I’ve been making little egg rolls for years now and I’ve never been disappointed. I’ve switched up the ingredients and the proportions many times.  Some things work better than others of course; I’ve made them too garlicky or too peppery before but still… they’re always delicious.  Of course the ones I make are not traditional and don’t even involve egg — just a familiar name for a familiar concept, bite sized fried-up goodness in a hand-rolled form.

Here is a recipe to get you started on making your own.

This recipe is for about 40-50 mini egg rolls:
(sounds like a lot but they go quick!)

1 pack of wanton wrappers, usually 60 sheets
2-3 cups red cabbage (1/2 small head)
3/4 cups shredded carrots (2-4 medium carrots)
1/2 cup mushrooms chopped
1 large clove of garlic minced
1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger (heaping)
1/2 block tofu (1 1/4 cup crumbled)
1 tablespoon soy sauce & 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
splash of olive oil & sesame oil

vegetable oil for frying

Be sure to allow enough time before you get started for your wanton wrappers to thaw if necessary.  Press tofu to drain as much excess moisture as possible.  You can pat it dry with some paper towels and set it under a plate while you prepare the other ingredients.

Finely chop cabbage and shred carrots. Cut mushrooms into small bits. Finely mince ginger and garlic, keep separate from other vegetables.

In another bowl, crumble the tofu. Add 1 tablespoon soy sauce & 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper. Stir.

In a wok or frying pan heat up a splash of olive oil and a drizzle of sesame oil. Add garlic and ginger, saute over medium heat for a moment until garlic is fully cooked.  Add cabbage, mushrooms, and carrots and cook for about 1 minute.  This is a really quick fry, you don’t need to cook it much at all in order to preserve a bit of crunch in the filling. Add the tofu mixture, stir up and add kosher salt to taste.  Remove from heat and transfer in to a bowl. The filling is complete, you should have 4-5 cups worth.

Get ready to fill the wanton wraps. Create a work area fully equipped with a rolling surface, a bowl of water for sealing, and a landing zone for the egg rolls ready to be fried.

Put one wanton skin on your work surface. Place one tablespoon of filling in the middle.  Doesn’t seem like a lot of filling but it’s enough. If you start off packing it with too much it will be very difficult to roll. Once you roll a few you will get a feel for how much filling works best for you, there will be plenty of chances to practice. As you are working through the filling towards the bottom of the bowl you may have extra moisture, try to work around it rather than include it in your rolls. If moisture escapes while frying you may have some spitting oil. Ouch.

Begin rolling by folding one corner of the wanton over the filling. Dip your finger in water and lightly wet the next corner to be folded towards the center. The water will help seal it closed. As you fold the side over be sure to tuck and close any openings on that side. Repeat this step for the other side.

Complete the mini roll by wetting the last edge and folding it over. It’ll look like a cute little package. It might be a little sloppy at first but it won’t take long to get the hang of it. If you happen to rip a wanton or two don’t fret, you’ll have a few left over anyway. Put completed rolls on to a plate, be sure to stack them in such a way that they don’t stick together — give them a chance to dry for a moment before you pile them on top of each other.

Once the all the filling is depleted and rolled into mini egg rolls it’s time to fry! Deep fry! We use a small sauce pot filled with about an inch and a half of vegetable or canola oil and a wire basket utensil to remove them from the oil. Use a utensil that will allow the oil to drain directly over the pot and off of the roll.  I like to use a small pot in order to use less oil and also because we can only fit a couple in the oil at a time, which means it’s easier to handle 2-3 frying egg rolls rather than having the option of dealing with many more at once. Seems safer for a makeshift home deep frying set up, they cook rather quickly once the oil is hot and you don’t want to have too much to deal with at one time. Prepare a landing zone for the freshly fried egg rolls. I usually use a baking sheet lined with Viva paper towels, a plate with a few paper towels works too.

When you’re ready to fry, check if the oil is hot enough by tossing in a small piece of wanton. It should quickly fry up and float to the top. If it sinks or takes awhile to fry continue to heat the oil and test again. Once the oil is ready lower one mini egg roll to start, it’ll float to the top with a beautiful crisp golden color. Transfer onto the baking sheet and carry on. Once you are confident with the cooking time you can decide to fry a few at a time. Best to start slow if you haven’t done this before so there aren’t any accidents. Hot oil is not something worth rushing around.

Be careful and enjoy as is or dip in some sweet & sour, soy, or plum sauce.

I think it’s safe to say that making your own pizza will change your life. At least it changed ours in the way we feel about eating it…

Let’s face it, pizza is delicious — dough, sauce, cheese — although it’s not one of those foods that I just have to have. We just about never go out for pizza and when it’s delivered it’s usually mediocre at best. Pools of grease that then sit heavy in your stomach. Ugh. I generally don’t feel so great after a pizza delivery experience, a quick crap fix of a meal that cost a pretty penny. Not to mention the standard pizza sauce surely involves onions. Delicious at the time but not always a feel good situation in the end.

Last winter Joe and I got into making our own pizza and haven’t gone out or ordered pizza delivery since.  It’s just so simple and so much cheaper to make our own; it’s actually quicker too. While you can’t deny that it is pizza you are eating, it feels better for you because you control everything that goes into it. For example the cheese — you can use as much or as little, you can buy a cheese that is light or of higher quality.  You can load it with vegetables so it’s not just dough sauce and cheese, you can roll it out as thin or as thick as you like…. basically it’s fully customizable, so how could you lose?  Make it just how you like it and feel good about eating it. Have it for lunch the next day too…

This recipe makes 2 big delicious pizzas:

roasted red pepper sauce:
6 medium peppers
1 jalapeño
1 head of garlic
4 tomatoes
kosher salt to taste

dough:
1 1/3 cup warm-to-hot water (about 100 degrees F)
2 1/4 teaspoons dry active yeast (1 packet)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 1/2 cups flour

topping:
2 potatoes
1 tablespoon rosemary
3 cups chopped mushrooms
12 oz shredded mozzarella cheese

First prepare your sauce; this can be done the day before if you plan ahead but we often just do it the same day. Doesn’t matter.  Preheat oven to 425°. Wash ingredients to be roasted. For this sauce we used 6 medium peppers (2 red, 2 orange, 2 yellow), 4 small tomatoes, 1 jalapeño, and a head of garlic. Place on a greased baking sheet and brush with oil. Wrap the head of garlic in foil and drizzle with oil, place on baking sheet as well.  Roast for about 40 minutes turning once or twice during that time. The peppers will be slightly blackened and soft when the are done.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool before handling.

Before blending, remove the stems and seeds from the peppers, you can leave the jalapeño seeds in and cut out the stem from the tomatoes. I also like to peal away the skin from the bell peppers and tomatoes to create a smoother textured sauce. Include the garlic and blend until desired consistency.  Salt to taste. We ended up with about 4 cups of sauce which is a little more than we would use for the two pizzas. 3 cups should be enough. But we wouldn’t want to run out so we planned to have a little extra instead. Set aside while you prepare the rest the dough and toppings.

Next prepare the dough. In a large bowl or in a stand mixer combine 1 1/3 cup warm water with 2 1/4 teaspoons of dry active yeast (or 1 packet). Allow to sit for a couple of minutes to give the yeast a chance to work. Add a tablespoon of sugar, a tablespoon of salt, and 2 tablespoons olive oil. Mix in 3 1/2 cups flour and let the dough sit for about 15 minutes while your prepare your ingredients.

Preheat oven 425°
(check that your rack is at the lower setting before the oven gets hot)

Peal and chop the potatoes in smaller pieces, we usually cut them to about 1/2 inch cubes or similar sized rectangles. Slice mushrooms. Remove rosemary leaves from stems and coarsely chop if you’d like. Shred your cheese. We always buy the block of cheese to grate ourselves for a couple of reasons; it’s generally less expensive and there are unnecessary preservatives added to prepackaged shredded cheeses — same stuff with a bit of extra questionable ingredients added to the mix. No thank you, we’ll grate our own.

Time to roll out the dough! Get out two large baking sheets and grease them up. Sometimes we use butter and other times we’ll use a spray oil. You can also use a sprinkle of cornmeal if you’d like. we’ve never had a problem with the pizza sticking.

Cut the dough in half making 2 balls. Roll out one at a time on a lightly floured surface. The dough might be a little tough if you’ve never rolled dough before, but you can stretch it out a bit by pulling at the edges and letting it hang off your hands. If you want to be really daring, practice spinning it in the air; this might seem like an unnecessary flourish but it actually helps stretch the dough.

Now it’s time to top the pizzas…

First layer is the sauce, spread an even layer across each pizza.  It takes about 1 1/2-2 cups of sauce per pizza. We usually roll out each pizza to be about 12 x 15 inches or so.  You’ll probably have more sauce than you need so put as much as you like.

Second layer is the potatoes.  Divide your cut potatoes in two and scatter them on top of the sauce.

Third layer is the rosemary. I usually chop up about a heaping tablespoon or so of rosemary to share between the 2 pizzas. You can add more if you want a more intense rosemary taste, but it’s a pretty strong flavor so you don’t want to overdue it especially if your cooking it for other people.

The forth layer is the mushrooms. Find some open spaces between the potatoes and fill them in with mushrooms. There’s room for everyone here.

Last but not least is the cheese! We use about 12 oz of mozzarella between the 2 pizzas, but you could cut it down a bit for a lighter pizza or bulk it up some for a cheesier pizza, of course.  Sprinkle an even layer on each. We also usually add Parmesan to the top as well but this time we were out, it’s delicious either way.

Bake at 425° for 15-20 minutes or until it’s golden. Baking time may vary depending on your oven. We like to bake ours at the bottom for a slightly crispier crust.

Two large custom pizzas for well under $10 — in under an hour!

Over the past year or so crunchy chickpeas have been flooding the food blog world.  There’s a good reason for it too! They’re inexpensive, simple to make, delicious, and healthy.  You don’t really need a recipe to make them. I first made these crunchy chickpeas several months ago and I’ve been hooked ever since! I’m always on the lookout for tasty snacks especially ones that can be readily available at any given surge of hunger. A grab on the go or snag a few here and there snack. I keep these around the house and at work nearly always.

The crunchy chickpea snack concept is great because you can modify it to fit your taste and you can make as much or as little as you require.  The batch I make is plenty for the week with enough to share — spicy, and salty. The cooking process takes about an hour depending on your oven and the amount you are baking at once.  The entire process is simple and straight forward but it does require you to stand by in order to mix them up throughout baking.  A good timer is helpful.

Ingredients :

3 cups dried chickpeas
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1½ – 2 teaspoons hot chili powder or cayenne

I use dried chickpeas to start but you can use canned as well. When using dry chickpeas pre-soak over night or all day.  I’ll usually just set them out to soak in the morning if I want to bake them in the evening. Once soaked for several hours, drain the chickpeas and put them in a pot with new water to boil.  Simmer until cooked.

Strain the chickpeas and pour them onto a clean towel to completely dry and cool off. I believe this step is extremely important, allowing them to air off and cool off helps eliminate a lot of steam which is moisture.  I have noticed a huge difference when I have not allowed them to cool down — the chickpeas have a harder crunch to them which to me is less pleasant to eat.  By eliminating as much moisture before you bake them I believe you get nicer light and crispy texture.

Preheat oven to about 400°

Once the chickpeas are cooked and cooled, place them into a baking dish. I use a 9 x 13 Pyrex lasagna dish.  I would recommend using something with sides because throughout baking the chickpeas will need to be stirred around.  I’ve used a regular baking sheet before and found it pretty difficult to stir them up adequately (while in a hot oven — wear a mitt!) without knocking them off the sides. I also felt that the chickpeas were quicker to burn on a thinner baking sheet — the glass dish just makes more sense to me especially when you are preparing several cups worth of snacks ;)

Season the chickpea directly in the baking dish. Pour oil, sprinkle spices & kosher salt to taste, stir up to evenly coat the batch. Give it a taste before popping it in the oven.

The baking time may vary slightly but will end up to be just over an hour to an hour and a half. Set the timer for 15 minutes and then stir the chickpeas well, repeat an additional 3 times.  This will take about 45 minutes ;) taste test a few for crispiness and keep a closer watch as they finish baking.  I just keep lessening the interval between mixings until they are done to avoid burning them at the end! You’ll know when they’re done because they will be super crispy and delicious; because there are so many chickpeas baking at once, the textures will vary slightly, some may be a little darker (burnt), others a bit lighter (chewy), and the rest of them will be perfectly crispy.

Make these your new savory snack!

I have to admit, I don’t really like eating squash. I generally don’t even like squash soup. I like how squash looks, I like that it’s a very seasonal food, and I like to think that there will be more and more times that I actually enjoy eating squash in the future — there have been a few times in the past, and it’s almost always when prepared in a savory way.  Hold the  cinnamon and sweet spices on my squash — no thank you! We’ll make this soup savory.

As I was drawn to the squash section at the pumpkin patch, I knew that I would be purchasing a few. But I worried that they would sit on my counter for too long or that I would hesitate to try and figure out a satisfying way to prepare them out of fear that I might not be able to do it. I wanted to do it. I personally have never cooked with a butternut squash before but I wanted to try making my own style of the ever so popular soup so I picked up a couple of them first. There were several other piles of squash asking me to take them home but I had to limit myself. I didn’t know what I would do with most of them so I decided to pick up a few acorn squash and was on my way.

The butternut squash did not sit around for long, though it did take a full week of dragging my feet before I actually made it. I’m glad I did though; it was surprisingly easy to make and the soup turned out amazing — slightly sweet from the natural flavor of the butternut squash but prepared to be savory with a bit of spice, just the way I like it. I will definitely be making this again.

Ingredients: butternut squash with seeds, vegetable stock, ginger, chili garlic paste, cumin powder, chili powder, sour cream, olive oil, salt, pepper powder.

You can use your favorite vegetable stock for the base of the soup. I used a homemade stock.  Making a vegetable stock is not an exact science and I wouldn’t call myself an expert, but if you’re interested in how I made mine for this soup, you can find out how at the bottom of the post.

Measurements : serves 4
2 butternut squash
4-6 cups of vegetable stock
1 teaspoon minced ginger
1/2 teaspoon chili garlic sauce
olive oil
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon cayenne or pepper powder
1 cup sour cream
salt to taste
toasted squash seeds with oil, salt, and spice.

Preheat oven to 400°

Cut your butternut squash in half before roasting; I quartered mine. Scoop out seeds & guts, set aside for later. Place your squash pieces on a roasting pan flesh up and brush with butter. Roast until tender, about 20 minutes — just enough to be able to easily remove the meat from the skin, it will cook more in the soup. Once it’s roasted remove from the oven and allow it to cool enough to be handled before chopping it up. I used a pairing knife to remove the skin and chop it into pieces.  If you halve the squash and the flesh is soft enough you can scoop it out with a spoon or melonballer. I also have read that you can use a peeler to remove the skin.

Heat your soup pot with a splash of oil over medium heat, add the minced ginger and then the chili garlic sauce, saute for a moment. Add squash pieces and vegetable stock. We used 4 cups of stock, our soup was really thick but nice & smooth. You may want to add more stock if you have particularly large squash or if you prefer it to be a thinner soup. You can always add more once it’s pureed to change the consistency. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat, bringing it back to a simmer. Add ground cumin and cayenne powder. We used our pepper powder because it was freshly made days before; I think any chili spice would work well — of course adjust the heat according to how spicy you like it. Add a small amount and adjust after the soup is blended if you’re not sure how hot the spice will be.

Allow soup to simmer with spices until everything is thoroughly cooked. Meanwhile, clean and strain your squash seeds.

Puree the soup until smooth. We used an immersion blender to puree it right in the soup pot. A regular blender would work as well. Allow it to simmer and blend it some more until it is completely smooth. Then stir or blend in the sour cream.  Taste and adjust flavor to your liking. You might want to make it a little spicier. We didn’t add any salt, but you might need to depending on the vegetable stock used. Keep soup on low heat before serving while you toast the seeds.

In a small pan heat a splash of olive oil, sprinkle cayenne pepper, salt, and add seeds.  Stir and flip until sufficiently toasted. Pour soup into bowls and top with toasted squash seeds. Keep extra on the table to reload this tasty garnish ;)

Delicious!

Making the vegetable stock::

I used about 12 cups of water to start which gave me about 8 cups of broth after it boiled down. I made more than we needed for this soup so I could freeze the other half for the next soup.

First chop and prepare your ingredients. Because this is a broth you won’t need to cut them very finely or make them look a certain way. You can use almost any vegetables you have but generally “onion,” carrot, and celery make a good broth base. Of course I don’t use onion in my stock however I did use garlic. This is what went into my stock: 2 cups celery chopped, 2 cups carrot chopped, 8 cloves garlic smashed with the back of the knife, 2 bay leaves, 2 teaspoons table salt, 2 tablespoons olive oil, 15 peppercorns, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, and 1/2 inch galangal sliced. Galangal looks a lot like ginger but tastes very different — I added it to my stock pot because I enjoy the spice it gives and I had it. I wasn’t sure how powerful it would be in a stock so I used a small amount this time. You can use just about any vegetables you have on hand; it’s fun to experiment.

Bring the stock to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for about an hour. Taste and adjust salt level; I add small amounts of soy sauce until it’s how I want it. Remove from heat and strain and squeeze all of the liquid from the vegetables. Your stock is made! Now make soup!

note: the buddha bowl in the first picture can be found here : Flavour Design

Week 4 of our organic produce delivery was delivered on September 2, 2009.  The contents of the box included – 1 head of broccoli, 1 large local beet, 2 local cucumbers, 3 local nectarines, grapes, 3 local apples, 5 carrots, 2 bananas, 1 local green pepper, green leaf lettuce, and local kale.

That night we decide to make a simple improv meal with a main course using mung beans, carrots from our box, and serrano peppers from our garden.

Ingredients used : 1 cup whole mung beans, 3 cups of sliced carrots, 2 serrano peppers, 2 teaspoons black mustard seeds, 2 teaspoons cumin seeds, 1/8 teaspoon asafetida, kosher salt to taste.

Begin with cooking the mung beans; cooking time will vary if you are using split mung beans.  We used whole mung beans.  Bring 1 cup of mung beans in 3 cups of water with a dash of salt to a boil, covered and simmer for 45 minutes to an hour until the water is absorbed and the mung beans are tender.

In the meantime prepare the rest of your ingredients.  Peel and slice your carrots into thin rounds, seed and slice your serrano peppers and have your spices ready.  We used 2 serrano peppers from our garden; they were extremely spicy and I was not sure if adding both would be give much heat, but combined with the rest of the ingredients it was not very spicy at all. I would consider adding more next time.

Once your mung beans are ready start cooking your vegetables.  In a large wok over medium heat add a splash of olive oil, add one serrano pepper and 2 teaspoons of black mustard seeds. Once the mustard seeds begin to pop add cumin seeds, asafetida, and 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt.  Stir in carrots and the other serrano and cook slightly until desired tenderness.  Add cooked mung beans, salt to taste and eat.

This meal was made on the fly; it was tasty and very filling.  Mung beans are a hearty addition to any meal, they can take the place of rice or be used in addition.

Gourstada, as in gourmet tostada.

Tostadas have to be one of the easiest and quickest meal or snack to make.  We make some sort of variation of a tostada meal at the very least once a week. Whether it’s our huevos rancheros, a simple bean and cheese, or loaded with random delicious it always proves to satisfy.

On this tostada we used almost all home grown vegetables! Starting from the top- straight from the garden, 3 anchos, a handful of cherry tomatoes, and fresh basil were combined with balsamic vinegar and salt to make a fresh Italian inspired salad. Just beneath baby bella mushrooms sauteed in plum sauce with home grown kale. Below that are black beans warmed with fresh jalapeno from… you guessed it, our garden!  And of course at the base of it all are El Ranchero’s tostadas.

Ingredients : cherry tomatoes, basil, ancho, balsamic vinegar, kosher salt, baby bellas, kale, plum sauce, black beans, jalapenos, El Ranchero tostadas, mozzarella, and cheddar cheese.

At the base of most our our tostadas we use some sort of bean, in this one we used black beans- no, we did not grow them. However the jalapenos were fresh cut from the pot, our first actual harvest of peppers all year! We may have picked these jalapenos a little soon, but they have been growing for quite a while & we just wanted to try them. There are plenty more where they came from; our jalapeno & “red” chili pepper pot is growing like crazy. So many peppers to go. Now, if only these supposed red chilis would turn red. Back to the black beans and jalapenos- drain black beans and simmer on low heat with diced jalapenos while you prepare the rest of the meal.

Next prepare your salad for the top.  We used all the red cherry tomatoes from our garden, which was about ten and an additional handful from our organic produce delivery. They were chopped in quarters from the top making small wedges, a perfect bite size for this dish.

3 anchos were hollowed out, sliced in thin rings and then halved. They were the largest of our peppers so far, although they probably would have grown a little bigger; we felt it was time to cut them down as the slender stems could barely hold them up anymore and were not producing any more flowers. They were perfect for this meal though, very crisp and had a nice mild spice to them.  The basil was sliced into thin strips as well. All ingredients were combined and tossed with some balsamic vinegar and kosher salt to taste.  Set aside and refrigerate until serving time.

The last step in preparation for this meal is the mushroom kale layer.  First chop kale into small pieces.  Remove the stem from the center and slice or tear the leaf into small bits.  Set aside and slice the mushrooms, in a large frying pan heat up a 2-3 tablespoons of plum sauce and a splash of olive oil, sautee mushrooms coating them with the plum sauce flavoring.  Toss in kale and saute a bit more. Once they are done cooking it’s time to plate your tostada.  Remove from heat and get ready to assemble your meal.

Joe and I made 4 tostadas, 2 each and it was the absolute perfect amount.  We were both completely full but not even a little bit over stuffed!

To assemble : lay El Ranchero tostadas on the plate, add beans and jalapenos, sprinkle with cheese if desired- we used a mixture of shredded cheddar and mozzarella because that’s what we had. Next make a layer of the mushroom and kale with plum sauce and top it off with your fresh ancho, basil, and tomato salad.

Generally we think of tostadas as being a mexican flavored dish, we still used a lot of the same traditional ingedients (beans, corn tostada, tomatoes, and jalapenos) but introduced some completely different flavors to the dish as well. I really enjoyed this combination because the bottom layer of beans was a bit spicy and totally cooked, the middle layer was cooked a bit but still somewhat fresh with sweetness of the plum sauce, and the top layer of salad was also a bit spicy and flavored with basil but very fresh. It’s an odd mix of flavors but they all add something interesting to the dish and complement each other quite nicely.

Our roommate Matt went away for the weekend and brought home a new meal idea.  He and his lady Jane made it together first, then Joe and I were lucky to try it and help with the second batch!  We ate it for dinner; it’s filling enough to qualify as a meal but light enough to treat it as a snack. It’s a healthy pita pizza!

Ingredients :: chopped walnuts, goat cheese, arugula, mushrooms, walnut oil, balsamic vinegar, pita, thyme, salt & pepper.

Preheat oven to 400°.

The amount of ingredients you need will depend on how many pitas you want to make.  We made 6 and measured everything by eye, dividing the ingredients into 6 portions.

Place goat cheese in a bowl and mix with walnuts.  We used about a 3 inch log of cheese and about a cup of walnuts.  Don’t bother measuring it out, just pour some walnuts in, mix up and add more until there’s enough.

Slice mushrooms and lightly sauté in olive oil.  We used about a half pack of baby bellas.  I think most other types of mushrooms would work nicely in this dish as well.  Use whatever you have and however much is necessary.

Prepare your thyme by removing the leaves from the stem and lightly chopping. We used 1-2 tablespoon across the 6 pitas; adjust according to how strong you prefer the flavor.

Place your pitas on a baking sheet and brush with olive oil. Sprinkle your chopped thyme and divide mushrooms on to the pita.

Spread the walnut goat cheese and sprinkle lightly with fresh black pepper. Place in to the oven and cook it for 10-15 minutes.  Keep an eye on it, you’ll want to remove it from the oven once the cheese has softened and is slightly browned.

As it is cooking prepare the arugula.  Toss it with walnut oil, balsamic vinegar, and a dash of kosher salt.  Splash these ingredients on, you don’t need much, taste as you go.  Avoid using too much oil, you want it to feel fresh and light but have a hint of flavor with this simple dressing.

Once the pita pizza is done cooking remove it from the oven, serve it on a plate, and top it with your arugula salad.

We don’t have much experience in making loaves of bread. So, we have decided to start baking them more often to learn different methods.  When it’s time to make a new loaf we prowl the internet to find a recipe that sounds good to us.  In the past month we have made this jalepeño cheddar bread twice; we found it on epicurious.

One loaf of this bread takes almost 7 hours to make with only about 20 minutes of your actual attention.  It would have been much easier if we owned a Kitchen Aid stand mixer, but with our simple wooden spoon and metallic bowl we managed to get through it just fine.  The bread was delicious both times.  The first loaf turned out well but we thought it should be more spicy so the next time we added more jalepeño and more seeds; we may have put a bit too many peppers the second time even though it was still not very spicy.  The flavor, however, was great in both cases and we will make it again according to the recipe.

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon active dry yeast (less than a 1/4-ounce package)
1 3/4 cups plus 1 tablespoon warm water (105-115°F)
4 cups all-purpose flour plus additional for dusting
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons chopped fresh jalapeño, including seeds and ribs, plus 2 tablespoons
chopped fresh jalapeño, without seeds and ribs (from 3 medium total)
5 ounces coarsely grated extra-sharp Cheddar (1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons)
1 1/2 ounces finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (3/4 cup)
1 large egg, beaten with a pinch of salt

* Special equipment: a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment

Below are the instruction from the original recipe along with our observations of the process….

Stir together yeast and 1 tablespoon warm water in a small bowl; let mixture stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. (If it doesn’t foam, discard and start over with new yeast.) °° We did this a few times and it never foamed so we decided to move on.  I was worried that it wouldn’t rise properly since the instructions specifically say to start over.  Well, we did start over and it never foamed for us ;( but it in the end it didn’t seem to matter much at all.
Mix together flour, salt, oil, yeast mixture, and remaining 1x cups warm water in bowl of mixer at low speed until a soft dough forms. Increase speed to medium-high and beat 3 minutes more. Add jalapeño, 1 1/2 cups Cheddar, and 1/2 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano and mix until combined. °° This is where a stand mixer would have been extremely helpful!

Scrape dough down side of bowl (all around) into center, then sprinkle lightly with flour. Cover bowl with a clean kitchen towel (not terry cloth) to keep a crust from forming and let dough rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled in bulk, 2 to 2 1/2 hours. (Alternatively,let dough rise in bowl in refrigerator 8 to 12 hours.)

Turn dough out onto a well-floured surface and gently form into a roughly 11- by 8-inch rectangle with floured hands.

Fold dough in thirds (like a letter) with floured hands (dough will be sticky), pressing along seam of each fold to seal.

Put dough, seam side down, in an oiled 9- by 5-inch loaf pan. Cover pan with same clean kitchen towel and let dough rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until dough completely fills pan and rises above it slightly, 1 to 1 1/4 hours.

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 400°F.

Brush loaf with egg, then sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoons Cheddar and remaining 1/4 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano down center of loaf.

Bake until bread is golden and sounds hollow when tapped on bottom, 50 minutes to 1 hour. Run a knife around edge of pan to loosen loaf, then remove from pan to test for doneness. °° The Bread turned out to be beautiful after almost an hour of cooking.  I can’t say we tapped on the fresh out of the oven loaf to hear the hollow sound but it looked done to us and it was.

Return bread (not in pan) to oven and turn on its side, then bake 10 minutes more to crisp crust. Cool completely on a rack, about 1 1/2 hours. °° We didn’t do this step on the first loaf but we did on the second; I didn’t notice much of a difference.

We enjoyed this jalepeño cheddar bread all week in many fashions.  We made a delicious grilled swiss cheese with a mustard seed spread, garlic bread, and an eggs Florentine.   A flavored bread is definitely a nice way to spice up your everyday meals.  This makes me want to try more!