Yay For B-Days!

Ain’t never been much for big events, a little celebration at home with the people I love has alwacy been the best sounding thing I can think of. It should come as no surprise that’s how my 34th B-Day was, and I loved it (the firt part, the second part is next weekend when mom and me celebrate the halfway point between her b-day and mine together)!

The day began with D running out to get us breakfast from Perkins. Y’all, ain’t anything but the eggs on this plate that I would usually allow in the house. What hick chick could say no to a smoked ham steak and fried potatoes and eggs over easy? The muffin that came with the breakfast was the biggest muffin I’ve ever seen, raspberry cream and topped with sugar. The pics of the muffin ain’t posted because it seems Pi managed to get a few cat hairs on it. Y’all with pets know that you end up eating fur, but there ain’t no reason to go showing it up close.

Supper was slap your g-ma good (sorry g-ma). The soup is by Peabody and the recipe is here, try it. It was some of the best soup I’ve ever had, and D and his mom loved it! Ain’t neither of them like bleu cheee at all, so I changed the cheese to Havarti and it worked perfectly.

The salad won’t nothing to brag about, some greens and red onions and walnuts. There ain’t no lying about it, I was in a hurry and the salad suffered from neglect. There were radishes, but I forgot the tomatoes.

The steak and shrimp were both marinated, the steak in olive oil and liquid smoke and garlic and brown sugar and the shrimp in lime juice and garlic and basil and water. They were both perfect, and the shrimp had a butter sauce with basil and parsley brushed on it before it was put on the plates (the basil and parsley was from my garden). Dorie’s brioche dough made little rich rolls!

Yes, the name on the cake is right. D likes to run my first and middles names together to call me Shalei (shay-LEE) because he thinks it’s cute, and I can’t help but agree. When the cake was chosen, I wanted the pig cake I found in the Baskin Robbins book. D found out that the pig was an ice cream coop on a cookie, so he had tem put the pig on top of a Neopolitan ice cream and chocolate cake ice cream cake! Before y’all ask, no I didn’t share the pig. Oink.

There were pig calls practiced.

After supper, D’s mom gave me a few presents from her and they’re so nice! A family of primitive art sheep, and a cake tand with a cover that reverses to make a dip tray and a punch bowl. Y’all will have to see pics, it’s so neat!

D and me played WoW all night, and stayed up way too late and ate ice cream like little kids. He’s the perfect man for me, and it was the best B-Day ever!

True fact : this post took a while to write because I’m watching a rodeo. Love them!

DB : Julia’s French Bread And Why I Ain’t French

The best way to start this post off is by saying Julia Child is a genius. Not that it needs to be said, y’all knew that already. There ain’t nobody who can teach you how to put on your fancy France Pants and shake it in the kitchen like her! Therein lies the problem with me though, I ain’t French enough. Not even a little really, heavy butter and cream makes me run the other way and I ain’t fond of… to be honest… more crust than crumb. Y’all can tell this is going in a good direction already.

Making the bread was a good experience as far as the company goes! Anytime I get to do something with CB and Nikkiis the absolute best, and we found ourselves happily clucking away in a little hen’s nest Breadchick had pulled together to all do our thing at the same time. The Belles Of The Bread Ball were very helpfully, and there was much chatting, bad joke telling, and general nonsense as we tried to type with floury, oiled up hands.

The bread… y’all, I don’t like fussy recipes. French bread for me is usually a three hour affair and a simple shaping. This bread was very long, and my poor yeast seemed to be tired of the whole thing by the time I was because the third rising resembled my family after Thanksgiving. Kinda bloated and just laying there. The batard was making a half butted attempt to rise, but the first slash with a knife that I know to be razor sharp made it give up again and the poor thing deflated. It was, in my opinion, a rather wussy dough. Mind you, I’m used to doughs that are developed to be just fine with several toddlers hanging off your pants leg. Doughs that might punch you back when you punch them down and call you names.

The shaping directions and me didn’t get along at all, and that’s my fault. Y’all who can translate written words into spatially valid directions have my admiration, I gotta see and feel it to make it work. Long directions like that ain’t for us tactile learners. Somehow, it got rolled into a relatively oblong shape, and this is what happened to it afterwards. Hah!

These were epi rolls. Hush. Stop laughing, I can hear y’all from over here. They were really pretty before they kinda rose! Baking made them… y’all can tell from the pics.

This one was braided and covered with garlic and herbs. It wasn’t bad, as this failed attempt went. Ain’t got any pictures of the little round rolls, we ate those too quickly. The oven got pissy on me and they bottoms for some of the bread burned, which didn’t improve anything. In short, this recipe was too much crust and not enough bread for us. The French apparently like their bread this way. (crusty, not burnt) A round loaf was made too, and it came out the very best. It was overly salty to me, and got dry too quickly but it was edible. Then it gave us heartburn, as a little insult to injury. This house ain’t French. If y’all are, get the recipe here. Go look at the pics from people who had a success.

Whole Wheat Crackers

Is it a big box of fish? Cat food? A chicken for Pi?

Awwww, poor Pi. It’s a bunch of whole wheat flours and grains I got from Hodgson Mill. Been waiting for these to make some recipes from my new cook book Peter Reinhart’s Whole Grain Breads. D gave it to me for Valentine’s Day, and I’ve been fidgeting to make something.

The recipes are very long and can be a bit complicated at first. A lot of it reads like a chemistry text book, which I love but it ain’t for the totally new to baking people. He teaches some new techniques, and I love learning them. The first thing I tried I wanted to be on the simpler side, and I was feeling inspired by  Bread Baking Day #7 - Flatbreads which led me to try to make crackers! Thin Wheat Crackers.

As always, this tiny little bit of counter is where I do all of my cooking. There’s something I really like about how everything fits in front of the book.

At first I was worried that I wasn’t gonna be able to tell which one I’d added rye flour too. This was a very silly worry. Y’all can tell right?

          

Ain’t they cute, all nestled under their blankie?

Taken out in my tiny garden, the arugula and lettuce seedlings are in the back waving at the camera.

Thin Wheat Crackers

1 c. Whole Wheat Flour (you can mix in other grains, try to keep the ratio about 65% to 70% whole wheat flour and 30% to 35% other flours)
1/2 tsp. salt
6 tbls. Milk, Buttermilk, Yogurt, Soy Milk, or Rice Milk
1 1/2 tbls. Honey or Agave Nectar or 2 tbls. Sugar or Brown Sugar
4 tbls. Vegetable Oil or Light Olive Oil
Extra Whole Wheat Flour for adjustments
1 tbls. Kosher Salt or Sea Salt dissolved in 1/2 c. water for salt water wash

Combine the 1 c. flour and the salt, milk, honey, and oil in a bowl and mix until the ingredients come together to form a ball of dough. Ass extra flour or milk as needed to make a firm but tacky dough.

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead for 3 minutes, adjusting the flour or liquid as needed; the dough should feel like modeling clay and have a satiny surface. It should not be soft and sticky or crumbly.

If baking the crackers immediately, preheat the oven to 350 F. Cover the dough with a cloth towel or plastic wrap and let rest for 20 minutes, then move on to the next step. If holding the dough overnight form it into a ball, place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover loosely with plastic wrap, and leave at room temperature overnight.

When you are ready to bake the crackers, prepare a sheet pan by lining it with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Mist the work surface lightly with pan spray or wipe it with just a touch of oil on a paper towel. This makes it easier to lift the dough later. Transfer the dough to the work surface and, working from the center of the dough out to the four corners, roll it out into a rectangle, dusting the top of the dough with flour only if needed to prevent sticking. Roll the dough out as thinly as it will allow, about 1/4 inch. If the dough begins to spring back, let it rest for a few minutes, then continue rolling until the rectangle is about 1/8 inch thick. Brush the top of the dough with the salt water wash.

Use a pizza roller or a pastry scraper to cut the dough into whatever sizes and shapes you desire (small rectangles are suggested). Use the pastry scraper or a metal spatula to transfer the individual crackers to the prepared sheet pan. They should not touch, but they can be close together. Bake for 10 minutes, then rotate the pan 180 degrees and continue baking about 10 minutes longer, until the crackers begin to turn a rich brown on both the top and the underside.

Let the crackers cool on the pan before serving. They will crisp up as they cool.

Peep These Crackers And Pancakes!

 First thing when I woke up, D is there to greet me with a box of Peeps. How much sweeter could this man get before he was declared illegally charming?

I was a day where I wanted to be brave, so I decided to try making crackers! It didn’t seem to hard, and y’all listen when I say it ain’t even a little difficult The only thing that took less work were the buckwheat pancakes I made for dinner.

The recipe is on it’s way. Wanted to get this up today, to show off the pretty picture.