TWD - Cranberry Pumpkin Walnut Loaf

How do you bake bread in a hotel room with only a microwave and mini fridge? I can poach salmon in my coffee maker. Or make a nice grilled cheese with my iron. And it seems if I had thought to bring my rice cooker I could have made some outstanding meals!

I did try, I purchased a toaster/convection oven thinking that I could do a lot of things with it and I could have if I hadn't chickened out and thought that I would get in trouble with the hotel. And I think I would have. It's not safe to bake in your hotel room, do you hear me, not safe at all even if it's for the goodness of the blog. So next best thing...call my sister and ask if she would bake it for me and send me pictures and tell me her thoughts.

"Sister would you please take many hours out of your already busy life and make some bread for me so I can tell the world about it? Please, I know you will love the recipe! And you are a master bread maker and please?"

Thanks sister :)

Well her verdict, the recipe took two days! And it didn't taste that good! And she didn't mind because she's a good sister.

Thanks sister :)

Yes, it was a long recipe and with all the great sounding ingredients, it just wasn't a home run for her or her husband. She couldn't taste the pumpkin, only the cranberries and raisins. She said it smelled great while baking, but just didn't cut the mustard even when it was generously slathered with butter. (Don't know why she used mustard in the recipe.)

Well shucks. My sister is a master break maker so I know it wasn't her. I was sure this recipe would be a winner, now I feel sorta bad for asking her to work on it. Well only sorta, she is my big sister and I'm sure there is something that she did to me when I was young that this is pay back for ;)

Thanks sister :)

It's cute though.

Now you readers scamper on over to This Bountiful Backyard and Heather's Bytes to find out the true meaning of Christmas - wait I mean the recipe to this bread.

TWD - Whole Wheat Loaves

Turns out I'm kind of lazy and that I get overwhelmed easily. Luckily I've made this bread before so my laziness and being easily overwhelmed doesn't really affect this week's post. Oh ya, I have memory problems too. I think it was one of the first recipes I made out of the book sometime last year, but I only think that because when I went to take a gander at the recipe, someone (probably me) had wrote "good" next to the title.

So now I'm going to go look for some pictures and try to see if I have any other thoughts or memories that pop up so I can say something else about this loaf of bread.

Found one!

Boy they do look good!

According to the date on the picture, I made these bad boys on January 8, 2012. That's clearly not last year but I do still think they where some of the first recipes I had made. In the same picture folder are some brioche loaves. I do remember those because they were a pain in the ass to make! Later the brioche became bread pudding and that was some dang good bread pudding.

Those are some fancy, granny rolls.

So going on the "good" statement I'm going to recommend you try these out. I don't write "good" on just anything (I don't think anyway, hard to tell since I really can't remember). The recipe calls for malt extract and I'm pretty sure I used a one-to-one exchange of molasses instead, because until yesterday I've never owned malt. And once again, "good" means the molasses must have worked out.

Veggie num num and The Family That Bakes Together can provide a much better synopsis of this bread. I think aroma was mentioned and some other niceties that probably make this recipe actually sound more appealing than just "good".

See? Good.

Banana Squash Bread with Mascarpone Icing and Salted Walnuts

I forgot to take pictures. Yes, it's the ultimate no-no for blogging about food. I'm sorry, I was in a rush, it was late and then they were gone. Whisked away to my husband's office. But if I could just describe them for you, just maybe you'll get the picture.

Uh-um...

"They were brown, little squares of soft bread flecked with spices generally reserved for the fall. Allspice, cardamom, nutmeg and cinnamon. Freshly ground to make that ubiquitous pumpkin pie spice. A beautiful, yellow squash (from a co-worker) finely grated and mixed with slightly over-ripped bananas made the heart of this bread. It was carelessly topped with a homemade mascarpone cheese blended with a bit of sugar and vanilla. Then on top of it all, just to make it more than you should even tempt, where broken bits of walnuts toasted in butter and then salted."

Can you see it? Can you taste it?

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I gave you 94, it'll have to do.

Even though no picture, I still feel I should share the recipe. Maybe when you make them, you can take a picture and send it to me?

Banana Squash Bread with Mascarpone Icing

26 muffins, adapted from Beard on Bread by James Beard.

• 3½ cups sifted flour

• 1½ teaspoons salt

• 1 ½ tsp pumpkin pie spice

• 2 cups sugar

• 1 cup melted unsalted butter and cooled to room temperature

• 4 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten

• 2/3 cup rum

• 2 very ripe bananas, mashed

• large yellow squash, grated (bananas and squash together equal 15 oz)

• 1 cup walnuts or pecans, butter toasted and chopped (optional)*

1. Butter 2 loaf pans. Line the bottoms with a piece of parchment paper or dust with flour and tap out any excess. Or line 36 muffin tins with wrappers.

2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees (350 degrees for loan pans).

3. Sift all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

4. Make a well in the center then stir in the butter, eggs, rum. Finally mix in the banana, squash and nuts (if using).

5. Bake the muffins 15 - 18 mins or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Bake the loaf pans 1 hour or until the inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Storage: Will keep for about a week, if well-wrapped, at room temperature. Takes well to being frozen, too. 


*For 1 cup of nuts, I used about 2 tbl of butter and a generous pinch of salt. I was going for the saltiness of peanuts out of a can. Just heat the butter and nuts over medium heat, tossing frequently for about 5 minutes. Just before pouring out of the pan toss in a few pinches of salt. Let cool before placing on top of bread.


Mascarpone Icing

I made mascarpone (store bought can be used also) and the recipe can be found here: http://www.darcyeden.com/posts/2012/3/4/homemade-mascarpone.html?lastPage=true&postSubmitted=true

• 8 oz. mascarpone, room temperature
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar*
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• pinch of salt
• 1 - 2 tbl heavy cream or half and half

Mix mascarpone, sugar, vanilla and salt. Add 1 tbl at a time of the cream or half and half until you have a spreadable consistency.

Spread on cooled bread and top with nuts.

*This is a very forgiving recipe, use more sugar if you want it sweeter or less if you want it tangier.

TWD - Semolina Bread

A day late, a dollar short....

At least I baked the bread on Tuesday. That's something. Truthfully, I had time last night to blog about it. I had my pictures, but I was in no mood to write. And if I did, it would not have been a pretty post for you, for me or for my husband. Enough said.

But today is a new day. Didn't start out particularly awesome. Two out of the four household members managed to create some epic messes that needed special odor eliminating cleaners. Once again, enough said.

So right now we will push the reset button. Click. And here we go.

So tasty, Father Time you are a genius.

Semonlina bread, that's some nice stuff. I have a tendency to shy away from anything that takes so long to proof/rise/cure/ferment because...well I'm impatient. But as I push forward in this culinary adventure I have learned that time makes for some dang tasty stuff. This semolina bread is a nice example. I also made my own yogurt the other day (I guess it'll always be my own. I could just say I made yogurt). Once again, time rewards.

Pickles! I forgot about the pickles. They were quick pickles, but you do have to wait 24 hours before eating them. So maybe I've made it over the hump (haha today is hump day) and now have the patience of a sloth. That doesn't sound so good. Well they are cute.

Quick! Pickles!

Here are this week's host. I haven't had a chance to read both, but I will! So you go over and take a look and I'll go over and take a look and then we can compare notes.

Keep it Luce and The Way to My Family's Heart

Oh, I do have one comment. The bread is salty, but if you dip it in olive oil and balsamic vinegar you'll think you've just eaten at a twelve star restaurant. If you plan on eating it sans dip, then only use half the amount of salt. It's probably better for you anyway.

Tuesdays with Dorie (TWD) - White Loaves

On January 22, my husband and I lost our dog. He had gotten very sick and we had to let him go. It has been hard. My husband put it best, "we were once three and now we are two...our hearts are broken".

I wish I was writing this post in better spirits, but the fact I'm writing at all is good. Each day I get up and I have to remind myself not to fill his bowl or let him out. I have to not worry about him being under my feet when I get out of bed or under the recliner when I let it down. I have to tell myself I don't have to rush home after work to see him, that I don't have to open the door slowly and worry he'll be right behind it.

I do have to remember the happiness he brought me. The funny smells he made sometimes or the way he would stare intently at you when you had something he wanted to eat, whether it be popcorn or a peach. I have to tell myself that I was lucky to get to spend so much time with him despite all his health problems. And I do have to worry that I will always be the person he thought I was - because I am a better person because of him.

Thank you Crash and I miss you.

So because baking and being productive is good for me, I baked and baked and baked. And for one day I didn't cry. Thanks to TWD for helping me bake.

This TWD recipe is the White Loaves Bread found in Baking with Julia, the recipe can be found here or in your soon to be personal copy of Baking with Julia ;) Please visit the Tuesdays with Dorie blog to find out about the group. I'm excited to be a part of this awesome adventure. I know it's going to be fun.

For this TWD recipe, I stuck to the recipe and that was very hard for me...I really wanted to throw in some cinnamon or saffron...maybe some garlic salt. But I held fast and followed the recipe down to the T. What I did do instead was to bake another bread that I went nilly willy with. I threw in a cup of walnuts and cranberries and...wait for it... a Reed's Original Ginger Beer into a French buole. Just call me crazy, well what's really crazy is that only a quarter of that loaf is left and I finished baking it yesterday at 2:00. (BTW, Reed's has a butterscotch beer, a.k.a., butterbeer!!!!!)

Speaking of Harry Potter, I also made pasties yesterday. They are filled with the traditional Cornish Pasty filling, but since Cornish Pasty has a regionally protected status, what I made was an Arkansas Pasty. I believe similar in flavor, but geographically distant.

So baking, baking and more baking did me good...not so much for my waistline...but it did help the heart.