"A loaf of bread, a jug of wine, and thou." ~ Omar Khayyam

Last winter I was determined to become more comfortable with yeast, dough and baking. I did some homework on the Internets and was glued to the television every time bread was mentioned, but mostly I spent money in alarming amounts on more kitchen gear and some awfully pretty bread cookbooks. Along the way though, I managed to do some actual baking and after a couple of tries was fairly pleased with my results. And really, like a lot of things, once you get the hang of it, there's really nothing to it.

Classic Sandwich Loaf

4 tablespoons (½ stick) melted butter or vegetable oil ½ cup milk ½ cup very hot water 1 packet active dry yeast 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour 2 Tbsp sugar 1¼ tsp salt

Melt butter in a small saucepan over a very low flame. While the butter is melting, add the milk to the hot water in a measuring glass, then stir in the yeast to dissolve. Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer and with the bread hook, stir on a low setting until the dough starts to leave the sides of the bowl. Increase the speed and knead for 6-8 minutes, until the dough is silky and smooth looking. Transfer dough to a lightly greased bowl, cover and set in a warm spot in the kitchen to rise for a couple of hours. Allow the dough to puff up, but it won't necessarily double in size.

After the first rise, move the dough to a lightly greased working surface and shape into an 8" long log. Gently place dough in a lightly greased 8½ x 4½ loaf pan. Lightly cover with a greased piece of plastic wrap and let the dough rise a 2nd time for about an hour, or until the dough has domed about an inch above the rim of the pan.

Bake the bread in a preheated 350°F oven for 30 minutes, then start checking the color of your crust. You're looking for a light golden brown. Not too dark, but certainly not pale. If you like, you can take your bread's temperature with an instant read thermometer. At 190°, your bread is done. Remove the bread from the oven and allow to cool completely on a wire rack before slicing and eating. This recipe yields one loaf of delicious bread.

I'm baking bread a couple of times a week now. I've got a sourdough starter that I've managed to keep alive since early March, and I make a mean French boule with it. The only bread I'm still buying in the store is the dark, heavy pumpernickel the Danes love so well with their pickled herring. And it's only a matter of time before I master that as well. You'll see.

Thanks for taking the time - Blog O. Food

Hurry French Bread

You'll recall a special loaf of bread that Stacie Webb used to make for her then suitor Toby. It was a quick French-style bread that, while it might not fool a Parisian, persuaded me that I need never settle for spongy Italian bread again.

Toby feigned mock indignation when Stacie invited me to come over before the other dinner guests to see how her bread was prepared, and he reminded everyone again that it had been 30 years since he was last treated to a loaf, but everyone saw right through him, and Stace remained as amiably unflappable as ever.

Aunt Stacie's Hurry French Bread

1½ cups warm water 1 Tbsp honey ½ Tbsp salt 1½ Tbsp dry yeast 4 cups unbleached, or all-purpose flour Do not use bromated bread or whole wheat flour

Preheat oven to 450°. Combine water, salt, honey, and yeast in a large mixing bowl. Stir to combine ingredients and allow to sit 5-10 minutes until the yeast is dissolved and starts to bubble.

While mixing with a wooden spoon, add flour in small amounts until the dough no longer sticks to the sides of the bowl. Some flour should be left over. Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface. Coat hands and the dough with more flour to prevent sticking and shape dough into an oval. Cut the dough into two even pieces, and working quickly, roll each piece into a long loaf shape.

Lay each loaf into a well-greased French pan, cover with a dish towel and allow to sit in a warm place for 20 minutes. With a sharp knife, make three shallow slashes across the top of each loaf to prevent the bread from splitting open during baking. Spray the loaves with salted water and bake on the middle shelf in the oven for 20 minutes. Remove loaves from the oven and allow to cool an a wire rack.

Fifty minutes from start to finish, and this bread shared all the best characteristics of an authentic French baguette. While the crust might not have been as crunchy as the genuine article, it sure was pleasing. There was a slightly salty bite to it, and the interior was springy and full of those air pockets so loved by the French.

Confident in the knowledge that marital bliss was once again flourishing in the Webb House, I rushed to order my own set of French loaf pans and will be baking up a storm once they arrive. Like I said, I may never buy another loaf of bread again.

Thanks for taking the time - Blog O. Food

As Close to Flan...

... as one gets on an island.

Let's all just assume you read my Enchilada Casserole post and make nice about it. I brought the recipe with me on my first visit to Maine seven years ago. You should have seen the looks of utter skepticism on the faces of the younger Webb Cottage denizens as I chopped black olives and prepared the chili sauce. They'd never seen anything more alien. Had there been a McDonald's within swimming distance, I might have been the only one eating Mexican food that night. Open revolt hung in the balance. Luckily for me, good nurturing parents won out and everyone agreed to try a bite before passing judgment. Well, as I stated in that earlier post, I had a houseful of new converts on my hands. The casserole now makes a command performance every year and I have an army of eager helping hands in the kitchen.

But what to do about dessert? In case you haven't noticed, sweets are a highly charged subject within the Chebeague clan. Muffy, High Priestess of the Menu, put the kibosh on flan as too impractical and totally un-islandish. I have to say I agreed. Cheesecake was the populist compromise.

Three Cities of Spain Cheesecake – adapted from the Gourmet Cookbook

3 8oz packages cream cheese, softened 4 large eggs 1 cup plus 1Tbsp sugar 2 tsp vanilla extract 1lb sour cream Crumb crust (recipe to follow)

Preheat oven to 350°. Beat cream cheese in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed, until fluffy. Reduce speed to low and add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add 1 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla and mix until well combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Put 9” spring form pan with crust on a shallow baking pan. Pour filling into crust. Bake until cake is set 3 inches from edges, but center is still slightly wobbly, about 45 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack for 5 minutes. (Leave oven on.) Stir together sour cream, remaining sugar and remaining vanilla in a medium bowl. Drop spoonfuls of topping around edges of cake and then spread evenly over the top. Bake cake an additional 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the cake to loosen, and then let cool completely in the pan on a rack. Refrigerate cake, loosely covered for at least 6 hours. Remove side of pan, transfer cake to a plate and bring to room temperature before serving.

Graham Cracker Crumb Crust

1½ cups finely ground graham crackers 5 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted 1⁄3 cup sugar ⅛ tsp salt

Stir together all ingredients in a mixing bowl. Press into bottom and 1 inch up the sides of a buttered spring form pan. Fill with cake batter immediately, or keep crust refrigerated for up to 2 hours.

Cheesecake, and not apple pie, ought to be America's dessert. There are dozens of variations and we love them all, but there's nothing quite like fresh berries adorning a fat slice of cheesecake to get the mouth watering and forks whirring.

I am fast becoming a dessert man, and am now leaving room for something sweet after dinner. There goes my girlish figure.

Thanks for taking the time - Blog O. Food

Wherein the Brits Get Into the Act

The TPS reports had the wrong cover sheets again, so nobody got the memo: it was Popoverpalooza on Great Chebeague this year. Our dear friend JMac arrived on island from London at about midnight Tuesday night slash Wednesday morning with a British food magazine under one arm. His return was much anticipated. J was a college classmate of Muffy's husband at Lake Wobegon University, or St Olaf's if you must, and has been part of the extended family for years and years. To say he's a bit of a foodie is to liken Moses to a bit of a Jew. His specialty is brunch, and you should see his New Year's Day spread. Anyway, he couldn't wait to share a breakfast popover recipe he'd studied while waiting for a connecting flight from JFK to Portland.

True to British form, the dish calls for a "rasher of streaky bacon", bangers and tomatoes. Say what you will about English cooking, the Brits can do a hearty breakfast. Knowing that when it comes to popovers, too much is never enough, I was on board for another baked delight.

Breakfast Popovers - adapted from a Mark Price recipe

1½ cups milk 3 medium eggs 1 cup all purpose flour ½ tsp baking powder ¼ tsp salt 1 Tbsp olive oil 6 strips of bacon, halved 12 sausages, halved 12 cherry tomatoes, halved ¼ tsp black peppercorns, crushed

JMac is an American banking executive stationed in London. He's reconnoitering epicurean hotspots for my imminent trip to the UK later this summer. I started dieting and padding my savings account months ago in anticipation of the trip. I may take out a student loan as an insurance policy. But back to the recipe: warm the milk in a small sauce pan. Beat the eggs with an electric mixer for 2-3 minutes until pale and thick, then slowly whisk in the warmed milk, followed by the flour, baking powder and salt. Continue to whisk for 2-3 minutes more, then rest for 20 minutes.

Oil popover or muffin tins and put into a 425° pre-heated oven. Fry the bacon in a cast iron skillet or griddle until golden, then brown the sausages.

Stir the batter well and divide among the heated tins. Top each tin with a couple of pieces of bacon, sausage and tomatoes halves, and sprinkle with peppercorns. Cook for 20-25 minutes until golden and well-risen. Rest for 5 minutes then release popovers from tins. Serve warm with a dollop of mustard.

Now that was one superior popover. I confess to eating three of them before the kids even stirred from their beds. Try a veggie variation with sautéed mushrooms, onions and peppers. Sliced cold cuts would be easy and readily available. Imagine a breakfast popover with prosciutto and shaved truffles. I'm just sayin'. As my boy Matty would put it, "Gott im Himmel!" Or as I've been know to exclaim, "Holy crap, Batman!"

Thanks for taking the time - Blog O. Food

Popovers

One thing about being a member of the Chebeague family, we will never ever go hungry. Fabulous cooks abound, along with every cook’s muse: enthusiastic eaters. Muffy is no slouch in the kitchen. An executive by day, she considers coming up with menus worthy of Bon Appétit Magazine as unwinding. She’s pretty much the queen bee in our cottage kitchen and reigns with a light, expert touch. Once everyone had arrived on the island this week, exquisite meals were churning out of the kitchen. Breakfast yesterday morning was no exception: buttermilk pancakes and fresh hot popovers.

Popovers – adapted from the New York Times Magazine 6 large eggs 2 cups milk 6 Tbsp melted butter 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 tsp salt Unsalted butter for greasing popover molds

Beat eggs lightly, add milk and melted butter and stir to combine. Sift flour & salt and gradually stir into eggs. Beat just until mixture is smooth. Do not overbeat. If the mixture is not smooth, strain it. Ladle batter into generously greased popover molds, filling almost to the top. Bake for 40 minutes in a 375° pre-heated oven. Do not open oven door during baking. Remove popovers from molds and serve with your favorite fruit preserve.

Muff makes everything look so effortless; so easy. Her popovers were amazing. Light, fluffy, and piping hot. Just a smear of raspberry preserves sent them over the top. The heavens shifted, angels wept. I am not kidding, they were that good.

When Muffy’s mother Natalie found out I could cook, she moved mountains to get Muffy and me together in the same kitchen. We’ve been swapping recipes and upping the ante ever since. Muffy is the main inspiration behind this blog. She has pushed me to take my cooking so much more seriously. She’s fanned the flames of my passion and made sharing my efforts the real reward in writing about food. She’s made me a part of her family and encouraged my every effort. I owe her a real debt. She also owes me forty-eight, ninety-five for the popover pans I felt compelled to go out and order.

Thanks for taking the time - Blog O. Food