix is perfectly acceptable scooped on top of a single layer cake (or cupcakes, or between cookies...). Due to the richness of the cake and filling, small slices are encouraged - even the chocoholics here were more than satisfied.

Double Chocolate Brownie Cookies

My niece and I made these double chocolate brownie cookies - rich, decadent and delicious warm (if you don't mind them falling apart in your hands!)

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I'm so happy my niece loves both baking and chocolate - you may remember the donuts and brownie spiders we created. Getting her into the kitchen is always an adventure, and a great opportunity to learn about math, etymology, history and science (the brownies turned into a discussion about gas expansion and pressure release, turning into a lesson on volcanoes). These lessons are never formal, and I love that they can be woven in seamlessly because she is infinitely inquisitive and I am an endless treasure trove of random trivia.

These cookies are the perfect after school treat to make, because they are fairly quick to put together (even with 5 and 2.5 year olds getting involved!). While an overnight chill is recommended for these, if the chocolate craving is immediate it's easy enough to scoop out 1 or 2 balls of dough and freeze them for a half hour while the rest of the dough hangs out in the fridge for the next day. They're dense and chewy, just like a thin brownie, and the amount of chocolate chips is absolutely up to you - the amount I have listed is as per my niece's measurements. If you prefer nutty brownies, substitute 1/3 to 1/2 of the chocolate chips with your nut of choice, or add mini M&Ms, pretzels... anything you like!

Pro tip: these make amazing ice cream sandwiches. I found it best to pop the cookies in the freezer for about 30 minutes before assembling them since they are on the softer / chewier side of things. Once assembled, individually wrap the sandwiches and freeze until the ice cream firms up.

Beer Braised Chicken

Are you looking for a unique way of preparing chicken that will leave you and your friends wanting more? If yes, then this beer braised chicken recipe will definitely do the job, making you have a combination of beer and chicken that creates an exceptional flavor to impress your visitors.

Beer braised chicken is extremely easy to prepare and takes less of your time. If you are new to the game, the process takes less than two and a half hours. However, the process will likely take even less time if you have been doing it for long or have some tips (around two hours).

The best thing about this process is that you can use any old beer to have that chicken taste you have always desired. For a better result, it is recommended to use a dark malty beer that is rich and contains sweet notes. Don’t worry about how to get such beer since Beer Snobs will enlighten you and get one that suits the job.

Ingredients

Serves 4

Salt and pepper

1 tbsp olive oil

6 skin-on chicken thighs (about 2 pounds)

1 large onion, sliced

6 small carrots, sliced

3 cloves garlic (finely chopped)

All-purpose flour

2 tbsp brown sugar (optional)

1 tbsp tomato paste

2 tbsp dried thyme

3 bay leaves

2 tbsp whole-grain mustard

2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1 (12 oz) bottle amber beer

Step 1: Brown the Chicken Thighs

• Season chicken liberally with salt and pepper. 
• Heat oil in an ideal pot over medium-high heat and add the chicken thighs in one layer (you may need to do this in batches). 
• Cook, without moving, until the thighs turn brown, about 6 minutes. Flip and continue cooking for about 3 minutes.
• Transfer the brown thighs to a plate and cook the remaining thighs using the same procedure.

Step 2: Drain off the Fat Rendered by the Chicken

• Drain the fat from the cooking pot, leaving about two tablespoons.

Step 3: Cook the Onions

• Add the onions, carrots, and garlic and cook over medium heat, stirring, until the vegetables turn golden brown. Add flour, stirring for another 1 minute.
• You can add your brown sugar at this point to intensify the natural sweetness of the onions and the other vegetables.

Step 4: Bring to Simmer

• Add 1 tbsp of salt, tomato paste, thyme, bay leaves, vinegar, and beer to the onion. 
• Scrape up the browned bits from the bottom of the cooking pot with a spoon or spatula, then add the chicken thighs and bring to a simmer.

Step 5: Cook Until the Chicken is Falling off the Bone

• Cover the pot and cook for 1 hour, until the liquid is reduced and the meat separates from the bone. 
• Serve it with your favourite starch - potatoes or rice are both great.

 

Related Questions

Can Chicken Be Braised?

• Yes, you can definitely braise the chicken to make it flavorful and tender. It is an ideal method of preparing your chicken during the colder seasons.

What Beer Is Good for Cooking Chicken?

• The best beer for cooking chicken is one that has been perfectly balanced (Amber). A beer in the middle as far as taste is concerned. You need a beer that is neither too hoppy nor too sweet. Sour beer is also ideal, as the acidity works too well on the chicken.

Does Braising Tenderize Chicken?

• Yes, braising is an ideal way of tenderizing the chicken. The beer also helps to keep the kitchen moist and flavorful. This is because the chicken absorbs the flavors in the braising liquid, giving it the required flavor.

Conclusion

Braising chicken is an excellent way of making it flavorful and tastier. The process is easy and will consume less time when you have the needed materials. Ensure you use an ideal beer (not too hoppy) to achieve a great result. Also, follow the procedure carefully to avoid messing up.