I’m horrified to report that as a child, I didn’t care for banana bread. I don’t know what about it displeased me, but frankly, I was a fairly picky eater for many years and shunned off a number of foods that I now find delicious. Lately, we’ve been on a bit of a banana kick in our house, but we inevitably end up with a couple of bananas that reach their prime too quickly and end up getting blacker and more shriveled on the counter as the days go by. Fortunately, the cooking gods have a perfect solution for this problem. As bananas ripen and their sweetness becomes far too over-powering to eat them on their own, they become the perfect mix in for a loaf of sweet, tangy, breakfast bread.

There are a few things I really like about making banana bread. One, I hate wasting food, so I find it extremely satisfying to re-purpose over-ripe fruit to make something new and magical out of them. Two, this old recipe (given to me from my mother, who got it from HER great-grandmother) is extremely straight forward. The ingredients are quite basic, and the instructions are fast and easy. No complicated folding, alternating, sifting, or resting required.

After baking for about an hour, this no-fuss loaf emerges with craggy, crisp edges and a soft crumb that can dress down for breakfast or dress up for dessert.

I like mine warm with a little bit of butter, but this is also perfectly acceptable at room temperature with nothing added whatsoever.

It’s a good thing I’ve come around to liking banana bread, because glancing at the fruit bowl on the counter, it looks like I may be making another loaf rather soon.

Banana Nut Bread
Adapted from my great-great grandmother Hume

Makes 1 loaf

2/3 c (140g) sugar
1/3 c unsalted butter, softened
2 eggs
1 c (250 g) ripe bananas, squashed
1 3/4 c (240 g) all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda (use 1 tsp if baking below 3000 feet)
1 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c (60 g) chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350°F. If you are using a non-stick loaf pan, grease the bottom and sides of the pan or insert parchment paper to make a cradle along the bottom and long sides of the pan.

Cream together sugar and butter until fluffy. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well. Pour into loaf pan and bake for 50-60 minutes or until top is browned and a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then flip the loaf onto a cooling rack. Flip the loaf over and allow to cool. For soft-edged bread, wrap tightly in aluminum foil while it is still somewhat warm.

But on super-special mornings, I’ll buy a precious avocado and smear it across toast to a beautiful, green canvas for a gently fried egg.

I’ve loved avocados for a long time, but I was previously skeptical of their ability to translate to breakfast. Lord, I was so wrong. The flavor and texture of the avocado and the egg together are fantastic. The avocado needs no additions, though admittedly, I did try mixing in salsa one day, and while it was delightful, I still preferred it all by itself.

The eggs, while you’re smashing avocado, fry gently with their yolks unbroken. If you’re not a fan of runny eggs, don’t worry, just break the yolks with a fork and cook them a bit longer on the second side for a firm yellow center.

This simple breakfast is super-quick for rushed weekday mornings when you want to pretend, just for a minute, that it’s already the weekend. And it’s fancy enough even for the weekend. Why go out for breakfast when you can stay in your pajamas and have this?

Egg & Avocado on Toast

Makes 2 servings

1/2 an avocado
1/2 T butter
2 eggs
seasoned salt
black pepper
2 slices of bread

Scoop the avocado out of the skin into a bowl. Crush the avocado with the back of a fork until it is mostly crushed. Heat a frying pan  over medium heat. Once warm, add the butter to the pan and coat the bottom of the pan as it melts. Crack the eggs into the pan without breaking the yolks, keeping the eggs separate. Sprinkle lightly with seasoned salt and black pepper.

While the eggs cook, toast the bread and smear avocado evenly over both pieces. After eggs have cooked for about two minutes, flip carefully with a spatula and sprinkle the opposite side lightly with black pepper. After about 30 seconds, gently lift the eggs onto the toasts, placing them on the avocado.

Serve and enjoy immediately.

It’s entirely possible that I’m the last person to arrive at this party, but these days I find I really, really like soft-cooked eggs. Growing up I thought I only liked scrambled eggs, hard-boiled eggs, and deviled eggs (who doesn’t?) but recently, I’ve discovered the pleasure of the slightly runny yolk.

And THIS, it turns out, is the best way I’ve found to enjoy it. I feel a little generous even calling this a recipe because it’s SO quick, SO easy, and amazingly, deliciously good.

I’ve seen this recipe with a number of different names. Egg in a Hole, Frog in a Hole, Egg in the Middle… but the principle remains the same. You take a piece of bread. And you punch a hole in it. And then you put an egg in the middle and cook. Simple!

I like using a round cookie cutter for this, but you could get cutesy and use a heart, a square, or whatever shape you want. The important thing is to not make it too small. Trust me, if there isn’t enough hole, the egg will just overflow and not cook and you won’t be able to flip it and all will be ugly for your breakfast.

Another tip: as you can see, this was a one-serving situation for me this morning. But you can make it just as quickly for two! You might even be able to make more servings, I just haven’t tried more than two at a time. The bread can’t slope up the sides of the pan or the egg will escape, and you must leave room to flip the bread!

Once you have flipped it over, you can determine how runny or not runny your yolk shall be. The firmer the egg is when you press it gently with a fork, the firmer the yolk will be. You’ll want to aim for something between jiggly and rock-solid. Which is probably no help at all, but in truth, that’s part of the joyous mystery.

Because there’s only one way to find out what your yolk will look like… dive on in! And whatever happens, you’re in for a crisp piece of grilled, buttered toast surrounding a gently-fried egg. Add this to  your breakfast routine STAT.

Egg in a Hole
Adapted just a smidge from The Pioneer Woman

Note: Obviously, this recipe can be adapted for as many servings as you want. Just make sure you leave enough space in the pan between pieces that you can flip the bread easily.

1 T salted butter
1 piece of whole wheat bread
1 large egg
salt & pepper

Heat butter in a small skillet over medium heat. Use a round cookie cutter or biscuit cutter to cut a hole out of the bread. Once butter has fully melted and has begun to bubble slightly, place the bread into the skillet and the center piece to the side.

Carefully crack the egg into the hole in the bread. Sprinkle a TINY bit of salt and also some pepper on the egg. Cook for about two minutes, then carefully slide a spatula under the bread and flip. Sprinkle a bit more pepper on the second side, then flip the cut-out circle to grill the other side. For a runny yolk, you’ll only need to cook the second side for about 30-45 seconds. Use a fork to gently press on the cooked side of the egg: it should be soft but not jiggly.

Lift the bread onto a plate and eat. Use your little center circle to soak up the warm, luscious yolk!

I don’t eat a lot of sandwich bread. Brad can finish off a loaf of bread in three or four days, even faster if he’s trying to eat at home. I, on the other hand, have a tough time getting through even half a loaf before it takes a turn for the moldy.

I’ve always tended to prefer my breads in other forms. Tortillas, bagels, biscuits, cornbreads, and baguettes are much more likely to appeal to me than a loaf of sandwich bread. And more recently, English muffins.

Considering that I love finding ways to replace my store-bought staples with homemade versions, I am somewhat ashamed to admit that I really haven’t spent a lot of time focusing on breads. I do have some go-to recipes for quite a few quick breads, but not many that I cook on a regular basis (the dramatic exception being my favorite, favorite cornbread, which ends up on my menu quite frequently).  So when I ran across a recipe for this, my current bread-of-choice, I decided it was time.

To bulk up the nutritive value of these muffins a little bit, I swapped out about half of the all-purpose flour for whole wheat. I don’t like baking with ONLY whole wheat flour because the final product is incredibly dense, but I was really happy with the balance on these. The whole wheat flour adds a nice nuttiness, as well as some darker color and texture. Aside from the flour, the only ingredients needed for the dough are salt, yeast, and water.

The dough starts off sticky but after several minutes of vigorous kneading turns into a soft, smooth ball. Magic!

Now here, perhaps, is the hardest part of bread-making: the wait. This particular recipe has two raises: one overnight for the unshaped dough, and one shorter one, about two hours, once the muffins have been formed. If you take out the waiting time, though, it really doesn’t take long to make these muffins. You just have to plan.

Once the dough has raised overnight, it will be really easy to break it into muffins. This recipe makes ten muffins. To make sure I had all of mine the same size, I used my kitchen scale to weigh each tenth. Once measured, each wad of dough is formed into a muffin-shaped disc for the final raise.

And then! My favorite part of baking English muffins was the discovery that they aren’t even baked. Nope. These little guys are actually cooked on the griddle (or in my case, in a frying pan), which gives them nice crispy crusts and a chewy, porous center.

Cool, huh I had no idea!

Once they’re done cooking, these muffins can be sliced open immediately, stored in a bag on the counter for 4-5 days, or frozen for about a month. Perhaps, this will mean for you ten days of  muffins sliced open and served warm, slathered in butter and jam for those of you who like your breakfasts sweet.

Or, if you’re more like me and prefer a savory, protein-filled breakfast, these make the perfect foundation for your very own homemade breakfast sandwiches. How about ten days of a toasted muffin featuring a gently fried egg topped with cheese and a thin slice of Canadian bacon?

SIGN. ME. UP.

Whole Wheat English Muffins
Adapted from Tasty

1 tsp active dry yeast
1 1/2 c warm water, divided
2 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1 1/2 c whole wheat flour
1 tsp coarse salt
solid vegetable shortening
cornmeal

Dissolve yeast in 1/2 c warm water. Allow it to sit for a few minutes until it’s somewhat frothy in appearance. Combine flours and salt in a large mixing bowl and mix well with a fork. Add the yeast mixture and the remaining 1 c water. Stir with a sturdy wooden spoon to make a dough. Dough will be fairly sticky.

Empty the bowl onto a well-floured surface and knead for 5 to 10 minutes, adding more flour as needed to create a smooth, firm ball of dough. Clean out the mixing bowl and grease with shortening. Place the dough ball in the bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight.

The next morning, grease a large cookie sheet with shortening and sprinkle generously with cornmeal. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and remove from the bowl. Punch it down on the counter and divide into even tenths. I weigh the whole ball of dough on a kitchen scale and then divide by ten, weighing each piece to ensure the muffins are the same size. Roll each piece into a ball and then flatten between your palms, forming a disc about three inches across. Place each disc on the cookie sheet at least an inch apart. You should just barely have room for all ten muffins. Cover lightly with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for about 2 hours.

Heat a large frying pan or cast iron skillet over medium heat. When hot, scoop about a tablespoon of shortening into the pan and tilt it so it melts evenly over the pan. Carefully slide a spatula under the muffins and place cornmeal-side down in the pan. Turn the heat down to medium low and cook for about 8 minutes. Check the underside of the muffins every few minutes to ensure they are not burning. Flip the muffins over and press down on them gently with the back of the spatula. Cook for another 8 minutes. Once the first batch is done, add a bit more shortening and continue with remaining muffins (I could only fit four muffins in my pan at a time).

Muffins can be served immediately, and they are truly delicious when fresh! However they also store well. To store, cool completely and store in a zippered bag with the air squeezed out. Store on the counter for 4-5 days or in the freezer for up to a month.

The internet is full of food blogs, and though I’ve been a bit busy for leisurely reading lately, I read quite a few of them. I love to see what other bloggers are cooking, writing, and photographing; each one is hugely inspiring. One of my favorites — I adapt quite a few recipes from her posts — is Smitten Kitchen, crafted by the clever, snarky, and talented Deb Perelman. Her site is gorgeous, her archives well-organized, and if you’ve never taken a look, I highly recommend it. In fact, Smitten Kitchen was the first food blog I ever read, and was a major source of inspiration for me to start a food blog of my own.

Today is a special day here at 30 Pounds of Apples… it’s my two-year blogoversary! And to celebrate, I have a copy of The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook — signed by Deb Perelman herself — to give away to one of you!

Last fall, Deb’s work jumped out of the internet and onto my bookshelf when she released a cookbook. After receiving a copy as a Christmas gift from my fabulous sister, I spent quite a bit of time and many post-its paging through her book marking up recipes I wanted to try. And this one, for these luscious, savory breakfast buns, was at the top of the list.

These buns. Whoa. A combination of soft bread dough, sharp, bubbly cheese, and zingy onion, these are PURE delight. Admittedly, the dough is a little time-consuming due to the lengthy raises, but the wait is totally worth it.

Rather like a cinnamon roll, these buns wrap filling up in a swirl of soft dough. Though the original recipe makes larger buns, I wanted to make batch of mini cheddar buns. The primary difference Rather than rolling out a large square of dough, I rolled out a long, narrow rectangle. Then, the best part: the FILLING.

Once the filling is spread out, it’s just a simple matter of making one long, skinny log roll of cheesy goodness. Start on the long edge and carefully inch your way across until you have a perfect spiral of bread and cheese. Then, using a serrated knife, the log is chopped into little buns.

After a ride in the oven, the little buns pop out puffy, warm, and bubbling with cheese.

The magic of this filling is the union, really, of the cheeses and onions. As the buns cook, the onions caramelize slightly as the cheeses melt, giving a sweet but zingy flavor that sets these apart from other cheese breads I’ve had before.

This was the first recipe I tried from the gorgeous Smitten Kitchen Cookbook, but if this one is any indication, the rest of her recipes are likely to be pretty darn good.

In February, Deb made a stop in Raleigh for the second leg of her book tour, and I went with a couple of friends to hear her chat about her book, answer questions, and sign books. And guess what Not only did she sign my copy (squeee!), but I bought another copy that she was gracious enough to sign for one of you!

GIVEAWAY CLOSED: How to Win The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook

1. Leave one comment on this post to answer this question: What is your favorite breakfast food?
2. BONUS! To enter twice, head on over to 30 Pounds of Apples on Facebook and like the page. Then, come back to this post and leave me a comment saying you liked the Facebook page, and you’ll be entered twice. Fancy! (New likes only, but thanks to all the early adopters!)
3. Enter before 11:59pm EST on Sunday, April 28. Winners will be announced on Monday, April 29.
4. Open to US residents only (sorry to my international readers, shipping is so dang expensive!)

Mini Cheddar Swirl Buns
Adapted from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook

3 c all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 T granulated sugar
2 1/4 tsp instant yeast
1 c milk
1/4 c melted butter, cooled to the touch
3/4 c grated onion
3/4 c grated sharp cheddar cheese
3/4 c grated asiago cheese
1 tsp dried dill weed
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder
additional 1 T melted butter for brushing

Combine the flour, salt, black pepper, and sugar in the bowl of a standing mixer and mix with a fork. In a separate bowl, whisk together the yeast and milk until yeast is dissolved. Pour the yeast mixture and melted butter into the mixer bowl and mix with a wooden spoon until loosely combined. Place the dough hook on the mixer and knead on low speed for 6-8 minutes until a smooth ball of dough is formed. You can also knead by hand on a floured surface for 8-10 minutes. Place dough in a lightly greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let dough rest until it doubles, about 2 hours.

When the dough has about 15 minutes left to raise, combine grated onions and cheeses, dill weed, sea salt, and black pepper and mix well. Remove dough from bowl and roll out on a floured surface into a long, narrow rectangle about 8-by-24-inches in size. Spread filling evenly across the dough, leaving a half-inch border on all sides. Carefully roll up the dough along the one of the long sides to form a long, narrow log. Cut the log into 3/4″ segments using a sharp serrated knife, which should yield 32-36 pieces.

Spray a 9-by-13-inch pan and an additional 8-by-8-inch pan with cooking spray.  Place the pieces into the pans leaving about 1/2″ of space between them. Melt butter and brush the tops of the buns. Cover the pans with plastic wrap and allow to raise for about an hour in a warm place.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Remove plastic wrap from pans and bake for about 25 minutes until tops are golden and the cheese is slightly bubbly.

Best served immediately, but they also reheat nicely for several days after baking.

As a junior in college, I moved out of the dorms and into my first apartment. I was thrilled to flex my baby culinary muscles beyond what they could make in a microwave or a contraband toaster, so my friend and I marched to the grocery store to see what there was to see. And what there was to see was Jiffy corn muffin mix, for twenty cents a box. We bought about a dozen boxes and a 2-pack of cheap muffin tins so that each of us could make cornbread at any hour of any day with our new-found kitchens.

Several years have passed, and my kitchen has come a long way since those first cornbread-baking days (though I still have that very same muffin tin). I still make this tasty treat quite a lot, though I haven’t bought a box of the Jiffy for years. Why Because I discovered it’s just as simple to make it from scratch as it is from a mix. Seriously.

This cornbread is a dump-and-stir-and-pour situation. It’s composed of the most basic kitchen ingredients and can bake happily in pans of almost any shape or size. You can make it in a muffin tin, in individual ramekins, in mini loaf pans, or in an 8″x8″ casserole. The prep is simple: toss the ingredients in a bowl and stir them. Then pour them into a pan. Then cook it.

THEN EAT IT.

Sometimes, I long for the simple, carefree days of college. Much of life has become vastly more complicated since my undergraduate days.

But not cornbread. This golden, crumbly bread will always be warm, simple, and nothing but goodness.

Perhaps we should all take a lesson from cornbread.

Quick & Easy Cornbread
Adapted from All Recipes

Makes one 8″x8″ pan or 12-15 corn muffins

1 c all-purpose flour
1 c corn meal
1/4 c granulated white sugar
1/4 c brown sugar
3 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 egg
1 c milk
1/4 c canola oil
1 1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 400°F. Grease an 8″x8″ pan or place liners in a muffin tin. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients and whisk together. Pour into the greased pan. If making muffins, fill each muffin cup just over halfway.

Bake 25-30 minutes until top of cornbread is golden brown or until toothpick comes out clean. (For muffins, check at 20 minutes.)

Serve with butter or drizzled with honey.

I frequently lament that I need another freezer. We have your standard apartment fridge-and-freezer combo, but our freezer is, shall I say, stuffed. Filled to the brim. There are many reasons for this. I have given up on buying chicken breast and now buy the whole dang bird, break it down, and separate the parts into meal-size portions. I capture strawberries at their peak ripeness, freeze them on cookie sheets, then bag them up to use in winter months when the only berries to be found are the imposters at the grocery store. Insanely, I recently made enough soup to open a deli and froze most of it because really, who wants soup in 95° weather?

Oh, and last summer, after foolishly planting seven basil plants that plotted to take over the world, it was all I could do to keep up with it by tossing it in the food processor with some nuts, garlic, parmesan, and a glug or two of olive oil before freezing it in my ice cube trays to make an army of pesto cubes. (Finding actual ice in our freezer is, coincidentally, impossible. Icy beverage lovers, beware.)

And then there are the pizza doughs. I made about twenty of them in the afterglow of my homemade mozzarella cheese experiment this spring with the leftover whey, and may have over-estimated the value of their convenience in relation to my precious freezer real estate.

Fortunately, this freezer angst, this lack of ice, this precarious stacking of freezer containers and strategic tucking-in of drumsticks, the inevitable shaking of the head I’ll get from Brad when he gets back from his summer: it all pays off in a burst of kitchen goodness. And ladies and gentlemen, that is certainly what we have here.

This is basically a cheese pizza with pesto instead of pizza sauce, asiago & parmesan instead of mozzarella. Except this pizza is rolled up into a loaf to create a pretty little pinwheel!

You can also add more pizza part if you want. I dunno, mushrooms Pepperoni Really tiny pieces of chicken But don’t feel too compelled to jazz it up: it’s really tasty on its own.

This bread, happily, doesn’t take much longer to cook than a regular pizza. After about 20 minutes in the oven, the outer crust was a nice, crisp golden-brown, ready for a quick brush of butter and a sprinkle of garlic and black pepper. But still, what if it wasn’t done inside Would it be a big gooey mess?

Nope. It was not. Crisp on the outside, the loaf sliced reveal fragrant swirls of pesto nestled between soft layers of crust. The bread is really tasty on its own, but it’s a miracle dipped in a little bit of red pasta sauce.

Maybe my freezer will empty out sooner than I thought.

Pesto Pinwheel Pizza Bread

1/2 recipe pizza dough, or your favorite recipe for a 12″ pizza
1/2 c pesto
1/2 c parmesan cheese, grated
1/2 c asiago cheese, grated
1 T butter, melted
garlic powder
black pepper
red pasta sauce for serving

Preheat oven to 450 °F. Flip over a cookie sheet and place a piece of parchment paper on the bottom surface. Sprinkle lightly with cornmeal.

On a floured surface, roll out dough until it is about 1/4″ thick. Spread pesto evenly over the surface, leaving 1/2″ space at the edges of the dough. Sprinkle cheeses over the pesto. Starting on one of the long edges of your dough, gently roll the dough up into a pinwheel. Tuck the edges in at the ends of the loaf when you are done, and carefully transfer the loaf to the upside-down cookie sheet with the seam of the bread facing down. Bake for 20-22 minutes or until top of dough is golden brown.

Remove from oven and brush the crust with melted butter. Sprinkle lightly with garlic powder and black pepper to taste and allow to cool for ten minutes.

Slice and serve warm with red pasta sauce for dipping.

Weekend!

This is one of those rare weekends when I have not a single show to work. I love working in performing arts, but oooooh how I do relish these weekends with minimal events.

I feel like a superhero the Friday before a full weekend. So many potential things to do… elaborate cooking projects! Sleeping in! Planting seeds! Reading on the porch!

And of course, the opportunity to make fancy breakfasts. Or at least something fancier than a poached egg and an apple, my normal morning fare.

This breakfast was the result of two major factors: my parents were in town and I had the day off, and I also had a baguette making attempts to petrify before my eyes. What better for breakfast (okay, it was brunch, let’s be honest) than something to use it up before it died?

This dish is really, really easy and can support endless variations. You can use any breakfast meat you like, or none at all. Different cheese, add peppers & onions, whatever. This batch features eggs, some country cured ham (a rare sighting at the farmers market, I had to try it!), fresh spinach, yellow onion, and big ol’ crumbles of chèvre.

I’m sure we could have eaten these just like this, but what is a crostini without a quick blast under the broiler Two-three minutes is all it takes, just enough to slightly melt and brown the cheese and let some juices sink into the bread.

And tada! Breakfast worthy of a weekend off.

Breakfast Crostinis

Serves 3-4
Note: Obviously, this recipe can be expanded or reduced to whatever size you need. The ratio of topping-to-bread may also be affected by the size of baguette you are using. Just a heads up.

1/2 baguette, sliced into about 16 pieces, each just under 1/2″ thick
1 T butter, plus additional for spreading on bread
3/4 c onion, diced
4 oz country ham, roughly chopped
3 eggs
1 1/2 c fresh spinach, roughly chopped
seasoned salt & pepper to taste
1/2 c chèvre, crumbled

Slice baguette and spread each piece with a thin layer of butter. Place butter side up on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and set aside.

Heat a frying pan over medium heat. Add butter and onion and sauté until onions just begin to soften. Add ham and cook for 4-5 minutes until ham is cooked through and beginning to brown. Move onions and ham to one side of the pan and add eggs to the other. Add salt and pepper to taste and scramble eggs, trying to keep the ham and onions out until eggs are mostly scrambled.

When eggs have scrambled enough to hold their shape but are not quite done, mix them together with the ham and onions. Add spinach and mix thoroughly. Cook 3-4 more minutes until spinach has wilted. Taste to check seasoning and adjust as needed.

Heat oven on broiler setting (I have an option for low or high… I use high) while you assemble the crostinis. Carefully spoon as much of the egg mixture onto each slice of bread as you can without it falling off the sides. Once all mixture has been distributed, add chèvre crumbles to the top of each.

Cook under the broiler for 3-4 minutes or until cheese has begun to brown, watching VERY closely. Even an extra 30 seconds can blacken your little creations.

Serve immediately.

January.

Generally quiet, cold, and frugal, it’s never been my favorite month. The anticipation of the holidays has passed, and the next break seems distant. But I’m still juuuuuuuuust close enough to December that I am still savoring the memories of a holiday baking project conducted in my parents’ kitchen.

Potica (pronounced po-tee-tza) is one of those recipes that my grandma made rarely but talked of often as a favorite family treat. It apparently is known by many names and varies dramatically depending on which eastern European recipe you happen to be following. To create this spiral nut bread, a sweet dough is rolled extremely thin and slathered with a mixture of butter, pecans, and sugar before it bakes into lovely loaves, fitting for a simple breakfast or a stunning gift.

It is, however, a lengthy process. Once the dough comes to just the right consistency, it must raise three times before it is rolled out thin enough to be translucent. Needless to say, it is a project perfect for a family ready to lend a helping hand.

I spend a lot of time cooking and baking on my own. And that’s normally the way I like it, especially when I am stopping to take photo after photo from various points in my kitchen. But it is lovely, too, to have these opportunities to tackle large projects with my family.

And what a project it is. My sister and I actually had time to leave the house, go Christmas shopping, and drive home before the dough’s three raises were complete.

Once the dough was ready for rolling, it had to be rolled VERY thin. We split the dough in two, and even then, it took up most of the island in our kitchen. I don’t even think I could make this in my apartment… circling around the island with a rolling pin is much easier than working against a wall. It’s also even easier when dad took half the dough and rolled it out himself!

Meanwhile, the sweet, nutty filling came together very quickly. We sent some pecans for a whirl in the food processor and a bath in a pot of sugar, then spread it evenly across the vast expanse of dough on the counter.

Once that was spread (and the spoon has been thoroughly and completely licked clean), we carefully rolled up and sliced into loaves, then waited once more for it to rise before baking.

Yes. This it was sort of a day-long process.

But the result made the time and effort very worthwhile.

The potica is gently sweet with a subtle crunch and makes a pretty little statement on a plate. But the truest treasure lies in the memories of making it. Can you do it alone Sure. But it’s better to round up some friends or family and savor it together.

Potica
From Emma H. in Recipes & Rememberences

Makes 4 standard loaves

A note on flour: You may notice there is quite a large range on the quantity of needed flour. The proper consistency of this dough is tricky to obtain, and weather and humidity can dramatically affect the amount of flour needed. My advice Use a light hand and add slowly to ensure you don’t add too much!

For the Dough
1 c warm water
1 1/2 T yeast dissolved in 3 T warm water
1 T salt
1 c white sugar
1/2 c butter or margarine, melted
1 c evaporated milk (unsweetened)
3 eggs
5-8 c all-purpose flour

Thoroughly grease a large bowl with a lid and set aside.

In a standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat together water, yeast, salt, sugar, butter, evaporated milk, and eggs. Swap our the paddle attachment for the dough hook and begin adding flour, one cup at a time, and blend well between each. Continue adding flour, slowly, until dough is climbing the dough hook and is only slightly sticky to the touch. Transfer dough to the greased bowl and cover with lid. Place dough in a warm place until it rises.

After dough has risen, remove it from the bowl and knead on a lightly floured surface for 5-10 minutes. Return to bowl and cover, allowing it to rise again. Remove once more and knead 5-10 more minutes, then allow dough to rise in the bowl once more.

During the last rise, prepare the filling as directed below.

For the Filling
1 lb chopped pecans
1 c hot milk
6 T butter
1 c sugar
2 eggs, fairly beaten
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon

In a large pot, combine nuts, milk, butter, sugar, and eggs and bring just to a boil. Remove from heat and add salt, vanilla, and cinnamon. Adjust seasoning to taste as desired. Mixture should be thin enough to spread, closer to oatmeal than peanut butter.

Constructing Loaves
Grease 4 standard loaf pans and set aside.

Flour a large surface. Lightly knead the dough and then cut it in half. Return half of the dough to the bowl. Roll out dough as thin as possible, no thicker than 1/4″ and preferably thin enough to read through. Using a spatula, gently spread half of the nut mixture evenly over the rolled out dough. Starting on one of the long sides of the dough, carefully roll the dough in on itself. Once the roll is formed, gently press in on the ends to compress the roll. Cut in half and place each section into a loaf pan. Repeat process with remaining dough and nut mixture until 4 loaves are formed.

Preheat oven to 300 °F. While oven preheats, place loaf pans on top of stove and cover with a cloth to allow loaves to rise. Once dough stays indented when pinched, place loaves in the oven on a middle rack. Bake for one hour, watching closely near the end to ensure the crust does not burn.

Remove from oven when crust is golden brown. Run a knife around the edges of the pans to loosen loaves and place on a cooling rack. If desired, lightly brush the top of each loaf with butter. Once loaves have cooled, wrap tightly in aluminum foil. Serve cool or warm. Loaves can also be stored in the freezer for later use.

I doubt flying home will ever get old. Stepping off the plane into the cool, breezy mountain air, encountering several people I know (or at least know of) on a quick grocery stop before we head out of town, watching the peaks I’ve grown up with becoming larger and larger as we drive home.

Since I left for college, my parents have sent me pictures of first snows, sunrises, and pretty clouds nestled around those peaks, and I never tire from seeing them. This morning is no different, after a night of fresh snow.

Comfort. Major.

But you know what else is comfort major Hint: starts with cheddar, ends with biscuits.

I have used one recipe and one recipe only for biscuits since I discovered it a few months ago, partially because most others require buttermilk. It’s an ingredient I rarely have on hand, but after a bit of sleuthing, I discovered that there are easy ways to fake it! Which leads me to believe there will be a bounty of biscuits in the coming months.

Just a little bit of lemon juice added to milk created the somewhat soured and curdled effect I needed. Win.

The basic recipe is my grandma’s, spiced up with some sharp cheddar, black pepper, and garlic. I prefer a savory breakfast to a sweet one, so this is right up my alley.

And really, this doesn’t have to be limited to breakfast. Red Lobster has firmly established that cheddar biscuits are good at any, and I mean any, time of day, so why not follow their lead?

Biscuits are cut, an extra little punch of black pepper sprinkled on the top, 15 minutes or so in the oven, and out come some of the more amazing biscuits I’ve ever tasted. Fluffy in the middle, crisp on the outside, and dotted with little globs of molten cheese?

Certainly, a savory delight worth breaking up the holiday bake-a-thon I’ve been running in the last few days.

Cheddar Pepper Garlic Biscuits
Adapted from my Grandma’s biscuits, inspired by Joy the Baker

1 T lemon juice
1 c milk
2 c all purpose flour
1/3 c whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
4 T salted butter, cold & chopped into cubes
1/2 tsp black pepper, plus additional for sprinkling
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2/3 c sharp cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 425 °F. In small bowl, combine lemon juice and milk. Stir and let sit for 3-4 minutes.

Sift together flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl. Add chopped butter and combine with a pastry cutter or a fork until thoroughly mixed. Add milk mixture (or buttermilk) and mix until dough is slightly sticky. Add pepper, garlic, and cheese and mix until thoroughly combined.

Move dough to a floured surface and knead lightly. Roll out until dough is 3/4″ thick and cut biscuits using your favorite cookie cutter or by slicing in squares with a knife. Place biscuits on a parchment-lined baking sheet and sprinkle lightly with additional black pepper.

Bake for 14-16 minutes or until tops of biscuits are golden brown. Serve warm. Make often.