Best Bread Ever

I am writing today about No-Knead Bread. I may be coming late to this party, though I have been making this bread for 7 years now. 

The first time I ever heard of No-Knead Bread, was at the Farmers' Market here in town, in 2011. It is a small affair, as we are a small town, but there are interesting things going on here, nonetheless. I saw a lady with a basket of bread that looked to be artisanal in style, with a nice crusty exterior, and promising to be nicely full of holes inside. The sign on her basket read, "No-Knead Bread." I asked what that was, and she gave me a sketchy account, advising that I look it up online. I bought a loaf.

No Knead Bread

Once I tasted the loaf, I went online immediately. The first thing I came upon was a recipe from "The Minimalist," written by Mark Bittman in 2006, about the bread made famous (then why am I only NOW finding out about it!?!?) by Jim Lahey of Sullivan Street Bakery. I tried the bread recipe cited by Bittman immediately. Well, as immediately as I could get my hands on an enameled cast iron pot. I found out the hard way that the knob or handle on the lid must be metal, to stand the high oven temperatures. When I borrowed my sister-in-law's 4 quart Le Creuset, with a resin knob on the lid, it exploded in the oven!

Script "L" as Lid Handle

The bread came out great, but I went in search of an enameled cast iron pot of my own, making sure it had a metal handle on the lid. It was a signature series Lodge enameled cast iron Dutch oven, with the handle made into a script shaped letter "L". This pot has been used so much and so often that the insides are completely blackened, never to be white again, but it keeps on working just fine, no matter what gets cooked inside! Supposedly, you can use Pyrex or other oven safe pots, and also clay pots. I do not own a clay baker and am afraid to subject any glassware to the intensely high heat in the oven needed for this bread. 

Meanwhile, I also bought Jim Lahey's book, "My Bread." I wanted to know everything I could find out about it. When it comes down to it though, I just love the plain, original No-Knead Bread best of all. I made the loaf with cheese chunks in it. I made a loaf with bacon in it. I made a loaf using Guinness Stout and buttermilk. Another with Walnuts. All great. I just liked the original best, and have made it more times than I can count.

What, Exactly, is No-Knead Bread?

Over the course of many years, I have learned over and over that flour, in and of itself, is rather bland and tasteless. Witness the plain white bread in the grocery store. What gives flavor to white or whole wheat flour alike is time, and some form of fermentation, whether warm, cold or a combination. This process also unlocks some hard to digest goodness from the grain. Sourdough bread has been famous forever, and the particular flavors from sourdough starters comes from long, slow fermenting. If you don't care for sourdough bread (my husband is not fond of it), just understand that rather than keeping a starter going for years, decades or more, No-Knead Bread only ferments (in the main) for 12 to 18 hours, or overnight. This is enough to get the dough going, fermentation underway, and then it is shaped and baked. The goodness in the flour is unlocked, and the bread is just fantastic.

Rough dough in PM then Risen and bubbly in the AM

The key to this bread is in the process. A rough and shaggy dough is mixed up the night before you plan to make the bread. A quick stir to get all the ingredients dampened is all you need do. Cover and set in a place at least 70 degrees, but not more than about 75, and let the magic happen. What occurs is that the tiny ¼-teaspoon of yeast that is added to give the fermentation a kick-start, takes over on its own, and in the morning, after about 12 -18 hours, you will see a very jiggly-wet dough that oozes to one side or other of the bowl when tilted, and a whole lot of bubbles dotting the surface. In this way, you have the time and fermentation that has taken place and flavors are developed. The next step is setting the dough to rise and then baking it.

No Knead Bread

The reason the enameled cast iron pot works so well is first of all its weight. The nice, thick, heavy pot holds heat. This kind of heat mimics the heat in the kinds of ovens used in bakeries, and the method we sometimes try to copy by spraying water into the oven or setting ice cubes in a container on the oven floor. The risen dough is flipped into the screaming hot pot, the lid replaced, trapping steam from this very wet dough. The steam makes that nice crisp-chewy exterior, and the heat expands the loaf into beautiful inner holes. 

The Process

As shown in the photo above, the dough is mixed in the evening around 7 or 8 PM (if it is terribly cold outside, it may need to start around 6 PM or even earlier, in order to rise enough by morning), then in the morning will have risen and be evenly dotted with bubbles and be very jiggly.

When ready in the morning, you will need a clean surface on which to work, sprinkled liberally with flour. The dough is very wet and needs quick and light handling. 

1. Turn the dough out onto the floured surface, then toss quickly together to coat. Sprinkle with more flour and cover for 15 minutes with plastic wrap or a clean flour sack towel (any smooth towel, not terrycloth!). 
2. In this time period, have ready a baking sheet with a flour sack towel or clean, smooth kitchen towel placed on it. Liberally sprinkle an area about 12-inches in diameter with cornmeal or wheat bran. Once the 15 minutes have passed,  quickly toss the dough into a ball shape and set with the seam tucked underneath onto the center of the cornmeal or bran strewn towel.
3. Sprinkle the top of the dough with more cornmeal or bran, then cover with another clean, smooth towel - or, if using a flour sack towel, which tend to be large, put the dough onto one end, then flip the other end of the towel over top.
4. Let the dough rise for 2 hours.
5. Thirty minutes before the 2 hours are elapsed, place your enameled cast iron pot with lid on, into the oven, then set the oven to pre-heat to 475 degrees for the remaining half-hour of rising time.
6. Once the half hour is elapsed, remove the pot from the oven, being exceedingly careful, as it is screaming hot! Remove the lid and set aside. Immediately, lift the cover back from the risen dough. Slide your hand underneath the cloth to support the dough, then lift and invert the dough (bottom side upwards) into the hot pot. Quickly replace the lid.
7. Place the pot back into the oven and set a timer for 30 minutes. 
8. At thirty minutes, remove the lid and bake the bread uncovered for another 8 to twenty minutes.
9. Use a wide spatula to lift the bread out of the exceedingly hot pot and set on a rack to cool. 
10. Listen to the bread "sing." It will pop, crack, whistle and otherwise make lovely sounds as it cools. 

The entire process of mixing the dough, working with it briefly in the morning and getting into pot to bake takes about 15 minutes in its entirety. It is needful to be there in the morning, while the dough is rising and baking, but without any more hands-on time. 

Things I Have Learned Over Time

• When mixing the dough, the recipe calls for 1½ to 1⅝ (or 1½ cups + 2 tablespoons) cups of cool water. Understand, the wetter the dough, the more hole structure will form in the finished bread. If you live in a very humid environment, your flour may already be retaining some humidity, and you may not need the extra two tablespoons of water. Making this bread in South Dakota, where it is far less humid than, say, Florida or Louisiana, I have needed the extra two tablespoons of water every time. The bread is great no matter which way. Just experiment to see how much water works best for you.

• I use a baking sheet to set the towel on for the rising period. This is never stated in the original recipe, but if you have a smaller kitchen, this allows you to move the bread out of your way if you need to work in that space. I cannot begin to state how this has helped me in past!

• Jim Lahey's recipe does not call for a 15 minute rest period before shaping the loaf and setting onto the cornmeal strewn cloth. Mark Bittman's recipe did. I have done it both ways, many times, and I will say that for whatever reason, the 15 minute rest makes the bread grow higher in the end.

• Jim Lahey has the oven set to 500 degrees. For me this is just too hot. I do not care for blackened loaves, though most of the photos in Lahey's book are at least slightly blackened. My husband will not touch a blackened loaf. I use a 475 degree oven.

• Lahey has the initial bake with lid on the pot for 30 minutes, but once the lid is taken off, he says to bake a further 15 to 30 minutes. I tried once to bake a further 15 minutes, and it was already starting to blacken in spots, so I removed it. After that, I have ALWAYS baked for only 8 further minutes. This is entirely subjective!

No-Knead Bread

No Knead Bread, just baked

Makes one loaf

3 cups bread flour
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1¼ teaspoons salt
1½ to 1⅝ (just 2 TBSP more) cups cool water
Cornmeal, wheat bran and or flour for dusting

The evening before making the bread, place the flour, yeast and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add the water and using a wooden spoon, stir to a shaggy dough,  just moistening all the dry ingredients. Cover the bowl with plastic film, or a plate or a lid and set in a warm (not hot) place to ferment overnight.

After 12 to 18 hours (or even up to 24 if it is very cold), the dough should have risen, having bubbles dot the entire surface and the dough should be very jiggly upon moving the bowl. (See photos above).

Dust a clean surface with plenty of flour, then scrape the dough out onto the floured surface, as shown in the first photo below. Quickly bring up edges and then sprinkle with more flour if needed, covering the dough, allowing it to rest for a further 15 minutes, shown in photo 2. While the rest period is underway, place a clean, smooth towel, such as a flour sack towel (NO terrycloth) onto a baking sheet. Sprinkle the towel with cornmeal or wheat bran to a diameter of about 12-inches. Once the rest period ends, quickly form the dough into a ball, tucking the seams underneath, and place onto the prepared towel, shown in photo three below. The seams underneath will later form the pretty cracked pattern on top of the finished loaf.

The process of preparing and baking the loaf

Sprinkle the formed loaf with more cornmeal or bran if needed, then cover with another clean, smooth towel, shown in photo 4, above. Set aside to rise for 2 hours.

Thirty minutes prior to the two-hour rise period, place an enameled cast iron pot, with lid, into the oven. Set the oven to 475 degrees and time for 30 minutes. This is to get the pot screaming hot, approximating a bakery oven. Once the half hour is elapsed, carefully remove the pot from the oven, setting the lid aside, photo 6 above. Uncover the loaf, then slide a hand underneath the towel, supporting the loaf. In one quick movement, lift and invert the loaf into the hot pot. If it sticks to the side, give the pot a shake. It won't matter, in the end, see photo 7 above. Cover the pot with its lid, then return to the oven for 30 minutes. After the thirty minutes, remove the lid, leaving the bread to bake for at least a further 8 minutes and up to 30 minutes, if desired.

Once finished, remove the pot from the oven, then using a large spatula, lift the loaf out of the pot and onto a rack to cool. Allow the loaf to cool for at least an hour before cutting.



My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Another Book and Another Bread

gifted stack of bread books

For anyone reading my blogs in the past months, you will probably already know I have been on a bread baking mission. After being given 7 books on artisanal bread making/baking, I singled out one book from the stack, Peter Reinhart's "The Bread Baker's Apprentice", and have gone wild. I knew how to make bread. Once, long ago I even attempted sourdough. There was so much I didn't know about sourdough, how to use it, how to keep it tasting good instead of too sour, and best of all, making a starter from wild yeasts in the air. I have made around 9 or 10 different breads from that book, and have lots more to go before I am finished experimenting. 

A few weeks back, for whatever reason, I got out another of that original stack of bread books, Maggie Glezer's "Artisan Baking Across America". I had looked through it, noting that most if not all the recipes used a starter of some kind. As I am learning, while not all breads need a starter dough, when the ingredients are the bare, simplest ones, sometimes more flavor is desired. Flour, water, yeast and salt can only do so much. Fermenting of some kind gives flavor and nuance. Since I already have a starter in the fridge, I hoped it would be usable in the recipes from Maggie Glezer's book also. 

Yesterday, I got the book out again and took a look. She has recipes arranged for very simple baking, and more advanced, and then even more advanced. I wanted something in the heartier, heavier, whole grains category and found this recipe for "Dutch Regale's Finnish Rye Bread" under "advanced."  I had no idea what or who was Dutch Regale (it was a bakery in Houston, I believe, and it seems now is closed). I had made a version of Swedish Limpa Rye Bread in past, from a recipe given me by a neighbor back in 1982 or so. Her Swedish grandma would make it when she came to visit. This Finnish Rye bread had some similarities; mainly that it contained rye flour and molasses, and no caraway seeds. It also has the option for soaked flax seed to be added. This recipe calls for no white flour at all, outside of that used in making the firm starter. When they say "firm," they really mean firm! 
 

Dutch Regale's Finnish Rye Bread, just baked

I am sometimes impatient with bread. I realize this. In this book, it is stated that the starter needs to respond more quickly than mine was doing. If not, it needed to be refreshed a few more times before proceeding with the recipe. My starter in the fridge is nicely risen still, so I felt it would be enough. I made the firm starter yesterday, with the hope it would rise as stated, then make a second batch to set overnight, giving two turns of growth before proceeding. Well, it wasn't - quite - enough. I should have refreshed the starter once more at least, but I will not have time tomorrow to work with the bread. So - today it was to be.
 

Finnish Rye Bread, sliced

The starter was close to the risen size called for, I will give it that. The kneaded bread dough was more batter-like than any I have made outside of non-yeast breads. It truly needed the paddle attachment on my heavy-duty mixer, and not the dough hook. I had spent the morning yesterday grinding rye berries and wheat berries in the amounts stated for the recipe, making cracked rye, medium rye flour and whole wheat berries, ground medium. Last night I set the cracked rye and the flax to soak. This morning, come hell or high water, I was going to make this bread, by golly! I did, out of fear, add ¼ teaspoon of instant yeast to boost the leavening. Today dawned chilly and rainy, making the likelihood of proper rising even less likely.

Because of the extremely soft consistency of the dough, I was very reluctant to set the dough to rise in a cloth lined bowl as stated in the recipe. I debated whether to just bake it in an enameled cast iron pot like with the No-Knead Breads Jim Lahey made so famous. I am sure it would have come out great. But I floured a flour-sack towel very heavily before setting it into a bread form and setting the dough in to rise. It did rise, almost more than I expected, considering the density of the dough and the chill of the weather. I turned it out onto parchment and the cloth stuck only in one tiny spot. The bread baked for almost 40 minutes and had reached an internal temp of 204 when I took it out of the oven. The loaf was flatter than I hoped, but still lovely and better than I expected from the slow starter and the chill in the air. 

The bread is wonderfully tasty, very dense and moist. The crust is thick and chewy. In effect, everything I hoped for in the taste department. Next time I will make sure the starter is working 100% before going on with the recipe, but for now, once again I am well pleased.



My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Cold Rise Bread is the Best Ever

I have been making bread for over 40 years, but until recently, I knew little of the theory. After receiving a a donation of "new" books from the local Dacotah Prairie Museum through my sister-in-law, I sort of glommed onto one of them and have been going strong ever since. I have been talking about this book, The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart repeatedly in my blogs of the last almost 2 months. It is highly recommended if you, like me, love making bread and enjoy a new challenge. I have made a starter dough from scratch, allowing the wild yeasts in the air to populate the starter, then the "Mother" starter or "barm," as PR calls it. I proceeded to make an Onion Deli Rye Bread, a Sunflower Rye Bread, a 100% Sourdough Rye, Challah and a white Sourdough Bread. I also found one of the recipes in his book to be exceedingly similar to my Mom's bread recipe, and adapted the theory and practice to Mom's recipe, making the best batch of her bread, ever!

Baguettes from Pan a l'Ancienne

I had all these breads, and have frozen one or two loaves of most of them, so I was less inclined to jump into another one too soon. Man (woman) cannot live by bread alone! But I started getting the itch to try another one, and one that had caught my eye right at the beginning of this adventure was "Pan a l'Ancienne". This bread is not made from the wild starter barm, which is one reason I hadn't made it yet to date. Looking for ways to use the starter was my goal. But this bread kept calling to me, so I finally sat to read the whole recipe over and over, in order to absorb the details. It calls for mixing up a very simple flour, water, yeast and salt dough; the difference being that the water called for is ice water. 

ICE WATER?

Usually, bread making calls for warm water anywhere from 90 to 110 degrees. Then of course, with instant yeast, which can be mixed into the flour and doesn't even need to be proofed, the warm water is not truly necessary. It can be helpful when it is really frigid outside and the house temperature causes very sluggish reactions from the yeast. But it's

Baguettes

not necessary. So reading this recipe, which calls for iced water - ice cubes in the water to keep it very cold till needed - I was intrigued. So far, almost everything I have made following PR's descriptions has come out perfectly, so I certainly didn't want to go changing things at this point. Ice water it would be.

Once the dough is mixed with the icy water, then kneaded, it goes directly into the refrigerator overnight. Since I mixed the dough in the morning, it was in the fridge for nearly 24 hours before getting it back out into room temperatures. Another intriguing aspect to this recipe was that the dough was cut into thin strips for baguetttes, but not "formed" as is usual; very rustic. The oven is heated and prepped for "hearth baking" and the bread is baked as soon as the oven is at temp. The directions concluded with the admonition that this could also be made into ciabatta simply by allowing the baguettes to proof for a couple of hours, in which time they would spread more and develop the larger holes. A third possibility was to make focaccia. I decided to try using half the dough for baguettes (3) and half made into a focaccia. 

HEARTH BAKING

PR does things a bit differently from any I've seen in regard to making a home oven act similarly to a bakery's hearth. Rather than trying to maintain moisture over the bulk of the baking time, he says that anything past the first couple of minutes is counterproductive. A dry pan is placed into the oven to heat. Once the high temperature is reached, the bread is placed in the oven and one cup of boiling water is added to the empty hot pan. Even with boiling water, once it hits that super-heated pan in the oven, it splutters all over the place. One cup of water in an oven that hot does not last for long. The next step in this process is to use a spray bottle and spray the oven walls after 30 seconds, then again after another 30 seconds, and then once more after 30 seconds. At this point, the oven temp is lowered and the bread is left to bake. No more moisture is added during the remainder of baking time.

Focaccia

Peter Reinhart stated that it is possible that the dough in the refrigerator may have risen a little overnight, depending on the temperature of the fridge and how often the door is opened. By morning when I pulled the container of dough out of the fridge it had actually doubled in size. I was ahead of the game. So all that was left was to allow the dough the 2 hours on the counter to lose the chill. This dough is very, very wet. It is not actually "water" wet, but just a dough with a high moisture content and exceedingly soft. It is difficult to "work" with this type of dough, so it is good that PR calls for very little handling. Turning it out onto a heavily floured surface to avoid any sticking helps. PR calls for cutting apart the dough into the pieces necessary, using a bench scraper or knife. No sawing motions either; just straight cuts.  

Three baguettes left                                                            Focaccia with herbed oil right

I cut the dough in half. One half I cut further into three pieces, which are gently stretched to the length of the pan while transferring them to the pan. The other half, which I made into focaccia, was gently lifted onto another pan lined with parchment and a liberal amount of herbed oil. Then the dough is dimpled and spread without completely deflating, topped with a lot of herbed oil and left to rise for 2 hours.  The baguettes I baked right away. Once cooled, I tasted an end of the bread. 

Focaccia from Pan a l'Ancienne Dough

THE BEST BREAD FLAVOR EVER

Obviously, since the one major difference between this bread and most others is the ice water and the chilled rise, these factors have to be the reasons for the amazing flavor in this bread. The focaccia was equally fantastic, with the added flavors of the herbed oil soaked in. I used about 1/2 cup olive oil, adding one huge clove of garlic, minced, 1/4 cup of chopped fresh basil and 2 teaspoons each of fresh thyme leaves and rosemary. All of this oil was either on the parchment underneath the bread or puddled into the dimples on top and most was absorbed into the baking focaccia. Amazing. 



My passion is to teach people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and help pass along my love and joy of food, both simple and exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, trying new things weekly. Join me at A Harmony of Flavors Website and Marketplace, Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. I am also on a spiritual journey and hope you will join me at my new blog, An Eagle Flies. 

Easter Ham Makover

Before delving into what I have been cooking lately, I want to take time to note that I added a new tab above. I created a page for a Recipe Index to give very easy access to all the recipes I have on my blog, as I have been blogging since October of 2012. They just would not be found unless reading through all the 1½ years of blogging. I would not want to subject anyone to that much slogging through my adventures. I will add a list of article links also. Some blogs have been very 1-subject oriented and could have interest on their own merit. So, please peruse my list of recipes under Recipe Index!

Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes with Ham

A few days ago I created a recipe out of desperation for something different to do with leftover ham. Every single time we have ham in the house I make my Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes with Ham. My husband absolutely loves this as it has his main food groups in it: meat, potatoes and cheese. To be honest, I absolutely love this casserole also, so I cannot in truthfulness place all the credit on my husband. His sister also loves this casserole, so almost every time I make it she is over for dinner. It's a great casserole. And I will likely be making it very soon. Again.

But meanwhile, I was just casting about in my head, trying to think of some other application for leftover ham, and I thought, "how about a savory bread pudding? My husband will eat a dessert bread pudding, but he is in no way as excited about the whole bread pudding concept as I. I love bread pudding. It sits far higher in my list of dessert loves than anything chocolate ever could. When my husband and I lived in Mandeville, Louisiana, just a mile up from the Lake Ponchartrain bridge, he was still out entertaining prospective doctors for the current practice he was managing and so we ate out often in this capacity. We also ate out with some really fantastic friends quite often in many different venues. And we sometimes went down to New Orleans and ate there. I had never been in Louisiana, or in New Orleans, and was not sure what kind of food they ate there, the blanket of Creole or Cajun just covered everything. And then I discovered Gumbo. OMG! Love at first bite. Later I found that there are two kinds of Gumbo, either okra gumbo, or file gumbo. I prefer the file gumbo by a long shot. Okra has never caught my foodie attention. 

Anyway, to get to the point, the other thing I discovered in Louisiana is that bread pudding is on almost every, single dessert menu. I was in heaven! I love bread pudding. I really, really love bread pudding. I ate it everywhere while living there. 

Bread Pudding

Bread Pudding

Makes about 6 servings

½ cup golden raisins
3 tablespoons bourbon, rum or brandy
5 eggs
¾ cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
pinch salt
3 cups heavy cream
8 ounces stale bread, in 1-inch pieces, with crusts
Bourbon (or Rum or Brandy) Sauce, recipe below

In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, combine the raisins and bourbon and heat gently until the liquid is evaporated and the raisins are plump, about 7 minutes.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, vanilla, spices and salt. Stir in the cream until well blended. Toss in the torn bread and plumped raisins and stir together. Let the mixture set for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, to allow the bread to soak up the liquid. The pudding may be made ahead until this point and refrigerated for 4 hours until you are ready to bake.

Heat the oven to 350ºF. Butter eight 6-oz. custard cups or ramekins or one larger baking dish. Divide the bread mixture among the cups and pour any remaining custard over the top of each. Set the cups in a baking pan and add enough water to the pan to come halfway up the sides of the cups. This is more easily accomplished if the larger pan is placed in the oven first. Trying to move a large pan full of boiling water is unsafe! Bake until the puddings are browned on top and a knife inserted between the center and the edge of the pan comes out clean, about 50 minutes, or 60 for the larger casserole.

BOURBON (or Rum or Brandy) SAUCE
1½ cups heavy cream
½ cup sugar
3 tablespoons bourbon
⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon

In a wide saucepan, combine the cream and sugar. Dissolve the sugar over medium heat and let the mixture come slowly to a boil. Cook, boiling gently, until the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, (235º on a candy thermometer). Remove from heat and stir in the bourbon and cinnamon. Serve warm, poured over the individual puddings, or servings. 

NOTES: I have found that the extra work of the hot water bath seems not to matter! I totally forgot to do it once, and it still turned out perfect! Just watch for doneness by inserting a knife between center and edge of pan; the knife should come out clean.

If you don't like raisins - omit them. If fat-conscious this can be made with plain milk, half & half or some of both. Still great!

VARIATION: I have added in a cup of grated good quality white chocolate (with actual cocoa butter content) to the mixture, with heavenly results. If you love bread pudding, and white chocolate, this is a match made in heaven.


And that brings me back to the ham dilemma. I had never made a savory bread pudding, though I  have seen them in magazines or on TV. So I started to think about this. What would I like to taste in a savory - ham - bread pudding? Obviously there would be bread, eggs and milk with the ham. I had some blue cheese crumbles in the fridge, so I added that to the list. Some nutmeg. I thought I would try using pink peppercorns, for their very different flavor. And then I tossed in some currants. I originally was thinking of sultanas, or white raisins, but switched to currants. Now I think I might have liked the raisins more, but I will try that next time. The bread I used is some of the artisanal style bread I had made, and it gives a nice chewy bite to the casserole. I would really not recommend a plain white sandwich bread, as it would be pasty. 

Thinking about this particular casserole I realize it would also be a wonderful brunch or a breakfast casserole with a side of fruit. Here is what I did:

Ham & Blue Cheese Bread Pudding with a side salad

 

Ham & Blue Cheese Bread Pudding

Ham & Blue Cheese Bread Pudding

Serves 6

2½ cups cubed day-old bread, preferably artisanal style
2 cups milk
2 eggs
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon nutmeg, freshly grated
½ teaspoon pink peppercorns, crushed
1½ cups cubed ham
¾ - 1 cup blue cheese, crumbled
3 scallions, chopped
¼ cup currants
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan
½ cup panko bread crumbs
1 tablespoon melted butter

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease or spray an oven safe casserole either 9 x 1 1/2-inches round or 8 x 8-inches square.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk the eggs and milk together. Add the bread cubes, salt, pink peppercorns, nutmeg and ham to combine. Mix in the blue cheese, scallions and currants and then pour this mixture into the prepared casserole. In another mixing bowl, combine the fresh grated Parmesan with the panko crumbs. Add in the melted butter and toss well with fork or fingers to combine and moisten. Pour crumbs over the bread pudding and bake the casserole until a knife inserted between the center and the edge comes out clean. This could take 45 minutes or much longer. I set my casserole onto a pizza pan and I believe this may have inhibited the oven's heat from properly heating the bottom of the casserole. It took mine just a little over ah hour to bake.

To make this for breakfast, to save time, prepare the milk, bread, eggs, salt, nutmeg, peppercorns and currants or raisins the night before. Combine and cover tightly and keep refrigerated. In the morning, add in the ham and blue cheese, with the scallions, combine and pour into the casserole. The crumb topping could also be made the night before. Allow enough time for baking when getting it into the oven. 


The reason I set my casserole onto a pizza pan was because recently I have had to clean my oven three times due to spills from baking foods. I was playing it safe, but am pretty sure this altered the timing needed to bake the Ham Bread Pudding. Be careful to check between the center of the casserole and the edge, because this is a custard. If you over bake the casserole, the eggs will become mealy. The consistency should be smooth and creamy. The center of a custard should still be a little wet when it is done. Allow the casserole to set at room temperature for about 10 or 15 minutes before cutting and serving, to allow the temperature to come up and set the center. I really loved this casserole. My husband said he did also, though I am sure he is still waiting for me to get around to the Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes and Ham.



My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

A Small Sampling of Wines with Foods

The "Winefest Renaissance" benefiting the Boys and Girls Club of Aberdeen, will be held on April 12th this year. My husband has been busily recruiting people who will promote my part in the event, which, similarly to last year will be a selection of 6 different wines, and foods prepared specifically to pair with each wine. This is a wonderful way to show the differences in what a wine tastes like on its own, as opposed to tasting with a food, and most pertinently, if the food is made with only food items that pair well with that varietal or style. We also provide rating sheets to help people examine what exactly they like or dislike about any given wine, and why. These rating sheets are ones I have created, and are each person's to keep. Last year too many people seemed to be under the impression that we were "grading" them on how they rated. This was not the intent at all, but for each person to discover more about what they like or dislike in a wine, and why. There is no right or wrong to this process; only knowledge gained.

Chicken, Pear & Onion Tarts with Chevre Cream

Green Pea, Feta & Mint Spread

In preparation, some of the people my husband has recruited are unfamiliar with rating wines. They will need to know what this is all about in order to drive people to my tables. Thus, as we did last year, we held a little mini wine tasting last Friday evening for a couple of young women, to teach them what is involved in rating a wine and learning what one can discover through this process. Then, I wanted to demonstrate the differences between tasting a wine on its own merits, and then tasting a wine paired appropriately with a food. I chose one white wine and one red, and made a couple of foods to taste with each. I chose a 2012 Pacific Rim Chenin Blanc with floral, pear and citrus flavors, and paired this wine with my Green Pea, Feta & Mint Spread on artisanal bread, and Chicken Pear and Onion Tartlets with Chevre Cream, a new creation of mine. The red wine was a 2003 Domaine du Vieux Telegraphe Chateauneuf du Pape. The Chateauneuf was served with Glazed Pecans with Garrigue Seasoning and Garrigue Seasoned Flank Steak with Cheddar and Arugula. I will touch on the red wine and its food pairings in my next blog. Today I will focus on the Chicken, Pear and Onion Tartlets recipe.

Steps 1 & 2; cream cheese, butter, salt, 1/2 the flour and nuts

Steps 3 & 4: second half of flour processed in

To date, I am able to pair wines with appropriate foods quite easily. With my Wine and Food Pairing Sheets, which I talked about in my blog of February 17th, I just run down the column under the particular wine style and select a few of the listed foods to create a recipe. I did this with the Chenin Blanc column, selecting chicken, pear, red bell pepper, macadamia nuts, cream cheese and Chevre cheese. First I wanted to make the tart shells with cream cheese and butter, and added ground macadamia nuts. As a matter of fact, though this was my plan, when I actually made the pastry I completely forgot about the nuts! I had already ground them and set them aside, but when it came time to add them to the food processor, I just forgot. No worries though; when I rolled out the pastry dough, I put the ground nuts onto the mostly rolled pastry, pressed them in, then finished rolling the pastry to the desired thickness. Voila! When I rolled the pastry, I used a 3-inch biscuit cutter and made little pastry rounds to fit into the mini tart pans. I wanted a bit of a lip to the pastry, so it would not slide down into the pans while blind baking, and I used a second, identical but empty tart pan to set on top. This kept the tart shells in place. If you do not have that many tart pans, you may have to work a bit harder to make the little shells stay put while baking, but it can be done.

Macadamia Cream Cheese Tart Pastry 

Makes about 35 mini tart shells or 1 9-inch tart crust

Steps 5 & 6: adding liquids & forming dough

1 stick unsalted butter, cold in small cubes
1½ cups all-purpose flour, divided in 2 parts
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup macadamia nuts, pre-ground
½ of an 8-ounce package cream cheese
2 tablespoons cold water
2 tablespoons vodka
1 teaspoon vinegar

Into the bowl of a food processor, place half of the flour, the macadamia nuts, salt, butter and cream cheese. Pulse repeatedly until the mixture makes wet, large crumbs (Steps 1 & 2). Add in the rest of the flour and pulse to finer crumbs (Steps 3 & 4). In a small measure, combine the water, vodka and vinegar. Add to the food processor and pulse until the mixture forms a ball. Remove the dough from the processor, bring together to form a ball, flatten and wrap in plastic wrap or place in a zip-top bag (Steps5 & 6). Chill the dough thoroughly, at least 3 hours before using. The dough may be kept in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, or frozen for up to 2 months.

Steps 7 & 8: rolling, cutting, fitting in tart pans

Preheat oven to 375 degrees (350 on Convection). If making mini tarts, have tart pans handy. If the dough has been frozen, allow it to thaw in the refrigerator overnight, or set on the counter to thaw until workable. Flour the surface and Roll out the dough to ⅛-inch thickness, or less. Cut into 3-inch diameter rounds and fit the dough rounds into the mini tart tins, allowing a bit of a lip to overhang. Prick all over with a fork (Steps 7 & 8).

If you have extra identical size/shape tart tins, before baking carefully set one empty tart tin on top of the first. This will help in keeping the dough from slithering down into the well while baking. Bake the shells for 12 minutes. Remove the top tin and bake for another 3 – 5 minutes longer, or until golden. These can be kept in a tightly sealed container for 2 days ahead.

The filling was a combination of the other ingredients I chose, with some seasonings:

Chicken, Pear & Onion Filling

Steps 9 & 10: baked shells and chicken filling

Makes about 35 mini tarts

1 recipe Macadamia Cream Cheese Tart Shells, baked
1 pre-cooked skinless, boneless chicken breast, chopped finely, (or rotisserie roasted chicken breast)
⅓ cup orange juice
1 – 2 tablespoons olive oil
2 large onions, quartered lengthwise and sliced ⅝-inch across
½ teaspoon salt
1 firm pear, cored and cut into tiny pieces
½ red bell pepper, chopped finely
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves, stripped from stems
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
A few grinds of white pepper
½ teaspoon anchovy paste

CHEVRE CREAM
1 (6-ounce) Chevre cheese, softened
Pinch salt
Zest of 1 lime
4 – 6 tablespoons heavy cream

Finished Tarts

Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add in the olive oil, swirl the pan, then add in the onions. Sprinkle on the ½ teaspoon salt. Cook the onions very slowly over low to medium-low heat for at least 45 to 55 minutes, stirring very often until caramelized and browned, not burnt. Add in the pear, red bell pepper, chicken, thyme, lemon zest and juice, pepper and anchovy paste. Continue cooking for another 15 minutes (Steps 9 & 10). This mixture can be made 1 to 2 days ahead and kept refrigerated until needed.
 
The anchovy paste makes the flavors more complex, but is not enough to taste. If not using anchovy paste, more salt may be needed. Taste the mixture and adjust accordingly.

Open Star Tip 1M or 2110

In a small bowl, combine the Chevre, lime zest and 3 tablespoons of the cream. Mix with a hand mixer until smooth. This should be firm enough to stay in place, but loose enough to go through a piping bag. Add more cream as needed. Refrigerate until needed.
 

When ready to serve, pack the chicken & pear mixture tightly into the prepared tart shells. Top with the Chevre Cream, either using a piping bag with an open star tip (I used 1M), or using 2 spoons to place a dollop of the cream on top of each tart.

My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.